NEW NOVELS. * Tin framework of Stories by an Archmologist and

Ids Friends consists of a temporary society sojourning at Naples, whose mem- bers are of various . countries, and with different scientific objects or hobbies. They agree to meet together at stated times to tell of their luck in increasing their collections, to exhibit their last samples, and to enjoy themselves over a refection supplied by the host of the evening, who is also to tell a story. It is of these tales that the book before us consists.

There is no lack of variety in the nationality or subject of the stories ; they are also in the main pretty well confined to archreo logical or scientific material. One tale, for example, introduces a bibliomaniac, whose object in life is the recovery of the lost books of Livy ; another—which we seem to have met before—explains the first introduction of the fuschia into England ; a third nar- rates the ill fortunes in this country of a zealous Italian numis- matist and Republican refugee, by the easy onesided process of interesting the reader's feeling in the virtues and accomplish- ments of the hero and heroine, and painting all English people after the standard fiction of " snobbishness ' or contemptuous reserve towards " foreigners," or both. These and other cognate tales are preceded by a sketch of each evening's proceedings, in which the character of the chief speaker and the " transactions " of the meeting are blended with some account of topics connected with the particular study of the host. As regards the interest of the tales, these introductions may be rather interruptive ; and the scientific knowledge strikes us as being often general or superficial—rather such as a clever littera- teur could pick up in his reading and turn to account, than the mastery of a thorough scholar. On the whole, however, we pre- fer the prefaces to the tales. The sketches of the antiquarians, if rather slight and slow, are readable ; the discussions, if not deep, are real. The stories want life. They seem the productions of a person who has no natural gift for fiction ; consequently the nar- rative is of the literal kind, notwithstanding acquirements and an acquaintance with English and foreign manners much beyond what some better novelists possess. The tales, however, are brief; so that they have not time to tire, and some of them contain inci- dental information on matters of history, archaeology, or art. In this point they are inferior to the introductions. As an example, take this summary view of ancient coinage from the prelude to " The Numismatist's Story."

"The table was covered with some of the most interesting samples of the ancient coinage of different epochs. There was a double stater of Cyzicus, of the earliest period, with its rude figure of a lion and a fish for type ; its reverse presenting only four punch-marks, the traces of the instrument by means of which the face of the coin had been driven into the die ; and there was one of those superb silver decadrachms of Syracuse, known as Sicilian medallions, which are works of the highest period of ancient monetary art, the present specimen of which was a beautiful work, in most perfect con- dition,—in short, a dour de coin, as numismatists have it,—and possessing, too, afeature of unusual interest, pointed out by the numismatist. This feature consisted in a name, written in minute Greek characters, on one of the dolphins. It was the name of the ancient engraver, whose work has reached the present age in such exquisite preservation. There was actually the name of the die-sinker, who perhaps executed that beautiful work for the critical eye of the Sicilian despot Dionysius, some four centuries before the Christian tera. The numismatist proceeded to state to his listeners, with numerous details full of charm and interest, how, on the series of the ancient Sicilian money of the Greek colonies of that island, the names of a whole guild of engravers, of two or three generations, had been detected by the industry and acumen of recent numismatic science. But,' said Signor Massimi, perceiving that the ground he had touched upon was evidently full of interest to his listeners, ' let us extend our view a little' ; and, taking up the Cyzicene stater, and holding it almost reverently, as a hoary and venerable monument of history and art, he added, ' here is probably one of the first pieces of money ever struck. Yes,' he continued, one of the first ; for money, as we now understand the term, may be considered, in comparison 'with the high antiquity of other human institutions, quite a recent in- vention.'

"It is true that gold and silver were used at a very early period as a con- venient substitute for direct barter; that is, instead of exchanging so much and or so many oxen, a certain weight of gold or silver was given as an equivalent. Thus, we read in the Jewish Scriptures, that Abraham weighed

• Stories by an Archaeologist and his .F ranch. In two volumes. Published by Bell and Daldy.

Self and Self-Sacrifice ; or Kelly's Story. By Anna Lisle. Published by Damn bridge. Edgar Barden: an Autobiographical Novel. By William Knighton, M.A., Author of " The Private Life of an Eastern King," 4.e. 4.e. In three volumes. Published by Burst and Blackett. to Ephron the silver he had named, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.' In that translation, the silver is incorrectly called money ; which it could not be ; for it is distinctly stated that it was weighed, and a certain weight given, and not a certain teamber of pieces. It is well known that Homer does not mention coined money ; which he would not have failed to do if it had existed in his time ; but, on the contrary, he always speaks of a kind of barter. As when he mentions that the common value of an ox was a bar of brass three feet long ; and that a woman—it is well none of the gentle sex are present, said the numismatist, looking round with a smile—that a woman who understood several useful arts was sold for four such bars, or four oxen. " Bars or spikes such as these, continued the speaker, when adjusted to a special size, f,rmed a kind of link between weighed money and true coins; for they passed by tale, that is by counting their number, instead of by weight. At this point in the history of the origin of money, it is interesting to observe, that the names of such bars or spikes were at a later period transferred by the Greeks to their positive money, in those of the two prin- cipal Greek coins, which, as you all know, are the drachms and the obelus; the latter name being that of a small bar or obelisk, and the former express- ing a handful, or sir, which was the exact number the hand could grmp : thus, in the real coinage which followed the rude state of exchange by means of bars, an obelus naturally became the sixth of the drachma. " It is supposed, continued the numismatist, that the first positive cointc that is to say, pieces of metal of convenient size, adjusted to a particular weight, and guaranteed to be of that weight as well as the required purity, by the stamp or seal of an acknowledged government, were struck either by the Lydians or by the Asiatic colonies of Greece. That great historical event, he continued, the first positive coinage, whether of Greek or Lydian origin, took place only seven or eight centuries before the Christian earn ; and the coin of the Greek colony of Cyzicua, which I have just examined, evidently belongs to the very infancy of the art. Yet that people may not have been the first to coin money ; for doubtless, when once the principle was put in action, its immense importance became at once so evident that other states rapidly followed in the wake of the inventors, whoever they were. Consequently, we have specimens of a gold coinage of several of the Greek states of Asia Minor, as well as the Lydian coins attributed to Cros- sus, and the Persian Darks and some other coins, all exhibiting indubitable marks of that primmval workmanship which the art of coining exhibited before it had passed from its infant stage."

Immature is the characteristic of Self and Sedf-Saerifiee, by Anna Lisle. The fair writer exhibits an accomplished mind and an elegant style. As a narrator she is clear and agreeable, though somewhat prone to dwell upon details for themselves, especially in the minute pictures of home and childhood in the early parts. If she has not as yet much strength of dramatic power, she pos- sesses a faculty still more important to a novelist—that of giving a real and living air to her persons and occurrences, though the conduct of the persons and the incidents that spring from them may not be consistent with the actual. Indeed, it is in a want of consistency both with the probabilities of character and the likeli- hoods of life that the fault of the tale consists. And this fault seems to arise from want of experience in the events of life, as well as from want of resolution to pursue her story to its natural con- sequences. The elements of Self and Self-Sacrifice are those of guilt and social tragedy. The fair writer's good feeling prompts her to save the character of her characters, and to bring about a satisfactory if not "a happy" ending. The object is to show the "beauty of self-sacrifice," the odious- ness of " self," and the evil consequences of vanity, levity, and mental weakness. Nelly, the heroine and autobiographer, post- pr., es her comfort and some worldly advantages in favour of her half-sister, Edith ; in. return for which, Edith attracts Nelly's ac- cepted .lover, Oscar Herbert ; and they are married, Oscar still inclining to his first love. The vanity, weakness, and want of steady principle, that could bring about these results, shows it- self in its natural consequences. Oscar neglects his wife ; El- more, a roue friend, besieges her ; and they elope. As the feel- ings of the writer induce her to deal tenderly withEdith, a series of almost miracles are invented to excuse her conduct and pre- serve her honour, so that, after suffering and repentance, she may die reconciled to her husband.

The incongruity between the character and actions of the per- sons and the termination mars the effect of the work. The natu- ral end of Oscar and Edith was torpid discomfort or acute misery. Edith persists in receiving the attentions of Elmore, against the remarks of society, the warnings of a friend, and the efforts of Nelly. She elopes with him because she dares not meet her hus- band after a certain letter has fallen into his hands. Yet we are to believe that it is only weakness, and to sympathize with her as a paragon of amiability and repentance,—Elmore having been killed by an accident on their passage to the Continent.

Mr. Knighton's " Private Life of an Eastern King " was mat- ter-of-fact in its nature ; " Forest Life in Ceylon,' and " Tro- pical Sketches," contained much of the generalization which is really fiction, presented in the form of tales or sketches ; but there was a matter-of-fact air about even the romantic parts, which militated against their effect. In the present autobiographical novel of Edgar Bardon, this fault is in. a measure corrected. The work is not only an improvement upon the others in this re- spect, but it contains as much of incident, life, and character, as the generality of novels. It has the further advantage of the writer's having seen much of what he professes to describe, al- though this extends from England to the farthest Ind, with a voyage out by the Cape, a return passage by the Red. Sea, a resi- dence in the Punjaub, and several visits to France. The book is rather a novel of adventures than of adventure. The incidents are well connected, sometimes striking in themselves ; and they form altogether a story of interest. There is no-- thing very new in the design or in the particular parts ; unless it be the characters of Aunt HOBO; an amiable, affectionate, but yielding woman, whose love has been crossed and her happiness sacrificed by the social views of a " strong-minded" brother, and the excellent though rather eccentric Mr. Tupsemuch, Aunt Honor's old flame. School days, a mischiefmakmg stepmother, a father thwarted by a daughter in his plans for her marriage, and by his son preferring " the pride, pomp, circumstance of glo- rious war," to a seat at a merchant's desk—are not new. Neither are Calcutta jokes upon Griffins, sporting in India, the parade and luxury of great men, with other particulars of inglo-lndian

life. A love-affair at Lahore, which influences the story, has more novelty, and is not badly planned in its way ; but it has the effect of representing the hero as fickle and not well-principled. The skill to involve a hero in difficulties without lowering his character and weakening the reader's regard, is perhaps the rarest faculty of the novelist. The romantic parts, or the love-stories, may be somewhat im- probable ; a few of the persons may verge upon the melodramatic; but all have this characteristic—they are based upon the actual, and exhibit a knowledge of life, though that knowledge may not be presented in the most effective form. To Barney, Edgar's Irish valet, this remark scarcely applies : there may be something of the theatrical or traditional Irishman about him, but he is well con- ceived, and, what is more to many, amusing. Here is his account of the passage to England.

" Well, to be sure, Kathleen and myself, and my mother—for the little one was dead—we got across ; and a mighty troublesome thing it was to do that same, for of all the turnin' of a poor divil inside out, the say bates the world for that; Dr. Malony was nothing to it, so he wasn't. There we war a lyin' in a corner, the three of us, and Kathleen and myself couldn't howld our heads up. at all at all, and my mother, God bless her sowl in glory ! 'ud. be up and doin' for us one minnit, and the next she'd be like ourselves, unable to do a hand's turn for anybody. Wisha, but it's an awful place the say, Masther Bard= ; and how the people lives at all at all that goes often on it, I don't know i but it seems to me they might as well give up stir' and dhrinkin' altogether, for purshuing to the bit of good it ill do thim on boord as they call it—an' faith it's no wonder they do call it on boord, for its stretched on his back every mother's son of us was, on the boords shure enough."

The following graphic picture of the Sunderbunds may be quoted as an example of Mr. Knighton's descriptive style.

"The approach to Calcutta from the sea is through one of the most fright- ful regions in the world. The Sunderbunds is the name given to a low district of rich alluvial soil, formed entirely by the Ganges, and not much, if at all, above high-water mark ; a low district, which the abundance of moisture and the stimulating influence of a Tropical sun have combined to cover so thickly with vegetation that it is almost impossible to distinguish one plant from another, even when the observer is close to them.

"Through these Sunderbunds, in a hundred various winding channels, the Ganges makes its way to the Bay of Bengal, sluggishly enough for the most part, but impetuously and uproariously when the floods of the wet season are rushing into its bed from all parts of its vast basin. To remain on these low lands at such seasons, is to risk, or rather to incur certainly, jungle-fever in its most aggravated forms—to expose one's life to almost certain death. Like the mouths of the Niger and the Gambia in Africa, the graves of Europeans, the Sunderbunds reek with the rich odour of Tropical vegetation, that renders the atmosphere thick and oppressive to the stranger, if not absolutely unendurable. The closest hothouse in Europe, with its hundreds of steaming plants, and its elevated artificial temperature, will give the visitor but a very faint impression of the suffocating perfumes exhaled by the richest .possible soil, when acted upon by the combined in- fluence of excessive moisture and excessive heat, stimulating it into life.

"Death in all shapes lurks amid these low-lying regions—death to man i

amid the luxuriance of Tropical vegetative life. It is not the reeking plants with their huge leaves and rank fruits,. nor the thick trees so laden with parasitic feeders that their branches in vain endeavour to support each other, and hang listlessly downwards, overcome in the struggle for existence it is not the exhalations from these, unwholesome and fraught with danger as they are, that, the European has most to fear. More deadly foes than even thejungle fevers, and far more rapid in execution, prowl about these dense thickets in formidable numbers.

"Tigers so abound in the Sunderbunds that landing there is impractica- ble, save at the stations to which man's cupidity or humanity has conducted him; for the rich soil is cultivated here and there, and a few'stations there i

are in which a lighthouse has been established, or a shed in which provi- sions have been stored for shipwrecked mariners. These latter are not, of course, in the interior or worst regions of the district, accessible only by the narrow branches of the Ganges, there meandering lazily on to the ocean. Tigers abound on the shore, and alligators in the water—in such numbers, too, that it is no uncommon thing to find some foul corpse that the water has rejected fought for savagely by a hungry tiger and a still mere ravenous alligator—the tiger for the most part getting the worst of the fray. 'Dwel- lers on the Sunderbunds are often witnesses of such combats, and passengers in the river-steamers also,—for these steamers are sometimes forced to plough up these dark streams, when the Hoogly does not contain water enough for them to get up to the main stream of the Ganges that way."