Just Published, price 3s. 6d., bound in cloth,

second edition, revised and enlarged,

THE LONDON PULPIT.

by
JAMES EWING RITCHIE.

Contents: The Religious Denominations of London—Sketches of the Rev. J. M. Bellew—Dale—Liddell—Maurice—Melville—Villiers—Baldwin Brown—Binney—Dr. Campbell—Lynch—Morris—Martin—Brock—Howard Hinton—Sheridan Knowles—Baptist Noel—Spurgeon—Dr. Cummins—Dr. James Hamilton—W. Forster—H. Ierson—Cardinal Wiseman—Miall—Dr. Wolff, &c. &c.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“Mr. Ritchie’s pen-and-ink sketches of the popular preachers of London are as life-like as they are brilliant and delightful. The thought of producing them was a happy one, and has been carried out in the volume before us with much agreeable animation. The collection of silhouettes herein presented to our contemplation will be especially acceptable, we conjecture, to our country cousins, as a guide among the more generally known of the metropolitan ecclesiastics. It will be perceived at a glance that the writer has familiarized himself with the subject, before undertaking its treatment. Chapter after chapter brings the popular preachers of the Capital before our mind’s eye in a sort of stately clerical procession.”—The Sun.

“Without going so far as the late Sir Robert Peel, and saying that there are three ways of viewing this as well as every other subject, it will be allowed that the clerical body may be contemplated either from within one of their special folds, and under the influence of peculiar religious views, or in a purely lay historical manner, and, so we suppose we ought to say, from the ‘platform of humanity’ at large. The latter is the idea developed in Mr. Ritchie’s volume, and cleverly and amusingly it is done. One great merit is, that his characters are not unnecessarily spun out. We have a few rapid dashes of the pencil, and then the mind is relieved by a change of scene and person . . . He displays considerable discrimination of judgment, and a good deal of humour.”—The Inquirer.

“There is considerable verisimilitude in these sketches, though they are much too brief to be regarded as more than mere outlines. It is possible however to throw character even into an outline, and this is done with good effect in several of these smart and off-hand compositions.”—Tait.

“It is lively, freshly written, at times powerful, and its facts carefully put together. It bears the stamp of an earnest spirit, eager in its search after truth, and strongly set against affectation and pretence of every sort.”—Globe.

“Some of the sketches are very good.”—Literary Gazette.

“They are penned in a just spirit, and are of a character to afford all the information that may be needed on the subjects to which they refer. The author’s criticisms on preachers and preaching are candid, and for the most part truthful. This book ought therefore to be popular.”—Observer.

“They are written with vigour and freedom, and are marked by a spirit of fairness and justice—an admirable trait, if we recollect how much the spirit of partisanship governs such strictures as a rule.”—Weekly Dispatch.

“A sketch of the comparative force of the religious denominations in London, and notes upon the chief popular preachers, orthodox or dissentient, republished from a newspaper—we think the Weekly News and Chronicle. The book, which is written in a sufficiently impartial spirit, will interest many people and offend few.”—Examiner.

“In this volume we have within a moderate space pen-and-ink sketches of most of the popular preachers of the metropolis. We are bound to say that they are drawn with fidelity, and that the admirers of each Sabbath orator whose mental lineaments are placed before us will easily recognise the prominent features of the original. Although brief, they evince discrimination and talent; a fluent style being one of their chief recommendations, not much space is devoted to each. The writer only reviews the most striking characteristics, and his sympathies are manifestly with those who display most liberal and manly tendencies in their religious expositions.”—Sunday Times.

“What Mr. Francis did some few years since for the parliamentary orators of the age, Mr. Ritchie has in the volume before us effected for the pulpit orators of the day. In brief but graphic delineations, he gives daguerreotypes, as it were, of the living manners of the chief popular preachers of various Christian denominations.”—The Church and State Gazette.

Just Published, price 3s. 6d., bound in cloth,

THE NIGHT SIDE OF LONDON.

by
JAMES EWING RITCHIE,
author of “the london pulpit.”

Contents: Introduction—Seeing a Man Hanged—Catherine-Street—The Bal Masque—Up the Haymarket—Canterbury Hall—Ratcliff-Highway—Judge and Jury Clubs—The Cave of Harmony—Discussion Clubs—Cider Cellars—Leicester-Square—Dr. Johnson’s—The Sporting Public-house—The Public-house with a Billiard-room—The Respectable Public-house—The Hungerford Music Hall—Highbury Barn—Boxing Night—The Mogul—Caldwell’s—Cremorne—The Costermongers’ Free and Easy—The Southwark Music Hall—The Eagle Tavern—The Police Court—The Lunatic Asylum.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“We would wish for this little volume an attentive perusal on the part of all to whom inclination or duty, or both, give an interest in the moral, the social, and the religious condition of their fellow-men: above all, we should wish to see it in the hands of bishops, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries—of metropolitan rectors and fashionable preachers—of statesmen and legislators—and of that most mischievous class of men, well-meaning philanthropists. The picture of life in London, of its manifold pitfalls of temptation and corruption, which are here presented to the reader’s eye, is truly appalling. No one can rise from it without a deep conviction that something must be done, ay, and that soon, if the metropolis of the British Empire is not to become a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. What that something is to be the writer does not indeed indicate—that is not his object; what he aims at is, to let one part of the world of London know how another part of the same world spends its days, ay, and its nights. The disease is laid bare by him, it is for others to devise the remedy.”—John Bull.

“Mr. Ritchie is favourably known to us; nor do we think this little volume will detract from his reputation.”—Daily News.

“Not ill done in parts, it is not done in a fast spirit or affectedly; and the moral tone throughout is healthy enough.”—Illustrated London News.

“Mr. Ritchie’s sketches are lively and graphic in style, and convey truthful pictures of some of the dark phases of London life. His book may be regarded as supplementary to the Hand-books and Guides of the Metropolis, which lightly touch upon topics which are here specially described and vigorously commented on.”—Literary Gazette.

“We have derived considerable amusement, as well as some information, from a perusal of this volume, whose somewhat fanciful title is, however, very suggestive of its contents. These comprise the haunts chiefly of our night-roving population. . . . All that is known in the shape of haunts and habits is here delineated with an unexaggerated fidelity we must bear testimony to. In effect, the whole is a very gloomy and forcible piece of word painting—literal, true, and graphic. We accept this little volume cordially, and recommend it as warmly to the attention of our readers.”—Weekly Dispatch.

“The idea is excellent.”—Tait.

“This book is elegantly written; the style is even simple, and is occasionally the vehicle of a manly pathos, somewhat stern, indeed, but all the more real, perhaps, on that account. This book will be read with pleasure and profit.”—Weekly Times.

“In the ‘Night Side of London,’ Mr. J. Ewing Ritchie draws a most painful, but, we have reason to believe, not an over-coloured picture of the fearful temptations which abound in our great metropolis. The evils which seduce many a young man from the path of duty, and keep down the poor in their poverty and degradation, are traced to the love of intoxicating liquors, and the abundant facilities which are afforded for the gratification of that fatal passion. Mr. Ritchie writes in an earnest manner, and his book contains information which demands the careful consideration of the moralist and the social reformer.”—Inquirer.

“Almost every line bears the stamp of truth, and the rising generation would do well to take great heed to its revelations. Of old, Rome had its public censor of manners, and London needs such an officer as much as ever did that ancient mistress of the world. Mr. Ritchie has performed this office for us, and the community owes him its best thanks.”—People.

“There is a matter-of-fact reality about the sketches, but they are chiefly remarkable for the moral tone of the reflections. Generally speaking, painters of these subjects rather throw a purple light over the actual scenes, and say nothing of the consequences to which they lead; Mr. Ritchie is ever stripping off the mask of the mock gaiety before him, and pointing the end to which it must finally come.”—Spectator.

“Mr. Ritchie contents himself with a graphic and not over-drawn description.”—Economist.

“It is written in a sketchy and dashing style, and is a most readable work.”—Sunday Times.

“The book is a good book, and carefully written; so much so, that notwithstanding the title and repulsive nature of the subject, it may be perused by all classes without fear of offence. A knowledge of what goes on in this huge metropolis, whether for good or evil, is desirable for all who inhabit or frequent our Modern Babylon. And, as regards the dark side of the picture, Mr. Ritchie deserves great credit for the tact and delicacy with which he has embodied the information which this book conveys.”—Indian News.

“Mr. Ritchie has long been known as a clever writer in some of the newspapers. . . . Mr. Ritchie possesses a fluent and clear style.”—The Weekly Chronicle.

“These graphic and powerful sketches, the result of keen, extensive observation and high literary talent.”—Alliance Weekly News.

“We hail Mr. Ritchie as a social reformer, and trust he will not merely rest satisfied with exposing, but will seek at the same time, by personal effort, to illume, ‘The Night Side of London.’”—The Weekly Journal of the Scottish Temperance League.

“We have kept Mr. Ritchie’s book lying on our table, hoping that we might find an opportunity for making it the basis of an article on the fearful evils which it discloses. We must be satisfied, however, for the present, with recommending all our readers who are anxious to promote the social and moral regeneration of our great cities to read it carefully; and to remember, while they read, that London does not stand alone, but that, all our larger towns are cursed with abominations, such as those which Mr. Ritchie has so vigorously and effectually described.”—Eclectic Review.

“It sketches and spreads out before us many of the Night Scenes of London with great vividness and truth.”—The Christian News.

“It is a book of off-hand sketches, but they afford the reader many truly instructive glimpses of those apples of Sodom and grapes of Gomorrah—the amusements that are furnished for the metropolitan public by the vendors of intoxicating liquors.”—Evangelical Repository.

“Anything of their sort more striking and vivacious cannot be conceived; the more complete descriptions are as buoyant and racy as the briefer; a few strokes of the pen place a scene clearly before the mental vision, and in very few instances can it be reasonably charged upon the writer that he is sacrificing fact to fancy, the literal to the ideal. Then comes the caution, wisely insinuated, the moral reading of the gay illusion, the exhibition of the interior corruption of the fruit, fair and fascinating to behold. So suggestively, yet so skilfully, is this done, that we should not be surprised to hear that the perusal of this volume had drawn away many votaries of vice from its debasing follies. Certain we are that the author’s dramatic style is used with wonderful effect, and in a manner that we hope to see long employed on kindred subjects and for kindred ends.”—Weekly Record.

LONDON: WILLIAM TWEEDIE, 337, STRAND.