The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

which had tamed the first of the Churchills and enslaved the last of the Stuarts, was un feignedly afraid of Pope. It is said that he read to her himself his character of Atossa, and pretended it was.the Duehess of Bucking ham; but the old woman stopped him before he was half through it, and bade him not try to impose on her. It is incredible that Pope, who knew her well, should have thought it possible to do so, but it is quite credible that the Duchess, who had good reasons for think ing that all men had their price, should have offered him 1,0001. to suppress the passage, if she in any other way became aware of its existence. The passage was not suppressed, and people "do say " that Pope took the money. Among these is Mr. Carruthers. But we must refer our readers to his own volume and the columns of the Athenaunt for further enlightenment on the subject. We may add our own conviction that the Athenaum is right and Mr. Carruthers wrong, and that Pope is guiltless at least of this act of baseness. The above-mentioned critics have ascer tained very satisfactorily who the " unfortu nate lady" was not. We subjoin all that is essential : _ . . ----- The letters, described by Pope in the table of contents as relating to an " Unfortunate Lady," introduce us to a Mrs. W., niece to a Lady A., and they tell us that in 1712 the lady went on a visit to her aunt, after enduring a series of hardships and misfortunes, of the nature of which we are not laureled. We leant also that Mrs. W. had a bro ther who exerted himself on her behalf. Thus, if the initial letters were held to be genuine, the search was re stricted to certain Roman Catholic families of that day having a " Mrs. W.," who had encountered misfurtuue, who had a brother, and also au aunt, the last answering to " Lady A." After the lapse of more than a century the veil has been withdrawn from the mysterious niece and aunt, and the history of at least one " Unfortunate Lady " has been traced with clearness anti certainty. We may not yet have got the heroine of the Elegy, but we have ob• tinned an explanation of the allusions in the correspon &rice, and the knowledge of an interestint , passage in Pipe's life. The original letters addressed by the poet to his friend Mr. Carlyll falling into the hands of an acute and critical inquirer, the following particulars (all supported by proofs) have been elicited : " The Mrs. W.' of Pope's letters was Mrs. Weston. She was Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Joseph Gage (son of Sir Thomas, of Fide), who inherited Sherburne Castle in right of his mother, and ultimately the large property of the I'enruddocks in right of his wife. She was sister to Thomas, who succeeded as eighth Baronet and was first Viscount, and to Joseph, mentioned by Pope in the epistle to Bathurst - - The crown of Polani, venal twice an ato, To just three millions stinted modest Gage — an allusion to his enormous gains, subsequently lost by speculations in the Mississippi scheme ; when, as reported, he offered to buy the crown of Poland and the island of Sardinia, and to attach the latter to the former as a kitchen garden—a man whose whole life was a ro mance, and who ended his career as a grandee of Spain of the first classl Her father died in 1700, and left Sir W. Goring, of Burton in Sussex, executor and guardian of his children. Her aunt, Catharine Gage, became the second wife of Walter Lord Aston. Mrs. Elizabeth, the lady in question, mar. ried John Weston, of Sutton in the county of Surrey. They lived unhappily, were soon separated, hal only one child (or only one who survived), a daughter, Melior, who died unmarried in June, 1782, aged seventy-nine." The case of Mrs. Weston was taken up warmly by the poet. At his request Mr. Carlyll interceded on her behalf with her guardian, Sir William Goring, and also wrote to her husband and aunt. When Mr. Weston, " the tyrant," determined to remove his daughter from her mother, Pope wrote to Carlyll :—" I wish to God it could be put off by Sir W. G.'s mediation, for I am heartily afraid 'twill prove of very ill consequence to her." Of this Sir William Goring he had a very unfavourable opinion. " God grant," he exclaims, " he may never be my friend, and guard all my friends from such a guardian!" This is in the spirit of the Elegy : But thou fake guardian of a charge too good• The quarrel was adjusted, and the lady again returned to her husband. Mr. Carruthers steers clear of the question of Pope's scholarship. Perhaps it is a ques tion in which he is not much interested, as we observe he introduces a quotation from a Latin poe►n of Bishop Atterbury without com menting on the very doubtful, if not abso lutely false quantity of which the bishop has been guilty. The line is— hae ego lasi Ad &quanta ripas, Thamesino a ilunnne The only Latin poet who uses the word " Sequana" is Lucan, usually allowed to bo a sound authority, and he makes the first syl lable long. However, the question of Pope's classical knowledge must always remain an interesting one as long as his Homer con tinues to be read. We agree with Mr. Bowles that the Latin lines addressed to Mr. Bethel' and usually attributed to Pope could hardly bare THE PRESS, DECEMBER 5,1857. been his, though, indeed, tbey too contain a false quantity—" sagax "—which Bowles has passed over; nor the lines in the Guardian which Pope has inserted in his essay upon gardening without any reference, but which would pro bably turn out on inquiry to come from some of the modern Latin poets with whose works we know Pope to have been acquainted. We should assign Mr. Carruthers a place in the second class of biographers. He addresses himself to his work in the spirit of a Chancery lawyer. His book is admirable for matter of fact, and his deductions, though not luminous, are sensible and shrewd. As a book of refe• rence, therefore, we should award the palm to Mr. Carruthers over any of Pope's previous biographers. But what we miss is sympathy, life, and light. His style is heavy, and his ideas purely editorial. As wo wind our way through his long and impartial statements and careful collations of authorities, we sigh but for one little graphic touch that should make all the wooden figures leap into life— one breath that should " warm the dry bones" of that noble intellectual company. We are grateful, however, to Mr. Carruthers for what he has given us, and we do not doubt that his forthcoming edition of the Works will be a highly valuable and useful addition to the literature of the day. Oriental and Western Siberia. By Thomas Witlant Atkinson. London : Hurst and Blackett. WHO but an Englishman would have con ceived and carried out the notion of making a "sketching tour" in Siberia? Certaialy we retain and enjoy in a pre-eminent degree that roving spirit of our ancestors which made them the buccaneers of Europo. but which takes us over a double fence, " in and out clever," or now and then to Iceland and the Pole, or round the Horn in a ninety-ton schooner yacht, or, as in this instance, to the top of the Oural range with a sketch-book and Win sor's colours under our arm. Of course Mr. Atkinson's "tour" extended into travel, and, from the time of starting, seven years elapsed before Mr. Atkinson found himself fairly back in the land of forks and civilisation. During this period he traversed, mostly on horseback or in carriages, frequently in the native river boats, nearly 40,000 miles of territory rarely visited by Europeans. He passed over Siberia, Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tar tary, and part of Central Asia, crossed the chain of the Syan-shan, as well as a large portion of the western part of the desert of Gobi, over which the great conqueror Genghis Khan marched his hordes towards the west. In travels of such extent many incidents and much adventure may belooked for,and thereader of this volume will not be disappointed, for, although Mr. Atkinson has not with his pen such descriptive power as with his pencil, yet ho has an eye for character, can tell a story well, and has preserved many anecdotes which will afford a. fund of entertainment to his readers. Why, the very notion of a man visit ing (teals, living in yourts, sleeping on voilocks, eating kish►nish, and drinking mare's milk and brick tea in Chinese China, and all in Chinese Tartary, is something so novel that we need only mention the fact to stimulate the curiosity of our readers, and carry them at once to the entertaining pages of Mr. Atkinson. And then the fearful storms he encounters in the mountains, the risks he runs from robbers and precipices, and the mass of adventure he meets with among Kalmucks and Kirghis, and Cossacks and Tartars ; how he hunts boars and bears, and shoots bucks, and eats his venison with salt and without currant jelly, and climbs mountain peaks, and peers into caverns, and sketches magnificent landscapes, and crosses frightful ridges over yawning chasms, at which Kalmuck and Kirghis, supple in limb and active as panthers, laugh and think excellent fun—in which we heartily coin cide. How he did all this, and much more, will be found in his book ; but, for fear the reader should be stimulated to the pursuit of such " fun," Mr Atkinson observes, just in time to check any fit of the rurals : The traveller, who attempts to force his way into alsni abounding with such striking scenery, must be prepare ► for many difficulties amid son►e risks. Perhaps before tu 1185 visit these scenes were never looked upon by European eye, nor ever sketched by pencil. He who follows on my track will find that his rifle will be required for more pur• poses than obtaining a dinner. His courage and deter mination will be tested by men who seldom show fear, and are ever on the alert. It is only by a steady hand, a quick eye, and skill with his weapon, that he can remain safe from acts of violence. Plunder is the common trade ; and, what is still worse, the traveller, if not murdered, is carried off into certain slavery. Being sold into slavery among a set of ruffians who are in the habit of sowing peas in your instep to prevent your escape, and of skinning you alive before roasting, if you make the attempt, is not a pleasant prospect for a tourist. Meanwhile, let us seek for some of the incidents of this entertaining book of travel. The first place of any importance Mr. Atkinson stopped at was Ekaterineburg, the principal city in the Garai district. Here are the Government iron works, which we find " built upon an enormous " scale, and fitted up with machinery and " tools from the best makers in England. " Here are found Nasmyth's steam-hammer, " large lathes, planing-machines, with punch " ing, drilling, grooving, and slotting machines " for every purpose. The entire arrangement " of this establishment has been carried out, " regardless of expense, under the superin " tendence of a good practice.' English me " chanic." Here, also, are the works for the cutting and polishing of the precious stones found in the Oural. Jasper, porphyry, orlite, malachite, and other valuable precious stones are found more or less in abundance. As the works are under Government, and Govern ment labourers are plentiful, wages to superior workmen are not extravagant. " I have seen " a man," writes Mr. Atkinson, " engaged carving foliage on some of the jasper ♦ases, " in a style not excelled anywhere in Europe, " whose wages were three shillings and eight " pence per month, with two ponds, or thirty " six pounds, of rye flour per month, to make " into bread,—meat he is never supposed to " eat" : ---- - I have watched men cutting the emerald, topaz, amethyst, aquatnarina, and other stanes into different shapes ; which they do with perfect accuracy and in good taste. Some of these brilliant gems have no doubt ere this adorned Imperial Majesty. These men also receive a like remuneration. - - Occasionally a robbery is effected of some valuable stones Here is a good story apro pos of emeralds : About twenty-five or thirty years age, several fine crystals of emerald were discovered by some children, while playing near the village of Takovaya, and were tossed about in the cottage for a considerable time before their character was recognised. At length they were sent to Ekaterineburg, and were most splendidly cut in the Granilnoi Fabric. They proved to be gems of rare beauty and great value. As all precious stones wherever found in Siberia are the property of the Emperor, these ought to have been sent to the Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg ; but they never reached the Imperial jewel-case. They were sent into Germany, where they were bought by a Prince of one of the first reigning families. Some years afterwards his consort, on some great occasion, visited the Emperor of Russia, and while staying in St. Petersburg wore these magnificent and rare gems. They were of such surpassing beauty as to attract the notice of the Empress, who admired them very much, and inquired whence they were obtained. To the great astonishment of Her Imperial Majesty she was told they came from Siberia. This caused a great sensation; without giving time for any communica tion to be made to Ekaterineburg, the Emperor sent an officer to search the works, and the houses of all persons connected with the Granilnoi Fabric. He found in the house of the Director several gems of great value, which the latter declared were there for safe custody. This was thought somewhat strange, as other gems and valuable works were lying at the museum in the Fabric. The Di rector was, without any investigation, sent to prison, and after many years' confinement died there ; nor is it known to this day by whom these emeralds were stolen. In Siberia it is still believed that the man was innocent, but that, for the safety of persons of more consideration, it was absolutely necessary he should be imprisoned ; in short, it has been hinted that the offence was committed by parties much nearer his Imperial Majesty. " Since that period," adds Mr. Atkinson, " very few emeralds of value have been dis " covered !" The artificers, however, be admits are well and cleanly lodged at the expense of Govern ment, and the people, he says, look "healthy " and comfortable." The society of Ekaterine burg is principally that of the Government ii officials and their wives and families, and some leading merchants. The town itself is handsome, the people live expensively, their