The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-08 00:00:00

CHARACTER OP THE ARABS.

There is a curious mixture of noble pride and vulgar
avarice to be found in the Arab, which is at first quite
incomprehensible to the European. Their free, noble
bearing and imperturbable repose appear to express
nothing but a proud sense of honour ; balanced, however,
against the smallest gain of money, it melts away like wax
before the sun, and the most contemptuous treatment is
not taken into consideration, but is borne with the most
crouching servility where money is in question. We
might, at first, imagine one of these two natures to be
hypocrisy, or dissimulation ; but the contradiction returns
too often in all forms, both great and small, not to lead to
the conviction that it is characteristic of the Arab, if not
of the entire East. Even as early as in the days of the
Romans, the Egyptians had so far degenerated that Am-
mianus Marcellinus could say of them, " He among them
blushes, who cannot show many strokes upon his body,
for non-payment of tribute ;" and in the same manner
the fellah to-day points, with a contented smile, to his
scars as soon as the tax-gatherer has withdrawn, who, in
spite of his instruments of torture, has been curtailed of
a few piastres.

This work, by the learned Prussian doctor, not
only throws much light upon the antiquities of
Egypt, but it likewise conveys important informa-
tion relative to the geographical position and
peculiarities of the peninsula of Sinai, and contains
reflections deduced from observation on several of
the most interesting events of Jewish history,
particularly those connected with the Exodus of
that remarkable people. The volume, which has
been skilfully and cleverly translated by two ladies,
Leonora and Joanna B. Horner, daughters, we
believe, of Mr. Leonard Horner, already referred
to, is illustrated by several maps and pictorial
illustrations, and is altogether a valuable accession
to Mr. Bohn's Antiquarian Library, of which it
forms a portion.

The Public and Domestic Life of the _Right Hon.
Edmund Burke. _By Peter Burke, Esq. Lon-

don : Ingram, Cooke and Co.
This volume, a very elegant one by the bye, is
intended to supply a deficiency in English bio-
graphical literature, by furnishing a clear and
continuous memoir of Edmund Burke, hitherto a
desideratum so far as the general reader is con-
cerned. Memoirs of the great statesman and
transcendant orator are no doubt numerous enough;
but these are generally confined to his political
movements and associations, conveying little know-
ledge of his private character, and almost no infor-
mation relative to his domestic life and history. In
the present memoir these latter considerations
form a prominent and interesting part, which is
elaborated with skill as well as tact. As in the
other biographies of Burke, a considerable portion
of this one is also devoted to a consideration of the
probable share, or entire claim he tad in the author-
ship of the mysterious " Letters of Junius," a
politico-literary enigma which seems to have no
great chance of a satisfactory solution. One re-
mark of the present biographer connected
it is
subject is worthy of notice, although brief; is
simply "curious enough, nearly every one charged
with being Junius was really an intimate of
Burke's," a circumstance in itself no doubt re-
markable, and one which, in this memoir, is made,
to some extent, corroborative of the suspicion that
Burke was in reality connected with the author-
ship of the letters. Among the valuable sayings of
Burke quoted in the volume before us, is part of a
speech delivered in the House of Commons, de-
scriptive of the patch-work Cabinet of Lord
Chatham. How applicable is it to the Mosaic
ministerial array which now marshals under the
banner of the Earl of Aberdeen P The description
by Burke is as follows, and may be entitled—

A PRIME MINISTER AND HIS HETEROGENEOUS AIDS.
I am afraid to flatter him ; I am sure I am not disposed
to blame him. Let those who have betrayed him by their
adulation, insult him by their malevolence. But what I
do not presume to censure, I may have leave to lament.
For a wise man, he seemed to me, at that time, to be
governed too much by general maxims. I speak with the
freedom of history, and I hope without offence. One or
two of these maxims, flowing from an opinion not the
most indulgent to our unhappy species, and surely a little
too general, led him into measures that were greatly mis-
chievous to himself, and for that reason, among others,
perhaps fatal to his country—measures, the effects of
which, I am afraid, are for ever incurable. He made an
administration, so chequered and speckled ; he put to-
gether a piece ofjoinery: so crossly Indented and whimsi-
cally dovetailed; a cabinet so variously inlaid; such a
piece of diversified mosaic ; such a tesselated pavement
without cement, here a bit of hlacketone, and there a bit

of white; patriots and courtiers, king's friends and re-
publicans, Whigs and Tories, treacherous friends and
open enemies, that it was indeed a curious show, but
utterly unsafe to touch, and unsure to stand on. The
colleagues whom he had assorted at the same boards
stared at each other, and were obliged to ask—" Sir, your
name ?"—" Sir, you have the advantage of me."—" Mr.
Such-a-one, I beg a thousand pardons." I venture to say
it did so happen, that persons had a single office divided
between them who had never spoke to each other in their
lives, until they found themselves, they knew not how,
pigging together, heads and points, in the same truckle-bed.

Could the present ill-assorted boards be more
appositely described, or their peculiarities of non-
agreement more felicitously hit off? The biogra-
phy contains numerous instances happily illustra-
tive of Burke's social habits and disposition ; yet,
on the whole, it is, like most of its predecessors,
chiefly filled by illustrations of his public life,
clearly showing that, however interesting in itself
may be the quiet domestic life of a public man,
home, the temple and sanctuary of domestic exis-
tence and delight, must yield the palm to those more
striking displays which fill the eye and ear of a
great people. The volume before us, which is both
cheap and beautiful, as well as interesting and
well-written, is profusely embellished with portraits
of Burke's contemporaries, and with views of
scenes and localities in which he dwelt or took an
active interest. It is a book replete with amuse-
ment of a high order, and full of instruction.

The Rhine. By Victor Hugo. To which is added
A Guide for Tourists on the Rhine. London :
Ingram, Cooke, and Co.

In this little and cheap volume, which is pro-
fusely illustrated by clever wood engravings, the
Rhine is invested with all that intensity of romantic
and historical interest which the enthusiasm and
skill of so great an adept in romantic art as Victor
Hugo could bring to bear on its traditions and its
physical beauties and peculiarities. Added to M.
Victor Hugo's work is a brief " Tourist's Guide"
to the Rhine, in five chapters ; this will prove a
useful, as the preceding will prove an exciting,
portion of the work.

SERIALS.—The Lover's Magazine, No. 1, a
well-intentioned advocate of the law of kindness.
-The Protestant Magazine, No. 179, a zealous
and unflinching supporter of Protestant truth.
The Bulwark, No. 29, a keen and able expositor
of popish intolerance and trickery.-The Ragged
School Union Magazine, No. 58, a useful collection
of facts and speculations connected with the opera-
tions and purposes of ragged schools.-The
Christian Family Advocate, No. 17, a miscellany
devoted to the combination of religious feeling with
secular business and amusement. The People's
Magazine, and the Working Man's Friend, No.
1. The working man has now so many friends,
that we suspect his capabilities of selection to be
greatly overtaxed in determining his choice. This
new friend professes to give counsel which shall
improve the working man as an inhabitant of this
world and an heir of eternity.