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NOTES ON BOOKS. |

| tion that Dickens received, but he reproduced all the
| varied teaching he received, in his books, in which he
_often acted as an interpreter between different, and very
| opposite classes of his countrymen.

When Mr. Forster’s work concludes, Mr. Dickens is just
on the point of returning fom Canada to England, to his
well-known abode in Devonshire Terrace, which he
alternated with residing at Broadstairs. His last work
had been “Barnaby Rudge,” and he is meditating
“Martin Chuzzlewit:” he is just thirty years of age.
There is reason to believe that the biography will extend
to various volumes.
own letters, which are full of fancy and feeling, sometimes
pushed, however, to the verge of extravagance.

Among other biographical works we observe some
books of “ Trish” Memoirs. Mr. Murray has published
a life of a well-known good man, Dr. Cooke of Belfast,
who did much to rebuke the prevalent Arianism of his
place and time. A life of the late Chief Justice Lefroy,
a remarkable man, who with undiminished mental
faculties, presided at the age of ninety, over the adminis-
tration of the Irish Common Law, has some interesting
facts embedded ina somewhat heavy compilation. When
he first went judge on cireuit, supplying as serjeant the
place of cne of the judges, he sent a thousand pounds

things which he witnessed. He three times, while still
but he preferred the Equity Bar to the trying criminal
business of the circuits. Eyentually he became a Baron
of the Exchequer, and subsequently Chief Justice. Inan
interesting letter he describes how he visited Lord Rosse,
while going circuit, and examined his telescope :—* The
planet Jupiter, which, through an ordinary glass, is no
larger than a good star, is seen twice as large as the moon
"appears to the naked eye. It was all true what Doherty
| said, that he walked upright in the tube with an um-
brella over his head before it was set. But the
genius displayed in all the contrivances for wielding
this mighty monster even surpasses the design and
| execution of it. The telescope weighs sixteen tons, and
| yet Lord Rosse raised it single-handed off its resting-place,
_ and two men with care raised it toany height.” The only
occasion on which the venerable Chief Justice ever got
out of temper with the weather, was when he was unable
to fly a kite which he had made for his grandson.
Another very important work is that of Myr. Shaw’s
“Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar.” He
has shown himself a daring and energetic explorer, who,
carrying his life in his hands, penetrated into the region
of Eastern Turkestan, which until the last few years had
been untraversed since the time of Marco Polo. The
mysterious region beyond the great rampart of the
| Himalayas, had long possessed a fascination for his mind,
and in various shooting excursions among the mountains,
he had learned the art of Asiatic travel. Although our
| surveyors have mapped out all this mountain region, no
European before Mr. Shaw ever crossed the Karakorum
| range in the direction of Yarkand. The political state of
the country is remarkable. It was formerly Chinese
Tartary, but in 1863 the native race arose and drove out
the Chinese, and a very remarkable native leader coming
to the front became king. Of late years the Russians
| have been pushing up the Valley of the Jaxartes, and
| this native king imterposes a great obstacle to their

a

Its great charm will be in Dickens’

towards a scheme for ameliorating the sad condition of |

a young man, received the offer of a judicial appointment; |

|

| lands of Central India.”

advance. When apprised of Mr. Shaw’s adventurous
journey, the king treated him with hospitality and
kindness, appeared gratified that an Englishman should
visit him, and appeared quite ready to discard Chinese
exclusiveness, and to cultivate friendly relations with
England. Mr. Shaw keeps a diary, and duly enters all the
interesting details of his residence among a frank and
hospitable people. Mr. Shaw was dismissed the country
with many presents, and returning to England, began to
prepare his notes for publication. Seeing in the Zimes
that some British officers were to be sent on a mission to
the Atalik Ghazee, or king, he telegraphed an offer of
his services, and again went out to Yarkand, and subse-
quently became British Commissioner in Sadik. He
deserves the credit of opening up a new chapter in the
history of British India. Another very important work
of a cognate character, is that by the late Mr. Forsyth, who
unfortunately died before its publication, on the “High-
He was employed by Govern-
ment on the exploration of the Central Indian forests,
This work gives us some interesting views respecting the
development of the resources of India. To show how
much that development is wanting, it may be mentioned
that it has been found cheaper to import wood from
Norway, for railways, than to bring it down from Indian
forests, at the distance of a hundred miles. The most
interesting part of Captain Forsyth’s work, is his
account of his warfare with tigers. The statistics of the
mischief wrought by tigers, especially the cattle-lifting
and the man-slaying tiger, are enormous, depopulating large
districts, and destroying thousands of lives. The tiger
when it has once tasted man, the most delicious and helpless
of its victims, and as powerless in its claws as a mouse
under the paw of a cat, is never contented with any
meaner victim. Five or six tigers are a good month’s
bag for a single gun. On one occasion he shot a tiger
which had completely closed several roads, and devoured
over a hundred human beings. Mr. Forsyth made a
thorough scientific exploration of the forests and the hills,
and his work teems with records of personal experience and
adventure. The Government followed the precedent of
King Alfred, in offering a reward for every head of
dangerous animals, but the amount of reward has been
reduced, and there is now a fear that the tigers may once
more gain the upper hand. The book is a magazine of
information, and it enables us to see how very much
remains to be done for the colonizing and settlement of
vast territories belonging to the British Crown in India,
and fulfilling the high duties which providence has de-
volved uponus. We hardly take up any book of the kind
which we have been noticing, without finding some
encouraging facts which tell us of the good work of
Christian missions. We notice some other Indian books,
one by Mr. Bowring, and one by Sir George Jacob,
detailing Eastern experiences. Sir George gives a curious
aneedote of the credulity of the Hindoos, and their
liability to be defrauded. He says an impostor went about
the country levying a war-cess in his name; “his cre-
dentials an empty gooseberry bottle of Crosse and
Blackwell, the Royal Arms in gilt letters on the label.”

We ought to draw attention to the eminently useful
series of books now being issued from the Clarendon Press
at Oxford. Two works of high educational value on the
English language and literature may be named, one by
that accomplished Early English scholar, My. Earle, »

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