The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Wheel within Wheel. By Noell Radcliffe, author
of " Alice Wentworth," " The Lees of Blendon
Hall." Three Vols. Hurst and Blackett.
This is rather a peculiar story, and although it
displays considerable ability it is not, on the whole,
an agreeable one. Some of the passages that refer to
Langton's conduct are not exactly pleasing to the
taste, and Kate Desborough forfeits one's opinion
of her high principles and correct judgment, when
she consents to form an engagement with a man
such as Langton has proved himself to be. Lady
Carew is a very clever sketch of a woman of her
sort and disposition. Many such women are scat-
tered abroad, causing misery to all who are
connected with them. Perhaps the worst
part of her conduct, or at all events the portion
one can less readily find an -excuse for, was the
double dealing she practised towards Kate. When
this warm-hearted and impulsive girl trusted im-
plicitly in her pretended friendship, she invited her
to serve her own ends, and afterwards detained her
by all sorts of false promises and untrue assertions
to carry out her bad intentions and to further her
unworthy plans. It is almost a satisfaction at last to
hear of the sad conclusion to this intricate drama. It
does not seem in accordance with any idea of justice
or notion of morality that a set of individuals who
were mixed up in such nefarious transactions, some
as actors, others as abettors, should prosper
for any length of time. Kate Langton's death
was not to be regretted, as she was
spared the wretched future that must have
awaited her; while on the other hand it was desir-
able that Lady Carew should survive to reflect over
the fearful havoc she had effected by the indulgence
of her sinful vanity. Incited by this she
had refused to live in honourable seclusion
with her mother, and married a man she despised.
Her subsequent career is traced in these pages with
very great skill, and may serve as a warning to
those who seek to establish themselves in splendid
positions regardless of the considerations of respect
and fine feeling. It is rather a relief to turn to
the secondary personages of the tale and to dwell
on their peculiarities that are in some instances
amusingly described. Mrs. Oakly and Mrs.
Spencer Langton may be cited as admirably drawn
in their respective styles. This work will doubt-
less be admired by many who like complicated
narratives, and prove for them an attractive study
to mark out the distinctions of several different
styles of character, and it may thus attain to a great
measure of success. The previous productions of
this author have been distinguished for their
ability and this one does not fall short of the mark
that was reached by its predecessors.

The Englishwoman in Italy. By Mrs. Gretton.
the Laird of Norlaw. Hurst and Blackett's
Standard Library.
We are glad to see this delightful book selected
for the new number of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett's
excellent edition of standard works. We noticed
it at length at the time of its first appearance, and
have therefore only to repeat the cordial eulogium
we expressed on that occasion. The pleasant and
easy style, the natural pictures of domestic life and
sketches of social peculiarities which graver travel-
lers leave unnoticed, combine to give a lifelike and
faithful representation of the people, as well
as to form a most entertaining and read-
able volume. As the interest felt in the
Italians has increased rather than diminished
among us since the original publication of this
work, we cannot doubt that a large class of readers
will hasten to secure so attractive an addition to
their library. " The Laird of Norlaw," by the
well-known, and highly appreciated authoress of
" Margaret Maitland," is a most welcome addition
to this valuable collection, inasmuch as it is one of
those works that are at all times desirable to re-
peruse and that ono can take up atany moment
and find something to attract and admire in its
natural descriptions and truthful reflections. There
is no auther of the present day whose works are
more likely to be generally appreciated in a
standard series like the present.

Ragged London in 1861. By J. Hollingshead,
author of "Under Bow Bells," &c. Smith,
Elder, and Co.
Most of the readers of the Morning Post will re-
member a series of articles on the state of the lowest
of the London poor, which appeared in the early
part of this year under the title of " London
Horrors." They were written during the period
when the distress occasioned by the unusual seve-
rity of the season had directed public attention to
the social state of our pauper population, and are
now collected and reprinted, when the panic has
passed by and the reflections then forced upon us
are too apt to die away and be forgotten. Mr.
Hollingshead has been the author of several works
on the metropolis and its inhabitants, which have
been favourably received. The one before us, how-
ever, is not altogether satisfactory. It is somewhat
superficial and bitter in its tone, speaks with dis-
paragement of most of the efforts to relieve the
distressed, asserts that our eleemosynary institu-
tions encourage pauperism and imposition, and yet
can suggest no better remedy for the existing evils
than to abandon the present generation to their
own courses. The ragged schools and other efforts
on behalf of children he speaks of with appro-
val, as all well-wishers of the poor must do, justly
saying that " Philanthropy can do no harm and
much good by devoting all its energies to the
young, and the more it improves their minds and
morals the more chance is there they will aim
at a higher standard of living." The following
p'assage, extracted from a paper styled " A New
Chamber of Horrors," reprinted from Angle Year
Round, exhibits some startling facts :
The world is too ;busy, the newspapers are too univer-
sal in their aspirations, and our statesmen are thinking far
too much of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, to devote
more than a passing glance to these most awful deaths,
unless they are brought before them in a blunt, material
shape. The dead man is hurried away in the parish coffin,
the usual curt line is recorded in the registrar's book, the
paragraph in the newspaper corner is read and forgotten,
and the whole thing is buried in eternal night. This is
not enough ;, and, for the sake of those strugglers who are
left, we require more. Per-centages, averages, and all the
hocus-pocus of statistics are only mists, fogs, curtains, and
sleeping-draughts, except to the official mind ; and we, the
public, require something more gross—and more palpable.
The deaths from " privation' " "deaths from want of breast
milk," " deaths from neglect," " deaths from cold"—or, in
plain unsavoury words, from utter starvation—increase
every year. There were 222 (in London only) in 1848 ;
they were 516, within the same area, in 1857, and this
without questioning how many of the returns under the
head of " fever" ought to be classed as starvation. Here
is a country that spends one hundred millions sterling a
year in universal government, and yet allows hundreds of
its children, in its metropolis alone, to be annually starved
to death I
The work displays careful study of the subject, and
the appendix gives many important statistics, but
although it serves to impress us with the amount
of want and wretchedness which surrounds and
intersects this great and wealthy metropolis, it is
not likely to attain any other object. Writing on
such a subject with ample materials, the author
might have presented us with a more satisfactory
and useful volume.

Traits and Anecdotes of Animals. Illustrated by
Wolf. Bentley.

The perusal of the history of animal life is always
interesting, but when it is enlivened with curious
anecdotes, and the attention of the reader is en-
thralled by the narration of wild adventure and
hairbreadth escapes, it becomes irresistible. Of
such ingredients is the work before us composed,
with the addition of many good engravings depict-
ing the various incidents which are related in its
pages. The narrative is confined to no particular
country or continent ; all quarters of the globe
are the same to the compiler ; he seeks only for
useful and curious information duly au-
thenticated, and relates no incident without
stating his authority, and certainly the most fas-
tidious cannot complain of either want of variety
or interesting matter. As the book is, to a great
extent, a collection from numerous authors it is
impossible to find one extract to furnish a sample
of the whole ; but the following is ludicrous as well
as instructing:—
" A bold undaunted presence and defiant aspect gene-
rally proves the best protection when an unarmed man is
threatened by these or other animals, but artifice is some-
times necessary. A ludicrous instance is related by an old
quartermaster (whom we knew some years ago), in a small
volume of memoirs. At Christmas, 1826, he was Een t up
the country to a mission, about thirty-two miles from San
Francisco. lie and the others erected a tent, after which
they all lay down on the ground. slept like a top,' says
he, 'till four the next morning, at which time I was
awakened:by the man whose duty it was to officiate as cook
for the da who told me if I would go
ugsotudpetsocrbtiheevmillyagdereasnsd,
get a light,y, good breakfast ready for the
he would have a_
ladf by the time they awoke.
,r that very dress saved my life. Over the rest of my
clothing, as a seaman, I had a huge frock made from the
skin of a rein-deer. It was long enough, when let down,
to cover my feet well, and turned up at foot, buttoning all
round the skirt. At the top was a hood, made from the
skin taken off the head of a bear, ears and all. In front
was a square lappel, which, in the day, hung loosely over
the breast, but at night buttoned just behind the ears,
leaving only the mouth, nose, and eyes free for respiration,
o that one, with such a dress, might lie down anywhere
and sleep, warm and comfortable. Mr. S- had given
eight dollars for it in Kamtchatka, and, on our return to
more genial climes, forgot the future, and gave it to me.
Fancy, then, my figure thus accoutred, issuing from under
the canvas tent, with a Lmtern in my hand. I had not ad-
vanced twenty yards, when first only two or three, and then
an imeonsseedntuomthbienrkof b
ujta
gahl jackals Surrounded
of t
them,
but seeing their me. I was at
firstmdisp
numbers increase so rapidly, I grew alarmed, and probably
gave way to fear sooner than I ought. A few shots from
the tent would probably have sent them away with speed,
but no one saw me. Every moment they drew closer and
closer in a complete round, and seemed to look at me with
determined hunger. For some moments I remained in a
most dreadful state of alarm. It just then occurn 4 to me
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