The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-14 00:00:00

that as there are numerous Christian subjects of the
Sublime Porte who do not -belong to the Greek commu-
nion, their protector, where protection is needed, cannot
be the Czar ; and, fifth, that the semi-independent 3foldo-
Wallachians also disown the doctrines of the Russian
Church, and reject her protection."

" The Two Arnolds" is a well-tempered critique
on Poetry, with especial reference to the respective
productions of Matthew and Edwin Arnold.
" Count Sigismund's Will" is an entertaining
description of a French novel recently dramatised.
The article entitled " News from the Farm" is more
especially interesting to dwellers in Scotland, com-
menting as it does on the improvement of the dwel-
lings of the Scotch agricultural peasantry. Under
the head of " The Epidemics of the Middle Ages" we
have a review of a recently published German work,
by Dr. Hecker, descriptive of the Black Death, which
raged in the fourteenth century, the Dancing
Mania which afterwards broke out in Italy and
Germany, and the Sweating Sickness which had
its origin in England, but extended over the Con-
tinent. The Magazine concludes with an able
article on the new Reform Bill, upon which we
commented last week.

Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Liverpool, during the forty-first and
forty-second sessions. Liverpool : Deighton and

Laughton.
This, which is number seven of the published
proceedings of the Liverpool Literary and Philo-
sophical Society, is highly creditable to the institu-
tion from which it emanates. The papers contained
in it are varied in their subjects, and embrace
discussions on topics of much popular as well as
scientific interest. They are devoted in a large
degree to speculations on matters connected with
literature and the arts, but not to the exclusion of
those in which practical utility is combined with
those refining influences. Thus, while we have
interesting papers on architecture and architectural
criticism ; on the nature and tendencies of " fine
art ;" on philology and popular literature ; on
subjects which may be reckoned antiquarian, and
on others which may to some appear merely fanci-
ful; we have others of an eminently practical
character, and happily apposite to the locality, and
the pursuits most in unison with the interests of
Liverpool, and her eminently adventurous and
enterprising population. We find valuable essays
on " The Deviation of the Compass on board iron
steamers proceeding to the Southern Hemisphere ;"
on " The general character of the Storms which
pass over the British Isles ;" on " The His-
tory of Nautical Terms ;" on " The Fauna of
Liverpool ;" on " Time-balls and Sympathetic
Clocks ;" and on " The Teas and Coffees of Com-
merce." So wide a variety of subjects is highly
creditable to the industry and diversified talent of
the society, while their discussion cannot but be
productive of public good. In the consideration of
so many topics much study is involved, and
although that study may not result in the finished
graces of polished literature, or be conveyed to the
position, a vast amount of information is elicited ;
and any society which can bring so varied a range
ear in the most measured cadences of melodious coin-
of intellectual inquiry into a common focus, is one
which deserves well of the community, and of which
that community has just reason to be proud.

Two Papers on Church Music. By the Rev.
Augustus Campbell, A.M., Rector of Liverpool.
Liverpool : Deighton and Laughton.
These papers, which were read before the Liver-
pool Ecclesiastical Music Society, on the 29th of
November and the 30th of December last, were
received with the greatest fervour by attentive
and intelligent audiences. They were noticed
widely at the time of their delivery, and we are
glad to find them reprinted in a tasteful form.
The subject is one of deep importance and general
interest, and the Reverend Rector has brought to
bear on it a great amount of study and no small
degree of enthusiasm. His arguments in favour
of the cultivation of Church Music are well put and
are clearly illustrated.

Orr's Circle of the Sciences. Part 11. London

and Liverpool : W. S. Orr and Co.

The second part of this excellent repertory and
popular manual of practical science fully sustains
the reputation accorded to the first. In plan it is
comprehensive ; in execution, lucid and attractive ;
science, strict science is here displayed in a form as
winning as its elaboration is clear ; and in the
pages of this work the youthful mind is indoctri-
nated with the mysteries of physical knowledge
through familiar illustration, and by easy as well as
pleasing steps.

The Universal Library. No. 29. London :
Nathaniel Cooke.
The twenty-ninth number of this handsome and
cheap miscellaneous collection is devoted to the
" Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins," a ficti-
tious narrative, characterised by no less an autho-
rity than Southey as " a work of great genius."
Among youthful readers, at the commencement of
the present century, the story of Peter Wilkins
contested the palm of popularity with " Robinson
Crusoe ;" and although of late years its attractions
have ben overborne by the pretensions of many
inferior productions, it has still maintained a res-
pectable place in the literature of fiction. It is in
the present form handsomely got up, and published
at a cheap rate.
lfickl's Own Journal. London : Groombridge.
A Magazine especially devoted to the beauties
of nature must be welcome to many readers whose
tastes are not violated by the conventionalities of
artificial life, and Mr. Kidd has made his task so
evidently a labour of love, that he leaves scarcely
anything to be wished for. The number for March
contains many interesting articles, and much
valuable information on singing-birds, domestic
animals, and plants, while it is enlivened by
several pieces of poetry, all redolent of the charms
of nature and praises of the Great Author of all.

The Home Companion, an excellent repertory of
fireside reading.—Home Thoughts„ a pleasing mis-
cellany in which household duties, fireside amuse-
ments, and tasteful literature, are happily combined.
—The People's Magazine, Nos. 1 and 2. This is
a deserving candidate for popular favour ; it aims
at telling the truth, rather than courting popu-
larity.—The Ragged School Union ; a useful
chronicle of those really benevolent and interesting
institutions, in which the youth of the lower classes
are sought to be rescued from the thraldom of
ignorance and vice.—The Christian Family Advo-
cate; a zealous and generally discreet advocate of
Christian principles, and an inculcator of Christian
charity and duty.—The Band of Hope Review ;
a useful, as well as an ably-conducted periodical
which seeks to inculcate on the youthful mind the
value, and the moral and physical advantages to
be derived from temperance. The volume is ap-
propriately dedicated to the Earl of Shaftesbury,
by whom it is much commended.