The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-23 00:00:00

Tis to rest from earth-born care ;

Gazing on those far worlds shining,

Dreaming that our home is there

the shadowy gates of Even

Shut out earth, they open heaven,
Where the soul would fain abide
In the Holy Eventide.

.—Dublin University Magazine

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

Zle Same Companion. London: Office, Fleet-st

An extensive collection of miscellaneous reading
itt a very low price. It contains many articles
amusing and useful, and it is embellished with
-wood engravings illustrative of descriptions of
'places of interest. Upon the whole it is superior
-to :many publications of similar pretensions, and
110 doubt enjoys an extensive patronage.

Diogenes. London: Bennett

A rival to Punch, to which it is in many respects
equal, and in some superior. It has, however, the
fault of harping too much on one string: the Cab-
. Strike and Chobham Camp. though fertile themes,
Jahoula not be snowed to create a monopoly of wit.

The British Journal. London

Mortimer

The conductors of this new aspirant for literary
fame, for it has only reached the second number,
seem determined to spare no exertion to deserve
-the patronage which they seek. The August
dumber commences with a continuation of the story
of " Pevensey Court." A poem, entitled " The
j/faiden of Radstock Vale" is in the attractive style
pf the Ingoldsby Legends. A new story is com-
menced, called " The Rival Cousins," by the Hon.
ljharles Stuart Saville. There are also contribu-
lions by Horace Mayhew, Angus Reach, and others,
-the longer articles being interspersed with anec-
idotes and minor pieces, so that the whole makes
4in agreeable melange of light literature, presented
in a very portable form,: and
=likely to receive a
general welcome.

-Chambers' _Edinburgh Journal. London : Orr.
There is always something entertaining and in-
.structive in this ably conducted periodical. The
Vart. for August is in no way inferior to the pre-
seedmg ones, and one of the most interesting fea-
limes is the monthly letter on " Things talked of
in London." In the one before us the writer
says:—" The Agricultural Society held their great
Annual gathering at Gloucester, with the usual
?Milt of bringing togetherfat oxen." He has here
:3nade two mistakes in two words. The animals
,shown are not for fatness, and no oxen whatever
-►re exhibited, the competition being confined to
breeding animals.

Morning Dew Drops. London : Cash.
If good paper and print, well executed wood-en-
*ravings, and neat binding, were sufficient to re-
commend a book to public favour, the one before
s would not be destitute of claims. But the
reading public, viewing the above as very com-
.3:l:lendable accessories, require to know something
e -the subject matter on which the author treats,
and in this the book with the taking title of
Morning Dew Drops is miserably deficient. It is
-0 re-print of trashy namby-pamby rubbish, pre-
iiiously published as the " Juvenile Abstainer," and
designed to create an excitement in mere children
for total abstinence from intoxicating liquors. No
cme can too strongly condemn the debasing vice of
intoxication, .
but it rushing into the other ex-
treme to excite m children a precocious enthusiasm,
which is only another species of intemperance. The
book is also put forward under false pretences,
which ought to be exposed. Upon the back and
the title-page, it is declared to be by Mrs. Balfour
Said 'Mrs. H. B. Stowe : whereas all that the latter
ihaS to do with it is having written a very short
letter on the subject, but mating no reference to
the book, containing an absurd computation about
'the cost of intoxicating liquors, and this is placed
es an introduction, and spread out in large type,
in order to conceal its brevity.

Tour on the Continent, by Rail and Road, in
the Summer of 1852. By John Barrow, Esq.
London : Longmans.
In this tour, which extended through Northern
Germany, Austria, Tyrol, Austrian Lombardy, &c.,
fir. Barrow appears to have devoted his attention
and observation to the mere outside show of per-
sons and places, and even that our tourist seems
too indolent to describe with either spirit or effect.
o prove that in this remark we do the traveller
310 injustice, let us quote, as a mere sample of his
Style of observation, the remarkables which struck
ills fancy and helped to fill his note-book in his
VaSSage from Schoenbrun by the Danube to Melek :

ONE OF MR. BARROW'S REMARRABLES,

There was but one person in the after-part (of the
steamer) in any way remarkable in his appearance. This
avas a gentleman with a fiery red pair of moustaches,
which, I do not exaggerate in stating, hung from six to
eight inches down, on either side, from the upper lip, and
-were very bushy into the bargain. He was farther re-
markable for having an infinity of rings on every finger.

With all deference to Mr'. Barrow, we venture to
aver there was another person in the after part
in no small degree remarkable, and that person
MTas Mr. Barrow himself, while in the agonies of
lerfecting so admirable a portrait. Moustaches,
six or eight inches long, and bushy too, as well as
'Eery red ; and then think of the rings, and say, if
any but a remarkable artist could have produced
so sparkling a picture ! There can be no harm in
such gentlemen as Mr. Barrow—who, we presume,
"lives at home at ease"—going abroad to see what
-they may see," but some friendly attendant
2ahould prevent their access to pen, ink, and paper ;
as it appears that even the veriest twaddler may
meet with an indulgent and adventurous publisher

d:xtraordinar n • their Boyhood and Early
Life. iv
William Russell. London : Ingram,
Cooke, and co
Familiar. know.leodfgie with the. early dawnings. of
genius is a species
of which stimulates information, the bare mention
theorrdent of the moral and
intellectual world in no or stintedation hdoe gr ee ;
'the attempt to secure thatnairnYfo
too frequently results in thankless study ailvdevgsr:
appointment. To say the boyhood of all men is
nearly alike, would indeed be to hazard an asser-
tion not borne out by facts ; still the sphere of
metion in which the operations of boyish spirit can
.!.)e clearly displayed, is limited in the extreme, and
.321 most instances bounded by a similarity of cir-
cumstances and events ; or by circumstances over
which boys themselves have so little control, as to
prevent any very marked distinction in the occur-
rences of their early years. That there are wide
differences to be observed in the application of this
rule is perfectly true ; and the volume now before
pis furnishes conclusive instances in confirmation
of the fact. The memoirs in this volume are neces-
sarily brief, and an early one is devoted to the youth-
ful career of Martin Luther, who, as is well known,
Was the son of very poor parents, and, as almost a
necessary consequence, their gifted son was in his
boyhood's days beset by many a hardship ; and that
period of his early studies was a period of vicis-
situde and privation, the following extract will show:

LITTHEE AS A MENDICANT MUSICIAN.

All that Luther's parents could spare from their scanty
finings, helped by the contributions of Dame Ursula, ill
1111eed to defray the cost of his maintenance at school—
'll,ght in English estimation as that would appear. Like
taker similarly situated German students of his time, he
'aa accustomed to perambulate the streets of Magdeburgh,
ihill!gisin.n! hymns an. d songs, interrupted whenever a sympa-
,3,.,, ~, ear was likely to be reached by cries of "Panem
--`"P;ter Deum" (bread for God's sake). Luther's love of
efe, like all other emotions that welled up from that
46 is reel like
heart, was a passion. "Music,". he says,
theolog art of the prophet—the only one which, like
flight', ' '3l calm the troubled soul, and put the devil to
and his t,1:7 had, moreoTer, a fine ear and a pleasing voice,
degree cpireice for the divine art was no doubt in some
Eis chance eaed by the means it afforded of improving
-.learned to loaf obtaining Panem propter Deum. He
considerable Y the flute, and touched the lute also with
displays in singing " Bread Music" he used to call his
-unsuccessful Zer,l,,g and instrumentation—very frequently
. with iii
le sallied forth ': Vpon one occasion, whilst at Eisnach,
tours without foe,d, lute, a.,fter. having passed many
th the
influence of the bri h`" inspiriting hope that the
cloudless heavens, rigi• t, day, shed down from the deep blue
and kindness. He wig,L2.t dis Pose his hearers to sympathy
groievously mistaken. Hour after
tour the future Aposice
-voice and fingers,—,0_
sf the Reformation
.exerted both
w arin
vies of a Laudati, or a, 13, , g upon the
.winged harmo-
g "lima • and therein unsuccessful,
the gently down tom `lima
'
the Jove-breati?ings of a sweet sadness of a psalm, or
Soul touched by a more earthly
dcTOO2lll YAM alike were eautide, psalm, and
bong;
tw4

As a last effort,
1 forth to the suburbs of the city, only to
:ess, and at one house of more
kers, a dog was loosed to drive
strel. Fainting with hunger,
indignant, foot-sore, utterly disconsolate, Luther, after
feebly tottering to some distance from the inhospitable
mansion, threw himself upon a rustic bench, beneath tall
shadowing elms in front of a cottage, and burst into pas-
sionate sobbing expressive of the emotion of his soul in the

encounter the san

mfortunat

men melody of an interpretative song. Conrad, the
master of the cottage, was absent, but)his wife was fortu-
'lately at home, and listened with womanly sympathy to
he plaintive strains of the suffering student, whom she
rthwith invited to enter the cottage, where he was
ntifully regaled with such coarse but abundant fare as
Luther never forgot this act of kindness,
nd frequently alluded to the circumstance in after life, as
if he believed it to have been a special interposition of
Heaven in his favour. _ .

.t contained.

The above anecdote Is interesting in many points
of view :—First, as eminently suggestive of the
propriety of charitable emotions towards individuals
manifesting a disposition to please, as we know not
with what heart-rending pangs they may be simu-
lating an unfelt joy to awaken our pity and secure
our help. Second, as painfully indicative of the
privations under which one of the most remarkable
men of modern times trained his indomitable spirit,
and nurtured his masculine intellect to that pitch
of moral elevation which enabled him to encounter
and overcome the opposition of kings, and all the
machinations of priestly ingenuity, in establishing
the principles of a pure religious faith, and matur-
ing the forms of Christian worship, founded on a
basis of sublime simplicity and truth.
The volume contains brief sketches of the boy-
hood of many celebrities, among others, of Michael
Angelo, Moliere, Wellington, Peel, Byron, Burns,
Bonaparte, and many more, of whom want of space
prevents us from making further mention; still
there is one instance which we cannot resist ex-
tracting. It relates to the wayward Byron. Many
instances which tell against the noble bard, as a
fantastically passionate boy, have been narrated,
and in the present memoir such anecdotes are un-
fortunately plentiful enough; the one now alluded
to, however, is of a different complexion. It relates
to his Harrow school adventures, at which semi-
nary he was a fellow-pupil of the late Sir R. Peel :

A3IIABLE GENEROSITY OF BYROW,

There is an anecdote connecting the same names, and
not related by his lordship, though highly honourable to
him. It must have occurred soon after his arrival at
Harrow, at which time he was in his fourteenth year. A
brutal fellow, whose name is not given, claimed the
privilege of fagging little Peel, who resisted, but was
beaten into submission, and, that he might not be tempted
to rebel again, his tyrant inflicted a kind of bastinado upon
the inner fleshy part of his victim's arm, twisting the
limb as he did so in such a way as to cause the greatest
amount of pain possible. Byron stood by, but feeling it
would be useless to attempt fighting the burly brute,
asked, with tears in his eyes, and a blush of rage upon 'his
cheeks, how many stripes Peel's tormentor intended to
inflict. " Why, you little rascal, what is that to you ?" was
the reply. "Because," said Byron, "if you please, I will
take half."

From the two instances quoted, it will be seen
that the volume referred to, which is a very hand-
some one, possesses a fund of richly interesting
matter, and is one which, while it will afford a sub-
ject of gratifying reflection to the mature, is pecu-
liarly fitted to stir the attention and awaken the
sympathies of youth.

The Annals of Roger de Hoveden. Translated
from the Latin, with Notes and Illustrations.
By H. T. Riley, Esq., B.A. Vol. u. London :
H. G. Bohn.

The second volume of these annals embraces a
period extending from the year 1181 to the year
1201, and are chiefly devoted to a narrative of
events connected immediately with the history of
England ; or in the description of occurrences
in which the English monarch and people were
deeply engaged, including the memorable enter-
prises, adventures, misfortunes, and gallantry of
the redoubtable Richard Cceur de Lion. Among
these will be found minute particulars relative to
his captivity in Austria, and the usurpation of his
brother John : together with correspondence be-
tween the Sovereigns and the leading ecclesiastics
of the day relative to the affairs of England, and
to the adventures and dangers of its brave and
chivalric King. In relation to these matters the
details are at once minute and graphic, displaying
with much circumstantiality the then relative con-
ditions of Sovereign and people. In addition to
what may, indeed must, be called the public events
of those times, our author likewise gives, as it
were, incidental glances at the less obtrusive mat-
ters of the period, embracing among these a suc-
cinct account of the proceedings of men remark-
able for their learning, piety, or influence. Among
others of these notables, Secundus, a silent philo-
sopher, who flourished in the time of Adrian, cer-
tainly not very nearly connected in point of time
with the annals of the period of which we have
just been speaking, is made a good deal of. This
notable, who is represented as having, through a
very singular cause, resolved, at an early period of
his life, to refrain from speaking—a resolution which
he maintained with the most inflexible fortitude.
His life, having been ordered by Adrian to be for-
feited unless he should speak, he remained obdu-
rately silent, when the Emperor, moved by the
firmness of his resolution, relaxed the impending
sentence, and commenced with the voluntary mute
a colloquy in writing, of which the following are
the chief particulars :