The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE:

Ls Correspondent. 25 Nsvembre. No. 98. Ch.

Douniol : Paris.

Had we, at once, the leisure and the space for it,
there is hardly anything that would afford us a
purer, a sweeter, or a more elevating sense of gra-
tification, than the translating in copious frag-
ments, if not even in its entirety, the noble
and beautiful treatise addressed to one of his
Diocesans by the rarely gifted and illustrious
Bishop of Orleans, upon The Studies, that is,
upon What Ought to Constitute the Studies of a
Man of the World, Les etudes d'un homme du
monde. A mere synopsis of it would be worse
than useless. All we can do, therefore, is to urge
those who may have the opportunity of examining
the last number of this brilliant periodical—one of
the most brilliant, as it is also beyond all doubt one
of the most elevating and wholesome, among the
serial publications of the European Continent, Le
Correspondant—to "read,mark, learn, and inwardly
digest" every page, every sentence of the remark-
able paper we have just now particularized. It is
the middle portion merely of a highly elaborated
Letter, or rather as we have called it, Treatise,
divided into three instalments; the first of these
published in the October number; the second here
presented to us in the November number; the third
and concluding portion to be given in the December
number of this same eloquent and able periodical, Le
Correspondant. Several other remarkable contri-
butions to Le Correspondant are here in this current
number of the review, dated the 25th of November.
Augustin Cochin supplies two of these—namely, a
charming criticism upon a work descriptive of Vil-
lage Life, a sort of Min Mitford view, done into
French—and a brief but sufficient memorial of the
Marquis de Brignole. H. Moreau descants upon
the French policy in America, and H. de la
Ville-
marque upon the Poetry of the Celtic Cloisters.
As usual, M. Leopold de Gaillard epitomises' very
cleverly and very readably the Events of the Month
preceding the date of publication. But the charm
and glory of the whole number is the opening paper
before eulogised, that penned by Monsignore Felix,
the Bishop of Orleans, cur " Les etudes dun homme
du monde." Reading it—it is sitting at the feet of
Gamaliel.

The Useful Knowledge Society's Family Atlas,

Parts 1. and 11. Edward Stanford.

Having ourselves, several months back,commented
at considerable length upon the extraordinary merits
noticeable in the " Family Atlas," published by Mr.
Stanford, for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, it remains for us here only to commend

to public attention the fact that that Atlas is now in
course of republication in a periodical form—namely
in half-crown monthly parts. The two first in-
stalments are here issued in sequence by way of
commencement. Eighteen others will follow in due
course—it being definitively arranged that twenty
parts shall comprise the whole work, including in
it what is of the very last importance, namely, that
Thumb or Ledger Index, which, it will be remem-
bered by all those who have already examined the
Family Atlas in its integrity, when originally pub-
lished in a complete form as a superb folio, facili-
tated in so very remarkable a manner reference on

the part of any one desirous of consulting it in a
hurry. Although issued from the press at so very
moderate a cost monthly to the subscribers,
at a cost restricted to " the ridiculously small
amount" of two-and-sixpence for each monthly
part—it is particularly to be observed that there is
no evidence whatever of deterioration in this
Family Atlas, in any single particular, now that it is
being thus serially republished. The whole of the
eighty maps are to be included within the compass
of the Twenty Half-crown numbers or parts. Each
of those eighty maps being printed still upon "fine
paper and beautifully coloured," according to the
fair promise given in the prospectus. We can hardly
doubt that a publication of such unquestionable
value and indisputable beauty can fail to win for
itself at once a very wide circulation. Let it but
win the circulation that it really and truly deserves,
and another important and considerable step will
have been taken in the furtherance of the great
cause of the self-education of the masses.

The Gantry of Gongraphy.

Part 11. W. and

R. Chambers.

Another instalment of this beautiful serial con-
firms the favourable impression produced upon our
minds by the initial number. Two carefully en-
graved maps are prefixed to it—viz., sheets 1 and 2 of
the World as Known to the Ancients. And, again,
scattered plentifully among the letterpress penned
by the Rev. Thomas Milner, well-known already as
the author of the " Gallery of Nature," and other
valuable works, also, like the present one, abound-
ing with information—there will be found here
various illustrative and explanatory engravings.
Before the close of the monthly number, or
part, here issued from the press with the maga-
zines for December, the subscriber to the

" Gallery of Geography, Pictorial Descriptive," will
find himself carried far into the ninth chapter of
this very comprehensive work, a work renounting
step by step with admirable minuteness, a minuteness
never wearisome, a Tour of the World. Central
Asia, Africa, and Australia form the theme of this
ninth chapter. The previous chapter, that is the
eighth, relating to the Arotic and Antarctic Expe-
ditions. In the chapter before that, the seventh,
Mr. Milner epitomises very agreeably all that is in
any way worth knowing in regard to the Russian
Discoveries, recounting in particular the Circum-
navigation accomplished during the last century—
the Eigthteenth of the Christian epoch.

The New Review. No. VIII.

This serial shows no flagging of its energies.
It partakes more of the character of a quarterly
review than of the more ephemeral of the monthly
magazines. Its subjects, it is true, are drawn from
the topics of the day, but they are discussed with a
care, an elaboration, and a thoughtfulness that con-
vert the passing article into the nature of a literary
or political essay. The Literature in the current
number predominates over the Polities, and promi-
nent among the subjects is a lengthened criticism
of M. Renan's " Vie de Jesus," which gives a carefal
analysis of the false logic, the inaccurate reasoning,
the extravagant absurdities of that work. Another
French author of wider fame is also the origin of
an essay, and the account of Victor Hugo's life and
works will be read with considerable interest.
Another literary character, though one of a very
different stamp from the author of " Notre
Dame," is analysed by the critics of the "New
Review." The works of Miss Braddon, who
has risen into somewhat sudden celebrity, are
discussed with some judgment, and while the critic
allows her the possession of considerable talent he
is not slow to point out the vices and imperfections
of her style. "Literary Lunatics" is the title of
an interesting paper, giving an account of some
psychological curiosities. " The Gypsies" is a paper
which does not altogether coincide with Mr. Bor-
row's views of the blessings of life " under the
greenwood tree;" and there are also papers on
"Paris in 1863," and the writings of Dr. Trench.