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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd May 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 18, 494 THE tEAPE| ISatxjrday,

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      Mitndys Australian Experiences. Our Anti...

      to their constitution than the excessive dryness of sultry Austwdia , which Sfi ^ ds guilty of robbing the cheeks of his fair countrywomen of their native bloom and freshness . Of New Zealand he says : "Putting myself in the position of a newly-arrived emigrant , neither Akarana nor Poneki would have many charms in my eyes , at least at first sight . ^ Tfae aspect of the former is repulsive , like that of all countries whose interior has been convulsed , and exterior disfigured by the action of subterranean fires . The mountainous character of the latter is discouraging to any one who , like myself , may have no fancy to liye in a continual state of up and down hill . This feature ., with the insecurity of property and the hostility of the natives , has prevented—as has

      happened in most of the other settlements in the colony—that devotion to farming pursuits on which its ultimate success depends ; and has reconciled the emigrants , who came out with worthier intents , to the wretchedly inferior traffic of the counter . Those who came to till , remained to peddle . Those who should have been producers became the sutlers and hucksters of the holder few and of the natives , while the better horn adventurers dissipated their capital in the clubs and taverns of the townships . Perhaps it is presumptuous in me to say , that , did circumstances induce me to make New Zealand my ' new home / my choice of locality

      would fall upon neither of the provinces I have named , nor even on any spot in the Northern Island . I cannot conceive that any solid advantage can accrue to the English settler from the labour or the vicinity of Maoris . Of what use is an idle , independent , free-and-easy savage , at 2 * . 6 d . or 3 * . a day ? I would pitch my tent , rather , on the comparatively uninhabited Middle Island , where there would be no Eauperahas and Rangihaietas , nor even Te Wheros , to watch and humour , bully or propitiate , according to one ' s strength or weakness ; -r-perhaps at the naswhere doubtless

      cent Church of England settlement of New Canterbury , , ere long , there will be a complete social slice of England transplanted , something ) n the old style , —Church and State , peer , priest , and peasant—an entire community packed and labelled in the Old Country , and landed without damage , as per invoice , in a fine , clear , level country , with plenty of room in rear of its port , and a British climate . To be sure , Bl . an acre is somewhat high for land 16 , 000 miles from Mayfair—especially if the purchaser stretches a point to pay it , in the faith that the settlement will maintain an exclusive episcopalian character ; for , long before its

      streets are half laid out , some nonconformist Poundtext will be found mounted on a barrel . at a corner allotment , or on a tree-stump in the market-place—and will not wait long for a flock ! Towards the end of 1850 I was informed , by an officer who had just arrived from the Canterbury Settlement , and who has purchased land and stock for the purpose of settling there , that when he left the place there were about 250 persons there , and that , at this essentially Church of England plantation , the only Churchman present was a Roman Catholic priest , to whom all the children were taken for baptism and other rites !" His judgment in favour of New Zealand is also influenced ^ by the superior beauty of the scenery , and the wondrous luxuriance of its woodtuttedlo oi xneir ^^

      lands ; the glossy , , nage gigantic muuer w . cco , cwo , and flowering parasites ; among the latter , the Bata , with its bright red blossoms literally illuminating the dark flanks of the mountains . Doubly welcome must such sights as these have been to his artistic eye , weaned as it had been by the comparatively monotonous and circumscribed landscapes of New South Wales , their want of verdure and water , their dusty pastures , and the sombre foliage of their interminable groves of gum trees , miscalled evergreens . Yet he is not insensible to the sylvan beauties of some favoured spots in that colony ; the loveliness of its native flowers , and the genial hospitality with which its soil and sky welcome exotics from our northern gardens ; so that the floral gift bestowed on you by your lady love , if you but stuck it next morning in the white sandv soil about Svdnev , " will grow , in a season or two , into a fine plant ,

      covered with flowers , and remaining a perennial memento ot the giver . He admits , also , the advantages of a climate in which hne weather is the rule , and rain the exception , so that " whatever you have planned for outdoor work or pastime , you may , for three hundred and twenty days out of the three hundred and sixty five , pretty assuredly perform . « It is a great blessing , too , to be able to go abroad in an ordinary indoor dress , instead of piling on extra pellicles , graduated according to the season . Here the family of clogs , galoshes , umbrellas , & c ., imported from Europe by the careful emigrant , are ' hung up as monuments ! ' Chesterfield , Benjamin , Taglioni , and Macintosh , are sumptuary nobodies ; and Nicol is only tolerated in hiaxnost er formI am aware of the existence of one warming-pan in New South

      gossam . Wales—one only ; and I shall move the owner to present it to the Sydney museum when she returns to England—perfectly certain that to ninety-nine out of a hundred Anglo-Australian visitors of the institution the intent and purposes of the implement would l ) c utterly inscrutable . * * * yetwithallitsbeaut . es the Australian climate , taken as a whole , is hard , glaring , almost withering in its excessive aridity . If it does not prompt to languor and hstlcssncss , like that of some other southern countries , neither is there anything voluptuous in it . . Byronis dictum regarding ' what men call gallantry' and ' climates sultry does not hold good , I think , with regard to New South Wales . It is an indirect libel upon it —happily ! Perhaps , however , so business-like a people would not be sentimental , romantic , poetical , or amorous , under any skyey influences !"

      From the storios scattered through those volumes , let us quote this—WATERLOO AND ALBUEKA . « Just after my roturn to Sydney from Illawnrra , I becamo acquainted with a singular pair of old soldiers , well known by some persons in Sydnoy , and in receipt of this charitable allowance . Living togethor in a rocky cave on the shore ot Double Bay—one of the romantic coves of Port Jncknon , about two miles from Purlinghurst—tlioy eked out a wretched livelihood by mnking and soiling besoms . They were known respectively by tho war-namca of Waterloo and Albuora ; no one d about tho real names of tho poor old fellows . They wore inseparable , lney

      care worked together , fed together , slept toRothotywnlked together to Sydnoy to soil their brooms , got drunk together almost daily , nnd together staggered homo to thoir habitation in tho rock—which by wiving thorn lodging money , aflorded thorn each no less than thrcc-and-Hixpenco a week for extra drink ! Waterloo had Herved in tho Grenadier GuardH , Albuora in tho 67 th regiment ; tho former a lino tall old man , the latter a regular littlo bandy-legged roar-rankor . E «« h wan aged about seventy ; each was invariably accompanied by a well-fed cur-do * which trotted at his heels . Inseparable , and perhaps truly attached m were tlna par

      nobilefyairum * they were hot always on the best of terms ; It was amusine f encourage one to talk of the other in Ws absence . Albuera professed the & r «> f * regard ftr Waterloo : — > - greatest ; « ¦ *• ' Oh , yes , your honour / said he to a . friend of mine who patronised the poo old soldiers , and was talking with him * \ Oh , yes , we are the beat of friends ^ nd comrades ; but that Waterloo- —you wouldn't think it , may be—that Waterloo is the proudest man I ever knew / ¦' * ' * Prou d ¦ ! ' demanded his colloquist , ¦; . ' 'hoyis that ?' «< Why he ' s proud because he was a guardsman , and I was only intheline — . that ' s why he ' s proud . Lord bless you ; sometimes ho would not spqak to me ' a week together—that he wouldn't / . ; " Thus it seems pride may live in a cave , dye s * in rags , accept a « cpnipassioiiato allowance ' of 44 «? . per diem , and inake besoms lv

      " One evening I perceived old Waterloo slowly passing my house towards his own abode . He was , contrary to custom , solus and sober , and the two dogs jogged dolefully after him . I guessed at once what had happened . Albuera \ vas dead . Pathos is sometimes composed of strange materials ; and to me there was some--thing really pathetic in the mere spectacle of two dogs , abject mongrels as they were , following that wretched whiterheaded and feeblei old man to his aplitary and surfnbeaten retreat . A few days afterwards the old Grenadier gave the follow--ing description of his comrade ' s last hours and character : — -

      " ' On Friday , howsomever , he was took wus . I got a cab and sent him to the Infirmary . He died on the road . Next morning I went down to the Infirmary , and gave in his effects—an old pair of trousers , not much good , and a quart pot ' That ' s his tomahawk , Sir , for cutting , the broom ; it ' s a better one than mine . It ' s all that ' s left ta ^ ne of poor old Albuera ! Well * Sir / continued Waterloo * - ^ s haking his head meditatively , as if recalling to mind the m « ny virtues of his deceased comrade—* Well , Sir , he was , he was the ... but he ' s gone ! .... AJiI well , he was the foul-mouthisest old blackguard that ever I Saw—that he was I * And the old soldier seemed relieved by this tribute to his departed friend and "

      comrade . " Some time later in the year , I rode out with my wife to pay a visit to the now lonely veteran , and had some difficulty in finding his retreat , which is situated in an unfrequented spot , cut off from the high road to the South Head hy a thick wood . The ' twa dogs' rushing out to . bay at the intruders , discovered ite . locality ; and , as we rode up , the tall , thin figure of the old Grenadier appeared , upon a rocky point , his tattered garments flying in the wind , as he stood up at th & mouth of his , cave , shading his eyes with his hand . His bare head was covered

      with curly snow white hair , thick as in youth . His long arms , burnt black by the sun , looked like dry oaken sticks through his ragged shirt-sleeves . The old man was sober , and was about to cook his supper over a litter fire of sticks , under the shelving rock that ' served him for parlour and kitchen and hall / We talked a good deal about the . officers of his old corps . I ^ aw that he did not recognise me plain clothes . In course of conversation , I told him that his former captain , LieUt .-Colonel * * * , had retired from the army , and taken holy orders . Upon , this the old Guardsman came a step nearer , and , laying his withered brown hand on my knee , as I sat on horseback , said , in a tone of instruction not a little

      edifying— . . " ' No , Sir ,- I beg your pardon , Sir , —but that couldn't be . No one after being a soldier would go for to be a parson ; not that it ' s no ways disgraceful , —I wouldn't say that it is , —but you see , Sir , ——oh ! no , damme , that couldn't be , no how ! ' And he looked at me with a grim smile of contemptuous unbelief . " It was clear that the retired Household Brigade-man was every bit as proud ' as his defunct comrade had asserted him to be ! I asked him what made him come to this country . ' Oh ! you see , I did not know when I was well off . I had twelve shillings a-week , my pension , and tho rent of two small cottages . I had a sister at Manchester , well to do in the world , owner of five or eix good houses . Says she to me , 'I ' ve room for you , Joe;—there ' s tea of a morning , and coffee of an evening for you , if you'll stay with me . You need not go and spend your money in a public-house ; for I ' ve beer , strong and small , in my cellar for you , and a hearty welcome . ' But , as I said before , I did not know when I was

      well of t / . " I was not without hopes that the loss of his boon companion plight have reformed the old man ' s habits . Alas ! the very next day , returning from my evening ' s ride , I met him , not drunk , but worse , —suffering under all the mental ana muscular flaccidity of returning sobriety , —the liquor dying in him , as it is called . His brooms were sold , his money spent , his square bottle of strong waters empty-The wretched old sot felt keenly the misery of his predicament . Tho prospect w his solitary ' cave , " ' By tho sad sea wave / and a night of spirituous destitution , was too much for his manhood ; and he wept ! The hardy old troglodyte had not slept under a roof for seven years . w survived his comrade longer than I expected ; for ho was still alive , although r ouci

      broken , when I left the colony in 1851 . , After all , when he comes to consider the subject in all its bearings , and not from one or two isolated points of view , Colonel Mundy finds JiunBeu impressed with a strong conviction that Australia is tho " beet ot ail huh * for European settlement . "

      494 The Teape| Isatxjrday,

      494 THE tEAPE | ISatxjrday ,

      The Clouds Of Aristophanes. The Clouds O...

      THE CLOUDS OF ARISTOPHANES . The Clouds of Aristophanes . Tho Greek Text , with a Translation »» % oorwBpon « ^ fc Mofcros , and Original Notes . Oxford : D . Mftcpnu Sockates , to us one of tho great heroes of Humanity—to us a name n short of sacred—was to the Athenians a troublesome Innovator , a i " terribly in earnest , " and , as such , an Anarchist . What wonaer * that the Athenian Tory and Witsolucedhis antagonistic fervor oyn ^' e this Bcformcr ridiculous P It is amusing to see men who dali J \ ., oniy antagonists , and read with groat relish tho abuse of ofch ° Tf instead turning wroth at tho unwarrantable satire of Aristophanes f xr , » .. ^ of fooling anger at tho Athenian wit , they would only look in upon own hearts , and learn a lesson from " tho Clouds ! ' . . • . c iroum-Wn < umnnl : n . nnnoivn nnv mMl tllOl'OUffhlv acquainted Wlt & * *» ^ , 11

      stances , hesitating to admit that if polemical satire is jasnuuu » . jer > Aristophanes is justifiable . That ho represents Socrates ftB Jfl ^ ntation an atheist , and a oorruptor of , youth , is certain ; that t ? 1 B . f { Y ^ I A rifltois a ihisreprcBentation , is certain ; but equally certain w it w » ^ puanos and tho Athenians generally boliovod it of Socrates , ana **

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 22, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22051852/page/18/