The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Statistical Companion for 1854. By T. C.
Banfield. Longman and Co.
A cordial greeting is due to this compact, lucid,
and eminently useful compilation. The industry
displayed by Mr. Banfield in the collection of the
materials compressed together in this volume of
less than 150 pages, must be allowed to be not less
worthy of praise than the skill with which they
have been arranged, and the scrupulous care with
which accuracy has been assured by their authenti-
cation. The compiler had already revealed the
extent of his knowledge to a considerable degree
through six " Lectures on the Organisation of
Labour," delivered by him in the University of
Cambridge. The scope of his infOrmation is yet
more clearly, and still more usefully, displayed
through the medium of the present "Statistical
Companion.? As the title of the work indicates,
the particulars, comprised within and arranged in a
tabular form, are, for the most part, brought down
to the present year of grace 1854, inclusively.
From the motto selected by Mr. Banfield, it would
almost appear that lie is no other than an avowed
disciple of Mr. Gradgrind, M.P. for the borough
of Coketown. It is a sentence, however, which Mr.
Dickens would be the last man to quarrel with,
that noble utterance of Lord Verulam—" The man
who writes, speaks, or meditates, without being
well stocked with facts, as landmarks to his
understanding, is like a mariner who sails along a
treacherous coast without a pilot, or one who ad-
ventures in the wide ocean without a rudder or
compass." A mottO like that can only be rendered
evil in its influence when perverted in its appli-
cation by a Bounderby, and crammed down the
throats of infancy by that hobgoblin MacChoak-
umchild. The nature of the information given to
the inquirer by Mr. Banfield may be understood by
a glance through the first few pages of the " Statis-
tical Companion." Proportions of Planets to the
Sun, that of the Earth being unity—Distance of
Planets from the Sun—Area of Oceans and Lakes
—Height of Mountains—Length of Rivers—almost
immediately after this, Results of the Strike at
Preston—and a little further on a table of the Eng-
lish Sovereigns. It were difficult, however, to
afford by any passing reference like this an ade-
quate notion of the diversity of facts gathered to-
gether in the pages of the "Statistical Companion."
As a work of reference suited to the masses gene-
rally, the volume can scarcely be mentioned in too
high terms of commendation.

Statistical Tables for the Half Century. By T. G.

Darton. Longman and Co.

A compilation somewhat akin in its character to
the one already noticed above as the " Statistical
Companion." Mr. Darton's excellent tables ex-
tend, however, only over some 36 pages, com-
pressing his work in dimensions to the size of an
ordinary pamphlet—bound in limp cloth, by-the-
bye, for hard usage in the way of reference.
Few though the pages are, they comprise within
them tables sufficiently ample, so as to in-
cludes an extraordinary array of facts, extend-
ing over the fifty years from 1801 to 1851,
inclusively—facts relating to Population, Mor-
tality, Food, Clothing, Politics, Finance, Taxa-
tion, Currency, Mineral Produce, Commerce,
Shipping, Emigration, and other important
and interesting subjects. Not the least astonishing
or least important of which are those of Crime,
and its Punishment. As a book, or rather pamph-
let, for instant reference to in cases of doubt or at
moments of emergency, " Darton's Statistical
Tables" will be found peculiarly acceptable even by
men with the readiest memory and the largest
amount of information.

The Iliad of Homer. By G. T. Barter. Longman.
A translation of Homer in verse, after Pope,
must
necessarily be a very arduous undertakina,
and, in the present instance, it is not a successful
one. The writer asserts that a translator's office
is to be strictly literal, and that a moderate share
of abilities will, with this requisite, go further than
the highest poetic talent with less exactitude. But
in avoiding this error of interfering with the author,
he has fallen into the other extreme, and in making
his translation, no doubt strictly literal,. he has
deprived it of all melody and beauty of its own.
Perhaps in distinction from his great prede-
cessor, the author has adopted the Spenserian
stanza, which appears to have added to the
difficulty, from the number of abbreviations
introduced. No doubt the translator gully appre-
ciates his wonderful original, but surely those
English readers who desire to study Homer in a
metrical translation have always the opportunity of
doing so, and it is a somewhat ambitious undertak-
ing to produce a work of this kind for the general.
reader. It is to be hoped that in his next transla-
tion Mr. Barter will remember the reader as well
as the writer, and, dealing with a less difficult sub-
ject, present us with a more satisfactory volume.

Select Library of Fiction.—" Mary Barton." Fifth
edition. "The Blithedale Romance." Second

edition. Chapman and Hall.

A new and delightful series of works of fiction
has been commenced. The first instalments pro.
miso well for the future numbers. All the readers
of "Mary Barton" will admit that the first volume
of the series is one of the best, as it is one of the
most successful, of recent works of fiction. The
fascination of romance and the earnestness of truth
are blended. The sufferings of the poor and the
rich aro both portrayed. Not with the Chartist im-
pression, that all the higher classes of society are
unfeeling tyrants, and the poor, because they are
poor, all unselfish martyrs. Nor does it take the
other side, and assert that the common people have
not sufficiently refined feelings to suffer as the
educated would. It shows, on the contrary, that
the human heart is ever the same, and that sorrow
comes to all alike. Instead of placing the interests
of the employers and employed in direct antago-
nism, as is too often done, the whole tone of the
work tends to promote a bettor understanding—
to teach the rich that the poor have feelings, and
the poor that the rich have cares. Nathaniel
Hawthorne is well known as ono of the most
popular of American prose writers. " The Blithe-
dale Romance," which was published a short time
since, forms the second number of these works of
fiction, which promise to be all of a high class,
since the two next are announced to be the clever
and satirical history of " The Bachelor of the
Albany," and the best of all the novels of the
talented author of " Olive," "The Head of the
Family."

The Commercial Products of the Vegetable King-
dom. By P. L. Simmonds. T. F. Day, Carey-

street.
This is a volume of considerable extent, display-
ing much study, and evidently the result of much
labour and research. The various uses of different
vegetables are considered, their cultivation and
commercial value, also the substances obtained
from trees and plants, the husbandry of tropical
and sub-tropical regions, 45.7 c. It is intended as a
book of reference for the colonist, manufacturer,
and merchant; and as it is supplied with a copious
index, it is likely to prove very useful for that
purpose. In the preface the author remarks as
follows :

"The object and purposes of the following work are
fully set forth in the introductory chapter ; but I may
be permitted to remark here, that its compilation and
arrangement have occupied a very large share of my
time and attention, and I can therefore assert with con-
fidence that it will be found the most full and complete
book of the kind that has ever yet appeared. It is not
a mere condensation from encyclopaedias, commercial
dictionaries, and Parliamentary and Consular reports ;
but is the fruit of my own colonial experience as a prac-
tical planter, and of much laborious and studious inves-
tigation into a class of ephemeral but useful publications
which seldom meet with any extended or enduring cir-
culation—assisted, moreover, by the contributions and
suggestions of many of the most eminent agricultural
chemists, planters, and merchants of our colonial pos-
sessions and foreign countries."
A list of the works consulted is prefixed, which
is of considerable extent. The author having been
for many years the editor of the Colonial hfagacilte,
and member of the agricultural societies of Jamaica,
Antigua, Barbadoes, Cape of Good Hope, Natal,
New York, &c., has naturally had many opportu-
nities and facilities for acquiring the necessary in-
formation. Ho complains, however, that the colo-
nial brokers and importers in the City have been
shoulddetails
b of
e
very unwilling to afford him any assistance, and
expressed great apprehension lest azicy.,
their sources of supply, cost prices,
made public. As the author justly observes, this
is less excusable, as, from the Great Exhibition,
the Trade Museums, and the Crystal Palace col-
lection at Sydenham, so much more. is generally
known on these subjects than formerly.

History of the French Protestant Refugees. By
Charles Weiss. Translated by Frederick Hard-
man. Blackwood.

The history of exiles is always interesting when
only a limited number are banished for political
offences, or by the tumult of revolutionary epochs.
But the interest is of a higher character when
thousands simultaneously forsake their native laud
and all worldly advantages, preferring voluntary
exile to the desertion of their faith. Their bitterest
opponents must at least accord them respect, and,
while believing them mistaken, cannot but admire
their consistency and self-sacrifice. Such was the
case of the Jews of Spain, and of the Protestants
of France. Surely it is not just to say that avarice
and selfishness are always the first principles in the
actions of mankind. The writer of this work has
moat juliciquoly couluzucl laic t 9 tIIQ uarrAtiye
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