The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-31 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, ocroBER 31, 1853.

well known to him. They were a pest to the publicans and
shopkeepers in Rateliff-highway, High-street, Shadwell,
and Broad-street, Rateliff. They were cJalwhippers, and
worked one day and were idle six more. They had been in
the practice of going into public-houses demanding beer of
the customers, and, if they did not give it them, they used
their fists.

Mr. Partridge said the prisoners were lazy and savage
ruffians, and had been guilty of several violent assaults. Ha
sentenced them to be imprisoned for six weeks for tbe as-
sault on Mr. Mills and six weeks for the assault on the pot-
man, with hard labour in both cases, the second sentence to
commence on the expiration of the first. If they were ever
brought before him again for a similar outrage, he would
commit them for trial.

European Impressions of the Japanese
Ambassadors.

Every one remembers, says our Paris contem-
porary La Patric, the Japanese Ambassadors who
last year visited France and England. We have
not forgotten their inquisitive curiosity. Truly these
impassionate personages should not hava forgotten
a single incident of the entirely new spectacle which
presented itself to their eyes. It was everywhere
remarked with what avidity they listened to and
took notes of the explanations of their interpreter.
On their return hoine they hastened to arrange
these notes, which have just been printed at Jeddo.
A Frenchman who has lived there for some time,
on seeing this book, immediately translated and
sent us the introduction, which we give word for
word, persuaded that it will be interesting to our
readers :
HISTORY OF THE TRAVELS OP THE JAPANESE COMMIS-
SIONERS IN EUROPE. Published at Jeddo, March 28,
1863. By Fou-yah.

INTRODUCTION.
The races of the West all closely resemble each other.
They all clothe themselves in the same manner, eat with
the same ceremonies, &c. They differ little in the dark-
ness of their complexion and colour of their ;lair. Their
arms are the same:— The French appear to value them
more than their neighbours, and we were told that they
are more skilled in their use. In truth, the movements of
the French soldiers do appear more lively and active than
those of the so:diers of the other nations. Their sabres are
much inferior to ours, but they do not appeal to attach
much importance, to them, and prefer firearms. We never
saw sword or spear exercise ; to make up for this they
attach a sort of sabre to the end of their guns, and use it
where we use the spear.
The rit, s or ceremonies appear very light, although it

would be very wrong to say there are none ; but the most
striking thing about them is )hat these ceremonies are
almost the same for personages of rani( as for ordinary men.
They lift their hat and make a slight movement of the head,
such is the salutation for every one. It would appear that
there is but little respect for, or distinction of class. Thus,
in our aadience with the Emperor of France and other
Sovereigns, their Majesties were not separated from us by
any veil. The consort of the Sovereign was even there,
neither veiled nor concealed, seated on a seat as high as
that of her husband. Notwithstanding this, the nobles
were extremely polite in France; even too much so some-
times, especially at dinner, where, in order to please them,
it was necessary to eat and drink more than was agreeable.
As to the other men, they are less polite. The greater
number stared at and touched ua, and passed remarks on us
in our hearing ; nor did they conceal that they thought us
very ugly.

Of the women, some are very handsome--for example,
the Empress. They are, however, in general leas so than
in America. Their noses are sometimes higher than those
of the men—they walk like men, taking long steps; look
men in the face, and laugh a great deal, sometimes very
loud. In order to make themselves look taller, they make
their bonnets stick above their heads. Even tha modest
women dance a great deal. They hook on to the arms of
the men ; and there are dap; when every man has a woman
hanging on to his arm. Are they their own wives ? We
think so. In general the women enjoy great liberty. What
we say of die women of France applies to those of all
Europe. The latter, ,with the exception of the Dutch, are
inferior to the French. We will not speak of their costume ;
it is impossible to understand it. In the evenings it is not
always decent.

The men are stiff and a little proud or rough. However
the respectable as well as the lower classes carry no arms.
A respectable man seldom carries about him any marks
of his rank. It would seem that all classes—even the
upper ones—frequent cafes. Even the superior officers go
to the theatre, for which they have a great passion. We
have regretted more than once not having understood what
was said there. Almost every one was armed with opera..
glasses, which wore often ditected at us—doubtless through
absence of mind.

The shopkeepers are haughty, and saluted us only in a
very middling degree. They did not like us to derange the
...tisko in thou shop duutnless zeekoned un our
buying a great deal from them. We were able to see that
the mechanicians and useful tradesmen were more respected
than the mere shopkeepers.

The articles of diet are almost the same as with us ; how-
ever, they eat but little rice and fish, but, on the other
hand, much meat and pastry. We were extremely dis-
gusted at Paris and elsewhere to see beef and mutton still

bloody exposed in the most public rhops. To eat beef is
often medicinally useful, buc why present it to the eyes of
all the world. Is it not sinful thus to despise so useful an
animal ? It was truly shocking to several of our party.
However, the cookery of the French is good, and their
wine excellent. The wine is the best thing they have, and
does not yield in anything to our " saki" (a drink made
from fermented rice).

The dress of the men appears at first ridiculous and cur-
tailed, however, it must be convenient and economical.
In Paris as in London, every one walks very fast, as with
us when there is a fire. Their houses are so high that they
must fall on the first earthquake—they appear, neverthe-
less, to be proof against fire. We will speak of the marvel-
lous things we saw in the order in which we saw them.

THE TURKISH BATII AS A CURE FOR HYDRO-
PHOBIA.—Dr, Buisson has addressed the following
communication to the Abellle Atedicale. We give it ver-
batim :—" A single vapour bath is sufficient to prevent
hydrophobia by eliminating the virus, nevertheless, for
the sake of greaier security, I caused seven to be taken in
as many days, at a temperature of from 42 to 48 deg.
Reaumur (127 to 140 Fahrenheit). Care should be taken
to press the wound well while in the bath, in order to pro-
mote tho expulsion. Immediately after the bite has been
inflicted, wash the wound with a piece of linen dipped in
liquid ammonia, and leave it on, in a moist state, for at
least an hour, to neutralize the virus. My treatment does
not prevent cauterization—a very uncertain process, since
all those labouring uoder the disease whom I have treated
had been cauterized. If the disorder has declared itself, I
only prescribe a single bath, and leave the patient in it till
the cure is effected, taking care to raise the temperature
gradually. Hydrophobia may last three days; experience
has proved to me that the cure is certain on the first day of
the outbreak; on the second it is uncertain, and on the
third impossible, from the difficulty and danger there would
be in conveying the patient to the bath, and keeping him
in. Who would wait for the third day, knowing my
treatment? Nor should one wait for the outbreak; it
ought always to be prevented. Hydrophobia never breaks
out before the seventh day, so that there is time to per-
form a long journey to obtain what is called a Russian
vapour bath."—Galignani's lifessenger.—[The original in-
troducer of the Turkish Bath once said,--" I should not
mind my own child beinz bitten by a mad dog, so certain
am I that the Bath would cure him." At the first public
meeting held at Cork on the subject of the Bath, in
August, 1856, Mr. Urquhart spoke as follows :—" Some
time since I asked a medical man to find me a case of
hydrophobia, as I was convinced that disorder must yield
to the Bath. He told me that my idea had been antici-
pated, only one case of cure being known. It was the
use of a French physician, who, having been bitten by a
mad dog, and suffering from the first symptoms of the
disorder, knowing that medicine was of no avail, and
thinking only how he could die most easily, had himself
carried into a vapour bath, there to remain till death. He
remained until life. He was carried out cured,"
THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S QUARTERLY RE-
TURN.—This return, comprising the births and
deaths in the quarter ended Sept. 30, and the marriages in
the quarter ending June 30, shows some important changes.
" After a season of depression which extended over two
years, the marriage-rate rallied in the quarter of the cur-
rent year, and rose decidedly above the average in the sub•
sequent quarter. The improvement indicates increased con-
fidence in the minds of the people in respect to their ability
to earn a sufficient and comfortable subsistence. The births
were more numerous than they had ever been in the summer
quarter before ; and the proportion they bore to the popula-
tion in which they occurred was higher than usual. But while
the aspect of the returns is favourable as regerds marriages
and births, a tale of deaths, which is heavier than thatefany
summerquarter since the year of epidemic cholera,lBs4,shows
that the public h alth was far from being in a satisfactory
state. The death rate was considerably higher than it had
been in any of the corresponding quarters that have inter-
vened since 1854. Epidemic diseases spread with destruc-
tive force amongst the young; and apparently the season
was less salubrious than it usually is to older persons. The
number of persons married in the June quarter was 88.116 ;
they were married at an annual rate of 1•72 to a hundred
persons in the population. The average rate for the same
quarter is 1,69 per cent. In the two corresponding quarters
cf 1361-2 the rates were 1.68 and 1.61, A certain number
of the prospective alliances of those two years, deterred in
expectation of better times, would doubtless attain their
consummation in the present year."

Captain Summers, the commander of the Lady of
the Lake was brought up yesterday again before
the magistrates at Southampton on a charge of man-
slaughter, through running down a boat in Southampton
Water, by which a fisherman was drowned. The magis-
trates, after hearing further evidence, adjourned the case to
Wenesday next.

LITERATURE.

Miss Kavanagh's New Novel.

Queen Mab. By .Talialavanagh, author of "Na
thalie." Three Vols. Hurst and Blackett.

Miss Kavanagh chiefly excels in the portrayal of
strong emotions. Her stories do not lack incident,
on the contrary, they abound with vicissitudes, but
however interesting the adventures related in her
narratives, that interest is subordinate. It is not
the outward actions, it is rather the minor feelings
of the hero or heroine that here chiefly enlist our
sympathy and enthrall our attention.
Mab—
" Queen Mab"—the very charming heroine of this
tale is, like "Nathalie," endowed with very ardent
sensibilities. With her, as with the former heroine,
love is not an illusion of fancy or a temperate affec-
tion, but the master passion of a life. As Shak-

spere's Joliet, the ideal incarnation of that senti-
ment, when excusing her own ingenuousness, ex-
claims—

" But, trust me, gentlemen, I'll prove more true
Than those who.have more cunning to seem strange."
So does Mab attest her heart's fidelity by a life's,
apparently hopeless, devotion. If Nathalie chained
us by her coquetry, while she moved our sympathy
by her emotions, Queen Mab has higher charms.
Hers is a far superior character, and we are inclined
to regard her history as the most successful of Miss
Kavanagh's literary achievements—always perhaps
excepting " Madelaine," that short, simple, touch-
ing, " tale of Auvergne" which, now some years
back, revealed to us the true story of the marvellous
ptience and memorable triumph of the peasant
maiden of Auvergne who, penniless herself, begged
for alms from village to village, and town to town,
until alone she procured funds sufficient to erect a
hospital in her native dwelling-place. We cannot
forget the simple pathos with which Miss Kava •
nagh charmed us in that narrative. Since Made-
laine, we have liked none of her heroines so well as
tbat charming, fresh, original, and most loveable
creation. The story is divided into four parts ; the

.vvo later " 111,.b's Faith" and " the cost of the vic-

tory" occupy the end of the second volume, and the
whole of the third, and reveal the stormy history
of poor MA's loving heart in the furnace of great
tribulation, but tender and truthful through good
and evil. The two earlier divisions are entitled

Mr. Ford" and " Mr. Ford's son." The opening
chapters, although full of interest, are most impro-
bable. In deference, perhaps unconsciously, to the
sensational predilections of the day, Miss Kavanagh
has enveloped Mab's history in a cloud of mys-
tery. The " secret" (so all-essential now-
a.days) is very adroitly guarded, and we are pro-
perly mystified until the right moment. Mr.
Ford, whose weak, wayward, impressionable cha-
racter exerts a powerful influence over Mab's des-
tiny, is well described, and his errors and his good-
ness alternately enlist our sympathy and excite our
contempt. Mr. Ford's family residence is a gloomy
mansion in Queen-square. The house and its in-
habitants are going to rack and ruin. Mr. Ford,
living in the neglected parlour, habitually endea-
vours to solace himself for the decay of his business
by an extra glass of grog. His three boys would be
growing up in unmanageable idleness were it not
for the discipline maintained over them by Robert,
the eldest brother--" Mr. Ford's son," the hero
of the second portion of the narrative. While
the rest of the house is in this pitiable condition,
under the superintendence of the devoted but slat-
ternly Susan, absolute calm and abiding order reign
undisturbed in the lonely drawing-rooms, where
Mrs. Ford, the victim of some nervous indisposi-
tion, has been a prisoner for seven years. Devoted
to his wife, who, unhappily, has learned to despise
his
weakness
all
kraessd
o fcohmaersateic character, Mr. Ford, abetted by
Susan,
troubles from the know-
ledge of the useless but arbitrary mistress of the
mansion. Hero io a specimen of this marvellous
state of things :

OUR MARY ANNE.
Mr. Ford closed the door on his visitor; then going to
the head of the kitchen stairs, he asked, in a subdued tone,
"Susan, are the boys ready to go and see their mother?"
"The boys ha' been and adone all sorts of mischief, sir,"
shortly answered Susan, appearing on the stairs, and
speaking in the same key ; " whilst I opened the door to the
g
one ate the tart, and the other the
psitgraenon,e gentleman,
thatwas for missus's dinner. They're worse than
cats, them boys--:they are I"
Mr. Ford had a pimple on his forehead, which he always
scratched in cases of difficulty. He now recurred to it with
a look more perplexed than indignant.
.4
"I am afraid the poor fellows ars often hungry," sighed
; you. must get something else, Susan."
"I told missus the cat had done it. God forgive me all
the stories Fstoorrides Ido tell in this house. And she said ' never
mind.' "
" Well, that is all right ; is it not ?"
it Why, no, sir, it ain't. The cat made me bring in
Mary Ann, and what do you think missus is up to now ?
Why, she wants Mary Ann upstairs."
Now Mary Ann was a fiction, the myth of the household,
and this was a most inconvenient wish, as Mr. Ford's
lengthened face expressed.
"I put it off, saying Mary Ann was ill in bed," pursued
Susan; "but that is not all, missus wishes for fruit. Now,
sir, Covent-garden is not far off: but I put it to you, sir,
can I get cherries at this tirno of the year ?"
" Perhaps hot- house grapes would do," suggested Mr.
d
Ford, looking deeply perplexed.
` P
will,
doubtfully said Susan ; " and per-
haps`
hrehyap will s they
not;w but" that ain't all. Missus wants an
te
organ."
44 A harmonium, you mean ; well—perhaps I can get one
on hire." _ .

-----
But when Mr. Ford looked round his wretched home,
when he remembered his debts and his downhill name, he
wondered who would be so foolhardy as to trust him with
an instrument.

" Perhaps an accordion would do," said Susan, looking
sagacious; "organs are only fit for churches."
But Mr. Ford shook his head. His wife had been an ac-
complished musician, and none but a first-rate instrument
would answer her.

4. God help me I" he exclaimed, distractedly ; " it will be
all out if she does not get that harmonium, and it will
break her Susan, it will break her heart, not for
herself,but
efaorrtlhe boys and me."
Tears stood in his eyes. and Susan looked sorely troubled,
but the accordion had exhausted her short stores of com-
fort.

" Well," said Mr. Ford, with a deep sigh, " I must put
her off for a while ; and say lam promised one. Tell the
boys to dress, and come to me, Susan, and then I'll see."

"I am afraid Captain George's loud knock disturbed
you," slid Mr, Ford ; but it was Susan who opened-,,
"And why did Susan open ?" interrupted Mrs. Ferd :
"Susan is to wait upon me. I must insist on Mary Ann
attending to the door."
Mr. Ford scratched his pimple, but hit on a bright in-
vention.

" Mary Ann was in the dumps," he said, gravely ; I gave
her warning this morning—that girl is getting unmanage-
able,"

And so she was ; and Mr. Ford, whom the practice of
seven years had not yet made perfect in the art of invention,
had resolved to get rid of this troublesome person altogether.
Mrs. Ford shut her eyes again, and sighed ; another man
would have had a fo•tman by this ; but no—thanks to his
folly and imprudence, Mr. Ford would live and die with
two female servants.
"Mr. Ford," she said, gravely, ig do as you please about
Mary Ann ; keep or dismiss her—what is it to me ? but do
not take Susan from me. She has enough to do in attend-
ing to me."
. "Certainly, my love, by all means."
"As to that Mary Ann, I am glad she is going. I am
tired of hearing about her misdeeds."
"And she shall go," emphatically replied Mr. Ford.
" Take a first-rate servant instead," pursued his wife;
" give her twenty, thirty pounds a year if need be--a little
money more or less is not much matter."

"6 course no
if you please.
t. "
emseilaenechearomfotnhiuesme,
etth
I ‘‘cannotAnd ' t aMI kr , anFodrdy,egt
rooms is too
much for me."
"Certainly, my love. I really do believe you are getting
better," cried Mr. Ford, ardently,
As may be expected, Mrs. Ford is getting better,
when the unexpected and unwelcome arrival of Mab
arouses alike her mental indignation and her physi-
cal strength. dab's arrival, and its bewildering
particulars, affecting as
they do the "secret" of
the story, we shall not touch upon here. We
cannot but think that the
plot, although admirably
contrived, is too much
lengthened out in detail.
The interest should have been more concentrated,
but we forget that as we advance. We can only
feel sympathy for the heart-trials of the poor forlorn
lovelorn ,
neroine &
. 3 We havo already said, Miss i

Kavanagh's tales are chiefly attractive as revela-
tions of intense feeling, and "Queen Mob'' is one
of the best of that class that she has yet P'