The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-20 00:00:00

THE IVORY CABINET.

This saloon was so named, because on its strong walls,
which formed a perfect octagon, was encrusted between
rich tapestry wrought by the needle of Catherine 1., Em-
press of Peter the Great, immense slabs of ivory on which
the genius and the patience of a Greek friar had traced the
most memorable events of the life of the founder of the
Muscovite empire. Here was the revolt and the chastise-
ment of the strelitz ; there the battle of Pultawe; beside it
the taking of Azoff ; and farther on, the Czar in person
attacking the enemy, and fronting the tempest on the lake
of Ladoga, and calling to the sailors, who were frightened
by the thunder, these words, more beautiful by their laco-
nism than those of Caesar on the Sea of Tyrrhene, " Fear
nothing, Peter is with you I"
This cabinet contained other precious relics of the Char-
lemagne of Moscow : one might there look upon the sword
that the rival of Charles XII. wore at Pultawe, with re-
spect and admiration; the hat riddled with bullets which
he wore at Narva, and the rich scimitar that the Sultan of
Turkey sent him after the exchange of ratifications of the
treaty concluded on the borders of the Pruth.
These objects, which merely bad a relative and historical
value, were surrounded by productions of a more general
appreciation; there was also in the Ivory Cabinet the
superb cameo antique that the Pope Clement XIV. had
sent as a present to the Czarina; the golden chalice be-
queathed by the Patriarch of Constantinople to the grand-
father of Peter the Great; a beautiful statue of the Cava-
lier Bernin representing Saint Basil, one of the doctors of
the Greek Church; standards covered with gold and dia-
monds taken from the Janissaries by the Russian troops ;
and, in short, beside paintings of incomparable value from
Chirnaleni and from Giotto, the keys still warm with the
blood and the powder of that famous fortress of Ismoul,
that General Suwaroff took from the Turks, a terrible vic-
tory, which cost the vanquishers as dear as it did the van-
quished, and where humanity should shed tears on the
mutilated corpses of a hundred thousand men—Mahorne-
tans and Christians—who perished in one day I

The Shadow in the Rouse. A Novel. By John
Saunders, author of "Love's Martyrdom,' &c.

y i s
giftn o w
book
graphic,.i.ockwooa and Co.
a young
e sGidr iancge
This singular story has already appeared in the
pages of the Nationql Magazinae.p
printed in one volume, making
in its appearance and general character. When
r elt tt
• . —en
we come to consider the plot, however, we mast
admit it to be extravagant and improbable, and the
writer's high principles and occasionally
style cannot redeem its exaggeration. The Shadow
in the House is
Addersley, gifted with talent, beauty, and
im-
perious and somewhat unscrupulous disposition.'In
ly arrived
She and her mother are introduced to
with her cousin, Mr. Dell, having
birthplace,ol Nvmhuelraettoshneurhsaes,
of some dangerous
from Virginia, Graces
announcing
attachmentsecrets.formsthis
unfortunate revelation does not
his marriage with
prevent Grace from Conti •
hanimothwerh.en
Dell and his bride ; o continuing to reside with Mr.
bilities of the book. We
one of the striking •
improba-
will not pause to unravel
how Grace professed warm friendship for both
husband and wife, is secretly their enemy, and
finally causes the death of her hated although
rival,
by the time her evil work is fulfilled she would
give worlds ta retract. it.
hand; a fitting termination She dies by her own
to such a career.
There are other characters .
introduced whose careers
are less tragic, and many portions are pleasantly
descriptive of
country life. `Ninny, the bride, is a
charming character, whose of heart is
proof against the' most bittereodness
writer might have turned h. enmity. Still the
1s powers to better
account, and we should hope •
in future that he will
not select his subjects from such dark shades of
life and character.