The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-29 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 29, 1856. If " harmless," why should it ever be used ? Mr. Lanman's argument is of that kind which from being carried too far defeats itself. The negroes when at work in a field in a body pre sented to him an " interesting picture " At a slave sale, the proprietors who sell are the only parties to be pitied : I have witnessed since my arrival here (Hautsville) a public sale of slave property. The number of persons disposed of was half a dozen ; they belonged to the estate of a deceased planter, and were sold by his administrator for the benefit of his orphan children. The conditions of the sale were that no family ties should be broken, and that deeds would be given only to those purchasers who would pledge themselves to be perfectly kind and humane. The prices ranged from one thousand to sixteen hundred dollars, and as much hilarity prevailed among the darkies when assembled in front of the Courthouse as if they were about to enter on a frolic ; and I was forcibly im pressed with the manner in which the more high-priced jeered those of the party who had only brought a thousand dollars, calling them "cheap thousand-dollar negroes." The effect of the sale upon the orphan children, however, was sad in the extreme. end 1 beard one of them exclaim, a young lady, that she was altogether " the greatest sufferer there." The same roof had sheltered them in other (lays, and I verily believe that if there had not been some legal impediment the orphans would have sacrificed their whole property before parting from their well-tried and devoted servants. Assuming the scene to be true, the jeers of the negroes at the sale do not say much for their moral culture. From another of the author's "interesting" anecdotes we may infer that negroes do occasionally suffer something from the caprice of their owner : A noted planter, who had more money than brains, took it into his head to give a grand Sunday dinner. He in- vited a hundred people, not one of whom thought proper to attend. He was disgusted, and, by way of exhibiting his spleen, he summoned his slaves to the entertainment, and fed them right royally upon the luxuries which had been prepared ; and his next step was to command his over seers to give each one of his slaves a strapping, for fear that they might be spoiled by the indulgence he had shown them. This reminds us of one of the Gospel parables, but with a difference. If this worthy proprie tor had had to sell his slaves he would pro bably have been less careful of " family ties," and less strict in securing humane bidders at the auction, than in the case noted above. To quit an ungrateful subject, the variety of these volumes, with their reflection of the simple joys, buoyant spirit, and fresh percep. tions of the wanderer among the wild graces of nature, make them pleasant reading. A tendency to prolixity in the author may be forgiven from his evident wish to please. He has seen much well worth describing, and, without superior powers, he has known how to narrate what he saw and what he heard in a highly agreeable style. OIFT BOOKS. 1. The Keepsake for 1857. Edited by Miss Power. London : Bogue. 2. Rhymes and Roundelayes in Praise of a Country Life by Poets of Many Lands. London : Bogue. THE last of the annuals, the " Keepsake," under the management of Miss Power, steadily adheres to the principle which has won for it an existence pro longed far beyond that of its ephemeral compe titors. It presents, in the present issue, portraits of fashionable ladies Lady Molesworth, Lady Grey, and Mrs. Palk—with pretty genre scenes, and some fancy sketches. he picture, " Too Late," by J. G. Naish, representing two sisters gazing through an open window at the ocean, with a ship in the dis tance, has simplicity, character and reality. The effect of such scenes, from the contrast between the room within, with its close home life, and the wide open aspect of nature beyond, is always striking. The literature is made up of tales in prose, and sen timents in verse, of different degrees of merit. Mrs. Browning contributes some odd, pretty lines:— AMY'S CRUELTY. " Fair Amy, of the terraced house, Assist me to discover Why you, who would not hurt a mouse, Can torture so your lover. You give your coffee to the cat, :le dog for coming, lace grows kinder at JWII bee's humming. hsrlita your door (the town , and marks going), re stitched your eyelids down piece of sewing. look—not you, a good morning, ig day warm and blue your Scorning." You stroke the And all your face The little brow But when he hau Marks coming You seem t' have To that long p You never give a Nor drop him I To keep his long So fretted by yi THE PRESS. She shook her head,—" The mouse and bee For crumb or flower will linger; The dog is happy at my knee, The cat purrs at my finger But he,—to him the least thing given Means greet things at a distance; He wants my world, my sun, my heaven, Soul, body, whole existence. They say Love gives as well as takes; But I'm a simple maiden; My mother's first smile when she wakes I still have smiled and prayed in. I only know my mother's love, Which gives all and asks nothing; And this new loving sets the groove Too much the way of loathing. Unless he gives me all in change, I forfeit all things by him : The risk is terrible and strange — I tremble, doubt, deny him. He's sweetest friend or hardest foe, Best angel or worst devil; I either hate, or love him so, I can't be merely civil. You trust a woman who puts forth Her blossoms thick as summer's? You think she dreams what love is worth Who casts it to new comers? Such love's a cowslip•ball to fling, A moment's pretty pastime. I give—myself, if any thing, The first time and the last time. And, neighbour of the trellised house, A man should murmur never, Though treated worse than dog or mouse Till doted on for ever." The sentiment of this pretty piece deserved more care in setting than Mrs. Browning thought proper to bestow on the verse. Some lines by the Rev. H. Thompson, commemorating the celebration of the Sacrament previous to the assault on the Redan, are among the best verses yet produced by the war : A youthful priest sat in his tent As closed an autumn day, While meditation came and went 'Twist England, far away, And the good blood that should be spent In the grim morrow's fray. He mused how thousands then should stand Their Maker's throne before, And know the secrets of that land Where trial dny is o'er, And Woe and Weal impress their seal - For ever, evermore ! Up rode in haste an orderly, His shako touch'd he light ; And reverent for the chieftains he Besought the holiest Rite : For shriven and blest should Christian be When boune for deadly fight. Brief pause ! behind the guarded foss, A plank on the drum head, For altar cloth proud England's Cross, Stout Scotland's Saltier red, Mid the blue field of Ireland's shield, — The holy board is spread. No vessels proud of jewelled plate On the dread Altar rest, But Need and Love can consecrate Where Faith bestows her best; And by the Presence uncreate Gold—earth, alike are blest. Two bayonets, ere to-morrow's night With foeman's steel to close, Upheld the symbols of the Light That on the world arose, When " Peace on earth " Heaven's armies bright, Sang to the midnight snows. The canvas roof, for chancel arch, Stoops o'er the pride of war, As in the three•score warrior's march With medal, clasp, and star, Guard—grenadier, and cuirassier, And lancer, and hussar. • • • • • • • The remaining verses are finished with equal care, and they conclude with an affecting yet elevating' thow , lit. Among the prose compositions we have been particularly pleased with " Hawthorne's Pilgrim age to Uttoxeter " (pronounced, says Hawthorne, Yute-oxeter, though we have generally heard it by natives pronounced Uxter), to mark the spot where Johnson stood in the market-place to do pe nance for an act of disobedience to his father committed fifty years before. This paper is simply written, but every line shows artistic power. Tradition has not preserved the place where Johnson stood. If the book stall kept by Johnson's father was close to the church, it must have been some space removed from the market. But Mr. Hawthorne remarks : The picturesqueness and full impressiveness of the story require that Johnson, doing his penance, should have been the very nucleus of the crowd,—the midmost men of the marketplace,—a central figure of Memory and Re morse, contrasting with and overpowering the sultry ma terialism around him. A bas-relief on the pedestal of Johnson's statute at Lichfield shows him " standing bare •beaded in the 1145 Uttozeter market-place, very sad and woe-begone, with the wind and rain driving hard against him; while some market-people and children gaze awe stricken into his lace, and an aged man and woman, with ciasped 1. ands, are praying for him." We have noticed those papers only which struck us as most remarkable; but the whole volume indicates taste and refinement. 2. The volume of "Rhymes and floundelayes " has never been surpassed for beauty of illustration. The plan of the letterpress is to cull passages from the poets in praise of rural life. First, " Sunrise " and " Morning" are illustrated by a number of choice poetic pieces ; then succeeds "Spring," with descrip tions of the songs of birds—melody dearly beloved and rapturously sang by poets, and thoughts on spring flowers. " Summer " introduces us to the noontide joys of the year, with pictures of flocks and herds, and rich sketches of summer scenery. With " Autumn " come harvest and the pleasures of wan dering through woods and by streams; and to " Winter " are joined country sports and songs on Christmastide. As the volume opens with descrip tions of " Morning," it closes with thoughts on " Evening " and " Night." The passages are in all cases chosen with a fine feeling for poetry ; but in some cases, as when the lark and the nightingale are introduced, the illustrative passages might have been more numerous, both to show the fertility of poetic genius, and the different manner in which the same theme is handled by poets of different cast of mind. Surely, in such a selection, the lines of Shelley and Wordsworth to the lark should have been inserted together with those of Hogg. The wood engravings constitute the original and most attractive part of the book. They are very numerous, and many of them are masterpieces of their respective artists. Birket Foster contributes some of the happiest sketches of his fertile pencil. The frontispiece, " A Summer Evening," represent ing a hayfield with loaded wain, and the last plate, " A Winter's Night," are charming specimens of poetic art. In the latter drawing, however, the sen• timent of repose described in Shelley's verse is not marked. Clouds move across the sky, and there are shattered trees in the foreground. But the pic turesque effect of the "castled steep," the hills, the ravine, and the water, is heightened by the partial veil thrown across the moon's disc. Ot her admirable examples of the artist's skill are "Sunrise at Sea" (page 2) ; the woodland scenes, with their depth of shade, at 39, 55, and 109 ; " The Village Alehouse," exquisitely pictured in all its details, at 73 ; with "The Harvest Home," at 121; and "A Homestead in Winter," at 147. Mr. E. Duncan's rural scenes are all extremely pretty, as are those of Mr. Dodgson and Mr. Hnlme. Some of the designs by Mr. Harrison Weir are remarkable for their rural character and careful finish : such are the cottage exterior, at 43 ; the heron, at 93 ; and the two sporting scenes, master pieces of his pencil, at 125 and 155. Walter Goodall and John Absolon contribute groups of rustic figures ; the former pictures a pretty ruin and mill-stream at 132. The book is produced in a style suitable to the great merit and beauty of the illus trations. The paper is tinted, the leaves richly gilt, and the binding solid and handsome. It is altogether a most favorable example of the perfection to which art has been brought in our day for illustration of the finest thoughts of poetry. The Myrtle and the Heather. A Tale. Two Vols. By A. M. Goodrich. London : J. W. Parker and Son. THIS story deserves to be called successful, though not rising above mediocrity in its composition in any of its component parts. The leading idea alone is good. It is that of a young girl, the daughter of an English father and Italian mother, who, pos sessing a genius for music, is carried to England by the Countess of St. Helens, whom she met at Florence, for the purpose of introduction to the English public. The countess is young, fashionable, and a beauty, and aspires to be a patroness of art and literature. But behind her outward show of liberalty is hidden a purely vain and selfish disposi tion, which rejoices in the eclat of bringing forward so beautiful and accomplished a debutante, but has very little care for her protegee's real happiness, or appreciation of her nobility of character. She quarrels with Beatrice on discovering that she will not break a promise given to her father, never to appear on the stage, and dismisses her with unkind ness and contumely. Beatrice, however, finds other friends, is brought out in London as a concert-singer, and on her first night achieves a most brilliant suc cess, at which her former patroness is unexpectedly present, and is overcome with rage and disappoint ment. Mr. Maxwell is the Scotch rio Lindsay, the husband of Helens, and Judith Maxwell, w' sub-heroine, is his daughter. trived to dispossess Sir Roderic, and dissipated man, of his wh( steward of Sir Rode- the Countess of St. who may be called the The steward ha, con- eric, an improvident hole estates, and it is