The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-30 00:00:00

LITERATURE

ibminemteingis *wide in Brand in the Autumn °find
By duos F 011024, Ml' &c. Nmnh, Elder,
sad Co.
Dr. Forbes has tong been known not only as one
of our most eminent ph.v sacians, but one also a hu has.
like Akenside and Darwin, contrived to find time
amidst the labour of practice fzr the enjoyments and
the cultivation of literature. In his " Physician'.
Holiday" he gave a series of agreeable and instructive
sketches of a summer tour in Switzerland—so accept.
ab'e, indeed, were they that severest editions have
been published. l'ncouraged probably by this warm
reception of his book by the public, he now offersa
companion work telling his impressions during a trip
through Ireland. In Switzerland he had to talk of
a quit hardworking free people inhabiting a land
atone all others distinghished for the grandeur and
picturesqueness of it. :eosacry , and he was there sure
to meet novelties to excite his admiration and give
grateful tex: s for his pen. In Ireland—like all others
who deal with that country—he couli not remain long
without becoming a emsert to one of the sections into
which the people ea readily divide themselves, and
he tutu the consequent risk of pleasing all who side
with him—and cifendieg many of the rest. A man
might travel for months in Switzerland and never
dream of partisan squabbles. It would seem that
days cannot be spent in Ireland without involvement
in political or theological disputes.
Dr. Vorbeie 11+1 tour was taken in the autumn
of 1E132. The ground traversed is that usually recom-
mended to tourists, except that the western parts
of Mayo and Kerry aro omitted; and we have
much information afforded fur tourists as to the
aepcet of the places visited, and their facilities
to the traveller; and, in addition, a considerable
amount of statistical facts, acme furnished from
printed rehires, and others collected on the spot.
On one vexed question of all Irish discussions,
Dr. Forbes says: "In recording matters relating to
religion or its ministers, I profess myself to be purely
an historian of facts, not a commentator or a critic,
except in so far as such facts have an obvious bearing
on the social, political, or moral condition of the
people. I profess, t.r the time, to ignore all special
religious doctrines, as to their abstract rightness or
wrongness." He praises the whole religious world
in behind, all round ; but the catholics obtain much
the largest share of his commendation. After ba-
lancing the two propcsals of endowing no church
and endowing all, he sums up thus: "But to neither
the one nor the other of these modes, nor, indeed,
to any plan yet proposed, do I feel myself bound to
adhere with a positive preference. The best plan
shall be my plan; but the responsibility, as well
as the honour, must rest with others." (ii., 413.)
The doctor is rather romantic here and there. He
is not a little so about the nuns, wherever he has
occasion to mention them and their doings; and his
book will make him popular am mg certain classes in
Ireland during the discussion of the question raised
by the plan of Mr. Chambers, which is intended to
give liberty of exit to the reluctant recluse. As
might be expected, he is well disposed towards the
national system in Ireland—blames the protestant
clergy who discountenance it, rejoices for the catholic
population who benefit by it—but thinks " it would
be much wiser, as leading to more harmony and to
richer educational results, to make the schools exclu-
sively secular schools."

The blessings of temperanee are everywhere hailed
in a good spirit : and his approbation of the Sunday
river trips of the Cork people, and of a genial spend-
ing of the Sunday ever, where, is pleasant. And so
is his testimony to the healthfulness, cheerfulness, and
attractiveness of the Irish peasantry. And his nume-
rous conversations with cottager' speak well for his
kindliness. One of the most interesting passages in
the two volumes is that which gives us "a labourer's
opinions on national evils." The conversation is too long
for extract ; but here is the view of political privilege
and duty stated by a working mason of Sligo :—" He
condemned the elections as most injurious to the
peace of the lower classes, stirring up ill-blood
between the protestants and catholics, which
never was moved at other times. He himself
had no vote, and hoped ho never would have one."
There is something very significant in such an
avowal from such a man as this mason in connexion
with the character of Irish popular representation in
the House of Commons. The two together, with
such a commentary as Dr. Forbes supplies in his ad-
mission about the fire that comes out of the priests
heart at election times, show how far our practice of
popular representation is behind the theory, and
point out the remedies—improvededucation, which is
already at work upon the next generation ofeitixens,
and the ballot, which will prevent the working
masons of the next generation from hoping that they
shall :lever have a vote.

Noma Lebanon. A Ten Fears' Residence
,bone 1842 to'
1862. By Celeste CIIIIIILCHILL, Staff Offittlf a the
British Expedition to Syria.
Colonel Churchill calls upon his countrymen "to
adopt this political doctrine, and nail it to the na-
tional colours—that when Mount Lebanon ceases to
be Turkish, it must either become English, or else
form part of a new independent state, which, with-
out the incentives to territorial aggrandisement, or
the means of military aggression, shall yet be able to
maintain its own honour and dignity, and more espe-
cially to promote the great object for which it will
be called into existence, for which indeed, by its geo-
graphical situation, it will be so eminently qualified ;
that of creating, developing, and upholding a com-
mercial intercourse in the East, which shall draw to-
gether and unite the hitherto divergeut raoes of
mankind in the humanising relations of fraternity
mid peace."

The probability of this portion of the Fast ever
bring appropriated by England is so small, that it '
may at once be dismissed from consideration. Its
capacities of becoming an independent state of itself,
or being a useful integral portion of any state calcu-
lated to perform such functions as those indicated by
the Colonel, may be inferred from a perusal of his
book. And there can be little doubt that the verdict
of most sensible persons on the evidence brought be-
fore them would be, that not until the inhabitants of
the Lebanon shall have lost all those qualities, the
exhibition of which lends a coarse kind of interest to
their history, will they ever be enabled to enter into
the modern world as useful agents in the ex-
tension of civilisation. The most distinguished
tribe of the mountainous district, the I)rusea, are
mere Arabs, with a mountain instead of a desert for
their home. Amid they are "plus Arabes qu'en
Arabic:" they exaggerate all the barbaric elements
of the Arab character : a haughty feudal aristocracy,
without the riches that characterised the feudal lords
of the Middle Ages, settling their constant quarrels
with each other by the most terrible acts of blood-
thirsty treachery, and utterly incapable of forming
any lasting union with each other on account of the
undisguised selfishness which impels each chief
to make himself a separate centre of attrac-
tion. They have bigotry without religion, pride
without independence, individual bravery without
endurance or discipline. Their annals narrate little
but the sar.guinary contests of petty chiefs, diversi-
fied occasionally by episodes narrating the fortunes
of some one adventurer who by dint of being more
unscrupulous, more treacherous, more inflexible, more
bloodthirsty than the rest, managed to secure for a
time a supremacy over his competitors. Until the
whole of the Lebanon shall, under the influence of a
firm government, be reduced to submit to some of
the restraints of civilised life, all hope of its being
useful to the great cause of civilisation must be aban-
doned.

Colonel Churchilrs work, of which the only faults
are that it is too long, and wants arrangement, con-
tains all that is necessary to be known of the gee- I
graphy, the products, the past history, and the pre- "
sent prospects of the Lebanon. The utility of the
book would have been much increased, had the ,
author given us at-we of those personal narratives
which add such a charm to works of this class, and "
for which Colonel Churchill must have been able to I
find abundant materials during his lengthened resi-
dence in the district. This omission, however, does
not disturb the value of the volumes. They
contain the best account we have yet re-
ceived of a country which, from its proxi-
mity to the Oriental States with which we
arc in constant intercourse, and from its peculiar
prominent position as a natural fortress between the
Bastern and Western World, is destined at some
future time to rise into importance. The account of
the religion of the Druses will be read with interest,
sad the history el the Emir Balk Shehaab mei-
bine all thaw elements of romance which WI
each a strange charm to Oriental biography. 'We

could scircely point to a narrative which illustrates
more striktfig;y the peculiar featuree of Oriental
character. and the wonderful vicissitudes of Oriental
life. Despite many traces of the want of literary
skill in the author, " Mount Lebanon" is a valuable
addition to our geographical and historical literature

Life in Sweden, with EMI/8601U is Norway and Dennsark.
By Firma.% BCNItt HY. Hunt and 'Hackett.
The authoress, who plunges in ,ne,lias res without
satisfying any impertinent curiosity as to her posi-
tion or her motives for visiting Scandinavia, is one
of that class of travellers who depend for a cordial
reception from their readers, not upon statistical in-
formation, whick in nine cases out of ten may be
utterly worthless—or on historical allusions, which
must be lost on the generality of readers—or on ar-
tistic criticisms, which are intended to show off the
connoisseurship of the author rather than the quali-
ties of the artist—but on her power of throwing into
strong relief those peculiarities of foreign life which
make the deepest impression on the minds of stran-
gers. There is great tact needed in the selection of
Such incidents as are the most fitted for descriptions
of this kind. They must be chosen not so much from
their actual importance as from their exhibition of
some peculiar feature of national life. The present
work is a clever specimen of its class. The authoress
never misses a lively sketch, and never permits her-
self to indulge in a dull one. Her descriptions of
life in Sweden and Norway are all piquant, and most
of them instructive. The incidents chosen illustrate
Northern life in all its phases, from the cot age to
the palace. It is well calculated to excite in the
English public a desire to visit scenes which have as
yet been exposed to the view of few travellers, but
which will rapidly receive their due share of atten-
tion, owing to the great increase of intercourse
between England and the north, which must result
from the increased means of communication which
are now in process of completion.