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Leader (1850-1860), 21st July 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 9, "T^7^or, «/ a Lost Life. By Wllltom Plat...

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      Hunting In The Himalaya.* Nphe Author Of...

      purchase one of Mr , Wilson ' s complete sets of birds' skins , which can be commissioned through Messrs . H . G . Scott and Co . of Massuree . The sportsman should , however , learn the cry of each variety , and their several minor calls ; as when travelling through the jungle , some faint note close at hand , which the uninitiated would not notice , may arrest the steps of the practised hunter / and direct him to game which would otherwise have entirety escaped him . " We now come to a chapter upon " hill peculiarities , " in which we are made acquainted with the old Sanscrit fable of the five Pandua princes , who , in an archery contest in whieh the reward was to be left to the discretion of the king , agreed beforehand that whichever of their number should be lucky enough to bear off the prize , should share it equally between himself and his

      less fortunate brethren . The prize turned out to be the king's daughter , who thus found herself blessed in the possession of five husbands , instead of the one she had originally expected , which single spouse , doubtless , had her wishes in the matter been consulted , she would have considered as quite enough of a good thing . And thus , it is said , was the system of polyandry first introduced in these parts . In the Jaunsar district , when the elder brother marries the woman is equally the wife of the younger brothers , though the children are , by courtesy (?) called the children of the eldest brother . When much difference exists in the ages of the brothers of a family , as , for instance , when there are six brothers , the elder may be grown up , while

      the youngest are but children , the three elder then marry a wife , and when the young ones come of age they marry another , but the two wives are considered equally the wives of all six . " Among the author ' s numerous hill experiences , we find the following : _•< On the first appearance and fall of the regular rains , the grass or jungle throughout the hills swarms with small leeches , which , when you march in any costume but the kilt , wander up your trousers , down your stockings , and gorge themselves to overflowing with blood before you suspect their arrival . " The author now enters the " snow ranges" of the Himalaya , in search of the rarer kinds of Thibetian animals . This chapter is particularly descriptive and interestinginitiating us into the mysteries of snow

      , storms , glaciers , frozen torrents , and the several peculiarities of these wild and perilous passes . Further on he says ¦ : < ' There is a stream entering tha Dhowlna at Summunghenta , which issues from a snow valley , apparently not yet explored ; it is called ' the gorge of snioke ' or vapour ; * its physical features are ' fudged' in the portrait of it which we find in our maps , and the natives in the neighbourhood say that they have never gone through it , as there is no practicable path , that it contains nothing , and trends nowhere ! The stream which issues from it , however , is very Impetuous , -and effects a natural quartz-cifushing of " the rocks in its channel , and several Dhunias , or gold washers , visit it annually , to exti act gold from the sands of the bed . "

      We will here take leave of Mr . Dunlop , allowing him , without further comment , to pursue his course unmolested through the " Bunchdwr tracks in eternal snow . " Before doing so , however , we can heartily recommend this volume to the inspection of the public , and especially to such readers as ' . may feel a personal interest in the peculiar kind of adventure to a detailed account of which the present pages are devoted .

      July 21 I860.] The Saturday Analyst And ...

      July 21 I 860 . ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 673

      The " Privy Coimctl."* We Suspect That M...

      THE " PRIVY COimCTL . " * WE suspect that most of our readers have a very vague impression as to what the Privy Council is . We know what or rather who a Privy Councillor is . But what he does singly ' , and still more what he does collectively , and above all , what is the reason of his being , are all topics of mystery . Indeed , beyond certain associations with the great Gorham case , and the recent proclamation against vice and immorality , we should be puzzled to give any proof for our faith that the Privy Council is a living entity . Our own ignorance on the subject was , we confess , as dense as that of most of our readers , till we came , the other day , across an account of the Privy Council , which is at once instructive and interesting . Strange , too , to say , this account is contained in the most unpalatable form of an Oxford Prize Essay ; and it is because we know that this is about the last placewhere anybody will naturally look for anything , either instructive or interesting , that we wish to call attention to the fact . It is worth knowing that something good can come out of Galilee .

      The theory which the author puts forward is , that the Privy Council is , properly speaking , the last remnant of the great " Curia Regis , ' which formed the Council of the early Norman Kings . The Curia originally decided , or rather advised , on every matter which concerned the King , that is when the King required advice , or chose to take it . In course of time , this assembly split up into various sections , or committees , one of which undertook the decision of justice , and executed law in the King ' s name . Another undertook affairs of the iving tne X'

      more private ana oecamo nvy uouncu . One of these private affairs consisted in hearing appeals to the King's equity from the decisionof-the law courts ; -f-and it was only at a later period that the Court of Chancery split off oguin from the Privy Council . It would take us too long to trace out , as the author does , with considerable ability and clone power of reasoning ,., how tho Privy Council varied in its character with tho circumstances of the time and the weakness or vigour of tho reigning- monarch . In fact , if we may use tho term , the Privy Council was all along the middle man between the Crown and tho nation . Its absolute authority

      depended on the absolute power of its master . Its relative power varied inversely as the strength of that master's character . As a specimen of the curious information with which the Essay is replete , we quote a sketch of the Privy Council ' s occupations : On the 20 th August , 1839 , the Council is engaged in negotiations with the Duke of Richmond about the restitution of the Earldom of Richmond . Their next business is tp settle that Lord Stanley be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , then to send an embassy to France , and to review the accounts of the Treasurer of Calais . Their deliberations , held in the King's presence , are concluded by arrangements with regard to certain pensions . laterThe

      Look at the Council board twelve years . meeting recorded was held some time in March or April , 1401 . The business is even more than usually multifarious . The Counsellors are occupied with the collection of the customs , a dispute between the Abbot and the towns' folks of Cirencester , arid the despatch of J . Curzon , Esq ., to Carlisle , that he may report the details of the last treaty with Scotland . They next arrange a list of Lords commissioned to inquire into the truth of accusations brought against certain malefactors in the County of Gloucester . They then accord an annual pension to the son of Lords Salisbury and Oxford , till they attain their majority ; give their attention to the funds necessary for an embassy , which is to conclude a marriage between the King's daughter and the King of the Komans , and resolve to take the royal pleasure on certain points connected with the King ' s retinue . One other example is sufficient . The assembly is held during the the reign of Henry V ., May 29 th , 1415 . The first business entered

      on has reference to an alliance with the Duke of Burgundy . The Council then turns to money matters , and arranges to pawn the King ' s jewels , a mode of raising money constantly recurred to by the Crown in periods of distress . Various measures are then devised for defending the kingdom . The Chancellor is ordered to issue commissions of array . Proclamations are to be made , ordering a general erection of beacons , and directions are given about victualling the army and the fleet . From civil the ministers direct their mind to ecclesiastical matters , and enjoin the Bishops to take measures to resist the malice of the Lollards . Then follow matters of police . The Lord Mayor is to be spoken to about the destruction of the walls of the Friars Augustines , -and to be cautioned not to proceedwith ' anydemoHtionsin the Citywithout the advice of some persons , probably , commissionersappointedby the Council . At the same timethe Mayor is to becommunicatedwith about the imprisonment of certain workmen , who had been impressed in London

      for the royal service . In fact , if anybody wishes to get- _ at any information about the " Privy Council" in a portable and _ a reasonable form , without reading through dry volumes of blue books , we recommend him heartily to turn to Mr . Dicey's Essay . -

      •Thti Privy Council. The Arnold Prit^ Kt...

      • Thti Privy Council . The Arnold Prit ^ Ktsait , 1800 . By Albert Venn Dicey . B . A . Fellow of Trinity College , Oxford . T . ami O . ftliflrapton , Oxford ,

      New Romances.* Many Of Our Readers May B...

      NEW ROMANCES . * MANY of our readers may be already familiar with Burke ' s celebrated passage relative to the universal sovereignty oi reason being the only true sceptre under which we can steer through the troubled waters of life , without the fear of foundering and being submerged at every onward step . For the benefit of such of our -readera ^ liowfivpr , aa ^ may not be , conversant with , this sayjng , we insert it , as follows : — " Taking in the whole view of life , it is more safe to live under the jurisdiction of severe but stead y . reason , than under the empire of indulgent but capricious passion . " With this excellent motto Mr ; William Platt has embellished the title-page of a verv ingenious production , entitled , " The Story 6 f a Lost Life . " In this short history , the author has endeavoured to demonstrate the infallibility of the doctrine thus put forth by one of our best

      writers , as also to warn the young and inexperienced , and all those enlisting for the first time in the great battle of existence , from fiillino-into an error which has wrecked many a bravo and enthusiastic " spirit , whose budding energies had given promise of such a bright and glorious career . To trust unreservedly to the impetuosity of our passions , impulses , or by whatever name the non-regulated feelings of the heart is known to casuists and moralists , the author has ' fully succeeded in showing , is running ourselves against so many moral quicksands , which arc only too liable to founder all our most cherished hopes and wishes , scatter them broadcast on the waters , without our retaining the remotest chtmcc of their ultimate realization . The character of the hero , Christopher Horncastlo , is intended to illustrato the theory upon which the author has built up

      the argument of his book ; and ho fe , of course , brought forward as an instance of how little the most brilliant natural capacities can in themselves avail to render any individual great and honoured , unlesn accompanied by industry , perseverance , and that steadiness of purpose and resolve , by which alone their existence can be made manifest to the world at largo . Though endowed by nature with the highest intellectual faculties—faculties which only required a little judicious guidance , und earnest , heartfelt endeavour on the part of their gifted possessor , to have enabled him to achieve for himself a world-wide reputation und -renown ,- ^ yetr throuff ha constitutional . MTcaohvtiQjl . oi - « r .,. i + i ,,, i ^ . v Afn nrnnnr nvabin of fu » lf-rclianec and restraint , ana ,

      above all , an habitual yielding to the impulse oi the moment , under the supposition that ail impulses , wringing directly front the heart , the fountain of everything great and nobld iu our imperfect prminwations , must necessarily lead us in the right direction , the sophist \ of which mode of reasoning will make itself at once apparent to all

      "T^7^Or, «/ A Lost Life. By Wllltom Plat...

      "T ^ 7 ^ or , «/ a Lost Life . By Wllltom Platt , author of » Betty Wea . mlns . ery ' « Mothers miA Sons , " & c . London : T . Ountloy > . owl >> . PnntJlln Julian Mountjou ; or , th « Vo » i > areil famll ,,. An ^¦^« ^ T lSS ^" T « o « lS ^ t ? ^ CwrHnff , autnor of " 'fho SoltUor ot Fortune , " & o . LouUon : I lionm * moiik """ -

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 21, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21071860/page/9/