Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 14th November 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1100

Page 1100
Page 20
20 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • M< t« *. ^TTTitn TIT 1 llllll d
  • Text (6)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      • uniting for a second onset Tinder cover of their infantry . The open legionary formation was not able to cope with such a system directed by the liand of

      a master . We have here a word-sketch of a British queen , the celebrated Baadicea , or * Vuddig , * * . £ . Victoria , as she is styled in the ancient legends of Britain : " I 5 oadicea mounted the general ' s tribunals her stature was of the largest , her appearance terrible , her aspect calm and collected , her voice deep and stern . Her hair fell as low as the hips in long golden tresses , collected round her forehead by a golden coronet . She wore a tartan dress fitting closely to the bosom , but below the waist opening in loose folds as a eown . Over it was a chlamys , or military cloak . Such was ber usual attire . On this occasion she also carried a spear . " Some rerders may remember , in years gone by , sitting on a green hil slope alongside an old Welsh shepherd , whose memory was enriched with many an historic legend of the past . " Did you ever hear , " quoth lie , " the story of Brad y cwltwr Mr "—the murder with the long knives ? And he ¦ would proceed to tell it , almost word for word , as given in Mr . Morgan ' s history .

      Ebusa , brother of Hengist , with his son Octa , landed on the Frith of Forthwith an armament of five hundred vessels . The Britons Hew to arms . A conference was proposed by Hengist , and accepted by V ortigern . It was held at Stonehenge ( Hengist ' s Stones ) , and attended by most of the nobility of Britain . On the sixth day , at the high feast , when the sun was declining , was perpetrated the ' Massacre of the Long Knives , ' the blackest crime , with the exception of that of St . Bartholomew , in the annals of any nation . The signal for the Saxons to prepare to plunge their knives , concealed in their boots and under their military cloaks ; into thq breasts of their gallant , unsuspicious conquerors was , " Let us now speak of friendship and love . ' The signal for action were the words , " Neraet your Saxas "put with your knives—and the raising of the banner of Hengist—a white horse on a red field—over the head of Vortigern . Four hundred and eighty of the Christian cMvalry of Britain fell before sunset by the hand of the pagan assassins—three only of name , Eidol Count of Gloucester , and the Princes of Veridotia and Cambria escaping , the first by almost superhunjan courage and . presence of mind . Priests , ambassadors , bards , and the boyish scions of many noble families , were piled together in one appalling spectacle on the site of the banquet , ' Moel CEore '— -the Mound of Cai-nage , about three hundred yards north of the great Druidical Temple ; We much regret that space will not permit us , at present ^ to enter more largely into the _ analysis of this original and interesting volume . If , as the author promises , it should pro-ve the introduction to a much larger work on the same subject , we shall be glad to see the earlier CambrTan annals treated by so competent a narrator as Mr . Morgan .

      Untitled Article

      A WINTER'S OFFERING . The Home Affections Portrayed by the Poets . Selected and Edited , by Charles Mackay . „ , , ¦ ¦ - ¦ _ , ; . Rbutledge . Ihesk azure and gold covers , these cream-tinted pages , these hundred enf ravings by the Dalziels , bespeak Christmas almost as plainly as red holly erries or green , holly wreaths . Like the almanacks , the gift-books bloom early , bright as the flowers they supersede ; and , indeed , more sweet and brilliant than most garlands is this cluster of love poems bound together by Mr . Mackay , and ' made into pictures' by Elmore , Gilbert , Birlet Foster , Weir , Pickersgill , Tenniel , Absolon , Millais , and other artists , with pencils , more or less creative . The book , as a book , is beautiful . Among the selections , also , are some of the most radiant fragments in the poetical literature of England—verses that burn and sparkle as the page , delicious lyrics , and sacred hymns of the affections . Perhaps Mr . Mackay might have discreetly omitted some of the examples , and substituted others ; surely , not a few gems are to be remembered that are not found here , while some that are printed form only contrasts of mediocrity with the rest . Altogether , however , the work has been edited with judgment , and deserves to be introduced to notice as an ornamental volume of rare richness and elegance . The only drawback from the pleasure of possessing such a book is that , so far from being a mere set of dainty leaves within gorgeous covers ., it is sure to be spoiled by much reading .-

      Untitled Article

      NliW EDITIONS . j \ Ir . Murray has now completed his cheap edition of Lord Campbell ' s Lives of the Chancellors , in ten volumes . In . Bohn ' s Scientific Library' appears the first volume of a new edition of Dr . Carpenter ' s Systematic Zoology , edited and revised b y Mr . W . S . Dallas 5 and in ' Boha ' B Classical Library , ' The Iliad of Homer , translated by Alexander Pope , with critical remarks by the Rev . J . S . Watson , M . A ., illustrated with the entire series of Flaxman ' s incomparable designs . Mr . Bohn has also published a fourth edition of his eighteen-penay translation of Jules Gerard ' s Lion Bunting and Sporting Life in Algeria ,

      ^Mas "Hf≪&≪&I§≫®&I&&W& ^&A£»3s»-£

      ramajB ^< i >< j > a > aja ? ittas ' s »< B afc&a& » sBa * # . From Joseph Andrews Wilson , Esq ., to G . Andrews Wihon , Esq ., Woodsjpring , Somerset sh ire . Weymouth-Btreet , November 11 , 1857 . Though I have now been in town six days , and have really done a good deal of business , I have been unable to write more than the brief and hurried notes which will have told you of my having arrived , and of my having settled Aunt Eugenia ' s business . More than this I have been entirely prevented from writing by Polwhelo ' a disastrous illness . Indeed , I have done so much that I hardly know where to begin , or which of all the dear

      wn , Jl J ^ l ™}^™ " ! to address My meeting with Townshend at B-iti . was providential ; for the being at his father ' s ha ! saved me no end of tim * m getting directions where to go , and how to set about it . Old Townshend is a fine old fellow and so 5 s mVs . Townshend . The young ladies I ha dlv know yet ; They look as cold as the tablecloth on the breakfast table in the morning , and the creases are hardl y out of their manners yet but 1 am bound in honour to say that they look as if they could unfold into anaOls I have been a good deal away from home- —already I call it so-on account of PolwheVs illness . They arrived in town on the same day * hS I did and ; everything was prepared for their departure , but he W « o / gone I It is a sad affair . He has been three months in England not S months away from Calcutta , and now he is called back . Not that ' he saS a word in complaint . On the contrary , when he showed me his letters of recal , he did it with an air of triumph . He had seen Colonel Sykes the dav before h and had heard nothing about it ; but his letters , as you know have always shown impatience at being away from the scene where his friends were contending-. Unhappily , he is no better than when he came ; indeed , I believe he is worse , and Mrs . Polwhele thinks so He does not show it much . You , George , have seen him , and you know what a tine , noble-looking fellow he is , with his lion-like brow , his frank , manly iace , _ his large brown moustache , and tall ,, dragoon-like figure . For he looks much more the soldier than the civilian , though on that soldier ' s frame he carries the head of a real statesman . He felt severely the indignity put upon him in being removed from command , and on such grounds—favouring the natives against Europeans—when he was really disliked for the disagreeable truths he told the Government at Calcutta about the state of

      things . I will tell you some which mi ght have opened the Governor-General ' s eyes ; but I have not time to-day . He felt his ' leave of absence' acutely , though he needed it badly enough . But the thing that broke him down was Cawnpore—especiall y one event there . You have heard of Mrs . Askew ? she was Mary Trenmine , and was once engaged to Polwhele ; was , in plain truth , his first love . Askew seemed , at the time , to have better prospects , and Polwhele was decently and sentimentally jilted . He then married his first wife , a cousin , I believe , of Miss Tremaine ' s ; "but lie seldom spoke about her , and from what he once said to me , I fancy he was ashamed of having induced any girl to marry him in a pet . I know he was always very kind to his wife , though she seems to have left no marked trace in his life . And I know now , that he regrets nothing * You can see it . But I am forgetting Mrs . Askew . She was his first love—and she died at Cawnpore . It was Mrs . Polwhele who told me of her death . She did not use many words . I fancy Polwbele ' s early love bad been quite cured , but his large manly heart must have suffered for the'woman ; and that event quite prostrated him . He did not s « y much ; for as the grey has crept over his head he has acquired a sturdy power of self-control . But you , George , at least know the vehement passions of the man , and you can imagine the struggle

      that outward calm would need . He was getting better before ; I could see , however , when I first came , that Mrs . Polwhele was afraid to go back—I mean for his sake . She evidently thought that to return so soon to the climate and worry of Calcutta would kill him . But he thought he must 4 return to duty . ' He yrould have left her in England ; but did you ever know a young wife willing to part from a husband much older than herself ? They talk about ' difference of age : ' but in my observation your Juliets who are wedded to iron-grey -headed Romeos keep up the Julietism any number of years after marriage .

      Notwithstanding the climate , Mrs . Polwhele is still a lovely girl ; but she seems to have no eyes for anything but ' Walter . ' And he is a line fellow , I can ' t deny . 1 believe that his illness is caused by nothing so much as by vexation of spirit at seeing what was to happen , and finding every one treat his warnings as those of a mad prophet . They did so in India , and they did so here ; and it is small consolation to him if his own friends have been cut up by the mutineers to prove the truth of his warnings ! On the contrary , he was all ready to go , in order to help his enemies—lor such they were—in retrieving the disasters that he foresaw , and they caused . Yesterday Mrs . Polwhele sent for me . I found the carriage at the door before its time , for 1 had already arranged to see them to the station , to catch the evening train . Polwhele , it appeared , liad ordered it peremptorily . " He was even harsh to me about it , " said his wife , with tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips . And so I found the strong man in an armchair , insisting upon instant departure . He had felt his strength failing , and had ' made an effort , ' against all reason . At tlie sight of me , following his dear young wife , he sank back in his chair , and a long fainting- fit was succeeded by total prostration . She had been prepared to go with him , bad helped him to go , and had dreaded it ; now , as she said with eyes as well as lips , she was glad that he was so ill : it settled the question , it -was a painful sight to see the strong man lying bade , with his lion-like heail resting on the girlish bosom , which . cherished him like an infant . A painful sight 1 and yet I must confess , lonely cynic as I am , I envied the old boy ; ay , even his sufferings . For it is in suflering that you learn to know a man , and if Polwhele and his blessed wife do not know each other , I ' m h Dutchman ! And I will say , that I believe the mam that can thus take upon himself the grandest and deepest feelings of his kind , and can subdue a creature of heaven ' s choicest workmanship thus to be his slave—1 do iiot know a better word , but you understand me—is a man of the right stull to be a statesman ; and only such men can really fool with kingdoms and load tribes .

      When I had seen Polwhelo ofl—not to Southampton , but to bed—it . ww too late to do any good ; but I have been to Cannon-street again to-day , and have , I think , settled every thing . I have not yet told you anything about the man or his business . His house is u perfect markct-placo under cover . His counting-houses and offices arc- like a ' department' of the State , so extensive , with such a number of gentlemen at all the desks . Limford himself sits in , a little room at the back , and although half the cheese , sugar , ham , and , Heaven knows what besides , that comes to this Gargantuan maw of London , passes through his warehouses , Uo hnu all the manners of a gentleman at ease . His mind ia novor for a moment idle , but it rests on any-

      Untitled Article

      We should do our -utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .

      M&Lt; T« *. ^Tttitn Tit 1 Llllll D

      f flttfalio .

      Untitled Article

      1100 THE -IBA-DBB , fNo . 399 , November 14 , 1857 . ¦ " ¦ . ' ' ' ' ' ' * ' ' ' ' " ' ———— ' ' ' . *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 14, 1857, page 1100, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2217/page/20/