In the Levant. By Charles Dudley Warner. (Osgood and Co.,
Boston, U.S.; Triibner, London.)—We have seen before some of Mr. Warner's notes and impressions of travel, and have found in them the charm of vivacity and humour. This volume does not want the same qualities. Mr. Warner landed in Jaffa, and made his way through Jerusalem and other localities of the Holy Land, to Syria, thence journeyed by the Archipelago to Constantinople, and from Constantinople made his way to Athens and Corinth. It will thus be seen that he travelled over very familiar ground, nor did he meet with any striking adventures, yet his narrative has always a fresh interest about it. Of the quiet kind of American humour it is an excellent example. Take, for instance, the dialogue which we find in the first chapter, held between the author and a New-England woman, whom he found at Jaffa, relic of a colony called the "Adams Colony," which attempted to work out a fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah in the plain of Sharon, a spot which, as Mr. Warner remarks, "has for some ages been pre-empted :"—
" I sat in a rocking-chair in the sitting-room of her little wood cot- tage, and could scarcely convince myself that I was not in a prim Now- Hampshire parlour. To her mind, there were no more Oriental illu- sions, and perhaps she had never indulged any ; certainly, in her pre- sence Palestine seemed to me as common-place as New England. 'I srpose you've seen the meetin'-house ?'—' Yes.' ' Wal,' it's goin' to rack
and ruin, like everything else here. There isn't enough here to have any service now. Sometimes I go to the German; I try to keep up a little feeling.'—I have no doubt it is more difficult to keep up a religious feeling in the Holy Land than it is in New Hampshire, but we did not discuss that point. I asked, Do you have any society Precious little. The Germans are dreffie unsocial. The natives are all a low set. The Arabs will all lie ; I don't think much of any of 'em. The Mahoramedans are all shiftless ; you can't trust any of 'em.'—Why don't you go home ?'—' Wal, sometimes I think I'd like to see tbe old place, but I reckon I couldn't stand the winters. This is a nice climate, that's all there is here ; and we have grapes and oranges, and loads of flowers,—you see my garden there, I set great store by that, and me and my daughter take solid comfort in it, especially when he is away, and he has to be off most of the time with parties, guidin"em. No, I guess I shan't ever cross the ocean again.'—It appeared that the good woman had consoled herself with a second husband, who bears a Jewish name, so that the original object of her mission, to gather in the chosen people, is not altogether lost sight of." We must quarrel with Mr. Warner for some of his judgments, which seem hasty and shallow. He can hardly have read the Bible to much purpose, when he says that there is "nothing to show that the Israelites were more moved by sentiments of pity and compassion than their heathen neighbours." Their highest tone of feeling was certainly much superior, witness Elisha's dealing with the Syrian prisoners, and it is at least probable that even the average was higher. Mr. Warner's studies in this line, however, are evidently not profound. He supposes Judah to have been the name of the General who commanded the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan. And he Minks that "only four of the Kings of Judah were not idolaters." Surely it might have been worth while to turn to his Bible, and see bow the case stood.
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