The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

E'

SATURDAY,

the 2nd, 6th, 15th, 59th, 60th (2nd
let battalion of the Rifle Brigade.
The following fifty•siz regiments are to be augmented
from 850 to 1,000 rank and file-namely, l et Foot (Ist and
2nd battalions), 3rd, 4th, 7th, oth, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th,
17th, 10th, 21st, 26th, 27th, 28th• 30th, 31st, 33rd, 34th,
35th, 30th, 38th, 30th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, 46th, 47th, 48th,
40th, 50th, 54th, 65th, 57th, 68th, 62nd, 63rd, 65th, 88th,
67th, (18th, 611th, 72nd, 77th, 79th, 82nd, 85th, 88th, 89th,
00th, 92nd, 93rd, 95th, 97th, and 2nd battalion Rifle
Brigade.

L), 73rd, and

BLACK SEA FLEET.—Rumours of differences be-
tween Admiral Dundas and the British Ambassador
at Constantinople have obtained wide currency, and
attracted some notice in Parliament. It is now ac
knowledged that some ground exists for these ru-
mours, and the explanation is given that Admiral
Dundas complains of his not being allowed by the
ambassador to see despatches, and interpret the
wishes of the Government from his own reading of
them. Lord Stratford, on the other side, complains
of the return of the fleet to Beycos, contrary to his
instructions. To this it is replied that the admiral is
naturally the best judge of what his ships should and
ought to do, and prefers to keep his fleet in a state of
efficiency for fighting rather than risk damage and
loss from useless cruising. The judicious conduct
of Admiral Dundas has, it is said, been approved of
throughout, and in these differences the home Go-
vernment have expressed theirdecision in his favour.
The BALTIC FLEET will comprise the following ships,
tinder the command in chief of Vice-Admiral Sir
Charles Napier, K.C.B.:—
..... .

QUM OUNS.
D. of Wellington (screw )131 Imperieuse (screw) .. 51
Neptune
St. George
Royal George (screw) 120 Pique
St. Jean d'Acre (screw) 101 Amphion (screw)
Princess Royal (screw) 91 Dauntless (screw)
Ciesar (screw)
Nile (screw)
James Watt (screw)
Prince Regent 9O Magicienne ( paddle) .. 16
London
Monarch
Cressy (screw)
Boscawen 7O Vulcan, troop-ship (sew.) 6
Blenheim ( screw) 60 liragon (paddle) 0
Hogue (screw)
Edinburgh (screw) ).. 58 Basilisk (paddle) .... 6
Ajax (screw)
An Admiralty letter written on the 18th, by
order of Sir J. Graham, in reply to some communi•
cation from South Shields, states that "the Govern-
ment have not the remotest idea or intention of
resorting to impressment or to compulsory measures,
of any kind for manning the navy."
Tho Admiralty have given notice to all lieute-
nants in the navy, now on half-pay, of and below the
seniority of 1811 inclusive, immediately to transmit
their addresses to the Secretary of the Admiralty;
and such lieutenants as may think themselves unfit
for service are to transmit a medical certificate of
their inability. The half-pay of all lieutenants neg-
lecting to reply to this notice on or before the let of
March next will be suspended. All mates and mid-
shipmen, second masters and masters' assistants, un-
employel, are also to send their addresses on or be-
fore the Ist of March, or they will be considered as
ceasing to belong to her Majesty's service.
The Foreign Secretary and the Postmaster-Gene-
ral have been very busy in making the necessary
postal arrangements for the transmission of mails and
Government despatches, via France, for Malta and
Constantinople, to commence as soon as the British
military force have taken their departure. The Sub-
marine and Electric Telegraph Company have entered
into a contract to transmit, either by day or night, all
Government orders that may be sent to the naval
and military commanders of the Anglo Franco forces
as far as Marseilles. The Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company have also placed at the
disposal of the Government the steamers Vectis and
Valetta to be empoyed as despatch-steamers between
Marseilles, Malta, and Constantinople. The South-
Eastern Railway Company will constantly have an ex-
press locomotive and steam-packetin readiness to con-
vey despatches and Government couriers to the East,
via Boulogne; and the same arrangement has been
made with the Boulogne and Amiens Railway Com-
pany to Paris, and so on to Marseilles. The postal
arrangements will be as speedy and perfect as possi-
ble, not only by means of the electric telegraph, but by
railways and steam vid France, and the regular mail-
packets viel Southampton.

THE CONDITION 01 TRADE IN THE MANUFACTURING
TOWNS shows no material change from the prospect of wsr
At Manchester the market has been quiet, but firm, with
an improved export business, chiefly for India. Birming-
ham enjoys unabated prosperity both in its iron and gene-
ral manufactures. At Nottingham considerable dulness
still prevails, bat affairs RI e thoroughly sound, from the
long absence of speculation. In the woollen districts the
home demand, as well as that for the United States and
Canada, continues good, and prices are strongly main-
tained. The Irish linen markets have presented no
alteration.

IP

f

II

FEBRUARY 25, 1854.

Sittraturt.

Lady Lee's Widowhood. By Edward Bruce
Hamley, Captain R.A. London : Black-

-

wood.
WE have no doubt but that many of our
readers, like ourselves, perused this tale
with interest during its serial publication in
the pages of Blaektoooa's Magazine. It comes
before us now for critical inspection, and in
its reprinted form we can more fairly estimate
how far the merits of its racy style and refined
humour compensate for certain defects of con-
struction in the story.
" Lady Lee's Widowhood" has one of the
greatest merits which a fictionist can display
for attracting readers, or softening the adverse
comments of a critic. No quality in a writer
is so winning as freshness. There is something
peculiarly genial and exhilarating in the vi-
vacity of an unworn pen; and, even in social
intercourse, we are all of us pleasurably in-
fluenced by freshness of mind and heart.
The world's votaries, and the books pretending
to describe them, are too often stale and
imitative, suggestive merely of routine emo-
tions and elaborated artifices ; while minds
that breathe of nature affect us with some-
thing like the spell of genius. What a
difference there is between the mountain tor-
rent, brawling through turfy banks and heath-
clad ravines, and its waters when, after being
pent in the reservoir, it trickles through
leaden cupids and marble spouts ! And so
with the style that bursts spontaneously from
an original nature, as contrasted with the mono-
tonous murmur of an artificial flow of thought.
It is impossible to read the first volume of
" Lady Lee's Widowhood " and not be at once
caught with its sparkling ease and racy liveli-
ness. The author writes as if through joyous
impulse; and, turning his pen into a toy, he
amuses at once his reader and himself. But
now and again there occur passages so vi
gorously penned that the ambition of literary
laurels is suggested to the critical, while his
keen remarks and graceful irony, never tres-
passing on the bounds of the sarcastic, remind
us that we are in the presence of one not un-
skilled in perusal of the human heart, and
neither unable or unwilling to chastise us,
even in play, for our social peccadilloes. For
the author is a humorist, not a satirist; and,
though several of his touches at times recal
the manner of Mr. Thackeray, it is evident
that the writer of " Lady Lee's Widowhood "
has no desire to moralise like a blubbering
cynic, or paint the world from the point of
view suggested by our whimpering Diogenes.
The gravest doubts about the extent of his
powers, or of the rank to which he may attain,
are raised upon the question as to whether he
has depth of passion. Wherever his incidents
(like the love of Orelia for the soldier in the
ranks, or Lady Lee after the loss of Julius)
require a full-toned utterance, he fails ; and, if
we are to judge of his resources by this tale
only, we should say that he has not the force
to paint the pathetic or the terrible, and that,
though he can with sportive ease make the
flash of mirth flit across the reader's face, he
cannot wring the tear from the eye of sensi-
bility. We will do Captain Hawley no such
injustice as to judge of the whole extent of his
powers by his present performance. Not the
least of the many pleasing thoughts, suggested
by his graceful writing, was the consciousness
that we were introduced to an author capable
of doing still more, when his pen would be
more practised, and when the writer would
have more command over his resources. There
is a diffusive spirit of healthy enoyment i
his mind that makes us very anxious that
one who can do so well should not content
himself with anything short of the excellence
within his reach. In reply to some dull
detractors who talked of the time taken by
Sheridan in elaborating his comedies, it was
well said, " That Sheridan spent his labour,
" not in making what was bad into good, but
" in turning that which was already g into
" better and best." Captain Hawley already
writes with admirable ease and graphic viva-
city. His humour is manly and refined ; his
fancy is fertile in comic tracery ; and the mere

THE PRESS.

rhetoric of his composition is spirited and
graceful. It remains with himself to see
whether in a future effort he cannot construct

a more coherent tale than his present work.
For, charming as a book, and most attractive
as a series of sketches, " Lady Lee's Widow-
hood" wants the enduring fascination of a
story. The work commences with the presen-
tation of Lady Lee—the sweet sentimental
widow—and her fair friends, the tall, stately,
and a leetle stilted Orelia, and the plump,
mirthful, and rubicund Rosa—the lily, tulip,
and rose of the social parterre, at the "Heronry ."
Nothing in its way cm be better than the
painting of these three female friends. The
"Heronry " and its inhabitants are one of the
most spirited pieces of grouping we ever saw
in a novel, and the recollection of their bright
home and pleasant aspects will dwell in the
memory of every reader of taste. Then the
contrast, of the military life of the officers in a
country town (though a stock artifice with
novelists) is picturesquely touched iu with the
lively pen of Captain Hamley ; and, unlike
others who have described barrack life, he
does not make his officers smell too much of
punch and cigars. His picture of the mess-
table of his dragoons is as superior to similar
scenes iu Mr. Lever's novels as a Wellington
by Lawrence and " The Hero of Waterloo' on
a village signboard. Of the bad characters in
the piece we have rather too much, especially
the hideous Seager ; yet, as a piece of " real
life," the masterly baring of the gradual cor-
ruption of Colonel Lee's character is the most
powerful portraiture in the work.
But, as critics, we mist protest against the
improbability of the attachment between
Orelia and the dragoon ;and the manner of her
revealing it when, on Corporal Onslow being
thrown desperately in the steeplechase, Orelia
springs from Lady Lee's carriage and picks
up the soldier, is not in nature, especially
when she is drawn as proud and rather
haughty. So also the incident of the mine-
pool, the making away with the boy, and the
comparative composure with which Lady Lee
bears up against the sudden loss of her only
child, are very unreal. It would have been
better to have painted her excessive anguish,
and to have described her old lover hunting
the country in search of the lost boy, and
bringing him back to the object of his affec
tion. These and some other shortcomings,
which thicken in the second volume, suggest
the incoherence and want of constructive
cleverness in this pleasant work.
Leaving our readers to peruse the story (if
it can be called oue) for themselves, we will
give them some specimens of the graceful
humour and pleasantry of Captain Hamley's
sparkling style. How well he takes hold of
our attention when he first introduces us to
his female characters :
Once upon a time, then (to guard against this error),
there was assembled in a room at the Heronry, the
residence of Lady Lee, a goodly company—goodly, not
so much in point of numbers
allays in personal appearance.
Three ladies were there, ing, and none of them

plain.
Lady Lee was a young widow, the handsomest since
Dido. Her face was pale and oval, her eyes magnificent,
but somewhat languid. Her hair formed a splendid frame-
work to her face, being of the richest and darkest
chestnut, scattered with ruddy, gulden gleams, dancing on
its innumerable ripples. It formed a sort of natural
diadem, but was now, unfortunately, hidden by a close-
crimped widow's cap.
Orelia Payne was a tall dark beauty, with a nose
stronl arched, a curved and somewhat severe mouth, a
cleft chin , and straight dark eyebrows surmounting black
sparkling eyes.
Rosa Young was a plump fair little thing, with a face of
a quaint and somewhat comic caste. Her nose turned up
slightly, and was obsequiously followed by her upper lip,
thus displaying the least glimpse in the world of very white
teeth. Her complexion was very fresh, and would, per.
haps, have been too ruddy, if the red had not been of such
a delicious colour that you decided, at a glance, it was im-
possible to have too much of such a good thing besides,
if your eye wanted relief, there was the white of her neck
or the blue of her eyes to turn to. Her hair was carried
off above her ears and dressed plain, or at least intended
to be so •, but stray tresses were continually breaking out
of bouds, ad wanderi in libertine curls about her
cheeks, ears nand neck,ng requiring to be caught and
pinned up in a supplementary fashion, till the number of
these truants increased to such an extent that the whole
structure had to be remodelled. Only two little curls, like
those on a drEue's trail, were authorised to appear, ono
each cheek, near the ears.
Novel-readers will be divided as to which
of these three characters is most attractive.

183

Sometimes, as we have hinted, the author
gets them into strange situations ; and, as
our Peelite readers probably never saw a lady
in a shower-bath, we will indulge them with
a sly little treat, described in a highly charac-
teristic passage
Boss, constitutionally an early riser, used to be always
up before Orelia in the morning, until the latter took it
into her head to hive a shower-buth fitted up in the closet
that opened from their room. Into this she would enter
every morning with great majesty, and pull the string with
no more hesitation than if she bad been ringing the bell
for her maid, and would subsequently emerge, all calm
and fresh and shining. But not content with indulging in
this luxury herself, she would also insist upon getting it
filled again for Rosa ; and that was the reason wl.y Rosa,
who preferred performing her ablutions in a less terrible
manner, hewn to be lazy of a morning—pretending to be
sleepy—to be interested in a book—and other devices to
while away the time, till Orelia would come and pull her
out of. bed. Then the little thing, all shrinking and
shivering, with her hair drawn into a tight knot at the back
of her head, would be driven, in a sort of tottering run,
towards the dreaded deluge by her imperious task-
mistress—balancing herself on the rim of the bath before
entering—and then, tremblingly, would stretch her hand
towards the cord, in which one might suppose, from her
trepidation, she hail been ordered to hang herself. Then
she would beg to be allowed to draw the curtains of the
bath, which Orelia would by no means permit, suspecting
she might in some way evade the ordeal, unless strictly
watched. Then she would pretend to recollect something
particular to tell Orelia, who, not to be battled in that way,
would sternly order her to tell her by and by, and to pull
the string without further nonsense ; and poor Rota, thus
detected, would get up a little shivering laugh, broken
short off by the prospect of her impending and inevitable
doom ; and, shutting her eyes and mouth so tight that
those features became mere threads in her comical little
face, and putting her plump little shoulders considerably
above her ears, she would hold her breath, and fumble
blindly for the string, till Orelia, out of all patience,
would give the fatal twitch, when a strangled shriek might
be heard in the descending rush like that of a caught mouse,
and Rosa would emerge all pink and palpitating, and glad
it was over.
We could fill columns with similar passages,
written with the same easy humour. We
should like to treat our readers to the conver-
sation at the mess-table, which is very natural
and not overdone. Cornet Suckling, attempt-
ing to pass for an experienced man of the
world, and his blunder about the wine, with
his affected ease and real bashfulness, is a
very comic sketch. We prefer, however, to
give one example of the author's power in de-
scribing a serious incident. Colonel Begot
Lee has been gradually sinking in the world,
in consequence of " sharp" practices and dis-
reputable companions. Nothing decisive can
be brought home, until an indictment is laid
against him and his confederates, for cheating
in a sporting transaction. Resolved to brazen
it out before the trial comes on, the wretched
Colonel faces the ordeal of a visit to his
club :
With doubtful and anxious feelings he now revisited the
scene of his former glory, rutting on as composed a face
RR possible, ho went up stairs and entered the library.
There were several people in it whom he knew. One well-
known man-about-town, with whom the colonel was rather
intimate, was seated opposite the door reading a news-
paper, and, as Bagot could have sworn, fixed his eye on
him as he entered, but it was instantaneously dropped on the
paper. Another member—an old gentleman who was
strongly suspected of a happy knack of turning up honours
at critical movements of the game of whist—looked round
at his entrance, and the colonel advanced to greet him, in
perfect confidence that he, at andy rate, was not a likely
person to cast the first stone at him ; but Bagot was mis-
taken. The old gentleman shifted his chair so as to place
his back towards liagot, with a loud snort of virtuous
forward, whispered to a neighbour
some hurried words, of which Begot could distinguish—
" Deuced bad taste'—don't you think so ?"
Crimson with rage and shame, Begot bent down over a
newspaper to recover himself. and fumbled with trembling
hands at his eyeglasses. He heard a step behind him
presently, but he dared nut look up.
" Lee, my boy, how are you?" said a stout hearty man
about fifty, slapping the colonel on the shoulder. " I've
just come back from a tour, and the first thing I saw in
the paper was about yon—about your "—the stout gentle-
man stopped to sneeze, which he did four times, with terrible
convulsions of face and figure, during which Begot was in
horrible suspense, while every ear in the room was pricked
up—" about your good fortune," said the stout gentleman,
after he had blown and wiped his sonorous nose as care•
fully as if it were some delicate musical instrument that he
was going to put by in its case. " I congratulate you with
all my heart. Fine property, I'm told. Just wait while I
ring the bell, and we'll have a chat together."
He went to the bell and rung it ; but, on his way back to
Begot, he was stopped by a friend who had entered the
library with him, and who now drew him aside. Bagot
stole a glance over his paper at them. He felt they were
talking about him. lie heard his stout friend say—"
.God
bless me, who would have thought it ! " and be perceived
that, instead of rejoining him, according to promise, he
took a chair at the farther end of the room.