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

THE DENISON CASE.

A CURIOUS letter of Geste, Bishop of Rochester,
" who pennynged Art. xxviii. " to Cecil, secretary to
Queen Elizabeth, has been published as having
reference to Archdeacon Denison's case. The letter
is from the original in the State Paper-office, and is
dated 2'2nd December, 15t1ll :
Greeting in ye Lord.
Right Honourable—l am verye soryeyt you are so sicke,
God make you whole, as it is my desyer and prayer. I wold
have seen you er this, accordingo to my duetye and good
will, but when I sent to knowe whether I might see you it
was often answered yt you were nut to be spoken with.
I suppose you have hard how ye Bisshop of Glocestre
[i.e. Cheney] found him selue greeved with ye plasynge of
this adverbe onely in this artiele, " The body of Christ is
gyven taken and eaten in ye Supper after an heavenly and
spiritual! mancr onely" bycause it did take awave ye pre-
sence of Christis Bodye in ye Sacrament, add prively
noted me to take his part therein, and yeasterdaye in myn
absence more playnely vouclwd me for ye same. Whereas
betwene him and me, I told him plainelye that this word
one? ye in ye foresaied Article did not exclude ye presence
of Christis Body fro the Sacrament, but onely ye grossenes
and sensiblenes in ye receavinge thereof: For I saied unto
him though he tcokc Christ's Bodye in his hand, receaved
it with his mouthe, and that corporally naturally reallye
substantially and carnally as ye doctors duo write, yet did
he not for all that see it, feale it, smelle it, nor tart it.
And therefore I told hint I wold speake against him herein,
and ye rather bycause ye Article was of myn °wile pen-
nynge. And yet 1 wold not for all that denye therebye
any thing that I had spoken for ye presence. And this
was ye some of our talke.
And this that I saied is so true by all sortes of men that
even D. Hardinge writeth ye same as it appeareth most
evidently by his words reported in ye Busshoppe of Salis•
burie's C,Tewers] booke pagina 325, wich be thees : " Then
ye maye save yt in ye Sacrament His verye Bodye is pre-
sent yea really that is to tine, in deede, substantially that
is in substance, and corporally carnally and naturally, by
•••• wich words is
.ment that His verve ltodye His verye
and His verge humane nature is there not after au
p tall carnall or 'Atonal wise, but invisibly unspeakeably
supernaturally spiritually divinely and by ways unto Hint
Gnlye knowen." [The extract is here taken front Jewel's
controversy with M. Harding, Art. vu Divis. v., p. 410,
ed. P.S.]

SATURDAY,

This i thought good to write to yolir honour for myn
owue purgation. The Alwightye God in Christ restore
you to your old health, and longe kepe you in ye same with
enerease of vertue and honour.
Yours whole to his poore pow!
ED3I.
To ye right honourable and his singler
good friend S r Willm Cecil Knight
Principal' Secretaire to ye Queens
Mate.

LORD NORMANBY AND THE FRENCH
REVOLU TON OF 1848.

THE Nord this week publishes the following letter
from the Marquis of Normanby, English Minister at
Florence, addressed to the editor of that journal :
Sir,—l have received this morning your journal of the
14th. Ido not dispute that a j,urnalist is always free to
appreciate the opinions of a public man, but I do not admit
that he has the right to impute to him controverted :acts,
In an article containing a pretended tmemoir of Lord
Palmerston, there is an allusion to me, hi-Connection with
the revolution of 1848. 1 will confine myself here to deny-
ing each precise allegation. I was never." in open (or
secret) connivance with the men who conspired against the
Government of Louis Philippe." Never did I receive at
my house " the leaders of the movement, or the journalists
who professed republican opinions." Your corresponden-
adds," Lord Normanby was seen to frequent with revark
able familiarity these ministers of chance." The fact is
that being then only at Paris non officially, I never visited
those gentlemen, whom I did not know personally. It was
never necessary for me to address a word to a single mem-
ber of the Provisional Government, with the exception of
M. Lamartine, Minister of Foreign Affairs, with whom
naturally I maintained daily relations. No one ever saw
me present at " the filing off of the corporations of work.
men, going, about 200,000 in number, and headed by flags,
to signify their will to the indescribable Government (ce
pouvoir sans nom) which sat at the Hotel de Ville." It is
therefore unnecessary to add that the assertion that "this
spectacle appeared to enchant him " is a pure invention.
On the whole, there is not a word of truth in what concerns
me in the article. It is true that I foresaw, to my great
regret, the probability of the revolution, and when it had
broken out I did my best, within the limits of my duty
and my powers, to diminish the sad consequenc?s of it.
beg of you, sir, in a spirit of fairness, to give the same
publicity to this letter that you have given to the Amoy.
mous accusations of a wrier who merLuites a reproduction
of his article, since he reserves to himself the right of
translating it.—Accept, air, NORMANIsY.

THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF MEDICAL MEN So.
cIETY held their half-yearly meeting this week, at their
rooms, in Berner's street. Mr. Value, V.P., in
the absence of the President, Sir Charles M. Clarke,
Bart., was called to the chair; Mr. Tegart, and Dr.
J. Clarke, Treasurers; Dr. H. Roe, Messrs. C. Haw-
kins, Propert, Combe, and other.• members were
present. The condition and usefulness of this ex-
cellent institution was pointed out by the chairman,
in an able speech, in the course of which he drew
particular attention to a recent case, that of a
member's widow and eight children, lett in necessi-
tous circumstances. Herself and six children
eligible for relief, now afforded at the rate of more
than 1001. per annum in aggregate amount. The
report was adopted and a list of liberal ►ubscriptions
read.

...11n. J. 31`GaEoon, LATE M.P. on Gir...tsoow, died
last week at Boulogne. Mr. Al‘Gregor was born at
Stornaway, in Rosshire in 1797, and was therefore
sixty years of age. He was in earlier life High
Sheriff of Prince Edward's Island, and a member of
the Colonial Legislature. Afterwards he was
employed in commercial missions to Germany,
Austria, Paris, Naples, &c., and from December,
1839, until August, 1847, was joint secretary to the
Board of Trade. Amongst his literary productions
were—" The History, Geography, and Resources of
British America," "Commercial Statistics," and.
" Progress of America from the Discovery by
Columbus to the year 1847." Mr. APGregor's recent
unfortunate connection with that notorious swindle
the Royal British Bank is fresh in the minds of our
readers.

SIR R. Itftracnisos, at the recent meeting of
the Geographical Society made a few remarks
in reference to the Arctic Expedition, which Lady
Franklin is about to undertake. He said that the
Government, having declined to assist Lady Frank-
lin by giving the Resolute for the expedition, or
handing stores,
over to her the Arctic which were
useful for no other purpose, and Lady Franklin
having determined to spend the remainder of her
fortune in the prosecution of the search, it had been
resolved to appeal to the public to give her assistance
in the undertaking. By this means it was not in-
tended to express any opinion upon the course which
her Majesty's Government bad thought it their duty
to pursue, and he knew that it was with great regret
that they had arrived at the conclusion that they
should not send out any further expedition. The
appeal to the public which would shortly be adver-
tised in the newspapers bore the names of Sir R.
Murchison, Lord WI ottesley, Sir F. Beaufort, Captain
Collinson, and others, and already a sum of 8001.
had been received.

MAY 2, 1857.

f iteratu rt.

The Fortunes of Glencore. By Charles Lever.
Three Vols. London : Chapman and Hall.
I T must have been obvious, we should think, to
all who had the pleasure of reading " The
Fortunes of Glencore " during its appearance
in the Dublin University Magazine, that Mr.
Lever was making an experiment; that he had
renounced the employment of those faculties
by which his early popularity was achieved,
and was seeking for success in a distinct.
and, perhaps we might say, weightier style of
composition. He now states in his preface
that such has been his deliberate intention.
He avows that it has not been his primary
object to make an interesting story, or to
point an instructive moral, but to accomplish
" the faithful portraiture of character, the
" close analysis of motives, and correct obser-
" vation as to some of the manners and modes
" of thought which mark the age we live in."
These points, then, are the criteria by which
we must estimate the work and if in these
Mr. Lever has succeeded, defectiveness of plot
detracts little from his merit.
As a mere story, then, we do not think " The
Fortunes of Glencore " quite equal to some of
his other productions. In the first place, the
absence of all love scenes and lovers is trying
to a three-volume novel. For want of this
genial element the story is a little hard ; nor
is the pathos of the tale as much developed as
it might be. The meeting between Lord
Glencore and the Countess might have been
made a great deal more of ; and doubtless
would have been, if Mr. Lever had sought
primarily to excite our interest and our emo-
tions. But his appeal throughout is to the
intellect. Some of the incidents also partake
of that violence and slight air of exaggeration
which has sometimes been objected to in Mr.
Lever's fictions ; and, on the whole, we may
say that the author's design, as above ex-
pressed, is pretty clearly stamped upon the
work—to make the story for the sake of the
characters, and not the characters for the
story.
Sir Horace Upton, Lord Glencore and his
son, and a curious Irishman, who is the com-
panion and tutor of the latter, named Billy
Traynor, are the four most prominent per-
sonages. Sir Horace is a diplomatist—
not perhaps altogether unrecognisable
English Minister at Turin. then at Naples,
and subsequently Foreign Secretary at home.
He is much the sort of character that Sir
Bulwer Lytton loves to depict, and is finished
with extreme care and effectiveness. He is
one of those calm, astute beings who,
under a. mask of langour and indifference,
conceal vast intellectual and 'physical re-
sources—prompt energy and daring ambition.
Nothing pleases him so much as to act the
trifler in the presence of ruder organisations ;
and to appear wholly occupied with his cook,
his valet, and his medicine-chest—occa-
sionally, however, uttering paradoxes which
perplex the simple listener, or allowing the
edge of a sarcasm to glisten for one instant
through the vesture of a compliment, like the
bayonet of a hidden enemy. At rarer intervals
he will show himself totally devoid of affecta-
tion, asserting openly that there are " six
" men of sense in Europe, and he will tell you
" the names of five of them"; and when it is
really necessary to act, removing an obstacle
or crushing an opponent with equal celerity
and certainty. How far characters of this
description are thoroughly true to nature,
perhaps no individual is justified in attempt-
mg to determine. No man can say of the
peculiarities of his fellow-creatures that they
can go thus far and no farther; and as long as
the delineator avoids manifest contradictions.
w.e have no right to question the fidelity of
his picture. His experience is as wide as our
own. At the same time we must be permitted
to say that although the conception of this
character is masterly, and the general execu-
tion adequate, yet that Mr. Lever's sense of
the ludicrous has at times betrayed him into
excess of colouring.
Sir Horace has a female familiar in the
shape of a certain Princess Sabloukoff. an
intriganto of European reputation, who i.

THE PRESS.

behind the scenes of every Court in Europe,
and supplies the English Minister with
information which astounds his employers in
Downing•street. The celebrated Countess
Mayendorif has probably contributed some of
the most marked touches to this spirited
portraiture.
Lord Glencore is, perhaps, the most fault-
lessly drawn character in the story. His
jealousy, his revenge, his irritability, and his
final catastrophe, are all true to each other.
Billy Traynor is, wo are told, a portrait of
whom the original is still alive and hearty.
He is drawn with great humour, and, we doubt
not, equal fidelity.
We have not space to say much of the
remaining characters. Lady Glencore, an
Italian, is separated from her husband owing
to his causeless jealousy, and lives in Italy,
the belie of her native town. She is for a
time crushed by the mode of revenge which
her lord adopts, who, confiding in the de-
struction of all proof, sends round paragraphs
to the English papers denying their marriage,
and declaring her his mistress. By the
advice of the Princess Sabloukoti she returns
to society, and it is at a masked ball at her
own house that the final catastrophe occurs.
Of the young Lord Glencore, who wanders
about the world under the impression that he
is illegitimate, we do not see as much as we
could wish. We have doubted whether the
effect of the announcement is not repre-
sented as rather too great upon a boy of
fourteen.

Colonel Harcourt is a very pleasant, genial,
bluff character, and contrasts well with his
friend, the polished and crafty Sir Horace. The
following extract from a conversation between
them will perhaps convey as just an impres-
sion of the style as anything we could
offer :

" Then you incline to believe Lady Glencore blame-
less? " asked Harcourt, anxiously.
" I think well of every one, my charming colonel. It
is the only true philosophy in life. Be as severe as you
please on all who injure yourself, but always be lenient to
the faults that only damage your friends. You have no
idea how much practical wisdom the maxim contains, nor
what a fund of charity it provides."
" I'm ashamed to be so stupid ; but I must come back
to my old question. Is all this story against illencore's
wife only a calumny ? "
" And I must fall hack upon my old remark, that all
the rogues in the world are in gaol ; the people you see
walking about and at large are unexceptionably honest—
every man of them. Ali, my dear deputyassistaut,
adjutant, or commissary, or whatever it be, can you
not perceive the more than folly of these perquisitions
into character ? You don't require that the ice should be
strong enough to sustain a twentyfour-pounder before you
venture to put foot on it ; enough that it is quite equal to
your own weight; and so of the world at large—every•
body, or nearly everybody, has virtue enough for all we
want with him. This English habit—for it is essentially
English—of eternally investigating everything, is like
the policy of a man who would fire a round-shot every
morning at his house, to see if it were well and securely
built."

" I don't, I can't agree with you," ciied Harcourt.
"Be it so, my dear fellow ; only don't give me your
reasons, and at least I shall respect your motives."
" What would you do, then, in Glencore's place? Let
me ask you that."
" You may as well inquire how I should behave if I
were a quadruped. Don't you perceive that I never
could, by any possibility, place myself in such a false
position. The man who, in a case of difficulty, takes
counsel from his passions, is exactly like one who, being
thirsty, tills himself out a bumper of aquafortis, and drinks
it off."

" I wish with all my heart you'd give up aphorisms,
and just tell me how we could serve this poor fellow ; for
I feel that there is a gleam of light breaking through his
dark fortunes."

" When a man is in the state Glencore is now in, the
best policy is t) let him alone. They tell us that when
Murat's blood was up, the Emperor always left him Zo
his own guidance, since he either did something exces•
sively brilliant, or made such a blunder as recalled him to
subjection again. Let us treat our friend in this fashion,
and wait. Oh, my worthy colonel, if you but knew
what a secret there is in that same waiting policy. Many
a game is aon by letting the adversary move out of his
turn."

" If all this subtlety be needed to guide a man in the
plain road of life, what is to become of poor simple fellows
like myself?"
" Let them never go far from home, Harcourt, and
they'll always find their way back," said Upton; and his
eyes twinkled with quiet drollery. Come, now," said he,
with perfect good nature of look and voice, " If I won't
tell you what I should counsel tileneore in this emer•
gency, do the next best thing—l'll tell you what ad-
vice you'd give him."
" Let us hear it, then," said the other.

" You'd send him abroad to search out his wife ; ask
her forgiveness for all the wrong he has done her; call
out any man that whispered the shadow of a reproach

435

against her ; and go back to such domesticity as it might
please Heaven to accord him."

" Certainly, if the woman has been unjustly dealt
with—"

" There's the rock you always split on ; you are ever-
lastingly in search of a character. Be satisfied when you
have eaten a hearty breakfast, and don't ask for a bill of
health. Researches are always dangerous. My great-
grandfather, who had a passion for genealogy, was cured of
it by discovering that the first of the family was a stay-
u aker! Let the lesson not be lost on na."
" From all which I am to deduce that you'd ask no
questions—take her home again, and say nothing."
"You forget, Harcourt, we are now discussing the line
of action you would recommend; I am only hinting at the
best mode of carrying out your ideas."
`• Just for the pleasure of showing me that I didn't know
how to walk in the road J made myself," said Harcourt,
laughing.

`.Wliat a happy laugh that was, liarcourt. How
plainly, too, it said, Think Heaven, I'm not'like that
fellow with all his craft! ' And yon are right too, my
dear friend; if the devil were to walk the world now,
he'd be bored beyond endurance, seeing nothing hut the
old vices played over again and again ; and so it is with
all of us who have a spice of his nature. We'd give any.
thing to see one new trick on the cards. Good night, and
pleasant dreams to you." And with a sigh that had in its
cadence something almost painful, he gave his two
lingers to the honest grasp of the other, and withdrew.
" You're a better fellow than you think yourself, or wish
any one else to believe you," muttered Harcourt, as he
ruffed his cigar; and he ruminated over this reflection
till it was bedtime.

And Harcourt was right .
The Duke of Massa and the Chevalier
Stubber wili of course he at once recognised
by persons even slightly versed in Italian
affairs. Baron Ward well deserves the colours
in which he is here painted, and his well-
meaning but weak-minded master is very ft: •
licitously hit off.
_-_ _ _

Mr. Lever does not, on the whole, adopt the
theory of those who would let the characters
in fiction invariably describe themselves. He
is fond of stepping aside and looking at them
as a sculptor may contemplate the progress of
a statue, of explaining this and that stroke,
and drawing general conclusions. This plan,
though dramatically defective, affords scope
for many reflections on human nature which
we should otherwise have missed, and is no
demerit in a story which the author professes
to have constructed on a peculiar plan.

The Baltic C'ampaign of 1554. From th•
Documents of Vice-Admiral Sir C. Napier,
K.C.B. Edited by G. Butler Earl). London :
Bentley.
WE have deferred for some time our review of
this painful volume. The whole subject of
which it treats was often illustrated at length
in another department of our journal, and Sir
Charles Napier's letters in the newspapers, and.
his oral controversy with his formidable anta-
gonist Sir James Graham, had previously ex-
hausted the personal interest of the question.
We confess to a feeling of deep pain at a re-
trospective review of the whole proceedings of
the Baltic campaign. The " discretion" of Sir
Charles Napier had been previously impugned
by Lord John Russell, the leader of the Houso
of Commons at the time of the Russian war,
and grave doubts were entertained whether
the admiral had the manner and deportment
suited for exercising control and obtaining
much influence over the officers and men of a
vast fleet. Government, however, decided on
appointing him, and a portion of the public
out of doors who like flashy reputations were
much pleased at the admiral's appointment.
Two incidents then occurred which were of a
most unpropitious character. A banquet was
given at the Reform Club, and the tone was as
jubilant as if the thing which the admiral was
" going to do" had actually been done. Lord
Palmerston and Sir James Graham particu-
larly distinguished themselves at that feast,
and Mr. Bright delivered a severe moral lecture
to them both in the House of Commons. Next
came the extraordinary omen of the admiral
sticking in the mud just as he was embarking
to go on board his flag-ship at Portsmouth.
Persons not superstitious began to croak at
these sinister precursors of the campaign.
When it was ascertained clearly that the
Baltic expedition was to end in " nothing,'
and that it was only to be what the Parisians
called a " promenade on the water," English-
men grumbled, and the more loudly because
their expectations had been b 0 much excited.
They thought of the old distich—