The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

He gives instances to show the correctness
of his description ; but as a child he was less
singular than he appears to think in poring
over New Testament pictures, and iu being
able to recite " The Babes in the Wood " and
" The Beggar's Petition." When nine years
old he insisted on going to sea, and he tells
that a relative of his family in whose ship he
sailed had orders to disgust him with the sea
by " the severest exactions of duty at all times
" and seasons, by extra watching, frequent
" mast-headings," &c. A fund mother would
scarcely have given such instructions for the
treatment of her boy. Like most of the crew,
he took with him some goods for sale :

My own adventure on this first voyage was a very
humble one, not exceeding in value NI. sterling ; for in
this, as in everything else, it VIM decided that the experi-
ment on my sea-going propensity should be made as dis-
agreeable and as little profitable as possible.

The wonder is that a boy of nine years old
should be trusted with so much. Elsewhere
he says that his " nautical instruments were
well packed and in beautiful order, and that a
small supply of books was furnished him for
the voyage"—circumstances not well according
with the instructions to make him as uncom-
fortable as possible, especially as a little later
he says :
My stock of wearing apparel, books, nautical instru•
meats, &c., with which 1 had been liberally supplied by
my dear mother and sisters, could not have coat less than
1001. sterling.

The passages are only worth noting as
raising a suspicion that Mr. Buckingham is
always disposed to strongly exaggerate what-
ever concerns himself, and that he is there-
fore in such matters not a very trustworthy
witness. In one of his voyages to the Penin-
sula he was taken prisoner and marched into
Spain, where he met with another love ad-
venture :

The governor or superintendent of the prison had a
handsome and dark-eyed young daughter about my own
age—a little past ten years old—but in Spain girls at ten
are as mature as English girls at sixteen. She occa-
sionally attended the prisoners with their food, and con-
ceived, as she afterwards confessed, a violent passion for
me, which she found it impossible to control. I may ob-
serve that even in England I was considered to be a very
handsome boy, and the charm of a clear complexion, rosy
cheeks, light blue eyes, and light brown curly hair, so
unusual in Spain, made me appear, it would seem, a per-
fect Adonis in her love-seeing eyes. She, therefore, re-
vealed to me her inmost thoughts in her own impassioned
language, which I had learnt during my voyages to Lisbon
in conjunction with the Portuguese, and which I now
sufficiently understood to comprehend every one of her
burning ph.rases, impressed as they often were by kisses of
the most thrilling intensity.

OD his return to England his mother per-
suaded him to abandon the sea, and he was
placed with a bookseller at Plymouth, where
he much frequented the theatre, and wrote a
five•act drama, which he presented to the
manager, who returned it to him with the
highest commendations of its excellence,

but with the observation that to put such a drama pro.
perly on the stage would require an outlay of from 3uol. to
0001. to do justice to its scenery, costume, and decorations ;
and that only a first-rate London company could furnish
the requisite amount and variety of talent to perform it
well.

Immediately after this he received some re-
ligious impressions, and he relates :
I became a confirmed Calvinist of the most rigid school,
as firmly believing myself to be one of thQ elect as any of
the teachers of unconditional predestination.

Then he " relapsed into worldliness; " volun-
teered to a man-of-war ; was disgusted with the
severity of the discipline and escaped ; entered
a lawyer's office; quitted it after a few months'
experience ; and for two years afterwards re-
mained happily idle. The death of his mother
at eighteen rendered him completely his own
master. She was possessed of considerable
property, which she left in the hands of
trustees, who allowed the children an income
for their support, A year later our hero fell
in love at " first sight," married at nineteen,
and, after fifty years' experience of the married
state, is now able to write

Our mutual attachment has never for a single moment
been even clouded with doubt or indifference, but we have
loved on to the end with the same fervour as we began ;
and at the approaching close of our lives find our constant
presence more essential to each other's happiness than at
any previous period of our existence.
A charming picture, but scarcely recon-
cileable with what is related in illustration of
his amatory tendencies, which he says—

found vent in the admiration of every beautiful female
face, and such susceptibility to the influence of female

407

fascination, especially when combined with song or music,
as to bind me continually in fetters, till these were loosed
by some new charm, and then reimposed and riveted
afresh.

The pleasing prospects of the newly-married
pair were soon blighted. The trustee who
gained possession of the author's property
employed it for speculative purposes, tailed,
and the whole fund was lust.

The most pleasing feature in Mr. Bucking-
ham's career is the capacity he possessed for
labour, and the success which generally at-
tended his enterprises. He notes the loss of
his property as the first instance of misfor-
tune he met with distinct from . any fault of
his own. Left destitute, he started for Lon-
don with but a small sum in his pocket,
walked from Dover to the metropolis, and took
a garret for 2s. dd. a week. He chanced to
visit a debating society, where he heard Ciale
Jones. He was interested iu the discussion :
got up, spoke for an hour, and was so much
applauded that he was pressed to become a
member of the society and share iu its profits,
a proposal he prudently declined, as such
clubs were illegal when they engaged in poli-
tical discussion. The incident must have
tended to give Mr. Buckingham confidence in
the fluency of his speech.
Waiting employment in the ship of a rela-
tive, he got engaged in a printing-office, and
subsequeHtly worked at the Clarendon press
iu OxtOrd, then set out as mate of a \Vest
Indiainau, and at twenty-one found himself
captain of a tine vessel. Subsequently he
commanded a Levant trader, took out with
him his wife and child, made many friends,
was admitted into excellent society, and at
twenty-seven had become sufficiently wealthy
to think of establishing himself as a shipowner
and merchant at Malta. This led to what he
marks as the second misfortune of his life
without fault of his own. His agent failed, all
his property was lust, and he had once more
to begin the world anew.
He next resolved to break new ground in
Egypt, was introduced to Mohammed Ali, pro-
jected many enterprises, journeyed to Bombay,
and was there appointed to the command of a
vessel; but as he had no license to stay in
India he was compelled to depart notwith-
standing his remonstrances, and thus con-
ceived that objection to the monopoly of the
Company which afterwards he strenuously
exerted himself to abolish. His labours in con-
nection with this subject constitute, we in-
cline to think, his best title to credit and re-
embrance. On his return to Egypt, Moham-
med Ali appointed him his Envoy to India ; and
the narrative ends for the present with some re-
flections on the privileges he suddenly became
invested with as regarded residence in India,
by losing his character as an Englishman, and
being clothed with a Turkish commission. Ac-
cording to Mr. Buckingham, it was owing to his
advice that the Pacha adopted those measures
for the improvement of Egypt which most
favorably distinguished his rule.
Scattered through the volumes are notices of
some remarkable people of the time, and many
passages of travel are striking in themselves,
and effectively related. The narrative ceases
when the author was in his twenty-ninth
year; and whatever opinion may be formed of
his " story," it is certain that few persons at
that age have travelled so much, had such
wide experience of life, or displayed so much
cleverness in various capacities.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
➢ool'B.

Stories in Verse. Leigh Hunt. Routledge.
The Story of The Legion of Honour, W. Blanchard.
Jerrold. Ditto.

What J Know of the Late Emperor Nicholas and his Family.
E. Tracy Turuerelli. Churton.
A Few Months in America. James Robertson. Lowman,.
Records of the Chase. Cecil. Ditto.
The Serrn•Mile Cabinet. Nemo. John F. Shaw.
7'he Library of Biblical Literature. Vol. 11. Freeman.
Scenes from the Life, Labour, and Travels of Paul, the Apostle.
Ditto.

History of the Corps of Royal Sappers and 3finers.---1.
W. J. Connolly. Lungmans.
The Quarterly Journal of Pure and .4pplied Mallomatice.
J. W. Parket.
Parisian Etiquette. Shaw.
Small Farms. Routledgs.
Israel Potter. Ditto.
Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George 111. Vols.
111. and IV. Duke of Buckingham. Hunt and Blaokatt .