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"RECENT TALES.*
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THE PUIN T C.ES;.OP.WA.L1W.*'
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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.
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Their relations with the Arabs are of the dreamiest kmd on both sides ! The latter expect a day of deliverance , and patiently await the hour aiid the Messiab , or Moule Saa . Mr . Cooke describes the Arab as a gentleman , according to the Semitic idea , proud ot his race and his religion , but hating- labour—a sportsman , a horseman , a proprietor of wives , a lover of arms and powder ; and belie rag m the justice of the French , but still suspecting the motivesot their solicitude to have them vaccinated and well governed . All praise of this kind , however , belongs to the military government ; the civil '¦ administration'is corrupt , and the new-arrived cuUtvateur , who should be most cared for , is fleeced of his -capital by . tie manoeuvres of , the officials .- All this certainly appears to make profitable colonization impossible . . this book which devoted to
There arc some chapters in . arc Morocco . These are very interesting . The description of .-an expedition throiwh . the Algerine Sahara , and the painful march of forty-two hours amid the perils of the desert and the prevalence ot the " Sirocco , is one of the most powerful pieces of writing we have recently met . Here , indeed , is truth which is stranger than . fiction , and more than one episode which would well adorn an epic . The reader will be repaid by the perusal ofthis volume , which is a timely contribution to the information that is needed equally by those of France and England , who take njjs&nterest in colonization . And the Government of " the former conn { aa * # \ vill do wisely to studg . seriously pur shortcomings in India , that it may avoid our errors Slid escape the evils which otherwise itwill have to encounter . At present , it is manifestly deficient both in : practice and theory :
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fTJHEHK is no accounting for the perversities of talent . My - * - Life and Adventures , by Kinahan Cormvullis , is ^ one of those productions which demands ' fit the hands of the critic an equal amount of praise arid Censure . The first . volume is entirely taken up ¦ with tlie travels of Sackville Saint Lawrence round , different and remote purts of the globe . Indeed , we were at first at a loss whether to-consider this work in the light of a novel , of merely as the record of a gentleman ' s adventures it * Asia , Africa , and AinoviciK We have ,, however , come to the conclusion that it deserves to be regarded as combining the properties of both th /> above classes of literature :.-and -as such we shall endeavour to give the reader a slight analysis of its contents . The first of our . hero's disasters takes p lace , on the thirtieth day of his voviiL'a to tlie distant , coast of Africa , when he . is suddenly
alarmed by the cry of fire onboard . Thereupon ensues ji terrible and vivid description of a burning ship * and a thrilling recital of the hearfc-roiiding-agony and helpless wailings of its luckless crew . _ The author ' s power of language in thus depicting the most imminent and perilous sihiatious ' . is perfectly irresistible , and has the effect of conveying the whole scene ,. with" fearful distinctness , home to the imagination of the reader . We arehost borne onward in . the track of . Siiekville ' s . wanderings to Table Bay , Brazil , MaiuUa , Siugiipore , and Grand Ciuro . Tlie first volume closes with the hero ' s , arrival in Is'ew York , his ruminations on visiting one of those crying reproaches , to humanity—tin American slave sale—and finally his introduction to his future partner , Arabella Pickersgill .. Wo could havo wished that-the author had here concluded tho narrative-of his
hero's : kiventures , or that he had followed up in the second volume tliecoui ' MO he had so successfully marked out for himself in the first , and abandoned all attempt at converting -whiit would else havo been an nJniirablb book of travels ' into an mdiltbrent work , of -fiction . Judging , | Voin tlie present specimen , Mr . Cornwallis ' s talent does not lie in produoiug and arranging with . consistency and effect the ittutcri-als necessary for an' entertaining story . After the introduction of Miss Pickor . sgill lie goes on in a rambling sort of way ( o tell of hjjrt hero ' s marriage and return to England . Saefcvillo fit , L : i \ vrenco gols biniself into difficulties , is . arrested , few ; debt , sum thrown into tho Queen ' s Bunch , from which ho ultimately escapes in a boerbarrol ; and , in n considerably short spiu-o of time , finds ^ himself snugly deposited out of hann ' H way in a steamer bound for New Yorli ^ lns wife having 1 proeotled him soni ' o time before , in / xmler to look after pomo property reverting to hqr upon tlie death of her . uncle . And now the author determines to pile up tho ugony with is not Hhould take ( hen 1
large head on the shoulders of an individual of otherwise dwarflike dimensions , namely , an uncontrollable sense of the ridiculous . > Towards the middle of the last volume , a story is introduced , supposed to be \ he production of Sackville St . Lawrence , aft ^ r his unmerited sufferings . Here , also , the author delights in faithless , wives , deserted husbands , and sudden elopement's . This tale is so far inferior to the preceding one , that there is not in it the slightest attempt at construction of plot or development of character . All the incidents and personages are huddled pell-mell upon the scene , There is such a complication of brothers and brothers-in-law , sisters and sisters-in-law , some stationed in England , some in America , all bearing different names , and consequently many unacquainted with the relationship existing between them , that we are led into a perfect labyrinth of doubt and perplexity , from which we do not clearly emerge , even at the termination of the story . Thus , though the first volume of My Life and Adventures , for the vigour and brilliancy of its descriptions , carrying along with them an equal amount of instruction and amusement , is deserving of unqualified praise , the second , on account of the incongruity of its treatment , -almost nullifies the good impression of the former . Looe at First Sight , and Several other tales , by Captain Curling , are deserving of considerable attention . The'first , the scene of which is laid in the time of William the Fourlh , is especially noteworthy . Though written in a quiet , unpretending manner , it fully ' succeeds in what we consider to be tlie primary element of fictitious writings , namely , engrossing the interest of the reader . All the characters are well drawn , without any attempt at exaggeration ; and the general style is piquant and pleasing . A slig-ht sketch of the story is as follows-. —A young lady of high family , but reduced ciicunistiiiices , Gertrude . Curb-spine , whose life has . hitherto been passed in an old niiinsion . situated in a remote par-fc of Kent , the residence of her ancestors from time immemorial , In'coi ' nes suddenly , on account of her uncommon attractions , the object ; of miicli ^ contention and rivalry between certain gentlemen her admirers . One suitor in particular , the E ; irl of Wark worth , who c ; itohes a glimpse of the cpuntvy'bcllc during a salcof purt of the Gurbspine property , which takes , place in London ( to which proceeding the . family are compelled from the low state of tlieir . financ . es ) , determines to woo the lady under the- ^ viise of a woodman , and thus seeiire himself from bribing her ¦ ¦ ' affections with the lustre of a coronet . In this character he twice rescues his fair enchantress from imminent danger ,-and . is at List accepted as her future husband . After a little more masquerading-, and considerable testing of the unconscious maiden ' s disinterested attachment , the soupwhat whimsical scion of nobility acknowledges hiin ^ lf , and the whole cpnies to an agreeable and satisfactory termination . ' It may easily be perceived from'the above , that there are few or no original incidents introduced into this stfrry ; but the faultlcssness of its construction and general unanimity of its details cannot fail to convey to the mind of the reader un . iijiprossion . favourable to the author . ' The latter two tales , 'Julia Delacour , " and tliu " Suck of Oldboroug U- .. House , " which , together with the one above -m-e n * tinned , comprise tliw volume , will also be found to cjiivuv considerable ainusement ami i . nvKih kui ^ vled- ^ o-of hum an nature . ; they are both written in a spirited , soldior-lika niannur ,-arid tjio incidents are all well anuingod , and kept within the limits of probability , which hitter quulHy , though- al ways * auknow ' . edgod to be anecessity , has somehow , b . eomo u special rurity in thu works ot modorn tnle-writevs . * . ¦ ¦
a voiigojince ; ^ Xo dontcntod Unit things nntunil (! 0 \ irso , thut his horo being on « o onablod Jififc only to satisly his creditor , but to load an , independent life for the future , ( should subside , together with hia aoQomplislnjd purtner , into n nsoful and rOBpectablo meinbcr of society , but ho rmust suddenly- —in the very face of probability , and contrary to , . tho portrait ho Iiob liiniseif drawn of tlio fliir Anibellu ' rf moral chnructor—conv ( . Mau niniiiblo and loving- wo in mi into n veritablo fiynd of roniorrtO' - losisness aiid conjugal infidelity ; whilo her rnthlwas parnuiour , only too surely diecoverod in the act . of criminality , is deliberately fired at by tho incensed husband , « ucl falls doiul iipon tho npoi . This is carrying 1 matters a Httio beyond the U 5 mitb of roaaonublo forbourivnco . Some preparation is necessary , in order to bring the render- to a state of mind in which ho c » u > be expected to appreciate such a molodrnmiitifi donoacmont ; otherwiao , boing 1 entirely out of proportion with the rest of the htory , it iinproHsom us with nuioh tho sajno fooling wo sliould oxpon ' onco on bcsholding an . extravagantly
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rpHE byways of history aro not . less instructive than tha highways , X though ' the in forniation thoy present be niore minute in its character . Small things are not necessarily less valuable than largo opes , and , indeed , are sciniiotiiMcs of much greater worth . We mnsb not prize uiutters according to ' their bulk . Accordingly , m . those bypaths , it is possible to catch hints which are reihurkiibly tiignifi eant , and which throw many an illustration on tho general current of history thut surv . es to make clear what would olliorwi . se bo obacuro . Dr . ' Dovaii has already dealt with history in this fasliioti in his Lh > cs of tha Jlanooorian Queans ofJ 2 ii <] lU ) nl , und pursues the ssiime plain in a now work , in which ho wuparntOH the princes of Walos from thy stork's of their time , and explains tho latter , not by the broader facts of history , but by the smaller
incidents which befol the former . Tho first prince of Wales was tho son of Edward I ., on whom Gray wrote , his great I'iudaric oile , in which tho maledictory bard ibre ' tolls his terrible dostiuy : ' t " Mark tho your and mark the night , When Sovorn filmllre-coho with utfriptlifc . Tho ahm-ka of don-th through JJorltclcy ' a roof that niif , yhriojes of an agonizing . king !" Very difibveut was tlie aHpeob of tho Rocond Edward ' s birtU and that of his death . Tho . Wolrihinon , ' up well an their conquoror , desired a vice-regent , and Caernarvon cawtlo nnoicod in Uio birtli ot a prince . They wore willing to " milnnib to a l )» 'inc « J born witlun tho country , of bl ' anioloss lifo , and free from pvcjudicos . ' Wheroloro , the Icing 1 , procpoding to tho quooi ' s cliainbor , and , taking tho infant prince in his arms , broufrht him to tho Welsh chioftainH , chununff their allegiance to him according to promise . ¦ Dr . Donin procoodw t « state tliat " a loo » l tradition , piclcoa up by PrinOo PUohlor Mimkuu , states , that when JWward , with tho mlanb
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* Tho liuti / n of tho JMnow q / ' fP ' alas , UcIvh iv tho Crown t f flitf / tuml . Jfy D . Dohah , F . a . A . Klohwd JJuntloy .
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April 7 , 1860 , ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 329
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* M \ j XJfa and Adventure * . An Autobiography , By tho Author of " Now Ml JDomdo , " &o . Two vols . Arthur IXull , Virtue , uud Co . Zovo at WmL ( H / jIitf-und Storhs of tho B « rraok anl IStttUo ' JTlahl . By Ouptnln Hknivt Oukhnq . Ward iuhI I ., « oko .
"Recent Tales.*
l ^ ECEXT TAL KS . *
The Puin T C.Es;.Op.Wa.L1w.*'
THE PUINC . ES . -. OP . WA . L 1 W . * '
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1860, page 329, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2341/page/13/
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