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December 6,1856.] THE LB1DE1. 1165
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PALMERSTON IN PANOPLY. When Lord Palmebs...
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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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. , An English ' Intellioli:'- A Peep In...
well , doubbless to please " Susr ; ' perhaps bestowed in those moments of affection for the brothers of their sweethearts , which come to all young men of twenty-five . Old Fahebeotheb at first liked the match , and was glad to see Susy Cbippen" visiting at his house as his son ' s betrothed . He also talked liberally of setting up his son in business . Some hitch occurred , however , in his " wax , oil , and sperm works , " and Geoege , the brother of the young lady , was turned out of his situation . Now little Sue was a pet and a
beauty and seventeen ; perhaps poor George was her favourite brother ; and so she wrote a sharp letter to her lover , upbraiding him for allowing Geobge to be dismissed ; she says , she holds him ( her lover !) answerable for GrEOE . aE ' s salary ; she also alludes to the " regular split" in the Faeebrotheb family and firm intimated by her lover , and takes him to task rather sharply for his ridiculous and thoughtless ' ¦ " proceedings , in thinking of dissolving . ' the partnership with his father . " The Glofte says , naturally enough :-
—This is altogether a new view of crosses in love . We can well imagine that Roieo would have inade a very indifferent man of business , especially if he had been placed "by the paternal Moxtague at the head of ¦ wa x , oil , and sperm works in Verona ; but how astonished would Romeo have been if Julikt had pointed out to him the thoughtless character of his commercial proceedings ;—if she had represented the peculiar injury done to TybAlt and had told her lover that lie would be answerable for Tybalt ' s income until he could get a situation .
Some more angry letters succeed . Susan writes finally to know whether the correspondence is to cease , but the tone of the letter betrays the little girl not quite unwilling to " kiss and be friends . " She says that a dear understanding is not only her own wish , " which is considered nothing by you , " but mamma's particular desire , and , still familiar ,
writes , " Jk-hoda" ( her sister ) " will call for your answer in the afternoon ¦— which is considered nothing by you ! " Has not Susan in her drawers piles of letters dated Ci Wax , Sperm , and Oil Works , Stockwell , " commencing . « My own darling pet , " and ending "Believe me ever , my own darling pet , your truly , loving , attached , and affectionate Frank . " And now was " Jier wish"
nothiiioto liim ? Did she not hope " for a , refuting reply ? But the answer came : " Mr . Fhank : B . Fauebrother agrees with Bliss Cuippen in thinking that all further correspondence bad better cease , agreeably to her note of yesterday" This looks rather crafty and insincere , for it is easy to see what Susan meant by asking for an explanation . Then follows another rather ungenerous act on the
part of Fuank , the ardent lover who did " protest too much . " He sends a cart—the " oil and sperm" cart , we suppose—to bear to his " precious pet" all the souvenirs she had given him ( what an array of lockets , portraits , slippers , watch guards , books , and bookmarkers !) , but with a coolness that must have come home to his business and bosom , he directs the carrier not to surrender Susy ' s
love-gifts until his own manifold presentsof which an inventory is forwarded— -are delivered tip . So the earner stands inexorable in the C hipp ed family hall 5 the cart ia waiting , and Susan is sobbing her little heart out on . the bed in her own room , the letters to be returned lying scattered on the eountorpaue . So ends act the fourth , and let 11 s not calL Abiadnk before the curtain . Act the fifth ends with the terrible retribution on Fbank—four hundred pounds damages aud coats f
The only defect in this stovy is that neither the hero nor the heroine are faultless eQough . We wish wo could make out Susan a complete little treasure . Wo have a liking for her ; sho is spirited and clever , and we should not be surprised if she had
black piercing eyes and a pretty foot . But she is a little too exigednte on behalf of " Geobge . " Why insist on Fkane : continuing to pay George his salary ? The most submissive lover would scarcely like that subsidy of a brother , however convenient he might be in facilitating interviews , acting as third party , or borrowing cigars . Then ,
vhy should Susaist throw " oil , wax , and sperm" allusions on the troubled waters , instead of keeping her nice breath free from such associations ? Also , why , after " all " ler lover ' s letters are returned , are " twenty " retained , " accidentally overlooked ? " And , above all , why did she consult an attorney ? But we have not the heart to find more
fault : -sve only think of the young pretty one sobbing on the bed as she see 3 her lover ' s letters going aAvay . On the side of the young lover there are also many faults besides the intensity of nonsense in the letters . If he had any sense of kindness left for his " darling little Sue , " why did he send a " list" of the presents lie required back ? and why did he confide such a mission to a common carrier ? Forgetting this , however , there are some excuses for him which -we must emphasise , not for the sake of this young gentleman , but for worthier
men 111 the same position . He becomes embarrassed ; some " tow" arises about " G-eobge ; " there is besides a talk of dissolution of partnership . He writes a most loving letter to Susan , telling lier " all about it , " and showing in no one point an anxiety to make the embarrassment an excuse for
breaking off his engagement . Iu reply , Susan writes the letter we have already referred to , reproaching him for allowing George to be dismissed , and sneering at his father , adding , "I think you must be as mad as he is , " following up , however , with true womanly tact , "it has quite upset me and made ine wretched . " Thank sends no
answer ; and then Susan indignantly asks "Mr . jFAEEBitoTKEK , " whether the correspondence is to cease . Frank ends it ' agreeably to her letter . " ]\ , Mr . Fkank is evidently not a chevalier sans reproclie , but we must candidly say that ninny an honourable man might ( up to tliafc unfortunate reclaiming of the gifts ) have
behaved exactly as he was obliged to do . He found himself suddenly embarrassed , and instead of sympathy he meets -with sharpness from the Susan of his heart . Perhaps it made him sour and ill-mannered ; but some justification for his hesitancy as to wedlock lies in the fact that he ia now dependent on his father , and owes him over 2000 Z .
AVe have no sympathy with young men who make a sport of ' engaging' young women , and then leaving them with all the unpleasant social associations of desertion . We . should like to see such men punished . But we do not like to see a young lady paid for her sobs ; we do not like to seo a doctor come into the witness-box to describe physical depression , that the jury may rate the solatium higher . We consider ifc demoralizing to the whole community to see lovers' letters—( glowing enough , perhaps , with all their trash ,
to be pressed to red lips reading them over , though very dead in . public type )—published far and wide , to be laughed at by those who laugh at everything said or done in earnest or in hot truth . Punish the man if you will , but do not ' reward' young ladies for having succeeded iu alienating a lover . No one can tell the hundred ways in which loyers may legitimately quarrel and find out their mutual unfitness . A man , perhaps , should bo made to pay for the privilege of changing his intention—but in cases , and thoy are many , wliero there are faults on both sides , why is it that wo cannot punish the man appropriately
without proportionately rewarding the woman , who may Lave , by one open way , aa we see m this case , or by a hundred secret means , only known to her lover , given him good cause to break off the match P
December 6,1856.] The Lb1de1. 1165
December 6 , 1856 . ] THE LB 1 DE 1 . 1165
Palmerston In Panoply. When Lord Palmebs...
PALMERSTON IN PANOPLY . When Lord Palmebstoit quits office he will leave behind him . some permanent traces of his administrative reign . The war establishments of the country have been organized upon a scale which would have astonished our foreign visitors in 1851 . At several points of the coast new fortifications have been constructed ; the barrack accommodation throughout the United Kingdom has been enlarged ; and , more especially , the capacities of the great central arsenal at Woolwich have been doubled . The works in progress at this single spot demonstrate the resolution of the Government never to allow us to be surprised again , in the midst of peace , without the machinery essential for the conduct of War . To indicate the improvements at Woolwich alone;—to the old enclosure , containing about a hundred and thirty acres of ground , a hundred and fourteen acres have been added from the marshes , the circuit of the new wall being nearly two
miles . A new shell-factory , a new gunfoundry , and a new boring-mill , of vast proportions , have been erected , together with fresh depots for military stores and clothing , gasworks for the supply of the arsenal , magazines , and a Tocket-factory , in which the rockets are to be filled , in future , by hydraulic pressure . The old practice , by which the composition was hammered in with mallets , was at once costly and dangerous to human life .
INTo one can > visit Woolwieh Arsenal without perceiving Lord Paxmeeston's administration has been actively engaged in organizing a machinery by which , at any time , an adequate supply of the materials of warfare-may be obtained from our home establishments . The deficiency of such supplies , at the commencement of the Russian war , was undeniable . What , indeed , could be expected from a country in which , as Lord Hardingjq declared , there were , five years ago , not more
than fifty pieces of-field artillery , and those mostly of the date of Waterloo- The new ordnance of heavy calibre at Woolwich may be now counted by hundreds upon hundreds . The greatest work undertaken by the Government , however , in connexion with our military establishments , is the Victoria Military Hospital at Netley , on Southampton Water . This vast pile , the designs of which were prepared by Mr . Mennie , the able surveyor of the ISngineers' Department ,
Pallmall , is intended to contain a thousand inmates- —five hundred surgical and five hundred medical cases . It has been planned with a view to meet every possible want of the sick or -wounded soldier , the disabled patients being even lifted from floor to floor by steam machinery . There will be accommodation for military men of all classes , as it is very properly anticipated that officers may from time
to time arrive at Southampton so disabled by their wounds , or by the effects of unhealthy climates , that they must be placed ab once under the most scientific aud assiduous treatment . Those who recollect the reproach we incurred through the deficiency of hospital accommodation during the llusaian war will appreciate the importance of the great edifice at Netley .
The various works authorized by Lord Palme it st on for the improvement of our material military organization , are creditable to his energy . There is , undoubtedly , » great deal of English vigour and sagacity in his constitution .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 6, 1856, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06121856/page/13/
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