The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-25 00:00:00

mg= ' OO guaranteed individual property, further added exercised by the refuge, by giving tse development of English menu . navigation. tufactures with which the refugees en one acquired a more magnificent silks. First, in the quarter of skilful workmen from Tours themselves. In 1694 their numbers that they possessed 1,000 looms, persons ; but the majority finally - district of Spitalfields. Thence inufacture to Dublin, where it • mortance. England and Ireland iorable sight of a manufacture ter, consuming foreign materials, succeeded in equalling, and even of those countries where it had chapter the author raises question which he does not discuss, but ch involves some curious considerati ons. e refer to the last portion of the following emigration from France, there now 4 churches, scattered far and language of their founders. is have long since disap sist will end by blending, in foreign races that surround them, insensibly alters their national their names, as if to efface indication of their origin. the century, they will no .section of the native land ted. When we contemplate their scattered communities, as not found, in the first in family sufficiently illustrious, great, to rally all the exiles g Coligny's idea, he might and there have founded a vast colony. He would have found to his hand all the ele ments of a numerous society, full of energy, and giving great hopes for the future : generals, soldiers, sailors, preachers, men of learning, manufacturers, artisans, traders, labourers, and even capital to facilitate their first esti& liohment. What more was needed to make a Protestant France flourish in the New World, and to lay, perhaps, the foundations of a powerful empire ? It has long been held that the French do not make good colonists ; and the condition of the habitans in Canada goes far to support the opinion, though it is possible there may be an erroneous exaggeration of the fact. Their temperament is not so well suited as' more phlegmatic races for the pursuit of com merce, on which so much of our modern civilisation depends. But the extraordinary prosperity of the Huguenots, in spite of per secutions and in presence of an overpowering majority, would seem to point to the conclusion that, with the superior influence of a rational religion, and with the absence of prier4t.craft and superstition, the French people might suc ceed still further in industrial pursuits. We may doubt whether a French Protestant empire in North America would have success fully competed with the Anglo-Saxon race ; but are we precipitate in thinking that, if there had been a French State founded in South America, whether Protestant or Catholic, it would have risen far above the degenerate and decrepid Spanish-American natives? At the conclusion of his work the author records : The gates of France have now for sixty years been thrown open to the posterity of the Protestant exiles. Several have returned to the country of their ancestors, attracted thither by &secret and irresistible feeling, painfully repressed in their hearts during the long duration of the persecution. The Odiers, the La Doecheres, the Pradiers, the Constants, the Delprats, the Bitaubes, the Pourtales, have restored to France distinguished members of their families. The greater number of the descendants of the fugitives still dwell in strange lands, but they remember, with theirsegitimate pride, the act of reparation which recognises imperishable right to the title of French citizens. Our readers will perceive that we are of opinion that the history of the Huguenots is still a subject open to the pen of a brilliant and aspiring author capable of imparting the charms of a vivid style to a subject with stirring associations. We shall have to return before long to the story of the French refugees, as we have just received a copy of the English translation of M. Bougener's fiction of " The Priest and the Huguenot." Day and Night Songs. By William Allingham. London : Routledge and Co. MR. ALLINGRA)T published a volume of poems in 1850, which many of our readers must have seen, or, at all events, heard of; and which received no slight approbation from the ac- peose, and guaranteed indi to the happy influence exer the signal for an immense factures, com merce, and nel Of all the manufactureE dowed this kingdom, not or development than that of s Blackfriars, at Canterbury, and Lyons established them had so greatly increased tha giving work to 2,700 per settled in London, in the they propagated their msi assumed an unexpected itn then presented the memc borrowed from the foreigner lind which ne v e r helesa sl in surpassing, the products long been cultivated. In the concluding VT U passage: — Of the great religious emigratit remain but a small number of ch wide, and still speaking the lax Most of the exiled families poured. Those that still subsist their turn, with the foreign ra and whose incessant action inseu language, and transforms even tl their last regrets with this last it Doubtless, before the end of i longer retain the slightest recoib their ancestors so long mourned this inevitable dissolution of the we may regret that there was stance, some one chief, of a fam and of authority sufficiently gre under one banner. Realising have led them to America, and found • If V', 4 t!s!,- knowledged masters of the art. This volume he subsequently withdrew from circulation; and now, in the brochure before us, he extracts some selected pieces ; from it, adds to these some pieces which have appeared in periodi cals, and some which are entirely new, and appeals to the reading public in the fashionable cheap form of the day. Two reasons induce us to give our mite of encouragement to his little book : one, that the poems have genuine excellence ; the other, that it is a species of excellence not very common now-a-days, and which threatens to become still rarer if all signs are considered. Putting out of the question mere dullards (such as Squally, and others, of the Radical lyre), there are two great divisions into which the present writers of English poetry seem naturally to fall. The first school comprises what is loosely ranked as "transcendentalism," or something as indefinite—and comprehends the imitators of the obscure parts of Shelley, the wild portions of " Festus, &o. &c.—gentle men of turbulent, stormy, and metaphysical dispositions, whose heroes "foam at God," and turn the heads of provincial editors. The other school, more sensible and intelligible. aims at a classical treatment of nature, and, though many of its disciples are mediocre, less harm is done when they are mediocre, for the reader is only bored, and there is neither metaphysics to confuse nor blasphemy to disturb him. It is the peculiar merit of Mr. Allingham that he attaches himself to neither of these parties. He occupies the simple position of poet—delineator of nature—on his own ground, drawing from other poets, as from nature itself, only what is needful and suitable to his own individuality, and pre aerving a rare poetic independence. Hence he is never mystical, nor windy, nor mouthy. Deriving the objects of his poetry from without , from the inexhaustible, eternal grounds of experience and reality, there is a fresh, homely simplicity and actuality about what he does, which is " classical" in the best sense. You see, indeed, that he lives in the age of Tennyson ; but he is no aper of Tennyson's manner. Indeed, he seems to hold a middle position between the two sects of which we have spoken; and thus it is that what he does has a refreshing plainness about it, which really, at this time, deserves and re quires a particular commendation. For in stance, while so many young fellows are " foaming at God" (a process which our poor old ancestors would have thought extraordinary enough !), Mr. Allingham can see poetic material in a pretty girl sewing—where, in deed, a healthy man naturally can see poetry, while a Cockney Orpheus won't condescend to look for it in anything under a " Wild Prophetess" or a " Deep-souled Egyptian," or somebody of this sort. What says the reader to such a sketch as his VENUS OF THE NEEDLE. O Maryanne, you pretty girl, Intent on silken labour, Of sempstresses the pink and pearl, Excuse a peeping neighbour! Those eyes, for ever drooping, give The long brown lashes rarely; But violets in the shadows live, — For once nrtireil them fairly. Hast tkou not lent that flounce enough Of looks so long and earnest? Lo, here's more " penetrable stuff " To which thou never tuniest. Ye graceful fingers, deftly sped! How slender, and how nimble ! O might I wind their skeins of thread, Or but pick up their thimble ! How blest the youth whom love shall bring, And happy stars embolden, To change the dome into a ring, The silver into golden! Who'll steal some morning to her side To take her finger's measure, While Maryanne pretends to chide, And blushes deep with pleasure. Who'll watch her sew her weddinglown, Well conscious that it is hers; Who'll glean a tress, without a frown, With those so ready scissors. Who'll taste those ripenings of the south, The fragrant and delicious— Don't put the pins into your mouth, 0 Maryanne, my precious SATURDAY, I almost wish it were my trust To teach how shocking that is; I wish 1 had not, as I must, To quit this tempting lattice. Sure aim takes Cupid, fluttering foe, Across a street so narrow • A thread of silk to string hi s bow, A needle for his arrow ! This will perhaps induce the reader to give this attractive little book a trial, and then ho will be able to see Mr. Allingham in other moods. We are much mistaken if he does not thank us for the introduction. A Place of Repentance ; or, an Account of the London Colonial Training Institution for the Reformation of Adult Male Criminals. By Samuel Martin, Minister of Westminster Chapel. London :.Nisbet and Co. WE heartily recommend this unpretending volume to the notice of our readers. It gives a plain and unexaggerated account of an expe riment the most remarkable recorded in the annals of legislation or philanthropy, and of results the most contradictory to the calcula tions of the worldly philosopher. What would the historian of Jonathan Wild the experienced police magistrate, the cynical anatomist of the human heart, have said of a proposal to establish a house of reformation for the professed thief, where, unrestrained by bolts and locks, of his ocn free will, he should submit to a rule of life compounded of the workshop, the school, and the prison, change every previous habit, forego every vicious in dulgence, abandon all his former associates, and this with no other inducement than the hope of escaping from the misery of a life of crime, and winning back his way to the society and esteem of honest men? Yet all this, and much more, is true, and the reader when he pleases may verify it with his own eyes. At No. 9, Great Smith-street, West minster, he will find a plain building, in the inside of which not an inch of available space is Wasted, ndr on the outside a shilling spent on superfluous decoration. He may enter and see for himself' the cleanliness and good order of the premises, the steady activity and sober demeanour of its inmates. At the door of this retreat the thief who is weary of the dangers and hardships of his guilty trade, stricken in conscience and wounded in spirit, may knock for admittance : He sees (says our author), by the very existence of such an institution, that there are men in the world who do not despair of him, and this hope in them arouses the same feeling in himself; so that be begins to look forward to the day when reformation of character, followed by res toration to society, shall be his happy lot. But, to test the sincerity and strength of his resolution, he is required before he is admitted to undergo a severe probation. For fourteen days he must submit to a bread-and-water diet and a solitary life—we must not say con finement—for if his courage fails him he is free to open the door and go where he pleases. The following is the first rule of the institu tion:- 1. Every applicant must undergo a strict examination as to his past life, and if found to be a suitable candidate he will be admitted into the receiving-room on probation for a fortnight. During that time he will receive secular and religious instruction, bat will not be allowed to mix with the inmates ; and his sincerity will be tested by his being required to live upon, during the period of his probation, a pound of bread a day. Having submitted to that ordeal, he will be fully admitted to the benefit of the institution. It is, therefore, useless for any to apply but those who are truly tired of the miserable life they are leading, and are also willing to work and make themselves generally useful. —page St:4. When once admitted to membership he is expected to assist in doing the work of the house, to practise a trade or to learn one, to partake of the secular and religious instruction provided for him, and in all points to sub mit to the regulations, which are too long to extract, but which we recommend to the reader's attentive perusal.—p. 89. The dietary is little, if at all, better than that of the Peni tentiary. Punishment, in the proper sense of the word, of course there can be none, except that of expulsion, which is rigorously inflicted for gross violations of discipline; but so much is it dreaded that minor penalties, such as the stoppage of rations and such like privations, are cheerfully endured, in 'cyder to expiate minor offences. I