The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-29 00:00:00

REPRINTS.

- - -
THE third volume of Milman's edition of Gibbon
(Murray) opens with the two celebrated chapters on
Christianity', and contains the reigns of Julian and
his successors to the death of Theodosius. The
episodical chapters relate to the progress and fall of
the Huns, the fortunes of the Goths, and the final
destruction of Paganism. Like the previous
volumes, •this gives satisfact—ry evidence of Dt.
Smith's careful superintendence of the text.—Among
the railway books now so much in vague we have
Mrs. Gore's clever Pitt money in a single volume ( Rout-
ledge) ; The Head of the Family, by the author of
" Clive," a fiction full of vivacity and character
(Chapman and Hall) ; Mr. James's historical ro-
mance of Attila (Hodgson) ; Maxwell's Dark Lady
of Doona, in which the reality of English romance is
tinged with the wilder and more imaginative school
of Germany ;—and The Roving Englishman, reprinted
' Into► " Household Words " (lioutledge), which, be-
sides containing much pleasant description of travel,
gives sensible hints and valuable advice on many
social topics.

The Glasgow University Album for 1854. Edited by
the Students. Griffin and Co.
Tins album is creditable to the literary attainments
of the alumni of Glasgow University. The prose,
however, contrary to what one might anticipate, is
generally superior to the poetry. We all sympathise
with the efforts of youth, for effort in itself
denotes energy, if not talent, and is indicative
of future distAiction. The " Ode of Deborah,"
thrown into a metrical form, reads magnificently, and
is finely characterised in the critical remarks. Look-
ing through the papers, we were much pleased with
one on "Burns as a National Poet," and had marked
the following passage for extract before we noticed
that the writer was Alexander Smith, whose poems
have justly excited so much notice :
In thinking of national bards most people recur to
Burns and Moore. We do not think they should be
coupled together. Burns is the most intensely national
poet of any age or country. Moore about the least so.
Moore was an instrumentalist, not a singer; he was
fatally deficient in earnestness and genius. He could
' do' the carving and gilding in the temple of song; but
he could not create the divine gloom, or rear the soaring
columns and the awful domes. He was a poet for a
world of sylphs and fairies, where existence is a routine of
dance and song, not a poet for a world of ' human mortals,'
over whom rises the heavens, under whom yawns the
abysses. Moore had glorious poetical opportunities—no
man more so. He had the magnificent music of his coun-
try—her wrongs, her sufferings, her glories, the stirring
memory of a thousand years ; but, to make these available,
he wanted heart and soul, passion and imagination. His
country hung before Mtn like a great, many-stringed
sorrowful harp, but his were not the fingers to loosen its
mighty music. The ' lrish Melodies' are just what one
would expect from such a man ; they are witty, graceful,
verbally melodious, but they are not the melodies of Ire-
land—they are not even the melodies of nature. They
have their success ; they entranced sentimental young
persons; drawing-rooms hung on them in silence; they
were voted ' exquisite' over wine ; sung out of doors ;
Nature said they were none of hers, and put them out
quietly as the sun puts out a kitchen tire. It would seem
sacrilegious almost to sing these effusions by the sea-
shore; how the music would die on the lip ; how trivial
and insincere compared with the moaning of the great
deep ! Beautiful, in many respects, they are ; but they do
not come like blood-drops from the heart of an oppressed
and down-trodden nation. Moore,' says Hazlitt in his
final way,' has changed the wild harp of Erin into a musi-
cal snuffbox.' "
The contributions which are intended to be
humorous are the least successful, and we here
perceive few signs of vigorous imagination. But it
is not often that youthful minds are fresh in the
sense of originality, time and experience being
required even by the finest intellects to fuse and
mould the knowledge they collect. Here we see the
fusing process in its first stage: it is conducted with
spirit, though as yet we have only imperfect results,
bearing traces of old materials in the shape of
thoughts and ideas with which the world has long
been familiar.

Counterparts ; or, the Cross of Love. By the Author
of " Charles Auchester." London : Smith and

Elder.
V.katous opinions have been expressed on this work.
It is one of those singular clnipositions which it is
not easy to judge truly. The fancy and eloquence of
the writer are undeniable ; but all the materials seem
drawn rather from the vivid idealism of an excited
imagination, influenced by the conceptions of other
mindti, than from the external world. We judge the
writer to be a lady, from the extreme delicacy of
much of the colouring. We meet hero with many of

JULY 29, 1854.

the qualities which delighted us in " Charles Au-
chester "; but, on the whole, we think it much interim:
to that remarkable novel : its construction and language
indicate less maturity of mind, and, though later in
order of publication, it was probably produced at an
ember period. As to the idea or theory of the story,
that love is caused rather by opposition than simi-
larity .of disposition, it is scarcely worth the pains
taken to work it out. The flow of incident,
idealism the viva-
cious dialogue, the of character and senti
meat, sustain the attention of the reader, and are
much more than sufficient to counterbalance the
wildness into which the fancy of the author some-
times runs. Her novels are among the most pro-
mising productions of the present day ; and, if it be
true that " Charles Auchester " was written later than
the "Counterparts," we may, from so great an im-
provement, form hopeful anticipations of her next
work.

The Church. An Examination of the Meaning
conts;ned in the Bible. By William Atkinson.
London : Longmans.

Mu. ATKINSON appears to be a pious, earnest man,
very anxious to impress upon the public his own
views of revealed religion. "It has," he says, "to
" be brought out of the region of mist, and to be
" taken out of the hands of those who ate lovers of,
" and dealers in, mist." To accomplish his task, he
c mmences with a commentary on the " scriptural
figure" of the fall of man, and proceeds to remark on
those various forms of "mist " which have obscured
the view of religious truth, down to the publication
of Mr. Fronde's " Nemesis of Faith " and Mr. New-
man's " Phases of Faith." One of his principal posi-
tions is, that men's minds are led astray by pride arid
party spirit, and that it is only by overcoming this
kind of perversity, and by subjecting our minds to
God's law, and seeking truth according to his will,
that we can look for a better agreement on religious
subjects and the establishment of a more universal
church than now exists. He urges that we should on
all occasions learn to distinguish between the use of
our powers in submission to God's will, and the abuse
of them in opposition to it ; and he supposes that,
were this distinction recognised and acted on, it
would lead in religion to the substitution of spirit for
form, and would effect great and beneficent changes
in social action and civil government. He instances,
among other things, the gratification of our appe
tites

" The lauful use of solid and liquid food," he Rays, " is
determined by that proportion in quantity and by that
species in quality which are adapted for the healthful sus-
tentation, preservation, and invigoration of the body.
Hence we are to ta'te food under a right desire ; not under
&desire of gratifying appetite, but of satisfying it. Our
duty is to keep ourselves under the influence of a great
and necessary law of abstinence. We are to avoid the
habit of taking or desiring food, because it is nice or
delicious. It is imperatively required of us, under the law
.in nature, which is the law in God, that we adopt the
habit of satisfying hunger and allaying thirst, without
having the motive of gratifying the appetite by means of
' the flavour, the quality, or the quantity of the materials
that we eat and drink."

Mir. Atkinson will scarcely persuade the world that
this doctrine is natural. Why have we taste but for
,its enjoyment? Under certain restrictions it is the
most universal and most innocent of all sensual
gratifications. The same principle, fairly carried
mit, would of course put an end to luxury in all
thing~, in dress, in buildings, in arts, and the
world would stagnate, content with bread, bacon,
and' linsey-woolsey. Without at all meaning to
advocate socialism, Mr. ktkinson's tendencies lean
that way, and exhibit most of the absurdities of the
system. His work displays much ingenuity and
talent, hut, for his own' sake, it is to be regretted that
he has not exercised these qualities on some simpler
subject with more practical aims.

•
Orr's Circle of the Sciences. Vol. I. London

Orr and Co.
Tut design of this work is to supply a complete
cyclopedia of science, each department being com-
plete in itself, and written by professors of
distinguished attainments. The present volume is
on Organic Nature; it is divided into four parts—the
first comprises the Physiology of Animal and
Vegetable Life,- by the editor; the second, the
Principal Forms' of the Skeleton, by Professor
Owen ; the third, the Principal Forms of Teeth, also
by Professor Owen ; and the foul th, the Varieties of
the Human Species, by Dr. Latham. A general
introduction concisely describes the nature, connec-
tion, and uses of the great departments of human
knowledgi. The volume is profusely illustrated, the
woodcuts being admiiithly drawn and well engraved.
In the two great requiisites of excellence and cheap-
ness this work defies competition. As a scientific
manual, fitted equally for popular instruction and the
use of students, it is one of the very best we have
seen, and as such we have great pleasure in warmly
recommending it.


• '

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J' ~~,

,Peo sa-

THE PRESS.

BOOKS RECEIVED.
BOOKS.

Pin-money. Mrs. Gore.
Poetical IForks of (; rey, Parnell, Collins, 4'c.
Turkey, Past and 1 resent. J. H. Morell.
Morning, ando ther Poems. R. Harris.

Routledge.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Bell.

Lectures on _ Education.

" The Study of Physiology:" J.

Paget, F.R.S.
Lectures on Education.

Parker and Son.
" Economic Science." W. B.

--___ _.. ........____.
Hodgson, LL.U. - Ditto.
The Third Napoleon. An Ode. Hearne
The Prudent Man. W. Bridges. Balliere.
My Haunts. E.H. Yates. Bogue.
The Serf and the Cossack. F. Marx. Trdbner and Co.
The Sugar Duties. Richardson.
A Waterloo Commemoration. M. J. Barry. Orr and Co.
The Eastern War. A Poem. Part I. Hardwieke.
Map of Europe. Rowe.

Mkt puma.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

THE hot weather of the week has proved no stop-
page to business in this theatre, Mr. Buckstone
having produced on Monday a new drama by Mr. Stir-
ling Coyne, entitled The Old Chateau; or, a Night of
Peril. The public will be disappointed it' they
imagine from this imposing title that they are
about to witness a Princess's melodrama of the
bloodiest description ; for the deaths are but one, and
that one occurs only in the last act—the French
origin and French action of the piece are its only
claims to be considered as one of that class of dramas
which the Oxford-street management has rendered
the rage of the day. The plot is simple, and by no
means of a novel character. A lady with a prior
attachment espouses a rich marquis to save her
father from ruin. After a lapse of three years the
husband becomes jealous of his wife, and is per-
suaded by a villain to attempt the assassination of
her former lover. The husband is shot by mistake,
and the widow left tree to follow the bent of her
inclinations. The play is further lengthened by a
species of underplot, in which Mr. Buckstone and
Mrs. Fitzwilliam sustain the principal. characters ;
but their parts, though intended tobe funny, scarcely
amused the audience. If the three acts into which
the piece is divided were reduced to two everybody
concerned would be much the gainer. The acting
was no great things. Miss Reynolds played Julie,
the heroine, exceedingly well: her manner was
natural, and she repelled an unjust accusation of
treachery towards her husband with force and dig-
nity. Mr. Howe vu more than usually successful,
and exhibited so real pathos in the part of the
husband, who is what our French neighbours call
an ancien milita ire ; but here our commendation
must cease. Mr. W. Farren is a most uninteresting
lover, and nothing but the most urgent case of ne-
cessity would seem to have justified the importation
of Mr. H. Marston from the wilds of Sadler's Wells.