The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-09 00:00:00

1169

positive merits. This romance is marked by
great originality, strong descriptive power,
considerable eloquence, particularly in the
portrayal of character and feeling, and by
acute observation of nature. But it is in many
parts wildly extravagant and very unartisti-
eally put together. We conceive the narrative
would have been improved had the part of the
fortunate young gentleman—susceptible_ as he
is represented to be, who succeeds to 40,000/. a
year, and whose exceedingly comfortable condi-
tion does not well accord with the romance of
the story—been altogether omitted. Though
not a pleasing story, it sustains attention, and
for this merit alone will no doubt be widely
circulated.

The opening paper of Blackwood, " Story of the
Campaign," from the pen of an officer, is neither 80
well written nor so amusingly told as we expected.
We have had so many clever and characteristic
sketches from able pens, so full in detail and so
accurate in description, that one tires over a
simple personal narrative which is necessarily meagre
in account, and, from the harrassing duties of the
writer, perhaps rather hastily composed; but, never-
theless, some of the remarks are worthy of notice, as
expressive in a degree of the feelings of the army.
Speaking of the failure of the Russians to capture
Silistria, and their retreat across the Danube, the
gallant officer remarks that:—
It was now expected that the allies would push on ; but
for this they were not prepared. Overrating the resources of
the enemy from the beginning, an advance into the prin-
cipalities does not seem to have entered into their calcu-
lations. Various reasons for our inactivity were circulated ;
the commissariat could not supply us on the march ; there
was no transport for the reserve ammunition; we were
waiting to see what Austria would do. Leaving diplomatists
to attach a value to the last reason, I may say, that the
commissariat would probably, if they had been called on,
have found means to supply the army, but that the want
of animals to carry the ammunition formed a more serious
obstacle.
When the cholera broke out so fiercely, and even
followed the army after they bad embarked, we read
a horrible anecdote of the dead bodies fleeting up
in the Bay of Balchick :
Thither the cholera still pursued us, and every day boats
might be seen leaving ships, towing a boat astern, whet ein
was a long motionless object covered by a flag. After a time
the corpses, sewed in blankets or hammocks, and swollen
to giant sire, rose to the surface and floated upright among
the ships, their feet being kept down by the shot used to
sink them. One of these hideous visitants lingered about
the foot of the accommodation ladder of one of the trans-
ports, till men going down the side passed cords with
weights attached over its neck, when it slowly sank.
The battle of Alma and the flank march are fairly
described. Our position in the wood on the march
appears to have been very critical.
The " story " is only continued down to the
arrival of the army at Balaklava, The first part of a
new romance, " Zaidee," the scenery old English and
Cheshire, the family modern and rustic, reads well.
A paper upon the " Education of the Royal Artillery "
reviews the system of education pursued in the Go-
vernment institutions at Carshalton and Woolwich for
cadets, and in the regimental schools for the children
of non-commissioned officers and privates. " The
Influence of Gold upon the Social and Commercial
Condition of the World " is an able review of the
increase of the precious metals subsequent to the
first discovery of Mexico and Peru, and the effect
produced upon the growth of Russia and the general
commerce of the world by the discovery and increased
yield of the mines of Siberia and the Ural mountains.
Of the Government policy with regard to neutral
trading, the writer considers that
We have committed a suicidal mistake in permitting
Russia to enjoy the indirect facilities, afforded by Prussia
and other States, of carrying on an export trade, little di-
minished from its former amount; and, as the result of
our weakness and folly, it is well nigh certain that she will
be enabled, after all the reverses she has sustained, to enter
upon a new campaign in the ensuing spring with resources
but little impaired.
"'The Prospects of the Modern Drama" is an
amusing review of the current plays and players
upon the stage. Passing " Peace and War," as
inferior to its first part last month, we come to
some "Reminiscences of Christopher North," which
are certainly a mistake on Mr. Warren's part, and as
much below his reputation as they are unworthy
Professor Wilson's genius.
The present is a lively number of Bentley's
Miscellany, as far as variety of subject is concerned.
We have first "The Events of the Year" noticed;
then a review of Austrian policy in "The Attitude of
Austria in the East; " a very good chapter of
" Aspen Court," in which a street row and a descrip-
tion of a fighting-man are cleverly drawn, and a
Welsh 'village sketched in all its bleak barrenness.