The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-01-04 00:00:00

biTERAR

Poniatowskilectiun of Antique Cons. Graves und Co.,

Pall-mail, London ; Isaacs, Castle.street, Liverpool
A. novel publicatio

as just

le its appearance. It is one highly interesting to t

]aster of paris

taken from a collection

now in the possession of Prince Poniatowski. Accompanying

the chest, which is fitted up with shelves or cases, glazed

over, to preserve the casts, is a volume, or catalogue raisonnec

describing the casts, their subjects, the engravers of the ori-
ginal gems, and the material of the stones, whether cornelian,
sardonyx, amethyst, or other precious materials. The sub-
jects of the casts are taken from the heathen mythology.
Some of them are extremely beautiful. In design many are

remarkable for vigour and grace. while those that are of an
inferior degree of merit, have still some quality about them

that will cause them to be prized

Now, as to their antiquity, or rather the antiquity of their

originals, we have for many reasons great doubts : but whe-
ther ancient or modern—whether fabricated by clever Italian
living artists or by Mr. Isaacs himself, with whom the work

is deposited for view—we care not. The casts are very fine,
and will enrich the library or cabinet of any man who becomes
a purchaser. Among so many fine specimens it is impossible
to particularise. In this collection there are 243 casts. There
will be 1,000 in the work when completed.

Corn and Cotton: with a postcript on distress. By One of
the People. London : William Blackwood and Sons, 22,
Pall-mall, and 45, George-street, Edinburgh ; and Pelham
Richardson, 23, Corn-hill. Price 2s.
The pamphlet, of which the above . se title, contains
the substance of a series of articl: which appeared in a
provincial journal in the year 183: .nd the beginning of 1839.
It is ably written, and cont .• .s a vast mass of statistical
matter applicable to the su *.ects of which it treats ; and we
cau cordially recommend ' s perusal to all parties interested
(and which of us is nbt?) in the settlement, upon just
principles, of these important national questions.

Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, No. CXLV
Jau. 1812. London : James Fraser, Regent-street.

Our friend, Oliver Yorke, leads off the year in grand style,
and is apparently juvenile as ever. The opening paper—
" Our Old Year," and " Our New Year," is written in a
racy and dashing style. The well-known " Nimrod" com-
mences his " Life and Times," and from the spirit displayed

in his first chapter, we anticipate that this will prove an ex-
cellent series, containing " Moving accidents by flood and
field," quite as much to our taste as those by the rehearsal
of which Othello won his way to the heart of his fair Desde-
mono. Mr. Apperley's writings carry us back to scenes and
enjoyments which are quite refreshing to contemplate, even
in memory, from the midst of the " wilderness of brick-
work" in which we are now immured. " A Summer Holi-
day, part 3d," is equal to either of its predecessors, if not
superior ; and this is ample praise. " Mrs. Burlington's
Dash " is not to our taste, especially the catastrophe ; but

" Alick Liddesdale's Brian " makes amends for it. " The
Camden Society's Publications," and the " Review of Mr.
Stebbing's Editio❑ of Josephus," will amply repay a more
attentive perusal than we have been able to bestow upon
them. " Mr. Barney Brallaghan," is a most divarting
animal; but his orthography smells too much of the Bog.
It is really fatiguing to puzzle through his varied and ingeni-
ous spellings. The remaining articles—" Witchcraft, the
Idea of the Play." " Recollections of the fairest hours to

Sunday Noon," are ably written. We had marked a passage
in the latter for quotation, but must defer it till our neat

publication

We cannot but suggest to those of our readers, who have
not hitherto subscribed to Fraser, the fitness of the present
season for making a commencement. No periodical of the
day possesses a more varied claim to the support of every
lover of the pursuits of literature.

The Dublin University Magazine for January. 1812. Wm,
Curry, Jun., and Co., Dubiin.

The Dublin University of the present month is inferior to

none of its predecessors, unless some captious reader may
miss the racy humour of the never-to-be-too-much-lauded
Harry Lorrequer. The more serious articles—" Chapters
on Ghostcraft," " Railways in Ireland," and the notice of
" Reeent Pamphlets on Ireland"—will well repay perusal—
especially the last, which treats us to a splendid notice of
Lord Alvanley's and Lord Roden's pamphlets, and a trench-
ant exposure of Popery in the present day—" unchanged and
unchangeable"—deceitful, lying, and superstitions, as in the
dark days of the olden time. Pity 'tis that our contempo-
rary didn't delight the world with an illustration, by Phiz or
Cruickshank, of the enlightened Popish peer, Lord Shrews-
bury, peering through Dr. Wiseman's spectacles at the
" stigmata" on the feet, and " the crown of thorns on the
brow," of the " addolorata !" The scene would not a little
have astonished some of those " liberal" individuals amongst
us who are ready to welcome amongst us the Popery of the
19th century, as something which has been washed from its
foulness.

" The Sketch of Sir William Rowan Hamilton" is a valu-
able one, and worthy the illustrious invividual who is its
subject. The review of " Tytler's History of Scotland" we
can recommend to the p:rusal of our readers, young and old.
We can also commend the " Curse of Kishoge," which is
written in a style we seldom meet with so richly done as in
the pages of the Dublin University. It is inimatable. We
extract the ftillowing from an excellently written tale, en-
tled, " The Vice Legale's Ball" :
The bells of Notre Dame de Donis had already chimed
midnight, when Smeraldo issued from the vice-legate's pa-
lace, enveloped in a light cloak, and with his jewelled cap
drawn down over his eyes. The night was dark, and at that
late hour not a sound rose from the reposing city. A faint
and distant ray of light was, at times, seen struggling through
the thick and darkened air, and which proceeded from the
high and narrow cells of the watchers, or ringers, in the
belfries of the churches. The streets were utterly deserted,
and it was a task of no little difficulty to tread aright the tor-
tuous and gloomy windings of the more remote and less
known part of the city, to which, however, Smeraldo bent
his course, with a rapid and unhesitating step. He at length
stooped at a lofty and cumbrous gate, studded with iron
knobs, which closed the entrance to a dark, narrow, un-
paved, filthy street, or rather lane. On a slight knock being
given by Smeraldo, a small wicket was noiselessly opened,
and shut as cautiously, the moment he passed through it.
" Here I am in the Jewry or Hebrew kennel, at last," he
exclaimed, looking around him, without being able to see
any thing. " What infernal darkness ! Why it would be
impossible to distinguish here one's mistress from an old
shaven monk, or foul. bearded Israelite. You must lead me,
like a blind man, Lawrence."
" Fair seigneur," said the warden, " here I am. I have
executed punctually your orders. The ladder is set right
under the little window. But, in the name of all the saints,
seigneur, think well of what you are about doing. Fm
twenty years I have closed, every evening, at the tolling of
the curfew, this gate, and opened it every morning at the
first bell for the Angelus, I must, therefore, know, right well,
the race of Abraham, and never yet, to my knowledge, did a
Jewess give a rendezvous to a Christian without some wicked
intention."

"To the devil with your wise precautions ! " cried Sme-
raldo ; " if she had given me a meeting I should not be thus
reduced to escalade her chamber,—she would have opened
the door to me. Now, show me the house ! "
The warden obeyed. At the further end of the narrow
street stood a house of mean appearance, in the front of
which were several small windows, placed at irregular dis-
tances. Under one of the uppermost of these, and which was
without bars, such not being looked upon as necessary, from
its great height, was set a ladder, which Smeraldo began
mounting rapidly, though not without a certain uneasy feel-
ing, so novel and strange was the situation in which he found
himself. For the first time in his life he was about to com-
mit an act of brutal and unmanly violence. Hitherto the ob-
stacles opposed to him had been overcome by other means;
and in no case had inexorable resistance forced him to play
so vile and so degraded a part. It was not that he had any
scruples of delicacy ; the honour of a woman, and particu-
larly of a Jewess, was for him of the slightest, or rather, no
consideration ; but he felt vexed and deeply humiliated at
having failed in his attempts at seduction, and in being obliged
to act the part of a buccaneer, or a bandit, to accomplish his
object.
Smeraldo entered, unhesitatingly, through the little win-
dow, and, alighting upon a winding staircase, he descended
with the stealthy pace of a wolf. He bad calculated all the
chances of his undertaking well ; and as he knew that at that
hour of the night all the members of that Jewish family were
assembled in the garden, to celebrate the feast of the Taber-
nacles. he proceeded to examine the house. After having
groped his way through several apartments, he entered a
chamber, the doorway of which was masked by a heavy silk
curtain. A faint and uncertain light, that made its way
through the tendrils of the creeping plants that grew about
the window, served to render objects partially visible. The
floor, which was covered with a soft and silk-like matting,
received, noiselessly, the footsteps of Don Smeraldo. A de-
licate perfume of sandal-wood floated on the air, and min-
gled with the breath of flowers from the plants and odife-
rous shrubs that partly filled the balcony, over which hung,
according to the fashion in Spain, a parti-coloured blind, or
slanting curtain : on the seats lay various articles of female
dress, and in one corner glistened a small and fancifully-
framed mirror.

The sound of voices, united in a chaunt, which rose from
below, and the reddish light of torches, which flickered
through the jessamine branches that grew about the balcony,
attracted him to step out on it, and, on looking down from it,
every other feeling was, for the moment, forgotten, in sur-
prise and admiration. Along the inner walls of this house,
whose front towards the street exhibited a squalid, disco-
loured, and dilapidated aspect, ran a tastefully laid-out gar-
den, planted with pomegranate trees and others indigenous
to the Holy Land.

In the middle of a marble terrace sparkled a fountain, sur-
rounded by a parterre of rare and exotic plants and flowers :
in a word, it strongly reminded Smeraldo of the entrance to
one of those Arabian palaces, some magnificent ruins of which
still adorn the southern provinces of Spain. For the cele-
bration of the feast of the Tabernacles a bower of living
branches had been constructed upon the terrace, and under
this verdant canopy was placed a table, covered with a snow-
white cloth, and bearing numerous vases, cups, and other
vessels of the purest and most curiously-cut crystal, and of
the most richly-sculptured silver and gold, from which the
light of the torches was reflected back in dazzling brilliancy.
Never had Don Smeraldo seen, even in the vice-legate's pa-
ace, a more rare or precious display of the goldsmith's art.
Near the table stood the Jew, Ben-Jacob, reading aloud
in Hebrew the prayers peculiar to this solemnity. In his
right hand be held a palm-branch, the symbol of the east,
the native country of his people, and the cradle of his religion.
His daughter, and a young man wearing the dress of the
Jews of Ermenia, stood beside him. At the other end of the
table stood, in a reverential attitude, an old grey-headed
serving-man, and the female servants of the family. Don
Smeraldo was not a little surprised at seeing the young girl,
whom he had met in the streets of Avignon poorly clad, and
wearing the yellow cap, the distinctive article of dress the
Jews were obliged to wear, now covered with jewels and
precious stones, that might have excited the envy of a prin-
cess. The lofty stature and eastern character of Aleli's
beauty, was seen to the greatest advantage in these festal
robes, which, bordered with deep gold fringe, fell in ample
folds to her feet, of perfect symmetry, but half concealed in
little embroidered oriental slippers.