The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-03 00:00:00

LITISRARY NOTICES.

Hints for Pedestrians, practical and medical, by Medi-
cus,Simpkin,
wills illustrations. London: Marshall,
and Co. ; and Tegg. Edinburgh : Black. Dublin :
Curry. Liverpool: Grapel.
The excellent little work before us, having originally
appeared in our columns, we are, in ordinary modesty,
prohibited from speaking of it so flatteringly as we could
have wished, and as its real merits deserve. To those
however of our readers, who have only perused it hitherto
in its disjointed parts, as a newspaper contribution, we
must in all truth and sincerity recommend a perusal of
the whole in its present collected shape. To the pedes-
trian, especially, we can give our assurance that such a
perusal, and the treasuring up of many a valuable hint, medi-
cal as well as practical, which it affords, will afford benefit,
comfort, and the source of pleasure, in the pursuit of that
healthful exercise, by which body and mind are alike
recreated and refreshed. An ordinary road book this is
not. A dry medical thesis it is not. The practical
philosopher, the medical adviser, the poet, the man of
taste, and the lover of nature in her purest forms and h-r
beauty are combined in our " Medicos." From the cut-
ting of a corn to the cut of a shoe or a coat ; from the
most insignificant detail of pedestrianism to tnat n3ore
valuable philosophy which draws the mind of the world-
wearied and care-laden _ _

—" From nature up to nature's God."
we are rendered au fait by this valuable little brochure.
A vast fund of information is opened to us—some of it
not of every day access—some of it the fruit of extensive
research—all of it indicative of good taste, arid a pure
and virtuous heart. As a medical work, we are not, of
course, competent to express our opinion of it. That
portion of it we leave to the criticism of the medical
press. Of the value of its practical hints, however, we
have already had some little experience ; and we can con-
fidently say that they will be found conducive to the
health and comfort of every pedestrian who may be in-
duced to act upon them, and of some who can scarcely
aspire to such a title.
The work is neatly got up, and the illustrations most
pertinent and graphic. To those of our readers who are
labouring under those impediments to locomotion—
corns—we can especially recommend it. The ridding of
a man's fe:t of these pests, which our Doctor enables us
to effect, is worth a hundred times the value of his
" hints for pedestrians" or all the works, medical or
otherwise, which any disciple of Esculapius ever perpe-
trated. •

The Test : a Collection of Poems and Minor Pieces. By
rtonert lawns JacKson. Liverpool : Henry Ferns,
Church-street.

In this age of utilitarianism, when the utile is every-
where preferred to the dulce, and every critical blockhead
aspires to be superior to Apollo and more tuneful than the
Muses, and deems arithmetic more interesting than all
the polite arts, he is a bold man who puts his name to the
foot of a stanza, and a desperate man who publishes a
volume. The author of the unpretending liltle work be -
fore us has dared the worst of the dangers incident to
versemongcrs. He has written and published too; and,
in the dearth of rood for the critical man, has been as
handsomely pulled to pieces as need be. Poet or not
poet, Mr. Jackson's modest tribute has been mauled
in proportion to the inveteracy of his political cen-
sors (for he happens to be of conservative principles)
and the dulness and stupidity of the various scribblers who
have anatomised his little volume. Men live, however,
after heing laughed at. Poets have their revenge in after
days over their stuoid traducers. And the author of " the
Test" can afford to smile at the stilted sillinesses and
envious malignity of the twaddling people who have done
" All that things so insignificant could,"
to sneer him, or to crush him into silence.
And now to our own opinion of Mr. Jackson's little
volume. We would not wish him to believe tnat he is a
poet likely to startle out of its propriety this dull unpoe-
tic age. He is wanting in many of the qualities of the
true poet. He wants fire, and brilliancy of language and
conception. Somewhat, too, of the mechanical part of
the poet's trade he wants. But throughout the whole of
his present volume, there is displayed an amiability of
feeling, and a correct conception of the beautiful in na-
ture and in thought, which do honour to him, and enable
us to read with pleasure his effusions. We repeat, he is
ot, me:hanically, a poet. Intellectually, however, he has
some claims to the title; and, at all events, he is not of
that insipid namby-pamby school, whose verses—we can-
not call them poetry—flow from the memory, or a
diseased taste, rather than from the heart. Independently
too of merely abstract criticism, Mr. Jackson's publica-
tion is one which it is pleasing to read and to reflect upon.
It is the effort of a man, immersed in the business of life.
to strew flowers upon its thorny way—to gather pearl's
and roses from the midst of barrenness ;—and it is cha-
racterized throughout by a purity and piety of feeling
which, if they earn not for its author the wreath of a suc-
cessful wooer of the muses, at least give him a title to be
looked upon as an estimable and amiable member of
society.

NEW MAGAZINE.—A new weekly periodical has just
made its appearance, edited by Mr. Chapman, of the
Sunday Times. It is called Chapman's Weekly Maga-
zine. Some of the first litteraleurs of the day are en-
gaged as contributors, amongst whom are the Countess of
Blessington, J. Sheridan Knowles, Leman Bede, and
Buckstone.—lt contains some capital contributions.
A LETTER ON THE CORN LAWS.--"We perceive that
Mr. Hubback of this town, is publishing in the form of a
pamphlet the letter on the Corn Laws, which appeared in
the Morning Herald, two or three weeks since. He has
appended to it a number of miscellaneous remarks n
" favour of the protective system" and has also added
several very important tabular documents illustrative and
in support of the arguments advanced. We have received
a copy of the proof sheets, but have not had an opportu•
nity of considering maturely what Mr. Hubback has
brought before us.

A youth, the son of Mr. R. Perris, Jervis-street, and
in the employment of Mr. Percival, Duke-street, whilst
in the act of cleaning one of the attic windows, which not
being secured with a sash cord came down, when the boy,
to save his fingers, loosed his hold, and, losing his balance,
was precipitated into the flagged yard below. Although
much stunned by the fall, strange to say, he has not a
limb broken, and, with the exception of a few bruises, is
comparatively little hurt. He is much shaken, but is now
fast recovering.

SMUGGLING CASES.—Yesterday, at the Police-court,
a steward of an American ship, named Plass, was brought
before Mr. Rushton, for having been found smuggling on
shore about 41b. of foreign manufactured tobacco. He
was fined 605., or to be imprisoned 21 days.—James
Melliday, for smuggling nearly 4lbs. of similar tobacco,
was fined 205., or seven day's imprisonment.—A female
named Haughey, was charged with coming on shore from
another ship, with 211bs. of the same article. It was
found behind her shoulders, under her gown. She was
fined 40s. We understand she had been in service in
New York for ten years, and had amassed the sum of
£7B, with which she was returning to Ireland.—James
Crosby, apparently a mate, was also brought up for
smuggling 11b. of cigars. He was fined 20a., or to be
imprisoned seven days.
UNFOUNDED CHARGE OF ROBBING A CHILD.—At
the police-court yesterday, a very young and pretty girl,
respectably attired, (whose name we did not ascertain,)
was charged by a Jew named Edward Marks, with steal-
ing some beads from the neck of one of his children. He
said be sent his two children out to walk, one of them 51
years old, and the other 2i, and rambled into a long story
with the intent of proving that the prisoner had stolen the
beads from the child's neck, which were afterwards found
in the child's own hand. He did not himself see the girl
take them from her neck—nor any one else. A sister of
the prisoner stated that they were together ; that they saw
the child, who was crying for her beads, and that her sis-
ter found them and gave them into her hand. There was
not the slightest proof against the prisoner, and she was
discharged. Mr. Marks went out of court apparently
much displeased, and vainly reiterating his charge to pro-
cure a conviction.