The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-16 00:00:00

PRICE id
STAMPED 9(1.

Silvia. By Julia Kavanagh, Author of " Nathalie."
Three Vols. Hurst and Blackett.
Julia Kavanagh's books are always interesting. There
is an earnestness about her style and a reality about the
characters she describes that irresistibly enthral the
reader's sympathy and attention. Silvia Nardi, the
h iroine of the present tale, is an Italian girl, gifted with
all the fascinations, and possessed also of many of the
imperfections of her race—wayward. impetuous, and pas-
sionate. Her faults bring their own punishment. She
refoses a lover to whom her whole heart is devoted, and
engages herself to one who is an object of her indifference,
and is then overwhelmed at the results of her foolish im-
petuosity. The scenein the forest where Charles Meredith is
shot at by the assassin is vividly and powerfollawlescribed.
The' passionate emotions which thrill the hearts of hero
and heroine are depicted with that mingled tenderness and
purity so conspicuous in the writings of Julia Kavanagh.
Contrasted with the impetuous Silvia is her friend and
companion, the gentle and. unhappy Madame do apine.
" An ermine, a regular ermine l" exclaims Silyia, as her
delicate friend daintily lifts her dress from, the dust of the
bye-ways, and with equal care does Madame de l'Epne
preserve the tranquility of her spirit amid the heavy trials
of her life. Here is her beautiful theory of prayer—" I
consider prayer," she says, " like one of those high places
t o which men climb in order to get a wider view of all
that lies below. Whenever I want to see how small my
trials are, and when I cannot, because, alas 1 they are. so
near, I climb up that divine mountain and look down at
them. How different they seem when seen from that dis-
tance. Some have vanished utterly ; others are so small
that I could laugh at them. And there have been times,
happy times, when dwelling there, I, as it were, saw
nothing else. All lay below, miles below, and quite for-
gotten." "Is it not cold up there r objected the irapul-
sive Siliva ; but we need not pursue the dialogue between
these very dissimilar friends. Some of the minor characters,
Lady John, and Mrs. Groom, and Mrs. Green, not for-
getting the all credulous, but ever delightful Capitaine de
l'Epne, are happily sketched and will not very readily
be forgotten.

The Household Fairy. By the Lady Lytton. Hall

and Co.

This is a pretty little volume dedicated to every house-
holder in the kingdom, and it treats of a subject which
assuredly comes home to one and all. Readers may hero
learn by what all potent and irresistible necromancy Mr.
Winifred Welldon converts " the greatest plague of life "
into "a household fairy." The glimpse of Mrs.
Winifred's charming abode, "The Blossoms," and her
dainty little handmaiden` Audrey is very attractive,
and the delighted visitor is favoured by the good-
natured old dame with ample details as to the secrets of
her wonderful art of housekeeping. And singularly prac-
tical and practicable aro this good lady's theories, for
instance, when she.is asked how she can possibly keep her
house so marvellously clean, she replies that the way she
" keeps it clean" is " never to let it get dirty I" and again
when the visitor is astonished that only one servant is able
to accomplish such admirable results, Mrs. Winifred
shrewdly excaims, "Well, ma'am, there are twelve,heurs
in the day ; a great deal may be done, especially
in a small house, in that time, provided it is
done ; but forty-eight hours are not long enough
to • do any thing when ovary thing is always
going to be done." As the King of France interrupted
the apologetic mayor, who had twenty excuses to offer for
not firing a royal salute—imprimis he had no cannon—by
observing that that one reason was quite sufficient and4es
would dispense with the rest, so we are inclined to regard
this one axiom of Mrs. Welldon's as containing the key to
all her philosophy. Mistresses and maids will do well to
consult the teaching of this homely soothsayer.

Gymnastics for Ladies. By Madame Brenner.
In this little book, adorned with more than twenty
plates, each containing eight or ten figures of litho and
graceful damsels with hoops, and cords, and dumb-bells,
and all the varied, implements of the gymnastic art.
Madame Brenner explains the theory and details of her
system as practised in her gymnasium. One of', her first
principles appears a very just one, namely, that the exer-
cise should not fatigue the pupil, to which is added the
additional advantage that it should amuse the mind;
while it employs the frame. To this end Madame Brenner
advocates the accompaniment of music—the harmony of
sound, and the harmony of motion.

Primitive Man. By Louis Figuier, Revised Translation.

Chapman and Hall.

To the Antiquarian and the Arches°logist this work will
prove singularly attractive, It is a revised transla-
tion of Phornme prinzitif of M. Louis Figuier, and
it is illustrated with no less than thirty scenes of primitive
life describing men, and women, and children in' garments -
of skins engaged in war and the chase, in , funeral
ceremonies, in the rudiments of the potter's and sculp-
tor's art, &c., &c., together with no less than two hundred
and thirty-three figures of various implements and objects
belonging to Pre-historic ages. We - are relieved to
find that M. Louis Figuier (an authority in such mat-
ters) does not adopt -the 'Darwinian -theory, and•regard
Man as the younger brother or lineal descendant of the
Ape!