The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

John Arnold. By the author of Mathew Paxton,"
&C., &c. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
It is not from the higher classes that the author
of the work before us has chosen his acters, neither
has he descended among those of the lowest grade—
he has selected them rather from that middle station,
which, without being sunk in poverty, is compelled
to work for a livelihood, and in which the qualities
of industry and intelligence are pretty sure to meet
with appreciation and success. John Arnold, the
hero of the tale, son of a Northumberland farmer,
had such strong mechanical tendencies that he de-
clined to follow his father's vocation, and, with his
brother Frank, became an engineer. At the open-
ing of the tale, he is at Liverpool bidding goodbye
to his friend Harry Grey, who is engaged to his
sister Marion and about to start as engineer in a
steamer bound to the East, and the author thus
indicates his character :—" We have said that there
was a decided contrariety of character in these two
brothers. The elder, a strong man in every sense
of the word, was ambitious of power far more than
of fame, having his whole mind engrossed with his
trade, and resolved by it to rise to the power he
desiderated. With great mechanical skill, and
already with a greater degree of scientific know-
ledge than was usually at that time found among
his compeers, he had resolved he would not be
chained down to the dull mechanical routine of the
shop, nor be content with the quantum of know-
ledge, practical and theoretical, he already possessed;
but he felt that he must press on, and become mas-
ter of all that could be learned. He would never
be content till that time came ; he could not, would
not, struggle for advancement before that period
Perhaps he felt that the resolute determination to
advance, even while going from town to town,
from foundry to foundry, was that very struggle
itself ; and he would have been right. John Arnold
might be set down as a hard man. So he was.
When anything was to be done nothing could daunt
him in the way of labour:, no difficulty overcame
him ; he might have to puzzle his brains, to try and
to fail, and perhaps try again and again with the like
result, but his resolve was to push on determinedly
till he was competent to take his stand among the
chief engineers of the land." It is evident that such
a character contains the elements of success, and
although his path was by no means free from dif-
ficulties, he ultimately attains his goal. His brother
Frank, of a different mould, was successful also,
though in another field, but with bim we have little
to do, inasmuch as he remains at Liverpool whilst
John takes passage in a steamer for Scotland. On
the way a collision takes place in the channel owing
to the drunkenness of the chief engineer, and which
but for John's presence of mind would have been
still more serious. As it was, the event proved for-
tunate to him, inasmuch as the captain, passengers,
and agents of the ship united in giving him a re-
commendation to a great engineer in one of the
towns on the Clyde, here called Grasaig, who at
once gave him employment such as he desired.
"To see him at his work sometimes, one would
almost think he had engaged himself as an
unskilled labourer, instead of being, what he
really was, a thoroughly skilled artisan. At one
time he has been among the boiler-makers, at
another with the iron shipbuilders, doing the
coarsest jobs, and having his mind ever fixed on the
end, the thorough knowledge of his business, which
he desiderates, John has been fortunate in finding
employers who can and do appreciate his enthu-
siasm, and are willing to encourage him in his
efforts ; and thus, day by day, he is practically
learning, sometimes called off to his own particular
branch, it is true. With his fellow-workmen he
has met almost the same fate as he did in Liver-
pool. The majority of the men cannot understand
him ; and when they see him, the skilled craftsman,
putting his hand to what they consider beneath
them and even degrading, they first wunder at and
then annoy him. Moreover, the trade societies
stand as stumbiingblocks in his way ; he will not
join them, will be no member of the trades union,
and always speaks discouragingly and with repro-
bation of strikes, the artisan's grand panacea for
every evil, and the method by which they suppose
they shall gain every good." To show the evil,
effect and inutility of strikes is one aim of the work,
and not very long after the arrival of John at the
foundry one takes place, and the two leaders
of the branch of the trades union established
in Grasaig call on John and endeavour to per-
suade him to join them, but he is inflexible.
"My objection," he says, to join the union, and
to have anything to do with a strike, either
by leaving work myself, or supporting those who
do, is taken on principle. We have no right to try
to compel a master to employ his capital only as we
like, or to engage no man that we aren't pleased with.
The master has as much right to freedom of choice
and action, surely, as the man. Can't we leave
when we like, and go where we like, and employ
our capital, which is our skill and labour, as we
like " But his arguments cannot alter their pur-
pose, and the greater part of the hands not only
leave work themselves but strive to intimidate the
few who, with John among them, remain. Much
suffering among the families of the workmen en-
sues, and the men ultimately have to give in, but
John, who had made himself especially obnoxious
by causing the capture and punishment of some of
the ringleaders, is treacherously waylaid, robbed,
and almost killed. He is consoled, however, by the
affection of a young lady named Annie Archbold.
A machine which he invents turns out a great suc-
cess, he is taken into partnership by his master, and
his position is secured. Meanwhile, his sister
Marion, whose lover is on the sea, suffers a certain
amount of indirect persecution at home because she
will not encourage the addresses of a young minis-
ter named Johnson, who lodges at the farm. Rural
Northumbrian life is here very naturally described,
and forms an agreeable contrast to the scenes
in the City. Of the dwelling we have
the following pleasant picture. " The house
itself seemed an ordinary farm-house of two stories,
and with its out-buildings formed two sides of a
square, or rather a parallelogram; the garden, with
its venerable fruit trees, covering the other part of
what had originally been the camp of the Romans.
Around, on every side, were a number of ancient
trees, which sheltered the whole place from the
prevailing winds, while they did not obstruct the
view of the long stretch of cultivated country in
front. The whole of the buildings were covered
with magnificent ivy and honeysuckle, which gave
the house an air of even greater antiquity than in
reality it could boast. A deep but narrow stream
flowed towards the German Ocean, through a very
deep ravine in front, and must have materially in-
creased its defensibility in the olden times. The
banks of this ravine, this den as it was popularly
called, were, both towards the east and west, most
picturesquely wooded, and presented many scenes
of great beauty ; and there was little wonder that
it was remembered affectionately by those who had
roamed in childhood or youth within its shades
searching for nests, gathering the fragrant prim-
roses and cowslips, and other sweet wild flowers
more than we can name, or scrambling, all heedless
of torn clothes and scratched hands, to pluck the
blackberries and the nuts with which they so richly
abounded." Ultimately, however, Harry Grey re-
turns, obtains profitable employment at home, and
Marion's troubles are over. The novel is charac-
terised throughout by a genial and healthy tone,
much of it is evidently drawn direct from nature,
and it cannot fail to enhance the author's reputa-
tion.

The St. James's Magazine.

The opening article on " The Armstrong
Gun" is by no means favourable to their inven-
tor, and quotes the testimony of Colonel Boxer,
chief of the Laboratory Department at the Wool-
wich Arsenal, against it. speaking of the forts
at Portsmouth : "The circumstancgs of the ease,"
says the writer, ,i are so very plain that all who
take the trouble may readily grapple With them.
The forts are proposed to be built on the assump-
tion that Sir William Armstrong can make ord-
nance of sufficient power to demolish mail plates
at rangeo varying from 1,700 to 3,000 yards.
lias he,
s cant
r g P s c
a l,
it
or has he not—can he,
is not asserted that the real Armstrong
o n heg
not
gone
n i
effect this demolition; on the contrary, Prgtetice ,

has unmistakeably demonstrated their utter in-
ability to effect such destruction at any range,
however short. Sir William Armstrong himself
has been driven to admit that they cannot; and
at this point he elected to follow a course that
will fix on him, most deservedly, an unpleasant
taint as long as he lives. The fact being made
apparent that his own guns—the Armstrong rifled
ordnance—were wholly incompetent to do the
work required of them—that they were less
powerful, indeed, than old service 68.pounders—
he began to construct enormous muzzle-loaders,
and to call them Armstrong guns. We know not
how to designate this step, without violating ame-
nities." The tales comprise "A Tangled Skein,"
" The Disinherited," and " The Banker's Daughter,"
whilst articles will be found onMusic,Botany,Vision
and Education.

The National Magazine.

A photograph of the Pavilion, Brighton, is given
in this number. The tales of " Fan Fan and her
Uncle," and "Losing, Seeking, and Finding," are
progressing. Turkish Baths are described. "
Month with Mona" introduces us to the products
and antiquities of that island. And in the articles
styled " From Southampton to Shanghai" we find
an account of the present state of things in China.

The Sixpenny Magazine.

For cheapness and variety this magazine well
maintains its reputation. The opening article is on
the educational advantages of the International
Exhibition. The three tales of" The Bing's Page,'
" Roland the Painter," and "Lady Audley's Secret,"
are still progressing ; and the chapter on " Animal
Life in the Ocean" treats chiefly of those gigantic
seaweeds which amaze the voyager to distant lands.
Those " Extraordinary masses of gigantic seaweed,
Macrocysta, Lessoni.e, and D'Urvillese, are also
met with on the rocky coasts of the Falkland Islands.
Torn from the rocks, and hurled on the coast, they
collect in the surf into immense vegetable cables,
much thicker than the human body, and severs",
hundred feet long. Many of the finest and rarest
Alga may be discovered here, reminding the
botanician, by the similitude of form, of hie dis-
tant home, while their sight tells him at ttie same
time that he is in another hemisphere. :le giant
species of the Lessonize are principally
met with
near islands. Their growth resem.loles that of a
tree. Their trunk attains a heigt,t of eight or ton
feet and the thickness of a man's thigh, and termi-
nates in a crown whose leaves descend like the
branches of a weeping willow. Submarine forests
are formed by this plant, which like the Macro-
cystis, shelters an infinity of marine animals."

Good Words.

In " Rambling Notes on a Travel to North Italy"
the editor pays a tribute to the beauty of our own
land. He says, "We back Great Britain and Ire-
land—not omitting even 'the PA dj scent islands of
the Great and Little Cumbraes'—against the world
for possessing the richest treasures of all that is
beautiful, grand, and loveable in nature." In
" Vistas in the Russian Church " we find the fol-
lowing testimony to the religious feeling of the
Russians. All the churches, it seems, are decorated
with gold, and " on the new Izak Cathedral, its
one grand dome and four smaller surrounding ones
—a very frequent arrangement in the city—there,
is spread gold to the value, as it is said, of
£50,000 ; and neither there, nor in the little grol den
dome on the summit of the Alexander Neoski
Chapel on the Nikolayevski Bridge--a mere sentry-
box affair for size—is there the smallest fear of vio-
lence or plunder by night from any member of a
true Russian population ; for sacrilege is a thing
they would most extraordinarily abhor." The tale
called Mistress and Maid " has reached its 18th
chapter ; and articles are contributed by Arch-
bishop Whately and by Sir David Brewster.