The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-15 00:00:00

LzrivA4t:VD-4'.

Nature and human Nature. 2 vols. BV the
author of " Sam Slick, the Clockmaker." Hurst
and Blackett.
The introduction to the present work is nothing
less than the account of a conversation between
Judge Halliburton, the Squire of Halifaxjand his
old friend Sam Slick, the clockmaker of Connecti-
cut. As Sam himself calls it, " a dish of chat."
As any less genuine Yankee might say, a regular
comfoozle, one in -Which the principal interlocutor
pays out his yarny talk in sections or instalments—
though, when he comes to only the second of these,
he cries out encouragingly to the Squire, "Now,
don't go off at a half-cock, nervous like : I am not
like the black preacher that had forty-eleven divi-
sions !" At the outset of the first of these two
volumes, at the beginning of the first chapter (en-
titled " A. Surprise"), " Thinks I to myself,"
thinks the Squire, " that can be no one else than
Sam Slick, the clockmaker." Neither is the
merry-eyed eaves-dropser mistaken, for no- sooner
has the stranger outside inquired of the servant
whether his master is in—declining to give his own
name on the plea that it is such an everlastiu' leng
one (adding "I don't think you could carry it in
all to wunst, and I don't want it broke in two,")
than he is overheard calling out, in unmistakeable
lingo, to the " help," " Come, don't stand starin'
there in the track—you might get run over. Don't
you hear the engine coming ? Shunt off now !"
and the like. Happily, there is no mistake at all
about it. We don't need to " ask about and find
Out" whether it be the Mr. Slick in propria per-
sonce—the veritable Simon Pure stands before us,
actually, bodily, substantially, grasping us, the
reader, fairly by the hand—or, what is much the
hsaomst in e,ouhrimbosseif_wi
ttheaXhor—one really and truly a
de-
lightful, inexhaustible, incorrigiblewittyge nia ,
Mr. quaint,
JusticeHalliburton.
The preliminary pages of this new production of
the eccentric genius of the Clockmaker, entreat us
rather earnestly not to confuse in our own minds,
blending the two into a sort of Siamese-identity,
—Sam Slick and Judge Halliburton. Just as before
now the public has been told not to associate Byron
too intimately with his Laras, and Conrads, and
Childe Harold, or to identify Bulwor now with Pel-
ham, and now again with Ernest Maltravers. Well
—we try, obediently and complacently enough in
the present instance—but we can't for the life of us
dissociate a quality which has come long sines to
be, like the old French revolution—one and
indivisible. We inevitably and instantly re-
cognise Beverley in Captain Absolute, what-
ever Mrs. Malaprop may say to the contrary,
nevertheless, notwithstanding. Howbeit, we waive
the matter for once, though° under protest, and,
in compliance with our author's entreaty, accept
the book composedly as not his own but another's,
as a work edited by him, not written under his
own hand, or at his own dictation. We endeavour,
therefore, as much as possible, to forget the judi-
cial Squire Halliburton, and to remember only his
queer, old, fantastic intimate Sam Slick, the clock-
maker, of Slickville, down in Connecticut.
Several years have gone by since be first ap-
peared before us—with those grotesque creases
about his mouth and that odd twinkle in his eye.
How he has made us laugh since then—as Lord
Foppington might say, " Stale my vitals, con-
sdmedly !" As he himself would express A—
llow lie has set us and the crowd off " a tee bee-
fing ! What with his " Sayings and Doings," his
"Wise Saws and Modern Instances," his "Rule
and Misrule," his " Traits of American Humour,"
his " Byeways, BackwoOds, and Prairies," and,
above all, his earliest and richest drolleries iu the
original account of himself, and his opinions as the
genuine Slickville clockmaker—we might fain
imagine the rogue had left not another shale of a
laugh in our diaphragm. That it is not so, how-
ever, we have here before us ample proof in vo-
lumes not one jot less truly than the liveliest of
their predecessors, both hearty and humorous.
As such we proclaim them to be without a mo-
ment's hesitation. Yet, the popular applause of
Sam Slick must by no means be accepted as par-
taking of the decorous "Hear, hear," of the
House of Commons—rather, let us say, of the
sounds that welcomed the sallies of Yorick at the
royal table of Denmark—not occasional cheers and
plaudits, but prolonged, prevailing, and sometimes
boisterous guffaws, and uproarious cachinations.
Sam's tutelary deity, we take it, can be no other
than Momus. His heraldric device (we say it in
compliment, not derision) might be best expressed
by a grin through a horse-collar. His aptest
motto that gay Miltonian couplet :
"Sport that wrinkled care derides,
And laughter holding both his sides ! "
Not less than any one of his best-going pendu-
lums, Sam Slick is—a Wag.
He appears before us now, not a doit diminished
in his store of fun, in his wealth of blithe wisdom,
iu his superabundant possession of all the worthier
resources of merriment. Ho opens his well-stocked
ierip-of-frolic as of old, and with an open hand
icatters jokes like largess over the heads of the
multitude. And, reading his jotting B-down, let us
acknowledge it at once, has about it all the exhila-
ration of a scramble. Look at the Yankee-jester
is he comes before us anew—bent on handing the
latest pages of his diary to his Nova Scotian ac-
quaintance Squire, or Justice Halliburton. Sain,
we are informed by the latter, has " worn well,"
his step being " as elastic and springy as ever."
Nay, we readily enough recognise all this ourselves.
We observe that " the lines in his face are some-
what deeper"—the supplementary crowsfeet im-
parting, moreover, a merrier sparkle, if possible,
than ever to his glance—aml that " a few straggling
grey hairs" are the only other traces left by Time,
the scanty siftings of the frosts of the earlier
autumn of life sprinkled seasonably in preparation
for the severer winter of age. Mr. Slick's manner
way have improved somewhat by his intercourse
with the great world—yet we are rejoiced to remark
that his conversation has lost none of its more de-
lightful peculiarities of phraseology. We don't
feel in the least astonished when the Squire tells
us confidentially that his old friend enlivened the
dinner chat with anecdotes that were often too
much for the gravity of the servant, " who once or
twice left the room to avoid explosive outbreaks of
laughter." Sam, as a practical joker, is evidently
incurable. Witness his preposterous story about
the bushwackers of Causeau, and their eight hun-
dred hackmetacks ! The Clockmaker has evidently
clinched more firmly than ever some of his more
home-driven prejudices. He insists on the Squire
retaining all the scores in his Diary—the faithful
concession to which demand is evidenced by the
plentiful scattering of italicised passages in the
letterpress. " No—no," quoth Sam, when he is
arguing the point with his editor, "put them Italics
in—they show there is truth at the bottom—l like
it, for it's what I call sense on the short-cards."
And accordingly the Italics aro retained, in spite
of their looking, as Mr. Slick himself acknowledges
that they do look—" consaited." The consequence
of which is, we detect in these two volumes alone—
let us say it—scores of scores ! Even Sam can't
with any decency quarrel with the pun by reason
of its transparency, remembering as we do his pert
little jest about Baron Lionel Rothschild—" Droll
boy Rothey, for though he comes from the land of
ffam he don't eat pork." Let it not be overlooked
by the way that the editerial Nova Scotian is
coaxed into compliance with Sam Slick's
wishes about italicising and the like by a little
flattery, or as we should say in the more familiar
vernacular—just the merest spice of flummery.
" Ali Slick," says the Squire cunningly, " how
skilled you are in soft sawder I" " Dod drot that
word soft sawder," cries Sam, " I wish I had never
invented it." However he contrives to palaver the
Squire into obedience, palaver him he does effec-
tually both in reference to his pet italics and
in regard to his favourite outbursts of Brag,
the genuine Brag of Yankeedoodledum ! Anent
which subject, that is to say in the aforesaid
matter of brag, thus saith the Clockmaker :
" There are two kinds of boastin', Squire, active
and passive. The former belongs exclusively to my
countrymen, and the latter to the British. A Yan-
kee openly asserts and loudly proclaims his supe-
riority. John Bull feels and looks it. He don't
give utterance to this conviction. He takes it for
granted all the world knows and admits it, and he
is so thoroughly persuaded of it himself, that, to
use his own favourite phrase, lie don't care a fig if
folks don't admit it. His vanity, therefore, has a
sublimity in it. He thinks, as the Italians say,
that when Nature formed him she broke the
mould.' There never was, never can, never will
be another like him. His boastin', therefore, is
passive. Ho shows it, and acts it ; but he don't
proclaim it. He condescends and is gracious, pa-
tronises and talks down to you. Let my boaetin'
:done, therefore, Squire, if you please." And we
have it consequently, and that moreover in abund-
ance. Brag—scores—do w 'least talk—sat i re—‘e i t—
humour—ridiculousness : Sam Slick is still SAM
Slick to the last, down to the very end of the chap-
ter—and as such, not in epite of all this, but because
of all this, by reason of his prejudices as well as by
reason of his fun, lie retains full ceminand of our
applause, of our laughter, and of our admiration.
Opening the first volume of "Nature and Human
Nature," or as we wonder the work was not more
correctly designated both on the title-page and
throw advertisement, " Natur' and Human
Natue "—watch the rogue (p. 61) " unlocking
(p. 89) depicting " a crit-
ter woman'swit heart e at
iritca;i"s
aslele hid
virtues and
d thato n e"
vicenew ahye hear
him
learn Gaelic
him (p. 122
) describing
y -" or at another moment (p. 201) be-
tt
• inrirltl to us
coming the celebrant of "fiddling, and dauciug

1044 fistt4a 44• • lOW Vil• 44* • • ;•TitPL44. *
button-hole," and now again 26.4) giving
us the "plural of moose." Turning over the
second volume, have we not equal cause for
" stripping ivory" over the Yankee yarns of the
Slickville Clockmaker? Whether by deputy or not,
ho is (p. 169) " holding up the mirror," or (p. 206)
"belaying the bundle of sticks," whether ho is (p.
259) making lunar observations, that is to say,
commenting on " the honeymoon," or serving up,
duly spiced to the palate of his readers (p. 290), a.
wonderful " dish of clams," or, finally, whether the
said reader peers with him (p. 322) into the " De-
vil's Hole," or paddles with him (p. 347) across the
" Cucumber Lake." Doubtless just to tickle our
zest for these descriptions, more provokingly than
could well be done otherwise, Sam Slick threatens
us with the half declaration that the present is pro.
bably his last appearance. We don't believe it ;
or, shall we say more candidly, we won't believe
it. The assurance is too unpalatable to be swal-
lowed without a wry face. Besides, we have heard
the same tale so often from - others, and ha 'e iu
many an instance rejoiced to see it falsified by th 3
future triumphantly. Did not Sir Edward threateu
us in like manner when he recounted, with that g -r-
-geous and many-tinted crayon of his, the history of
the "Last of the Barons," telling us that it was,
in all likelihood, the last of his romances ? And
has he not, thanks to his genius, his industry, and
veritably, let us add, too, his comprehensive bere•
volence—has he not since then giv:,n to the world
his weird "Lucretia," his epic " Harold," his ex-
quisite " Caxtons," and that novel of novels, "My
Novel," rarest and noblest among his many and
varied masterpieces. Not that we would quite
predict a future like this to Sam Slick the Clock.
maker. No—but that in the threat held forth in.
terrorein by Sam, we are fain to recognise only the
sheet and the scooped turnip of a mereMake-Believe
Goblin of Disfavour. Besides, Sam himself, at tile
very moment of starting, lets out his project of
making the tour of the States some of these days
with his friend the Squire—to what end we should
like to know if not for the production of another
outpouring of the italics of Slickville, the down east
talk of Connecticut, and the unmistakeable brag of
Yankeedoodledum ? So be it. The sooner the
hypothetical work is set about in real earnest, the
better for Sam Slick's readers—more especially now
that their appetites have been so effectually whetted
Anew by the zest, flavour, and piquancy imparted
by the ripening
warmth of our author's humour to
this latest, an'd not least, succulent fruit of his
geieius—"Natur', and Human Natur'."

Association for Promoting Improvement in the
Dwellings and Domestic Condition of Agricul-
tural Labourers in Scotland.

The directors of this newly-formed association
have issued their first annual report; from which
we gather that the association is in a good working
condition, having a fair balance in hand, and being
supported by a number of the most influential
Scottish landowners, as well as by many indivi-
duals distinguished for philanthropy.
The objects of the association are such as cannot
fail to commend it to the good wishes of the pub-
lic ; and the statement made in the regulations,
" that, in order to be really useful, the association
must be practical, not speculative ; cautious, not
obtrusive, tends to inspire confidence in the ma-
nagement, and well-founded hope of these most
important objects being duly promoted. The first
step taken, viz., the establishment of a central office
in Edinburgh, where plans and specifications, me•
dels and specimens of fittings for cottages, are to be
deposited for inspection, and where applications
mad• be made by members desiring information or
advice in regard to either the erection or the im-
provement of the dwellings for their labourers,
appears to us a very judicious one, and, coupled
with the engagement of an active secretary and an
intelligent architect, speaks well for the business
talents of the directors. The want of more than
one sleeping apartment in cottages—that crying
evil—is met, we are happy to peiceive, by a funda-
mental rule of the association. A few practical
hints on cottage-building, with engraved plates,
and a generl.l specification—by W. Jowler, the so-
ciety's architect—are appended to the report, to
both of which we invite the attention of all in-
terested in the moral and social elevation of the
Scottish agricultural labourer.

The Bulgarian, the TitYk, and' the German.. By
A. A. Paton. Longman, Brown, Green, and
Long-man.

A.readable little book of travelling adventure,
intended as a sequel to " Servia, the Youngest
Member of the European Family," by the same
author. Mr. Paton regards Austria and Turkey
as the two local counterpoises to Russian ambition,
and considers it to be "as clear as daylight" that
all other substitutes such as the re-establishment of
Poland by Polish emigration, a Byzantine Empire,
arc., arc bubble schemes—nay, more pro-Russian,
because anti-Turkish and anti Austrian. It is
further his opinion that Hungary has nothing good
to hope from Kossuth, and that Lord Aberdeen
was as thoroughly British a minister as ever sat in
our Cabinet. It is impossible to deny Mr. Paton
the posse:;sion of dramatic power, and a capacity
for lively chit-chat,

The Unspcakab'c. Clarke and Beeton.
An attempt to pronounce on " The Unspeakable"
can hardly titil to suggest at the first blush the no-
tion either of compliance with a rigorous exaction,
or the performance of a Samaritan-like act of
charity. Neither of these notions, however, is
warranted, in the present instance, by facts—
" The Unspeakable" presenting no difficulty to the
reviewer. It is a clever narrative—just shcrt of an
autobiography, we are told—of the life and adveu-
' tures of a stammerer, and how the hero acquired
the habit of stammering, what scrapes he got into
through it; who and what he applied to to be freed
from it, and to whom ho was indebted for a cure,
we do not feel called upon, in common fairness, to
state. Suffice it to say, the story is romantic,
many of the incidents aro very amusing, and a few
almost tragic, while the inevitable inference to be
deducted is as consolatory to stammerers as the
experience of " The Unspeakable" in search of a
cure is valuable and instructive.

Railway Collisions Prevented. By Alfred Ogan.

G. J. Pope.
This pamphlet contains an account of the rise
and progress of steam power and of railways ; of
the causes of accidents upon railways ; and of the
plan of magnetic railway signals, the invention of
Mr. Tyers, by means of which it is found by expe-
rience collisions may effectually be prevented. It
is dedicated to Captain R. H. Barlow, the general
manager of the South-Eastern Railway, to whose
penetration and practical knowledge the applica-
tion of the ordinary electric telegraph to record the
transit of a train is due, and who has always shown
a laudable anxiety to protect the lives and persons
of passengers, and the property of the company.
Journal of the Statistical Society of London. John
___....

William Parker.

The March part of this journal conveys, like its
predecessors, a large amount of valuable informa-
tion on subjects of considerable importance.

The Journal of Agriculture. William Blackwood
and Sons.
This periodical fully maintains its high character
as an agricultural journal. Not the least interest-
ing and valuable portion of its contents are "The
Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland."

The .Military Forces and Institutions of Great
Britain and Ireland. By Byerly Thomson, Esq.
Smith, Elder, and Co.
A work interesting to the non-professional, as
well as the professional, reader, and especially so
at the present time. It presents a comprehensive
and succinct account "of all matters relating to the
military and civil constitution, administration, and.
government of the military services of Great Bri-
tain ; and, also, of the laws relating to the army,
the marines, the militia, and the various corps of
volunteers."

11iy Life ; oi, the Autobiograhpy of a-Village Curate.
By Eliza R. Rowe. Henry Vizetelly.
An interesting record, in an autobiographical
form, of the life of a zealous and learned village
parson, under whose roof the author pleasantly and
profitably passed a
portion of her early years.
Maephair s Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal
aaiLtd
Literary Review. Edinburgh : Miles
14"1
to
An average specimen of the class
aserialswhich it
sense,on
cbhealorancgtse.riAseldllonbyg contentstsshcroe
shrewd
o iodsf
:dug of the War."
the " inquiry regarding the
for 1855. By Dr.
The _Historical Pocket Annual

ladtsl:Cisot.isioortsewill b
quency
readily appreciated by all who take an interest irei
The valueßoefnigt eceo.:FT:
,i rit,iit'litevi
lon.
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‘rvoaotrr.
notable
persons,
he duringtolliee
ogfell'i'i‘trtaulr:litt-tsotil.'irou,?;liout thewNiviirili
't.i.here tire The most
noticeable occurrences of a public nature
fast year are set down, besides
an account of the
ab-
stracts of impcnantState papers,
war, and an obituary of 'rotaforming a desirable
o'Byritc's Naar/ A •
stop::::::lat'ic tt.10?•,. 1855. Piper,
and official lists, 11, arid Spence.
a Diurnal
A salt water book, comprehensive, and every-
thing in it to the purpose. Apart from its a' manse
in which
the character of
Naval Directory, we have a chronology,
of the last war,
and an important feature of the gazetted naval
de ipatelies of the past year (in full); to which are
added " memoirs', of our Admirals and Captains,
and a narrative of "The gallant exploits of the
British navy during the past year.,,