The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENI \G, MAY 5, 1862.

LITERATURE.

--f--

Ellice. A Tale. By L. N. Cotnyn. Longman and Co.
The effect of this tale is injured by its length
being too great for the theme, whilst the plot wants
intricacy ; and although we give the author credit
for goodness of intention, we think him mistaken
in the mode of expressing it. He aims at showing the
unsatisfactory spiritual state of his heroine, Ellice
(a girl in her teens), in consequence of her excessive
affection for her only brother—a state from which
she is " providentially" saved by this brother's
sudden and violent, though accidental, death at
the hands of a schoolfellow; an event which, we
are led to infer, took place for her especial benefit.
At least this is the conclusion to which the follow-
ing extract forces us ,

"Ellice was silent. ' It's quite true l' she said, after a
ong pause. I never thought about him at all. I don't think
[ often do, and yet I had been trying a little before that.'
She stopped again, and then she said, in alow voice, I
see it now, Mr. Harrison, though I never did before. Do
you remember something you said to me once when we
were talking about Gerard ? It was last winter, the day
Willie fell into the water. You told me then not to make
an idol of him, and not to think of him before doing what
was right and pleasing to God. I knew that I had done so,
but I thought I wouldn't go on doing it any longer. And
yet 1 did. I couldn't help it, for I was always thinking of
him and putting him first, and if he were pleased I never
cared for anything else. And so this has come; it is sent
as a punishment because I loved him best.'
" No, not as a punishment, Ellice ; you must not think
that. It is sent in mercy, because God saw that you loved
your brother so well that you could not love Him more, and
because he wishes to have your whole heart, not a divided
one. He has seen good to separate you for a little
spyvanvtrula wave -,442.Qieft
everything had gone on smoothly ; and that you may be
brought to Him, too, who loves you more than any earthly
friend can do. No, you must never say that it is a punish-
ment. If you use it rightly, you will find, some day, that
it is the greatest blessing that could have been sent ; and
when, a few short years honce—or it may be only months
—you meet your brother again in a home beyond the grave,
you will look back to this trial with feelings of gratitude,
and thank God that, by taking your idol from you, He led
you to give Him the first and best place in your affections."
Now the inference to be drawn from this kind
of argument is not—don't love your brother
more than God, because it is unwise and unjust to
do so; but—don't love your brother more than God,
lest he, in consequence, be suddenly taken from
you by a violent death. The Creator is made a
" jealous God," visiting the sins of the guilty upon
the innocent, and using his " Providences in a
thoroughly sectarian spirit. Mind, we acquit the
author of intentional irreverence; we merely think
he is mistaken in writing a tale in order to impute
motives to the Almighty, of which a mortal would
be ashamed. Are those who impute motives to
Deity aware that they actually assume superiority
—that they think they see through Him, and can
penetrate His designs ? There has always been too
much of this in the world, and there is too great a
tendency nowadays to make novels vehicles for
theological or sectarian opinions. That the aim of
the novel writer should be to raise views and purify
the taste of his readers, whilst at the same time
amusing them, we admit; but once let the pious in-
tention be too prominent and we have a bastard ser-
mon, not a novel. That the tale has in some re-
spects considerable merit we willingly grant. The
character of Ellice is interesting and natural, and
the latter portion of the book shows considerable
power over the pathetic. As a tale for young
people (theology apart) it is praiseworthy, and the
writer is evidently capable of better things.

Two Lectures on the Genius of Handel. By Dean

Ramsay, Blackwood and Sons.

Rightly regarding Handel as the greatest among
sacred composers, especially for the human voice,
Dean Ramsay delivered these lectures last January
in the Edinburgh Music Hall, and they now ap-
pear in the elegant volume before us. Without
pretence to any very profound musical knowledge,
the Dean's perceptions are true, his judgment is
sound, and he never permits his enthusiasm to out-
run discretion, If a worshipper, he is no mere idol-
ater. To heighten one man's fame he does not drag
others in the dust. " I am unwilling," he says,
"to neutralise or to injure the effect of that merit
which I attribute to Handel by asserting what is
exaggerated or untrue. Ido not mean to say that
Handel has excelled all other musical composers
in every department of music. I am aware
that Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn,
and others have often equalled, and perhaps at
times surpassed his ordinary songs, recitatives,
duets, and trios ; that they have produced orchestral
effects, have composed symphonies and concertos
which Handel, with his resources, could not possibly
have produced. But Ido say that in sacred com-
position for a multitude of voices he stands pre-
eminent." This is sound in thought and clear in
expression. In Handel's time orchestral music was,
comparatively, in its infancy. The marvellous
intricacy, the gorgeous colouring, the sublime con-
trasts, which we find in Beethoven's Symphonies
would have been then impossible. But for the im-
perishable part of music—that soul which underlies
all form, and sets fashion at naught, Handel is
supreme. His music can never die. Wherever
voices are uplift in praise will his strains be
heard. If things sacred are worthier than things
profane then is Handel greatest among musicians.
Not ;that he gives us all, but that he gives us the
best. With him it is not so much the theme that
serves as a foil for his skill, as that his skill glori-
fies and exalts his theme. Consecrating his best
faculties and his highest efforts to his Maker's ser-
vice,—pouring out his most precious gifts in His
praise he has raised an imperishable monument to
himself. England's adopted son, he has left to her
and to the world a mostl precious legacy,—one
which will keep alive the purest musical taste, and
will at the same time always conduce to religion
and morality. No worthier subject then could Dean
Ramsay have chosen. Of his treatment of it we
can speak in terms of the highest praise. It is
clear, graphic, interesting, and earnest; and all
who reverence Handel's name will be delighted
with this volume.

Memoir of the Duke of Richmond. Chapman
and Hall. •

a veryTh e co ar
or
de ei
troobfl
et he la
one, a t D
was
e ukbye
no
ofßichmond,means tremarkablehough
for the display of great ability. That he was an
honest man, and that he did his duty in his station,
few would deny. Still there was no pressing need
for his biography. He was an exemplary school
boy, a brave soldier, and an unassuming country
gentleman. He improved his estate, interested him-
self in sheep and cattle, created Goodwood Races,
and was a staunch Protectionist. In fact, he was a
very fair specimen of an average Englishman. The
extracts from his speeches there given show com-
mon sense, tinged here and there with prejudice.
He seems to have done many good-natured acts,
and we find nothing here set down to his disadvan-
tage. The author (who conceals his name) dedicates
his work "To the Farmers of Great Britain." To
them and to his personal friends it will doubtless
prove interesting.

Blackwood's lii agazine.

The fourth part of " Caxtoniana" here given is
the best that has yet appeared. We say the best,
because it is the most practical and the most calcu-
lated to influence beneficially those whose characters
are in course of formation, and who are to some
extent guided by what they read. The theme is
" On the Management of Money," and the writer
says :

Nurse, cherish, never cavil away, the wholesome horror
of debt. Personal liberty is the paramount essential to
human dignity and human happiness. Man hazards the
condition, and loses the virtues, of freeman, in proportion
as he accustoms his thoughts to view, without anguish and
shame, his lapse into the bondage of debtor. Debt is to
man what the serpent is to the bird; its eye fascinates, its
breath poisons, its coil crushes sinew and bone, its jaw is
the pitiless grave. If you mock my illustration, if you
sneer at the truth it embodies, give yourself no further
trouble to learn how to manage your money. Consider
yourself doomed; pass on your way with a jaunty step;
the path is facile—paths to Avernus always are. But if,
while I write, your heart, true to the instinct of manhood,
responds to my words—if you say, " agreed ; that which
you call the first rule for the management of money, I hold
yet more imperative as the necessity to freedom and the
lifespring of probity"—then advance on your way, assured
that wherever it wind it must ascend. You see but the
templet.,:f Honour ; close behind it is:tbf-3 temple of Fortune.
You will pass through the one to the other.
" But,' sighs the irresolute youth whom the eye of the
serpent has already charmed, " it is by no means so easy
to keep out of debt as it is to write warning against getting

an
.
Easy to keep out of debt I Certainly not. Nothing in
in the first b
life wortheffort is easy. Do you expect to know the
first six booksof Euclid by inspiration ? Could you get over
that problem
of
fatigueook , p7u Ia
Canrly calledyou
look
thek
h aoback Ass's
t to
Bridge, without a sigh
the rudirnoritar
the Rule of Three, or
of the Multiplication Table and
Maribus, witinourte4 As in Pmesenti' or even Propria quo
lively reminiscence of the moment in
gaveEvion, and said, " This is too much for
which you fairly
things the pleasantest, if we
we must toil.
must earn by te sweat of our brow or the
on il. W.e are all Adam's children.
even the Sybarite was at ease on his rosebed—
hiwlnvuitchaaEttneodvesepnuro,oNwwov
succeed
culture
r a
earth, till we win back our way
some labour Was
ebvraenin.
for
own could uncrumple the rose_lneaegtual, No hand save his
object under the sun reflects a difficulty jchsfed him. Each
f f Lifory lugir op,yB that eg,mia_. on the earth.
"Q 414 bhp Syrus, whoe
Nhoinit

fragments of olgerse are worth libraries of modern come-
dies—" every tr casts its shadow."
But think, o)ang -plan! of the object I place before
you, and thou I ashamed of yourself if you still sigh,
" Easy to pread and not easy to practise." I have no
interest in the 'Aching ; your interest is immense in the
practice. That ject not won, your heart has no peace,
and your hcarthe security. Your conscience itself leaves
a door open nightnd day to the tempter—night and day,
to the ear of a titer, steal whispers that prompt to the
deeds of a felon, Three years ago you admired the rising
success of some--nst respectable man. Where is he now ?
In the dock—in tl jail—in the hulks ? What I that opu-
lent banker, whosplatc dazzled princes ? or that flourish-
ing clerk, who dn-o the high-stepping horse to his office ?
The same. And k crime ? Fraud and swindling.. What
demon could urged respectable a man to so shameful an
act ? I know not le name of the demon, but the cause of
the crime the wren, tells you himself. Ask him—what
is his answer ? ".got into debt—no way to get out of it
but the way which took—to the dock, to the jail, to the
hulks ?"
This instalment alit Salem Chapel" is scarcely equal
to the last. Nvertheless, it is able, and we
see a little farfer into the plot, " A Visit to
Rugby" sketches the history of that school and
details the characristics of the different masters.

In "Sensation Nov's," the peculiarities of that class
of fiction, are disctssed. " The Renewal of Life "
is physiologicol. ;`here are articles on " The Anglo
Saxon Chronicle," " President Andrew Jack-
son," with a poem )y David Wingate, called " The
First Guid Day."

Macmillan.

The author of "Lorenzo Benoni" has commenced
a tale in this number called "Vincenzo, or Sunken
Rocks." Italy_is tin scel3-,-,_ The time is 1848, and
writer "II EMI ru gm- unrcrtire- vv dr;--10 Stir
dently favourable to the North. He speaks well
of the Federal army, deprecates adverse criticism of
it on our part, and draws the following portrait of
the President :

in-Chief, and is to be adopted at all stations
where the means of carrying it out may be pro-
vided," it is needless to say more in its favour.

The Increase of National Defence and Reduction
of Taxes. By Monitor. Effingham Wilson.
" Monitor" recommends that soldiers here and in
the colonies be industrial, that is that a portion of
their time should he passed in useful occupations.
The number might thus be increased, and the cost
would be less.

Beeton's Publications.

Boys' Own Library.—Robinson Crusoe. Illus-
trated. Part I. This is nicely got up, and a
memoir is prefixed.—Dictionary of riniversal In-
formation. Part XLII. ranges from " Biography"
to "Bread."—Garden Managenzent gives the usual
monthly calendar, with miscellaneous information.
—Boys' Own Magazine contains a prize paper on
angling, and the principal tale is termed " How I
Won my Spurs ; or, a Boy's Adventures in the
Civil Wars."

Bailey's Monthly Magazine.
A good engraving and memoir of Mr. John
White, a well-known racing man and fox-hunter,
are given in this number. " Charles Thornhill" is
continued, and there are various other articles of
sporting interest.

The Sixpenny Magazine.
anialfiectoipoenniLsn,
as gaurtsiucab letpreleantstiofuf: The International
Exhibition.' Bivalves are discussed in Amimai
Life in the Ocean." ables, Ancient ana - n "
treing now reached,

Kingston's Magazine for Bays.
The tales called " Marmaduke Merry" and
" Rambles of Tom Bainbridge" are in progress.
"Popular Science Table Talk" treats of coal,
There is an article on " Boating," and the number
concludes with " Anecdotes of Animals."