The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-02 00:00:00

THE CALLING OF THE CLERGYMAN.

"What is the priest ?" he asked, going on with the
same catechism. "Just a man to be among men what the
Sunday is among the work drys of the week—a man to
remind you that there is a life within this life, or beyond
and about it, if you like that mode better—for extremes
meet in the truest figures—that care is not of (God, that
faith and confidence are truer, simpler, more of common
sense than balances at bankers or preference shares. He
is a protest against the money-heaping tendencies of men,
against the desire of rank or estimation or any kind of
social distinction. With him all men are equal, as in the
Church all have equal rights, and rank ceases on the
threshold of the same, overpowered by the presence of the
Son of Mary, who was married to a carpenter—over-
powered by the presence of the God of the whole earth,
who wrote the music for 'the great organ of the spheres,
after ho had created them to play the same."

In pursuing this train of thought, Mr. Fuller goes
on to question " Why the churches are closed on
week day; to the exclusion of the passers-by, and
open on the Sunday to the weariness of those who
enter. Might there not," he asks, "be too much
of a good thing on the Sunday and too little of it
on a week day ?" From such inquiries it will be seen
that the author of " Guild Court" is not only a deep
thinker, but is quite outspoken in the utterance of
his opinions.

The Lord of All. A Novel. Two Vols.
Chapman and Hall.

The title of this novel has an appearance of
irreverence, which the author is far from in-
tending. The motto on the title-page ex-
plains the title, "For love shall still be lord of
all." The locality of the story is Rome, and the
chief actors are the English visitors in the
Holy City. The writer is evidently familiar
with the scenes which ho describes. The
background of the picture is filled up
with Italian t guru, some vivid and natural.
The English visitors are the principal objects of
our interest, and, it is hardly necessary to say that
although "living at Rome," they are far from " doing
as Rome does." Three heroes and three heroines play
their part to illustrate the truthfulness of the motto on
the title-page, and their various fortunes and misfor-
tunes are set before us in a very lively and animated
manner. The author of this novel would, we should
say, be likely to make a good dramatist. The
various incidents of the story are full of
scenic effect, although in one or two
instances, such as the mock carrying off of Miss
Hanley and Geraldine's concealment in the studio,
they are extravagant and improbable in the ex-
treme. The character of Guy Beresford is
very well drawn, and so is that of Olinto
Andreini, the Italian teacher, eager to gain money
from politicians of both parties, and afraid to speak
out even before his own children. If he is intended
to be a type of the liberal Italian, he does not reflect
much credit upon his cause. Mrs. Linde and her
elder daughters, the mother and sisters of Geral-
dine, are selfish and spiteful enough to rival the
mother and sisters of Cinderella. In order to de-
prive them of the satisfaction of being connected with
the Peerage, the author, by a very unfair stretch of
poetical justice, visits poor Leicester Hol►ndale with
a very unnecessary calamity. However, we must
not spoil the story by revealing all its mysteries. It
cannot fail to interest and amuse many readers.

CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOKS.

Golden Thoughts from Golden Fountains. Illus

trated. Warne & Co.

Very gorgeous in appearance is this beautiful
book, exquisitely bound in crimson and gold, and
adorned with innumerable illustrations, engraved
by the Brothers Dalziel. Poetry and prose
are judiciously intermingled. Old friends, such
as Mrs. llemans' " Better Land," James Mont-
gomery's " What is Prayer ?" Oliver Gold-
smith's" Village Pastor," St. Bernard's 46 Ilyran

to the Holy Name," and many others alter-
nate with contributions from modern writers.
Golden thoughts from Jeremy Taylor and others,
poets in prose, have been very appropriately intro-
duced. The whole is arranged in fifty-two divi-
sions, intended to furnish reading for the various
Sundays of the year. Not only once a week, how-
ever, but every day in the year, these golden
thoughts, collected in this golden casket, to adorn
the table of drawing-room or boudoir, will arrest
the attention and charm the imagination of all who
may chance to cast a glance upon them.

"A thing of beauty is ajoy forever ;"
and this goodly volume, so beautiful within and
without, with its charming pictures and its precious
thoughts, is not only a most appropriate Christmas
gift, but a treasury of perrenial attraction.

Aunt Luuisa's Keepsake. "With coloured Illustra,

tions. Warne & Co.

Aunt Louisa is, indeed, a precious friend to the
Little Ones. A fairy godmother, as bountiful as
the benefactress of Cinderella ; a brilliant variety
of picture-books, bearing her name, have already
endeared her to many a play-room and
nursery, and her latest but assuredly not her
least gift, is this very seasonable keepsake—a
large handsome volume bound in crimson and gold,
and adorned with twenty-four brightly-coloured
pictures, printed in oil colours. The contents are
singularly various. " Sing a Song of Sixpence,"
with the blackbird pie of famous memory, and the
avaricious king and the epicurean queen severally
occupied with " money" and " bread and
honey" is followed by (to us at least) an original
history of" the Robin's Christmas Eve," in. which
a half-frozen robin redbreast finds shelter among
the holly boughs which decorate the interior of the
church at Christmas time, and when the school
children assemble to sing the Christmas hymn, the
voice of the little robin joyously swells the chorus.
The illustrations to this little narrative are singularly
attractive. Next in the series we have the adven
tures of " Robin Hood and his Merry Men," amid
the verdure of the greenwood, as a contrast to
which a glimpse of the various pleasures of the
" Sea-side"—boating, donkey-rides, &c., fill up the
remaining pages of this very delightful keepsake.
The " Robin's Christmas Eve" is also issued in a
separate form.

Punian ; or, Thoughts Wise and Other-wise. By
the Hon. Hugh Rowley. With Designs from

his Pencil. Hotten.

Thoughts Wise and Other-wise, the majority
being decidedly otherwise 1 On the cover of this
book, the various letters which compose its name,
appear running pell-mell in most admired con-
fusion, and the inside is, to say the most of it, al-
most equally incoherent, possessing at the same
time a certain amount of method in its madness.
In his apologetic introduction, the compiler depre-
cates our criticism by assuming that his work is
only intended to amuse a leisure moment and pro-
voke a laugh, even at its own expense. As such,
at this season, it may take its place among the
guests of the Christmas fireside.

My New Year's Gift to my Son. By Pamphilius.

New edition.

Virtue, Brothers.

A new edition of the "Head and Heart
Legacy," presented by Pamphilius as a new year's
gift to his son, is very appropriately brought out as
a gift book for the young. It possesses the great
merit of having truth as its foundation, and con-
tains the practical results of a father's experience
set forth in the most interesting manner for the
benefit of the youthful generation.

Heroes of Discovery. By Samuel Mossman.
Edmonston and Douglas.

We place this very valuable biographical history
of such men as Magellan, and Cook, and Park, and
Franklin, and Livingstone with Christmas gift
books, because to many a youthful reader it will
prove far more attractive than a romance. The
histories recorded in this volume are chapters of
that " truth " which is stranger than fiction. The
various perils and adventures which hefel the
daring explorers are detailed in a most interesting
manner. The history of Dr. Livingstone con-
cludes with the record of his supposed death.

Beeton's Boy's Annual, 1868.

The collected numbers of the "R)ys own Maga-
zine," handsomely bound and illustrated, form a
goodly annual, rich with pleasant miscellanies of
fact and fiction, verse and prose. Portraits of the
various writers who have contributed to the perio-
dical increase the value of its contents. " A story of
the Days of Agincourt," by Francis Davenant ;
" Stories of the British Navy," how to make an
electric telegraph, puzzles, pyrotechny, gymnastic
exercises, and a very ounium galherum, more or
less, of amusing papers are to be found in " The
Boy's Annual for 1868."

Nursery Tales. A new version. By Mrs. Valen-
tine. With original illustrations. Warne and
Co.

The charming picture of Dobson's—who does not
know it?—" Fairy Tales," ought to have been the
frontispiece to this delightful little book ! Such a
volume as this, with stories of " Puss in Boots,"
and " Blue Beard," and "Red Riding Hood," and
" Jack the Giant-Killer," and the rest— those dear
old tales familiar to us all--
"Beloved as fable, and believed as truth."
Such a volume as this is the treasure clasped in the
hands of the lovely little fairy girl of the picture,
and such a volume as this, thanks to Mrs. Valen-
tine, is the very gift-book for the dear little Home
fairies, " The Good People—" wee " People of the
Nursery."

Sea Fights, from Slugs to Navarino. By Mrs. R.

Valentine.

This little book, which is likely to become the
"boy's own book" in every play-room where it
appears, acquires a particular interest, from the
fact that the authoress (to whom, as she tells us in
her preface, it has been a labour of love), is the
descendant of five generations of seamen, and
that part of her childhood was passed on board
of Nelson's Victory. The stories of the various sea
fights are narrated in the most interesting manner
and interspersed with many appropriate poetical
quotations. " Old Merry's Annual" contains an
amusing collection of tales and sketches calculated
to render' the readers merry as well as wise. And
Old Merry's Christmas Party, in a smaller form,
contains various articles of a similarly amusing
character.