The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

PZILIODICAL

The North British Review. Edinburgh : Kennedy

THE articles on " Vinet and his Writings," " Early
English History," and " Dante and his Interpreters,"
are among the best in this number of the North
British. The closing paper upon " The Past and
Present Political Morality of British Statesmen"
insists on "the gradual improvement in the character"
of our public men, and the far higher standard of
morality in the present day compared with that of
the times of Walpole and Lord North. It is to be
regretted that the writer, after lamenting that the
vice of virulence and acrimony is not yet completely
weeded out of public life, should, in the very next
paragraph, commence an attack upon the late Go-
vernment of Lord Derby, as savage, virulent, and
malignant (though not so effective) as any slander
that was ever propagated in the days of Wilkes and
Junius. The review of the life and writings of
Vinet is calculated to render his works better known
and appreciated in this country than hitherto. He is
characterised as the most " illustrious ornament of
modern French Protestantism," and as one of those
rare men who combined profound Christian morality
with a comprehensive philosophic spirit and a most
accomplished taste for French literature. The review
of " Early English History " comprises a notice of
Dr. Pauli's " History of Europe." Dr. Pauli
has succeeded Lappenberg in his labours upon
English history, and in his present volume
has apparently achieved for himself a character
equal, if not superior, to his predecessor. In
his character of Henry 11. Dr. Pauli, as the re-
viewer says, "by the inductive historical process "
has brought out features vastly more lifelike than
the symmetrical conceptions of Hume, who de-
scribes the King as " without blemish in private and
" public life, and possessed of every accomplishment,
" both of body and mind, which makes a man either
" estimable or amiable." Dr. Pauli describes him in
public life " as exercising the rights of a feudal ruler
" in the most despotic manner, troubling himself
" little about the means by which his ends were ob-
" tamed "—his whole character made up of contra-
dictions—so long as he was in distress no man more
friendly, but as soon as he felt himself secure no
man was more harsh. In his private life, says Dr.
Pauli, nowhere do his vices and weaknesses stand
out more sharply than in his matrimonial and domes-
tic relations. Thus it was, concludes Dr. Pauli, in
the character of Henry that understanding, talent,
and good fortune on one side, and folly, vice, and
misfortune on the other, alternately weighed down
the balance, and forbade history to class him as one
of the great rulers of mankind.
The review on Dante comprises a notice of three
new translations of the Divine Comedy by Cayley,
O'Donnel, and Brookabank, and gives an able and
lucid account of the difficulties of translation caused

783

by the artificial structure of the poem, the Italian
dialect, and the principles of poetic art, as acted upon
by Dante. A paper on Sir Roderick Murchison's
"SiLuria," the last contribution to science by that
eminent geologist, enters at some length on the dis-
covery of the modern gold-fields. The writer has
fatten into many errors with regard to the active part
which Mr. Hargreaves was commonly supposed to
have taken in first practically discovering gold in
Australia. The evidence given before the Legislative
Council in 1853 discloses the true facts. Another
great error (p. 533) is in asserting that the dis-
coveries iu New South Wales have been surpassed
by those in " Van Diomeu's Land." The writer has
evidently confused " Gipps' Land," in Victoria, with
Van Diemen's Land. Some pages of this paper have
been transferred without acknowledgment from an
article on the gold discoveries iu the Quarterly
Review of September, 1852. As the practice is dis-
creditable we are tempted to expose it by giving a
few extracts under their respective headings :

Quarterly Review, September, North British Review, August,
1852. 11454.
"An officer in the Swiss "In 1830, Captain Sutter,
Guard of Charles X.—. a a Dutchman, having been
good old Dutchman,' accord- wounded when fighting for
ing to M. Cobre, who re- his Sovereign at the barri-
ceived an ugly wound while cedes, set out for the West-
fighting against the barrica- ern World, and offered his
dent of July—crossed the services to the Government
Atlantic, and proffered his of Mexico
services to the Mexican Go-
vernment. He served well, Here he received a grant of
we must suppose, for very land in Upper California, of
speedily he was rewarded TOO or t4OO miles in extent
with a grant of land in Alta After several scuffles with
California, comprising some the Indians, he finally in-
-700 or MOO square miles.. duced them to become his
..The Indians troubled friends, and to aid him in
hint at first ; subsequently erecting his fort and in cul-
they became very useful tivating his fields
though never very safe neigh-
bours, and assisted the cap-
tain in building his fort and
tilling ins fields. He had
settled ten years before he After &residence of tenyears,
contracted with a Mr. Mar- he entered into a contract
shall for the erection of a with a Mr. Marshall to erect
saw-mill on the Americans, a saw-mill on the America-
s few miles from his fort : nos, at a short distance from
the tail-race being too nar- his residence. The tailrace
row for the water to run off having been found too nar-
freely, the mill-wheel was row for the free exit of the
taken out, that the whole water, the mill-wheel was re-
body of water might rush moved, and the whole body
through and widen the race, of the water sent through the
to save the trouble of digging tailrace, in order to increase
it out While Mr. Mar- its width. While superin-
shall was surveying the work, tending the work, Mr. Mar-
he observed some shiny, yel- shall saw a few, yellow, atti-
low spangles on spots where ning spots on the part of the
the water had laid bare the bunk which had been washed
bank. away.
" Numbers of every age " Hundreds of families set
and of every variety of occu- out for the land of gold. Un-
pation pushed for the land of provided for a journey, and
promise Many were ac- physically unfit for its toils,
companied by their families, many died front thirst, man
and most, under the excite- from ague, while others sunk
ment of the hour, overlooked under the burdens which
their physical unfitness and they bore. Even after they
inability to procure neces- had passed the Humboldt,
saries The waters of whose waters are for 300
the Humboldt, from their miles impregnated with al-
head to their sink, a space of kali, they had to cross a bar-
nearly 300 miles, are, in the ren desert, without a blade
dry season, strongly itnpreg- of grass or a spring of pure
noted with alkali. Some water, to encounter the ri-
died from thirst, others from gouts of winter on the very
ague, others fell beneath the thinks of the Sierra Nevada."
burdens they attempted to
carry. Beyond the sink, the
diminished bands had to en-
counter sixty or seventy
miles of desert, where not a
blade of herbage grew, and
not a drop of pure water
could be procured ; and those
who pushed safely through
this ordeal had still to ascend

the icy slopes of the Sierra
Nevada, where the rigours of
winter were added to all
other difficulties."
There is more of this kind of plagiarism in different
parts of the article, which certainly does not re-
dound to the credit of the North British for either
originality or honesty.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Boogs.
Quebec Chapel Sermons. H. Alford, B.D. Riringtnns.
Five Dramas. Saunders and Otley.
Man and Mcney. E. Souvestre, Howell.
Autocracy in Poland and Russia. J. Allen.
New York : Wiley.
Excelsior. Vol. L Nisbet and Co.
The Vision of Midsummer Morning's Dream. J. Starr.
History of the Ottoman Empire. Griffin and Co.
PAMPHLETS.
Siege of Silistria. A Poem. W. J. Thornton. Longmans.
Kossuth. Hardwick..

r*

764

lint Iris.

THE TURKISH MUSEUM.
ST. GEORGE'S GALLERY, first opened as a Chinese
exhibition, and afterwards employed for the display
of an indifferent collection of pictures, is now
devoted to an admirable illustration of Turkish life.
The best descriptions ever penned must appear poor
when compared with the impression produced by the
" counterfeit presentment" of the Osmanlis,Janissa-
ries, and Eastern beauties "in their habits as they
live'' which this exhibition portrays. The scenes,
groups, and figures are so truthfully depicted that the
spectator, impressed with the reality of the scene, is
willing to believe he is in Constantinople itself,—as
Constantinople existed some thirty years back before
the reforms of Sultan Mahmoud were effected,—
wandering among its bazaars, its veiled beauties,
and kaftes, far away from the murky glories of
Apaley-house and its triumphal arch.
The visitor enters the hall of the exhibition at the
lower end, and passes a haman or bathhouse to the
kafte and the barber's shop. In the centre of the
hall are arranged various groups consisting of Bul-
garian peasants and an araba or Turkish carriage
drawn by two oxen and containing a bevy of houris
guarded by a black slave. Further on a lady of
rank and her child are seen listening to the
wild music of some gipsy performers, while beyond
them is the Sultan Malimoud in divan, surrounded
by his great officers of state. At the upper part
of the hall are the fairy rooms of the imperial
harem, with some of the houris of the palace taking
their ease. On each side down the whole length
of the hall are arranged different groups of figures
representing various phases in domestic life, and all
varieties of military and official costume.
The figures are of waxwork, executed from original
sketches made at Constantinople, and the great skill
displayed by the artist in so happily depicting the
peculiar character and expression of the different
people is not the least interesting portion of the
exhibition. The costumes and robes have been pre-
pared at Constantinople, and are very striking in
their picturesque magnificence.
While the general effect of the exhibition is ex
cellent, there are some groups and figures that
deserve peculiar commendation. In the bath saloon
the dreamy fatigue of the bather, who, having com.
pleted his ablutions, is enveloped in the " halous,"
and has delivered himself over to a luxurious repose,
is admirably contrasted with the dry, dusty-tired look
of the janissary just coming in, while the peculiar
languid expression of the man undergoing the last
ablution under the fount is one of the most perfect
specimens of imitation in wax-modelling we have
ever seen. The barber's and coffee shop, one and
the same, is capitally arranged, the costume, position,
and expression of the different figures, with the
furniture and general disposition of the room and
verandah, being copied from reality in the minutest
details.
Of the side groups, those of the janissaries, court
functionaries, and military officials, are the most
magnificent in point of costume, but the most re-
markable of these is a group of bashi-bazouks
(Nos. 151-5), dressed in brilliant and picturesque
colours, and loaded with handsomely-ornamented
weapons. In this group there is a figure of Kara
Fatma, the Kurdish chieftainess. In the group of
hamals or porters the worn look of the men is
caught, even to the perspiration on their faces and
arms. Not less natural is the shoe bazaar, in which
a veiled beauty is coquetting with the handsome
merchant (a practice, the catalogue informs us, very
common among the Turkish ladies), and trying on
endless pairs of boots that will not fit. There is a
side figure (No. 51) in a group representing an
Armenian marriage, which deserves especial notice
from the skill with which the expression, age, eye,
and complexion of the man are marked. The large
central groups, though more magnificent and im-
posing, are equally correct in detail. In the group
around Sultan Mahmoud the eye is particularly
attracted by the picturesque varieties of costume.
If this exhibition had no other merit than the ex-
cellence of its wax models, it would well deserve a
visit,—the variety of form, face, feature, and expres-
sion, with the excellent imitation of the hair in the
eyelashes, brows, beards, and mustachios, having
the softness and distinctness of nature. But, inde-
pendently of this excellence, the clever groups and
well-designed figures, with the costumes and tout
ensemble of Turkish life, combine to form a most
pleasing and instructive exhibition.

ITALIAN ART has just sustained an irreparable loss
by the death of Paolo Toschi, the engraver, a native
of Parma, who has died there at the age of little
more than GO. His best-known works are the engrav
ings of " Spasimo di Sicilia," from Raffaello, and of
all the admirable frescoes of Correggio. Paolo
Toschi was not merely a first-rate artist, but was
highly informed on literary and other topics.

THE PRESS.

artusit.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.

Giusi, the reigning queen of opera, abdicated her
throne, so far as this country was concerned, on
Monday night. After appearing as the Druidesa in
Norma, and as Valentine in the Huguenots—after
acting as effectively and singing as gloriously as
ever—the curtain finally fell upon a scene of mingled
triumph and sorrow ; upon an artist who had wept at
witnessing the emotions her departure caused; upon
the crowd of spectators admir►ng, applauding, and
mourning ; upon the brilliant house resonant with
farewell greetings, agitated with feelings which could
find no vent in words; upon the stage heaped with
votive flowers and wreaths; upon the scene in which
Grisi the songstress had shone and conquered so
long. Next day Grisi the woman left London for
Liverpool, where, on Wednesday morning, accom
panied by her husband, Mario, she took her departure
in the Baltic steamer, Captain Compstock, for New
York.
The performances of the farewell night present
nothing which calls for criticism, nor much which is
easy to describe. A mass of individuals densely
packed into a theatre, and every one of them endea-
vouring to express their individual sensations of
pleasure, respect, and regret, compose a whole which
cannot be depicted by any orderly array of words or
colours. Suffice it to say that the house was in-
tensely crammed. Seats had commanded unheard-of
pikes, from which, we believe, Grisi did not benefit.
The audience were excited and enthusiastic in a
degree, to which our insular apathy seldom mounts.
And the object of all this crowding and excitement
bade adieu to a British audience amidst the signs
and shows of a triumph memorable even among the
many she has witnessed.
The series of performances which Grisi has now
terminated has comprised the Huguenots, Lucretia
Borgia, Norma, La Favorita, and Don Pasquali.
These, if not including all her best personations,
comprised those operas which the resources of the
establishment at the moment afforded the means of
mounting most readily and filling most effectively.
To Grisi the whole series has afforded a succession
of ovations, and we believe that the results in another
sense are equally agreeable to the manager of the
Royal Italian Opera.
The Comte Ory of Rossini was produced on
Wednesday for the first time. This was one
of the novelties promised when the season opened,
and is now brought ont apparently merely to
keep word with the public. Mlle. Bosio took
the principal part, originally played by Madame
Cinti, and accomplished her task very creditably.
She was recalled at the fall of the curtain, an
honour which was shared by Mlle. Marai and
Signor Luchesi.
The season terminates finally this (Saturday)
evening.