The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The English of Shakespeare; illustrated in, a Philo.
logical Commentary on his Julius Caesar. By
George L. Craik, Professor of History and of
English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast.
London : Chapman and Hall.
A noteworthy little volume, being to all appear-
ance an honest attempt to throw light on the
subject, so to speak, with which it deals, rather
than an offering to the vanity of the author. This
may be questionable praise ; but it is more than we
would venture to accord one-half of the legion of
commentators and self•described expositors and
improvers of the text of the great English Drama.
tist, for never were works so besieged by literary
gadflies as his. The thought of which tempts us
to picture on our mental retina the look of im-
mortal scorn with which he would regard them
and their labour; were he once more in the land
of the living. " Buz ! buz ! then came each critic
on his ass." What Professor Craik has attempted
is in order, if not in the precedence of importance,
first "to lay a foundation for the full and systematic
treatment of an important department of the Eng-
lish of Shakespeare by an exposition of some prin-
ciples of prosody and peculiarities of Shakespeare's
versification which have not hitherto met with suf-
ficient attention. Some will look on this—the Pro-
legomena—as the most valuable part of the book.
Secondly, to give a correct exhibition of the text
of " Julius Caesar," and such explanations of how
what Shakespeare has written is to be read and con-
strued as to make it intelligible to the most ordi-
nary understanding. In his dealing with the text
the author has made but few verbal "emendations"
of his own, and of these we have noticed one or
two we conceive questionable, the bulk being de-
rived from more or less valuable sources, promi-
nent among which is the text as given by Mr.
Collier. The chief fault of the work is a redun-
dancy of explanations. What necessity, for instance,
is there for explanation here—

"I have a man's mind, but a woman's might !"

Is there any mortal living who would not under-
stand this line at the first glance ? Hero and there
we notice an error in the text suggested. where
many will discover none, but little licence needing
to be conceded to make the meaning intelligible.
Is a whole, however, we are pleased with the
book, and feel disposed to give it a more attentive
consideration than as yet we have been enabled to
do. Th• text given is as perfect, we fancy, as any ;
and the numbering of the speeches is an innovation
for which we must express our thanks—the labour of
reference being greatly facilitated thereby. We
hope to see a further effort by Professor Craik, in
illustration of the English of Shakespeare, and that
directed to a play presenting more difficulties than
" Julius Caesar. He possesses both erudition,
taste, and appreLension, and, what is seldomer met
with, no overweening confidence in himself. Such
a Shakespearean commentator cannot but com-
mand the respect and be entitled to the good
wishes of the admirers of the immortal bard.

Memoir on the Euphrates Valley Route to India.
By. W. P. Andrew, F.R.G.S. Wm. H. Allen
and Co., Leadenhall-street.
The immense, not to say vital importance, to
this country, to Turkey, and to the peace and pro-
gress of the world, of an established steam and
telegraphic communication, via the Euphrates,
between England and India, has induced Mr. An-
drew to come forward with the present work,
which not only embraces what has already ap-
peared on the subject from his pen, but also a
variety of new as well as more detailed informa-
tion. To say that he makes out a good case for the
scheme with which his name is identified were but
to repeat ourselves. A more appropriate form of
expression would be to say no one can read the
volume before us without being more or less im-
pressed with a conviction of its desirability. Grand
as the scheme is in its aim, the reader has his mind
speedily set at rest as to the feasibility of its exe-
cution—the great difficulty being the construction
of but some eighty miles of railroad Crossing the
Channel and availing himself of lines now existing,
or in the course of construction on the continent,
the passenger to India will find himself carried to
a Mediterranean port, from whence a steamboat
will convey him to Seleucia. Between this ancient
port and Jeber Castle on the Euphrates interposes
the tract of country along which the contemplated
railway is to pass. From Ja'ber Castle to Basso-
rah, at the head of the Persian Gulf, and from
thence to Kurrachee, the terminus of the Scincle
Railway, nothing more than a service of light
steam-boats will be required to make the re-
quired communication with India complete, leaving
for the future, if advisable, the execution of a more
perfect scheme. And all this space would be tra-
versed in 14 days. The main obstacle in the way
of the scheme, wo repeat, being the construction of
80 miles of railroad, 40 of which must pass along a
dead level, and the remainder through a by no
means difficult country ! To which consideration
and what would ensue from such communication,
in a commercial point of view, must be added the
agency of the electric telegraph, which would bring
India nearer to the Home Government than were
many parts of Great Britain a few years back. But
we prefer the reader laying hands on Mr. Andrew's
book, with its maps, &c., and mastering the splen-
did prospect spread before us, to be realised at so
little cost, himself without our aid. The impres-
sion then will be the morevivid, andthe confidence
felt in the merits of the scheme in every relation
doubtless more implicit and unassailable. Otherwise
it would have been both easy and pleasant to have
dilated on the probable results of its accomplish-
ment, which we will only say are grand and imposing
enough to warrant tenfold the expenditure re-
quired. We must mention, however, the check it
would be the means of giving to the scarcely half-
concealed designs of Russia on our Indian posses-
sions, and also on Turkey in Asia.

The Business Man's Note-book. 1857. Edited by
James Hogg, jun., F.R.G,S. Edinburgh :
James Hogg.
An invaluable compendium of useful information,
which should be in the possession of all business
men, and may be referred to with advantage by
every intelligent member of the community who
feels interested (and who does not ?) in the welfare
of his country and her dependencies. The
.leading
departments of the work will be found dealt with in
12 sections-1. Statistics of Trade and Commerce ;
2. Agriculture ; 3. The Fisheries ; 4. Mining In-
dustry ; 5. Transport and Means of Communica-
tion ; 6. Jolt-Stock Companies ; 7. Banking at
Home and Abroad ; 8. The Revenue Taxes,
Stocks, Shares, and Specie ; 9. The Commerce and
Finance of Foreign Nations ; 10. Social, Vital,
Political, and semi-Commercial Statistics ; 11.
Comparative Table of British and Foreign Weights
and Measures, Tables for aiding Calculation ; 12.
Tariffs, British and Foreign—Trade Usance, &c.
Besides which there is a variety of miscellaneous
information, all that is given under the respective
headings being the latest obtainable from the best
sources, blue-books and official documents more
particularly, which are put under ample and
readily available contribution. In order more fully
to carry out its design, the work this year issued
is of larger dimensions than any of its predecessors,
though the Diary has been omitted. It is still,
however, a portable volume, and what it has gained
in bulk may be set down as so much gained in
value. A cloth case accompanies it, containing a
number of broad sheets, on which aro presented sta-
tistics of the British colonies, being a digest of a.very
elaborate and valuable blue book ; 2, a map of the
electric telegraph system of Europe, revised to
September, 1856,
.and for being enabled to present
which the editor is indebted to the Electric Tele-
graph Company ; 3, a tabular and historical sum-
mary of the effect of treaties on the partition of
Europe, together with a tabular view of the Indian
territories ; 4, a table of the war force and war
expenditure of different nations, the balance sheet
of the nations according to their states and popula-
tion, and statistics of the losses in killed and
wounded sustained by the allies during the late
war with Russia, the abstracts concerning the Bri-
tish army and navy as communicated by the autho-
rities of the War Department, and the Admiralty.
Altogether, it would be difficult to conceive a
' greater quantity and variety of useful information
of a commercial and political nature, presented in
' a handier and more reliable manner, than in the
volume and case before us.

Munnxrt IN FEANCE.—A barbarous murder was com-
mitted in the night of Sunday, at Rebeis (Seine-et-Marne).
A soldier of a cavalry regiment, named Gustave, belong-
ing to the village, had long been passionately in love
with a young woman of the neighbouring village
of Gourcelles, but she had repeatedly and peremp-
torily refused his addresses. Last week he learned
that she was likely to be married to another
man, and the idea of such an event maddened him.
On pretext of visiting his parents he on Sunday
obtained leave of absence, and went to the village.
He there made inquiries about what the young woman
was likely to do in the course of the day, and he learned
that she was coming to a wedding ball in the vilwoman
lage.
The next morning the dead body of the young
was found lying in a solitary part of the roadß between
bais and Gourcelles ; she had been beaten to death by
blows about the head from a heavy stick. As the man
alone bore animosity to the girl, it was not douhtbted thbe
at
he was the murderer ; and when he was soug
he must
for
was found to have disappeared. It appears that
have laid wait for the girl with the deliberate intention
of murdering her, and be was able to effect his purpose
without difficulty, as she happened to be returning hem
alone. The police and gendarmerie are making activ
earches after the man.