Literature.

Literature .

KEVIEWS .

The Long Bun . A No \ -el . By HENRY OAVGAN , L . L . D ., author of Out on the World , My First Bomance . § -c . London : L . Booth , Kegcnfr-street . The author of this remarkable AA'ork had , we infer from its title-page , already produced tAvo novels before the publication of The Long Bun . "Whether the success of -either of them suggested the title Ave cannot say ; but , after

careful examination , AVO can find no other clue to its meaning in the book itself . ' At the same time we are puzzled to imagine what class of readers deli ght in Dr . OAVgan , or hovr , after publishing two of his stories , any bookseller could be induced to give tho Avorld a third . Is the solution of the riddle to be found in thc fact that tho great Mudie has stamped with his critical approA'al cither of its predecessors

by admitting them to that charming selection of fiction from Avhich , Ave are told , " IKWCIS of less than average merit are almost invariably excluded ? " The aA-erage of merit must indeed be loAvif The Loncj Bun is to be considered as equal to it . It is totally wanting in delineation of character or construction of plot . But , to make up for this , a number of outrageous incidents arc strung together in the compass

of one short volume , Avhich Avould suffice for at least a dozen of the poor old , much-abused " Minerva Press . " The hero goes through as many adventures as Sinbad the Sailor ; and , after enduring all kinds of peril through fire and Avater , from loA e , Avar , and poverty , is found at the end of the volume to have risen , in tho course of two or three years , from a penniless subaltern to a K . C . B ., who makes a wonderful treaty Avith Persia , and comes home to find his first love quite at liberty to marry him , though the author remorselessly kills off the poor lad y before the happy event

can come off . Let it not be supposed , hoAvever , that our novelist has not made use of thc incident matrimonial . There are three heroines , one of Avhom , tho bfighted flower aforesaid , is married once ; another is a sort of femafe Mephistophiles who , for some inexplicable , reason , brings about the ruin of a Avhole family , thereby causing the death of two respectable gentlemen by apoplexy and suicido .

This charming creature has two husbands . The third lady at the beginning of the book is a ballad singer in an Irish village ; aftorivards an actress Avho plays in the same tragedies Avith Macready ; next a countess ; and , finally , the lovely bride of the K . O . B ., her third husband , to whom she proposes the day after her spouse , the earl , has broken his neck . In the course of the story , Ave meet our old

acquaintance the forged Avill ; and , of course , the discovery of the true one . Indeed , with Mr . Puff , the author may very fairly say that his work is " all incident . " None of the usual ingredients in HOA 7 1 compounding are Avanting , except a duel , though one nearly comes off , prompted by a respectable old gentleman just come home from India , Avhere he very suitably filled the office of a judge ' .

Though The Long Bun is contained in one A'olume , the author is not content Avith this amharras da riehesses , but , to give us breathing time betAveen every fresh marvel and Its successor , interlards a page or two of phitosophical sentiment or sentimental philosophy , which , Ave fear , tho noA-el reader will ski p as irreleA'ant , if not incomprohensibfe . But , as the critics say , " AVC must leave our readers to

discoA'er for themselves the other beauties of the Avork before us , " having no doubt whatever that the admirers of Dr . Owgan ' s First Bomance will find his last equally cntertainino " .

Goon SOCIETY . —Good society is undoubtedly a most desirable accompaniment of the business of life , and with some people it ¦ even takes of that business itself ; but if the reader imagines that he is to put his book of etiquette into his pocket , and quitting his . old friends and acquaintance with disgust , to push himself into sets for which perhaps his position itself does not qualify him , he is much mistaken as to the object of cultivating the habits of good society . His proper objects are these ; to make himself better in

every respect than he is ; to render himself agreeable to every one with whom he has to do ; and to improve , if necessary , the society in which he is placed . If he can do this , he will not want goou society long . —Habits of Good Society .

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

A Glossary of Mineralogy , by Mr . AV . H . Bristow , is in the press . Charnwood Forest , a region Avell-known to tlie English geologist , is thus beautifully noticed in Mr . Mott ' s interesting Guide to Country Lodgings before alluded to in our columns : — "The beauty and the freshness of the hills of Charnwood are indeed scarcely even yet appreciated at their full value . In that far off geological

age , when the broad ocean filled the valley of the Soar , the slaty ridges of Charnwood appeared above the surface as a rugged seagirt island , in dimensions about nine miles by six , with a magnificent harbour on the north-Avest , running up three miles among the hills , and of capacity sufficient to shelter any pre-Adamite fleet which may have ranged the tranquil seas of the latest new red

sandstone epoch . Since that period , the whole of Great Britain has been ' swept over by icebergs and ocean currents , but no important disturbance from below has altered the contour of Leicestershire , and , from the summit of Bardon , Charnwood Forest still has the appearance of an island , although tho waves of tho ocean are changed into green meadows and slumbrous woodlands , fading off

upon the distant plain , far as the eye can reach , into a network of fields and hedges . To this island character may doubtless be attributed , in part , the great salubrity of our Forest . The winds from every quarter have full play among its ridges ; nor are its valleys so deep , or its passes so intricate , as to allow of the accumulation of stagnant air . And as to moisture , the soil of the hill sides i 3

nowhere deep enough to hold water for any length of time ; the hard rock will not absorb it ; and the marshy hollows are now all drained for . the growing of corn , to the infinite discomfiture of botanists , and others who delight -in the curiosities of nature .

There are no rivers breeding dangerous mists after the heat of a summer ' s day ; but multitudes of brooks , babbling among great stones , and overhung with oaks and alders , bring down the water from perpetual springs , which bubble out among the recesses of the hills . Certainly there is not in the Midland Counties , perhaps not in all England , a more health-restoring region than these ancient hills of Charnwood ; nor one more thoroughly adapted for the

enjoyment of children . " Mr . James Blackwood has the following works in preparation : — The history of a Pilgrim , with some account of the Shrine to which he Jimmied ; Annie , a Romance of Indian Life ; and the Christmas Tree for 1861 , a Poole of Instruction and Amusement for all Young People .

Messrs . Macnillan and Co ., have in the press The Volunteer Scrap Pool ; by the Author of The Cambridge Scrap Pooh . A number of the best works in Sanskrit and other Oriential languages will shortly be offered by public auction . They formed the valuable library of the late distinguised Orientalist , Horace Hayman Wilson , Esq ., who Avas Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford ,

author of several learned works , and translator of others , and member of most of the learned societies of Europe . Another portion of the magnificent library of M . Guglielmo Libri , who is leaving London , on account of ill health , will soon be brought to the hammer . The sale , it is expected , Avill extend over twenty-four days .

The select collection of Greek , Eoman , and English coins , and of Assyrian , Babylonian , Etruscan , and Greek gems , formed by the late AVilliam AVaving Hay Newton , Esq ., of Edinburgh , will be sold by auction in a few weeks ; as will also tiie collection of Greek coins belonging to Mons . De Carneirff , of St . Petersburg . Dr . Lankester , whose lectures on the Uses of Animals in relation

to the Industry of Man , delivered at tho South Kensington Museum , have just been published , has in the press his lecture On Food . The Rev . AV . Pitt Dickson is about to publish a translation of Dr . Mommsen ' s History of Home , from the ' Earliest Time to the Period of its Decline . The translation is made under the sanction and revision of the Author ; and an introduction is supplied by Dr Schmitz .