Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 6th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1187

Page 1187
Page 11
11 of 32

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • 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

      social institutions , is pronounced to be marvellous . No one better understood all this than Edward Thorpe , but lie was a man amongst ten thousand . He remembered that this rude population had been quite destitute of instruction , secular or spiritual , time out of mind . He knew that the grossly ignorant and . rough men about him were still human ,, because he had found tham accessible ito kindness '; because he had tried kind treatment , and bad found it to succeed in softening their natures , at least quite as well as brutality had , previously to his time , succeeded in knocking what little sense they had left out of them . In this work of reformation amongst

      a people so apparently lost , Edward Thorpe intended to associate Avice with himself , and , as a preliminary step , he at once formed a girls' class in the rude primitive school-room . He had formed a right estimate of Avice s high nature , that while it was not to be appalled by anything human , was capable of being attracted towards anything human . He knew well enough that any ordinary schoolmistress that could be engaged would complain bitterly of the difficulties in the way , if she did not allow them to conquer her altogether . He expected Avice to pave the way for such an -inferior nature , and to perfect her own work afterwards . And Avice did

      not fail him . Avice has a daughter , and after about eighteen years' monotonous existence , her husband dies . " There is a sort of underplot , in which a Mr . Ry . croi ' t plays a prominent part . He is a low , cunning-minded man , who contrives to ingratiate himself with old Osborne , and at Osborne ' s death is left sole guardian of the daughter , believed to have disgraced herself by an

      intrigue with a pcrsou below her station , and who is declared to be insane , and left in the care of JRycroft , who , however , knows that there was no disgrace , but a legitimate marriage , and a son , of whom the unhappy wife was deprived as soon as born . Many years elapse , and . many new actors fill the scene , to appear and disappear , but at length Avice , who finds herself the heiress of immense wealth , left by an old . friend , meets again with Walter Osborne . And here we refer our readers

      to the book for the finale . . We have purposely omitted mention of numerous characters with which the canvas is , as . -we think , somewhat superfluously crowded . There Can be no doubt about the power of tlie author to draw characters extremely well , and that he has had no small experience in the various walks of life so well depicted . We niay fairly pronounce this novel io be a work of very considerable merit , and not unlikely to have a run .

      Untitled Article

      TENTS AND TENT LIFE . Tents and Tent Life , from the Earliest Ayes to tJie Present Time- By Godfrey Rhodes , Captain , H . M . 's 94 th Regiment . Smith , Elder , and Co . Captain Rhodes was a sufferer by the great hurricane that tore up by the roots the British camp before Sebastopoi , oil the 14 th of November , 1 S 5-1-. On that occasion three tents only , of all occupied by the head-quarters staff , and guard ., weathered the gale , and one of these belonged to a noncombatant , who had picked up a few wrinkles about camping out on his travels in Asia and America . Our author determined , if possible , to " improve " the occurrence , as somo folks would say , and having thoroughly got up ancient and modern "tentology , " finished by becoming an inventor . The advantages he claims for his patent tent are its great lightness and stability , the ease and rapidity with which it may be pitched and struck , the economy of space gained by the absence of any centre pole , and tlio ventilation this absence also admits of . Its form ,

      accomodation of only twenty . To be critical , it strikes us that if the butts were keyed into 4 i g ht metal screw sockets , on Mitchell ' s system , which we would at all events see adopted for tent pegs , the gallant author ' s plan would be , if possible , even nearer perfection . The excess , weight of such appliances over the ordinary pegs he proposes to apply to his ground or base ring , would be immaterial , whUe a hurricane-proof degree of stability would ; we think , be attained . Captain Rhodes also contemplates applying his curvilinear system to the construction of tunnelshaped endless tentage on the principle of the French tente d ' abri , so tliat soldiers halting may , by

      uniting their several portions , instantaneously pitch a camp without dependence upon the uncertain arrival of a military train . He has also written an entertaining and careful disquisition , illustrated by many drawings , upon the civil and military tents of all nations and tribes from the time of Jabal , called in Genesis " the father of such as dwell in tents , " to the present year , when out of 410 , 000 people in the Australian colony of Victoria not less than 135 , 000 are so dwelling-. Foreign governments have helped him to perfect this portion of his work by allowing him every facility for contrasting tl \ eir

      service tents with our own , and he has generously not ignored the plans of other inventors and patentees . He concludes with an essay on ancient and modern camps and encamping . With this he incorporates our War Office regulations , and some professional papers by the late Dr . Jackson , sometime Inspector General of Army Hospitals , and the Baron Larrey , a French surgeon employed near the person of the Emperor at , the Chalons camp . The work , may , on the whole , be fairly pronounced well worthy the attention of military men and amusing to the general reader .

      a curvilinear octagon , obviously oilers Iqss resistance to the wind than cither the perpendicular wall of the marquee , or the conical side of the single-pole bell tent now in use . It lias jointed flexible ribs , whoso upper ends fit into sockets on the periphery of a wooden disc , the centre of which boing suitably pierced , admits of mi nsccmling current , and thus of a fire . The butt-euds of those ribs pass through equidistant oyes in an endless band or ring of rope , and arc thrust eventually into

      holos driven m tho ground . The skeleton of the tent , therefore , resembles that of mi expanded , aticklcss umbrella . Tho canvas cover ia put on like a cap over tho erected frame , and stropped to tho ground ring . Additional security is lent by storm ropes radiating outwards -from tho covor . Tho system is claimed ns applicable to every description of tout and marquee , and must bo especially so to tho largo onos used for field hospitals , if , ns tho author avers , he cim provjdo for one hundred siok men on tho area now occupied for tho

      Untitled Article

      BRITISH COLUMBIA AKD VANCOUVER'S ' ' ISLAND . Brltlth Columbia and Vancouver ' * Maiut . tfo . $ o . By William Caiw Hiulht . O . KoutloUtfe nml Co . Tiik right book nl tlio riy ; Ut limo ; and at tho n « l » t price . Tho npprondimg soltlomcnl of tho Hudson ' s

      Untitled Article

      allow himself to be inveigled into matrimony witl a bold , coarse-minded flirt such as Miss Osborne h depicted , of whose conversational powers this is i sample : — "Jane ! " exclaimed her sister , with a theatrical air " you cannot mean to give an empty hand to one whe has chosen you from all the world ?" " Indeed , Fanny , the hand is empty enough in more senses than one ; if it were not , it might be differently bestowed , and as for choosing me from all the world . ha ! ha ! my little sister , I hardly know where the choice' lay . " " What can vou mean , Jane ?"

      " Why this : —that as long as my ' worshipper had a chance of gaining that puling Miss whom we met at Battesden , he never thought of me as an ' idol . ' With all her innocence , I suspect she was a deep little hussy ; but , if I was not deeper , I was at least bolder . I had not kept such a fish on the hook for a year and a half , and played him all that time , to let such a chit as that land my prize at last . ! N " o , no , I knew a trick worth , two of that , so I just laid him quietly on the bank by a coup de main . "

      The marriage takes place , and the refined and cultivated Scotch Sir Leslie has his eyes opened marvellously by the following specimen of honeymoon conversation from his English wife . Sir Leslie , who has taken , his wife to his Scotch estate , wishes to interest her in his plans and improvements . She pi urn ply refuses , because " the cabins , " she said , " smell so fearfully of fish and peat smoke . " " And the road , as you must know , " she went on , "is strewed with dead fish , enough to poison a Greenlander , and the children come and touch my dress with their filthy fingers . One day , thinking to " be very good , while you were on the beacli , I put my head into the . school-room —faugh ! : —I very soon drew it back again , and , as I

      turned round with my handkerchief to my nose , the little ill-bred imps laughed at me , and an old crone who was passing had the impertinence to grin too , and mutter something in her abominable jargon , about ' thae Saxon fine leddies . ' For my own part , I don't see what business Indies and gentlemen have poking into such places , and forgetting their own sphere . I have no . doubt you are horridly imposed upon by these people , who only care for what-they can get out of you . Take my advice , Leslie , leave them to the servants , who understand them , to the clergyman who is paid to attend to their wants , and to that old fogey Fairburn ,-whom you are so fond of , and Avhp seems to me fit for nothing else . What ' s the use of being rich if you can ' t enjoy life ?"

      GORDON OF DUNCAIRN . Gordon of JDuncairn . 2 vols . " , Richard Bentley . A Scotch . hbvel > when it really illustrates Scotch life aud peculiarities ,. is a very- good thing . But when it is only Scotch in names and localities , with nothing distinctive , it is comparatively a poor aifajr . There is something racy and idiomatic in the Scotch vernacular , but when plain Cockneyism or bald Saxon is provincialised by Scotch pronunciation and spelling , then the charm is lost . The writer of this novel is Scotch , and had he or she been contented with drawing all the characters

      from Scotland , we might have had a warmer meed of praise to bestow on the performance . But the characters are mixed and contrasted , are drawn presumably from Scotch and English societydrawn from thence without very much skill , and certainly with but little regard to facts presented in real life . But authors , like poets , are permitted to have a certain lioence , and though the boundaries of this licence have been in this instance overstepped , according to critical notions , we will not be hard upon national tendencies . The novel opens with Minnie and Lilias , two Scotch lasses , introduced as speaking and looking' like types

      that are not usually supposed to be characteristic of the other side of the Tweod . The young lady Minnie , or Marion , had been picked up at sea by Lily ' s father , Lieutenant Greetne , and adopted into his family , because he could not find out her connexions . The eldest son , Archie Grccnie , falls in love \ vith Minnie , proposes , and is rejected . The scene changes to England . Lilias aiid Archie visit Battesden , the scat of their English relatives . We arc hero treated to n short dialogue in IVcnoh , between the waiting-moid and Lilias , relative to the best modo of dressing hair , which convinces us that Chaucer ' s " French atto Bowe" is not , entirely a dead language . At Buitcsdcn , among other personages * two destined to figure

      prominently in tho story make their appearance—Sir Leslie Gordon of ' Duncnirn , Scotch ; Miss Jane Osborno , English . Sir Lcslio is a veritable proum checaliet ' , and here iigiiin M'c miss every distinctive Scotch lineament . Miss Osbornc , a " fust" young lady , but of what class of English society sho is supposed to bo tho typo wo must plead ignorance A good ninny jmges arc consumed in showing how Miss Osbonto , heartless and scheming , wanting virtue nnd virtuous principles , succeeds in entangling Sir Lcisjlio Gordon into an engngement and eventual innjiTUigc , ihojiylk all the timo in love with Lily Gnome . It is bomewhnl ; perplexing to understand by vital ; kind of psychological p eculiarity a sonsiiivo , cultivated , observant Scotoiimiui ag Sir Loslia Gordon is rei > resented to bo , could

      " That depends upon what we consider enjoyment , " he answered , in a tone between jest and earnest . " My idea is that making others happy and serving them is the highest enjoyment one can have ; and as for riches , do you suppose tlioy were given us to be spent wholly on ourselves ? I expect Fairburn , as my steward , to account to me for what I entrust him with ; do you think I am not accountable for what is entrusted to me ?" " Oh ! if you come to that sort of cant , I know nothing about it , " was the reply . " You have plenty of absurd , stupid notions of that sort , I believe . As for old Fairbiirn—of course you hold him accountable , and rightly , too , and a pretty strict account I'd make him give , for I dare say tho old fellow knows very well how to feather his o-vvn nest . " '

      Among the visitors invited to Sir Leslie ' s new mansion by his wife is Lord Charles Lascelles , a former admirer , for whom she retained a secret penchant . While riding about with Lord Charles , who pays her rather moro attention than her husband approves of , Lady Leslie is thrown from her horse and sustains severe injury . But , before this necident , Sir Leslie has become aware of his wife ' s worthless character , and her duplicity towards him . in the case of Lily Gnome . After Lady Gordon ' s recovery , she elopes with Lord Charles ; and then wo conic once more to the fortunes of Archie Gnome and Minnie ; Gray . After a series of small

      adventures tlio pair arc brought together again , have an explanation , and find out , what the reader knew all along , that mutual lovo exists . Minnie discovers that Sir Leslie Gordon is her brother ; of course , all diillciilties in the way of union with Archio Groctne vujaish at once , and tho only caro of tho author is to bring about another union between Sir Leslie and Lib / Gnome . This cannot bo accomp lished "while the shameless Lady Leslie is alive . This obstacle is surmounted . Lndy Leslie is deserted by her seducer at Baden , is found by Sir Leslie , taken back to Scotland , nnd dies ropenUtnt . Sir Leslie and Lily confess tnulual ntliichmonf , » nd all ends " as merry ( is a marringo-bcll . "

      Untitled Article

      No . 450 , November 6 , 1858 . ] THE . LEADER . 1187

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 6, 1858, page 1187, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2267/page/11/