His first extracts are from the Vedas, those early hymns to the powers of nature, which belong to the dawn of Hindu thought, and have come down to our times as the most ancient memorial of Gentile song. He then gives a few extracts from the laws of Manu, the Indian Lycurgus, and these are followed by several very interesting episodes from the two great epics, the Rámáyana and the Mabábhárata. From the latter we have an elegant version of the beautiful story of "Sávitri" (which our readers may recollect by an abridged prose translation which appeared in this Magazine some years since), and the original story of Sakontalá, from which probably Kálidása took the subject of his charming play., Kálidása himself contributes several delightful specimens. We cannot forbear quoting the following lovely scene from Sakontala," where the heroine is represented as leaving her foster-father Kanva's hermitage for the palace of her husband Dushyanta. The whole passage breathes the softest pastoral tenderness. KANVA. Nymphs of the trees that shade this holy dell, The cool stream poured around each favorite tree, CHORUS OF INVISIBLE WOODNYMPHS. overhead! The breeze shall pour round her th' heavenly That it steals from the woods where the lotuses bloom, And fan her bright tresses, deliciously cool, With the sweet pearly dew of the lily-clad pool! SAKONTALA. This happy day, Priyamvadá, will see Yet my heart sinks at leaving these sweet bowers, PRIYAMVADA. They share thy sorrow, dearest! look around, My darling creeper, take my last embrace, And now, my friends, this last memorial take, Sakontala, who now will care for us? Your tears are idle, lady! weep not thus ; Nay, you should act a wiser, better part, And strive to cheer Sakontala's sad heart. SAKONTALA. Father, when she has young-my dear gazelle,- KANVA. Your darling little fawn,-your tenderness point, A mother's love your gentle care supplied, SAKONTALA. Go back, my darling,-here thou still may'st roam, Had we space we could quote a very beautiful description of a burning forest from a poem on "The Seasons," which is generally ascribed to Kálidása-a poem, by the bye, which was published by Sir W. Jones, and was the first Sanscrit book ever printed. Western Himalaya and Tibet: a Narrative of a Journey through the Mountains of Northern India during the year 1847-8. By T. Thomson, M.D., F.L.S., &c.— The author of this scientific volume left Simla in the month of August 1847, on a mission to explore the regions north of India. He was accompanied by Major Cunningham and Captain Strachey. The mission did not reach Lahore, on its return, until the month of December 1848. The limit reached by the expedition was the Kara Koran pass, to arrive at which the author had to travel for the space of three weeks through an uninhabited country. This portion of the journey will be the most interesting to the general reader, but even here the record of travel is confined almost exclusively to a scientific chronicling. We do not say this in dis paragement of the volume, but rather to give it its proper classification. To the botanist and geologist it will be a highly acceptable work; to the former especially, and hardly in less degree to the latter. To those, on the other hand, who look for high colouring, strong and strange incidents, and plenty of them, with sparkling narratives of personal histories and thrilling details, of "moving accidents by flood and field," this book does not address itself. Huc's travels in Tibet have rendered readers curious to know more of that locality; Dr. Thomson's work will not satisfy that curiosity. He has no terrible disasters to write about, such as abound in Huc's work-a work, be it said, in passing, which narrates a great deal about what never occurred. The fact of M. Huc's journey we do not dispute, but we strongly suspect that the Paris editors furnished a considerable portion of the peril, and "piled the agony" to make it tell and sell. We all now know of the poetical French traveller in the East who burned a village in Syria and made the imaginary conflagration shed light over some pages of a very dull volume. Indeed some of the best books affecting to give the results of travelled French experience were written by men who had never voyaged a score of leagues from the capital. To no such category does Dr. Thomson's book belong. It is plain matter of fact. He was commissioned to look at the country and report upon what he saw;-and this he does literally. You know the grass through which he walked, are introduced to the flowers and plants which he collected for his hortus siccus; if he crosses a stream you are made to see the water and to comprehend its analysation, as though you had been of the philosophical party; and when a chain of mountains is reached, he does not merely picture the ridge in good yet unpretending prose, but he probes to the very heart of it, and makes even the general reader skilled in the anatomisation of lofty hill ranges. We repeat that it is purely a scientific work, and a very valuable one, but even the most desultory of readers may find amusement in contrasting the description of Cashmere and its lake with the glowing poetical presentment of the same places as given by the author of Lalla Rookh. He who has deemed Moore's portrait the true one, will, after looking at that by Dr. Thomson, be, doubtless, tempted to exclaim with the young lady in the Rivals :-"How unlike my Beverley !" The Analogy of Religion. By Bishop Butler. Post 8vo. pp. vi. 546. (Bohn's Standard Library.)-This may be called the student's edition. It includes the author's sermons, and has also analytical introductions prefixed, both of the Analogy and the Discourses, by a member of the University of Oxford. Several notes are added, from Mr. Duke's Analysis of the First Part of the Analogy, Mr. Wilkinson's, and Mr. Hobart's, with some others by the editor. Nor do these last appear to be the least in importance, judging by that at p. 104, on the connection between the eternity of punishments and that of rewards. The memoir of Bishop Butler, which was prefixed to former editions, and the original preface by Bishop Hallifax (which is of sufficient consequence to be mentioned in the list of his writings), are retained. It would be superfluous to praise a work so well known and so highly esteemed as the Analogy; but the reader may be glad to know (from Mr. Seward's Anecdotes) that a famous freethinker in the last century used to say it contained the most ingenious and most elaborate defence of Christianity. Histoire des Crimes du deux Decembre. Par V. Schoelcher, Representant du Peuple. 8vo. La Mi-Aout, ou les Miaous de Napoleon Le Petit, &c. Par le Chevalier de Chatelain. 12mo. The first of these works is one replete with melancholy interest. Its chief merit is its unexaggerated tone. There is indignation enough and to spare, but the statements are simply and fairly made, and although the verdict asked of the public will not go to the extent claimed by M. Schoelcher for his party, it will at least be given in accordance with a great portion of the condemning testimony here adduced. The volume is devoted to a full detail of the history of the famous coup d'état, how it was plotted, how carried out, and how immediately followed by the establishment of such a despotism as France had never before witnessed. The author describes all the events which are now so well known in their general aspect and their results, to the world at large. In doing so he makes the victims of the plot tell their own individual histories, and when he does indulge in a strong assertion he cites public documents to prove that he has sufficient ground for his wrath. One fatal error, as it seems to us, pervades, nevertheless, this volume of contemporary history. Throughout it is assumed that France is intensely republican in spirit, and that the republic, like truth, must ultimately prevail. It is our belief, on the contrary, that if there be one form of government which the country more heartily detests than another, it is the republican form. We are not however pre pared in consequence to affirm that the majority of the people have a strong predilection for monarchical institutions; that the preference lies that way cannot be questioned. It seems to us that indifference is the general characteristic of the population with regard to the quality of the authority to which they are required to yield obedience, provided only that government insured them the blessings of peace. The people have been in turns cheated by every species of sovereignty which has been established amongst them; and when the people themselves became sovereign, they cared as little for the sacred principles of justice. The fact is, that in France there are no patriots, but a superabundance of partizans, and their political principles are based upon the most savage selfishness. With them law and oaths have been alike disregarded; and when we say "with them," we include kings as well as people, subject of course to certain exceptions, which will by no means tend to disprove our general assertion. From the days of Hugues Capet to those in which we live no nation has been so ruthlessly despoiled by her rulers as France. The people have been again and again asked for aid to the crown under the promise of valuable political franchise in return, but the aid has no sooner been given than so far from the additional freedom being yielded, according to pledge made, than the little popular freedom existing has been compelled to endure diminution. Democracy, when it sat in king's places, was not a jot more equitable. What has been the result? That under every sovereign, save some three or four, there has been an almost perpetual spirit of insurrection among the people, a spirit not inspiring them to secure liberty for all, but to revenge themselves bloodily on the few, and to provide a permanency of good fortune for the faction temporarily triumphant. Against every such faction all other and less lucky factions become bitter and active antagonists. Revolutions in England have been made, almost invariably, according to law. Indeed a great part of our legislation is a gradually progressing revolution, but it is progress and for good, and not ruinous mutation purchased by rebellion, and fatal even to the victors. France is learning to love tranquillity: when her masses have also learned to reverence law, as it has been reverenced in England from the period that law was established, there will no longer exist a literature like that of which M. Schoelcher's book is a touching portion, and political exiles will not be the necessary illustration of each new accession to power. We conclude by noticing a strange piece of GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXVIII. information afforded by the author upon an English subject. He is contrasting the French with the British police. The former, he says, are expressly chosen from among the ferocious of feature, in order that their appearance may strike terror into the people, while in England no man is admitted into the force who is not gentle of aspect and tender of heart, yet firm of purpose! Perhaps this may account for the impression which policemen are said to make so generally upon the sympathising ancillæ of London and the suburbs.-The second work named above is a rhymed satire upon the Cæsar of the hour, and lacks both grammar and wit. Its want of spirit might have authorised "mi-eau" to be added to the other poor puns on the title-page. An Elementary Treatise on Logic.-As a work calculated to assist private gentlemen who wish to acquire a knowledge of the reasoning science, as well as for its uses in schools and colleges, we are glad to be able to offer a word of warm commendation in its behalf. We would, however, strongly advise private students not to commit themselves to this or any other treatise without reading, re-reading, and again and again reading Chretien's Essay on Logical Method. With two such books they will be well provided for the overcoming of subsequent difficulties. Spirits of the Past; by Nicholas Michell, author of " Ruins of Many Lands.” -There is no dearth of the poetic element in Mr. Michell's pictures of great men and women; but he writes verses with fatal facility, and says a great deal more than enough. Every image is diluted and expanded-nothing is left for the reader's imagination. The whole, though profusely embellished, is unimpressive-the mind rests on no one specific picture. When a man takes up the occupation of formally poetising that which was high poetry before he touched it, we cannot escape the fear that he is about to desecrate something holy. They who have long dwelt on these glorious and grand characters, in a manner of their own, have formed their own estimate of them, and do not wish to have it disturbed; and yet there are some rich pieces of description in Mr. Michell's book. It chiefly fails in its human part. The Temptation of our Blessed Lord; a series of Lectures. By the Rev. T. T. Smith. Post 8vo. pp. viii. 111.-These lectures are not deficient in merit, but we should have greater pleasure in recommending them if they did not so often trench on the verge of debateable ground. 3 T It is true they inculcate no positive error; but, when men of adventurous minds go to the edge, their followers often make a step beyond it, and fall over. This volume, therefore, is best in the hands of those "who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern." (Hebrews, v. 14.) Memorials of Christian Life in the Early and Middle Ages. By Dr. A. Neander. Translated by J. E. Ryland. Post 8vo. pp. iv. 538. (Bohn's Standard Library.) —This work originally appeared in three volumes, Berlin, 1822. It is now translated from the third and amended edition of the two first volumes. By an unfortunate arrangement, the dedication of vol. ii. follows the title, so that at first sight the book might be mistaken for a second volume. Dr. Neander's writings are too widely known to need any particular description in a contracted notice like this. Fortunately, we can give the reader a character of them from Mr. Barnes's recent Commentary on the Revelations (noticed at. p. 389 of our last Magazine. In the note on chap. xii. 14, he observes that, to find out where the true Church was "during the darkest ages, and when Rome seemed to have entirely the ascendancy.... has been done with great learning and skill by Neander." As the title-page mentions that this volume includes the author's "Light in Dark Places," we presume this ought not to be omitted. Dr. Neander has adopted the opinion that Patrick, the apostle of the Irish, was born in Scotland, which may possibly awaken contradiction in those who think the French (Armorican) origin more authentic. A Discourse on Matters pertaining to Religion. By T. Parker. Post 8vo. pp. vi. 309.-This volume issues from a school with which we have little sympathy; and some of the sentiments are so distasteful to our mind, that we have no inclination to proceed with it. The author styles himself" Minister of the Second Church in Roxbury," Massachusetts. He appears to be an Humanitarian in doctrine, and probably ranks as a Presbyterian in discipline, as that name is preferred, we believe, by his denomination in America. A Textual Commentary on the Book of Psalms. By H. N. Champney. Square 12mo. pp. iv. 93.-We anticipate much usefulness in this little volume. The principle adopted is this. A text, such as Ps. xxiii. v. 1, "The Lord is my shepherd," is illustrated by sixteen references, exhibiting the Father and the Son in character of a shepherd, and confirming the assurance of protection and care. Or, to take a more practical instance, Ps. xxxix. 1, is illustrated by references to cxix. 9, and James i. 26, with others. They are printed nearly at length, and thus differ from the marginal references in Bibles. This selection is calculated to prove very serviceable in many ways, such as class teaching, pulpit preparation, and closet meditation. Our readers will be surprised to learn, that so small a volume contains upwards of 10,000 references. The Soul, its Sorrows and Aspirations. By F. W. Newman. 12mo. pp. xi. 162. -The author, who must not be confounded with his Tractarian Romish relative, is an original thinker, and indiscriminate censure of his writings would be as unjust as indiscriminate praise. Still we must warn the reader against becoming attached to a school, or even to a single writer, on account of some striking thoughts or powerful sentences. The Workman's Testimony to the Sabbath. Post 8vo. pp. 176. The origin of this volume is highly interesting. A gentleman, who regretted the increase of Sabbath desecration, determined to appeal to the working classes themselves. He offered three prizes for the best essays on "The Temporal Advantages of the Sabbath to the Labouring Classes." In three months no less than 1045 essays were received. After a patient investigation, the first prize was awarded to a journeyman printer at Ipswich; the second to a shoemaker in Roxburghshire; and the third to a machinist at Dundee. The first is entitled, and strikingly, "Heaven's Antidote to the Curse of Labour; " the second, "The Light of the Week; " and the third, "The Torch of Time." Biographical notices of the writers are prefixed to the several essays; and the first, which is the longest, reminds us of Capel Lofft's introduction to Bloomfield's "Farmer's Boy." Although, as now lying before us, they form a volume, they may be had separately; and we are informed that they have proved extensively useful, through giving copies to operatives, particularly to prisoners, with whom a neglect of the Sabbath has often been the first downward step. Hitherto publications of this kind have been written for the labouring classes, but when written by them they have a double claim to be received attentively. Nineveh its Rise and Ruin. By the Rev. J. Blackburn. 2d. edit. fcp. 8vo. pp. viii. 184.-Among the numerous works which the late accession to historical evidence, in the discoveries at Nineveh, has produced, this is by no means the least important, notwithstanding its modest appearance. Mr. Layard, the celebrated explorer of Nineveh, being asked, by the "Working Men's Educational Union,' what book he considered "best suited to connect those discoveries with the history and predictions of Scripture," named this very work, expressing a wish that it might be brought within the reach of every class of readers. On receiving so encouraging a testimony, the author undertook a careful revision, and inserted many additional facts, which had been brought to light by Col. Rawlinson. The notes have been much extended, and so enlarged as to form a supplement. The work itself consists of six lectures, delivered at Claremont Chapel, Pentonville. At p. 159, note ix. the author endeavours to defend the authority of Ctesias against impugners. It may be added that the learned Heeren, in his "Historical Researches," when treating of the Persians, constantly refers to Ctesias as historical authority, and even says, that "had his work come down to us entire, Ctesias would have ranked with Herodotus, who at present holds the highest place." (Asiatic Nations, i. 54.) Romanism an Apostate Church. By Non-Clericus. Post 8vo. pp. xvi. 460.-This volume contains a great deal of material for such as have occasion to study this controversy, whether marte proprio, or for general purposes. It brings down the subject, in regard of persons and occurrences, to the present time, on which account it will be found the more compendious. If it does not aim at adorning controversy with amenities (as indeed may be surmised from the title), we must remember that these are so rare as to form the exception, and not the rule. The Village Pearl; a Poem. By John Crawford Wilson.-This is a very harmonious, regular poem of the Rogers and Campbell school; both rhyme and metre are well ordered, and neatly adjusted, but we cannot say that there is much trace of genius. The story and the manner of telling it are pretty and unobjectionable, but neither rousing nor moving. The Twin Pupils, or Education at Home. By Ann Thomson Gray. 12mo. -There is much excellent sense, much ability and good English writing in this book; a uniformly loving, earnest, sincere spirit pervades the whole, and there is an entire absence of vicious exaggeration in style and tone of thought. It is throughout a very calm and lady-like book. Having said thus much, we are compelled to add that we think the standard is set a little too high for childhood, and that parental faults are shown up in too direct a way. The authoress is some what too matter-of-fact, and does not sufficiently recognise the ends of education, which surely is less acquisition, than harmonious cultivation of all the powers. Thus Miss Cameron, the exemplary governess whose ideas are in general sound, and whose heart is in the right place, seems to us quite wrong in dwelling so exclusively on matters of memory, even while her requisitions from the pupil are commendably moderate. We entirely agree with her in deprecating essays on Honour, Virtue, &c. from children of 12 or 14; but surely children may be encouraged to describe any thing they have seen-to relate any little incident which has occurred to them. Surely observation would be greatly neglected on Miss Cameron's plan. We even find her postponing drawing till a pupil is 12 or 13-unless decided talent for it is manifested; thus plainly showing that she has an eye to the productions of the pencil themselves rather than to the cultivation of the perceptions in the child. Will the authoress take it in good part if we venture to recommend her to consult, whenever she has opportunity, the experience of any family where drawing has been an established pursuit from a very early period. Wherever an artist spirit prevails (the essentials of good religious and moral discipline not being absent,) we believe there is a decided superiority in the character. The mere production of pictures is a very secondary affair. It is for the exercised eye, for the exactitude of representation, for the firmness and finish imparted to the whole habit, that we prize drawing, and think it can hardly begin too early. Witchcraft: a Tragedy, in five acts. By Cornelius Matthews.-The dark annals of Massachusetts have suggested this stern drama. It is an episode in the terrible story of witchcraft, put into action, and that skilfully. The local painting is ably executed; the phrasing smacks of the ancient period of 1680; and the characters move and speak gracefully and naturally before us, without constantly forcing on the mind of reader or audience that they are rather mimic personages than realities. As a dramatic poem, the piece is not without faults, and those occasionally of some gravity, but we overlook them for the sake of the promise in which the work abounds. There is a quaint beauty in most of the scenes, and over the chief personages there descends from the commencement a shadow of the fate against which they are to struggle and beneath which they are to succumb. The very essence of tragedy is here, and use has been made of it under the guidance of excellent discretion. |