The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-28 00:00:00

LIZ ERA7'URE.

I The Young Wife's Guide.
A very excellent little treatise, try Dr. Henry
Ddvit,a, and published by Bohn.
it is a vads- mecum that should be in the nursery of
every married lady. We are convinced that if the
very vimple and plain advice therein given was more
generally adopted, the medical adviser might be kept
out of the house altogether. Reading it over, we
have come to the conclusion, that if every one acts up
to the principles of the book, there will be very little
for the medical world to do in the department of
which the work treats ; hut the worst of it is, we
readily enough listen to good advice, but we do not
qo readily follow it.
Dr. 11. Davies seems to be purely of opinion that,
" from the body's purity, the mind derives a secret
sympathetic aid," or be would not advise bathing in
the way ho does. The Doctor is unquestionably
right. It is one of the many things still too much
neglected, though we are improving, and a century
hence we may become a Spartan race. A poultice is
a very simple thing; everybody ought to know bow
to make one ; nobody does, and the medical adviser
has generally to give the direction. This little trea-
tise enters into the minutiae of these things, and various
other essential matters, which, because they are 80
trifling, are so much disregarded.
The book is addressed more especially to young
mothers. We advise it to old as well as young. To
the young it imparts many valuable hints, which
modesty prevents them asking. In the old it may
correct many prejudices.

Elements of Health. By E. J. Tilt, M.D. Bohn.
1)r. Tilt, who is the author of several very useful
works, has now sent forth a book with the above title,
and he says in the preface, "Dr. Johnson and others
have furnished popular works on the subject of health,
as it relates to man." His attention, in the volume
now before us, is directed Especially to the health of
women. It is perfectly true there is no class work
devoted to this subject ; but the elements contained in
the Doctor's volume are axioms, for the most part,
diffused through all works on medical science. We
opine the best portion of the book to be, the introduc-
tory chspters treating upon Life, its Moral Element,
Mental Element, and Physical Element ; and there is
good sound philosophy in his arguments. Speaking
of the new born infant :—" How much superior is the
intensity of life in infancy to that of any subsequent
period !—an intensity indicated by the circulation
of the blood being about double in quickness to that
of an adult, by the rapid approaches to death's door,
and the miraculous recoveries which do so frequently
occur at that period of life. As we continue to live,
every successive epoch is marked by a diminution of
vital energy, until it becomes so impaired by increas-
ing infirmities and old age, that there is not sufficient
strength left to move the body, or perform its most
ordinary functions."
_ _

The statistics relative to the increased mortality in
females over males in the higher walks of life are
somewhat startling, and serve to show that over-refine-
ment tends to early decay. Our author says that
" educated women receive the same, or even better,
medical attendance than the poor, and their circum-
stances, to all appearance, ought to maintain better
health. There must, then, be something wrong—
some hidden influence, to work this calamitous end ;
and is it not greatly dependent on the enervating
fashion which guides their education, and the igno-
rance in which they are left respecting the proper
management of themselves 1?"
We shall close our observations by one more
remark, which is, a recommendation to the fair sex
to read and mark well those, so to call them, digres-
sive portions of this book, that more particularly relate
to physical management, in order that they may bet-
ter enjoy their three score years and ten, by embrac-
ing the recommendations that tend to counterbalance
the primordial curse, " In sorrow shalt thou bring
forth children all the days of thy life."

Y Jerdan. Vol. 11.
The Autebiograph
Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Company.
Another quarterly volume has recently been issues
from the press by Mr. Jerelen, in continuation of his
lively and agreeable autobiography. Dedicated in
grateful and eulogistic terms to the memory of
George Canning, it is adorned with a portrait of that
illustrious statesman, from the original painting by
Stewardson. A picturesque little sketch of the gar-
den front of Gloucester-lodge, Old Brompton, con-
fronts upon the engraved title-page that valuable and
appropriate frontispiece. Before resuming the cur-
rent of his recollections, Mr. Jerdan avails himself of
the opportunity afforded by a prefatory chapter, to
enforce by additional arguments his previous asser-
tions, in reference to the profession of literature.
Those assertions having been rather earnestly gain-
said in several quarters since the publication of the
first volume of his " Autobiography," the writer
deems it advisable, apparently, to insist yet more
strenuously upon the perfect accuracy of his obser-
vations. He declares more plainly and explicitly, if
that he possible, than he did in the former instance,
that Letters, as a rule, are unremunerative. He speaks
himself, it must be remembered, from the force of a
very bitter experience. Any one so situated, we
cannot but think, should be listened to, at least, with
some degree of deference. Instead of finding this
courtesy displayed towards him, however, we regret
to have to remark, that some have contravened our
author's declarations without the most shadowy sem-
blance of the respect due to misfortune. That Mr.
Jerdan is mistaken in his argument, we ourselves
believe most thoroughly. We believe that he is mis-
taken, that is to say, in regarding as the evidences of
a " rule," what in reality, according to our view of
the profession of literature, constitutes only the few
and scattered exceptions. There are, no doubt, men
of very eminent ability, men of industry, and men
of prudence, who, with all the qualifications for
achieving pecuniary success in the cultivation of
literature, have, nevertheless, grievously failed to
realize even a portion of their early aspirations.
These, however, Mr. Jerdan takes as conclusive proofs
of the " rule," whereas we regard them simply ita
the light of unhappy exceptions. Speaking more
plainly upon the matter—we must add, that we can-
not but believe that the vast majority of those who
fail in the literary profession, do so either because
they have altogether over-estimated their capabilities,
or because they have not practised the most ordinary
economy, or acted according to the most elementary
rules of simple domestic providence. As Justice Tal-
fourd has recently taken occasion to observe with much
distinctness (vide prefatory memoir to the late W.
F. Deacon's story of "Annette," vol i., p. 28), " La-
mentations over the miseries of a literary life are not
just in general application." Ability, industry, and pru-
dence will, in the majority of cases, succeed in the pro-
fession of literature, as in all other professions indiscri-
minately. Individual instances may, of course, in this,
as in every imaginable walk of life, be unhappily ad-
duced, showing that men, endowed plentifully with
each of the three requisite qualities—men who have
even rendered themselves remarkable by the extent of
their intellectual capacity—by the systematic assi-
duity of their application, and y the watchfulness of
their ever-active and prudential economy—have de-
plorably failed in carving out for themselves a posi-
tion of ordinary independence. Nevertheless, these
we regard as exceptional examples, not as examples of
a " rule." Sir Walter Scott, with all his prudence
—with all his astonishing industry, and with all his
resplendent genius—was reduced from opulence to
almost indigence, or, at any rate, to a condition in
which he was lamentably in debt. That was the re-
sult of calamity. And calamity has regard neither to
one profession nor to another—fulling now upon the
author, and driving him into beggary_and now upon
the merchant, and forcing him through the
merchants
are
ets notof
bankruptcy. But the majority
bankrupts.
insolvents.
They a
arere
situated
Neither thefn m
majorityer
eo fe literary
measure
alike, being equally liable to thecasualties of good or
evil fortune. It is in 'regarding
these casualties as
invariable, instead of merely occasional, that Mr
Jerdan appears to us to have erred. Yet while we
consider him to be mistaken in believing that the vast
majority of those who adventure upon the literary
profession oust fail, although they are endowed with
ability, with industry and with prudence, we con-
sider his more inveterate opponents to be not
only mistaken, but unjust ; and not only un-
just, but discourteous ; and not only discourteous, but
absurd in maintaining that all who fail must necessarily
be deficient in what are allowed upon all hands to
thisbe
rneaciseu,istihteatqusnamlifiectiamti
tfromhe absolutelybeing
the
has been glaringly witnessed.So far
nsihe very reverse
Pyees was a poetlaure-
ate.Oenasinntil in
when Chatterton was starving
vaengaarrbelotokin.
Brook-street, Holborn !
head—or a man, as the familiar phrase' even
next door
to a blockhead—has risen for a while to the height of
literary distinction. But, era rule, blockheads, of
course, do not generally rise to this elevation, sny
more than gifted, industrious, and prudent writers
generally sink into poverty and insignificance. Enough
of this, however : the world knows tolerably well how
far Mr. Jerdan is accurate or erroneous in his argu-
ment as to the chance of success in the profession of
literature. Continuing the narrative of our author's
autobiography, we are distressed to find it crowded.
with such melancholy squabbles and bitter recrimina-
tions. The chapters relating to the S.z, and particu-
larly those referring to the close of Mr. Jerdan's con-
nection with this journal, will be perused, we doubt
not, with regret by the majority of those interested in
watching the progress of his vicissitudes. Infinitely
preferable will be found those portions of the volume
here under examination, bearing allusion to George
Canning or to Robert Burns, to Washington Irving
or to Peter Pindar, to Lord Munster or to Lord Mel-
bourne. As with the preceding instalment, the chief
attraction of the work consists in its pleasant melange
of gossip and anecdote, penned in that agreeable and
unaffected strain of confidence to the public which
must perforce mellow, and may possibly extend, Mr.
Jerdan's literary reputation.