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Leader (1850-1860), 4th October 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19

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      Two Novels. The If Ills Of The Shcitemuc...

      rally , looking down , -upon them . Her cheeks were very pale , Imt fires that were no heaven-lit were burning some-where within her , shining out at her eye arid now and tLen colouring her face with a sudden ilare . There was a pause . Mr . Have tried what he could do with his beefsteak ; and his daughter ' s countenance showed the cloud and the flame of the vcl <; ano by turns . " The volcanic fires leaping up higher" spoil the poor man ' s breakfast : ' — Elizabeth in a Avliirl of feeling that like the smoke of the volcano hid everythingbut itself , went and stood ir » the window . ; present to nothing but herself 5 seeing neither the street without nor the house within . Wrapped in that smoke , she did not know when the servant went out , nor whether anybody else came in . She stood there pale , with lips set , lier hands folded against her . waist , and pressing therewith a force the muscles , never relaxed . A subsequent conversation i * epresents this beauty " disgorging foul her devilish glut * ' upon her futlier and young stepmother at once : — She brought , as she spoke , her eye of fire to bear upon her cousin , who gave way before it arid was mum . .

      Elizabeth favoured her with a look . which effectually spiked that little gun for the time . . Her father warns her io take care of her eyes—a piece of advice as ¦ popular-in- America , it wotild seem , as in London : — lie might well tell her to take care of her eyes . They globed in their sockets as she confronted him , while her cheek was as blanched as a lire at the lieart could leave it . . . The reader isuiow anxious to "be relieved from the presence of Miss Warner and Miss Elizabeth Ilaye . We have only in reserve air ineffable originality , concerning ye way in which she consenteth to become ye wife of ¦ YVin throp Landiiolm : — - " Aliss Haye , I have a great boon to ask of you . " u "Well ? " said Elizabeth , eagerly . "I am very glad you have !" "Why ? " ¦ ¦ ¦;¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' : ¦ _ .. ' ¦ : ¦ . : . : - - . .: ¦¦ . ¦ : . ; . ' : ¦ ¦ " Why ?—why , because it's pleasant . " . " You don ' tknow what it is , yet . "

      . "No , said Elizabeth , " but my words are safe . ¦ " I want you to give me something . " " You preface it as if it weie some great thing , and you look as if it was nothing , " thought Elizabeth , a little ill wonderment . But she said only , " You may have it . What is it ?" ' Guess . .... ; . '"¦¦ ¦ ¦ ' . . . ' : ¦ . " ;¦ . - ¦ ; ¦ ' •¦ . . " I can ' t possibly . " V " You are incautious . You don ' t know w hat you are giving away . " " What is it ? " said Elizabeth , a little impatientlv . " Yourself . "

      Many a book is pronounced " the most remarkable the season has produced , " but the Hills of the Shutcmuc is , ' without a rival , the silliest . It would have been seaixely worth while to say so -were it not that several publishers at once are driving Jliss Warner ' s herpes and heroines to market , so that the public is in danger of being deceived by the appearance of English popularity which can now be conferred , for trading purposes , upon any American author . Old 2 Iemories is a far better novel than The Ililh of the 'Shatemnc ,- 'hx \ t it will not attain a twentieth of its .. . popularity .-. The three-volume fashion inflicts great injury tip on English novel writers .. ; ' Scarcely any . romance published-during the season , with circulating library aims , is worse than some of the pirated reprints that are sold by thousands in a cheap form . -Miss Melville ' s ,- , as we hnve said , is better than Miss Warner ' s—better in tone , in plot , in conduct ; it is written more naturally , and is a good dtial more interesting . It has been before remai'ked that three-volume novels may be ti * ied by two standards , the standard of art and that of the circulating library . The test of art reduces the ] ong lists of announcements , in

      fashionable and unfashionable quarters , to insignificance ; that oi the circulating libi'ary brings the generality of such productions to it level . Of course the writers arc more or less proficient . ; there arc the practised and the unpractised : artizans ' familiar with the machinery of their craft , and apprentices without the advantage of an overseer . Miss Julia Melville belongs to the latter chiss . She is young as a novelist . Her style wants hardening ; she busies herself too industriously with p ictures of mansions , gardens , and scenery ; her sentiment is sky-blue , always pretty , and she has built some very old materials into her story . Towards the catastrophe , also , she seems to have been in want of an effect , and to have raised the dead for her necessity . At all events , no other reason is conceivable for bringing upon the stage , when the heroine is happily married , the apparition of a former friend—long supposed to have been trodden in the dust of Waterloo , lie comes , shrieks , and goes , and the story glides on as before . But there are many pleasing qualities in this novel , which may be put into country parcels fur the enlivenment of the lengthening evenings of this October . .

      October 4, 1856.] T H E 1eadee. 955

      October 4 , 1856 . ] T H E 1 EADEE . 955

      Early Life Of Wasiiingtox. Life Of Washi...

      EARLY LIFE OF WASIIINGTOX . Life of Washington . By Washington Irving . Volumes I . II . III . Bohn . ( nnsT notice . ) Four years ago it was announced that Washington Irving was working at his home on the Hudson , upon a nearly comp leted History of General Washington . Subsequently a long absence in Europe and occasional ill health stayed the historian ' s graceful pen , but the long-strained expectations of the reading woi'ld have not been disappointed , lor here is a large and excellent instalment of tho promised work . Throe such volumes as these mak his inst

      e it a matter for congratulation that Irving has not adhered to ^ ' intention of devoting himself onl y to the noccl of American life . His present subject belongs rather to the domain of history than of biography , fur us he observes , " "Wa shinjrton had very little private life , but was eminently a public character . All his actions and concerns almost from his "b oyhood were connected with tho history of his country . " Irving however takes especial pleasure in those glimpses of l » is hcro ' a early ifuys which enable us to surmise by what iniluenccs " his character was formed and he gradually trained up find prepared for his great destiny . " Nor does the careful biographer fail to note any particular that tends to illustrate the personal habits

      and . characteristics ' -. of a later period . The more intimately we thus become acquainted with . Washington , the more firmly he becomes fixed in our esteerfi . Even escapades of petulance , and the white hot passions which sometimes mastered him , are proofs of the man which no sensible reader would forego . They are touches of nature which quicken our sympathies a thousand times more than all the stately writings that are preserved as tributes to his

      memory . The history opens with a genealogical chapter about the right ancient and loyal line from which the Washingtons descended . The first written record of the family occurs in 1183 , in a document called the Boldcn'Book , wherein are recorded the lands belonging to the diocese of Durham . After this date the diversely written name of Wessyngton , Weshington , TVeschington , Wassington , WassliingtoriJ" and-Washington , is to be found in old historical documents of nearly every reign ; The famil y ; is always mentioned with honour . Its members , whether knights , soldiers , or priests , lived up to the mark and maintained the respectability of tlaeir race . Two members of that branch of the family to -which . General Washington immediately belonged ,

      distinguished themselves in the civil wars , in which they adhered to the royal cause with generous and unswerving devotodness . One of them was Sir Henry Washington , commandant of Worcester , and memorable for the heroic constancy with which he held that city for the king under desperate circumstances . " Those , " says Irving , * ' who believe in " hereditary virtues may see foreshadowed in the conduct of this Washington of Worcester the magnanimous constancy of purpose , the disposition to ' hope against hope ' which bore our Washington triumphantly through the darkest days of our revolution . " * 4 fti Jl ^ - iwr > ° f -Sir . Henry ' s uncles emigrated to ' . Virginia , and purchased lands inWestmoreland county , between the Potomac and llappahaivnock rivers . It was on these lands , in the homestead 0 x 1 Bridges Creek , on the 22 nd of February , 1732 , that George Washington was born .

      He was the eldest sortof a second - marriage ...- His half-brother Lawrence , who was his senior by fourteen years , was , according to the 'fashion , of the time , sent to England to complete his education . George enjoyed no such advantage ; he received the rudiments of learning at an " old field schoolhouse" kept by one of his father ' s tenants named Hobby , who moreover was sexton of the parish . He was 'afterwards removed to a superior school ; but the scope of his education seems to have been confined to fitting him for ordinary business , and to that extent it avus signally . successful . " He never attempted the learned languages , "nor manifested any inclination for rhetoric or helles lettres . " His ignorance of the French language subsequently occasioned him milch inconvenience . On one occasion he capitulated to the French under circumstances that were considered derogatory to his honour as a commander ; The truth is that the articles of capitulation were blunderingly translated by his old master of fence Von Braain , who appears to have had a very imperfect knowledge either of French or English .

      J 3 ut however limited the range of his school instruction , George Washington had the benelit of a mental and moral culture of a high order at home . His excellent father . '" imbued him with a spirit of justice and generosity , and above all a scrupulous love of truth , " and his eldest brother in a great , measure supplied the place of that father , when George lost him . at an , early age : — "When George was about seven or eight years old , his . brother Lawrence returned from England , a well-educated and accomplished youth . There was . a . difference of fourteen vearsin their ages , which , may have teen one cause of the strong attachment which , took place between them . Lmvrcnce looked down -with a protecting eye upon the boy whoso' dawning intelligence and perfect rectitude won his regard ; while George looked up to his . manly' and cultivated brother as a model in mind and manners . We call particular attention to'this ; brotherly interchange of a flection , from the influence it had on all the future career of the subject of this memoir .

      His mother , also , -was one of his best teachers . Her eldest son was eleven years old , when by her deceased husband ' s will she became sole guardian of the persons and large property of her children : — She proved herself -worthy of the trust . Endowed with plain , direct good sense , thorough conscientiousness , and prompt decision , she governed her family strictly , but kindly , exacting deference , while ' she inspired affection . George , being her eldest son , was thought- to be her favourite , yet she never gave him . undue preference , and the implicit deference exacted from him in . childhood continued to be habitually observed , by him to the day of her death , lie inherited from her a high temper and a spirit oi command , but her early precepts and example taught him to restrain and govern Unit temper , and to square his conduct on the exact principles of equity and justice . her little Hock

      Tradition gives an interesting picture of tbe widow , with gathered round her , as was her daily wont , reading to them lessons of religion and morality out of some standard work . Her favourite volume was Sir ^ Matthew llule's Contemplations , moral and divine . The admirable maxims therein , contained , for outward action , as well a . s self-government , sank deep into the mind of George , and , doubtless , had a great inlluence iu forming his character . They certainly were exemplified in hiseondiict throughout life . This mother ' s manual , bearing his mother ' s name , Mary Washington , written with her own hand , wus ever preserved by . him with filial care , and may still be . seen in the archives of Mount Vermin . A precious document ! Let those who wish to know the moral foundation of his character consult its pages . In 1740 Lawrence "Washington obtained a captain ' s commission in a regiment raised in the colonies , and . served with distinction in the joint expeditions of Admiral Vcrnon and Cieneriil Wentworth against the Spaniards in South America . His example could not fail to develop in his younger brother that military instinct \ v 3 iiuh hud been hereditary in their line for six centuries : —

      We have here the secret of that martial spirit so often cited of ( jcorge in ins boyish days . He had si ; i .-n his brother iltted out for the wars , lie bud heard by letter and otherwise of the warlike scenes in which ho was mingling . All Jiis amusements took a military turn , lie made soldier .- * of his schoolmates ; they hud their mimic parados , reviews , and sham lights ; a lioy named William Uustle was sometimes hid competitor , but George was cumnmnilL-r-in-cluel ' of Hobby ' s . school . And his pre-eminence w « s also acknowledged by his compeers in the superior school to which lie afterwards removed : — lie was a self-disciplinarian in physical as well us mental matter * , and practiced himself in all kind * of athletic exc'icUes , such an running , leaping , wrestling , pitching quints , and tossing bur * . His fmi » e , oven in infancy , had been large and powerful , and lie now excelled most of his playmates iu contests of agility and strength . As a

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101856/page/19/