The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-06-01

| All the wlldnesS and Voluptu0usnesS OF
Arabian fiction seem compressed into the
plot and incidents Of this gorgeous oriental
drama. The hero,-the Caliph Vathek, lis
the grandson of Haroun AL Raschid Aaron
the JUST, whose dominions stretched from
Africa to India. Says writer in Cham
ber's Cyclopedia, "Vathek Is fearless,
proud, inquisitive, gourma,il, fond of the
illogical controversy, cruel and magnificent
in his power as Caliph. He dabbles,
moreover, in the occult sciences, and in
these mysterious arts is assisted by his
mother, Carathis, Greek, q woman of su-
perior genius. Their ambition and guilt
render them prey to Giaour-a super
natural parsonage who plays an important
part in the drama, and hurries tho Caliph
to destruction" The plot of the story con-
sists mainly in the adventures of Vathek in
his search for the treasures Qf the pre-
Adamite Sultans promised him by the per-
fdious Giaour, and in the course of these
adventures the author finds room for much
magnificent and voluptuous painting, not
unfrequently relieved by touches of satire
and of humor. Undoubtedly the most re-
markable portion of the book, however, is
the description Of the Hall of Eblis and the
condition of the damned. Here the author
rises to pitch Of epic sublimity almost
worthy of MILTON.
It is seldom, indeed, that work is offered
to the public combining so many and varied
attractions as the present, and Mr. MILLER
deserves great credit for presenting in q
cheap and popular form romance which
the genius of more modern times has been
unable either to initiate or to surpass. Not
the least remarkable incident connected
with this brilliant effort Of the Imagination,
is the fact that it was composed at single
sitting and in the authors twentieth year.
We would only remark further that the
English translation, which was sanctioned
by the author, is in a great measure free
from the extravaganza and license of the
French original. There are still, however,
two or three passages which re think might
with advantage have been modified.
ssTHE ROUND TABLE, New York. May 80, 1868 ::
Published at No. 1872 Nassnu-street, New
York.
The ends to which newspapers in Amer
lea restrict their efforts leave much, and
the success with which those ends are ac-
complished leaves great deal more, to be
wished for. Politics, prices, the proper
vituperatioa of ones enemies, the reitera-
ted adulation of friends, and contempora-
neous history, deservedly engross large
part of the attention and interest of all in
genuous minds; but they fall much short of
exhausting them. Our country is not so
new that it has not passed through the
phase of national life, when that which
does not administer to material wants does
not take position among the objects of pur-
suit; and our city and State would scarcely
make good their boast to have reached o
grade of culture beyond the most primitive,
if they did not embrace in their limits many
who find in literature and art recreation
and amusement, even if they do not recog-
nize in them the sole worthy objects for the
pursuit of cultivated minds. To such Of
our readers we can heartily recommend the
Ground Table," as supplementing our own
efforts to instruct and entertain them with
facts and discussions, to which daily news
paper can do nothing more than allude in
the most cursory manner, and which no one
can ignore without being a laggard in the
march of civilization.
Again, we can recommend the Ground
Table, to still larger class of readers,
who, while they take no particular interest
in its subject matter, are yet drawn to any
marked display ofliterary ability, especially
when with that ability, not unusual quail
ity in periodical literature, ore combined
good taste and catholic spirit, which seem
to be almost strangers to cis-Atlantic jour-
nalism. In speaking of the Ground Table"
in these respects, we run the risk of SEEM
ing to those who are not its readers 10
praise it too much, while at the same time
we may seem to foil, in the eyes of its pat
rons, in adjudging to it adequate apprecia-
tion. 1t is something to find in our reading
something else than bad taste and local
logic. If an adversary is to be put out of
the way, it is agreeable, at least to the dis
interested spectator, thet The removal should
be preceded by q courtesy, however deep
the thrust that follows, and that sometimes
questions which interest us should not be
referred for their decision to principles of
judgment borrowed from petty stores of
municipal, chronological or geographical pre-
iudices. Even censure is bearable, where
the right to apply it purports to be derived
from something more than the logic of the
writer's circumstances. Whenever the
Ground Table" speaks upon the subject Of
politics, it has been gratifying to US to re-
mark that it has done so with spirit Of
fairness and kindness to the South, which
are entirely exceptional in the magazine
and literary newspapers Of the North.
We, therefore, feel authorized to do what