The Press. — 1854-09-23 (London, England)

TWENTY-FOUR years' experience has enabled Mr. Pope to greatly enlarge the design and improve the details of this compact yet comprehensive volume. It now presents a complete view of the progress of trade iu all parts of the world, with the latest treaties, tariffs, amount of imports and exports, and information of all kinds which can aid the judgment and facilitate the dealings of commercial men in their ordinary transactions. The changes made in the se• veral departments of our mercantile law during the past year, with the decisions of law courts on special cases, and the general regulations issued by Government boards, are stated with all requisite accuracy and completeness. The effect of the war on our commercial interests, with the various orders in council and declarations of Government, are duly explained and recorded. The immense amount of detail included in this Journal, indeed, makes it valuable to the statist as well as to the merchant ; and from the care taken to verify facts it is entitled to be held as an excellent authority on all the subjects it treats of. A good index supplies ready means of reference to all matters contained in the book.  Modern Flirtations; or, a Month at; llarrowgate. By Catherine Sinclair. London : Clarke, Berton, and Co. THIS fiction turns on the history of a male flirt. The hero is a De Crespugny, heir presumptive to a marquisate, and cornet of dragoons ; the heroines are a number of young ladies with small waists and blonde complexions. The story itself would scarely require notice from us but for the horrors that are perpetually being served up. At one page we have the frightful and mysterious murder of a lovely unknown, who is discovered in " her superbly-furnished " boudoir," with "magnificent couch, rich coverlet, " deluged in blood," &c., ti:c.; in others we have the sudden and startling appearances of a wild maniac, who breaks through bedroom windows at the dead of night, or hides himself in the bed curtains, always carrying a brace of loaded pistols, and ever about to murder his victim, when " footsteps are heard, and " with a wild and revengeful glance " he becomes invisible. Attempts at midnight assassination, poisoning of rivals with arsenical custard-puddings, and finally a revengeful murder for the lost hbnour of a seduced sister,—are occurrences treated by the dramatis persona' as if they were the common events of a month at Harrowgate in the present day.  Descriptive Sketch of the Windows of St. Neots Church. By the Rev. Henry Grylls. London and Oxford : John Henry Parker. THE sixteen painted windows of St. Neots Church, near Liskeard, Cornwall, have long formed a subject for dispute among antiquarians; many ascribing them to a period as early as A.D. 1199, and as many denying an earlier date than A.D. 100, to their construction. The rev. author of this " Descriptive Sketch " is of opinion that the different styles of various portions of the windows mark different periods of execution ; and that, probably, while the earlier subjects were painted about the end of the twelfth century, certain portions belong as undoubtedly to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Civil war and the Reformation did their work of de • struction even in the far corners of Cornwall, and by degrees neglect and spoliation utterly defaced this flue work of mediaeval art. At length, after near 300 years of decay, the church and windows were fully restored in 1825, at an immense expense, by the liberal patron of the living ; and in the present day St. Neots Church stands forth in all its pristine beauty. The painted windows, unsurpassed in antiquarian beauty and uniformity of design, have been fully restored upon their original outlines and in their various subjects. Each window, representing a different legend in many compartments, presents an interesting and perfect specimen of Gothic art.  Early Musings. By Amelia Bewsher. London : Hope and Co. IT would have been better to have entitled this volume " Early Rhymings." There are scarcely any trace of "musing " in its pages, possibly from the fact of the very " early " period of life when ate verses were composed. Scattered through theme occasional pieces are many proofs that the wnter hay. a gentle and affectionate nature ; hut a genial ploy of pure womanly feeling is not enough for one who aspires to poetry. Using only the simplest forms of versification, Miss Bewsher too often neFtlecte the most common laws of harmony and metre. Verses must not merely scan and rhyme, they must also flow ; and the fair authoress often gives us such