The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-02 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

TUE MoumoNrrEs.--The increase of Mormons during
the past year amounts to 600 to 800 from foreign coun-
tries, and 300 or 400 from the United States (principally
from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.)
Fifty or sixty missionaries arrived at St, Louis on the
22th ult., on their way to preach Mormonism in different
parts of the country.—American paper.
SINGULAR NUPTIALS.—At the Cork spring assizes of
1842, it will be remembered that an action of trim. con.
was tried, the parties being H—s v. P—e, when the
injured husband got a verdict of £2,000 from a jury of
his countrymen for the grievous injury he sustained. A
divorce was subsequently obtained in the House of Lords.
So far for this " course of true love," but " much re-
mains behind." The denouement of the affair is the
most curious part of the business. The bereaved hus-
band started for England some time since, and we are
credibly informed, has been re-married to his quondam
spouse, and received with her a fortune of £3,000!--
Cork Examiner.

STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE.—On Tuesday last the
workmen employed in erecting a new gallery in Harbo-
rough church, on making an opening in the massive
stone wall on the south side of the nave, to support the
beam of the gallery, discovered in the very centre of the
wall a pigeon's egg, quite entire. How it could have got
there is a matter not easily to be accounted for; and, as
that portion of the fabric does not appear to have been
disturbed since its erection many centuries ago, it pro-
bably was deposited there at that period, and has, by
being thus carefully excluded from the atmosphere, been
preserved uninjured through so many generations.—
Northampton Herald.

MR. FERRAND AND SIR JOHN WALSHAM.—Sir John
Walsham, the Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, has
published a correspondence between him and Mr. Fer-
rand, on the subject of a charge brought against the for-
mer gentleman, that he had drawn up a report on the
Keighley union, in June, 1812, " which had been proved
to be false," and that he had been sent down to that
union " previously to the debate of the 27th of June,
1842, for the special purpose of getting up a statement to
be used against him (Mr. Ferrand) in the House of Com-
mons." Sir John Walsham requires an explanation of
this charge, and Mr. Ferrand declines giving any, as the.
question is now one at issue between himself and Sir
James Graham—" with the chief, and not with the su-
bordinate." To this Sir John replies, " You are, of
course, perfectly at liberty to apprise me that in the exer-
cise of your discretion you must decline to answer these
questions. I shall then know bow to proceed. But Win
attacking a Secretary of State you think proper to intro-
'dace the name of so unimportant a person as myself, it is
not sufficient to tell me (in answer to my request for exact
information respecting the meaning which certain passages
relating to my conduct are intended by you to convey,)
that the question now at issue is between Sir James Gra-
ham and yourself. Permit me, moreover, to suggest to
you that antitheses, to be effective, should he appropriate:
1 have the greatest respect for Sir James Graham and
the high office he fills • but officially, he is not my chief,
nor is he responsible for any of my acts, as for those of a
subordinate. I owe my appointment to the Poor-law
Commissioners, and hold it at their pleasure!'
THE ORANGEMEN Or IRELAND.—A meeting of the
officers of the Monaghan Orange Society was held on
Tuesday last, Mr. Henry G. Johnston in the chair, at
which the following sensible and manly resolutions were
unanimously agreed to :

" Resolved,:—That, in accordance with the wishes of
our beloved Grand Master, conveyed in his address of
the 20th instant, as well as our own respect for the ex-
isting laws of the land, we, the Grand Orange Lodge,
and the Masters of Lodges in this county, have come to
the determination that there shall not be, on the part of
our Orange brethren, any procession, display of party
emblems, or exhibition, on the coming Ist or 12th of
July, tending: to a breach of the laws of the country, or
to the annoyance of our countrymen of any persuasion.
" That while we still hold in our hearts those principles
for which our fathers bled and ourselves have suffered,
our earnest desire is to uphold the law, and we, therefore,
give up usages endeared to us by the memory of the past
and our hopes of the future.
" That while we regret that any number of our coun-
trymen should have so forgotten their allegiance and
loyalty as to have joined an illegal conspiracy against the
State, the majestic vindication of justice, in the punish-
ment of those individuals, has increased our confidence
in our rulers, and in the powers of the common law for
thegeneral purposes of government.

. .
"-That we hereby pledge ourselves to the most devoted
loyalty to our beloved Queen, and to the constitution of
the realm ; and to the most determined hostility_ .to all
attempts to divide the empire by a repeal of the legisla-
tive Union, which we believe to be a sectarian effott to
exalt the church of Rome and its followers to power, by
the suppression of true religion, and the degradation of
the believers in God's Scriptures to a state of slavery."
THE CONVICTS BARBER AND FLETCHER.—The sub-
joined document, forming a declaration of the innocense
of Barber by his fellow convict Fletcher, has been sub-
mitted to us for publication by Mr. Braman, of Verulatn-
buildings, the solicitor on behalf of Barber in the late
trials. It appears to be a complete and apparently truth-
ful exculpation on behalf of Fletcher of his supposed par-
ticipation in the will forgeries and their attendant frauds ;
and is made at a time when disguise or falsehood would
be vain and additionally iniquitious. Barber and Fletcher
are now both on board the convict ship Agincourt, lying
off Woolwich, and will sail on Tuesday next for their de-
stination. The witness whose name is appended to the
paper, is, we believe, an officer of the convict vessel :

"June 28.
" I solemnly declare that, to the best of my knowledge and belief.
William Henry Barber had no guilty knowledge that the will of
Anne Slack was a forgery, or that it was otherwise than alegitimate
and proper matter of business. As such it was introduced by me to
him, as stated in my first examination at the Mansion-house. And
I further declare, that to my knowledge and belief he had no guilty
knowledge of either of the cases which have recently formed the
subject of indictment. I make this declaration with no other mo-
tive than to do an act of justice to Mr. Barber as far as lies in my
power.

"JOSHUA FLETCHER.
(Witness) " MATTHEW HALL CUTTRISS."

A FEMALE DUEL.—A rich and novel scene came off
in the neighbourhood of Bayo Bridge, New Orleans, 30th
ult., between Catharine Rouch and Eliza Annis, who met
for mortal combat. As in the recent duels at Vicksburg,
where thousanJs gathered to see fair play and bet on the
result, so at,Bayo Bridge a large crowd met to see which
of the frail fair ones would first bite the dust. But the
" in such matters were doomed to disappoint-
ment ; after a few passes, when the " sport" was about
to begin in earnest, the police interfered and carried off
the combatants. We have reason to believe that this act
of the.police officers was denounced by the bystanders as
"a cowardly outrage," which they would not dare to
perpetrate upon two of their own sex similarly engaged.--
Netv York Sun, June 15.

MULLED ALE.--;•Nry teakettle, half filled with the ale,'
was soon heating over the fire, whilst eggs, and honey,.
and butter, in another vessel. were being mixed together
for the manufacture of a certain beverage that Wellata
Gabriel protested was to be a cure for my fever; whilst
Walderheros, to expel the " saroitsh' " that I understood
had already taken possession of his hips and shoulders,
drew from its hiding place his clumsy pipe. In the folds
of his mekanet, he soon found some tobacco ; and break-
ing the hard cake in which it is dried into smaller pieces,
charged the slightly-excavated stone bowl, upon the top of"
which a glowing piece of charcoal was placed; and conso-
lation and comfort, in vast clouds, soon spread through
the close apartment. The " moack," or egged ale, \Val-
' lata Gabriel now prepared for me, was a drink fit for the
entertainment of the gods, when, in the good old times,
they made Abyssinia an annual visit, and from whom the
knowledge of it must have been first derived. It consisted
of two or three drink ing- hornsful of strong tallah, as many
eggs, and two large spoonsful of honey for each horn of
beer. A little butter was added when the mixture was
boiling over the fire : that which, however, gave to it its
pleasantest flavour was a small portion of a warm spice
called korareema, a large kind of coriander, one inch and
a half long, which is brought from Gurague, and the spice
country to the south. They are brought into Shoa by
priests travelling to Gondah, the only individuals that can
traverse in safety the different Galla tribes to the south of
the Ilawash, between their country and Shea. Forty of
these korareema, threaded upon a strong hempen string,
may be purchased in Aliu Aruba for an ahmulah ; and in
aromatic flavour are equal, I think, to the best nutmeg
or cloVes. DrUnk warm, this " moack" was an excellent
cordial ; and I very soon got into the habit of concluding
very pleasantly, by its assistance, many very uncomforta-
ble days, either from circumstances or ill health.—John-
stone's Travels in Abyssinia.
WHY IS A GARDENER THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY'.
MAN IN THE WORLD?—Because no man has more busi-
ness on earth—he always likes to haVe good ground for
what he does; he is -master of his own thyme, is blessed
with content, and can give balM to the afflicted; he raises
his celery every year, without being obliged to the penny-
royal; he is master of the mint, and it is a bad year in-
deed that does not bring him a plum ; he is a great friend
to. the Marriage Act, because his great delight is to see a
multitude of pears; he meets with more boughs than the
minister of states; he has even the Su/t,41 in his power,
and is superior to the sages; he is every day cultivating
and enriching his parts, and he is a great encourager of
cockscombs, vet he himself has such a perfect contempt
fur dress, that his wig is often a perfect scarecrow; he
makes more beds than the King of France, and has in
them more genuine roses and lilies than are to he found
in that distinguished court ; his nursery is fuller than the
foundling hospital, though it is liable to an odd accident,
for'it may sometimes be reduced to ashes, without being
burned down, and water will not prevent it, but shrub •
may, of this he has great quantities, which many of the
nobility purchase of him, thqugh it is well known they
could never make a dreip of punch of any shrub which he
sold ttteni .• lie mikes raking his business more than his
diversion, and it is conducive to his health and fortune;
he walks the better for the gravel, and thrives most in a
cnoenyesnrin!,9 pstt aiPn ; he inoculates with certainty of success, and
suckling by cutting of teeth, there never was
an instance of sore throat or fever infecting his nursery;
he makes no use of James's 'powders ; but has great quan-'
tit e§ of bark; he keeps the devil in a bush, and has been
oftcu in •private with a Monkshood, without lever being
suspected of, inclining more to that than the Turk's cap, •
and though be delights in the crown imperial, yet 'be
brings more bon chreliens to perfection than any popish
confessor; he is remarkable for his hcnesly, and deals
much in the admirable, and it is no wonder that the man
who' reaches the Slar of Bethlehem, should have the
Marvel r Peru ; his favourites are beauties of the most
distig,uishA kinds, with eye-brights, cowslips, and the
telon venus ; and though he enjoys all these, and many
others by turns, in high bloom, his wife has heartsease
enough; and never wishes for Weeds, in short he can boast
of snore bleeding hearts than your ladyship, and of more
laurels than the Duke of Marlborough, but his greatest
pride, and the world's greatest envy is, that he can have
yew when he pleases.

7`ll t C rattirc.

POETRY.

TIIE RAINBOW.

Schones Kind der Sonne
Bunter Regenbogen."—fiEnnnß

Bow of the clouds ! Fair daughter of the sun
Bright arc of heaven of ever-varying hue !
Above those threatening clon s I view thy throne,
And hail an image of bright hope in you I

In thousand varying colours now appears
The br'ken sunbeams' bright and glancing ray,
Wrapped in a veil of gently falling tears
Where those dark clouds are softening into grey

And far and wide thy noble arch's span
Is stretching, till rem iter distance shroud;
And on the horizon's distant verge we scan
Thy stable pillars on the driving cloud.

Alas I alas ! too short thine empire reigns—
Dim, pale, and changed, thy colours swiftly fade;
Of these bright pillars nothing now remains
Save one bright cloud fast meling into shade.

But lo ! once more we hail a calmer sky:
The vault of heaven assumes its azure hue,
The sun shines forth in all its majesty,
And the moist meads exhal2 their fragrant dew!

Away ! away ! aye perish every one
Fair floating visions seen in youthful dreams
Away ! away ! but let the noontide sun
Rise on my soul, and bathe me in its beams

Bright hues of hope ! all I-vely though ye he,
Still are ye but the broken sunbeam's ray.
Children of tears ! to Trot I turn from ye.
And hail in her the sunlight of our days !

NOTICES.

Remedies suggested for the Perils of the Nation. Lon-
don: Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, 1844.
SECOND NOTICE.]
In a former.notice of this excellent work we remarked
briefly upon its general plan and object; aid, in accord-
ance with our promise, we now propose bringing before
our readers, in detail, some of the remedies which the
writer purposes to apply to the evils which now press
upon our social fabric. At the head of these is a RETURN
TO SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES as the true basis of legisla-
tion and regulator of our conduct as citizens one towards
another. . . .

" The root and parent stock"—the author maintains—
" of all effectual remedies must be the exaltation of God's
word to its rightful place of authority in all human
affairs. From this it has been too long cast down. The
most opposite and conflicting parties have agreed in this
one practical falsehood. In the high places of the realm,
in the houses of legislation, even a man of Mr. Wilber-
force's peculiar personal influence could scarcely venturean
allusion to God's own word without danger of personal
insult. On all sides ' they snuffed at it ;' and the custo-
mary feeling of the house was, " Who is the Lord, that
we should obey him ?' "
But, independent of this irreverence of feeling and con-
duct,
a more fatal and practical result of the neglect of
scriptural principles in legislation was the character of
the philosophy, sanctioned by even high and reverend
names, which seized fast hold of the mind of the nation.
Wealth, national and individual, was the idol which that
philosophy set up—wealth as contradistinguished from the
morals or the happiness of the people. Capital was to be
protected at all hazards—to be permitted to feed upon the
vitals of our industrious population ; whilst lab )ur was
only to be regarded as something subsidiary, by the op-
pression of which masses of wealth were to be drawn to-
gether. Our poor were told that they should be thrown
back upon their own resources, deprived of the support
which, under a beneficial law, had been afforded them by
property ' • and the monstrous proposition was even ha-
zarded that they had the remedy for their distress and a
sure recipe for bringing about a state of prosperity, within
their own reach, by abstaining from marriage i ! The
whole of the legislation of past years, with a few excep-
tions, such as the bill of Lord Ashley for regulating labour
in the mines of Great Britain, has been tainted by this
spirit of mammon ; and no principle is, at this moment,
more distinctly recognized in parliament than this :—that
the interests of humanity, the dictates of Christian cha-
rity, the moral and religious welfare of the people must
all give way and be sacrificed when their proper obser-
vance and advancement interfere with the operations of
capital and the gripings of the usurer.
In accordance with these principles we have remodelled
our poor laws and erected in the land a tyranny which
threatens us, as its results, with disaffection, wide spread
and deeply seated; we have refused to strike the chains
from off the limbs of hundreds of thousands of children in
our factories ; we have gone on, year by year, encroach-
ing, by inclosure bills and other devices, upon the rights
of common enjoyed by our industrious agricultural popu-
lation ; we have, by precept and example, encouraged the
system of large farms, the "laying of field to field," by
which thousands of our yeomanry have been dispossessed
of their holdings and driven back into the class of labour-
ers ; and we have congregated in our large towns toiling
masses, immersed in compulsory ignorance and vice,
whom a week's deprivation of employment might at any
time plunge into outrage and bloodshed or drag down into
the horrors of starvation.
_ _ _

Having purged ourselves, in the first instance, of our
slavish recognition of this fatal philosophy, and embraced
as our guide in legislation the precepts of that code of true
-Wisdom which enjoins upon us humanity and charity to-
wards our suffering brother worms rather than the indul-
gence of our selfish love of accumulation, the writer pro-
ceeds to point out as the next step in our curative process
the necessity of
ORGANIZATION—CHURCH EXTENSION—EDUCATION.
The first of these, a better organization of our popula-
tion into smaller masses carable of being better handled
legislatively than in its present imperfect division into un-
wieldy parishes, is urged as desirable, in order to forward
the application of the remedial powers of church exten-
sion and education. By the division of the country into
parishes containing, say 2,000 souls, it is contended that
the wants of all could be more perfectly arrived at, and
the necessity of churches and schools be more conclu,ively
made manifest. " The minister of a parish of 2,000 or
3,000 may know something of his people individually; but
what pastor can profess, or even hope, for the least per-
sonal knowledge of such parishes as Shoreditch or Spital-
fields ?" And such personal knowledge is desirable to
enable us to wield either church extension or a well regu-
lated system of education to real advantage. " Divide
the whole kingdom into parishes of proper size—none
exceeding 2,000 or 3,000 in population—and the first step
is really and rightly taken. Church extension then comes
in, in its just and proper place, and with it, lawful and
unanswerable demand. Here are so many hundred or
thousand parishes, in each of which there is no church
and no school.' We should know at a glance the real
state of the case, and the whole cost of supplying the de-
ficiency. The minister who would thus grapple with the
question, even if he went no further than to ascertain and
exhibit the want, would deserve the gratitude (A his coun-
try:,,
. . .

And more especially is this the case with respect to the
efficient working of a system of government education.
" No parish of a proper size—i.e., trim 2,000 to 3,000 in-
habitants, can be considered to be pi operlv provided until
it possesses a schoolmaster for boys, a schoolmistress for
girls, and a third teacher (master or mistress) for infants.
These three instructors will need an annual outlay of £2OO
a year. How many parishes of 2,000 or 3,000 people are
there in which it is easy to raise by voluntary subscrip-
tions, &c., this £2OO a year? How many are there in
which even £lOO per annum could he regularly obtain-
ed?'' In all countries, almost, except in England, such
a provision, or some provision, for the education of the
people is made by the government. Prussia establishes
schools, and calls upon all children to attend them. Ame-
rica empowers her parishes to assess themselves for the
maintenance of such schools. In England we leave the
matter wholly neglected, except so far as we can benefit
by voluntary efforts.
But the quality, equally with the quantity, of the edu-
cation which we thus dole forth to our population is mi-
serably deficient. Of one of our chief manufacturing
towns, an eminent government inspector (the Hon. and
Rev. B. W. Noel) reports, that, in the first classes of the
schools he visited, he received such answers as these :
"Q. Who was the eldest son of Adam 7—A. Abraham.
" Q. What is a Levite ?—A. Gethsemane.
" Q. Who wrote the Bible 7—A.—Moses.
"Q. Who were the Pharisees ?—A. Publicans.

Q. What was the chief city of the Romans '—A. Jerusalem.
"Q. What is Liverpool?—A. An island.
"Q. What city did Jesus live in ?—A. Egypt.
" Q. What country was Nazareth in ?—A. Bethlehem.
'"Q. Of what religion was Paul before he was a Christian ?—A.
Roman Catholic. . _ .

~"Q, What other countries are there in Europe besides England?
A. America, Asia."

Nor is this a singular case, but one which is equally com-
mon in the agricultural districts, where the opportunities
afforded for education are greater, and the time devoted
to it more continuous. And in addition to this, where
education has been administered upon a system leading
to more decided results, so far as the acquisition of merely
secular knowledge goes, its effects have been rather to
produce disaffection and crime than good moral conduct
and social improvement. Thus our author reminds us
that—

" The progress of crime in these kingdoms during the last twenty
years, has been appalling. The committals in England in 1820,
were 13,710, in 1838 they were 23,024. In Scotland they were, in
1820, 1486; in 1838, 3418. And during all these years the greatest
efforts were making to increase the means of education, and of in-
tellectual improvement, for the working classes. Besides the na-
tional schools, of whose imperfections we have already spoken,
divers efforts have been made by the advocates of what is called
" useful knowledge," to give to the poor a " non-sectarian education."
But " experience has now proved that the mere education of the
Poorer classes, without any care of their religious principles, has
badralix sensible. effect in counteracting the influence of these demo-
deircumstances, or preventing, by the extension of know-
mental resources, the growth of human depravity. This
is know-
ledge
demonstratedn
it could be safely as clearly as that two and two make four: happy if
education has said that the influence of such merely scientific
only been negative, and that it has not positively
added to the sum total of general wickedness."
From all these considerations, it is contended that " we
must claim to have uorrpatrshes so divided, that neither
the boys', the girls', infants' school, which are
requisite in each, shall containe more than one hundred
scholars. Then, and only then, maanyd we hope to have
each child known, and followed, rdecognised, and
cared for; and their hearts engaged, an
sopmeremoaftnhteliyr
souls saved, and most of their characters permanently
ameliorated."
Here for the present we must pause, first giving the
general conclusions of the able writer upon the subject
under consideration :
" That, for the safety and well being of the whole community, it
is absolutely necessary that its paroch•al organization be frequently
reviewed ; and placed from time to time, in a correct and efficient
condition
" That if, by such reorganization, di3tricts are brought to light
which are destitute of the means of instruction, mental, moral, or

religious,—it is the duty of the legislature and executive to take im-
mediate measures for the supply of such deficiency :
"That a mere learning to read is not education ; but is only con-
ferring a power more likely to be used for evil purposes than for
good:
" That a bare passage through certain. Scripture lessons, or
through the Church Catechism, is not a religious education ; nor
can such teachinL be expected to exert any ben,ficial influence on
the bulk of the children submitted to it
" That it sliounl be the endeavour of the government, by calling
in the counsel of the best teachers of youth that the kingdom can
furnish, to devise sonic system, thoroughly Christian, by which the
children of the poor may be efficiently educated, in the true sense of
the word; and thus fitted t> become useful members of society.
" And, lastly, that such a system, when devised, should be made,
as soon and as extensively as possible, an institution of the state;
in such sort, as that all parishes, willing to avail themselves of it,
might do so, by a vote of public vestry, with all the efficiency de •
rived from an authorized local assessment.'

Blackwood's Magazine for July.
'We have not yet had leisure to peruse the whole of the
present number, but may venture, from what we have
read of it, to pronounce it to be one of the best that has
yet appeared, whether as regards articles of national irn•
port and sound political disquisition, or the variety and
talent of the literary productions inter,Tersed throughout
its pages. In the first article, on " The Causes of the
Increase of Crime," the writer gives on data that scarcely
admit of a question, a comprehensive view of the greater
demoralization of our manufacturing and mining po-
pulation as compared with the working classes in the rural
districts, and points out what he conceives would be
found remedial. "The Memorandums of a Month's
Tour in Sicily" are written in a clever sketching style,
and convey interesting pictures of that island, its scenery,
principal towns, (especially Palermo and Messina,) the
manners of the inhabitants, &c. " The Last of the
Knights" is a pleasing combination of history and ro-
mance. " Sketch in New York, or My First Love" is a
tale illustrative of female character in that city. The Tradi-
tions of Upper Lusatia" are continued with unahating
interest, and contain some curious legends of the King-
dom of Elves. There is an able and highly interesting
paper entitled " Portugal," being a review of Memoirs
of the Marquis of Pombal, by J. Smith, Esq.," an intel-
ligent historical work, in which the character of that cele-
brated minister who immortalized himself by the expul-
sion of the Jesuits, is placed in its true light. The account
of the plot against the life of the king, Don Joseph, and
the execution of the titled ringleaders, will be read with
painful interest. " Marston, or the Memoirs of a States-
man" is continued with undiminished vigour and mass of
incident. "The Week of an Emperor" describes the re-
cent movements of the great autocrat of all the Russians,
when he visited the court of Victoria. The numbr also
contains some pod poetical pieces. including a series of
translations of the most select " Poems and Ballads of
Goethe." We shall give some extracts in our next pub-
lication.

The Bowler's Pocket Companion. James and Wood-
burn, South Gistle-street, Liverpool.
This is a handsome little book, containing " Rules for
the Game of Bowls," by our townsman Mr. James Mar-
shall. The writer truly says in his introduction, "it has
been admitted in all ages, that, for the preservation of
health, man requires recreation. lo those, then, who are
closely confined or engaged in sedentary employments,
the noble and manly game of bowls claims pre-eminence
over all amusements, having been justly ranked, by gen-
tlemen high in professional reputation, superior to every
other—bringing into action the physical powers of the
players, without the distressing effects produced by more
energetic games." After some remarks on the necessity
of abiding by rules, in order fully to enjoy this animating
and scientific diversion, he proceeds to explain all the
technical terms employed, and under thirty-two distinct
heads furnishes a complete manual of the laws as adhered
to by the best players. We are not ourselves versed or
practised in the game, though we can enjoy as much as
any one, on a summer evening, a view of the green when
enlivened by anxious and (always) good-humoured play-
er; but we have shown the neat production to several
crack bowlers, and they concur in pronouncing it to be an
accurate and concise digest of the law-,—so simple, too,
that they may be readily comprehended and acted upon
for all practical puri.oses, to the avoidance of the slightest
dispute. No young bowler, or keeper of a green, should
be without this neat little book, which may be kept even
in a corner of the pocket, and the price of which is a
comparative trifle.

Knight's Weekly Volume for all Readers. London :
Charles Knight and Co.
Nye have perused with great pleasure—and we may add
no little profit—the first volume of this new library of
cheap entertaining and instructive literature, and have no
hesitation in stating that if those that succeed it be got up
with equal care and talent, the work will become highly
and deservedly popular. It is a small, but thick, and
well-printed duodecimo, illustrated with wood-cuts, and
containing no fewer than 240 pages of well digested mat-
ter—all for the small price of one shilling! This volume
is entirely occupied by a Biography, written by Mr. C.
Knight, of William Caxton, a translator of many curious
and esteemed works of foreign authors, and finally the
Father of the Art of Printing in England—the first book
printed in the English language having been his own
translation of the " Histories of Troy," of which he was
also the typographist, after attaining the invaluable science
on the continent, at the request of his patroness Mar-
garet, the " dreadful" Duchess of Burgundy. The vo-
lume opens with a prefatory article from the Penny Ma-
gazine of May last. on the advantages of cheap literature
and lending libraries, in which the writer, after noticing
the several weekly and other miscellanies of the day—the
Family Library, the Library of Entertaining Know-
ledge, the Penny Cyclopcedia, &c., &c., remarks :—" We
have as many modern reprints of standard works, as we
could desire; but they are mostly close-printed pamphlets,
which are easily destroyed ; their form unfits them for
circulation from hand to hand. There is a general desire
to form libraries for all readers—not only libraries of
reference, but extensive libraries of circulation. In every I
case there is a difficulty in the choice of fitting books,
whether we regard the subject matter, or the form and
price. It is hoped that the difficulty may be obviated
by the publication of Knight's Weekly Volume,"—and so
we trust it will. The publishers propose "to place within
the reach of all readers a series of books which shall com-
prehend that range of literature which well educated
versons desire to have at their command," and to offer
" the recreation of genial and amusing reading in connec-
tion with shat is solid and serious." For this purpose
they will avail themselves of many valuable copyrights
in their possession, make "judicious compilations of
translations from foreign works, and of original produc-
tions by authors of ability ;" and as they are also offered
the assistance of writers of established reputation, they
will have no want of materials to conduct the under-
taking steadily and extensively. Each volume," they
add, "will be essentially a book—not a tract—a book
for the pocket and the library : many of the volumes will
be complete in themselves, and some subjects will extend
to two or more volumes. They subjoin a few useful
rules for the regulation of book clubs for all readers.
r- Knight has accomplished his task in a manner that
evinces his perfect ability to write or compile for, as well
as to edit such a work. The " Biography" is exceed-
ingly interesting, and curious,—supplying the most promi-
nent passages in the life of Caxton, from his birth in the
Weald of Kent to the time of his death—his being a mer-
cer's apprentice; afterwards a mercer; his sojourn at the
court of Burgundy, Cologne, &c. ; his acquirement of
the trade ; and his press at Westminster, and his
" work" in printing to the end. The concluding chap-
ter. entitled `• The Chapel," is a supposed conversation
between Wynlcyn de Worde, the successor of Caxton in
the printing office, and his " companions," in which the
advancement of the art is predicted, and is welt and hu-
monrously conceived. There is a " Postscript" showing
the progress of the press in England from Caxton's first
work, in 1471, to the year 1813. The titles of the works
printed by the father of English printing—in all s'xty-
tour in number—are here given—together with a variety
of other information. We give a few extracts elsewhere.

The Library of Travel. Chapman and Hall; Strand,
London.
The third part of this well-edited and " popular de-
scription of foreign countries" is just received ; and from
what we have yet been enabled to peruse of it, we may
safely state that it continues to increase in interest, and,
we may add, in the solidity and importance of the in-
formation it contains. The present number is a further
continuation of " Syria and the Holy Land," including
vivid descriptions of Damascus, its scenery, buildings,
customs and manners of the inhabitants, &c. ; also, of
Palmyra, Baalbec, the route from Latakiah to Antackiah,
&c., the whole interspersed with the most lively personal
adventure and anecdote, together with graphic delineations
of scenery and sights. The woodcut illustrations are also
numerous throughout, and well executed. Many of them
are splendid views of the most picturesque scenery in
these interesting countries. We shall give some extracts
in our next publication.

How to dance the Polka, Scc. London : Hugh Cun-
ningham, Strand.
We have received a small, elegantly-got-up, little
work, entitled " How to dance the Polka, and all the
Quadrilles, German Waltzes, Highland Reels, &c., &c.
' Der Polka,' after the method of M. Coulon ; the music
by M. M. Jullien," &C. It appears to us to be a complete
mullum in parvo, explaining with brevity and precision
the steps and figures of these most fashionable dances of
the day, so that the reader who has but a slight previous
knowledge of the art may, by adopting the method en-
joined for self-tuition, readily become adept in their se-
veral graceful movements. We have, first, the origin and
history of the Hungarian " Polka," th rules how to
accomplish it; next, instructions for each figure in the
quadrilles—the " Lancers," " Caledonians, " Galo-
pade," " Renaiseance," and " Finales;" " Prince Al-
bert's favourite Contre Danse," the "Waltz," the
" Scotch Reel," and the " Cosaque Polonaise," with the
terms peculiar to the Polka, quadrilles, waltzes, &c. Some
agreeable anecdotes of the extraordinary effect of the
Polka on the public mind, on the Continent, and latterly
in England, are also given ; and the book, though in good
large type, is so neat and portable that it may be carried
in a card case, or in the waistcoat pocket.