The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

" the Parliament of Man," and " the federation of the
world," &c.
Suddenly, the national cant about peace changes to a
warlike ardour; Mr. Bright and his friends become highly
unpopular ; schoolboys learn eloquence in denouncing the
Czar; the much•despised barrack-lounger changes cigars
for scars, and shows himself a hero.
Mr. Tennyson, in consequence, turns his ploughshare
into a weapon of offenee, and flourishes it about in a fright-
ful way. ' It is time," we are told, that Peace, " that old,
hysterical, mock-disease, should die ; " for it is
Full of wrongs and shames
Horrible, hateful, monstrous, not to be told.
The Czar is "a giant liar," and—
Jack at his sie•house door

Is as full of hes as a Czar.

This is mere rant. It is as weak to contemn the
blessings of peace, because we are at war, as it would have
been to despise and deny the grave and dread necessities
of war, because they had enabled us to enjoy forty years of
peace. There is an atheism in both extremes of
belief.

In striking contrast with Mr. Tennyson's present
warlike fervour, we take some lines from "In
Memoriam," on the ring-bells of the new year :

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite ;

Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
We fear that the Laureate's predictions of the bene-
fits to be derived from war will be as little realised as
his anticipation of the " thousand years of peace."
The review on the "Ferns of Great Britain," in the
present rage for those plants, will be found full of
information, containing notices of all the leading
works upon the subject, and many valuable hints
upon the books to be read and those to be avoided.
The reviews of " The Newcomes" and the "Noctes "
are both clever and critical. Murray's and Beste's
" Travels in America," Seymour's "Black Sea," and
Duncan's " Year in Asia Minor," meet with favorable
notice. The summary of French and German lite-
rature is ably sustained, and one of the best reviews
of Dumas' "Roman dine Femme," appears in the
present number.

The Dublin opens with a review of the win., in
which the plan of the campaigns is criticised, the
tone being taken from General Klapka's late stric-
tures upon the war and its management. In the
remarks on the Baltic campaign a correct estimate
is given of the bombardment of Sweaborg

Of the bombardment of Sweaborg we confess we are not
inclined to form so favorable an opinion. It was an incon•
sequential and useless operation, not calculated to enhance
the general estimation of the daring qualities of our
seamen ; while its results in the exposure of the bad quality
of the ordnance employed, and the deficiency of its supply,
cannot but lower the character of our administration in the
eyes of the world. Had it, indeed, been possible to take or
to destroy that ancient Swedish fortress, the moral effect
of the blow might have been incalculably great. As it wag,
the enthusiasm of the Swedes was raised to a high pitch by
the sound of our guns, only to be lowered again by a reac•
tion of disappointment at its small signification, which will
throw another obstacle in the way of their so far over-
coming their fear of the giant of the North, as to permit of
their adhesion to an active league against his aggressive
tyranny.

The object of the war, the Dublin asserts, is not so
much the balance of power and the security of the
Ottoman empire as the " humiliation of Russia."
With possession of the Crimea the object of the war
it is declared would be gained. "The Dramatic
Writers of Ireland " is continued, and the present
chapters include sketches of the dramatic works of
Moore and Maturin. For light reading we have two
or three chapters of the " Fortunes of Glencore," in
which a wealthy, selfish diplomatist is cleverly
sketched. For critical review one of Owen Mere-
dith's poems must not be passed over. It is
critically and well written, and passes a high en-
comium upon the first effort of this young writer :
We think he has, beyond any doubt, established his
claim [as a poet] ; and we believe he will yet take a high
rank. He has all the elements necessary for success—a
quick fancy, and good imaginative power, combined with
the more solid gifts of intellect, the faculties of reflection
and reasoning. He has, too, a large measure of what all
true poets have—a perception and love of all beauty,
natural and moral ; to these are added a singularly happy
and vivid ability for description, and a fine warmth of
feeling ; nor is the mechanism of his art wanting in rich
felicitous language, at times, too, very vigorous.
The criticism, we hear, is ascribed to Mr. Lever, and

Owen Meredith it is now well known is the nom de
plume of the promising heir of Sir E. Bulwer
Lytton.
Tait, in fulfilment of its intention expressed in the
last number of reviewing the works of some of our
most eminent anglish authors) sommenoss with a

SATURDAY,

brief review of those of Sidney. If such a subject
is worth treating it is worth treating well; and we
hope that the promised notice of Spenser will be
mure in accordance with his merit and the honour
due to the English literature of that period.
" Reading Raids " contains some clever critical
sketches of Mr. Kingsley's works, while the " Life of
Swedenborg " includes many curious and original
anecdotes connected with that singular man. About
a month previous to his death he clearly predicted
the day and hour he should die, and as the day ap-
proached he sent for a Swedish clergyman and took
the Sacrament:—

Before he engaged in the solemn ceremonial, he pro-
tested the truth of all he had written. Afterwards he
again mentioned the day on which he should die; and the
servant in her simplicity said, that he seemed as pleased
as she should have been it' she were going to some merry-
making.
On Sunday, the 29th of March, 1772, his powers all ac-
tive and clear, the maid and mistress were sitting by his
bedside, when the clock struck. He asked what o'clock it
was. They answered " Five." He said, "It is well-1
thank you—God bless you," and in a moment after his
spirit gently and peacefully passed away.
It seems unjust to condemn Swedenborg as a mad-
man. He was a man of an extraordinary imagina-
tive power, acted upon by a powerful intellect highly
cultivated ; but that he positively first anticipated any
of the great discoveries of modern philosophers we can
scarcely believe. Swedenborg was a man who
wrote upon every possible subject iu philosophy and
science, and, with such an imaginative mind as he
possessed, it is not impossible that he should here
and there have touched the limits of modern dis-
covery. But this is always the case before great
discoveries. Vague writers long before Newton's
time anticipated points of the " Pnncipia," but it re-
quired the master-mind to shape their indefinite
views. Swedenborg may not have been mad, but be
had no control over his imagination, which ran riot
in rhapsody and dreamy mysticism.

The Watchman. By J. A. Maitland. London :

Routledge.
A TILE of New York life, with the moral object of
showing us that virtue and honesty are the only
sources of happiness and success in life, while vice
and immorality lead to failure and disgrace—an ex-
cellent view of life, but not necessarily the correct
one. The story, intended as a companion tale to
" The Lamplighter," is made up of the most common
materials. The hero, a foundling nurtured by " The
Watchman "—who is the virtuous poor man, striving
with difficulties and overcoming temptation—goes to
sea and is supposed to be lost, till at the end of the
volume he turns up as a rich Calcutta merchant,
full of virtue and hard cash, returns to New York, and
of course marries his benefactor's daughter, who proves
to be a model of beauty and constancy. In the interval
several characters are introduced, all with the same
purpose in view—the honest prosper, and the rogues
die early.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOORS.

Posthumous Sermons. Rev. J. Watt. B.D. Hatohard.
English Roots and the Derivation of Words. E. N. Hoare,
A.M. J. W. Parker and Son.
The Hand Place-Book Edinburgh : Blackie and Son.
The Tribes of the Caucasus. Baron Von Haxthausen.
Chapman and Hall.
Familiar Words, as Affecting the Conduct of England in
18515. Triilmer and Co.
The Poetical Works of Lord Byron. A New Edition in Six
Vols. Vol I. Murray.
The Lances of Lynwood. J. W. Parker and Son.
Report of the Cholera Outbreak in Westminster in 1854.
J. Churchill.
Works of the Rev. Thomas M'Crie. Part 11. Life of John
Knox. Blackwoods.
An Essay on Intuitive Morals. Part I. Theory of Morals.
Longmans.
Love's Provocations. Cuthbert Bede, B.A. Ward and Lock.

The Origin and Progress of the National and Industrial
Schools. Masters.
A Few Stray Verses. A Spirit of the Cam. Bosworth.
Inverse Elementary Tactics of Cavalry. A.B.C. Do.
Tracts for the Present Crisis. 1, to 19.
Administrative lieformers, What have they done! A Letter
to S. Morley, Esq. Effingham Wilson.
The Life Boat. Charles Knight.
The True History of Alexander, John, and Patrick.
Glasgow: M'Nair.
A History of the Dissenters' Marriages Bill of 1855. Hull
Terrell. Theobald.

The IVest of Scotland Magazine. Glasgow: Murray
and Son.
Macphail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal. Simpkin
and Marshall.

M. Swan; the Civil Governor of Madrid, died
in the capital on the Bth instant.
Bator; DE BOURQUEHEY, French Ambassador at
Vienna, who arrived a few days back in Paris on
short *it, has spin returned to his poste

OCIVBER 13, 1855.

FAREWELL DINNER TO MR. THACKERAY,
A FAREWELL dinner was given at the London Tavern,
on Thursday, to Mr. Thackeray, who sails for New
York this day. The banquet was a private one, but
its character entitles it to record. About sixty gentle-
men assembled, a number which would have been
swelled to three hundred and upwards, could the
applications for tickets have been acceded to. Litera-
ture and art were very amply represented. Mr. Charles
Dickens took the chair in the earlier part of the
evening, and delivered a single speech, in which,
with his accustomed felicity of expression, he gave
utterance to the sentiment which had brought the
party together, that of honour and regard for the
distinguished man " whom we were about to loan to
Brother Jonathan, on the understanding that he
should be returned with good interest." Mr.
Thackeray's acknowledgment was full of geniality,
and he introduced some recollections of certain his-
torical leave-takings, of a peculiarly grave description,
with great humour and effect. Mr. Douglas Jerrold
subsequently took the chair, proposed several toasts
with much brilliancy, and elicited some charac-
teristic speeches from members of the party, and one
of Mr. Thackeray's best songs from that gentle.
man himself. The dinner was admirable, and the
wines were especially choice. Some of the dishes
bad been christened in honour of the Newcomes,
Becky Sharp, la Fotheringay, drc. Among the party
were Lord Tenterden, the Rev. James White, Mr.
Beckett, Mr. Macready, Mr. Stanfield, Mr. D.
Roberts, Mr. Lemon, Mr. Peter Cunningham, Mr.
John Murray, Mr. William Longman, Mr. Robert
Bell, Mr. S. Lucas, Mr. John Leech, Mr. John
Forster, Mr. Joseph Parkes, Mr. Serjeant Murphy,
Mr. Arthur Barlow, Mr. O'Dowd, Mr. Tenniel, Mr.
Justice Willes, and Mr. Shirley Brooks, and in the
course of the evening a song, written by the last-
named gentleman, was sung by Mr. John Deane, as
the O'Mulligan," who made patronising allusions
to his friend Mr. Thackeray's works ; and Mr. Albert
Smith sang a rapid recapitulation of the whole pro
ceedinga at the banquet up to the moment of hir-
commencing. The meeting was a brilliant one, and
a fitting farewell to the eminent novelist in whose
honour it was held.

THE KING of PRUSSIA, lately, in his tour through
'the Rhenish provinces, passed through a small town
near Cocheim (district of Treves) ; the clergyman
presented to his Majesty a glass of fine wine, with
the observation, " the sentiments of the inhabitants
troand here are as pure as the wine in this glass."
'The King thanked the clergyman, and raising up
'the glass to the light, to admire the fine colour of
the wine, added," I must suppose that it is not of the
vintage of 1848!"
THE KING OF SARDINIA, it is believed, will have
-sufficiently recovered his strength by the end of this
month to be enabled to pay his long•talked-of visit
to the Emperor of the French.
Lou) WESTMORLAND does not return to Vienna
till the beginning of next month.

THE EMIR ABD•EL KADER has arrived at Mar-
seilles, on his way to Damascus. _ _

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS DE BRABANT left
Brussels yesterday for Paris, and were accompanied
by the Countess de Gruna and the Baroness de
Marches, Colonel d'Hanins de Moerkerke, and a
large suite.
GENERAL PARR, Commander•in Chief of the Aus-
trian troops in Moldavia, is now making a tour in
Bournelia and the Dobrudscha, and carefully ex-
amining the fortifications and military works he finds
upon his road.
THE FRENCH CHARGE D'AFFAIRES at Florence will,
it is said, undertake the mediation in settling the
differences which have arisen between Piedmont and
Tuscany.

M. BISMARCK SCHONHAUSEN is to be the new Presi-
dent of the German Diet. Baron Prokesch Osten is
to act in the interim.

THE WILL OF THE LATE HENRY COLUMN has
been proved in the Consistory Court, Doctors-com-
mons. The whole of his property, consisting of money
in the funds, goods, chattels, and credits, is sworn to
be under 35,0001. He has left his widow, Eliza Ann
Colburn, sole executrix. He bequeaths to her sole
use and benefit the sum of 10,0001., together with his
leasehold house in Bryanston-square, furniture, pic-
tures, stock, copyrights, Ste., and a like sum of 10,0001.
to her sister, the wife of Mr. Malcome Douglas Cros-
bie, and her six children. With the except;on of the
sum of 5001. to Mrs. Hurst, and two small annuities
of 801. and 501. respectively to two other persons,
there are no bequests whatever to any of his friends
or dependents.
PLICA PoLONICA, the peculiar disease of the hair, is
at this moment very prevalent in Poland. It is at-
tributed to the extensive and prolonged inundations
to which the inhabitants of countries near the
Vistula have this year been subjected

THE PRESS.

etc pram.

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

AFTER a long preparation, the new Egyptian drama,
the result of Mr. Smith's " researches in Herodotus,
Denons, Wilkinson, and the libraries and museums
of London and Paris," was brought out on Monday
night, and though its first trial proved on the whole
a trial of patience to the audience, yet the spectacle
has been gradually growing in public favour, and the
malcontents diminishing in force and number, at
each successive representation. Nitocris is, however,
not exactly what it pretends to be. It is not a
drama, except in the sense in which the equestrian
and military spectacles at Astley's are dramas;
indeed, Mr. Fitzball's bombastic dialogue reminds
us of nothing so much as the ambitious nonsense so
loudly applauded on the Surrey side of Westminster-
bridge. The Drury Lane public, however, expect
something better; and it is more than probable that
the disappointment of anticipations naturally enough
raised by the appearance of such names as those of
Miss Glyn and Mr. Barry Sullivan in Mr. Smith's
announcements, contributed not a little to the dis-
satisfaction so plainly expressed on Monday night.
The public looked for a good play as well as a
splendid spectacle, and were naturally not very well
pleased at getting only one-half of what they ex-
pected, however excellent in itself. Instead of a
good play, however, they had the annoyance of
hearing good actors condemned to utter rubbish so
utterly absurd, so completely below criticism, that
no human being, by any conceivable excellencies of
voice or gesture, could by any possibility have com-
pletely unnonsensified it. But we will not dwell on
the absurdities of the dialogue ; they are patent to all.
Let us take Nitocris for what it really is, not for
what it pretends to be, and we shall find enough to
praise in the splendid and instructive historical
spectacle so effectively presented to us. The story
on which the action is founded is rather complicated,
and the treatment it has received makes the play,
abstracted from dialogue and scenery, sufficiently
absurd without any assistance from bad blank
verse. Nitocris (Miss Glyn), a priestess of Isis,
in love with Tihrak (Mr. Sullivan), a captain
of the Ethiopian guard, who has saved her
from the jaws of death and a crocodile, and
returns her affection, is discovered to be the sister
of Mesphra, King of Egypt, who has murdered Tihrak's
father, wad, escorted, by the King's order, from the
Temple of the Goddess to the Royal Palace by her
dark and gloomy lover. On her arrival at Memphis,
Mesphra requests her hand for some person whose
name we forget, and being met by Nitocris with the
little difficulty of a previous attachment, proposes to
murder her. As she makes some slight but very
natural objections to this fraternal offer, be ventures
to take the whole responsibility of its execution on
himself, when Tihrak rushes opportunely from an
adjoining chamber, and of course immediately, and
in a hoarse and horrible stage whisper, proceeds de-
liberately and with emphasis to recognise the mur-
derer of his father. It is now Tihrak's turn to stab
somebody ; hut that somebody being the brother of
Nitocris, it becomes at the same time her turn to
rush between the intending slabber and the possible
stabbee, and to cry " Hold" in her loudest and most
commanding tones. Tihrak not only "holds,' but,
his blood being up, and a clear dramatic necessity
existing that somebody should be stabbed, liberally
offers his own breast to Mesphra's sword rather than
allow an opportunity for bloodshed to pass unem-
ployed. Enter Tihrak's brother, Kcephed, and the
King's guards. Kcephed stabs the King from be-
hind, the guards are about to stab Tihrak, and so
get rid of two very stupid and tiresome people at
once. When Nitocris, now Queen of Egypt, retain-
ing her feminine weakness for a blockhead, com-
mands her guards again to "Hold," they at once
obey the spirit, if not the letter, of her commands,
by "letting" Tihrak "go," and, much to the annoy-
ance of all, the bore survives, ready for more blood.
The next day the Queen is to give her hand to
Tihrak in Council, against the law, and to the offence
of the old Egyptian party, headed by Amenophis
(Mr. Stuart), and the late King's Premier, who,
already disliking Tihrak, is naturally only more con-
firmed in his execrable prejudice by the account
which the King Consort proceeds to give of the de-
tails of the death of the crocodile which first intro-
duced him to the Queen. A conspiracy to murder
Tihrak at a supper to be given in the Grotto of
Memphis is planned by Amenophis, and revealed by
Kcephed, who acts listener throughout the play.
Tihrak "pays off" his enemies by letting the waters
of the Nile into the banquet-hall. All but Amenophis
(got out of the way by a slave) are drowned, in the
most affective scene of the spectacle. The rest of the
play, involving the expedition and counter-expedition
against Tihrak, with a good deal of claptrap about
the popularity of the war, to which the audience
did not respond, the death of Amenophis, the sup-
posed capture of Tihrak, much calling on the
ghadi " (tragic for gods ") thereon by Nitocris,

his return safe and sound, and as stupid as ever,
and the grand coronation procession, might well
have been omitted, but for the difficulty of disposing
of two or three effective pieces of scenery. Taken as
a spectacle, with but few exceptions, Nitocris answers
its end; the architecture, costume, sky, and soil of
Egypt are accurately rendered, and the whole use-
fully illustrative of Egyptian history. The banquet-
room in the Grotto of Memnon has, to us, by far the
richest effect ; and the immersion of the Nile, the
roaring of the " astounding flood," the sudden dis-
appearance of the conspirators, the gradual subsi-
dence of the waters, and the reappearance of the
dead bodies flung in stilled impotence about the floor
of the grotto in a lurid unearthly light, Tihrak's
avenging form towering high over all, make a picture
really full of horrible grandeur not easily forgotten.
The actors do their best to make the nonsense
allotted to them "go down," but the audience, it is
plain, tolerate the play for the sake of the scenery ;
and, except when Mr. Sullvan forces notice by a
louder shout than usual, remain perfectly silent and
patient under their sufferings.
On Wednesday Mr. Charles Mathews made
his first appearance in a revival of the comedy
of the Rich Widow, under the title of Married for
Money. The plot is very simple : a broken dandy,
who has no other chance of escape from i uin, has
united himself to four thousand pounds a year plus
a widow of strong will, old enough to be his mother.
As a natural result, both are miserable. Combining
the characters of mother and wife, Mrs. Mopus
makes her unhappy Alfred suffer the double curtail-
ment of liberty due to the authority of the one and
the jealousy of the other. At length, however, he is
fortunately arrested for the "very last" of his youth-
ful debts, which his wife has refused to pay, and,
under the influence of a dinner with some "jolly
fellahs," in the spunging-house to which her obdu-
racy has consigned him, but whence he is released
almost as soon as her atlection returns, he is em-
boldened to assert his authority as a husband.
These events, even with the assistance of a love
affair between the widow's daughter and a friend of
Mopus, interrupted by an old baronet, to whom the
young lady has been consigned by her mamma, are
slight materials for three acts ; but the brilliancy
of the dialogue, and the excellent acting of
Mr. Mathews and Mrs. Frank Matthews kept
the audience in roars of laughter during the
whole of the play. A few lines introduced
at the beginning of the first scene, alluding
to Mathews's appearance in a "new house," with
some amusing hints at " bills," "tradesmen," and
" embarrassments," were eagerly caught at by the
audience, who showed their pleasure at again
meeting an old favorite by hearty and continued
applause.

HAYMARKET.----A petite Comedy, entitled The Little
Treasure, was brought out with great success on
Thursday night. Miss Blanche Fane, Miss Swan-
borough, and Mr. Buckstone support the principal
characters.

ADELPin.—This theatre opened on Monday last
with Mr. Hudson in Rory O'Mort, and the Keeleya
in The Forty Thieves. Mr. Hudson, who has been
absent from the stage for some years, appears to have
lost neither in popularity nor power to achieve it.
He was warmly applauded, and acted as inimitably
as he ever did. The Forty Thieves of course
achieved its usual success.

Omaric.—This theatre, which has been entirely
redecorated and cleaned, opens on Saturday next.
STRAND.-Mr. McVicker, the American actor, has
been engaged for this theatre, which opens ou Mon-
day next.

THE PANAMA ROUTE TO AUSTRALIA is again being
agitated in Sydney. The Legislative Council have a
scheme at present under their consideration. The com-
munication is to be between Panama and Talliti,with
branch lines from Tahiti to Melbourne and Sydney.
Tahiti will thus become the great entrepot for com-
merce in the Pacific. The harbour of Tahiti is a
beautiful basin, perfectly protected by reefs, and docks
could be formed there for a small outlay. Labour is
there abundant and cheap When the steamer.
Golden dge touched at Tahiti to coal, 1,500 tons of
coal were placed on board in sixty-five hours, and the
expense of putting it on board was only 4s. 2d. a ton.
It is calculated that the voyage between Australia
and Tahiti could be made in thirteen days, and
between Tahiti and Panama in eighteen days. New
York would by this scheme be brought within forty-
five days of Australia, and England within fifty days.
HEALTH OF LONDON.—NO death from cholera has
been registered in the week that ended on Saturday,
October 6, but the deaths from diarrhoea were fifty-
one. The deaths from all causes were 951,—namely,
280 from zymotic diseases; 210 from cancer, con-
sumption, and other constitutional diseases ; 320 from
diseases of the brain, lungs, and other organs ; 113
from infantile diseases and old age; and 24 from
various kinds of violence. Of five sudden deaths the
causes were unascertained, and of nineteen other
deaths the causes were not waded.

tillB moment very prevalent m Poland. It is at- the populanty or the war, to which the audience trom intanute diseases &DU Ulti ago mama 411, Kama..
tributed to the extensive and prolonged inundations did not respond, the death of Atncnophis, the sup- various kinds of violence. Of five sudden desalt; the
to which the inhabitants of countries near the posed capture of Tihrak, much calling on the causes were unasceruiined, and of nineteen other
Vista's have this year been subjected ghads " (tragic for "gods") thereon by Naomi*, deaths the causes were not specified.