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to the pattering sound of an ho « r-glass , is sufficient to restore that bird to his old place in our estimation . We regret-to say that it has lately been a fashion to decry him . We entreat people not to refrain from reading this book because they are not naturalistic . If they will only read they will be Interested ,, and as worthily as readers oflighter subjects , are likely to be ^ . "Jpii Betor oj . ' Selivood-. By Mrs . Gore . Bailway Library . ( Kentledge . ) ' jftr ' iRautledge , lias &&& » & to the railway library this high-life novel : by -Mas . i € rQrer whicb will form , an agreeable diversion to the Bcadp-buntipg cxcito-^ j ^ j whack have distinguished the- latter volumes . Wlwrther Mw . v € *« re ? s i&sbiattablg circles w > IH ; appear to uaaaay readers move parabable than those ad / rentures , we wiH nofttake uponourselves to determine . JB «* war » Xi / e in , tite Interior ; or , Experiences of a Sportsmtm . By Ivan T&unrbenieff , of Moscow . Edited by James D . Meiklejohnv £ A . andC .
Blacjk . ) The Russian sportsman is here experiencing a third : language , wresent translation Raving been preceded by a French version , from which the present is made . In the autumn of last year we noticed the French translation at some length and we then recommended its translation into English . This version , isviio * all that might be desired in elegance , but it is <^ rrect enough to-convey tlxe general spirit of the sketches . The , Roving . EngUshman . in Turkey . Reprinted in part from . Household Wards . ( Roulfledge . ) Every reader of Household Words will remember the pleasure with which he shared the miseries of travel with ; the thoroughly « &seostentedEnglishman who , apparently , will not live at home . The present volume contains some hitherto unpublished grumbles , harmonising well with the old original complaints , whose freshness , by the way , is < juite unimpaired by time . It is most pleasing to find a dissatisfied countryman who does riot look at home befere he looks abroad . Lobster Salad : mixed by Percy B . St . John and Edward Copping . ( Ward
, * nd Lock . ) " Lobster Salad" appears to be the latest phrase for " something < i £ everything . " It hasJbaken aaLy two gentlemen combined to hit upon the Ration of a club as a niedium for telling various stories in prose and verse . The feat has been accomplished , and the humblest shilling in the land may procure the results . Mr . St . John , who has possibly published an awtobiography , apologise * in a preface fi > r having take ** apparently the lion ' s share in the manufacture of the book ; he thinks , however , that the public cannot possibly mistake his style , nor confuse it with that of Mr . Copping . **• The reader ; he says , " is probably aware that I never perpetrated verse ?' Jifow we , who have read everything , confess , with a feeling oi humiliation , tiiat we really were no * aware , but the phrase " perpetrating" shows what « ttuguoality may be expected If Mr . St . John ever should , as he would pro * - feaflycaU it , " trifle with the Muses . " " " . "
... . , _ , The GahnielAlmanack for 1855 ( Adam and Charles Black , Edinburgh ) doe 3 its best to condense into 150 pages all that readers interested m colonial questions can desire in the way of reference or information . _ As an elaborate ¦ compilation of geographical and commercial information , it is another of that class of almanacks which have of late years grown so big in their utility as ito iuduce us to wonder what will be their ultimate development . Mr . F . Mayne ' s Voyages and Discoveries in the Arctic Begiona ( Lcmg-« ttns ) mttke : ai seasonable contribution to the " Traveller ' s Library . " The present volume consist * of a series of articles collected from the pages of a weekly periodical . Two chapters are now added , ** embodying the most arecent accounts of Arctfc enterprise that have reached- us . " The body of « ie-narrative comprises all the recent Arctic voyages from the year 1 S 5 S to
the present time , and the last chapter closes , tragically enough , with i-ady l ^ anklin ' s letter , dated February last , to the Lords of the Admiralty , recording h er ¦' " respectful but earnest protest against the removal from , the Naw List as . dead of the officers and crew of the Erebus and Terror ; a ^ ter not oaljs la itself most affecting , but full of interest as the beat abstract ^ tha history o £ ^^^ t ~ Mcii& /«^^ Uiq& Messrs . Cornwell and Fitch ' Science of Arithmetic ( Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . ) has the merit of being one of the best practical and compendious treatises we have met with upon the most elementary of sciences . "It dfffers , " the authors say , "from others bearing a similar title in several important particulars . " Toe principle of a rule precedes the statement of tTie rule itself ; " every process employed in the solution of questions is referred to some general law or principle of the theory of numbers ; decimal < rtlflulatious . are given , with a view to the proposed change ; in our monetary the l relations of the several parts ot arithmetic
sgutem- ; ogical are explained ? the origin of owr standards of moneys , weights , and measures is'elucidated : wrfch questionings following each section , as exercises upon tfte pupil ' s acquired knowledge . This is a fair and satisfactory statement enough of the specialities of the work ; we may observe , however , that neither the principle of introducing the philosophy of a rule , nor the questions for self-examination ,, are here presented for the first tune . The book has enough of merit of its own , in its . logical acumen , methodical ¦ arrangement , and comprehensiveness , to reconunenxl it to that very large « kas < rf the British youth who cultivate figures a » the science , of life . The last year ' s numbers of the Band of Hope Review ( monthly , price one fcaflpenny ) , have been collected into a folio volume . We believe this little " mjrk does much good in Sunday school . There is a vast amount of Information , not entirely clerical' , and a mass of woodcuts which must facilitate the . transmission of morals to tho unlearned of three , or four years ohl . Charade Dramas for thmHrmuinohMoom ^ By Anne Bowman . ( Routledge . ) This volume is bo far an innovation on the old system of charades , that the points are worked out in long ^ dialogues , which are generally serious . The essence of auch entertainment is , that it should bo entertaining . Hogg ' s Instructor has almost ceased to instruct ; , but as it lias taken to 4 imuse , we moke no objections . Poetry and Civilisation is written , to prove 4 Uc high mission of the poet ; and tho continuation , of the very nicelywritten story of Sister Anne ia devoted to the . praise of women from , a -woman ' s point of view . Tho readers , of poetry—those who understand and lo ^ e . il— 'w 5 * not love Mr . Q » ufiUan any the more for his strictures on the JLfte tf Metigton in Pokry ,, wherein some old charges ore rerired with new fatuity .
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THE BBUSES . , . TJub I ^ uses > of ihe Leianoartlieir-Manner ^ Ctutomts and JSRatery . Wifflt aTMBalatiiSi ' of their Religious Coda . B 7 George Wsabdogtoo . CkaeaeagocL RidmrA fientky . Btbbt schoolboy knows-that in the mountain range of the Lebanon there is a people called " the Druses , " whose women wear an : absordTy long horr * , like that of a . unicorn ^ on their heads , and whose men are reputed brave and hardy mountaineers : Beyond these two facts , little is known fey aefeoolboy oirBage about the Drusefi . Whence come they ? Of what race « re they ? What is their religion ? Wtat their government , tfceir history , their domestic manners and customs ? These are questions which , few can answer at all , and none satisfactorily . Yet , certainly , there is interest enough attaching to the people in question to make inquiries iato all that * Q » cerns them worth- proeecutieg . * The quaiat oM traveller , Sandys , who visited the Druse country , imagines that they are descended from the French crusaders , and many of the Druse Emirs are of the same opinion , producing archives and relics of the followers of Godfrey de Bouillon , which have been handed down to them bj their forefathers , together with the tradition of their descent from theae warriors of tie Cross ? Apparently the Emirs are proud of this supposed pedigree ; we fear that even a herald's college would hesitate to confirm it to thenr . That some intermixture of French blood with that of the natives took plaee during the Crusades there can be no doubt , but that the genaine . stock of the Druses existed and was in possession of tracts of the Lebanon before Peter the Hermits missionaries entered the land of Syria , seems equally certain * . Indeed few people bear stronger marks of a- purely Eastern origin than the Druses . It is more probable that they are of Arabian or Ishmaelite race , and without absolutely identifying them witli the Hivites mentioned in the Bible as the nation that should be " a thorn ia . the side of the Israelites , " we think that a better ormore plausible pedigree for them cannot be invented . The question of their religion we postpone to the last as being the most difficult to answer , even ' wifca the very excellent assistance of the work before us > Their government is , perhaps , the simplest and most patriarchal now in existence ! . The ; chief authority is the Grand Emir , an hereditary prince * whose seat of judgment is at Shouaifat , and whose duty is to decide-all civil and criminal cases among-dispeople . And yet this fortunate pronee has scarcely-anything-to do ; for not only are his people extremely moral and-Jittle disposed to quarrelling and lawsuits , but , in most cases where disputes do arise ,, the parties refer them to the judgment of the secondary Emirs or Sheiks , one of whom presides over each village throughout the country . These Sheiks has * also to . collect the taxes , but this gives them little trouble . The people like taxes , and rush to the collectors to see who shaU pay first . Think of tnat , Mr . Gladstone ! How supremely delightful to ^ be Chancellor of the Exchequer in such a nation I And yet , notwithstanding this affection fox taxes * there is one sect exempt from , it—the Akals , or priests . This ia extremely unkind to the clergy ,. Why should they be debarred from the innocent enjoyment ofr tax-paying ? Is it one of the earthly pleasures they are bound to forswear ? The village Sheiks get a per centage on the imposts Urey collect , and , after deducting it , remit the balance to the Grand Emir , who does , we presume , what he likes with it , and is a great Unaccountable . ' """ " " "' ""¦"" """" ¦ " " "" The history of the Drusea is involved ia obscurity untiL about the year 1517 , after which the records are tolerably clear and connected . From that date it has been a succession- of fearftrir struggles against the gigantic power of the Ottoman Empire—struggles in which the Druses have often been victorious , and often worsted , but never entirely subdued . At the present moment they are nominally subject to Turkey , but are in reality as lttetle so as the Circassians are to Russia . Indeed , in following their own history we cannot help being reminded : of the heroism , hardihood , patience , and indomitable patriotism of the brave Caucasians , and confessing that all these qualities are rivalled in the characters of the men of Mount Lebanon . But there is one notable , difference in the position of the two people towards their nominal nriers- —the Circassians hate the Russians , while the- Ihruses , on the contrary , evince an attachment to the Turks , and have assisted them with some of their best blood in tho present contest . This feeling , without doubt , arises from the fact that Turkey does not attempt to inter&ro with the Druses in any way save one . She leaves them to the exercise of their , own government , religion , manners , and customs : she does not even levy a tax within their country , but she claims the right of conscr iption among the people , and the Druses are compelled to furnish a certain number of men annually to the Sultan ' s army . To a warlike people thia is no great hardship , and they submit with tolerable good will . In addition to thaur ancient contests with the Turks and Egyptians , tlio Druses have been muck addkted to fighting with tlieir Christian « M « hbou <^ the Maronites . The reader will pardon us for not <^™*?* £ \ ^ thecauaea of these outbreaks wLn wo tell him that * b ? . Jj * £ l"J 2 } bloody of tbm in 1845 , arose from a Maronita emptying a dustpan , into , tho garden of his next-door neighbour a Druse . . _ + fcr > m ™* immm ^ Mmm smoking and Bleeping . Above all they have the great Eastern virtue—
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MAm * MB $ IP , 1855 . ] THB JjIABEB , hb $
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 20, 1855, page 67, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2074/page/19/
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