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Harrv Oqilvie ; or , the Black Dragoons . By James Grant . ( Routledge . ) ^ Mr ^ rSTnew novel , contributed to Routkdge ' s successful original « Jies . is noisr and violent , —as noisy as a tocsin , and as violent as a battle . iSei ^ who cnToy the peculiar style of language and of plot employed by thts writer wUl find Harry Ogilvie as much to their taste as any of his fornaeT productions . It is as varied , as full of adventure , as excitmg , and is , perhaps , more original and more picturesquely written than The Yellow ^ Hellli Lincoln : a Tale . By Carrie Capron . ( Sampson Low . ) -Helen Lincobt purports to be a story of" private life- " the still sad music of humanity ' -meSoly in tone , with glimpses of love and dehght . It is unquestionably ( I ^ werfc of a tender and simple nature , not bent on fine sayings or mystlrious convolution * of p lot , A more mature judgment would have suppressed some passages of exaggerated description , and of sentiment convulsivelexpressed ___ /\ « t ^
y . „„ , . xr . > „„ r v ^^ , „ ^ cLpeZmtion : ' a Tale of Seal Life Thirty Tears Ago . ( J . W Parker . ) - All tales we assume , are tales of life , whether real or not . Compensation , however , ' professes to treat of strict realities , whether or not successfully depends upon the reader ' s appreciation of the writer ' s idea . That writer , we infer , is a lady , who has an intense and perpetual consciousness that she is writing She is , to a praiseworthy extent , free from affectations of feelin <* andirom those theatrical antipathies about small incomes and humble ho ° mes , which render Mrs . Gore , and others of her school , the delight of dav-dreamin" youths and maids . But we protest agamst her theory , which is that Lind £ the self-controlled , powerful-minded heroine , is compensated for her first married life of serene torpidity—the sacrifice of soul to duty—by the convenient death of the unloved husband , and the resurrection of the unmarried lover . We didn ' t like the Agnes and Dora idea in David
Copperfield , and it is not more attractive as reversed in Compensation . However , though containing not many incidents , and exhibiting little play of emotion , the story presents some situations of strong interest , dramatically suggested , albeit illustrative of the antique elements of romance—death-bed scenes , forgery , villany vaulted over by deceit , malignant passions , ambitious plans , and mortmain wills . The aristocracy are largely engaged , but among the coroneted " characters" we recognize , by certain unmistakable features , the breakfasts , rather than the human traits , of Samuel Rogers . His name is Roland ; he has a picture-gallery ; he is a poet of the sweet South ; his breakfasts are charming , and we detect , at last , the great original . Compensation is cleverer than the average of novels ; but the author has much to
learn and to unlearn . ' The Enigma : a Leaf from the Archives of Wolcherley Mouse . By An Old Chronicler . ( J . W . Parker . )—The Enigma remains an enigma ; but it is curiously and elaborately written . The author reminds us of an ivorycarver , tracing quaint and complex figures with strange art and patience , yet producing a very false effect . The first page betrays a sensuous fancy ( not impure ) , and this characteristic is sustained throughout .
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THE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT . The Red River Settlement : its Rise , Progress , and Present State ; with some Account of the Native Races and its General History to the Present Day . By Alexander Ross . Smith , Elder , and Co . Mb . Ross is already known to the English readtr by his interesting work on The Fur Hunters of the Far West , a work full of the stirring incidents and adventures peculiar to a life amid the solitudes of North America . The success which this book met with has induced him to produce a second , no less interesting—a history of the settlement with which he was so long associated . In it he has given U 3 pictorial sketches of the dangers and disasters , the toils and the sufferings which the first immigrants underwent , and traced the development of this little colony step by step until ho arrives at its actual condition .
Those who are familiar with the history of colonization—especially at the commencement of the seventeenth century—know the varied disappointments and sufferings that tracked the stops of the colonists from the time of Smith downwards . One of the most painful attempts that have since been made is perhaps that of the lied River Settlement ; and wo cannot follow the narrative of so much suffering without admiration for the perseverance of the sufferers , though we must admit that much of their privations was the consequence of their own misconduct and mismanagement . Red River is one of the feeders of Lake Winipeg , and situated at the southern extremity of the lake . So early as 1811 Lord Selkirk purchased of the Hudson's Bay Company a large tract of land on the western shores of the lake for the purpose of colonizing it . In 1812 he persuaded several Scotch families , called the first brigade , to emigrate to this desolate wild region which bordered on the American frontiers . A few hours , however , had scarcely elapsed after
their arrival in the land of their adoption , before an array of armed men of grotesque mould , painted , disfigured , and dressed in the savage costume oi the country , warned them that they were unwelcome visitors . They were ordered to depart , and , being too weak to resiat , retired to Pembina , another settlement seventy miles distant , which they reached after suffering intense privations from cold , weariness , and hunger . At Pembina they remained the winter , living on a scanty supply of fish , roots , and berries ; but when the spring returned , took heart and resumed their settlement on the Red River . Xhey cultivated the ground , and sowed the corn , but with difficulty preserved their harvest from the birds . They were , however , compelled , as the winter came on , to retire to Pembina again , their provisions being insufficient to last through , that inclement season . But at Pembina the settles wore reduced to the utmost destitution , being obliged to barter away their clothing for food , many of them frostbitten , hnlf-nalcod , and so discouraged , that they resolved when they left it never to return to this settlement
again . The year 1814 , however , was a still more disastrous year . The jealousy and enmity of the Indiana—the Chippcwny or Saulteaux , and the Killistino or Cree — instigated by the agents of the North-West Company , the rivals o £ tho Hudson ' s Bay Company , led to acts of open hostility against
the settlers . Encounters were provoked , the settlement burnt to the ground , and the whole body of colonists driven from the colony . The Hudson ' s Bay Company now interfered ; the remnant was brought back from exile , whilst Lord Selkirk used his influence to induce a second body of emigrants to set out from Scotland to join their brethren in the wilderness . The arrival of more emigrants only added fresh fuel to the hostile feuds and lawless proceedings of the rival companies . One fine morning , the North-Westers , upwards of three hundred strong , appeared before the settlement , mounted on horseback , and armed with various weapons , such as guns , spears , and tomahawks , or bows and arrows . The Governor of the settlement advanced with a party of twenty-eight to meet them , and inquire the object of their visit . A merciless volley was the answer discharged upon the advancing party . Twenty-five of the settlers fell , and the triumph of the JN " orth-Westers was complete . They then ransacked the houses , and would have massacred the inhabitants but for the heroic interposition of one of their own chiefs , The goods of the settlers , however , were pillaged , and the whole colony driven into exile . Lord Selkirk , who was advancing with an armed fnm . fi of a hundred disbanded soldiers of the DeMeuron Regiment , whom , he
had mustered , seized Fort William , the grand depot and head quarters of the North-West Company . This act of retaliation proved a death-blow to the Company . The exiles were restored , order was re-established , and before Lord Selkirk left , the colonists took heart again , and began to busy themselves in repairing the damage that had been done . The results of the harvest were most cheering ; forty-fold was a common return , and , in one case , for a bushel of barley sown fifty-six were reaped . Still , they had sown but little , and were compelled to winter at Pembina . The journey thither , across the snow , and where they were exposed day and night to the fierce storms of a Hudson ' s Bay winter , the cold at the time ranging between 35 ° to 40 ° below zero , made their sufferings almost beyond human endurance , to which also must be added their scanty supply of provisions , for often , when the last mouthful was consumed , and their children crying for more ,
they knew not how or where the next morsel was to come from . Their stay at Pembina , in spite of their hopes , was much on a par with their former experience . The spring of 1818 saw them return to their own settlement ; the seed they had for the purpose was sown , and in the fulness of time the promise of a speedy and abundant harvest appeared , when , alas in one night , a cloud of grasshoppers came up , and almost every particular grain was devoured . " This sudden and unexpected disaster was more than they could bear . The emigrants , looking up to heaven , wept . " Necessity compelled them to retreat once more to Pembina , notwithstanding the remembrance of their former sufferings . The year 1819 , however , saw them ao-ain at work on their own fields , sowing the little quantity of grain
they were able to save from the destruction of the grasshoppers . The larvae , however , deposited by the insects of the previous year , produced swarms of a new generation that overran the fields in some places two , three , and four inches deep . They could be shovelled away with a spade ; every vegetable substance , as well as the leaves and barks of trees , were either eaten up or stripped to the bare stalk ; the water was poisoned ; even fires , if kindled out of doors , were immediately extinguished , and the decomposition of their bodies when dead proved more offensive than their presence when alive . The reader must not suppose that all these privations are entirely to be attributed to the Indians or to Providence . Drunkenness , wastefulness , and dishonesty in their governor , a painful picture of which Mr . Ross gives us , were among- the principal causes . After ten years of painful struggling on , the tide turned . A new governor was sent out , the North-West Company was merged into the Hudson ' s Bay Company , hostilities ceased , and prosperity , as far as the follies and squabbles of the colonists themselves would let it , appeared—religious differences and difficulties being not the least . Of course , as Mr . Ross is a factious Presbyterian , the other denominations receive all the abuse and blame .
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A BATCH OF BOOKS . The Works of Uesiod , Caffimachas , and Theognis . Literally translated into English Prose , with copious N ^ otes , by the Rev . J . Banks , M . A ., Head Master of Ludlow School . To which are appended the Metrical Translations of Elton , Tytler , and Frcre . Bonn . Specimens of Greek Anthology . Translated by Major Robert Guthrie Macgregor . Author of " Indian Leisure . " Flotoers and Floioer-Gardens . By David Lester Richardson , Principal of the Hindu Metropolitan College With an Appendix of Practical Instructions and Useful Information respecting tho Anglo-Indian Flower-Garden . Calcutta : D'Rozario and Co lliatori / of the Anglo-Saxons : from the Earliest Period to the Norman Conquest . Compiled from the boat Authorities , including Sharon Turner . By Thomas Miller . Bonn . Our National Sinews ; or , a Word on , to , and for , the Working Classes . By Stephen Shirley . llorsoll and Shirreffl .
Lessons in General Knotvledje : an Elementary Reading Book . By Robert Jamea Mann , M . D ., F . K . A . S ., &c . * Loaffinan . TennyeorSa " MatuT Vindicated ; An Explanatory Essay . Jarrold and Sons . The Two Lights . By tho Author of " Struggles for Life . " W . and 1 <\ O . Cash . Tins first oi" these books ( a volume of Mr . Bohu ' a Classical . Library ) will be found of great service to those who wish to know more of the mythology of ancient Greeco than can be gathered from " Pantheons , " or ** Classical Dictionaries . " Ilcsiod'a " Theogony" comes to us like a voice from tho first ngea—a revelation of the infancy of the world , when awful gods and goddesses glimmered about in the dusk forests , or sat on the long slopes ot the mountains , uttering music , or made gigantic war with the half divine sons of earth , or drove in swift chariots over the wastee of sea . It is poetry in itself , and has been the father of much poetry in later writers : among other things , it is easy to see that Milton ' s description of tho contest between the rebel nngols and tho hosts of heavon , in Paradise Jjost , is derived in some measure from Heaiod ' s account of the Titan "war , a portion of which , in Mr . Bnnks ' s translation , we here append : —
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At ™ 9 v 18564 THE LEAPEB . 76 S
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 9, 1856, page 763, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2153/page/19/
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