The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE LADY'S COUNTRY COMPANION. By
Mrs. Loudon. Longman and Co.
This is a most useful and interesting little work—
full (;f* practical information ; written in a right and
pleasing style, that instructs without fatiguing. It
is intended for the use of ladies who, having been
educated in town, find themselves unequal to the_
management of a country house; to all such it must
prove an invaluable acquisition. Every lesson that
experience can afford—every improvement that fancy
can suggest—is here set forth for the benefit of the
young and ignorant. It is written in the firm of
letters, supposed to be addressed to a young lady
just settled at an old country house. This renders
the style familiar and interesting—it is no longer the
dry reading of a book, but the kind suggestions of a
thoughtful friend. Though intended as a companion
for the country, it contains much general informa-
tion that will be useful for all persons and all situa-

tions. Beginning with the interior of the house,
the first letters are devoted to the arrangement of
furniture, the preservation of stores, &c. The fol-
lowing remarks on the care of fires will he found
useful both in town and country :
" In warming a room a good deal depends upon the
mode of managing the tire. Servants are very apt to
throw on a quantity of coals at once, in such a manner
as to smother up the flame ; and, when this is the case,
the heated air produced by the imperfect combustion of
the coals passes up the chimney with the smoke, and
very little warmth enters the room. If, on the con-
trary, the coals are carefully arranged on the fire so as
to allow a free current of air to pass through them, per-
fect combustion takes place, and the coals become a
glowing mass, from which rays of light and heat spread
in every direction ; while the cheerful appearance of a
bright glowing fire must be felt by every one. Where
an opportunity occurs of altering a fireplace, its cepal.
bility for diffusing radiant heat will be greatly increased
by making the back and sides of fire-brick or fire-stone;
as these" substances retain heat much longer than any
kind of metal, and are consequently more likely to pre-
vent the fire from being chilled by the addition of fresh
coal."

We are next initiated into all the mysteries of the
" Commissariat Department:" besides instructions in
the important arts of brewing, baking, making butter
and cheese, &c., we have plain directions for domestic
cookery, with numerous useful recipes. The care of
a garden and the management of flowers forms, of
course, an important part in a " guide for the coun-
try." There are many letters devoted to this inte-
resting subject, and the following remarks will be
useful to those who prefer the busy town to the quiet
retreats of rural life :

" The pleasures of the town and the country are, in-
deed, so different, that it requires some time to become
accustomed to the change; but, when you are sufficiently
well acquainted with country pursuits to take an in-
terest in them, I am sure you will never feel any want of
the pleasures of the town. The great secret of being
happy is, to be able to occupy ourselves with the objects
around us, so as to feel an interest in watching their
changes; and, when you can once do this in your present
situation, you will no longer complain of dulness or want
of excitement. All that is wanted to give an interest in
any subject is, a sufficient degree of knowledge respect-
ing it to be aware of its changes, and our own natural
love of variety will do the rest.
"It is a great advantage in a country life, that its
principal objects of interest must be found at home; and
hence, as home is woman's peculiar dominion, the
noblest and the best feelings of the female heart are
more likely to be called into action in the country than
in the town. In youth, especially, the ameliorating
effects of country pursuits will soon be perceptible, both
morally and physically."
The principal charm of this work consists in the
real instruction it affords. It is not a work of theory,
but a series of practical lessons, and the style is at
once so pleasing and so full of interest, as to render
it not only a useful, but a most entertaining com-
panion for a country house. We doubt not it will
tend to remove many of the prejudices entertained by
the young and thoughtless with regard to the " dull
monotony" of retirement. It shows that every situa-
tion has its pleasures and its duties; that happiness
does not consist in external objects, and a quiet coun-
try life may afford an opportunity of exercising every
Christian virtue, and obtaining the purest satisfaction
and delight—
" For mere true joy Marcellus exiled feels
Than Caesar with a senate at his heels."

The following advice with regard to the employment
of the poor is worthy of attention :
" The proprietor of a large estate ought to be regarded
by the labouring cottagers in the light of a protector, to
whom they can look up for advice and assistance in
their troubles ; and as a friend upon whose kindness
they may confidently rely, and who they know will be
interested in their welfare. When this is the case, the
tenantry of a country gentleman will form his best body-
.
guard ; and, instead of ever attempting to injure his
property, they will do all in their power to protect it.
" It is the blessed privilege of wealth and rank that
they give us the power of making our fellow-creatures
happy, with very trifling inconvenience to ourselves.
A word or a kind look from the rich to the poor speaks
volumes, and carries with it encouragement and lea-
sure, which no efforts of persons in their own rank in
life can give. It is, however, difficult for the rich to
know how to be of real service to the poor, as giving
alms seldom does good except in eases of sudden and un-
foreseen distress. The best charity is first to teach the
poor how to maintain themselve2' and next to give them
employment ; and, when they have this, they have a
better chance of happiness than any riches could bestow,
combined with idleness. Perhaps, indeed, there is no
state of existence more happy than that of a person who
is usefully and profitably employed, and whose employ-
ment is of such a nature as to exercise moderately the
faculties both of the body and the mind.
" Many ladies in the country employ a portion of
their time in making clothes for the poor ; but with the
exception of permitting young people to make baby-
linen, I question whether itis advisable that much should
be done in this way. The feelings of the poor are often
hurt by having it dictated to them what they are to
wear, and they are apt to look upon the clothes thus
given to them, and which are probably quite different
from what they would have purchased for themselves,
almost as a badge of slavery which they are compelled
to wear to please their patrons, but of which they hate
the very sight."
We need hardly recommend this work to the
" ladies of England," it has only to be known to be
appreciated and admired. . The following is an ex-
ample of the pleasing way' in which Mrs. Loudon
combines instruction with amusement :

" You are perhaps not aware that a carriage is hung
exactly on the same principle as a hammock is suspended
in a ship at sea, viz., to substitute a gentle and regular
swinging motion for an irregular jerking one. The
principle of suspending carriages is as old as the time
of the Saxons; but it has been reserved for modern days
to break the force of inevitable jolts, by such a variety
of pieces of elastic steel or springs, as to render travel-
ling in a carriage as easy as gliding in a boat down a
smooth river. Carriages, such as those we have now in
use, are, as no doubt you know, quite a recent inven-
tion. You remember the celebrated letter of Henry IV.,
in which he says, I cannot come to you to-day, be-
cause my wife is using my coach ;' and even in the
time of Charles 11. there were ,but fifty coaches in Lou-
don and Westminster. Now it would be rather difficult
to count them, and it would even be a more tedious task
than I should like to undertake to enumerate their kinds.

...-.. --.... _ _
I .shall,- therefore, content myself with mentioning the
points that are of most importance in selecting a car-
riage."

MR. D'ISRAELI'S SYBIL.

The following are some further extracts from
Mr. D'lsraeli's interesting new work :

THE LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE.

" Sybil, whose mind had been nurtured with great
thoughts, and with whom success or failure alike par-
took of the heroic, who had hoped for triumph, but who
was prepared for sacrifice, found to her surprise that
great thoughts have very little to do with the business
of the world ; that human affairs, even in an age of
revolution, are the subject of compromise ; and that the
essence of compromise is littleness. She thought that
the People, calm and collected, conscious at last of their
strength and confident in their holy cause, had but to
express their pure and noble convictions by the dele-
gates of their choice, and that an antique and decrepid
authority must bow before the irresistible influence of
their moral power. These delegates of their choice
turned out to be a plebeian senate of wild ambitions and
sinister and selfish ends, while the decrepid authority
that she had been taught existed only by the sufferance
of the millions was compact and organized, with every
element of physical power at its command, and supported
by the interests, the sympathies, the honest convictions,
and the strong prejudices of classes influential not
merely from their wealth but even by their numbers.
" Nor could she resist the belief that the feeling of
the rich towards the poor was not that sentiment of un-
mingled bate and scorn which she associated with Nor-
man conquerors and feudal laws. She would ascribe
rather the want of sympathy that unquestionably exists
between wealth and work in England, to mutual igno-
rance between the classes which possess these two great
,
elements of national prosperity ; and though the source
of that ignorance was to be sought in antecedent
circumstances of violence and oppression, the conse-
quences perhaps had outlived the causes, as customs
survive opinions.
" Sybil looked towards Westminster, to those proud
and passionate halls where assembles the Parliament of
England ;..that rapacious, violent, and haughty body,
that had brought kings and prelates to the block ; spoiled
churches and then seized the sacred manors for their
personal prey ; invested their own possessions with in-
finite privileges, and then mortgagedifor their state and
empire the labour of countless generations. Could the
voice of solace sound from such a,quarter ?"