The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

After Long Years; a Novel. By Mrs. Mackenzie
Daniel, author of " My Sister Minnie," " Marry-
ing for Money," &J. Two vols. Newby.

Mrs. Mackenzie Daniel is the authoress of many
pleasant domestic novels, in most of which she
endeavours, while amusing her readers, to convey
some encouraging example or some lesson of warn-
ing. In none of her works has her moral object
been so strikingly evidenced as in the
present instance. " After Long Years" is
the title of this book; the lesson it teaches
being patient perseverance and unwavering hope
in well-doing. " Teach your children, Sarah,"
says the heroine at the close of her story, " never to
despair of accomplishing anything, however hard,
in which they can ask God to help them. Is not
my success worth all you fancy it has cost me,
though it has only come to me After Long Years r''
`Phis heroine, at the opening of the first volume, is a
very young, a very happy, and a very charming
bride, who, full of blissful ignorance and innocence,
gives her hand " with her heart in it" to one of the
most despicable heroes that novelist ever depicted.
The character of the heartless Frederick is some-
what overdrawn, and many portions of the story
are exaggerated, in order probably to enhance the
effect of the closing scene, which, after fifteen weary
years, rewards the much-tried, much-enduring
heroine. Many of the characters are drawn with a
very felicitous pencil, and the domestic scenes are
Lull of interest. Mrs. Daniel will, we feel persuaded
of this, delight a great number of readers with this
new fiction, a story which may rank, indeed, among
her best.

Subtle Brains and Lissom Fingers : Being Some
of the Chisel-marks of our Industrial Progress.
By Andrew Wynter, M.D., M.R.C.V. One vol.,
pp. 446. London : Hardwicke.

Dr. Wynter's papers are emidently deserving of
republication. The subjects of his essays are sin-
gularly diversified and well-timed, and his remarks
are characterised by sound practical common sense.
[he articie on Railway Travelling, and its effects
upon health, is deserving of general consideration.
The sad picture, not in anywise overdrawn, of the
evil effects of the hurry-scurry to catch the express
train, is not allowed by the judicious Doctor to pre-
judice his readers' minds against the real benefits
of a rapid transit out of the noise and smoke of
London. "The Buried Roman Town in Britain,''
" Mudie's Circulating Library," " The Times News-
paper of 1798," " Messages under the Sea," &c.—
such are among the diversified subjects of these
essays. " The Clerk of the Weather" is the start-
ling title of a singularly interesting de
scription of the meteorological department
of the Board of Trade. " A Day with the Coroner'
gives a rapid but most impressive glimpse of some
of the saddest phases of London life. After this
melancholy experience of the hourly risks attending
human life, Dr. Wynter tells us that for days after-
wards he looked much shyer at a crowded crossing
than was his wont, and took especial good care to
keep outside of ladders! In the article on Adver-
tising, the Doctor humorously comments upon the
good effects of a striking name, to rivet the atten-
tion—distinguishing most particularly the felicitous
appellation of Harper Twelvetrees. As a close
observer of psychological curiosities, the Doctor
points our attention to the fact how the merest trifle
will often attract our notice, when we are filled with
anxiety and suspense, and how in consequence it will
remain indelibly fixed in the memory. Railway
stations are, consequently, he observes, good places
for advertisements, as they are likely to become
imprinted upon the mind of the anxious railway
traveller paciug up and down the platform, waiting
for the train! But "the best spot in the whole
world for an ndvertisement, to our mind," says the
Doctor, " is the little oval splash-board of the Han-
som cab, which faces you as you sit down; it is the
only object in the foreground to be seen, and with-
out doubt an advertisement in this situation is more
deliberately read than in any other place in the
world!" Such are the practical teachings of the
-Doctor's acute observation and large experience.
He tells us that for the future his professional
duties will circumscribe the pleasant labours of his
pen, an announcement which his readers will very
generally regret. As a parting gift, however, he
has given them this very delightful volume, which
will wile away many an agreeable hour.