The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-06 00:00:00

958 everybody is killed off to make room for the heroine, Marion, who retires from public life with twenty thousand pounds in the Three per Cents, and a line estate. The second paper upon " Italy, and Art in Italy " is clever and critical, reviewing the works and genius of Andrea del Sarto, Frau Angelico, Dome nichino, and Guido. Of the famous " Beatrice " of the Barberini collection, the writer tells us that scarcely a single copy is effectively rendered : Scarcely a single copy indeed of the/aces in auy Italian painting is at all successful; the copyist traces the lines, and follows the design, but he cannot see through these into the divine thought by which they are penetrated, and thus the most skilful and accurate reproduction is almost invariably destitute of that which gives the original its inviolate supremacy. But the libels on Guido's " Beatrice " which are scattered over the galleries of a professedly Christian and critical society, are even more scandalous than common. Can any one believe that these faded commonplaces ever bore any resemblance to the Roman girliwhom Guido met as she went out to die? It was a very different countenance, a very pale, sad, noble face that he saw among the Roman rabble. The folds of her yellow hair fell around her neck in wavy ripples ; her eyelids were red and swollen with the tears of an agony that had blighted her girlhood ; and though the light of her great mournful eyes was turned inward, yet he caught, or fancied he caught, a bewildered glance, scarcely appealing, it setmed to him, but that might have been appealing had there been sufficient consciousness of the world without. This was the Beatrice that Guido met, for this is the Beatrice of the Barberini. The critique upon Murillo does justice, and no more, to his sublime and earnest genius. "The Hanove rian Coup d'Etat" is a slight sketch of the history and political progress of Hanover since the peace of 'l5, and of the defeat of the Liberal party in 1849 by the Russian clique who, under the Queen (a royal lady closely connected with the Russian court), rule the country in Russian interests. The present aspect of the war inclines the writer to believe in the possi• bility of the return of the Liberal party once more to power. The other political paper, upon "The War and its Opponents," after singing a "Te Deum " over the fall of Sebastopol—which it declares is " an achievement hardly to be overrated," for calling it a "victory is much too limited a phrase "—comes to the question which every reasonable man asked himself a year ago—" What next ?" The " integrity " of Constantinople is no longer the single object of contention. As we " drifted" into the war, so we seem likely to drift on, throughout every phase of it, without a definite object or a fixed policy. Colburn's New Monthly presents us, as usual, with a miscellaneous collection of light literature. We have a closely-written precis of the "Crimea and its Inhabitants," from the works of Koch and other travellers, and a similar summary of "Russia and the Russians," from those of Harrison and Wraxall. " Crime in the Eighteenth Century " gives us some curious sketches of the street rows then so common, and, in particular, one of a society of "rabid young men about town ": The Mohawks, who taking their name from a nation of Red Indians, almost rivalled them in the barbarities they prac tised. The president of the club was named " Emperor of the Mohawks," and the club itself divided into several classes. each of which took its particular department. One party would sally forth for the purpose of " Tipping the Lion," or violently flattening the noses of passengers who fell in their way, and gouging out their eyes ; another tribe would give pursuit to some trembling passer-by with frantic shouts of " A sweal ! a sweal ! " and on overtaking him, they would form round their prey, and, with the dance of a set of imps, prick him with their swords till they had exhausted him. Then there were the " Tumblers," who devoted themselves especially to the diversion of turning females upon their heads; and the " Dancing Masters," who took their name from their skill in keening their victim in constant motion by running their swords into his legs. One tribe delighted in thrusting females into barrels, and then setting them rolling down hill; another derived its chief sport from beating and ill-using the watch men. In fact, they were the scourge and terror of the city, and that they might not be inclined to stop at any atrocity, they made a point of drinking till they were in a state of perfect frenzy, before they sallied forth. They fairly frightened Swift out of his evening walks, and appear to have been a perfect nightmare in his thoughts. He sends all sorts of stories about them to Stella. This reads pretty well for a civilised city but a century ago. Yet in the brutal assaults upon women which now daily crowd the police reports there is not much for us to boast of over our ancestors. In the " l'auvre petite Chasse" of M. Louis Viardot will be found a most laughable review of M. Viardot's single day's shooting in Eng land, a full account of which he has thought it necessary to publish for the benefit of his country men. His reflections upon the unhappy servitude of the English to custom, because he was not allowed on the Ist of September to kill a pheasant he sprung, are very amusing. He had been re strained ti om firing by a gamekeeper, and his host explains the reason : " On the let of September," ho said to me, " we kill partridges; on the Ist of October, pheasants; and the let of November% hares: that is the custom," . THE PRESS. So that really and in sober earnest, in order to introduce the same distinctions of rank among beasts that exist among men, and in order to establish a social hierarchy among game, English sportsmen deprive themselves of the greatest attraction that country sports possess—variety and the unknown. And this rule, like all others, becomes, from the moment it is admitted as such, so inflexible, that it does not even enter into the thoughts of an otherwise good, kind hearted, hospitable man, to disfranchise his host from such a penalty for a day, and to give to a stranger, who will not be in England on the Ist of October, the permis sion to shoot a pheasant on the Ist of September. Alas what pleasure in spoiling all that is agreeable, what harsh and despotic manners! Upon contemplating such a state of things, I asked myself, not where is the equality—for who does not know that England is the country of castes as much as India or Egypt ever were, and that the population is composed of beds or layers superim posed one upon another, like the beds of a tertiary forma tion ?—I asked myself, Where is Liberty ? In the law, possibly so ; but most assuredly not in the manners. The one is praiseworthy, the other is detestable. It is a powerful, magnificent secular tree, that holds forth promises of shade and peace, and yet under its branches nothing but rushes and brambles thrive, or as Werther Potier before said, " L'ou ne pent naturellement faire un pas sans s'emberlificoter lea jambes." How strange it is to see, on the one hand, such jealous efforts to gain and to preserve that personal independence which has for ages its proper and accepted name in legal language, the Habeas Corpus—so many guarantees obtained for the inviolable sanctity of the home; and, on the other hand, such a servile submission to the moat puerile exigencies of habit! In the " Diary of a First Winter in Rome " the fair writer observes that "people have an idea that the " Italians are becoming more civilised, and eschew " ing the use of the stiletto; that a bravo is a " chimerical animal only; that wives are virtuous, " husbands faithful, and cicisbeism quite out of " date." But all these charitable surmises appear to be mistakes. One day last year (1854), we are told, S— and a friend were cooling their outward and inner man by a siesta at Nazzari's and an ice, when their atten tion was attracted by people running to and fro, and loud talking, and swearing, and exclamations—a general ex citement, in fact, all tending towards the Via Babuino. They joined the crowd, and heard that an assassino bad been committed in broad daylight, and that the corpse lay there On they sped to where a circle was gathered, and pressing forward, they saw extended ou the stones, quite dead, a lovely girl weltering in her blood, flowing from a deadly wound in her side. They at once recognised her as a well-known model, renowned for her beauty and grace. There she lay, pale and bloody on the cold stones, until some of the brothers of the Misericordia came—they that wear the deep masks and long dark robes, looking more like mummies than men—and composed her limbs, and, laying her in a great sheet, carried her away. She had been walking with un (Trio amico, it seems, in the Via Babuino, when her husband passed. His ire was kindled, his jealousy aroused; her drew his stiletto and slaughtered her there on the spot where she stood, then ran away. But the cerlo amico, her cavaliere, ran after him when the poor thing dropped from his arm stone dead, and watched and dodged him into a certain house, and when in the evening he came out, having his stiletto ready hid in the sleeve of his coat, he struck him down then and there, as the husband bad struck his wife, and left him weltering in his blood as she had lain. Whether this valiant lover es caped or no I cannot say. An article upon " Country Papers and Editors " is entertaining ; and a number of minor contributions form an issue which exhibits to advantage Mr. Ainsworth's tact and taste as an editor. Bentley opens with a review of the war during the past month, and finds ample subject in the fall of Sebastopol, though the argument of the impossibility of the capture of the town by assault after Alma, on the strength of the formidable intrenchnients which it now possesses, scarcely holds good. The in trenchments on the side of the .Malakoff and Mamelon were never commenced in any strength till the winter. It cost the allies about 13,000 men at last to take the Malakoff: would it have cost them so many eleven months before? The writer, who throughout has appeared a keen critic, seems to think that Gortschakoff has even ere this com menced a general retrograde movement, and that his attitude of defiance on the Tschernaya is only a feint for the more easy execution of his plan to save his army. Time will show ; but at present we see no reason to believe this. One hundred and twenty thousand men do not require such feints to be saved. We forget the vast masses of men which Gortschakoff yet can command, and with which, if he wishes to re treat, he will force his way through any opposition a single corps of 40,000 or 50,000 of the allies can offer. In addition to this paper on the war, we have a review of a German work, which, as the journal of a surgeon in the Russian army during the siege, will be found interesting. It is curious to read of the feelings of the Russian army just before Inker mann : On the 3rd of November the two younger eons of the Emperor, the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Michael, ar• rived from Petersburg to be present at the intended battle. There are great rejoicings in the camp and the town, and we heard scarcely anything spoken of but the indubitable annihilation or capture of the entire hostile force—surely a sign how greatly the temper of the troops has changed SATURDAY, since the first rumour of the landing of the enemy, and how immeasurably superior our troops now think them selves to the once so greatly-feared allies. At the present moment the strangest things are going on among us. The praying and consecration of the troops alternates with the exercise in the fighting positions, winch the Emperor has recently insisted on his generals attending to, and with which they hope to astonish the enemy next day. There are, as far as I know, three or four of them, both for cavalry and infantry, and according to the assurance of our officers, their employment renders the Russian army superior to any other in the world. On the battle-field I only saw them once employed—by our hussars at Balaklava, and then with a most unfavorable result, and on the exercising ground the experiments end with most hopeless confusion —bat I understand too little about the affair to permit my self a judgment as to their value. At the same time, how ever, the great Russian passion—drinking—is not forgotten, and there is much politicising, from the staff down to the private. Generally at the end of these conversations the whole world is cut up into little pieces, and given to each brave Russian soldier as a reward of merit ; for when the enemies on the rocks above have been driven into the sea, Europe will be open to the victors, and nothing can pre vent their onward progress. On the evening prior to the battle of Alma I heard no such boasting, and yet the men then were not less decided on an obstinate fight. In fact, 1 almost fancy that the Russians can endure danger and misfortune better than good fortune. Then we have an article on Nicolaieff, Kherson, and Perekop, in which the writer holds that the allies might more safely and commodiously establish themselves in the Crimea, by retaining the fertile lands south of the Crimean steppe, than by seizing the whole peninsula : In the Crimea, whatever amount of success the allies may meet with, we should always consider the country as held to the greatest advantage—as till the time of the Rus sians it has always historically been held—by the posses sion of the line of uplands—Taurian Alps and Apennines —which overlook the steppe. Any power in pustassion of those rich lands, which are watered by so many fine streams, with Sebastopol for a basis of operations, and flaktchi•Serai, Simferopol, and Karasu Bazar for military strongholds and winter quarters, could afford to look with more quiet assurance upon the approach of a hostile force across the steppe of the Crimea than could ever be at tamed by however strong a force stationed in the saline and malarious desert lines of Perekop, with no resources in the immediate neighbourhood, no good water, and, at certain seasons, such prejudicial and fatal miasmata, as to have ever prevented a place, otherwise so much favored by its topographical position, from becoming a town of any importance. A review of Klapka's recently-published work, a well informed paper on the interior life of women in Turkey, with some nouvellettes, and a quaint criti cism by Monkshood on Sydney Smith, make up the number. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. History of Christian Churches and Sects. By the Rev. J. B. Marsden, B.A. Bentley. Webster's Pocket Pronouncing Dictionary. By Noah Web ster, LL.D. Ward and Lock. Recollections nJ the Event/ell Cole of a Soldier. By the late Joseph Donaldson. Glasgow : Griffin and Co. Simplicity and Fascination; or, Guardians and Wards. By Annie Beak. Bentley. The Apocalypse l'utfilkd. The Rev. P. S. Desprez, B.D. Longmans. The Hidden Path. By Marion Harland. Routledge. PAMPHLETS. Four Letters to the "Morning Advertiser "on the Admiral, the First Lord, amd the .4nglo•Carrhaginian. Aylott and Co. Thoughts on the Revision of the Prayer• Book. By the Rev. J. B. Pretyman, M.A. Hope and Co. What is Wanted; an Answer to the Bev. J. C. Byte, M.A. By an Orthodox Christian. Ditto. A Father's Plea for the Love of his Child. By Dr. K. Peter Rechorst. N utt. Specimens of Greek Anthology. Translated by Major Robert Guthrie Macgregor. PERIODICALS. British Quarterly Revi e w. -- Jackson and Walford. Fraser's Magazine. J. W. Parker. Freemason's Monthly Magazine. Routledge. London Quarterly. Walton and Maberley. Bentley's Miscellany. Bentley. The Westminster Review. J. Chapman. Martins of Cro' Marlin. Chapman and Hall. Colburn'a New Monthly. Ditto. The National Revietw. Theohaid. The Amateur; or, par Magazine. Hope and Co. The Art-Journal. Virtue and Co. Harry Coverdale's Courtship. Ditto. Evangelical Christendom. Partridge and Oakey. Tail's Edinburgh Magazine. Ditto. The Illustrated Magazine. Ward and Lock. New Quarterly. Bosworth. Royal Gallery of Arl. Nos. 0, 10, 11. Edited by S. C. Hall, F.S.A. Colnaghi and Co. THE MEDICAL SESSION FOR 1855-58 commenced on Monday last; the usual inaugural lectures were de livered at the Charing-cross, King's College, Guy's, and City Hospitals, by Drs. Hyde, Salter, Beale, Gail, and Andrew Smith, to the pupils of the several hospitals. The number of students in attendance was unusually large. THE NATIONAL GALLERY will be reopened W the public on Monday, the 22nd instant. 111