The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT Or TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS

THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON ME HOPLEY'S CARE FOR
THE STATE OF Mass HOPLEY'S SOUL,--MT Hopley has
appealed from a British jury to the British public at large,
in a pamphlet entitled "A Cry for Justice, and for the
Souls of my Wife and Children." Whether the meaning of
the last portion of the title be that Mrs Hopley is endanger-
ing her eternal welfare by taking refuge from her husband
upon the Continent, or that she has already endangered it
by giving evidence against Mr Hopley in the Divorce Court,
may be a matter of debate. It is sufficient to eay that Mrs
Hopley's course makes Mr Hopley very anxious for her
immortal soul. There are certain natures with whom a
quarrel is sure to take this theological shape. In eome
cases, and in some mouths, blessing becomes bitterer and
more effective than cursing itself; and to propose to pray
for the other side is the last and most terrible arrow from
the quiver of an angry controversialist. "Charity, my
dear," said the injured Mr Pecksniff, "when I take my
bedroom candlestick, remind me more particularly to pray
for Mr Martin Chuzzlewit." There are some nymphs, and
some male angels, too, in whose " orisons" all their neigh-
bours' sins aro sure to be " remembered ;" and whose devo-
tional exercises partake not so much of the character of a
Litany as of a Commination Service. It would, perhaps,
be refusing Mr Hopley that justice for which, with many
gushes of religious expostulation, he appeals, if we
were to put down to hypocrisy his ostentatious anxiety
for the spiritual condition of those who have offended
him. lie is, doubtless, sincere in the belief that he
is an ill-used man. But his missionary efforts to im•
prove the souls of his pupils end his family have
been attended hitherto with such lamentable results,
that when, after all his trials, the missionary vein
crops up again as luxuriant as over, it is perhaps na-
tural for Mrs. Hopley and her relatives to feel alarmed.
Similar phenomena preceded the death of the unhappy boy
Chancellor, and accompanied the moulding by which Mrs.
Hopley was to be made fit to be the mother of juvenile
Hopleys. If Mr. Hopley had chastised his unhappy wife
out of ill temper and hot blood, there might be some hopes
that his long imprisonment might have taught him the
necessity of domestic self-control ; but when we discover
that all was part and parcel of a pious curriculum, and that
Mr. Hopley's victims have been victims rather of his dee
sire to reform his fellow-creatures than of any natural
ferocity, the domestic future of the Hopley household looks
very dark indeed. The charge made against the gentle-
man in question by his wife and by the public is not that
he is a Quilp; nor does Mr. Hopley meet the issue by
affirming, with some appearance of truth, that ho is far
from being a monster in human shape. Nobody says that
he is a monster. What is alleged against him is that he
carries concern for his fellow-creatures to the verge of mo-
nomania, and that he polishes and brightens the Christian
character of those about him in a way that seriously affects
their physical health and comfort. That ho has begun
again, after so serious a warning, to discuss Mrs Hopley's
soul, is, then, not a reassuring symptom, By this time,
very possibly Mrs Hopley trembles at the very mention of
her soul at all, and when she learns from her secure retreat
that Mr. Replay has been thinking over her immortal pro-
spects, she will feel like the emancipated slave who dreamed
of the cracking of his master's thong.
In order to vindicate himself, and partly doubtless in order
to expose the true nature of the religious precipice over
which Mrs Hopley's soul is balancing itself, Mr Hopley
prints at considerable length the letters which his wife
wrote to him during his confinement, The taste of pub-•
lishing such documents is most questionable, but the ex-
citement under which he is evidently labouring and the
obvious eharatter and mental training of the man render
it unnecessary to discuss his conduct from an asthestio point
of view. The panegyrics be himself bestows upon his
wife's correspondence for refinement and delicacy are pro-
bably sincere and certainly deserved. No one can peruse
her effusions without a strong feeling of sympathy for the
woman who is their author. If it be true (and we see DO
reason to believe the contrary) that Mr Hopley found his
wife when he married her an ignorant and half-educated
girl, and has made her an accomplished and clever woman,
the fact says nothing for him that might not be conceded
by his severest critics. From the fiery ordeal which she
entered as a raw young lady Mrs Hopley has emerged a
cultivated wife and mother; but, for all that, the process
which has been so intellectually successful may have been
physical and mental anguish. The great poet who tells
us the discipline of pain with which it pleased Heaven to
try a lady of his acquaintance, winds up with the funeral
remark—
" The seint survived it, but the woman died."
It is possible that Mrs Hopley's virtue in like manner
increased, pari passe, with her misery; but the principle
which produces hot-house matronly graces at such a cost
would justify the worst enormities of a Grand Inquisitor.
If it be lawful to do God service at the risk of cruelty
to man, there is no form of torture that may not logically
be supported. The instinct that leads to such excesses,
either in public or in private life, may be termed the peda-
gogue instinct in its worst and most dangerous form. It
is an instinct which has done more to retard progress than
any other which can be named; and wheel it breaks out
violently in private has led men, before now, to she gallows.
The feminine devotion and warmth of heart which are
conspicuous throughout the whole of Mrs Hopley's &sue-
spondence, do not disprove what the jury have asserted--
that Mr Hopley has been cruel; it only confirms their fur-
ther admission, that his cruelty has been unfortunately
condoned. It is by no means a rare spectacle ,to see a
woman, in the hey. day of youth and imagination,
attracted rather than repelled by harshness. The annals
of the police-courts show that many a woman retains her
infatuation for some drunken ruffian, who beats her and
111
uses her from day to day—and Mr Hopley has posssibly
mental qualities sufficient to fascinate the fancy even of a
frightened and ill-treated wife. Still less can such a cor-
respondence be taken to rebut the accusation of original
cruelty, when the circumstances are considered under
which it was penned. Mr Hopley was at the time in
prison, and both he and his wife well knew that he was an
outcast from society. If ever a noble and generous woman
the Divorce Court,
would feel inclined to condone her injuries, it would be
when she felt the loneliness and misery of the man who
had been her tyrant. Mrs Hopley in
with her own letters before her, solemnly swore, neverthe•
less, that she had been cruelly dealt with. The jury,
to a man, believed her. Mr Hopley replies that she
has perjured herself. He must be insane not
to perceive that the grace and tenderness of the letters
which he himself produces from her, are the strongest pos-
sible argument against his assertion. It is far easier to be-
lieve that the woman who wrote them was, in spite of her
love ;and affection, the worn and illused companion of a
monomaniac that to believe her capable of having given
false and fraudulent testimony for the purpose of ruining
an innocent and virtuous husband. Nor was his wife's tes-
timony unsupported. Servants were called to corroborate
her in important particulars; and though Mr. Hopley in-
sinuates that their character was not of the best description
the only alternative theory to that of his own guilt is the
theory of ft domestic conspiracy between his who, his wife's
fami'y, and his own household. The fact that none of his
pupils were privy to any of the conduct of which he was
accused goes for very little. The strictest conjugal discip.hen nobody
linarian would not be likely to punish his wife, so to speak,
upon parade, and in the presence of a regiment of boys.
Even Mr. Quilp did not pinch Mrs. Quilp when strangers
were looking on. He chose quiet moments,r.iio Hopley
is a man
observed him, and made her life a burden to her without
conventionalities.vihoolasteinvgadneiicyentanddignitywould
preserve
w
u
him from the
formr o
of andhouse
only
if, 0
g ase i
ril seems probable, his
run mad, he pro-
bably inflicts unhappiness on those under his iron rule
upon a strictly decorous system. If eve
wished for an
instance of the truth, that men who commit crimes are
not wholly bad, wo do not know whither we could
better turn than in the case of such a man. Mr.
Hopley with tears protests that he is not a demon, or a
butcher, or a murderer. The social philanthropist knows
well that those who draw upon themselves the indignant
censures of society are rarely demons. There is often
some good in them, as in Mr IlePley, coupled with a
monstrous want of self.contrel in One direction, which
poisons their whole nature, and ruins their whole life.
The consciousness of some good intentions and some
noble ambitions is a possession I which Mr Hopley
shares with not a few of the grebtest tyrants of history.
It is not the pleasure of any generous mind to trample on a
fallen man, or to outrage even Mr Hopley by comparisons
which would bo insulting and unjust. It is quite enough
to say that his pamphlet by no means makes us regret that
Mrs Hopley has escaped from his society. His self-delu-
sions are probably genuine, but they amount to disease.
In carrying out his vain and inflexible plans he has done
much harm and caused much unhappiness •
, and his tone
and temper render it probable that in his obstinate blind-
ness to his own defects, he may cause still more unhappi-
ness before he dies.

THE (, EXAMINER ON Two SOVEREIGNS AT VIENNA.
—The Germans have certainly reason to be proud. They
have outrun all other people for the moment, and step for-
ward as the most prominent at least of the European world,
The obstinacy and wilfulness of the Americans, their turn
for bloodshed too, certainly aro not equalled by Prussia.
But in the old world, what 18 talked of but Germany ?
Russia seems to be under an eclipse. Italy is unobtrusive;
the French Emperor running unlucky France up to her
ears in debt; England quietly minding her own business.
Other nations are asking what the Germans will next be at,
Wiil they reconquer Lombardy or claim Alsen ? That so
powerful an alliance should limit itself to the acqui-
sition of the poor little province of Schleswig is not an
adequate result. The Emperor of Austria and the King of
Prussia have met at Vienna. Now the anxiety is 'great to
know who is to be the nclt enemy, and where lies the prey
whose turn it is to be devalued. Their last joint meal, the
victim of this summer, has, however, yet to be devoured and
digested ; and it was precisely to rub beaks over this carcase
that the Eagles of Prussia and Austria were gathered toge-
ther. The meeting was like fire and water. As is evident
from the explosion of hostility which burst forth immediately
from the press of Vienna and that of Berlin. It is remark-
able how these organs, mere or less, of the two peoples and
the tweGoverntnents, have exchanged their traditional tone.
So much so, that to look merely at the papers, one at Vienna
might fancy himself in Berlin, and Berlin has the air of

Vienna. Berlin used to be for progress, and given to sneer
at the stationary and sluggish nature of Vienna. Now the
Berlin writers have all steeped their pens in Napoleonic
ink, and are giving vent to doctrines completely of the
French Imperialist school. The spirit of Herr von Bismark
might have inspired M. Persigny's speech of the other day •
But von Bismark is, it seems, too Imperialist for the Court
of the old Cas3ars. He finds no one there to assent to his
doctrine, save Count Rechberg. And even he smiles at
Bismark's soldatesque diatribes against Constitutionalists
Bismark and the Prussian organs denounce all Liberals as
democrats. Every peison and every idea, that is in oppo-
sition to him, he stigmatises as democrat. And he no doubt
treats Schmerling himself as a democrat quite as dangerous
as Waldeck. However, the official prints of Berlin have
not arrived at a denunciation of all Austria as democratic •
Their present target is Schleswig-Holstein. Eight or ten
months ago the people of the Dachies were objects of popu-
lar sympathy and admiration to the Prussians, even to
Prussian officials. Now they are treated as mere demo-
rats, bent on anarchy, and absurdly given to independence.
According to the sound Prussian version, the only right
thinking and well-behaved portion of the population are the
Danish peasants; for the German traders of the Schleswig
towns are, it seems, deplorable radicals, who, if endowed
with freedom, would offer a worse example to Germany
than the Danes themselves. On this political plea, much
insisted on at Vienna, Bismark would keep military posses-
sion of the Duchies, which he declares would be utterly lost
to Conservative Government if Duke Frederick were in-
stalled. Bismark abhors the Duke far more than he ever
abhorred Christian, and he abhors still more the men who
surround Duke Frederick, and who were more or less mixed
up with, and remain the friends of, the great movement of
1848. In however strong language this may have been re-
presented by Bismark at Vienna, it still did not seem to
prove to the Austrians that either Prussia should keep pos-
session of the Duchies or that she should hand them over to
an obedient nominee. Austria insists that Germany, and not
Austria or Prussia, should profit by her conquests. Prussia
had proposed to oust the Federal Commission from Holstein,
Austria objected, and the Federal Commission remains, in-
stead of the interim, which Prussia recommended. More-
over, Austria considered that Prussia had made an unfair
and unwarrantable choice in Scheele Plessen to defend at
the Conference the pecuniary interests of the Duchies.
Scheele Plessen was one of the nobles of the Duchies, who
professed attachment to the reigning power of Denmark,
yet headed the opposition in the Chamber against Denmark,
and thus upset the object of their attachment. Scheele
Plessen would govern the Duchies by a senate and without
a duke, who might interfere with the aristocracy and its
pretensions. He is, therefore, beloved of Bismark. But
the Austrian Government, more liberal, insisted that
Reincke, the .Altona banker, a truly liberal and popular
Holsteiner, who had been one of the deputation to England,
should be joined with Scheele Plessen to represent sincerely
and essentially the great commercial and pecuniary interests
of the duchy to which Altona belongs. A knowledge of
these circumstances must add to Austria's character and
influence, and thereby induce the Emperor not to hearken
to Bismark's wild advice. It is well known that this Minis-
ter would have seized and appropriated the Duchies had the
King, his master, consented, and this he would still do,
even at the risk of a quarrel with Austria, could he obtain
permission. The King, however, is some check upon his
Minister's foreign policy, althohgh in domestic matters,
and in the virtual abolition of representative Government
in Prussia, King William seems to have given carte blanche
to the Prussian Strafford.
THE " SPECTATOR" ON CAPT. MAYNE REID AS THE
LAWGIVER OF CROQUET,—AII devotees of croquet must
be satisfied with the progress made in the eu/tas of their
favourite game during the present year. For the last three
years and more the game has gene on progressing every
day in popular favour, and gradually fascinating even the
most obdurate opponents—for croquet, like all other good
movements, has had no small amount of opposition to con-
tend with. It was soon found that the direct mode of
attack must be abandoned, and in a very short time after
the introduction of the game there were comparatively few
left who openly dared to assail it, while the majority of mal-
contents had to console themselves by malignant insinua-
tions and disparaging whisperings. It soon became clear
that a great want had been supplied—that of an out-door
game of skill and variety in which ladies could join
sufficiently simple for anybody to become a moderately
good player, and yet capable under favourable circum-
stances of being carried to a point requiring almost as
much precision and delicacay of play as billiards itself.
But it is only within the last month that croquet has
gained a crowning triumph. The majesty of the law
has been invoked, and no less a personage than a N. ice-
Chancellor has been occupied in determining to what extent
the rules of the game are private or public property. It has
been the great drawback to the full development of the
game ever since its original establishment that no consistent
and complete code of laws was in existence. All the toy-
makers who seized upon the game at the first as the means
of making exorbitant profits by the sale of very ornamental
but too often excessively unsuitable implements, issued
brief directions for play with their sets, but these were all
insufficient and generally worse than useless. The conse-
quence was that even if the players on any particular lawn
succeeded in agreeing upon the fundamental conditions of
the game,questions of construction and interpretation were
continually arising during the game which it was impossible
to leave unsettled without depriving the game of its main
eieenents of interest. Even if any community of friends ma-
nager to settle a working code of rules amongst themselves,
the estabi,;shment of the district croquet clubs now so widely
in progress was seriously hindered, as it was next to im-
possible that a match could be carried on between any two
clubs in which some difference of practice or insoluble diffi-
salty did not arise. I.:yerybody was calling for a code of
laws, which might be fain'y expected to meet with general
acceptation, would provide .tor every situation that could
arise, and would furnish croqeeet-players with a settled
vocabulary of technical expreesion:99 or, to use a shorter
and more expressive phrase, '6 crovot slang." Now it
appears from the proceedings in Chanct:ry, to which we
have referred, that this great desideratum of a croquet-
playing generatton had struck Captain Mayne Reid some
twelve months or more ago, and with chat aoterietio
energy ho immediately devoted himself to the ta'k of
supplying the want. He seams to have entered ucon
his task with all the keenness and perseverance of one
of his own Indian heroes on a war trial, and during four
months he coupled himself in studying all possible
combinations and contingencies that can arise, as well as
the best croquet materials and other t necessaries
of the game. After mature deliberation he formulated his
experience in the shape of 126 distinct rules, with explana-
tory footnotes, besides a vocabulary of " slang" and many
general remarks, all Of his own composition, and published
the collection towards the close of last year. The coda bore
the practical test of play, sail before long naturally came
into extensive use amongst croqu.:4-players. Captain Mayne
Reid was naturally desirous of secn:ing the credit due to
himself for his arduous labours, and be wassurprised the
other day on taking up a work entitled, ."` The Rules of
Croquet, revised by an old hand," to find that of t-t'e ninety-
three rules contained in it the majority were simply t.he re-
sults of his own experience and ingenuity much abbreviate'd
but occasionally transcribed literally by the compiler or
"reviser," and sold by him at the price of sixpence,
while that of his own work was half-a-crown. Upon
inquiry he found the " Old Hand " had some mysterious
connection with the manufacturer of certain pat-
erns and designs of croquaet is, known as the Cassiobury
set, and on application to the publisher whose
name appeared to the " Old Hand's " work it came out that
the "Old Hand " himself was in reality not to be sought
for very far from Cassiobury—that the Earl of Essex was
the individual who had thus sought an aristocratic short
cut to learning in the laws and practice of croquet. Now
it seems from this that our great peers are far from being
the mere useless drones in the hive that certain classes
would have us believe. Lord Essex, being a croquet-player,
and also a proprietor of timber, thought that he might ad-
vantageously turn his knowledge of the former to business
account as well as the latter, so he accordingly set up in life
as croquet manufacturer as well as peer. Of course the
good points of crequaerie with a handle to its name were
rapidly seen by an impressionable British public, and Lord
Essex doubtless turned many an honest penny by his first
venture in business life. But unfortunately he thought it
essential to the completeness of the Cassiobury set that it
should be accompanied by a code of laws, and by a strange
coincidence those which he adopted were in numerous in-
stances verbally identical with those of Capt. Mayne Reid.
The latter not seeing why Lord Essex, whether in his capa-
city of peer or manufacturer, or under his incognito of " An
Old Hand," should be entitled to the results of other people's
work, demanded an explanation and the withdrawal
of the work. Lord Essex being, as he now alleges, igno-
rant of the extent to which the piracy had been carried, re-
fused either, and Captain Reid then had recourse to Vice-
Chancellor Kindersley, and Lord Essex, who apparently
became aware how untenable his ease really was, agreed on
Friday last to withdraw the book, to destroy all copies re-
maining unsold, to pay Captain Mayne Reid £125 as com-
pensation, and also to pay all costs of the suit—a result
which must materially disturb the proportions of the new
manufacturer's balance-sheet for his first year. Lord Essex
has scarcely yet attained a degree of circumspection and
acuteness in business commensurate with the ingenuity of
his operations. He is now at least too old a hand to allow
a friend to compile a book of croquet rules without his own
superintendence. There were no pre-existing laws of
croquet, and Captain Mayne Reid's work was to all intents
and purposes an original composition,the result of consider-
able exertion and thought, and no one can complain be-
cause he has been (protected in reaping the fruit of Lis
labours, even though a slight check has been inflicted upon
the business enterprise of a noble Earl.
THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE PENALTIES OF
Groin VI peculiar development which hero. wor
ship has recently taken in this country makes it very de-
sirable that people in exalted positions should not be afli:cted
with the misfortune of shyness. In America, popular good-
will has to be conciliated by direct personal appearance
before the people, and to a great ex tent by contact with
them. " Going on the stump," and " the pump-handle
movement," are the two tributes paid in the land of freedom
to the supremacy of popular principles. With us matters
are not quite so bad, although they are getting worse every
year. The oratorical treadmill upon which our chief states-
men have to go in the season of the year when they are

supposed to take a holiday is of itself a sufficient warning
to ambition; and, from the celebrated " Give us your paw
young'un" story, it is evident that when Lord Palmerston
visits a go-ahead town like Bradford, he thinks
that something of the Yankee pump-handle must be
introduced. But it is pictorially that our principal
statesmen are chiefly doomed to suffer. The
enormous facilities for multiplying likenesses which have
been created by modern discovery are in perpetual requisi-
tion to introduce the ruler the ruled. One of the newest,
and at the same time one of the most cruel, devices of this
kind is one that has been conceived by an enterprising tailor
for the purpose of bringing the peculiar cut of his garments
before the public eye. Eighteen victims of more or less dis-
tinction are selected, and portraits of them are circulated
wearing 18 of the habiliments upon which the ingenious
tradesman chiefly prides himself. The Queen serves as an
advertising block for a Basque habit, and the form of the
the Princess Alexandra is devoted to displaying the elegant
proportions of the swallow-tail. Lord Palmerston figures
in a neglige3 suit, Lord Russell is selected as the fittest
model for exhibiting the merits of a " riding suit," Lord
Derby wears the honours of a "Chesterfield overcoat,"
and Mr Disraeli, from some ethnological confusion in the
mind of the artist which it is difficult to trace, appears
as the ideal wearer of the' "Inverness cape.'' But
the chief sufferings of our public men are from the new art
of photography. Since the cheap carte de visite came into
fashion, and still more since it became the correct thing to
have a carte de visite album on everybody's table, the furious
demand of the public for likenesses to fill these albums has
beet quite uncontrollable, and the consequent labour thrown
on photographers and their sitters has been very great.
There is no need to pity the photographers, for they are
well paid for their labours, and the more furious the de-
mand becomes the better they will like it. But the Cabinet
Minister's case is a harder one. There are three principal
duties which attach to his eminent position. He has to
manage his department,to attend in his place in Parliament,
and to sit for his carte de visite. The first two duties are
considered in the estimates; but the last, and (upon a hot
day) the heaviest, has to be performed gratuitously. Of
course it is necessary, in so many sittings. to contrive a little
variety, and the ingenuity which must be brought to bear to
attain this end cannot but be very exhausting. The Bishop
of Oxford, who, in this as in other matters, loves to accumu-
late labour, is photographed as often as a Cabinet Minister, is
satisfied with striking out as many attitudes in relation to a
curtain and a pillar, as the restricted number of human
limbs will permit. But the changes which can be rung
upon this combination are necessarily limited. You cannot
do much with a pillar except lean upon it, and, unless you
stand in front of a curtain, you can do nothing else with it
except get it between your legs, Mr Gladstone has pre-
ferred the more fertile reseurce of different changes of dress
and with no little ingenuity he has made them symbolise
the particular phase of political existence through which he
happens to be passing. When he was the great Finance
Minister carrying out the great treaty, he presented himself
to the photograper in the official dress of a Chancellor of
the• Exehequer. But finance has fallen a little into the
background of late. Other aspirations have taken the place
of those of the pure financier; other claims to a possible
Premiership than those which rest upon the suffrages of
the trading community are being sedulously cultivated.
Accordingly, Mr Gladstone presents himself before the
lens in the Court-dress of a Privy Councillor. It is not a
pretty dress. On the contrary, a profane stranger,
unacquainted with its sacred associations, would describe it.
as something between the dresses of a postilion and a buf-
foon. It is, in fact, rather an extreme specimen of the
taste which governs the selection of most of our Court cos-
tumes. It required some courage in a grave statesman to
have himself immortalised in white kerseymere shorts; but
no doubt Mr Gladstone felt that the dress, though ugly,
was symbolical of a present policy, and prophetic of a bril-
liant future. But it is upon Lord Palmerston that the
chief burden of the Administration falls in the photographic
as in every other department of Ministerial duty. We are
informed by the journals most in his confidence that, at the
end of July last, he honoured the Stereoscopic Com-
pany with a sitting at which no less than four dozen
negatives were taken. There are very few people who
are not able, from their own recollections, to illustrate
the amount of endurance which this announcement
reveals. The retreat of a photographer, built at the
top of a tall house, roofed in with glass like a hot-house
and concentrating the rays of the sun almost with the force
of a burning glass, is probably the hottest place of confine-
ment known to human suffering on this side of Calcutta.
Allowing two minutes and a half to each negative—and
very few sitters escape from the oven at half so cheap a
rate—the Primo Minister must have undergone at least a
good two hours' thorough baking, under the full power of
a July sun, in his anxiety to "spread his likeness broad-
cast o'er the land," When ho took office, he probably
never calculated on labour such as these. The Treasury
Bench does not look comfortable, and there must be a
monotony in the sensation it communicates when you
have to sit on it for nine or ten hours a day.
But it must be pleasant, and even luxurious,
compared to a protracted session in a photographer's
bakery. Listening to his own colleague, Mr Denman,
upon the case of the Baron de Bode, is usually supposed
to have been the severest trial to which even the veteran
Prime Minister and the well-seasoned officials of the house
wore ever exposed; but it must have been an exciting pas-
time compared to posing for two hours before a lens in a
pothouse. It cannot be said that all this labour has pro-
duced much variety in the resulting portraits. The object
of them all is much the same as the object of the nume-
roue speeches which the Premier has spent the month of
August in making. Both equally serve the purpose of
advertising unabated juvenility to the world, This ob-
ject the photographs undoubtedly effect for the
positions are carefully selected, and great vigour of posture,
and some vivacity of expression, is preserved. No one
would gather from them that our Prime Minister was a
joker of jokes, or that he owes much of his continued success
to the dexterity with which he deadens the thrust of an
attack by shielding himself behind a defence of particu-
larly bad chaff. The faoe is anything but merry or cheer -
ful. It is the weary face of one who has been much in
oourts, and knows how to go resignedly through any
amount of ennui. In some, probably those which came
early in the portentous sitting, there is an expression
of business-like attention, as though the sitter was
till fresh, and could fancy himself transacting his ordinary
ofii,fial duties. Some even look contemptuous, and half-
smilit;3, as though he enjoyed the absurdity of the position.
But as the series goes on, the countenance becomes more
and more ,dead, the eyes more and more destitute of ex-
pression, as though his force were yielding to the op-
pressive influences of the hour. At length this change
of feature culminates in one which must evidently have
been the last of the Aeries, and which is deeply pathetic.
It bears the lineamental of a man heroically struggling,
but on the point of giving way. The powers of
endurance have failed at last. It seems to say, in
tones of despairing remonstranCe, "I am but a man of 80,
after all; you have put me through what half my colleagues
would have fainted under—how can you expect me to stand
quite still and wear a tranquil expression of countenance
for the 48th picture'?" A copy of the carte ought tu n
otobe
presented to all promising undergraduates in eitahrenrin
"va:sity who are likely to take to politics, as a w g
what successful statesmen have to
go through.