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    J R By the Half-Moon fell NoraL htfu JPf...

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    SIR ROBERT PEEL AS A TYPE OF STATESMANSH...

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    ^ \ r-\ j . (H/lJt ^iTI0 * ^ *

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    THE GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION, Four or fiv...

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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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    Christmas Reading For Old And Young. We ...

    poor , On . the pavement fell poor Norah , Just about to be a mother . She'd keen tippling .. with some women , Just within the Wine-Vaults ' swing-door , When her Gossip , out of mischief , Partly idle , partly spiteful , Pushed the swing-door from behind her , Pushed in twain the Wine-Yaults' door" flap , And poor Norah tumbled backward , Downward through the darkening twilight , On the gangway i ' , thftiiavement , On the gangway foul with mud-stains . : " See ! a wench falls ! " cried the people ; " Look , a tipsy wench is falling . '' There amidst the gaping starers , There amidst the idle passers , On the gangway foul , the pavement , In the murk } - darkened twilight , Poor drunk Norali bore a boy-babe . " Thus was born young Drop o Wather , Thus was Lorn the child of squalor . Drop o' " VVatker is thus accoutred for his street avocations : — He had bludgeon , Millctnlikefun , Good strong bludgeon , niade of ash-wood ; When into his hand he took it , He could smite a fellow ' s head oif , He could knock Mm into next week . He had ankle-boots so jemmy , •' Good strong ankle-boots of calf-skin ; When he pat them on his trotters , When lie laced them up so tightly , At each step three feet he measured . Prom lis Inir-went Drop o'Wather Dressed for roving , armed for plunder ; Dressed in shooting-jacket natty , Velveteea with pearl-white buttons : On his head a spic-and-span tile , Round his waist a vest of scarlet ; ' . In his mouth a sprig of shamrock , , In his breast a dashing brooch-pin , Gold mosaic set with sham stones ; With his bludgeon , Millemlikefun , With his ankle-toots so jemmy . Another parody of " Hiawatha" is The Song of Mil / cunwatha : translated from ^ the original Fecjee . by Marc Antony Henderson , D . G . L ., Professor of the Feejee Language and Literature in the Brandywine Female Academy ( Cincinnati : Tickell and Grinne ) . —This is also a very clever production , though not equal to the London Legend . It is a story of hydropathy ; but the scene being laid among wild people and -wild localities , the contrast between the parody and the original is not sufficiently great . Several other paTodies on living poets ( chiefly English ) complete the measure of this Cincinnati volume , the author of "which , in . his travesties , shows a remarkable power of retaining something of the poetry of the originals -which he is mouthing at . A very pleasant book for boys is Tfie History of Jean-Paul Choppart ; or , the Surprising Adventures of a Ry . nuway ( Lambert . )—This woi'k , which is translated from the French , and illustrated by French woodcuts , forms one of the volumes of u The Entertaining Library , " , in its red and gold cover , would form a pretty present at Christinas . Jean-Paul is a bad boy , who runs away from his father , and ( like every boy in a story who runs away ) falls in with a rascally travelling showman , but is eventually restored , repentant , to his forgiving parents . The tale is professedly a . moral tale , but is genial instead of canting , and pervaded by a cheerfully religious tone , altogether free from sectarianism . Some charmingly written tales for the young are issued by Messrs . Smith and Elder , under the title of Hound the Fire : Six Stories , by the Author of *' The Day of a Baby Boy , " & c The writer ( a lady , we are convinced ) has the art of telling a story in a manner which we should say "would be certain to interest those for whom she works , and -which assuredly is capable of interesting us . Ilor action is dramatic , her command over our emotions considerablej and her descriptions beautifully felt . The stories are supposed to be narrated by children ; and this is made apparent in the language , without injuring the effect of tlic narrative . A little less melancholy and a little more cheerfulness , however , would be an improvement . A little quarto pamphlet , culled Tim History of our Cat Asjjasia , by Bessie Rayner Parkes , and illustrated by Annie Leigh Smith ( Bosworth and Harrison ) , is a trillo from which we have derived great pleasure : firstly ( to be . gallant as well as truth-speaking ) , because it is written by Miss Parkes , of whoso poem about Shelley we retain charming recollections ; secondly , because the scene is laid mostly in Wnlos , the home of romanco and legendary poetry ; thirdly , boeause it is about cats , for which sleek and elegant verm ' m we confess , like Miss TarUes ( and alao like Dr . Johnson and Voltaire ) , to haying a partiality ; fourthly and lastly , because here is chronicled , besides Miss Aspa 8 ia , " a young cat culled Tobias , and , for short , Toby "—the very style and title of a piece of black mischief on four legs owned by our awful selves ; for why should we not , when on these genial grounds , abandon the cold disembodiment of reviewers , and confess to something of a warm hearth-rug personality ? " Toby , " says Miss Parkes ( and we ratify the description ) , * ' was a very handsome fellow , with strong little legs , covered with the thickest , softest fur . " The adventures of Aspasia arc told in this little book with delightful vivacity , playfulness , and truth . The incidents are all of the simplest kind ; yet Miss Parkes interests us from the first page to the last b y her own enjoyment of her subject , her bright good humour , and her little bits of description of Welsh scenery , in which , with her reminiscences of King Arthur , Sir Launcelot , and Queen Gucncvar , wo detect the hand of the poet . Miss Smith ' s illustrations are quaint and pretty ; and altogether here is a very pleasant eighteenpennyworth .

    Another delightful book for the young is Lady Wallace ' s adaptation ' ironi the original "—though she does not tell us in what language that is—of Voices fromike Greenwood ( Bell and Daldy ) . —The authoress supposes the trees and flowers to have a language , and to tell to one another stories of their own life and experience . The idea is very pretty , and is wrought out ¦ with a good deal of bright and sportive fancy . ° > .. . » ^ m ^ .

    J R By The Half-Moon Fell Noral Htfu Jpf...

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    Sir Robert Peel As A Type Of Statesmansh...

    SIR ROBERT PEEL AS A TYPE OF STATESMANSHIP . Sir Robert Peel as a Type of Statesmanship . ; By Jelinger Symons , Esq . Longman and Co . We have , on more than one occasion recently , devoted considerable space to a consideration of the public career of Sir liobert Peel . The forthcoming volume of his Memoirs , announced for January , -will again bring him under notice . _ It is not , therefore , from any want of respect to Mr . Symons that we decline to discuss with him the merits and failings of the statesman -whose character he has undertaken to analyze in this volume . JBufc we cannot give him credit for all the impartiality he attributes to himself , or even fox that faculty of appreciating the acts and motives of public men which could have enabled him , under any circumstances , to become the biographer of Sir Robert Peel . Mr . Roebuck has said that Peel ' s strongest sympathies were with the nation ; Mr . Symons affirms that they were not . " His idol was power . " In justification of this remark , Mr . Symons adduces no evidence whatever . This is simple assumption :-

    —For some time previously to his death he was pondering even on further parliamentary reform : and there is reason to believe that the great difficulty which perplexed him and embarrassed his schemes , was low to propitiate the Church -without offending the people . There is little doubt that had his life been prolonged , he would have successfully carried sweeping Teforms ; while the latest act of his official life would have been perchance to resign the Premiership to the Riglt Honourable Richard Cobden , then and long previously a memberof his Cabinet . N " or is this a fair statement , —it is not fair , because it is imperfect t—^ If Sir Robert Peel was deficient as an orator , he was equally so in the creative faculties of Statesmanship . He never originated a single great measure ; but no man equalled him in accomplishing them : and he was signally skilled as an administrator . Such is the dispensation of Providence in the division of labour . It is

    designed that one man should conceive , and another execute : that one should be the man of vision , the other of action . Sir Robert Peel performed the latter function , with , devoted zeal . His mission was that of Alexander : le was no philosopher , least of all an Aristotelian philosopher . It was said of him by Wilberforce , who estimated his powers less highly , that no man could drive a pair better than Peel , but that he could not manage four in hand at all . Mr . Doubleday falls into a similar mistake , and says that he was timid in dealing -with abstract questions of magnitude . No man showed less timidity in dealing with them-when they became the road to office , or the means of retaining it : Catholic Emancipation and the Repeal of Corn Laws to wit . But during three-fourths of his life he was the Minister of stationary interests , and . therefore the opponent of questions of magnitude , which are essentially questions of progress .

    But we are not arguing with Mr . Symons . To represent in general terms his theory of Sir Robert Peel , we will quote the last paragraph of his laborious essay : — Though we are removed from the vices and fatuities of the Liverpool and Newcastle Cabinets , and the minor profligacies of later dynasties , we aie bereft of the elements of any order of power essential to tie fruits of legislation and the functions of Government . This is the natural result of that subjugation of principles to tho chances of Parliamentary majorities , of which Sir Robert Peel ' s career was a type and a sanction . It is the harvest -we must expect to reap from the misjudgment which attempts to raise that able administrator , that dexterous debater , and useful man , to a reputation which history and the maturer wisdom of other times will hold sacred to an order of Statesmanship , characterized by the greatness of Chatham " , the talents of Bukke , and the consistent probity of Lansdo-wse . We , on the contrary , undertake to say , that however great was Chatham , and however eloquent was Burke , there" was never a more honest statesman than Peel .

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    The Gallery Of Illustration, Four Or Fiv...

    THE GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION , Four or five new characters have been added to Miss P . Horton's lively and clever entertainment . The name alone of this delightful actress and admirable singer is a pledge of success ; and now that , as we understand , the entertainment is under the auspices of that ablest and most popular of impresarios , Mr . Beat . k , an additional guarantee of excellence is ottered to the public . The added scenes are divided into two parts , and supported by a somewhat feeble donnee . Mr . and Mrs . T . German Keed are supposed to be setting off on a musical tour round the world a la . Catiikrine Hayes , and nre on the look-out for a fashionable governess to superintend the education of a ' ward , ' in their

    absence . Miss P . Hohton personates the ' parties' who offer for the situation with infinite spirit and humour , nnd transforms herself with astonishing rapidity . We cannot siiy very much in praise of tho dialogue ; and the songs ami accompaniments are unfortunately tlio weakest part of the entertainment , quite unworthy of the noble voice and accomplished vocalization of Miss P . IIoiiton , whom we can never hear without regretting that she iB not at the Opisua . Mr . T . Geujian Rued is a little shy and uneasy at times dramatically , and his accompaniments are not altogether to our taste . But , on the whole-the scenes arc well sustained , and tho Mrs . Carrickfergus O'Conolly is a masterpiece of faithful and lifelike personation , without the slightest exaggerationof which any one familiar with Irish society will attest the reality .

    , The SuitnEY company have been performing Romeo and Juliet , with Mr . Cueswick as Hornet ) , Mr . Shepherd as Mercutio , and a new actress , rejoicing in tho not very romantic name of Biddxks , us Juliet . A little piece by Mr . Kobisut JJnoucit , based upon a trifle recently produced at one of tho Paris theatres , first saw the light in an English dress at tlio Olympic on Thursday evening . Dress , ty-the-by , is the subject of it , since it treats of , and is entitled , Crinoline . Mr . Houson has hero one of his favourite parts—a jealous husband j tho audience laugh and sympathise alternately ; ana the furco is successful .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20121856/page/19/