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    956 ffflj : I^AJM : ,.„; [^g^jQfe^ERi^ i...

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    A NEW NOVEL. The Story of My Life. By Lo...

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    A HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The History of Eng...

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    MISCELLANIES. Dr. Humphreys, head master...

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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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    The Story Of A Mission" Voyage. Two Year...

    missionaries but of corporate powers , with little territorial sovereignties , estates , rents , taxes , yacht squadrons , and considerably large salaries . For instance , they have an island in the Falklands , and some one has six hundred a year for sending home -well-garnished reports for the monthly publications . This somebody and his friends are tormented by perpetual jealousies , and when a man like Captain Snow happens to be at their disposal they worry him to their soul ' s content . "It would matter not what I did ; all would , E was sure , be wrong if at any time I was , as has been latterly shown , to be got-lid of . Cunning and secret correspondence , even to a system , of incessant espionage , were openly admitted as the orders to others to cany out with regard to what went on abroad . " Then , his men being conscious that their employers at home would support them against their captain , behaved in many instances like : lunatics . Two of them got upon a desert island and refused to come off again .

    Immediately after our arrival at Stanley I went to the Governor ' s office . I there asked the acting Colonial Secretary—a young man who had never been off the island for many years , and consequently knew nothing of the outside world , when hia Excellency could be seen on some important business ; and he at cnce , with a great deal of superciliousness , demanded of me a knowledge of that business . At first I hesitated to name it , wishing if possible to keep the affairs of the Mission , from becoming public talk at Stanley ; but I soon found that the secretary would get me no interview with . the Governor unless I told him what was my errand . I therefore named a part of it ; whereupon he , with a pomposity and a manner worthy of any artist ' s pencil who desired to represent a . new Dogberry , informed me tlat he was " a magistrate ( which he was , as were pretty aearly all that could rank as gentlemen or had any moneyed position in Stanley ) ; and added , " / have only to tell you , sir , that if you leave those two men on that island , and anything happens to them , a jury would bring you in guilty of manslaughter . " " But , " said I , " what am I to do ? Tliey won ' t come of the island : no one -will atop there with them ; and I suppose I must not taie them off by force . "

    Cl As to that , he replied , " you well know , I suppose , what is called * assault and battery ; ' therefore you had better take care . But what you are to do , I can ' t tell jroii . This , however , I can tell you , and 1 repeat it , —if you leave those two men done on Keppel Island , or any other island , and anything occurs to them , I for one will be ready to bring in a verdict of manslaughter against you . " The people ^ at Stanley , in the Falklands , -were in a bitter rage with the South American Missions , for having reported them as an ill-mannered , immoral , and depraved community , they having being unwilling to acknowledge Mr . Despard as the ecclesiastical Napoleon of that place , and all the adjacent seas . But Captain Snow himself has some criticisms on Stanley ;—

    But again I say that after all this is only human nature ; and in this respect Stanley is no worse ttan any other plac « . Where it is wors « , and where on that account I conceive it to be about one of the very last places in tlie world I should like to reside in or visit , is its deficiency In the administration of justice . Putting myself out of the question , I would appeal to every poor man , woman , or child that could understand my appeal , and are in the Falklands or have been there , and ask them if they know or ever have known it to exist . And how could It exist there ? Some half dozen gentlemen hold dominion , as it were , over the island ; and all these equally hold ippointmenis as magistrates . Differ among themselves they may—abuse each other ; bat let any of them be once attacked by a stranger or inferior , and see where that 3 tranger or inferior will be . Court or no court , law or no law , he has no hope for a fair adjudication of his case . And hence it is why , with the insolence and arrogance many have met with from some of the secondary officials , as well as on account ) f the expenses , shipmasters care not to visit Stanley , but would , I believe , rather go to ARmte Video . During my stay there several vessels called in , and I had an opporiuiity of conversing on the subject with the captains , and I found nearly all express themselves much alike . The spirit of the Alexandrian donkey-boys , and of the Doctors 5 Commons nuisances is revived in another form , in Stanley : — In Stanley there are two opposing business powers . One is Lloyd ' s Agent , and acts a sort of banker , storekeeper , auctioneer , and general jobsman for everything . He is not only a useful man , but also , owing to his read } ' cash , a man of perhaps as much real power on the island as any one . This man , for several years , had all the business pretty nearly in his own hands . At length the Falkland Island Company found it absolutely necessary , in justice to those whom they employed , to also establish a retail store . The result was , that the rival houses had to contend with each other in getting custom ; and during my sojourn at the Falklanda it has often amused me to see the eagerness with which the boats belonging to either party made sail out of the harbour to intercept the stranger and lay hold of him . In the " present case , one of these boats , having got alongside of the large American ship while she was trying to work up Port William , was very nearly crushed , owing to the stranger -when tacking going astern almost as fast as she would go ahead . The movement being unexpected , the boat could not get away in time , and the consequence was that much damage was done , and ultimately the captain had to pay for it .

    Ultimately , it f < ell out that Captain Snow was superseded . His story of the Mission Voyage , unless contradicted and refuted in detail , will piove one of the most damaging disclosures ever published . We have presented the pith of it , leading the responsibility entirely with the writer ; but the -volumes are in a general sense so interesting , that the most ordinary reader will bear with the criminations nnd personal episodes for the sake of the fresh pictures of Fuego , Patagonia , and the Falklands , which are among the leaat known and most romantic spots on the surfaco of the globe . We , wait to hear what tlie Society at home Las to say in reply to the former Captain of the Mission yacht Allen Gardiner .

    956 Ffflj : I^Ajm : ,.„; [^G^Jqfe^Eri^ I...

    956 ffflj : I ^ AJM : ,. „; [^ g ^ jQfe ^ ERi ^ i 857 .

    A New Novel. The Story Of My Life. By Lo...

    A NEW NOVEL . The Story of My Life . By Lord William Lennox . 3 vols . Hur & t and Blackett . Another , now novel has appeared . It is written by a man of long experience in good society , and bears the impress of considerable knowledge of human nature . But Lord William Lennox is fur from aiming at the style of the philosophical novelist . His desire is to tell a rattling , amusing , eventful story , and he thoroughly succeeds . All sorts of scents and characters ai-o brought upon the stage—nobles , farmers , actors , actresses , policemen , baronets , citizens , schoolinnsters , and boys , nnd the drama moves briskly on from first to last , varied by a large invention of incidents , dashed with humorous dialogue , and pleasantly exaggerated . The account of Brighton , manners at the time when the Pavilion was in its eccentric glory

    is particularly characteristic . Lord Lennox begins his narrative , indeed from a period soon after Canning and Castlereagh had fought , after the convention of Cintra had been signed , after the famous mermaid had appeared off Caithness , after Daniel Lambert had died , after Dundonald had performed his great achievement , after Collingwood and Hardy had , made their names illustrious . Those were the merry , licentious days when the Princes of Wales executed some of Handel ' s compositions at the Pavilion Palace , when he talked with Sheridan , Fox , and Selwyn , and when he played cricket with the county elevens . All this conies , naturally into The Story of My Life , and as it is painted from memory , the perspective , though grotesque , is attractive . Lord William Lennox , starting from this point goes g ; aily and confidently on to the end , and we think , amid the lengthening dulness of this young October , readers in town and country will be grateful to Mr . Mudie when , estimating at its true -value a novel written for the Circulating Library especially , he seads them these three volumes .

    A History Of England. The History Of Eng...

    A HISTORY OF ENGLAND . The History of England , from the Earliest Times to the JPeace of Paris , 1856 . By C . D . Yonge . Bivingtona . Me . Yonge makes an apology for offering this publication . Histories memoirs , and documents illustrative of English history have multiplied so rapidly within recent years that a new manual had become necessary . This , however , is not the manual that was wanted . New materials Mr . " Yon <» e may have had at command in abundance , but lias he made use of thenf ? Assuredly not . The spirit of obsolete tradition vitiates almost every chapter of his compilation . He writes well ; he is a scholar ; he has the art of placing facts together with order and clearness ; but he is deeply deficient in the . power of historical criticism . For him fresh knowledge has been con-1

    tributed m vain . He has either not read Carlyles work on Cromwell , or be has seriously misunderstood it . A score of other books might be mentioned—not disquisitions but absolute disclosures of new evidencewhich Mr . Yonge has passed over , so that his portraits are conventional , while many of his estimates of character are libels or extravagances . We are pained by being forced to pass this judgment oai the work of a writer so generall y meritorious ; but we must , for the sake of honesty , say that to place this book in the hands of young students would be a positive experiment upon their . minds . It is a discoloration of English , history and little more . Thus , the story of the reign of James remains where it was in the old and servile narratives ; that of Charles I . is constantly and elaborately

    perverted ; that of Cromwell is a solemn misrepresentation . Mr . Yonge strains every point in favour of the king " , exaggerates every charge , believes every lampoon against the Protector , and writes , to say the truth , as a partisan . We should say that he has read the volumes of David Hume and no more , and every one acquainted with modern English literature will know what that means . We should as soon think of reviving Baker ' s Chronicles as of putting our trust in the fable as it is in Hume ; certainly , Kenneth ' s folioswould form more reliable school-reading than the short and stout volume of Mr . Yonge . Not more pleasant , of course , since Mr . Yonge writes in a finished , pointed style which interests us , notwithstanding that his relation abounds in the worst inaccuracies—those which arise from a total oblivion of the most

    valuable contributions to the history of England . It is too late in the day to varnish Charles I . or to defame Cromwell . In another direction—India —we find Mr . Yonge ' s statements extremely partial . As he approaches our own day he becomes excessively meagre . The reign of William IV " . —the period of the Reform Bill—is dismissed in eight pages ! AVe can testify to the literary ability displayed in this volume ; but , read in the real light of history , it is a conspicuous mistake .

    Miscellanies. Dr. Humphreys, Head Master...

    MISCELLANIES . Dr . Humphreys , head master of Cheltenham G-rammar School , lias prepared an edition of the first part of Livy ' s Thivd Decade , illustrated by copious Notes , Historical , Geographical , and Critical , and especially adapted for the Use of Military Students ( Longman and Co . ) . The annotations are varied , scholarly , and , in connexion with the text , of real practical value . Avoiding all superfluous references and disquisitions , Dr . Humphrey follows the ancient narrative in the light of modern science and resesirch , and succeeds not only in rendering a perusal of Livy more easy to the student , but more profitable and also more interesting . Another volume with a classical purpose is Major K . G . Macgregor ' s Epitaphs from the Greek Anthology ( Nissen and Parker ) . We have met with Major Macgregor before , with ji cluster of translations from the Italian . These seven hundred epitaphs are rendered in vurying degrees of fidelity and force . Sometimes the Major ' s echo ia musioal and soft ; often , however , it is harsh and mechanical , and grates on the ear . Here is a couplet intended « s a rhyme—but what a parody of Antiatius : — The embouchure of Attua Thfco has destroyed , Ileneatrntws . The following is very quaint : — A little child in Diodorun' hall From a low ladder by a fatal fall Breaking his spine headforemost rolled , but when He saw my look of answering pity , then Forth with his tiny hands lie suppliant spread : In vain . Yet weigh not down , O Dust ! tho head Of the young child of a poor female slave : Spare Corux , two years old , in hia small grave Many persons will be glad to possess Major Macgregor ' s volume , with nil Belonging to a different class of literature , but designed principally for the use of schools , we have ltussclCa History of Modern Europe ttpilom ' ncd ( Routledgc ) . It ia in one neat , volume ; the editor professes to Imvc verified every fact nnd date , to have introduced new matter where necessary , and to have revised the whole diligently and conscientiously . Conscientious ho may have been ; but ho is evidently not competent to revise a history of modern Europe . Thus , ho inukes no alteration ia Russell ' s account of the oxecution of Louia XVI ., but repeats the exploded story about his mount-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 3, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03101857/page/20/