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Leader (1850-1860), 7th April 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, * Mu IJfa and Adventure*. An Autobiograp...

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      | ¦ Nobth. A¥Kica.* . Tnrencfl " Coloniz...

      Their relations with the Arabs are of the dreamiest ^ ^^ sides The latter expect a day ¦ of deliverance , aiid patiently , await ¦ ¦ , ? he hour and theMessiab , or Moule Saa Mr , Cooke d ^ cn bes the . Arab to a gentleman , according t ^ the Semitl % ^ ^ seman race ami Ms religion , but bating labour _ a BPP ^«» W L lTevin-ha a nronrietor of wives , a lover of arms and powder ; and L ) -Me \ m m tt ? Sof the French , but still sheeting the-inottvp of thexr solicitude to have them vaccinated and weUgoverne d All piai . e of this' kind , however , belongs to the military ^ r ^ fi ^ tl civil administration is corrnpti , and Iho new- ^ yed j » tow <«« i * who should be most cared ibr is fleeced ? / * ™^* l b ^ t e manoeuvres of the officials . All this certainly appeals to make profitable colonization impossible . . ¦ , ... , in ^ 4 . aA tn There are some chapters in this book winch are devoted to Morocco . These are very interesting . The description of an expedition through the Algerine Sahara , and the painful march of fcXtwo hours " amid the perils of the desert and the prevalence of the Sirocco , is one of the most powerfu . pieces of writing we aye recentlv met . Here , indeed , is truth which is stranger than fiction , and more than one episode which would well adorn an epic . _ Hie reader will be repaid by the perusal of this volume , which is a timely contribution to the information that is needed equally by those ol France and England , who take suwi . itei'dst in colonization . And the Government of " the former conn ^ will do wisely to stud ^ seriously our shortcomings in India , that it may avoid our errors Sfta escape the evils which otherwise it will have to encounter . At present , it : is manifestly deficient both in : practice and theory-:

      April 7,1860.] The Leader And Saturday A...

      April 7 , 1860 . ] The Leader and Saturday AnalysL 329

      Becext " Tales ' .* :. Rnhkhk Is No Acco...

      BECEXT " TALES ' . * :. rnHKHK is no accounting for the perversities of . . talent . -My - * - Life and Adventures , by Kinahan . Cor-mvallis , is one of those . productions which demands ' fit the hands of the critic an equal amount of praise arid Censure . The first volume is . . entirely taken up with Uie travels of Sackville Saint Lawrence round different and remote purts of the globe . Indeed , we were at first at a loss whether to-consider tltfa " work in the light of a novel , of merely as the- recordof a gentleman ' s adventures lit Asia , Africa , and Amovica VVe have , however , come to the conclusion that it deserves to be re-~ . garded us combining the properties of both tb # . above classes ot literature :. and as such we shall endeavour to give the reader a slight analvsis of its contents . ' , ¦ ; The first of our hero ' s disasters takes place , on the thirtieth day ot his vova < re to tlie distant , coast of Africa , when he . is suddenly alarmed by the cry of fire on board . . Thereupon ensues a terrible , * and vivid description of a burning shipi and a thrilling recital oft he ' heart-roiiding . agony and helpless wailings of its luckless crew . _ Ihe author's power of language in thus depicting the most imminent and lHM'ilous situations ' . is perfectly irresistible , and has the elieot ot conveying the whole scene ,. with / fearful distinctness , home to the imagination of the reader . We are iieyt borne onward' uhthe track ofSMekrille ' s wanderings to Table Kay , Brazil , Manilla , Singapore , | and Grand Cairo . Tlie first volume closes with the-hero s . arnva l in . Kcw York , his ruminations on visiting one of those citing reproaclies . to humanity—an American slave sale—and iinully his 111- j trodnction to his future partner , Arabella Pickersgill . . A \ c could j liavo wished that tho author had here concluded tho narrative-01 his . * ' hero ' s : i ' . iventures , or that he had fullowcd up in the sucond volume tlie-courso he had so successfully marked out for himself m the first , and abandoned all attempt at converting whiit would else havo been an -nJinirablb book of travels into nil iiulillbrGnt > york , of Mioii . Judging , | rom tlie present specimen , Mr . Cornwalhs s talent does not lie in producing and arranging with con . siwtene . y ami efloct tde ' tnutovinls necessary for avf ejUqrtaiiiing stury . Alter tho introduction of Miss Pickersgill lie goes on in a rambling sort of way ( o tell Of \\ ifl hor-o ' s marriage and return to England , Hack villo M , l ^ wrenco i ? uli » biniHclC into difiicultics , is arrested . fur debt , and thrown into tl » o Queen ' s Bunch , from which ho ultimately escapes in . a boerba ' rrul ; and , in a considerably short sjiuco of time , hnrta Ininselt sniiglv doposited out of hurni'H way in ^ steamer bound lor JNew Yorh—bifii wife having procotled him soni ' o tinio before , n ^ irdor to look ttltL-r eomo properjy reverting to hor upon the death ol hoi : uncle . And now the author determines to pile up tho agony with a vongojuice ; JIo is not contented that things whould take their natural course , that his huro being onco enabled not only to satisfy his creditor , but to load an , independent ufo lor the future , should subside , together with his accomplished partner , into a useful and respectable member of society , but ho must suadenly—in the very face of probability , and contrary to , . tho portrait ho hna himself drawn of the iliir Arabella ' s , moral character—convert au ainiublo and loving woman into a veritable fiend of remorselossness and conjugal infltlolity ; whilo her ruthless parauiour , only too surely diecovored in tho act . of criminality , is deliberately nrgu at bv tho inconsed husband , and 1 ' alln dead ' upon tho Hpot . ' '• This is farryiiiff inattora n Httlo beyond the U 5 mitb of reasonable forbouranco . Some preparation is necessary , iu order to bring tho reader to n state of mind in winch ho can be oxpootod to npprocmto such a molodramiitio denouement ; otherwiao , being entirely ortt ot proportion with the rest of tho . ntory , it improHHOm us with much tho . same fuoling- wo should experience on beholding an . extravagantly

      I large head on the shoulders of an individual of otherwise dwarf-I like dimensions , namely , an uncontrollable sense of the ridiculous . ! Towards the middle of the last volume a story is introduced , supposed to be the production of Sackville St . Lawrence , aft ^ r his unmerited sufferings . Here , also , the author delights in faithless . I wives , deserted husbands , and sudden elopements . This tale is so : far inferior to the preceding one , that there is not in it the slightest attempt at cohstruction of plot or developi » ient of character . All the incidents and personages are huddled pell-mell upon the scene , There is such a complication of brothers and brothers-in-law , sisters and sisters-in-law , some stationed in England , some in Ameriea , all bearing different names , and consequently many unacquainted with the relationship existing between them , that we are led into a perfect labyrinth of doubt and perplexity , from which we do not clearly emerge , even at the termination of tlie story . Thus , though the first volume of My Life and Adventures , for the vigour and brilliancy of its descriptions , carrying along with them an equal amount of instruction and amusement , is deserving of unqualified praise , the second , on account of the incongruity of its treatment , a ' lmost nullifies the good impression of the former . Looe at First SigM , a . nti . several other tales ,, by Captain Uirlirtg , are deserving of considerable attention . The first , the scene of which is laid in the time of William the Fourlh , is especially noteworthy . Though written in a quiet , unpretending- manner , lMully ^ su cceeds in what we consider to be the in-iniary element of fictitious writings , namely , engrossing the interest of the reader . All the characters-are well drawn , without any attempt at . exaggeration ; and the general style is piquant and pleasing . A slight sketch ot the story is as follows -. — A youn ^ lady of high family , hut reduced circumstnuc . es , Gertrude Curbspiue , whose life has luthorto been passed in an old niiuision . situated in a remote part of Kont , the residence of her ancestors from time immemorial , becomes suddenly , on account of her ¦¦ ' uncommon attractions , the object of miicli contention and rivalry between certain gentlemen her adtiiirers . One suitor in particular , the Earl of Warkworth , ¦ who catches a glimpse of the country belle during a salcof part of the . Curbspme . Sropei'tv , which takes , " pliice in London ( to which ^ proceeding the . family are compelled from the W state of their . finances ) determines to woo the lady under the-gviise of ii woodman , and thus seeiire himself from bribing , her iifiections with the lustre of a coronet . In this character he twice rescues Ins fair enchantress from imminent danger , raid is at , Lust accepted as her ,. future husband After a little more masquerading , and considerable tusting of the unconscious maiden's disinterested attachment , the sointnyhat - whimsical scion of nobility acknowledges hinis « lf , and the whole comes to an agreeable and satisfactory termination . . . ' It may easily be perceived from" the above , that there are few or no original incidents introduced into this stfrry ; but the hiulUessness of its construction and general u . HUiimity of its details cannot fail to convey to the mind of the reader an . iinprossionfavourab e to the author . " The latter two tares , - 'Julia Djlacour , ' an'l thu buck ot Oldborougli- House , " wliicli , to-other with the one above menti-med . comprise 'fbis volume , will also be found to convey considerable amusement mid . uvvKih ku . < -vled-o of human nature . ; they are both written in a spirited , soldior-lilcG inaiin < iiV and t | ie mcidcn < . s are all well anuingod , and kept within the limits ot probability , which latter quality / though . ¦ al wnys- aiiknowledgod ti > be a necessity , has somehow . -becomo a special rarity in tlu works ot . modorn tnle-writevs . * . ¦ ¦ .

      * Mu Ijfa And Adventure*. An Autobiograp...

      * Mu IJfa and Adventure * . An Autobiography , By tho Author of " Now El Porado , " & o . Two vols . Arthur Hull , Virtue , and Co . Zovo at Wtr & L $ lffht ,. a . nd Storhs of tho Bdrraak nnl Butllo ' JTfahl . By Captnln Hknivt Ouivunq . Ward iuhI I . yoko .

      The Plunges. - .Op .Wa.L1w.* ' " Rphe By...

      THE PLUNGES . - . OP . WA . L 1 W . * ' " rPHE by wars of history are not less instructive thnn ihti highways , X though " the inforniation thoy present bo more n'inute in its character Small thing * are not necessarily less valuable than large ones , and , indeed , are sometimes of much greater worth . We must not prizo mutters according to Iheir bulk . Accordingly , m , those bvmiths , it is possiblo to catch hints which are reniarkably «> £ »» - fi eant , and which throw many nu illustration on tho puwal current of history that aerv . es to make dear what would otherwise bo obscure Dr . JDovaii hits already dealt with , hmtory m this fashion in his Lives of ( ha Mtnovcrian Qucom ofJ < , n < jlninL , and pursues the sumo plan in a ntiw work , in which ho separates tie princes of Wales from thy Tories of their time , and exp inns tho Litter , not by tho broader facts of history , but by tho smaller mo dents whi « h ' bolol the former . Tho first prince of Wales was tho son o ( Edward I ., on whom Gray wrote , his groat l > iudarie ode , in which the maledictory bard foretells his terrible destiny : " Mark tho your and mark the night , AV'hon Sevorn filmll re-eoho witli u « np ; ht , ,.: „ ,-The shrinks of doitth through Berkeley ' a roof that ling , Shrieks of an agonwirig kins !" A'Kj- m ^ lkt ? WS « : . sr t ^ 5 ^ -s ttst . country , of blameless life , and free from prcjudiooH . ' Whoroloio , tho ^ rs !^^ r & s ^^ ± sJ ! i ^ ' their allegiance to him according to promise . . ' XtAtuA ' hv Dr Dtn-an nroaoadtf to -utato that " i \ l ocal tradition , ¦ piokud up by Priico PuSdS MuX ., HtutoH , Uiat when Edward , with the . « i / anfc

      * The Ihoh <>R Tho J'Rincw Qf Tl'aloo, J...

      * The ihoh <> r tho J ' rincw qf tl'aloo , J £ cir « iv tho Crown H f /*«//(«/«« - W I > . tfouAH , F . a . A . Klohnrd Buntloy . v ' ' . ¦ . ¦¦ f

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1860, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07041860/page/13/