The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

the wrist, is called the hypothenar. The ball of the
thumb is entitled stethos. The joints of each finger from
the hand upwards are called procondyle, condyle, and
metacondyle. Then there is assigned to each finger a
planet, cheiromancy being, in fact, a sister science with
astrology. The thumb and stethos belong to Mars: on
them we read of violence or strength, of lire or hostile ac-
cidents in life ; there also we read of rough attachments,
similar to that which inclined Mars to Venus. It is a
curious fact to note how intimately a belief in the old
heathen mythology was blended with those pseudo.
sciences, astrology and cheiromancy, and in that form
could be fostered even by grave Christians and dignitaries
of the Church of Rome. The index finger belongs to
Jove: upon it we read of priesthood, honours, magis-
tracy. Middle fingers are all subject to Saturn : Saturn
writes on them dark hints of prisons, fevers, poisons, fear,
grief, profound meditation, occult studies, toil without re-
ward. The ring finger is the Sun's : on it we read of high
honour, power, and the favour of kings. Venus holds
man by the little finger: upon it she writes of wives and
soca and other pleasant things that suit her humour. The
Moon rules over the hypothenar: upon that she tells of
shipwrecks, suffocation, and submersions. In the next
place, concerning lines, the line within the hand, bound-
ing the ball of the thumb, is the line of life, of the heart,
and of the sun. The line across the middle of the hand
is the line of the brain and of the moon. There is a line
running sometimes from the carpus to the middle finger,
called the sister to the line of life, and they who have it
lead lives full of labour and pain. It would be weary work
to multiply the details of so dull a science.
- -

Many general readers will echo the last sen
tence of the foregoing extract, and apply the
words "dull science " to Cardan's musty trea-
tises. How cleverly Mr. Morley can write,
and with what skill he can use his practised
pen, is seen in the last passage of the work,
where he contrasts his hero with Galen :
Many things in the writings of Cardan make it evident
that he had studied Galen to good purpose, and it is not
unlikely that it pleased him secretly to feel that he him-
self resembled Galen in a good many particulars. Hip-
pocrates stood on his own pedestal, and was a great man
by himself. The old father of Medicine, contemporary
with the wisest men of Greece—younger than Socrates,
but at the same time an older man than Plato—merited
his crown of gold from the Athenians and his dinner in
the Prytaneium, for he was morally and intellectually
great. He wrote simply, tersely, royally as a king issuing
wealth from his own mint, not as a rich man pouring
out his hoard of coins, with all manner of kings heads
and dates upon them. He was a fearless old fellow who
would not move one step from the enemies of Greece. He
was a tree-hearted physician, who gathered men about
him in a grand spirit of kindliness. He visited the poor
without reward, loved knowledge for its own sake, bound
his disciples by a vow to mutual courtesy, to a religious
keeping of all secrets trusted by sick people to their
charge, and enforced with all his might a code of prac-
tice that became a noble calling. To the end of the
world physicians will appreciate their fine-hearted old
father, and be proud to think themselves the children of
Hippocrates. But Galen was a man of smaller stature,
living at a time when it was not so easy to be noble.
He was physician to five Roman emperors, and one of
them was Commodus. He commented upon Hippocrates,
and wrote much ; not in the clear, royal style, but with
diffuseness. Like Cardan, Galen had a passionate mother;
like Carden, he was persecuted, for he could with diffi-
culty keep his ground in Rome against the sects in
medicine whose theories he laboured to demolish; and
the parallel holds good, though Galen became great
in his day, and was sought by kings. Like Cardan,
again, Galen was deficient in personal courage, and su-
perstitious, having much belief in dreams and omens.
Galen and Cardan were both boasters, and both men
who really rose above the level of the intellect around
them. Galen fought against the mere scholastic sects
into which the doctors had degenerated and divided, the
dogmatics, the empirics, the methodics, the episynthetics,
the pneumatics, the eclectics, and especially attacked
them in a lost book, of which the title is preserved, " De
Empiricorum Contradictis," " The Differings of the Em•
pirics." Cardan found the physicians in his day straying
away from the truth, and losing the best sense of the
teaching of Hippocrates, as Galen had restored and ampli-
fied it. The first attempt, therefore, of Cardan, as a medi-
cal author, made in direct imitation of Galen, was a work
entitled " Contradicentia Medicorum," on that wide sub-
ject the Differings of Doctors. The titles of some other of
Cardan's works are borrowed from the example of Galen.
The list of resemblances is scarcely made complete, when
I add that the style of Galen, brilliant, pompous, and dif-
fuse, would not pair badly with the style of Cardan, though
Carden, equally diffuse, wrote with less rhetoric and more
true genius. Galen was also a prominent example of pro-
lific authorship, Cardan himself being no mean proficient
in the art of bookmaking. In that respect, however, he
was utterly eclipsed by the sage of Pergamus, since it is
said of Galen that he wrote seven hundred and fifty
books ; five hundred on medicine, and the rest on
geometry, philosophy, logic, and grammar. Galen wrote
two treatises especially upon the books that he had written,
and the order in which they were to be taken. Those
treatises he called "De Libris Propriia." Cardan wrote
three works of precisely the same kind, and gave them the
same title.
The next application of Mr. Morley's re-
search and talents will, we hope, be on a
theme more attractive and variously interest-
ing than the subject of his present perfor-
mance. . _

SATURDAY,

Armenia. A Year at Erzeroum, and on the
Frontiers of Russia, Turkey, and Persia.
By the Hon. Robert Curzon. London :
Murray.
- - -

MR. Cuazow possesses the first requisite of a
travel-writer—a natural and singularly agree-
able style, which gives novelty to old inci-
dents and point to trifles. Nor does he, like
a bookmaker (especially a French bookmaker),
abuse this privilege by filling his volume with
mere olever trivialities, devoid of substance or
truth. His descriptions of men and manners
are always good—that is, always characteristic,
every word producing its right effect, just as
in a well-drawn sketch every stroke of the
pencil has its purpose. With the more serious
part of a traveller's work he does not deal,
rightly judging that the days of guide-books
are gone by, and that at least within the Turk-
ish empire little remains to do except to de-
scribe society and nature as they appear to
the passer by. It is a mistake to call such
descriptions useless. Whatever enables un-
travelled persons to picture to themselves the
aspect of distant lands and their inhabitants
is a real contribution to human knowledge.
Measuring rivers and mapping countries are
useful too ; but he who puts us in the way of
really understanding how men live and dress,
and govern or are governed, in a Mahometan
province of Asia, does really teach to more
purpose, so far as the mass of readers are con-
cerned, than the most skilful geologist or na-
tural historian.
The occasion of Mr. Curzon's visit to Arme-
nia was this. It seems that the Koord tribes,
like those of the Scotch border two hundred
years ago, avail themselves of their position
between the frontiers of Persia and Turkey to
plunder impartially in both countries, those
residing in Turkey selecting Persia as their
scene of operations, and vice versa. To put an
end to this (state of things, the two Govern-
ments, with assistance from England and
Russia, agreed to settle their boundary line
by treaty, which was done, after five years'
negotiation, in 1847. A survey was next to be
made of the districts thus partitioned, and the
affair finally terminated in 1852. On this
diplomatic duty Mr. Curzon was employed,
during the illness of the British commissioner,
and the result is the book before us.
Erzeroum, Mr. Curzon's head-quarters for a
considerable time, is graphically described :
I have never seen or heard of anything the least like it.
It is totally and entirely different from anything I ever saw
before. As the whole view, whichever way one looked, was
wrapped in interminable snow, we had not at first any very
distinct idea of the nature of the ground that there might
be underneath ; the tops of the houses being flat, the snow-
covered city did not resemble any other town, bntappeared
more like a great rabbit-warren they of the houses being
wholly or partly subterranean, doors looked like bur-
rows. In the neighbourhood of the Consulate (very com-
fortable within, from the excellent arrangements of Mr.
Brant) there were several large heaps and mounds of
earth, and it was difficult to the uninitiated to discriminate
correctly as to which was a house and which was a heap
of soil or stones. Streets, glass windows, green doors with
brass knockers, areas, and chimney-pots, were things only
known from the accounts of travellers from the distant
regions where such things are used. Very few people wery
about, the bulk of the population hybernationg at this
time of theyearintheirstrangeholesandburrows. The bright
colours of the Oriental dresses looked to my eye strangely
out of place in the cold dirty snow ; scarlet robes, jackets
embroidered with gold, brilliant green and white costumes,
were associated in my mind with a hot sun, a dry climate,
and fine weather. A bright sky there was, with the sun
shining away as if it was all right, but his rays gave no
heat, and only put your eyes out with its glare upon the
snow. This glare has an extraordinary effect, sometirnes
bringing on a blindness called snowblindnes, and raising
blisters on the face precisely like those which are produced
by exposure to extreme heat. Another inconvenience has
an absurd effect : the breath, out of doors, congeals upon
the moustaches and beard, and speedily produces icicles,
which prevent the possibility of opening the mouth. My
moustaches were converted each day into two sharp icicles,
and if anything came against them it hurt horribly ; and
those who wore longbeards were often obliged to commence
the series of Turkish civilities in dumb show ; their faces
being fixtures for the time, they were not able to speak
till their beards thawed. A curious phenomenon might
also be observed upon the door of one of the subterranean
stables being opened, when, although the day was clear and
fine without, the warm air within immediately congealed
into a little fall of snow ; this might be seen in great per-
fection every morning on the first opening of the outer
door, when the house was warm from its having been shut
up all night.
This intense cold, however natural in a city
which lies 7,000 feet above the sea, in a plain
surrounded by mountains, is unfavourable to

I

I

APRIL i , 1854.

industry. During all the winter the popula-
tion remains in a torpidly uncomfortable state,
either frozen or suffocated, according to the
nature of their dwellings, but in either case
unable to stir beyond the walls, or carry on
any branch of industry. The government of
Armenia is, or was, very indifferently adminis-
tered. Metropolitan reforms have not reached
the provinces, and every kind of oppression is
practised under the name of justice. The wife
of one sufferer came to complain to Mr. Cur-
zon. He was an Armenian, accused of theft
by two soldiers, themselves the real authors
of the crime. Naturally unwilling to confess
a crime which he had not committed, his silence
was construed as obstinacy, and the follow
ing mild means were resorted to to make him
speak. A cup, or bowl, of heated brass was
put on his head ; " afterwards a cord was tied
" round it, two sheep's knucklebones were
" placed on his temples, and the cord tight-
" ened till his eyes nearly came out. As he
" would not confess, his front teeth were
" then drawn one at a time: pieces of cane
" were run up under his toenails and finger
" nails." He was next hung up by the hands,
and his flesh torn with pincers. On Mr. Cur-
zon's request, and as a matter of private
favour—not at all because justice required it—
the man was set free, and his innocence after-
wards became clear. Through the interven-
tion of the British commissioner, torture was
subsequently abolished, at least in name,
throughout the pachalic of Erzeroum.
The Armenian weather and roads are fright-
ful. In the mountains a custom exists by
which the villagers go out every summer to
the passes, and bury the dead whom they find
there, retaining the clothes, arms, and bag-
gage as their perquisite. During several
months all traffic is intercepted ; and, while
this Siberian climate prevails in the highlands,
the low valleys are infested with malaria, pro-
ducing fevers, and often death. The impor-
tance of such a district consists not in its
resources or wealth, but in the geographical
position and character which enables it to
command the highroad between Turkey and
Persia. In this respect its value to the pos-
sessing power can hardly be overrated.
The Armenian population is pretty equally
divided between Mahometans and Christians,
the former having a slight numerical prepon-
derance. They enjoy a good deal of local self
government, each village electing its elder,
head man, or mayor, who is responsible to
Government for all that takes place within it.
They frequently migrate to the great towns,
and have there the reputation of being sharp,
and not over-honest, in money dealings. In
the country their most characteristic qualities
are hardihood and stupidity :
The superiority of the Mahometan over the Christian
cannot fail to strike the mind of an intelligent person who
has lived among these races, as the fact is evident through-
out the Turkish empire. This arises partly from the op-
pression which the Turkish rulers in the provinces have
exercised for centuries over their Christian subjects: this
is probably the chief reason ; but the Turk obeys the
dictates of his religion, the Christion does not ; the Turk
does not drink, the Christian gets drunk ; the Turk is
honest, the Turkish peasant is a pattern of quiet, good-
humoured honesty ; the Christian is a liar and a cheat; his
religion is so overgrown with the rank weeds of superstition
that it no longer serves to guide his mind in the right way.
It would be a work of great difficulty to disentangle the
pure faith preached by the Apostles from the mass of ab•
surdities and strange notions with which Christianity is
encumbered, in the belief of the villagers in out,of-the-wa7
places, among the various sects of Christians in the domt-
nions of the Sultan. This seems to have been the case for
many centuries, and it has produced its effect in lowering
the standard of morality and injuring the general character
of those nations who are subjects of Turkey and not of the
Mahometan religion. For, of two evils, it is better to
follow the doctrines of a false religion than to neglect the
precepts of the true faith.

An Historical Review of the Reign of the Em-
peror Nikolai I. Translated from the Rus-
sian of Ustriitloff. By William Roberts.
London : Madden.
Tnz author of that is thek
Universoi is Prtyfessor
of St.
of
Russian History
Petersburg, and the translator's preface is
dated from that capital. We have, therefore,
before us an exposition of modern events in
the light in which the Czar would wish them
to be 'lowed. After detailing the strange cir-
cumstances that led to the abdication by

THE PRESS.

Constantine of his hereditary rights, and the
accession of Nicholas to the imperial throne,
the system of policy which the successor of
Alexander was resolved to pursue is thus ex-
plained
The events of twenty years have fully developed it.
Basing it on the principles of unblenching equity, modera-
tion, and disinterested magnanimity, our Sovereign up-
holds the political balance of Russia with honour and
dignity—at the right moment takes an active part in all
great European events—and, by his powerful influence and
formidable position, with a glance, se to say, without draw-
ing iist sword-4111e Wilke are our own]--annihilates the
designs that are matured to shake the general peace of
Europe. But he does not mix himself up with the petty
and endless disorders of the West—so annoying to his
predecessor—but replies with disdainful silence to the
furious vociferation of demagogues, impotent to disturb
the general repose, and because they are unworthy of his
attention. On the other hand, under no consideration,
under no title whatsoever, does he tolerate or permit fo-
reign interference in the affairs of his empire, in its rela-
tions with foreign states, in its disputes or alliances ; and
woe to him who shall dare offend the dignity of Russia, or
presume to disturb her tranquillity!
To annihilate other powers and to aggran-
dise Russia " without drawing the sword" is
indeed the key of Russian policy, as the
events related in this work sufficiently prove,
and for which they fully account. In it we
may view, through an optical instrument pre-
pared at St. Petersburg, the Persian war, which
lasted from 1826 to'2B ; the invasion of Turkey,
which terminated with the treaty of Adrian-
ople; the battle of Navarino, and the circum-
stances which preceded it; the desperate
struggle with Poland in 1880-81; together
with the contests between Turkey and Mehe-
met Ali, which ended in consequence of the
treaty of London in 1840. In relating these
events the historian invariably proves too
much ; for, after having described the Russian
army as numerically immense and the Em-
peror as an incarnation of absolute wisdom, it
always happens that, when war begins, the
frontier force is unequal to the exigency of
the moment. Thus, in the war with Persia,
it is said, " The transcaucasian province was
"in a most embarrassing condition, being
" almost without any means of defence." But,
after prodigies of valour and skill achieved by
these overmatched forces, after defeating an
enemy "of ten times" their number, and
dragging "besieging trains and baggage-wag-
" goes . . . across two mountain-chains still
" covered with snow, and scarcely accessible
"to man," they capture Erivan, and " the
" way to Persia is open." The Shah is repre-
sented as trembling, and at the mercy of the
Russians ; yet, funnily enough, there was some
difficulty in inducing him to make peace. A
treaty was, however, at last signed, and
the compact of Turkinaatchli belongs to a class of trea-
ties of the greatest advantage to us. By it firm and secure
frontiers were guaranteed to Russia beyond the Caucasus ;
her sacrifices were sufficiently indemnified, the protection
of Russian merchants in Persia was secured, and a termi-
nation put to an onerous war, at the very time when Rus-
sia was entering into a quarrel with the Porte.
The events of that war which made this
peace desirable have lately been so much dis-
cussed that the reader is probably familiar
with them. The following summary of the
results of the first campaign is amusing
The success of the Russian arms in 18281 in Europe and
in Asia, by land and sea, the occupation of two principali-
ties, the greater half of Bulgaria, a considerable part of
Anatolia, the reduction of fourteen fortresses, the capture
of 30,0 M prisoners with nine pachas, 00 standards, and
1,',1(X1 guns—all this might, one would have thought, have
oonvinced the Sultan of the absolute necessity of making
with the powerful Emperor of Russia. Mahmoud,
roteiver, remained as inflexible in hie hostility as before,
and, rejecting the propositions of peace, prepared for a re-
newal of the war.

We have seen that the Shah of Persia ex-
hibited the same insensibility to defeat as
Mahmoud. Let us now turn to the enemies of
Russia. in Europe. The Polish army meet the
Russians before Warsaw in 1881, the numbers
are stated to be equal, but the advantages of
position are in favour of the former :
Russian bravery at length triumphed over all the efforts
of the adversary. The defeated revolters, in the greatest
disorder, threw themselves across the Vistula, losing about
12,000 men killed and wounded. The inhabitants of
Warsaw with inexpressible terror went out to meet their
broken army. The mass of the people was ready to en-
treat pardon of the conqueror; the senators and deputies
of the Diet hastened to conceal themselves ; many thought
of flying across the frontiers • Niemckwicz himself with-
drew to Cracow, and Prince Rideivil threw off the title of
commander-in-chief. To consummate the blow it remained
to take possession of the scarcely defended fortification of

305

Praga, in order to destroy the nest of the revolt, as Surikoff
had done in a former reign, to compel the trembling War-
saw, and with it even all Poland, to fall at the feet of the
Russian Emperor. So thought also the chief of the staff,
Count Toll. But the counniuider-in-chief ordered the
victorious army to halt at the very minute when it was
ready, on the heels of the flying foe, to force its way into
the fortifications of Praga—into Warsaw itself—and passed
some days of inactivity on the Said of tlrokhof• ; subse-
quently he retired to Minsk, in order that—awaiting the open-
ingot the Vistula—he might cross over to its left side, and
thence take Warsaw. The rebels, recovering from their fright,
absolutely claimed the victory and again took up arms, aud,
proclaiming Colonel Skrjinicky their leader with the title
of generalissimo, sent strong detachments to the banks of
the Veprj and the Rarer, for the purpose of separating the
forces of the Russian field•marshal. Count Dibitch waited
for the opening of the Vistula more than a month.
The bravery of the Russian soldiers is unde-
niable, so far as courage consists in a stolid
obedience to orders. Sentinels have been
known to perish by fire and water when they
could hove escaped from the conflagration and
inundation rather than desert their posts, and
how they stand to be killed in battle they
hare proved from the days of Charles XII.
downwards. For their victories are not nu-
merous ; indeed, unless the brilliant successes
recorded in this book and in recent bulletins
be exceptions, we think history will say that
Russia can boast only of one general, and ho
was Suvarow. But his eucoess was by no
means uninterrupted, and the natural features
of his battle-fields were favourable to his
troops. Charles XII. and Napoleon fell only
before the Russian climate, and not before the
Russian arms. With the one exception of
that " little odd old man," we believe the Rus-
sians never won any battle without the aid of
overwhelming numbers. For this many rea-
sons may be given, but our space is too limited.
The career of Russia, in all departments,
is, in Ustrialoff's works, represented as glorious,
but if there is one thing more than another in
which she excels it is education. The following
closes the book :
The future is known but to God. lf, however, universal
and fundamental education may Serve as a sure pledge of
the future, of which there can scarcely be a doubt, then a
happy lot is in store for Russia.

Views of Canada and the Colonists. By James
B. Brown. Edinburgh : Black. London :
Longman.
A noon meant rather for reference than read-
ing ; useful to emigrants, and interesting to
those who concern themselves in colonial
matters, but less so to the general public.
Mr. Brown, an eight years' resident in Canada,
has taken much pains in collecting within a
small compass all the most important facts—
statistical and general—which a colonist, ac-
tual or intending, can want to know. He
avoids risking an opinion on doubtful or con-
troverted subjects ; and this wise discretion
gives to his work an appearance of authority
and impartiality. What he has attempted he
has done well—that is to say, assuming (and
we have no reason to doubt it) that his state-
ments of detail are accurate. He has done
good service in disabusing the public of an
impression equally general and fallacious—
that Canada is not making progress. The
eastern, or lower, province, of which both the
soil and climate are inferior, and which is
peopled mainly by the French rare, has re-
mained nearly stationary. Upper, or Western,
Canada, which seventy years ago did not exist
as a civilised country, already begins to take
the lead. Its population was :
In 1721 60,000
„ 1811
„ 1825 158,000
„ 1880 210,000
„ 1834 820,000
„ 1841 466,000
„ 1848 723,000
Besides a considerable increase since that
time, these figures show, what in a question of
colonial progress should always be remembered,
that it is the first step that costs—a large po-
pulation, with unlimited territorial area, draw-
ing to itself labour from abroad with great
ease and at a rapid rate, while a small and
scattered population is comparatively slow in
augmenting its numbers. In emigration as in
nature, the greater the bulk of the attracting
mass the more powerful the attraction. And
it is from this cause, not from any imagined
superiority, either natural or political, that
the ratio of increase in the United States

I

306

is greater than that observed in the British
colonies.
The climate of Canada is less severe than
we in England are apt to think. The ther-
mometer indicates great changes of heat and
cold ; but these are less felt in a dry and clear
atmosphere than among the fogs and damps
of this country. Mr. Brown does not mention
a fact which is, we believe, beyond doubt—that
the Canadian seasons are gradually growing
milder,owing to the disappearance of the forests.
These, in their uncleared state, acted as a vast
natural icehouse, retaining the snow of winter
until late in the year. Thus the harbour
of Toronto is now rarely frozen over, whereas
fifty years ago, as old residents have told us,
►t was never known to be open during the
months of January and February.

Wages and Labour. A Practical Treatise on
the Condition of the Working Classes. By
J. R. M'Culloch, Esq. London : Routledge.
A USEFUL and opportune little treatise, not
containing any novelty in economical doctrine,
but repeating in plain language many sound
truths which men are apt to forget. Mr.
M'Culloch begins by exploding that popular
fallacy which draws a line of demarcation be-
tween the so called " working class " and the
presumed idleness of those above them in
social position. " The rich," he says truly,
" have little in common with the gods of
" Epicurus." Work is common to all—neces-
sary to all ; and head work not always the
most easy or the most pleasant.
But the principal doctrine inculcated is that
of self-dependence. The working man is
warned that his fortune depends mainly, if
not wholly, on himself ; that where law is ad-
ministered fairly, and order maintained with-
out needless restrictions on individual freedom,
Government can do nothing more. " The
" lazy, the unskilful, and the improvident
" workman, whether in Australia or China,
" England or Russia, will always be poor and
" miserable They are the worst ene-
" mies of the poor who conceal or disguise
" this great truth."
Mr. M'Culloch briefly discusses emigration
—remarks that those who go out are not
usually of the poorest class, but of that imme-
diately above it—and thinks that paupers and
those likely to become such might be helped
out at the public expense. He argues in fa-
vour of high wages as tending to increase
industry by rewarding it, and as the best se
curity for property and law. He disserts on
the theory of wages after Adam Smith, of
whose chapter on that subject a large part is
reproduced. Combinations are next dealt
with, and just censure passed on the laws
which for nearly five hundred years prohibited
them. To these laws, though thirty years
have now passed since their abolition, Mr.
M'Culloch ascribes an injurious effect, as they
have established a precedent for interference,
which may be abused on the contrary side.
He argues the question of strikes—contends
that they are injurious to the workman rather
than to the employer—and hints that they
may occasionally be encouraged by employers
in other parts of the country, who of course
profit by a suspension of rivalry. But they
are an evil which will cure itself, and which
the Legislature cannot interpose to cure. He
cites as a precedent the miners' strike of 1844,
which was carried on by 40,000 hands, and
started with a reserve fund of 24,0001., indo
pendent of subscriptions received from trades'
unions in all parts of the country. N otwith-
standing these resources it failed after five
months' trial, in consequence of the importa-
tion of labourers from Scotland and Ireland.
He invites attention to a feature of the ques•
tion not much noticed hitherto—the encou-
ragement given to foreign rivalry by this do-
mestic dissension. It is stated on the authority
of Messrs. Du Fay, of Manchester, that the
demand for raw cotton in 1853 increased seven
and a half per cent. in Germany, Holland, and
Russia, while in Great Britain it fell off one
and a half per cent. Some remarks on
savings banks, education, and the state of the
poor, conclude the volume.

THE PRESS.

NAVAL FICTION.
Singleton Fontenoy. A Naval Novel. By James
Hannay. London : Routledge and Co.

This is, at the present moment, a most seasonable
reprint; and, as we had no opportunity of noticing
its first publication, we may here comment on its
highly remarkable qualities. Since Marryat's day
" Singleton Fontenoy " is decidedly the best nautical
novel, and we are not surprised at the run upon it
just now, as one of the characters of the tale is a hero
of the hour, none other than " Old Charley" himself.
But this last circumstance, though influencing many,
would not sway us in judging the merits of a novel
which has the permanent interest of an admirably
graphic style, variegated with shrewd, worldly sense,
and made palatable by a piquancy of sarcasm, in
which keen raillery is blended with healthy, manly
humour. "Singleton Fontenoy" is full of life, of
characters, and incidents, preserved with singular
fidelity upon its literary canvas. The hero's adven-
tures take us through a variety of scenes on board
H.M.S. the Patagonian, when that vessel was with
the expedition to Syria in 1840. If "Tom Cringle"
had given us his Mediterranean " Log," ho could
scarcely have excelled " Singleton Fontenoy," lin va-
riety of matter and freshness of style. The storming
of Beyrout is described with remarkable vivacity, and
we have a description of the plague on board a ship
of war, in which the selfishness of human nature,
the recklessness of the nautical profession, and the
individual humours of some of the characters of the
fiction are all touched on with much of human pa-
thos, and perhaps too much of Rabelaisian satire.
Its style is, after all, the most remarkable feature in
" Singleton Fontenoy," for, though the author in his
sarcastic touches and manly English style recals to
us both Thackeray and Cobbett (of whose " Rural
Rides" we suspect him to be a great admirer), there
is throughout the presence of original observation,
unborrowed fancy, and an independence of utterance.
Written without any definite regard to artistic form
—like most nautical novels—it reads with the charm
of the private diary of a witty " original," whom some
caprice of fortune had placed in the midshipman's
cockpit. In " Campbell's Lives of the Admirals" (for
the portraits in which there is a tradition that Charles
Lamb sate!) there is no such faithful likeness of a
great naval character as we have here presented to
us. The scene is the coast of Syria:—
" Singleton, having copied the order, went on deck, and
ordered his boat to be called alongside. While waiting for
it, he saw a figure emerge from the cabin, under the poop.
There was a sensation on deck, and my hero perceived at
once that the figure was that of a great man.
" He was dressed in a rather seedy uniform, and had an
awkward stoop ; his face was eccentric, but expressed
power. He crossed his hands behind his back, and began
to pace the deck, with a gait that was as remarkable as
everything else about him. It was Benbow, with a dash
of Grimaldi !
" The Patagonian's cutter was just coming alongside for
Fontenoy, when a small gig shot between her and the
ship's side. A young man about twenty ran up, and came
on deck ; he was in the uniform of a mate, but had a straw
hat on, with the word Viper upon the black ribbon, in gold
letters ; his face was most remarkable for its grave beauty,
its serenity, and its power ; and Singleton felt an interest
awakened by him such as he had not experienced for many
a long day. His eye dwelt upon him anxiously as he ac-
costed the officer of the watch. Ho perceived that though
what he said influenced that gentleman obviously, yet that
some difficulty prevented their conversation from being
satisfactory.
" Who is he? What does he want ? ' asked the great
man, stopping abruptly, and taking a pinch of snuff.
" Officer from the brig Viper, sir, said the lieutenant of
the watch, touching his hat, come to speak about the
stores for the Alexandrian squadron. The great man
fixed his eye on him, looked at him from top to toe in-
quiringly, and then said, in his peculiar accent :
" Wall, sir ; what is it ? Speak oot.'
" The young man bowed very formally and gracefully.
" I have the honour, sir,' he said, to bear a message
from my commander, Commander Tinsley, of the Viper ; he
desires me most respectfully to submit that the size of the
vessel makes it impossible for ns to carry the stores in
question. We have not room, sir.' Here the young man
bowed again, and Singleton thought he had never seen so
much manly courtesy, or so fine a bearing.
" The great man very deliberately pulled out his snuff-
box, supplied his nose, and powdered his coat as usual.
Then he looked again at the speaker from top to toe in-
quiringly, and spoke as follows:
" Wall, sir ; ye will go black to the Viper, and ye will see
Commander Tinsley, and ye will tall him ye have seen me.
And ye will tall him that I oerder him to take these stores
on board ! And ye wull tall him that if he has no got
room in the lower deck he must put them on the upper
deck, and that if he has no got room on the upper deck
he must fill his cabin with them. And he must stow them
in bulk in the cot where he sleeps. For lam dammed'
(this was said with a wonderful broad effect) ' if they shall
not go!'
" As he concluded the great man glanced to see the
effect this speech had on some of his crew who were
gathered near the main bitts ; for ho was not above
courting popularity in various ways, this great man !
"The young officer of the Viper bowed as pleasantly as if
he had bean bowing in a ballroom, in reply to this addrEss,
and moved to the gangway to regain his boat. Singleton

SATURDAY,

was near there as he passed, and was again impressed by
his face. It had so much serenity and power.
" They were near each other for a moment. Perhaps it
was the curiosity in Singleton's intellectual countenance
that arrested the stranger's attention. He looked at him
earnestly. Singleton felt impelled to speak to him. The
man who has never experienced that impulse by which we
seek the friendship of a stranger from some undefinable
attraction—as inexplicable as the influence of flowers or
stars, yet quite as certain—is himself a stranger to true
friendship, and still ignorant of the alphabet of God."
The writing of the above passage is a fair specimen
of the spirit and graphic force of this most readable
volume. Not only in quiet portraiture but in descrip-
tions of more stirring scenes does the author excel.
The events impending over the Baltic give additional
interest to passages like the following
"Bertie stood in the stern of the launch, with his purple
face glowing, and angry and savage as the prospect of
fighting made him. Fontenoy went with him and stood
alongside him. The heavy boat, with twenty long pon-
derous oars keeping time, and its carronade raised in the
bow and standing above the bulwarks, like some savage
beast on the watch, moved heavily along. Silence, for
and aft!' cried Bertie, looking round fiercely. The pin-
nace and barge kept line steadily, one on each side. The
first cutter led the way in front. No sound was heard, ex-
cept the measured, monotonous jerk of the oars in the
rowlocks. And so the little boat squadron advanced till
they reached the Rorer and Viper. They drew up and laid
on their oars here, for now began the work of the frigate
and the brig.
" How white in the sunlight gleamed the city's wall—
the tints of grey that time had painted it with brightening
in the rays ; in the centre a spot was marked for the Rorer
and Viper to fire at, and break an opening in. The boats
waited to see this done.
" Like lightning from the cloud broke the fire from the fri-
gate's side. Like lightning from the cloud broke the fire from
the brig. Down fell the shot on the wall in torrents. It
dashed, it stormed, it poured. The grey wall withered and
broke like thin ice. It peeled away like the bark of a dead
tree. The white smoke from the vessels sailed slowly away
over the surface of the water, and the eyes of every one in
the boat were fixed on the doomed spot on the wall. Light
broke through it suddenly and houses were seen! The
path was opened!
"Off went the boats, Patagonian's first cutter taking the
lead at a gallop. It was a brilliant race—a great Derby of
the sea ! The cutter made the running, followed by the
barge and pinnace of Patagonian—boats of Rorer and Viper
—heavy old launch of Patagonian thundering after them,
with cm-remade frowning in the bow, and a match smoking
beside it. Give way !' cried Bertie, grasping his cutlass.
The men laboured like madmen, with hot sweat on their
brows. Fontenoy grasped the ivory handle of hie dagger.
' Throw away that d—d thing,' said Bertie, giving him a
cutlass. He grasped it in hi 3 hot hand, his blood was mad-
dened with excitement, and he longed to bound upon the
beach.
"The pace is tremendous. Three hundred yards more to
run—and then the goal. Death is the goal for many of
these brave riders. Patagonian's first cutter keeps the lead
with a frightful stride, and reaches the beach. The lieu-
tenant in her waves his sword, and he and his men jump
on shore. Fire gleams along the wall. The loopholes
are spitting it. Two of the cutter's crew drop and roll on
the shingle, never to move more.
• • •
• •
" Such was the state of affairs when Singleton, jumping
up to take a good aim, felt a blow ou the arm ; he started,
and fell overboard—lie felt the water gurgling in his mouth
—he struck and plunged—his head smote against some-
thing. For a moment a blue world of light and colour
swam around him—he seemed to be dreaming—he tried to
speak, like one struggling with nightmare ; light seemed
rushing into his mouth, then a cloud eclipsed his soul, and
he was conscious of no more."
The force and vivacity of this writer indicate that
he will not be easily exhausted, and we infer
that his future publications will sustain, and possibly
enhance, his reputation.

An Account of the Progress of the Expedition to Cen-
tral Africa under Richardson, Barth, Overtveg, and
Vogel, in 1850-1-2-3. By Augustus Petermann,
F R.G.S., dr,c. &c. London : Stanford.
Tiiis important work, which is published "by au-
" thority of her Majesty's Foreign-office," consists of
maps and illustrations, with descriptive notes, "con-
" strutted and compiled from official and private
" materials." The maps are on a large scale, but
the superficial extent of the book will prevent it
being more than a work of reference. We make this
remark because, from the great and growing interest
felt in African discovery, we believe that, in a small,
cheap, and popular form, a work of this nature, bear-
ing Mr. Petermann's name, would have a considerable
circulation. In its present shape, however, it will bo
an indispensable addition to the geographical library.
In submitting this work to the Royal Geographical
Society of London Mr. Petermann has addressed to
the President and Council a letter, commenting upon
"an attack which has been made on this expedition"
in a report of the proceedings of the society. The
spirit pervading that report Mr. Petermann thus dc-
scribes :
"One further point as to the animus of the said report.
It says,—
" In connection with Lake Chid and other African
names, it may be observed that the Germans are adopting

r