The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-15 00:00:00

tianity in that country. This work !is well
written throughout, and conveys a very clear idea
of the country, which was traversed by the traveller.
It is always desirable to peruse the early impres-
sions of an intelligent mind possessed of a great
people, and hence this book will possess attractions
to many, when the actual information afforded
by these pages, either from personal observation or
from previous acquaintance with works of travel
concerning it. This volume is a translation, but-
it has been admirably executed, and at times one
could fancy it was quite original from its freshness
and force of expression. There is a great variety
in the accounts we meet with. A wedding and a
funeral, with all kinds of wild schemes of fun and
frolic, and with some of those fierce expressions of
rage and anger in which that impulsive nation so
loves to indulge. This vacillation of temperament
is thus described—" I could see from the wild sound
of complaint and woe that they were not feigned
but really came from the heart; and again, I was
forced to admire the nature of this people, who can
pass at a bound from the loudest delight to the
deepest consciousness of painful desolation, and to
whom fate gave in addition to the unspeakable
wretchedness it reserved for them the most en-
viable levity, which in an hour forgets all that
has happened, and all that may happen."
It must be mentioned that the author is prejudiced
on the side of the Irish quite as much as other
writers have doubtless been against them. For
example, in describing his departure from Killar-
ney where he saw two weeping maidens departing
from thence to America, he exclaims " The Irish
have become the strangers and slaves in their own
country, The English govern the land, and the
Irish serve in it, some still gnashing their teeth,
others having grown dull long ago, but the ma-
jority of them still feel the yoke, although they
know, and we know only too well, that their
kingdom is destroyed and can never be established
again." When we remember some of the dis-
graceful scenes and occurrences in Ireland when
men were shot down in broad daylight among a
crowd of witnesses, and yet no after efforts of the
friends of the deceased can bring the guilty to
punishment, because the unhappy victim has offen-
ded some of the prejudices, or broken some of the
laws of that most tyrannical of all classes the
rabble, when this is recalled it may safely be
affirmed that oppression and injustice are not con-
fined to one class in the country. There is a good
deal of lively detail mixed up with these remini-
scences. The meeting with Mr. Maerie is most
amusing, and the serio-comic dilemmas into which
that worthy man was constantly plunged are most
ludicrous. In the final trip the traveller
again met with this quaint individual; ho was then
in the full horror of riding a leaping donkey,
which at last threw him off. His consternation
was great and he exclaimed, " I did not wish to
ride, but it was of no use; I could not get rid of
that one-armed scoundrel, I must mount his
donkey. A man is not safe of his life in this
miserable glen, cannons are fired, I am led past
fathomless abysses, I am forced to climb up pre-
cipitous walls, and last of all, I am mounted on a
donkey. May heaven punish me if I ever get
on one again." Those who would meet with
a desirable account of the country and its
inhabitants, in which intelligent remarks blend
with striking descriptions, cannot do better than
possess themselves of this little work. It does not
aim at anything remarkable, but it successfully
carries out its intentions of affording us a glimpse
of the " Land of the Saints," which is done
entirely con amore, in a spirit which would even
have satisfied the poet who sang of the "loved
island of sorrow," in such touching strains. A
glowing enthusiasm for the country seems to
pervade the mind of the author, and thus he
seems native to the soil and kindred to the people
as he dwells on their troubles, and dilates on
their sufferings. Whatever is written with feel-
ing must impress, and the sentiments here ex-
pressed are evidently genuine, and bear the stamp
of reality.

Over the Straits ; a Visit to Victoria. By Louisa
Anne Meredith, author of " My Home in Tas-
mania," &c. Chapman and Hall.
This is an animated sketch of a visit to Vic-
toria, -written with spirit and vivacity, and while
it is only of a simple style, it yet here and there
contains graver subjects of reflection, and points
a moral occasionally. For instance, in the fol-
lowing remarks on eruelty to animals, when the
authoress observes—" To me the most mysterious
part of the Almighty's scheme—so far as it be-
comes manifest in our daily lives, is the absence
of some imperative prevention of cruelty to His
dumb creatures ; and it is my fixed belief, that
they are thus left at our mercy to give us the
power of doing wrong or right—comparatively
independent of human intervention and control
In this life," but amenable to how severe a tri-
bunal in that which is to come ; and again,
" Cruelty to animals is a subject that nineteenths
—nay, nine hundred and ninety-nine thou-
sandths of the general population do not seem
to comprehend. Many persons, very pious,'
kindhearted' people, too, in the world's estima-
tion of things on the surface, men who subscribe to
all manner of charities (with their names in print),
and women who are affected even to floods of tears
by the fictitious woes of a popular novel, can pla-
cidly gaze upon palpable severe animal suffering
without any sensation whatever. The clay their
frames are fashioned of must, one would think, have
been too hardly baked to receive impressions from
without, and the undisguised astonishment with
which they hear any remonstrance or intercession
for the wretched victims, evidences the shock which
so novel an idea creates." It is always peculiarly
satisfactory to meet with such sentiments expressed
in a form where they can be widely disseminated,
and considered upon by many readers. In nothing
does the innate depravity of human nature become
more painfully manifested than in cruelty to any-
thing living, be it of the human race or only of the
inferior class of animals; the real Christian can never
profane the religion he professes as to torture the
creatures formed by his Maker, without whose will
no sparrow falls to the ground unseen, and who has
taught us that all our doings without charity are
nothing worth. How beautifully has the poet ex-
pressed this feeling in these lines—
" He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small.
For the great God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."
There are many traits of character described in
these pages that are most amusing and interesting
to peruse, and a very fair idea of the country is
presented to the stranger, so that on the whole
there is reason for the authoress to indulge in the
hope expressed at the conclusion that " the perusal
of these small adventures may have afforded to all
who have thus accompanied us in our excursion
over the Straits some reflection at least of the plea-
sure we derived from it, and here we bid them
for the present a kind farewell."

Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Character. By
the Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D. Houston and
Wright.
This volume presents us with a large collection
of miscellaneous anecdotes, illustrative of Scottish
character, and more especially of the native wit
and humour which is often a strongly marked
feature of the northern idiosyncrasy. The author
tells us in his preface, that he has entertained the
idea of publishing a volume of this kind for many
years, and lately he has made it his practice to note
down such anecdotes as he deemed worth preser-
vation. He has besides searched every accessible
work which was calculated to increase his stores,
and has received large contributions from friends
and correspondents. He has in this undertaking
set two objects before him. Firstly, to pourtray the
native character and sentiments during the last
century, and secondly, " by presenting a budget of
healthful anecdotes, to supersede many current
stories of an exceptional character, and to show
that abundance of wit may be procured without
having recourse to humour tinctured with pro-
fanity." In both these attempts he has achieved
a very creditable degree of success, although some
of the anecdotes given are scarcely worth insertion.
One drawback to the enjoyment of the reader is
found in the continued use of initials and dashes,
which have a most unsatisfactory effect. In cases
where courtesy or discretion rendered the omission
of the name advisable, it would have been better to
have dispensed with it altogether, and saved the
perpetual iteration of " The Rev. Mr. S•--, of
E.--. " Professor 11.--." Principal L.--."
" Mr. M.---," &c. The author has divided his
collection under various heads, such as " The
Ecclesiastical," " The Collegiate," " The Muni-
cipal," "Puns and Repartee," &c. Some of the
most curious instances of popular credulity are
given in the chapter on Modern Superstitions. As
is often the case, some of the sharpest retorts are
met with among the peasantry and simple folk.
We quote a few of these anecdotes as fair speci-
mens of the collection.
THE MINISTER'S WIFE,
"The following anecdote hes been associated with the
name of more than one clergyman's helpmate. The mini-
ster had been entertaining at dinner a clerical friend from
some distance. The evening was unpropitious, and the
friend was invited by the minister to remain durinc, night,
and had accepted the invitation. They walked togetherb for
some time in the manse garden. At dusk the minister
asked his visitor to step into the manse while he
would give directions to his man servant in regard
to his friend's conveyance being got ready in the morn-
ing. As the stranger entered the manse, the minister's
wife mistook him for her husband in the twilight; she
raised the pulpit Bible, which chanced to be on the lobby
table, and bringing the full weight of it across the stranger's
shoulders, exclaimed emphatiatily, ' Take that for asking
9 Olscoverinv
that ugly wretch to st:
itOri
:y
sue blunder is not related but the vie
all night 1' How the lady.looked