The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Family Doctor : an Encyclopmdia of Domestic
Medicine and Household Surgery. Houlston
and Wright, Paternoster-row.
We have a high estimation of works which pre-
sent an epitome of a broad science and an amount
of important information, in condensed form, for
the general reader ; and the volume before us is
well adapted to meet the wants of many a house-
hold, and enlighten many minds on points of vital
interest which might never be approached through
a more abstruse and elaborate medium. This manual
is a valuable compendium of medical, surgical, and
sanitary experiences, avoiding all difficult and
technical phraseology, yet dealing freely and
intelligibly with facts and circumstances connected
with our physiological existence, and forming a
most available book of reference for family use.
Emergencies and accidents frequently preclude the
possibility of medical aid being immediately pro-
cured, and in such cases a volume of this character
constitutes an important possession, and should
hold a place in the book shelves of all classes. It
contains, moreover, a mass of knowledge, which im-
parts to it somewhat of the tone of a general cycle-
pfedia ; and the careful completeness of its compi-
lations and arrangement, combined with its authen-
tic and practical worth and inexpensive cost, re-
command it to the hands of all those who aspire to
be useful members of society, and able to render
assistance under the numerous " ills that flesh is
heir to."

Manners and Customs of the English Nation, from
the Invasion of Julius Ccesar to the Present
Time. By John Brookes. James Blackwood,
Paternoster Row.
There must have been considerable research and
industry on the part of the author of this volume;
for to enter into the habits, customs, and curious
particulars of the English people from the dis-
tant shadowy days of tattooing and wolf-skin robes
to the present moments of crinoline and Beaufort
paletots, is no light task to essay with success ; but
Mr. Brookes has done his work well, and presents
us with a most instructive and interesting account
of the changes which have marked our state in all
things. Social manners, political cabals, church
ceremonies the fluctuating fashion-books, the sys-
tems of " diatetics," the styles of locomotives, pub-
lic pastimes, sports, trades, offices, and the whole
pantomimic shiftings on the face of " merrie Eng-
land" are " shown up" in vivid colours, and exhibit
a connected narrative of events and appearances
which we do not think can be equalled in any of the
numerous volumes on the subject hitherto published.
Among other somewhat startling facts, we are told
that Richard 11. kept two thousand cooks, and that
when he celebrated Christmas at Westminster
Hall the daily consumption was twenty-eight oxen,
three hundred sheep, and fowls without number,
and on his coming to the throne the City fountains
were made to flow with wine instead of water.
Our Lord Mayor's Feasts may hide their dimished
tables after this display of profusion. We are also
told that James I. was a great trader in titles of
nobility. His price for a barony was £lO,OOO, for
the title of viscount £20,000, and for that of an
earl £30,000. He also invented the new title of
baronet, and by it raised £225,000; at
the rate of £1,095 each baronetcy.
Thus the King got money, and; many
of the English aristocracy got their honours. This
was the man who first styled himself " His Most
Sacred Majesty." It strikes us, after reading of
many wonderful circumstances connected with by-
gone Royalty, that we may congratulate ourselves
on living in the reign of Queen Vicbria. Mr.
Brookes's entertaining work will amply repay the
reader's perusal, and form a valuable addition to
books of reference when we are discussing our
forefathers.

Now or Never. A Novel. By M. Betham
Edwards, author of " The White House by the
Sea." Edinburgh : Edmonston and Douglas.
This is a very interesting story that cannot fail
to please the reader. There is a great deal of life
and character displayed in the course of the com-
plicated narrative. The unstable Polish Count
Korvinski is well sketched. He was not badly
disposed, although want of favourable circum-
stances, and the peculiar position he occupied, made
him appear at first sight very unprincipled and hard-
hearted. Tom Winter is a fine specimen of his class,
one whose honest heart and unpretending manners
form an agreeable contrast 'to the insinuating ad-
dress and fascinating ease of the polished Count.
Bertha Greene is a naturally, described girl, one
who would have been very happy in her own sphere
of life, and indeed have been conspicuous there for
her modest grace, and unassuming deportment, as
it was transplanted to a society for which she was
not at all fitted, she was completely thrown away.
It was merely, a passing fancy of the volatile lovers,
when he married the farm-house beauty, and an in-
fatuation on her part which induced her to listen
to vanity and accept the brilliant offer, than
to be guided by reason and choose her faith-
ful cousin, Tom Winter. It is a very satis-
factory point in the tale that after the
melancholy death of the Count the cousins
were not united. There is always too much of that
sort of re-adjustment in adverse cases to be met
with in stories, which improbability would never
have coincided with a work whose object is to set
forth that one should be decided in action in this
uncertain life, where, for the most part, it is to
choose between " Now or Never." Once let the
opportunity pass by and there is no second chance
afforded. The best character in the story is Essex
Ray, a young physician. He is admirably pour-
trayed, and his firm course of conduct, actuated by
the highest motives, and sustained by the most
unflinching energy is a marked contrast to the
irritating existence of the Count, who might
be so much better had he only improved his op-
portunities. Agatha Sherlock is a first-rate delinea-
tion of a heartless coquette, whose sole aim in life
was to make a grand marriage, and whose only
amusement was to attract the attention of distin-
guished men by her airs and graces. The solemn
lesson she received was no warning to her, but it
was nevertheless satisfactory to see the crafty
caught in their own toils, and the machina-
tions of the wicked rput to confusion. An-
nette Hawthorne is a charming maiden, re-
freshing to conteniplate after the insipidity
of Bertha, and the audacity of Agatha. The only
flaw in Essex Ray was that he was attracted by
such"a girl as Agatha, but it is often the case in life,
that the most sensible men form the most unsuit-
able attachments. He was saved in a marvellous
manner from such a direful fate, and it is welcome
tidings, at the conclusion, to hear that he at last
appreciates the superiority of Annette. She had
been travelling about for many years after her
uncle's death, and Essex had lost all trace of her.
There is enough in this book, with its varied
sketches and its clever descriptions, to render it an
attractive study to the many who would pass som e
hours agreeably at this holiday season.

Reathen and Rely Lands. By Capt. J. P. Briggs.

Smith, Elder, and Co.

This is a very agreeable volume of travels, which
gives the reader a panorama of various countries.
The writer spares us the details of his voyage or
settlement abroad, but commences his sketches in
Taboz, in which province he occupied the official
position of Deputy Commissioner. After describ-
ing this locality and the Tenasserim and Martaban
provinces, with some interesting chapters on the
national habits and character, he gives us an
account of a chase after Dacoits, in which pursuit
he was very successful. In the second and larger
portion of the work Captain Briggs relates his im-
pressions of the countries he visited during some
years of leisure which he employed in travelling.
He traversed Egypt, and was greatly impressed
by the magnificence of the ruins of Thebes and
Karnak, and the still existing pyramids and
Sphinx. He penetrated into some curious recesses
more pleasant to read of than to explore ; an-
cient mummy pits where sleep the con-
temporaries of the Pharoahs and Ptolemies ;
dark winding passages and secret chambers
where a breath of air from the outer world
rarely penetrates. Having finished his sur-
vey of the wonders of Egypt, he fulfilled a long-
cherished wish by starting for the Holy Land. In
a sympathetic and reverent spirit, without super-
stition or flippancy, he trod the Holy Places, and
gives us some account of the present state of Jeru-
salem, and of the Jews in their own land. He
mingles a little historical and geological informa-
tion with his pictures of people and places; his style
is fresh and simple, without any degree of affectation
or pretension, and there is little need for the apology
which he makes for his inexperience in the literary
craft. Much pleasant information may be gathered
from his pages, which, without possessing
any remarkable degree of ability or originality,
are freshly and sensibly written, and are calculated
to interest and gratify readers of very various
tastes.

TILE INDIAN MAIL.—The departure of the India
and China mails via Marseilles is postponod until to-mor-
row (Tuesday) evening.
DUEL IN PARIS.—A second hostile meeting took
place yesterday, at noon, between the Marquis de Califfet
and Count de Lauriston, As on the former occasion, the
combatants fought with swords. Both being perfect mas-
ters of their weapon, nearly half an hour passed over before
either party could succeed in inflicting a wound on his ad.
versary. At last, the Count's sword entered the Marquis's
hip, inflicting a wound near the bone, but not of any
gravity. The seconds then interfered, declaring that hon.
our was fully satisfied. The two opponents shook hands,
and the affair terminated.