The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-21 00:00:00

LITERAT URE

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 2 Vols.
On first taking up these volumes, and casually
turning over the pages, on one or which, gracefully
surrounded ,by birds and flowers, we read—" to the
prettiest bra wn e 3 es in the world and a heart this
little work is dedicated z" and in another, towards the
close of the second volume, in the "Future" chapter,
we find a record of that terrific deluge in England
(in the year 1880) which destroyed so many
thousands of persons, and depopulated so many
towns and villages in the midland counties—we
are disposed, and not without reason, to regard
"Past, Present, and Future" as a somewhat eccen-
tric, and maybe ridiculous, composition. Let the
reader, however, pause before pronouncing such a con-
demnation. If he have patience to pursue his
investigations a little further he will find in the chap-
ters entitled " Present " so much of interesting and
valuable matter, written with so much earnestness
and eloquence, as will induce him to look leniently
upon the extn iordinary nature of the concluding
pages, even up, rn the mention of that calamity which
marked " the c losing years of good Queen Victoria's
reign." For wiliat reason such an incident is intro-
duced we are totally unable to conjecture. We
therefore very willingly turn from that portion of the
work, which, in, our opinion, might have
been omitted -with advantage, to consider the
preceding porti oa, which we have perused with in-
terest and satisfriction. In the preface we are told
" the first part < if this book contains the story of a
life ; the second Fart mostly contains familiar letters
on various subje uts—chapters illustrating those sub-
jects intersperse-I with the letters; the third part will
speak for itself." To that third part we have al:eady
alluded ; the first part relates the history of Cecil
Latimer—her lore-story, her misfortunes, and her
unexpected inheritance. The second part is
of a very different character. The heiress is
here establish Id at Ashdown, the mistress
of most extensiv e domains, numbering miserable vil-
lages and innurn erable and wretched tenants. By a
process which so) ne of her neighbours ascribe to magic,
the mistress of A shdown gradually surrounds herself

with happiness it i the place of misery, and calls up
industry and prt sperity in the place of sloth and star-
vation. A series of letters, intermingled with glimpes
of the life at Asi tclown, record the transformation and
afford an opportunity for the introduction of many
truthful and bear Lt iful thoughts, and many observations
of sound and p ractical wisdom. As a specimen of
which, here is tie secret of Cecil's magical achieve-
ments:—

" On the subje,rt of Miss Latimer, Mr. Adair would
hold forth withc.ut coming to any conclusion, but
always ending thus:—' It is extraordinary, I cannot
make it out. Ile forgot to notice that Cecil went the
straight road she, had in view, to some determined end;
that in matters of business she never stooped to gather
up the twigs mil flowers on the wayside; that in her
eyes business was business, not amusement; that she
looked on the in iprovement of persons and things, as
the taxes, duties, and financial measures of the Go-
vernment of her rot operty and people; and she never en-
tered into discutis ions on those subjects but with a few
persons whose or inions she looked up to. Mr. Adair
overlooked Miss Latimer's steadiness in bringing things
slowly and graduak, to what she had in view. He would
change and demur, and turn round and pause and tem-
porise, while, like the Princess in the ' Arabian Tales,'
she walked straik:h t up the mountain, having once dis-
covered at the b,ttom of the hill the pathway, amid
briars and thorns, and thistles, without regard to those
who called to her to stop and loiter by the way."
The remarks on music and its influence are among
the beautiful sad truthful observations we have
alluded to as forming a conspicuous part of the his-
tory of "The Present." What we are, moreover,
especially pleased with in these portions of the nar-
rative is the forcible manner in which that too-often
forgotten truth is impressed upon the would-be
friends of the pc or, namely, that the poorest and
most miserable among us have not only sensations
but sentiments like their "betters." Cecil delights
in witnessing the interest with which her once
wretched and alit oat depraved villagers listen to the
beautiful music w hicb, both at church and in her own
dwelling, she provides for their benefit. " After
giving them food and clothing," is her maxim, "let
us encourage among them the love of music, and
flowers, and poetry, let us teach them they have
souls." On the same subject the heiress thus con-

verses with her friends :
" There is no pi rson living who cannot be dealt with
in some way or other, or have not• their sentimental
turn, if you can find it out. It is the point on which they
are tenderest, and music will make its way on the

roughest, hardest, most savage nature.
" You are perfectly right," said Miss Latimer, "every
one is sentimental 'about something. Ono looks down
at the violets, another up at the stars; one person about
their dog, another about their daughter. That is the
fading to lay hold of. I cannot write poetry, but I
would willingly tutu a poetical feeling into active utility."
With such, and even more truthful and eloquent re-
marks, the "Present " portion of this work is richly
stored. It is full of practical wisdom, enforced in a
most impressive and attractive mariner. As such we

cordially cowmen d it, notwithstanding its eccentrici-
ties, which eccentricities we hope to see avoided in
the next work by the same author.!

LONDON .41E.DICAL EIAIIIIIVER. No. V.

This is the fifth number of a new monthly medical
periodical. It contains much useful information on
the public libraries of the United Kingdom, more
particularly on t hose of the various medical corpora-
tions, which seem. to be grossly mismanaged. Among
the various papers, we would particularly recommend
the attention of oar medical readers to the one on
" Croup," by Edwards Crisp, M.D., of Parliament-
street. It is the model of what a medical treatise
ought to be, and is completely exhaustive of the
subject.

THE NAUTICAL MAGAZINE.
We trust the members of the Government
will attentively peruse the papers on the subject
of the massacres and cannibalism at the San-
dal Wood Islands,. the New Hebrides, New Cale-
donia, and the Loyalty Islands, and will adopt mea-
sures to protect our •cotnuierce in,lhose semi No
doubt the membe,:s of the Pirate Protection Society,
will oppose the adoption' of any such necessary mea-
sure of maritime police until some one of the
members of the immaculate body shall have actually
seen an Englishman (according to Mr. Cobden's
theory, it must be an Englishman to authorise our
interference) regularly slaughtered, roasted, and
eaten ; but, fortunately, the united efforts of the
knaves and the noodles can only muster a Parlia-
mentary force of seventeen, and therefore the Minister
can afford to treat them with contempt. We hope
shortly to have a good account of these cannibals
from the commander of one of our steam-frigates.
The magazine for this month contains, besides this
paper, a variety of articles on nautical subjects.

THE GF:ATTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.
Sylvanus Urban opens with an admirable article
entitled " Who wrote Shakspere's Henry VIII. ?" a
question which the writer answers by attributing a
considerable portion of it to Fletcher. " A Record
of Rambouillet " is a pleasant gossipping paper anent
the various possessors of that celebrated domain. The
author has caught the true French spirit of memoir
writing. Mr. Francis Harwell contributes an ad-
mirable " Memoir of Paul Louis Courier." In speak-
ing of his murder, Mr. Harwell says—
" Paul Louis Courier was shot on the 10th April,
1823, a few steps from his house in the country: he died
immediately. Suspicion attached to the Government, to
his wife, to some private enemy; but we have no light
to guide us in pronouncing on whom the guilt lies."
We were in France at the time, and the generally
expressed opinion was that the conspiracy to murder
Paul Louis Courier had been concocted at Montt-
rouge, and that the hand which pulled the trigger had
been blessed ; in short, he was murdered by the
Jesuits, who have never wanted a Ravaillac to perform
their behests. We never heard that suspicion at-
tached to his wife. The other papers in the Gentle-
man's Magazine are all of great merit.

PENNY MAPS. Part I.
This is a marvel of cheapness, even in this cheap
age. We have here four accurate quarto maps of
Denmark, Holland, and Belgium, Hungary East and
Hungary West, beautifully engraved by Mr. Lowry,
for one penny each, or with the boundaries coloured,
twopence. To Messrs Chapman and Hall is due the
credit of having been the first to place maps within
the purchasing power of the poorest working man.
Every one can now purchase for himself an Atlas.

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, TUESDAY.
The Queen and Prince took their usual early walk
this morning.
The younger members of the Royal Family walked
and rode in Osborne Park and grounds.
Sir Francis Baring arrived at Osborne yesterday
afternoon, and will accompany her Majesty and his
Royal Highness in the intended trip to Ostend.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has left his seat,
Mickleton Hall, Yorkshire, for Birnarn Dunkeld.