The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-02-19
NEW BOOKS.
From Henry Taylor, Sun Building:


thoress of the "Neighbors," &C., as counterpart
to her "Home in the New World has just given
US, through the medium of Mrs. Mary Hewitt, as
translator, "Life in the Old World; or Two Years
Travel in Switzerland and Italy,
Miss Bremen is one of those full-hea and i'm
pulsive little women, who must fain give utterauce
to her thoughts and emotions; and to whom soli
tude, however longed for, would lose its sweetness
were there there not some one near, in fact or in
Imagination, to whom she could exclaim, Chow
sweet is solitude"
Illustrative of this the volumes before us,
which are in the form of diary, kept for FRIEND
'let it become afterwards" as she herself says,
'"whatever it may, printed book, descriptions of
travels, novel, or even - nothing at all. In any
case feel that it will be pleasure to me to COM
municate to thee the inspirations Of the mo-
ment-to present thee with the flowers and the
fruits of my life of ira velv and she has succeeded
in imparting with her usual graphic cleverness,
though, perhaps, with, at first, little too much
sentimentality, the cheerful and sorrowlu i'm
pressions made upon her as she went along.
1t is not easy to conduct one to places already
frequently visited, and to subjects which have
been often written about, and keep alive and
awake the interest and attention; but Miss Bremen
has managed to diversity the thrice-tod story of
Swiss and Italian travel, with historical sketches
and illusions, criticism and personal anecdote, as
to present to her friends two very readable vol
umes. There is in the first, which speaks of Swift
zerland, too much cloud painting, too much that is
simply descriptive; but the sketches of peasant life
and occupations instructive and entertaining,
with occasional picture worthy of Teniers.-
The energy of the little woman, in scaling noun
tain and glacier, is amazing, and we must confess
to occasional fatigue in attempts to follow her.
But We surprised into wakefulness, on being
suddenly led through some narrow pass into an
open, grassy plain, where, away up in the noun
tans, assembled the members of the Free
Church. "Under the aged pine trees, upon an
elevation in their midst, stands tall broad
shoUldered man, whose whole exterior
strikes remarkable. The overhanging
forehead the deep-set eyes, the nose, the jaw the
whole features stand forth powerful as the block of
an Alp. John the Baptist might have appeared
such as hep 1t is celebrated preacher from &C.
neva, N. Berthollet. His discourse abounds with
anecdotes, some powerful, some affecting. We are
presented with the following: "Some years ago,
of the most remarkable of the street preachers
in London named Rowland Hill. One
day, the rich and worldly Lady Erskine came
driving across the very market-place where he was
preaching. Seeing the crowd assembled around
him, she ordered her coachman to stop, and
inquired what was going on. 1t was Row.
land Hill who was preaching to the people. She
had heard speak Of him, and, curious to hear him
herself, she alghted, and accompanied by her SER
wants, made her way into the crowd, which imme-
mediately opened for the elegant lady; when, at
once, Rowland exclaimed:
"'My friends, here comes a soul which is to be
put up for auctionn
! "The people were startled, and some laughed
This rich, grand body to be sold by auctionI Lady
Erskine, advanced nearer, and Rowland Hill con-
tinued
"H see three buyers about to bid for her. The
first is called The World. Well, what will thou
give, World, for this soul /? The World replies,
pleasures, ornaments, batteries, festivities, for
cry day of her lifeH 'All pleasures and batteries
and festivities will come to an end, whilst this soul
will last on, because it is immortal 1t Is too little
that thou offerest, World, and thou canst not
have her Now comes the second bidder; it is
The DeUd. How much, Satan, wilt thou bid for
this soul p 'All the power of the world and the
glory thereof?' 'But all the power of the world
and its glory will pass away, whilst this soul will
last on. Thou canst not have her, 0 Satan, thou
oferest too little The third bidder presents him
SELF All it is the Lord Jesus! | expected no
less of thee, o Lord. What then dost thou bid for
this soul why peace in this life, and after it
eternal bliss Take her, Lord, take her She is
thine, for higher price none can Offer"
| Berthollet added, says Miss Bremer that Lady
Erskine was so affected by these words, that she
made them prophecy of the truth; she abandoned
her life of vanity and became one of the principal
supporters of the English Church.
The views afforded in these pages of Swiss indus
trial life, clear and satisfactory and the Geneva
workshops are entirely thrown open to us, from
the schools of the pupils, whose young girls learn,
for term OF three years, to make every part of a
watch" to the mandatory 'where elderly, we'll
dressed women, sit by twentes and thirties,
| working upon-watch faces" After their
pupilage, each selects that particular part
for which she inclination, or in which
she is most expert. "My grandmother made
,oatches,' said old woman, with a sigh, who was
sitting at home employed in single operation
on little cog, for the great mandatory; "and at
that time, women were much higher in work, and
got better wages They then fewer in number
but very dexterous. Now, they are innumerabe,
and their skill is employed on a mere nothng-a
very crumb." And this was true, SO far as the
| old woman was concerned, for the whole of her
work consisted in drilling one little hole in a small
steel plate, with little machine resembling tiny
spinning wheel. Her daughter was seated at
another little machine, charging the hole which
her mother had drilled; and six hundred of such
holes must be made before they could earn three
francs. A large portion also of the female popula-
tion of Geneva, obtain support by enamel painting.
| Pror, GtriI off 20
Elections on its Government and republican institu
tions, not inappicable to those ofour own country,
we are conducted to Italy; being by the way plea
sanity introduced to the monks and dogs of St.
Bernard. "'We, ourselves said an old priest,
may hold out twelve fifteen years, but our
dogs not above seven or eight; they then become
rheumatic and die. Is it not so, Mars 2 asked he,
patting one of the large dogs; thou wilt last
another year, and then thou wilt dieP Mars
wagged his tail assen tingDy, and thought of Luz
theirs words to his d og: Don't grumble, little
Hans; thou, too, shalt have golden tail some
dayp"
The Occupation" of these good monks will, to a
great extent, in short while be "gone." The Sar-
diuian Minister, Cavour, has obtained the consent
ofthe government to construct railway which will
run light through the Alps-Mount Gents being even
now tunnelled-uniting Piedmont with Switzer-
land and the rest of Europe, shortening the jour-
ney of days into as many hours.
We think the second of these volumes, relating
to Italy, the BEST and most entertaining; but a
newspaper column does not afford space for further
criticism or quotation. We conclude, therefore, by
referring the reader to the account of our author
ess interview with Pope Pho Mono, published
elsewhere, he can there learn what sort of an
opinion is entertained by very good Protestant of
| a very decided Catholic.
From James s. Waters:
History OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS from the Death Of
William the Silent to the Synod of bort. By JOHN
LATHRoP MOTLEY, LID, ID. c. L. Harper Brothers.
New York. Vols. and 2
DR.. Motley needs no introduction to the literary
world, and least of all to American readers. His
history of the rise of the Dutch Republic has long
since made his name familiar one; and the schol-
ars of Europe and of this country, by the hearty
and unanimous applause which they bestowed upon
that work. have testified to the ability of its author
and fixed his reputation an imperishable basis 1t
is supernuous now to praise the style or laud the
capacity of historian whose name is linked for
the future with those of Macaulay and Prescott
The story which DR.. Motley undertakes to
tell will, we doubt not, be read with even more
avidity than were his former Volumes for the mat
ter of the present is, if possible, interesting
than that of his previous work, and it loses
nothing in its treatment. The earlier phases
of that great struggle for religious freedom