The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

ander and his living successor, are characters
sufficiently interesting to enable us to bear with
even mediocre criticism ou their acts. The
best-drawn portrait is that of Suvaroff

Suvaroff was nearly as mad as his imperial master ; but
he possessed a military genius peculiar to himself alone,
and quite beyond the reach of ordinary criticism. He
soared above all known rules, and succeeded, while com-
mon capacities sinned against them, and failed. His pre-
dominant fault was his utter carelessness of human life.
So that he carried his object he heeded not at what sacri-
fice; but he did carry it in the face of all opposition ; and,
with intuitive quickness, he seized opportunities as they
arose in the heat of battle, and turned them to account
with the rapidity of lightning. If he was not a great
master in the science of war, he was a terrible instrument
in practice, and struck with appalling energy. Parma,
Trebbia, and Novi taught the French that they had no
longer to deal with the heavy tactics of Austria, or with a
general who regulated his movements by the measured
scale of an Aulic Council. Moreau taunted Napoleon with
being a conqueror at the rate of ten thousand men a day :
he might have applied the sarcasm to Suvaroff with su-
perior justice.
The Russian chief affected inspiration to inflame the
fanaticism of his soldiers, and thus bound them to him by
the double tie of personal regard and religious devotion.
When forced to fall back by the disaster of Korsakoff, who
had been signally defeated by Massena at Zurich, Suvaroff
flung himself in frantic passion on the ground, and im-
plored his men to trample him to pieces rather than give
way before the enemy ; but they took him up in their
arms and continued the retreat. The veterans who served
under Suvaroff used afterwards to boast that their favourite
leader was never cold, afraid, or defeated.
For his victories in the marvellous campaign of 1799 he
was created a prince, with the honorary cognomen of
Italisky, meaning the " overrunner of Italy; " as Diebitsch
was afterwards denominated Zabalkanaky, or " the Balkan
passer ; " and Paskievitch Erivansky, or " the taker of
Erivan." The Russians appear to have adopted this mode
of rewarding services in imitation of the ancient Romans,
who gave surnames to their victorious generals from the
countries they subdued.

This is followed by a page or two of extracts from
a most eccentric military manual, the work of
the conqueror himself, in which there appears
to us more of insanity than of genius. But
Captain Cole ought to know how soldiers like
to be addressed, and he vouches for its being
" admirably adapted to the comprehension of
" the catechumens for whom it was drawn up."
Here is a sample or two :---

Die for the honour of the Virgin Mary, for your mother
(the Empress Catherine—your father, if an Emperor), for
all the royal family. The Church prays for those that die ;
and those who survive have honour and reward. Offend not
the peaceable inhabitant, he gives us meat and drink—the
soldier is not a robber. Booty is a holy thing! If you
take a camp, it is all yours. If you take a fortress, it is
all yours. At Ismail, besides other things, the soldiers
shared gold and silver by handfuls, and so in other places;
but wait for orders before you fall to booty !
His instructions with regard to diet are delicious.
" Have a dread of the hospital. German physic stinks
from afar, and is good for nothing. For the health, drink,
air, and food; for the sick, food, air, and drink. For him
who neglects his men, if an officer, arrest ; if a sub•ofcer,
lashes ; and for the private who neglects himself, more
lashes. Brothers, the enemy trembles at you 1 But there
is another enemy greater than the hospital—the d— n'd I
don't know. From the half•confessing, the guessing, lying,
deceitful, the palavering equivocation, squeamishness, and
nonsense of 'don't know,' many disasters originate."
Suvaroff had such an intense aversion to any person's
Raying " I don't know" in answer to his questions that he
became almost frantic with passion. His officers and
soldiers were so well aware of this singularity that they
would hazard any reply instantly, accurate or not, rather
than venture to incur his displeasure by professing igno-
ranee.

-----
Captain Cole has a decided opinion as to the
danger and chance of failure in attacking
strong fortresses by sea. He sets off against
Copenhagen, Algiers, and Acre, the disasters of
Santa Cruz, of Carthagena, of Sir S. Smith
when attacking a small fort with a ship-of
the-line, and of the allies before Gibraltar.

1. Observations on the Abuse and Reform of the
Monitorial System of Harrow School, with
Letters and Remarks. By the Earl of Galloway.

London : Hatchard.
2. A Few Words on the Monitorial System at
Harrow. By One who was Once a Monitor.

London : Bosworth.
1. A FULL statement of, and argument upon, the
recent case of excessive punishment at Harrow. It
appears that a boy named Stewart, son of the writer,
had in a dispute at football resisted the authority
of a monitor, by whom he was in consequence caned
next day, with the concurrence and assent of the
other monitors. The caning was unreasonably
severe, and for three days confined the sufferer to
bis room. On inquiry, Dr. Vaughan thought it not
justified by the offence, and accordingly deposed the
monitor (a son of Baron Platt). This does not
satisfy Stewart's friends, who complain not of the

SATURDAY,

abuse only, but of the exercise, of monitorial power.
There is no question but that it has been in this
instance exceeded ; but the offending monitor is
punished, his act is disavowed, and what more can a
head master do

2. All questions have two sides, and some have
many more. The writer of this pamphlet defends
a monitorial system, but not that carried out by Dr.
Vaughan. He affirms that under the old Harrovian
rule a monitor was invested with authority, but that
authority exercised on his own account, and not as a
deputy, or delegate, of the master. Thus the matter
rested rather with the boys themselves, punishment,
when inflicted, assumed a less formal shape, and the
monitors, thinking more lightly of their personal
dignity, associated freely, and to the advantage of
both parties, with those placed under them. Dr.
Arnold found something of this state of things exist-
ing at Rugby, and reduced it to a more defined and
systematic form ; thereby, says the writer, making
the monitors ushers or under-masters. This was
not, so far as our memory serves us, the feeling
among Rugbfeans, whatever it may be at Harrow.
The pamphleteer shows a little jealousy of Dr.
Vaughan as not himself a Harrovian—which in an
old scholar is very natural. But neither was Arnold
educated at Rugby—yet he made Rugby what it was
and is. Schools, like corporations, often want an
infusion of new blood. We think a great deal too
much has been made of this schoolboy dispute.

1. Philip Rollo ; or, the Scottish Musketeers. By
James Grant. London: Routledge and Co.

2. Westminster Abbey ; or, the Days of the Reforma-
tion. By the Author of " Whitefriars." Lon-
don: Mortimer.
3. The Boatman of the Bosphorus. By the Osmanli

Abderhahman Effendi. London : Newby.

4. Flora Lyndsay ; or, Passages in an Eventful
Life. By Mrs Moodie. London: Bentley.
5. The Heiress of Somerton. London : Bentley.
OF the novels before us the historical ones are the
best, though they are not of a character requiring de-
tailed notice, as they are by writers whose position
must by this time be well defined among the patrons
of circulating libraries.
1. Mr. Grant's book, however, we regard as an
advance upon his previous efforts. There is plenty
of the adventure in it which usually gives animation
to his narrative, and a creditable attempt is besides
made in it to maintain the character of an historical
period. The story is supposed to take place during
the great thirty years' war in Germany, and the hero
is a young Scottish gentleman, who, with some
thousands of his countrymen, joins the forces of the
Protestant champions. This cavalier tells his own
tale, and though it may be objected that he is too
minute in his descriptions, and that he would hardly
have taken so much pains to note costume, manners,
arms, 6:c., which to him must have been familiar, yet
the illusion is sufficiently well maintained to satisfy
and even delight the uncritical reader. As the
period was memorable for strongly marked cha-
racters and great events, Philip Rollo, in his loves
and wars, meets with a full share of romantic
incidents. Some of the skirmishes or battles are
described with a power which, at this time of warlike
ardour, will render the book a great favourite with
youthful readers. In the spirit of its narrative it
belongs to the historical school of Scott, and it
strikingly illustrates the part borne by Scottish bands
iu that terrible struggle for religious freedom in
Germany which immortalised the name of the great
Gustavus.
2. The author of " Whitefriars " has in these
well-filled volumes endeavoured to display the main
features of the religious life of England when the
Reformation under Henry VIII. first seriously shook
society. To his task he has brought much industry
and considerable knowledge. The theme is not
pleasing, as " a Tale of the Reformation " supposes
horrors which our own inclination would lead us
to gladly dispense with ; but persons fond of excite-
ment will find their taste skilfully catered for here.
As may be imagined, the book has a strong Protestant
bias, and for artistic purposes gives too much promi-
nence to those repulsive incidents of the time which
it is no part of legitimate fiction to reproduce.
3. " The Boatman of the Bosphorus" opens well,
and at first we anticipated the pleasure of reading a
genuine fiction by a competent hand descriptive of
the social state of Turkey. The characters of the bi-
goted Osmanli, old Mustafa, with all the prejudices of
his class, hating innovation, wretchedly poor, yet con •
tent to sink lower, and ascnbing his poverty to his
doom—of the more enlightened Hamet—of the rest-
less, talkative Greek—and of the rapacious Jew, acting
the part of a Russian spy—are so evidently portraits
from life, that we were di'appointed when, like a dis •
solving view, they fist became indistinct, and then
merged into commonplace scenes of conventional ro-
mance. Perhaps the work has been composed by
distinct hands, or it may be that the author found

,

APRIL 22, 1854.

himself unequal to work out his first conception.
The result, at all events, is extremely unsatisfactory.
4, Mrs. Moodie in pleasant gossiping style gives us
in these two volumes further details of her domestic
life and Canadian experience. Her sketches may
profitably occupy a vacant hour, as she is much too
intelligent to pen matter not worth the reading, but
those who remember herprevious works will scarcely
wish her to write more until sho succeeds in break-
ing fresh ground.
5. It would seem from such books as " The Heiress
of Somerton" that nothing is more difficult than
to depict, at once with fidelity and artistic skill, the
every-day life of society. What is strange and mon-
strous meets with more accurate detail than what is
familiar and natural. Though in historical fiction
the accounts we meet with of the life of times past
are often absurd, yet on the whole we believe they
approach nearer to reality than the accounts often
given of the life of our own day. This novel has
some good qualities—it gives evidence of a poetical
mind. The diction is often pretty, even rising to
eloquence, though with a tendency to exaggeration ;
and great pains are taken with what may be termed
the upholstery business ; but the authoress is la-
mentably at a loss when she has to deal with conduct
and character. The story is of the slenderest kind,
and the action of her leading personages is mainly
confined to grimace and swagger. Thus, when Mr.
Itiverstone Dysart—a rector, of high Church prin-
ciples, who had vainly sought to win the heiress—
receives a letter from her announcing her dying
condition :

" His handsome eyes dilated, sparkled—who said he was
passionless, of marble ?—like those of an envenomed ser-
pent about to strike ; and there arose such a gathering and
blending of inconceivable triumph and absolute satanic
hate in every lineament and feature, as changed his fine
and classic face into the aspect of one scarce human.
. .

" "Thou fool!—thou fool!' he cried, as he laughed aloud.
0, the wild mockery—the intense derision of the laugh.
Was lie man, or fiend?
" Another gloating of his eyeballs with those feeble, trem-
bling characters—'twas a feast, a rare, a royal feast forhate ;
devils might sit at the board, and make merry with him—
ere he tore the letter into fragments, and threw them down
upon the floor—stamped upon them—ground them, as with
a giant's strength, to annihilate.
" Deliberately, almost hissingly, as though deadly power to
blight and wither lay couched in every accent, did the curso
find way, the malediction fall.
" So may the enemies of the one true Church perish,
all over the world ! May all who would, like her, stand and
obstruct its path be crushed by it down into the dust, and
never rise up more! May they pass away unabsolved and
unforgiven ! May they die in their youth and lustihood ;
and may their name perish with them!'
" His lips yet thrilling with those malefic words, he
turned and kneeled at the prie-dieu, and, reverently kissing
its golden cross, with clasped hands and lifted eye, he
prayed."
We quote the passage as it indicates a common
fault in novels of this class, and is a not unfair ex-
ample of the forcible-feeble school.

Thoughts on Self-Culture, Addressed to Women. By
Maria Grey, and her Sister Emily Shirref. Second
Edition. London: Hope and Co.
A VOLUME distinguished by much good sense and
right feeling, as well as by considerable knowledge
and ability. it is shown, on the authority of some
of our ablest thinkers and moral philosophers, that
social virtue is not so difficult of attainment as some
imagine, and general principles are clearly stated by
which the heart may be moulded and conduct go-
verned. We are only afraid, considering the class
to whom it is addressed, thnt the tone is pitched too
high, and that the requirements demanded are too
onerous. A smaller and simpler work would, per-
haps, better have answered the purpose in view, and
have secured more cordial recognition.

Early Education. By W. 11. Bainbrigge, F.R.C.S.
London : Blackader and Co.
Tins well-meaning and laborious little book touches
upon all the points in the education of children, from
their shoes to their sen‘ibilities. It looks upon them
with a medical as well as an educational eye, tells us
that shoes promote apoplexy, and that depression of
spirits loads the lungs with an accumulation of
blood. The system of Mr. Bainbrigge is to dis-
courage the development of the passions—emula-
tion he thinks a downright evil, and sensibility
worse than dangerous. He is a great advocate for
the early development of the faculties, even when
they are to be devoted to no higher a purpose than
shoemaking, and has on this head sundry useful
illustrations. Illustrations, in fact, are what the
book might be expected to be strong in, inasmuch as
it consists of a series of lectures delivered at the
Collegiate Institution of Liverpool, and the lecturer
is always expected to provide a sufficiency of this
kind of enlivenment. Unfortunately, there is less
of them than we might expect, and the book in con-
sequence is somewhat heavy, and the application of
several of its rules rather doubtful. However, it

THE PRESS.

is sensible, moral, and full of reflection, and the
elders may gather from its perusal many useful
hints.

The Jerusalem Delivered of Torquato Tasso. By

J. H. Wiffen. London : Bohn.
THE work of which this is the fifth edition was
originally published in the year 1824. It contains a
life of the poet, a facsimile of his handwriting, with
thirty-two engravings on wood and steel. From the
latter we strongly recommend the excision or revision
of " Satan in Council." The fallen spirit is depicted
in the proportions and with the animated expression
of a coal•porter in the Strand full of Barclay and
Perkins's treble X. Horns and ahi forked beard do
not add to his sublimity. In other respects the
volume is as good as Mr. Bohn's publications gene-
rally are, and is a judicious addition to his Illustrated
Library.

T. Macci Midi Miles Gloriosus. Titi Maeci Plauti
Trinumnins. London: J. W. Parker and Son.
THESE plays of Plautus, separately printed and
bound w►th flexible covers, are intended for the use
of schools. Brief notes are appended to each.

A Descriptive Atlas Illutrative of the Seats of War.

London : W. S. Orr and Co.
A USEFUL publication, containing six maps, five
coloured, and one a skeleton delineation of the seat
of war in the East, to which all of them have some
reference. Each is accompanied by a short historical
and explanatory description. The work itself is
good, but an introduction of several lines is singularly
ill•written. If we had trusted to it we should have
been misled as to the contents of the book.

Chapters for School Reading and Home Thought.
By the Author of "The Village Schoolmistress's
Assistant," &c. London: Hope and Co.

A SERIES of short tales and essays, conveying to the
labouting classes useful instruction on most subjects
of every-day life. It is chiefly designed, we imagine,
for rural districts.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
BOOKS.
The Gauntlet of Freedom. Harrison.
The Voyage of the Herald. B. Seeman. Reeve and Co.
The Lamplighter. Clark, Beeton, and Co.
Treasures of Art in Great Britain. Dr. Waagen. Murray.
The Laws of War. H. B. Thompson. Smith and Elder.
Lord Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh. M. Napier, Esq.
Macmillan and Co.
Poems. J. Macfarlane. II ardwicke.
PAmPirr.Arrs.

A Poem and a Pamphlet. Chapman and Hall.
Facts and Documents relating to Popery. Ditto.
England and Russia. R. Edleaton.
Houlston and Stoneman,
The Nunnery Question. Burns and Lambert.
The Two Princes. A Fairy Tale. Hardwieke.
Tract on Confirmation, Rev. W. H. Ridley. Mozley.
Life Assurance. A Lecture by M. O. Keating.
Fetter and Co.

ztt pram.