The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-12-11
DISTINCTION, d. G..
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,,,-xp REVIEW VoR OcrosEs' 1900. w" ioA
vSIAi'' pubr,bed by Leonard Scott & Co.
-, number contains articles Of curious
-;rg and various research, as well as of
Literature. The first article is entitled,
r.,,mv and the AlchemiSts. Speaking OF the
Iso.oober's stone, the reviewer says, this was
:. the Out-growth from the original purpose
: ,lcbsmy. The really scientific problem,
,.;,b was the original problem of the trans
-.,,;op of metals, soas insoluble in those days,
ait soluble in our own, but it has, latterly,
1.-The best chemists, ceased to be regarded
ssmical. Up to the time of Davy, the
I'D, and aIksEss we're considered as simple
I05iss: he proved them to be oxides of metals;
,,5 some future Dayy may prove metals to be
:, .onposite as water. All the articles in this
,,yber are written with power and interest.
Z. bsys for article III an eloquent appeal to
4, English public in behalf of the change of
t.s,;stiug laws relating to the rights of mar
- women to their own property. On page
y here is copied the petition of the most
eminent women of England, praying change
Il existing laws. This is signed by Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, Mary Cowden Clarke, Mary
g,Titt Anna Jameson, and many others, whose
VINES are familiar as household words to our
s,ae-s. 1t was signed by upwards of 5000
,suen of the first class of English society, and
~ presented to both Houses of Parliament on
4. 18th Of March last. Article vi is entitled,
,SuLY NOVELS BY LADY NovELIsTs." 1t
void seem by this article that the English
rsss is flooded by lady novels, which are here
.as.ed as frothy, prosy, pious, and pedantic.
Besides these, there is I" a composite order of
feminine faulty" I've use the words of the
critic Ehich is called the mind-and-miltinery
sps,ies" OF these various styles of novels, we
have specimens given, which seem to uphold
he ;syerity of the criticism. The writer says,
,ss in England there exists system of putting
Which is in exact ratio with the worthlessness
ofhe book bepraised; and that when woman
otresl genius and effective talent comes before
h. public, she receives THE tribute of being
Moderately praised or severely criticized; and,
proof Of this, he cites the examples of Currer
Bell and Mrs. Gaskell, who have been treated
IS cs7alierly as if they had been men," This
nav be the case on the other side of the ocean !;
b., the american public have had no occasion
70 make any such outcry against the newborn
aal Of such of their wives and daughters as
have devoted themselves to literature. They
ns7 point to the works of Mrs. Stowe, Mrs.
SogihwOrth, Mrs. Stephens, and Miss Warner,
IS well known in England as in our own land,
in proof that We have no reason to deplore
s'aer their ability or their industry. If the
question: --"nnt pow be asked, in any part of
TIE SHOWN "oi'U' :. Is because Mrs. Stowe has
AT's;a :" Uncle Toms Cabin" and Z" bred 4"
Mrs. Southworth, her " Retribmion," and other
works Of fiction; Mrs. Stephens, her Fashion
and Famine" and Miss Warner, The Vide,
Vide World" Queechy," &c. P.s.
j7rE rHE BY-NyAYs. A Tale of Life. BY F. C.
Adams author of Our World &c. New York
Lgsmoro Rudd. 1855.
Inc main object of the author of this volume
seems to be to sketch some of the worst aspects
Of social life in slave State, not so much
among the slaves as with the fashionable
vicious portion, and also to exhibit the de-
grazing influence of this state of things with
tne poor whites. He has lived for some years
III Charleston, and the minuteness with which
he describes certain places of resort, with the
scenes that occur, evidence that be writes of
them from knowledge. In some cases, the in
cidents, no doubt, have actual facts for their
bass. He sketches with broad pencil, and
'erJ possibly exaggerates, for the sake Of
giving more effect to his contrasts. The pages
arc not wanting in touches of true pathos and
genuine feeling. The chief difficulty is, that,
with few exceptions, the characters delineated
are, aud are meant to be, bad the relations in
Shch they are placed, dishonorable and, con-
'e4uently, the whole drift of the main story is
painful. The language, too, must of course
De IN keeping. Yet the writer at times shows
AentS for his work above those of many.
The interest is meant to centre principally
co ioundling, by the name of Anna Bonard,
.hose mother is, after while, seen in search
"' her neglected child, and who, having OBJ
AIAed ell the clues necessary to her identified
uOn and having been, even when convinced of
.Ai', withheld from owning her, because of her
ios' chsracter-too late reaches her residence, to
lni her the victim Of assassination by half-dis.
Eacted lover. The scenes of fashionable vice
ore sometimes portrayed with warmer coloring
Nsn eomports with the ideas of graver readers.
lie Interviewing of the various fates and for.
INES OF individuals with the principal charac-
'efs is somewhat skilfully done; and though the
scene changes rapidly from Charleston to New
'ork, and even to London, and back again,
Win rspidity, on the whole the thread of nara.
saon is sustained.
We believe the authors feelings to be those
Nnoness to his fellow-men, and we should
iause That ne did not intend to do injustice in
" Justice in the By.Ways." And we YET
'u'nA he has done so. Misled, perhaps, by the
Example of Dickens, and others of his imita
WIS ne has devoted portion of his book tc
'ue OBJECT of holding up to ridicule and scorn
ne friends of missions to the heather. Had
4S oeen content with depicting simply in some
INDIVIDUAL case the inconsistency of professed
-'@io', and especially rebuking that inconsist
e4Vy In respect to Slavery, or the need of mis-
.Yu' among the vicious at home, we should
W. complain. No doubt there are hypocrite.
- luis score as well as any other. But wher
= presents the friends of foreign missions a.
y of the suferings of the poor anG
distressed, when he SO holds up to ridicule the
s'eA' body and the officers of the well-knowr
~'Ocianons who dispense the contribution.
-i'n are cast into the treasury of benevolen
'pe'ations to send the Gospel abroad, he doe.