The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-26 00:00:00

LI7E.RAIURE.

Our Last Years in India. By Mrs. John B. Speid.
London : Smith, Elder, and Co.

We have had many books on India, and it would
be hard to discover any aspect of that large subject
which has not been touched upon. Mrs. Speid
travels over ground already surveyed by military
and political writers, and devotes a large part of
her volume to topics already handled at length by
missionaries. But although she is but a gleaner in
'fields that have been reaped, she has contrived to
pick up numberless subjects of inter,st which were
either overlooked or rejected by her predecessors ;
and whatever may be said of the subjects them-
selves, no reader of this book will deny that her
treatment of them is in the highest degree original.
The voyage from Southampton is painted in the
most variegated colours, and is decidedly the plea-
santest description of a sea voyage we have read for
a long time. Mrs. Speid has a keen eye for the
humorous side of things, and hits it off effectively,
but she sneers at no one, and amidst all the gay
shafts she launches at the peculiarities and eccen
tricities of her fellow voy Agers there is not one
tipped with malice. The many contrivances for
rendering life tolerable under the parching sun of
India are all known to Mrs. Speid, and are here
fully explained and illustrated for the benefit of all
future Griffins and Griffinesses. Nor is it the means
of living comfortably only that our author expounds,
she warns new comers of the dangers that beset them
on every side, from the roguery of the naive deal-
ers, and the perfidy of the servants, which Euro •
peans are obliged to employ in great numbers.
There is a good deal of clever comment upon
Hindoo traditions, and upon the reciprocal in-
fluence of Hindoo and Mohammedan religious cus-
toms. Our grim acquaintances the Thugs are
described as being chiefly Mohammedans, though
the horrible sect is of Hindoo origin. The murders
committed were originally sacrifices to the goddess
Kali, but the religious idea seems to have been
lost in the course of time, and both Mohammedan
and Hindoo Thugs are now merely plain cut-
throats, whose love of blood and plunder is easily
flattered with the idea that Kali, or Siva, or some
other hideous idol is pleased with their proceed-
ings, but about whose pleasure or displeasure they
care very little on the whole. Debt, we are told, is
universal among Europeans. Nor can we wonder
at it, if our author's account of the pay and ex •
pences of officers be correct. An infantry captain,
with a company, receives about £534 per annum.
On his marriage he is obliged to pay £165 to the
military fund. His subscriptions to the same fund,
to the band and mess amount to £2 15s. a month.
He has also to pay to the military fund £2B on the
birth of each daughter. Then the children must
be sent home to be educated, and the enormous ex-
penses attendant on the removal of corps have to
be met. So that, taking income and expenditure,
it is almost impossible for a married officer in India
to avoid debt; and when he has once put his foot
into that adhesive slime he is seldom able to with-
draw it until the whole body is drawn in and stifled.
The only thing that can be suggested as a remedy
is to advise the officers not to marry and eschew
brandy, pawnee, horse-racing, and ecarte. The
closing chapteraof the work are given to the reii-
gions of India, including the Vedas and ancient re-
ligion, an exposition of supplementary Vedic works,
and an account of the modern system of the Hin-
doos. The baseless fabrications of roguish priests
are described, and their analogies, sometimes rather
remote, with other systems of fraud and priestcraft.
We have in this volume one of the best and fullest
accounts that has yet appeared of the Caves of
Ettore, with an acute inquiry into their origin. It
would promote the administration of justiee in
India were the oaths administered according to
the native ideas.. The Hindu() will swear falsely
upon Biole, Shastra, Koran, or the Rig Vida. No
gesture you can prescribe to him will restrain him
from false swearing; but ask him to swear upon a
cow's tail, or on water with purple basil in it, or on
the peepul tree, and Mra. Speid intimates that his
falsehood will go out of him, and if he say anything
it will be the truth. The volume is of a very mis-
cellaneous character, and without any classification.
We have the origin of the Mohurrum, mixed up
with the adventures of a brown bear, and reflec-
tions on Charlotte Bronte ; but it is a lively and a
witty volume, which always pleases, and never
wearies the reader.

Sisterhoods of the Church of England. By Margaret

Goodman. Smith, Elder, and Co.

A short time since Miss Goodman published an
unpretending little book, in which she gave a nar-
rative of her life in-doors and out-of-doors, as an
English sister of mercy, and which very strikingly
illustrated the best and the worst features of the
system of religious seclusion which has latterly
sprung up in connection with the Church of Eng-
land. The present volume contains some further
illustrations of the working of the system fur-
nished to the author by ladies who, like herself,
have been inmates of religious sisterhoods. We are
told by the writer that " it is possible for a young
girl to be kept secretly in strict seclusion in a con-
vent professedly connected with the Church of Eng-
land, not only against her own iuclinations, but
against the wishes of her parents and friends, and
even in despite of their efforts to remove or com-
municate with her." If this be so, the management
and control of these sisterhoods become subjects of
grave importance, and any light which can be
thrown upon these establishments will be found
proportionately welcome. The author is of opinion,
and many of the statements which she adduces
would appear to warrant that opinion, that these
sisterhoods are, in some instances at least, perverted
from their right use and proper purpose, and
are certainly not in accordance with the law of
England, or the scope and purpose of the Eng ish
Church.

England under God. By the Venerable Archdeacon Evans.

Smith, Elder, and Co.

In this work it is the object of the author to present a sug-
gestion rather than a narrative, of the history of his country,
and the book appeals to such an acquaintance, with the
details of the history of a country as can be found in a peo-
ple whose " self respect has raised in their hearts a patriotic
curiosity concerning the course of events which has brought

After Dark. By Wilkie Collins. Smith, E !der, and Co.
This is a collection of tales republished in a popular form,
and containing several illustrations. With one exception
the tales have already appeared both in the " Household
Words," and in a collected form in two volumes. The
stories are strung together on a single thread of interest in
the form of " Leah's Diary," the pages of which seem to
fulfil the purpose not only of a framework for the collection
of tales, but also to afford many glimpses of that artist life
which the writer has had so many opportunities of study-
ing. The volume in its present shape can scarcely fail to
receive a very cordial welcome by the numerous friends and
admirers of this popular novelist.

Phaukon the Adventurer; or, the Europeans in the East.
A Romantic Biography, By William Dalton. London :

S. 0. Beeton.

The Jesuit Fathers Pierre Joseph d'Orleans and Guy
Tachard have furnished the author of this volume with the
bones of his story, hip own imagination has clothed them
with flesh and animated them, and here they stand before
us as living figures, taking a prominent part in one of the
most stirring episodes in Siamese history. The moral of
the tale is the futility of all attempts to transplant the reli-
gious institutions of Europe into oriental soil, exemplified
by the failure of Louis XIV. to bring the kingdom of Siam
under the sway of the Jesuits. The hero of the story is
Ph,ulcon, a Greek by birth, who rose to the highest office
and distinction in Siam, and who was mainly instrumental
in introducing and sustaining the Roman Catholic system
there until he and it fell together. We need hardly say that
with such materials, and Mr. Dalton's lively and pic-
turesque style, the book is most interesting, and its charms
are further increased by a number of chromo-lithographic
illustrations, in a style of oriental splendour.

My _Diary, North and South. By William H. Russell.
Bradbury and Evans, Bouverie•street.

The position which Mr. Russell occupied as corre-
spondent of the Times newspaper naturally afforded
him many facilities for becoming acquainted with
the leading men both of the Northern and Southern
States. There are abundant evidences of the desire
evinced by all parties to propitiate one whose letters would
not fail to have considerable influence on public opinion in
Europe. Much of the courtesy and attention shown to Mr.
Russell was due, no doubt, to his own personal character
and ability ; but his connection with the leading journal
was not without its effect. The President appeared fully
conscious of the influence of this section of the British press.
" I don't know anything," he said, " that has much more
power, except, perhaps, the Mississippi." This happy
union of personal qualities and professional position enjoyed
by Mr. Russell has resulted in the production of a work
which contains sketches of society in America, North and
South, the like of which have not been published for seve-
ral years past. The extracts from the "Diary," regularly
kept by Mr. Russell, reflect with apparent fidelity the tone
and opinions of American society, and it is not improbable
that when the book reaches the other side of the Atlantic
its author may find himself the object of fierce attacks from
both North and South, for what will be justly considered
breaches of confidence and abuse of hospitality. Mr. Russell
himself evidently anticipates something of the kind, for he
explains that he has been careful to omit many passages
which might cause pain or injury to individuals still living
in the midst of a civil war ; and though there is much ex-
tenuated, he assures us that there is nought set down in
malice. The value of the extracts before us is that they give
us pictures of events passing under the eyes of a very shrewd
and experienced observer during a very critical time in the
history of the country. They are not pictures of America
taken under its best aspect, and no people would wish to be
photographed and handed down to posterity in the appear-
ance which they present in such an exceptional condition
as that caused by a civil Jar. The agonies of a politi-
cal revolution, and the horrors of civil war, have exag-
gerated and developed the worst and the best qualities
of human nature. Society crushed by evil passions and
apprehensions, and shattered by violence, presented
its broken angles to the correspondent, who frankly
states—" The America I saw was no more like the country
of which her people boast so loudly than the St. Lawrence,
when the ice breaks up, hurrying onwards the rugged drift
and its snowy crush of crags with hoarse roar, se d crashing
with irrepressible force and fury to the sea, resembles the
calm flow of the stately river on a summer's day." The
sketches of society which are given in the Diary will be
read with interest. Here, for instance, is another of the
anecdotes which President Lincoln, overflowing with wes-
tern humour, occasionally indulges; Mr. Russell was a
guest at the White House, and before dinner one of the
members of the Cabinet was remonstrating upon soma ap-
pointment which the President had made. Mr. Lincoln,
in reply, said :—"Come, now, Bates, he's not half so bad as
you think. Besides that, I must tell you, he did me a good
turn long ago. When I took to the law, I was going to
court one morning, with some 10 or 12 miles of bad road
before me, and I had no horse. The judge overtook me in
his waggon. " Holloa, Lincoln, are you not going to the
Court House P Come in, and I'll give you a seat. When
I got in the judge went on reading his papers. Presently
the waggon struck a stump on one side of the road, then it
hopped off to the other. I looked out and saw the driver
was jerking from side to side in his seat. So says I,
' Judge, I think your coachman has been taking a little
drop too much this morning.' Well, I declare, Lincoln,'
said he, ' I should not much wonder if you were right, for
he has nearly upset me half a dozen times since starting.
So, putting his head out of the window, he shouted, Why,
you infernal scoundrel, you are drunk.' Upon which, pull-
ing up his horses and turning round, with great gravity, the
coachman said, ' By Gorra, that's the first rightful decision
you have given for the last twelvemonth.' " Whilst the
company were laughing the President beat a quick retreat
from the neighbourhood of the Attorney-General.
The chivalry of the slave owners of the South ap-
pears to be very much exaggerated by the friends of
the Southern States in this country, if we may judge by
some of the extracts from the " Diary." When in the
State of Mississippi, Mr. Russell learned some foots on the
subject of the prevalence of the duello ; among others, for
example, he says he was warned against " the impolicy of
trusting to small bore pistols, or to pocket six shooters in
case of a close fight ; because, suppose you hit your man
mortally, he may st ill run in upon you and rip you up with
a bowie knife before he falls dead, whereas if you drive a
good heavy bullet into him, or make a hole in him with a
Derringer ball, he gets faintish and drops at once." Ano-
ther hist which he received from the chivalrous South was
this:—" If a gentleman with whom you are engaged in
altercation moves his hands towards his breeches pocket, or
behind his back, you must smash him or shoot him at once,
for he is going either to draw his six-shooter, to pull out a
bowie knife, or to shoot you through the lining of his
pocket. The latter practice is considered rather ungentle-
manly, but it has been more honoured lately in the observ-
ance than in the breach." As to the probable results of the
present contest Mr. Russell judiciously abstains from any
dissertation on the present or future of the great republics,
but expresses himself satisfied that "the Free States of the
North will retain and gain great advantages by the struggle,
if they will only set themselves at work to accomplish their
destiny, nor lose their time in sighing over vanished empire,
or indulging in abortive dreams of conquest and schemes of
vengeance."

Waterloo, and the Downfall of the First Napoleon. By

George Hooper. Smith, Elder and Co,

So much has already been said and written regarding the
battle of Waterloo that it would be impossible to find any-
thing fresh one would suppose. It does not appear that it
is the author's intention to throw auy now light upon the
subject, but he thinks that the influence of the writings of
Napoleon and those who have drawn their inspiration from
the poisoned fountain of St. Helena, has been so great, and
that facts have been so much perverted that is desirable to

draw attention succinctly to all these circumstances
which are established beyond a doubt, and to fix
them alone in the mind of the reader. His narrative
c mmences with the return of Napoleon from Elba, his
political calculations, his resources and exertions, the
scene of the Champ de Mai, and the meeting of the
Chambers. He then shows the character and growth of
the Anglo-allied and Prussian armies, their dispositions and
functions with the preparations of their commanders. We
aro then taken to the battle -field, and are shown the general
position of the army en the eve of the campaign, and after
the opening of hostilities, the position, strength, and forma-
tion of the French army, the three days' fighting, and the
final victory by the allies over the great commander and his
warlike hosts. The events which took place after the deci-
sive battle then brought forward, including the invasion of
France by the allies, their march on Paris, the interregnum
and capitulation : and finally we have a succinct account of
all that followed the flight of Napoleon and the final retri-
bution. Those who have already learnt enough of the battle
of Waterloo and Napoleon will find in this book a very clear
and explicit resume of what they knew before, and those
who have still to acquire information on the subject will
pick it up in these pages in the shortest and most explicit
manner, while the facts may be implicitly depended on.

A Prodigal Son. By Dutton Cook. Hurst and Blackett.
Mr, Hadfield had two sons, the elder of whom, an un•
doubted scamp, having taken up with a ballet dancer, made
a fool of himself and married her. His father, being an
irascible old gentleman, was not easily pacified, and in a
quarrel with his son, forgetting that he was past his boy_
hood, gave him a blow, which his son returned with such
a strong push as sent his lather reeling over the fender,
and cut his head. The son was driven from the presence
OT his parent, who never saw him again until he was on his
death-bed. At his last hour a scene of violence takes
place, when the father, not being satisfied of the son's re-
pentance, cuts him off with a shilling, and leaves him a
wanderer and a beggar upon earth. This is the prodigal
son. He then took his journey into a far country, and
there wasted his substance in riotous living, and it will be
generally thought that he richly deserved his punishment.
He was not, however, altogether bad. He had sown
his wild oats, and was ready to be, converted to good
when better influence should be exercised over him. During
a severe illness, brought on by mental anxiety, he was
nursed in the house of a medical gentleman by his two beau-
tiful daughters, one of whom, by name Violet Fuller, be-
comes the heroine of the tale. An affection springs up be-
tween them ; and the influence of an amiable woman effects
a change in the heart of the prodigal—he becomes a re-
formed man, and is accepted as the husband of the lovely
Violet. Before such a consummation, however, could take
place, it was, of course, necessary to have a vast deal of
love-making, and we are, consequently, favoured with some
wonderful specimens of letters interchanged between the
happy pair that would make fine specimens for young novel
readers to copy. It may be true that every man is a fool
when he is in love, and that at such times he writes what
he is heartily ashamed of when he comes to his senses ; but
there really is nothing so supremely absurd as the love effu-
sions of young people, when brought before the light, and
scanned by the eye of reason. Read over the last great
love case in the law reports, and you'll surely find that
shrieks of laughter follow the putting in evidence the letters
of the poor wretches concerned. It is not as though nobody
in court had ever heard before of such intensely comic
things as bye-letters, nor as though the judge on the bench
might not have written such things himself in days gone
by ; but it is the simple fact that no one can see the follies
of others exposed without laughing at them. We may
have done many foolish things in our lives besides writing
a nonsensical letter, but we do not like to be reminded of
them. If the author desired to bring such matters into
ridicule he could not have done so more effectually than by
the absurd specimens of love-lettere with which he has filled
twenty pages of his book. He facetiously tells us that
these two samples will probably suffice to show the
contents of the many letters that passed, and if so it is
a very melancholy fact. After the marriage had been
consummated the happy couple immured themselves in a
small London apartment, to the end that the prodigal
might obtain literary employment, by which Lhe
should be enabled to support himself and family.
For those who are accustomed to such labour the hero's
prospects would not be very superlative ; however, he was
fortunate, and contrived to keep his head above water un-
til a sad accident befel him, which was no less than the re-
appearance of his former wife, the ballet-girl to whom he
had been married while leading a profligate life abroad. To
be sure she made everybody believe that he thought she was
dead ; and let us hope it was so. However, this little
catastrophe set all parties by the ears, and gave rise to some
very interesting situations; consequently we cannot regret
the calamity. The interview between the two wives is very
well depicted. Number one calls upon number two in order
that she may satisfy herself as to the personal appearance
of her rival, and at the interview which takes place she re-
veals the dreaded secret that number two is no longer a
wife, and that her infant son is not what he ought to have
been. Number two is naturally upset by this intelligence,
and takes a course that was well calculated to show the
depth of grief under which she was suffering, for she caught
up her baby and ran screaming through the streets of Lon-
don. Having, however, escaped being locked up as a
lunatic, she at last thought of what ought to have occurred
to her at first, that the best place for her future residence
would be the house of her father ; and so she called a cab,
drove off to the railway station, and soon after arrived safely
under the paternal roof. Other matters of serious import
now take place. It is discovered that our hero's first wife
was already married to a Frenchman when she bestowed
her hand on him, and this gentleman, in the character of a
Parisian policeman, comes forward in the nick of time, and
discloses the whole truth. All mysteries are now cleared up,
and the reformed prodigal retires with his second wife into
country life, and receives fro m his generous younger brother
a portion of that patrimoxywhich his father haddeprived him
of. Notwithstanding some little inconsistency in the con-
duct of the principal parties to this novel, there are several
well .drawn characters. The retired picture-dealer, for
instance, who finds a resemblance in all his friends and
acquaintances to some famous picture of the old
masters. " There is Old Sally, she is a perfect Rembrandt ;
she ought never to be touched, much less cleaned; just a
little dusting now and then with a silk handkerchief, that
would be quite sufficient. She has got the right snuffy
sort of shadow under her nose, and all her wrinkles are in
the most superb impasto you ever sot eyes upon; and our
friend upstairs is a very respectable Velasquez, fit for any
gallery, with a particular kind of glassing, he might even
be taken for a Spagnolette, and by no means a bad spe3i-
men of the master. Then the lady, she is a genuine Raphael,
and a fine production of the school ; she has not changed
for the last two years, but is as good as ever, the colour has
not gone down a bit. That's the thing with the old mas-
ters, no mistake about them, last beautiful for ever I Her
sister from the country was very beautiful. Sometimes I
thought she was a Lancret, and there were moments when
I never regarded her as a Grenze. As for the baby, I don't
object to the baby upstairs. In fact, a baby is not so bad
as it is painted. I don't like its crying, I confess, but it is
nothingts
obe chuckle
buc yoc
colour,
Somehow
ouerat,
dhw
echr
flao
etwslihn tones
women
ona thoughtreessaecertainly
m
o
pleasant. ot u
intoxicated
particularlyl d
n dd
1,
overdone;
the Rembrandt downstairs taking such a fancy to the
withy think to
danb niei
now the baby is decidedly Flemish; it isn't nice in point
it's wanting in expression, too, and repose, not quite right
in point of drawing, but it is not to be looked upon as a
finished work of art at present; it's a mere sketch, but
perhaps, they will make a Flamingo of it, modelled for
Rubens." There are other new characters in the book,
and the plot is good. It will, therefore, find many readers
I among the admirers of works of fiction.

A Jangled Skein. In 3 Volumes. By Albany Fonblanque,
Jun. Tinsley Brothers.

Many persons have already perused this novel, as it ap-
peared in the pages of the St. James's Magazine. Its title at
once suggests a complicated plot, which is skilfully worked
out, and the events are well combined, though they will not
be unfamiliar to the reader of sensation novels ; in which
class of literature, murder, bigamy, and villany of all dyes,
form promment parts. Mr. Fonblanque possesses an agree-
able and piquant style, which, applied even to a less excit-
ing plot, might result in a very successful work. In the
first few chapters, much more is vaguely hinted at as hav-
ing happened, or as about to take place, than is eventually
explained or carried out; but enough transpires to secure
the attention of the reader to the last page, and win his
sympathies for the noble and conscientious Stephen Frank-
land and his worthy lady-love, Grace Lee. The plot turns
for the most part on the murder of Frankland's friend, and
the various grounds which exist for suspecting the mur-
derer to be Frankland's father. A relative of Grace Lee is
arrested on suspicion of the crime, and circumstantial evi-
dence goes strongly against the man ; ho is, however,
finally acquitted on the tiraely discovery of the criminal,
The character of Frankland's father, a weak-minded indi-
vidual, apparently crested tobed eshpei, pseud-,
oisn
thea b
death of
lydrawn.
Having run through his property,
his first wife, marries an heiress, who insists on his adop-
tion of her own name, and Sir (eorge Frankland is accord-
ingly converted into Sir George Tremlott, and lives on his
wife's property, until she elopes with a gallant colonel of
rather questionable repute. There is a son, Francis, and
on the delineation of the character of this particularly dis-
agreeable young gentleman more than ordinary pains have
expended. He acts as a good foil for eisplaying the more
amiable traits in the character of his half-brother. Among
other things he takes a malicious pleasure in reminding his
father of his dependence on my Lady Trernlett, and con-
trives in various ways to render himself as little respected
or loved as it is possible for one to be who is heir to an ex-
tensive property, Enough may be seen from this refer ence