The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-07 00:00:00

TEE MEMORIES OF OLD.

How we linger by the shades
Of the peaceful scenes of yore,
Rambling through those pleasant glades
Fancy fain would now restore ;
All those sunny dwelling-places
Dreamy visions still unfold
'While we view their verdant traces
Thro' the memories of old.

How they rise and pass before us,
Scenes that make the heart sublime ;
Bearing now, as then they bore us,
Visions of that golden time.
Forms familiar pass and pass us,
Where in lazy mood we stroll'd;
View we in life's mellowing glasses
All those memories of old.

Where we first in boyhood sported
Thoughtless, over lawn and lea,
We in after years resorted,
Far more staid and thoughtfully ;
All those pleasant dreams we planted,
Air-built castles, fair and bold,
From their ruins rise enchnnted
'Mid the memories of old ;

Joys on which our loves have thriVen,
Binding closer heart to heart;
Tears with which our souls have striven,
When we felt that we must part ;
All the themes of by-gone years,
All the music that we troll'd,
Fill once more our vacant ears
Thro' the memories of old.

Yet how sadly we pursue
All the joys of former years ;
Now they come in dark review,
In deep mourning and in tears.
See them in the darkened room,
Where mortality lies cold,
Wreathing with sepulchral gloom,
Fondest memories of old.

Gentle forms that once were gay,
And in native beauty shone,
Like a vision passed away,
Meekly faded and—are gone !
Yet the loves by time removed,
Spurning still to be controll'd,
Live again, and are beloved
'Monist the memories of old.

Tho' the heart be chilled with care,
And grows old with weight of years,
Like sunshine on far ambient air,
Shining through the mist of tears ;
Many a picture still revives
In imaginary mould,
And in wonted lustre lives
'Mongst the memories of old.

ROBERT H. BROWN.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

The Colonist's and Emigrant's Handbook of the
Mechanical
_Arts. By Robert Scott Burn,

Engineer.

Edinburgh : Blackwood and Sons.

The work of which the above is the title comes
before ns with the prestige of many recommenda-
tions—the first is the great value of the subjects
on which it affords information ; the next is the
extent of practical and theoretical knowledge
which the author brings to bear on these subjects ;
the third, the amount of personal experience in
colonial requirements by which he has been fitted
for his self-imposed task ; and the last, which we
shall here allude to, is the perspicuity and con-
densed amplitude of description and delineation
with which he illustrates the various topics arising
for consideration in the course of his treatise.
Starting with the subject of "House Arrange-
in"nt," he discusses in an eminently practical and
useful manner the different kinds of dwelling re-
quired by emigrants of different means, and with
varying objects in view. These are copiously
illustrated by ground-plans, elevations, sections,
and details for log-huts, cottages, and farm-
buildings, with all the requisites for comfort and
cleanliness as well as convenience of the various
grades. He next passes on to construction,
including under that head carpentry and joiner-
work, brick-making, drains, ventilation, well-
sinking, fencing, and road-making. Each one of
these separate sections receiving so ample an illus-
tration as to render those studying it sufficiently
acquainted with its principles to enable him to
apply them in any direction ; and although mere
theoretical information will never so far supply the
place of practical knowledge as to render the unin-
structed emigrant a match for the skilled mechanic,
a careful study and thorough comprehension of Mr.
Burn's book will enable him to do many things in
so substantial a way, as by their inherent excel-
lence to much more than compensate for the
absence of mechanical skill, as that is displayed in
tasteful and elaborate finish. To the agricultural
or mining emigrant such a book as Mr. Barn's
must prove indeed a treasure; but while its aim is
directed towards the information and comfort of
these classes, its value and utility are by no means
confined to them. Within its few pages are col-
lected and arranged a mass of facts, and an aggre-
gate of constructive mechanical principles, which
will be found eminently useful to even our best
skilled artisans at home or abroad. Indeed we
have seldom seen so well-digested a compilation of
the constructive mechanical arts, or one in which
their leading principles are so briefly, clearly, and
comprehensively laid down. It is a book which
will be invaluable to mechanics' institutes, and to
the reading societies and clubs of agricultural and
pastoral districts.

The Poetical Works of Goldsmith, Collins, and
T. Warton. With Lives, Critical Dissertations,
and Explanatory Notes. By the Rev. George
Gilfillan. Edinburgh : J. Nichol.

The volume before us is the one which closes the
issue of the series of the Library Edition of the
British Poets for the first year. Some time ago,
in allusion to the progress of this series, we felt
warranted in expressing general approbation as to
the style of beauty and accuracy by which its text
and appearance were distinguished, and also as to
the extraordinary, indeed, marvellous cheapness
with which it was got up. At that period, although
the major portion of the year's issue was before us,
we could hardly divest ourselves of a misgiving
that, from the lowness of its price, the issue would
either cease, or be continued under some deprecia-
tion of care, quality, or aspect. This misgiving,
which was fostered only by what appeared the dis-
proportionate cheapness to the excellence of the
work, has been completely set at.rest. Every promise
as to the unexceptionable character of the work, by
both publisher and editor, has been amply redeemed.
A library edition of the works included, of great
beauty, accuracy and uniformity, has been produced
at a price so low as to excite surprise. The second
year of the series is now about to commence, under,
we are informed, very encouraging auspices. This
we are glad to learn, secure in the knowledge that,
by continuing the work as it has been begun, no
extent of public patronage will exceed its deserts.

The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope. Edited
by Robert Carruthers. Illustrated by Portraits
and Original Designs. London : N. Cooke.

This very handsome edition of Pope's Poetical
Works has now been completed in four volumes ;
and along with the three volumes previously issued
by the same publisher, and in all respects uniform
with the present, containing Pope's Translation of
the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, it forms a com-
plete as well as very beautiful edition of the mental
labours and scholarly acquirements of the great
English poet of the eighteenth century. In the
performance of his arduous task as a biographer
and commentator, Mr. Carruthers hag displayed
great skill and aptitude. His research has been
Laborious and discriminating ; good taste has been
accompanied by good feeling ; impartial judgment
has been aidedeombybwell-dfrected assiduity, and the
result of the
intellectual
has been a biography.. in
which the intelle
its subject areand personal peculiarities. of
passedm careful but not offensive
review. No effort seems
aman made
f to represent Pope
other than as he was,keen and subtle wit
and judgment—many amiaobities and no few
infirmities of temper—sterling independence and
great knowledge of the world. His good qualities
are shown, not
paraded—his weaknesses and short-
comings are gently handled,. and though shaded,
are not concealed. Such. is the spirit in which
biography ought at
. all times to be written, and
only when written. in such a t can its teach-
ings prove of real interest or utility. Many of the
explanatory notes by which.
.Mr. . Carruthers has
been enabled to enrich this edition of Pope contain
interesting matter, not generally known, and the
whole indicates a learned spirit of hum an dealing,
.
and adds much to the store of literary intelligence.
The Dublin University _Magazine.

Dublin :

M'Giashan.

The contents of the March number of this ably-
conducted and favourite periodical are inauguratell,
by a well-timed article on the "Eastern Question,"
founded chiefly on two works recently published,
one in London the other in Edinburgh, entitled
respectively " The Frontier Laws of the Christian
and the Turk," and " The Russian Shores of the

Black Sea in the Autumn of HA" from both of
which works it gives copious extracts, accompa-
nied by comments so judiciously applied and inter-
woven as to throw considerable light on the ques-
tion, which all must admit is even yet involved in
no thin robe of mystery. In this paper the conduct
of the Czar meets with rigorous investigation ;
and the candour and singleness of purpose to which
he ostentatiously lays claim are shown to wear a
very questionable aspect. The paper merits, and
will repay, an attentive perusal. It is followed by
a smartly written and fascinating gossippy sort
of narrative, designated " British Spinsterhood
Abroad," in which the eccentricities and goodness
of heart displayed by several of our countrywomen
in Italy are amusingly marshalled and pleasantly
recited. Other papers of varying interest follow ;
but THE PAPER of the number is " Our Portrait
Gallery,' and is devoted to a biographic sketch of
Captain 21`Clure, RN., the discoverer of the North
West Passage. From this sketch we learn that
the intrepid and gallant navigator is a native of
Wexford, the son of a brave military officer, and
in the forty-seventh year of his age. That,
although so young a man, he is a veteran arctic
navigator, and that his career as an exploring
voyager in the arctic seas has been one beset by
dangers, encountered with courage, and rendered
so far successful by dauntless intrepidity. The
first expedition to the polar seas, shared in by
APClure, was that commanded by Captain, now
Sir George Back, in 1836. In this he sailed in the
Terror—" the same whose fate afterwards with Sir
John Franklin is still so painful a mystery." The
good ship during this, the first adventure of
11PClure, was exposed to many and imminent perils
among the ice of those stormy seas, from some of
which her escape was little less than miraculous.
The greatest miracle of all, however, being that
experienced at the
CONCLUSION OF HEE ROME WARD VOYAGE.

When within a week of home further dangers pealed
their lives. A violent, storm arose; the water rushed in
so violently that, even with all the unceasing exertions of
the crew, the ship could scarcely be kept afloat. Chains_
and ropes were bound round the rent sides ; but, as suc-
cessive seas rolled over them, they watched with intense
solicitude the coil of seventeen turns of strong whale-line
that had been passed round the injured part, well knowing
that if it gave way the vessel must go down. A last
effort was made to reach Lough Swilly, on the Irish coast.
A sail came. in sight, but there was no time to make
signals, they were pressing onward for their lives. At
length land was announced. They signal for a pilot, none
came ; so they glide on past the lights in the fishermen's
huts, and at midnight, on the 3rd of September, 1837,
dropped anchor, the first time for fifteen months, in
Lough Swilly. The sudden change to security from the
terrors of death, left them that night in a state of feverish
excitement. When morning came the exhausted crew
were landed, housed, tended, cared for by the hospitable
inhabitants. The ship was then going fast down by the
head; three hours later, and they must all have sunk.
She was run ashore, and then a frightful opening was
discovered—keel and stern-post were rent and driven
asunder, leaving a passage several feet wide for the free
ingress of the water. And thus they had traversed the
Atlantic.

Thus terminated the first arctic voyage of the
great maritime discoverer, who, nothing daunted,
again set sail in the beginning of 1850, as conductor
of an enterprise to the stormy seas and inhospitable
regions in which he had encountered such previous
peril, in search of Sir John Franklin, and from the
result of which he has earned an imperishable
renown.

The memoir of Capt. M'Clure is appropriately
opened with a brief but spirited narrative of Arctic
Exploration, in which it is rapidly traced from
the earliest dawn of maritime adventure in that
direction to the present time. This sad narrative
of human enterprise, privation, suffering, and
death, is, notwithstanding its horrors, one of much
interest, and one which contains much, though
necessarily abbreviated information, conspicuous
among which is the gloomy prelude to that mourn-
ful tragedy which there is but too much reason
for believing has overtaken Sir John Frankin and
his brave, though unfortunate associates.
FRANKLIN'S LAND EXPEDITION.

Cotemporaneous with this voyage of Parry's (1820),
was a land-expedition, conducted by Sir John Franklin,
full of the strangest horrors upon record. The present
Sir John Richardson, Sir George Back, and Mr. Hood,
along with guides and Canadians, accompanied him. They
set out early in summer from the Copper-mine River in
canoes, to search the coast line of America, supplied, as
they thought, with ample provisions and materials for
hunting. But in a month provisions began to fail, and
by September they were all exhausted. The party now
left the canoes for land travelling, and subsisted merely
on what they could gather of tripe de roche, or rock-
moss. Sometimes they came upon a skeleton carcass left
by the wild animals, and lived upon the putrid marrow
and pounded bones. Then the canoes were flung away,
for the bearers had no strength to carry them, so when
they reached the river back again they had no means of
crossing. Three days, six days pass, and they have only
the rock-moss and the remains of a putrid ox left by the
wolves. At length a raft pis constructed, and they get
across.

Then began the journey to the hut, Fort Enterprise,
where provisions had been promised. This hope kept
them alive. Herds of rein-deer came in sight, but they
had not strength to lift a gun. So days passed, and they
travelled on. Their buffalo cloaks, the sledge covers,
their old shoes, the bones left by the wolves—on these
they lived. Some dropped by the way, and the others
had not strength to help them on.
At length, Richardson, Hepburne, and Mr. Hood,
offered to remain at any spot where rock-moss could be
had, while Franklin and his party proceeded to the fort,
and sent them back provisions. Michel, an Irequois
guide, and the Canadians, went with Franklin.
Next day, three of the Canadians, too weak to travel,
said they would return to Richardson ; Michel volunteered
to accompany them. Of this party none were ever seen
after but Michel, who arrived at Richardson's hut alone.
The others, he said, had left him, and one had died.
Franklin and the rest went on. They reached the fort
—it was deserted. Not a trace of food or help, or human
being near. They sank to the ground in helpless despair ;
but the old bones and skins they had left five mouths
before were still there, and welcomed with rapture. Daily
they watched and hoped for help, for Back had gone
another route in search of Indians who might aid them.
Thirty-one days passed and no help came. Two fell dead,
and the others had not strength to bury them; they sat
in the hut with the dead men.
And Richardson, meanwhile, with his two friends, were
awaiting the provision that never came. Each day they
picked their scanty meal of rock-moss ; and on this they
were dying, not living. But Michel, the Irequois, grew
fat and strong ; yet, though he absented himself fre-
quently on pretence of hunting, he never brought in game.
Hood lent him his gun ; he shared his buffalo cloak
with him at night, for the Indian was strong and able to
hunt, and they looked to him for preservation. Still, the
missing Canadians never appeared. Michel said they
must have died by the way.
One day he brought them in what he said was part of
the flesh of a wolf, and bade them eat. Then their sus-
picions were aroused, and they watched for evidence, till
the whole horrible truth was revealed—the murders and
the cannibalism. Their own fate was now before them.
Michel's manner became strange and fierce, and his glaring
eyes seemed constantly fixed on them. Hood was now
unable to leave the hut from weakness. One day, Hep-
burne and Richardson were outside cutting wood, when a
gun was fired. They turned ; Michel had just shot the
young man through the head. The two friends knew
they were too weak for an open struggle with the mur-
derer ; but they took counsel together, and watched their
opportunity. A few days after, they observed Michel
cleaning his gun assiduously ; then he advanced to them,
with what object they knew well by his expression ; but
just as he came up quite close, Richardson boldly placed
his pistol at the head of the savage, and shot him dead.

The two friends travel on alone to come up with Frank-
lin. Six days thus onward, with nothing to subsist on
but the remnants of poor Hood's buffalo cloak. They
arrive. Franklin is seated in the desolate hut with the
unburied dead ; but the faces of the living are as ghastly,
and each recoils in horror at the aspect of the other. At
last, deliverance comes. The Indians sent by Back arrive
with food and help, and they are saved, after a six months'
agony. Amid such terrible scenes did Sir John Franklin
become disciplined to Arctic horrors.

Mournful and heart-rending discipline indeed,
where brave men sink beneath the rigours of a
dreadful climate, or escape that frightful fate only
to become the victims of an associated murderous
cannibal ; and the whole of these evils augmented
by, if they did not actually arise out of, a miserably
ill-organised and inadequately provided expedition.
Dare we venture to hint the frightful suspicion,
that a similar want of precautionary forethought
to that which in 1820 caused his expedition to
suffer from want of provisions within a month after
it started, and which exposed them all to such
priyations and suffering, and some of them to
death, may not have existed and accelerated the
fate of himself and his companions of 1845, when
he started on his last, and, we fear, fatal voyage.