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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Three Courses and a Dessert : comprising Three Sets of Tales , West Country , Irish , and Legal , and a Melange . With Fifty Illustrations by George Cruickshank . Fourth edition . ( Bohn ' s Illustrated Library . ) H . G . Bohn . Admirable tales , admirably illustrated . Among the story-books by thousands which have issued from the press during the last twenty years , this of the Three Courses and a Dessert has survived , helped thereto , no doubt , by the humour and fancy of George Cruickshank . Mr . Bohn has done well to gather them into this one handsome volume ; the more so as the original volumes had long become scarce . Now the book is as pretty a present as anything of the kind we could name . Notes and Queries : a Medium of Inter-Communication for Literary Men , Artists , Antiquaries , Archaeologists , % c . Volume I . George Bell . This volume comprises the numbers from November , 1849 , to May , 1 S 50 , of a periodical as unique in its purpose as it is valuable in its result . Notes and Queries is the best portion of the Gentleman ' s Magazine enlarged into a distinctive work . Whatever question may perplex the student or the mere dilettante—from the black broth of the Spartans to the portrait of Luther—from an obscure allusion in an ancient poet to a rectification in a modern historian—in a word , the whole variety which an observing pencil may note , or a curious mind may question , may find a place in this periodical . Very curious and very amusing as the volume is to turn over , it forms a collection of curiosities which , well indexed , deserves a place on every shelf .
Lives of the most Eminent Painters , Sculptors , and Architects . Translated from the Italian of Georgio Vasari . By Mrs . Jonathan Foster . Volume I . ( Bohn ' s Standard Library . ) H . G . Bohn . The first volume of a very creditable publication , with an ample selection of notes from various commentators . This is the only translation , of Vasari ever printed in English ; the abridgement which may sometimes be met ¦ with on bookstalls not pretending to that claim . From
a cursory inspection , the present version seems carefully and even elegantly done . It has caught the Italian manner , without destroying the purity of English idiom . Vasari is one of those writers who , careless of lo stileso much prized by Italian belle-lettrists—thinks only of the matter in hand . ; but this very absence of style is in itself a style , and Mrs . Foster appears to have reproduced it . But , as before stated , we speak only on a cursory inspection . When the work is completed we may enter more minutely into its characteristics .
Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art m Ctrencesler . By Professor Buckman , F . L . S ., and CJ . C . H . Newmarch , Esq . George Bell . This handsome volume is addressed more to archaeologists than to the world at large ; but every cultivated reader will inspect it with curiosity , and derive profit from the inspection . The Roman antiquities , so profuse in Cirencester—the ancient Corinium—are here examined , classified , and described , pictorially and literally . Roman roads , Roman fortifications , Roman architecture , Roman pottery , Roman glass , and Roman weapons , all receive light from this volume ; while the works of art are copied with extreme fidelity ; we never saw better representations of tessellated pavement than those given here . Altogether the work has been a labour of love—laborious enough in all conscience !—and is well worth the pains bestowed on it , and the costliness of its " getting up . "
The Opinions of Sir Robert Peel , expressed in Parliament and in Public . Second edition , with a Biographical Memoir . Arthur Hall . There is more than a passing interest in this volume . It is one which may be consulted with benefit whenever political subjects are treated : Peel ' s opinions on Finance , Corn Laws , Colonial Affairs , Education , Emigration , Foreign Affairs , &c , are still worth listening to with respect , even from adversaries . Homoeopathy and Us Principles Explained . By John Epps , M . D .
W . and J . Piper . This work is published by the English Homoeopathic Association , and bears the name of one of the earliest and most authoritative of homooopathists . In a journal like ours it would be idle to decide on such a vexed question , for what authority can we have pro or con ? This much we may say , however , that Dr . Epps has very clearly explained the principles of homoeopathy , and very ably defended them . Those curious on the subject will do well to possess themselves of the volume . Tne verdict must be given in another court .
Moral Reflections , Sentences , and Maxims , of Francis , Due de la Rochejoucauld . Newly translated from the French ; with am Introduction and Notes . Longman . This version of an incomparable work has the disadvantage of not being written by so accomplished a master of style as Rochefoucauld ; but it is carefully done , and is rendered valuable by the parallel passages culled from a wide and various field , and placed in the notes . There is also a good index and a character of the author by De Retz . Altogether the edition is one meant for students and acceptable to all readers .
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Un Caprice de Grand Dame Par le Marquis de Foudras . London : > V . Jeffs . G ' enavu ' ve . Par Alphonsc de Lamartine . \ V . Jefle . Vandyck . A Play of Genoa . By Alfred B . Richards . Longman and Co . Young Italy . I 5 y Alexander Baillie Cochrane , M . P . J . W . Parker . Tho Mother Country ; or the Spade , the Wastes , and the Eldest -Son , An Kximiiiu ' ilioii ofthe Condition of England . Jly Sydney > Smit ) i . John Kendrick . Rambles and Reveries . By Henry C . Robinson . Hereford : W . Vale . Catechism of English History . By Edward and Emma Matthews . Ctttcchnmof ( Geography , liy Do . Do . Popular Ciitvchiam of Useful , Knowledge . By Do . Do . Houldton and Stoneman .
Prize Model Cottages—Detailed Working Draurings , Plans , Elevations , Sections , and Specifications ofTtco Pairs of Labourers ' Cottages ; being the same for which the Society of Arts awarded their First and Second Prizes in the Competition of May , 1848 , to the Architects , Mr . T . C . Hine , of Nottingham ; and Mr . G . J . JVicholl , of London . Each set of Plans exhibit the peculiar Mode of Construction , the Method of Wanning and Ventilating the Buildings , and . with the Specifications , contains every information that can be needed by the Workmen in carrying the designs into execution . With seven plates . Second Edition . London : Thomas Dean , and Son , Threadneedle-street . Tracts on Christian Socialism . No . 5 . The Society for Promoting Working Men ' s Associations . Vasar € s Lives of the Painters . Translated by Mrs . Forster . Volume I . ( Bohn ' s Standard Library . ) H . G . Bohn .
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RACHEL . Adrienne Lecouvreur has carried everything before it ; and , although we are glad to find people of taste tolerably unanimous in their appreciation of it , yet the great public is not formed of men of taste . As a matter of criticism , it is , perhaps , "worth while to notice an error into which more than one critic has fallen , viz ., in praising Rachel ' s declamation of prose . No ear sensitive to the rhythm of French prose can be nattered by her delivery , which is neither poetry nor prose—which wants the song and ictus of verse , and the easy colloquial cadences of prose . Nonfamiliarity with any drama but the poetic may , in some measure , account for this defect—a defect thrown into stronger relief by the lax , uncharacteristic style of Adrienne Lecouvreur ; but the defect is there , and should be recognized . Were the rhythmic periods of a George Sand substituted for this broken commonplace of Scribe , we should doubtless hear Rachel declaiming it to perfection . It is incalculable the effect upon her acting when the language is poetic . She seems to need the extra stimulus of beauty . The subtle influence of music penetrates her mind , and gives a movement to her declamation which heightens and idealizes the effect . The reverse of that was felt on Wednesday in her performance of Marie Stuart , a play imitated by Pierre Lebrun ( do not confound him with Pigault of that name , the literary progenitor of Paul de Kock ! ) from Schiller ' s Maria Stuart—a play which Talma and the Duchesnois made popular for awhile by their acting , and which has been revived because its third act gives scope to Rachel ' s genuis for sarcasm and fury . But it is feebly written , and her acting in the first scene was comparatively feeble . In the third act , " Elizabeth " and " Mary" meet in the garden : " Mary " endeavours at first to interest her sympathy , and even humbles herself before her cold , cruel rival , but , finding her haughty , insolent , and merciless , she flings aside all restraint , and bursts forth in a torrent of sarcasm . This is a dramatic situation well worked out . Rachel was magnificent in scorn , in vituperation , in the towering dignity of passion , and in the feverish exultation of triumph at having humbled " Elizabeth" in the presence of " Leicester . "
" J ' ai portG le poignard au cccur dc ma rivale " was a blaze of triumphant fury . After that all went slowly until the final scene , where she takes leave of her friends before quitting the world ; that was delicately touched , with nice discrimination of effects , and a pathos that went home .
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THE LYRIC DRAMA . At the Opera houses we have had little novelty . Madame Sontag's performance of " La Piglia , " though trumpeted by the press , has not been repeated —which , considering the need of a success at her Majesty ' s , is rather puzzling to those who believe in the trumpeters . Do people believe in them ? At Co vent Garden Semiramido has been produced for the first time this season ; but , when we look at the ineffectiveness of the cast , and remember how unpopular the opera is unless finely cast , we cannot help agreeing with those who say that it was only brought out to damage the performance at the other house ! Time was when Giulia Grisi made an imperial " Semiramido , " and Tamburini an effective " Assur . " Tern pus fuit ! But Mdlle . Meric is not , never was , never will be , a tolerable " Arsace . " If , however , at Covent Garden Semiramide is feebly cast , it is worse at her
Majesty's . Sontag as " Semiramide ! " Keeley as " Hamlet ! " Buckstone as ** Brutus ! " Fortunately she only gave one act of it ; and , instead of venturing on the tragedy of the part , gave us her " Rosina " in the Barbiere—one of her best parts , in which she has everything but y outh . The grand " expectation " of the week has bee n La Juive , with Viardot , Mario , and Tamberlik . We shall report thereon in our next .
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ALLOM'S PANORAMA OF CONSTANTINOPLE . What a world of pictorial beauty , and of imaginative reminiscence the East opens to us , and how our delighted spirits wander through its cities , plains , and cemeteries ! Thanks to travellers and painters , we can now read the Arabian Nights and Mahometan History with illustrations that bring them home to us with the force of realities . There is Mr . Thomas Allom ' s Panorama of Constantinople , the Bosphorus , and the Dardanelles—the last pictorial noveltyseeing it is like bathing in the fontaine de Jbuvence ,
plunging back again into our youth , and conjuring up the spells that charmed our imaginations when the Arabian poet drew us through A realm of pleasance , man } ' a mound , And many a shadow-chequered lawn , Full of the city ' s stilly sound . And deep myrrh-thickets blowing round The stately cedar , tamarisks , Thick rosaries of scented thorn , Tall orient shrubs , and obelisks , Graven with emblems of the time .
The East is opened to us by the magic of a few pencil touches . The only disturbance we received was from the explanatory narrative with which it was accompanied vivd voce . That was useful , but it might have been more in tune with the scene : when the unseen showman assured us , in ponderous solemnity , that " here was buried Atrides , a warrior mentioned in Homer , " we could scarely restrain a guffaw .
As a work of art this panorama is interesting , but open to criticism . The sky and water are metallic , heavy , and untruthful ( though we are assured that , since a different arrangement of the light has taken place , this defect is considerably lessened ) , and there is generally a want of atmosphere , which gives a certain flatness ; but the architecture is excellent throughout , sometimes exquisite , as in the «* Bath " and the interior of the Mosque of St . Sophia—a marvel of beauty , elegance , and effect . Fine artistic
sense of drawing and composition is exhibited in many scenes—but on the whole the execution is unequal . The Bosphorus , the sweet waters of Asia , Tophana , and the interior of the seraglio drew forth loud plaudits . Indeed the whole panorama is extremely interesting from its fidelity and variety . The Bosphorus ! what a world of association is crowded into that one word ! who can resist sailing down the Bosphorus when an omnibus to llegent-street will take him there ?
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PORTRAITS OF PEEL . We have heard of a married couple that arrived at a watering-place with a sick daughter , resting in the sea air their last hope of recovery ; but on that shore she found her last home . Scarcely had they arrived , however , with the pale girl , ere an undertaker ' s card , with brutal effrontery , insinuated the importunate desire for the anticipated custom ! In a spirit not so gross , the sudden death of Peel is a windfall to the dealers in portraits , which are advertised as
plentifully as auctions in the height ofthe season—original pictures , scarce engravings , framed and glazed , busts , full-lengths , half-lengths , and outlines . Lawrence ' s remains among the best . For those who prefer " the round , " a good portrait , though not perfect , is the bust exhibited by Mr . Hogarth , of the Haymarket . It is a somewhat Roman view of the English statesman , by an Italian sculptor . Peel attenuated and made classical , but it is like , and has many of his characteristics .
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STATUE MONUMENTS . Mr . Foley has just completed the casting model for the statue of Hampden , which he was commissioned to execute for the Parliament Palace at Westminster . The defender of taxation by representation is pourtrayed in his twofold capacity of warrior and statesman , energetic and thoughtful . Although not free from the common defect of English sculptors—the seeking for classic symmetry in a certain rigidity of form and especially of feature , the figure is lifelike and the expression is appropriate . The same may be said of Mr . Edward Davis ' s Duke
of Rutland , a portrait of the Protectionist nobleman receiving an address on the fiftieth anniversary of his county lieutenancy . The venerable aspect of the Duke is well caught ; the action is natural and highly characteristic , but the cloak which is employed to give unity and classic effect to the composition makes him look as if he had risen from a bed of sickness to receive the deputation , and had put a sheet over his shoulders to keep himself warm . The figure , too , stands eight feet nine inches high—fair proportions for a Titan or an Odin } but the Duke of Rutland is not a Colossus .
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July 27 , 1850 . ] ffijf * & £ && £ ? + 427
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Education ( Ireland ) . —According to a return recently made , the amount of local aid received by the teachers of national schools in Ireland during the year 1844 was £ 25 , 607 10 s . 9 d ., being an average of £ 716 s . lid . per teacher . In 1848 the amount of local aid received was £ 25 , 299 Is ., being an average of £ 5 17 s . 3 d . per teacher . The local contributions towards the payment of the salaries to teachers of national schools consist principally of the weekly fees from the children , of voluntary donations and subscriptions , and in a few cases of permanent funds provided for the maintenance of the school . The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland state that they do not require proof that such permanent funds exist , nor a guarantee for their continuance , as indispensable conditions previous to making a grant of salary to any school .
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Leader (1850-1860), July 27, 1850, page 427, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1848/page/19/
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