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Leader (1850-1860), 29th August 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20

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      An Irish Member In Rome. Rome ; Its Rule...

      Oil the day previous to the execution of a criminal , they invite , by public placard , prayers for his happy passage to the other life . In the night of that day , the brothers , some half dozen in number , including priests , assemble in the church of S- Giovanni di Fiorentinj , not far from the New Prisons . Here they recite prayers , imploring the Divine assistance in the melancholy office which they are about to perform . They then proceed to the prisons , walking , two by two , in silence , some of the brothers bearing lanthorns in their hands . On entering the chamber called confbr ' teria , they assume the sack and cord , in which they appear to the prisoner as well as to the public ; They divide between them the pious labours . Two perform the office of consolers ; one acts as the sagrestano . ; and another makes a record of all that happens from the moment of the intimation of the sentence to that of the execution . These

      dismal annals are carefully preserved . At midnight the guardians of the prison go to the cell of the condemned , and lead him , by a staircase , to the chapel of the conforteria . At the foot of the stairs , the condemned is met by the notary , who formally intimates to him the sentence of death . The unhappy man is then delivered tip to the two ' comforters , ' who embrace him , and , with the crucifix and the image of the Sorrowful Mother presented to him , offer all the consolation which religion and charity can suggest in that terrible moment . The others assist in alleviating his misery , and , without being importunate , endeavour to dispose him to confess , and to receive the Holy Communion . Should he be ignorant of the truths of Christianity , they instruct him in them in a simple manner . If the condemned manifest a disposition to impenitence , they not only themselves use every effort which the circumstances of his case render necessary , but call in the aid of other clergymen . The other members of the confraternity employ the hours preceding the execution in the recital of appropriate prayers , and confess and communicate at a mass celebrated two hours before dawn . Clad in the sacco , they proceed , two by two , to the prison , the

      procession being headed by a cross-bearer with a great cross , and a torch-bearer at each side , carrying a torch of yellow wax . The procession having arrived at the prison , the condemned descends the steps ; the first object which meets his gaze being an image of the Blessed Virgin , before which he kneels , and , proceeding on , does the same before the crucifix , which is near the gate that he now leaves for ever . Here he ascends the car which awaits him , . accompanied by the ' comforters , ' who console and assist him to the last ; and the procession moves on to the place of execution , the members of the confraternity going in advance . Arrived at the fatal spot , the condemned descends from the car , and is led into a chamber of an adjoining building , which is hung with black , where the last acts of devotion are performed , or , if he be impenitent , where the last efforts are made to move him to a better spirit . The hour being come , the executioner bandages his eyes , and places him upon the block ; and thus , while supported by his cora / brforz , ^ and repeating the sacred name and invoking the mercy of Jesus , the axe descends upon the criminal , and human justice is satisfied . The brothers then take . charge of the body , lay it on a bier , and , carrying it to their church , decently inter it . Finally , they conclude their pious work by prayer .

      Excepting a few pages of similar descriptive matter , we have found in the volume nothing but extravagance and absurdity . Intelligent supporters of the Popedom , we fully believe , will be anxious to disclaim an advocate so incautious , reckless , and liable to ridicule as Mr . John Francis Maguire .

      836 The Leader. |_No. 388 ^ August 29,18...

      836 THE LEADER . |_ No . 388 ^ August 29 , 1857 .

      Washington's Part In The American War. L...

      WASHINGTON'S PART IN THE AMERICAN WAR . Life of George Washington . By Washington Irving . Volume IV . Bohn . The Ion " -expected fourth volume of Washington Irving ' s history has at last made its appearance . We expressly say History , for althoug h the three other volumes , and especially the earliest , were , as . the title indicates , a biography , this fourth volume contains more historical than biographical matter ; dwells more on the events of the revolution than on the individual deeds of the republican leader . And this could not well be otherwise . General Washington himself , when applied to by his old friend Dr . Craik for materials to write his memoirs , answered that any memoir o £ his life , distinct and severed from the general history of the war , would be

      unsatisfactory to himself as well as to the world . However , in spite of the kaleidoscopic changes of this ever-changing struggle , in which Dame Fortune was even more unstable than is her wont , with victory up to the last moment hovering to and fro between the British and American lines , General Washington ' s venerable figure is seen standing in the centre of the "rand drama , ever calm and great . In the same hour in which he sends ins tructions to the commanders of the army and reports to the Congress of the United States , he gives directions to his gardener at Mount Vernon to sow holly berries in drills . Not content with the fame of being a first-rate general , he strove , above all things , to be a worthy citizen , and a »/«« , in the full sense of the word . It is this which raises George Washington

      so infinitely above the Cassars and Napoleons of all ages . Throughout nil his campaigns he kept himself informed of the course of rural affairs at his much-beloved Mount Vernon . By means of maps , on which every Held was laid down and numbered , he was enabled to give directions i ' ov the cultivation of the different parcels of land , and to receive nccounts of their Crops . No hurry of affairs ever prevented a correspondence with his overseer or agent ; and he , in " return , exacted weekly reports , Thus his rural occupations were interwoven with his military cares ; the agriculturist was mingled with the soldier , and perhaps often predonunatea over it . Those strong sympathies with the honest cultivators of the soil , and that paternal care of their interests to bo noted throughout his military career , may bo ascribed , in a great measure , to the influences of his distant country boihc . Another element , too , contributed greatly to

      make George Washington more a soldier-citizen than a citizen-soldier , namely , the presence of his wife , who accompanied him through all the atornos of war and revolution . Mrs . Washington presided with quiet dignity ut > head-quarters , and cheered with her presence the wintry gloom of Valley JPorgo and other encampments . She had a cheerful good sense , that always made her an agreeable companion ; was besides an excellent manager , and . —honi soit qui mat y $

      our day , calmer readers will be found on this side' of the Atlantic to agree in the sentence of Washington ' s court-martial as regards the unhappy young man ; A romance has been thrown round Andre which seems to increase with the progress of years ; yet Washington Irving , though a novelist before he became an historian , spurns romance in this case , and cites unromantic facts to" prove that Major Andre was actually a ^ spy , and that his doom was just . He knew the risk he ran , and he faced it . George Washington was a great man , neither friend nor foe will and can deny it , but never was George Washington greater than when he answered Colonel Nicolas * s letter . Colonel Lewis Nicolas was a veteran officer ,

      once commandant of Fort Mifflin , who had been in habits of intimacy with Washington , and he had warmly interceded in behalf of the suffering army , neglected by the men of talk who formed the Congress . The Colonel attributed all the ills experienced by the army and the public of the United States to the existing form of government . He condemned republican institutions as incompatible with national prosperity ; and he and a number of other citizens formed a daily growing party , who looked up to Washington as the King of America . In the summer of 1782 , Colonel Nicolas writes to Washington : —

      " Some people have so connected the idea of tyranny andmonarchy as to find it very difficult to separate them . It may therefore be requisite to give the head of such a constitution as I propose some title apparently more moderate ; but , if all other things were once adjusted , I believe strong arguments might be produced for admitting the title of king , which , I conceive , would be attended with some material advantages . " Washington indignantly replies : — " Be assured , sir , no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the army as

      you have expressed , and which I must view with abhorrence and reprehend with severity . For the present the communication of them will rest in my own bosom , unless some further agitation of the matter shall make a disclosure necessary . But I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befal my country . . . . Let me conjure you , then , if you have any regard for your country , concern for yourself or posterity , or respect for me , to banish these thoughts from your mind , and never communicate as from yourself or any one else a sentiment of the like nature . "

      This fourth volume concludes with Washington ' s election as First President of the United States of America . With resigned yefc nofc unhopeful modesty , the author adds : — Should the measure of health and good spirits with which a kind Providence has blessed us beyond the usual term of literary labour be still continued , we may go on , and in another volume give the presidential career and closing life of Washington . "

      Essays On Natural History. Essays On Nat...

      ESSAYS ON NATURAL HISTORY . Essays on Natural History . Third Series . By Charles Waterton . Longman and Co , Mb . Watbrton is a favourite writer on natural histoiy . He has been an Audubon in his way , and has met with adventures scarcely less wild and picturesque than those of the unparalleled American . But we are sorry that he presumes upon his popularity to gossip on ecstatic virgins , miracles , and Protestant dogmas . Nor can we praise the spirit in which , in his latter days , he debates unsettled questions as to the habits of beasts , birds , or snakes . Surely , a mild manner of disputation is more effective than flippancy or arrogance , even when the arrogance and the flippancy proceed from a gentleman aged seventy-four . We make this remark in the belief that it is proper to warn even a veteran who has no new habits to acquire , that he is in danger of misapplying his pen when he descends to ridicule and

      invective . We have no doubt that many absurd errors have crept out ot the nursery into our natural history manuals ; but it must be remembered that even great naturalists are at issue on important points with Mr . W { ltcrton . After this preamble , however , we have to thank him for a book ot delightful notes , of sketches so genial , of anecdotes so pleasant , of criticism so intelligent , that it is a serious disappointment to find it spoiled by egotism and puerility . The first essay is on Monkeys . We know what disquisitions Baily founded upon the resemblance of those animals to men ; but here comes Mr . Waterton , with a very justifiable laugh at the Latinizations of the Encyclopaedia . He refuses to discourse on the distinction between the Cereopitlucus , Gallitrix , Sciureus , Oristile , Arachnoides , Subpentadactylus , Hypoxanthus , Plattixarhini , and Pygerythrows species , nnd distributes them into apes , baboons , monkeys with ordinary tails , ana monkeys with prehensile tails . The ope has no ^ ail , and is never found out of the Old World ; the baboon has a short tairpand also belongs to the um in Dotn

      World exclusively ; the common-tailed monkey is found conuncnu ., the prehensile-tailed tribe in America alone . Universally , these brutes are , in their natural state , inhabitants of trees , like sloths ; they rarely or never resort to the ground except through accident or misfortune , iroperiy speaking , the monkey is neither a quadruped nor a quadrumanus ; but tno extremities of its limbs are so peculiar that it is impossible not to recognize them . The feet of some dogs might bo mistaken for those of some wolves , those of the fox for those of the jackal ; but from the huge ana 01 Rr « i'Tif > n tn t . ho rlwnrf Riioawiulci of Guiana , there is no mistaking the nnmis

      and feet' of monkeydom . We now loam how to catch small moniays . The mother is not to be fired at , but to be struck with nn arrow poisoned with wourali , which not only relaxes every muscle , ana prevents her clinging in death to the branches with her young , uuc spares her all suffering , nnd gives her with a death-wound ' ft balmy soporific , ' At this point Mr . Waterton comes full upon the elder naturalists , denies that monkeys ever throw dust in solf-de / bQce nfc wild b ° n ! itl *' or hurl branches from tree tops at travellers , and takes a foreign author to task for describing the * hissing words' of an ouvancr-outanff . One gentleman

      talks of apes , called pongos , who kill many negroes in the woods , and sometimes fall upon the elephants ' which come to feed where they be , and so oenc them with their clubbed fists and pieces of wood that they will run * « r" ?? away from them ; ' another , of ournng-outangs who ' carry off gh'ls of oig »<' or ten years of age to the tops of trees . ' A tlurd * know a negross at Lonngo who remained three years with these animals . ' Mr . Waterton , whose i » -

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 29, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29081857/page/20/