The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Boors FOR REVIEW, &c.—Books, New Prints, Music, &c.,
intended for review, may be left at Mr. C. Mitchell's, Red-
lion-court, Fleet-street, London, addressed " to the Editor
of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD," when they will be forwarded
and receive attention.

The Days of Battle.

London : H. G. Bohn.

An Englishcoman, resident at Brussels in 1815,
and who is known in the field of authorship as the
writer of "Rome in the Nineteenth Century," has,
in this cheap little work, furnished a. simple and
faithful account of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, as
she saw them herself, and as she wrote whilst the
impression of those eventful scenes was yet fresh
upon the mind. Many more brilliant writers have
employed their talent in describing the battle and
the field of Waterloo, and with them this English-
woman may not cope in picturesque delineation,
eloquence, or profundity ; but she has one great
advantage over them all, in that she writes from
experience, while they write from report; they de-
scribed the past, she describes the present. It
appears to us somewhat singular that the now vene-
rable author should call herself "An English-
woman," while the work bears internal evidence
that she is a native of Scotland, and moreover
attached warmly to the land of her birth.

Frederika Bren2er's Works. London :H. G. Bohn.
Sunny, charming pictures of Swedish life abound
in these two stories of "The Home" and " Strife
and Peace," which have been translated for Bohn's
Standard Library by Mary Howitt—the English
Frederika Bremer, and something more ; for the
authoress of "The Seven Temptations" has reached
greater heights than her fair sister of the Far North,
although she is quite at home in the comparatively
humble paths of domestic fiction. The young and
the old, the unmarried as well as those who have
embarked in matrimony, may all derive valuable
hints from the works of Miss Bremer—hints appli-
cable to the real business of life. 'Were they merely
amusing they would be dear at any price, and
should not certainly receive from us, as they do, our
cordial recommendation.

The Dublin University Magazine. Dublin : James
M`Glashan,
The present number opens appropriately enough
with a triumvirate of "May Melodies," by Denis
Florence M`Carthy, whose name is sure to be linked
in the future with the songs of his native land. An
epistolary account of a pilgrimage to the Donegal
Highlands is one of the best efforts of the kind we
ever read : rich, sparkling, attractive, yet tempered
with the hue of genuine piety. Stirling's admirable
book on the Cloister-Life of Charles V. forms the
groundwork of a very instructive and learned paper,
and is pronounced the best and pleasantest book the
writer has seen for many a day. Michael Kohlhas,
a German robber of the sixteenth century—one of
the most upright yet rebellious characters of his
time—is the subject of a biography, which
reads like a fiction. " Rhymes from the
Edda," done into English by a competent
hand ; some gossip anent the Devereux Earls of
Essex ; the continuation of the running novel, " Sir
Jasper Carew, Knt. ;" a resume of the last pub-
lished volume of Thomas Moore's diary, which
does not give Lord John Russell the castigation he
merits for his bad editorship ; a variety of miscel-
laneous poems by different authors of the day ;
and an article on "Tolerance and Intolerance "
complete the number. The last-mentioned con-
tribution is characterised by great breadth
of thought, and is fraught with many an
instructive lesson, gleaned from the humilia-
ting history of the human family on earth
as well as the actualities of life around us.

The Sabbath Considered : In its Origin, Nature,
and Obligations. Liverpool : Edward Howell.
The present position of the Sydenham Crystal
Palace is one of peculiar moment to the British
Christian. The proposal to open it on Sunday to
the flood of London ramblers is warmly supported
by a large section of the people and the press, and
to those who cherish the due observance of the
Lord's day, the wild outburst of the Sunday pro-
faners is a source of unaffected concern. They are
fearful of a legislative infringement of the sanctity
of that holy day, the setting apart of which was
the crowning act of the world's creation. The
threat of that leading London journalist, to whom
we owe the present position of the affair, that the
Lord's day in England shall no longer be protected
by statute, seems almost likely to be realised, and
thousands confidently anticipate that ere another
summer has dawned, the Sunday at Sydenham will
be a day dedicated to the delectation of gay metro-
politan throngs, bent upon pleasure and indulgence.
In these circumstances, the Rev. Verner M. White,
the accomplished pastor of Islington Presbyterian
Church, in this town, has thought it incum-
bent upon him to deliver two discourses on the
nature of the Lord's day; and the substance of
those two discourses is now presented, at the espe-
cial request of the congregation, in the shape of a
compact little treatise, the appearance of which at
the present moment is especially appropriate. We
have seldom perused a small book on a great sub-
ject which so thoroughly achieved the design of its
author as the present. The divine institution of
the Sabbath, indubitably proved from the pages of
Holy Writ ; the true nature of the Sabbath, and
the Scriptural method of its observance ; the in-
trinsic connexion existing between its proper ob-
servance and man's temporal and eternal weal ;
and a consideration of the objections urged by the
Crystal Palace party, indicate the themes of the
several chapters into which the work is divided.
The arguments are admirably digested, following
up each other with conciseness, rapidity, and force;
and, whether as a pithy reminder to the professing
Christian—telling him how to observe the Lord's
day, and arming him with arguments in its de-
fence—or whether as a voice of warning to the anti-
observing, we consider Mr. White's pamphlet of
great value.

SERIALS FOR MAY.— Hogy's Instructor (G.
Philip and Son, Liverpool) is enriched with a steel
engraving of Henry Hallam, the profound historian
and critic. The most prominent articles are those
by Thomas de Quincy and George Gilfillan—the
former quaint and amusing as of yore, the latter
eloquent in the praises of the gentle Blair. The
original poetry is contemptible.--The Christian
Family Advocate (Messrs. William Whyte and Co.,
Edinburgh) contains, among other interesting con-
tributions, a pleasing poem on the gentle Henry
Martyr), and the third chapter of those well-written
passages in the life of an English Clergyman.--.._
Cocks's Masical Miscellany (Robert Cocks,. London)
has a long "leader" devoted
toa consideration of
the moral tendencies of society in connexion with
operatic performances. Of course the opera is
warmly advocated, and a hint is
.thrown out that
we should no longer be obliged to listen exclusively
to foreign operas, but that we should have them in
our own language. We also find in these pages a
biographical sketch of Miss Elizabeth' 1,. Greenfield,
the " Black Swan," who recently arrived at Liver-
pool from the United States. She was born near
Natchez, Mississippi, in 1826, being the daughter
of an Indian woman and a slave named Taylor;
received liberty from her mistress, Mrs. Greenfield,
a very wealthy lady, who became a member of the
Society of Friends; was the pet and companion of
that lady for many years ; without masters she has
extended the register of her voice from 7 to 27
notes ; until recently she has studied without an
instructor, but she is now ambitious of becoming
acquainted with the methods of singing adopted by
the best Italian masters, and it is with this view
that she now visits Europe for the first time.--
The Scottish Educational and Literary Journal
(James Hogg, Edinburgh) gives a seasonable word
in defence of the Scotch teachers, who have been
assailed most unjustly by Sir James Kay Shuttle-
worth ; that gentleman asserting that one half the
children of Scotland are so taught, that their educa-
tion is almost fruitless. The contents, as usual,
mingle pleasant with sound reading. The Edu-
cational Expositor (Longmans and Co., London)

is a young publication of great promise: moreover,
it has already done much for the elevation of the
educational cause. While more especially designed
for the schoolmaster and schoolmistress, it will be
found interesting and valuable to the mothers of
families, and all interested in education.—The
Protestant Magazine (Wertheim and Macintosh),
is especially interestirg this month, from a paper on
the Papal Aggression in Holland, the people of
which country feel the pressure and interference of
Popery. The present position of the Dutch sup-
plies another instance of the way in which the peace
of a kingdom is to be broken, and party arrayed
against party, merely to gratify the arrogant pre-
tensions of the Church of Rome.—Home Thoughts
(Kent and Co., London), a nice little monthly
visitor for the fireside, pleasantly written and illus-
trated, is this month rendered attractive by a
sketch of the popular author of " Bleak House,"
somewhat meagre and imperfect. Diogenes
(Piper Brothers, London) still throws his light
upon many subjects—not surveying the world with
the surly eye of a cynic, although with sufficient
severity when it is called for. One feature we
especially admire, the existence of no party predi-
lection, and a desire to do justice to all. This
characteristic of the new Punch will please English-
men, who have an inherent love of fair play.—
The Hor►te Companion (69, Fleet•street, London)
comes arrayed in a new garb this month. We like
its " shining morning face" exceedingly. The
engravings, typography, and letter-press, all ex-
hibit improvement. It is a pleasing fact connected
with these cheap serials that, after carrying on their
readers a certain length, they are compelled to im-
prove, else the readers whom they have helped to
educate will desert the ranks of their subscribers,
and attach themselves to publications of a higher
class. This theory the history of the Home Com-
panion illustrates well.