The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-09 00:00:00

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

rocks's Musical Miscellany. London : R. Cocks.
An agreeable monthly publication, containing
several artieles on music and musicians, in addition
10 amusing anecdotes and pieces of music. The
number for August contains the " Song of the
34finer," by Biicken ; " Valse Melancolique," by
33reyshock, and the notes of some minor airs. An
oracle on the revived tragedy of Sardanapalus
shows that in the pronunciation the accent lies
upon the last syllable but one.

_Edmund Burke : being First Principles Selected
from his Writings. London : Routledge and Co.
The book before ns is excellent in idea, and the
vnblic is indebted for its appearance to the Rev.
Mobert Montgomery, M.A., the poet, who has pre-
fixed an introductory essay on the genius and life
fa Burke—that statesman who is generally ad-
lnitted to have been one of the greatest men of the
eighteenth century. Mr. Montgomery's essay is
ruefully
.and learnedly written, and conveys an

Excellent impression of the mental and religious
character of the British Cicero. We believe it has
Leen the selector's earnest wish that the " First
Trinciples” these pages so eloquently inculcate,
' may be transcribed in all their purity, loftiness,
tied truth into the reason and conscience of his
countrymen. And amonc, those for whose especial
guidance he ventures to think the profound wisdom
lof these pages to be invaluable, are the rising
statesmen and senators of the day, who are either
liming trained in our public schools, at the univer-
sities, or about to enter upon the difficult but in-
spiring arena of the House of Commons." The
work will be exceedingly useful to those who have
-snot the bulky volumes in which Burke's speeches
are contained; as well as to those who, with the
rower, may not possess the inclination to dive into
those magnificent orations--a rare string of extracts
irom which they will yet read with avidity.

3lacktvood's Magazine. Edinburgh: Blackwoods.
The number for August commences with a review
if the late Dr. Fereira's works, under the title of
The Narcotics we indulge in." It treats more
especially of Tobacco and Hops, the former being
an article so generally indulged in, to the great
jbenefit of the revenue, that a disquisition of its
merits and demerits must needs excite interest.
Chewing is considered the worst mode of imbibing
its narcotic qualities, taking snuff less injurious,
iiind smoking the -least. objectionable. With some
Constitutions it never agrees ; but our anthor and
Dr. Christisou, of Edinburgh, agree that "no
wen ascertained ill effects have been shown to
.13sult from the habitual practice of smoking."
40 South American travel and adventure " is an
amusing commentary on two books of travels by
Dr. Weddell and Mr. Theodore Pavia, who describe
Tern, Bolivia, and other parts of South America,
-which they visited, with considerable humour.
Napoleon and Sir Hudson Lowe " is a review of
31r. Forsyth's recently published " History of the
Captivity of Napoleon at St. Helena." This
revelation shows that the Ex-Emperor was any-
-thing but a great man under circumstances in
which true greatness of mind is displayed. He
grew peevish and restless, childish in trifles, and
ridiculous in his complaints, although his sympa-
thisers contrived to blacken the character of Sir
Hudson Lowe, which this work seems perfectly to
" New readings in Shakspere 'I is a some-
'what elaborate disquisition on the notes and emen-
dations published by Mr. Collier from the M.S.
Corrections discovered by him in a folio of 1632,
and the subsequent dissertations upon them. The
wniter, faking several plays seriatim, discusses the
Troposed emendations with much fairness, and
while he admits some of them to be improvements,
ihows that Mr. Collier, by his adoption of others,
is entitled to very little credit as a Shaksperian
commentator. The next paper gives an interesting
mount of " the Insurrection in China," from a
recently,,,, published work by two Frenchmen, M. M.
~
"'tut, erY and Yvan. The continuation of " Lady
Lee's Widowhood" presents an odd combination
of the serious and ludicrous, but considerably
advancing in the progress of the story. The
mumber
Concludes with an article on "the Marquis
de Laroche
Nuelin," or France in 1853, and
Blackwood jis this month without one of those
political essays for which it has acquired a well-
deserved celebrity. This, perhaps, is good taste,
leconsidering the season of the year, and it might
almost as well if newspapers could follow the
example.
Romance of Natural History ; or, old Scenes
.and Wild Hunters. By C. W. Webber.
London : Nelson and Sons.
The title of this handsome volume is one which, on
the whole,we rather like; it no doubt savours a good
deal of the ad captandum vulqus, but nevertheless
it is expressive, and calculated to arrest attention,
'which, in these mercenary days, must not be alto-
tether lost sight of, even in literary pursuits, far
"ss in publishing enterprise ; moreover, the title
rereallY significant of much that will be found
4•42°oTiune within the pages of the work. The
tis chiefly composed of anecdotes of natu-
ralists •
episodes in their lives, and
of adventurebrief narratives
in pursuit of
encountered by them
-theirvain°. n
interesting and exciting, though precarious
these, the following, illustrative of the
intercourse which took place between Audubon and
Alexander
Wilson, two of the most celebrated orni-
thologists the world has produced, although not
altogether new, will yet be read with interest. In
speaking of the great American naturalist, Mr.
Webber remarks

Axnunoies MODESTY.
it is not the least extraordinary characteristic of this
ml's unexampled career, that he should, until even late in
life, have been entirely unconscious of the powers he pos-
messed. Indeed, he repeatedly asserts that it was not until
pia meeting with Charles Lucien Bonaparte, on his visit
o Philadelphia, in 1824, that he had any thought what-
ever of publishing, or dreamed that he had been accom-
Idishing anything very extraordinary. Bonaparte was
astonished, in looking over his portfolios of drawings, and
exclaimed, in an irrepressible burst of admiration and
wonder at the simplicity of his unconsciousness : " Mr.
.Audubon, do you know that you are a great_man—a, very
teat man,—the greatest ornithologist in the world !"
It was this language that first filled him with the thought
of publishing, which, as we have seen, on his retirement
to the solitudes of the Hudson, became gradually nourished
5340 a purpose. But let us see the most touching instance
10f this unconsciousness in his own relation of the manner
ilvhis first interview with Wilson, the ornithologist. He
theed,, for two years in Louisville, Kentucky, which was
1,,,,";„ comparatively small town. He was engaged in
--a"4 as a merchant or trader, yet, nevertheless, he says :
Ira • AUDUBON AND WILSON.
-was era my residence at Louisville, much of my time
doted th Yed in my ever favourite pursuits. I drew and
coneetione habits of everything which I procured, and my
carried a waa daily augmenting, as every individual who
lie thongfir alsvays sent me such birds or quadrupeds as
already
con Jai ght prove useful to me. My portfolios
One fairuwmThed upwards of two hundred drawings.
entrance inte—oclrriing, I was surprised by the sudden
the celebrated %counting-room of Mr. Alexander Wilson,
whose existenc:
„thor of the " American Ornithology," of
vim", This hal had never until that moment been ap-
remember him PPetied in March 1810. How well do I
as he then walked up to me I His long
rather hooked nose, the keenness
of his eyes,.and his
imminent cheek--bones, stampe his countenance with a
.veculiar character. His dress, too was of a kind sot
'4-usually seen in that part of the eo'untry_, short coat,
itroagre) An 4 /IllistCoikt CS gray clytho