The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 16, 1858. 1012 converted from his evil habits. Stirling himself thus relates the fact : I had been all day in the public•house, and at night, when I came borne, my wife, as usual, was reading a chapter to the children. When she was so engaged, I went in slipping like a condemned criminal. The portion of Scripture read was the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew's gospel, in which these words occur :—" When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : And he shell set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." Our youngest boy, then about four years old, was lying with his head on his mother's lap, and just when she had read those awful words, he looked up earnestly in her face, and asked : " Will father be a goat then, mother? " This was too strong to be resisted. The earnest innocent look of the child, the bewilderment of the poor mother, and, above all, the question itself, smote me to the heart's core. I spent a sleepless, awfully miserable night, wishing rather to die than live such a life. I was ashamed to go to church on the following Sabbath. I stopped at home and read the " Six Sermons on Intemperance," by Beecher, which had found their way into the house, but how I never knew. But so it was, that when looking about the house for some suitable book to read on Sabbath, I laid my hands on them, and they seemed as if written and printed and sent there for me alone. I was now decided. My resolution was taken, as it had never been before. All the men on earth could not tempt me to drink, clear or brown, thick or thin. There is pathos of a high character in the child's question, " Will father be a goat then, mother ?" Stirling was a great lecturer on temperance, and he had the secret of influencing the lower classes, by addressing them in language which they could easily understand. He had originally possessed, like many humble Scotchmen, a con siderable amount of literary education, and that he was of an emotional temperament can be seen by the following reminiscences of his early days, when he was cattle-herding :-- While I was at my sheep and cattle herding, I always took such books as came in my way to the moors with me, and read them there. Amongst them were the " Pilgrim's Progress ; " Sir David Lindsay of the Mount's four books of " Monarchy," " Experience and the Courtier," " Complaint of the Papingos," and " The Curate and Kitty," all in rhyme ; "The Scottish Worthies," Flavel's Husbandry Spiritualised," " History of Britain " by Stack house," Wallace and Bruce," " Robinson Crusoe," " The Gentle Shepherd," " Robin Hood," " iEsop's Fables," together with what history and geography fell into my hands, all of which were eagerly devoured. When reading " Wallace," and some passages in the " Scottish Worthies," my heart swelled to my throat. Then would I read aloud to give vent to my feelings, until the tears flowed in streams from my eyes. His recollections of the scenes of life through which he passed are interesting to those who care for the homely sorrows of the poor; and the poet Crabbe would have had ample matter for one of his stern pictures from nature in the con tents of this volume. Mr. Wallace quotes from Lord Cockburn's " Memorials of His Own Time" ; but we have seen such a severe critical exposure of some of the misstatements in that book that we cannot receive it as an authority. Lord Cockburn was either apt to exaggerate or else his memory failed him. Stirling, however, confirms Lord Cockburn in the learned lord's account of the extravagant drinking in Scotland in former days. He relates as follows The dying injunction of a Highland sergeant was, that every one who attended his funeral was to be sure to get drank before reaching a certain stream half-way to the churchyard. It is needless to add that the injunction was most faithfully carried out. The closing orgies were such, however, that even the sergeant, with all his martial character and love of whisky, could not have anticipated. The party quarrelled before reaching the grave, but on entering the burial-ground the quarrel rose to its height. Clanship, and family pride, and rivalry, added fuel to the flames which whisky had kindled, and some of the bones of a former occupant, that lay scattered about the grave's mouth, were usei as weapons in the bloody fray. In a certain part of the North Highlands there was a famous stone up to a very recent period, called the M'Leod's Stone, as the only men in that quarter who could move it were a few who bore that name. This stone was a great eyesore to the M'Kenzies, none of whom could budge it a single hair's-bi eadth. All funeral parties rested at this stone, when the short kegs of whisky were again produced. If any of the M'Kenzie's were present, the M'Leods moved the stone, and of course there was a quarrel. A funeral party drew up here as usual, some years ago, but it was found that this stone of contention was broken to pieces. An old shrewd blacksmith, one of the M'Kenzies, dreading a renewal of hostilities, applied his foreliammer to it on the night before the funeral. In the Highlands it was no uncommon thing at a burial to have several rounds in or about the house before starting, several on the road, when the burying-ground was at a distance, another pull at the bottle in the churchyard, and a few more applications on returning to the house. When an innovation was at last made upon these unseemly practices, by a proposal to diminish the number of rounds at funerals, an old Highlandman, who had not only been accustomed to hard drinking on such occasions, but also to the bagpipes, left in high dudgeon, muttering, " They may bury the deid that like, or the deid may bury their nainsell; but I'll hae naething tae dac wi a cauld dry burial." Unhappily, it is too certain that even still there is an immense amount of intoxication in Scotland, and in Ireland there has been much reaction against the partial reform effected by the late Father Mathew. In England, the use of malt liquors is a guard to a considerable extent against a violent excess in alcoholic stimulant. A pint of malt, however, is dearer than a glass of whisky or gin, and the latter are the more deleterious beverages. Coarse, raw, alcoholic stimulant, taken on empty or partially-filled stomachs, must have a ruinous effect on the brain, in persons of only an average constitution. There are cases of great topers who have lived to an extraordi nary age; but in those, as in other instances, the sins of the parents are often visited on the off spring to the second and third generation. Two great legal celebrities, within the last sixty years, who climbed to earldoms, one in England and the other in Ireland, were conspicuous for their powers of hard drinking. They both lived to a great age ; but in their sons and grandsons there has been cerebral derangement, as recorded by the proceedings in our courts of law. We were much struck by the statement of Sir John Sin clair, in his treatise on health. He observes that, after having collected particulars about longevity in several cases from England, Scotland, and Ireland, he could not identify sobriety with lon gevity. Hard drinkers, in many cases, had been the longest livers, but early rising, in most cases, was the habit of the longest-lived persons who came under his notice. The Scotch philosopher omitted, however, to dwell upon the important question, What were the results to the off spring ?" Consumptive persons, by care and regularity, often attain a comparatively long spell of life, but their offspring wither and rapidly decay ; and the analogy is applicable to drunkards. Many of these may live to great age, but their children pay the penalty of the paternal vices. This little volume has literary merits of a far higher order than is common to " teetotal lite rature." It will be a useful addition to the library of working men, and it is very suitable to village collections of improving books. Mr. Wallace writes with constderable power, though occa sionally he is betrayed into an affectation of fine writing. The following is a fair sample of the descriptive eloquence of Mr. Wallace : Look back seventy years, and group all the circumstances together; recall the old grey kirk, the quiet kirk-yard, and the lovely scenery all around it : the lofty range of hills immediately in the background, and the glorious panorama stretching far away to the south and west, in which are blended a thousand varied features of loveliness ; and then turn to the mother, as she sits on the gravestone in the corner of the kirk-yard, buried in the multitude of her own sad thoughts, an object of sympathy and wonder to the herd-boy, who is looking over the wall ; and then pass into the public-house at the gate, and see the coarse, swearing, drunken landlord, and his boon companions, and his chil dren hastening to ruin, and this heritor and the other staggering homewards drunk, and you have the evils con• nected with a public-house strangely and horribly corn mingled with all that is peaceful and pure, lovely and sublime in nature, and with all that is hallowing in the immediate precincts of a parish sanctuary, nestled at the foot of the green range of Campsie Hills, and in one of the loveliest of our Scottish straths. What a blot upon the beauty of nature, and what a sad picture of the evils of drinking, is seen in that poor mother weeping in the quiet kirk-yard ! She has long since gone to her rest, where she so often wept; but no one who ever reads the graphic words of Stirling that depict her sufferings, and who shall visit the kirk-yard at Strathblane, can fail to see her still weeping there, like " Rachel for her children, and will not be comforted." To the eye of fancy, there she still sits and weeps on the gravestone beneath the spreading plane tree, the type of many mothers who weep at this moment over their fondest hopes, crushed in the dust by the hoof of the destroyer. Though Mr. Wallace's style is rather too rhe torical, an affectionately earnest spirit gives it life and natural power. The character of this volume will be seen in the author's following reflections : If the eye of any poor inebriate shall fall upon these pages, let him take courage and manfully resolve, in the strength of God, to do battle with his worst enemy. With such a life•atory as these pages make known, there is hope for the drunkard. Let no one despair. After Bunyan and Newton, who may not obtain mercy? and after James Stirling, what drunkard may not be reformed ? The wasted part of his life, and that extended over a period of many years, is a sad, but a too common, illustration of the evils of drinking ; the latter part is a standing testimony to the applicability and power of temperance principles. In such a life, and, thank God, it is far from being a solitary instance, we have one of the strongest arguments for the abso lute necessity of the temperance movement; and at the same time we have a noble testimony to its efficiency in producing a marked change for the better, even upon the very worst materials. The book is meant well, it has much readable matter, and as a record of a Scottish working man who, under Providence, did much to atone for his early aberrations, deserves the attention of those who are interested in that great object, the moral advancement of the working classes. CARLYLE'S " 'HISTORY OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.' —A great pressure on our space compels us to hold over the second portion of our review of this work. It will appear next week. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. The United States and Cuba. By James M. Phillips.— Pewtress and Co. Guide-book. Algeria, Considered as a Winter Residence for the English.—Pewtress and Co. Quicksands. A Tale. By Anna Lisle.--Crroombridge. --•------- - PERIODICAL. The Ladies' Treasury.—Ward and Lock. ar S z L. DRURY LANE.—Flotow's Martha, borrowed from the libretto of a Parisian ballet entitled Lady lien. riette, was produced, for the first time in this country in English, by the Pyne and Harrison company, who are certainly doing all in their power to render operatic compositions in our native tongue attractive. Like all specimens of the same school, this opera depends rather on its piquancy than on its merits as a musical composition as a whole, though some of the concerted pieces are of a high order. This remark is particularly applicable to its early parts, in which the comic element strongly prevails; but when it lapses into the serious and sentimental it sadly disappoints musical taste. To the perform ance itself we can accord the most unqualified praise, and, if anything can render Fiotow's music accept able in this country, the admirable efforts of the English Opera Company should have that effect. Nothing could have been wore charming and more thoroughly effective than the singing of Miss Louisa Tyne. Her sister, Miss Susan Pyne, played the part of the soubrette with remarkable vivacity and expression ; and Mr. Harrison, who was in fine voice, was deservedly encored in some of the sentimen tal ballads. Mr. Patey, a young singer of consider able promise, made a most successful debut in the character of Plunket ; Mr. Honey also well sustained his reputation as the courtier, whose follies received their fair reward in the merriment they aroused. The orchestra, under the able management of Mr. Mellon, perioneed the instrumental music carefully and in good taste, and the chorus was perfect. Some very beautiful scenery and tasteful costumes of the old English period added to the eclat of the opera. The house was well filled in every part, and the performance was greeted with marked approval. i4t prama. TIIE OLYMPIC.—The Red Vial, a drama in three acts, by Mr. Wilkie Collins, was produced for the first time in this house on Monday. The dramatic efforts of the author had hitherto been confined to two pieces, The Lighthouse, and The Frozen Deep, both designed for private representation, although the latter was subsequently submitted to the more trying ordeal of public criticism. When, however, it became known that Mr. Wilkie Collins had pur posely written for public representation a piece, ro mantic in plot, and highly dramatic in its treatment, curiosity was sufficiently evoked to render the first night's performance an attraction to a large and distinguished audience. But, independently of the high hopes entertained of the merits of the new work, clothed in forcible language, and abounding iu striking situations, expectation was further excited when it was said that the writer had in the principal part created a ch aracter admirably suited to the peculiar genius and the superior intel lectual faculties of Mr. Robson. The whole aim of the author of The Red Vial is to portray the influence of love, in all its intensity, operating on two persons different in sex, in mind, in education, in position, and influencing their actions, the one for good, the other for evil. We speak not of the p assion in usual and romantic acceptation, but of love in its noblest and purest, because the most unselfish form — the love which a mother bears her child. But, powerful as is the sentiment in the mother, it scar . eel,' surpasses the feeling which, springing from gratitude, consumes the heart of the idiot on whose unex ampled devotion to his master the whole plot of the -- 16, 1858. ^7z God, it is far from being a solitary ~eat arguments for the abso -- ; .t the same