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A BATCH OF BOOKS . goaiJB of the books included under this head deserve , no doubt , more conspicuous notice than our space allows us to bestow on them ; but it might be impossible to review them at all , if not summarily . We prefer , therefore , to close our critical accounts from time to time , by dealing at once with 41 battalion of writers , rather than to neglect them altogether . We give priority to The flfemaiw and . Adventures of Felice Orsini , written by himself , and traiwlated from the original man-useript . By George Carbonel . ( Edinburgh : Constable and Co . )—Orsini has thoroughly established in England his reputation as an Italian patriot , a brave soldier , and an eloquent pleader for the rights of his countrymen . Itis new volume is a deeply interesting record , abounding in details illustrative of recent Italian history , and enriched by & collection of eurious official documents—unpublished state papers , revealing the policy of the Roman court . We recommend the book to all . our readers . A narrative of a very different complexion is contained in The Militiaman at Home and Abroad . Being the History of a Militia Regiment from its first Training to its Disembodiment . By Emeritus . ( Smith , Elder , and Co . )—A word of prefatory praise must be given to the illustrations from the magic pencil of Leech . The volume is light and varied , with a pleasant mingling of humour and sketchy story . The writer has evidently witnessed tiae scenes he describes , and the result is a book which will please all military readers , and pass rapidly from hand to hand through the circulating libraries . ' An Englishwoman' publishes A Month at Kissingen , with an analytical table of the mineral springs , and accounts of Cologne , the Rhine , Frankfort , &c . ( Longman and Co . )—She professes no more than to honestly set down what she has seen and thought ; and if her _ volume is not * one of the pleasantesi and most original tales ever written , ' it is agreeable , and overflows with warm-hearted gossip . It will be , as the author hopes , ' pleasant to some , useful to others , ' and tourists may rationally put it into their portmanteaus . To a similar purpose Mr . M . C . Turner has written A Saunter Through Surrey . ( Walker . )—Surrey people and their visitors will make discoveries through Mr . Turner ' s agency : there is no knowing what a country contains , quite as interesting as Timbuetoo , until some one resembling Mr . Turner in diligence and enthusiasm has explored its old sites and histories . Dr . Pincoffs has issued a book of a more
important class , T&xperiences bj / a Civilian in Eastern Military Hospitals . '{ Williams and Norgate . )—This must be seriously recommended to the medical authorities of the army , as it states some excellent criticisms on the English , French , and other medical systems , and on the organisation of military medical schools and hospitals . The subject could not have been more sensibly discussed . The very reverse of sensible is a wild , pretentious book , « n * Med , The Pvess , the Pulpit , and the Platform ; or , the Future of the French Empire . { Newby . )—It is fierce , weak , and fantastically exaggerated . The writer believes that nunneries are still dens of physical despotism ; with little inquisitorial cells in which the penitents are racked , mangled , flagellated , and sliced to pieces with knives , after the fashion of the Marquesas . A familiar name—that of Leitch Ritchie—appears oh the title-page of an elegant little volume in green and gold , The New Shilling , ( Brown and Co . ) —Though not a disappointment , however , the title-page is a deception . The book is not by Mr . Leitch Ritchie , but principally by his daughter , Miss Grace Norman Ritchie , whose tale , The Little Heroine , filling three-fourths of the volumeis altogether suppressed on the title-page . It is a charming
, story for the young , written -with sweetness , grace , and cordiality , and has an excellent moral intention . Mr . Ritchie ' s little tale , also , is in his peculiarly pleasing style . To the same class belongs The Barefooted Maiden By Berthold Auerbach . Illustrated by Edward H . Wehner . ( Low amd Co . )—We have in this story of a shoeless maiden one of those simple yet exquisite fictions which stand unrivalled in their own especial ¦ department of romance , the faculty of producing which seems to belong to some peculiar element of the German mind . It is characterized by the rare charm of freshness , a spontaneity , and a purity which renders the perusal , like inhaling the breezes of spring , redolent of mingled perfumes from gardens , meadows , and groves . It would be stinted praise to say this little volume has excellence ; for it possesses the many excellences essential to a truly artistic production . In design it is appropriate throughout , ever natural and truthful . A depth of guileless wisdom speaks in the tender , earnest strain of the story , the reflective tenor of which is relieved by the perpetual play of a sparkling fancv , and warmed by irrepressible utterances of the highest and sweetest intuitions of the eoul . Descriptions
of Nature in her varied aspects of beauty are graphic as the colours on a camera . Nor is the power of portrait-painting less strikingly displayedthe conception of Aiurei , the heroine , not unworthy to rank in originality « nd beauty—though of a less ethereal subtle kind—with the surpassingly graceful creations of Undine and Use . We Vatch with unwonted interest the development of the inner life of the lonely orphan child Amrei , whoso unfolding spirit apprehends readily the teachings of nature—her sole instructor—hopelessly echoing the thousand joyful voices of creation around her . Herr AuerbacU shows the facility and power of a master , whether in depicting nature or humauity , both which he studies with a philanthropic fooling and a philosophic sense . We next lay hands upon a goodly volume , called Wite to Win Souls , which turns out to bo a memoir of the Jiev . Jephaniah Job . By Sarah S . Farmer . ( Hamilton , Adams , and Co . )—We think Mr . Job would not have confided his diaries to Miss Farmer had he known to-what use she would put them . It is really too bad to print such entries as these : — March 80 ft . —Tried by discovering that I throw a five-pound note into the fire yesterday witu waste paper .
March Qlnt . —Unwell . Mind at pence . Thought that my little loss of yesterday , and my present indisposition , a gentle chastisomont of my heavenly father to try n » y patience . ¦ Dao . I 4 . th . r--Rather anxious about a cheque sent to Childrey , not yet aoknow-Mgpd . , . ¦ # «« . X 7 th . —Pxa , yod against anxiety about cheque . Half the volume in made up of similar entries . Is it a parody , or was Miss Farmer only too much in earnest P Wo would point , as to an infinitely hi gher example of devotional literature , to tho calm , pure , excellent Sermon *
admirable Manual of Ancient History , an equally admirable Manual of Ancient Geography , with a Map showing the Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks ¦ under Xenophon . ( Edinburgh : Adam and Charles Black . ) It thII at once take its place among scholastic text-books , being clear , concise , pleasantly written , and , as far as possible , complete . We know of no such work on the same subject . We have to chronicle the publication , among second editions / of Greece under the Roman * * by George Finlay , LL . D . ( Edinburgh : William Blackwood ) , and Vol . VI . of Lord Campbell ' s Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal . ( John Murray . )
Preached at Trinity Chapel , Brighton , by the late F . W . Robertson , M . A . ( Third Series , Smith , Elder , and Co . ) With this -we may notice a twelfth volume of the Select Works of Thomas Chalmers , edited by his son-in-law , the Rev . W . Hanna , LL . D . ( Edinburgh : Constable and Co . ) , Israel in the Apocalypse , by the Rev . George Ewing Winslow , M . D . ( Partridge and Co . ) , Geolaoy and Genesis / or , the Two Things Contrasted , by C ( Whittaker and Co . ) , and Part II- of An Essay on Intuitive Morals j being an Attempt to Popularise Ethical Science ( John Chapman ) . The last is a masculine an d cleverly-reasoned essay . Dr . Schmitz has compiled , as a companion to his
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THE ILLUSTRATED TENNYSON . The Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson . With Illustrations . Moxon and Co . We have already alluded to the perfect taste displayed in the elegant exterior , the noble type , and the stately pages of Mr . Moxon ' s recent edition of the Poet Laureate ' s collected works—an exquisite volume , whic h the genius of Art and the muse of Poetry unite to beautify . It remains for us to note how in the productions of the several masters employed , the interpretations of the artist have answered the conceptions of the poet . In some instances we find the characteristic touches of their pencils in peculiar harmonv with the peculiar attributes of Alfred Tennyson . This is especially the case with the illustrations of Mr . Millais . The pervading mark of his genius is a severe , uncompromising spirit of artistic truth , 1-1 . i •!„ ti . „ : „« =, vmnup in Vii « rip . linp . nt . inns . renders them occasionwhich while it ives vi to his delineationsrenders them
occasiong gour , ally deficient in that ideality of grace and beauty which vre associate with pure art ; and as in the poet whose imaginings he illustrates , so also in the artist we are sometimes startled by an inexorable adherence to reality in its harshest outlines . This concord of stvle it is which constitutes Mr . Millais so able an interpreter of Tennyson in his sternest moods , as we find in the " Mariana of the Moated Grange , " " the Death of the Old Year , and " St A < mes' Eve . " The tension of expression called for in these pieces , the solemnity , earnestness , pathos , and even desolation impressed upon them , are admirably realized by Mr . Millais , whose capacity for treating subjects of a sombre cast is shown as much by his signal success in these pieces as by his failure in lighter essays , such as " Dora , " and the " Miller ' s Daughter . A notable exception , however , is the " Day Dream , " where the fancy of the artist , yielding to the seductions of the scene , depicts vividly the picture oi luxurious portraying faithfully every minute detail which can
enrepose , hance the charm of the piece and render it suggestive of a blissful dream of poetry- We wish that Mr . Millais had carried the same flexibility of fancy into the " Dream of Fair Women , " his illustration of" its heroine resembling more some nightmare apparition of an Ashantee Traviata than the vision of Cleopatra in queenly grace for which it is intended . Pre-eminent among the several beautiful conceptions of Mr . btanfield stands his illustration of the " Lotos Eaters "—the whole scene redolent of balmy languor , suggesting the ' land in which it seemed always afternoonthe charmed sunset lingering low down in the red west . A hush of piety reigns over his convent sketch in the " St . Agnes' Eve . " A pensive charm han cs round Mr . Creswick ' s tomb of Claribel , while the " Golden Year' by in contrast the versatility of his The piece
this master shows telling powers . is irradiated from earth to sky by a flood of mellow light . Mr . Mulrcady also exhibits his genius diversely in the sprightly delicate o-race of his " Sea Fairies , " contrasted with the solemn grandeur of the * Deserted House . " Mr . Maclise ' s representation of the « ' Morte d'Arthur " is vivid and energetic . Mr . Hunt ' s first illustration of the " Oriana is bold , expressive , and true to the accessories of time and circumstance ; but in the second—the " Knight Lamenting "—an irresistible comparison conveys to the mind that some ancient monster , in the guise of an ungainly warrior , is about to clutch his prey . But Mr . Hunt redeems tho honour of his pencil by his skilful treatment of " Godiva , " whose high resolve seems to speak in the nobility of her bearing , adding to the charm of exquisite feminine beauty in her form that of commanding dignity . Indeed , not a sinole artist does injustice to his name ; but , on the contrary , cannot but roceive an accession to his fume through this noble volume .
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v THE HANDEL FESTIVAL . Tim Handel Festival , whicli opened on Monday last with the Metutiph , is , without question , the event of the season . Let those who doubt whether tho bnglisb nation is a musical nation only consider that the groat Master , to whose memory this last week has been devoted , passed his days and acquired his fume in this country—that even after the lapse of a century he atiU retains his spell over the English mind—and then surely their doubts muet cease . We have heard it said that the suppressed thunder of murmurous applause which rose froin tlio > "Ui « - tudinous lips of a London audience had more power to thnl the heart of tho Swedish songster than tho more vociferous plaudits of foreign listeners . Wo can well believe it . There is assuredly in this people an intensity of fbehng lor '"" s * which it is difficult to over-estimate . And the 15 , 000 persons who flocked from every province to listen to the choir of 2000 voices and tho 500 instruments , must go far to prove the truth of our opinion . , nflaaed We shall not attempt hero any description of the strange ™»;« f $ ™ % ™ in tho OnxsTJ * Palaob on Monday last } nor shall we atempt , wj ™ ™ 2 * . $£ * work which mankind have long since agreed to adm re and h » ™ £ Jf £ jJ ^ JSea " Old as the subject was , tho performance was wholly notr . It was new to UBtoa
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 20, 1857, page 595, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2198/page/19/
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