The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-04 00:00:00

,0 , -- ,tio to , SUPPLEMENT TO a ir :Os ....;„,..'% , , _ 0 ' 9145 t0 ,;110 , 1 ~‘ xt P t it t ir it ii , . 1 . ,/ ........ .. :..1 t an) , lit 1 , ) ,_ ......7..., ...op (~ ratio 0,11, 41,...... O d ,I 0! ~yiD e ~ AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. i,'RP 00 L , TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1855. rigid convent roofs, which confer so peculiar an aspect on the rugged scenery of the Spanish sierra. The city of Havana contains, likewise, the characteristic features of the Spanish ara besque, displayed in frequent and striking con trast with urban requirements suited to the luxurious manners of the enervating South. If, the external forms of mountain and plain, of city and suburb, are thus arrayed in a sort of conventional contrast of distant places and periods, a similar combination is not less remarkable in their social institutions, manners, and costume. Of the condition of Cuban morals, and the pecu liarities of manners which arise out of these, Mr. Hurlbut affords many pictures, the glowing warmth of which seems more suited to the tastes of those " men made of fire, and children of the sun," whose pulses beat in unison with the in tensity of torrid sunshine tahnadn imaginationsis consonant f with the less fervid feelings those concerning whom the poet writes when he tells us— The cold in clime are cold in blood, Without attempting to follow our author through these, we shall, nearly at random , dip into . his pencillings, selecting as the first specimen his dashing sketch of A GROUP IN THE HOTEL AT LA COLUMA. I was particularly attracted by one old lady of sixty, with a parchment face, which reminded me of Heine's dame in the Harz mountains, whose countenance re sembled a palimpsest whereon a monkish homily had been written over a Greek love story. Her dress gtill wore a hue of youthful folly. She was arrayed in scarlet and white muslin, orange-coloured stockings, a blue silk shawl gorgeously embroidered with large dahlias and roses in green and yellow silk ; a bunch of artificial flowers adorned her hair, and huge gold ear-rings glittered in her ears. Thus wonderful in her appearance, she glided gracefully into the storehouse, purchased a long Jenny Lind cigar, asked the favour of a light from a Montero gentleman in a striped blue shirt, with a sword at his side and silver spurs on his stockingless feet; and then returning to the " saloon," while the soft smoke curled about her head, took up a broom and proceeded to sweep away the remnants of the morning's meal. . In strong contrast with the above is a scarcely less vivid, although greatly more sombre and re pulsive, picture of THE FUNERAL OBSERTANCES IN CUBA. The Campo:, Santos, or burial-grounds, are vile places, where corpses are thrown aside as they are in Italy, with out respect and without memorials even so lasting as the widow's tears or the tolling of the funeral bell: Before burial, the dead, dressed in the gayest manner, are ex posed on catafalques set around with candles, in the great saloon of their homes. Ghastly faces stare suddenly out on you from within the iron-barred windows as you walk the city streets. Uncoffined and unshrouded, for the most part, the dead are flung into shallow graves, whence they will soon be jostled by their successors in the end less procession. Dark stories are told of those who have charge of these interments. A certain countess, who died near by us in Havana, was laid out in state and superbly arrayed. When the day of the funeral came, one of the friends with a knife cut into shreds the fine silks and satins of her robes to make them valueless as merchandise. Among the conservative old Spanish a great deal of for mality obtains in the matter of mourning. It is consi dered proper for the family to shroud everything in the house of death. Pictures are turned to the wall, furni• ture gloomily draped. Immediately after the funeral, all the relations and cornexions of the deceased meet at the house, where they dine together, the family keeping out of the way in private rooms till after dinner, when they appear, and two great circles are formed in the saloon, the females gathering into one and the males into another. Lugubrious conversation then commences. This cere— mony is repeated daily during nine days ! A glance cast in almost any direction by so 17C1f1 °n *-1 [GRATIS. LIV r°l ediV'ST NOT CALL THEM BACK. GIVE not a sigh for early hours, For treasured scenes of yore; For broken buds and faded flowers, That drops of beauty bore. Give not a sigh for things gone by, Though brilliant be their track ; Those visions gay have passed away— Thou can'st not call them back Give not a sigh for youthful hopes, That faded ere their prime; %t fancy held in golden cups, to deck the brow of Time. `th I far too soon the brightest noon Will caang,e to deepest black ; And things as gay will pass away— Thou can'st not not call them back. Give not a sigh for tones that rail, Like music, on thine ear; The loved and lost to mourn is well, When there is none to cheer; But if to bless and to caress Some linger round thy track, L2ive not a sigh for those gone by— Thou can'st not call them back. REVIEWS- "es of Cuba. By William H. Hurlbut. London : Longman and Co. ,iit little volu me by M r . Hurlbut, who is , sit n, though not an annexationist, is I: 3 '4 l , e ° tlgli described in its title, as ‘‘pictures." 1 1 4 t1y generally varied in their hues, and fre to the picturesqueness of their grouping 4 suspicion that they are dependent for eff ect ' ,i h . in a great degree upon the artist's :N i l te as much as on the fidelity of their .t`i4 e4 ll 6. This, however, in a work which V it to treat chiefly of the outside and sur- Vt e gairs, is not so much a matter for grave t ,¶tri it would have been in one with a %ell. Many of his pictures convey the 1/41 ve uti of over-colouring, and there is an , 4 4 ernblance of learned affectation running tqelit th e volume, while the frequently-dis- NY e l etenfiousness of fine writing less or more N 4; nearly every page. Notwithstanding a , t oi l, wbaeks, the " Pictures of Cuba" will t,T t eeable reading for many a winter fireside Ot it ,htl the once-alcolouring of Mr. Hurlbut will ely the natural beauty of not a L le ; 4 most elaborate and striking scenes. ji" k t o rld of Cuba, small although it no doubt 'qeh a Peculiarly a world of its own, and so Vo Qi r,ged with fragments of an elder moral I to 4 t state of existence, that the breccias and kot "Rlomerates of the geological formations Vi t t Rive more pointed illustration of a yk g cosmogony than do the manners, cos (1141)(1411d architecture of Cuba afford instruc t "liking testimony of the moulding of t-40; L 4. 0 •ii stateliness with the melting luxury to ja i r l 'eal clime. The contrasts, however, are ,I tt :e h t . i led exclusively to those of Spain with It ti h t t v ' e l rements of the tropics ; the former, ot,1:111 t : only composites of European with ta 4 Pes, are here modulated with the artistic 0 h t' 4 of Italy. The rural landscape is en °Nti, villa façades and balustraded terraces, Fare of those sunny slopes on which iti, 11t h c ' t the right, where Appennine ascends, " th eB aR the summer, Italy extends. e are commingled the high-peaked and knowing an optical practitioner as Mr. Hurlbut reveals something worth recording, and he deals those glances about without stinting apprehension, nor is he invariably particular on what special objects he shall fix his photographic lens. In these his sketches, as in the class of pictures to which we have referred them, strong fidelity of representation frequently overcomes mere delicacy of filling in, and truth is sometimes made to do unnecessary, if not occasionally degrading, offices. These remarks, or ones of similar tendency, must frequently obtrude themselves upon the reader of these vivid pictures, a good though not a glowing illustration of which may be found in his FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HAVANA. On the left hand rise fortifications massive as those of Malta or Gibraltar, wrought into the dark grey rocks of the Morro, sweeping along the many-hued hill-sides of the Cabanas, glittering throughout their lengthening lines with the white uniforms and shining bayonets of the sentinels who guard the proud flag of Spain, that gorgeous limner of blood and of gold.—On the right stretch irregular masses of parti-coloured buildings, blue, pink, white, green, yellow, overtopped at intervals by some massive church tower or graceful tufted palm-tree. Queer-looking boats, emancipated gondola., shameless sisters of the veiled Venetian nuns, and brilliant as butterflies, dart in and out along the crowded quays. Of a less questionable, though not more graphic character, is the annexed STREET SCENE IN HAVANA. Ever and anon a punchy black mule with stiff, erect, close-shaven mane, and braided tail tied with gay ribbons to the saddle, comes prancing by in the shafts of a gor geous volante, or a grey donkey shambles along, and ion his back a Creole boy, with smiling kindly face and great black eyes, and warm bright complexion, half sitting, half lying between two great straw panniers full of oranges, or zapotes, or pineapples, or plantains. The whole spirit of the place is that of a drowsier Spanish Italy. For the lazzaroni, we have the negroes, many a them magnificent Africans, the finest specimens of the race I ever saw. Their ways are infinitely queer. For instance, they use their ears for pockets. You see a huge, tattooed, bronze Hercules take out a lucifer match from behind one ear, and a long cigar from behind the other, while small silver change gleams in the orifices of both. From the preceding ' extracts, it will be seen that Mr. Hurlbut has within him the elements of a good pen-and-ink sketcher. What he wants chiefly is a more discriminating taste, which would enable him not merely to heighten the really valuable features of his selected compositions, but which would also guide him in rejecting such as are comparatively valueless as mere illustra tions, while they are in many cases deeply tinctured with a moral stain. We cannot enter into the " entrancing" memories, nor very deeply sympathise with the " wooing" of which he speaks in fervid tones ; and, as sober critics, must pass over without admiration the effect of " music pouring the plaintive passion of its wailing cadences through every nerve and vein of the pale, dark-eyed" Creole girls. Physiologically, we believe it to be untrue ; morally, vicious ; as a specimen of literary composition, turgid and bombastical ; and, as the production of a man or the world, unquestionably silly. Similar con demnation is extensively provoked by his frequent and almost childish reference to classical autho rities ; and even the stoker of a well-organised steamer would smile at any man who, like Mr. Hurlbut, , should condescend to inform him that his gallant ship was impelled over the ocean by " the double help of Dedalus and Watt." Fine writing is very dangerous in any species of literary gE ~. ti pf 14# 11' o o t