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    No. 409, January 23 ,1858.] T H E L E A ...

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    A YEAR IN BENGAL. The Timely Retreat; or...

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    ANECDOTES OF COURT FOOLS. The History of...

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    The Political Economy Of Art. The Politi...

    Mr Ruskin , that the glass-cutters' trade should be abolished , m order that all glass ware may be moulded , so as to economize human , labour . Upon the same principle , he would destroy the lapidary s art , seeing that diamonds and rubies , the hardest substances in nature , are cut ' into shapes that mean nothing , ' while sandstone and freestone may be chiselled ' into shapes that mean something . ' Possibly the Italians have -wasted much genius upon mosaic pictures ; but are we to narrow the energies of art within a circle occupied alone by the sculptor , the architect , and the painter ? We shall then cut ofT a hundred fruitful branches , and the results will not be , perhaps , more abundant or so immortal . Mr . Ruskin despises the jeweller and exalts the goldsmith ; but we are not inclined to controvert him when he enters a protest so wholesome against the practice , adopted in so many households , of melting down every salver , cup , and spoon , once in every generation , to keep pace with the fashion . There will never be a true goldsmith ' s art in the country while this barbarism remains in vogue . No artist will dream over designs for an urn that will go to the melting-pot in a few years , or at the next wedding in its possessor ' s family . He will content himself , as Mr . Ruskin suggests , with distorting the model of a flower into a handle , and burnishing a griffin ' s grimace into a corner ornament . We have among us no Francia , no Ghirlandajo , no "Verioohio , no Ghiberto , and partly for the reason stated . The manufacture of plate is the work of artisans . It is mere manipulation from printed designs . But Mr . Ruskin directs himself to topics even more familiar . His argument on fashionable dress will be read and admired , and will rot influence the habits of the reader . The beauty of fashion is too powerful to be overcome by a lecture , although the lecturer is Mr . Ruskin . The silken circle is not to be penetrated ; every flounce is a fortress , every flower in the hair an amulet , and a cloud of lace , catching all the reproaches of political economy , refracts and distorts them into sympathetic sophisms . Mr . Ruskin has a solemn and touching page on this matter , and asks a young girl to remember that a spot of blood may be upon her white raiment , and the grass of graves in the garland on her head ; but he will not persuade her . However , that is no reason why he should fail to preach . Compare his picture of Verona , jeweltinted and glowing , with the common-sense politics taught to the majority , and the truth will be apparent that , having disdained the study of the economists , Mr . Ruskin is ignorant of the laws that govern the minds of his contemporaries . Still bis has been a noble and will not be an unprofitable work , and this book , daring and empirical as it is , glances keenl y at principles , of which some are among the articles of ancient codes , while others are evolving slowly to the light .

    No. 409, January 23 ,1858.] T H E L E A ...

    No . 409 , January 23 , 1858 . ] T H E L E A P E R . 89

    A Year In Bengal. The Timely Retreat; Or...

    A YEAR IN BENGAL . The Timely Retreat ; or , a Year in Bengal before the Mutinies . By Two Sisters . 2 vols . Bentley . Ot the two sisters who passed a year in Bengal , one , to all appearance , is responsible for this narration , and it is impossible to read five pages from her pen without discovering the presence of a sp irited lady , naturally and habitually a satirist , to whom Anglo-Indians will not be grateful for her report upon their every-day manners . Her book contains no new information on India ; to have attempted didactism , indeed , would have been bold on the part of Rosalind or Madeline , who , during their twelvemonth ' s stay , danced ¦ with light dragoons , cantered about Meerut or Mussooree , and planned picnics in the jungle , but saw little of the natives except as servants , and only qualified themselves to gossip about the English in India . The volumes , therefore , must be described as presenting a series of dashing sketches , often frivolous but also often characteristic , of life among the civilian and military classes of Europeans in Bengal and the North-West ; and although a suspicion may arise that the sparkling flow of the lady ' s reminiscence is somewhat shallow , her diary may be commended as lively , entertaining , and not unsuggestive . Her testimony is freely given , and we can hardly suspect her of doing injustice to herself , however careful she may be to record the levities of her friends . Miss Madeline and Miss Rosalind Wallace Dunlop belong , by birth , to Anglo-Indian society ; they have grown up , in England , among Hindoo bronzes , preserved snakes , and japan , and it was not surprising that , upon emerging from the tenderness of girlhood , they should think of * running out to take a peep at Keith and the country , ' Keith being an official brother at a North-West station . Consequently , as we admiringly learn , they procured in Paris ' an outfit of unparalleled elegance , ' and made themselves ready to laugh at all persons and things from one winter to another . With a hundred and six dresses in convoy , they embarked for Madras , and after ridiculing not a few of the passengers in their note-books and portfolios , reached Madras in an amiable frame of mind . Through the cool darkness of the early Indian spring , they passed up marble steps , between marble columns , and rows of the swarthy -white-robed figures that first signalize Hindostan to a European eye ; but an abrupt transition brings Calcutta upon the scene , and the lady artists are delighted with its palatial beauty , by the gentlemen on ' splendid Arabs , ' languid ladies with ? the newest possible Paris bonnets on , ' pretty pal « children in fairy equi-Soges , ' graceful girls in the hats you' saw a month or two ago in Rotten Low . ' The account of Calcutta manners and 'jargon , ' though exaggerated , is amusing , as well as the unmerciful caricature of the griffs , written , it must bo remembered , by two young travellers whose griflinage had scarcely begun . But the aclf-complacency of Madeline and Rosalind becomes intrusive when , after referring to the pistols they carried , and the doubts expressed by Calcutta gentlemen of their return to England -within their allotted hoH-~ day ^ they .. agauroOTua ^ liftt > ^ tJbpj 3 iLJ « eptics ' little know the iron wills of the people they were speaking to . ' ~ " ~^" ' " ' ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦¦ ; ¦""" ' Fairly started towards the North-Wost , the sisters describe the arrangementH on the Grand Trunk Road , which appear to bo more complete than on many similar lines of highway in Europe . What we are told of the country amounts to a yawn over ' tho long tracts of white dust , ' and Allahabad , Benares , and Cawnpore flit acro ^ e the page with far more rapidity than the common-places . Wo know not that wo have reached Cawnpore until wo are leaving it , so that we muet warn tho reader not to be disappointed

    if he find that A xear in Bengal leaves Bengal very much out of the question . At length the sisters are located at Meerut , iu 'Keith ' s house , ' with its 'huge dark rooms , from which all light was carefully excluded , ' the punkah ceaselessly swinging , and people _ flitting to and fro in snowy garments . Two recently arrived young ladies from England seem , to have produced an agitation at Meerut ; and Rosalind and Madeline assure us that the cherrycoloured bows on their white shoes became the subject of a general contro- . versy , some admiring , some approving , others endeavouring to be judicial in their enunciations of art principles and on the harmony of tints and shades . Scarcely can the scent of orange-blossoms and Indian jessamine dispel the odour of the dullest country quarters , so sedulously do the two sisters labour to represent Indian society as the climax of small-talk , fashion , and flippancy . It would be difficult to enumerate the l frightful , ' * terrible , ' dreadful , ' ' awful' details at which these ladies make merry . They appear to find it an especially fascinating task to elaborate pretty sarcasms upon the junior officers on the station at ' the far-off city . ' It was pleasant to them , but we question the importance of such observations , even in a * description of everyday Anglo-Indian life , ' addressed to ' a wide class of readers . ' However , one of the sisters , who seems to be the principal composer of the work , sounds a frequent defiance , and is particularly careful to relate how , during a canter with an obstinate pony , she was wont to give him ' a good cut over the nose , ' and ' finish' by breaking her whip over his back . All this may be very agreeable ; but we doubt whether the assistant collector at Meerut will sigh to meet again with the diarist who compares his face to a cluster of codlin apples . Possibly , these journals were intended for private perusal ; if so , they might have been judiciously corrected before publication . When we are solicited to admire Madeline or Rosalind , in her bearskin jacket and emu p lume , it is pleasant to acquiesce , especially as the young lady pencils herself in so many attitudes , and points to the ankles shown below the Granvijlaise petticoat ; but we hope the gentleman quoted as Mr . Thayre of the thin legs' is not named as literally as by the Speaker , and that Miss Majr and Miss ODornton are not actual persons who may be offended by the familiarities of these intrepid narrators . ' Our amiable little friend Mr . Wren , ' who hung from a tree 'like a golden fleece , by his coat tails , ' will probably be anxious , in future , to avoid young visitors from England who sketch and keep journals . Occasionally , the writer quits her Anglo-Indian circles , and explores the jungle , prettily pictures the hill-villages , dips her pencil into gold and crimson for a few pages of word-painting concerning sunsets and glowing landscapes , notices the garlanded cottage doors , and the Puharrie peasants lounging under their eaves with garlands of marigolds and necklaces , while their women toil in the fields . In the valley of the Dhoon , ' everything seemed homelike—fields of grain , well watered and cultivated , and hedgerows like ^ England , save that most of them consisted of roses , now in all their pride of crimson blossoms . ' Of the products of this territory we have a hint upon which we would gladly see our importers act . The tea of India is not consumed in this country to anything like the extent which would be possible were that branch of trade fairly and regularly developed . The Dhoon tea ? has a most peculiar flavour , exceedingly disagreeable at first , but after you acquire a taste for it , you can drink no other . It is so strong that Keith often said it was not tea at all , but a revivifying fluid , under the influence of which he could encounter great fatigue . ' This gentleman ' believed he had found perfection when he first drank the Dhoon tea , ' so that it is not invariably ' exceedingly disagreeable at first . ' At Delhi they saw the Kootub , and from its summit admired the ruins that lie around , memorials , it might be believed , of some architectural enchantment of ancient days . Within the capital itself , not yet the focus of rebellion , great manufactories were at work , producing gold and silver embroidery , and the floss-silk renowned throughout Asia , employing * whole colonies of artists' and a legion of jewellers . " The Delhi natives are very rude , and we were told that it was wrong for ladies to go about unguarded . * As a light view of Anglo-Indian society in Bengal in time of peace , this book has its interest , although the writers have not been disciplined to a discreet use of their pens . Scarcely any contrast could be more striking than that suggested by the languor and luxury of every-day manners at a European station in the upper country , and the universal burst of horror which drove the Christian population that escaped the sword within their fortresses or to the sea , and changed Cawnpore from a station to which not a descriptive line is here devoted into the theatre of a crime by which the world itself has been startled . We should mention that the * two sisters * have illustrated their narrative with some very clever sketches of groups and scenes .

    Anecdotes Of Court Fools. The History Of...

    ANECDOTES OF COURT FOOLS . The History of Court Fools . By Dr . Doran . Bentley Ancient monarchs traced their lineage to the gods , and modern monarchs style themselves sacred , so that Dr . Doran is justified in attributing a heavenly ori g in to the Court Fool , In a very quaint and racy apologue , he sets forth this part of the history as a prelude to a disquisition on Tolly in general , on antique and legendary fools , on the fool by right of office , and on female fools . The wife of Seneca kept Harpaste , who became blind without knowing it ; Joanne , queen of Charles I . of France , maintained Artaude du Puy , whose garments were rich und costly ; Margaret , granddaughter of Charles the Bold , was proud of her special / W / tf-in-waiting ; and Queen Catherine de Medici had a ludy jester , although she sometimes resented a joke , as was proved by the grief which overtook Mademoiselle de JLimcuil , -who-smarted-hodily-foi' . Qno-oUieBvtQO ^ couwge ^ of the fourth Henry without an attendant in this capacity , whoso office irwas- ~~ - ' to laugh the Huguenots out of their creed . Don John of Austria was audacious enough to present his feminine fool at the French court , and Louis XIV . was much pleased by her society . Dr . Doran seems to have missed the Russian princess , who is said to have been compelled , after condemnation for treason , to purchase her life by grimacing and jesting to gratify tuq the levity and malice of the Empress .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 23, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23011858/page/17/