The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-29 00:00:00

ENGLAND IN EARLY DAYS.

The mind finds it difficult to realize the idea that a coun-
try so well tilled and drained as England, and subjected to
the plough as far back as authentic history goes, was once
a steaming morass covered with tha rank tropical vegeta-
tion of the tree-fern groves, its awful silence broken only by
the hum of the shardy beetle, the rush of the hideous flying
lizards through lofty woods of ferns and meth', or tho tramp
of the giant iguanodons over the plushy wolds. Imagina-
tion left to itself could scarcely have indulged in so wild a
light as to picture an era when palm-trees waved in Kent
and Hampshire, and the plains of Cumnor were the coral
reefs of some primwval lagoon ; when the tiger and hyaena
lurked in the thickets of Kirkdale and the trumpeting of
the great northern elephant was heard on the moors of
Yorkshire and the downs of Brighton ; when the nautilus
spread its sail to the breeze or plied its busy oars in the
waters of the Effra; while the bison fed on Cromer plains,
and the sullen river-horse and rhinoceros browsed by the
Thames and the Avon, or lay down to die by the Oise and
the Aire.

Yet all these things were. The hammer of the geologist
has conjured up many a pioture of the farthest eld far more
weird and wondrous than ever was fabled, and though of
times far beyond the ken of history, yet supported on proofs
for which we vainly hunt in tradition. The historian only
seeks to trace back the annals of our island to the days
when it was first peopled by painted savages, living in wig-
wams like the red Indian or beaver, and hunting with the
rude bow and flint-headed arrow; the geologist recalls the
times when it was the home of the dragon, the turtle, and
the iguanodon.

From the revelations of Geology we pass on to the
eonsideration of the Races of Man, and on this sub-
ject Mr. Milton affirms that a mixed race can never
endure, that in process of time the original stock
predominates. In a kindred spirit Mr. Disraeli,
when eloquently dilating upon the greatness of the
Caucasian race, remarked that "other inferior races
fall by that law of Nature which is fital to ours."
Mr. Milton declares that "the Englishman is not
the Saxon, he lived here ages before the Saxon was
known." Very interesting is the concluding por-
tion of this book where the individual man becomes
the subject of our study. In the chapter on men of
genius, the writer distinctly contradicts the theory
that

" Great wit to madness nearly is allied."

On the contrary, he affirms that it is " weak-miuded
people who generally go mad." With regard to
men of genius, he observes, " the temple of the soul
may be a little strained and wrung, but it is made
of first rate material. The partition between wit
and craziness may be thin, but it is as strong for
all practical purposes as sevenfold brass." Physical
as well as intellectual giants also comes under our
scrutiny;and we read among other curious anecdotes,
a record of Mr. Bright of Maldon, a greater man
than Daniel Lambert himself, for, in the said Mr.
Bright'a waistcoat, five men of ordinary size were
buttoned without straining a stitch 1 Appalling
although the title-page unquestionably is Mr.
Milton's book is full of interest and anecdote. It
is also full of information on themes more important
than the giants above-mentioned,

Garibaldi and Italian Unity. By Lieut.-Colonel
Chambers. One Vol., pp. 328. Smith, Elder,

and Co.

Garibaldi being a subject of peculiar interest at
the present moment, Colonel Chambers' work is
certainly well timed. Believing, "from informa-
tion obtained during a residence in Italy, that there
was much unknown respecting General Garibaldi,
particularly with regard to the part ho took in the
transactions that led to the disastrous affair of As-
promonto," the writer of this volume has endeav-
oured to give an account of Garibaldi's doings be-
tween the aiming of 1859 and the close of 1863.
"No previous history comes down later than the
early part of the year 1861." Some portion of the
contents of this volume have already appeared in
the public press, but they are here accompanied by
other anecdotes and rumours, with which Colonel
Chambers has become acquainted in his repeated
travels on the Conticeut.