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Leader (1850-1860), 20th September 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20

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      908 The Ieade1 [No. 339, Saturday,

      908 THE IEADE 1 [ No . 339 , Saturday ,

      The Camp And The Cutter. Tiu Camp And Th...

      THE CAMP AND THE CUTTER . Tiu Camp and the . Cutter . By Edwin Gait . ¦ Hodgson . Mb . Galt made an excursion to the Crimea , visiting by the way the cities on the Mediterranean coast , some of the Grecian islands , and Constantinople , and upon his return glancing at Smyrna , Athens , Venice , and the caves of Adelsberg . He passes over the ground lightly , confidently , and . with an obvious resolution to astonish the reader . When serious ^ his gossip is pleasant ; but when disposed to be jocular , his levities are painfully dull . He offends , however , not by jocularity alone . Foolish flippancy is worse than a bad joke . Take these notes on Paris : if not impertinences , what are they?—Arrived at tie hotel Wagram at Paris , precisely at ten , —took a carriage without delay , —drove out to note all places of interest- The building of the Exposition of Industry not to be compared with either of our Glass Palaces ; Exposition of Fine Arts very interesting—a European picture gallery , in fact ; the Madeleine exquisite 5 Notre-Dame without attractions ; Champs Elyseea a splendid drive ; Place de la Concorde dusty , dangerous Boulevards very handsome ; Rue de Rivoli impresses one with its simple grandeur .

      Smartness of this sort is indiscreet , especially in a first page . "We soon find other examples : " Genoa is famous for something , but 1 almost forget what ; " an Irish officer has been promoted " for no fault of his own ;" " Malta is celebrated for the three S ' s , namely , Sirocco , Sun , and JPerspiration f "It was in Navaririo's Bay that Codrington saw the Turk-eys lay , " are not the worst specimens of that which the insensible Mr . Gait , proprietor of the Sparrow-Hawk , mistakes for humour . All readers -will not easily believe that a gentleman who is witty after such a fashion , possesses a faculty for elegant and picturesque description . Here is a glimpse of the Grecian Archipelago : — .

      There around us lay the lovely isles of Greece , dark shadowed in the foreground , 01 mellowed and misty in the far horizon . Gape Colonna stood out in . wild , colossal grandeur above us , rocks and cliffs and broken islands lay scattered about , and perched on the extreme summit of the Gape was seated the exquisite ruin of Minerva ' s Temple at Sunium ; it 3 columns of pure white Parian marble hanging in the air like tracery work against the deep blae heavens . Twenty-two centuries had passed away since this temple had been erected at the entrance of Athens' Gulf to the Goddess of "Wisdom , the tutelar genius of Athens : on tliis spot had Plato delivered his famed addresses to Ida pupils ; here was the scene of Falconer's poem of the " Shipwreck , "

      and Byron has testified to the extraordinary beauty of the views . Tie sea-shore was broken and torninto numerous caverns and pinnacles and overhanging cliffs . The crisp Borean . breeze brought perfume from thie shore . The wild birds , emerging from their caverns , flitted along the face of the ocean . The deep tranquillity was perfectly bewitching ; not a ship could be seen , no sign of hum & n life to mar that glorious prospect ; Nature alone seemed alive , serenelyand placidly carrying on her never-ending rotation of daily labour , fraught with bounty and beneficence to the whole human race . While thus gazing around us , we espied the faint outlines of a ship at anchor teneath the towering heights of the Cape . Imagination could easily have believed ler to be a Greek piratical vessel , watching lier prey from that solitary spot .

      In this , there is a touch of graceful fancy . Some of the sketches in the Crimea are still more suggestive . Biit we choose a fragment to show that Mr . Gait can be lively without being absurd . He went to a ball given by the French : — The boards of the hut had been , partially covered with long strips of figured calico . Curtains were hung over the doorways , and -wooden hoops , taken from casks , were suspended from the rafters , in imitation of chandeliers , to which wax candles were affixed . The building itself was perhaps fifty feet in length , and divided in the centre by a partition ; one portion being devoted to the purposes of the dance , and the other to those of a refreshment room . In one corner of this apartment , behind the refreshment table , stood Madame Gallien , "la Reine de Canonville , " as her admirers designated her . She was a tall person , of good figure , and dressed with the most becoming taste : a warm , dark-coloured , high dress , fitting closely to the form , a very pretty little collar , with lace-work open sleeves . She -wore a small white cap on the

      crown of the head , a silk embroidered apron , and she served her patrons in white kid gloves from behind her table . Her style was essentially Parisian . She possessed some pretensions to beauty , and moved about -with a grace and elegance perfectly bewitching . The greatest deference was paid to her by the Trench officers ; and shortly after we entered , one of the colonels ( his breast covered with honours ) led her into the salle de danse . The Hussar band , consisting of half a dozen brass instruments , were lent for the occasion j and as they struck up a quadrille , I had time to get my boots sponged , and then to look around me . Eight ladies were engaged in the quadrille . I learnt that they were the wives of French , sergeants and soldiers , and they were accompanied there by their husbands . They behaved with the greatest propriety , and after the dance generally ^ retired to drink eatt sucree , or now and then to sip champagne . There were present about fifty French officers and a dozen English , all wearing their large boots besmeared with mud and dirt . A small anteroom was devoted to cards ; two knots of Frenchmen were eagerly bending over a couple of tables and staking their money at ecartc . A cuisine was also attached to the

      establishment , which we inspected , and the savoury smells thorefrom prompted us to order a supper . The most original part of his book is devoted to an account of a trip to the mountains and valleys of Venootka , not far from Balaklava , but wild and sublime . A plain , thirty miles in circumference , is here hemmed in by colossal ridgos , under the shelter of which live the native Tartars , in hamlets embosomed amid delicious groves . After this excursion , Mr . Gait sailed , with various Russian trophies , for ScuUri . Here his evil propensity breaks out anew in an aggravated form : —

      I heard some frightful singing and yelling over my head ; I looked into the air , naturally thinking that some largo birds were passing over . The noisy , monotonous chant still continued ; and at length I espied , high up in the balcony of a minaret , a white-turbaned old Muezzin Turk , two hundred foot above us , Bhouting and gesticulating to all four points of the compass , and calling all true believers to attend the moaque . This performance takes place fl \» e timca every day . Supposing an old gold-laced aexton , in London , ascended ilvo times a day to tho top of St . Paul ' s , vainly tfTlng to make himself heard either at Notting-hill or Putney , would it not be tho height of absurdity ?

      n - u . JIamt .. wl 10 condescends so far does little justice to liimself . Let Mr . tinI . , V j ^ wed that it were better to persist in picture sketching , with an indifferent result , than to attempt to strike firo out of a stolid fancy . He is agreeable in tho caverns of Adelsberg ;—' All the imitations of grottos , all thoBtago effects in England combined , to produce

      haunted caverns or dens of demons , would utterly fail to realize the beautv and grandeur of this exquisite , yet stupendous , work of the great Architect . It is " not a grotto , nor a cavem ~ it can be compared only , 5 n extent , to colossal cathedrals—a succession of domes , naves , transepts , galleries , and buttresses , of fretwork ornament tracery work , and tastefully executed columns , formed thus -wonderfully by the con ' stant droppings of water through the calcareous rocks aboxe , hardening into stone as it falls , far surpassing , in the exquisite character of its varied mouldings , the labour ^ efforts of the most talented artist ; and yet , on the other hand , a directly opposite simile may be used , namely , that , by a stretch of the imagination , one -would be led to believe that he was wandering among the ruins of an entombed city , -where works of the sculptor's art continually presented themselves in various stag « sof preservation . . -. ¦¦ ¦ " ¦¦ " In colour , the stalactites are of a light soft yellow , or white , and parti v transparent and they hang about in continuous clusters , and points , and drapery-work except when broken by low damp tunnels , or disrupted blocks of rods intervening : ' the ev « at length becomes sated , and the mind confused , ny-the never-ending wonders . There is truth and effect in this , but if Mr . Gait ' s travelling companions were as much inclined to be witty , and as little able to succeed as himself it must have been a dull time on board the Cutter . '

      The Catiline Conspiracy. M. Tullii Cicer...

      THE CATILINE CONSPIRACY . M . Tullii Ciceronis Orationes . With a Commentary by George Long . Vol , III . ¦ This volume , included 3 n the Bibliatlieca Classica , edited by Mr . George ' Long and the Rev . A . JT . Macleane , contains , among others , the Orations against Catiline . The text used is Orelli ' s , as revised by Baiter and Halm though other versions are compared in Mr . Long ' s critical commentaries ' The type , paper , and form of this edition are admirable , and the several introductions and notes appear likely to be of considerable advantage to the student .

      Whenever the story of Catiline is repeated , it is impossible not to be reminded of the identity of character existing among all men who have sought to obtain sovereignty by illegal methods . Close , indeed , is the parallel of ancient Rome with modern Paris . It is especially notable that Catiline inherited a great name and the rank of patrician without much fortune . He was strong in body , but addictedto dissipation . He could bear toil , and did not fear danger . He had great abilities , passions , and courage , and no scruples . From his youth he aimed at power , and was early implicated in more than one seditious plot . Adherents he always had—but they were among the mean and needy . " They were all poor , all were in . debt . Their present condition was " bad : the prospect was still-worse . There was no way out of the difficulty except by a successful revolution , which would give them wealth and honours and power . " To these men Catiline gave a promise that he . would enrich them atj the expense of the state .

      The Roman . St . Arnauds followed the Roman conspirator , > wlio , to complete ^ the parallel , swore in the Senate that it was impossible lie should be plotting against the state , declared himself an object of calumny , and redoubled his exertions' to p btain supporters . The capital , says Sallust , was full of abandoned or foolish men—some who lived in fear of punishment for scandalous crimes , others who had wasted their patrimonies in profligate extravagance , others who had been inspired with insane doctrines and more insaiiehopes—and thiiswasmatured the plot against government and liberty . It was to be put in execution by night , after a fresh perjury had been committed to lull the suspicions of the Senate ^ If we take up Machiavelli ' s description of a man designing to usurp the chief power of a state , may vre not' look before and after , ' and see Catiline in Paris , and Napoleon in Rome ? "With all their dependents around them" ( we quote Mr . Long ' s paraphrase ) , " who occupy every post , the usurpers maintain their power , and their instruments have their ambition and their greediness satisfied ; while all the rest are constrained to support that yoke which , force , arid nothing else , makes them endure . "

      In the Orations themselves , how many a keen and flashing invective , cutting at all plotters in the dark , might have been as fittingly uttered in Paris before the evil days of December , 1851 1

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      —?—Portrait Of Mazzini. Messrs. Matjll A...

      —?—PORTRAIT OF MAZZINI . Messrs . Matjll and Polyblank have published , uniform with the portraits of Professor Owen Mr . Roebuck , & c , but not in connexion with the series , a photographic portrait of Giuseppe Mazzini . It is nn admirable example of the nrt—as a ' likeness , ' perfect . Appended is a biographical sketch , brief , but far superior to those which accompany the 'living celebrities . ' The Friends of Italy will be glad to possess this memorial of one of her most distinguished Friends . .

      Theatrical Notes. P«E Grand Show-Piece A...

      THEATRICAL NOTES . P « E grand show-piece at tho Theatre Royal , Kremlin—wo " beg pardon , the Theatre Imperial—has occupied so much of our space this week , that our criticisms on the poor and petty doings in the theatres here at home must indeed be Theatrical Notes , and nothing more . To be brief , then—brief as the very soul of wit—we have in the first place to chronicle that on Monday Mr . E . T . Smith reopened Dnimv ,. Lank with the Lady of Lyons , Oxen ford ' s farce of Twice Killed ^ & c . The chief attraction was a n « w actress ( Mrs . Emma . Waller ) , who has already earned some golden opinions in the golden lands of California and Australia , and who on Monday played the part of Pauline , and on Tuesday that of Julia in the Hunchback , to the satisfaction , not only of

      the audience , but of . the critics . —On tlio same night , the Lyceum opened under tho now management , when Mr . Dillon was so obliging as to ren tho hearts of his audience by his pathetic performance of Balphcyor ; when Miss WooLCAu ( we choose to forget her married name ) once more sparkled before tlie London public , mindful , as we take it , of that eloquent appeal we addressed to her , about n year ago , not to "leave the loathed stage ; " and when Mr . William Brouqji mnd o his first appearance aa an actor in a burlesque written by himself , called JPerdtla , or the lioyal Milkmaid , founded on Mr . Cuaklks Kkan ' s Winter ' s Tale . Mr . Urough performs Polixenes . At present , he is Hardly enabled to do justice to whatever acting powers ho may possess , owing to a very natural nervousness ; nnd we therefore prefer to postpone our criticism on him till ho has become more fam ilior with his new sphere .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 20, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20091856/page/20/