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Leader (1850-1860), 10th September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1040

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      machinations to this desired end . How she falls , little by little , into the ways of the wicked , till she is amenable to the law , is so forcibly and vigorously told as to convince the reader that , had Mrs-Owen employed her pen in a better cause , she would- have produced a novel of the highest order . Those that care only to read a hovel for the excitement it will produce will be pleased with " Raised to the Peerage . " The interest never flags , and the story is worked out with great skill . It is a great pity that it contains so little of the colouring of real life .

      " The Two Homes " is , when the author does not attempt line writing , a very clever novel . But the reader will not understand why Edward Graham ' s ( the hero's ) " heart was in his mother's hands ; ' * nor why he has a " quivering brow ; " or , when he hears that some one has poisoned a dog , the " veins of his forehead should stand out like whipcord . " It is a pity Mr . Mathews has marred a good novel by such sentences as these . In other respects , " The Two Homes " is not by any means an ordinary fiction . ' The reader may smile' some of the exaggerated language , but he will be more than pleased with the vigorous descriptions

      and masterly portraits of real life . Edward Graham is the only son of Mr . Graham , of the rich firm of Weston and Graham . The story opens soon after the death of his mother who has died of consumption . Edward inherits the disease from her , which makes him , poet and sentimentalist as he is , very irritable . His father is a hard practical man , and wishes his son to become the same ; but Edward " detests the si g of a shop window on account of its connexion with business . " Yet he gives way , through the kindness of his aunt Weston , whom our author describes as being " too good to have much poetry in her . " Be this as it maj r , Miss Weston , with the aid of Mitinie , induces Edward to give up his

      scruples , and he devotes himself to business , and succeeds very well for some time . Jl is health begins , however , to fail him , and his father ' s marriage with a woman of fashion making his home detestable to him , he goes to Madeira , where he regains fresh life from the beautiful climate . Madeira furnishes Mr . Mathews with a fertile theme for his descriptive powers , " Flor d'Oceana " is a charming piece of poetical writing . Through his wife and her aristocratic friends , old Mr . Graham become , s embarrassed in his affairs , and Edward has to return—now quite recovered—to manage

      his affairs , where we will leave him , for we must not let our readers know whom he loves and marries . The life of Mr . Graham , sen ., after his second marriage , is very ably conceived . Miss Weston and her protege , the Minnie before mentioned , and heroine of the tale , are finished portraits of two very different individuals , though both are thoroughly good . We have read the work throughout , and have been well pleased . The dialogue is of a good order , and , what is still better , the characters all speak and act consistently with their natures .

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      MEMOIRS AND RESOLUTIONS OF ADAM GRJEME OF MOSSGlt / iy . By tho luithor . of "I ' aasagos in the Life of Mrs . Margaret Maltlnnd , " " Ltllleslonf , " "Tho Days of my Llfu , " &o . A now edition , —Hurst nncl Blnckutt . "Adam Gu . * 3 mb " ia the new volume of Messrs Hurst and Blnckott ' s Standard Library of Popular Works . It would bo difficult to name ft more suitable work than " Adam Groamo" for this series . It is a beautiful story , and perhaps tho best fiction by the authoress of " Mrs . Margaret Maitlnnd . " Those who have not already read it , should do so at once . POPLAR HOUSK A 0 ADI 2 MV . Hy tho aulhor of " Mary Powell . " Soooud LMItioii . Arthur Hall and Co .

      " Popx . ar Housw Aoadkmv " is a much bettor novel than moat of the numerous writings of the authoress of " Mary Powell . " But it would bo rather unfair to compare it with her otjier novels , as they have mostly boon written on subjects of the last century , whereas " Poplar House is a girl's ephool Bitiiatcd ih a fashionable town of modern time , and is written for the purpose of showing the manner ? and customs of school-girl HAj . In selecting thin subject the authoress " has not forgotten that eho ie writing a novel .

      DOMESTIC STORIES . By tlie author of "Jolm" Halifax , Gentleman , " &c . &c . New edition . —Smith , . Elder , and Co . " Domestic Stories" is the new volume of Messrs . Smith ; , Elder , and Co . ' s cheap series . They arc reprinted from the three-volume book called " Avillion and other Talcs , " published some few years back . The others , called " Romantic Tales , " were published in the same form as these , and noticed by us about three months back . Although the tales are very slight in this volume , it should be placed 011 the table of every home .

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      Dublin University continues the subject of " Artist and Craftsman , " " University Essays , " "A Woman ' s Sacrifice , " and " The Season Ticket . " It also introduces us to a new poetess , C . P .. Alexander , whose " Legend of the Golden Prayers and other Poems , " have excited unbounded admiration in her critic . ¦¦ ... '" Tait ' s recognises , this month , the influence of the literature of fiction , which , both in quantity and quality , it represents as equally powerful ; reviews the recent publications with , favour ; . and also ventures along article on Dr . Smethurst ' s case . Its contents are more useful than amusing .

      Eclectic has a good article on Tennysou / s "Idylls . " Mary Howitt contributes a paper , called " Sun Pictures , " which are both pa-thetic and picturesque ;• and . Mr . Thornbury another , entitled " . The Golden Gallerj ' , " which is on the top of St . Paul ' s , in the apex of Wren ' s dome , whence the spectator may contemplate " the noble "view of London . " An article on the " Gospel among the Karens" merits attention . The leading article treats of Dr . Vaughan ' s " Revolutions in JSnglish History , " which it commends to the echo . Poetical Works ov Thomas Mo ' okk have progressed to Part VI ., which contains " The Pudge Paraily in Paris , " " The Pudges in England , " " ' Fables for the Holy Alliance , " and- "Rhymes on the Road . " No , 4 of the same poet ' s " National Airs " also is published , and attests Mr . Glover ' s care in the editorship .

      • Kingston ' s Magazine for Boys has reached No . 7 , which contains the usual variety of entertaining and instructive matter . LaDius' Treasury , No . 31 , rejoices in a varied table of contents and numerous illustrations . Cassell ' s Family Bible , Part IV ., Popular Natural History , Part VI ., and Illustrated Pumily Paper , Part XXI ., maintain thoir respective reputations . Galler-y of Nature , Part II ., both in its pictorial and descriptive departments , is highly creditable to the Rev . T . Milner , M . A ., P . R . G . S .

      Studies i'kom trb Grhat Masters , by William Dickes , Part VII . —These nre engraved and printed in colours , accompanied' with prose illustrations . " The Misers , " by Quintin Matsys , and " The Thr e e Maries of Caracci" furnish tho subjects " for tho month . Both pictures are admirably executed . They have been copied from the famous originals in possession of Her Majesty , and of the Earl of Carlisle . The literary notices appended are appropriate and intelligent . Parents' Caii . ikbt oir Amusement and Instruction , No . 10 , presents ton articles of merit , blending instruction with fiction an . l lively essays , of which tho scientific are not the least interesting .

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      qiieiKtes of-ignorance , both to governments and individuals , have been little less than astounding and on reflection only appear still more appalling u [ their results . The connexion between the development of the industrial arts and pure science is inost intimate . English education , however , has been deficient in its general elements . Matters have somewhat mended since the establishment of the British Association ; but much remains to he accomplished . Hitherto both the continent of Europe and the United States have been far in advance of England .

      " If ( says our antboress ) we trace the effect of these evils upon the lower classes , we shall find them operating to a most injurious extent . So low an estimate was pxit on the value of an educated population , that the culminating point of most svstems of agriculture was to improve different species of cattle , rather than to give attention to the labourer and the danger of educating the lower orders was openly deprecated by their superiors in rank and position , on the ground that obedience was the legitimate offspring of ignorance .

      " The British Government neglected the education of the people , and ignorant alike of the Jaws of God and . man , the tiller of the soil , and the wretched denizen of the crowded city passed through life unaware that lie was deprived of his most noble heritage , viz ., the knowledge of his moral dignity as man , and his claim to the development of his intellectual and moral faculties . Slowly , and as yet but imperfectly , has a change been .. effected . Government has become aware of the mutual relation between an intelligent population and national prosperity , and a system of enlightened education is gradually spreading its beneficent influence . But it is a singular fact , that imperfectly developed as is the education of the poor , it lias already made such

      progress , that it is , in many respects , in advance of that provided for the middle classes . ' We should certainly , ' it has been well-said , " have in a very few years , n , complete overturn of social order- —now servant is master and master is . man '—if , when the son of any poor labourer in a common parish school may attain such knowledge as the pupil teachers of any well-regulated village ' school now possess , the squire ' s son were to be allowed , unmolested , to enter on the quiet possession of his acres , and stand for the representation of his county in Parliament with that scanty modicum of misunderstood Latin grammar , and Horace committed moft imperfectly

      to memory without being construed , winch , we tear , is sometimes still dignified with the name of education . We are confident that there are many sets of freshmen at present in our universities , who know less 6 f arithmetic , histor }' , geography , and , above all , of the Bible , than the first class of the parish school , frequented by their fathers' gamekeepers . Moreover , the middle schools , frequented by the children of small tradesmen and farmers , are notoriously much less efficient than our lower schools . It would not be sound policy , while we greatly improve the education of the children of tho poor , to allow that of the higher classes to remain

      sta-Hatidbooh of the British Association for the Advancement of Science . By Mrs . William Pison . Longmans . This book is dedloatod to Sir Roderick Impoy Murchison , and contains an account of tho riuo and progress of tho Biltlah Association . It treats also , learnedly and well , of tho prosont state of scientific ! education In England , of tho changes In . universities , and * the beneficial influence of Prlnob Albort . There can be no doubt , with tho thinking minds of this generation , that science Is of ossoutlal importance as an element In national progross . Tho

      eonsotionary . " The consequence of this primary defect in English education is to be traced through every rank and station of English society , mid accounts for the past indifference of the State , dopendent though it may bo , for the full development ot its agriculture , its mining interests , its manufactures , and its commerce , upon tho widest extension and tho fullest cultivation of science ' "We find that the executive and legislative bodies of our land had , thirty yenrs ago , such inadequate and indistinct ideiis of the ends proposou , and benefits to be conferred by science , that they did not scruple oponly to express their dislike and conand

      tempt of ita cultivators as dreamer ' s mere theorist * , ? The head of a grout military deportment once said that he hated scientific officers ! Any one of his officers could hnvo told him thub more money had been wasted and lives lost in that department , fironi sheer ignorance of science , than any one could think of without slmmo anil sorrow . Tho question which I know to have been asked i > y another in high places , though milder In expression was not less scornful— ' Of what use is Heience * It is not long since another general officer jjnvo lb as his opinion , that' theoretical knowlodgo was no * necessary in tho army . An officer might bo a , goou officer without any education at all , though tuo advantages of education would undoubtedly uo o »

      great moment to any one . ' . " In tho life of Sir H . Davy , written by Dr . liuis , tho author remarks that a Government ' that nnu bestowed a splendid pension ( £ 1 , 800 ) lor tlio tieatruction of human Ufa , refused to liston to any propositions for tho reward of one who hai Invoiuta . * maohino for its preservation . This reversal ot i " objects of importance can never bo rod rossocl urn » tho aristocracy shall bo possessed of a uompo" ^;

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      1040 THE LEAD ER . L No . 494 . Sept . , 1859 .

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      TALKS FROM " JJLACK . WOOD . " Vol . XI . — William XJlackwood and Sous . TttE tales in this new volume are : " My Friend the Dutchman , " " My College Friends , " " Emerald Studs , " " Christine : a Dutch Story , " and " The Man in the Bell . " They are equal ' to any before reprinted , and are well worth reading .

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      SMUGGLERS AND FOKESTKRS . A novel . By Mary Kosa-Stuart Kettle , author of "Level Pastures , " "Fabian's Tower , " &c . —Thus . Hods-son . " Smugglers and Foresters " is the new volume of Mr . Hodgson ' s series of new novels . It is an amusing novel , but hardly equal to " Fabian's Tower . "

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      NEW EDITIONS .

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      ? Dr . Robinson .

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      SERIALS .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1859, page 1040, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2311/page/20/