The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-27 00:00:00

LITERATURE

Adulteratioils Detected in Fend and Medicine.
By Arthur Hill Hassall, M.D., &c. Longman
and Co., London.
Important and excellent iu its character as this
work is, we would scarcely advise the possessor of
a dainty stomach to study it very deeply. It is
most sensibly efficient for the desirable purpose of
exposing the gross cheats thrust upon our confid-
ing appetites and civilised necessities, but it is not
agreeable to be assured, on unquestionable autho-
rity, that while sipping a simple cup of tea, we are
imbibing indigo and sulphate of lime. Parental
anxiety is acutely aroused when we see our little
" blessings in disguise" energetically reducing the
weight of a highly-ornamented twelfth cake, and
are very certain that red lead and sulphate of copper
are being swallowed therewith. The inatin relish of
choice potted meats is not enhanced by the ao-
knowledged presence of bole armenian. A glass of
porter becomes a veritable blackdraught when we are
fully aware that nux vomica and coculus indicus
are among its integrals. When we ask for pickles
with our cold beef it is not pleasant to think we
shall be supplied with acetate of copper. Our lips
falter over a glass of wine when it is declared to bc
the popular medium of lead, laurel water, log-
wood, and cream of tartar. It spreads a sot t of
" old Bogey" feeling through us to have a constant
conviction that our milk is chalk and sheep's brains;
our toast and rolls replete with alum and bone
dust ; that our bottled fruits, candied preserves,
rich spices, and luxurious sauces, are all more or
less identified with the tragic incident so prominent.
in the classic history of " Vilikins and his Dinah."
However, while we would scarcely recommend
the perusal of this work to an imaginative or ner-
vous invalid, we most warmly estimate and ap-
plaud its intention, as tending to enlighttn the
public, iu a sound and competent manner, on the
important point of the nefarious and obnoxious
adulteration of our daily food. The detective and
analytical processes advised are plainly detailed,
but we fear can be scarcely available for non-
professional consumers ; therefore we suppose we
must be content to continue swallowing all sorts
of injurious compounds until that which the talented
author of this work suggests be adopted, viz. :
" An effective s&entilic organisation for the dis-
covery of adulteration, and the adequate punish-
ment of the offence."

B6rmuda: d Colony, a Fortress, and a Prison.
By a Field Officer. Longman, Brown, Green,
Longmans, and Roberts.
"A Field Officer," whoever he may be, writes
with all the frankness of a soldier, and if ho now
and then gets a little out of his depth, or ventures
on irrelevant matter, will be none the worse liked
for it. He has produced a readable book, hand-
somely illustrated, and enlivened by entertaining
gossip. As a colony, he shows us Bermuda claims
interest from its remoteness, primitiveness, beauti-
ful scenery, salubrity of climate, and its having
been our first in the western hemisphere. As a
naval fortress—its present state, we are told, is
incommensurate with the importance of its position
in case of a war with America. As a prison, it
would seem, under proper regulations and an im-
proved system, to be well adapted. At present the
convict is better off than the soldier, so much so
that soldiers have been known to commit offences
iu order to qualify themselves for the more
comfortable position of the convict. To this
penal establishment Mitchell, the Irish con-
vict, was originally sent ; and here Kirwan,
the painter, whose wife was so brutally murdered,
questions the justice of his sentence, with very
?little ground of complaint, as many will think who
learn how leniently he is treated. His miti-
gated term, it is intimated, will before long have
expired. The distribution and supervision of the
convicts, who are located, by the way, at Boaz and
in Ireland Island, and work at the dockyard and
on the roads, though improved, are very far from
satisfactory. The number of convicts is seldom
more than 1,200, about one-eighth of the popula-
tion. They are described as most useful and effi-
cient workmen. Chains, save on an emergency,
are never used. About nine hours of labour in
summer and eight in winter are the maximum of
actual work. Not without reason does the writer
remark—" flow many thousands are there of good
character in London whose hours of labour exceed
those of these condemned felons I" The general
impressions conveyed by the perusal of the work are
that the colony is deserving of more attention. than
it has experienced, and that penal discipline may
be carried out in it much better than at present,
and not without beneficial results.

Landmarks of the History of Greece. By the Rev.
James White. Routledge.
This is au excellent little work, intended for
those who have not the leisure or the opportunity
of studying a history in many volumes. It was
originally written for the Ventnor and Bonchurch
Mechanics' Institute, and is admirably adapted for
such an institution. It traces the history of the
Greeks in a clear and concise summary from the
mythic histories of their earliest legends to their
final suljection to the Romans. The wonderful
events and characters of that famous record are
sufficient of themselves to rivet the attention of any
readers, but they arc told in 'a style, forcible, and
occasionally eloquent, that must interest the most
indifferent. The only fault that could be found
is the slight mention made of some of the greatest
names in ancient history. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle,
Pindar, receive but little attention by the side of
the warriors and statesmen. Readers better in
formed in history than the members of an institute
need not scorn to consult this little volume, while
for a book of reference, for dates, &e., it is espe-
cially valuable from its brevity. The following
extract from the conclusion affords a favourable
sample of the style. The author has been remark-
ing on the brief extent of time occupied by the
Grecian history, when considering i s immortality,
and finding the explanation in the greatness of the
individual actors :
"Now the earliest and best historians wrote in the
Grecian tongue. In all the walks of intellectual effort
they furnished the most perfect models. Napoleon her-
r owed lessons from their statesmen, and Wellington from
their commanders. The very names of the places where
their actions wore performed have become emblems of the
spirit that gave rise to them. Thermopylae has encouraged
the patriot in his resistance to au overwhelming invader.
The desertion of Athens by its people set flames to the
Kremlin of Moscow. We look across the centuries that
divide us from those great events without perceiving the
medieval battles, and even the more modern conflicts that

lie in the darkness between--as we see the watchfires on
a distant hill without observing the towns and rivers
that are hidden in the level plain. Pieties, Salamis,
Leuctra, Mantinaia, Chreronea, and a hundred others,
are nearer to us, by the clearness of our view of them,
than the battles of Louis the Fourteenth or Frede-
rick of Prussia. And why with this vigour in action,
and this unequalled power of description, was their
glorioub race interrupted ? The reason is, that the exer-
tions they made were above their powers. There vigour
was the strength of frenzy, not the calm serf-confidence of
health. The fire was burnt out by its own warmth.
Their mode of government was not calculated for endur-
ance • for the stability of its power depended on the for-
tunate accident of possessing a great man. Everything ,
depended on the individual, and nothing on the general
mind. A republic, without the steadying accompaniment
of a representative and controlling chamber, is a mob.
When a Themistocles, a Miltiades, a Pericles, led that
mob, it became a monarchy unknown to itself, and ad-
vanced with the concentrated energy of a single will ;
when it fell into the hands of an Alcibiades, a Cleon, or a
Chares, it became an anarchy, and went to pieces by its
own disunion. It is this which gives such a personal in-
terest to the history of Greece. It consists of the lives of
heroes; but herons ceasedto arise—jealousy hindered their
appearance, or partisanship put them to death. How
few, indeed, of their illustrious leaders were treated as they
deserved ! Victory in those unreasonable communities
were as dangerous as defeat. Death and exile were the
rewards of their deliverers from foreign thraldom. Gree-
diness, arrogance, selfishness, were the characteristics of
the great body of the people ; and it was impossible that a
continual succession of Cimons and Epaminondases should
rise to save such a degraded populace from the conse-
quences of their vices. Dorian manliness, lonian grace,
were equally lost in the slavish adulation poured upon their
masters when they had ceased to find champions and defen-
ders among men of their own race. Rome, Venice, Turkey,
' alternately trampled on the shapeless remains of what once
was Greece. Battle, deportation, banishment—immigra-
tion of the barbarian and intermixture of race, have so
altered the population, that I do not believe there is akr,eeal
Greek alive. Yet the climate is the same ; the riv(eirsa
about
their course; the bees hum with the samemsooruinchnebss
in
Hymettus, the olive trees grow with theownsaAlpheu% after
Attica ; the language also, likefotrhieih.
disappearingtheir own
the same' purity
were
united
to—mtioghlitsyteent
allas btehfeosree
a;
davnafd:triafg awhile,ethset h moderngueonsfheegst inhabitants
of
bai tma no tr se
nation—to hope to see the resurrection govern-
ment and a prouder spirit of
ofiandgelpoerinoduesn
again to the eloquence of auotber Demosthenes, and gather
wisdom at the feet of another Plato."

Ilanr s Messiah—Mozart's Requient Mass. Edited
Alfred Novell°. Dean-street, Soho.
dbey
These
and
very
compositionsexcellent
edfiot
edition
o forma portion
theworks
, orfk as
very cheap
of our leading masters ill sacred composition. The
opportunities for hearing the performance of such
productions are now frequent in occurrence, and
moderate
means ;and
_
within the reach of all
and
estimation
Han-
del, Mozart, or Haydn, will beiustlred byofthellpaons--
pos-
sessionand study of these volumes—volumes deserv-
ing of commendation for being accurate in score,
compact in form, and cheap in cost.

The British Workman. Partridge and Co.
This deserving broadsheet, designed and calcu-
lated to instruct and profit,the woz king classes,
has accomplished another year without, we are
sorry to add, returning the benevolent editor the
money he has expended on it. This certainly
ought not to be the case, for not only is he worthy
of encouragement in the field of labour to which
his efforts have been directed, because of the cha-

! ratter of these efforts in a literary point of view,
! but the " British Workman" is so prettily illus-
trated as to be an ornamental appendage to the
working man's table. The balance-sheet at the
close of the present year, it is to he hoped, will l•
of a more encouraging nature. That it may be se
depends mainly on the countenance and support
afforded iu the interval by the classes in
whose welfare he has shown so unmistakeable an
interest.

Poems. By Eliza Rogers: Hurst and Blackett.
This is an unpretLuding volume of poems, which
certainly do not display any great degree of talent
or originality, but which are nevertheless simple
and pleasing. The volume is dedicated to Mrs.
Sidney Herbert, and we are told that the motive
which led to its publication was the hope of raising
gooney towards the erection of a church in a very'
poor and populous district in the suburbs of. Lo-
ndon. When the object was so praiseworthy criti-
cism would be invidious. The first part of the
volume, which contains many of the best pieces, is
from the pen of the authoress's sister. There is a
pleasant variety in the subjects and simplicity in
the expression, but the author should be more
careful in the selection of rhymes. Such serhyma
as the following would spoil the finest stanza :
" Thou guardian of our fairest flower,
And lovely as the dm:a,
Keep thou the lily in thy heart
When this is dead and gone."
It is but just to the author to say that the above is
an exceptional case. In future efforts she will, n•
doubt, avoid similar errors.