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    718 ¦ THEIEA DEB. [No. 435, Jtjiy 24,185...

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    THE AGE. The Age; a Colloquial Satire. B...

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    A Month In Yorkshibe. A J/Onf/T In Torks...

    nnfrequent occurrence . They met him backed bytenders of willing hospitality , as well in the village hostels as in the pent-up cities of the teeming north , where lafcour bends over a thousand anvils , and millions of yards of the costliest productions of the loom are continually created by machinery as marvellous and costly . No wonder the Univers insists that jaerfide Albion is destined to perish through thus plethora of commercial greatness . He visits the crack warehouse of Bradford , where business is carried on with elegant and somewhat luxurious appliances , with a request he ' , might be

    allowed to look over its arrangements . " I handed my card to a gentleman , but was told that strangers were not admitted . I was about to leave , "when he said , musingly , that my name seemed familiar to Mm , and after a moment added , ' Yes , yes—it was on the title-page of A Londoner's Walk to the Land ' s End . How that book made me long for a trip to Cornwall ! And you are the Londoner ! Well , of course you shall see the " house . " '" The book opens with the steam-boat passage to Hull . His fellow-passengers were Yorkshiremeii , returning home from London . There was the tall , broad-shouldered rustic , whose stalwart limbs , light grey or blue eyes , yellowish hair , and open

    features indicate the Saxon ; then the Scandinavian , less tau and big , witt ^ eyes , hair , and complexion dark , and an intenseness in the expression not perceptible in the Saxon face ; and , lastly , tlie Celt— -short , swarthy , and Irish-looking . The two first classes seem most numerous in the East and North Hidings ; the last in the West . The Vivid was bound for Hull , and one might fancy a richer twang in the speech of these stalwart aborigines , as they approach the Pharos surmounting the harbour entrance , than had been perceptible in th . e southern latitude of London . A few , who rubbed their hands and tried to look hearty , vowed their future travels should not be on the sea . They

    reach the city " memorable for mud and train-oil , " as Etty said of the town where he had served an apprenticeshipi of seven , weary years . Hull riverone part water , three parts mud—is not ., as is our royal , towered Thame , abandoned to its own devises through the helpless ignorance and apathy of the Hull " Board of Works : " fifty thousand tons of deposit are annually dredged from the dock and basin . The steam apparatus effecting- this lifts fifty tons of mud per hour , pours it into lighters , which , when laden , drop "down with the tide , and discharge their slimy burden in certain parts of the stream where it cannot accumulate . Will London

    incur the charges of a fleet of similar dredges , until we may agaia look down upon the cleanly silt and gravel which formed the river ' s natural bed ? The trade of Hull is enormous . A . hundred steamers cross the sea , or navigate the sluggish Ouse . 250 O tons of German yeast , worth upwards of 130 , 000 * .. are imported , and the Hamburg ; and Russian trade is of vast extent . m White , after a full morning ' s exploration , decided that tlie most cheerful quarter of Hull is its cemetery 1 He sat there on a grassy bank , enjoying

    the breeze Irom seaward , when a countryman approached , entered into conversation , and in a short time became autobiographical . He was an invalid village carpenter , " come forty miles out of Lincolnshire , " hadleen waiting three days for his brother ' s ship in which he meant to take a voyage to China , and feeling dull , walked every day in the cenictry . Beading is named as a resource ; but he couldn't make much o * readin * —" ud rayther work the jackplane all day than read . " At all events , a few books for the China triD must be desirable , and one books for the China trip must be desirableand one

    , hour ' s study every day during so long a voyage , would enable him to read with satisfaction ere no returned . cc QUI but we shall be only three days a-goin' ; ** and he was firmly persuaded that T \ rould be the utmost duration of the voyage . Quitting without regret the smoke-enveloped town , the traveller starts for Patrington , a town of Holdernes «—the south-eastern corner of the great county of York . Here , the vast inroads of the devouring sea , and contrarywiae its recession , are forcibly illustrated . At breakfast , the landlord points to a . garden near the churchyard , where the building stone of the beautiful parish church was landed from boats . Should a certain popular authoress ever publish her autobiography , sue will perhaps tell u $ how her father , Mr . Strickncy , used when a boy to skate three or four miles to school over unreclaimed flats now rich in grass and grain ; we know that slio could also tell us something abou the tall elms of a certain rookery ,

    not quite a mile from his residence , very interesting to the heirs of Sir Clifford Constable . To Beverley . —a staid , respectable town , as if aware of its claims to consideration . Breakfasted at the farmers' inn table , where " the Londoner" marvels that tall , burly , stalwart farmers , who talk a dialect half Danish half Saxon , feed but daintily on the beef , ham , mutton , brawn , and other delicious comestibles that literally burdened the table . It grieves hiiri to see no one—himself excepted- — play the part of a good trencherman , but trifling as victims of dinners fashionably late . They talked much of horses , and when the conversation took a turn ^ expressed themselves disdainfully of pedestrianism as a means of locomotion . " I ha ' n'fc

    walked four mile I don't know when , " said one ; and his fellows avowed themselves equally lazylimbed . "White's avowed intent of making his legs his compasses along the coast as far as the mouth of Tees was voted a weak-rninded ¦ project . In following out this plan he once undesignedly trespasses into some private grounds , where he encounters the lady and gentleman , and apologizes . They were both merrily engaged in hoisting a flag as an hospitable dinner signal and invitation to a neighbouring family , and did not call in the police , as a suburban Cockney would most probably have done . They said there needed no apology , and only wondering that any one sliouLd travel alonsr cliffs on such a wild

    morning . " Did you do it for pleasure ? " asked the lady , with a merry twinkle in her eye , as she saw how bedraggled he looked below the knees , tablishment . To leave the noblest of English counties , within the borders of which any six ot the other thirty-nine could be placed , without alluding to this remarkable illustration of the achievements of mechanical ingenuity , would be a reproach . Great packets of bales piled up in stacks , every bale branded Anverst and casks full of oil from Sevila , was a proof that here was the head-quarters of shoddy . It is , in fact , are-manufacture of filthy ,

    greasy , old woollen tatters into broadcloth . Rags are shipped at Antwerp from all parts of northern Europe . Think of that . Hither were assembled tatters from pediculous Poland , from the gipsies of Hungary , from the beggars and scarecrows of Germany , from tlie frowsy peasants of Muscovy ; to say nothing of snips and shreds from monks' gowns and lawyers' robes , from postilions' jackets and soldiers' coats , from maidens' boddices and the cloaks of nobles—a Vast medley , all to be manufactured

    into pilot cloth , silky mohairs , the fabric of Talmas , Raglans , paletots , and of other garments in which fine gentlemen ride to the Derb y ^ saunter through the Exhibition , or visit the evening services at the Abbey . Grey cloth , fit for the jackets and mantles of winsome maidens , blue for their riding-habits , in fact , all those cloths in which ladies feel so comfortable and look so graceful , axe shoddy , i . e . a manufacture of which the material is partly composed of old cashiered vroollen stockings .

    Compared with the condition of a Wilts or Dorset labourer , that of a Yorkshire peasant is indeed enviable . The former starves on coarse dry bread , his only drink water , his family the same , varied , perhaps , now and then , with unsweetened , doublediluted tea of the worst quality ( a cottag-er never enjoys the luxury of even skimmed milk ) . Mr . White dines at a roadside public-house with a number of sunburnt rustics , fresh from the hayiield . " They eat smoking mutton-pie without shirts , and had a supply of excellent beer . " He converses freely with them . Not one , mirubile dicCii / complained of hard times . Wages were one-and-sixpence a day with meat—and good meat , too—beef , mutton ,

    and pies— -as much as they could cat . They did not want to emigrate , they—Yorkshire was good enough for them . Paid three pounds a year for cottages , but got it back from tlie gardens in fruit and flowers . One young labourer , tenant of a lone cottage , standing in a little wood , ofFers shelter from the storm . He praised his wife . It was a pleasure to come home when there was such a loss to make a man comfortable . Nobody could beat her at making a shirt , or broad , or cooking ; and he opened the oven to show how much room there was for loaves . Tliev nor * with mutual reorret .

    , " Stay a bit longer , " says the peasant , " I like to hear ve talk . " Northern countrymen arc , however , not always so canny . Passing a tilery near Welwick , a beery fellow threw up the window , asking , in a gruflQ insolent tone , " A say , guv ner , tlid yo meet Father Matlievv P" «« Yes . " " Wlmt did ho sny to ye ?" " He told me I should see a fool at the Ulcworks . " Down went the window with a hearty slam , and bofore the pedestrian was fifty yards off , the same

    voice rushed into the road , and challenged him back to fight , but of course no heed was taken thereof " The Londoner" often alludes to the generous hospitality he experienced at the little roadside inns during tlie course of this , his sometimes ^ earr pilgrimage . His statement will be a" great en couragement to those who contemplate a like tour " More than one old hostess , when he arrived at nightfall , hungry and footsore , would have ' him sit at the end of the high-backed settle nearest the fire or in the " neukin" under the vast chimnev whpn

    she would bustle about with motherly kindness to get tea ready ; and before the first pile of cakes was consumed , another still warmer entered , and was pressed with an assurance that young men could never eat enough . The one traveller being often the only guest , she whlled away the time in motherly conversation , charging only eighteenpence for tea bed , and breakfast ; and once " slil y thrust into my pocket at parting a couple of cakes , which I did not discover till half-way across a snow-drifted moor , where no house was to be seen for miles . " How incredible to a London victualler must such a

    tale appear . After having had this taste of the varied and original matter of this clever book , the reader needs no further recommendation , but will forthwith invest the moderate sum of nine shillings in its purchase .

    718 ¦ Theiea Deb. [No. 435, Jtjiy 24,185...

    718 ¦ THEIEA DEB . [ No . 435 , Jtjiy 24 , 1858 .

    The Age. The Age; A Colloquial Satire. B...

    THE AGE . The Age ; a Colloquial Satire . By Philip James Bailey , Author of " Festus .- * Chapman and Hall . Mr . Bailey , having no doubt a very high opinion of tlie generosity ot the press , and being quite certain that no critic will retort upon Mm . on account of any abuse he may indulge in , here lias his fling against what he calls the Typocrats . We are sorry that we cannot comply with the inducement which he thus gives us to bestow unreserved nraise on his work ; but when so able a man as he is concerned , we can afford to disdain the opportunity of affecting to be magnanimous . There is , of course , some truth in what he says of the press , though we cannot quite agree that it

    Ne ' er in wit , ' nor e en in wish surpasses The Bedford level of the middle classes . Mr . Bailey , however , frequently mistakes vituperation—we mig'lit use a very much stronger wordfor wit and liumour ; and attacks the press , as he attacks many other things , pretty indiscriminately , with so much , recklessness , that we are compelled to lay down his volume at every page , and ask , "Is this satire , real genuine satire , aiming at reforming mankind by pressing on their sores until they wince , or is it merely , the random ribaldry of % very amiable man who wants to persuade himself

    that he is ferocious , and in a huge passion with the world in general ?" Mr . Bailey has not a methodical mind , and does not seem to care for the high rules of Art , according to which the great outline of a book , whether in prose or verse , should be constructed . His poem has no form ; and , therefore , no proper limits . It begins and ends just where the author chooses , but it possesses no defined parts and no sequence . In this respect , it is " colloquial" enough ; but though divided into speeches long and short , it is not by any means a dialogue . It resolves itself into

    a series of epigrams and diatribes , some excellent , many impertinent , several unjustiGnble , on the men , things , and doctrines of the day . The author has prosaic tastes aud is full of prosaic allusions , lie talks of the Leviathan and the ballet almost in tlie tone of a leading article , or the speech of a county member . We seem quite shocked , indeed , to find in these pages a bold summary , varied with mention of millocrata and tillocrats , of one half of a recent debate on secret suffrage—the half that expressed

    the unpopular view . Mr . Bailey almost always takes the unpopular view , because lie seems to think that shows his independence . Having abused tho Times , which with reason asserts itselt to be an institution of this realm , he abuses the Chartists , vho no longer exist . Then he gets into a passion vyith the whole eountry , and taking up tho cosmopolitan cry , loses all the dignity and self-possession of satire , and rails at us in good set terms , which aro anything , however , but graceful and poetical , as " a brigand raco outlawed , " occupied in " gutting * friends' houses , " stealing and slaughtering , " '

    curaccl with lust , Polygamous of all conterminous bonds . Then we havo repeated tho wearisome French story of our thrusting " poisonous stuff" down the

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1858, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24071858/page/22/