The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-27 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

Travels on Horseback in Mantchu Tartary. By
George Fleming. With Maps and Illustrations.
1 vol. imperial octavo. Hurst and Blackett.
"A summer's ride beyond the great wall of
China" has furnished Mr. Fleming with materials
for a very interesting and entertaining narrative.
His style is very lively, and his descriptions are
most amusing ; but he occasionally writes with a
colloquial ease more suitable for a familiar letter
than for a published volume--a volume, moreover,
very elaborately got up, of large dimensions, and
handsome appearance. In turning over the pages
of such a work it is somewhat incongruous to light
upon a passage like the following, where the writer
is describing his arrival in the town of Shan-hai-
kwan, in the midst of an excited and tumultuous
crowd :
By the time we had reached the centre of the oily, where
stood a brick tower out of repair, and with four low arches
to the cardinal points of the compass, through which ran
the four main streets, each of them more slovenly looking
than the one we were in, the thoroughfare was crammed
with the crowd, and we were bothered by conflicting reports
from a hundred throats as to the whereabouts of the best,
or even any, inn at which we might put up, and thus
escape from the jangling concourse.
Ma-foo had been sent to discover one down some un-
fathomable higgledypiggledy lane, and we, to save our-
selves from instant " squash," had to keep moving on,
until we nearly traversed the breadth of the city—which
might be a half or three•quarters of a mile—and were near
the wall on the opposite side from that we entered by, when
some one in the crowd called out, " There is the mandarin's
inn." Sure enough there was the gate of an inn, flanked
by good-looking houses, being hurriedly closed on our ap-
proach, and barred within by somebody whose fears made
him very clumsy at the job.
These few lines will exhibit, more effectively than
any comment, the undignified manner in which Mr.
Fleming has presented to us the very interesting
and entertaining matter he has collected. Many
of the homely customs of the Chinese are very
effectively described in this volume, which;
indeed, affirds us one of the best glimpses of
every day life in China which we have mat with.
The world famous, or rather infamous, custom of
the Chinese with respect to the mutilation of their
women's feet is particularly dwelt upon. "We can
hardly," writes Mr. Fleming, "say a word in fa-
vour of any people, who would, for an hour even,
force the tenderest and fairest of creation into such
an appalling amount of suffering, deformity, and
inconvenient helplessness. Look at these poor
creatures now scuttling away in as bad plight as if
some inhuman monster had amputated their feet
from the ankles, balancing themselves with extreme
difficulty, supported by the walls, or clinging to
anything that may in the least aid them in the pro-
gression and prevent their downfall ; while they
move their stiffened legs and plant their wasted
heels and crushed toes, which are hid in doll-like
shoes, smaller than we ever saw at Canton,Shanghai,
or even Pekin, just as a Chelsea pensioner would do
if he tried to walk with two wooden substitutes for
his nether limbs, with a staff,—then say what any
other family of the human species could show to
equal such a sight !" A little further on we find
the following painful particulars :
It is impossible to look at a crippled woman treading on
the very extremity of the dwarfed heels of her shoes, with
the atrophied ankles and instep wound up in stripes of cotton
cloth, making only a few inches at a step, with the arms
swaying and body ungracefully erect, without a strong feel-
ing of pity for her misfortune, and without showering
maledictions on the heads of those wretches who introduced
the villanous practice, and those rulers who permit it to be
perpetuated.
Ah, Le-how-choo, a heavy load of blame lies at your
tombstone, if what tradition says be true, that you, in the
early days of the Five Dynasties, commanded your beauti •
ful concubine and slave, Yaou, to tie up her feet in unyield-
ing rolls of silk, so that their natural perfections might be
obliterated to suit your depraved wish, and the matchlessly
formed instep and toes be transformed into a repulsive
stump, supposed to vie in shape with the new moon
Curiosity impelled me once to be one of a party in ex-
amining an uncovered foot. The young woman was not at
first very ready to remove the shoe and the collection of
bands around the limb, to satisfy the strange request we
made, but a few dollars quickly dissipated her reticence,
and also induced another to increase the exhibition. It
was no treat. The removal of the bandages was like the
exhumation of a half-decomposed body, and made our
party close their mouths and hold their nostrils, much to
the augmented astonishment of the young ladies, while
we stretched our necks to see all as quickly as possible.
No toe was visible but the big toe; the others had been
doublsd under the sole, with which, after weeks of suffer-
ing and excruciating pain, they had become incorporated,
and were not to be distinguished from it, except by the
number of white seams and scars that deeply furrowed the
skin. The instep was sadly marked by the vestiges of large
ulcers that had covered its surface, consequent on the vio-
lence used to bend it up into a lump; and, in form as well
as colour, was like a dumpling ; while the limb from the
foot to the knee was withered and flaccid as that of one
long paralysed. The display was repugnant in every way
—we fled, and have been careful ever since to be absent
when any more of these living mummies were about to be
unrolled.

As a striking contrast to the national barbarity
which can sanction the existence of such a custom
is the reverent feeling towards the aged so gene-
rally visible in China :
One thing was particularly noticeable here—and, in-
deed, everywhere else on our road, when we happened to
stop for the night, or but a short time at a town or village
--and that was the respect paid to age. Nothing could be
more marked than the deference with which some infirm
father of the hamlet was received when he entered the room,
tottering towards us to gaze with open month on the
strangers. Every available article that could afford sup-
port was converted into a seat by those whose limbs were
tired of standing, and all were so well conducted that no
reason could be given for turning them out. Yet (when-
ever one of these patriarchs introduced himself, there was
a movement among the spectators, everyone who was
seated got up and welcomed him by a nod, a kind word, or
a more formal waving of the joined hands and a slight in-
clination of the body forwards ; while those who were
standing, in addition to the salute, made room for him, or
advanced to help him to the best dace among them, where
he was made a sort of centre for their regards and admira •
ration. Every word that fell from his mouth was listened
to with a grave or joyful interest until a more reverend visi-
tor arrived, and then the first would be as ready to get up
and testify his respect for his senior as his juniors had been
to respect him.
Here is an interesting description of

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.
At the town, and until it nears the hills, its total height
may range from 30 to 40 feet, including five or six feet for
a crenelated parapet on the eastern side; and the wi th
of its rampart 20 or 25 feet at most ; while the eye-delight-
ing towers are about 10 feet higher than the parapet, are at
the base 30 or 40 feet square, gradually narrowing as they
ascend, and are from 150 to 200 yards apart. They, with
the walls, have been admirably built to withstand the de-
vastations of ages of exposure in E uch a climate. The base-
ment or foundation for the whole is widely and compactly
formed for bearing the weight of such a load of matter, by
imperishable granite blocks imposed on each other to an
elevation of six or eight feet from the ground. On this the
body of the building is reared, consisting of an internal
bank of earth tightly rammed and packed, and encased
in a sloping brick shell of no great thickness, em-
bedded very firmly in mortar of great apparent
strength and hardness—consisting, so far as I can
judge, of a large proportion of remarkably white lime,
similar to the chunam of India, mixed with sand and
pebbles in very small quantity. The courses of the brick-
work were regular and well pointed, and in working up the
wall the observer could scarcely fail to notice that it had I
only been laid in layers six or eight feet deep at a time—
leading him to suppose that the builders had been fully
alive to the necessity of allowing One part to settle dosn
and solidify before building any higher, in order to prevent
displacement and speedy demolition from premature shrink-
ing. * ° * One account states that the realisation of
the magnificent conception of Hwangti was accomplished in
five years, by many millions of labourers, and that three
out of every ten were impressed for the task ; others say
that it cost 200,000 lives from exhaustion and fatigue. But
the ten years is more probably nearer the truth, and the fact
of its being continued and finished after the death of the
originator, and th a extinction of his family, gues far to prove
that this mode of protecting the empire from the tierce
savages commended itself to the nation at large, which
joined heartily in it, and that this stupendous work was not
lorced out of the labour of unwilling subjects.
Many of the scenes and incidents are the sub-
jects of pictorial sketches, some of them as spirited
and humerous in their way as are the descriptions
in the letterpress.

Arrows in the Dark. By the Author of "Said and
Done." 1 vol. Smith and Elder.
From the title of this work we imagined the
story would be on a subject immortalised by those
lines of Sir Walter Scott's :
" Full many a shaft at random sent
Fiala aim the archer little meant," scc.,
but, on opening the book we find the title has a
higher signification.

"Our lifo seemed then
But as an arrow flying in the dark
-Without an aim."
Such is the motto for the title-page, and it reveals

th 9 meaning of the title. Very happily and veil
beautifully is this moral lesson conveyed in the
histories of the pure and gentle Angela Mary and
the wayward and impetuous Diana Tracy. The
characters of the story are very numerous, and OW
various peculiarities are nicely discriminated. The
opening scene is very effective. " Mrs. Tracy has a
daughter, i f you please, my lord," is the sudden an"
nouncement of the old butler to his young master,
now for the first time addressed as i 1 my lord," 1315
cousin's widow having given birth to a daughter
instead of a son and heir! The introductory ex'
planations which follow are somewhat too elabo-
rate, and the story gains nothing in effect from Its
being divided into two parts. We should adylse
the authoress in her future works to give more
attention to the difficult bat most essential ar% al
concentration. Her sentiments are so pure -804
good, and her homely pictures so attractive, that
her writings deserve to be popular.

Incidents of the Maori War, New Zealand,
1860-1861. By Colonel Sir James Alexander.
One vol. Bentley.

At the Curragh Camp, in Ireland, in 1860, Sit
James Alexander was called to the front on a field
day, and directed by Sir George Brown, the cow
mander, to recall detachments and go abroad. Sit
destination was New Zealand, and he has furnished
us with a very interesting record of his experience of
that little-known country. The various incidents of
the recent war between the colonists and the Macries
are fully described, and the author has endeavoured
to fulfil the part of an impartial historian rather
than a prejudiced partisan. He tells us in his pre•
face, and the feeling is prominent throughout the
work, that he is an Aborigines Protectionist, and
that he feels keenly on the subject. Many of the
scenes and sketches descriptive of native character
are full of interest, some being calculated to raise
smile, while others are suggestive of serious re-
flections.

The Book of Job. By the late Rev. George

Croly, LL.D. Blackwood.
The admirers of the late Dr. Croly will be inte-
rested in the publication of this little volume, which
now for the first time makes its appearance, under
the loving editorship of the author's son, who bag
prefixed. to it a brief sketch of his lamented father'•
career.

The Laureate Wreath; and other Poems, Bp
John Edmund Reade. Longman.
"The Laureate Wreath" is a narrative poem, fell
of tenderness and feeling. The sentiments are more
worthy of admiration than the poetry, as the f 01"
lowing passage will testify :
Sublimest heroism emanates
Alone from virtue, all else fitful is,
Passionate impulse triumphing in things
Sensual, the unenduring and forgot.
The brightest gem that. dazzles in her crown
Is perseverance. To endure is great,
Silent in suffering, feeling the award
Of its own self-respect ; but to prevail
Against the pettiness of life; to feel
The daily drop of disappointment fall
Until it petrifies the heart it chilled ;
To watch clouds gather round the sun of hope
Till light is darkness felt ; to mark the hair
Blanch, from the dried-up tears of grief repressed;
To feel the throbbings of the heart beneath
Dust cast on it of dull forgetfulness,
Which is oblivion; still to persevere
Is the sublimity of virtue reached,
The crown of life attained ; the panoply
Self-forged, that gains the undying wreath of fare
Won from the innate prescience of the soul.
Some of the shorter poems, as is so frequently the
case, are greatly su2erior to the longer and 01°'
elaborate first poem which opens the volume'
~
Among these the happiest are those addressed a
his young daughter—" Agnes in the Garden," ali
" Agnes Sleeping." The collection will, we &Jubt
not, be welcome to Mr. Reade's many admirers.
does not in a great degree either enhance or
nish the reputation which its author has alreo.7
acquired.

7he Beal and the Ideal. Poems by Artblir

An elegant volume of miscellaneous poems well
Hurst and Blackett.
Llewellyn.
suited to lie on a drawing-room table. In turning
over the leaves we occasionally meet with some
beautiful passage or melodious line, but Wja.
find nothing to arrest our attention o,
call for more elaborate criticism. The eteio
entitled "The Sun's behind the Hills," With 4
alternate refrain " Hope on !" is very spirited a a
exhilarating in its sentiments, as is another On
kindred subject, entitled " The Brave Live on
" Fell disappointment cometh ; like leaves upon the It;
Loved hopes, and schemes, and plans are whirled 111
the Past;
While the Future stretcheth gloomily—a sea without a
sun ;
The coward sneaks to death—the brave lives on I"

The Life of Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke. 81
Thomas Macknight, author of the "History of the Life
and Times of Edmund Burke." Chapman and Hall.
Mr. Macknight has often come beforo the pub ic, as the
chronicler of the lives of eminent individuals. He says 1111
his preface that he has long cherished the idea of " Pre'
senting in one continuous view all the vicissitudes of the
ambitious and chequered life of Bolingbrcke." He believed
that what he has written may be considered as different
from any other publication of the kind in its estimate o'
Bolingbroke. He says truly that it is a curious and interest'
ing study to dwell on the life and actions of such a man'
and to consider the sad end of so much that was great. i 1
cannot be said that this work is as interesting as that
Burke, but that of course cannot be expected, since the
~übject treated of is not so:worthy of interest and excitement*
Still it may be regarded as a fitting companion for its pre'
decessor, and as the author observes in the preface"
the lives of these two eminent men serve !e '
illustrate each other. Their careers may be sal'
to comprise the whole political history of the 18111
century, and hence any one who wishes minutely to inrier
tigate the course of the one must infallibly seek to rk,osseso
himself of all the details relating to the other. Though
pleasing to peruse, the career of Bolingbroke is profitable t°
study. His life shows that great gifts are valueless if their
owner is not possessed of principle. Mr, Macknight bee
taken considerable pains with these volumes, and they retie'
great credit upon him. At the conclusion of this elaborate
consideration of his work, he remarks in eloquent language
on the chief points that make memorable the career of )3°'
lingbroke, and aptly and appropriately sums up the epitotee
of his career in these words

"It is not the object of this work to revive in any mantle:
that clamour which so fiercely assailed Bolingbroke's U'
mory. It has been endeavoured in these pages to give
just delineation of his life as it really was. Even fro°
drawing any general conclusion of my own I deliberately
refrain. The facts must speak for themselves ;
of these every reader may be the judge. What
ever nay be the verdict, and whatever may be t 1"
fate of those writings, both political and philosophies";
which Bolingbroke estimated so highly, and which certainli°
as magnificent declamations, have scarcely ever been suhat'
passed, there is little doubt that his name will always
remembered as that of one of the most brilliant and 801
complished statesmen who ever sought to govern Engioll'al
and his life will not be wi hout a memorable moral, full
warning to the most brilliant and ambitious, if it show t'e
even great intellectual endowments, high rank, and t`",.
finest opportunities are not in themselves sufficient to roue
stitute an enduring political success ; but that all 0, e-6
qualifications without some earnest and stedfast faith 110,
great cause as the representative of a great principle, ca r
not always avert mortification and defeat from their Ft°l3o
sessor nor secure the lasting respect andapprobation
world,"

Stammering and Stuttering : their Nature and Trio.-
hniol

By James Hunt, P. H j , Fifth Edition. LongmanThe many editions through which this work has es -a
prove that it has been appreciated. The author hag bid
at great pains to explain the nature of this affliction, in
has presented the reader with an outline of its treatment 0;
all periods. He states that while he certainly does t`s,
profess to enable persons to cure themselves by Pevroii-nt
ing his volume, still the study of it :will Pre pas
them from yielding to despair, since be long
shown that the impediments of speech °I) tag
held to be incurable are as amenable to trestmell'ief
other disorders of the human frame." One of tberciciono
objects of the author is to impress on parents and gu9; work
the importance of taking this evil in time.
can be recommended to all labouring under this dist
derive
infirmity, and they and their friends cannot "t to tbe
benefit from its study, The public are indebted
ti
author for thus devoting his time to the elucidaonviautah
complicated subject, and it is the more interestingwt,,a, he
the progreos of his labours, since the affliction of ,
sufferer
_air.e.
treats is one of the most painful to the
bum Y
tressing to his friends, of any that can befall This little

Science Elucidative of Scripture. By J. it.
stice4 .°338::
Author of " An Elementary Course of Alathera
&C, Lockwood.
it is with satisfaction that we see a writer of sciel3tilic)
experience and authority coming forward to ren2ove those
difficulties which modem controversy has Put 14 the Will

.Deafness Practically illustrated. By J. Yearsley, M.D.
Sixth Edition. John Churchill.
In the preface to this editiolf the author explains the dif-
ficulties he has encountered in h is career, and refers to many
plans that he proposed which w ere denounced as impracti-
cable at the time, but which ar o now very generally recog-
nised and practised. He thus l'amarks on this important
subject After 25 years' experience, I emphatically say
to the aural surgeon and to the, aural writer—look to the
mucous membrane, for on your 1 •estoring that membrane
to a healthy condition by local and. constitutional treatment,
will mainly depend your success in restoring the impaired
sense of hearing to your patient. The author states that
when he first devoted himself to this' branch of surgery it
was left to be the prey of empyrics, greatly to the injury of
the unfortunate sufferers; and many thlnk that there should
not be subdivisions made in the profession. Still he argues
that while such undeniably exist, those best serve their
fellow-men who study to make those parts as perfect as
possible, and then, if all the branches are ever again united,
the whole may be more clear and comprehensive. There is
great truth in all this, and in no improvements of the pre-
sent day has there been greater enlightenment than in the
science and practice of medicine, which at one time was
kept as awful a mystery as the secrets of the dark ages. When
men of education, skilled in their vocation and its practice,
devote their time to the compiling of their extensive expe-
rience for the benefit of society, they deserve appreciation
and encouragement. No great things are achieved by
mystery, and the most simple treatment in itself is often
the most efficacious, if only the laws of nature are borne
in mind, and the special peculiarities of each individual
taken into consideration.

---
The _lonian Islands during the Present Century. By
Captain White Jervis, M.P. Chapman and Hall.
This little volume gives an account " of the various politi-
cal phases through which the lonian Islands have passed
since they ceased to form a portion of the Venetian posses-
sions." A book of this sort is generally welcome, and the
present one is especially so, inasmuch as there has been so
much excitement felt about these islands, and the question
of the desirability of giving them up has engaged so
large a share of pubic attention. Referring to the lat-
ter subject, the author quotes a passage from the
speech of Mr. Gladstone in 1861, in which that gentle-
man observed that it would be " nothing less than a crime '
against the safety of Europe if the protectorate of those
islands was surrendered." This book will b-.? found inte-
resting in its perusal from its varied information, and there
are few readers who do not require some information on
such points as are referred to, and, at all events, they can
refresh their memory by a glance at its pages ; they only
can rightly understand the present condition of a place and
a people who are well versed in its antecedents and have
read its annals of the past,

Tropical Fibres ; their Production and Economic Extrac-
tion. By E. G. Squier. James Madden, London ;
Scribner, New York.
This author was formerly minister of the United States
in Central America, and while there he made the best use
of his time. He explains the great deficiency that existed
in regard to the means of extracting fibres. Fortunately,
however, a machine has been invented that promises to in-
crease greatly the supply of tropical fibres. By the aid of a
machine one hand can extract in a single day a greater
quantity of fibres in better condition than 100 men can ob-
tain through the primitive modes now in use. This is a
great improvement ; but it is only those who like the author
have been eye-witnesses of thesoenesdescribed who can best
appreciate the incalculable advantages that accrue from such
an arrangement. The necessity for its introduction is best
described in these words :—" The traveller will ask why the
countless agaves which sometimes surround him like
forests, and the myriads of wild pine plants which
throng the woods, and invade every abandoned field, are
allowed to send out their fibre-stuffed leaves to flourish
and decay, while the world clamours for an in
creased supply of fibrous materials." It is posi-
tively amazing to learn in how many ways these
plants arc applied. They not only supply articles of food,
drink, and oils, but they are the source of fibres which
are fitted in their various degrees for every kind of strength
and fineness. For instance, the hammock is made of a stuff
like silk. It is formed from the leaves of the wild pine-
apple. The boats are rigged with cordage which has been
taken from the agaves. In Mexico your passport is pre-
sented to you on paper of vast durability made from the
leaves of the magney, the juice of which supplies the place
of beer, cider, and whi>ky. In the East Indies the traveller
can purchase a handkerchief like gossamer, made from the
fibre leaves of the pine-apple plant. In Manilla the vessels
of all nations fill their cargoes with balls of fibres similar to
hemp and flax, but which are extracted from the stalks of
the plaintain. Surely no study can be more interesting than
this, and all additional information should be eagerly wel-
comed, especially when it is afforded by one combining the
advantages of observation and experience, joined to that
love of his subject without which it is impossible that the
writer can be attractive in his style or the reader engrossed
in his study.

ktnes, Saxons, and Normans. By T. G. Edgar, author of
"Boyhood of Great Men," &c. Beton.
Mr. Edgar has given our juvenile
readers many p
and instructive works, and he has now collected inopular this
elegant volume all the information, anecdotal and histori-
cal, which he can obtain about our early ancestors.
" Saxon and Norman and Dane are we,"
sings the laureate,
and consequently we are bound to fami-
liarise ourselves with the doings of the sturdy Vikings from
whom the bold barons of Normandy traced their descent,
to less than with the exploitalof the fair-haired Saxons who
50 often encountet ed them in battle, Edward and Godwin,
Harold and Tastig, Duke William and Matilda of Flanders,
are all celebrated in these pages, and the chronicler carries
down his narration to the death of Henry Beauclerc. We
wonder, however, that, among his numerous anecdotes, he
has not included the touching story of Henry I.'s grief
for his drowned son, after whose loss no smile ever visited
the father's face. The work is profusely illustrated, and
would form a very pretty and acceptable gift book.

Speaking Fables in French, By L. p, F. De Porquet.
Simpkin and Marshall.
The name of M. de Porquet is a bufficient guarantee of
the practical excellence of any work designed for the in-
struction of beginners in the study of the French language.
The present little volume is constructed on a very excellent
plan, by which an ease and readiness in French conversa-
tion will be acquired by young children, The only diffi-
culty in the way of its general adoption will, we fear, be
met with on the part of the teachers—few persons who pro-
nounce themselves fully competent to finish pupils in
French being really able to undertake the task here as-
signed to them. The method is, however, simple enough
and if its adoption conduces to the cultivation of a more
ready
French and practical acquaintance with the principles of
conversation among teachers as well as learners, it
will be all the better.

&all we Register Titles? By Tenison Edwards, Esq ,of
the Inner Temple. Chapman and Hall.
The author of this little ;volume has undertaken to
answer the objections brought against the registry of land
and title, and has been induced to do so by the fact that great
numbers of solicitors, more especially the provincial mem-
bers of that body, have refused to make use of the recent
act. NIL Edwards considers that the act in question meets
and avoids every one of the objections to a general registry
of titles so strongly brought forward in Lord St. Leonard's
t t
01!_andy Book," and that therefore the general antipathy
he act cannot be based on his lordship's argument. We
commend the work before us to the attention of all con-
cerned in the registry oi property and title
A

.11 interestin
Mr Red g discovery has recently been made
by . grave, at Hampton Court, to the effect that one
of the pictures formerly attributed to Pordenone, a Madonna
and Child, is really the work of an artist whose works are
extre
resc iamely rare in this country, viz., Girolanio Savoldo, of
Vasari,
B, styled
Giangirolamo. by Ridolfi, G. Bresciano, and called by
THE FUNERAL OF MADASIE DR: LAMARTINE.—
The mortal remainsof Madame de Lamartine arrived
at Macon on Saturday last, at 6 o'clock in the morning, and
at 8 o'clock the
where the body was funeral
be precession sot out for Saint Point,
interred. All along the line of
route the population came forth to show their respect for
the dead, and in many places the emotion of the country
people broke forth in audible sobs. The body was deposited
in the tomb where the mother and daughter of M. de La-
Zaartine are buried.

PRIVATE BILLS IN PARLIAMENT.—According to
an official list, just published, 316 petitions fQr private bills
have been presented in the present sesoion, aad only 35
oeal acts have received the royal assent,

--
of the thoughtless and unlearned. Mr. Young has filled
the office of Professor of Mathematics in Belfast College ; it
cannot, therefore, be said that ho is a credulous or impres-
sionable partisan, since the study of the exact sciences is
always considered to encourage a rigid adherence to matter
of fact and logical reasoning. That great science, without
whose aid the conjectures of the most learned would be
*worthless indeed. does not favour credulity or prejudice,
and the author is enabled to meer, his antagonists on their
own ground, and by his familiarity with the works and dis-
coveries of foremost philosophers, to use their own weapons
against them. :It is a work of true and thought which
is well worth rea ding by all, and should especially be care-
fully studied by those whose faith in the Scriptures hae
been shaken by 111 istaken teachers.

Incidents in _My Life. By D. D. Home. Longman.
The name of M r.. Home is nearly as well known in Eng-
land as in America, although happily the mania for sph it
rapping and table turning has never reached so great an
extent in this count rv. In the volume before us he relates
the story of his life .;2.i a calm, quiet manner, of course nar-
rating a series of ext r aordinary spiritual manifestations as
simple facts. Into th.,3 merits of such a work it is scarcely
necessary to enter. It w ill most probably find many readers
among the curious and the credulous ; but the plain common
sense and straightforward piety natural to the English
character are too decidotlly opposed to such a science as
" spiritualism," for us to tsar that it will greatly increase
the number of its votaries.