The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Through Norway with a Knapsack. By W.
Mattieu Williams. Illustrated. Smith and
Elder.
Pedestrian excursions are now becoming the
fashion. Travellers who tell their own tales, in
particular, prefer this method to following the more
ordinary routes. The beaten track of highroads,
s.eamboats, and railways have been so often de-
scribed, that if the wanderer seeks for novelty,
whether for his own gratification, or with a vow
to that of his future readers, he is compelled to
seek it in the byeways and villages, and to learn
something more of the ways and habits of the people
among whom he is journeying than can be gathered
from an hotel or a guide book. A pedestrian jour-
ney among the sharp cliffs and fiords of Norway is
certainly something entirely novel, and our author
must have possessed a considerable share Of strength
and spirits to accomplish it with success. He ap-
pears to have derived much gratification from his
journey, and speaks in the highest terms of the
general character of the Norwegian people. He
was particularly struck with their possession of
many English characteristics. The English phy-
siognomy he frequently encountered, and found a ge-
neral knowledge of our language among the people
of the towns. In an interesting disquisition on the
derivation of modern tongues, Mr. Williams gives
several particulars of the resemblance of our lan-
guage to that of the old Norsk or Icelandic. He
accounts for the resemblance which some persons
find between the English and the German by their
both being principally of Scandinavian origin.
"We have received the Icelandic, or old Norsk,
through Norway and Denmark, while it has reached
Germany through Sweden; our deviations from the
old tongue resemble the Danish, while those of the
German are like the Swedish ; the Danish words
stand midway between ours and the old Norsk,
while the Swedish stand in like manner between
the old Norsk and German." He considers that
there can be little doubt that during the period be-
tween the tenth and fourteenth centuries England,
Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark
had a common language, as the Skalds, or bards of
Iceland, visited these countries, and recited their
poems, many of which are still extant, Iceland
being at that time the literary focus of Europe.
He remarks, with truth, that the princes and war-
riors to whom these songs were sung were not lite-
rary gentlemen who would learn a classical lan-
guage to appreciate poetry, but rough fighters
who would care only for ballads in pure
vernacular. " The Danes and Saxons must
have spoken the same tongue, or how could Alfred
have sung in the camp of the Danes, or even had
the exploit put upon him by tradition ? Anything
beyond a difference of dialect would have been suf-
ficient to disable even a literary man like Alfred
from extemporising poetry." The Norwegians re-
gard our proceedings with the interest due to a
nation of kindred origin. At Christiana he found
a large meeting dispersing from the hotel, which,
he was told, had assembled to listen to a reading of
the English newspapers just arrived. " Such meet-
ings are held periodically here, when our host, who
speaks English fluently, reads the English papers,
translating as he proceeds. English politics, and
all the incidents of our social progress are carefully
and intelligently studied by the Norwegians, who
seem to be quite as familiar with the names and
proceedings of our leading statesmen, as they are
with those of their own Storthing or Parliament."
The Maelstrom, which we have all heard of, and
read about, with awe, is, in the words of our author,
"an unmitigated myth." He says " there are many
maelstroms or bad currents thereabouts, but no
huge gulfing eddy there, or in any other part of the
world he believes." As he gained this knowledge
at the price of being well laughed at by the Nor-
wegian captain, we must give him credence, and
allow the Maelstrom to go with early Roman his-
tory, and a great many interesting facts and legends
we learnt many years ago, to be unlearned in late
years. The English passengers were busy search-
ing their maps for the terrible locality, and looked
at the ship's charts in vain. At last they appealed
to the captain, a man of much experience in those
seas, who told them that all he knew of the Mael-
strom was learned from his English passengers.
The English, he said, had kindly given the Nor-
wegians much useful information, and they were
especially indebted to them for the discovery of the
Maelstroms. The author explored the wildest and
most lonely regions of Norway, and had to put up
with sundry inconveniences and hardships in some
of the primitive localities. He describes the effect
of the midnight sun with enthusiasm. He was also
much struck with the aspect of the Loffoden Isles.
There are some interesting remarks on glaciers, and
their progress, which will convey some curious in-
formation to those unacquainted with the wonders
of mountain regions. The work has a map of the
author's route, and several wood cuts. It is further
embellished by six large tinted plates, some of
which are very beautiful.

The shot Gun and Sporting Rifle, and the Dogs,
Ponies, 4.e., used with them. By Stonehenge,
author of " British Rural Sports." Routledge.
A more useful compendium of all possible infor
mation likely to be required by the sportsman
could hardly be met with than this volume. The
author was induced to publish the treatise on the
Shot-gun and Sporting Rifle from his having found,
on undertaking the editorship of the shooting de-
partment of the Field, that an angry correspondence
was going on in its columns on the rival merits of
different descriptions of sportsman's guns. It was
resolved, to satisfy the disputants, that a public trial
should be made and their comparative merits fairly
tested, which plan was carried out in two gan trials
in 1858 and 1859, under the superintendence of
" Stonehenge." In consequence of the oppor-
tunities thus afforded him of studying the varieties
of principle and workmanship in the manufacture
of guns, he has thought it advisable to lay before
the public the results of his experience. He has
divided his work into books, which treat i espec-
tively of the theory of gunnery, the shot-gun, the
sporting rifle, game, the animals used in pursuit of
it, and the methods of preserving it. A chapter on
the present Game-Laws concludes the volume, and
Ns ill be very useful to the sportsman, since the laws
relating to game " differ most essentially in Eng-
land, Ireland, and Scotland, so that a sportsman
who is only acquainted with the law of one of
these countries is constantly liable to break that
which prevails in either of the others." At the
present season the appearance of the work is most
appropriate, and we recommend it to the notice of
all sportsmen.

The Art Journal.

- - -
The pictures selected for representation this
month are of unusual excellence. The first engrav-
ing is from Mr. Cope's painting of Wolsey's Arri-
val at Leicester Abbey. The abbot and his asso-
ciates are assembled at the door, and the dying
Cardinal, assisted from his mule, is represented at
the moment, when he makes the pathetic appeal,
which our great dramatist has so ably spoken for
him :

"Oh, father abbot,
"An old man, broken by the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye.
Give him a little earth, for charity."
The second plate is taken from Rul)ens' picture of
" Summer Time" in the Royal collection. It is
beautiful landscape, nicely engraved. The prose
contents are full of their accustomed ability and
interest. The illustrated articles are among the
most attractive. Air. and Mrs. S. C. hail continue
their " Excursions in South Wales," and describe
the neighbourhood of Tenby, adding the usual
charming vignettes. The forty-sixth number of the
papers on "British Artists" treats of the works of
H. Jutsum, and gives several graceful woodcuts of
his principal paintings. Mr. Thornbury continues
his series of the " Last Hours of the Painters," and
shows us the dying scene of Beaujeau, the pupil of
Watteau, who perished in the turmoil of the French
Revolution. There are several other papers that
will attract the reader, and the number maintains
the high character of this periodical.

The English Cyclopcedia of Arts and Sciences.
This valuable work has reached its eighth part,
and fully supports its reputation. It is now at the
letter C, under which head, among many other
valuable pieces of information, we find articles on
Chemistry, Chess, Church Building, Circle (Astro-
nomical), Climate, Coal, and Codes. It is a multunt
in parvo, a complete cotnpendium of varied informa-
tion. All who desire a comprehensive work of re-
ference for general questions and matters sctence
should secure this division of the Eng
peedia. matters of
h Cyclo-

Once a Week..
The monthly part of this new periodical is not
likely to be overlooked, even among the crowd of
serials that claim the attention of the general
reader. It is full of animation and variety, with a
Flemish tale, full of hairbreadth 'stapes and snares,
from the vigorous pen of Charles Reade ; lively
sketches, by Albany Fonblanque ; sensible paTpers
by Harriet Martineau; quaint ballads, by om
Taylor and George Meredith, and numerous plea-
sant pages of prose and verse from anonymous
contributors. John Leech, Tenniel, Millais, H. K.
Browne, and others of our best illustrators, assist
in embellishing its pages, and it bids fair to be a
pleasant and successful miscellany of popular light
reading.