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55 S 53 w 3 ££ ^ ssrs ire ex ^ rac faV ftnd dine after mv long wam and early breakfast . Friday ' s . Here I *« . _ **» ££ ^ gj S 3 S bS eggs , bread , and butter . la hot rigour was in { fdroD In ^ cooked egg into half a tumbler of wine , and enjoy the weather I ^^^ J ^ slips doSu the throat , and had recourse to the process flm ^ dS i ^ afly to ^ he aslonishmeut of the landlord and his family Never T ^ ev ZrtoFeg ^ being eaten in that way . The wine has an agreeable flavour , £ ? m _ Tt bTdrunk « S the spot , as it will not bear transport . For a quart , and six 22 / Xl £ SbL and butter as I could eat-which was not a little , under the ^^ mstonees—I P » id forty-six kreutzers—fifteen pence only . Moreover , on produc-S ?^ S % ^ hy foDc told me tne zwaasiger was reckoned as thirty kreutzers Ke Val Sole , which was to me a saving of fifty per cent . ; and I think the fact worth mending , as a , proof that in one part of the world honesty d ^ tts with __ o-
I ^ as an object of curiosity to the hostess ; she walked round and round me , at a little distance , inspecting me from head to foot , making now and then a remark to her daugMerTwho satby the window sewing . Then she took up the skirt of my coat , examined it on both sides , and expressed her astonishment at the fineness of the cloth Did everybody in England wear such ? The alpaca lining puzzled her . What was it ? Shehad never feen the like before . Was it silk ? Such a coat must cost yery much money . And she was still more astonished when I told her that most people in England wore better coats ; mine being only a cheap one , for rough work among tne mountains " What then must the finest lie ! " she exclaimed .
. Facing the damsel at the window sat a lover , after the manner of Dumbiedikes , with hands inWkets , mouth a little open , and half-closed eyes , watching his betrothed as she plied her needle . Not a wofa did he speak ; but every five minutes during my two hours' stay he went through the effort of taking a pinch of snuff . I was determined to make him talk if possible , and put a question . The answer came with a 4 jtrugjrlej but the second was easier , and after that , as he could speak a queer kind or Italianized German , we got on pretty well . He had been working on the railway being madefrom Verona to Trent and Botzen ; and finding the heat intolerable , and having a dread of cholera , had thought it desirable to treat himself to a holiday in
the cooler temperature of Termigliano . _ , * „ -n «^ " Of course , not to see your sweetheart , " I said : whereupon he looked silly , and translated my remark into Italian , for the damsel ' s benefit . She retorted with a few words that made him look yet sillier . . " But it ' s frightfully hot down at Trent , " he rejoined , turning to me , and in nis excitement actually taking one hand from his pocket . # I asked him if he had ever heard of the man who could eat well , drink well , and sleep weH , bat whose strength failed him when he came to work ? which he also rendered into the vernacular ; and when the dark-cheeked maiden heard it , she almost rolled o ff the chair with laughing . The merriment spread : a woman who had come in to bay bread took it up ; the cocks and hens that were walking m and out set up a lively cackle t and I quite won the landlady ' s heart by holding her baby , a plump , black-eyed boy , while she served the customer . He had a good lesson in English romps before he went back to the maternal arms ; so that when , soon afterwards , I slung on my knapsack and prepared to depart , I was entreated to eat the remaining « ix eggs , the other half-loaf , and the rest of the butter , without further payment . I quoted our adage—" Enough is enough ; " and with comprehensive hand-shakings took
my farewell . Is it not primitive ? m To have made a book out of this rapid journey , Mr . White needed far iiigher qualifications than he possesses . He cannot describe . There are no pictures in his book , only the intimation that he has seen pictures . Nor has he any of that rich store which the incidents of the day could call out naturally and pleasantly , so as to make the most trivial walk a lasting enjoyment to the reader . Think of what Rousseau has done with his account of ^ walk through Switzerland J Think of what Ruskin does with the merest ramble along a mountain pass I Without being either Rousseau or Ruskin , a writer might have produced a fascinating book , where Mr . White has dimply produced one which is read without fatigue and forgotten as soon as read . Any one about to walk through Tyrol may put it in his knapsack ; but to no one else will it be useful . YVe conclude with this account of the Tyrolese rifle-shooters : —
On leaving Bieberwier , I had heard at intervals reports of rifle-shooting , and the sharp , quick , rattling echoes among the hills , and hero , at Leennoos , saw the " Shooting Stand" occupied by a party in full praotice ; exercise with the national weapon being one of the Sunday recreations in Tyrol . The Stand ia a small stone building by the road-side , at the outskirts of the village , with an upper floor partitioned into -compartments , open on the side looking towards the hills . The target , a hundred yards distant , is affixed to a screen of thick pine logs , behind which the attendant , who wears a red jacket , conceals himself when the bullets are coming . In each compartment stands a shooter with his rifle , and the umpire sits in the central one , with a sheet cf ruled paper before him , scoring the results ; and on a long tablo in the room behind them lay hammers , ecrew-drivers , ramrods , powder-flasks , bullet-moulds , and other implements , all of which I saw on mounting the stair . As my presence appeared
to give no offence , 1 waited to see the practice . The man on the right being ready to lire , the umpire blew his whistle ; Red-jacket whistled in reply , and disappeared behind the screen . Cr-r-rack ! -went the rifle , and immediately Bed-jacket darting forth , looked at the target , held up his hand with one or more fingers erect , making a signal , which the umpire recorded forthwith by a stroke of his pencil , and , blowing tils whistle , the next man fired , then the next , and so all along the row . There seemed something » pxUe-liko about Bed-jacket , for out he sprang , looking at the target and'holding up his hand , almost at tho instant of pulling tho trigger . Then , after two or three rounds in thia way , came the " Probier-ech-usa , " —proof-shot , a trial of skill between the two best marksmen . Not one missed tho target , and scarcely a hoi , but stank within the small circle , while some pierced the bull ' s-eye , Old targets
UKn £ v 4 MutfMt , tue room as trophies , with all the centre of tho bull ' s-eye shot clean away . Aa each , man fired he drew back to the tablo to load , and a good-humoured oonveraatiom -was kept up , except at the moment of firing , when every one remained nlleut , "KttfewjrasUfaMd on the target , -watching for Red ~ jaoket '» signal . The rifles are of an oMrfluiWtwtfl uwk * , the stocks thin and flat , deeply curved for tho shoulder , and highly orammentod ; some of them heirlooms , prized beyond treasure . Ai 1 left th « Stand , another party of shooters came up , among whom a lad of / sixteen , cuTyfe ^ hia gttooe'witll au the confidence of one familiar in its uee , contrasted w « U with a . 9 np >* ribM&t < 4 & < M % / mlK ) t although tiff and atow in gait , had a quick bright w »¦ ' » Jfoww * n 4 * ge mwttng in the swne emulous trial . The veteran looked •« if he could tell something about * Anno Nine ; and his ride , every part bright with aatottoiuite polMdng , iraa ota tagoUrry antiquated form .
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SUMMER STORIES . The Quadroon ; or , A Lover ' s Adventures in Louisiana . By Captain Mayne Reid . 3 vols . ( Gr . W . Hyde . )—We have lately indicated the standard which appears to us the fairest by which to try three-volume novelists : the standard of the circulating library . According to this test , Captain Mayne Reid is a successful author . Whatever he writes is sure to be read ; he is incessantly animated , varied , picturesque- He invents situations , dashes off characters ( not very characteristic ) , and weaves double or triple plots with inexhaustible facility ; and his stories , withal , are not very pretentious . When a Mr . S . W . Fullom pretends to portray the Man of the World , and to bring a blush upon the face of society , you are simply amused by the farcical effort ; but when Captain Mayne Reid announces nine hundred pages of a lover ' s adventures in Louisiana , you prediet a vigorous , healthy , romantic tale , vividly though roughly written , abounding in stirrim ? incidentsin some way true to nature , and , at all events , cleverly worked
, up and coloured . The Quadroon is an exemplification of this peculiar style . It is intensely American—fresh as a prairie breeze , bright as prairie flowers . Palace-like hotels and steamboats , planters' villa ? , negro cabins and other New World interiors , lustrous landscapes painted over with tropical vegetation , wild river scenes , and harrowing anecdotes of slavery are wrought into the gaudy tissue with a good deal of skill and no little effect . In purport the novel has a resemblance to Mrs . Stowe ' s ; but , Captain Reid informs us , the plot and the action had been sketched before " a recent work " appeared . However , the admirers of Uncle Tom may find something to their taste in The Quadroon , which , evincing little knowledge of pure literary art , has been cleverly adapted to its object—that of amusing the general novel reader . _ „ _
. Adelaide , Queen of Halt / ; or , The Iron Crown : an Historical Tale . By W . B . MacCabe . ( Dolman . )—We beg leave to introduce to our readers Mr . William Bernard MacCabe . He has written four books—Bertha , Florence , A Catholic History of England , and Adelaide , Queen of Halt ) . We have read the English part of the last-named book , but we are not bound to read what monastic chronielers have written in bad Latin , or monastic poets in worse ; still less can we compare MacCabe with Luitrand , or the casuistry of his heroes with the dogmatics of Escobar . But the impression produced
by his new volume is that of a rambling , overworked story , intensely melodramatic , false to history , and supremely unreadable . The incidents belong to the tenth century , though intended as illustrations in aid of the student of our own times . " Mr . MacCabe , so ^ far as we can understand him , venerates the reigning Emperor of Austria as an imperial apostle , a primitive Christian sanctified by ointment and purple . Ailey Moore : a Tale of the Times . By Father Baptist . ( Dolman . )—VV e shall not affect to criticize a book like Ailey Moore . The title page sets forth the promise of a tale , showing how " murder , and suchlike pastimes are managed in Ireland . " Father Baptist undertakes , besides describing
romantically , many striking incidents , " to inculcate principles of great importance , and to correct errors of mischievous tendency . " The story begins badly 5 but we have not ascertained how it ends . ZoSi or , The Quadroon ' s Triumph : a Tale for the Times . By Mrs . fc . U . Livermore . 2 vols . ( Sampson Low . )— This is another novel in which slavery figures—though in its less repulsive form . It is not the romance of scourges , quivering limbs , Rosas blushing , bleeding , and trembling . Ihe story is conducted principally in Europe , and the scenes of coloured life refer , for tho most part , to simple homes and pleasant affections . Mrs . Livermore _ manner is conventional , yet her book is not without originality and character . Wolfsden ; an Authentic Account of Things There , and Thereunto Beaming By JB ( Sampson Low . )—J . B . commences a chapter with this
apo-. . strophe : " Muse ! who , from the floating filaments of transient memory , spinnest the thread of faithful history , let thy descriptions be brief , lest tin lagging tale tire the courteous reader . " The courteous ^ reader is then odd « 1 wild rush of warring winds , " of a » pitiful dribbler of drams " lots o sublimated sentiment . " If , passing on , he ventures deeper into the shadows of TTolfsden , a vision of wax and crystal will open before him , with tbj . splendid Erycina , tapping the time with her taper foot , ' filling you with the splendour of soft inviting beauty , " " a form moulded in graceful loveliness , the perfection of nature and art ; " with fire thrilling from her fingeis , " bounding in maddening ecstasy through the voluptuous dance . . 1 Jen , Erycina , ten times called " tho splendid , " retires dangerously with AleJc , y . -i t .-, i !_ ~ : ,. ct * i ^ . ^ n , r nf Miiosnlinn . " juirL with the auuioi , tsurmsii xi oi » i £
, ueninci an jliiuiuu , ouigs ^ . ^ . _ . » . * , ~ . ^^~*~ , , becomes positively " supernal , " , as we think , improper jraldeh ; or , Life in the Woods . By II . V . Thoreau . ( Trdbner . ) -Hcic we have a very agreeable series of natural and social studies , fresh in muttoi ana style , with many entertaining anecdotes , and sketches of forest life in America . It is excellent , as a picture of young-settlement manners . Mary Thomas ; or , DisseM at Evenly : a Tale . —lfobsons Choice : , c Jaie . ( J W . Parker . )—We have more than once noticed tho series to winch tiiesc little volumes belong . We have described it as didactic but clover . « J ^ J » howeverif stories for tho le " can be nothing more thoii velucles ot
, " peop the most narrow-minded and uncharitable virulence , we do not boc . wui good the writers propose to effect . Hobson ' s Choice > a harmless onoiigu , being without beginning , end , or meaning . But Dissent at hoenh ; rowindfl us of The Politician m the same series . In The Politician a working man is re presented sinking to ruin because ho ia infected by the desiro to pobbtas a vote , and this astonishing syllogism is presented to prove that uu a » twa should have nothing to So with politics ,- « Suppose a stutesnm . w « ^ o inf ^ ifiA into a faotorv a-nd nrotend to direct tho workmen , would not umt rl
be impertinent f Then why should a workman pretend to »» t « " J J affairs of state ? " We imagine that when it is nooess ary to do ' ' «« » ' » grown man , or a well-grown child , the dqlusion must be 11 little leas rasliy . So in tho religious chronicle of Evenly . A quiet village comes to ( 113 t | " ^ tion ; one p erson is ruined , another goes mad ; crimo and sorrow evici pc and virtue , and all because " those dissenters" have invaded our pariH" . better word may bo anid for Amy Grant . ; or , The One Motive ( . > ,. y-Parker ) , a tale designed principally for the teachers of tho children 01 m " poor . It is exclusive in spirit , but religiously and swootly written . Ti
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THE 1 EADE R [ No . 333 , Sattjbday , 762 — ' ' ' ¦ ' - - -
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 9, 1856, page 762, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2153/page/18/
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