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work bearing , as we have said , a strong impress of originality . And now being the time for circulating librarians to send down to country-houses parcels of novels and tales to be read in the Christmas evenings , when the red curtains are unfurled across the windows , and the red fire glows through the room , and the lights burn cheerfully and clearly , and people sit at ease , pleasantly tired , let not Isabel be forgotten , for it is a fresh , healthy , entertaining book . The Old Monasteryi By the Author of " Clara . " Fi * oni the Original . By lady Wallace . 2 vpls . ( Bentley . )— -We suspect that Lady Wallace has baa some trouble with . The Old Monastery . It seems to have been , not a little ' adapted . ' But the author of Clara is not a bad novelist , although Sir Archibald Alison thinks him a good one . He can
only dream , indeed , of one species of heroine—a dancer ; but dancers are sometimes elegant and pretty , and there is no serious objection to a second romance of gilt and gauze , of pink satin skirts , and silver wings . However , we should be glad to see what the favourite of Edinburgh ; can do outside an opera-house . Not that an opera-house is the only interior in the present case , but that a figurante is the heroine , while the green-room and the stage are the central scenes . The " old monastery" is not A . monastery at all ; but a p lace that was monastic once and is now inhabited by washerwomen , receivers of stolen property , and others . Of the p ersonages whose good or evil fortunes fill the drama , the most interesting is , though by no means of course , the heroine , Mar ia , an orphan , the daughter of a female lamplighter in a German town and an Italian , peer . She is thrown upon the mercy of the world , and the world , personified by a most
sedate and admirable laundress , takes charge of her , and , faithful to her mother ' s wish , educates the child for the royal ballet . Her vicissitudes are narrated with pleasant simplicity . Dubel , her early friend , a journeyman tailor , but afterwards Dubelli , the chief of a dancing corps , is an aspiring individual , who perpetually imagines himself wealthy and superb , a cross-legged Alnaschar , whose eccentric virtues are very humorously described . Very original , too , is the young doctor , a priest of letters , who sleeps in a passage < m a settle , and carries a chart of the town in his pocket . Whenever he incurs a debt in any particular street , he marks it with red ink ¦ , so as to avoid unwelcome greetings , and gradually cuts off bis communications with the principal parts of the town . \ The account of bis first and last attempt &t dramatic interpretation is a piece of somewhat 16 w but effective comedy . Other characters , moving and having their being upon a similar level , are also successfully sketched ; but the dignified people are mere absurdities .
picturesque descriptions of the Sardinian solitudes , and of handJ + f vT which contrast almost grotesquely with the roseate elegance nnrl e ' tionalities of the later chapters . Giulio Branehi is a vagabond of I ? " who , after adventures that would have satisfied Gil Bias , becomes -if £% a gentleman , and marries a flower of England , Annie Leslie The hi I his autobiography . It is full of action , change , surprise . Now vou 1 i - a vast , circular , black-roofed cavern , lighted by monstrous lamps with tT i " of gigantic length and thickness placed upon trestles , and covpVJi \? loaves and wine-ilasks . This is the brigands hall . Then GiuHo \ 1 T so / . far improved from his vagabond manners as to imprint upon the » fi yet velvety surface" "beautiful arm , which glittered with o-emt ! » i . ™ kiss of trembling devotion , " follows the velvet-armed lady into \ bm l * shaped like a tent , the sides being of grey figured silk , the roof of sl-v M * powdered with silver stars , and a fragrant lamp swin « in « - inth ^ cent This is the marehesa ' s bower , and these are the extrcmesahe cwtnn r Lntre . the Siberia and Assyria , of the Tuscan ' s fancy . east and west ,
Florence Templar ( Smith , Elder , and Co . ) .- ^ -Flore ^ ce Templar is a HmriM story of contemporary life , with an epidemic at the close . The poor ins ™ Sir Edward dies , Fanny ' s gentle heart is broken , the cold proud ]! perishes , Florence herself , the brilliant and high-souled , perishes fourthlv Whenever , the writer has reached a proper point for an ejaculation th euphonious name of Florence Templar is applied . Chapter the second ends " I dreamed all night of Florence Templar ; " the fourth , " Ah Florpn ™! Florence' " the fifth , Ah , that morrow ! " the last , « :- Oh , my fHend I Oh Florence ! " There is nothing repulsive in the book ; but there is no reason why we should be afflicted by a record of suicidal insanity , woe misery and morbid tears—all without plan or purpose . ' ¦ ¦ - * Sidney Grey : a Tale of ' School Life . By the Author of " Mia and Charlie " ( Bogue . ) —A better Christmas tale , in every respect , than Mia and Charlie It is a simple , cheerful , lively book , overflowing with good feeling , and likely to interest the young , while no one need be old enough to despfse its sentiment or its humour .
The Good Old Times : a Tale of Auvergne . By the Author of " Mary Powell . ' ( Hall , Virtue and Co . )—A tissue , partly historical , is woven into this tale , which is written with grace and power . It is a story of the Protestants of Auvergne ; the pictures of the period are drawn with care the incidents are described in a style of refined familiarity , the dialogues are neat and natural—there is a real fifteenth century shape and colour in the eiitire narration . The writer has evidently acquainted herself with all that is contained in the chronicles of the Huguenot conflicts , in which the war of the rotrliers against the bishop and burghers of De l ? uy forms a
conspicuous episode . A story constructed with so inuch care , and inspired by sentiments so warm and gracious , is deserving of more than common praise . The Sisters of Soleure : a Tale of the Sixteenth Century . By C . S . W . ( Nisbet and Co . )—This also is a story the incidents of which are attributed to a period of religious strife and intellectual ¦ ¦ ch ange . The scene i ;> choseu in Switzerland , so often the centre of war , and the citadel of liberty . But the narrative is subordinate to the colloquies , which are sharp and didactic
and stiff with peremptory doctrine . There are innumerable hits at error , and sundry profound theological questions are put in their proper liylit , with that ineffable ease which is sure to be observable when the authors of sketchy tales undertake to play Pascal in an airy manner and to confound Liguori and Home . If people who have a moral to inculcate would choose a more indirect and less emphatic method of exposing ' the idolatrous ami bloody Church of Rome , ' there might be more converts in the world , and there would certainly be more good-will .
Jessie Cameron : a Highland Story . By the Lady Ilachel Butler . ( W . Blackwood and Sons . ) —Jessie Cameron is a natural , graceful story , intensely Scottish , and more likely to be popular on the north than on the south of the Tweed . Yet why so ? It is astonishing to remark how Scott ' s Scotticisms are relished by English readers . And , to say the truth , the Lady liaehel Butler , Highland as she is in her character , her landscapes , costumes , and incidents , does not incessantly mock our melodious sympathy with u auch , " " hecht , " " daflin , " " nieht , " and " gang . " Her Jessie is a sweet heroine , simply and tenderly portrayed . We should counsel Lady Butler to -write more , in this vein .
Daisy's Necklace , and What Came of It : a Literary Episode . By T . J ) . Aldrich . ( Low and Son . )—Mr . Aldrich ' s preface is a warning . It U facetious . And that dreary attribute predominates to the last page , except where incoherent sentimental ism interrupts the parody . The Life and Remarkable Adventures of a Dog . By Thomas Millar . ( Dean and Son . )—This excellent little volume , illustrated b y Harrison Weir , will p lease sill but the most precocious children . It is vivified by quaint and cordial humour . Not Mr . Jeafireson , nor Lady Butler , nor even Mr . . Edwin Kcene , will be jealous of the favours accorded by an infantine public to this book of pictures marvellous and anecdotes incredible .
When the brilliant dancing beauty marries a noble , who turns out to be her father ' s nephew , we recognize in the husband thus blessed only a well-shaped simpleton . Baron Carl , also , is a good-natured walking gentleman . Pauline's portrait is faint and watery , the baroness ' s a theatrical daub . But the court scenes are cleverly represented , as well as the rehearsals and performances at the royal theatre . The most serious fault of the novel is one of construction . The writer did not know where to end ; and , as Lady Wallace has an obvious talent for adaptation , she should have remembered Canning ' s ruleto come to a close when you have reached the conclusion . This has not been attended to in The Old Monastery . When the play is finished , when the climax is past , when all the threads aie unravelled , the good rewarded and the evil chastised , the novelist goes on describing dreams , dialogues , and delusions utterly wanting in interest , and mere excrescences upon the story . Otherwise , the book is entertaining enough . It is lively , cleverly written , and , in some respects , the scheme of the romance is originally conceived .
Sydney Fielding : the Domestic History of a Gentleman who Served imder tkeir late Majesties George IV . and William IF . By Edwin Keene . 2 vols . ( Bentley . ) A gentleman U married to a lady , but another lady is consumed by a secret love for him . Ultimately , the first is drowned that the second may marry . Such is the beginning , and such the end , of Mr . Keene ' s romance . Not very new , the reader will say . But very ridiculous , vre will add . The mouldy notion is dished up with the overdone . materials of a melodrama— -an interrupted wedding , a white-armed Hermione falling to the ground like a corpse—the same Hermione engulphed by the roaring waves , and sundry spasmodic dialogues , broken by stage explanations and directions . Sydney Fielding is an officer , a sort of vulgarized Esmond , and Julia is his wife , he being , morally , a maniac , and she , immorally , a dragon . But the lustres of history shine upon the scene—the Duke of Wellington , Prince Metternich , George IV . and William IV . —the Duke chatty , the Prince majestic , King George a swollen fop , and King William an urbane nonentity . So bold is Mr . Keene , and so bright are his materials .
Preliminarily , as we have said , Julia , " her figure ethereal with flake-like lace , " awaits the wedding bell . She is the customary Cryselephantine of novelsruarble , red , and ebony . But no marriage ensues , and the flake-like lace is put away to yellow for a year or so . Then Cometh Sydney Fielding , who dismisses the said Julia by a note ; but , during an interview , is restored to favour , and marries . The Parsonage garden , however , is made the arena © f certain dramatic scenes , in which Julia , Fielding , Frances , and Verion converse and " pass on . " Several times the marginal record is repeated , « ' they jpass on . " At last , after Fielding has talked about coppery tints and lurid crimson , Frances and Verion change hands , and so— et Fielding and Julia meet them , and they pause all together for some moments . Then , Fielding walks forward with Frances , and Verion and Julia go round the lawn on the other side , so that the couples pass and repass each other again . ' Let us listen . Frances says she is giddy . Fielding says they had better go in-doors . Frances had rather not . The novel is absurd and dull throughout . Giulio Branchi : the Story of a Tuscan . Related by Himself , and
translated from the Italian MS . by Alfred Elwes . ( Addcy and Co . ) . —Mr-Alfred Elwes ia a proficient translator , but we should have preferred the pure Italian romance of Qiulio Branchi to a composite version with omisaiona and variations unlimited . Mr . Elwes , no doubt , is a magnanimous adaptor , willing that the defects of the volume should bo imputed to himBolf , and the naerits to his author ; ' still , in the double process , tho Btory has probably lost some of its Tuscan light and warmth . We may commend it , nevertheless , as spirited and amusing , and as possessing a certain interest for those who wish to be edified in their idle hours . That is to say , there are some
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BADEN POWELL ON CREATION . The Unity of Worlds ami of Nature : Three Essays on the Sjririt of tha Inductive Philosophy ; the Plurality of Worlds ; and the Philosophy of Creation . By the Kev . Baden Powell . Second edition , revised and onlaTgcd . Longman & ¦ Oo . We noticed the first edition of this work at such length , that it is unnecessary to do more at present than indicate the improvements of the nevr edition , and reiterate our admiration of tho candid , philosophical , and trutuloving spirit in which it is written . It would be dillicult to find many clergymen of the Church of England having the courage and candour to express views so divergent from what is generally considered ' correct ; ' for although many clergymen arc also men of science , and investigate science on philosophical , not theological principles , yet even they , "uncivilly , contrive to betvav their theological nrunossessions on ovorv tonic which \ vnl »
on any pretext , admit such betrayal . To be consistently scientific is moro than they can find courage or philosophy for . To keep a broad line of demarcation between-Science and Keligion , to freo scienco from theological ntorforence , seems only possible to them in those cuses where scienco has
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_ jj 42 _ _ _ TjHE ^_ Lg ADEB . [ No . 353 , Saturday i " i » m ' ' ' ¦ ' - . .
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1856, page 1242, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2173/page/18/
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