The Press.
London, England, 1853-07-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

sinters at one time bCCIII to have been placed
MI a l►reud-►uui water diet, and were once ex-
posed to broil their I►eef themselves, like
heroes in the "Iliad," when the thumb of
their etrtiste was hurt in service. Count Mon-
tholon apprised the orderly otlieer of the
" general consternation," and requested a sig-
nal to be made with all haste, as if the kith of
Caesar and Wane depended upon it :

You etuund conceive t wrote O'M extra) how the drooping
spirits of both were revived at the exhilatv►tiug sight of the
French cook. General Montholott observed to me how
prols•r Itnd necessary it would be to have a etsek in reserrr
t like a spare topmast 1, in ease of any unforeseen cab iiii ity
befalling la. ; for," said he, "what would become
of us if any *evident happened to hint ? What could we
do? OW only knows r This was aceomptutied with such
tut interrogatory countenance, so expressive of expected
misery, that he put me in mind of a condemned criminal,
for whom no hopes of panlon existed. imploring the aid of
a confessor. When Jetumette (a French kitehemnaid)
tu•rived, Maitre Le Page, after having an observation at
het', declared his intend (610oi lie had spoken a single
word to her) of nituTying her. l'iprani, the maitre &hotel,
to wl he expressed himself, told hint that it would be
necessary first to teteelitilli that she hail not aiready a hus-
band, in', perhaps. II lover. " Oh! that last is no•
thing," said I,e Page; " I don't care how many she limy
have hail of them." Then, 11 1111 l Mg, with his arm in 14
sling, towards her, said he, " Madam, are yea nuuried?'
'• No, sir." "'Then, it• you please, I will uuu•n• you ium►e-
diately." She told hint, however, that she could not think
ut• it so very soon. "At last," said she, " let tue wait two
or three days first ;" which he consented to do with great
apparent reluettume.

Mr. O'Meara had less reluctant.° in reveal-
ing other secrets of Hymen and VCIMI4 made
known to him in his professional character ;
nor ever missed MI Oellitriloli of indulging in
such indecent ribaldry. But Mr. Forsyth de
clines soiling his pages with details that seem
to have administered especial delight to the
Cabinet Itlttl 111-1110 USC. Generally speak-
ing, the rudest health and appetit4.94 were the
rule on the rock, and, however easy the transi-
tion from such eating to the hospital, the
"bulletins" were " cooked up" chiefly to
create an idea of livers hteerated by climate.
The medical notes of one ease will suffice :
tiourgasti is now recovering from dysentery, of which
he has bad a severe attack. I luring his illness I never
saw a luau, 'minty so nitwit rear of dying as he did on
various occanions : in fact., 1 was completely seandalised at
Miring a man of the sword No excessively timorous. One
night a barge black beetle got into the bed and crawled up
abongsitie of him. Ilisdlstr stusl imaginat. • mntediately
magnified this insect into a devil, or some other formidable
appouition, armed with taboos, long teeth, and ready to tear
away his lingering soul (ruin its rtal abode. Ile
shrieked, lleeatue terribly agitated, convulsed, ot cold sweat
bedewed his pallid face, and, when I entered, he presented
all the appearance of a num about to expire with the most
terrific ideas of what. would bto his future lot; and it was
nut until after a considerable time that he was restored to
Monte d..tnn t of CI omptot4llll.. 1111131 who, when
he roma, here first, most itstentatismsly IlYsisteril a sword
to the Misty Italcom I WS, W 1111.1.1. he 1110 rerivsetited
in the act of killing a Cossack who wan endeavouring to
take lionmparte prisoner, with a pompons inseript• de.
scribing the partieulars. At the end of the Wade hr made
them ohserve a spot, which he explained to the young
ladies as being stained with the blo ts! of two Knglislimen
slain by him at the battle of Waterloto. Ile also added,
that at the MOM battle he might. readily have made the
!hike of Wellington, prisoner; but that, indeed, he saw the
bnsiuess WWI decided, and was unwilling to promlitee any
more effusion of human Wool.

A change for the better (-lune over the spirit
of Napoleon himself when O'Meara, the double
spy and (miter, was sent away, As he found
the chance of the Whigs coming in, and of his
getting out, hopeless, he ceased to shut him-
self sulkily up ; the improvement in his health
and manners was manifest ; lie refreshed his
spirits in his garden, with the children of Ber-
trand playing about him. The picture of the
ex-Emperor delving and digging himself forms
a oilman! l i to I Hoeletian boasting of his "fine
vegetables" at Spalatro, and with Charles V. dis
porting amid his garlic beds at Yuste. " Nit-
" roleon defended his little terntory against
" invasion by animals with as much energy as
" when at the head of armies." January Ist,
volatilities the report:—" He was out till gun-
" tire (nine tieback), looking at the boys and
" others tiring crackers. The next. day he
" was amusing himself with the pipe of the
" tire-engine spouting water on the trees and
" flowers ; at other times he takes a watering-
" pot in his hand, nor did he mind a little lain."
On these occasions the robes of the ex-Caesar.
with their linings of care and ermine, were laid
aside for " at white gown and straw hat with /I
" broad brim "—a costume more com
and horticultural than imperial. Soothed by
I kW tloweru, braced by exerc6c and ruse air,

257

ho extvinled his amusements, and the amiahlo
features of his eharaetor are thus 'Awn to ad-
vantage, when ho sallied forth on a picnic to
the grounds of Sir William Doveton

On the wonting of the Ills of I/slather, ass the old
gentionnua was taking his usual walk before Nettle:lt. be
oltservetl several persons sat hortwlsick coming towards
his II se, and, en reconnoitring wlth hig spyglass,
(sired they wen• the party from Longwo4,4l, t'onitt
Months,lsm dim 111111 l ited tirom his home, and Sir William'
went to the door to rts_sive the 'smut informed him
that this Emperor presented his compliments, and re-
'pleaded he might come ;teal rest himself. Sit W Attain
replied that lie should he glad to see him, and that any
awettn 1111 l slat bait his house atlitnled was 111 lis anal
Ilottapterte's t.erviee. Msaltholon then mounted ht. home.
anal having joined the party, they all entered the lawn.
Unfortunately the venendolo knight was quite ignorant of
the French language, 'aid could lady csa Inv
thraitgli the medium of t'atitid. Bertrand, whose knotvileilgit
of English was not as perfect as it might have been.
However, Sir William mule his eemplimente it. the best
111411111.1' he couhl, and, as Itoitaparte appeared a good deal
fatigued, he 11.1111eStell that he would walk its and rest blue
11110111tIliell the ex.l.:liiiivror Nalveuwed towards the door,
and 011 1.0111i141 1111 this Alert wets Ily Itertimulti
arm. Hr sat eta the sofa, and entered into ettitrermattiam
with his boost through Bertrand as interpreter. iloserveng
Sir William's eldest. grotalolaughter in the mom, he said
he supposed she was about ten years old. Ile was bold
she was only !Seven, KIRI his &Idled her to him, plastid tan
of his lingers over her noose, and gave her a piel'l. of
which lie tosak front a small tortoiseshell box.
Sir William Dovetim begged Itertranal to inform Ilona-
party that he hoped he would stop and loreakfitat with Mtn;
but this the Must ri 111 l S visitors 1114'111114, saying they had
lorsought their sawn breakfast, told prefermil taking it on
the lawn. Sir William emleavisured to dissuade him frame
this, saying that the house, anal whatever accommodation
he could afford, wets at their service, and he hook Kane
pause Seel Itoiranal into the wristlet, where he 11/tinted
to a large pat of fresh butter on the breaktasttable, toying
it was sit the 141.131111 of WS guests. Upon this Ilona-
parte tanilssl, awl gently took hold of his last's right is%
as was his custom whets he wished to signify his allonym.
They then returned to the drawing Atom, and Itsintspatio
resumed his Sent all the sofa. SIMIII afterwards, toile of
Sir Williant'os daughters, Mrs. Onside' s., came into the
room with her youngest child in her arms, and Napoleon
rose and pointed to the sofa as a sign she was to sit them.
Two id' her little girls had each their Humes taken hula sal
by the tillable visitor, and received I'l'olllllllll a Slllllll 1164'11
of liquartire. In the meantime Yount Monthailifil had got
ot table anal laid it an the lawn. Sir William I tovetiut sent
10111 It Variety ist.l4l/11111 things, anal then the a. t alone in
and a 11l samictsl that Illellk(1114 was ready. Their least aas
1'e11111.1414 le go and share their meal, whit+ he slid, taking
with hint, he says, a pint bottlos of Mount Pleasant water
(alum linings) shrub), made by his daughter, anal four
liqueur-glatises. Ifiampotrie reserved for hint a chair on
his right hand, mid desired him to sit them. Alter doing
justice to wend /41111SIIIIItiall Siltllllll, 110111111S111. filled a small
tumbler of champagne for Sir William and another file
himself, and he afterwards drank a gloss of the shrub.
wins thee 111'01101i, HMI 11.1111111131111. 111111141.11 that
Mrs. 1;114'10We Slam . anal partake sal it. After alas
haul boded the coffee, which she t's)ttitil and disagree
able, Bannipartoi tilled a liimenr-glans with shrub and
ottbreil it to her. The party then 111S4', Mei No 111101111!
handed Mrs. Oreentree into the Manse, where fie ithak his
former seat on the sofa, with her beside hill. lit the
camese of the eionveraat' he put his favourite question to
Sir William Dovetail', mill asked him, through 'omit
Bertrand, whillier be ever gnat drunk to whit+ Sir
William replied, rather " I like a gloists of wine•
l li1111.14." Ile that. hinted too Mrs. Oreentrue, anal ite•
" I low tenet' ol.wm your husband gel drank Is he
sal Heusi a week " She answered," Na." "Is Ile 41111.4.
Is ortnight ? " She again replied, " Na..'' "(Mee a ;teasels
"NO ; it is Mains• years toeless I Saw him Ms." Ils.thipartit
then said " halt !" and eltatigeal the isieweisottion. After
sitting Males' tissue he MSS and Is Mlk leave, holding Iler.
telll4l'S arm 1114 /11l went 1141W11

The breakfast (Mir William tells us) consisted of a 1 11111
111111141 1111111, l'lll4l turkey, curried fowl, ham, sir 'mirk, 1
Would not hell which, 14111/ e, 11/41114, id ds, oranges, and A
very tine salad. From every appearance loin his pole
Cllllllll' it might be concluded mum
iii giMMt health: his face is 10.11 ill imhingly fat, and his Is sly
and thighs very round and plwup. leaved, to Ilse the
gn4sil knight's owe %/11.111/, which 1411! 111111.1* I'librepo.i%l' 1111111
111.g11111, " he Wilted ■u fa 111111 Its 111111111 114 11 Clung pig."
" Uu sublime au riJicule, it uy it pay.•'

The elietoes. A Novel. London . Bentley.
Wie. have derived from the perusal of this work
great, and what we may call legitimate, plea-
sure, though we tear it. ►nay not take the ',wee
in public estimation! to which its meti Ls entitle
it. It is essentially a domestic novel, de
cribing ordinary characters moving in ordinary
life. and it seeks to awaken the interest of the
reader rather by analysing their feelings than
by following them into stirring and exciting
sit mit ion's. This is not, we fear. a style adapted
too the public taste--corrupted by the litcraturc
that. strives to ti•cd the mot•lrid appetite of the
present age tin• excitement, by unnatural skim
lion's, and, too often, by visions sentiment.
Readers are more likely to be attracted by the
.)laruws and complaints of a worldly hviviuv,

258

than by the calm reflections of the well-regu-
lated mind of an Alice Clinton. Exciting
and interesting situations of a passion-tossed
heroine are more consonant to their taste than
the ordinary trials and vicissitudes that befal
Lilian.
But the worldly Mrs. Clinton is well reflected
in the character of her daughter, the much-
admired and flattered Lilian, while the similes
of di&rence are well marked, and become
more evident when the chastisements that
overtake the spoiled child of society bring them
into strong relief. There is something to us
irresistibly touching in the pure and unselfish
mind of Alice : the man seems to us rather
deserving of pity who cannot find deep 'plea-
sure in contemplating her character, soft and
feminine, while it never loses an exalted per-
severance in its estimate and its practice of
virtue and self-denial. Wilfred is an unaffected
portraiture of an exemplary and conscientious
clergyman, meek, self-controlling, and zealous
in what ho considers the duties of his calling.
The subordinate characters aro well described
and consistently maintained, though it must
be acknowledged that there are evident marks
of want of practice in the writer ; but this is
more than redeemed by many passages of great
beauty, nay, of a very high order of merit. We
must add that the pure and elevated Chris-
tianity, combined with a refined love for all
that is good and beautiful, are quite sufficient
to place this book very high in the estimation
of the cultivated reader. As a specimen of its
gentle and graceful workmanship we extract
the following :
Alice repined at the fate which had made her fatherless,
and struggled hard not to resign herself, but to conceal her
slifferings. Her soul was darkened for a time, and her
faith grew weak.
Let no one judge her harshly, or say that her sin was
heavy. She had grown up in happiness, in the conae' %-
Hens of a father's protecting love and sympathy. She haul
looked up to Heaven in joy and thankfulness, and felt, as
in a dream, that she had a Father there whom she loved
and trusted. lint now the whole current of her lifit was
changed—its one great blessing was removed. The sun
had fallen front her firmament—her joy was at an end, and
her thankfulness failed with it. Her dreamy faith could
not support her now—her beautiful imaginings had va.
Waked before the reality of her grief. Earth seemed a
body, barren waste ; Heaven an unreal, Omni-land, bright
goritaps, but distant, iutatrgible, and comfortless. lier
*kit was crushed, and made no effort to arise. A frost
had fallen on the spring-time of her heart, and its buds
had risked. She could not feel that it had but retarded
whose native soil wes that stricken heart.
'OM itsitmared silently anti bitterly at first, if not without
Mos, at lost without consolation. Ilut,even to her, time
knight a diminution of suffering : and when the trees
were green, and the air fragrant with the breath of early
summer—when the sunset light fell with golden radiance
on the smooth turf aunt smoother stream, and the rejoicing
dowers came thronging up front the dark earth—then, in
the midst of Alice's deep grief, a softening inthienee was
acknowledged, and the spirit of the season infused itself
into her heart. She was not happy—not even peaceful :
there were days when she almost munutired at the beauty
and gladness of surrounding things, so unsuited to the
darkness within her; but these days were few, and us the
ear advanced she felt more aidmon• calmed by the sweet
influences of nature. She was formed to feel those in-
Mummers, to listen reverently to the teachings of outward
things—to look on the hook of Nature as tiod's unwritten
word ; and if to her its characters were dim, and she could
not read their meaning, it was from their own excessive
radiance &Ming her untaught vision.
Summer came, and all was bright and beautiful without,
and, to a casual observer, twareely less so within t el.
sent There was no ehange, satyr that one was eh-
sent ; and the sable garb of those who reinained behind
was all that revealed that that one would never return.
Ws vacant chair was not to be seen—his picture was re-
moved front the wall—his boat no longer lay inoored be-
sitit• the chesmit-tree—even his dog was gone—it had be-
come the companion of Wilfred : all these mute memorials
had ditiappeared—o' They were too painful," Mrs. Clinton
said—and not one was spared.
Why cannot we cherish the memory of the loved and
lost, when time has healed the sting of parting, without
injury to oar happiness" Why must we east away every-
thing that recals the departed one, or else gvieve when
the sight of each treasured relic ltrings back the thought of
him whom we shall shortly fidlow ? Surely because our
spirit's sight is more dint, our spirit's love more cold than
even this tenement of clay need make them—because we
do not give more than mere intellectual assent to those
are
tides of our (treed which tell 1114 Of the communion of
saints, the restuvection of the body, and the life ever
lasting.

Perms. III• Alexander Smith. London

Rogue.
THE wide-spread race of the Smiths have
hitherto signally failed in tho cultivation Of
the divine art of Poesy, though they, could
besot amongst their tribe of the heroism of

THE PRESS.

Acre, the wit of Peter Plymley, and the Odle.
sophy of " The Wealth of Nations." As if to
show that their invocations of the muse were
fruitless, it has been only with "Rdeeted Ad
dresses" that their patronymic has been joined.
They put in an almost urgent claim for the right
to count the stirring ballads of the Honour-
able George Percy Smythe its trophies of their
talents, but the Court of Heraldry rejected
their suit, and ruled that there was as much
difference between Mr. Anybody Smith and a
Percy Smythe as between a horse-chesnut and
a Chesnut horse. All difficulties the Smiths
could undertake, but to scale the time-how aired
mount frequented by those prodigies of the
fair sex—those nine old maids whom nice
young men by the Isis and the Cam are per-
petually wooing. An " Albert" appeared at
last, but he could only ascend Mont Blame,
and his " Wassail Bowl" had not even one drop
of Hippocrene. At length an " Alexander"
has come, who will be called " great" at least
amongst the Smiths. His achievement, how-
ever, in " the ascent of Mount Parnassus" loses
its brilliancy in its being simultaneously per-
formed by the particularly comical Mr. buck-
stone. We shall not follow out the suggested
comparison, though, when a man assures us
with such intensity as our young poet that
ho has taken us up to the highest peak of Par-
nassus, we feel a strong disposition to offer
our aid in taking him down! Our readers
must not Maine us on this occasion for being
too figurative, as we have been just in com-
pany and caught the disorder, which the fresh
air of criticism will we hope remove.
We have no desire to be harsh in criti-
cising Mr. Smith's pretensions to inspirittion.
We cordially agree with Professor Aytoun
"that young poets should be treated kindly." 4:
We conceive that we say a great deal for Mr
Alexander Smith when we acknowledge that
he is a poet. His beauties must be obvious to
any one with an ear for cadence, or a taste for a
lavishly imagerial style; and his faults must be
scarcely less patent to those who revolt from
puerile excess of ornament and extravagance of
conception. His master merit is the singular
melody of his sweetly-tuned verse, and his
greatest misfortune that his muse has been
" finished" at a cockney boarding-school. A
single line of his own describes his style :
" Up bubbling 'mid a world of greenery,"
which might be put on his titlepage. Of
greenery,"indeed, there are enough of ver-
dant passages in the volume to cause as much
rapture to Mr. Leigh Hunt us all the stalls in
Covent-garden. Surely that prince of the
cockneys might have poured forth the follow-
ing ecstasy :

Why, even 1,
Sitting in this bare chamber with my thoughts,
Am richer than ye all. despite your bales,
Your streets or WRIVIIIIIIPA'3, your mighty mills,
Each booming like a wool(' faint heard in spare.
Your ships; unwilling fires, that day and night
Writhe in your serviee seven years, then die
Witl 1 one taste of pram. Ito ye believe
A simple primrose on a grassy bank
Eorthpeeping to the sun, a wild bird's nest,
The great orb dying in a ring of clouds,
like hoary Jacob 'ming his waiting SOUS:
The rising moon, and the young stars of I kxl,
An• things to love? With theme my soul is brimmed;
With a diviner and serener joy
Than all thy heaven of moneybags can bring
Thy dry heart, Worldling
But there are vastly better things in the
volume, though its beauties and its faults are
nearly equally divided. As a specimen of the
author's mode of utterance, we will take it part
of the rhapsody which he puts into the mouth
of a young poet :
As a wild maiden, with loveslrinking eyes.
Sees ill sweet dreams a beaming Youth of Glory,
And wakes to weep, and ever atter sighs
For that bright vision till her hair is hoary ;
Ey'll so, alas ! is my life's-passion story.
For Poesy my heart and pulses beat,
For Poesy my blood nuis red mid fleet.
As Moses serpent the Egyptians' swallowed.
One passion eats Ih*. rest. lily stud is follow'd
By strong ambition to outt.oll a lay,
Whose melody will haunt the world for aye.
Charming it onward on its golden way.
[Tears the parer and paces the runes with
.tio4nlerell steps.
Oh, that my heart wenk quiet as a grave
Asleep in moonlight !
For, as a torrid sunset. boils with gold
Up to the zenith, tierce within my soul
A passion bunts front basement to the cope.

• ruLtti, wde (p. us).

SATURDAY,

Poesy ! Poesy ! I'd give to thee,
As passionately; my rich•laden years,
My-bubble pleasures. and my awrial joys.
As He►o gave her trembling sighs to tiud
Delicious death on wet Leander's lip.
• s s r

'Tis not for me, ye Heavens ; not for me
'l'o fling a Poem, like a comet, out,
Faysplendouring the sleepy realms of night.
cannot give men glimpses so divine,
As when, upon a reeking night, the wind
Draws the lode curtains of the vapoury clouds,
And shows those wonderful, mysterious voids,
Thmbbing with stars like pulses.
The ,judicious reader will see at a glance
that tins style of poetry is fairly obnoxious to
the criticism which may be applied to thy
followers of Keats and Tennyson. Musical
in its utterance, maudlin in its sentiment,
graceful in phrase but confused in its imagery,
occasionally hyper-sesthetic and elaborately
obscure, it delights one faculty in disgusting
another. There is an old college story that, when
the Tennyson brothers were in early days in-
voking the muse together, Mr. Charles Tenny-
son burst forth with the exclamation, " Alfred r
I do not wish to be in your way, so I'll
resign my inspiration to yore "
Lifu
Drama," by Alexander Smith, is so like tht
production of a Tennyson in his teens as
almost to suggest that the name is a pseudo-
nyme, and that the resigning brother has re
claimed the munificent gift of his " inspira-
tion," and bestowed it thus unfiltered upon flit.
uninquiring

Letter to John Bright, Esq., M.P., relative to the.
recent Debates in Parliament on the hulk
Question. By 'John Clark Marshman. Lou'
don : Allen and Co.
'lnc editor of the Friend of India is entitled to-
be heard on an Indian question ; and the more,
so as he fairly represents what may be called
the Liberal-Conservative party of Anglo-Asiatic •
politics. A general supporter of Government.-
in Calcutta, but an hottest advocate of bit-by-
bit reforms, he seems to fear more from tho
exaggeration of ardent innovators than front
the habitual apathy of the English public. Ho
objects to delay on the old ground of " un-
setling men's minds," " weakening authority,
and encouraging " excitement" among tho
native population—arguments long since dis-
posed of, and which we are sorry to see a really
well-informed writer condescending to use.
He does not dispute the miserable condition
of the Bengal ryots, for which, indeed, his own.
authority lots been quoted, but exonerates
liovernment from blame, laying all the fault.
on the zemindar, or landlord, whose powers
under the Cornwallis settlement are practically
unlimited. But this attempt to shift the reti-
ponsibility will not do. Who gave the zemindar
these powers ? And if abused, why are they not
modified or withdrawn ? A despotic bureatt•
erne' lots faults enough to answer for but
among its few merits is that of being ablo
effectually to cheek the tyranny of one class
over another. If it fails in doing that, its sole
claim to be tolerated is done away. 1)r.
Marshman expatiates on the magnificence of
certain public works recently undertaken,
especially in the Punjab ; conveniently for-
getting to apply the only fair test by which
the exertions of the Company in this depart
ment can be judged—the proportion of their
expenditure to the revenues they receive.
This is, we believe, about one and a half per
cent.. while not one-punter per cent. is ex-
pended on education. He defends the salt
tax, not wholly without reason, on the ground
of necessity ; and excuses the anarchical stato
of Bengal (where gang robberies and faction
fights are of daily occurrence) by alleging tho
want. of a resident governor, distinct from the
governor-general, whose functions call him
elsewhere. For the judicial administration ho
has not much to say—as witness the follow
ing:—
That the administration of civil justice in India is la-
mentably defective will be readily admitted by every ono
who is acquainted with the state of the laws and the
courts. In the older province% the system of legal pro-
cedure was borrowed from the English comas at a time
when English law was considered the perfection of reason,
iuul the Indian coats unhappily retain too much of the
system after public confidence in it has been shaken, if not
destmyed, in England. The legal procedure in the older
provinces is technical, tedious, and complicated. and
atierds the largest scope fur the exercise of that chicanery

1
is