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Leader (1850-1860), 24th November 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1136, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      1136 . T HE LEADER . [ No . 296 , Saturday ,

      Untitled Article

      ' . '"© lie moire extract , involving a characteristic story , and we must have dfmes ^ -r- ¦' ¦ ¦ '¦•" .. . '¦'¦' ¦ / : meuding ' s bebtjke to qarbick . "Kelding was fully sensible of Garrick ' s good offices in forcing on the represeniotdon of his comedy , as the means of ' relieving Trim from pecuniary difficulties . •• ' Gratitude forvt&is act of kindness , combined with a high admiration for the actor ' s genius , laid the foundation of a friendship as close and sincere as the very different characters of the two men permitted . In" one respect , certainly , they were most unlike . Fielding -was profuse and generous . to a fault ; Gjarrick was niggardly and parsimonious to a pitiful degree . This spirit manifested itself in the actor from the earliest period of his wonderful career ; and nothing delighted Kelding more than to ridicule and expose it . On one occasion , he attempted to do this by means of a practical joke , which is thus narrated by Macklin . Garrick , we are told , had given a dinner at bis lodgings to Fielding , Macklin , Havard ( the comedian ) , Mrs . Cibber , and others ; and vails to servants

      being then much in fashion , Macklin , and most of the company , gave Garrick ' s man ( David , a Welshman ) something at parting—some a shilling , some half-acrown , whilst Fielding very formally sli pped a piece of paper into bis hand , with something folded in the inside . "When the company were all gone , David seeming to shilling from Mr . Macklin— -here is two from Mr . Havard—and here is something be in high glee , Garriek asked him how much he had got ? "I can't tell you yet , sir , " said David ; " "here ' s half-a-crown from Mrs . Cibber , Got pleas her—here ' s a more from the poet , Got pless his merry heart . " By this time David had unfolded the paper , when , to his great astonishment , he saw it contained no more than one penny ! Garrick felt nettled at this , and . next day spoke to Fielding about the impropriety of jesting with a servant . "Jesting ! " said Fielding , with seeming surprise ; so far from it , I meant to do the fellow a real piece of service ; for had I given him a shilling or half-a-crown , I know you would have taken it from him ; but by giving him only a penny , he had a chance of calling it his own . "

      On closing this notice , we put it to Mr . Lawrence , in the event of a second edition of his book being called for , whether he might not find it worth his while to search for any unpublished letters of Fielding which may possibly be in existence ? "We write in perfect ignorance on . this part of the ' subject , but it is surely desirable to make application to the Denbigh family , and to hunt up any descendants of the novelist , direct or indirect , on the chance of discovering and preserving letters or manuscripts which may not yet have , got into print .

      Untitled Article

      EASTERN EXPERIENCES . Eastern Experiences , Collected During a Winter Tour in Egypt and the Holy Land . : By Adam Steinmetz Kennard . Longman and Co . Wb are somewhat tired of the critical traveller . It is neither pleasant nor useful to be told that Genoa resembles" Old Wapping , or that the Great Pyramid is a mere exaggeration of brickwork . Whatever " Common-sense " may say , there is some difference between the Bermondsey tan-pits and the Lakes of Kashmir . The old descriptions of-the " exhaustless East , " which put _ a bulbul singing on every spray , a Fatmeh languishing behind every lattice , and inlaid the pavements of Asia with pearl and gold , were more agreeable , and not less authentic , than diaries intended to check the fancy , by insulting its ideal . If we cannot have truth , a glittering fiction is better than a repulsive caricature . - ¦ j ** I . axcHuHTu 7 »' £ Ht tu uie jiLasi ; , lauen with pre-conceived . ideas . It was Qdious to him to recognise , even on the sandy skirts of Egypt , the emblems and signs of Prankish civilisation . He gladly took refuge among the romance-dealers of Cairo , from the half-bred manners of Alexandria . In the Capital , with its narrow , cool streets , beloved of travellers , its coffee houseswhich are scenes from the Arabian Nights- ^—its mosques , bazaars , and inapproachable haritns , the Spirit of the East revived , and Mr . Kennard was satisfied that pony-phaetons and French millinery would not pursue him for ever . It is a curious pleasure—which no man enjoys twice—that of walking for the first time among the palms of Egypt ! When Mr . Kennard left England , the country around Oxford was under water ; the route through France , nearly as far as Marseilles , was dismal and wet . From the- mouth of tie Rhone he steamed into the sun-touched south ; but in Egypt he first tasted the Fast-r-saw the sun glowing on the desert—felt the pure air stirring among the palms—knew that it would be impossible to discover a fog or a smoky street , even if he sought one ; in fact , what novelty is comparable to that of finding yourself in linen , cravatless , and waistcoatless , in a verandah , wishing for a fan , at noon on Christmas day ? Obviously , Mr . Kennard felt all the enchantments of the change , and was soon immersed in the varieties of Careen life . But he had not come to study " men and cities" alone ; after some delay he " Kandjiad" up the Nile , " donkeyed" over the desert , visited the palms of Kolsan and the shrine of Plrilsej and , at Esne , saw the evolutions of some dancers : — ! , *' ^ to * * th © Ghawazee hare been orouohing on the floor , as if waiting for f . m 6 ment ° * inspiration , whioh . at length seems to fall upon one of them ; for , raising her head , and throwing lack the long black tresBes of her hair , she raises her arms ; then , chinking her castanets to the quivering time of the music , she slowly raises her body , till at lust she stands oroot before us . The music now sttitoma forth in double volume ; the thunder of the tarabuka softens the sharp clatter of the oastanets , which ha is rattling over her head , na if to make them t & T l ?" r 1 ne 8 for her ra PWly-inwea 8 ing exoitement . Raising her voice , she ftreafcs fortn into one of those wild Arab chants , so peculiar , and bo difficult of imitation , and only to be sought and found among the palms that wave over the Bweet waters of the Nile . With all the musoles of her body working to the time of the music » he moves slowly about the room , bending and twisting her lithe figure into all imaginable postures . _ 'Meanwhile ; the other Ghawazee has been sitting motionless on the ground , lmt following with her largo kohl-tinted eyes every movement of her sister . At tort her time oomes . Shaking her oastanets , she olao rises—the signal for the ZT J ? J ' infc » PP » ren % exhausted on the divan . With hardly any variation , ehe SSFSL ^ V ? laovenientB , «»< i hy and by ie joined by the first Ghawazee , and men tney _ dance together , singing in uniaon . At times they twine their arms round each other's waists , and then , suddenly bursting away , they fly far from 2 **" ° ** J ? J , picker still they rattle their caatunete ; louder and more wild they ¦ *|«! . weMoalata band outplays itself ; even the Howadji are tempted to throw 22 ? l-v * 1 flW ^^* » < uo ^ indulge in an Arabian dance : but nature can at last hold «! X « l '! S ? ? ' ^ adl » WtartMesa , the poor Qhawa * e © throw themeelveB on the divan . •» M « t the « t * lbB * and ' bravtaimaa' of the asBembly . "

      This is animated and graphic . It w as not to be expected that in a rapid view of Egypt , Mr . Kennard would observe much that was new , or add to our knowledge , either of Nile scenery or antiquities . But , as there are persons who abhor old songs , however good , so there are those who think old books , however excellent , only fit to feed oblivion . Thus " the last new work" on Egypt is sure of such reader as look weariedly on a new edition . Moreover , some of Mr . Kennard ' s materials are fresh , inasmuch as he weaves a narrative of personal adventures , and personal reflections with the oft-told tale of a Nile voyage , and a visit to Jerusalem . At Rephiaj he passed the granite pillars which mark the line between Africa and Asia . The flowery country beyond , compared with the desert behind , supplies one of the rarest contrasts in nature , and taxed Mr . Kennard ' s " powers of appreciation" intensely . Near Jerusalem , as at Alexandria , he was anticipating a netv sensation—the vista of a new world of thought and feeling , when a crowd of hotel waiters appeared , more pertinacious than the donkey boys , and presented their cards . The gathering idealisations in his mind exploded , of course , and he felt like the Englishman who , gazing by moonlight on the site of Palmyra , was asked by an American lady whether the moon did keep meat from decomposing . Nevertheless , Mr . Kennard persevered in search of the poetical , and found it at Damascus : — " Dreaming now of Shems-el-nihar and her much-loved prince of Persia ; now of that gentleman , who on the first night of his nuptials was -whisked all the way from some exceedingly remote place , and deposited in his scanty night-dress , perhaps at the very gates through which we had . entered the city ; and last of all , and not unfrequently , of that rich Emir , who , falling in love with the beautiful daughter of the Jew , carried her off . from the streets of Damascus , to his mountain palace in the Lebanon , thereby rendering his once solitary home the abode of happiness and love , till in an evil hour came the lady with the ' cold heart ;'dreaming of all these tales of romance , which we had read in childhood , and which now seemed to start up before us in sober reality , we used to watch the shadows of the orange trees mount higher and higher up the moonlit walla , till they waved in the soft night air against our bedroom windows , and then v >* e used to separate till the morning . Often it chanced that we met before that time , for if the mosquitoes and the heat conspired to render me sleepless , I used to come out to cool myself on the gallery upon which our rooms opened ; and , looking over into the court-yard below , I was allured by the plash of the fountain , to which I descended ,, to find one of my companions quietly there regarding the stars . " In the bazaars of the East , also , he succeeded , where Rasselas failed , and tried the flavour of "perfect happiness . " It was worth even sea-sickness to know what those words mean : — " Seated quietly on the divan of a seller of fine Btuflfe , smoking his best pipe , and sipping the coffee with which he supplied me , I chatted and bargained for nearly an hour in the most perfect state of happiness , complacently -watching the gay crowd that was ever streaming this way and that way beneath me . Allowing my imagination full play , I saw caliphs in disguise , listening to the conversation of their innocent subjects ; took particular note of the whole intrigue going on over the way , between Schems-el-nihar and the Prince of Persia , assisted by the jeweller and the female slave ; whilst , in the next house to where I was sitting , a coffee-house , on one of the divans , sat a second Shibad , relating to an admiring , audience some of his most wonderful adventures . " We are afraid that his imagination was iin moderate . He expected to see mosques with vast halls , splendid roofs upheld by rich pillars , carpeted with the most sumptuous fabrics of Persia , painted like the Indian tombs , —sacred places , with their silence broken only by the play of a fountain , or the holy monotony of a voice reciting the Koran . But why expect these things in Egypt ? poor as it is , pillaged as it has been , Says Mr . Kennard : — " I assert that the bazaars of Cairo and Damascus still retain , without alloy , that rich vein of poetry and romance which looks you in the face from out every page of the Arabian Nights . " It not this enough ? The reader , probably , will think so , and will agree with us , that to visit the East is not unprofitable , since Mr . Kennard , though ten thousand tourists have gone before him , has been supplied with matter for a book so fresh and so entertaining .

      Untitled Article

      MEMOIRS OF JAMES MONTGOMERY . Memoirs of the Life and Writings of James Montgomery . By John Holland and Jamos EveretL Vcds . I ' ll .. and IV . Longm » m and Co . It is a bold thing to say , but this really is the worst biography we ever read ( or skipped ); the worst written and the least worth writing . James Montgomery was so excellent a man , and so amiable a poet , that one is amazed to find such a spiritless uninteresting book bearing the title of his Memoirs . Human achievements are , however , beyond all calculation . Two resolute biographers , armed cap-a-pie with material , have laid their heads together , and their united incompetence has produced this weary work . The talent of expansion they certainly possess , and , in virtue of this , four volumes of a very uneventful life only bring the record down to the year 1830 . This is accomplished by quoting abundantly from the Iris , the newspaper of which of others

      Montgomery was editor—by printing his letters , and the letters , no matter how uninteresting—by records of conversations so pointless that there is a certain hilarity in their extreme absence of point , and one begins to feel a sort of flutter of expectation as to how far dulness can reach— and , finally , by editorial remarks , not indeed ambitious , but pitiably poor . When we say not ambitious , we mean not generally ; on occasion we arc treated to a flight of eloquence us per sample : — " In the month of March the exile of Elba broke his parole of honour , ami soon appeared at the head of a powerful army in the heart of France ; and the editorial pen which had for twenty years past pursued the movements of the Emperor with a perseverance onlt / surpassed by the sword of his conqueror , was unwillingly resumed to descant on the new fortunes of this extraordinary man . " The M * " * ° * Nemesis in the Sheffield Iris must have greatly troubled the exile of E »» n . They had , it appears been antagonists for twenty years . Who can wonder if St . Helena was the resting-place of a victim thus pursued ?

      We will dip ad aperturam libri for a- specimen of the conversations hero recorded : — . . . In September Montgomery was ftt Harrogato , and an amusing description of a " forenoon" na spent by him there , may bo aeen i n the " Egotist , " No . Ill- * * ProHO by a Foot , vol . II . n . 107 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1855, page 1136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2116/page/20/