338 



Monthly Review of Literature. 



[MARCH, 



title for a new reading, or new spelling 

 rather, of Guzzle-book, and purchased 

 accordingly. The new title speaks in- 

 telligibly "enough, and Ismael's adven- 

 tures are prosecuted with un relaxed 

 vivacity through the rest of Nadir's tur- 

 bulent life to its violent close. Ismael 

 was soon again employed upon perilous 

 services by Nadir's brother, and espe- 

 cially upon a diplomatic one to a re- 

 volting chief, from whose dungeons he 

 escapes with life by all but a miracle- 

 becomes a favourite with Nadir himself 

 is promoted to great honour, and ac- 

 companies him in his invasion of Hin- 

 dostan. On his return, in a moment of 

 excitement, he is flung from the heights 

 of favour to the abysses of disgrace. 

 After new adventures and distant roam- 

 i igs he returns again to the capital of 

 Persia meets with an old and staunch 

 friend, who has, in his absence, pro- 

 tected his family rescues, in an acci- 

 dental encounter, the Shah s nephew 

 ventures at his urgency, into the pre- 

 sence of Nadir is restored again to the 

 light of his countenance, and is finally 

 again destined to destruction along with 

 the rest of the veteran Kuzzilbashes, by 

 the savage and insane projects of ven- 

 geance of the Shah, which at last seal his 

 own doom. Under a grandson of Nadir, 

 Ismael continues in command of his na- 

 tive province, and appears to be grow- 

 ing old in comparative calm and secu- 

 rity. 



The animation of the eventful story 

 never flags; and the writer's personal 

 knowledge of many or most of the coun- 

 tries in which his hero's adventures are 

 cast, with his perfect familiarity with 

 oriental manners, gives life and reality 

 to the piece, and prompts the reader to 

 proceed with full confidence as to its 

 general truth and resemblance. Nadir 

 is, however, the chief object of interest, 

 and his career east and west is ad- 

 mirably traced, and especially his moral 

 degeneracy from some magnanimity and 

 rough-hewn justice to a despotism which 

 scarcely distinguished friends from foes 

 from occasional bursts and caprices 

 which hazarded the safety of his fa- 

 vourites, to an habitual and brutal fe- 

 rocity which finally became intolerable 

 to the lowest slaves. Nadir, in short, 

 so much reminds the reader of Napo- 

 leon, that we are half afraid the author 

 has had him too much in his eye. Na- 

 poleon, at all events, in similar scenes, 

 and similar institutions, with his fiery 

 vehemence and overbearing tempera- 

 ment, would have been precisely the 

 man he was the Nadir of the West. 

 One of the most striking portions of the 

 book is the invasion of Hindostan. The 

 occupation of Dehlee (Delhi), the tumult 

 of -the populace, and the consequent car- 

 nagea piece of cool and tiger-like ven- 



geance are capital pictures, painted to 

 the life with an energy and fidelity wor- 

 thy of the author's pencil. 



American Tales for Little Boys and 

 Girls. Selected by Miss Mitford. 3 small 

 volumes. lleally this is an admirable 

 collection of little tales adapted in the 

 cleverest manner for the ready compre- 

 hension of the earliest age. Miss Mit- 

 ford has been as successful in her re- 

 searches in favour of little boys and 

 girls as she was for their elders. The 

 aim of all the stories is the correction of 

 faults and foibles, enforced on the prac- 

 tical ground of experience. The incon- 

 veniences attending their peccadillos 

 operate as the main inducement for 

 amendment. The point of duty is first 

 inculcated, and care is taken to mark 

 the consequences of disobedience the 

 natural penalties of neglect, obstinacy, 

 or levity of disregarding the advice of 

 those more experienced than them- 

 selves. Parents and teachers also may 

 gather excellent hints the indirect 

 lesson can scarcely fail sometimes to 

 tell. The difference between these lit- 

 tle books and Miss Edgeworth's stories 

 consists in the care that is taken to im- 

 press religious sanctions. The incidents 

 are all of them exceedingly natural, and 

 managed with great tact and skill. The 

 good sense that governs the whole is 

 beyond all praise. 



The Art of Miniature Painting on Ivory. 

 By Arthur Parsey, Professor of Miniature 

 Painting and Perspective. We have cer- 

 tainly not put these principles to the 

 test of experience : but they appear to 

 us calculated to do all that a book can 

 do, which is probably, in these matters, 

 at the very best, but little, both in 

 directing towards right and warning 

 against wrong. The writer is no writer 

 his language is full of slip-slop ; but 

 he has obviously considered his subject, 

 and does not, in the common spirit of 

 quackery, promise miracles, nor does he 

 hold out which would be one perfec- 

 tion as mechanically attainable. Labour 

 and study are not depreciated, but en- 

 forced ; drawing must go before colour- 

 ing, and is of incomparably greater im- 

 portance. In the natural order of things 

 we must walk before we can run ; and 

 in spite of all that teaching can do, 

 more will be "accomplished by study 

 than acquired by instruction which is 

 probably true, be the pursuit what it 

 may. 



Freedom of hand is likely to be pro- 

 moted by geometrical figure-drawing, 

 which is probably a questionable mat- 

 ter. The pencil is to be held as a 

 schoolmaster holds a pen, that is, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Langfora, author of "The 

 Beauties of Penmanship," so as to slope 

 his writing at an angle of 54 degrees to 



