The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE so, is 3„

LITERA T URE.

crouch around him had each a lump of snow in their
open mouths, and each clutched a snow-ball in their
enormous paws. Here, at this early hour, only "the
sentry paced his lonely rounds," but before long all the
young life of Stockholm was awake and abroad, and
rolling and plunging in the snowy place. Never before
did I imagine there could be such life in Stockholm,
for in public—that is to say even in the streets—the
children are so very quiet, and the boys seem to be their
fathers in miniature. But now they were boys, the
snow had given them life, and I need only look at Carl
Tretons Jorg to learn that Swedish spirits rise as the
thermometer falls. All sorts of people were walking
over it with double briskness, tracing countless paths
over its depths; the boys, and even the dogs, lay down
and rolled in it, scarce shaking it from them as they rose.
I stood and laughed at the antics of both animals, who
seemed alike to welcome it as an old dear friend."

Cranford. By the Author of " Mary Barton,"
" Ruth," &c. Chapman and Hall.
. .

The pervading characteristic of these sketches is
simplicity ; but it is simplicity in its best form ;
and although none of the people here described are
talented, beautiful, or wealthy, though they pass
their days in unbroken retirement and perform
nothing out of the common way, it would be diffi-
cult to peruse a more interesting volume. Its
merit lies in its truth of description, its unassuming
style, and its sincerity of purpose. It is the privi-
lege of talent to exalt whatever it comes in contact
with, however lowly ; to adorn it, however plain;
and to endue it with attractions, however unpre-
possessing. This is pre-eminently the case in this
instance. We here find something worth noticing
in the humblest individual before us ; some touch
of feeling is manifested by the meanest capacity ;
and under the auspices of such a genial advocate
the darkest sphere is irradiated by a light that
transforms the simple into the sublime. The nar-
rator is a lady often visiting the quiet town of
Cranford, where all the events here mentioned
take place. In some of the chapters great skill is
evinced—in the " panic," for example, the way in
which the ignorant and' superstitious denizens
of that primitive place continued to render
their lives miserable by suppositious shadows
and imaginary visitants. In other places the
reader is affected by the touching manner in which
the sorrows and sufferings of the meek and lowly
are mentioned. The soldier's wife giving an ac-
count of her journey to save her child is very beau-
tifully pictured. She bad lost six children in that
cruel climate, and determined to save the last.
" I set off; it was very lonely, through the thick
forests, dark again with their heavy trees—along by the
river's side (but I had been brought up by the river
Avon, in Warwickshire, so that flowing noise sounded
like home,) from station to station, from village to vil-
lage I went along carrying my child."
Eventually the brave and persevering woman
reached England, when to the delight of her heart
her infant prospered. The brother of Miss Matty,
" poor Peter," was restored to his unfortunate
sister through the intervention of the friend
who tells the circumstances to us. She could not
at first be certain how to act in regard to sending
a letter to India on the supposition of a certain
" Aga Jenkyns" being the lost treasure. After
putting the important document into the post, she
stood at the narrow slit which divided her from
the letter but a moment ago in her hand. "It
was gone from me like life—never to be recalled.
It would get tossed about on the sea, and stained
with sea waves perhaps ; and be carried among
palm-trees, and scented with all tropical frag-
rance ; the little piece of paper, but an hour ago
so familiar and common-place, had set out on its
race to the strange wild countries beyond the
Ganges."

FANATICISM IN SCOTLAND.

MR. F. MACKENZIE'S PUBLIC•IIOUSES BILL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—You must have noticed that a countryman of
mine, Mr. Forbes Mackenzie, late M.P. for Liverpool,
introduced a bill into the House of Commons, rendering
the union of the trade of a grocer and spirit-dealer ille-
gal, and among other amiable provisions of the measure,
one was meant to close all public•houses throughout
Scotland during the whole of the Sabbath. In respect
to the first of the mala prollibita set down, the hon.
gentleman argued that people learnt to drink in grocers'
shops. They don't learn to drink at elections. 0 dear,
no !--for there is nobody to provide the liquor. Pa-
triotism may, on such occasions, go with a thirsty throat,
and virtue, as in other cases, be its own reward! Mr.
Mackenzie is now turned out of Parliament—but his

bill has been read a second time ; and as " hosts of heroes

rise when one doth bleed /!" and as in others of con-
genial mind, the " departed spirits of the mighty dead"
may be held to have a new residence—some one may be
found to push forward the orphan measure now deprived
of its natural parent. Will you allo iv me through your
esteemed columns, to repeat a portion of a letter which
I addressed to an eminent statesman, regarding the part
of the bill of Mr. F. Mackenzie, rendering it imperative to
close public-houses throughout the whole of the Sabbath.
" The provision is partial, harsh, and will be futile in
result.

" Inns and hotels will be left' open, where the wealthy
may obtain the finest of liquors or wines ; it is the poor
man whom the provision will affect. If made law
it does not stop a certain amount of Sabbath trading.
It does not universally stop the Sunday sale of intoxi-
cants. The provision is partial therefore, irritating, and
unjust.

7` In large towns a considerable number of persons (as
happens in the case of Edinburgh) come in from the
country to attend divine service. They will, in the
event of the bill becoming law, be prevented from ob-
taining the most moderate refreshment betwixt the two
stated services of their places of worship. Some may
say the parties so situated might go to the coffee-shop.
There would in that event be traffic created, and the
preparation of the refreshment would have occupied time
not necessary in the other case. Many persons, too,
from habit or infirmity, require some stimuli. At any
rate, sir, you, I believe, would refuse to assign to the
law the province of deciding what sort of beverage a man
should drink on the Sabbath. But in order the more forcibly
to impress on your mind the harshness, or rather tyranny,
(what despot would attempt as much ?) of closing all places
of entertainment (rather all houses of entertainment where
the poor may be accommodated) throughout all the
Sabbath, let us suggest examples of results likely to
follow. A person is taken ill with dysentery, British
cholera, Asiatic cholera, or fainting fits ; the family have
no spirits in the house as a medicine, and none can be
obtained—the publican not daring to afford any. Again,
I shall suppose the working man, on a Sabbath evening,
goes out into the country a mile or two along with his
wife, perhaps a feeble, sickly woman ' • a necessity is felt
for half an hour's rest, and a glass of beer or spirits and
water. But any place of entertainment is peremptorily
closed, and neither rest nor refreshment can be obtained.
I trust, sir, I need not say to you, that such a priva-
tion, so far from denoting the ascendancy of Christian
principles, would demonstrate the evil reign of a bitter
and vicious fanaticism. * * I feel and know that
such measures as that under notice will damage, not ad-
vance, the interests of morality. I have to contemplate
the closed public-house—but to find the club and hotel
open—the rich supplied to inebriation with liquors,
where the man chooses to be intemperate, and the poor
man's glass of spirits or pint of beer interdicted. The
partiality of such an arrangement is one of its worst
features. Incidentally here I may observe—though
probably you do not require the information—that at
what is regarded the palmiest season of Scot-
land's virtue, the shutting up of public-houses
on the Sabbath would have been resisted. Had the
rule obtained, where would the multitudes flocking to
country sacraments have obtained refreshments after
many hours' exposure in the open air, in the fields, or on
the hill-side /

History of the Byzantine Empire from 716 to 1057.
By G. Finlay. Blackwood.

This work commences with the Isaurian dynasty,
or the period when Constantinople, having ceased
to be the great centre of the Roman power in the
East, was rapidly falling into desolation and de-
cay, when Leo the Isaurian mounted the throne.
A Isaurian and Iconoclast (or destroyer of
images), he did not seem Lkely, as a foreigner and
heretic, to gain the affections of the people or to
found a government of strength and durability ;
but, by his talents and energy, he established him-
self securely on the throne—he entirely remodelled
the political constitution—Lie introduced numerous
military improvements—and, finally, formed and
commenced the great independent Byzantine em-
pire, of which this volume recounts the history.
Three great divisions markits annals—the first (the
Isaurian dynasty) extench from A.D. 717 to 797.
This period comprises the successful efforts of Leo
M. to rescue the Christian religion and the Roman
law from the Saracenie conquerors. It displays the
predominance of the Iconoclasts in the ecclesias-
tical department, and the struggles between the
government and the people. Many striking and
romantic incidents are fount in the chronicles of
this line of sovereigns, all 4 whom, with one ex-
ception, that of ichael the last of the
Amorian family, were resolute, able, and energetic
rulers, though most of their reigns are sullied with
those acts of cruelty or treachery which too often
cloud the memory of war iors and statesmen.
The second period is that of the Basilian dynasty,
which lasted a hundred andninety years. At this
time the empire of Byzance was at its acme of
prosperity and power. The Danube became again
its northern barrier. The neighbouring states
were subdued, and so great was the com-
merce, that the Emperor claimed the title
of the Autocrat of the Medierranean. Law and
justice met with increased respect, which speaks
favourably for the civilisation of the people. The
kliird division of tho empire records its decline and
fall, from the accession of Isaac the First to the
conquest of Byzantium by the Crusaders is 147
years. Rebellion, oppression, and finally, in 1204,
the destruction of the Easters Empire of the
Romans fill these years. This history is little
known as independent of others. A complete ac-
count of its warriors, rulers, and legislators is
therefore of great value.: Though the author
justly observes, that the true history of
a country can never be known while we remain in
ignorance of tlie .state of the populace, though
the stern virtues of some of the emperors—the
treachery of others—the wicked ambition of Irene,
the Queen Regent—and the political. intrigues, and
struggles, and successes, and failures find a chro-
nicle—though the military aggressions, and depre-
dations, and victories, and losses are all handed
down through many centuries—though the family
feuds, the murders, and the tortures inflicted on
the losing side are held up for the warning of
posterity—no word is told, no trace is left, of the
state of the inhabitants of that great empire, which
those rival emperors, regents, generals, and mur-
derers struggled .to govern and to rule. Thus
there must always be a lapse in the records
of the empire of Constantinople, as who can point
out the merits or failings of a Government,
when the state of the nation and the effects it pro-
duces on their particular circumstances are un-
known ? Mr. Finlay does not announce his inten-
tion of writing an additional volume' but the his-
tory seems to require it. It would be interesting,
also, to have a description of the ancient city com-
pared with an account of the present appearance of
the country, " Where enchanted sleeps Byzance,"
and to trace the era from the ancient monarchy to
the Government of the present day. The volume dis-
plays much knowledge of the subject, and is ar-
ranged in a clear and concise manner. To the stu-
dent and the historian it offers a valuable field for
study ; and the general reader will learn from the
pages—which tell of assassinations, rebellions, de-
privation of eyesight, the plots and counter plots,
the persecutions, the conspiracies and seditious, and
the frequent incapacity of the rulers—to appreciate
and to value the advantages of our English consti-
tution.

" To diminish drunkenness is, I am to suppose, the aim
of those who are the abettors of Mr. Forbes Mackenzie
in his present attempt at restrictive legislation, espe-
cially the unseemly and detestable Sabbath drunkenness
too often exhibited in our streets. But, sir, the in-
nocent are not to be punished for the bad conduct of the
wicked ; and if legislation is to be made to apply in
such a case, why not shut up all places of entertainment
whatever—inns, hotels, &c. The way to cure drunken.
ness is by indoctrinating the people with our holy re-
ligion—by educating the people—by providing them
with rational amusements—by,their having cheerful,
healthy homes. But to confine myself to the special mat-
ter under notice, I beg to state that some knowledge of
human nature, and considerable experience of city life,
embolden me to predict that, if the bill at present be-
fore the House of Commons be passed into law, the evil
deprecated will be largely increased. Some short time
back the Justices here shortened the hours during which
it was allowed to keep open public-houses on the Sab-
bath, and the consequence was the opening of abomin-
able doggeries or unlicensed dens, exempt from police
control, where spirits were freely sold to all who came
to purchase. If I recollect aright, a very large number
of these houses were in operation. And it may well be
inferred that, in too many cases, the liquor sold would
be bad—conducing to disease and precipitating intoxica-
tion.

" * * * lam anxious for the moral well-being of
my fellow-citizens, but am persuaded that legislation
can do little to subserve this grand object. Laws such
as that to which I have referred are inimical to morality,
and exasperate the citizen against the Government of
his country. They occasion hypocrisy and teach de-
ceit, rendering frauds against the revenue a trade to the
reckless and depraved. A humble student of the In-
spired Volume, I have yet to learn that they derive
countenance from the ethics of Christianity. I believe
I can appreciate the way in which you will construe
petitions and other influences brought to bear upon the
Legislature in this case ; but you can have no idea of
the moral coercion which exists in Scotland. I am
ashamed, as a Scotsman, to think of it, and will not
enter further into the matter at present. I only say
that it would be worthy of you, sir, to giv your power-
ful opposition to the Public-houses Bill. * * I may
just add here that there are some who support the bill
of Mr. Mackenzie, who, if in their power, would pro-
hibit their neighbours from enjoying the air of heaven
on the Christian jubilee, and who would assume in such
matters a power POPERY never dared to put forth in its
most proud days of domination."
So far I use the freedom of giving an extract from a
letter addressed as already stated: Fanaticism, I may
further explain, is quite rampant among us ; while I
have doubts as to our increase in vital godliness and
Christian charity. The press and the more reflecting
and liberal-minded of the people feel the baneful influ-
ence of this sullen and hateful power. Some, too, of its
ministers are themselves subservient to a master they
obey only in form. The chairman of the principal rail-
way line shut up in Scotland all the Lord's-day, does not
hesitate to avow that this restriction or the opposite free-
dom is to him matter of entire indifference. Fanaticism
has as its insignia the fetters, the gag, and thumbkins of
coercion ; and it can brazen it out in its own cause.
The clerical declaimer against any accommodation to the
public per rail on the sacred day will himself hire a car-
riage for his own accommodation, and apply the "flat-
tering unction to his soul" that his case is different from
that of other men. The amusements of life, unless slavishly
moulded to the taste of those arrogant purists, are decried
and run down. In a provincial town of some pretensions,
recently, the directors of a Mechanics' Institute refused
to allow readings from Shakspere in theirschool. While
drunkenness and licentiousness are so prevalent, the
red-hot vengeance of our public instructors is directed
against the theatre, however well conducted ; and if in
their power, as already stated, some of the fraternity
would not allow the poor man to breathe the air of
heaven on the Sabbath. Happily, East Princes-street
Gardens here are open during certain hours on the
Lord's-day, and afford a pleasant and cheerful walk to
worthy persons, who strictly attend to the duties of reli-
gion, but have not yet learnt that it is sinful to recreate
themselves amidst the flowers and shrubberies of a garden
on the Sabbath ; nor, perhaps, have arrived at the
conclusion that, higher and better things regarded, a
country walk is a sin against the Author of their
being and their faith. Just to illustrate to you the sab-
batarian conscience, I may instance the conduct of your
local justices towards those who sell spirits during even
the hours allowed by law on the Sabbath, as explained
by a great authority in the civic estate, No publican is
punished for the act per se. How kind and considerate !
But if the obnoxious individual is found guilty of a fault
otherwise, he is deprived of his licence. In other words,
a citizen is punished for doing what the law expressly
says he may do. The same this, substantially, as if the
proprietors of a newspaper, allowed to publish a supple-
ment, were not troubled on that account ; but if found
guilty of some violation of police law, had their establish-
ment shut up—the efficient cause of the severity consist-
ing in their being chargeable with an act strictly legal in
itself. But I will not trouble you further with such
miserable details ; but gladly, while in escape from my
unhappy themes, subscribe myself—Your obedient ser-
vant, JUSTITIA.
Edinburgh, June 24, 1853.

Life in Sweden ; with Excursions in Norway and
Denmark. By Selina Bumbury. 2 vols. Hurst
and Blackett.

These volumes form a delightful subject for pe-
rusal to the vast number of people who desire ac-
counts from foreign lands. There is something
very pleasing in the descriptions of Sweden—there
is a natural kindness and consideration among the
people that is very gratifying to the stranger upon
their shores. Many anecdotes enliven these details,
which, while they are a relief from the routine de-
tails of travel, exemplify the character of the coun-
try, and show forth the peculiarities of its inhabi-
tants. The authoress speaks everywhere of the
great consideration shown to her as a visitor for a
brief space in their laud. At the conclusion, she
declares that she would like to return some day to
the place where she had been so well received.
The picture given of a marriage is a most
ludicrous one. The party assembled go through
the most extraordinary ceremonies. The last
is entitled " dancing the bride's crown off,"
which consists in all the ladies swinging her
round. The marriage itself is always private, but
for hours previously every one has a right to enter
the house and stare at the bride, who is put up for
show in some state apartment. The idea of the
houses in winter in Stockholm is not at all agree-
able, for the windows are all built up with double
glass, and no air from without is allowed to enter
the room from October till April, except what comes
in at the door, for they have no chimneys. It is
a relief to turn from such air-tight habitations, to
read of the glorious appearance of the outside of
the dwellings when the snow is piled around, and
which to behold at night is like looking out on fairy
land. The following account shows how the first ap-
pearance of real cold is appreciated, for the natives
love, a " good winter," as they call it. The
authoress remarks that it is a mistaken notion that
of supposing spring suddenly bursting into sight,
for although it is said,

" Oh, it is the touch of fairy hand
That makes the spring of northern land,"

it is the summer that all at once breaks forth, and
the season preceding it is not the advent of joyous
young spring, but the " decay and dissolution of
winter." At the genial season of the bright and
brilliant summer we have to take a farewell of this
interesting country.
" The broad open place was deep in snow ; the head-
less trees no longer scorned to be decapitated, the great
bronze figure of King Carl still stood with its back to
me, but lie no longer looked so dark, heavy and clumsy ;
for on his shoulders he wore an ermine cape, and on his
head a snowy crown ; and the four great lions which

LADY MARION.—Tho new work of fiction entitled
"Lady Marion," is creating great interest in fashion-
able society. It is the production of Mrs. W. Foster,
the niece of the late Duke of Wellington.
RUSSIA AND TURKEY.—The following is the motion
which Mr. Layard has placed on the notice paper of
the House of Commons for the Bth of July :—To call
the attention of the house to the menacing attitude of
Russia towards Turkey, a power of which the indepen-
dence and stability have been repeatedly declared by her
Majesty and her royal predecessors, lo addressing Par-
liament, to be objects of their especial solicitude.