The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-02 00:00:00

The Quarterly Review. April, 1857.

THE Quarterly for April, though containing no
one article of that preponderating interest
which occasionally is to be found within its
covers, is very attractive and well written
throughout. " Dred "is a remarkably good
review of Mrs. Stowe's last slave tale, and we
think, on the whole, impartial. The story we
have always thought inferior to " Uncle Tom,"
and the reviewer takes exception to the cha-
racter of Nina on what we think sound critical
grounds. Her end is not artistically true to
her beginning, and her transformation in the
space of three weeks is almost ridiculous. On
the subject of slavery the writer maintains that
the present agitation is no transitory excite-
ment, or merely the turbulence which must be
expected in all the party conflicts of a demo-
cracy. He believes that it threatens civil war
and dissolution of the Union. Neither party,
he is convinced, will yield an inch. This
accords pretty much with our own view of the
case—an issue which, however, we sincerely
hope may discredit our talent for prophecy.
The article upon lunatic asylums is a very
interesting account of all that has been done
up to the present time towards amending our
treatment of the insane. Of the anecdotes
of madmen, perhaps the following is one of
the most horrible :

The utmost precaution will not always insure safety;
for patients considered quite harmless will now and then
commit the most horrible acts A black Mali, a butcher,
who had been many years in an American asylum, and
had never shown any violence, one night secreted a knife,
and induced another patient to enter his cell. When his
companion bad lain dArn, he cut his throat., divided him
into joints, and arranged toe pieces round his .rell as he
bad been accustomed to arrange his meat in his shop.
He thou offered his horrible wares to his fellow.lunaties,
earrying such parts as they desired to those who were
chained. The keeper, hearing the uproar, examined the
cells, and found one man missing; upon inquiriaig of the
black butcher if be had seen him, he Misty rephed, "be

THE PRESS.

had sold the last joint !" Even those who have apparently
harmless delusions, will sometimes, if thwarted, commit
unlooked for attrocities. Not many years since an inqui•
sition was held before Mr. Commissioner Winslow upon a
young gentleman who would travel considerable distances
to see a windmill, and cit watching it for d tys. His
friends, to put an► end to his absurd propensity, removed
to a place where there were no mills. The youth, to
counteract the design, murdered a child in a wood, mau•
gliug his limbs iu a terrible manner, in the hope that he
should be transferred, as a punishment, to a situation
whence a mill could be seen.

" English Political Satires " is a very com-
plete account of this branch of our literature,
and written with a sprightly air suited to the
subject.
"Roving Life in England" is a capital review
of Mr. Borrow's last work, " The Romany
Rye ;" not too long, and properly critical,
bringing out all the points with great skill,
and dwelling on the author's characteristic
defects and merits with great judgment.
We now come to what is in our opinion one
of the most, if not the most, agreeable paper
in the whole number—that, namely, upon
Persia. It is an account of that country and
its inhabitants, rather than an essay on the
late quarrel, though that is briefly and lucidly
explained in a couple of pages. The whole is
written with great elegance and graphic power.
We subjoin an extract on the Persian cha-
racter

The Persians have been not inaptly called the French-
men of the East. Their elegant manners, their wit, their
levity, thei" general scepticism, their taste, their love of
display, their hospitality, and their cookery, give them
a claim to this title as compared with the surrounding
Mohammedan nations. A Persian gentleman is naturally
polished and refined. It would be difficult to exceed the
grace of his demeanour and his courteous address. He
is intimately acquainted with the literature of his country,
and will embellish his conversation and his letters with
ready and apposite quotations from the poets of his
nation. He will be apparently generous and unselfish.
His house and its contents are yours. He is your servant
and your dearest friend. He shows none of that haughty
condescension for the European which the best educated
Turk can scarcely conceal. But habit and lung misgovern-
went, the want of confidence in all around him, the fear
of treachery, the constant example of deceit and falsehood
before his eyes, have corrupted a character which has
many noble qualities, and rendered him mean, treacherous,
deceitful, and cruel. Same of these vices, especially a want
of truthfulness, to be attributed to similar causes, have
exteLded even to the peasantry, otherwise an honest, kind-
hearted, and enduring race. The propensity to falsehood
has become so characteristic of the whole Persian people
that it is a proverb in the East. At first the traveller is
exposed to continual difficulties and mortifications from
not being fully aware of the extent to which the habit is
carried ; till at last he becomes so accustomed to it that,
like a native of the country, he learns to believes exactly
the contrary from that which he is told. For instance, if
on a journey you ask a peasant the name of a village on the
right hand, he is certain to give you for it the name of that
on the left. Unfortunately this habit is carried far beyond
the common intercourse of life, and is so universal, and
considered so little deserving of condemnation, that to
csll a Persian gentleman a liar to his face is no reflection
whatever upon his character. This renders all diplomatic
intercourse with the Court of Teheran and the Ministers
of the Shah difficult anti uncertain in its results.

The women, says the author, fully deserve
their reputation for great beauty.
The political article on the new Parliament
is about as damaging a broadside as has been
poured into the Liberal ranks for a consider-
able period. The questions alluded to are—
the conduct of the Conservatives themselves
(upon which some remarks will lye found in
another department of our journal), the
character of the new members, the bishops,
China, and finance, and, finally, reform. Of
the class of members Thom it has lately been
the fashion to extol so much the reviewer
bays:--

But even if they do make over their whole time
and powers to the service of the country, they are not
of an age to change their mental habits. The range of the
mind is fixed the fibre cannot be stretched, and the
attempt would strain and tear it. It is too late,
speaking generally, to acquire the aptitudes of the old
soldier of politics—his flexibility and elasticity of mind,
his varied scope of view, his universality, which finds a
common measure for reasons and considerations in them-
selves utterl heterogeneous, his unlimited freedom in the
disposal and concentration of the powers he possesses upon
a point, or rather upon a hundred points, taken one atter
another, and having no common character, no mutual
connection, except that they are massed, or it may be even
jumbled together by the exigency of the hour. As Mr.
Canning, Mr. Pitt, or Mr. Fox, would perhaps have made
bad merchants, manufacturers, or tradesmen, even if they
had started in youth, but almost certainly if they had
turned to such pursuits at five and forty or thereabouts, so
it appears from experience that the middle class men of
this country, rising by local desert to local credit, and then
turned loose into the House of Commons, add little, in
proportion to their numbers, to the political mind and

437

accomplishments of that assembly. It is not that they are
usually forward, restless, or unmanageable. Oa the con-
trary, u to the general business of Parliament, they are
tame and passive enough, and are not bad troops for a
Minister to lead into a division lobby.

Herein lies a great danger. These men,
dazzled by the novelty of their position, and
the social rank of their leaders, will be apt to
lose that power of independent judgment
which distinguished them in private life, and
become much more subservient instruments
of the Minister than members of a class which
has moved from comparative youth in the
sphere of politics, is not deceived by the
fictitious grandeur of the pursuit, awed
by individual reputations, or cowed by supe-
tier rank. Men who have sat in the same
house with a Minister for some thirty or forty
years, have heard him deliver more than a
hundred speeches, have watched the play of
his features, the tones of his voice, the half-
disguised sneer, the well-assumed indigna-
tion, the ready compliment, must, of neces-
sity, be fur better judges of his character and
talents than those who know nothing but
what they see in the newspapers, and believe,
as Gospel truth, in the "loud and protracted
cheering" which graces his provincial ova-
tions. With one short extract referring to the
late ecclesiastical appointments we must con-
clude our notice :

Now, by the High Churchman is meant generally the
man who is disposed to abi le by the written and fixed
laws of the Church of England in their letter and their
spirit. and to defend them alike against Romanist, Rs-
tionalist, and Puritan. This party (if such, fur convt.
thence sake, it must be called, but it is not justly liable to
the name) still sees in the Queen the representative of
Tudors and of Stuarts, to whom, after all, the Church at
least has been much indebted, both for its reform and for
its preservation. And yet, further, it sees in Lord Pal-
merston not the man fishing for a parliamentary majority,
and bating his book with any garbage that may serve bis
turn, but the representative of the Crown, and of the old
monarchy of England. This party, like every cther, has
its Extreme and its moderate forms of opinion, its vices
and its virtues. Among its virtues is the disposition to
suffer patiently and long at the hands of constituted
authority. It is, therefore, feeble to resist and slow to
complain; it is the Persia, the Naples, the China, or the
Greece, of the sphere ecclesiastical ; it is, in a word, a
safe party to bulb, and, being so, it is pretty sere to be
bullied by Lord Palmerston.
The remaining points are admirably treated—
our financial dilemma stated with clearness
and moderation, and "Reform" discussed with
equal common sense and boldness.

THE COMING LITERARY SEASON.
PtiBLISHERS, writers, and readers of books
ought to be sincerely glad that the General
Election has at last come to an end, and that
the social current has again begun to flow in
its customary channels. The " season"
(what import in that word') has at last begun,
and if it be briefer than is usual, its general,
and especially its literary, interest will be
more highly concentrated. Most of the
eminent bibliopoles have announced a goodly
supply fur the intellectual world. Travels,
Historical Papers, Biography, and Fiction are
departments in which every reader will find
something important and " new " for the next
three mouths. " The Missionary Journal of
Dr. Livingstone " (Murray) is looked to by
many as being likely to be " the book of the
season." It belongs to a class of works which
possess peculiar interest for the English mind.
It comprises personal adventure, geog►aphical
experience, and something of discovery, along
with precious and dearly-bought information
about the heathen world in Afr►ca. Its interest
is not likely to be ephemeral, and since
M'Cartney's " Embassy to China " no book of
travels was ever so calculated to rouse general
curiosity. Travellers, indeed, have their tastes
well catered fur this year, and by some " noble
authors" too. Viscountess Falkland's " Chow
Tow" (Hurst and Blackett), a narrative of
Indian travel, will be asked for by many,
if it were only for the sake of the piquantly
odd title. Lord Dutfetin, whose talents
are considerable, announces " The Arctic
Islands" (Murray), a subject which has
always engaged people ; and the Premier Duke
of England. his Grace of Norfolk, is advertised
as editor of •' The Life of Philip Howard, Earl
of Arundel" (Hurst and Blackett).
"The Cornwallis Papers" (Murray) are also
announced. They ought to be valuable for
historical purposes, as the Marquis Cernwallis

438

(though not a first-rate man) acted an eminent
part in America, Ireland, and India, and at
eventful periods. His correspondence was
extensive , but we surmise that some of the
pens Ind interest in it has been forestalled by
`• Tue Malmesbury Papers " and " Castlereagh
Despatches." A new volume is also to appear
from the pen of the unt►ring Lord Chief
Justice of the King's Bench, " The Lives of
Lord Chief Justices Kenyon, Ellenborough,
and Tenterden " (Murray). This will probably
be the most valuable of all the volumes in his
judicial series, as the ground to be traversed
is unbroken, and as the noble and learned
lord will have to produce original matter. A
" Life of George Stephenson, the Railway-
maker," is also announced from Albemarle-
street.

In Paternoster-row a work of first-class
artistic and literary importance is announced
by Messrs. Longman. Its title is, " The
History of Our Lord, and of his precursor St
John the Baptist; with the Personages and
Typical Subjects of the Old Testament, as
represented in Christian Art." This will coin
plete the whole series of " Sacred and Legen-
dary Art," by Mrs. Jameson, and will be
one of the most important volumes ever
issued by its gifted authoress. The same
eminent firm announces " Travels in the
Free States of Central America, Nicaragua,
Honduras, and San Salvador," by Dr. (.:arl
Scherzcr. A new " History of France,"
by E. E. Crowe, is also advertised from this
firm. This work is not a new edition of the
same writer's favourably known publication on
French history in the " Cabinet Cyclopedia,"
but is to be a completely new performance.
. .

Among essayists, Sir John Herschel is to
reprint his contributions to the Edinburgh and
Quarterly Reviews (Longmans). " Vacations in
Ireland," by C. R. Weld, and " Memorials,
Scientific and Literary, of Andrew Crosse, the
Electrician," by Mrs. A. Crosse, are works
likely to he interesting to scientific readers.
Ample amusement appears to be provided
for the lovers of fiction. Messrs. Hurst and
Blackett are more than ordinarily strong in
novels of promise. "Nothing New," by the
author of "John Halifax," will probably belie
its title, and display the originality of its
author's peculiar mind. "The Two Aristocra-
cies," by Mrs. Gore, is suggestive of strong
social contrasts. " A Woman's Story," by Mrs.
S. C. Hall, will be looked for eagerly by that
laiy's numerous admirers. " Cuthbert St.
Elmo, M.P., or Passages in the Life of a Poli-
tician," sounds favourably. Political novels
are generally too narrow in their subjects, and
they require great animation to be readable.
Mr. George Borrow stands in a class by him-
self, and his announced " Romany Rye "
(Murray), which is reviewed in the present
Quarterly, is of a very mixed character.
In Mr. Bentley's list, " Lily. or the English
Governess in Russia," by Mr. G. A. Sala;
"Pillauf from Stamboul" (with illustrations),
by Mrs. Hornby ; " China, Australia, and the
Islands of the Pacific in 1855-a," by J. D.
Ewes, Esq., are books which promise well.
" The Professor," by Cuii'er Bell, is pro-
minent in Messrs. Smith and Elder's list, and
after the recent biography of the authoress it
will excite additional curiosity. " A Visit to
Salt Lake, and to the Mormon Settlements,"
by William Chandless, is announced by the
same house ; and the lovers of the humorous
will be glad to hear of " The Militiaman at
Home and Abroad," illustrated by Leech.
After the lenten fare which the lovers of
literature have had to endure during the
recent " hard times" of political excitement,
they have here a carte which promises a feast.

9IR. W. 11. RUSSELL'S LECTURES commence on
Monday, May 11, at Willis's-rooms. Mr. Russell
will commence the delivery of a personal narrative of
the campaign in the Crimea. The narrative is to
consist of three parts—the socnnd and third to be
respectively delivered on the 14th and 16th of May—
and will comprise every event of importance from
the departure of the army to the evacuation of the
Crimea. According to the prospectus, many subjects
which could not have been judiciously communicated
to the world during the continuance of the war will
be described for the first time in the lectures, and a
comprehensive sketch will be given of the private
life and interior economy of the armies and the
camp.

THE PRESS.

Dusir.

HER 'MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

MLLE. ORTOLAN' made little impression at her first
appearance in this country last Tuesday night.
Elvira, in Bellini's Puritani, is totally beyond her
powers, vocal or histrionic. Such a character
requires gifts and capabilities of an extraordinary
degree ; those which she possesses are very circum-
scribed. Her figure is slight and fragile, and the
facial expression is remarkably deficient. The voice
is a pure soprano of limited power, and its compass
is confined chiefly to the upper octave; in qua'ity
the organ is thin, wiry, and hard. Her musical
education appears to have been prematurely stepped.
Her scales are not neatly finished, although thiere
is no lack of ambition in essaying distant intervals
and mounting to the extreme altitudes, such as going
up to D; but then the intonation not being just de •
stroys the charm of such gymnastic graces when given
with truth and brilliancy. Mlle. Ortolani is another
instance of the defective training of artistes in Italy
in these days. It is to be presumed that she was
engaged on the recommendation of Signor Bonetti,
the musical director, who was for some time in Spain ;
but it' lie had but inquired amongst the cultivated
amateurs patronising last season the " Oriente " in
Madrid he would have ascertained that her popula-
rity, even in that capital—to which it is so difficult,
on account of the climate, to lure first-rate prime
donne—was slight. By her side was then singing
Mme. Penco, a really clever artiste, worthy of any
director's seeking. Giuglini has fully maintained
amongst the connoisseurs, by his assumption of
Arturo, the glory lie has gained in La Favorite, and
in La Traviata. PRESS remarked last week
that whatever he undertook would be attended with
more or less success, but that he would always
charm his auditory, and it was just this in the Puri
tarsi. He would think that anybody was laughing at
him who put him on the same level with
Rubini and Mario, supposing he had heard those
two matchless tenors, and his undoubted triumphs
will safely permit the truth to reach his ears, espe-
cially as rumour states him to be a modest, unassum-
ing singer. His Arturo is not a great performance,
nor was his Fernando in the Favorita ; but he has
displayed such accomplishments that afford a mate-
rial guarantee of a future greatness. Some friend
conversing with Rubini on the night of his; farewell
heard with a little astonishment the exclamation
from him, " I am quitting the stage just as I was
learning how to sing!" Now, Giuglini charms, but
never astounds. It is absurd to style his voice
" wonderful ;" it is not. On the contrary, it is wanting
in timbre and in power ; but he sings with sentiment ;
his embellishments are often elegant, and sometimes
novel. We did not like his version of "A to o care,"
and the house was of our opinion, for the encore did
not emanate spontaneously. The duo with Riccardo
wns feeble, but in portions of the final act he won
his honours deservedly. 1i his repertoire be care-
fully studied, and he be not overworked, he will be a
permanent treasure to Her Majesty's Theatre.
Admirably as Belletti always sings, be was quite out
of place in Giorgio, and Beneventano was boisterous
and blustering as Riccardo. Where is Signor Corsi,
the new barritone ? He is an artist. Alboni has
arrived. What a luxury it will be to listen again to
her incomparable organ and perfect method !

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.
GRIST AND MARIO have been again exciting the
Lyceum audiences prodigiously. After they had
produced such sensations in the Troratore, to follow
immediately in the Favorita, without a break, was
venturesome ; but their temerity was not misplaced,
and that terrible fourth act of Donizetti, so massive
in its proportions, and so profound in its pathos, was
listened to with the greatest emotion last Tuesday.
But the whole rendering of this act is deeply impres-
sive. True, it is deprived of Grieve and Telbin's
celebrated cloister scene by moonlight. Who can
forget that work of art at Covent-garden Theatre !
The chapel lighted up for the ceremonial of the
initiation of a novice—the ruined roof, through the
rafters of which the sparkling stars were seen—the
arched corridor in the distance, dimly lighted with
lamps ! Beverley can only make use of limited means
in the temporary opera-house, but he, in conjunction
with Mr. Harris, the stage-manager, has contrived
to construct a scene of much beauty; and as the
curtain rose on the gigantic figure of the priest
Balthazar (very artistically depicted by Zelger), and
the monks crossed the stage to dig their graves, the
old thrilling feeling was revived, which became
stronger as the choral chant was heard, so admirably
was it executed. The masterly orchestral accom-
paniments of this act, blended with the solemn tones
of the organ, are indescribably beautiful. Costa has
one of these great opportunities of colouring the

SATURDAY,

musical action so rarely to be found, but which
when found no conductor but himself can develop
with greater point and intensity. In the original
opera the ending is abrupt, but, with a kindred feel-
ing to that which suggested to Donizetti his sublime
conceptions in this marvellously dramatic act, Costa
bad added the deep-toned chants of the monks over
the bodies of the unfortunate lovers, the funeral bell
tolling as the curtain slowly is let down. It is then
that the excited hearers take a long breath, and,
getting rid of the choking sensations caused by the
lyric scene, cannot separate without a special ovation
to the prima donna and tenor who have acted and
sung with such transcendent vigour. Or the truth of
the current remark in the lobbies as the com-
pany left, that "Mario never sang more finely
in his life," there can be but one opinion.
His " Angiol d'amore " was perfect in the phrasing
and delicious in the tone which he produced, and
the whole may safely be pronounced to be one of the
most finished displays of elegant vocalisation ever
heard from mortal lips. Mario's whole soul seems
to be in this melody, and his voice soars above the
exquisitely orchestral undercurrent, with almost
superhuman feeling. The redemand for the
romanza was irresistible. It would occupy no small
amount of space to follow the details of the acting
and singing of Grisi and Mario in the death dun.
Her recognition of the voice of the monk Fernando,
who has just pronounced the vows which separate
her for ever from the world—the prostration of
Leonora at the foot of the cross—the gradual relent-
ing of Fernando when he learns that Inez was
charged to have communicated to him the position
of "La Favorite "—the passionate burst from him,
"Io t'amo "—the momentary delirium of transport
that they are all to each other—the recollection at
length coming across them that they are on the earth
for ever separated—the last pangs of the breaking
hearts—why reiterate all these fine points ?—the
whole is overwhelmingly oppressive and soul-
stirring ; and afterwards in cold blood ono is lost in
admiration at the consummate skill of the artists
who can thus transport you to a strange land and
identify you with their imaginary miseries. Take it
all in all, this act is assuredly one of the grandest
lyric representations ever heard.