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    everyone remembers all that he has seen inthe same way , anddo > not sses-tessssssssks ^ e nS >? y for all visible facts andYo r all idiomatic expressions surpasses Sof ^ modSn wrier we can name . Scenes are daguerreqtyped in his melSrr ^ pSLeThe must have casually heard years and years ago issuing S ^ SliW persons amon g whom he certainly never W , all he ready S ?? ^ mluVa bidding , so that he can make the inhabitants of Bleeding M ^ rt rST ^ Tleydo speak , and think as they think ,-and this with redness ofreality perhaps surpassing that of his description of the place Ui which the speakers live . Let any man try to make the Londoner speak as he speaks in the streets of London , and not in comic novels , and he will then be aware how poorly furnished with idioms must be the memory of those who think that p hrases like " cos vy" » veil you know , I says , says I , Iain' * going to do it , " reach the very flavour of Cockney dialect . The same storehouse of accumulated idioms is noticeable in Scotfc and Shak-SP * rambling comment has again outrun our space , and we must reserve for next week what more we had to say on this delightful volume .

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    THE MANSTEIN MEMOIRS . Contemporary Memoirs of Russia , from , the year 1727 to 1744 . By C . H . V . Mansteiiik Longman and Co . David Hume first introduced this book to the English reader . The translation accredited by him was performed by persons who could neither read French nor write English , so that , by the literary public , the Manstein Memoirs were very generally neglected , and , as for the unliterary perusing public—the reflector of phosphoric reputations—that is a creation of our own times . But " A Hertfordshire Incumbent , " known far and wide as a patient analyst of Russian history , who has followed armies with a sur-¦ vevor ' s level , and mapped every creek in the Pontic coasts , has exhumed

    the Memoirs , after a laborious collation of the London , French , and German editions . They refer , exclusively , to events whieh took place in the empire under the eye of General Manstein , a Bohemian by family , a Russian by birth , a German by education . The Empress Anne , attracted by his personal manners , gave him , at an early age , a captaincy in the St . Petersburg Guards . He was with Marshal Munich at the invasion of the Crimea , was wounded at Perekop , served in the defence of the lines of the Ukraine agamst the Tartars , and in the Finnish campaigns , and played an effective part in the politics of the imperial court . The favourite of Anne and of the Begency -was not , of course , the favourite of Elizabeth . After several mortifications , Manstein entered the Prussian service , composed these Memoirs while in retirement at Potsdam , and , finally , died in an encounter with the Austrian

    forces in Bohemia . His plain record abounds in materials of historical interest . He begins with the accession of Peter II ., in the twelfth year of his age , and explains , with the freedom of a personal observer , the singular enterprizes of the Menzikoff and Dolgorouki families . Compilers have usually hurried over these details , which are , however , of great importance to the dynastic history of the Russian Empire . It must have given a young man , new to the mysteries of palatial intrigue , a curious impression of public life to see a boy-emperor dragged from faction to faction , carried from palace to palace , betrothed to one princess after another , sometimes hidden , sometimes lured away into-the forests on a hunting adventure , as one party or the other of his guardians and advisers obtained possession of his person ; lastly , to _ see him die , before the consummation of a loveless marriage , while physicians

    were disputing over his disease . During this reign , which lasted less than three years , Russia was under the government of rival families , who hoped to secure their own power by imposing conditions on the Empress Anne . The Empress Anne , however , like the English Elizabeth , dissembled at first , and only displayed her absolute policy when guarded by the troops , by the lesser nobles , and by the loyal masses of the nation , who were jealous of the Great Council of the State , and accustomed to live under the control of a single hand . They soon discovered what it was to be governed , in the name of Anne , by Biron , the scorn of the Russian and Courland aristocracy . This man , says the Memoir , the descendant of a stable-keeper , possessed neither of education nor of pleasant wit , but discreet , intelligent , and ready , and gifted with extraordinary beauty of person , reigned , with perfect despotism , during the life of Anne , and for some weeks after her death , over all the vast

    territories of Russia . First obliged to quit the Academy of Konigsberg , in Prussia , for fear of arrest for disreputable conduct , he was next rejected at the Russian court , and spurned by the nobles of Courland . Upon tho election of Anne as empress , however , we see her audacious favourite becoming Grand Chamberlain of the Empire , premier Duke of Courland—at the head of the body which had galled him by its contempt—and , in fact , Chief Councillor ^ of the Crown . Of course the other great officers of state envied and abhorred ; him . Count Ostein used to say , that when Biron spoke of horses , he talked like a man , but when he spoke of men , he talked like a horse . Manstein adds that ho was haughty , ambitious , insolent , brutal , selfish , cruel , unforgiving , and hypocritical . Nevertheless ho had conspicuous talents , especially for conspiracy , and for arbitrary administration .

    The Memoirs contain some admirable sketches of Russian society . Wo find in . them , indeed , the originals of many anecdotes since passed from h « nd io hand by the adaptive bookmaker . Manstein ridicules the nobles £# T wearing brilliant coats and paltry wigs , for dressing gorgeously and zidinj [ , in ^ miserable carriages , for heaping on their tables a lustrous profusion of gold , and other plate , while their tapestries were faded , and their furniture broken , and dirty . The ladies , he adds , were on a par with tho men . " For one well-dressed woman , you might see ten frightfully disfigured . " Yet this arose , from . w » ut of refinement , not from want of means . Tho countess spent enormous sums On clothes and jewellery . Biron , conscious of his fine face and figure , sought to naturalize French elegance u . t the court , but was long unsuccessful , though he was much imitated by persons anxious to

    rise throug . perceived was ihe confidential friend of the empress , who dined with his family , played billiards with him and gambled at his table . She was addicted to lively amusements , disdained operas , loved comedies , and laughed to extravagance at the antics of her buffoons . Her panegyrists have imputed it to her , as a virtue , that she disliked severity , and seldom avenged with rigour an offence against her dignity . Mausteiri disposes of this weak sort of flattery b y observing that however little evil , the Empress Anne did deliberately and directly , she allowed much to be done in her name . Numerous executions , some of remarkable atrocity , took place under her government . The number of exiles exceeded twenty thousand .

    These details are worth repeating , because they are now , for the first time , stated in English on General Manstein ' s authority . His former translators , with deferential reserve , toned down the strong passages of the Memoir , omitted some paragraphs , modilied others , and spread a softening tinge over the whole . For this reason , as well as on account of their desperate ignorance and incapacity , it was necessary to reproduce the book in a new and authentic form . Manstein was not only a spectator of the events that transpired iu Russia from the death of Catherine to the unsuccessful conspiracy of Batta . Pars fait . He it was who aided in the seizure and ruin of Biron and of his wife . The chamberlain ' s great enemy , Marshal Munich , when Russia was once more under a regency , had determined to crush at once the power of Biron , and , in concert with the Princess Anne , employed Manstein to effect his capture . With twenty soldiers following him quietly at a distance , he entered the palace , and passing among the groups of servants and guards , as though he were familiar with the place , felt utterly at a loss tofindBiron ' s

    room . After a moment ' s thought , he resolved to keep advancing on , in the hope he should at length find what he was seeking . And so it happened in fact ; for , after he had gone through two chambers , he came to a door that was locked ; luckily for him , this was a folding-door , and the servants had neglected sliding the bolts at the top and bottom , so that he easily forced it open . In the chamber he found a great bed , in which the duke and duchess were lying , buried in so profound a sleep that not even the noise he made in forcing open the door had waked , them . Mansteiu having got close to the bed , drew the curtains , and desired to speak with the regent . Upon this , both started up , and began to scream with all their might , rightly judging that he waa not come to bring them any good news . Manstein happening to stand on the side on

    which the duchess lay , saw the regent throw himself out of bed on the ground apparently with an intention to hide himself under the bed ; on which , springing quickly round to the other side , he threw himself upon him , and held him fast locked in his arms till the guards came in . The duke having at length got upon his legs again , and wanting to disengage himself from their hold , distributed blows with his fist to the right and left ; which the soldiers returned with strokes from the butt end of their muskets ; and throwing him down again on the floor , they crammed a handkerchief into his mouth , bound his hands with an officer ' s sash , and then carried him , naked as he was , to the guard-room , where they covered him with a soldier ' s cloak , and put him into a coach of the marshal ' s , that was in waiting . An officer was placed in it by his side , and he was carried to the winter-palace .

    While the soldiers were struggling with the duke , the duchess got out of bed in her shift , and ran after her husband as far as the street , when a soldier took her by the arm , and dragged her to Manstein , asking him what he should do with her . He bade him carry her back into the palace ; but the soldier , not caring to take the trouble , threw her down into the midst of the snow , and there left her . The captain of the guard , finding her in this piteous condition , lifted her up , had clothes brought to her , and reconducted her to her apartment . Thus was a bold scheme successful : Biron ' s fute is familiar to all readers . The Manstein Memoirs possess an interest only mellowed by the interval that has elapsed since their first publication . The general had much to tell of courts and camps , and told it pleasantly , and the Hertfordshire Incumbent deserves thanks for his literary restoration of the narrative in an English form .

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    TnE SANDWICn AND SOCIETY ISLANDS . Travels in the / Sandwich and Society Islunds . By S . S . Hill . London : Chapman and Hall Mr . Hiljc has already made two appearances as an author and a traveller . First , he gave to the public hid experiences in Siberia , which he brought down to the time of his departure from Kamstchatka for tlie tropics ; and secondly , his sketches in the Baltic Sea . The present volume is intended as the sequel of the others . A short sketch of the history of the Sandwich Isles precedes tho general matter of the book , as it would be impossible , without such a retrospect , to present anything like a just picture of the natives at the present day ; and from a conviction that the importance which the rapid growth of so many naw countries on the shores of tbe Pacific Ocean must shortl ive to the Sandwich . Isles in particular .

    y g Honolulu is tho most important place in the group , although situated on the small island of Woahoo ; it contains the principal harbour , tho principal commercial mart , the principal missionary station , and tho court . The hrst uilficulty of our tourist was to find a lodging , but , after much inquiry , » e was directed to tho soa-side , where ho found within a spacious enclosure a nenc little native house constructed of dried grass , containing two apartments , and furnished with chnirs , tables , and even a sofu . This wus built specially for letting to foreigners . Close at hand there was also a proper native nut , in which tho family who owned the property resided , tho patriarch being trelcliuil out

    Major Mahookn , of the royal army . Eight or ton men lay » upon mats , nil indulging in tho mo . st absolute inaction . In fact " , the "" V ^ j are a luzy riice ; they love to < lozo away their listless existence by , a ires brook or beneath tho shade of the grnccl ul palm , amidst tho unchanging lace of nature , forgetting tho past and indill'erent to the future . Such is u > character of most savage tribes ; sit least they avoid regular l » boui \ 1 " climes they prefer tho hectic exertion and danger of hunting and fislnng * the quiet pursuits of agriculture ; in tho tropics , nature hangs the l > e > . bending with fruit over their mouths , and they have but to hold up " hands , while moodily basking in the huh , and pluck it . , Tho most interesting portions of Mr . IJill ' H book—In fact the , P " ^ original portions—are those which relate his personal adventures with

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    h his favourAll classes that he 5 THE LEADER [ No . 324 , Saturbat , 1 —^ - ^^^«^*— *^^^ " 1 ¦—»—^^^^^^^^^^^^ fc ^^^^^^ i ^ i ^ M ^^ W ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - _ _ _ . — A 1 ¦ 1 9 . ^ m % m 9 « ^^^^^^^^^^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 7, 1856, page 546, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2144/page/18/