Literature. Reviews.

Literature . REVIEWS .

Personal Wrongs—Legal Remedies . By W . CAMPBELL SLEIGH , Esq ., Middle Temple . London : Longman , Green , Longman , ancl Roberts . WE have great pleasure in directing public attention to the above clear and excellent exposition of the laws governing and providingfor those conditions of personal injuries of most usual occurrence . The name of the authorand his hih position as a lawyerafford

, g , a guarantee for the integrity of the work , and an assurance that the most profound consideration has been g iven it . The author ' s celebrated work , " The Handy Book on Criminal Law , " published last year , having been recognized both by the profession and the public as an invaluable work of reference and guidance , has doubtless induced the writing of the present work , which may almost be considered a sequel to the Handy Book .

The law has been so long looked upon by the popular mind as a dark and mysterious oracle—only to be approached upon extremity—expressing itself in an almost unknown tongue , which few but the initiated can interpret—that for one like Mr . Slei gh to have cleared away the mist that enveloped it , and by letting in the light of common sense and common interpretation , is to have done a great public service . To possess such a work , and more , to study it , is to our minds a matter of duty on the part of every citizen iu such a

commumty as ours ; with all the knowledge we possess and daily acquire , that which would most benefit us is , as a rule , the least sought for and the least understood . Blackstone has well put it , " that it is incumbent upon every man to be acquainted with those laws at least with which he is immediately concerned , " and most distinctly expresses our opinion upon the subject . Mr . Sleigh , in treating upon personal wrongs and the remedies for each case

made and provided , has skilfully divided the class of these wrongs , and given under each class illustrated cases to render more clear by parallel cases the law and its operation . The wrongs treated of are defamation of character—malicious prosecution- —false imprisonment—assaults—malicious arrest and other malicious injuries—of injuries caused through negligence or unskilfulness;—of personal injury caused by public nuisance—of

breach pf promise of marriage—of seduction—and of personal wrongs , as between husband and wife , and herein of adultery , bigamy and divorce . A clear exposition in every case renders not only instructive but hi ghly interesting to the reader this statement of the law applicable to each subject , and we , in taking leave of the work , recognize in the popularity it will obtain , the advent , we trust , of many more works of the same beneficial tendency from the author .

Ceylon . By Sir JAMES EMERSOX TEXXEXT , IV . C . S . With Maps aud Plates . Two Volumes . Messrs . Longman & Co . LEARNED and exhaustive works , in general , are not interesting to the majority of readers ; but this is not the case with the work before us ; for although Sir J . E . Tenneut has crowded his pages with the most valuable and recondite information from the best and most authentic sourcesyet the interest of the reader increases

, at every page ; and the work contains such an amount of research on every subject connected with the famous island , that it will henceforth stand as the great authority to which all will appeal on matters connected with Ceylon . To mention all the topics which Sir J . E . Tenneut has introduced into his book would be to present a more extensive catalogue of subjects than our space will permitso it must suffice if we

, mention the following only . We have presented to us the opinions formed of Ceylon b y the Greeks , Indians , Chinese , and mediaeval European travellers ; its physical character , geology , currents and storms , natural history , its beautiful scenery , its races and their vicissitudes ; the connection of its history with the development and fortunes of Buddhism ; the more recent influence of the Portuguese , Dutch andBritish settlements ; its industry and commercial

prospects . Among a mass of authorities , geology , botany , and conchology , the reader will do well to peruse the very interesting description of the elephant and its ways—an account so readable , perfect , and characteristic , that no one can ever plead ignorance of the subject after reading the excellent description of the life and habits of the animal as shewn by Sir J . E . Tennent . We are told by the author that Ceylon is one of those islands which , through all ages , has found chroniclers who have paid a just tribute to its beauty and climate . We hare the various titles

I of honour which it has received from the Greek , the Indian , the Buddhist , and the Brahman , as follows : — " The Brahmans designated it by the epithet of Lanka , ' the resplendent , ' and in their dreamy rhapsodies extolled it as the region of mystery and sublimity ; the Buddhist poets apostrophised it as ' a pearl upon the brow of India ; ' the Chinese knew it as ' the island of jewels ;' the Greeks as the 'land of the hyacinth aud the ruby ; ' the Mahometans ,

in the intensity of their delight , assigned it to tho exiled parents of mankind as a new elysium to console them for the loss of Paradise ; and the early navigators of Europe , as they returned dazzled with its gems and laden with its costly spiees , propagated the fable that far to seaward tho very breeze that blew from it was redolent of perfume . In later and less imaginative times Ceylon has still maintained the renown of its attractions , and exhibits in all its varied charms the highest conceivable development of human nature .

" The nucleus of its mountain masses consists of gneissie , granatic , and other chrystalline rocks , which in their resistless upheaval have rent the superincumbent strata , raising them into lofty pyramids and crags , or hurling them in gigantic fragments to the plains below . Time and decay are slow in their assaults on these towering precipices aud splintered pinnacles ; and , from the absence of more perishable materials , there are few graceful sweeps along the higher chains or rolling downs in the lower ranges of the hills . Every bold elevation is crowned by

battlemented cliffs , and flanked by chasms in which the shattered strata are seen as sharp and as rugged as if they had but recently undergone the grand convulsion that displaced them . " The soil in these regions is consequently light and nnremunerative , but the plentiful moisture arising from the interception of every passing vapour from the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal , added to the intense warmth of the atmosphere , combine to force a vegetation so rich and luxuriant , that imagination can picture nothing more wondrous and

charming ; every level spot is enamelled with verdure , forests of never fading bloom cover mountain and valley ; flowers of the brightest hues grow iu profusion over the plains , and delicate climbing plants , rooted in the shelving rocks , hang iu huge festoons down the edge o £ every

precipice . " Unlike the forests of Europe , in which the excess of some peculiar trees imparts a character of monotony and graveness to the outline and colouring , the forests of Ceylon are singularly attractive from the endless variety of their foliage , and the vivid contrast of their hues . The mountains , especially those looking towards the east and sonth , rise abruptly to prodigious and almost precipitous heights above the level plains ; and the emotion excited when a travellerfrom one of these towering

eleva-, tions , looks down- for the first time upon the vast expanse of the low lands , leaves an indelible impression on the memory . The rivers wind through the woods below like threads of silver through green embroidery , till they are lost in a dim haze which conceals the far horizon ; and through this a line of tremulous light marks where the sunbeams are glittering on the waves upon the distant shore . "

From the Sinhalese chronicles Sir J . E . Tennent has industriously culled a history of the people ; but it is the history of a romance , vague and shadowy , full of interruptions ; and were European history to consist of such materials , it would soon become a study lacking students ; but if we take into consideration that all these eastern traditions and chronicles have no kind of approximation to what we call history in the west , the difficulty

of collecting such an outline as the author has presented to us can only serve to increase our value for his labours . He tells us that his chief sources of information were " the chronicles , the Dipawanso , Mahawanso , and others ; of these , by far the most important is the Mahawanso , and its commentaries . It stands at the head of the historical literature of the east ; unrivalled by anything extant in Hindustanand unsurpassedif it be equalledby the native

, , , annals of China or Kashmir . " The history of Ceylon is that of a religious monarchy ; the history of Buddhism giving such a predominant colouring , and directing the national policy in the same manner as religion did the Hebrew nation , both under its commonwealth and kings , or as was the case in the west of Europe during the middle ages . Like many other nations , there was a conquest by an organized

race , ancl they came from the valley of the Ganges in the fourth century before the Christian era ; they were agriculturists , and introduced the doctrines of Buddha , which spread over the island , and was a part of the dynasty of their kings . A legend , marvellously like that of S . Hubert , relates that while hunting , the king was allured by au enormous elk to a spot where the great Buddhist preacher was waiting for him , and it goes on to state

how he ancl all his kingdom were converted , and Ceylon consecrated to the worship of Buddha by planting a branch of the sacred Botree , the tremulous Indian fig , which tree still exists ; our author having no doubt that it is the identical tree which was planted b y the devotees of Buddha two hundred and ei ghty-eig ht years u . c , as he fell us in the following extract : — "But that which renders the fallen city illustrious even iu ruins , is the possession of the Jmja Sri Malta Bgdm Wvttmwe , ' the victorious ,