The Express.
London, England, 1857-07-18 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY

LITERATURE.

A Jody Holiday in SazoNy, Bohemia, and Silesia.
By Wettca Wu;tr. London: Chapman and
HuthWi a stroeg pair of walking shoes on a strong
pair of legs, a quick •
eye, a cheerful heart, and a
tolerably ready pen, • man ma/ write ea readable
book about a journey from Lon on to Ipswich. It
requires but one thing to give it a flavour—the man
must like his subject. "The Natural History of
B•lbonse," and the " Journey Round my Room," are
examples of what may be done with what the
aupe cial observer calls common-place materials;
and while a certain class of used-up tourists visit
the great works of Nature, and find nothing in
them, publishing " Journals" whose style partakes
of Ecclesiastes and Sir Charles Coldstream ; others,
like the author of the book before no, give a'
pleasing vitality to the picture of a sixth-rate
Baton town; or a touch of nature to a Bohemian
wilderness. We hive met White before, n a
" Londoner's Walk to the Land's End," and wet
ad
no falling off in the present volume. We quote es
we progress. William Palmer seems to have easel
an excitement even in Wiierhurg
But the arch-pothener was the prevailing theme; and
eager invasions on the Incidents or his trial and emcutlem
showed how wile-spread was the excitement he bad occa-
sioned. Even is hill, towns I saw I'rozeta tryett
falser fir sale in tho try/sellers' windows. The Gersansi
however. thought tLeirs the best law, ea it inflicts
imprisonment only, mot not death, in rams where tgport7"on
is not discovered ta the body of the victim ; and they would
by no mama ogres that to hang • villain out of the way,
whether or no, was the preferable alternative. While the
talk wss going on, some ono was sure to tel of what took
places when the news of the execution was tubed from Eng-
land rd.!, is Minya, was the brief yet (metal despatch.
The clerk who received it, by some strange fidelity, read
Palmier ma an abbreviation of :I:dfireerstra, and within en
hour all Germany was staztthl by the news, and bewil-
dered with peculation.. as to the causes wbi.h had induced
the exemplary English nation to get id of their prime mi-
shits, by so annemsry a yeoman. faleterstett hanget !"
@ejaculated one after another. with a chuckle.
The following is an amusing description of a Oer-
man newspaper:
I amused myself diving breakfast with the Ervelirp-
isest r Attuiper, a small quarto newspaper, published sl
Bchnesberg thrice • wax; the price twelve ortipeseeten
(about hileespence) per quarter. Beer and anumeeneate
occupied • large spate among the advertisements ; for every
village and every Wirttehaea is the forte!, of any notoriety,
promised mute or deaths, an Sundays—sometimes both;
end fortunate use the that could announce the military
band. Double Layer beer, • penny the pet, waa offered in
abundance sufficient to satisfy the thirstivet. Stewed meat
and torah sewage' next Friday," is tho inducement held out
by one ambitioue littlealekonse: mut an enterprising refeetioner
&mimes, " la my garden it gives fine weather." And, as the
Death., dirt:eiger shows, they do simile things in the
metropoEr. A coffee-house keeper, "up four stem" sap
" My most honoured sir. I permit myself the freedom to in-
vite you to a cup of coffee next Sunday afternoon al three
o'clock." Certain young men publish their sentiments cis-
awning their hostess, beginning with
nowt. mull now tumble Men
and so on. A fortunate inalend and father thanks Madame
lirantel for the "happy Entoisistrof" of his wife, and pub-
lishes hie wife's maiden name. Parents 111100=1,0 the death
of a child, and invite their friends to "quiet sympathy.' A
stray Berlin parer raakes it clear that a like practice prevails
ha the nyital id Prussia.
A faithful sketch of the invalids at Carlsbad:
A remarkable throng, truly : Some with sec air highly
dignified and aristocratic', but the greater part somewhat
grotesque in appearance. Graceful ladies with those an-
graceful sprawling irmnets not maxentson in Germany.
,
mm, lanky end angular, and short and round, and square sad
awkward, wearing astonishing wide-awakes. Such a variety
of lave, baggy trousers, magnificent waistcoats, end gauzy
gowns, that leek impalpable almost art • cloud ! Here comes
• Polish Jew with manifest signs of having remained nn- I
clean beyond mote tin one evening ; here a Czechish count, !
who leas sot &aprons Lis military paces ; here • apectsclol
professor, with hoots turned up peak-war, and toes turned
badly ; hers a group of Retrieve glittering with jewel-
lery; and lime a mis.cllancow crowd from all the countris
of Dnepr, bat Germans the most nouvrous. Of English
way few. There is nothing cliff or foamed about than; to
sake things pleasant seems to la a tacit understanding, fur
dew has brought them ill to one common level. All are
=basted by the hope of cure, and find therein an inspiration
towards gluey,
But who shall be gay in as hospital, among sallow, hag•
gad faces, sunken oyes, and gb “tly featured? Some you
see who, preyed upon by disease for yearn, have well nigh
that all Guth in the smiler wle: lingers so long at the bottom
of the box; some afilkted by hypechondriosie appear to won-
der that the sun should ether, that others can be heppy while
they theiniabres are so miserable. The lively MEd., and
twanging Imps, and jingling tambourines—the Tyroter
minstrels—the glib conjuror, all fail to bring a lush of joy
hack to their diadem-4 eye; to win for mirth one responsive
thrill. I have never been mere thankfully sensible of the
Moving of robust health, than while strolling un the Wit..
at Carlsbad.

Tho following smacks of Tcnicrs; a Bohemian
tavern interior:
I walked unite the moue, and tried Dee H rya, gat, and
es opening the >a, met whit a rare surprise. The lugs
room woe crowded with some threere%e guests, in. lading •
few soldiers, seated at narrow table* along the sides and
arras the middle, every wan witu hi* tankard of beer before
Win. In nne corner • party ei gijoies played wild and let ely
music, nuking the room oho again with the sounds of 1 -
pole, violin, nod bass, and el, etrifyingthe company with their
trissrd harmonies. Some, unable to contain themselves, chanted
a few bars of the inspiriting tueuture ; Where beat time with
hands or feet, and joined in a whop at the emphatic pae-
esees; end ell the while a gruff outpouring of talk ettieggled
with the bass for the mastery. There wax • c latter of lmives
and forks, • rattling of pewter lids by imyatient tipplers, end
hasty cries for pieces of hyad. And over all hang a cloud of
smoke, rolling broader and deeper duo pugs and awls went
keen tiny pipes.

- - -
Here follows a true but rueful Slavonic picture :
This septet of Nen Brackets, the next village on our way,
rows low we se. gra" Into the heart of the country—the
lead of the Creche. 'A ide streete, which mike the low
wisitewsged hewn look atoll ire: than they ate; • great,
seven owns, patched here and there with ragged gra
busters with rough logs of timber, nrnamented .1 ens side
by s sew sit sciptinsis, intim» looking, es if pining for the
✓isk of was; on the other by a status of St. John Newmark.
Vary Mem I De 'merry 1010111 et children in summer even-
ing gambols ; se lair sr mother. chatting in the cool
lengthening starleses. The only living creatures ere a man,
a woman, and a dog, ell three as tar apart as parbis. The..
I. nothing stirring evenartaind the & zirhmaai or the chards
Blued windows an few ; en opening in the wall, with a
hinged shutter, suffices fur rat of the ILOILO.. And for
door they have a Lig archway cloned Ly heavy warden gates,
looking very inhospitable. Mere end there one of these
sat., standee a little open, and yon may get • peep at the
interior, IL square court, 1111e10P.4 by stable, lam, and dwell-
ing, heaped with manor. and ugly rubleir. No notion
here, you will say, of the lieu,. of things,. Look at the
waggon—a basket on wheel e —the wheelbarrow, the rakes,
huddled away anyhow, as if they were Pr as well in one
pier r smother. Perigee they are. Quaint oil Fuller
says of the Devonshire coder, o, Lie day, .• Veda It is for
any to reach their homes being week beneath the pains of
• rural, sad rove the power of coy conatable."- You
will, perhaps, my the same hens bed: in-doors the same
sloverser remits. The room mad' be just eornfott•
able, or rather uncomfortable, if chairs on' table changed
pleas; if the higgledy-piggi Ay at cue rm.t were chi od to
the other. The condition of rho etten-be ie by an mama un-
impeachable; and repelled by the pervaeng odour, you will
not be less thankful than proud that your lot is not east among
the Czechs.
We conclude our quotations with the following
Silesian sketch:
The road continually Tiers, and by-and-by you cannot tell
the main track from the byeways macaw toe cottages. Still
rending, however, you come out a ..hot distance Ise. r
on the brow of • precipitous hill, where pm are agreeably
surprised by another Salmi= view—breed, rolling hells of
good red land, bearing vetches, clover, ins, and barley, th.•
little town of Schoenberg in their midst, and ulwaye tulle on
the brier. From the Len., a deep kW and a pth through
the lie-wood on the cliffy hill-silo lead you down to the real,
where finger-poets, painted black and white, indicate that we
have exchanged the Anatrian esslo for the Perron. I
roust have cursed the frontier two or three times yenterday
and to-day, but I saw no enrtouplionee anywise», and no
guards ezoept at Grenzbauden.
Other signs showed me on nearing Schoenberg that I had
loft Bohemia. The men ere tall, of 'allow eremple sir, and
angular fare. They wear long dark blue roam and bunt, up
to their knee., and stiff Line era with n Lend elver, and
they tarry pink or blue temWel.W. l 1,10 •01114.4 won, the
same colour, and do not Look attrattire ; and tiler] is an
Y rgoleehe Kircher, In arid' the preaching is of protestant
f-.th and doctrine.
The town has two thousand inhabitants some of whom
dwell hi hoar that are a pleasure to look upon, around the
marks-pare. The gable.—no two alike—are peLutod pals
green, white, grey, or yellow ; and whet with the ornaments,
the broken outlines, and areadea of wood WO brick the
great square makes up a better pinion than is to be seen in
many a freer city. Although ftaday, the mill turned by
the line/arch clacks briskly ; there're Malls of frail, breed,
and toys under the arcades, and by the Ale of two or three
wrognos in the centre a group of Llue-coded men. They
look slate, and talk very quietly, am it they felt the day
were not for work.
Leonora IY Orro. A Historical Romance. By 0.
P. R. ItYlin. London: Newby.
Again the familiar task falls to us of noticing a
novel of the prolific Mr. 0. P. It. James—s man
capable of performing the fast, if he would but
sandertake it, of producing a thousand maccessive
Dayslettaa in a thousand eucvessito boon. This

time we are taken to the sunny south, and treated to
a large slice of early Italian history. Although we
move in an atmosphere of warlike, savage men, and
our lot is cast in stirring times, we are introduced in
person to Leonardo des Vinci, who was probably at
the time painting his masterpiece upon the walls of
the Milanese monastery, for the stupid monks here-
after to cut a door through. We are disappointed
with the conversation of such men as recorded by
novelists ; whether it be Bulwer, James, or even the
writers of " Imaginary Conversations." The picture
is always a fancy sketch, drawn from the author's
brain, and dimly—very dimly—lighted by the lamp
of history and tradition.
Mr. James's descriptions of scenery are always
well written:
- •

That pass was well fitted to efford • scene fur many of the
dram, of thee or these days. There the robber might
lurk perfectly concealed in the dark nooks and crannies of
the rooks, to spring forth upon the unwary traveller when
least peepsreal—there a handful of men might defend the
lower Wing we entry—there. the Pg, happy party might
mem um wild echo of the mammies to their Joyous wage—
wed there the Neat might 'anger for Long hours, studying the
Mites& shales into which the ground hie been thrown. sad
Ines vow the shadowy reossee with tones such as Raw
loved le drew.
Ter wasawbat than two miles the road, which, ewes
In them dap, wee good sad wAbeoneteucted highwey,
pew* between two ranges of rocke. On one side—the left
beak Ong seed—e stream ran by the side of the path,
one tweedy et below its level, but the bank itself could be
may descended to the river, and the stream, though dory in
some was easily to be crossed at ethers, where it
out over fallen rocks and stone*. But what was the
nes of craning It ? On the other side was no path, and
nothing but tall, ragged elide, in some places upright and
flat as if they bad been cut with a knife, in other. swooning
the mod wild and en
forme. Alen was a evangel
grinning face, of gigantic eine, starting forth in stone from
the sarfsee of the Mid ; there a whole statue standing out
from the rocky mass, es if •scutinel guarding the pees; then
would come a castle with towers and keep, ballium, and bar-
bican and all, end yet nought but mere rock, wrought by no
hands but thew of time, eartheurke, and tempeet. But
every here and there, from pinnacle and point, or out of dell
sad cavern, would spring a dark pine or light green ash ;
sod the eight of oven vegetable life would harmuniee the
scene with human thought..
The average width of the bottom of the valley, including
river and road, might be a hundred yards; but there was
ono place, nearly at the middle of the gorge—mb ibly where,
in ages far reauge, before hietury or even tradition begun,
the stream, rushing new-born from the mountain., had
paused in its course to gather strength ere it forced its way
through the rocky barrier opposed to it—in which a little
amphitheatre appeared, the mountains receding on either
hand to let the river make a circuit round a low knoll and
its adjacent meadow, some three hundred yards across. A
clump of treat had gathered together on the top of the little
hillock, the turf wee short end smooth ; the stream, though
still rapid, and fealties at the fallen stones in its way, had
less of the torrent-like turbulence which it displayed where
the pus was narrower; naw sad then, too, it would hips.
into a quiet, deep, unruffled pool, where the many-coloured
reeks and pebbles at the bottom could be seen, glazed and
brightened by its crystal waters; and the white rloudei,
floating over the deep blue Italian sky, would stem to
pause, with curious {denim», in their eight, to look down
for a moment on that fair spot, amid so much stony rug-
gedneas.
We cannot congratulate Mr. Newby upon the
material quality of the book. An old favourite
like Mr. Tames ought to have something a little
better than sugar-paper as a medium of communi-
cating with the public.
Tie Infant Drama. By ROBERT PEMBERTON,
FILS.L. London: Infant Euphonic Institution.
The great problem of education, which has Fizzled
the world for porno centuries, and which has only
recently given rise to a prolonged discussion before
an eminent council, where every theorist had an op-
portunity afforded him of ventilating his theory, not
by the " dry, useless medium of the written book,"
which our authar is so prejudiced against, but by his
favourite organ—the ever-glorious, divine, all-power-
ful, human voice, is here disposed of with delightful
self-complaeeney in the compass of a small octavo
book of alit) pages.
To state our "philosopher's" theory in a few
words—the " infant," front the earliest age, is made
the recipient of a fearful amount of instruction; the
"home " is made the theatre of this introduction,
and the " mother" is made the sole instructor. llis
estimate of the powers of the infant is very high.
Ile states:
First, that infant men he entirely an initatire being of the
highest order—that he is a living inimical instrument, mu-
pseeing all musical ingruments ever invented—that he is a
perfect organ with a natural bellows, of constent motion,
with a musical larynx, and a tongue the most marvellous
—easceptible of million. of variations of sound, and her.
monies, that no Persnini could possibly come up to I
So far there is not much novelty in the idea; but
the peculiarity consists in the manner in which it is
earned out. The infant, when it wakes, is taken
from its cradle, and while the ordinary avocations of
the nursery are proceeded with, it is lectured upon
the different parts of its body,—the things about it,
—a perpetual object lesson is carried on by the un-
flagging instructor, the mother, who night and day
is never to lose the opportunity of improving the
occasion. And that the senses may be equally cul-
tivated with the mind, a self-acting organ is placed
in the nursery, which, at intervals, plays appropriate
music. This theory is set forth in a drama. We
quote a scene:

Per,ilt It.
JOSEPIIIIMeII Apartment in the Gardener's Cottage.
Keening.
Joi.vrittsz and the 11MAXT PRINCE.
(The dock strikes ate; Inszettota takes up the baby.)
J IpierlttNa...-What I is my little angel awake, opening
his beautiful, sweet, blue eyes, looking for his dear Jose-
phine? Coma, this, my hale sweet one, he shall have some
comikel (puts lin le the breast)—(J visit me eaters.)
Jeanargley le 16 get verily the bath ; let the water
bs ealy Jag awl beim ersege,. and a piers of old
Windom =4 sans nowldes well aired, and warm the
towels kir baby; awl be ea quick as you can, dear,
ow lbws a dui to le, so that eveiseminute is procions.
Exit JEANNETTE.
Jraetrem Treaters with things.
Jatearrrr.—llother, here is the bath, just tepid, the
the soap, sad sea Mir-brutal: the towels quite hot,
qmisd% septette rosy wall sired, and the powder-box.
lovertitien.—Thank you, dear, that is all I want. Now,
my sweet baby, I meet take off the pretty nightgown end
nightrip, and put baby in the bath. (Josephine washes the
loiryoawl tells Jeannette to turn the organ, which plays
“Orssw Owen," the national Irish air ; takes the baby out
of the lath, and dries It very tender)y, talking to it so feat
as ohs or upon the different parte of its body, quite in the
Lamp of endearment, and counts all its toes and fingers
in the email nursery way.) Jeannette dear, take away all
the bath eppuatne. rinse out the bath, end put it by care-
fully ; pot everything bark in its place, and hang the wet
towels to dry, and pat the wet napkins in a pail of water,
and then coma back Immediately.
[Exit Jciltirgren.

J see rri r re-enters.
Give are baby's clothes new, Jeannette deer; you can
band them to me as I want them. We mist first put on the
roller or bandage, to support the bark and protect the um-
bilical cord; next, kb little linen shirt.
After the physical necessitice of the infant arc
cared for, whith we are happy Lo ace that the phi-
losopher it, his system dots not neglect, a httic
agreeable recreation is provided for the young pupil,
aged fourteen months, by the mother troting long
pr., ages from no such puerile absurdities as " Cock
Robin " or " Jack and Gill," but from no less a work
than Pope's translation of Homer.
M tRY.—Why, sanely yea don't mean to read poetry of
that difficult nature to a baby
Jos FPI! INP.—Yett, indeed, I do; the philosopher says it
makes no oiiirerence whet 14111[11114011 Or what kind of poetry
you repeat ; one is just Sc ready imbibe:lea the other. 't here-
fore you may just as well read the best as the worst
poetry. Both wience and literature come under the head of
language, and all haywire* are just the seine to a baby; it
imbibes any nee, or all of them, with wmal facility.
%RT.—Welk I we now, clear enough, that the Euphe-
nic syetere will do wonders, as it appears, from your explana-
tions, that philosophy has thoroughly developed its power
and moose.
Although we do not consider that our amiable
enthusiast has quite attained the solution of the
greatproblem of infant education, wo are bound to
say that there are many remarks and suggestions
of coosiderable value scattered through the volume;
but while he advocates his " system." in the form
and manner he has choeen, we fear that it will
alwoys encounter some such reception, as, with
delightful simplicity, ho describes it to have met
with at a public meeting.
Anil the author of this new discovery even went so far ea
to enneutee to the awendAy, that he was ready to show and
die set the natural apace, of leeching foreign languages '
infant andienson„ reviled the miserably would subscribe the
insane to telabliat the new institution. This seemed to take
them quite by eurpriee; but after a short silence, there sass
• genorel whiepering conversation, and the member* of the
seeembly began to ',nip together In small putts., and then
left the meeting. party after party, till there were bat few
remetning; and then the prewident perceived that he could
not put the author's proveiltion to the vote, ea there was not
a sufficient number of members left to repeated the en-
semble, ei that the proposition fell to the ground. Bat the
few who remained, seemed to take greet Wendt In the pre-
positive made to the assembly by the anther el this newly-

ay/OmA pbil 0000, mien illy in that gni of it Mating
to the nottual w at trains forvign laninous to
&Adm. - -

Messrs. Chapman and Hall have just issued a
cheap edition of Mr. Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book,
in which,under the non' de plume of M. A. Titmarsh,
&c., he first inoculated the reading public with
a love for that quiet observant humour and trenchant
satire which have since been so appreciated by
them. During the fifteen years that have elapsed
since the publication of the book, the aspect of the
country has entirely changed, and the traveller of
the present day would look in vain for the proto-
types of most of the writer's characters; but the
genius of the author is as brilliant as ever, and
stands out in bold relief among the heap of dull
journals and books of travel with which wo now
are inundated.