The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-06 00:00:00

ADVANTAGES OF STEAM NAVIGATION TO BRAZIL.

In the space of two months a merchant can visit his
Brazil establishment, and another, under three months,
can look after his River Plate affair, often saving himself
much anxiety and loss of time. The manufacturer can,
without great trouble, make himself acquainted with the
markets he wishes to trade to; the botanist and naturalist
can qvickly be transported to the virgin ground of Para-
guay, or, now that the Brazilian government have placed
contract steamers on the greatest of all great rivers, may
ascend the Amazon with like certainty of reward as novel
and varied, and depend on a prompt return of his newly-
acquired specimens. Whilst, which is equally important,
the natives of those countries have an opportunity of
visiting, Europe, and forming, by personal contact, those
relations of amity and goodwill which tend so much to
soften prejudices, and bring about a right understanding
on all points mutually advantageous.

His claims to consideration as an authority on
the subject he grounds on practically acquired
information, derived from long residence on the
South American continent, and he puts those
claims forward with an ingenuousness and direct-
ness of purpose characteristic of a man of business
habits and intelligence. Although his objects are
chiefly of a commercial character, he does not
confine himself exclusively to topics connected with
the counting-house or store—with the plantation
or the wharf,—but freely illustrates his remarks
upon subjects connected with them by reference to
the natural and social circumstances which confer
upon these the impress and tone of a distinctive
traffic. He •also touches with readiness and
deoision upon the habits and peculiarities of the
people among whom he sojourned, and of those who
by their position in life were able to sway the lead-
ing events of ..South American polity. In his
pages we are brought into familiar acquaintance
with the leading men of the republics, such as
Lopez, Uriquiza, and Rosas, besides others whose
names occupy prominent places in the history of
those states. In addition to numerous well-
executed views and portraits, the volume is beauti-
fully, as well as usefully, illustrated by maps of
South America and, its rivers, and of the Falkland
lolanda.

Forty-six Short Sermons on various interesting
subjects, especially designed for Sabbath Even-
ing Reading. By the Rev. W. Dransfield.
London : Aylott and Co.

The volume before us is composed and published
by a veteran labourer in the Gospel vineyard, who
has already been long and familiarly known to an
extensive class of the religious public. The
sermons are put forth under the modest desire of
being useful in "assisting the devotions of families,"
and they are peculiarly fitted for the domestic
circle ; more especially under circumstances which
preclude attendance on divine worship in the parish
church. They are eminently practical in their
character, and earnest in their style—enforcing
with unaffected eloquence the comforting assurances
of Christian hope—and commending by instructive
precept the benevolence and charity of Christian
love.

The Dublin University Magazine. Dublin
James McGlashan.

The June number of this Magazine is scarcely
so marked by interesting novelty as some of its
predecessors have been, but it is still rich enough
in this particular to claim and deserve a high place
in the periodical literature of the day. It opens
with a judicious chapter on the teaching and value
of Alison's History of Europe, from 1815 to 1852,
in which the writer, after a somewhat subtle in-
quiry, concludes his analysis by a compliment to
the temper, industry, and unusual sagacity of the
great historian. This paper is followed by an
amusing essay on French Dramatists and Actors.
It forms a second portion of the very interesting
series, and is replete with well-told anecdotes,
illustrative of French theatrical life before and be-
hind the scenes. In one of the figurantes of this
life drama, Mademoiselle Clairon, we have another
of the numerous instances in which an early predi-
lection for the stage has been formed by accident
and fostered by unconquerable resolution under
the pressure of great difficulties, aided solely by
an unswerving resolution and an ardent desire for
distinction. That Clairon had the true feeling
for her art, was speedily manifested ; and that she
duly appreciated its pretensions and necessities, she
also made equally apparent, as well in the business
of real life as in the mimic scenes which are made
to represent its essence on the stage. According
to her views, and on this point there is•much truth
in them, an actor or actress should be, off the stage,
to a considerable extent, the same sort of being
which she or he is desirous of appearing on it.
" The tragic actor," says La Clairon, " should ap-
propriate, in common life, the style and manners
of such characters as his cast of parts most fre-
quently requires. If lam only a vulgar and ordi-
nary woman during twenty of the four-and-twenty
hours of the day, whatever efforts I may make I
shall only be an ordinary and vulgar woman in
Agrippina or Semieramis during the remaining
four." There is much sound sense in such a re-
mark, and although it is a maxim easily rendered
ridiculous by over-effort, it is based on sound
philosophy ; and though more concentrated, and
more elegantly expressed in Goldsmith's happy
phrase—
"- Seeming blest, they grow to what they seem."
Still it is an aphorism which mutatis mutandis
may be safely and profitably applied through all
the occupations and positions of life. The well-
told tale of " Sir Jasper Carew" is brought to a
conclusion in the present number ; which, besides
other papers of much interest in addition to those
named, has one or two analytical reviews of new
publications, and is concluded by a capital article
under the title of " Midsummer with the Muses,"
in which an ably-written and eloquent, as well as
generous, estimate is given of the character and
quality of a considerable quantity of the current
poetry of the day.