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1076 THE LEADER. [Satxtrpat,
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TWO NOVELS. Arvon; or, the Trials. A Leg...
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The stories contained in Matrimonial Spe...
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POST-OFFICE LONDON DIRECTORY FOR 1855 (K...
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TOLUNTARYISM IK ENGLAND ANI> WALES. Volu...
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. Truth's Conflicts an...
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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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American Impressions Of Europe. Haps And...
I am a good deal interested and amused by the professional models who u most do congregate" on the great flight of steps leading up to the Trinita di Monti from the Piazza di-Spagna . There are often to be seen picturesque and varied groups , and single figures of striking character . Handsome peasant women , with charming brown babies—wild , long-haired boys from the mountains—raven-bearded young men and snowy-headed old men—and coquettish young girls , with flashing eyes and dashing costumes . There is one grand-looking old man , with a bounteous white beard , who is 8 aid to do a great business in the saintly and patriarchal line . He is a multitudinous Mosea , an inexhaustible St . Joseph , and the pictorial stock Peter of many seasons . There is also a powerful , handsome , dark , and terrible-looking fellow , who does the brigand and bravo .
These various candidates for artistic favour seem to have the most social and agreeable relations with each other—indeed , I have remarked the patriarch chatting and laughing with the brigand in a familiar manner , scarcely in keeping with his own venerable character . 33 ut , let an artist or two ascend the steps , and , presto ! the darkeyed young girls cease their idle gossip , and spring into position—look archly or mournfully over the left shoulder , or with clasped hands modestly contemplate the pavement - the pretty peasant woman snatches up the bab y she had left to creep about at its own sweet will , and bends over it tender and Madonna-like , while , at a ¦ word from her , a skin-clad little shepherd boy drops his game of pitch penny , and
takes up his role of St . John . Perhaps a dark , dignified , but somewhat rheumatic old woman , with her head wrapped up in a brown cloth , makes a modest venture of herself as St . Anna , - while the fine old man I have described makes the most of the comparatively unimportant character of St . Joseph , or , separating himself entirely from the group , looks authoritative as Moses , or inspired as Isaiah , or resolute as Peter . The handsome bravo or brigand gives a fiercer twist to his moustache , slouches his pointed black hat , appears to be concealing a dagger under bus brown cloak , or on the point of drawing an imaginary pistol from his belt , sets his teeth , scowls , and cultivates the diabolical generally in attitude and expression . It is altogether a very amusing and skilful piece of canvassing .
The authoress administers a very just reproof in the passage we are about to quote . Howpver it may humble our national pride to receive lessons on good breeding from Our younger sister , America , it cannot be denied that in this particular—the treatment of ¦ w omen ( no slight criterion of civilisation , by-the- by)—we are much , inferior . The remark applies equally to " the politest nation in the world , " our opposite neighbour . Women in France and England are dependent on the courtesy of individuals for the consideration which in America is secured to them" by public opinion . lor can we take refuge in the belief that the difference does not extend to essentials : in America , wife-beating is not an institution . The Coverit Garden Opera House is a grand sight of itself , and the getting up of this opera surpassed all I had ever beheld in scenic splendour . The audience was large—brilliant , in spite of the season : —apparently appreciative , and certainly enthusiastic . But it is my unpleasant duty to record that on tins night I saw a most
striking evidence of the-want of gallantry in English gentlemen . In the pit , more tickets had been sold , than there were seats to answer ; and I saw fair * delicate young ladies , and feeble-looking , elderly ladies , stand during the entire performance , more than four hours , wlile around them on every side sat vigorous-looking young men , and burly , middle-aged gentlemen , apparently without once thinking of offering to the half-fainting women , even for a little time , the seats which in many cases they had secured by superior force and astounding rudeness , in rushing before and crowding back the " weaker vessels , " whose maiden modesty and feminine independence they sentimentalise about and take advantage of . I could not pay too high a tribute to the English gentlemen I have met in society for their kindly courtesy and dignified politeness ; but I must say that no roughest boors , I had almost said bears , can surpass in rude selfishness and cool incivility the promiscuous Britons in omnibuses and
steamers , the general John Bull of public assemblies . My own countrymen , Low inexpressibly proud . I feel of them for the generous kindness , the chivalric gallantry , which everywhere mark tlicLr manner towards woman , in whatever guise or character she appeals to them . How gratefully and mournfully I think of them when I am elbowed and thrust hither and thither in crowded passages to places of amusement , or when I am sent pitching- headlong to the farthest end of an omnibus—for here the gentlemen move towards , % tot from , the door , when a lady gets into that commodious vehicle . O young and gallant republican , let it still be your pride to sustain this honourable distinction of the American gentleman—a chivalric consideration for woman ; yet bo grateful , not boastful ; for , as the old Turk said to his son , while pointing to the Franks , " But for the special grace of God , you might have becu as one of these . "
We conclude with a very life-like picture of the illumination of St . Peter ' s : — In the afternoon there came on a terrific rain-storm ; but it slackened up towards evening , so that wo drove over to St . Peter ' s in some slight expectation of seeing the illumination . The piazza was very dark and dismal , but there was evidently some preparation for lighting up . The ruin ceased , and for nearly an hour the heavens wore cloar , and the stars came out , as though curious to see what sort of a glare and spurt of light would bo brought out in rivalry of their serene and otornal brightness . But gradually there came up , just behind St . Peter's , a heavy black cloud , which for a time only threatened to give grander effect to the illumination , but which rose and rose , and spread and spread , till it covered the whole heavens , and curtained off" the Btara for the niglvt . Suddenly , with ono common consent , that great expectant crowd broko up in disappointment , and scattered in haste , but not in time to oscupo the storm borne heavily in the bosom of that cloud , which came down in thick sheets , in actual
strata of rain . Monday was also unpropitious ; but on Tuesday night the noble diaplay camo off under the most favourable circumstances . "We wore on tlio ground at an early hour , and watched , almost from tho beginning , the curioun process of lighting up . At first , we could distinctly see tho workmen flwarniuig ovor tho vast edifice , Jot down by ropes from lofty cornicoH , wwinging and running like spiders nliout tho moat pwiloun places . Rut as tho twilight deepened we lost Hight of tho agents , and all seemed to go on by nmgio . Tlio lights , which wore tupejB in small paper limtornn , climbed tho pillars , stole in and out of tho ticulpturoa of tho capitals , arched ovor the Windows , ran along tho cornices , wcalud the dome , mounted to tho murunit , and sprang out on to tho arms of tho oro «» . At hint It neovuod to ntaudL complete—every lino , and angle , and curvo of that wondor of architecture Hocmcd to live out In light . Uut the eight , though bonutiful , wan not # rand nor dazzlingly brilliant . Tho building actually looked smaller than u . iiuil ; tho innumerable tapcra nliono softly , and twiinklod liko start ) . It wiw / is though tlio ohurch had boon rained upon by a meteoric Bhower or though tho milky way had wound itaolf about , it from aummit to baao .
13 ut at tho second illumination , fiiHtnntuncoiitily , universally , tho v « nfc building and tho long colonnndou lonpod from that uoft-Hlmdud life luto living tiuino . It aiiomod that tho sacrod flro hud descondod 14 ) 011 tho ciohd , which first bhwud forth , or thai , it had boon lit by lightning . ( Ircnt , glorious light * burst out of tho ( lurknoiw in u thousand unauapoctod places . Homo pointing tttuadily towards licavon , homiu streaming like
red banners on the winds of night . They swung between the pillars of the colonnades , they throbbed among distant shadows , they flashed on near columns and cornices , they made the dome look like a globe on fire ! There was something so marvellously beautiful , so almost incredible , in the Right , that I was quite overwhelmed and bewildered , half questioning if it was not some splendid illusion of the senses , some gigantic fairy phantom , some wondrous unreality . It was a singular thing , that the further we went from St . Peter ' s , after this the larger it appeared , till it seemed to have grown into a great mountain of light . Seen from the Pincio , it was grand and beautiful beyond all imagination . We remained on this height till very late , and left reluctantly at last , thinking , with real sadness , that those glorious lights would burn away into the morning , and we never see them more .
1076 The Leader. [Satxtrpat,
1076 THE LEADER . [ Satxtrpat ,
Two Novels. Arvon; Or, The Trials. A Leg...
TWO NOVELS . Arvon ; or , the Trials . A Legend . By C . Mitchell Charles . Author of " Hamon and Catar , " " Claverston , " & c . i Koutledge . Matrimonial Speculations . By Mrs . Moodie . Author of " Roughing it in the Bush , " & c Bentley * Arvon is well written as to style , and with a certain power of description ; but it does not belong to the higher class of historical novel - The story has an ancient dress ; that is to say , its scene is laid in Brittany in the fourteenth century . It is full of incident and adventure , of plot and counterplot , of murder and revenge , of imprisonments and escapes , and such like " properties" of the historical romance , as any reader could desire . There is a murderer and his victim , there are three mysterious individuals , of a class which , modern society would
denominate " foundlings , " who of course turn out to be the sons of the murderer and of his victim . Two of them at least are in love with the heroine , the murderer ' s niece . The murderer first attempts to disgrace his unknown son , and finally quarrels with and kills him , after which the two sons of the victim are restored to nanae and honour . The incidents , it will be seen , belong to troublous times ; and yet , though the story -wears an antique dress , there is none of the spirit of the fourteenth century about it . Even the obvious materials of interest are disregarded by the author . Jane de Montfort is quite a secondary personage in the drama ; and , though the scene is laid in Brittany , there is no . thing beyond the names to remind us of this—not an attempt to realise the social and intellectual condition , in that remote period * of the province which above all others had retained , ev « n down to modern times , its peculiar and traditionary characteristics , so original , deeply marked , and picturesqTie .
The Stories Contained In Matrimonial Spe...
The stories contained in Matrimonial Speculations are supposed to belong to the nineteenth century ; and yet , could we imagine them to be very true or universal pictures of society , we could hardly consider our civilisation umch superior ia essentials to that of the " dark ages" alluded to above . That there are individuals to whona marriage is but a vulgar speculation , and life itself a tissue of sordid self-interests , is undoubtedly true , but a whole society of such beings as are described in these pages is difficult to imagine ; and if Mrs . Moodie has drawn these American pictures from life , we can only say that vre pity her more sincerely for having passed through such experiences , than for all she underwent while " roughing it iu the bush . "
Post-Office London Directory For 1855 (K...
POST-OFFICE LONDON DIRECTORY FOR 1855 ( KELLY'S ) . The Editor of the Post-Office London Directory—the best Directorysays : — " The present volume is considerably increased in size , as "well owing to the constant increase of th « population in the area previously comprised , and to the fact that as the suburbs are gradually becoming the places of residence of those engaged in business in the metropolis , we find it necessary to continually enlarge the area chronicled in the Directory . "
Toluntaryism Ik England Ani> Wales. Volu...
TOLUNTARYISM IK ENGLAND ANI > WALES . Voluntaryism in JCnglarul and IVales ; or , the Census of 1851 . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . The writer of this book has seized the materials furnished by Mr . Horace Mann ' s admirable volume of the Statistics of Religion in England . The writer , however , goes further than Mr . Mann , whose official position only enabled him to lay down facts , and to show the bearing of those facts , the one upon the other ; whereas the present writer extracts proofs that the Church of England is declining relatively to the increase of the population , and the increase of non-conforming persuasions . The argument is set forth in some eighty octavo pages , and is illustrated by tables ; but it -will be necessary to give this work a more careful examination .
Books On Our Table. Truth's Conflicts An...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Truth ' s Conflicts and Truth ' s Triumphs ; or , tho Seven-headed Serpent Slain : a Series of Essays , with an Allegorical Introduction on Some Chief' Errors of the Day . By Stephen Jonncr , M . A . . Longmans , Brown , Urccn , and Longmans . Now and Tfim , The Lily and the lice . The Intellectual and Moral Development of the Present Age , By Samuel Wurrcn , D . C . L ., l' \ K . S . William Bluckwood and Sons . Little Plays for Little Acton—Puss in Boots ; or , Charity Rewarded , By Miss Corner . ( Illustrated by Harrison Weir . ) }> can « nd Son . Amusinr / Tales , adapted to the Capacities of Children , in which Birds , Beasts , and other Animals , have Somethiru ; to Say . By Miss Corner . ( Tho Illustrations by Alfred Crowquill and Jiirnos Northeoto . ) Dean nnd So " - A Popular Jimposition of the New Stamp Acts ; with spec / ml reference to the Law of Receipts , Drafts , Bills of Exchange , and Promksory Notes . Arthur Hall and Co . The Youwf Child's Lesson Book ) or , What Shall I Ltavn First f By William Cort . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . John Howanl : A Memoir . By Hopwortli Dhcon . Jackson and Wulford . Lectures ore the Epistle to tho Romans , By Thonuw Clmhnors , D . IX , LL . D . ( Vol . 2 . ) Thoinua Constable and Co . Philosophy ( it the Foot of the Cross . By JnmoH Auguntua St . John . Longman , Urown , Green , and Longmans . The Planetary WwUfo : the Topography and 'Meaoupw Appearances if the Sun , Planets , Moon , and Comet * , By . Junusn Br « en . , Hobort Hardwidto . The . Illustrated Hyrcw . i ' arUt 1 an . l 2 . Henry Viswtelly . Tho Land We Live hi ; a Pictorial and Literary Sketch-Booh (\ f the British Islands . Parts . ' William T . Orr and Co . Tho Butterflies qf Great Britain ; with their Transformations . By J . O . Wontwood , F . L . T ., &« . 1 ' urt a . William T . Orr and Co .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 11, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11111854/page/20/
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