The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

REVIEWS OF BOORS.

e Triplet, a New Dance. By Edgar Webster.
Liverpool: J. Smith.

'is handsomely got up piece of dance music
, by permission, dedicated to Lady Constance
Ararosvenor, and comprises "The Grosvenor Galop,"
end " The Sutherland Valse a deux temps. The
-measures are lively, and the directions for executing
the figures explicit. It is well printed, and taste-
-irully illustrated. -
:The Man of Sin. By the Rev. W. F. Taylor, M.A.
Liverpool: Howell.
wring Lent of the present year the Rev. W. F.
'M'aylor delivered a course of seven lectures, in St.
3°lnes Church, and these have been published
'icier the above title. The separate subjects are
judiciously treated, under the heads of " The
Demonology of Popery," " The Man of Sin the
_Eon of Perdition," " The Persecutor," " The
13Iasphemer," " The Mystery of Unity," " Satanic
Influence," and " Judicial Blindness." Under
-these varied heads the pretensions of Popery are
_rigorously scrutinized, and pointedly denounced.
-Silo lectures were received with much favour
during the course of their delivery ; and their
popularity is more likely to be enhanced than
Adeteriorated by publication. They invite and will
irepay attentive study.

_Protestant Conversation Cards. Liverpool: Howell

This may, and no doubt will, by some, be eon-
21dered a singular title to what professes to be,
.2nd in reality is, a valuable means of diffusing
Ananong the working classes a knowledge of those
43ssential points of difference which exist between
4he Church of England and the Romish Church.
Mese Conversation Cards, in the words of their
-Compiler, the Rev. James P. Shepherd, are "an
attempt to explain and expose the Romish doctrines
..and ceremonies, as they now stand unrepealed from
-the Council of Trent." The diffusion of religious
knowledge by such means is not new, and the
inerit of this application of such means consists in
the directness, perspicuousness, and truth of the
Intelligence conveyed. On these points we are
.able to afford commendation <to the labour be-
atowed in the effort. The intention has been well
zrealised.

The Illustrated London _Magazine August.
London : Piper, Brothers, and Co.
'his magazine, of which the present is only the
-Isecond part, is got up with much taste in so far as
-alio eye merely is concerned. Its contents also
resent a goodly array of authors' names, whose
.leoutributions grace, or are supposed to grace, the
Itunber. How far this latter supposition is the
'wnii.e one, may be learned from a piece of vapid
*neetation pertly put forth by Mr. Horace Mayhew,
11,Ver the title of "Materials for an Autobiography."
'e general tenor of the paper is flippant, silly, and
'e°i.ittt,eulytible. The tone of its insufferable vulga-
-t,' however, can only be guessed at from one or
° sPeeini
illlrth ',ens' "My mother was very pleased at
tread , says Mr. Horace Mayhew. " I have
,- Pant 't u
ivereiy room zy of novels." I have suffered se-
,the same welling in an English railway." In
mess the ores 11r. Mayhew says, " I hate to wit-
of a man who does not deserve it."
We pretend,tiema, mienec'eststo measure the extent of this gen-
.
to ponder 'er but would sincerely recommend
-pos over
s his own denunciation ; and, if
able, reform his
lyre regret thetocs:rearae aglestYle of English composition.
s of a serial, whose aim
missiony
of such ungra'able, disfigured by the ad-
Aare pointed out, and
tical rubbish as that we
venture to hope for an im-
vroungut in its ftitii
Q ullmabors,

1 The Dublin

The present r

I Mac/az

ae for Sepentbel

nber will support the character

a litera

serial. Its con-

tents are varied, clever, interesting
rally well written. Among

and gene-
vill be

its papers

found a valuable essay on " Industrial Education."
It is founded on lectures delivered by Dr. Lyon
Playfair, Professor Forbes, Sir H. de la Beche, and
others, besides embracing also a resume of educa-
tional essays, recently published, relative to the
state of artistic and industrial education in Eng-
land and on the continent. Besides this and
other papers of great merit, there is also a
capital contribution entitled " Geology, Popular
and Artistic." By students and amateurs of geo-
logical science, this will be read with interest
and profit. We cannot, however, avoid feeling the
want of those admirable political articles, with
which, in bygone days, the pages of the Dublin
University Magazine were wont to be enriched.

Illustrated Handbook to Belgiwn and the Rhine

London : Bradshaw.
Travelling through Belgium, on the Rhine, and
in Rhenish Prussia, has become such an every-day
occurrence, owing to the facilities afforded by rail-
roads and steam-boats, that a portable handbook
of easy reference has become a kind of necessary.
The demand, however, has been well supplied by
the publisher of the celebrated " Railway Guide,
who has here given all the necessary information
as to routes, hotels, passports, means of travelling,
&c., with a popular description of the various ob-
jects of interest to be seen. The book is profusely
illustrated with maps, plans of the streets in the
various towns, and engraved views of public build-
ings, &c. The latter may not rank high as works
of art, but they are sufficiently distinct to give a
good idea of the objects delineated. The book will
be warmly welcomed by all who travel in the di-
rection described, and from the moderate price at
which it is published, will, no doubt, command an
extensive patronage.

Blackwood's Magazine. Edinburgh : tlackwood.
The number for September opens with an article
on " Scotland since the Union," being a review of
a recently-published "History of Scotland from
the Revolution, &c., 'by John Hill Burton." The
reviewer, while describing Scotland as " tranquil,
prosperous, and enterprising," sets forth a series
of complaints. They want, he says, more of the
public money spent there, a Secretary of State for
Scotland, and a greater number of representatives
in Parliament. He forgets the old adage, to let
well alone. It may be that, if the demands were
granted, Scotland would not be so prosperous as
she is at present. Ireland has had all these things,
and her Celtic population is almost extinct. -" Fo-
reign Estimates of England" is an amusing com-
mentary on a recently-published work by Schle-
singer, a German author of some repute. It is
well that we should sometimes "see ourselves as
others see us." A second part of " New Read-
ings in Shakspere" exposes a number of the ab-
surdities of which Mr. Collier has been guilty in
his volume of alleged emendations, and the expo-
sure is justified on the ground that, "if the glory
of Shakspere be a theme for national congratula-
tion, the purity of his text ought to be an object
of national concern." The critic overhauls the
plays seriatim, and promises the remaining ten in
the next number. One curious fact is, that a word
in the first part of King Henry IV. which has
puzzled all the commentators is made clear by a
reference to Dick Swiveller's " Marchioness," in
the tale of " The Old Curiosity Shop." After a
humorous story, entitled " The Duke's Dilemma,
a chronicle of Niesenstein," we have a continuation
of " Lady Lee's Widowhood," which has become
something more serious as the catastrophe ap-
proaches. " Coral Rings" is an interesting and
instructive description of those wonders of the
southern seas, the coral reefs. The number con-
cludes with an ably-written letter, from Liverpool,
on " The Extent and the Causes of our Prosperity,"
a subject too important to be passed over in a hasty
notice, but which we shall return to more at length_
another time. The writer entertains similar views
to those which we have previously advanced, and
his remarks are well deserving of serious and at-
tentive consideration.

Wanderings in Spain. By Theophile Gautier.
London : Ingram, Cooke and Co.

This lively narrative, of personal experiences
and wanderings in the Peninsula, is written by a
Frenchman, if we mistake not a Parisian literateur,
and its pages bear testimony to the thirst for
novelty which constitutes so prominent a feature
of the Gallic character. Theatres, balls, masques,
and bull-fights mingle in strange, yet picturesque,
confusion with cathedrals, religious processions,
Moorish architecture, and fantastic carvings. The
following description of varied scenery, travellers
and costume, as witnessed by our anthor, is artistic
and suggestive :

APPROACH TO MADRID.

The lofty mountain crests glistened and sparkled in the
sun, like the skirt of a dancing-girl's robe under its
shower of silver spangles ; others, again, had their peaks
surrounded by clouds, and merged imperceptibly into the
sky, for nothing resembles a mountain so much as a cloud.
The whole view was composed of one succession of pre-
cipices and undulations. It is beyond the power of art,
whether of the pen or the pencil, to convey an adequate
idea of their different colours and forms ; mountains
realise all that the imagination can picture of them, and
this is no small praise. The only difference between the
reality and the idea we form of it, arises from the fact of
our fancying mountains look larger than they do. We
are only aware of their enormous size by comparison. On
gazing attentively, you perceive that what, at a distance,
you took for a blade of grass, is a fir-tree sixty feet high.

From time to time we met travelling maragatos in
their costume of the sixteenth century, which consists of
a tight-fitting leathern doublet, fastened with a buckle,
wide breeches, and broad-brimmed hat. We also met
several Valencianos, with their white linen drawers, like
the robes of the Klephts, their handkerchief twisted
about their head, their white gaiters bordered with blue,
and without feet, after the fashion of the antique Knemis,
and their long piece of cloth (capa de muestra), crossed
diagonally by bright-coloured stripes, and draped over
their shoulders in a very elegant manner. All that we
could perceive of their flesh was as tawny as Florentine
bronze. Then, again, we saw strings of mules, caparisoned
in the most charming fashion, with bells and party-
coloured fringe and housings, while their arrieros were
armed with carbines. We were enchanted, for we had
found an abundant supply of the picturesque of which
we were in search.
The higher we ascended, the thicker and broader
became the strips of snow ; but a single sunbeam made
the mountains stream with water, like a woman laughing
in the midst of her tears ; on every side little brooks,
scattered about like the dishevelled tresses of some Naiad,
and clearer than crystal, forced their way downwards.
Madrid, like Rome, is surrounded by a desert ; it is
impossible to convey an idea of its aridity and desolation.
There is not a tree, a drop of water, a green plant, or the
least appearance of humidity; nothing but yellow sand
iron-grey rocks ; and when you leave the mountain, you
do not find even rocks, but large stones. From time to
time you perceive- a dusty yenta, a cork-coloured spire,
just showing its nose on the horizon, large melancholy-
looking oxen dragging along one of the cars we have
already described; a countryman on horseback, or on a
mule, with a fierce expression of face, a carbine at his
saddle-bow, and a sombrero slouched over his eyes, or
long strings of whity-brown asses, carrying chopped straw,
which is corded up with a net-work of small ropes, and
that is all. The ass which walks first, the coronel, has
always a small feather or rosette, indicating his superiority
in the hierarchy of the long-eared tribe.

In the course of his perigrinations M. Gautier
visited nearly all the towns of note, and inspected
most of the scenes of interest in Spain, all of
which he describes with a playful and appropriate
fancy. The volume is plentifully embellished with,
generally speaking, well-executed engravings of
remarkable edifices, or striking scenery, and both
the pen and the pencil have been cleverly, as well
as industriously, employed in recording the ex-
periences of the traveller.

Progress of Russia in the West, North, and
South. By David Urquhart. London : Triibner
and Co. Liverpool : G. J. Keet.
The volume, of which the above is the title, is
one which at the present time is sure to command
an attentive perusal by all who take an interest.
in
the vexed question of Russo-Turkish politics. Its
author is a gentleman whose familiarity . with
numerous points involved in that complicated
dispute is undeniable, although there are, no doubt,
many well-informed individuals whose judicious
consideration of the subject, even as stated by My.
Urquhart, will ensure their rejection of some of his
conclusions. Notwithstanding this, however, the
labours of our author in collecting the information
eontained in the volume before us, and in so con-
densing that information as to render it readily
available to the general student or politician, have
been such, and so well bestowed, as to entitle him
to a large meed of public approbation. His means
of acquiring information on the subject have been
extensive and peculiar, and he has availed himself.
of those means with industry and no littlee
11.
In stating his various propositions, he aims at
perspicuity and terseness ; although it must be
i
admitted that in some instances at least, his
success in the latter aim is obtained at a conside-
rable sacrifice of the former. The work, which has
been prepared at different periods extending over a
considerable number of years, takes a comprehen-
sive,. not in every instance a sound or unpre-
mixed view of Russian aggression, OA that has
-been openly or covertly displayed in the various

events which have agitated European politics
during and even long antecedent to the first half
of the present century. In doing so, Mr. Urquhart
systematically reviews the hidden as well as the
more open demonstrations of Russian policy, as
these have been applied in the affairs of Spain,
Hungary, Norway and Finland, and Denmark ; on
the Danube, and on the Euxine; in the Levant, and
on the shores of the Red. Sea. In all of which he
labours to show the existence of a consistent and
unceasing system of aggression on the part of
Russia. It would be unreasonable to demand an
indisputable demonstration on every point of belief
adduced by Mr. Urquhart on so widely open a
subject of controversy as he has here chosen for
himself; but it is not too much to expect from him
some reasonable ground of presumption for the
various hypotheses he advances, and in this expec-
tation the candid reader will not be disappointed.
He states his cases broadly and with seeming
honesty and unreservedness ; and is at least suc-
cessful in showing that there are sufficient grounds
for -a watchful, if not indeed a distrustful, vigilance
on our part, in regard to even the most innocent-
looking movements, of Russian diplomacy. The
spirit of the book may, to a congiderable extent, be
gathered from the following

TO MR. URQUHART'S ANTI-RUSSIAN FAITH

Treaties are to her [Russia] the scaffolds by which she
builds, as she ascends she knocks them down. That of
Vienna, in 1815, gave her Poland, but did not prevent her,
in 1846, from disposing of Cracow. That of Adrianople,
in 1829, gave her the mouths of the Danube on conditions,
but does not prevent her, in 1853, from blocking up the
entrance in violation of those conditions. That of Baita
Liman, in 1849, gave her a conjoint occupation, for seven
years, of the principalities, but does not prevent her, in
1853, from assuming and practising a separate and exclu-
sive occupation. So, too that of London, in 1841, gave
her the exclusion of foreign vessels of war from the Euxine,
on condition of respecting the integrity of the Ottoman
empire ; and so, also, it does not prevent her, iu 1853,
from violating that integrity.

Wilful misinterpretation, or disingenuous misap-
plication of the provisions of treaties, when it suits
her own purposes, constitutes the gravamen of the
charges which Mr. Urquhart brings against the
policy of Russia, and it must be admitted that he
establishes a fair ground for questioning the good
faith of that power in many of her diplomatic
arrangements.

In an equally succinct and successful manner he
disposes of not a few of the fallacies which have found
currency and belief in this country relative to the
inadequacy of Russian resources. The following
will be found an interesting as well as a truthful
resund of

THE CZAR'S FINANCIAL MEANS.

I cannot (says he) omit noticing a ground of confidence
which has recently, for the hundredth time, presented
itself as a novelty ; it is, " The Emperor has no money."
The same thing was said in 1827, when he came forward
to support the Bank of England, as he had already sup-
ported the Bank of France. £6,000,000 were vested in
English and French securities, £22,000,000 of bullion
were then held in deposit. She receives nearly £5,000,000
yearly from her mines, and actually her stock is quoted
at 16 per cent. above par. She offers to remit a claim of
£80,000,000 roubles for a province being [query lying]
between the Caspian and Little Ilibet, and to pay the
difference ; yet, according to diplomatic report, " The
guards, the crack corps at Zarskoi Zelo, are destitute of
clothes and everything." Well, then, they can be clothed
as well as fed in the principalities. Napoleon believed
Europe to be in danger from the poverty of Russia ; she
preserves the appetites of poverty, while knowing how to
employ the seductions of wealth. It is her gold you have
to fear, and not her steel. She makes a little go a great
way, and she takes it from yourselves.
*•

It has long been the habit to dispose of all warnings by
the trite phrase, " Russia is a poor country, she cannot
get money, and without money war cannot be made." All
these acquisitions (referring to a long catalogue of enu-
merated aggressions) have been effected in peace. Poor as
she is, she has so husbanded her means, and you have so
mismanaged your wealth, that she can be able to come
forward to support the tottering credit of the banks of
London and of Paris. The house of Rothschild may hold
down the head of the Emperor on the grinding-stone of
an artful contract ; but Russia commands' the monetary
operations of the two first capitals of the world, and controls
their policy by the Stock Exchange.
Without committing ourselves to a full adoption
of all, or indeed of any, of Mr. Urquhart's views as
to the peculiar policy which this country ought to
observe in her relations with Russia, remote as well
as immediate, we can have no hesitation in recom-
mending his book to the attentive and careful study
of all who feel an interest in those questions, now
under consideration, relative to the course of events
likely to arise out of the complication of Russian
and Turkish affairs. In Mr. Urquhart's volume,
they will find an important body of information
from which they may readily elaborate their own
theories, whether these regard the abstract or the
practical bearings of the subject,—a subject of deep
interest, in a commercial sense, and one thickly
beset with difficulties. It is only fair to add, that
an edition of the book has been issued at a very
cheap rate.

VARIETIES
♦

CONSENT to common custom, but not to common folly.

A FALSE RELIANCE.—An American editor, throwing
himself upon the indulgence of his readers, fell through,
and was taken up hi a stupid condition.
AMERICAN TOAST.-" The ladies; the only endurable
aristocracy, who rule without laws—judge without jury—
decide without appeal—and are never in the wrong."
YOUNG TURNIPS, when boiled in their skins and pared
afterwards, are said to be of better flavour, and much less
watery, than when cooked in the usual way.
To SETTLE A CROCODILE.—The sure way, according
to ancient practice, was to confront him with a mirror,
when he incontinently died of fright at his own defor-
mity.—Fraser. _ _ _

"DICK, I say, why don't you turn that buffalo robe
t'other side out?—the hair side is the warmest." " Bah,
Tom, you get out. Do you suppose the animal himself
didn't know how to wear his hide ? I follow his style."
AT CORK ASSIZES a learned gentleman, dissatisfied at
his success with a witness, complained to the court. Paddy
exclaimed, "My lord, I'm no lawyer, and he wants to
puzzle me."—Counsel: "Come, now, do you swear you're no
lawyer?"—Witness : " Faith, an' I do ; and you may swear
the same about yourself, I'm afraid." (Roars of laughter.)
THE SLEEP or A PASIIA.—His Excellency not foster-
ing feelings of the most friendly nature towards Namik
Pasha, the new Commander-in-chief of Arabia, who was
passing through Mosul on his way to the head-quarters of
the army at Bagdad, and unwilling to :entertain him,:was
suddenly taken ill, and retired for the benefit of his health
to l3aasheikah. On the morning after his arrival he com-
plained that the asses, by their braying during the night,
had allowed him no rest;' and the asses were promptly
banished from the village. The dawn of next day was
announced, to the great discomfort of his excellency, who
had no interest in the matter, by the cocks : and the irre-
gular troops who formed his body-guard were immediately
incited to a general slaughter of the race. The third night
his sleep was disturbed by the crying of children, who,
with their mothers, were at once locked up for the rest of
the sojourn, in the cellars. On
.the fourth he was awoke
at daybreak by the chirping of sparrows, and every gun
in the village was ordered to be brought out to wage a
war of extermination against them. But on the fifth
morning his rest was sorely broken by the flies, and the
enraged Pasha insisted upon their instant destruction.
The Kiayah, who, as chief of the village, had the task of
carrying out the governor's orders, now threw himself at
his excellency's feet, exclaiming " Your highness has seen
that all the animals here, praise be to God, obey our lord
the sultan; the infidel flies alone are rebellious to his
authority. lam a man of low degree and small power,
and can do nothing against them ; it now behoves a great
vizier like your highness to enforce the commands, our
lord and master. The pasha, who relished a joke, forgave
the flies, but left the village.—Layard's Ruins of Nineveh
and Babylon.
_ _ _ . -

A LIvE ArTHORESS.—Once I was driven by a young
Irish friend to call upon the wife of a rich farmer in the
country. We were shown by the master of the house
into a very handsomely furnished room, in which there
was no lack of substantial comfort, and even of some
elegancies, in the shape of books, pictures, and a piano.
The goodman left us to inform his wife of our arrival, and
for some minutes we remained in solemn state, until the
mistress of the house made her appearance. She had been
called from the washtub, and, like a sensible woman, was
not ashamed of her domestic occupation. She came in
wiping the suds from her hands on her apron, and gave
us a very hearty and friendly welcome. She was a short,
stout, middle-aged woman, with a very pleasing counte-
nance ; and though only in her coloured flannel working-
dress, with a nightcap on her head, and spectacled nose,
there was something in her frank good-natured face that
greatly prepossessed us in her favour. After giving us
the common compliments of the day, she drew her chair
just in front of me, and, resting her elbows on her knees,
and dropping her chin between her hands, she sat regard-
ing me with such a fixed gaze that it became very embar-
rassing. So,' says she, at last, `you are Mrs. M— ?
—`Yes.'—' The woman that writes ?'—' The same.'—She
drew back her chair for a few paces, with a deep-drawn
sigh, in which disappointment and surprise seemed
strangely to mingle. ' Well, I have he'rd a great deal
about you, and I wanted to see -you bad for a long time ;
but you are only a humly person like myself after all.
Why I do think, if I had on my best gown and cap, I
should look a great deal younger and better than you.'—
I told her I had no doubt of the fact.—' And pray,' con-
tinued she, with the same provoking scrutiny, `how old
do you call yourself ?'—l told her my exact age.—
' Humph !' quoth she, as if she rather doubted my word,
two years younger nor me ! you look a great deal older
nor that: After a long pause and another searching gaze,
Do you call those teeth your own Yes,' said I, laugh-
ing ; for. I could retain my gravity no longer ; in the
very truest sense of the word they are mine, as God gave
them to me.'—' You are luckier than your neighbours,'
said she.—' But airn't you greatly troubled with head-
aches ?'—' No,' said I, rather startled at this fresh inter-
rogatory.—' My !' exclaimed she, I thought you must be,
your eyes are so sunk in your head. Well, well, so you
are Mrs. of Belleville, the woman that writes.
You are but a humly body after all:—While this curious
colloquy was going on, my poor Irish friend sat on thorns,
and tried, by throwing in a little judicious blarney, to
soften the thrusts of the home truths to which he had
unwittingly exposed me. Between every pause in the
conversation, he broke in with—' I am sure Mrs.
M--
is a fine-looking woman—a very young-looking woman
for her age. Any person might know at a glance that
those teeth were her own. They look too natural to be
false. —Mrs, Moodie's Life in the Clearing,.