The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Diamond Dust. By Eliza Cook. Ono Vol., pp.
_ _

192. F. Pitman.

A charming volume is this Diamond Dust by
Eliza Cook : a volume the thoughts compacted to-
gether in which are, for all the world, like the flower-
seeds of Colonel Stodare. For—dropped one by one
into the reader's mind, under the momentary screen
of a few fluttering leaves of paper--they burgeon and
blossom in a twinkling ! Otherwise to express it,
they are the fruits, these thoughts, of a most ob-
servant and appreciative student's gathering—
culled from the wide range of a whole literature, and
here stored up ripely and rosily for the leisurely
enjoyment of others possibly less observant them-
selves, but, we will hope, not less appreciative than
this their self-appointed seneschal or entertainer.
It is about the prettiest, the most suggestive, and the
least wearisome table-book we can well call to our
remembrance. Open it where you will, and some idea
worth the having sparkles before you with radiant
freshness. Old or new it matters little—the oldest
thoughts glittering here as brilliantly as the very
newest in these piled-up heaps of diamond dust—
the dust, surely, of diamonds of the very first water!
Let us give a few specimens of them, picked out
almost at random—the tiniest, the minutest of them
all, being here, however, selected by preference.
Not one of them is there but will be found on
examination to have been worth the collecting—
some for their wit, some for their refinement, some
for their homeliness, some for their whimsicality,
all for that thrice-welcome merit of terseness so
delightful in an age when the very Govern-
ment of the Country is carried on by means
of a highly-elaborated system of circumlocution.
Here then are a few of these new exemplars of
brevity being the soul of wit :

Remorse is the echo of a lost virtue.
Better that the feet slip4han the tongue.
Do what you ought and let what will come of it.
Life is a moment stolen from eternity.
The pillow is a silent sibyl—despise not its oracles.
Application is one of the secrets of perfection.
He who fears not is to be feared.
One to-day is worth two to-morrows.
There is no safe path besides that of duty.
The best courage is the fear of doing wrong.
Reprove others but correct thyself.
He is idle who might be better employed.
Want of employment is the most irksome of all wants.
Either the future or the past is written on every face.
We should use a book as a bee does a flower.
Where there is no hope there can be no endeavour.
Love your friend so as to hate his faults.
Crosses are ladders that help us to rise to heaven.
A truly good memory is forgetful only of injuries.
Life is the hyphen between matter and spirit.
Death is simply the soul's change of residence.
Take the following, again, and say if they be not
treasure-trove, worth the picking up :
Our last robe needs no pockets.

Errors are good examples.
The worst of crosses is never to have had any.
Courage is often the fear of being thought a coward.
As yet additional flotsam and jetsam, caught astray
upon the world's ocean of thought, and here col-
lected together under the title of " Definitions" take
the following

Suspense—The toothache of the mind.
Grace—Beauty in motion.

Happiness—The mirage of life's desert.
Sloth—A key to the workhouse.
Wine—A generous enemy.

Poetry—Thought in full blossom.

Time—The great scene-shifter to the world's theatre.
Sleep—The fallow state of the mind.

Wit—The cayenne of conversation.
Prejudice—Opinions without judgment.

Genius—The wand of an Enchanter.

Self-respect—The noblest garment we can wear.

Fame—An imagined life in the breath of others.

Echo—The shadow of a sound.

Having thus given a few chance specimens of the
pearls secreted in this pretty green bivalve of a
book, it is only fair to give the poet-author's Pre-
face to the collection—•preceding her prose Preface,
however, as it is here actually preceded in this
volume of Diamond Dust, by her poetic Dedication.
Thus does Eliza Cook carol forth her dedication in
three musical stanzas :
I've hoard a dainty feeder wish
To find a choice and savoury fish,
Formed without scales or bones ;
And that some fairy tree would bear.
Its luscious peaches—rich and rare—
Devoid of rind or stones.

Methinks that, fashioned on the same
Suggestive thought, this book may claim
Some Readers' gratitude ;
With " concentration" for its aim—
Giving words known to Truth and Fame
Stripped of all platitude.
And to such Readers I bequeath
The buds I've gathered from the wreath
That garland's Wisdom's bower ;
Praying tint kind, approving eyes,
Will play the part of summer skins,
And nurse them into flowers.
And it is immediately after this that our authoress
explains the meaning of her little book in the fol-
lowing very judicious preliminary observations:—
" Writing a preface," she says, " though it may
comprise only a few lines, is often a more per-
plexing task than composing or compiling the whole
of the volume to which it is attached. What does
a preface usually convey ?—either an apology for
presuming to appear in print, with an avowal that
the entreaties of private friends have induced the
author to face public critics ; or some expla-
nation which is essential to the right interpretation
of the writer's meaning. I cannot avail
myself of either of these general preface con-
stituents, but happily I can say that I am glad to
have the opportunity of again greeting my " auld
acquaintance," " the people," and of assuring them
that my sole inducement to publish this volume is a
belief that a selection of so pithy and miscellaneous
a character as this work may yield them a degree of
the same pleasure in reading that it has afforded me
in gathering togther. Most volumes of "Laconics"
contain an undue amount of serious and prosy
paragraphs—solidly excellent I admit, but in my opi-
nion rather too heavy and monotonous to stimulate
those who open them with any continuous interest
in the perusal. I have carefully endeavoured to
make the collection tolerably attractive and varied ;
and have sought to condense and revise every sen-
tence culled from the evergreen paths of intellect
and imagination ; while the delight I experienced
in my labour well compensates for the trouble and
application bestowed. Many of the " wise
saws and modern instances" are perfectly
original, as also are many of the " Defini-
tions." Doubtless some readers will meet with an
opinion or sentiment objectionable to their particu-
lar taste or judgment. I can only beg them
graciously to remember that it is very difficult to
entirely please all ; and if in a literary melange of
this kind there is a fair amount of prominent truth
and racy spirit, perhaps the compiler may venture
to lay some claims to merciful extenuation
of exceptional errors. My poetry has ever been most
kindly received by the public ; and I beg to tell
them that if anything like a living gem in rhyme
has left my pen, the atoms contained in
this " Diamond Dust" have greatly contributed
to form it. I can only hope that the same elements
of gratification which aided me in compiling this
volume may carry their influence to the minds of
those who honour me by scanning its contents."

A volume so introduced to her world of readers
by Eliza Cook herself, is certain of being dearly
welcome in many an English homestead—alike in
the farm kitchen and in the lady's boudoir, in the
country mansion of the squire, in the workshop,
and in the cottage—in all those varied scenes and
places where her name is loved and honoured as
that of a sweet songstress, and of a bright-eyed,
true-hearted Englishwoman.

GIITCH'S LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC REGISTER AND
ALMANACK for 1866 gives the following account of
the age of certain living writers :—Jas. Hannay, 39 ; Mat-
thew Arnold, 41 ; Wilkie Collins, 42 ; John Ruskin, 47 ;
Rev. C. Kingsley, 47 ; Capt. Mayne Reid, 48 ; G. H. Lewes,
49 ; Tom Taylor, 49 ; Shirley Brooks, 50 ; Wm. Howard
Russell, 50 ; Anthony Trollopo, 51; Charles Reado, 52 ; R.
Browning, 54 ; C. Mackay, 54 ; C. Dickens, 54 ; A. Tenny-
son, 57 ; Mark Lemon, 57 ; Edward Miall, 57 ; R. W.
Milnes, 54 ; W. E. Gladstone, 56 ; Charles Lever,
59 ; Professor Maurice, 61 ; Sir E. Bulwor Lytton,
61 ; Benjamin Disraeli, 61; Harrison Ainsworth, 61 ; S. C.
Hall, 63 ; Barry Cornwall, 67 ; Samuel Lover, 68 ; Albany
Fonblanque, 69 ; Rev. G. R. Gleig, 70 ; Thos. Carlyle, 70 ;
W. Howitt, 71; Sir John Bowring, 74 ; Sir Archibald Ali-
son, 74; Rev. H. H. Milman, 75 ; Charles Knight, 73 ; J.
P. Collier, 77; and Lord Brougham, 86.

LTITZ CATTLE DISEASE.—The following prescrip-
tion has been found very successful in the neighbourhood
of York :--Tincture of opium loz., ditto catechu 1 oz., pre-
pared chalk 1 oz., sulphuric ether 1 oz., given in one gill of
starch every threo hours. If the bowels are relaxed add
11b. of mutton suet. Blister the neck and spine with tur-
pentine, mustard, and, yinegar mixed.