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«T^lMKES.. [^rin^^ K <nfc - - " -^—^——^^...
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THE BEy. GEOBGE GILPILLAN. - A Third GoU...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Lawyer In The Camp. A Month In The C...
mm ^ i ^& m ^ ySSS ^ Wc &^ : a ^ r t ^*« M * . soon got intt > the thick ^ lU'S ^ Xonsin a eeneral and h is staff—a < revy gallant did general , ^^ f ^ ffitX Sir 4 £ Sgs Brown ; and pitching ^ tent among the raHn thebarebrown hill side . And so for some five-and-thirty days this V ^ S omZ calm retreats that lie bounded' by Easex-stree ^ White ; SSr ^ SThames , and Fleet-street was there present " seeing History , * Statly ^ ESrw ^ We lxeard much , almost enough indeed , of « History ; " su ^ h as sh e paints herself in the pages of those in the camp who write ISTspecrilate , and ^ peat from day to day . They also i * e history , a little ; Sy , Jonie of ' them acVhistorj , andsome of them write it , too : those are of thekctins idaas . Excellently well as the journals are served , and admirabtoTspme of -the descriptions of the great events ^ have read ^ yet not Se ^ The pa ges of the processed correspondent do we find the best infornm-ST IiideeVm too many we find a croaking spirit , which smells of the nrbfessederunibter aswell as of the professedcorrespondent ; as if be > were sick
there onl y < to treatthfe British army as the rentable " : man , vau .-w u »« a diiazaosis of its disease . Among the best of correspondents are the privatesin the army . It is in reading their letters tha ^ we see the truly noble stuff of these , he * oes : ; that we feel how they are upheld by a ^ sense of duty ; how cheerfully they goanto the trenches or out on the distant picket , taking the rain or sunshine as it comes ; how they brave death m every form , the deadly bullet or thelequally deadly fever ; how they rise swrftly out + of their ¦ slaepiiidwaaetheir arms as the alarm cry rings through the tents ; with what . & rtttude they have sat in sludge , slept in sludgevcooked ^ n sludge , and SuahTand died in sludge ; iow they love their officers , those « ' gallant Gentlemen , " as one calls them ; how they love their commander-in-chiet ; ^ id with w nat tender and strong affection the hearts of these Englishmen turn to home , to the wife sitting lone , perhaps , by the fireside of the stem ^ er : to the mfant child ; to the grey-headed parent totterm * to the e ****; to the loved one—the wife that may be . In their letters these men speak of their . misery as bad enough , but misery they are ready to endure f £ -ihe Honour of old England , for the love of their country , for the sake of these
their Queen ; and not A few , understanding the bloody quarrel , add to feelings of patriotism a . sense of the high justice of their cause , They do i ^ t gnimlJle ^ croaking finds no place in-their simple records ; they are as stout end manful a band of men as ever quitted the shores of Eng land . B . ven the wounded and the sick show the strongest anxiety to get well that ^ yBtjajpbfi-once . more on the field . . . -, . ... , . . .. P OurTNon-Combatant does not give us any insight into this characteristic ot ; fliewar . JHis intercourse lay with staff-officers and generals , rather than with the men . And although his stay in the jcanip extended only to the battle of Inkerman , and although , therefore , he escaped the terrible ordeal which followed tike Ihurrieane of the 14 th of JSTovember , and the 1 rain of succeeding days , yet one might have expected more than one finds about the flesh and blood constituents of the camp—about the noble soldiers of England . The book gives U 3 information , neither told in a military manner , ranr in the manner Of the regular correspondent , but in the manner of a
gentleman , sober , quiet , subdued , yet not without cheerfulness and the . grace . of good feeling- But the information does not constitute jits value . Thexontrasiof the tone of the lettex-s to those . now familiar to the public , this makes up its value . There is no pretence at peculiar and extensive informafion , ~ nd " speculations on ^^ reader with the belief that the author has seen everything , heard everything , is an authority on everything . What he sees he sets down , and no more ; what he has heard . he tells with scrupulous care ; and , although it is not much . thai he hna seen nor-much that he has heard , yet every . fact related 30 plca aStif H were . stha verjr-faruth . Those who have been satiated , as we have been , either with the " graphic" or theslipslop style of correspondence , will readily appreciate the quiet gaiety and good sense of the If on-Combatant . One or two instances will show the nature of his view of the war , and the way ho writes about it . " Here is a distinct outline sketch of the battle of Inkerman at two in the day , as seen from the then right Lancaster
battery : — At'thisiime , the aspect of the battle , as Bean , from our position , was as follows Two large bodio * of the allied troops stood ,, or rather lay , close 'before the . 'foremost teats of the Second Division , a little below it lie long low rounded outline of the hill on-which they ore pitched , » nd-which , on Us furthaat side , deadends to the T « h 9 rnaya . Another maaa , occupied a place ( as it seemed to me ) about a hundred yards iuad-TOtucf , , and more . off , to the right , on -the very profile of the hill . Tine whole , of this ground , X should toll you , rises gradually , for two or three . hundred yards ia front of tho tents . Crossing the highest jportion of the outline , was a fourth body of the
Allies . The ground 'than makes a dip for about four hundred yards , when it makes another gradual rise . of the same rounded character , until it reaches an deration somewhat higher than the hill occupied by the French and British troops . 'Here'I ootmted » iac oodles of -the enemy . I suppose the two armies were seven-or eight JhnwSred ymrds apart . All parties 'were pounding away with th « ir artillery , and the wldtl > carried off the smoke , so that * re could , ctaariy a « e the apeotachj . lAJbont three , the ¦¦ Hied troops , gradually advanced , till their foremost park of artWwcy occupied the bottom of the valley between the two hills . In half an hour more , the JRuwians were in toil uftttxmt towarda SabAStopeL I . eould Me them in their long grey coats marchiag & att jiff with their arms shouldered , and in good order .
Staring this very scene , now and then visited by shot and shall , the Non-Cntttbatant atood smoking ha cigar . An officer present needed alight , and i » mniffl ? o «* 43 ombatanvs cigar for that purpose , ' * ' expressed on artutio ragrat | oa * he should spoil so beautiful an ash ! " With what fragile links ate'the habits of war / and peace united . On that same day our good , lawyer had «« UujA oop from 'Bawdava to the scene of that tremendous battle . Fata and ^« arat « in * ound < ed by the dead and wounded , feeling keenly the ioopngnuty < of tucpaiition , he yet could not refbain from asking for some xwiiott'bifmiitt ; ' « -: _^ F ? ' know ; not whsthw Non- "Combatant is a poet . But while we are pnimtg kio oMidoar mn & n & xvtU , we do ftel some doubts about the accuracy
wmsmsmm the 16 th of October : — , . O ' er agamst the leaguered oity , countless tents are gleaining w ^ ite— SilTntfsave where , crowding gaUy , England ' s sailors rouse the night With jest and laugh and chorus'd song , By flickering camp- &» s stretched along . On our muskets sadly leaning , list we to our comrades' mirth , ATeach hearty shout reminds us of the Xand that gave uar birth : So ere a felon cl ime could smite Us down—so leapt our pulses light ! Ah I ' tis long since Cheer and Bevel from our pest-worn lines have shrunk : Yet a thought of comfort stirs us , musing on the thousands sunk Beneath a foe that mocks our ken—To-morrow we shall fight with men ! ' Welcome steel-the onset welcome , fiery shell and glancing glaive—So we perish not like lepers—so we ' scape the lazar-grave , Hteaped up in hurried stealth and gloom , Without a stone to ma * k our doom ! 1 Hastes the Hour , for which we ' ve laboured , nightly ' neath our starry pall , Digging close the circling trenches , piling firm the gabion wall , While ever on the" thund ' ring town Our sheeted camp looked stilly down . Not an answeringsnothas sounded ; hoarded vengeance wai ± s--tiU morn 1 So theserpent'sTrey , imprisoned , strikes with frantic ioof and horn , While , coiled in many a giant ring , Me nor speeds , nor stays , his spring . Foes ! whom , hating not , we hold as victims to a despot ' s pndet Nobler victims to his madness , conquering , crimsoned Almas tide—Along the gory . patb . they trod , Bear # e the tyrant ' s name to God . We have been pretty familiar in . imagination with the position _ and thoughts of our army on those Crimean heights ; but we partfcom ^ the Non-ComLtant with asense that he has added somewhat to the ^ ater ^ ^ outo which our mind ' s eye model of the camp is composed ; and that the aid he has rendered is in-the feeling what it was like in October , 18 j 4 » . ...
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The Bey. Geobge Gilpillan. - A Third Gou...
THE BEy . GEOBGE GILPILLAN . - A Third GoUery of Portraits . By George Gilfillan . Edinburgh : Hogg
This is one of the most amusing books we have read for some time . It as also one of the best practical jokes on record . These peculiar manifestations of fun have generally been detestable , for the simple reason that thenpoint consisted in the pain they inflicted on the johee . But in this particular case Mr . Gilfillan has kindly thrown aside a bad precedent ^ and made the point of his practical joke to consist in the pleasurable surprise it gives the title of Portrmts anO .
to the public joked upon . You read , Gallery ^ en the sub-titles , " A File of French ' ' Revolutionists , " "A Constellation of Sacred Authors , " « A Cluster of New Poets , " " Modern Critics , " " Miscellaneous Sketches , " you groan in the spirit and exclaim : " Unhappy critic that I ami Here is a pleasant beginning of 1855 . ! Here have I to wade through a critical examination of some forty authors from the classics of twenty centuries to the mushrooms of yesterday . Admiration I felt when » . 4 > oy-X-anust-once more Jeel Lobje . qtLQns ^ JLfellJfoid ^ f when a child I must ajrain tumble over : passages that I have heard so often that I ani
beginning to forget them , I must again encounter ; and where ! assent to Gilfillan , must invent a new form of expressing my Yea ; and where I dissent , re-examine my Iong-clo 3 ed conclusions , and , if valid , strive to , give a piquant . Nay . Would that life were without duties , that I might not read this book ! " And so with a sigh one turns towards it , —and lo ! we have not reached the bottom of the first page of the preface before we are roaring with laughter , and though the joke does get a little tedious from its sameness , we still laugh through the whole five hundred pages , and instead of closing the book with a pain in the head , we finish with a " stitch" in the side . Talk of the fun of Boxing-night , we venture to affirm that to a mind capable of feeling the deeply and fundamentally ludicrous , there is more fun to be Sot out of this one volume than out of all the Pantomimes , Extravaganzas , . urlesques , and Farces of the season . The only thing we regret is , that Mr . Gilfillan should not have done in a more direct form what he has so
admirably accomplished , indirectly . Why not devotp his abilities to the writing of Burlesques , a rdlefov which nature has so copiously endowed Ihim ? A greater than Planche" is here . Why then be pontont with tho small audience of the reading public , whon he might gain so easily the plmidiijs of that fine aggregate of individualities , a BritishPit ? But if— -as aiprosaic friend has just suggested— -Mr . Gilfillan is not awaro of his own joke , and really intends this balderdash as a serious contribution to the literature of the day , then it is our . unpleasant duty materially to change our tone , and in the name of nineteenth century manners and culture to protest . ^ The tone Mr . Gilfillan adopts towards distinguish men whose-views on religious matters do not coincide with his own , is so very acrid and abusive , oi motive is jjruiaiug
us wxjusb suspicions some personal , wnen nc u mau ¦^ and , ho can praise as loudly and as dangerously to rqputaiiortkAs he can abuse "MpfMskmntely and advantageously to reputation—ho genially takes care , if they be coatampoedt-ios , to ; Let you know ihofche has seejn them— - been praised by them . But when he is abusing a contemporary , he never lets fall the slightest hint that ho ever even saw him . The Jauguage ho applies to Thomas , Cnrryle , George Combe , Robert Chambers , -jBmerson , Aytoun , Maccall , Holyoake , and others , is of that peculiar character > to which there is only one reply , if any is made—the horsewhip . And yet we have read a paper of Mr . Gilfillan ' s in which ho recounts minutely a visit to Carlyle , in gjowinff appreciation of that great mom , breaking all the courtesies of civilised life in-his details of privacy ; and now OarJyle is " ailayed wild
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 6, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06011855/page/18/
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