The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-03 00:00:00

LITEILAT URE.

What is a Bird? By Mrs. Wright, pp. 321.

Jarrold - and Sons.

" The Observing Eye Series"—are the words
we find printed at the top of the title-page. And
" What may be The Observing Eye Series.?"
will ask the uninitiated. Briefly, but very ear-
neatly, we reply to that query—A series to which
with our whole heart we wish a cordial Godsteed.
It is a series of little volumes written by a lady—
the fruits of lectures delivered by her to a school of
children, and those children, the poorest nurslings
of charity, the human waifs and strays of society
gathered together under the rc of tree of the first home
they have ever known, and nurtured there, mindjend
body, by Christian Benevolence. The first of these
charming little volumes—designed originally by
their gifted and genial-hearted authoress for the
Poor Schools of the very poorest—has nevertheless
—thanks to the Observing Eye of our gracious
Queen herself, found its way already into the
hands of the Royal children. It consisted
simply of a series of familiar letters, on an
apparently uninviting topic (for the minds of poor
charity children) namely, the three lower divisions
of anirxal life--Radiated, Articulated, and Mollus-
cuous. Yet out of th's seemingly unpromising
theme what stores of interesting curiosities were
there not dragged to light by the magnetic point of
that keen and luminous pen—about Sponges, about
Corals, about Star Fishes, about Worms, insect.,
Lobster and Shell-making Creatures! Here, again,
in another exquisite lit le volume, embellished
with a profusion of illustrative woodcuts like its
predecessor, is a companion book relating to all
that is alluring in Ornithology. " What is a
Bird ?" asks Mrs. John Wright of the poor School
Children. And in her ready answer to her own
inquiry, she tells them of the forms of birds, of their
instincts, and of their use in Creation. Nothing
possibly can be more winning than the style in
which our authoress conveys her meaning to her
hearers in the first instance, and now that her MSS.
have been transferred by the ro npositors' skill into
goodly specimens of typography to her readers—
to be counted in time, we hope and believe,
by thousands upon thousands. The first pecu-
liarities of birds on which Mrs. Wright expa-
tiates are the beak and the wings, the claws, the
breast-bone, and the merry thought. Afterwards
she groups em into the five principal divisions—
Birds of the Air, as eagles, hawks, owls, and vul-
tures ; Birds of? the Trees, as rooks, sparrows,
finches, and black-birds; Birds of the Ground, as
game and poultry; Birds of the Mud, otherwise
waders, as herons, snipes, and flamingoes ; and,
finally, Birds of the Water, otherwise swimmers,
or rather floaters, as the soft-beaks 1, web-f atte
duck, swan, gull, and albatross. Then comes her
delightful disquisition upon a problem, with the
attempted solution of which ono of the greatest
intellects now living once delighted itself—the pro-
blem of the line dividing Instinct from Reason,
upon the drawing of which subtle line of demar-
cation Lord Brougham boldly adventured. Where,
wo should like to know, are the school urchin. who
would not greedily drink in the wonders which are
next related by this dear friend of school-boys and
school-girls in regard to birds' nests and the eggs
inside them ? The basket-work nests, the nests lined
with woven hair and wool, the pendant nests,
the flat nests, the mud nests—here they all are
clustered thickly among the leaves of this wise and
entertaining volume-113 thickly as in the hedge-
rows at February ! Then the eggs—WWm and
cosy as in the nests, not strung together brittle and
empty upon the robber's straw ! What a parti-
coloured heap of beauty they make to be sure—
here sprinkled over these graceful pages ! The
pure white egg of the owl, of the kingfisher, of the
sand-ma tin, of the woodpecker. The greenish
eggs picked over with brown, of the Ipies, of the
crows, of the ravens. The greyish, bluish, freenish,
yellowish eggs of the waders. The speckled eggs
of the perching birds in all their infinite varieties.
Why, the book in truth is, for little children, as
charming as a fairy tale, and as instructive as a
treatise upon natural philosophy.
The Morals of Mayfair._ A Novel. 3 vols.

Hurst a,nd Mckett.

This is in some respects a peculiar story •, while
dwelling on the gaudy and glittering details of
fashionable life, we are made sensible of an under-
curt eat of feeling of a very different class to that
which is uppermost. The chronicles of these sad
careers ara narrated by one who admires not the
existence he so eloquently describes, and who has
perceived the dross and alloy that so deteriorate
and detract from the beauty and excellence that
sparkle iu the scenes emphatically denominated
the world. Philip Earnscliffe is a character that is
very ably drawn in its light and shade, its bright-
ness and its blackness. Ire was rarely endowed
by Fortune, and singularly gifted by Genius ; bit
these glorious donations of heaven and earth were
worse than valueless to one who neglected to use
them aright. It is true, in his defence, that he
was unfortunately situated in some things ; but
still ho did not listen to the warnings of his
conscience, in an important and eventful crisis.
By this fatal blunder lie cast a blight aver the
existence of one whom lie idolised, and left for
himself through the long vista of the years of
the future " the bitterness of remorse." The
truths so forciely enunciated, the sufferings
described in such glowing language, mule
striking by their likeness to truth and nature,
might well deer the trifling and reckless from
their precipitous paths. Had Philip possessed
better advisers, or not been surrounded by such a
set, he might have become a noble and exalted
character. He required influence to direct him ;
his was not that intrinsic worth which can stand
alone, which comes out the brigleter from the
cloud, the purer from its contact with temptation.
Marguerite is a sweet disposition, but her nature
also needed strength. She had a disadvantage of
a contrary sort to that of Philip to contend with
in her education. It was too limited in scope,
and she did not see enough of the world.
Her father should not have reared in such complete
solitude a gentle young creature who would here-
after have to mix in the strife and struggle of a
dangerous scene. The two beings whoas au adverse
fate threw together too early or tco late never ap-
pear before us to such advantage as whin wander-
ing in the wilds of Brittany. Something really
good in Philip, despite his errors, seemed to be in
unison with the majesty of Nature's solitudes, and
the superior taste of Marguerite vindicated itself in
spite of her unschooled mind and provincial retire-
ment, in her immediate recognition of her guest's
qualities, and her appreciation of his worth. It is
sad to reflect that this smiling episode in their
lives was but as the gleam of the short-lived
summer which is followed by the long winter of
the north. The succeeding passages are described
with great skill ; if they are displeasing in some
peas, they are but too likely to be the conse-
quence ef ignorance such as Marguerite's, and of
selfishness such as Philip's. Many persons flit before
the reader in this episode of a fashionable existence,
who are all shadowed forth in an impressive man-
ner ; and therefore this work will attract notice,
inasmuch as it contains some graphic details of life
in many of its most notable phases ; it bears a re-
cord of some of the most powerful passions that can
affect humanity, and it may satisfy the scrupulous
by its gloomy finality, wherein we behold the he-
roine consigned, in the flower of youth and beauty,
to an untimely grave, and the hero, in the prime of
manhood, heedless of his high position in the
world, unmindful of his splendid talents, from the
want of a guiding principle of right, whose vital
and saving influence would have imparted strength
to the fainting spirit of the lonely girl, and shed
beauty on the darkened path of the suffering
man.

••••••••••• .11.
Estimate. of some Brtglishinen, awl Scotchnzen. By
Walter Bagehot. Chapman and Hall.
This volume consists of a series of critioal and
biographical essays, chit fly reprinted from the
National Review, a quarterly that has frequently
been distinguished by the ability of its articles.
The contents of the work before us do not detract
from its character. They display an extensive
acquaintance with modern literature, considerable'
power of style, and generally speaking sense and
moderation. The subjects are attractive.
with the
They
include the names of Cowper, Gibbon, Butler,
Shelley, Hartley Coleridge, and even Shaks
wit
u
regardFd as en individual, coninnticin jieare
first Edinburgh reviewers and closing'''
with Sir R.
Peel and Mr. Macaulay. As a critic,
fair and unprejudiced, as a writer c, the author is
hisi
and able. A trifling fault style is clear
occasionally
effect—the leng:h of so casionally mars its
me of the
sentences,
easily avoided. It is a work anefror
to gratify every intelligent and cultivated reader,
which will f 43 certain
and which reflects much
ability of the writer. credit on the judgment and

The Comprehensive History of England. .Parts 5

and 6. Blackie and-Son. Edinburgh.
This is a valuable and interesting work, and
when completed will rank high among the instruc-
tive histories of England. It endeavours to give
not merely the military and dynastic history of
Great Britain, but to trace its civil, religious, in-
tellectual, and so :ial progress, from an epoch of
which little is generally known but the succession
of kings and the feats of the sword. It is written
in a clear and interesting style, and embellished
with a great number of engravings. As a full and
corependiou4 bistory is always fax mew interesting