The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Dr. Livingstone's Cambridge Lectures. Edited by
the Rev. Professor Sedgwick and the Rev, Wm.
Monk. With a Portrait and Maps. Bell and
D a ldy.
Cordially do we commend this very attractive
volume to those who care to learn rapidly and de-
lightfully all that is most interesting in regard to
the life and adventures of the greatest traveller of
our generation—good, brave, zealous, noble-hearted
David Livingstone. The volume before us is an
admirable pendant to the larger work published by
John Murray, and written by the African Explorer
himself. That important production is not in any diminished in attractiveness to any one who pre-
viously reads the lectures. On the contrary, the
interest excited by the perusal of the latter is very
considerably enhanced—insomuch that the reader's
appetite is whetted rather than satisfied by the
examination of pages so provocative of curiosity in
regard to the exploits of the voyager up and down
the current of the Zambesi. Mr. Monk—for he is
the chief editor of the remarkable book here sub-
mitted to our consideration, Professor Sedgwick
contenting himself with the contribution to it of a
charming Prefatory Letter—Mr. Monk has con-
trived to produce a volume that not only claims but
establishes a perfect right to take its place upon
our bookshelves side by side with the now histori-
cal production already alluded to, i. e., the famous
work entitled " Missionary Travels and Researches
in South Africa," written by a hand no less autho-
ritative than that of Dr. Livingstone. A brief
epitome of the general arrangement of the volume
will best indicate its scope and importance. After
a comprehensive "Introduction" there is given a
succinct and readable " Life of Dr. Livingstone."
Subsequently comes the " Prefatory, Letter" already
referred to as , penned by Professor Sedg-
wick, a letter extending over very nearly 100
pages. It is succeeded in due course by the
double kernel within this toothsome nut of
knowledge, the Two Lectures delivered in the
Senate House of the University of Cambridge—on
Firiday the 4th, and Saturday the sth of December
1857—by the lips of that sunburnt and toil-worn
African traveller. Finally, there comes an extended
" Appendix," an appendix divided into four sec-
tions, each section abounding with important and
valuable information. It is curious to note, in regard
to this singular work,: that the core, the heart, the
pith and marrow of it consists of a couple of papers
extending over less than fifty pages—yet that the
book itself contains very little short of 200 pages
altogether. So pregnant are those forty-six pages
of the Cambridge Lectures of Dr. Livingstone with
truth, suggestive of curious and interestingillus-
trations ! The compilation and arrangement, and
annotation of the whole volume, has evidently been
a genuine labour of love to its gifted editor, the
Rev. William Monk, of St. John's College, and
Curate of Christ's Church, Cambridge. He has so
laboured, moreover, at this labour of love, so zea-
lously, so sagaciously, and so conscientiously, that
he has given to the world a book, the interest of
which is assuredly in no respect ephemeral. The
" whole work" is well designated upon its very
title-page--" A Compendium of Information on the
Central African Question." And such it is un-
doubtedly and—be it said once more, delightfully.
As an appropriate frontispiece, we have an ingeni-
ous lithograph, from a photograph (by Monson) of
the brown, moustached, observant visage of David
Livingstone. Prefixed to the work is a map taken
by permission from the map in the " Book of
Travels," a map showiog the route of the Rev.
Dr. Livingstone between the years 1841 and 1855
—between St. Paul de Loanda and the mouths of
the river Zambesi. Appended to the book is
another map, by J. Arrowsmith, illustrating the
same routes across Africa, and indicating yet more
clearly the localities peopled by those various
South African tribes—the Bechuanas, the Bakala-
hani, the Makololo, the Matebele, the Bushmen, the
Caffres, the Bakoba, and the Batoka, the Balonda,
and the Barotse, the Mambari, and the Makalala.
The work is, in every respect, very remarkable,
and possesses within it peculiar attractions for the
botanist and zoologist, the lovers of the fancy and
the flora, the ethnologist and the geographer, above
all, for those more deeply and philosophieally in
terested in the spread of Christianity and the ad
vancement of civilisation.

The Statute Book for England.
Under this ambitious title Mr. James Bigg is
issuing annually from the press a little six shilling
volume of about 200 pages, octavo, each volume at
the price of no more than one of the quarterlies
(65.), comprising within it a collection of the Pub-
lic Statutes—relating to the General Law of Eng-
land passed during the last session of
Parliament. The latest of these really remark-
able publications* has but just now come
under - our consideration. It a favourable
specimen of the undertaking. It comprises the
pick of this last year's enactments, consisting alto-
gether of no less than thirty-five chapters of the
21 and 22 Victoria. Conspicuous among them must
be noted cap. 48, " Oaths"—cap. 49, " Jews"—
cap. 56, "Probate"—&c., &c. ; but, above all, the
magnum opus of 1858, 21 and 22 Victoria cap. 106,
The Act, for the Better Government of India—an
act extending over nineteen pages, and comprising
in all 75 sections. The preceding volume of the
series—that constituting " The Statute Book for
England," 20 and 21 Victoria, 1857—accompanies
the one already specified, the book 'fifty-eight
giving the cream of the labours of the last session
of the Legislature. This volume, in particular,
shows at a glance very strikingly the ingenious ar-
rangements by means of which Mr. Bigg contrives
to perfect the work in a sort of a second edition,
although the original is actually stereotyped. How
thii is managed the editor himself thus briefly and
lucidly explains :—" The work," he says, "is stereo-
typed : the pages in -which amendments are su.bse-
qu ently made are recomposed, with the amended pro-
visions in italic type, and recast. These pages, with
those ofthe corresponding leaves of the sheet (to avoid
single leaves) are then reworked, and inserted in
the volume in place of the cancelled leaves. In the
case of the volume for 1857 this end has been at-
tained by the recomposition of nine pages only, and
the reworking of 19 additional pages, making seven
double leaves, was all that was required to perfect the
volume for 1857 as amended in 1858." The result
of which admirable plan of operations in the way
of minute revision, is an authentic, and exact, and
perfectly reliable record of all the most important
public statutbs relating to the General Law of
of England—an admirable series of volumes, well
worthy of finding a place upon the bookshelves of
every lawyer in the United Kingdom.

The 3ferrie Days of England; Sketches of the
Olden Time. By Edward M'Dermott. With
Twenty Engravings. Kent & Co., Fleet-street.
The Annuals and Forget-me-Nots that used to be
so popular among us at Christmas time, are now
entirely superseded by those beautiful volumes
which, under the title of Christmas gift-books, de-
light the lovers of art. Unlike the Annuals, which
only served to furnish the entertainment of a sea-
son and were then laid by and forgotten, these
magnificent gift-books are constant sources of de-
light and gratification. We may turn again and
again to the landscapes of Birket Foster or
Harrison Weir and find unwearied pleasure
in contemplating them, while the contents
of the works are generally of a high and
standard character, being chiefly selections from
our great writers. The one before us, " The
Merrie Days of England," will bear comparison
with any of its predecessors or competitors. The
engravings, the contents of • the work, the paper,
type, and binding are all admirable, and it forms
altogether a gift-book that would gratify the most
fastidious taste. The artists are Birket Foster,
Joseph Nash, George Thomas, and Edward Cor-
bould, who are each excellent in their varying
styles. Birket Foster is as usual pre-eminent. His
four contributions must charm all critics. They
are, " The Cottage Homes of England," "An Angler's
Morning," " The Abbey's Ruined Walls," and "Nor-
ham Castle." The first is a graceful scene of three
cottars' children by a woodland stream, with tall
trees overshadowing them, with the thatched cot-
tage and village spire in the distance, and the flock
browsing on the hillside.
"Au Angler's Morning" is a charming scene
that would have delighted Isaac Walton, in-
vesting his favourite pursuit with all the attrac-
tions of art and nature. "The Abbey's Ruined
Walls" is a view of an ancient ruin crumbling to
decay, with the moonbeams piercing its battered
walls and deepening the shadows around it.
Norham Castle" is a beautiful landscape of the
oldwarlike towers overlooking the luxuriant foliage.i
are
around and the gleaming waters below the
lastasbruasie-sdof
himselfth e settingwi
with scenesum
nw
e 1
JocsaetpchhinNgasthheh
re-
presenting the active pastimes of the olden time—
" May-day Games,"" Shooting at the Popinjay," and
" Fencing," re-appear under I •
ns animated pencil.
He has contributed largely
beingto the engravings, the
subject of one of his designs
of the aged minstrel to the the introduction
Duchess of Monmouth,
in Scott's favourite
"Lay
of the Last Minstrel."
George Thomas is also one of the chief contribu-
tors, and his greatest
success is the charming pic-
ture of Sir Thom
is " o verbury's," Fayre and happy
Milkmaid." H
representations of " A Stag Hunt"
and " A Hawking
r Party," are .also spirited and
effective. E. IL Corbould has ably treated two
difficult subjects, " A Tournament" and a " Dra-
matic -kr
-Ayst "
ery. The engravers arc numerous,

*The Statute Book for England :•.21 and 22 Victoria,
1858. Edited by ,James Simpkin, Marshall, and
Company,

and have proved themselves worthy of the artists. t
The substance of thelmok has high literary merits,
and reflects great cretit on Mr. M'Dermott. He
takes each subject in turn, and in elegant, yet /
clear and simple hnguage, he tells ns
how of old the May-day gamey, the har-
vest homes, the sports and pastimes were
carried on among the • peesantry, the hunting
and hawking, the jousts and, tournaments among
their lords and barons. He draws us a picture,
too, of the good cheer kept up In tie old baronial
ball, and shows us how life flowed on in the abbeys
and castles that are now sinking into romantic
ruin. The wandering minstrels, the Canterbury
pilgrims, the shepherdesses and milkmaids, all fill
a page in his chronicle; and in a work on the olden
days it would be as impossible to omit the merry-
men of Robin Hood as the boar's head Of
the Christmas revel. His pages are full
of quotation and incident. The lover of
verse will be as much gratified as the artist. His
extracts from the poets are numerous and varied,
from the quaint imagery of Herbert, or the love
songs of Corydon and Phillis, to the writers of the
present day. The literary part of the work reflects
scarcely less credit on Mr. M'Dermott than the
taste and judgment with which he has superintended
the volume. The initial letters and ornaments are
pretty and skilful, and the binding of the work in
in that rich and massive antique style so much ill
vogue. Altogether the work is one of the most
acceptable of Christmas gifts, and affords sufficient
testimony that if we have no longer the feasts and
frolics that made our country " Merrie Englandet
we have not lost our love of illustrative art, and
need not fear competition with the illuminated
volumes of our forefathers.