The Express.
London, England, 1858-03-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
Algiers in 1857. B the Rev. E. W. L. Devise,
M.A.London: Loogmanc
Byron has familiarised us with what be termed
" a good old gentlemanly vice." In these latter days
we are fast becoming acquainted with sections of
society in a state of what may be described as
gentlemanly indisposition. In day. gone by the
interesting creatures assembled to dance and drink
the waters—and talk scandal at Bath; now they go
forth to the uttermost parts of the earth, not to visit
scenes renowned in ancient story, nor to worship
where genius has won its trophies, where science has
wrestled, where devotion has taught humanity to
believe and live ; but to prolong existences of
very little consequence to the world. Perhaps they
are not to be blamed. Every one says health is a
blessing, and what every one says must be true. But
a great deal may be seriously urged in favour of a
mild form of chronic disease. All at once you be-
, oome an object of interest to your Mends, and are
free, not merely from the claims of duty, bat from
the irksome conventionalirms of daily life. As an
invalid you may retire at a reasonable hour to rest,
stop at home when the wind is in the east, dine or
ti /in the middle of the day off boiled mutton, when
the toadies around you are catching cold and
heaping up indigestion and headache for a
future day. Tour true invalid is generally
a confirmed long liver. The strong man
flourishes as the bay-tree; but he over-exerts
his body or brain, lives fast, and vanishes, while the
sensitive invalid, coddling bis wretched carcase in
some sequestered region, leads a serene existence,
like the gods in Olympus—
Looking over wasted lands,
Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deep, and
fiery sends,
and dies at a ripe old age. The last discovery of the
invalid is that Algiers is the place for him. "It
is," writes Mr. Davies, who does not appear to have
been an invalid, for we find him bair-hunting,
picking off quail, and then snipe-shooting
in marshes, " cruelly hot and miasmatic '
" a land of promise wherein it would appoar that
the heat of summer is not excessive, and the bitter-
ness of winter is altogether unknown." Accordingly
he winters there, and in the little volume before us
we have his Algerian experience... " Algiers (he
tells as) hasa population of 70,000, its markets are
well supplied, and its streets are kept beautifully
clean. The scenery around is picturesque, and the
abstemious Moors, who are not black as Shakspere
represents, carry burdens the very sight of which
would astonish the nerves of our London drayme..
The French have made good roads, and there are
also omnibuses well horsed waiting to convey the
excursionist wherever he will. The society is
varied. There is scarce a night in the week in
which there is not some ball or exhibition; and
that on such occasions the company are very jolly,
I. clear from the following anecdote of

1111 DAUXTLZII3.
The Prefect's parties were admitted on all sides to be par-
ticularly agreeable. A ball at the Prefecture happened to be
given just when her Majesty's ship the Denzil& touched at
Algiers . the captain and Akers received a prompt invite-
**, and in honour of the British flag, the Lancers wee the
popular dance of the night, while champagne flowed in
streams, sad nearly carried a lively midshipman his lege.
A French gentleman present, wham head of hair was un-
usually rough and grand, would have helped the younrt
si or even to more wine ; but he wisely declined, and
patting the other on the back, said, " If I took it from any
ow, ofd fellow, it would be from you, for I never saw any
one Ware so like the British lion." The French are fond of
“plementry" and the remark, although somewhat personal,
has &elderly applicable, created mane& entertainment.

A strange medley jostle each other in the streets.
On one occasion Mr. Davies saw in an omnibus " A
Turk, an Englishman, two officers of the Chasseurs
d'Afrique, and an ex-Bedchamber Lady to one of the
Queens of England." As a further illustration let no
take a glance at

Till PLACS ROYAL.

• am seed not be as artist to enjoy the scene living and
esoving ea the Place Royale ; figures as varying and new to
Minim those of a kaleidoetope are presented to his delighted
FBI whichever way he turns it. The picture le a perpetual
root to the eye ; men of all countries meet here at all hours
of ths day, clad in every imaginable costume, from the garb
of Old Gaul to that of the Fauboorg Sr. Honore, from the
baryons of the Sahara to the cocked-hat and epaulets of
martial Fence. Here may be seen grand Turks whose
heeds ant earraolusted by turbans as booed as their shoulders ;
Matte er Mahoosetan judges buried in the endless folds of
their white bad-gear, which, from its evenness and preci-
oda., resembles a mighty cotton-ball wrought and wound in
Manclusease; the Mestizos Jew in his purple and gold suit,
with palest-leather high-heeled shoes, white stockings to the
knee, and ea amber-headed cane in hie hand, of all coxcombs
the gnaws ; princes of the land, with hewers of wood and
drawers of water ; French lathes in the last full fashion of
the Per Wen season ; names= in a cotton wrap of scrimpy
dimensions, with unclad piousinies slung and pouched like
young 'possums at their back; and, lastly, fair rdauresque
enveloped In snowy attire, who, were it not fur the beautiful
ere wham sparkle cannot be veiled, might be mistaken for
Oseht passing to and fro silently and mysteriously among
the human crowd, but taking no part in its affairs.
Amid this motley group you seat yourself under the shade
of an orange tree, and • venerable Moor, whose beard and
benign c^untenance might aptly repreeent that of Father
Ahraluim, and whose garb is that of Dives himself, places
himself by you side, tucks up his legs, and in the enjoyment
ef a pips, scab to forget the hardships of his fallen nos.
The -•-rah of the desert and the Kabyle of the mountains are
lying at full length iin the ground within • few yards of you,
end display • set of limbs worthy of Hercules himself. Sod-
denly • sound strikes on the ear which attracts their earnest
Mention ; the Arab and the Kabyle spring to their legs, and
the Moor, lowering his pipe, blows out •UN whiff in defer-
ence to the call. It is the cry of the Muezzin summoning
the %hided to prayer ; and if ever a Massalman is roused
Imelda habitual Wham, it is to obey the law of his Pro-
phet—be weave in haste and hurries to the mosque. Five
times during the night and day the Human mount the
minarets, and in a loud sonorous tone proclaim the hour of
prayer. Men of strong lungs are selected for the ofßce, and
far and wide over the city is the sound heard, like that of a
tenor bell—

" Swinging slow with anima roar,
Over some wide-watered shore."

Mr. Davies says the Arabs are devoted to horse-
racing. They are being civilised by means of the
Artesian wells the French government has dug, and
by means of schools for boys and girls. "Already,"
we read, " the force of example ts doing its work,
both in civilising and demoralising the females." As
a colony we regret to find Algiers is not very flourish-
Mr. Davies censures the cruel warfare carried on
with the Babyles. The only fault we find with
the book is the favourable manner in which Mr.
Davies—a vicar and • rural dean in • Protes-
tant church—speaks of the Trappists, men who
neither talk, nor read, nor act, but simply vege-
tate. Our idea of religion is, that it is of
little avail if it must flee the world the Teacher
came down to elevate and bless. The piety
that ripens in the convent is not the piety which
will save mankind. In his Table Talk Luther says :
" Macarius, Antony, Benedict have all wronged in a
remarkable degree the Church of which they were
members, by their monkery, and I consider that
they will be placed in Heaven many degrees below
the man wko has been a good citizen—the father of
a family, of pious life, and fearing God." On the
contrary, Mr. Davies cannot extol the Trappists too
highly. After seeing them at prayer, he writes :
" We pray for abstraction in prayer like that of
the monks of St. Aoutli." Again he writes that
"Theirs was the peace that pesseth all understand-
ing." At the best the monk is but a coward, and
we protest against his elevation into • hero. Again,
Mr. Davies visits the cemetery. With delight he
tells us—" Here are no epitaphs—no costly sculp-
ture to record the great deeds of the dead." Is it not
but too clear that the men who skulk away from the
world, and bury themselves in silence like the
Trappists, are not the men to do great deeds ? Costly
sculpture and monumental bran are not for such.
It is with regret we find Mr. Davies—we write not
as Protestants, but as men of the world—sanctioning

such a system, a system utterly at variance, not
merely with pure and undefiled religion, but with
the dictates of common sense.

CInTiL PALACI. HAIJ-CROWN DAT.
'AMMAR, MARCH 20.—Admissiosa OD perDNA, 921 ditio
by moss lai% 2,313 total rimiton, 3,234.