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utterly at variance , and inaccuracy always exhibited in numbers , as if they did not know arithmetic any more than he says they did not common reading and writing . The three different accounts of the creation have often been noticed as indicating a variety of heterogeneous sources for the histories given in Genesis . The first creation is the woik of God but in the second the gods more appropriately appear . The second , that of Adam and Eve , other critics than Dr . Giles have ascribed to Babylonian imagination . The Jews themselves , according to Dr Gilesrefer the introduction of angels and
, devils , gods , &c , to the Babylonish captivity , and the serpent playing the part of man , and the garden of Eden , watered by the Euphrates , mentioned as well known , and not requiring explanation as the other three rivers , seem sufficiently to indicate the source of the story . Dr . Giles has remarked that all the references are made geographically towards Syria , Assyria , and further , and not to Egypt , except as indications of what happened in Egypt in later times . Thus , we have mention of Mount Ararat in Armenia , as the
place of the first cessation of the Deluge , and Babel , that is , Babylon , as the scene of the dispersion of tongues . Damascus , Sidon , and other places are also mentioned . The Egyptians are spoken of as detesting shepherds , when Dr . Giles says , they did not hold them in abhorrence when the Hebrews went to dwell in Egypt , but long afterwards that occupation did become an aversion to theEgyptians . There are innumerable instances in the writers of
the Old Testament , speaking of events and circumstances which happened long afterwards , and were not contemporary with the supposed authors . " As it is now / ' " until now , " is a common way of speaking with them , showing the writer was comparing the present with the past , and bringing it to the minds of his readers . Names of places are given which they never took till later . Incidents are mentioned which could not have been known till after the death of the reputed author . It has often been objected to Moses and Joshua recording
their own deaths . Dr . Giles argues for identity of epoch in the compilation of the Old Testament , from the continuity and sameness of character in all the books . From those said to be written by Moses and others before the Babylonish captivity , compared with those which are acknowledged to have been written b y the Jews after their return , Dr . Giles thinks it impossible to suppose that a space of 1500 years intervened , during which , from first to last at intermediate times , the different books of the Old Testament were composed . Besides ,
there is very little difference of language , and there is evidence of the same words occurring from first to last , which conformity Dr . Giles considers impossible to have continued for so long a space of time . It is impossible to give all the instances and the arguments which Dr . Giles produces to prove the correctness of his theory against the prevalent opinion . Dr . Giles has destroyed a great deal we should like to see him build up . What does lie think fiction and what fact in the annals of the Jews ? Did none of the prophets write what goes by their names ? IIovv did the compilers or writers after the captivity know all about the history of the creation , Moses , and the changes of religion which bad taken place
from the Patriarchs to the Apocrypha ? The Egyptians having no writings but the hieroglyphic , accounts for our not having from them or the Greeks any particulars of the Jews . What is told in the Scriptures of the : sojourn of the Jews in Egypt , and their H . yoiIiin , is . shown by Dr . ( Jiles to be so isolated , and is in itself so remarkable , that we should like to know what historical foundation i » left , of nil that happened to them in Kgypt and out of it , except , the bare tradition to build upon of their having originally come from thence . Dr . Giles accounts for the Scriptures being ho little known by the ancients , when it , is made doubtful when the Hebrews bad them to show . It kcciiik
like thi ! composition of the Arabian , Niyhts , taking names and filling them up with events . So , in fact , we silt ; from Dr . Giles that hi . story l ; rg ; iu by tfenealogien , which nations were in the habit of preserving very imperfectly . Afterwards historians could embellish names and chronologies with annals , taking irom tradition and fiction . Thus Livy Hays there wore no written annuls of early Rome ; yet he has given us a more succinct account of its origin and kingH than \ h to bo found in the Bible . Now , historians , antiouariariH , or critics think there is scarcely a word of truth to bo found in the mi rials of Livy , before written documentH ; therefore , by comparison , tho history of the Jews might be equally fanciful . We inuot part with Dr .
Giles , fully convinced that he has made out his case , which the learned among the orthodox should answer . Dr . Giles has done for the Old restament what Strauss did for the New , excepting m showing us what remained of reality after clearing away the ideal . Dr . Giles proposes to perform the same office with regard to the NewTestament he has acquitted himself so well of with regard to the Via . in Biblical know
This country is behind others - ledge—not equal to Germany or America , brorn the quotations given by Dr . Giles , out of Wall and Lee , we see they only invent new shifts to detend Prideaux and Shuckford . Will they leave to Dr . Giles undisputed possession of the field ? We can strongly recommend the perusal of Dr . Giles s book to all classes of readers ; it is full of learning , accurate in details , logical in argument , impartial , and moderate in tone .
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A TRIP TO MEXICO . A Trip to Mexico ; or Recollections of a Ten Months - Ramblein 1849-50 .-By a Barrister . Smith , Elder , and Co . The author of this volume gives but a sorry excuse when he tells us that he only thought of writing it " at request of friends , " who desired a more detailed account of his journey than he could give them viva voce . He confesses that he took no notes , that the whole volume is the result of his recollection , and that he has nothing to tell beyond a brief , straightforward account of what he himself sawdid , and heard : a statement which
predis-, posed us in favour of his work ; for it was probable that , as memory preserves only the salient characteristics , he would have omitted much idle detail , such as travellers usually pour forth ; and that as he confined himself to what he saw and did , he would relate something fresh , original , and interesting . Unhappily he saw nothing . It is not so easy to see ! A peculiar talent is required for it , and " A Barrister" is decidedly deficient in that talent . He has travelled over ground not very much worn by the footsteps of travellers , but he might almost as well have staved at home for anything he
has seen . Neither the aspect of the country , nor the social characteristics which distinguish it are painted in these pages . He tells us he went here and went there , but we are none the wiser . We see nothing because he saw nothing , The style is plain and straightforward enough ; not felicitous by any means , but also not rhetorical , not affected , not " fine . " Its deficiency of matter is our great complaint ; we have no quarrel with the manner . A Trip to Mexico , though worth reading , is to be considered as one of the thousand and one characterless books which are born to die prematurely . Like an article in a magazine , it may be skimmed through , never to be consulted a second time . We will steal a passage or so from the most readable .
Rather less convenient for morning visitors than for " whippets up of unconsidered trifles" is this Mexican peculiarity : — " Some of the domestic arrangements are , however , curious . One goes , say » o pay a morning visit , and , in place of finding a bell rope with a servant at the end of it , discovers that it is necessary to mount the stairs , and explore each room individually , until lie either stumbles upon some servant who can give him information , or finds the lady or gentleman whom he came to seek . All Mexicans—ladies especially—liavp a wonderful aptitude for sitting in their bedrooms ; and it is often necessary for an intimate acquaintance to walk through half the rooms in the bouse , ladies' bed-roomb and all , before he meets with anybody . " Here , again we have a vision of
l'l . KASANT N IOH 'I'M . " Pigs and dogs swarm in Tepic as elsewhere ; and these animals arc kept in countenance by fighting cooks , of which almost , every bouse has one tied by the leg to the door sill . At night the uproar all these animals make is dreadful . One cock begins to crow and all the town joins in chorus ; one dog begins to bark and all follow . Kngli » h cocks 1 always imagined crow at reasonable hours of the morning , but their Mexican brethren rather incline ! to keep you awake during the night . Like everything else , however , one soon gets used to it , and in a week's time I slept as soundly at 1 ' epic as 1 should have done in London . "
TI 1 K OYSTHll-FItlJIT . '' On my second visit to Han Ulan I remained a whole week , and bad thus time to see something of the country The immediate neighbourhood , with the exception <> 1 the bill before mentioned , is all marsh , covered by an impenetrable thicket of mangrove and acacia btiflhcH . On the former of these , curioun to relale , are borno that well-known and favourite fruit the oyster , which In considered io be in perfection at M ; in Idas . These man * groves oveihang tlie esteroH and their brunches drop into the water ; to these during tho iloodtide . the oysters adhere , mid when the water oi > bit tlie branches with their living burden are left high and dry ; so that a hungry in . m in a canoe , at the right time of tide , muy gather any quantity of thiu » ort of fruit ho plcuace . "
Those who have read Gabriel Ferry ' s Seines de la Vie Mexicaine , or Madame Calderon de la Barca ' s Life in Mexico , will understand our complaint of the want of picturesqueness and power of seizing upon characteristics , m this volume , dv the following GLIMPSE OF MEXICO . " Mexico is full of convents and nunneries , though I was unabfe to gain admission to one of the latter . ^ Friars wearinecowns of all colours are swarming all day in the Street " and the incessant din of bells is very unpleasant . The Host" 2 perpetually perambulating the town , and to a stranger this ceremony is the most disagreeable I know AU persons within sound of the warning bell are expected to kneel , in the mud or otherwise , as the case may be , and remain in that posture until the sound dies awav even if he is two streets off , and does not see the Si procession at all . On my first arrival I took alarm at everv bell I heard , and many a water-carrier with hi * SnkSn ? mule-bell has put me to full flight Afterwards I learnt to distinguish the true tone , and , if possible , took refuge in a shop till the cortege had passed . It is dangerous not to comply with the custom of kneehn ^ as I have heard of knives being used to force people to com pliance . I once got handsomely abused myself for only
" Tlie chief delights and amusements of the Mexicans of the upper class are the theatre and the Paseo or carriage promenade . The latter is thronged evesy day , between five and six , witb carriages and riders ; the carriages , many of them , very good , and well-appointed , but drawn mostly by mules , and , except o n Sundays and feast-days , rendered ridiculous by the blackguard aspect of the servants . I have actually seen a handsome carriage , containing elegantly dressed ladies , with a duty rascal behind wearing a jacket , and with trousers embellished by a vast aperture in the most conspicuous part of them . On the days I have mentioned , however , all the servants come out in livery ; but from not knowing
how to put it on or keep it clean , their appearance is not greatly improved . The Paseo might , with a little care , be made a pleasant place enough ; but to reach it one has to pass some horridly-odoriferous refuse heaps ; and the drive itself is either drowned in mud or ankle-deep in dust . The watering part is done by convicts , whom I have seen chained together by the half dozen , sluicing the road with water from buckets , as if it were the deck of a ship . , " In addition to the Paseo , there is a pretty Alameda , containing many fine trees and shady walks , and with a large fountain supplied by the aqueduct in Us centre ; but nobody appears to take the slightest trouble in keeping it in order , and it is generally so full of drunken leperos tftat ladies never think of walking there . decoratednot
" The theatre is large and very neatly , so big as either of the Opera houses in London , but as large as any theatre in Paris : the entrance-hall , however , is very dirty and odoriferous . There are no private boxes , as in England , closed up with curtains ; but though every box is really private , each circle , from the lowness of the partitions between them , appfaTS as if entirely open . The fronts of the boxes are very low , not higher than the knees , and display the ladies' dresses to the best advantage . Each proprietor furnishes his own box ; a circumstance which adds much to the beauty of the house , the furniture being of varied colour and pattern , and generally very splendid and luxurious . The pit is entirely divided into stalls , and the aspect of the bouse on benefit , or frast-day nights would be very beautiful from the t-plendid dresses and jewellery of the ladies , were it not for the cloud of blue incense ascending from
the pit , where smoking ' puros' is allowed to any extent . Each box has attached to it a little room where the ladies retire between the acts to emoke their papelillos . All ladies in Mexico smoke more or less ; but the younger part of the community seldom in public . The acting , whilst I was in Mexico , was good , and once a year they generally manage to get an opera company from liavannah . " The ladies in Mexico have a very curious method of acknowledging the presence of their friends , either ^ in the theatre , paseo , or street , which consists in shaking tho fan slightly open for a minute or so , looking at the same time in tho direction of the person they wish to acknowledge . "
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THIS VISION OF THE VATICAN . The Vision of the Vatican . A Satire . Hy I . I . I . A . W . Sttan&e Tub satirist has heen more solicitous of throwing oil * wit than of really scourging any prevalent lolly or vice ; hence the Vision of the Vatican fails i ' tho , first requisite of satire—a purpose . It ifi moreover , written in a tone of reckless abuse which we very much condemn ; not that satires are the vehicles for culogiiiui or politenesH!—but in thiH case the writer han been more desirous of hitting lmrd than hitting true , and wawten Iuh strength
upon the air . DiHcrimination of weak points is the principiurn e . t Jons of Hutire ; the blow that does not make an adversary wince recoils . The Roman (' utholicH uHHUiedly oiler points enough for attack- though we would rather see any other time than the preHent chosen for it—and the natiriHt who wastes Iuh blows in such a fight must have been unpardonably earelesH . Such is the author of the Vision of the Vatican , who , nevertheless , exhibits a smart and fluent wit capable of writing l > nei ) which , as Boileau nays , would become proverbs " - ' their birth : —
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226 ® t ) £ H * & >* t * .
[ Satu rday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), March 8, 1851, page 226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1873/page/14/
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