The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

MARGARET RUSSELL ; an Autobiography.
A good biography, above all a good autobiography,
is among the most interesting of books. It is valu-
able as affording not so much an epitome of events,
as an analysis of sentiments—not a history of facts,
but of feelings. Historical works, and the generality
of newels, are too much occupied with externals ;
they tell,us more of kings and peers and princes than
of men, and, consequently, howsoever great may be
our wonder or admiration, we feel little sympathy. or
little interest. Far otherwise is it when, turning
from " all the small grandeurs of place and of
power," we follow the chequered fortunes of an in-
dividual, and study the varying emotions of a human
heart. This is a subject which appeals to every one,
here our natural equality is made manifest ; every-
thing else may differ, but, in a more or less degree,
the same passions, the same hopes and fears, and joys
and sorrows, animate the breast of all. Those works
are consequently the most interesting, and perhaps
not the least useful, which exhibit, not the unnatural
iterfectione of romance, or the regal automata of his-
tory, but real men and women—creatures, like
ourselves,

" Not too bright or good,
For human nature's daily food."
Peeling, as in like circumstances we should have felt,
and acting as we should have acted. Of this class,
simple and unpretending as it appears, is the little
volume now before us. A fictitious narrative, yet
containing nitre of truth than do many tales founded
on fact. The history of Margaret Russell, though
faulty and improbable as far as plot and incidents are
concerned, is perfect as an autobiography. It is, as
seth a work should be, simple, natural, and without
reserve, the outpourings of a young and ardent heart ;
conveyed in most appropriate language—eloquent
without apparent effort or design, religious without
ostentation, and (at times) melancholy without gloom.
The story is divided into three parts, the second of
which is full of incidents and adventure—marvellous,
nay, almost impossible. Some of the scene:; are
forcibly described, most of the characters are vividly
portrayed, but there is an air of incongruity and
improbability about this part of the tale, which,
nevertheless, we are disposed to forgive and induced
to forget, because Margaret mingles with the whole,
making all appear natural and real when connected
with a character so real and natural as her
own. The most beautiful portion of the
tale is the commencement, which describes the
early years of the heroine passed amid scenes of
tranquillity and beauty. Early deprived of her
mother, she is consigned to the care of an aunt
—a strict formalist. The character of this aunt
Dorothea, and her sister Alice, are forcible illustra-
tions of the contrast between real religion, and those
ceremonial observances which too often usurp its
name—the difference between " the letter which
killeth, and the spirit which giveth rife." The
following is an example—Alice is full of joy at the
prospect of beholding a long-lost son :
" And in the midst of this joy, where was Dorothea?
Encased in that armour of proof wherewith she had
fenced her soul, she was invulnerable to every heartfelt
emotion. Not a tear did she shed; not a pulse was
quickened. She exhorted her sister to prayer, to thanks-
giving. So far this was well; for prayer can never be
wrong, and thanks are always due. But she did not rest
here. She blamed her in the harshest terms, and pointed
out the sinfulness of allowing herself to be absorbed in
worldly emotions.
Good God! were not the uplifting of the mother's
eye, and-the sudden clasping together of the hands; the
accents of blessing poured out upon the child so newly
found; the tears of joy; the sighs of the overburdened
heart; were not these the very spirit of thanksgiving?
Were not thee the very soul of prayer?
" Oh! none are so mistaken as the unhumanized.
None are so awfully misled as those who would seal up
the fountains which God has given to flow. To check
the love which purifies the intercourse with our kind on
earth; .to stifle the joy which softens the soul, and pre-
pares it for heaven; to kneel down and call upon our
Maker to witness and approve the deliberate annihilating,
the taking away of the very life of that being with which
he has endowed us; if there is an unseen, unuttered
blasphemy of heart, it is this."
Every feeling of Margaret's heart being revealed to
us, the story of her -love is .related with touching
pathos. Before she had reason to believe her affec-
tion was responded to, a terrible secret was commu-
nicated to her—she was not, as she had supposed, an
orphan : her father was living, a felon, transported
beyond the seas. Full of the devotion and self-sacri-
fice which characterise- true love, she no longer de-
sired an union which would bring shame to one so
dear to heir : strong in the fervour of her affection,
she was enatled, as is beautifully narrated in the
chapter of " The, Avowal," to listen to words of ten-
dernest which filled her heart with joy, and then to
bid him depart And he went, and then follows the
picture of her-." desolation ;" but it was not to last,
leer ardent nhture could not retain such a feeling as
&weir ; she was not long in finding the true way to
happiness. Obliged to leave the quiet seclusion of her
country fife, the following is a description of her
adieus and her farewell resolves :
" I took my way down to the sea. It was the last
time that I was to look upon it. The moon was in her
fttllest light, and sent the reflex of her beauty in one
unvarying silver line across the broad ocean-mirror.
Bdautifully, in the language of the Basques, has her light
been called the light of the dead!'
"As I looked up to those blue and cloudless skies, and
across the wide waters, and heard the timed beating of
their surges against the cliffs, I felt calmed and elevated.
The spirit of the universe was abroad, and the petty
griefs and, struggles of humanity faded before it. My
lleart was lifted heavenward, and I vowed inwardly that
henceforth—l would devote it to a better service. I would
crush within me every unworthy emotion. Wwould lay
my bosom bnre to the storms of life, and, forgetting self,
live only in my duties. The strongest passion of my
soul should not henceforth divorce me from the gracious
aspect of my mother earth. I had loved, and I must
love still. Tkat feeling could not be deadened till the
breast that nourished it was cold in the grave. But it
Should no longer depress, but exalt me. It should hence-
forth be not the shadow, but the light, of my soul.
" Internally I prayed for help—for guidance. I felt
lonely upon the earth. I could not shut my eyes to the
darkness of the prospect before me. I knew that there
was no kindly breast to support and encourage me in my
onward path; and how, without this precious manna,
was Ito make my way through the wilderness? Kind-
ness is the feeding-stream of all good; the milk' of the
parent, virtue. 'Were we never forcibly deprived of the
fountain of her breast, our hearts would never be weaned
from the nursing mother.
" Still, I would not despair, though alone and unaided
on earth. He who, with God's help, sets himself to the
noble task of modelling anew his moral and intellectual
being, is at once the sculptor and the marble—the agent
and object of his design: he works by the aid of the Per-
fect Hand, till he becomes the perfect form."
We will not pursue her history further; it is cer-
tainly an eventful one, but its greatest attraction lies
in the truthful sentiments with which it is filled.
The name of the author or authoress of this little
volume is not given ; it is, most probably, a first
work ; if so, we hope much from him or her here-
after; in any case, we shall be glad to renew his or
her acquaintance. In some future volume we
shall hope again to find the same good
feeling as vividly portrayed, the same kindly
sentiments as forcibly expressed. And we shall
also hope in that future volume to find a less
disjoint ei plot, and less incongruous incidents, and,
above all, no such blemishes as the introduction of the
idiot girl; the description of her death is terrible, and
the incidents connected with it, painful and unnatural,
rendered more so by their want of keeping with the
general tenour of the story. Margaret Russell, with-
eut coming in the category of "religious books," is
one admirably tended to enforce a moral lesson, or
rather (aid what is perhaps almost better, because
maw generally required) it is calculated to infuse a
softening influence into the spirit—subduing bad
'feeling% and animating good. The following is the
resuit of Kargaret's lessons of experience.:—
" And what is the truth which the sacrifices of my
ion* have taught me? The ennobling spirit within
- es—the germ of all good to come—is it wasted and lost
because the coarse soil of this world is not fitted for its
culture? No,—Oh! no. In portraying the struggles of
my past life,—struggles noble, but ineffectual,--fruitless
to redress evil, and ending only in weariness, let it not
be supposed that I would advocate the suppression of all
generous, tell exalted feeling,—all spirit of self-sacrifice.
God forbi(P. No; fervently do I still say, keep pure—
keep bright that spirit within you; cherish it for its
11,115 Hereaj7er, but hope nothing from it Here. Even in
this world we may meet our reward: but such reward is
,no neccessary condition of the sacrifices we make. By
bilking forward to an earthly recompense, we not only
fay ourselves open to the bitterness of defeated hope,
but we do away with the very essence of martyrdom,
which should ask nothing from earth,.but all from heaven.
" Here, then, let me close the transcript of my joys
and my sorrows; not without a hope that some feeling
of sympathy may be found in the world for one who,
however in the beginning of life she may have done
unwisely, yet irethe end, took to her heart the lessens
of wisdom."

THE FOOD OF AI ISIALS. By Robert' Dundas
Thomson, 111. D.
Dr. Thomson is proving himself a worthy disciple
of the illustrious Liebig. The little volume here
ed evidences in every page the effects of the cul-
. e derived from the mind of that extraordinary man.
&silk that *ie work-is entirely descriptive of ex-
periMental researches on the fbod of animals and the
fattening of Rattle, it will afford much profitable in-
formation to the agriculturist; while its remarks upon
the fbod of man will render it generally acceptable.
EveTy one who has the misfortune to be of a hypo-
condriacal temperament will nourish their conjectures
as to their internal arrangement by studying the thdis-
tend is book; but, as it may likewise
closur made by
tend to dissipate mapy of their apprehensions, we
conceive its perusal would be very advisable.' To
theakv4to are the victiss of dyspepsia, Dr. Thomson's
%43;x10011.- afford divers consolations. Even to the
(2„-rtoti444o his production will prove advantageous, as,
raj %-for 4tapple; in his strictures upon the fabrication of
-vaxikkus,l4nds of wholesome and nutritious bread.
~,g1 `The exphinata9ll of the phenomenon of digestion and
!;, • -