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    Untitled Article

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    LETTER FROM ITALY.

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    QUARTERLY REVIEWS, AND OTHER SERIALS.

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    many tedious chapters in order to arrive at these brighter portions , which , after all , can only be likened to so many specks of light upon a darkened surface . In fact * " The Cousins' Courtship" is , as a novel , utterly unreadable . It possesses not the slightest incident that can claim for a moment the undivided attention of the reader . The characters are all imperfectly conceived , arid still more imperfectly developed ; moreover they fail in eliciting 1 , almost without exception , the smallest amount of sympathy . The author has , indeed , shown considerable talent in filling 1 the pages of two decentlysized volumes with little or nothing- to write about . We are aware of that perfectly legitimate proceeding oh the part of novel readers , - ¦ -namely , skipping the duller and less agreeable portions ,- —and we were surprised , in the present instance , to find to what an ^ extent we might indulge in this laudable license without the slightest detriment to the story . :

    A series of tales , formerly published in Frasers Magazine , now collected for the first time , constitute , on the whole ^ a volume of very pleasant reading . The scenes are chiefly laid in Scotland , whose national peculiarities are well depicted by the author . Meg of Elibank , and Lady Strathmore ' s daughters , are particularly worthy of commendation . Quits , a novel by the Baroness Tautphseus , author of " The Initials , " is again issued for the approval of the public . The fact of its having attained a third edition is a sufficient guarantee of its merits .

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    I T is all in vain—he may try—but the Quarterly Reviewer cannot keep pace with the politics of the time . A new serial is , of course , ambitious , and must attempt a display of political acumen , and political influence , arid political prophecy ^—for your pDlitical writer is a great seer into the future . No wonder , therefore , that Bentley , in his fourth number of his ?< Quarterly , " * should come out with a great political article on " The coming Political Campaign . " Alas ! scarcely has it appeared , £ han the whole aspect of things has changed . The relations of the French Emperor with the Pope have been determined ; Free Trade in France has been initiated , and the reaction of these great events on pur Government has commenced , and imposed new conditions on parliamentary parties .

    Mr . Disraeli and Mr . Bright must yield to the pressure , and alter their tactics to suit unexpected contingencies . Whereupon the argument of the article falls to the ground , and the whole becomes almost waste-paper . Assuredly , a much better article might have been turned out ^ by a less prejudiced writer , but the result could scarcely have been different . An article on " The Ordnance Survey " is much better—scientific , direct , intelligent , and intelligible . With the exception of the Highlands of Scotland , and a portion of Northumberland and Cumberland , the whole of the British Isles has now been surveyed and drawn ; and , notwithstanding the obstructions caused by . the disputes in Parliament as to the scale on which the maps should be published , the remainder of the work is once

    by bad treatment . We agree with him , however , in his preference for Teutonic , wonds .. An elaborate- review follows of Miiller ' s " History of the Literature of Ancient Greece , " as continued by . Dr .. William Donaldson . There is also a just and sympathetic article on the Earl of "Dun-donald ' s autobiography , which does the editor great credit . Altogether it may be said that this number of the Beview is an improvement on the last . ¦ The British Quarterly Beoieto for the present January contains nine respectable articles , smd the usual epilogue oiv affairs and books . Among the former . we select an essay on " Wordsworth ^ remarkable for its origirwlifcy ; not ignoring , however , the merits ot the leading article on " Oratory , " and the theological paper on the " Natural and Supernatural" according to Mr . Horace BushneU , ot New York . There is also a paper on Mr . Mill and Liberty , in which both are rather severely treated : —No . 38 of the Assurance Maqazine contains some excellent papers on population , mortality , and statistics . — No . 35 of the Ladies' Treasury presents its usual allotment of subjects , which are treated with ability and appropriately illustrated . —CasselVs Popular Natural History has arrived at Part X ., which is mainly occupied with the varieties ot rats and mice , of which interesting engravings are given . 1 he same publisher ' s Family Bible also proceeds satisfactorily . Part VIII . carries us down to vii . Deuteronomy . The illustrations continue to be good . — -Mr . " Charles Knight ' s English Cyclopaedia still maintains its well-earned reputation . Part XII . ends the third volume , and concludes with the article " Eyre . "—The story of Plain or Ringlets is continued . Part VI . is equal to its predecessors . •^ -Ainon « f some smaller books of the season we may notice the Christmas Booh , a broeJiure describing " Christmas in the Olden Time , its Customs , and their Origin , " tmd which contains some really curious matter . It is published by Jam « s Pattie . —J . H . and J . Parker have son t nut another number ( XI . ) of their historical tales in aid of Churcli principles , entitled The Conversion of St . Vladimir , or the Martyrs of Kief . It is a tale of the early Russian Church . —We have , also received the January Number of The North American Beview , which contains the best article on " Tennyson ' s Idylls" that _ we hay * yet seen . All the papers are indeed excellent;—the subjects are important : —viz ., " The Assyrian Empire ; " "The Commerce and Currency of the United States ; " V- The Condition arid-Needs of Jhe Indian Tribes "—a topic of-remarkable , interest ; " George Canning ;" " The China Question ; " " Wesleyau Methodism ; "Washington , " and " The Literature of the Italian War ; '' besides the usual miscellaneous collections . It is seldom that such an imposing array of titles can be set forth from a modern Review . There is , indeed , vigour in the critics of New York .

    more ste . tdily progressing . The Reviewer treats with well-merited scorn and contempt " the fussy ignorance which prompted the parliamentary crusade against scientific exertion . " Literary papers on Georges Sand and Ben Jonson follow—old subjects , not yet exhausted , but not pressing for notice . New periodicals frequently afford h field for this kind of prize-essay writing . In those of Jong standing-, such stock subjects have already been treated , and arc not in general , permitted to be resumed . "Mill on Liberty " is somewhat late on the ground ; but the Reviewer grapples ably with the difficulty that the democrat apprehends—rtbe control of individual will aud opinion by society . There is peril in all republican institutions , and one which 1 ms been felt in America , that ' each man's next neighbour may become a tvrant and spy on . hid actions and thoughts . Mr .

    Mill rightly demands the coiupletcst development of the individual compatible with the liberty of otficrs and the preservation of society . Society does not , at . present ,, permit thin , but opposes the moral coercion of public opinion , arid the physical force of penal law , to the naturul growth of individuality . The individual is bo brought up na to prefer eyen conformity to choice : thus the mind is enslaved from the birth . The Reviewer evidently thinks tluit the picture ia overcharged , an 4 the facts overstated . Custom , ho holds , though powerful , is not omnipotent . The existence of Puseyism in an anti-popery country like this appears to the writer to be a

    proof in point ; and evidently , too , his preferences arc to that line of thinking . To us thpt fuot proven the contrary . It is merely reactionary—^ -im effort to restore a custom which waa nearly slam but not yet dead . Such is the feeling that lies at the bottom of all reactionary movements ; they would lmve us # o back to ft state which we have almost left . N ( iy ; but the freed man must go forward , or return to the shivery which lie fears to quit . Thought and its expression should be absolutely free;—action requires restraint , but the smallest possible is the best possible . In the Reviewer ' s opinion , however , liberty nmy be -v « ry well for tlio highest class of minds , but for those of average capacity authority is necessary .

    We deliver ourselves from this metaphysical circle , nnd recognise with much plonsuro an able article on " Domestic Architecture , " and » decidedly original though rathor Ml-considered essay on " Modern English , " in which the works of Dr . Trench and Mi ' . John Russell Bartlott ' s book on Americanisms nro supposed to be reviewed . Wo regret that the writer should hnvo narrowed his subject to newspaper literature , ond that eomo of his remarks should bo tray an unphilusophioiil nnd common-place mind . It is n good topic spoiled * JBentleu ' 8 Quarterly Jlwieto . No , IV , January , 1800 .

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    ( speciai ,. ) Rome ; 18 th January , 1860 . W E all know tho story of Boccaccio ' s Jew who went to Rome , and came back a Christian . There is no need for alaritt—it is not my intention to repeat a story which most of us have heard a great deal too often . As for those who don't know it , I can only refer thorn to the columns of any daily paper , where , before many weeks are past , they are sure to see the anecdote related " apropos de bottes" at the Conimencement of a leading article . Meanwhile the object of my o \ vn allusion to the stock story is , to introduce the remark , that at tlie present day the Jew would have returned from Rome hardened in heart and unconverted . The flagrant profligacy , the open immorality which in the Hebrew ' s judgment supplied the

    strongest testimony to the . truth of a religion that survived such scandnls , exist no longer . Rome is , externally , the most moral and decorous of European cities . Ii » reality , she may be only a wliited sepulchre , but at any rate the whitewash is laid on very thick , and looks uncommonly like stone . From various motives thid feature is , I think , but seldom brought prominently forward in descriptions of the papal city . Protestant and liberal-writers slur over the facts , because , however erroneously , they are considered inconsistent with the assumed iniquity of the government and corruptions of the Pftpqoy . Catholic narrators know , perhaps , too much of what goes on behind the scenes , to relish calling too close attention to the apparent propriety of Rome . Ko the cause \ vhnt it may , the moral aspect of the Eternal city seems to mo to bo little dwelt upon , and yet on many

    accounts it is a vory curious one . Next to Glasgow , Rome is perhaps the most Sabbatarian of oitios which it has been , my fortune to come across . All aliop . s except druggists , tobacconists , and places of refreshment , are lHTiuetioally closed on , Sundays . Even the English reading-room is shut throughout the day . There is no delivery of letters , and no mails going out . A French bund plays -on the Pincian during the ufternoon , and the Borghoso gardens aro thrown opun—but these , till after sunset , aro the only public amusement * . In I ho 1

    evening , the thontroa , it is true , though not the opera , are open . But then itt Roman Catholic countries Sunday evening : is univomally ucaounted a feast . Qn Fridays every theatre is closed , aud uuoo a wool ? or more there is sure to bo a saint ' s day as well , ou which shops , and all aro nliut—to the great trial , sometimes , of a travollor ' s temper . Tho amusements of the public aro regulated with . tho strictest regard bo their morals . There aro no public dunoiny places of any kind , itfo casinos or " cafo * a chantants . " No yublio masked balls nro allowed , except one , I think , at tho opera , ou the last ni tf ht of tho carnival . The theatres themselves uro kept undue the most rigid surveillance . It is only during * a small portion of

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    92 The Leader and Saturdftylt friah / st * v [ Jan . 28 , 18 GQ .

    Letter From Italy.

    TETTER FROM ITALY .

    Quarterly Reviews, And Other Serials.

    QUARTERLY REVIEWS , AND OTHER SERIALS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 92, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2331/page/16/