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    gave up the dignity of octavo volumes ; but Mr . Hallam had done this , and why not Lord Campbell ? He will not regret the change when he finds every reader in the three kingdoms and the colonies anxious to obtain the work , which is certainly interesting in a rare degree-In a note appended to the fourth edition , Lori Campbell complains that , since 1845 , the splendour of the Lofd Chancellor ' s office has sadly waned : — If the same course of proceedings to degrade the office should be much longer continued , instead of the Chancellor answering the description ofJohn of Salisbury in tie reign of Henry II . — Hie est qui leges regni cancettat iniquas , Et mandata pii Principis aqua facitlie may return to what Gibbon declares to have been his original functions as " doorkeeper or usher of the court , who , by his canceUee or little bars , kept off the multitude from intruding into the recess or chancel In which he sat . " The importance of the Chancellor arose : —¦

    1 . From Ms being a leading member of the cabinet , originating and controlling all the measures of th « government connected -with the administration of justice ; 2 . From his presiding in the Court of Chancery and laying down doctrine to govern tbat all-absorbing department of our * . jurisprudence called Equity ; and , 3 . From his practically constituting in his own person the ultimate Court of Appeal for the United Kingdom , by giving judgment in the name of the House of Lords , according to bis own notion of what was right . But be is now in danger of being banished from his own court by the Lords Justices . Hecent discussions in the House of Peers , moreover , have weakened his authority . " Single-seated justice" wilL no longer be endured ; nor even the divisnm imperium of the Lord Chancellor and a retired Common Law judge , however distinguished : —

    The probable experiment will now be a Judicial Committee , consisting of peers and of judges and pxivy councillors summoned to advise tbe House . Here the Chancellor will have no official ascendancy , and a Tice-Chancellor or a Puisne Judge may be selected , to declare the judgment of this tribunal according to the applauded practice in tb _ e Judicial Committee of the Privy Council . Lord . Campbell retires to the consolations of philosophy : — I care little about the reduced salary of the Lord Chancellor , although it is not now sufficient to enable Mrn to keep a carriage , and to exercise becoming hospitality , much less to make any provision for his family . Against poverty a noble struggle may "be made ; but there se « m to be causes in operation which , in spite of the most eminent learning and ability , must speedily reduce the office to insignificance and contempt . This is a sad prospect for the Biographer of the

    Chancellors-May I lie cold before that dreadful day , Pressed with a load of monumental clay ! " And yet" ( in the beautiful language of ray predecessor , Lord Chief Justice Crewe ) 1 Time hath its revolutions ; there must be a period and an end to all temporal things —finis rerum—an end of names and dignities , and whatever is terrene—for , where is BoHux ? "Where is Mowbrav ? " Where is Mortimer ? Nay , which is more and most of all , Where is PLANTAGENET ? They are entombed in the urns and sepulchres of mortality" ! !!—And why not the MARBLE CHAIR ? Perhaps , then , his own admirable book may outlive the Chancellor ' s office !

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    AMERICAN ADTENTURES . Adventures in the Wilds of the United States and Britis 7 i American Provinces . By Charles Lanman . 2 vols . Sampson Low and Co . We have accomplished a feat which few will be disposed to . attempt : we have glanced over every one of the 914 pages that illustrate Mr . Lanman ' 6 egotism . That gentleman has been unjust to himself . He acknowledges that tlie earlier papers were written several years ago in the hey-day of youth , and intercedes with tbe * matured reader 1 for a lenient judgment : adding , however , tbat be " would rather be wrons with the warm-hearted

    lover of nature than be right with the cold-blooded critic . " This being the case , it would be mere waste of time to point out to him the many sins against good feeling and taste of which he is guilty throughout the first volume . His style so far is ambitious and inflated ; he is perpetually working himself up into a state of ecstasy , which usually terminates in a syncope of bathos ; and the most trivial adventures occupy more space on hia tapestry than the Norman Conquest on that of Uayeux . Mr . Lanroan himself appears to have entertained some misgivings as to the propriety of reprinting the wliole of hia scattered contributions to various journals , and to have first sought the advice of Washington Irving and the Hon . Edward Everett . His counsellors proved injudicious , for they encouraged him to reproduce his " narrative and descriptive writings ia a collected form . " The consequence is a voluminous work singularly unequal to itself . Of the first

    volume we can scarcely bear to think with patience , while the second may be perused with amusement and interest . The Indian legends , indeed , are somewhat tame and tedious , but that is the fault of their inherent puerility . But the notes on angling are really valuable , and are worthy of being consulted by every lover of th « ' gentle craft . ' Not even Norway can be compared lor an instant with the United States with regard to its piscatorial attractions . Every river and streamlet abounds with noble fish of every variety , while the excitement of the sport is enhauced by the personal risks and hardships , to be endured , and by the many strange characters , or caricatures , constantly encountered . Mr . Lanman is no abolitionist . He describes the negro as being usually far better provided for than the free labourer in Europe , or in the northern states . Ill-treatment is the rare exception . In most instances they rather resemble spoiled children than servants . As a rule , they arc " the happiest and most independent portion of the population . "

    They have a comfortable house and no del ) ts to pay ; everything tlicy need in tho way of clothing and wholesome food is ever at their command , and they have free accesa to tho churches and the Sunday schools of tho land . What moro do the poor of any country possess that can add to their temporal happiness ? It seldom happens that families are sold in separate lots , and very often their former owner refuses to transfer them unless to a humane and considerate master . The effect of slavery upon tho slaveholders themselves is however , extremely lamentable from tho helpless indolence it ongendera . An anecdote is told of one gentleman , who , having obtained a new book , threw himself into an . easy-chair to peruse it at his leisure , while his wife went

    out to make some calls . On her return she found him in bed , and anxiou sly inquiring after his health , was answered : " The fire went out , so I got into bed to keep me warm . " There was a pile of wood in the adjoining roo m and a dozen servants within sound of the bell—but then the trouble of x \ nn \ ing that bell ! ' Here is a good example of a matter-of-fact answer to a simple question : — When Wm . H . Crawford was Secretary of the Treasury he wrote to the Collector at Mobile , Silas Dinsnxore , to ascertain the length of the river Tombigbee , which request he worded to this effect , " How far does the Tombigbee run up ? " To which the laconic collector replied , " The Tombigbee does not run up at all , it runs down ; " and was by the return mail dismissed from , office . These volumes are written in that Anglo-Saxoa dialect which , accordiu g to British prophecy , is hereafter to be the universal language of the earth ' s inhabitants . Mr . Macaulay ' s famous New Zealander will be somewhat puzzled , we suspect , to trace its affinity to what is now termed classical English—he will probably extricate himself from the difficulty by deducing it from the ancient Phoenician .

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    THE PANTOMIMES AND BURLESQUES . Dkttry L ' lias furnished us this year with a gorgeous pantomimic phantasy in See Saw , Margery Daw . Mr . Bevbklby is always at home in fairy land ; aqd he has availed himself of the large stage of Mr . E . T . Smith's theatre to ex . pand his conceptions of Elysium into brilliant vastness . Fairies in silver tissue , grouped or floating in the air , add to the splendours of the scenery ; and the juvenile world bestows its distinguished approbation . The child ' s story of the Sales in the Wood furnishes the subject for the opening scenes of the Pantomime at the Hay . market . In the course of the history we are introduced to the cruel uncle , to the good and bad ruffians who quarrel about the murder of the ' - ' babes , " and fight to a merry tune ; to wild woodmen enamoured of beautiful and coy nymphs , and to a young wood-cutter , in love with Lucibel , the sweetest of the dryads . Whilst regaling themselves in the deep recesses of a moonlit forest , these fair forms are pursued by the woodmen , and LucibeL being

    captured by Honeyleaf , their chief , and refusing to accept his love , is shut up in the heart of an oak . From this imprisonment she is delivered by the chief of the nymphs ; after which takes place the apotheosis of the leaf-covered " bates" into the Tranquil Lake of the Empyrean Fields of Light . Then commences the harlequinade , in which Miss Fanny Wright , the Lucibel- of the opening story , becomes Columbine ; M . Milano , Harlequin ; Mr . Mackat , Pantaloon ; and Mr . Driver , Clown . The graceless and contused manner in which the " Ballet of the Blackberry Brake" was performed , destroyed what might otherwise have made a very effective scene . This , however , was in some measure redeemed by the droll dance of the " Double Faces , " in which the sudden change of visages from young to old was very striking . The Pantomime concluded with a graceful allusion to the recent present of the American Government to the Queen and the nation . The references to passing events were poor ; and , notwithstanding the aid of Pantaloon and Clown , and a choice selection of familiar airs , the spectators could not be roused into anything approaching enthusiasm .

    At the Prikcess ' s we have the ever-delightful story of the Wonderful Lamp with much Oriental sumptuousness ; and in the harlequinade an unwonted feature is introduced in the form of some skating on the stage . For those who like such performances , also , there are some feats by wonderful dogs ; our own tastes do not lie that way . At the Olympic , we are introduced to the old story of love and jealousy , which shows that now as ever the course of true love never will run smooth . Amid the Ruins of the Castle of Romance , " Mordicanta . an old witch ( Mrs . Melfort ) , is discovered with her familiar , Grim Malkin ( Mr . Franks ) , making night hideous with her evil plots and discordant passion for the youth Alidor ( Miss Thirlwaix ) , a shepherd descended from the shepherd kings of Fairy Land . Cupid ( Miss Claba St . Classe , a debutante of some promise ) , ever mischievous , thwarts her passion , and causes the youth to fall in love with the Princess and Handsome

    Young ( Miss Swanborough ) , the daughter of the fairy Pastora . Mordicanta , fired with revenge , calls to her aid the green and yellow monster Jealousy ( Mr . Rogers ) , and determines to embitter the loves of the shepherd and the princess . The latter , passionately fond of her inamorato , changes his simple dress into a splendid suit of silk , and converts his hut on the hill-side of the Valley of Violets into a charming cottage , overhung with flowers . A village festival is the occasion of a lovers' quarrel . Zephyr ( Mr . Robson ) , who has been fluttering idly about , assumes , at the instigation of Jealousy , a visible form , and by a ' pas de fascination , * contrives to centre tho young nymph s admiration upon himself . This , however , proves but a temporary flirtation , and the quarrel being made up , the marriage of Alidor with the Princess Young and Handsome is appointed to take place at the Castle of Flowers , situated on an island in the midst of a beautiful lake . Mordicanta , defeated in her object , has yet power to stir up the waters of the lake ; and as the young shepherd is approaching the castle , she contrives to have him submerged and brought to the Enchanted below the lake

    Cavern . Here Mordicanta visits him and declares again her love . But Alidor rejects her proposal , and is , by way of punishment , thrust still deeper down into an abyss or den , the abode of a dragon . Cupid then descends and shuts the dragon ' s mouth ; whilst Zephyr , tortured by the new sensations which he has felt in his material form , determines to resume his original essence . He takes pity upon the two lovers , and rescues Alidor , by the aid of his stronger comrades , Boreas , Aquilo , Eurus , and Auster , from the place of his confinement . Thus all ends happily , and the shepherd and tho princess are united in tho Illuminated Porcelaiu Pavilion where they and the audience witness the inauguration of the statue of Zephyr . — Una extravaganza , it should be observed , is founded on the Countess of Murat s fairy talc La Jeune et Belle j but the humour of the dialogue belongs to tho author , and tho spirit ia which it is written proves that the powers of the veteran I' -ancui .: are still young . The scenery , especially the Valley of Violets , tho Castle of 1 < lowers , and the Enchanted Cavern below the Lake , introduces us to a land of enchantment . It is unnecessary to add that Robson in tho character of Zephyr , kept tho house in a state of mirth and good humour

    A lie transfomiation scene in tho Lyceum pantomime-burlesque is unusually splendid ; and Mr . William Bitouoir , tho writer of the opening , has plenty of sharp hits at the passing features of the time . —Tho other burlesque-pantomime —that of the Adelphi—brings forth tho strength of the company and furnishes pleasant matter for festal playgoers . With such a Harlequin as Madame Cehistje , and such a Columbine as Miss Wyndiiam , success would be certain besides , there are the Dresden china shepherdess costumes—and theu nro enchanting . . J

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    20 THE LEA DE R . __ ^ No . 354 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2174/page/20/