The Press.
London, England, 1856-10-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

A number of instances are given of the ludicrous
blunders which Mr. Reade has committed through
his ambition to describe Australian life—localities
two hundred miles apart are brougbt close together ;
inland countries are made to approximate to the sea-
coast, and the aborigines are dealt with in a manner
which must move the wonder of all Australian set-
tlers. The reviewer justly concludes :
The whole book, or at least that portion of it relating to
New South Wales, is full of similar errors. We would un-
dertake to point out fifty statements in as many pages all
errors, which any man used to the Australian life, or with
any knowledge of the country, would unhesitatingly set
down as grossly incorrect. Mr. Reade has adopted all the
old women's stories afloat. Where he could have obtained
his information it is impossible to say. We have the old
familiar " yarns " about wooden pears, and cherries growing
with their stones outside, and birds which don't sing, and
flowers which don't smell, and rivers which run inland, and
trees which shed their bark and not their leaves, and such
a mixture of little truth and a vast amount of falsehood,
that we are surprised Mr. Reade should have adopted it
without making himself better acquainted with his subject.
As for the descriptions of the gold diggings, they are as
full of error as of exaggeration.
The article on Lord Dalhousie is a most vigorous
onslaught on the noble marquis's administration
of Indian affairs. According to the writer, who is
evidently master of his subject, a period of three
years will dispel all those visions of Indian pro
sperity and safety in which the admirers of Lord
Dalhousie's administration now indulge.
The National Review, with deeper thought and
more varied learning, fails to present us with so
attractive a table of contents. It contains only two
articles which, in our opinion, are really interesting.
That on " Percy Bysshe Shelley," and that entitled
" Personal Influences on our Present Theology—
Newman, Coleridge, Carlyle." The first is a masterly
piece of criticism. Shelley is a poet with whom,
perhaps, we are more delighted and more dissatis-
fled than any other. He leads us to expect more
than we ever find in him. We are struck with adrni •
ration at his genius, but, as soon as we endeavour to
embrace him, he eludes our grasp. "Par levitate
" ventis, rolucrique simillima somno." The causes
of this peculiarity are ably set forth in the article in
question. The theological essay evinces broad
views, and is a comprehensive survey of the subject
under discussion. It is, however, in our opinion too
purely disquisitive. The author does not even hint
at any theory of his own. These cold anatomical
articles on theology are not pleasing.

The London Quarterly Review for October is by
no means a bad number. " Rationalism in the
Church of England " is a careful and serious article,
if nothing more. " Cuba, its State and Prospects,"
is a compact and readable account of that island, and
the review of " Gainsborough's Life," light and
spirited. Professor Aytoun's " Bothwell " is rather
hardly treated. We think the time will come when
the merit of this monotonous and melancholy song
will be better appreciated.

The most amusing article in the Irish Quarterly
is one on Paul Heffernan, a drunken Hibernian
litterateur of the Johnsonian era. Most of the other
papers, such as " The Post-office," " Convicts,"
" Steam," are complete and useful.

The only article of interest in the Eclectic Review
is an " Dred." The writer takes a favorable, but
in no respect original view of Mrs. Stowe's novel.
The other articles are religious and scientific.
Blackwood and Fraser both depend less than
usual upon the fiction department. The former
contains an instalment of " The Athelings," in which
the introduction of the two girls to fashionable life is
well done, though rather hurried over. We foresee
some difficulty in the conduct of this story, which
will tax the authoress's powers to the utmost. Sir
Langham Portland is stiff and clumsy. " Mr.
Buttle's Review " is a capital article, in which the
minor poetry of the present day is characterised
with much truth and humour. The following re•
marks coincide curiously with some observations of
our own upon contemporary poetry :

_ -
There has nothing so much surprised me, in my large
experience among the small fry of the present day, as the
diffusion of poetic feeling, with the total absence of poetic
power. You read a volume of faultless versification with•
out a thought in it from beginning to end. You feel
perfectly assured that the author has taste, feeling, senti-
ment, ten fingers, and an admirable ear; and yet that he
is no more of a poet than a cheesemouger. What are you
to say to such a person? The man has poetry in him; he
has filled his mind with the purple tints of clouds, the
scent of dying roses, the glimmer of distant stare. With
all these constituents of poetry, are you to be a hard-
hearted, truth•spealting old inquisitor, and tell the poor
fellow he is not a poet, any more than a painter's palette is
a picture, or a bunch of grapes a bottle of champagne, or
a square yard of wind in a Highland bagpipe the " March
of the Cameron Men ?"
" Family History "is a very pleasant article. It is
not written from the same point of view at all as the
recent article on that subject in the Quarterly, but is
merely a picture of the domestic lifo of two old
Scotch families a hundred and a hundred and fifty

SATURDAY,

years ago. "African Travel," a review of Lieutenant
Burton's " First Footsteps in East Africa," is a
sprightly and amusing paper. The reviewer fully
enters into the spirit of fun which is evidently a
strong element in the lieutenant's character.
The best article in Eraser is "Shakespeare and his
Native County." It is long since we have read any-
thing in a magazine that pleased us so much.
The provincial phrases, the flowers, and the birds of
Warwickshire are all carefully traced through his
plays, though we may remark in passing that no
small number of the first are equally prevalent in
the adjoining counties. For instance, the use of
" master " for " Mr.," the word " wench," a " race "
of ginger, " cage" for prison, and two or three others,
are common in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.
A curious instance of Shakespeare's close observa-
tion of nature is cited from Hamlet, act v. sc. 2 :

The lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.
it This is wonderfully true," says the writer ; "wo
" have seen the newly-hatched fledglings running
" about in the fellows, with the pieces of shell stick-
" ing to their down." There is no other article in
this number of remarkable merit. Perhaps the
review of " The Angel in the House " is the next
best. In this article the interesting question how
far married life affords fit materials for fiction is dis-
cussed very fully, and with considerable acuteness.
Our own opinion, however, is adverse to that of the
writer, who decides it in the affirmative. A novel
may sometimes be protracted after the marriage of
the hero and heroine without losing interest, as in
" The Heart of Midlothian," and more recently iu
" John Halifax ;" but then the interest does not
hinge upon the incidents of wedlock. Courtship is
essentially a period of difficulty and adventure, and
married life is essentially not so.

The Dublin University Magazine has an excellent
article upon Bacon, and Archbishop Whately. The
methods of Bacon and Aristotle a:•e well contrasted,
though it is perhaps to be desired that rather more
should have been said upon the subject of the
syllogism. As it is, the writer's view is a little open
to misconception. The story of "The Darragh "is
concluded ; the will turning out to be a for-
gery, and Walter Nugent takes possession of the
property. His marriage with the young lady
whose acquaintance he made upon Snowdon of
course follows in due time. The story has been well
written from the beginning, and full of exciting
incidents, but a little deficient in plot, for the will
forgery is too common a device to elude any one's
attention. The review of M. de Tocqueville's
" France before the Revolution " is plain-spoken,
and strongly Conservative. The aim of the reviewer
is to deduce from the work in hand these two propo•
sitions—that centralisation is the worst enemy of
freedom, and aristocracy the worst enemy of central-
isation. The article upon " Poetry—Good, Bad, and
Indifferent," adopts very much the same tone as an
article on a similar subject in Blackwood to which
we have already alluded ; but the praise of Mr.
Archer Gurney is decidedly too strong.
The New Monthly opens with a readable gossip-
ping article on Sir Robert Walpole. We learn,
indeed, nothing new from it, but it is a judicious and
entertaining summary of the various opinions which
have been pronounced on his character. With the
following extract from an article on Austria and
Sardinia we perfectly agree :

One of the most difficult questions of the present day is
the final settlement of Italy, fur things cannot possibly go on
much longer as at present. Austria appears determined
to defend her territory di l'outrance, and we really ought
not to blame her after the lives and treasures she has
already expended in that ungrateful country. It is a very
easy matter to accuse the Austrians of tyranny in Italy,
and still easier to get the parrot-cry taken up by the Eng-
lish nation, but it is absurd to assume that this tyranny
is the matter of choice on the part of the Government.
The Italians can be governed in no other way; they must
be made to fear the authority, for the slightest concesst..ns
induce them to form the most exaggerated notions of their
own importance, and fancy that they are in a condition to
rule themselves ; while it is well known that, if left to
themselves, they fall the prey of the first infrigartt who bids
the highest for their favours. Intestine commotions have
ever been the rule in Italy, and though these were of com-
paratively slight importance at an earlier period of history-
the peace of Europe now stands on so insecure a founds
lion that every effort must be applauded which keeps them
tranquil. Austria has been perfectly aware of this sinco
she has occupied the Lombardo. Venetian territory, and
her intervention has always been offered, and generally
accepted, when fears were entertained of insurrection or
revolution. We believe that Europe owes her a great
debt for this conduct, and we must most heartily deprecate
any measures having a tendency to raise another nation at
her expense.

The Austrian army at the present moment consists
of 457,000 infantry, and 07,000 cavalry. Her
artillery consists of more than 1,300 guns, and
70,000 men. Her engineers are 11,000, her sappers
and miners 5,000. "It will be seen from these
data," says the author, " that there are very few
" European armies which could venture to defy the
" Austrians." " Leaves from Old Trees 7is a curious

OCTOBER 4, 1856.

and interesting account of some of the oldest forest
trees in these islands, with the historical associations
connected with them. Most of the remaining con-
tributions are continuations.

In Bentley "The Joint-stock Banker " is brought
to a conclusion. This somewhat audw...ious attempt
t) create a novel out of contemporary crimes, has not
been more than partially successful. "The Young
Clergyman and his Anti-Macassars" is a good
Bentleian tale, but exaggerated.
In the Oxford and Cambridge an essay upon
Twelfth Night shows taste and considerable criti-
cal power. " The Sceptic and the Infidel" is an able
review of the novel of " Perversion." The story of
"Cavalay " is well continued. And the residue is
not below the average of magazine writing.
The London University Magazine is got up with
great care. The subjects are well selected, and, as
a rule, treated with ability. " The Plea of Insanity"
is a noticeable article, but not in our opinion
correct.

Taft's Edinburgh Magazine is of average quality.
Two or three fair reviews, a good tale, some in-
different poetry, and still more indifferent politics,
make up the bulk of its contents. " Gleanings and
Fragments" is, however, a style of article we should
be glad to meet with oftener in our periodical lite-
rature. The article on " Peers for Life" is merely a
resume of arguments that have been answered over
and over again.
The Churchman's Magazine deals boldly, though
in our opinion unwisely, with the great ecclesiastical
questions of the day; is in favour of a stipendiary
clergy, and other changes which strike at the roots
of the peculiar character of the Anglican Church.
It contains a sensible article on domestic servants,
and some sound remarks on Archdeacon Denison.