1 JUNE 1861, Page 24

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Hints on Horsemanship to a Nephew and Niece ; or Common Sense and Common Errors in Common Riding. By Colonel George Green- wood, late Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 2nd Life Guards. New Edition. lStIoxon.—The moral of Colonel Greenwood's book is that ladies and gentlemen should not learn to ride from any riding-master by profession, because all such masters teach the same system, and that a bad one. The Colonel does not condemn without knowledge, for the object of his censure is nothing else than the manage, or military style, which he declares to be proper only for soldiers. They must talk to their horses, as it were, very much with their legs, and this is why they are taught to sit with their legs in contact to the utmost extent with the horse's body. The extreme opposite to the glish military seat is that of the Eastern horseman, and with it he can

do many wonderful things, but some he cannot do which are among the most essential elements of our cavalry tactics. He cannot make his horse rein back, or pass sideways a step, and therefore he cannot dress in line, or close, or execute the central wheel of threes on their own ground. In length of stirrup-leather the English hunting-seat is a medium between these two extremes, and something between it and the military seat is, in the Colonel's opinion, the best adapted to common riding. " It unites, in a greater degree than any other, ease, utility, power, and grace.___" Still worse for ordinary purposes than the military seat is the military bridle-hand. In order that the soldier may have his right hand at liberty for his weapons, he holds the reins in such a manner as will require the least possible aid from the sword hand to shorten them upon occasion; and that is, with the little finger only between them. In this way a man may pull both reins equally with the whole force of his arm, but the force with which he can pull either rein separately is a minimum, for it is only that which he can exert through the very limited movement of-his weakest finger. Hence, when he wants to turn to the right he has no resource but to pass his hand in that direction, by which movement he slackens the right rein, the one he ought to tighten, and tightens the oue he ought to slacken. Necessity may justify the adoption of this bad practice, but nothing less can excuse it and yet it is the only bridle practice

i aught in the schools. "It is to correct this common error, this monstrous and perpetual source of bad riding and of bad usage to. good animals, that thesepages are written."

Caste. By Arthur J. Patterson, B.A. Smith, Elder, and Co.—This is the Lebas Prize Essay for 1860, and as good as an essay on such a subject written by one who has no practical knowledge of the working

of the system is hkely to be. Mr. Patterson believes, justly, that the foundation of caste was conquest, that the real fundamental distinction is between the twice born and the once born, the Aryan Brahmins who conquered and civilized India, and the descendants of the sevens they subdued. The mixed castes sprang from the accretion

of different tribes to the original stock, the degradation of certain

clans, and other accidental causes. Like all observers at a distance, he questions whether the missionaries are wise in making the renun- ciation of caste a sine gad non with converts, though he admits that caste tends to produce a caste, as apart from a general, system of morality. He thinks, too, that caste is to a large extent a worldly rather than a religious feeling, and that, although unsocial in its nature, it intensifies social feeling among the members of the same clan. He omits, however, entirely to point out the real social evil of caste which, by stereotyping position, destroys the possibility of progress. If quies- cence is the true interest of humanity, then, and only then, is caste a support instead of a restraint. It is the instinctive feeling that caste impairs usefulness which makes the Englishman so bitter against a system which many of his prejudices induce him to respect.

Macmillan's Magazine. No. 20. June, 1861. Most of the readers of Macmillan will probably turn their attention in the first place to the current instalments of the two stories which are not the least among the attractions of this favourite periodical. Tom Brown, whose for- tunes we have followed without intermission during the whole of the twenty months which have elapsed since the commencement of the miwazine, is plainly drawing towards the close of his career. Harry Wilburn is at last definitely married; East is finally disposed of by being despatched to New Zealand; Hardy and Katie Winter have come to a mutually satisfactory understanding; while Tom himself has arrived at so low a depth of despair, that it is but fair to conclude that his prospects will, from this time forward, assume an aspect de- cidedly and definitely favourable. The present number is not a par ticularly good one, but it is certainly better than the last. In Ravenshoe, Mr. H. Kingsley draws still closer the veil of mystery in

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which he is gradually enveloping all the principal characters of his story. Although he continues to write with that freshness and vigour which are peculiarly his own, we cannot but think that the style of novel which he is now attempting is less suited to his powers than the simpler and more effective narrative in which he introduced himself to the public, and at once won his spurs as a writer of fiction. Among the remaining articles, perhaps the most remarkable is one by Mr. T. M. Ludlow, on the present crisis in America, in which the cause of the Northern States is advocated with a heartiness and vigour which contrast strangely with the tone of indifference in which the prospects of the contest have hitherto been discussed by the leading English journal. The author " believes that we have neither the right nor the power to stand by as passive, still less as contemptuous, spectators of the conflict; and that it demands from us hearty and unflinching sym- pathy with one of the parties, and all support to him which can be granted without compromising his dignity and independence." He regards the contest as an internecine struggle between slavery and freedom ; and is of opinion that it can only be finally terminated by the total and absolute destruction of the former power. If Mr. Lud- low means that we ought actually to take up arms in support of the Federal flag, we are sorry that we cannot entirely agree with him ; but we can, at any rate, respect the openness and decision with winch he has stated his views. the Rev. W. Barnes, who contributes a con- siderable number of Thoughts on Beauty and Art, appears to be a kind of village Ruskin, who insists on the identity between the Good and the Beautiful, protests vigorously against shams, and wishes us to frame our pictures and bind our books in accordance with the prin- ciples of harmonic triads. Among the other articles we may notice a pair of suggestive sonnets by the Rev. Charles Turner, some rather feeble stanzas by the author of "John Halifax," and a description of Lucknow, which bears the initials of the Bishop of Calcutta.

The Cornhill Magazine. No. 18. June, 1861. The current number of the Cornhill is quite up to the average standard. The " Adventures of Philip" increase in interest with each successive number, and the development of the story proceeds with a rapidity which is unparalleled in any of Mr. Thackeray's former works. Not only is Philip definitely thrown over by his cousin, but he is actually reduced to poverty by the flight of his father, who has got through the whole of his son's fortune in unsuccessful and clandestine speculations. Perhaps the letter in which Dr. Firmin announces this catastrophe to Pendennis is rather needlessly pedantic and foolish ; but en revanche the scene in which Philip discovers the faithlessness of his cousin is admirably de- scribed. Mr. Thackeray has, we think wisely, transferred the charge of illustrating his story to other hands, to which change we owe a most attractive portrait of Agnes Twysden in the present number. The "Roundabout Paper," which is not one of the best of its series, is chiefly remarkable as affording striking evidence of that sensitive- ness to external opinion which Mr. Thackeray has recently developed to so extraordinary a degree, and for which this series of papers seems expressly designed to provide a safety-valve. The author of the article on the Irish Convict System, which excited so much attention a short time ago, has accepted Sir Joshua Jebb's offer to afford him every facility for visiting the principal English prisons,-and now presents us with the results of his tour of inspection in the shape of a report on the Convict System in England. His report is very minute and very interesting, and his verdict, on the whole, decidedly favourable; but he still thinks that the Irish system is the preferable of the two. When we remember that his acquaintance with the chief director of the English prisons originated in a letter in which that functionary charged him publicly with "gross and wilful misrepresentation," it must be confessed that the highly laudatory notice of Sir Joshua's an- tecedents which is introduced into the present article speaks volumes in favour of the placability of the reviewer's temper. There is a very good article on " The Study of History," in which the objections which have recently been urged by the Professors of Modern History at Ox- ford and Cambridge against the possibility of constructing a science of history are combated in a very able and temperate manner. The application of the abstract principles laid down in this paper is pro- mised in a future number. The third of Mr. Doyle's illustrations of modern society is decidedly the best which has hitherto appeared : it is entitled " A Morning Party," but is in fact confined to the repre- sentation of an animated bout at the fashionable game of " Aunt Sally." The artist has hit off admirably the crude notions on the subject of " shying" which are entertained by the vast majority of the gentler sex. The pleasant little story of "-The Stage Queen and the Squire" is brought to its legitimate and inevitable conclusion; Mrs. Stowe continues "Agnes of Sorrento," which is but,a poor substi- tute for " Framley Parsonage ;" and Mrs. Browning contributes a short poem, of the merits of which we will leave the reader to form his own opinion.

On some Supposed Consequences of the Doctrine of Historical Progress:

a Lecture delivered by Goldwin Smith, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford. April, 1861. Oxford and London : J. H. and J. Parker.—In this lecture, which is designed as a supplement to the general discourses which he has previously de- livered on "The Study of History," Professor Smith undertakes the perhaps not absolutely necessary task of showing that the doctrine of historical progress, of which he has already signified his approba- tion, does not necessarily imply the adoption of the opinion that Christianity has now fulfilled its work, and must be laid aside for some form of religion more adapted to the advanced condition and requirements of mankind. He accordingly proceeds to argue that all the various forms of virtue with which we are acquainted originate in, and may be resolved into, the quality of benevolence ; that this quality, under the name of Love of our Neighbour, is the fundamental moral principle of Christianity ; and that it is, therefore, difficult to see how the Christian morality can ever be brought into antagonism with the moral progress of mankind, or how the Christian type of character can ever be left behind by the course of human development. Although we fully agree with the conclusion at which Professor Smith has ar- rived, we are scarcely prepared to rank the instinct of self-preservation among the evil impulses of our nature, by endorsing his opinion that there is no virtue which does not spring from a desire to benefit our fellow-men, nor can we say that the somewhat misty ethical discus- sion which is now before us has done much towards strengthening our previous belief. It is, we presume, from the conviction that the ge- neral tone of his discourse requires to be enlivened by an occasional personality, that he introduces a sneer at the originator of the new view of the character of Henry VIII., which appears to be his favourite aversion, and on which he never omits an opportunity, whether in season or out of season, of making an attack. Such a mode of con- ducting a discussion appears to us to belong to the_province of the epigrammatist rather than to that of the philosophical historian.

Th., Scripture Law of .Marriage, with reference to the Prohibited

Degrees. By John Macrae, Minister of Hawick. Edinburgh: Mac- phail.—A detailed statement, very temperately written, of the Scrip- tural aromments against the proposed extension of the law of marriage. It may Fe doubted whether Mr. Macrae will succeed in convincing any of his opponents; but his pamphlet certainly deserves to be wel- comed by all those who are already of his way of thinking.

The Study of the English language an essential part of a University

Course. By Alexander J. D. D'Orsey, B.D., English Lecturer at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, and Co. ; London : Bell and Daldy.—This little volume, which is an exten- sion of a lecture delivered before the Royal Institution in February of this year, is an able statement of the advantages to be derived from a more systematic study of the English language, and of the art of public speaking, than is at present pursued in any of our great educational centres. Surely, however, Mr. D'Orsey is scarcely warranted in asserting that such expressions as "St. James'-square" and "yours truly" are equally erroneous, in a grammatical point of view, with such phrases as 'mho with?" and "neither of them do." Wee Davie. By Norman Macleod, D.D., Author of "The Earnest Student," &c.Edinburgh : Strahan and Co. London : Hamilton, Adams, and Co.—A simple Scottish story, republished from a period- ical entitled " Good Words," designed to inculcate the moral lesson of the duty of resignation under a calamity so great as the loss of an only child. What, however, is the meaning of " fozy ?" and why should a minister always be spoken of as "the Dr. ?" Botany Bay and other Poems. By J.Gordon. Hall, Virtue, and Co.- " 0 my poor dog has lost an eye

By some unfeeling stranger, Which makes me pat bis head, and cry, poor, poor Ranger "

Ex pede Herculem. Content with this specimen of Mr. Gordon's verse, our readers will spare us the task of criticizing his contribu- tions of thirty years to the Poets Corner of obscure provincial and colonial journals. The Prevention of Spinal Deformities, especially of Lateral Curvatures. By Mathew Roth, M.D. Groombridge and Sons.—Dr. Roth explains how spinal curvatures are artificially produced by a multitude of bad Practices which prevail in schools and workrooms, and sets forth what he believes to be the only rational mode of preventing and curing these deformities. He relies almost exclusively on hygienic means and on the system of medical gymnastics invented by the celebrated Swedish physician, Dr. Ling.

Photographic Portraits—Mr. Clarkington, the eminent photographer of Regent-street, has just published the first portion of his series of album portraits of members of the House of Commons, comprising excellent likenesses of about one hundred members from both sides of the Nouse. We have had the pleasure of seeing specimens of the Portraits, and, judging from those already published, we consider the series when complete will form a most interesting collection of histo- rical portraits.