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

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand

Make the mighty ocean, ,
Littre deeds of kindness,
And the beauteous land. Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above.

And the little moments,
Humble though they b,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

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

Lead the soul away

LITERATURE.

Boons 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 LivEnroot STANDARD," when they will be forwarded
and receive attention.

",11y Novel," by Pisistratus Caxton; or, Varieties
in Enylish Life. In four volumes. William

Black ciood 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 par: s,
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
novels or a thousand 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 s

The wine must sink

into the earth,
ul must rise!"

The soul, the

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 classes of men the work will inspire love an d
hope. We could wish to see a copy of the book, if not
at every cottar's fireside, at least in every village

i bran,

t will be perused

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 Director
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. lt i
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 1853, 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.

Ke)ly

Matthew Paris's English History. London :
H. G. Bohn.
Of the valuable services which 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 weed 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
important,
inasmuch a part, is by no means the least
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

brings them within the reach of all who thirst after
this kind of Inowledge. The present number of
this series is the second volume of the English
History, by that quaint old chronicler, Matthew
Paris, the ,period treated of being from the year
1235 to .1273. It has been translated from the
Latin by the 'Rev. J. A.-Giles, D'.C.L., and as it
has often been quoted as an authority by modern
historians, there are many who will, no doubt,
gladly seize -the opportunity of making the re-
ference for themselves.

Storks of Ezglish and 'Foreign Life. London
H. G. Bohn.

The work before us, which is profusely. illustrated
with engravings, is the.joint production of William
and Mary Howitt, and forms one of the attractive
series of publications known as " Bohn's Illustrated
Library." Although William Howitt is no favourite
of ours, yet there is much which he has.written in
a peculiarly attractive form, and he has treated of
subjects which 'have always an interest and a charm
for a thoroughly English reader, while Mary Hewitt
is still more popular among a very numerous class.
We may therefore safely predict for this work a
very extensive circulation, particularly as it is
brought out in a neat, compact form, with all the
appliances which Tender modern publications so
attractive in appearance, and at a price which places
it within the reach of almost all.

Milton's Prose Works. (London: Henry G. Bohn.)
The fourth volume of the prose works of
John Milton contains the first book of a
treatise on Christian doctrine, ,compiled from
the Holy Scriptures alone. The original manu-
script of the work, in Latin, is supposed to have
been deposited, from motives of friendship, in the
hands of Cyriack Skinner, and afterwards all traces
of it were lost until the latter part of 1823, when it
was discovered by Mr. Lemon, in the course of
researches in the Old State Paper-office. in White-
hall. The present translation is by the Lord Bishop
of 'Winchester. Dr. Sumner has revised and cor-
rected the work for the new edition, which is
printed correctly, and bound in a neat and sub-
stantial manner.

The Steam Nary. Lonbn : Saunders and Stanford.
A pamphlet, by Commander lloseason, R.N., in
the form of a letter to the First Lord of the Ad.
miralty, on the application of screw-propellers to
sea-going-line-of-battle-ships. The author gives
many interesting details as to the comparative
advantages of various applications of steam-power,
and argues that for national defences it were better
to use large steam-ships to tow men-of-war into
action, than by placing either small engines on
board the latter, which effect little as regards speed,
or large ones, which gives them too great a weight
in engines and fuel.

Chambers'e Edinburgh Journal. London and
Liverpool : Orr.

Among the contents of the part just issued of
this popular periodical we may notice " Climate
and Health in Australia ;" "Storm Phenomena,
Cyclones;" " Glass Walls," a subject interesting to
horticulturists ; " The Queen's Money-makers," a
description of the Royal Mint ; an account of
" The Grape Blight " in Madeira ; and an interest-
ing description of "An Oldfashioned Swedish
Wedding."

Intellectual and Moral Development of the Present
Aye. Edinburgh and London; Blackwoods.

The origin of this little work was a request to
the author, Mr. Samuel Warren—better known as
the author of "The Diary of a late Physician"—to
lecture at the Mechanics' Institute of Hull ; and
the greater part of it was read on the 28th of last
December. The author argues for the intellectual
development of the age, not so much in literature,
as in scientific discoveries; in astronomy, geology,
chemistry, electricity, &c.; and in his own beau-
tiful language he shows the testimony which they
bear to the truth of Revelation. We do not un-
hesitatingly coincide with all his opinions, but we
cordially commend his work to general perusal, for
that genuine Christian spirit which pervades it. It
is, indeed, the grlceful tribute of literary genius to
the truths of religion.

The Dodd Family Abroad. No. VII. London
Chapman and Hall.

Kenny Dodd the Elder, mystified by the
mysterious Mrs. Gore Hampton, elopes from his
wife and family to accompany her on a gallant
expedition in Germany, and for his pains is put in
Galignani as an old reprobate, and branded by his
wife as a monster. Kenny's epistle, touching this
unlucky adventure, is about the raciest piece of
wit ever penned by the humorous Harry Lorrequer.
Some of the passages describing the scenery of the
Rhine are really eloquent, while scattered through..
out the letter there are not a few suggestive and
thoughtful remarks.

SOCIAL TRANSACTIONS ABROAD.

It may sound very strange that we should have formed
such a close alliance while in ignorance of these circum-
stances, and, doubtless, in our own country, the inquiry
would have preceded the ratification of this compact, but
the habits of the Continent, my dear Tom, teach very
different lessons. All social transactions are carried on
upon principles of unlimited credit, and you endorse
every bill of passing acquaintanceship with a most reckless
disregard to the day of presentation for payment. Some
would, perhaps, tell you that your scruples would only
prove false terrors. My own notion, however, is less
favourable, and my theory is this : you get so accustomed
to " raffish " intimacies, you lose all taste or desire for
discrimination; in fact, there's so much false money in
circulation, it would be useless to " ring a particular rap
on the counter."