The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Lords and Commons. By the author of the

" London Clubs." H. Adams.
It would have gratified us if we could have com
mended this little volume as cordially as we did its
predecessor. Such, however, we cannot but deem
impossible, consistently with our notions of the
relative merits and demerits of the two produc-
tions. The former work from the hand of the
anonymous compiler was in its subject a novelty
M itself sufficiently attractive. It described suc-
cinctly and agreeably enough the different clubs of
the metropolis, all those clubs that is to say having
any pretensions whatsoever to respectability. By
a curious coincidence, the precise time of the ap-
pearance of the production here referred to was
Marked by the appearance in Blackwood's Magazine
of a paper expressing surprise that no book had
ever issued from the press descriptive of those very
land of establishments. The publication, there-
fore, was timely and desirable. It command-
consequently from all parties indiscrimi-
nately the welcome due to what the vulgarly pedan-
tc call a desideratum. It is not thus, however,
With the little volume now lying before us, a
'volume from the same hand, dedicated to the
twin subjects of " The Lords and Commons," and
purporting to recount their functions and func-
tionaries. Altogether the production appears to
"us little better than a specimen of mere book-
;taking, consisting for the most part of value-
less facts hastily scrambled together. Perhaps
the shallow nature of the book is rendered
the more disagreeably apparent by its manifest-
ing on the part of the compiler an ostentatious
effort at the humorous--this effort being only ren-
dered the more effectually abortive by an over-
strained affectation of vivacity. Turning over the
pages you cannot remain unconscious that the
Writer is trying to be funny, and that he is not suc-
ceeding. The perusal, therefore, is productive of
feelings of ennui and exhaustion. Happily, these
Preliminary accounts first of the "Lords and Com-
mons," and then of the " Functions and Function-
aries of Parliament," are followed by an excellent
`!Parliamentary Guide and Peerage." So that the
little volume possesses after all its share of utility.
In the " Peerage," besides the list of the nobility,
We have the dates of their creations and the
order of their precedence. While in the cata-
logue of the House of Commons, we have an esti-
mate of the different constituencies as well as an
enumeration of their respective representatives.
Added to all which, the reader will find towards
the conclusion a copious list of the London Clubs,
of the Officers of State, and of the Members of her
'Majesty's Government.

ate Gearey ; or, Irish Life in London. A Tale

of 1.849. By Miss l‘ison. C. Dolman.
A romance of every-day life, most truthful in its
simplicity, and in its earnest and unaffected pathos
exquisitely beautiful. The authoress of "Kate
Gearey" is evidently, in heart and in deed, towards
the poor of this vast city, a good Samaritan. It is
impossible, absolutely impossible, not to recognise
that reality through the shadows of her romance.
Although like the mass of her readers, we are left
to judge of her solely from her writings, although
her very name is strange to us, except as read upon
her title-page, it is, we repeat, impossible not to
Perceive what manner of woman is this gentle de-
lineator of " Irish Life in London." A noble
woman to her heart's core we would wager, or our
critical acumen is more at fault in the matter than
our self-confidence can permit us to anticipate.
In her little " preface" of just seven lines, she avows
"---" To say that the following tale is founded on
facts would be less than truth." Adding—" Most
of the scenes were witnessed by the authoress her-
self ; and she has been induced to throw them thus
together, in hopes that the sanitary evils under
Which so large a portion of the London population
Buffer, once known, will not be long without a
remedy." Perhaps the real object with which
" Kate Gearey" has been penned is yet more dis-
tinctly intimated through the closing ejaculation
(P. 327) of the authoress—" And if this tale, in
Which truth has been softened, not exaggerated,
should induce even one to lend a helping hand to-
Wards this noble, this most useful scheme (i. e., the
scheme of Model Lodging-houses), not only for
physical comfort but moral improvement, I shall be
amply compensated for all the difficulties 1 have
encountered in the fulfilment of my task." The
italics are ours, not those of the authoress ; and we
have thus emphasised those final words, because
they convey to us a deep and pathetic signifi-
cance—read by the light of all the preceding
revelations, They convey to our mind precisely
the same sort of notion as that with which we
have always perused that touching parenthesis of
Goldsmith—

" In all my wanderings round this world of care,
In all my griefs—and God has given my share—" &c.
Plying by the gentlest tones of insinuation the
Pathos of a profound experience. It is thus with
Gearey,"
"Tale of 1849," this homely tale of " Kate
‘zearey," in which Miss Mason has celebrated the
terrors of the Cholera in its ravages among the poor
Irish in London upon the occasion of the last dread-
Lill visitation. A more appropriate time could not
,'.4ve been selected by Mr. Dolman for the publica-
tion of this simple but powerful story, descriptive
of the horrors of the Modern Plague—now that
that dread pestilence is actually lurking at the very
threshold, waiting only for the lapse of the cold
aeason for the manifestation of its reappearance.
'll4, another and a most persuasive illustration of
re necessity of sanitary improvements in the me-
tropolis, but especially among the tenements occu-
Pied by the poorer classes of the population, we
Welcome cordially and fervently this over true tale
of " Kate Gearey," having ourself closed the
N'2lume with the sense of one who had in it received
from the hand of the authoress a veritable benefac-
tion.

liraclsliaw's Railway Itinerary. W. J. Adams.
A posthumous evidence we may take this re-
-IParkahle broadsheet to be, of the enterprise in-
'used, into his great railway-publishing establish-
re,ent by the unfortunate gentleman who recently
died so unexpectedly of cholera in Christiana.
tradshaw's Railway Itinerary" will be welcomed
We doubt not, sooner or later, accordingly as it
laay fall under the notice of individuals, by the
,Whole race of travellers. It is a fittin2. supplement
'43 the well-known " Bradshaw's Guide," a worthy
sequel to the compiler's handbook for the continen-
tal tourist, an acceptable accompaniment to his
recently-issued and masterly map of the British
Railroads. Arranged in a tabular form, " Brad-
ayes Railway Itinerary" shows at a glance all
railway stations in Great Britain (whether large
apparently insignificant), indicating railway
routes thereto, and the counties in which they are
ktuated, together with their distance from London,
and the number in each instance, as nearly as pos-
, 81:131e, of the ascertained population. Sixty-seven
rtrent railways are here specified, each with its
Lilstluguishing numerals, so that reference to them
tba alphabetical list of stations is thereby won-
'etfuly facilitated. An extended popularity will be
rapidly secured, we doubt not, to " Bradshaw's
Railway Itinerary," and that not less by virtue of
Its own intrinsic excellence than by the fame of its
Originator's already established and widely-dif-
Ailed reputation.

A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in
1852-3. Written on the spot. By Mrs. Charles
Clacy. Hurst and Blackett.
Those emigrants who would become thoroughly
acquainted with all the domestic details of the new
6 on which they are about to enter, cannot do
better than peruse this volume. It is likewise very
eutertaining and interesting for those who are at
:urns,: to learn how their friends and countrymen
re living in the distant lands to which they have
letting the public see things as they are ; she does
her
attempt to embellish or depreciate, but to give
'cer readers an epitome of the matter-of-fact every-
p,
occurrences they will meet with in Australia.
Fer experiences are chiefly concerning Victoria, to
``e gold diggings of which district she made a
pil-
Waage in company with her brother and some
oventurous young friends. It is amusing to see
Oisw soon the ardent spirits were damped by the
i°"ering influences of daily labour without daily
,!nauneration. One of the young men went so far
'" to Deri leave the diggings after two days' ex-
"'lice of its troubles. It is observed here
,
mewith great reason apparently, that the Govern-
Puri are to blame in not allowing the settlers to
p"rchase a small quantity of land for farming pur-
oules) &c. In consequence of this arrangement
large capitalists remain in the colony ; the
Icjire humble adventurers remove hundreds of
" away, to lay out their new-found riches in a
151.7 re accommodating place. Hence Victoria is de-
goi,ecl of the advantages that are derived from the
410:;` found in her own soil. It is remarked that,
the °ugh great luck is only the portion of a few,
1,1,z3'e are not many failures, and none need despair
eti ' flinging away the restraints of the old world's
to Inette, enter the new one with the determination
faprk with their own hands for whatever may be
l._ ll:1g for them. Another suggestion is also of-
bersuu, to the consideration of the adventurer. Num-
corr, after toiling in .a
way that surpasses the re-
: gaZ, °f gyptian bondage, accumulate immense
they: 4nd then rush to the nearest town and spend
to
01_ecklessly and thoughtlessly, and then return
kore r'&• If, on the other band, they were to be
rich ,Prudent and Cautious, they might return home
"eYond all previous expectations, or else esta-
th
41004.
elveseu's in a happy and prosperous man-

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