The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-15 00:00:00

'~:. ~,

~=
~.

,

r

,

63 tri and serving the devil:' now s a rs 6
button-hole," and now agaiii%(p. 264) giving
Nature and Human Nature. 2 vols. By the us the "plural of moose." Turning over the
author of " Sam Slick, the Clockmaker." Hurst , second volume, have we not equal cause for
and Blackett. " stripping ivory" over the Yankee yarns of the
The introduction to the present work is !Slickvillenothing ocemaker . Whether by deputy or not,
01 9
less than the account of a conversation between he is (p. 169) "holding up the mirror," or (p. 206)
Judge Halliburton, the Squire of Halifax hand his "belaying the bundle of sticks," whether he is (p.
old friend Sam Slick, the clockmaker of Connecti- 259) making lunar observations, that is to say,
cut. As Sam himself calls it, "a dish of chat." commenting on " the honeymoon," or serving up,
As any less genuine Yankee might say, a regular duly spiced to the palate of his readers (p. 290), a
comfoozle, one in which the principal interlocutor wonderful " dish of clams," or, finally, whether the
pays out his yarny talk in sections or instalments— said reader peers with him (p. 322) into the " De-
though, when he comes to only the second of these, " Cucumber Lake." Doubtless
*put to tickle our vil's Hole," or paddles with him (p. 347) across the
he cries out encouragingly to the Squire, " Now,
zest for these -descriptions, more provokingly than
don't go off at a half-cock, nervous like : I am not
like the black preacher that had forty-eleven divi- could well be done otherwise, Sam Slick threatens
sinus !" At the outset of the first of these two
us with the half declaration that the present is pro-
volumes, at the beginning of the first chapter (en- bably his last appearance. We don't believe it ;
titled "A. Surprise"), " Thinks I to myself," or, shall we say more candidly, we won't believe
thinks the Squire, "that can be no one else than it. The assurance is too unpalatable to be sisal-
Sam Slick, the clockmaker." Neither is the lowed without a wry face. Besides, we have. heard
merry-eyed eaves-dropper mistaken, for no sooner the same tale so often from others, and have in
has the stranger outside inquired of the servant many an instance rejoiced to see it falsified by the
whether his master is in—declining to give his own future triumphantly. Did not Sit Edward threaten
name on the plea that it is such an everlastin' bag us in like manner when he recounted, with that gor-
one (adding "I don't think you could carry it in geous and many-tinted crayon of his, the history of
all to wunst, and I don't want it broke in two,")
the "Last of the Barons," telling us that it wee,
than he is overheard calling out, iu unmistakeable
lingo, to the "help," "Come, don't stand
in all likelihood, the last of his romances A.nd
starin' has he not, thanks to his genius, his industry, and
there in the track—you might get run over. Don't
veritably, let us add, too, his comprehensive bene-
you hear the engine coming ? Shunt off now !
,7 valence—has he not since then given to the world
and the like. Happily, there is no mistake at all
his wend "Lucretia," his epic "Harold," his ex-
about it. We don't need to "ask about and. find quisite Caxtons," and that novel of novels, "My
Novel," rarest and noblest among his many and
out" whether it be the Mr. Slick in proprict per-
varied masterpieces. Not that we would quits rosin--the veritable Simon Pure stands before us,
actually, bodily, substantially, grasping us, the predict a future like this to Sam Slick the Clock.
reader, fairly by the hand—or, what is much the maker. No—but that in the threat held forth in.
same, our host the author—one really and truly a terrorem by Sam, we are fain to recognise only the
host iu himself—wise, witty, genial, quaint, de- sheet and the scooped turnip of a mer:Make-Believe
lightful, inexhaustible, incorrigible Air. Justice Goblin of Disfavour. Besides, Sam himself, at tie
Halliburton.
The preliminary pages of this new. production of very moment of starting, lets out his project of
making the tour of the States some of these days
the eccentric genius of the Clockmaker, entreat us with his friend the Squire—to what end we should
rather earnestly not to confuse in our own minds, like to know if not for the production of another
blending the two into a sort of Siamese-identity, outpouring of the italics of Slickville, the down east
—Sam Slick and Judge Halliburton. Just as before talk of Connecticut, and the unmistakeable brag of
now the public has been told not to associate Byron Yankeedoodledum ? So be it. The sooner the
too intimately with his Laras, and Conrads, and hypothetical work is set about in real earnest, the
Childe Harold, orto identify Bulwer now with Pel- better for Sam Slick's readers—more especially now
ham, and now again with Ernest Maltravers. Well
that their appetites have been so effectually whetted
—we try, obediently and complacently enough in anew by the zest, flavour, and piquancy imparted
the present instance—but we can't for the life of us by t warmth of our author's humour to
dissociate a quality which has come long since to this
latest, and not least, succulent fruit of his
be, like the old French revolution—one and
genius—"Natur', and Human Natur'."
indivisible. We inevitably and instantly re-
cognise Beverley in Captain Absolute, what-
ever Mrs. Malaprop may say to the contrary,
nevertheless, notwithstanding. Howbeit, we waive
the matter for once, though under protest, and,
in compliance with our author's entreaty, accept
the book composedly as not his own but another's,
as a work edited by him, not written under his
own hand, or at his own dictation. We endeavour,
therefore, as much as possible, to forget the judi-
cial Squire Halliburton, and to remember only his
queer, old, fantastic intimate Sam Slick, the clock-
maker, of Slickville, down in Connecticut.
Several years have gone by since he first ap-
peared before us—with those grotesque creases
about his mouth and that odd twinkle in his eye.
How he has made us laugh since then—as Lord
Foppington might say, " Stap my vitals, con-
sumedly !" As he himself would express it—
How he has set us and the crowd off " a tee bee-
ing ! " What with his " Sayings and Doings," his
" Wise Saws and Modern Instances," his "Rule
and Misrule," his "Traits of American Humour,"
his " Byeways, Backwoods, and Prairies," and,
above all, his earliest and richest drolleries in the
original account of himself, and his opinions as the
genuine Slickville clockmaker—we might fain
imagine the rogue had left not another shake of a
laugh iu our diaphragm. That it is not so, how-
ever, we have here before us ample proof in vo-
lumes not ono jot less truly than the liveliest of
their predecessors, both hearty and humorous.
As such we proclaim them to be without a mo-
ment's hesitation. Yet, the popular applause of
Sans Slick must by no means be accepted as par-
taking of the decorous "Hear, hear," of the
House of Commons—rather, let us say, of the
sounds that welcomed the sallies of Yorick at the
royal table of Denmark—not occasional cheers and
plaudits, but prolonged, prevailing, and sometimes
boisterous guffaws, and uproarious cachinations.
Sam's tutelary deity, we take it, can be no other
than Momus. His heraldric device (we say it in
compliment, not derision) might be best expressed
by a grin through a horse-collar. His aptest
motto that gay Miltonian couplet
"Sport that wrinkled care derides,
And laughter holding both his sides ! "
Not less than any one of his best-going pendu-
lums, Sam Slick is—a Wag.
He appears before us now, not a doit diminished
in his store of fun, in his wealth of blithe wisdom,
in his superabundant possession of all the worthier
resources of merriment. He opens his well-stocked
scrip-of-frolic as of old, and with an open hand
scatters jokes like largess over the heads of the
multitude. And, reading his jottings-down, let us
acknowledge it at once, has about it all the exhila-
ration of a scramble. Look at the Yankee-jester
as he comes before us anew—bent on handing the
latest pages of his diary to his Nova Scotian ac-
quaintance Squire, or Justice Halliburton. Sam,
we are informed by the latter, has " worn well,"
his step being "as elastic and springy as ever."
Nay, we readily enough recognise all this ourselves.
We observe that " the lines in his face are some-
what deeper"—the supplementary crowsfeet im-
parting, moreover, a merrier sparkle, if possible,
than ever to his glance—and that " a few straggling
grey hairs" are the only other traces left by Time,
the scanty siftings of the frosts of the earlier
autumn of life sprinkled seasonably in preparation
for the severer winter of age. Mr. Slick's manner
may have improved somewhat by his intercourse
with the great world—yet we are rejoiced to remark
that his conversation has lost none of its more de-
lightful peculiarities of phraseology. 'We don't
feel in the least astonished when the Squire tolls
us confidentially that his old friend enlivened the
dinner chat with anecdotes that were often too
much for the gravity of the servant, " who once or
twice left the room to avoid explosive outbreaks of
laughter." Sam, as a practical joker, is evidently
incurable. Witness his preposterous story about
the bushwackers of Causeau, and their eight hun-
dred hackmetacks ! The Clockmaker has evidently
clinched more firmly than ever some of his more
home-driven prejudices. He insists on the Squire
retaining all the scores in his Diary—the faithful
concession to which demand is evidenced by the
plentiful scattering of italicised passages in the
letterpress. " No—no," quoth Sam, when he is
arguing the point with his editor, "put them Italics
in—they show there is truth at the bottom—l like
it, for it's what I call sense on the short-cards."
And accordingly the Italics are retained, in spite
of their looking, as Mr. Slick himself acknowledges
that they do look—" consaited." The consequence
of which is, we detect in these two volumes alone—
let us say it—scores of scores ! Even Sam can't
with any decency quarrel with the pun by reason
of its transparency, remembering as we do his port
little jest about Baron Lionel Rothschild—" Droll
boy Rothey, for though he comes from the land of
Ham he don't eat pork," Let it not be overlooked
by the way that the editorial Nova Scotian is
coaxed into compliance with Sam Slick's
wishes about italicising and the like by a little
flattery, or as we should say in the more familiar
vernacular —just the merest spice of flummery.
" Ali, Slick," says the Squire cunningly, " how
skilled you are in soft sawder !" " Dod drot that
word soft sawder," cries Sam, " I wish I had never
invented it." However he contrives to palaver the
Squire into obedience, palaver him he does effec-
tually both in reference to his pet italics and
in regard to' his favourite outbursts of
aforesaid
the genuine Brag of Yankeedoodledum !_ Anenti
t
which subject, that is to say in hc) fore d
matter of brag, thus saith the Clockmakersa
" There are two kinds of boastin', Squire, active
and passive. The former belongs exclusively to my
countrymen, and the latter to the British. A Yan-
kee openly asserts and loudly proclaims his supe-
riority. John Bull feels and looks it. He don't
give utterance to this conviction. He takes it for
granted all the world knows and admits it, and he
is so thoroughly persuaded of it himself, that, to
use his own favourite phrase, he don't care a fig if
folks don't admit it. His vanity, therefore, has a
sublimity in it. He thinks, as the Italians say,
that when Nature formed him she broke the
mould.' There never was, never can, never will
be another like him. His boastin', therefore, is
passive. He shows it, and acts it ; but he don't
proclaim it. He condescends and is gracious, pa-
tronises and talks down to you. Lit my boastin'
alone, therefore, Squire, if you please." And we
have it cansequently, and that moreover in abund-
ance. Brag—scores—downeast talk—satire—wit—
humour—ridiculousness : Sam Slick is still Sa:n
Slick to the last, down to the very end of the chap-
ter—and as such, not in spite of all this, but because
of all this, by reason of his prejudices as well as by
reason of his fun, lie retains full command of our
applause, of our laughter, and of our admiration.
Opening the first volume of "Nature and Human
Nature," or as we wonder the work was not more
correctly designated both on the title-page and
through advertisement, " Natur' and Human
Natur'"—watch the rogue (p. 61) " unlocking a
woman's heart ;" see him (p. 89) depicting a crit-
ter with a thousand virtues and one vice ;" hear
"
hint
(p. 122) describing to us that " new way to
learn Gaelic ;" or at another moment (p. 201) be-
coming the celebrant of " fiddling, and dancing

LITERATURE.

Association for Promoting Improvement in the
Dwellings and Domestic Condition of Agricul-
_

tural Labourers in Scotland.
The directors of this newly-formed association

have issued their first annual- report, from which
we gather that the association is in a good working
condition, having a fair balance in hand, and being
supported by a number of the most influential
Scottish landowners, as well as by many indivi-
duals distinguished for philanthropy.
The objects of the association are such as cannot
fail to commend it to the good wishes of the pub-
lic ; and the statement made in the regulations,
" that, in order to be really useful, the association
must be practical, not speculative ; cautious, not
obtrusive," tends to inspire confidence in the ma-
nagement, and well-founded hope of these most
important objects being duly promoted. The first
step taken, viz., the establishment of a central office
in Edinburgh, where plans and specifications, me-
dals and specimens of fittings for cottages, are to be
deposited for inspection, and where applications
may be made by members desiring information or
advice in regard to either the erection or the im-
provement of the dwellings for their labourers,
appears to us a 'very judicious one, and, coupled
with the engagement of an active secretary and an
intelligent architect, speaks well for the business
talents of the directors. The want of more than
one sleeping apartment in cottages—that crying
evil—is met, we are happy to perceive, by a funda-
mental rule of the association. A few practical
hints on cottage-building, with engraved plates,
and a genert.l,specification—by W. Jowler, the so-
ciety's architect—are appended to the report, to
both of which we invite the attention of all in-
terested in the moral and social elevation of the
Scottish agricultural labourer.

The Bulgarian, the Turk, and the German. By
A. A. Paton. Longman, Brown, Green, and
Longman. _

A readable little book of travelling adventure,
intended as a sequel to " Servia, the Youngest
Member of the European Family," by the same
author. Mr. Paton regards Austria and Turkey
as the two local counterpoises to Russian ambition,
and considers it to be " as clear as daylight" that
all other substitutes such as the re-establishment of
Poland by Polish emigration, a Byzantine Empire,
dm, are bubble schemes—nay, more pro-Russian,
because anti-Turkish and anti-Austrian. It N
further his opinion that Hungary has nothing good
to hope from Kossuth, and that Lord Aberdeen
was as thoroughly British a minister as ever sat in
our Cabinet. It is impossible to deny Mr. Paton
the possession of dramatic power, and a capacity
for lively chit-chat.

The Unspeakable. Clarke and Beeton.
An attempt to pronounce on " The Unspeakable"
can baldly fail to suggest at the first blush the no-
tion either of compliance with a rigorous exaction,
or the performance of a Samaritan-like act of
charity. Neither of these notions, however, is
warranted, in the present instance, by facts—
" The Unspeakable" presenting no difficulty to the
reviewer. It is a clever narrative—just short of art
autobiography, we are told—of the life and adven-
tures of a stammerer, and how the hero acquired
into
through habit of stammering, what scrapes he got
through it; who and what he applied to to be freed
from it, and to whom he was indebted for a cure,
we do not feel called upon, in common fairness, to
state. Suffice it to say, the story is romantic,
many of the incidents are very amusing, and a few
almost tragic, while the inevitable inference to be
deducted is as consolatory to stammerers as the
experience of " The Unspeakable" in search of a
cure is valuable and instructive.

Railway Collisions Prevented. By Alfred Ogan.
G. J. Pope.
This pamphlet contains an account of the rise
and progress of steam power and of railways.; of
the causes of accidents upon railways ; and of the
plan of magnetic railway signals, the invention of
Mr. Tyers, by means of which it is found by expe-
rience collisions may effectually be prevented. It
is dedicated to Captain R. H. Barlow, the general
manager of the South-Eastern Railway, to whose
penetration and practical knowledge the applica-
tion of the ordinary electric telegraph to record the
transit of a train is due, and who has always shown
a laudable anxiety to protect the lives and persons
of passengers, and the property of the company.
Journal of the Sfotiefica/ Society of London. John
William Parker.

The March part of this journal conveys, like ita
predecessors, a large amount of valuable informa-
tion on subjects of considerable importance.

The Journal of Agriculture. William Blackwood
and Sons. _ _

This periodical fully maintains its high character
as an agricultural journal. Not the least interest-
ing and valuable portion of its contents are " The
Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland."