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    fastidious , we may suggest that " doing ample justice to a repast **— " whether or no" — " embryo conflicts . " and similar phrases , can scarcely be called felicitous ; nor can we greatly admire such superb diction as that which makes Punch the ** hebdomadal laugh-compeller "—makes ti e " sun strew over the landscape his orient pearl "—and expresses the fact of women having disguised themselves as soldiers thus : — " A nation , methinks , must be in earnest when its women spontaneously

    don the panoply of war . " What say you to the turn of that sentence ? " Coat and trousers " sounds very tame and prosaic , elegance of diction requires " panoply of war" ! Mr . Pridham does Dot seem endowed with a lively sense of bathos ; we thought " panoply of war" was not to be surpassed , yet here is a sentence which surpasses it : — , . «« JZamoitski was always ready to fly to the assistance of his country ; to serve her he had served Hungary , and had lost a finger in a cavalry charge ?'

    We roust make room for one of bid political tirades , which we hare read with eou « Ulerable attention , and iailed altogether in eorapreheiidinff . He ib in Vienna , and is supposed to allude to Hetteraichi" Yet none could gainsay that the modern Machiarelli had perfected his singular destiny . Humanity bore everywhere its sickening traces . Absent though he might be from the laboratory , his spirit triumphed still in his successors . There he sat , still the guiding automaton . What if Gentz were supping with Pluto , Werner still survived to proclaim the divine right of kings , and to make men crouch before the abstractions he had set up . All those chemical processes , which had emasculated the soul of man , were again in motion , distilling drop by drop from the mental pores .

    That infamous market , where the robbed senses of humanity had so long been trafficked in , had been closed only for a brief interval ; what , if a resistless impulse of the popular will had for a time reinstated man in his pristine dignity , he was again despoiled of all his spiritualism , and the same system which he fancied he had overthrown was again in full activity . Henceforth nature seemed to decree that any remnants of political energy should alternately subserve the anarchy of despotism , or combine to exhaust their force in the paroxysms of an anarchy scarcely Ieb 8 fatal , —that ot the revolution . "

    rsow why Metternich should not be absent from a laboratory , and why he should stll sit there a guiding Automaton , —as if that was peculiarly the sphere of an automaton , and as if automata were remarkable for " guiding "—puzzled us . Was Mr . RriiJhain making a va ^> ue ( lash at the classical , and confounding- Automedon the Driver with a piece of mechanism ? The suggestion receives colour from the subsequent allusion to Pluto . I 5 ut why Automedon should sit in a laboratory , and superintend the " chemical processes " which have " emasculated the soul , " remains still unexplained . What can be meant by the " market where the robbed senses of humanity had so long been trafficked in " ? What are the robbed senses of humanity , and of what are they robbed ?

    Without insisting upon " Kiipremest elegance of diction , " from a writer who speaks of having completed a long and laborious literary undertaking , we feel that such slipshod style ought not to pass unnoticed . Having noticed it , we may now say that in spite of its faults the volume is very amusing , as the narrative of some extraordinary adventures . One feels all the interest of romance in liia ba filed ]> ei sistence ; he resolves to enter Hungary , let Austria nay what she will . And he enters . To give you a taste of the adventurous quality of these pages , we extract a passage from the account of his arrest . It in only necessary to preface it by saying that he had entered Hungary without a passport , and after passing several outposts-

    " In turning Kuddcnly a corner of the road , I came quite unexpectedly upon an AiiHtrian po ^ t , mul before I hud time to effect a retreat , I wan greeted by n fleminel on the look out with the Htartling challenge , 4 W < iss tnachen Siti f The guard turned out in a twinkling . JSvery oflicer chunced to be absent from the pont , or my fate might hiive been re . Kta ved aa heretofore , but the BoldierH in their ignorauco were naturally dinposeil to view the- incident under . it « moro neriou . s complexion , tho more that they were

    unablo to decip her a . nyllnble of my pasHpoi t ; and nfier a long eonmiltntion as to what wan boHt to bo done ui . der the circumstances , it was finally resolved that I hhou'd be forwarded to tho next post in charge of three of the men . I gathered from my guard that we Hbould find a pubultern stationed there . Having onc « Leeu stopped , however , the officer , regardleHH of the- proof * which the < pwwpwt utfbrdod ui' uiy having piiHhicd through Friedborg ami i'inkafcld unmolested , aiieideU , after a confurcucc with Juiy subordinates , on

    sending me to his superior at the next post ; and xa this manner I was ultimately transferred to Frledberg . The civil commissioner happened to be on session . I entered the bureau of the police with a cigar in my mouth , but removed it immediately upon coming in presence of the magistrate . He eyed me , however , in a manner so vindictive , and assumed » scowl so savage and insolent , that , on perceiving he intended to continue smoking himself , I instinctively reeumed it , determined rather to commit a breach of

    decorum than manifest the slightest symptom of trepidation . He ordered me to extinguish it . I replied , that I should be happy to comply , the instant he set me a better precedent . For a moment he hesitated , and then removed his pipe ; but while in the act of following his example , my cigar was dashed from between xny teeth by one of the bailiffs in attendance . A momentary scuffle ensued between , myself and my assailant , but I was in an instant fiu > rounded , while the latter retreated in the rear .

    " I now underwent a most rigorous search , and my scanty baggage was dragged from its receptacle and overhauled . At the same moment , my braces and cravat were duly probed , and my unfortunate brand ffiask was returned to me smashed in the inside . The searchers passed their hands several times up and down my legs , fortunately , I had previously turned up the part of the gaiters overlapping the ahoes , and thus removed the greatest source of peril . But too cognizant of their dangerous contents , I could distinctly hear the crackling of the sUver-paper on which the letters were written , yet , by a miraeulotw interposition , their ears were as . much at fault as their sight and sense of touch , and I , for the first time , escaped the terrible ordeal in triumph .

    " At this stage of the proceedings , the colonel of the regiment stationed at Friedberg entered the court , and seated himself by the side of the local magistrate . He seemed disposed to adopt a summary course of proceeding , and talked of shooting me without any ceremony . I must do the commissioner the justice to say , tnat he on every occasion interposed to check the violence of his coadjutor . Both , however , concurred in the opinion , that I was neither more nor less than a Hungarian spy , and appealed from the passport , which declared me to be an English advocate , to what they were pleased to call my military aspect and bearing , and even to the dress I then

    wore . " At length , a suggestion of the commissioner ' s , that I should be sent off' under escort to Gratz , in order that the pleasure of the Impelial Government might be taken as to my fate , prevailed ; and I was removed to the den in ¦ which I was destined to pass the night , and remain until one o ' clock the next day . The p ace was about six feet square , and dismal eno'i » h tu make a do ^ howl . The money I tarried on my person had been seized ; no food was provided , and a dirty earthenware pot of water was placed at such a distance from without the bars of the cnge that it could not be reached .

    " I passed sis good a night as the litter of dirty straw provided for n : e would permit ; and at one o ' clock was summoned again to appear before the commissioner . I was once more searched . No inquiry was made as to whether I had tasted food for ihe last twenty-four hours , and , " however faint and weary , I was myself too much absorbed , at the possible discovery of the gaiters , to ask for any . Intense as was the heat at mid-day , I was brought out to march at once to Hartberg , between a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets . 44

    And well did the soldiers fulfil their brutal mission . Not a drop of wine or water was I permitted to taste during the first stage of eight miles , and it was not until we had reached the next stage ( the escort , it may be mentioned , was relieved every eight inilefi ) that 1 was permitted a moment ' s refreshment . In vain I adduced the insufficiency of the food bo dearly paid for ; I was forbidden any further rest , and when in a state of exhaustion I attempted to snatch a brief respite on a bunk by the road-aide , I was Btruek by the escort with the butt-errrf of their muukt-tt ) , and experienced every kind of evasion at the next pout , when I endeavoured to obtain the name of the principal < Hinder .

    * Ibe third party , composed like the preceding of savage Croats , fitting iigents of such a Government , behaved , if possible , more brutually still , and actually proceeded no far as to prick me with their bayonets , for the purpose of expediting my movements , when I maidenly Htarteil up , and pointing to my heart , intimated that they might run me through , but that 1 neither could nor would then move . Seeing that I wan determined they dentatcd from their porwecution , and , hitting down by my side , Jit their pipes . It needed the soothing influence of the weed to tame their Indited pawioiiH , and I watched with womo interest itn hIow but mire effects on their swarthy fiend-like- countenances . 44 A Hubneque-nt brutal proceeding of these men ho exasperated me , that for nn instant 1 cnnvanHcd in my mind the chttnccH I should incur were I to neize the bayonet of the man before me , and trnnunx him in my rear- I wan , Haved , however , from a very dangerous , but I fv . t > . l noj an altogether impructicublo attempt by the approach of two oflicerw , to whom I

    repeated in broken Gerraaa tho brutal treatment had experienced . They addressed the merTinlorn * Sclave dialect , so that I could not comprehend th observations ; but they spoke in an admonitory ton * for the remainder of the noarcK- was performed i peace , though in the most intense agony , nrodn ^ by the swelling of the instep and the appearance of a sore . This becoming aggravated by the friction of the leather and the intense heat , resolved itself inti » a frightful ulcer by the time I reached Hartberg 2 nd rendered me for a long time unable to put on a shoe ' At Hartberg I was left for some hours in the barrack-yard , among the soldiers , without refresh ment , until a senior officer , less devoid of humanity than the others , happening to he passing , and seein * that I was half insensible , ordered my removal to a bed .

    " Soon after the commissioner arrived . I must acknowledge that while he performed his duty to the letter , he displayed considerable feeling under the circumstances . Our conversation was in Latin , for he could not epeak French ; but as neither of us could express ourselves sufficiently fluently in a lingua mortva at such a moment of excitement , we found it necessary to betake ourselves to the rector of the place , who spoke French . To him I declared that I never had thV slightest intention of joining the Hungamowroy in » military capacity , but that I had

    merely wished to J > e an as close proximity as possible to the scene of the war , in order the better to carry on the correspondence with which I was entrusted . My statement appeared in some degree satisfactory ' , and the commissioner resolved that I should be permitted to take up my quarters at an hotel for the night ; but he intimated that he should deem it his duty to keep a light burning in the room , and to place a sentinel by my bed side . As a preliminary , I was taken to the bureau to be once more searched .

    Nothing was discovered : but still the danger was not a whit the less imminent . * ' After supper I was shown into my apartment , and now I foresaw that the real crisis of peril was at hand . I had hitherto been couched . on straw , and had therefore remained in my clothes ; now , however , it became necessary to disrobe . Fortunately , the commissioner was not present while I was getting into bed , and that little accident , together with the circumstance of the sentinel's being aware of my having been previously several times searched , it was which offered me a ray of hope at this forlorn moment . I resolved , therefore , to seize every opportunity that an imperturbable coolness could alone furnish me with for carrying out my designs .

    Taking oJF the dreaded gaiters vvnh the same sang froid with which I hul taken off my coat , I contrived by a little sleight of band , in getting into bed , to whip them under it . Five minutes afterwards the commissioners entered the room , and inquired of tlie guard whether they had perceived anything of a suspicious tendency , and whether I had attempted concealment in any shape . They replied that I had divested myself of everything in front of them without hesitation , and that there was nothing to warrant a remark .

    44 So the commissioner retired , first giving orders , at my request , that the lights should be extinguished and the sentinels should remain outside . Neither ot these instiuctions , were for some reason or other , obeyed ; and if I contrived to doeefora few minutes , tie gleam of the pale moon beams piercing through tlie windows , and lighting up the soldiers' bayonets , effectually dissipated sleep . The soldiers , too , dozed once or twice for a few moments during the night , till , disturbed from some cause or other , they wouiu suddenly start up , as if under the impression that x was making my t'Hcape . Then for an hour or two they would direct their glistening orbs upon the spot where I lay as they thoug ht asleep , watching my

    very breath , . , " During one of the occasions on which 1 louna them napping in this manner , I contrived to draw up the guitera from their concealment under tiu ; uiu , and to place them on the chair alongside ot my oincr garments . As soon as it wag light 1 rose , and put ou every article of apparel in the eame open manner iuui . I had divested myself of it on the night previo us . A » Boon ae the com in i »« ioner arrived , ho put tne 8 " questions as before to Uic sentinel * , iw > d they pvi . * Himilar answer . I now began to breathe more I * toy . Aftrr breakfast , the commissioner conducted ni < . i landau in waiting at the door , and gave orders J two Italian corporals , my conductors , that i b' » bo driven to GriLtz . "

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    CIIKKVBU ON TDK SANDWICH IHI'ANJ > HJJf , in tlw Sandwich Island , ; or . ttenaart tf theracifa wf wtu and as it is . Hy U »« ll « v « r « iul H onry < Jiecvti »« 3 The Island Florid of the . J ' acific ; ftrtW t ! 'e . ; ' tXnd , anTo < h <» aWl IU » ult . of Travel through ' ** **« f ™* / . SJJ , < JoHi «« . ~ J ' art * of J ' olf / neUa . Uy U »« Jievweiul M «« uy < An ^ it , Ti » c « K two woikH present eviderice rf » J Cheever ' a ao » ,, l « experience of ^ J" ^™* l » land . ; with it he might lujr * written j * . <* ccllent book , had he known t |» " «* : * " $#£ sr ^ s ^ ss ? * - srw .

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    1093 ® $ * & $ & % & * + [ Saturjuy ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 15, 1851, page 1092, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1909/page/16/