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Jmrar ms, 18&6:] ; TTLW LEIP^R^' 595 -
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SHAKSPEARE'S ENGLAND. Shalcspere * Engla...
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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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Ferrier's Caravan Journeys. Caravan Jour...
natr & tiv-e a rare and continuous fascination , enhanced by details of high i value ia a geographical : and historical sense . M . Eerrier describes the - crreat riyeriitelmundj which disappears , in the lake Seistan , the province of Sei stan ; itself , the Turcomans , Beloochees , Uzbeks , and other races of Tartary * for Tartars they are , of the vast nation that spread ^ from the Northern Sea to the Chinese mountains . His sketches are taken in every conceivable
variety ; of situation , in bazaars , coffee-houses ,, camps , caravans winding ov en the desert , walled villages , pastoral hamlets , buths , palaces , prisons , lonely passes , among shepherds , soldiers , and gipsies . Mr . Danby Seymour remarks that ITerrier supplies , the latest account of the countries of Central Asia ; lie might have added , the fullest and the best . M . Ferrier believes that . no country in Asia is inaccessible to a European who-speaks the language fluently , and is acquainted with the customs and relig ion of the inhabitants , and the necessity of respecting them . His success : in- Afghanistan he attributes to his habit of conforming to the manners and-modes of thought of the people ; his failures to the circumstance that no
European had attempted to traverse the Afghan territory since the English disasters at Kabul . As a first precaution , he adopted the Afghan dress , though with the resolution of always avowing himself a European . Tie people of Herat were disposed to be more courteous than M . Ferrier expectedi on desired . Approaching-the capital , he heard that Yar Mohamedr a- prince of sinister reputation , was preparing to receive him in public with extraordinary honours . Several battalions of troops were in readiness at the gate , and a glittering'cavalcade of chieftains were to meet him-as he ¦ drew near to the town . This -was perplexing : — " How could I make a public entrance hanging on one side of a camel , with my servant on the'other , with a solitary baggage camel in the rear ?"
To evade the flattery of an official reception , he hastened his march , and contrived to reach the suburbs before dawn . Waiting for the light among the ruins of a magnificent mosque , he passed in as soon as the gates were open ; but the event was at once proclaimed , and soldiers came running from . all quarters to dignify his arrival . TJien follows a pleasant chapter on life in Herat , displaying a thorough knowledge of Central Asian history , tinged by a not unnatural bias against the methods and results of British Bartern policy . Tiie artists of Damascus , who seem to have been inspired from Italy , were employed by Tamerlane to beautify the old Tartar city of Sainarcand .
Probably , as M . Ferrier suggests , they afterwards , in the service of the munificent Shah Kokh , produced some of the marvellous works still in existence at Herat . He saw a mausoleum in a mortuary cell , dedicated to a Mongol "princess ,- which proved that , at one era ,, art and taste must have flourished , though only as exotics , among the nations of Tartary . A vast block of black marble * finely polished , was covered on three sides with numberless flowers , involved and interlaced in marvellous intricacy , but cut « o deeply , and with such delicate finish , that it seemed impossible to . imagine 'how anything so exquisite and so minute could have been wrought with a chiaeL
At ; Herat M . Ferrier received > the permission of the chief to continue his journey towards : India . He proceeded' among the . mountains , pastures , and and'tent-dwellinj * tribes to Balkh , the original capital of the Persian monarchs , the building of which is ascribed by Orientals to Kaiamur , the first of the Pishdadian line . It was prosperous when Alexander of Macedon marched that way , and though devastated bv Genghiz and by Tiinour , still flourishes , ' the Mother of Cities , ' in the midst of orchards and meadows . Thence onwards , across the Paropamisian range , among the Hazarah Tartars , until he reached the country of the patriarchal Seherais—a tribe of Tartar pagans . Here the hospitality of the desert took a peculiar form , and
as M . Ferrier conformed , on principle , to the usages of men and cities , he g lided without reluctance into the allurements of the court of Timour Beg . That chieftain had somewhat astonished his guest by sending a pretty young slave to welcome him ; but what was M . terrier ' s wonder when , upon requesting permission to retire , he was led to his apartment by a bevy of the Sehorai damsels , who bathed and shampooed him from head to foot , and ceased not to polish his corporeal frame until he prayed for some repose . Among the Eisnak women , who inhabit the . table-lands and slopes of Paropamisus , a more remarkable characteristic was observed . They are Amazons , dreaded by the Afghans as much as the men , and not allowed to marry until they have performed a feat of arms . to Kandahar
Iiv his second journey from Herat , across the steppes , M . Ferrier explored some scarcely known territories , and met with many remarkable adventures . At Mahmoodabad and at Girishk he was thrown into prison , half starved , beaten until the blood burst through his skin , and repeatedly robbed . But no difficulty seemed sufficient to break his spirit ; the hour of his release saw him pushing on for Kandahar . He reached that city , but , compelled to return to Girishk , was once more confined in a tower overlooking the Herat road , and threatened with death by torture . Sometimes he was tied to a post and exposed to a burning hot sun , while a rabble of soldiers shattered him with all varieties of abominations ; then a dagger was held to his throat ; lastly , boiling oil and red-hot irons were prepared ; until two nights and days of misery , without food , drink , or sleep , wore out his resolution , and he gave way to tho most infamous extortion . i have
The provinces of Kandahar and Seistan , described by M . Ferrer , derived a new importance , as Mr . Danby Seymour remarks , from the trade that has sprung up at the Scindo ports , ainee the dethronement of the lalpoor princes . Hitherto their largo ami active populations have been supplied with British manufactures through ltussia , by tho steam traffic of tho Volga , the . Caspian , even the Aral Sea . From Kurrochce , however , a practicable route loads inwards which mig ht bo converted into tho channel of an extensive and profitable commerce . . . . M . Perrier seems to believe in tho possibility of a RuBsian invasion ol India . Without pretending to limit political or military possibilities , we do not-coniiidor that even his minute local knowledge , and his elaborate and intere * ting argument , bear very conclusively on the question . Influence the , Afobins and Persians as they might , trace lines of march through the beat watered , richest , most thickly populated territories , avoid tho crested
I ridges ^ collect boatay . horses , and camels wherever they can be found establish vast dep 6 ts on the Eastern shores of the Caspian , and the ltussian army , whether it-take the route of Balkh , or Kandahar , must march an enormous distance through an ill provided region , environed b y difficulties , and exposed . to innumerable dangers- from the caprice : or treachery / . of the untamed and warlike races of Central Asia .
Jmrar Ms, 18&6:] ; Ttlw Leip^R^' 595 -
Jmrar ms , 18 & 6 : ] ; TTLW LEIP ^ R ^ ' 595 -
Shakspeare's England. Shalcspere * Engla...
SHAKSPEARE'S ENGLAND . Shalcspere * England ; or , Sketches of the Social History in the Rei gn of - Elizabeth By G . W . Thornbury , Author of the " History of the Buccaneers , " & c 2 vols . Longman and CW Mr . Thornbubs- has taken great pains with a . very good subject , and haa produced a pleasant , readable book , where a little-more pains , or perhaps ^ another conception of his task , would have produced a work of permanentinterest : It seems to us that the desire of being popular , rather than of making the most thorough use of his materials , has caused him to be
sketchy and fragmentary where only full pictures could have had much worth . He seems fearful of being dull for a single page . He never is dull , but he sometimes becomes fatiguing . Details are so crowded on the page , images succeed each other with such rapidity , that the eye becomes jaded . Nevertheless , although the book falls short of what it might have been , we must repeat our expression of approval of what it is . So many pictures of Elizabethan life , so many details gathered in the course of extensive : reading , cannot , but be both agreeable and useful ; and if the whole read * . ; magazinish and sketchy , the fault is far more pardonable than its oppositedryasdust fribble and black letter tediousness ; Mr . Thornbury deserves ' thanks both for what he has done and what he has not done . He has written
an entertaining book , and he might have written a very tedious one . He describes in Volume I . the Streets of Old London , the Mansions and Palaces , the Amusements , the Laws of Duelling , the Serving-men , the Diet , the Dress , the Cheats , Thieves , and Beggars , and the Hunting and Hawking : subjects which might more effectively have occupied both his volumes , since , by giving a little more space , " the details being less crowded would have produced more effect . We will give the reader " a taste of his quality" from various sections . Of Old London he says : — We can scarcely imagine London a walled city , having gates like Thebes , and able to stand a siege like Troy . There was a deep , fond feeling of home when Ludgate , Bishopsgate , Cripplegate , Moorgate , Aldgate , & c , were shut at a certain hour , when . Bow-bell rang , and oitizens felt they were barred in for the night , guarded and watched ' over by men of their own appointing . London is too large now to love as a mother , and too dirty to honour as a father .
The picture he paints is indeed a strange one , when Holborn was a country road leading to the pleasant village of St . Giles ; and when At this time there was a feeling of social pleasure over the whole city ; Grocers * , Drapers ' , Ironmongers ' , Salters ' , and Merchant Taylors' Halls had all their gardens and bowling alleys . Sir Paul Pindar , Gresham ' s contemporary , had gardens m Bishopsgate-street . There were gardens in Aldersgate-street and Westminster . There were gardens round Cornhill-Market , and gardens in Glerkenwell . Smithfield -waa planted with trees ; trees waved in St . Giles ' s ; and Ely-place was famous for flower * . Leicester Fields and Soho were open tracts ; and near Leather Jane the Queen's gardener lived , and lived to plant and sow . Mr . Thornbury , however , usually alive to the distinctions between the present and the past , seems to have forgotten that his readers have not the same knowledge , when he saye : 26 fat
The butchers' shops , however , astonish us by their prices : a fat ox , s . ; a wether , 3 s . 4 d . ; and the same price for a fat calf ; a fat lamb 12 d . ; three pou . . ° * beef , a penny . Everywhere the same cheapness : milk from a farm , in the Minories , the three ale pints , lid . in summer , and 2 £ d . in winter . Wine , too , is very cheap , and within the reach " of any poor man , though not quite so much so as in H-enry VIII . ' time , when , by statute , Gascon wine was sold at 8 s . tho gallon , and tUe cheapest at Id . a pint , and 4 d . the pottle . Malmsey and sack at 6 s . the gallon . He should have aded the relative value of the shilling in those days to the shilling in our own ( Mr . Froude makes out tho penny in the days of Henry VIII . to have been equal to our shilling ) , and then , perhaps , the aatoniau ^ ment at such prices would vanish . . ^ A To those who deny progress in moral culture , -wo especially recommend Mr . Thornbury's chapter on Bear-baiting . He truly says , that knglaad " has grown too civilized to tolerate a savage diversion that buakspeara . Bacon , Raloigb , and Sidney may have watched with breathless eagerness .
We borrow the following : At Kenilworth , on Elizabeth ' s visit , thirteen great bcais were worried by ban dogs . Laneham , that typo of Malvolio , the officious , pert , tyrannical , fussy , groom of he chamber , grows warm in his description of the bear with p . nk eyes , Jenng atUM approaching doga , tho hound nimble and watchful from rnntage , and the boar prepared for tho assault . If ho waa bitten in one place , ho prcuod the dog cloflc , Oil he ffotfree He saya it was a " goodly relief" to aec tho clawing and roaring , tho foiinTand « hakTng till ho woui . d himself from thorn . Then would he shako his ears twice Sr thrice , and scatter the blood and froth over his tormentor *; the doga ^ seizing him by the throat , ho clawing them on tho scalp , mtU much pi c king tugging ,, howling and barking , growling and snarling ; some dogs l » nPin « j ^ their masters , who kick them as curs : some lying on their sides , licking their wounds .
» . £ 5 s'E-jrj = = arw =. us . k ^^ SS sas & ssSfS ^ stssss it resembled tho gaoler ' * public whipping of strumpets at tho cartfl tail , a Mgnt m « u frequently to bo witnessed up Cheap or past Ludguto . -Mploma In speaking of tho amusement of Cock-fighting , he tells « tbat' « oWkons that crowed too soon or too frequently , were ^ vMy con te » ^ , { £ Bpit as birds of no promise or ability "—a fact which may point a moral the prosenco of conceited young gentlemen .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061856/page/19/
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