The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

cheese. Mrs. Clacy enjoyed facilities for no-
ticing the objects of interest she passed ; nor
did she neglect her opportunities, for seeing a
public-house she proceeds to describe In
" front of the principal entrance is a thunder-
" ing large lamp." And here once for all we
may observe that the book before us, though
containing many interesting facts, told in a
plain unaffected way, is disfigured by slang
and strange expressions colonialisms the
authoress calls them.

At an inn (Gregory's) at whieh they stopped
" a capital cold dinner of meat, bread, cheese,
" eotree, tea, &e.," cost three shillings each.
Thus refreshed, they proceed, and the follow-
ing is a favourable specimen of Mrs. Claey's
style :

As we advanced, the thickly•wooded sides of Mount
Macedon became more distinct. and our proximity to a
part of the country which we knew to be auriferous exer-
eiseil an unaceountable yet pleasurable influence over our
spirits, which was perhaps increased by the loveliness of
the spot where we now pitched our tents for the evening.
It was at the foot of the tiap. The stately gumtree, the
shea oak, with its gracefully drooping foliage, the perfumed
yellow blossom of the mimosa, the richly-wooded mountain
in the background, milted 1.1 florin &picture too magnificent
to deseribe. The ground was carpeted with wild flowers;
the sarsaparilla blossoms creeping cverywhare; below ns
slowly rippled a clear streamlet, reflecting a thousand
times the deepening tints which the last nivs of the setting
sun flung over the summialing scenery ; the air rang with
the cawing of the numerous cockatoos and parrots of all
hues and eolours. who made the woods resound with their
tunes, whilst their restless movements and gay plumage
gave life and piquancy to the scene.
_ _

On the I ith September they perceived indiea-
tions that diggers had been at work, and in the
neighbourhood they discovered that there was
a hole " out of which five people cleared
" 18,0001. (?)" worth of gold each, in a few
hours. As Dendigo is approached, the scenery
resembles part of the lowlands of Wales.
" here we first beheld the majestic iron bark,
" the trunks of which are fluted with the
" exquisite regularity of a Doric column." At
last the veritable Biggins themselves burst
upon the view:— _

Never shall 1 forgt•t that scene : it well repaid a journey
even of sixteen thousand miles. The trees had been all
cut down ; it hooked like a sandy plain, or one vast unbroken
ant eetiSitlll of conntlems gravel-pits—the earth was every.
where turned up—metes heads in every direction were
!bopping lip and down from their holes. \•t•11 might an
Australian writer, in speaking of liendigo, term it " The
Carthage of tin 'lyre tof Forest Creek." The rattle of the
cradle, as it swayed to and fro, the sounds of the pick and
shovel, the busy hunt of so many thousands, the i iiii tinter.
able tents, the stores with large Hags hoisted above them,
Hags of every shape, col •' m and nation, fru the lion anti
•orn of England to the Russian eagle, the stnutge vet
picturesque costume of the diggers themselves, all contri-
buted to render the scene novel in the extreme.

The gulleys or ravines where the gold is
found have names which preserve the origin
of its ►liscovery. White Horse Gulley is so
called because a plunging horse of that colour
flung up the earth and uncovered the treasure.
At one place (Moonlight Flat) it was ealealated
that in the wet season one man a day was
buried alive by the earth falling into his hole.
Artisans at the diggings, •• in the long run."
make fortunes quicker than the diggers them-
selves :

Night at the diggings is the characteristic time:
murder here—murder there—reviolvers cracking—blunder-
busses lbooming—rifles going off—balls whistling—one
man groaning with *broken leg—smother shouting because
he couldn't find the way to his hole. and a third equally
vocifrnms because he bras tumbled into one—this man
swearing—another raying—a party of bacchanals chanting
various ditties to difVercut time anti tune. or rather minus
both. Here is one Mail grumbling because he has brought
his wife with him, another ditto because he has left his
or sold her for an ounce of gold or a bottle of rum.
Donnybrook Fair is not to be compstmil to an evening at
ltcndigo.

One of their female neighbours " (tunnelled
" with two doctors because they would not give
"her a written certificate that the state of her
" health required the constant use of spirits."
The party to which Mrs. Ciders brother be-
longed met with moderate success and the
usual adventures, that is to say, they lost
their way. were caught in a storm, and on
their return to Melbourne were attacked by
bushrangers and over' -cred,but were speedily
rescued by other travellers. Some romantic
tales are told of a nature which, as truth is
stranger than fiction, must be rife in a popula-
tion gathered from all classes and all countries,
all bent upon amassing gold. As it was only
on the vith of October when Mrs. Clacy reached
Melbourne, the could sca reely have been a

SATLIIDAY,

month at the diggings. Somewhere about
this time the authoress became Mrs. Clio•,
and, in making her wedding purchases, she
had further opportunities of observing the
Melbourne shops:—

Tho• must significant advertisement was one I saw in a
window in Collins•street. In the middle was a skull per•
(orated by a bullet, which lay at a little distance as if coolly
exam • gor speculating on the mischief it had done.
on one side of the skull was a revolver, and on the other
a quantity of nuggets. Above all was the emphatic inscrip-
tion, " Beware in time."

Mrs. Chisholm 's emigrants are in great re-
quest, and do well ; Mr. Sidney Herbert's
" bear a bad Hanle, and the worst reeommen-
" dation a young girl applying for a situation
" can give is to say she came out in that
" manner." On the 15th November Mrs. Clacy
and her husband embarked to return to Eng-
land, which they reached on the 27th of
February, 114:i3. She had been absent less
than a year, and the fruits of her trip has been
this volume, which, though as a literary corn•
position it is open to much improvement, as
a repertory of amusing and curious miscella-
neous information connected with the gold
colonies is a welcome addition to the library.

Irillich's Income Tax Table*. London: Longman

and Co.

Tins is a set of tables showing at a glance tit,
amount of duty payable under the act for continuing
the income tax, and progressively diminishing its
rate. As those rates are 7d., lid., 34d., ad., 24d., 20.,
and 11(1., extending from the present time down to
114611, without some assistance, to calculate the sum
due would be troublesome. Whether the tax will
meet with ready payers is one question, but these
tables are indisputably a ready reckoner. Mr.
licit is of opinion that the amount of income tax
under Mr. Gladstone's act will be six millions and a
half. Some interesting statistical information is
added. The tax of lot per cent., which in IWO pm.
awed 0,244,438/., in 114110 produced 1.2,►322,0541?.
l fill this difference arise from a fluctuation in national
wealth, or from the roguery of the payers ? if the
latter, then in IsOU the tables were turned on them
with a vengeance.

Diveorery. A Poem. By Eilward Ahlam Leathern,

M.A. Lond. London : Walton and Moberly.
Tuts little book contains sixty-six pages, and is di-
vided into three parts ; each part is preceded by an
analysis, which is indeed of great use, for it helps
to the meaning of the poem. Discovery is personi-
fied, and treated as the active agent in every event
and relation of life. The verse is generally smooth,
the rhyme faultless, and, in the days of Addison and
Queen Anne, this would have been thought a per-
formance of promise. In the days of Queen 'Victoria
it would be a good prize poem, of which, indeed, it
forcibly reminds us, only it is too long. When the
author forgets his learning, and meals "the sunny
heath and scenes of childhood," if his lines are less
" correct," his images are more like poetry•. This is
very like it :

"-Thy shady limes, which, priests among the tree•.
Waved their sweet cense►s in the grateful breeze."
But this is neither poetical nor even smooth—a
stream,

" And, a it rolled in languid eddies by,
Settned cooling itself there ao leiatuely."

Er►►►enyerde Syd►►'y ; or, Home Sketches. London :

- -
Hope and Co.
Tins little volume is dedicated "to those at whose
request it was written ;" and, as the author concludes
with an allusion to the persons whose characters are
sketched in it, we believe the work to be a record of
realities and not a fiction. Chapter 1., of five pages,
introduces us to an orphan, Mande Lyle. Chapter
11. opens with the same orphan, walking with a lady
up and down a terraced walk in front of an old, grey-
stone, gable-ended, and window-mullioned country
house. " After a silence of some minutes, the elder
" lady spoke Then, Maude, you have quite de-
" termineil upon accepting Lord Chetaynd's offer""
Who would not suppose that we had plunged its
media* rep. at once, and that. the tale commenced with
a marriage' But the "otter" is only for a horse. A
number of ordinary ladies and gentlemen, who bear
aristocratic names—Bouverie, Stanley, Herbert,
Vavasoor, Everard, Lyle, dc. ke., with corresponding
Christian names—Boland, Basil, de., with Edith,
Ennengarde, Evelyn, AT. .(c., now appear, and the
rest of tht4book is made up of their very ordinary
conversaf . They seem to have plenty of money,
carriages, horses, servants, .(e. de., and no doubt
spent their time pleasantly ; but the author appears
to suspect that their sayings and doings will be inte-
resting only to themselves. This suspicion is Or'

NOVEMBER 19, 1853.

rect. The work ix barren of incident, and destitute
of interest for the general reader. The verses pre.
Axed to the chapters, some from Longfellow and
Hood, are pretty. The literary taste of the author
is good, and the appreciation of Amy Herbert just.
We fancy a lady wrote these " Home Sketches," and
that they would not have been published except at
the request of others.

The Napoleon Dynasty. By the Berkeley Men and
Another. London: Clarke, Breton, and Co.
Tins volume is a reprint of the American work of
the same title. The style is sharp, strong, and
readable, fully up to the mark of good pamphleteer-
ing, never lower, and never higher. the object of
the work is to give a favourable picture of the
" House of Bonaparte " from a democratic point of
view, and to advocate the political system of the
Empire. Although, in its reprinted edition before
us, the work has been "adapted for English circula•
tion," there are so many offensive passages still in-
terspersed through its spirited narratives and lively
sketches, that it is impossible to suppose that the
volume could ever become popular in this country.
Those, however, who wish to have a summary view
of the " Napoleon Dynasty," and to know " Who's
who !" amongst the numerous race of the Bona-
partes, may consult this volume with nth-wady.

A Whom, and other Tales. By the Author of "Olive,'
"The Head of the Family," ,t e. ,te. London:
Smith, Elder, and Co.

Timis volumes are a collection of tides reprinted
from various magazines. They will not add to the
literary reputation of the writer, and it would have
been better for her not to draw attention to the ear-
liest. specimens of her composition. She lia.4 greatly
improved slim these desultory• pieces were published.
It is very• rarely that collections of magazine papers
like these are successful. Headers of fiction wish to
have their interest sustained by a long story• during
three volumes, and not frittered away upon mere
anecdotes and brief sketches of superficial nature.
The only chance of making short pieces in fiction
permanently Mlzsetive is by elaborating the style
with exquisite art, after the fashion of Etalzae. Such
condensation, however, can scarcely be expected
from writers who must produce their six vultures
every year.