REVIEW.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 421, 15 November 1856, Page 4

REVIEW.

(From the " Argus.") " The Journal of Australia, No. 3,

•'The News-Letter of Australia," No. 3* —Melbourne : George Slater.

The current number of the Journal approximates so closely in character to what a publication of this kind ought to be, that if the succeeding numbers exhibit a parity of interest and merit, the most critical readers will have small ground of complaint. The purely literary portion of the magazine is as creditable to the ability of the contributors as the comprehensive " Journal of Current Events " is to the industry of the editor.

In the opening article, on ' The fiction fields of Australia," the writer declares his conviction that genuine Australian novels are possible, are desirable, and that " when the capable eye comes to look upon them, all the rude amorphous materials, which now lie neglected around us, maybe arranged in forms-of the highest and most artistic beauty."

Real genius (observes the writer) is ever able to draw its inspiration from the rills that run at its own feet, and without travelling to Helicon—everywhere nature has now beauties and truths for the eye and mm i that know how to perceive and grasp them :

and, when we complain of her sterility, we should railier humbly confers our own.

The fault is ours, if. in this, fresh and wst c untry, peopled with men of all characters, and degrees, and nations, in which all human feelings and emotions are asiir, in which ihe pulse of existence beats with almost feverish speed, we regard the whole scene as tame and pro.^aic, and able to furnish the materials for no book but ledgers. What should we have made of such far more barren places as have given up hidden treasures, and been made bright and beautiful for all generations, at the touch of such genius as his, for example,

" Who trod in glory and in joy,

" Following iiis plough along the mountain side.' AYe are rather sceptical ourselves of the immediate possibility of an Australian school of fiction, but we shall be delighted to find the writer, who argues with so much ability in its behalf, become its founder, and charm and instruct us with a genuine Australian novel.

A 'Desultory Thinker' jots down some 'Notes for a new Science ' —that of motives; and purposes to designate this branch of study by the title of Hormctics. The value and advantages of the science are thus explained :— '

The science which would analyse human motives would give an almost biiperhumiin insight into human character; it would 10.-lp, more than anything else, to free the mind fioin ignorant prejudices, and from superficial and fai.-c estimates of men ; it would fun i.^h a key to the tine study of all biography, and all history ; it would establish n basis for the philosophical ciit:c!sm of the works of all tbe great dramatists; il woti'd help to ex plan numerous arpiir- lit paradoxes in human diameter ; it would clear up tnanv cotiirndii-pnn- in human life ; it would nhow the close connection between many viceii aim tutir opposite virtues in the sime characters; it would throw much light on tho

vexed questions of the criminal propensities, and how they ought to be dealt with ; it would aid in determining the yet undecided question of the limits dividing sanity from insanity j it would throw light on the obscure relations between the man's physical, mental, and moral natures; it would serve to explain the operation of the religious sentiments in general, and of Christianity in particular on the'principles of action in mankind ; it would furnish a key to the study of ethical science; and it would help in the determination of many still "unsettled questions in practical legislation and criminal jurisprudence, [n fine, it would enlarge the entire circle of human knowledge, by superadding the primary and essential elements of selfknowledge ; and, thus, it would enable man to attain self-government, which is the highest attainment of practical wisdom.

In an article entitled ' The Claims of the Mind' attention is drawn to the unreasonable demands made by the public upon the time and _ services of men of education, without offering the latter any equivalent. There is, unfortunately, too much truth in the following complaint:—■

Taken as a whale, the employment of money and foil .in intellectual pursuits is'thejworst of all investments, and. no labour is so ill requited as that of mind.. Moreover, society does not include a class of men more ready—nay, not one is so ready—to give unbought, their aid to any movement of public utility, of education, of charity. Asylums, Meci^3iics' Institutions, Churches, aud the like, hold iVaclai-n, on tbe ground of their character and objects, upon the artisans, the contractor, or the purveyor of material; but the important aid derivable from head-work is claimed almost as a right. Nobody thinks of even requiting the mere immediate labour bestowed, or the time lost, which might have been profitable if otherwise bestowed. AVorse than this, obloquy has even been the reward of those who have declined, because they could not afford, thus to lend themselves when wanted. One of the best articles in the present numbers bears the title of' What I saw at Snaggerack.' Its author appears to have been a diligent and admiring student of Thackery, and to have caught something'of hisfstyle of expression." We shall not pretend to define the position of of Snaggerack upon the map of the world; some of our readers ai*e not unacquainted with the city, and we remember to have visited it once. Snaggerack boasts of a road board -.-— The board, emulous of the black boards in 'England, spends money fast, but never gets on with the roads Nothing temporary in Snaggerack— oh ; no. Instead of placing thirty or forty miles of road in tolerable repair, and keeping it so at a small annual expense, the Snaggerack magnates make half a mile of road in first-rate style, expend all their cash upon the model half-mile, and leave horsemen and carriagemen miles and miles of mud-lakes to struggle through, for the pleasure of having the half mile nearest town 'first-rate.' The wise men in Snaggerack boast that they look to the future. Snaggerack enjoys a constitutional form of Government: — The Hospndar is well paid—tbe ministry is paid too well. The Honourable the Chief Answerer of all communications, who is the principal officer, is not pre-eminently fitted for his post, nor are any of his colleagues, "nor were their predecessors. Statesmanship is at a very low rate. . They burlesque • English official haughtiness as well as they can, and take about the same time great men take to answer communications of the shortest kind ; but there is .a nervousness and ~a. tremor visible through the Anglo-mania that has seized them, as if they expected the Snaggerackians would rise some morning £and demand their ejection from office, which perhaps they may if they can find any ona else to find their places. In the country of which Snaggerack is the 'chief city there are Croakers, and upon the farm of' one of these people the writer is standing listening to the raucous agriculturist, who — Descants upon the choice situation of • his land,' . its proximity tc a school and a place of worship ; only there's a nasty crpok 'up ' four months in the year. 'If the Government would only put a bridge.' The Government! Croaker, my good fellow, your paddock is full of trees, you have three or four men knocking about on your farm ; cut down a tree, saw up three planks, bolt them together with a dozen bolts from the same tree, put on four uprights ; here on your side of the creek, is a stump handy, stick in - a prop on the other side, and a better bridge for man, woman, or child, was never needed. Just tbe thing Croaker was thinking of, if some of the neighbours would join, 'Join ! why the whole expense is nothing. No outlay of money, save the cost of a few nails—get a subscription for that!' 'Ah.' responds Croaker, with a leer that Shyloek woul I

have envied, 'but the neighbours would use it, and I'm 'not going to do it for them.' So the semisavage is closed up in his lair one-third ofthe year —from a mean, grasping, covetous disposition. ' Government this—Government that. Good sir, if a shower of roasted ducks fell down at these men's doors, there would bo a cry to the Government to send people to carve the luxury for them.' And the man is not far wrong. How thankful we ought to be that we don't live in Snaggerack !—concerning which place and its people we shall be glad to hear more from this litfly and observant writer.