The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE

Village Life in Egypt. By Bayle St. John.
2 Vols. Chapman and Hall.
To those who desire information concerning the
most interesting country in the world, as the author
has justly styled Egypt, these volumes will afford
great satisfaction. They present us with most
lively sketches and scientific details—they enter
into the character of the people, and describe the
changes that now are working in what has till lately
remained so long unchanged. Time has almost mi-
raculously spared the wonders of the Valley of the
Nile, but it is to be regretted that destroyers more
rapid in their devastations, and more merciless in
their doings, have assailed those glorious chefs
d'oeuvres of antiquity. The monuments from which
forty centuries have looked down on the formation
and passing away of empires, the changes of reli-
gions and the decay of races, are now being swept
away from the country they adorn and the people
they immortalize. The rude hands of the uncul-
tured European or the unlicensed attacks of the
Arabs and Turks, are undermining the stronghold
of ancient arts, and, in the age of a vaunted civili-
zation, reducing to ruins what hordes of savages
have spared, and what exterminating warriors have
passed by uninjured. In the following passage the
author has ably exposed these outrages :7
" The western plain of the Theban valley, with its
overhanging mountains, presents far more numerous
objects of curiosity than the eastern. We here revelled
in tombs and temples from morning to evening. The
vocal statue was of course visited, and a witty com-
panion of mine wrote at the basement—' Mem : non.
audii.' I may add, that this was the only occasion on
which any of our party wrote upon rock or monument.
For my part I have always made a point of abstaining
from inscribing my name. In some cases the practice
may be harmless enough ; and it is interesting to find the
signature of a celebrated person—Bruce, for example •
in an out of the way place. But why every vulgar
tourist, in these modern days of steam navigation and
tranquillity, when travelling in Egypt is easier than
travellino. in Wales, should think it necessary to com-
memorate his presence—not ion c e modestly, in an un-
occupied corner, but fifty or a hundred times, and by
preference, in the midst of an inscription, or on the
cheek of a painted or sculptured goddess, I cannot un-
derstand. The columns of Carnac, the tombs of the
Kings, the Pyramids, the Caves of Weni Hassaer, every
monument in fact from Philae to Alexandria, are defaced
by the names of obscure individuals of all nations. The
Arabs follow up the example, and when we add the
combined efforts of antiquaries and Turks, it is really
surprising that anything remains in ligypt worth
visiting."

The Kinnears : A Scottish Story. 3 vols. Colburn
There is nothing romantic in this tale, no re
markable events occur, and no striking personages
present themselves ; but, nevertheless, few can fail
to be interested in it, for it inspires respect for its
high principles, and engages sympathy for its simple
earnestness. The hero, it is to be presumed, is
Alick Laing, the son of a wealthy millown.er, who
was entirely engrossed with the cares of business ;
he thought nothing else of much consequence, and
plunged into a perfect vortex of mercantile affairs.
Suddenly he was stopped short in his career by the
power none can resist. The strong man was laid
low in an hour by the stronger hand of sick-
ness ; it was found quite impossible for him to re-
sume his post, and he was obliged to own there
were more things to be considered than he had
dreamt of in his philosophy. The two sisters,
Helen and Alice, are striking contrasts ' • but, with
all her faults, Alice's character is by far the
most genuine. Helen is too stiff and formal to be
easy or agreeable. John Sinclair is well described
as an enthusiastic young man, who was obliged to
leave the study of the Muses for the toils of the
work-day world, but who still retained his early
feelings when he came back, in the prime of life, to
the home of his early years. The very great dif-
ference that exists between him and Alick may be
seen from the following remarks
" You were right Alice ; I was selling myself body and
soul to business. I was actually becoming unfit to
comprehend any other obligation, so bound, hand and
foot, to that pursuit that I could cast aside every obstacle
that interfered with it. I wanted nothing but the brain's
triumph over all toil and every competitor. Was it not
the Bersekers of old, those traditions whose courage
and daring became madness, under the influence of which
they turned upon and slew each other. I half believe
that I may have come of their line, only the change of
times has forged me other weapons. The old stoic in-
dependence, that Colossus looming through the mists of
antiquity, to which I was more than half-wedded, is but
a devil's lie of proud pretension after all, a vast misshapen
tower of Babel, that the Mighty Hunter' may have
originated. I found that out when I knew that the love
of kindred, and one true heart, clung to me like a mantle
in spite of all my offences ; and when I laid my hand
upon the Book that cancels the heaviest debt, and offer-
ing the armour of a free man, calls to the mightiest
battle-field, I solved the problem. The stern indifference
of man at bay, what is it after all but the glaring eye of
the wild beast ? The weakest attempt at obedience and
submission must be manlier and truer, and so grander—
more in accordance with the calm of right reason, the
stately harmonies and loyal faith of nature and science,
even if the still small voice of conscience were silent,
and the light of Revelation extinguished."
" Alick Laing was now rallying John Sinclair on his
business qualifications, incompatible with his old no-
tions of a student's relation to men and things. John
Sinclair disclaimed the title - but, from the fulness
of his heart, he praised a Audent's life ; he boasted
of its lofty atmosphere—its grand dramatis persona.
The daily worry of the office, the dull routine of
profits and loss, what did they signify when the gas
jet shone on the page which carried you among
the jackals and willows of the Euphrates, to dig
into the past with Layard, on a stroll through the
acacias and myrtles, and over the green mystic mounds
of Etruria with Dennis into the interior of trackless
Africa with the hyena, and lion, and leopard for your
prey, with Cumming. With Nichol in the blue vault
above, with Hugh Millar deep in his old red sandstone
below, with Buonaparte and his marshals, with Chalmers
and his Sabbath-school agency, with Barrow and his
gitanos, with George Gilfillan and his literary men—cen-
turies back on the frozen snows, and by the springing
geysers of Iceland, scanning old Sagas and Runic
rhymes with Snorre Sturleson, or in the fresh present
laying bare the frauds and fallacies of 'civilzied society,
with those modern giants Thackeray and Dickens."

The Story of Reynard the Fox. W. S. Orr.
This is a new version by David Vedder ; it is
illustrated by Gustav Gadtod. It is stated in the
preface that this work has obtained extraordinary.
popularity. " For centuries it has been a house-
hold possession. It has been lectured on in uni-
versities, quoted in imperial council halls ; it has
lain in the toilet of princes, and been thumbed to
pieces on the benches of artizans." The narrative
is very amusingly rendered in these pages, and an
instructive moral is deduced from it. There are
several plates illustrative of the events, which are
very well executeded, and add greatly to the `at-
traction of the book. The one entitled Temptation
is the best. It represents a fox and a badger ; the
former, while confessing his sins, is wistfully gazing
at some fowls in the distance. On the whole, many
will doubtless find entertainment here.

Augustus Courtenay. By Lady Geraldine St.
John. 2 vols. Shoberl.
There are three tales in these volumes ; the first
is the most melancholy, but all are sad in their
nature. Augustus Courtenay was a most unfor-
tunate man, who met with trouble after trouble,
till, driven to 2 despair, lideommitted a rash act, which
clouded the rest of his days after capricious fortune
smiled upon his outward course. The evil conse-
quences of his crime were entailed on his innocent
daughter, who suffered for what happened when
she was a child of a few years old. The Diary of a
sexagenarian goes far to prove the fact that a man who
appears the most courteous and pleasing in society,
is not the most agreeable character at home.
Selfish and inconsiderate, Frederick Clifford, aided
by his handsome person and graceful bearing, con-
tinued to excite admiration from the many ; but
he gained nb repect from even a few. " lanthe,"
the last story, i s the most cheerful of the whole ;
but it is to be feared it is not so probable as the
others. Few who have had. much experience in
the crooked ways of the world will agree that things
go so straight to the desired point as Mr. Granville
found them. However, the characters are withell
sketched, and for the most part pleasing ones,
the exception of Miss Orville, b
who obtains neither
sympathy nor respect. lanthe herself is thebest
heroine of all here met with.

---
Lady Geraldine Seymour. 1 Vol. Shoberl.
This is an interesting and well-written tale, but
it presents few attractions to the lovers of the
mirthful. It represents forcibly the sin of deceit or
subterfuge, and the evils of a marriage from pique
or pride. The conclusion is melancholy in the ex-
treme ;and, though the Lady Geraldine obtains
little sympathy in her misfortunes from the treach-
some off whom fill
erous manner in which she destroys the happiness
of her cousins, the reader cannot help regret-L. 9.
that the weak and misguided, but unf ,4 ino.
omunate
Alice does not attain a happier destiny Th ,
a variety off ate characters, ere is
important parts in the tale, but most
involved in the same fate. With this° them are
the story is pleasing and attract' exception,
is certainly a most important we, and the moral
one,

DEPARTURE OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN
MAILS.—On Saturday afternoon, at 20 minutes past 12
o'clock, the (Cunard) Royal mail steamer America, Capt.
Leitch, sailed from the Mersey with the usual 'United
States and Cans;dian mails, under the charge of Lieutenant
Lee, R.N., Admiralty agent, for Boston and Halifax.
The America carried out 5l) passengers and a good general
cargo on freight.