The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-22 00:00:00

LITTLE

THINGS.

From the paths of virtue.
Oft in sin to stray.

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean, Little deeds of kindness,
And the beauteous land.
Li words of love,
And the little moments, Makettle our earth an Eden,
Humble though they be, Like the heaven above,
Make the mighty ages - -
Of eternity

So our little errors
Lead the soul away

Little seeds of mercy,
Sown by youthful bands,
Grow to bless the nations,
Far in heathen lands.

LITERATURE.

Books 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.

"My Novel," by Pisistratus Caxton,. or, Varieties
in English Life. In four volumes. William
Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.
For many months past, in common with thou-
sands of our countrymen, we have turned eagerly
on magazine day to the pages of Old Ebony, not
for the purpose of plunging at once into the pro-
found speculations of Alison—not to revel in
merriment at the laughter-moving wit of young
Aytoun, the laureate of the Scottish cavaliers—nor
yet to enjoy the now unfrequent contributions of
the glorious " old man eloquent," who, as Christo-
pher North, is known and loved over the wide
world. No all these attractions were unheeded,
until we had devoured the fresh chapters of the
English tale, by Sir Bulwer Lytton. And
now that " My Novel" lies completed on our
table in the shape of four fair volumes—
and we renew acquaintanceship with the fa-
miliar tale —we cannot help admiring the ex-
emplary patience which for so many months we
must have exercised. For, sooth to say, "My
Novel," though a big portentous book, is one that,
having once taken up, you cannot well lay aside.
Yet is it free from all those sources of false excite-
ment which too often taint the page of modern
fiction; and we can commend it for qualities which
are not to be found in the most popular novels of
the day. It is not filled with impossible angels in
human form, like the creations of Dickens, neither
is it pervaded by the false sentiment and the total
lack of vital religion which are the prominent
features of that author's writings. Except with
womankind occasionally (and here he speaks more
in jest than earnest, we hope), Bulwer Lytton does
not survey the world with the cynical sneer of a
Thackeray, unlike the true poet, finding "evil in
everything." His paintings are faithful the
colouring natural, warm, and lifelike. Though mo-
delled on the works of Sterne, and interlarded with
some very learned and some very Germanesque pas-
sages which could owe their paternity only to the
author of " Zanoni," "My Novel," in many parrs,
delineates English rustic life and the recesses of the
human heart, as we find that life delineated and
those recesses revealed by the unsurpassed pen of
Oliver Goldsmith. One remarkable feature of
the work is the vast number of characters
introduced, and the striking individuality and con-
sistency preserved throughout—the intricacy of the
plot, or rather series of plots, and the distinctness
with which all those characters are brought together,
and the natural way in which all these plots con-
verge in one denouement. An ordinary author
would have manufactured a score of three-volume
uiuusanu shilling numbers from the
materials which Bulwer Lytton has lavishly, and in
the plenitude of his extraordinary powers, bestowed
upon a single book. The result must assuredly be
that "My Novel" will descend to posterity—a
most enduring monument of one who, whether as
a scholar or a poet, is equally an ornament of our
country and the nineteenth century.
To indicate the nature of the plot is unnecessary.
Those who are yet unacquainted with the book
must make themselves, familiar with its delightful
pages. We promise them a rich harvest of pleasure
and substantial benefit. The young student will
there learn that " knowledge is power," only when
sanctified by the holiest purpose—when Self is
utterly ignored, and God becomes the object of his
adoration. He will witness, in the terrible career
of Randal Leslie, that fearful bloodless tragedy,
how man may amass knowledge and develope the
intellect to the highest possible pitch, and yet,
losing his own soul, render that knowledge a curse
instead of a blessing. The youth venturing into
the world of literature will learn, by poor John
Burley's fate, to avoid the life-destroying influence
of that liquid falsely supposed to yield inspiration.
With Festus, he will resolve to dash the winecup
to the earth, convinced that—

" ft is not worth
A soul's great sacrifice,
The wine must sink into the earth,
The soul, the soul must rise!"

Country squires will benefit by the revelation of
the Hazeldeans' daily life ; the peasant will learn
to be charitable to those who are their superiors in
the social scale ; while the owner of broad acres will
desire not to judge the poor labourer in the fields
hastily or with harshness; the spiritual shepherd
will be shewn the path of duty, and taught how
great a blessing he may prove, if he only wills it,
to his people ; the struggle of the brave Leonard
will strengthen many a young heart, and show how
the battle of life may best be won by self-help and
a firm reliance on God ; the people will find that
all statesmen are not selfish men, intent upon their
personal aggrandisement and the nation's ruin ; and
among all classesof menthe work will inspirelove and
hope. We could wish to see a copy of the book, if not
at every cottar's fireside, at least in every village
library. Though a fiction, it will be perused by the
venerable prelate ; it will find a nook in many a
quiet parsonage; in the gay halls of the wealthy
it will carry its sweet, healthy influence; it will
convey gladsome pictures of the country into our
busy towns ; and in coming days reveal faithfully
to the historian what English life was in the mid-
dle of the nineteenth century.

The Peerage and Parliamentary Directory, Kelly
and Co., London.
Published under the patronage of Her Majesty's
Postmaster-General, this work is designed as a sup-
plement to the Post-office London Directory. It is
not only a peerage and parliamentary directory, cor-
rected to the date of publication, but it is also a postal
directory, and contains much useful information of
a miscellaneous character. The town residences
during the session of 1553, and the country seat of
every peer and member of the House of Commons
in the new parliament, with the offices held by
each, are supplied with the utmost accuracy and
care. The book is cheap; yet correct in its multi-
farious details, and very neatly printed. It ought
to be adopted as a standard in public offices, and
it may be confidently relied on by those who re-
quire a ready book of reference on the subject of
postal arrangements, or that of members of par-
liament and the peerage.

Matthew Paris's English History. London :
H. G. Bohn.
Of the valuable services Nvhich Mr. Bohn has
rendered by his cheap editions of classical English
literature we have more than once spoken,
and
none who knows how to appreciate the treasures of
his mother tongue will deny the meed of praise
which belongs to him. Of the various series with
which his name is popularly identified, the Anti-
quarian Library, of which the work before us
forms a part, is by no means the least important,
inasmuch as the works of the ancient writers are
the least accessible, few copies existing and those
treasured in libraries, beyond the reach of the
ordinary student. We have now the old black
letter chronicles, over which the antiquary loves to
pore in innocent enthusiasm, put into readable
type and language, and published at a price which