The Press. — London, England, 1858-07-24 00:00:00

704 tents is so Rill that the want is not felt. We have only observed one omission, viz., the defini tion of what constitutes "a title to orders " which seems to be required at page 2. Where the whole of a book is of a thoroughly practical nature, it is difficult to choose extracts ; but the following specimens, relating to the lively sub jects of burial and simony, will give some idea of the manner in which Mr. Dale has performed his task : AS TO BURIALS UNDBR TILE NEW BURIAL ACTS. The Queen in Council, on the representation of the Secretary of State, may order the discontinuance of burials in any burial-ground (16th and 17th Vict. o. 131, § 1), except in such joint-stook cemeteries u may have been established under the special authority of Parliament (§ 5 ; Reg. v. Maude, 5 Ell. and 111. 702). And any person assist. ing at any burial in violation of such order is guilty of a misdemeanour (§ 3), and liable to a penalty of 10/. (18th and 10th Viet. c. 128, § 1). But licence may be granted, under certain circumstances, by the Secretary of State, for the continued use of private vaults and graves (16th and 17th Vict. c. 134. § 4). No new burial-ground can be opened in any closed district without the approval of the Secretary of State (§ 6). The churchwardens of any parish, new parish, township, or district, whether separately maintaining its own poor or not (20 and 21 Viet. c. 81, § 5), may—and if any Order in Council has been made, or notice given to close the burial. ground, they must—call a meeting of the vestry, to deter. mine whether a new burial-ground shall ho provided for the parish (18th and 19th Vict. c. 128, §3 ) ; anti then to appoint a burial board, consisting of not less than three or more than nine persons: the incumbent being eligible, though nut a ratepayer (15th and 10th Vict. c. 85, § 11). Vestries of two or more parishes or places may concur iu providing one common ly trial-ground ; or one burial ground may be appointed for several united parishes (18th and lOth Vict. c. 131, § 11), or fur parishes, districts, or town ships not separately maintaining their own poor, but having separate burial-grounds ( § 12 ), or fur patishes, districts, or other subdivisions, being parts of parishes maintaining their owu poor (§ 18). In boroughs, the town councils may, by Order in Council, be appointed the burial boards for their respective boroughs (17th and 18th Vict. c. 87, § 1 ) ; end so also may local boards of health (20th and 21st Vict. c. 21, § 4). The City Commissioner» of Sewers are the burial board fur the city of London (15th and 10th Viet. c. 85, § 13). The burial board, when conetiinted, proceeds to provide a new burial-ground, either within or without the parish, new perish. township, or district ( 15th and pith Vict. c. 85, § 2b ; 20th anti 21st Vict. o. 81, § 5). No burial•ground under these Acts can be °perked within one hundred yards of any dwelling-house, without the consent, in writing, of the owner, lessee, and occupier (lb. ; 17th and 18th Vict. c. 37, §l2 ; 18th and 19th Viet. c. 128, § 9). Part of finch new burial-ground is to be consecrated, and part unconse crated (16th and 17th Vict. o. 134, § 7). And see 20th and 21st Vict. c 81, §§ 11, 12, as to fences not being neces sary between them. Ample powers are given for the purchase of lands for burial-grounds; and burial-grounds provided under the Church Building Acts, by money borrowed, may be trans ferred by the incumbent, with the consent of the ordinary, subject to the debt (20th and 21st Vict. c. 81, § 7). SIMONY. Simony is the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice or dignity for money, gift, or reward (Cro. Eliz. 790). The right of presentation is thereby forfeited, pro hoc rice, to the Crown; both the giver and taker forfeit two years' value of the benefice, ono to the king, and the other to the informer. The presentation is void, and the presentee is for ever incapable of enjoying the benefice. It is simony if any person, for money or reward paid or promised, shall either present, institute, induct, &c., to any ecclesiastical benefice or dignity, or shall preserve in his own name, or another's, the next presentation, and shall thereupon be presented. So also is a corrupt resigns • tion or exchange. The sale of an advowson during vacancy is not simoni seal (per Lord Hardwicke), unless connected with a cur. rupt contract as to presentation ; though purchasing a presentation during a vacancy undoubtedly is so (Cro. ±liz. ThB). So, if a clerk bargain for a next presentation, if the in cumbent be in extremis, or (Cripps, 517) even if he be not ; but not if the purchave is by another person, without the privity of the presentee (0 Bingham 1). An innocent clerk presented on a sitnoniacal contract is not punishable, although the presentation for that turn goes to the Crown (3 Hagg. 659). A bond to resign in favour of some other person, or at the patron's request, is simonises!, unless (9 Geo. IV. c. 94) the nominee be related or connected, us in the Act specified, with the patron, and the presentation or the re signation be of such nominee. A clergman may, perhaps, purchase an advowson in fee, and be presented on the next vacancy (Cripps, p. 519 ). We may add that, while the price of the book is so moderate as to bring it within the reach of the humblest curate, its size is such as to enable it to be conveniently carried in the rocket of any clergyman who may find it occasionally expe dient to dash a little cold water on the seething surface of a turbulent vestry. THE PRESS, JULY 24, 1858 The Chaplain's Narrative of the Siege of Delhi. By John Edward Wharton Rotton, M.A. London : Smith and Elder. Day by Day at Lucknow. By Mrs. Case. London : Bentley. (Second Notice.) Alas. Case is the widow of ' Colonel Case of the 32nd Regiment, who was killed at the dis astrous encounter of Chinhut, on the 30th June, 1857. She is right in thinking " that any par " ticulars of that protracted and dreadful belea " guerment would be read with great interest," and equally right in not having " attempted by " subsequent additions to produce effect or to " aim at glowing descriptions" ; but we cannot help saying that the book might have been more judiciously edited. We have, first, two chapters containing Mrs. Case's diary from the 21st of May to the 15th of June, 1857; then we have three letters, dated the 30th of October, the 6th of November, and the 23rd of November, car rying on a general account of matters up to that period, which, by a note at the end, we discover to be written by Miss Dickson, who is appa rently Mrs. Case's sister. Chapter V., where Mrs. Case's journal recommences, carries us back to July sth, and here we read, " Caroline's letters " which precede this will explain to you why I " have not been able to write for some time past." Although Colonel Case's death is mentioned in these letters, their much later date would appear to imply that those to which Mrs. Case actually refers have been lost ; but as there are no notes or explanations of any kind we cannot be certain whether such is the fact. Owing to Miss Dick son's letters being all given at once, instead of being distributed over the journal according to the dates of the events they record, many cir cumstances are related a second time long after we first meet with them—an arrangement which produces not a little confusion in the reader's mind. General llavelock's letter, for instance, is given both at p. 56 and at p. 173. This is pro bably not so much the fault of the authoress as of the publisher. We remember that when Mr. Bentley brought out Colonel Lake's diary of the Siege of Kars, a short time since, we had first Colonel Lake's journal, then Captain Thompson's letters, then General Williams's ; so that the same event was in many cases described three times in different parts of the book. Authors and publishers should be made aware that this is a very bad plan, and that no diaries, however good, can possibly stand such an unfair trial. When contributions by two or three diffe rent hands are to be used, some one of them should be made the predominant fea ture, and the others subordinated to it. The narrative which has most unity, coherence, and detail should be selected, and the others separated into portions, to be appended to the main thread in their proper places, either as notes or as por tions of the text, giving the reader an oppor tunity of at once comparing the various accounts of the same transaction. Any other method is certain to create a high degree of perplexity and confusion. Mrs. Case's and Miss Dickson's statement of occurrences is simply and plainly told., and adds a number of small facts to our knowledge of the siege, which enable us to conceive it in its har rowing details, but which probably none but a woman would have thought of recording. In the battle of Chinhut an eight-inch howitzer had been sent out, and was taken by the enemy. It was from this very howitzer that, next day, Sir Henry Lawrence received his death-wound. He was struck in the leg, and, having worn himself out by constant work, only survived two days. There was no real shelter in the Residency ; no place where even the ladies could be certain of being out of the reach of shot. Miss Palmer lost her leg " from a round shot entering her room," and died about the same time as Sir henry Lawrence. Round shots fall all day and in every direction. One startles the ladies as they are dressing ; another startles the " khansamah " as he is cooking the dinner ; a third passes over Colonel Inglis's bed and tub, and through his portman teau. Mines explode from day to day : Whilst we were sitting at breakfast, what seemed to us a large gun going off, wade the whole ground and building shake. It was a mine which the enemy had blown up close to the intrenchrnents, as their signal to commence the attack. It fortunately did us no harm. It has been the severest attack we have had, and I sin so thankful that i t did not take place in the night Colonel Inglis told us this morning at breakfast that me of the enemy's mines hail fallen in. They seem to thiek the attack last night was only a ruse to divert onr attention from the mining. Mrs. luglis went this evening to see Mrs. Cooper, and there she heard that the enemy tta mining just under the iness-roam, close to wh ere al l the ladies are. It was first found out, I believe, by one ut th e ladies, who heard the noise when she was in her bathm ele and called her husband to listen to the sound. But we ai l ; making a countermine there; so I hope we may get the best of it. The ladies are sadly frightened, and no wouier, Nothing can be more dreadful than the idea of min es.. When our people were mining yesterday, they came cause upon the enemy's mine, which they say was beautifully constructed, and a wax candle burning in it. They ran away as soon as they found we were near them, and in the evening we went in and blew the whole up and completely destroyed it. As we heard the officers find men go by, they all seemed very much pleased with this offuir. Provisions were never absolutely wanting, but they had to be economized with great care ; and it was not the least annoying circumstance, that even those meagre supplies were perforce shared by millions of flies and hundreds of rats and mice. The most unpleasant deficiency seems to have been that of soap—a matter which figures more frequently in the journal than any other; but many persons were without milk and sugar for the greater part of the siege. On August 3 we read : It is now said we have only provisions for twenty days more. What is to become of us if our relief does not arrive before that time ! By some negligence six fine bullocks were smothered in the bousse yesterday —a great loss at such a time. Tho commissariat butcher came to ask for three of Colonel Inglis 's goats this morning to kill them for food, which looks as if we are beginning to run short of meat. In the midst of all this it is scarcely possible to believe, but it is nevertheless true, that we have had to-day servants coming round with lists of ladies' clothes for sale, and a box with four very smart bonnets in it was also being taken round to see if any one would purchase them. What a strange contrast do such facts present to the awful scenes around us and the feelings that we are impressed with ! It is dreadful to think that we may be short of provisions. Every morning before she is dressed, Mrs. Inglis weighs out everything for our daily consumption with her own hands, and so good is her management that she is always able to give a little arrowroot or sugar to a sick child, and has two or three times succeeded in making little puddings for invalids, without an egg and with but a very limited quantity of sugar. On August 12th : They say that we might, with very great difficulty and pinching as far as provisions go, hold out one month longer, but after that there will not be a hope for us; and now the natives have a report that the reinforcements will not be here for two months. If such should be the case, what a fate is before us ! May Clod, in his infinite mercy, grant that we may be prepared, through the merits of our Saviour, for whatever is to happen to us ! An attack is going on while I am writing, and I cannot help thinking what would be the feelings of any lady suddenly transported from quiet, peaceful England to this room, around which the bullets are whizzing, the round bhot falling, and now and then a loud explosion, as if a mine were blowing up, which i think is almost worse than all the sharp and test fire of the musketry. It is an awful time; and words could never make any one understand all that we have undergone during now nearly three mouths (ever since the 17th of May ). On August 27th:— Sir Henry Lawrence's things are being sold to-day. Heard of a ham being sold for 71., and a tin of soup sufficient only for one day's dinner tor 11. ss. Money has ceased to be of any value, and people are giving unheard• of prices for stores of any kind. One dozen brandy, 201.; one small box of vermicelli, 31.; four small cakes of cho colate, 21. 10s.! On September 17th : • . • Mrs. Inglis bought some coffee yeskiday, and to psy three rupees (65.) a pound for it; tea 13 selling at sixteen shillings per pound ! On September 28th:— I gave up taking sugar to day, and we •re using our last piece of soap. Under these privations, and the terror of falling into the hands of the mutineers, many persons lost heart; and the advisability of suicide was debated. Some of the ladies kept laudanum and prussic acid constantly within reach; and one officer shot himself at an early period of the siege. General Havelock's march on Lucknow seems to have been, after all, a measure of very doubtful benefit. In some respects it was certainly advan tageous. lie brought more fighting men—not before they were wanted. At one time the gar rison had been so much in want of artillerymen that the gunners were obliged to run from one to the other as they were required to load and fire , . , But the fi ghting men, even a ft er the " relief , ' were still too few for the emergency, and far too many for the provisions. Rations had to be re duced, and every necessary of life continued to