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    A DOCTOR'S TOUR..A Three Weeks 1 /Scampe...

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    New Novels. The Three Chances. By The Au...

    lam'e space is occupied with minute portrayals of character , and with the elaboration of romantic situations ; some of these are strongly marked and peculiarly original , especially the scenes descriptive of the love passages between an ancient Colonel and the self-torturing maiden , the tragedy of whose life is brought to a ruthless close . The writer dwells with perhaps morbid intensity upon episodes of this nature ; but it is her great merit that the personages of her tale are so far human and real that not one of them is made up of gloss , varnish , opalline transparency , idyllic sweetness , bushy eyebrows , scowls , and dagger-teeth . Her fault is a tendency to a redundance of detail , interrupting the flow of the narrative , which frequently stagnates in large overflows of dialogue , or in epistolary reservoirs still more artificial and purposeless . Charmione : a Tale of the Great Athenian Revolution . By Edward A . Leatham , M . A . 2 vols . ( Bradbury and Evans . ) — It has been Mr . Leatham ' s object to construct a romantic restoration of the manners and customs of ancient Greece . The attempt , has frequently been made , but never , we think , successfully , in Germany or in England . Mr . Leatham has been bolder , perhaps , than any of his predecessors , for the curtain of Jus drama rising discloses at once a group in which Pericles , Alcibiades , Sophocles , Theramenes , Thrasybulus , Critias , Lycias , and Nicias figure , while Plato himself is afterwards brought upon the stage , with all the sophists , sages , warriors , and statesmen of the time . Among the ladies - * of the Grecian years' are numbered Artemo , the daughter of Demosthenes , Eucharis , daughter of Nicias , and Charmione herself , the cynosure of the story . These personages converse , eat , drink , are married and given in marriage , fi « -ht , and die in a style -which ifc is Mr . Leatham ' s pleasure to call Greek , and it is simply just to say that the effect is sufficiently entertaining ; but we cannot avoid the persuasion that considerable study and talent ° have been thrown away . Not but that a novel laid among a classic people in a classic age might have its fascinations ; the material is not obsolete ; only the artist has not come . Mr . Leatham , laborious in his accumulation of details , has selected them without much artistic aim , and even his description of a Grecian marriage wants colour and animation . Here was an opportunity to bring the crowned bride upon the scene in the pure splendour . and poetical variety of the Attic costume , and to paint a hundred aspects of pagan manners ; but what modern picture is not superfluous while we -can read how the nuptials of Caranos were celebrated ? Mr . Leatham has done his best , although he would have done better , we think , to leave Athenian fashions to be studied in the works of such authors as have wrought into really historical views the substances and suggestions of all antique literature and modern criticism . The Formers : a Novel . By Marguerite A . Power , author of'Evelyn Forester . ' 2 vols . ( Newby . )—Miss Power , well known as the niece of Lady Blessington , and as an elegant and agreeable writer , has now published her second novel . It is a great advance upon the first . •* Evelyn Forester' was clever and characteristic , but it was written with less ease , Jess knowledge of society , less spirit and rapidity , than these two volumes . The story of The-Forsters is painful , and betrays a saddened experience ; we might blame , indeed , the writer ' s disposition to put her dramatic persqnages jto death whenever it becomes necessary to destroy an obnoxious influence or a harsh association ; but the quality most conspicuous in the book is the truth with which the domestic interior of the lorster household has been delineated . These bickerings , these jealousies , the fretful phantasies of - spoiled human nature , are sketched from life . Misa Power brings her contrasts together within the circle of the same family , her two heroines being sisters ; while to heighten the tone of the romance , incidents are -daringly multiplied . We hnve found The Forsters not a little interesting , and we gladly assert its claims to success . Dauntless . By the Author of ' Hands not Hearts , ' ' The Revelations of a Commonplace Man . ' 2 vols . ( J . W . Parker and Son . )—This story has . a deeply religious tinge , and turns upon a personal sacrifice which long delays the happiness of the individuals concerned . It is written with deli-• cacy and polish ; the hand is that of one evidently familiar with the English life of town and country , who has been a close student of manners , and has ¦ a . thoroughly generous appreciation of the passion *) that torment the frailties of our human nature . Dawn and Twill // hi : a Tale . By the Author of Amy Grant , ' & c . 2 vols . . ( J . W . Parker anil Son . )— 'This beautiful tale will bo read with enhanced interest on account of its writer ' s untimely death . It is , throughout , * mournful sweet , ' as if the author knew her laat work in life was boing ¦ accomplished . While it was passing through the press she died . We dare not allow criticism to linger over the book , but may justly say that , as a . story , it is very graceful and very touching . Qermati Love . From the Papers of an Alien . Translated , with the sanction df the author , by Susanna Winkworth . ( Chapman and Hall . )— This . strnngely-chnrming fragment has been rendered into congenial English by one of our best German translators . It ia already known to the English public ; and we find it unnecessary to aay more than that these Papers of an Alien , revealing in every page the chastened tondornosa of a fine heart , and the discursive thoughtfulness of an accomplished intellect , can scarcely read better in the original than in Misa Winkwortli ' s version .

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    ¦ ¦ ' .... . - . . - ^¦^^^^¦^¦^^^^ _ - ¦ * THJ 3 liBSADEJEL [ JSFo . g & lQ , JAirariyitar 30 / 1858 . JLJL 4 J ^ u ^_ JwM ^_^^ ^ ^—^^^

    A Doctor's Tour..A Three Weeks 1 /Scampe...

    A DOCTOR'S TOUR . . A Three Weeks / Scamper through the 8 pcte qf G & vmny and Belyium . With an Appendix on the Nature and Uaca of Mineral Waters . By Erasmus Wil » on , F . H . S . Churchill . , A ^ HOU 8 AN »~ touriata ~ gQ 3 sip ^ but ^ of ^ gpt | si ^ ¦ qualities . That of Mr . Wilson is the gossip of a scholar , one who has studied cities and men , who is observant as well « s cheerful , nnd wlioso narrative resembles , in its substance and colour , the beat sort of conversation— -it informs , it interests , it enlivens , it ia never trivial or tedious , never pompons , bat Always well-balanced , suggestive , and practical . To any this , is to'Bay that Mr . Wilson is not a common tourist , nnd thnt is emphatically wbatw © me » n . This book is entitled A Three Week * * Soumper ; nnd yet , eomgNUMKl with the works of any cockney dilettante who bus been n

    year on the Continent , taking observations jocular or profound , it is all pith and richness . Not that the writer affects an oracular tone ; far from it ; he scarcely ceases laughing from the beginning to the end of September , quizzing himself , his companions , England , the world , and things in general ; but invariably converting his chat into pleasing and not unprofitable doctrine ! Thus , on board the Calais packet , he dashes into a familiar treatise on seasickness , and the resolve of every reader will be , after mastering the hypothesis , to try the experiment , with eternal gratitude to Mr . Wilson as the result , should his plan succeed . In his own case it was triumphant , for , havim * bound a shawl tightly round his body , and arranged himself in su ch a posture as to fix the stomach in one steady position , the cause of nausea was removed , and a fact was added to science . Setting foot on French soil , he delays not to declare his gratitude to the cookery which has done so much for that vivacious people , and renders full justice to the soup , and the succession of proper drinks and viands to follow . Strange that the curse of humanity should be perpetually denounced against the British system , and yet our household kitchen-masters are not ashamed . France , however , was not the ground selected by Mr . " Wilson for his rapid explorations . The third chapter brings him to Chaudefontaine and Spa , where sedatives and tonics well out of the earth , for the invigoration of dancers , gamblers , and visitors , who throng round the knaves and simpletons to admire them , and perhaps to envy their courage . The effect of these early draughts produced in the doctor ' s fatigued frame a sense of vigour , and cutlets and St . Jullien suffered accordingly ; but the inspection had ° only begun . Aix-la-Chapelle was in sight , and here , after a lively interlude on German money , he wanders among the alterative waters where Charlemagne and Napoleon bathed , and where the name of Erasmus Wilson was a charm that kindled an excitement among the medical population . From Aix-la-Chapelle his path lay to Langen Schwalbacb , among some of the most celebrated wonders of German scenery , and across the Taunus mountains , where health is a natural product of the soil , and where muriated , carbonated , chalybeate , and sulphureous waters , cold and thermal , form the principal wealth of the inhabitants . In this region Mr . Wilson delighted . Here towered the mighty castle of Labneck , and from its windows , high among the hills , the tourist saw a blaze of light ; for here a certain Irish nobleman , Lord Moriarty , has revived the feudal grandeur of the Byzantine stronghold , which has a chapel possessing » a bull of indulgence , granted in 1322 by the Pontiff John XXIII . The casements are illuminated at night to guide the traveller ; the dungeons are full of juice from the vineyards of the Rhine and Moselle ; and Mr . Wilson found the hospitality of Lahneck very consoling . His pilgrimage , however , was not to German cellars , but to springs and fountains , and at Langen Schwalbach he drank the water-wine of the Romans : — The water is received into two oval-shaped basing of red sandstone , about two feet in depth ; and these basins are lodged in a shallow pit , paved and lined by reel sandstone , and reached by a flight of steps at each side . The bottom of the basin is perforated with holes , one with several , the other , the chief drinking basin , with one only . The carbonic acid gas rises up through these holes in little coveys of bubbles , and breaks upon the surface with a crackling noise . The one opening of the drinking basiu is intended to concentrate the carbonic acid gas , which then boils up in large bubbles , and is further accumulated by a bright metal funnel , sunk below the level of the ¦ water , and into which the whole of the gas rushes , sometimes lifting up the surface ¦ water as though it were in strong ebullition . A good-looking girl performs the part of barmaid of the spring , handing to the visitors , as they approach the outer rail , a glass cup of her generous liquor , for which she dips into the pewter funnel . After quailing his cup , the drinker places it on a small shelf inside the top of the mil , ami then hastens away for his walk , returning for auother glass when the lirt > t is well shaken down , or , in the language of these free-drinkers , digested . " This is the sixth cup ( half-pints ) I have swallowed this morning , " said a phrenzied-looking Englishman to his friend , while I was gently sipping the inspiring but somewhat cold beverage at his elbow ; " this is my sixth cup , and I think by the time I have walked over that hill and get back again I can drink a seventh . " I thought so too , from his appearance , for he didn ' t seem to me to have room for a stomach under las waistband ; and" 1 came to the conclusion that the water must have slipped down some side alley , gone clear of his stomach altogether ; or else that ho was an editor i f u London duily paper , and lived upon ink . Nearly four grains of cold iron , to wash out hid stomach before breakfast ; enough to give it the iron-mould , or turn the poor thing into corrugated leather . The rose's of Schlangenbad suggest a digression on German llowurs : — Germany appears to mo to be remarkably destitute of flowers ; ami , with the exception of oleanders , and pomegranates , and the double convolvolu . s , 1 son rely saw u flower worth looking at throughout my journey . At the tables d'hote , several llowcr girls woro admitted at different places , but their little bouquets were of thu most . pitiably miseruble kind ; even a bouquet which an enamoured swain bought lor hU ladyc-love was so excessively common that an English maiden would have lvjocleil it with contempt . That on German dinners is more flattei'ing : — In the first place , there arrives a soup plate of light potogo , something between broth and gravy soup , and not at nil unacceptable ; secondly , there comes the boot which has boon used to make tho potago , and which is not in the luast degree tho worse for thu process ; it is tender , has a pleasant flavour , and is a di . th that no man in his right senses can allow to pass ; not that ho gets it in a lump , but only in a small dish , containing , when full , some six or oight slices , from which lio huIi'i . is umi or two , us hunger may prompt . Accompanying tho bouilli , us this boiluil . fresh bout ' is culled , is a small dish of potatoes in fragments , sometimes smothered in Imitur ; « lltl ho ends tho second course . Now , tho distribution of food to a long tublu uf "ft y or wixty guests , so that all may bo served with tho same article and at thu sumo moment , ia n mutter which calls for somo degree of ingenuity , and ingonuity anil guiiorulohip aro not wanting to tho accomplishment of tho object . It is managed ilms : six sliuus for nix guests , and two over for tho very hungry , or as a pcrqulsito of tho dish ; »» s -timo 8 "ton r sixty-guest 8 ; --then-let-thero-be 4 ) ropttrod-ten ,, oLtho » o-diuho « , _) U ) il 4 'WlU - ^ L i ! i , tho table In tho mlddlo of ovory six persons , with a dish of potatoes botwucu oacli ; then , as the guests help thomsolvos , or tho wuitor hands tho dish to thu » lx for whom it i « intended , as noon as you are served and havo time to look around , you Had taut , ovory one olao has boon served also . At Bamborg ho receives the card of a Gorman doctor , whereupon arises thia quaint untl . racy disquisition : — ' ' Now , dootor , lot me read you ft lesson ; onamollod cards , I havo boon given to understand , aro prepared with white lead , and tho preparation i » highly pernicious to

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30011858/page/18/