The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

At the close of 1821 Malcolm again turned
his face homeward to rejoin his family. From
the date of his arrival in England till he again
quitted it his efforts were directed to obtain
the government of one of the Presidencies. To
his great disappointment Mr. Lushington was
preferred to him for the Governorship of
Madras ; but soon afterwards (in 1827) Mal-
colm received his appointment as Governor of
Bombay. His three years' tenure of office was
chiefly noticeable for his dispute with the
Bombay Supreme Court on the attempt made
by Sir W. Grant and Mr. Chambers to extend
the jurisdiction of their court over the whole
Presidency. When Sir John returned to Eng-
land, in 1831, he found the whole nation in the
height of the Reform fever. He plunged into
politics with his usual ardour; and an amusing
account is given in his journal of a long dis-
pute he had with William Cobbett, who we
suspect was playing a part, and affecting more
Radicalism than he ever really felt. The idea
of peacefully ending his days in a country re-
sidence had ever been cherished by Sir John,
and in 1833 the consummation of his hopes
appeared at hand. He had completed his
mansion at Warfield ; everything there was at
last ready for his reception, and he was in
daily expectation of removal, when the cholera
broke forth with fatal virulence. The pesti-
lence laid its hand on Sir John as he went in
his carriage on an errand to Charing Cross.
He lingered for a month, cheered by the hope
that he would soon be well enough to be re-
moved to Warfield

On the 30th May (1833) there came tidings to Prince's-
street that the mansion at \\rudeld was at last completed ;
that it was ready for the reception of the family. How
earnestly had Malcolm looked forward to this hour—how
strenuously had he exerted himself to hasten it—how fondly
had he hoped beneath that roof to close his eyes upon the
world for ever! But it was not to be. There was another

mansion—one of many—prepared for him, and on that
very day, soon after the news came from Warfield, Sir John
Malcolm, it is permitted us to hope, passed into his
Father's house, and was at rest.

Of all vain expectations that appears to be
the vainest which anticipates a period of com-
plete repose and peaceful enjoyment between
man's labours and his grave. Most commonly
the boon is denied ; often, when attained, the
granted prayer proves the very reverse of a
blessing. The truth is. man's work is seldom
done while he remains on earth. Life's war-
fare ends fitly only with life itself. How con-
temptible was Charles V. in his cloister !
Better had he died with his sceptre in his
hand. If a homily were to be written on
schemes for future enjoyment, the conclusion
should be this—that it is in the present alone
we can rationally look for happiness. What-
ever be our work, it is in the work itself that
we must look for• our• content. We must
snatch such joys as we can in our passage
through life, without dreaming to hoard them
up for some crowning festivity in our closing
days.
Mr. Kaye's volumes have the great merit of
being full of matter. We have touched on but a
few of the subjects which will richly reward the
diligence of the reader. Malcolm led a busy life.
He had the activity, both of mind and body,
which forbade him to be idle. He had no
title to genius; nor was he one of those origi-
nal men who carve out for themselves a path
where none have walked before them. But
he was a man of affairs—an excellent servant
of the Company ; and with a much higher
spirit (as regards freedom from all mercenary
motives) than commonly belongs, or is thought
to belong, to Indian officials. The best in-
scription for his tomb would be a sentence
from a letter addressed to him by the Duke of
Wellington in 1825, after he had been forty-
four years in the Company's service :
You have filled many situations in which you might
have become rich consistently with your duty to your em.
ployers ; and possibly you ought to be found fault with for
not having become so. But the truth is, that you are poor,
notwithstanding you have filled these situations, and your
services.

Edith Frankheart. By Captain Curling. Three
Vols. London : Saunders and Otley.
THIS story is one of modern day, with a ducal
family in the foreground, and most romantic inci-
dents, together with common ups and downs of life
in this railway age, surrounding the noble group.
Captain Curling's style of story resembles that of the
novelists of the last age—Mrs. Meek, for example.

SATURDAY,

There is throughout the book a great mystery to be
unravelled, in which the fortunes of all persons in
the story are more or less concerned. Plot is in
" Edith Frankheart" the great agency for sustaining
the attention of the reader. The story is in no
respect distinguished ; but as a novel it is readable,
and has the negative merit of being unexceptionable
in sentiment.