Critical Notices [pp. 282-292]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
The following is quoted from Edinensis, vol. iv.
"All the faculties are considered capable of producing
actions which are good, and it is not to be admitted that
any one of them is essentially, and in itself evil-but
if given way to beyond a certain degree, all of them
(with the sole exception of Conscientiousness) may lead
to results which are improper, injurious, or culpable."
The words annexed occur at page 102.
"Anatomy decides that the brain, notwithstanding
the softness of its consistence, gives shape to the cranium,
as the crustaceous tenement of the crab is adjusted to the
animal that inhabits it. An exception is made to this
rule when disease or ill-treatment injure the skull."
And again at page 159.
"By appealing to Nature herself, it can scarcely be
doubted that certain forms of the head denote particular talents or dispositions; and anatomists find that the
surface of the brain presents the same appearance in
shape which the skull exhibits during life. Idiocy is
invariably the consequence of the brain being too
small, while in such heads the animal propensities are
generally very full."
To this may be added the opinion of Gall, that a
skull which is large, which is elevated or high above the
ears, and in which the head is well developed and
thrown forward, so as to be nearly perpendicular with
its base, may be presumed to lodge a brain of greater
power (whatever may be its propensities) than a skull
deficient in such proportion.
MAHMOUD.
MIahmoud. New —York. Published by Harper and Brothers.
Of this book-its parentage or birth-place-we know
nothing beyond the scanty and equivocal information
derivable from the title-page, and from the brief Advertisement prefixed to the narrative itself. From the titlepage we learn, or rather we do not learn that Harper
and Brothers are the publishers-for although we are
informed, in so many direct words that such is the fact,
still wve are taught by experience that, in the bookselling vocabulary of the day, the word published has too
expansive, too variable, and altogether too convenient
a meaning to be worthy of very serious attention. The
volumes before us are, we imagine, (altbough really
without any good reason for so imagining,) a reprint
from a London publication. It is quite possible, however,
that the work is by an American writer, and now, as it
professes to be, for the first time actually published.
From tile Advertisement we understand that the book
is a combination of facts derived from private sources;
or from personal observation. We are told that "with
the exception of a few of the inferiori characters, and
the trifling accessories necessary to blend the materials,
and imnpart a unity to the rather complex web of the
narrative, the whole may be relied upon as perfectly
true."
Be this as it may, we should have read ".Iahmoud"
with far greater pleasure had we never seen the Anastasius of Mr. Hope. That most excellent and vivid,
(although somewhat immoral) series of Turkish paintings is still nearly as fi'esh within our memory as in
the days of peirusal. The work left nothing farther to
be expected, or even to be desired, in rich, bold, vigorous, and accurate delineation of the scenery, characters, manners, and peculiarities of the region to vwhich
its pages were devoted. Nothing less than the consciousness of superior power could have justified any
one in treading in the steps of Mr. Hope. And, certainly, nothing at all, under any circumstances whatsoever, could have justified a direct and palpable copy
of Anastasius. Yet Mahmoud is no better.
GEORGIA SCENES.
Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents, 4c. in the First
Half Century of the Republic. By a Native Georgian.
augusta, Georgia.
This book has reached us anonymously-not to say
anomalously-yet it is most heartily welcome. The
author, whoever he is, is a clever fellow, imbued with
a spirit of the truest humor, and endowed, moreover,
with an exquisitely discriminative and penetrating understanditig of character in general, and of Southern
character in particular. And we do not mean to speak
of human character exclusively. To be sure, our Georgian is au fait here too-he is learned in all things appertaining to the biped without feathers. In regard,
especially, to that class of southwestern mammalia who
comre under the generic appellation of "savagerous
wild cats," he is a very Theophrastus in duodecimo.
But hlie is not the less at home in other matters. Of
geese and ganders he is the La Bruyere, and of goodfor-nothing horses the Rochefoucault.
Seriously-if this book were printed in England it
would make the fortune of its author. We positively
mean what we say-and are quite sure of being sustained in our opinion by all proper judges who maybe
so fortunate as to obtain a copy of the " Georgia Scenes,"
and who will be at the trouble of sifting their peculiar
merits from amid the gaucheries of a Southern publication. Seldom-perhaps never in our lives-have we
laughed as immoderately over any book as over the
one now before us. If these scenes have produced
such effects upon our cachinnatory nerves-upon us
who are not "of the merry mood," and, moreover,
have not been unused to the perusal of somewhat
similar things-awe are at no loss to imagine what a
hubbub they would occasion in the uninitiated regions
of Cockaigne. And what would Christopher North
say to them?-ahl, what would Christopher North say?
that is the question. Certainly not a word. But we
cant fancy the pursing up of his lips, and the long, loud,
and jovial resonnation of his wicked, and uproarious
ha! ha's!
From the Preface to the Sketches before us we learn
that although they are, generally, notl-ing more than
fanciful combinations of real incidents and characters,
still, in some instances, the narratives are literally true.
We are told also that the publication of these pieces
was commenced, rather more than a year ago, in one
of the Gazettes of the State, and that they were favorably received. "For the last six months," says the
author, "I have been importuned by persons fiom all
quarters of the State to give them to the public in the
present form." This speaks well for the Georgian taste.
But that the publication will succeed, in the bookselling
sense of the word, is problematical. Thanks to the
long indulged literary supineness of the South, her
presses are not as apt in putting forth a saleable hook as
her sons are in concocting a wise one.
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