The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-25 00:00:00

LITER&TURE.

The Moors and the Pens. Be F.. G. Trafford. 3
v,tls. Smith aed
This is a eye; ly c iristructe I s ory, and di-plays
great skil in the working out of the design. It is
true that misers have of els before figured as im-
portant personages in the pages of fiction ; but the
character of Sir Ernest Ivraine is in many respects
a peculiar one. On the principle of lucas non
lucendo, the abode in which he "starved and sinned"
was called Paradise. His two sons vary in disposi-
tion as much as it is possible to suppose. Ernest, the
elder, was timorous and nervous ; he seemed as
if the shadow of the fatal spot in which he was
born had blighted his spirit and darkened his mind.
Henry, the younger, was in nothing indigenous to
the spot ; he pined for freedom, and son obtained
it. With no friends to help or fortune to aid
him, be started forth to create for himself an
independence ; he at last gained honour, but by
no royal road, as too often is the case with the
heroes of romance. Stern reality and hard toil are
described as the ordeal through which he passed
triumphant. He might have said of himself—
"My noontide, India may dtclare,
Like h-r fierc- ~un", I fired the air 1"
While his brother was vegetating among the
swamps and fens of Lincolnshire, Henry was eork-
ing out his destiny with a vigour and brilliancy
that b-fitted a plant fostered by a tropical sun.
The heroine, Mina, is a charming creation. She
was a child of the Highlands, and ihe alternation
from the fens to the moors is a striking contrast,
and contributes to the eff, ct of the story. The
author remarks that language seems power-
less to express the change from "the ceaseless
bustle and turmoil of mate's work to the majestic
grandeur, and awful truth of God's ; from the
great city, to the lonely country, frem the flush of
England's roses, to the glow of Scotland's heather."
Mina marries the miser's son, and the .life she led
may be imagined, she was a true imperaona•ion of
the Highland character, and with the love of
country burning in her heart—with the memory of
its grandeur and eoetry lingering in her mind,
with its visions of the mountain and the flt.od
haunting her day dreams and hevering over her
sleep, she was immersed in a wilderness, fur body
and soul, and connected with people with whom
she had no idea in common. The child of the moors
was no more out of place in the fens, than was the
daughter of warrior chiefs and high-souled matrons
whose jewels, like the Roman mothers of old, were
the sons who should shine in their country's
history, isolated among sordid misers and gro-
velling spirits. It is sad to dwell on this page of
Mina's life, the reader is glad to leave it liebind and
see her out on the world, for even she could not en-
dure at last to remain longer. It is a solemn thing
to behold idle death-bed of a miser, " the ruling
passion strong in death," is never stronger than
when the possessor feels that he is vanishing away
from his possessions for ever. Some earthly feel-
ings most look to Heaven for their full perfection.
The highest and purest emotions of our nature here
below need not beextinguished when the summons
shall call the mortal to put cn immortality. Ambi-
tion may behold its perishing chaplet exchanged for
an unfading crown. Affection has all to hope and
nothing to dread from -the translation to above.
" The harvest scene of love is there ;" but in whose
paradise, from the hunting grounds of the Indian
war chief to the sublimest vision of the enlightened
believer, has the miser found a place ? The last
hours of Sir Ernest and his sister are awfully de-
scribed ; and the peculiar horror that all sordid
dispositions manitest at the thought of others em-
ploying those shining heaps they would fain carry
wit h them into the dark unknown and bur y for ever
in the night, of the grave, exemplifies m,st empha-
tically that where the treasure is theta will the
heart be also. There are other passages in the story
that increase itsintetest ; and the disclosure ceecer n-
jug Westwood is very ingeniously contrived. With the
promise and prospect of two for tune?, Mina had to
endure years of penury. It is satisfactory to think
teat she was at last endowed with some portion of
wealth. Iu their free and happy home among the
mountains of Mina's beloved land, the son of Sir
Ernest might feel ail the happier from the thought
that his competence had been secured by the mer-
chant, and not the miser. Away fiotr his early
a-sociations, he was another man, he might be said
to renew his youth, as time, in his flight, bore
away still further the impression of the horrors of
the past, and led him to bless the day he left the
fens for the moors.

The Life of Mahomet, and History of Islam. By
William Muir, E3q. 2 Full. Smith, Elder,
and Co.
This lab

,orious and valuable production forms
the commencement of a work on the rise and pro-
gress of the Mahometan faith, which is likely,
though somewhat tedious to the general reader, to
become a standard work of reference for the scholar
and the student. The peculiar character •of the
country and it+ inhabitants, he absence of any ,
great events or striking characters such as have
lighted up the pages of most tsatioaal annals, the
entangleuuent of the dynasties, and the petty con-
flicting
powers, joined to the isolation of the coun-
try and its comparatively unknown language, have
rendered the early records of Arabian history one
of the least known in either hemisphere. It was
far otherwise in later years whFri the Moslem name
was a terror to Europeans, and when the victorious
army of Abderrahman swept over Aquitaine and
Bordeaux. The patient and laborious author
endeavours to carry back the Arabian records to
the earliest possible traces, and he searches among
the dust of ages with which they are overlaid with
commendable perseverance, though we must con-
fess without always meeting an adequate recom-
pense. The work before us only carries down the
life of Mahomet to the era of the Hegira, or flight
from Mecca to Medina, which took place about
A.D. 622, and therefore the most exciting and
extraordinary part of the narrative is not yet
reached. A great portion of this first instalment
is occupied by the introductory history, and com-
ments on the various sources from which the bio-
graphy of Mahomet is derived, their comparative
value arid authenticity, whether historical, tradi-
tional, or legendary. The author promises,
should events permit him, to complete the life and
career of the Prophet. He is fully capable of ap-
prtciating the lessons and reflections which may be
drawn from it, and traces the rise and orig,n of the
idea of conversion in Mahomet's mind, in an able
and satisfactory manner. We are glad thst he pur-
poses complet.ng a work so labotious in iti charac- j
and so valuable in the extent of its information,
for though trie subject be somewhat tediou-, and •
cannot be said to approach the r.,mance of most of
the early eastern annals, the pre-Idanitte history
is useful to the student, and enables the reader to
comprehend the
dthaeffdoirsded jomtseudchanredwcioynflicting opportunityc. r circum-
stances u
form -
sthe advance of the Mahometan supremacy. The
author apologise, in a note, for any errors that
may have cr.pt into the latter pages of the work,
as being a member of the Bengal Civil Service, all
his books of reference bad been secured from the
att .cks of the mutineers, and were inaccessible.
The labour and research which has been bestowed
on the work must have be. n considerable ; indeed,
the author i 3 rather too lavish of his notes, from
which there is scarcely a page that is free. It would
have been better to have interpolated a few with
the text, or to have placed them at the end of the
volume. We trust that the speedy settlement of
the Indian difficulties will enable the author to re-
gain his literary property, and to conduct his ardu-
ous undertaking to a satisfact ry conclusion.

Gaston Bligh. By L. S. Lavenu, author of
" Erlestnere." 2 vols. Smith, Elder, andCo
This work exhibits a decided improvement upon
the author's foimer wotks. There is more connec-
tion, more unity, and the characters, though eccen-
tric, are much more natural, and delineated with
greater effect. The conversations are still far above
the ordinary level of comprehension, and gentle-
men and ladies discourse in somewhat mythical
German fashion, but there is more vitality and
hum in feeling amid the speculative theories than
in " Erlesmere." Though the circunis:ances are I
different, there is a strong resemblance in the
characters, and a kind of vague shadow over the
work, evidently resulting either from the
author's own experience, or from her habits
of thought and literary tastes. Shelley,
Keats, and Tennyson, with many Italian authors
of similar eLaracter, are among her chief favourites ;
but keen and sensitive as is her appreciation of
poetry in its highest sense, and elevated as are her
views of human nature and human capabilitie4,
there is a deficiency of practical earnestness. Self-
sacrifice is upheld in its noblest aspect ; love and
truth are shown in their native angel guise ; but
yet there is wanting a sense of the reality of life, a
perception that to act is nobler than to dream. In
direct antagonism to the narrow and degrading mer-
cenary spirit of the age, its vaunted common sense
and business-like, earth-bound views, there is a
school of philosophers who scorn the world, its
cares, its rights and claims altogether, forgetting
aahgroteshea. at
the
of heaven does not forsake the earth. Thgatesb
who
seies
that the lark who pours out itsftohhreomet
roof
om
for
another no t
cfloarsssa forsake
the highest principles in the trifling duties
of existence, who see in the way-side pond
as clear a reflection of the untroubled skies as in
the lonely lake, and of this class we trust our
author will be one of the exponents and advoca'es
It is with great satisfaction that we see a writer
of such abilities and prospects advancing in the
right and onward path. The characters aro far
more interesting in thin work than iu the

last. Tae herO; G-iston Bligh, is a striking
contrast ,o h's w•••ther, who treats him with' co ld-
nss and i.n .e,s Porn a !hl,takeu Kenn, of duty.
th- ojec: of nis avt,ch;oeT.i-, wi.o is COM•
veiled to telust- ;dr
ct.o'. from F bek:lience io her
in tier, is drawn w., h. ewe and :skill) hongh with:a
certain coliness. Ulric& Smiib is another promi-
nent character, but she is probably-not intended to
excite the reader's sympathy, and sbe does not do
so. The various subordinate figures are ably
drawn, and we accept the work as a promise that
the author will one day take a high rank among the
writers of fiction.

On Consamption. By R. P. CoVon' M.D. Se.
condEd.ttion. John Churchill, New Burlington.

street.

The author of this able and valuable work occu-
pies an eminent position among medical practi-
tioners. Besides 13:ine,o- a m-mber of the Royal
aliege of Physicians, he is one of the physicians
to the Brompton Hospital for Consumption, arid
the:efore has every oppeituu.ty of studying the
variations and pecultati•ies of tuis painful and
niel.incholy disease. The work before us is an
essay, which ob ained the Fothergillian Go'd
Medal f t•ie Me kcal S yof Londat, and tt •
medial experience of Dr. Cott( n has therefore been
d by otio.rs, skilled in the art of healing.
He divides Iris work into three parts, and gives in a
cle-r arid succinct style, an account of the nature of
consumption, its symptoms, arid treatment. A
long experience and extended ob-ervatinu are evi_
dery in ha paged, and his remarks on the predis
posing causes and excitants of the disease are highly
instructve. Thus out of 1,000 patients, 841 fol-
lowed in door pursuits and 159 out-door occupa-
tions, ,hus proving the invaluable importance of
fresh air and exercise. When it is remembered that
policemen, coachmen, hawkers, dr,c., are incLuded in
the above ist, who are exposed to the most unfavo
able changes of the weather, the contrast is still
more striking. Another startling fact is
,fhe Pre-
valence of the disorder among domestic servants,
who alone number 129 (lit of the 1,000. Many
siwil,r facts, which deserve the attention of those
who are in any way responsible for the health of
others, may be met with in this volume, and all
who are interested in its melancholy records,
either personally or for their relatives, would
do well to study Dr. Cotton's simple and pracr,
tical advice for obtaining health and relief. ~ -

The Good soldier : A Memoir of Major-General
Sir Henry Havelock, K.C. B , compiled • fron2
authentic sources by the Rev. W. Owen. Situp-
kin, Marshall, and Co.

The later events of General Havelock's life are
now a part of history, but the interest attaching to
his career will Lot be satisfied with the mere nar-
rative of his feats of arms. The earlier portion
of his life, his campaigns and military achieve-
meats, together with as much of his personal and
domestic character as may with proper discretion
be made public, are described in this little volume,
which does credit to its author's judgment and
feeling. It is concise and well written, Mr. Owen
wisely leaving Gen. Havelock to speak for himself
on every opportunity. It is a highly interesting
little volume, and the character it draws of the de-
parted hero sets a brilliant eiample to all who can
rival him in his high spirit and sense of Christian
duty, though they may never compete with his -
talents for military command.
The History of England.

By L-zil Madaulay.

Vol.V V. Longman.
The fifth volume of an excellent edition of this
celebrated work is now ready. The contents of
the four large volumes in which it was originally
puhlisln d will oocupy seven of this smaller size,
which are wore convenient for perusal, and equally-
suitable for a library. The price is moderate, and
the type clear and good.