The Press. — London, England, 1853-07-30 00:00:00

' JULY 30, 1853. X ittraturt. Memoirs of Dr. Bathurst, Bishop of Norwieh. By Mrs. Thistletwayte. London : Bentley. THE art of writing memoirs requires vivacity of sentiment, artistic skill, and knowledge of human nature ; but even Plutarch would fail to interest without good subjects for his pen, and we doubt whether the late Bishop of Nor wich merited the posthumous honours due only to marked services or great talents. Dr. Henry Bathurst was a member of the noble family whose name he inherited, and to whose influence he owed his advancement in life. From a variety of causes he was what is commonly called "quite a character" in his way. He lived to be the survivor of thirty-six children by one father and two mothers. When a young man he acted in the capacity of pri vate secretary to Lord Bathurst, the friend of Pope, at whose house he used to meet some of the most celebrated literary characters of the last century. His strongest mental faculty was his memory, and he had a large share of scholarly attainments ; but he had not one spark of genius, nor di.l he ever write or speak a sermon or a speech deserving more than a week's fame. He was made a bishop by Mr. Pitt, and he rendered himself conspicuous by the inordinate zeal with which he used to ad vocate what were culled "the Catholic claims." His name was ever on the tongue of Irish "agitation," and he was held up by the (Moo nellites us a model bishop. We believe that he wits very sincere, and we know that he was very shallow, in his political views ; and, while we cannot credit him with any profundity, we do not impute to him any guile in his public life. The fervour with which he espoused the cause of the Papists gave him that singularity which his admirers mistook for original thought. Whimsical and amiable, eccentric in his politics, a favourite of Whig lords, and with several platform panegyrists amongst Dissenters, he enjoyed the notoriety which he gained. He lived to great old age, and his venerable aspect, as lie tottered into the House of • Lords to support Lord Melbourne's Government, attracted much observation ; and it wits a fashion amongst the Whig aristocracy of the day to hold him up as a patriarch in their party. It is one thing, however, for party to extol, and another for history to com memorate, and a high place amongst the cele brities of the English Church will not be as signed to Dr. Bathurst. In theology his attainments were not remarkable ; in scholar ship his reading was more various than exact, more miscellaneous than scientific. The manner in which he describes his own tastes displays " the bounded level of his mind," and that he wanted the powers of large appreciation. Of the evils of Popery he seemed not to have any suspicions; and, though his anecdotes of cele brated persons might have been interesting in conversation, he has left no literary records illustrative of the society in which lie moved. It is only just, however, to recollect that his kindness of heart and amiability of manners were well calculated to endear him to society. With great zeal himself on particular ques tions, he was always ready to make allowances for the opinions and prejudices of others ; he mingled in political controversy without the passions of a polemic ; and in all his speeches there was the presence of zeal and the absence of acerbity. It is very possible that if his life were written by one of the clergy its con tents would be more solid. The lives of pro fessional persons are best entrusted to those whose occupations give them facility in seizing all the points of character in their subject. To the affection of an accomplished daughter we owe the present volume, and, while her share of the work is pleasing and graceful, we may still say that her book testifies rather to the personal character than to the public conduct of the late Bishop of Norwich. As a general rule we think that the pens which record the lives of great lawyers, heroes, or divines ought to he held by male fingers. Lucy Hutchinson or Madame do Steil may be exceptions, but such instances confirm rather than confute the rule. There are several pages occupied in this volume with " Chalmeriana," from the pen of THE PRESS. Mr. Gurney ; but they do not add to the bio graphical illustrations we ahead/ possess of the great ornament of the - Kirk.' Ten Months oniony the Tents of the T.sski, with Incidents of an Arctic Boat Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin. By Lieutenant W. H. Hooper, R.N. Loudon : Murray. THE title of this work scarcely does justice to its contents. Lieutenant Hooper, after his winter spent in Behring's Straits, was selected to proceed on a boat expedition to the east ward, anti traversing more than thirty degrees of longitude, coasting the southern shore of the Polar Sea, finally ascended Mackenzie's River, and by that route reached the settle ments on Hudson's Bay. His whole expedi tion occupied nearly four years ; and the nar rative before us, though simply and in parts diffusely written, is interesting from authen ticity, and from the novelty of the scenes de seribed. It will be remembered that early in 181$ three separate expeditions set forth in search of Franklin. One, under the command of Sir James Ross, proceeded up Davis's Straits, fol lowing in the supposed track of the navigator ; another, under Sir John Richardson, under took to explore the northern coasts of America by land ; and the third, consisting of H.M.S. Plover, directed its course to Behring's Straits and the adjoining seas, concerning which less is known than of any other accessible part of the Arctic regions. The Plover, leaving England in January, and touching at the Sandwich Islands in August, struck soundings in the straits October sth, having taken more titan eight months to remit her cruising-ground. Little or nothing could be done at that season except to establish friendly communications with the natives, and ascertain their ignorance as to the fate of Fntoklin's party. A ten months detention en sued, at the close of which, in July '49, our author, with another officer, was detached on his arduous boat-voyage. Fort Macpherson (lat. tl7 deg., long. 135 deg.), a trading post es tablished by the Hudson's Bay Company, not far from the Mackenzie River, received the tau vigators in September ; whence, proceeding to Fort Franklin, on the limit Bear Lake, they wintered a second time among the Arctic snows. An ineffectual attempt to survey the coast eastward, along which they advanced no farther than Cape Bathurst (long. 128 deg.), con sumed the brief anti dreary summer of 1850; when driven southward by increasing cold and scanty supplies, they once more endured the confinement and privations of a winter in the north-west, until released by the opening of the rivers in June '5l. Their difficulties were now over, and on the 7th September they lauded in England, after an absence of three years and eight months. The most absolutely original, though to us not the most interesting, part of this narrative is that which relates to the Tuski tribes—s race never before examined ut leisure, though casually visited by preceding navigators. Cook and Bellying touched on their coasts, but held with them no long or habitual intercourse. Wrangell, the Russian discoverer, saw only a few individuals of the tribe; and except for the casual detention of the Plover, in her first winter quarters, it is probable that their habits would have remained unknown to civilised explorers. They appear to consist of two distinct races, living together, yet differing widely in dress, and occupations. The Tuski proper, says Mr. Hooper, keep large herds of reindeer, and live fur the most part on flesh. The other, or immigrant roc:., subsists by fishing, in habits the coast only, dresses in seal skins, is filthy in its habits, and altogether bears marks of physical and moral inferiority. Here is the portrait of the superior or abonginal tribe : The Tuski Proper are mostly either tall or stunted in their growth, few petsons appearing of a ntiddle stature. I estimate the average height of the tall men to be about 4 it. In in.. while the more puny would probably not exceed 15 ft . in. This differ...nee does not hold good as regards their build ; all are large limbed, broad shouldered, and of a robust full habit, possessing great strength, powers of endurance, activity, and dexterity in their employments. The women do not vary so much in stature, and are tall in proportion to the men ; they also are stout and strong, and display a notable perfonnanee of their numerous duties. Thereat of skull and eounteuance are, as far as my very limited knowledge of the subject extends, pure Mongolian ; faces broad, round, and Mat; high cheek bones; nose broad, dat. and almost bridgeleas, in many instances au deeply sunken iu the tit face, that a ruler would meetly he *crow the cheeks without touching it; ryes placed in a slightly oblique position ; lips large and heavy, displaying much of the animal; ears small and delicate : bands and feet also iery small but tither thick ; hair jet black. coarse and straight; whisker* or heard but seldom existing, and then only in a few straggling hairs which are plucked out with a knife; the whole exprviititott of COUlite• mwu'r is NIMObt identical with Chincae—a point which forcibly struck me at first sight. Their limbs an' of splendid museular development ; wrists and ankles very tine, but neck generally short and thick ; compi e zi 1 1 1 l ova ry. ing from a light olive to I , deeper hue, but very dark tints only occasionally seen. The men generally clip the hair On the crown of the head, leai tug only a circlet about three inches broad around it ; the women let the hair gntw with the excepti 111 l of that on the forehead, which is cut and combed down to the eyebrows. The faces of the women are tattooed on the chin iu diverging lines: men only make a permanent wark on t h e lice for an act Of prowess or success, such as killing a bear, capturing a whale. fir., and Ichstbl) also, in war time, for the death of MI enemy. • The eount ry appears barren anti desolate in the extreme. vegetation exists only in the lowest a n d most united forms, volcanic hills cross and reeross one another in confused ridges, but only one live volcano was heard of, and sour seen, by the expedition. The natives inhabit huts or tents, of walrus-skin. sonic times of large size, but generally not exceed ing ten or twelve feet in diameter. These habitations. by Mr. Hooper's description, are somewhat less dirty than those of the Esqui maux, though ventilation is little cared for, and men and dogs lodge under the saute roof. Nothing in the nature of a government was observed ; yet even here, as in all communities, savage or civilised, some gradations of social rank seem to he recognised. Polygamy is allowed, but. from difficulty of subsistence, limited in practice to the wealthy, All savages are thievish : the Tuski, however, gave little trouble, and no single quarrel or instance of violent. conduct occurred between them and the ships company. Some even manifested gratitude and disinterested attachment for acts of kindness shown them. A few have visited the Russian settlements on the 'Wynn' —an occasional access to semi-civilisation which does not Kevin to have produced any effect on the Mass of their countrymen. Front the Russians they have apparently learnt no thing, except, perhaps, a barbarously-distorted imitation of their music. The religious cere monies of the Tuski were few, and apparently simple ; though to our travellers incompre hensible. Besides reindeer, their chief do mestic are dogs, which they use cruelly, starving and heating them with out mercy. The endurance of heat and cold shown by some of the tribe astonished Mr. Hooper: they thought nothing of passing from an outdoor temperature Of —29 to the interior of as hut heated to +lOO. They are hardy and robust, and live long. We shall not t'ollow Mr. Hooper through the record of his adventures by sea and land in the Hudson's Bay country. Even Arctic explorers are not called upon to sutler greater hardships than those which often full to the lot of the company's traders. Abate among Indians, sometimes for months at a tine, liable to the severest privations kola cold and want of food, their lives always at the mercy of the half-tamed savages who surround them, their time spent in hunting or selling furs, or during the long winter months in dreary and solitary idleness, they form a corps for hardi• hood and endurance probably unmatched in the world. It is well known that the great majority of these men are Scotch, and that a large proportion come from the Orkney Islands. liere is a story of hardship endured, which but for Mr. Hooper aecidentally hear ing and noting it dimwit would doubtless have gained uu publicity aw. been forgotten in a few yearn. IVe nre 1)1111)01(11 to abridge, but give the substance faithfully. Mr. U., a servant of the company, was sent to ti small trading post situated on a branch of the Mackenzie. lie arrived in spring— passed the summer without inconvenience, though now and then short of provisions—Willi unexpectedly joined by another Englishman, which put the party on half-rations—shared his stock with the new-comer, who left hint W find subsistence elsewhere—maintained his