The Express.
London, England, 1859-10-29 00:00:00

LI TERA 7 ÜBE.

Miscellanies by Charles RiNgsky, Bettor of Brersky.

J.- W. Parker and Son.

- .
The practice of collecting magazine mays and
reviews and republishing them in volumes has of
late reached a height to excite the animadver-
sion of those whose opinion is not to be despised.
We much doubt, however, whether even the
highest interests of literature, in the name of which
these censures are issued, are really harmed by the
usage in question. The objection is made without suffi-
cient consideration of the high quality of the articles
which appear in the best periodicals of the present day.
It is assumed too hastily that what appears in a
periodical is hastily written, and must be worth
little. But the contrary is the fact, and these two
volumes of . Miscellanies," reprinted chiefly from
Fraser's Magazine and the North British Beoisw,
are among the many proofs of it. They are the
fruits of serious industry, presented with all the
attractions of a finished style, and we do not under-
stand the literary economy which would hinder
their republication in a convenient and elegant form
when so much that is inferior is eagerly accepted by
this reading generation. At any rate it is certain
that no mere theoretic objections will be allowed to
stand for a moment between the public and such
essays es thew where the press is free. The " Mis-
aellanies7 represent all that is most characteristic in
IF the Wri of their gifted author—the poetic intui-
tion, ann ' g pasaion, large, deep human sympa-
thies, an the courageous truthful which the
name of Charles Kingsley ever recalls.

The Octavo Nature-Printed Brigid* Ferns. By
THOMAS Moolut,F.L.B. Nature-printed by Henry
Bradbury. Vol. I. Bradbury and Evans.
The value of the invention of nature-printing as •
means of producing representations or more than
photographic accuracy has been so fully and uni-
versally acknowledged that no more remains to be
said in its praise. Ferns are plants which, owing
to their complicated forms and delicate organisations,
baffle the artist who strives to represent them pic-
tonally, while the nicety of their distinctions renders
accuracy of pictorial representation especially impor-
tant. The folio edition of the "Nature-printed
Ferns" is well known : in the preface to this octavo
edition we are told that "The present work has been
prepared with a view of showing by unmistakeable
evidence the differences which really exist among the
ferns of Great Britain and Ireland. These beautiful
plants have of late years attracted so much attention,
and are now so universally cultivated, that it was
I deemed meet desirable to establish upon solid
grounds the true value of their characteristic marks
—a result which it is hopeless to expect from mere
descriptions and imperfect engravings." There are
fifty-one coloured plates in this first volume, each
preventing a delineation of a fern, pleasing the eye
by its grace, and surpassing the hopes of the natu-
ralist by its minute accuracy. The accompanying
text is adapted to the wants both of the popular and
scientific reader ; and the volume is at once an orna-
ment to the drawing-room and an apparatus for the
study.