The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Ebb and Flow. A novel. 3 vols. Newby.
This story has certainly variety to recommend it,
if it cannot lay claim to anything remarkable in
the way of ability. Some of the incidents are of a
painful nature ; indeed, the author seems to delight
in the details that border on the horrible. • The
most awful scene described here is the railway train
passing over the carriage of Mr. and Mrs. Elmsley,
who were most imprudently crossing the line. The
only really pleasing character in the book is Mr.
Smith, who never pretends to be other than he is,
and whose spirit and energy are powerfully exem-
plified in the struggles he had to make in the
cause of his oppressed wife and sister-in-law. The
wrongs of Julia are enough, indeed, to arouse the
deepest indignation, and it is quite a satisfaction to
learn that her cruel betrayer meets the fate he so
truly deserves. The humiliation was the more com-
plete, as the period was then fixed for his marriage
with an heiress. The story will serve to amuse
those who like to find something out of the usual
even tenor of a novel, and to such it can be fairly
recommended.

A Cruise in Japanese Waters. By Captain
Sherard Osborne, C. 8., author of "Leaves from
an Arctic Journal," " Quedah," &c. Blackwood.
Many will before this have become familar with
this work in the pages of Blackwood's Magazine, in
which periodical its several chapters appeared. It
is, however, gratifying to meet with it again in a
collected form, and it will, there is no reason to
doubt, obtain a favourable reception. It possesses
the advantages of treating of a most important
topic, and it is also to be considered as a most in-
teresting book, from the pleasing manner in which
it is written, and from the varied information it

imparts concerning a place and people not often
chronicled in the pages of travellers who record
their wanderings. The various descriptions given
of the Japanese are very entertaining, and the
reader who commences the voyage with the amus-
ing narrator will not be likely to part from him
till he has said his last farewell to Japan. Captain
Osborne may be congratulated in having contri-
buted so valuable an addition to the experiences of
foreign lands as the present remarkable work, in
which we meet with a most graphic account of im-
portant events, and a delightful description of the
sights seen, and tic adventures encountered in his
momentous voyagt.

American Photographs. By Jane M. E. Turnbull
and Marion Turnbull. Two vols. Newby.
One of the most remarkable changes in the lite-
rary world of late years has been the great increase
of feminine authorship. The reign over the world
of fiction has long been disputed by female sove-
reigns, and they are now proceeding to compete
with the travellers' tales which modern enterprise
has made so common. Many ladies have recently
given us their impressions of various parts of
Europe, Asia, and Australia, and two adventurous
sisters have now added to the list a fresh and viva-
cious account of their visit to the great continent of
the West. Five years' wanderings in the various
States of America enabled them to gather much
information respecting the manners and habits of
our transatlantic cousins, and to witness some of
those marvels of Nature which so amply repay the
traveller's toil. The work does not enter upon the
vexed political questions of the day, but in a series
of photographs gives us a view of American life
and scenery as they appeared to the quick observa-
tion and lively spirits of the two adventurous
authoresses. They speak throughout in cordial
terms of the people with whom they mingled, and
thus repay their hospitable reception. A few ex-
tracts will give the best idea of the vivacious and
entertaining style of the work. Here is an account
of a shopping expedition which one of the party
undertook in company with an American lady,
very shortly after their arrival :
" The day was very cold, and the streets were as slip-
pery as glass, and just as I was going out of the door the
American lady said, take cai e how you go down the stoop'
(steps), for I see you have no creepers on. ' What are
creepers ?" Why, rubbers to be sure 1' If you attempt
to walk in such, weather as this without them you will fall,
so we will buy a pair as we return. Now, my dear, we will
drive down Broadway to the principal dry goods store in
the city. Never having heard of a dry goods store, I con-
cluded in my own mind that it meant a store house, packed
with groceries—a sort of wholesale place; but judge of my
surprise when we stopped at a most magnificent building of
pure white marble, with all the blinds down, and on entering
found, instead of groceri es, a second Howell and Co. on a more
extended scale ; for the enormous size and splendid exterior
of this shop is extraordinary. It is called Stewarts,' and
everything of the best description, for ladies' and gentle-
mens' wear, or for furnishing a house, can be here procured.
After we had walked all through this really wonderful
shop, the lady said she wished to make a few little pur-
chases. The first thing she asked for was to see some bed
spreads.' What did you ask for ?' I said. ' Bed spreads.'
Not liking to ask again what she meant, I quietly waited
till they were produced, and they turned out to be counter-
panes. A white ' sun shade' was the next article—that
was a parasol. My curiosity. was again excited by her
asking for ' paper cambric,' and twelve yards of ' cotton
batting.' I began to despair of ever being able to make my-
self intelligibly understood in the shopping line. These
latter articles were common glazed muslin, and wadding,
which is sold by the yard instead of sheets, a great conveni-
ence. Our next visit was to Ball and Black, the great
jewellers; to look at some brooches, bracelets, and rings.
when, to my astonisment, she asked for ' breast pins,'
wristlets,' and 'finger rings.' We now' went into
Thompson's to have luncheon. She asked me what
I liked best; but thinking that perhaps the eat-
ables might be called by names I knew nothing
about, I enquire of her what was best, to which
she replied, • let me order what I think will suit you.
Her orders were as follows :—' Waiter, will you bring stews
with crackers, soft shell crabs, squab owl, with Irish pota-
toes and fixings—and waiter, don't forget some cold
slaw,
and squash pie.' It was with the greatest curiosity that I
waited the appearance of viands with such outlandish
names, and it was not long before the waiter appeared with
our wonderful luncheon. The ' stew' was a sort of oyster
soup, which. is eaten with biscuits, and is exceedingly
good. The ' soft shell crabs' were fried, and about the size
Squab owl' meant game
of a person's hand
out of season. Irish potatoes were simply our own sort of
potatoes,
but they invariably put the paddy' before it.
I may also enlighten you as to what the fixings' are
—fixings means vegetables, relishes for the meat; and
biscuits, or bread for soup; in fact, any of the little et
cnteras that are required. ' Cold slaw' is the hearts of
raw cabbage cut fine. The squash pie and cabbage I de-
clined.
We now set off to finish our shopping, and went into
a fine boot shop to get my creepers, where I succeeded in
obtaining a very nice pair of what we should call over-
shoes, with rough soles. Here, I must again confess my
ignorance in understanding what the lady wanted, when she
said she wanted to try on a pair of ' gaiter boots,' and also
a pair of congress gaiter boots,' with paper soles.' Well !
I thought, I had heard of American ladies wearing very
thin soles to their shoes and boots, but never understood
that they were made of paper. These boots I immediately
inspected, and found them to be what we call thin single
sole boots, with elastic sides ; and the other pair were made
to lace, with rather a thicker sole, in every respect the same
as ours, except in their Americanised name. On our way
home, she said, " now, I have nothing more to buy except
some' spools' of silk and cotton, and to order a ' shingle."
On hearing this, I fairly gave up the idea of understanding
the American language without a vocabulary. We soon
purchased the spools, (reels) but the 'shingle' was the
thing that I was anxious about. We stopped at a shop,
and she said, will you come in, or remain in the carriage?'
'Oh 1' I said, I will go in for I was determined to
know what a shingle was. 'lmagine my astonishment
when she ordered a door plate, with her husband's name
on it I After this, I really did think it was time to go
home."
The travellers give an enthusiastic description of
their visit to Niagara, but on this, as on many
other occasions, the sublime was not far from the
ridiculous :
Almost all our evenings at the Clifton House were spent
in wandering about the grounds, and sitting or walking on
the spacious verandahs, listening to the continued and
everlasting roar of the cataract. The evening before our
departure for Toronto we entered the public parlour and
there in one corner sat a woman strangely atted,7i hntahlr a r
black hair streaming over her shoulders, and in he
dirty-looking little small-tooth comb, with which she was
combing her hair at a furious rate, a most unusual proceed-
ing in a drawing-room As she was evidently a character
from whom we thought we might extract some amusement,
one of us walked up to her and said—
" I suppose you are travelling ?"
" I guess I am."
" Have you come from a considerable distance ?"
" Well, I guess I have, for I've rid in the, hot thirty mile
to see Niagara Falls, although my people t hum told me
it wern't worth the trouble; but you see sometimes I heard
it a roaring and a roaring at nights, and I thought I should
like to see what sort of thing it could be, and I tell you it's
real nice and elegant, and worth the trouble, anyhow."
This was almost equal to the tailor who thought Niagara
would be " a fust rate place to sponge a coat in." IP
During their stay in Boston the travellers became
acquainted with all the beauty and inconveniences
of an Americen snow-storm :
The last winter we spent in Boston was an unusually
severe one ; and the snow in the streets in some places was
upwards of six feet in depth. The streets presented a most
curious appearance; the people who lived in the houses
had thrown the snow up into the middle of the road from
the flags, and when walking on the pavement you might
see carriages and houses above you on the road.
Oxen were used to tread down the snow, and after a few
days the streets became almost impassable, having become
one mass of corrugated snow. The Bostonians call these
corrugations "cradles," and every person who went out in
a closed vehicle came home sea-sick; it was exactly like
being at sea, and the sleigh appeared to, ascend and descend
waves with the greatest regularity.
The city authorities were obliged to have the streets
ploughed, and the work was so heavy, that oxen had to be
employed instead of horses. After the streets were ploughed
the huge lumps of frozen snow were carted away and
throwninto the harbour; the road was then made as smooth
as they could under the circumstances by the use of the
pickaxe and shovel ; hundreds of men being employed
night and day in this manner, at an immense expense, to
keep the streets in a passable condition.
One day some of our friends came to us, and advised us
to go and look at the common. When we arrived, the
common presented a most splendid appearance. The heavy
snow had melted on the branches, and then a sudden frost
had come, which froze the snow as it dripped from the
branches, leaving every tree laden with heavy icicles, some
more than a yard long, every trunk, branch, and twig being
clothed in a transparent robe of ice. The ground was
covered with the pure white snow, out of which rose
dozens of glittering frozen trees, with their crystal branches
glistening in the sun. The wind among the glassy
branchee emitted a peculiar creaking and whistling sound,

and every now and then some huge limb would suddenly
break like.glass from the weight of the lee, and fall to the
ground, scattering myriads of sparkling fragments in the
air.

An amusing description of Saratoga, the fashion-
able watering-place is given. Like other such loca-
lities, dress and etiquette are much studied. One
lady arrived with fifty trunks ; she had one
hundred dresses, and when each dress had
been worn once she left for some other place.
This being known to be the habit of some ladies
the probable length of their visit was frequently
reckoned upon from the number of dresses they
appeared in, and when one of these belles was seen
in a dress she had previously worn, her speedy de-
parture was anticipated. Of their numerous steam
boat voyages some amusing anecdotes are told. One
of the passengers on going into her cabin once saw
a strange man covered up in her berth. She called
for assistance, and on inquiry he proved to be a
political refugee who had escaped and had suc-
ceeded in entering the ship unobserved. Fortu-
nate,ly for him none of the officers of the ship were
near, and his secret was preserved by his dis-
coverers. On another occasion voyaging from New
York to Newport, a day boat was substituted for
the regular steamer in consequence of an accident.
The travellers had therefore to submit to various
inconveniences, but expecting to arrive speedily at
their destination retired to their beds, which were
ingeniously manufactured by stretching sacking
on upright poles. They were aroused by the
steamer coming to a standstill, and asked if they
had arrived, " Arrived ?" replied the man, they
asked, " Why it is only half-past one, don't you see
it is storming? We have run into New London
Harbour and here we shall remain till daylight,"
adding as consolation, " This boat is not fit for this
work, it has hard work to live in a sea like this.
I guess, we may be lost I" Fortunately the predic-
tions of this Job's comforter were 'not fulfilled.
There is not much said on the painful subject of
slavery. An interesting account is however given
of an attempted escape after a novel fashion.

" During our residence in the south, a negro man, who
is now free, and the head waiter of one of the principal
hotels gave us a very interesting little account of his at-
tempt to escape.
" This man and a friend of his had saved about 200 dols.
(£4O), and with this sum they were determined to find a
means of escape. They at last came to the conclusion that
they would consult a white man whom they knew upon the
best means of arranging their escape. He said if they would
give him 150 dollars, he would manage everything for
them. After a short time the man informed them that
everything was in readiness. The men met him at the ap-
pointed place, and there the negroes saw two large wooden
boxes, with some small holes arranged in such a manner as
not to be visible. The poor creatures were ordered to get in,
and the white man, before nailing the boxes up, told them
they were to go in these boxes by railway, and that when
they arrived beyond the Slave States, a friend of his would
be there to convey
,them to a place of safety. They were
now nailed up and put on a cart and conveyed to the rail-
way station. _ _ _ _ _ _ _

" The officials at the station thought the boxes had a
suspicious appearance, and the man who had nailed them
`up seeing this, did not wait to see them put iii the luggage
van. Instead of putting the suspicious boxes in the van,
they were placed on a truck and moved a considerable dis-
tance down the line ; some time after the truck was brought
back to the station, as the head officials wanted to look at
the boxes, in order to find out, if they could, what they
contained before they were sent off. One of the men, with
his knuckles, began tapping against the box, and to their
astonishment a stifled voice from the box exclaimed—
" have we arrived ?" As may be supposed, the boxes were
broken open in a moment, and there were the two poor men
so stiff from the cramped position they had been in for the
last four hOurs that they had to be lifted out; but, their
disappointment may be imagined when they saw wherethey
were, and not, as they had fondly hoped, in one of the free
States- However, poor fellows, if they had arrived in a
free state packed up in those boxes, it would have been with
the loss of life, for if they had been placed in the luggage
van they must have been suffocated, as it is almost air
tight. The white man was pursued, and made to deliver
up and return to the negroes the greater portion of the
money he had obtained from them.
" These negroes belonged to two different masters, and
one of them as a punishment was sent to New Orleans and
sold ; the other, after being reprimanded, was forgiven,
and he has by great care and saving, purchased his own
freedom. Masters who are kind to their slaves generally
make a reduction in the value when the slave is going to
purchase his or her freedom."
The enterprising authoresses have illustrated their
own work in a manner creditable to amateurs, and
we doubt not, many will derive entertainment and
information from their vivid and life-like photo-
graphs.

Lord Byron's Poetical Works. Part VII. Boswell's
Life of Johnson. Part VI. Murray.

These two commodious reprints are rapidly ap•
proachin 0. completion. Lord Byron's Poems have
reached the seventh part, and will be concluded in
two more instalments. The one before us contains
the Occasional Pieces and the commencement of
"Don Juan."—" Boswell's Life of Johnson" is now
at tha sixth part, and will be terminated in four
more numbers. We are glad to see such a work
as this biography brought out at a price that puts
it within the reach of most readers.

The English C'yclopfedia of Arts and Sciences.
Conducted by Charles Knight. Bradbury and
Evans.

The fourth section of this valuable work is fully
equal to its predecessors. The time and labour
which must have been required for its compilation
render the public largely indebted to its indefati-
gable conductor. Mr. Charles Knight has added
another to his many claims on the public by the
successful continuation of the most arduous of the
four divisions of his great undertaking. No library
should be without a work so authentic in its charac-
ter and so comprehensive in its information.

The Art Jl.
The principal plates in th ourna
is month's number m e
from Schaeffer's picture of " The Nun" in the Royal
collection ; from a picture of Drachenfels, by
Hammersley ; and an engraving of a statue of
Maidenhood, G. T. Hancock. The prose contents
are as usual full of artistic interest. Mr. and Mrs.
C. Hall continue their narrative of " Excursions in
South Wales," with spirit, and describe the envi-
rons of Tenby. Some of the vignettes are very
pretty. The fourth number of the late Mr. Rip-
pingille's " Personal Recollections of Great Artists"
treats of David Wilkie. " Rome and her Works of
Art" has reached the third part, which describes
the columns and sculptures of the Eternal City.
The engravings of these illustrated articles add
greatly to their attractions. The " Visits to Art
Manufactories" detail the impressions of an expe-
dition to the Royal Porcelain Works at Worcester.
Subjects of artistic interest and art critici•ms are
met with, and the number fully maintains the high
reputation of this journal.