The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-26 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 26, 1853. papers, taking their tone from Davis. Dillon. anti I)utli•. He lived long enough to • And hi►n sel/ fi►►rnJJ o►at, and to behold an appetite for sanguinary deeds taking the place of a love for swaggering words, scurrilous invectives, and mercenary schemes. After three years' working of the Nation, the numerous staff of " subordinates " at Conciliation-hull hail to seek for other livelihoods than they could ob tain from the credulity of deceived millions, while chinking in their coppers to the despie , able melody of " a tiarthing► a week. a penny a month. and a shilling a year." But the Nation. before and after Ballingarry, presents most opposite aspects. Originally it app►eartis to have been written so as to attract numbers of the Protestants of Ireland : and " nationality" was preached in its columns, so as to gratify the hereditary prejudices of that hardy race on the Irish soil who did more from 1691 to to raise the name of Ireland than millions of Celtic Catholics, always struggling, and always failing, had done for six centuries. Events, however, showed that " Young Ire- landism " was even a tier less uncertain and substantial " bubble " than Agitation. As a few young men, curbed by the passions of a population of paupers, had written down ►'l'omnell, so two or three score of policemen defeated the " Nationalists." lint if they flailed, compared with the O'Connellites their titilure was almost respectable. They at least left behind them some proofs of Irish intel lect, expressing itself often in strains of no ordinary power. They made the chords of the Irish harp again utter its sweet, melan choly wail, and with true bardie fervour they celebrated the deeds of worthies of other days. Those were not mean abilities which drew forth the cordial notice of the fastidious Fran cis Jeffrey, and extorted praise from a no less celebrated censor in the Quarterly l►'riesr. Their INMOSCS24OII3 introduced a historical clement into the Democratic politics of their country ; and their support of mixed education fin• young Irishmen was courageous. Pity, however, that their literary abilities were not devoted to more rational objects than rekindling the embers of extinct quarrels, and that their teaching must be censured as opposed to the progress of civilisation. Their " Squibs and Crackers" stre not. the best specimens of their abilities. The " fun " of the Young Ireland school has never been as strong as its "fry." Their muse wants the light and genial tone required for comic effects. Their original wit is by no means so "racy of the soil " as we might anticipate ; and they succeed best in burlesquing well-known styles. We never read a better parody than the follow ing travestie on Davis's " Oh ! for a steed!" OH, FOR A }EED.• t►h, for a feed—a motley feed, a corporation feast, 01 hot a►id cold, of roast and boiled, of fishes, bird, and beast, _ From cod and snipe, To leather) tripe, Two inches thick at least. oh, for a feed—an awful feed, ut• chic a mighty lunch, With Niagara cata•acta of lrish whisky punch, eI.UM r, red, And crackling bread, .4,lllhibun to crunch. Oh, for a feed—a pions feed, with rev'rend lords to dine On vetesou pies, of depth profound, and frozen Spanish wine, With tnrtle anup•, Anil whisker'il troop‘ Of natives in their brims. I tit, for a feud—a bribing fma, at au 1.11:41i )))) spr• Where much is said that's neier (lone, .inn( done thAt's never said. And biped mine To "nine times nine " Invert their heels and 1111411. 011. for a feed—precarious feed, at boating or pie•llic, . Where " nobody get's uothitik.“ and e‘erylood3'h ,ick; And Seize huts atol bluish+, Just burros or on tick. Hi. far a feed—by hook or crook, from any good a u ul at all, In rural cot, or pleasure yacht, or festive civic hall, Or in lateen still, I )u a Nlitn%ter hill, stagger and then to " The Recruiting Song for the 16411160de is aillso a parody. We need not send a ease for ()pinion " to any one Of the Crown lawyers •.t vu " Oh. for aNb .. , 1 w lth h &mutt' uvbvily mum Ulm the writer partxlicti. THE PRESS. to ask him as to the description of pc sons alluded to: — I% there an idle patriot here, Whose pocket feels mwommon wen Who dunks "a neat." if not too dear. Would bring him through another year ? let hin► wear the while* ooekiwle, And learn the +Touter', Ithist'ring trade, "l'is of such Mud' a inimber's made : tilt, let him join the Brass Brigade' Who feared to speak in Fortr•Eight, lint slunk within the Castle gate. And bowed and begged among the great, A hungry spy with out.tn•tehed plate ? COMP, let his wear, ..te. Who's skilled to act as pamphleteer Egliiihni or grim Napier. And wheel about the coming year II Aberdeen new Oh, let /ma wear•, Ae. Who fumed about the Foreign Soo." let bring++ fat SIMMS here ou " Spte Who tia the Tenants' Rights eau about, Yet (41111 detitultiug farmer, ? lot him wear. Ae. Who cants and roam about •' the rhumb," Yet leaven his country in thy• lurch Who. for a pinee when on the search. Would shirk the ease of blaekguard Itirelr t'o • let him wear, ite. The following " Election Rhymes " are funny, though I►erhaps Mr. C'ul►t►uck will not think 14 :- Elector-11110 comets here ? 'anolitlitti.--A I;lli:ether. Elector—What du )ou Neat? •andi.late--Your %tote, nth dear' Kleetor---%Vlture's tittr u k ► ? I . anilitinto— in itt imeket. Elector—Where's your piwket I 'oppoek's 1„7.,1 it. get out, you stupid hliMkhead ' There is too much imitation of the himh brogu►r ill many of these verses; ►u u l a great fink in their composition is the frequency of the lowest slang words. " Tom Clibb's Me morial to Congress " is an example to be shunned rather than followed by writers of comic verse. Lettersof the hlnelini, aid Visits to their Prisons. By the Misses Senhouse. London : Nisbet aml Co. DR. STY.ANE had netuy prepared his work entitled " The Madiai' for publication, when a proposition was made, through the Protestant Alliance, that to his work these letters should he added. Thatproposition was etalditi4mally accepted, but, as the condition could not be c 4 n plied with, these letters and Dr. Stenne'a work have appeared separately. But the pecuniary object of both is the same, viz., "to raise " money to form a fund for the support of the " Madiai." In lstio-51 the bigotry of Boman Catholicism in Tuscany awoke. Captain Pakenhatn was expelled from Florence on a charge of Protestant propagandism. Attend ance at the Swiss Protestant chapel Was pro hibited to many Florentines. MM. Geymonat and Malan were expelled for reading the bible to Italians ; Count Pietro Guiceiardini and some friends were exiled for six months for a similar offence ; finally, the Madiai became the victims of persecution. Francesco was the SOIL of an Italian farmer, and had been a courier ; Rosa had been a servant in families of distinction in England. She was some years holder than her husband. As there is no reference to children in the work before us, we suppose they never had any. Both were Roman Catholics, even after their marriage in mature age. His faith was first shaken by this: having confessed that, in compliance with medical advice, he had eaten meat in Lent, the priest told lout •• that for this offence lig " was dtunned in body and soul. Itosa under stood English ; lie did not ; and. as 31.) ltlllian bibles were in circulation, she mail a ehapter Out of the English version and explained it to him every evening. This, added to "the open " and shameless profligacy of the priests." ended in that abjuration 4•1 the religion of Rome which led to the incarceration of the Madiai, their trial, their sentenee,—his of fifty-six months' imprisonment with hard labour at N'olterra, hers of forty-five n ths' imprisonment in the Ergastolo at Lucea,—the interference of uni versal Protestantism in their behalf, and the reluctant pardon wrung by moral force from 713 the Grand Duke. Of this petty potentate and tyrant the Madiai, in all their sufferings, had never spoken one word of disrespect or complaint. " But alas ! the Prince who had the lives and liberties of his people at his disposal was himself subject to a cruel task " master. and was under the absolute donriva tion of Papal Rome." Franeereo, some after his arrival at Volterra, was taken ill and re moved to one of the infirmary eells, where he seems to have been well treated : and Rosa, at Liven, "sat' humanely received by the director of the prison, and also by the Sisters " of Charity. who have the care of the female "prisoners." the too became ill, send NAB 1111 t, on the sick list, iu consequence of which she had better fare and wits more comfortable. At !awes the Archbishop and th e D owager limtol fuehess of Tusenny visited her. Rosa, writing of her husband. pimp, " Th e y " tell me be has n window in his eelf, but when " it mins, or is roll, both door and window are " dosed ! Oh ! no one eon 111U1101W tllO " sufferings of a prisoner who has not experienced them.' Surely there is SUMO error in this. ' fhe letters commence from her arrival at Ergastolo, and are filled chiefly with accounts of what she has to eat, her health, and the prisoners she hears or sees. They are quite unstudied. In one of them she says. " 1 return to my letter for a few moments " only, as 1 expect some 011 C 50011 to rub Illy back, which is so weak that 1 eannot walk " twenty minutes." Then the following sen tence begins "My screamer is quieter." She is referring to a woman whom she has men t' vsl long before. Apparently she had plenty of good things to eat : I had a little Jelly left, of some that Mons. Colombo lorotight nor, mud I sit( it 10 her, sines. which she has been 1 . 11/4111% I regret it was au little. Another woman has as lout a rough, mid is now ill Whitt' 111111141 ever leaving it. 'floe poor prisoners are like children ; Weenie I give white loved, 11l %ahem chicken when I loos. it, I. others a lust oof cake, I, others roasted *alder; of all I have I giie my you may imagine, 14111 . 0 I hie on the go.nrrositv of those deur enult's who voini. to see me. To thoooe who are well I rend sly boiled meat, and when I do not take wine, I say, give it no those who tire here for mill thole are two ►uah r that renitence. The Archbishop again visited her, and, in coin t•rsation, remarked that " ' Uncle Tom's Cabin ' was good, and that he had read it." It is • proscribed by the Pope. On the Irtth March. 045:1, the Madiai were officially in. formed that their sentence was commuted to perpetual exile from Tuscany, and they were released. This eolleetion of their letters has a front impieee of their likenesses. Ft•anecseu scents an honest, sensible man, of fitly-fiutror fifty-five years of age; his hair is grey. Homes hair is concealed by a headdress : there is a falling in about her mouth that gives her an old appearance. Her vountemmee, though pleasing, wants the frank, open expression of her husband's. The conclusion we draw front this book is, that the Madiai were well treated by the prison audit trines, and that for the persecution they endured the weak tyrant of finical)) , is not so notch responsible as is Home and the spirit of Boman Catholicism in general, whose instrument he was and whose behests he obeyed. The Yffittort Voyageurs: or, the Roy !teeters its the Nfwth. 11 s'apt ails Mayne Ite id. London: Hogue. Tula is II continuation of a former work, "The Boy limiters," by the Mame within.. In this the voyageurs, four brother'., ake a long voyage through the fur countries, in the course of which they meet with a number of exciting and surprising adventures. Hero is one. Prairie wolves have I►unted a wounded wapiti deer into a thicket, from the edge of which they recoil in terror : "At find the I tent attrilmteil thin strenve conduct it/ their own ',usenet , mid the smoke of the camp; but s mimic:it's reflection convinced them that this could not lie the reason of it, as they were all well arimainted with the toenaie of the prairie wolf, said bad flier witnesaill s similar exhibition before. " They had no time to think of the wolies just then. The latch aas the train attraetion, and, culling to each ..tiler tee aitrrioniel the thicket. all font started in different olireetions. In • eimple of minutes they hail placed them. ~elves at nearly eine( distances around the copier, and aloud watching eagerly for floc reappearance of the. wapiti. " Afarencoo was now sent no. This wiesl4l main start him, and all four stood with WHIR rocked and ready. Het. before the dog hail made three lengths of himself into the thicket, a loud snort was heard. followed by • strettele and the stamping of hoofs, and the neat mouivut the Wapiti cam