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Leader (1850-1860), 16th December 1854, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1195, Untitled Article

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      « HMfe ifeerJVeiwhj andi convoy tha f © rei |! t trades . Suck were thfe old-$ « &GQi * Danng . . in , danger * patient of work , aad . boisterous , ^ . relaxation we *® , iliese . ancient seatlemen . They lived , ift and . for . "tte- service . ' a A * 9 ' ?^ wr ^ a ws i 6 eir xsK&Wi- tteir life . Xliey loved , their , ship as the A * ab lwreaa camel or a . Uorse . They grumbled at the Admiralty , and swqre when a lord was unfairly thrust above them ; but they -were loyal to tfce Back-bone , swors by the Crown , and drank the Crown on all possible occasions . l WnearMferryatt entered the service , these old ' gentlemen were among : the senior officers ; but changes were in progress—the Trunnions were perb . ap entirety gone by that time . Collingw-ood was a kigHly cultivated gentleman , tail vrtfia . his ; elegant despatches were read , Bitt asked where this man g 8 > i-bukstyle V Bub it would . be absurd to suppose that the mass of men wore ib any -way , to CoUingwood ' a standard . Life , was still . very , hard at , S « u C . < wnngwaQ ( twas .. often short of crockery whenin . command of a . fteeti wiorjokina Tenedoa wine iu . the blockading daysr-Tenedos wine which wouitt

      now De no more tolerated in a midshipman ' s mess thaa currant or « 5 pwslipat a club dinner . The oia school traditions were still triumphant \? tteuC 6 llmgwood died . Officers were still quite isolated from life on shore , © rthis period' Marryatt represents the traditions . Midshipmen fought with eacH other— were flogged on occasion—were far below the present standard m manners and mode of life . Captains might have been found who , now-adays , would be better suited to th& Bridegroom op the Wedding Ring . The aailora M « re Dibdin ^ s sailors , —fried watches , tired whole baekneyrcoaehsfcaaas , &c .,, 8 c « . © ibdin ' s songs ,, lie it observed * am arti&eiai compositions , ««» . theirinuuejttce and , mexit have bothheeivovierratad ...

      Maicyatb ,. in . literary , merit ,, -was ? below his- , American * contemporary Cooper . He had not Cooper ' s genius ; .-he could not have given the poetry of the-Bed Indian life as Cooper did it . In a word , he had not the romance talent of Cooper ; but he had great and undoubted merits , and his sea novels aye admirable ras contributions to our- naval history . Cooper had not , we believe , nearly so mueh experience of sea-life as Marryatti And . hfire . is -Marryattfs -strong-point . ; - he knew the service thoroughly;—lie was just in time to catch the old traditions ; --and he witnessed the changes ^ vrhich time was making in the profession . He began to write in middle life . His main quality is shrewd , strong sense—with a flavour of humour of a kindred sort . He had no poetiy—not much invention ; . wit , though of a haid kind , glitteritte more like steel than like fire .

      -and only a limited range of characters * Cooper beats him . in the romantic ^ lenien t . Marryatt admirably catches the moral life- —the sdedaliife—of a man-of-war ; Cooper more subtly and rarely saw in a ship what Scott saw in aifeudaLcastle , t—and he makes his reader , mingle with the very spirit of it& existence and breathe its atmosphere . Cooper ' s range of characters was limited likewise . Neither of them was successful in . painting women ; tfcey ineror no medium between % jolly boatswain ' s wife and . a large-eyed » unintelligible , outrageously beautiful and mystical doll and angej . Their sea-educations- had much to do with this . In their raving youtn ^ . far away fJoai ., the sight of women for months , they thought of . them as a kind of . supernatural creatures—such as people ashore fancy fairies to "be ., Women n > ay > -regre , t these old . superstitious admirers when , they see the sterner judgments which later novelists , form , of them .

      T-ha- service has changed since Marryatt was a young man , and very jgpea * ly changed .. The " old school" is gradually wearing out . Brummell liimaeff ' might ( at , all events in a flag-ship ) find life at sea tolerable now ; Ifcflttg' fitaya . in harbour produce a great effeofc . Then , boys are sent to sea £ ® a , " profession' *—db not rush to it as a " vooation" ( in so many instances s& ail , events ) as of old . The old school of captains : from " before the mast *' is ^ gonCi Men of family fill the service , together witb . those of the middle xjjiass who . hayq political connexions—and pursuits . The u service' * is less heard , of afloatr—horses , society , and billiards , more . You meet a . quiet gentleman ( a little sun-burnt perhaps ) at dinner , who drinks moderately ) , And' swears not , at all ; he ia franker in . manner than most men ,, talks about ; music , the PuseyiteB , and whatever else is going , like the rest of people ,. Presently you learn that ho is Lieutenant , BLN " ., and he has never *' shivered Jwa timbers" once during the conversation . ! Of course

      • dianses . afloat are the natural results of changes ashore—and ( let the " aqhaol" say what they please ) inevitable . But who ventures to assort thata changed navy has ceased to be a competent one—or that the nineteenth century ' s " Service" is not fib for the work of the nineteenth century ? ¦ " Jack " hjjiosalf is now paid gradually , and has never euch a . plethora of cash as to inquire . theitemble . Jew phlebotomy to which of . old lie was subjected . He . hive been modified , as his officers have , though not so strikingly . But he iWQtka like a . horse- —ho is as obedient aa water is to wind—he goes coolly , firmly , and oven laughingly , into the very mouth of dangor and doath—and retains all that waa valuable of those , elementawhich form the notions of , him vvWch ; w * i . hava sketched above . We , have only loft ourselves room to recommend the Two Admirals aa < fo © of Cooper ' * bust novols ; and . to regret that our space pormita us not to give our praiao to Miclmol Scott , Ilerpaan 3 \ IolviUe T the veteran Cbainier , and others .

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      LITERATURE OJT THE WAK . Ocfawand ito > Inhabitants . By nn English Prisoner in Russia . Boaworth . HUnvirtoible Sieges from ( Jonstantimpla to Scbatiopol By Henry Ottloy . With Wlu 8 tratio » a . ** - Ingram and Co . Twa sucoesaof J ^ ieut-Uoyer ' u English Prisoners in Russia haa , apparently , led to the production of a companion volume . It is a companion volume in every way . The outside—to go to tUc best part fust—is similar , and the matter Ueipvyflthe B » nw > loyal adherence to our onomioa , and the somo total want of sympathy with the Queen ' s Engliah . On no account would we charge lieutenant Roy or with the authorship of tho book , buttho similarity of stylo aad opinions certainly suggests the sumo htvud . Tho prosont book profossea to bo written by a midslxinman of il » o ill-futed 2 % r , who , after a

      sero * of social , triumphs k la Grichton , finds himaelf ,. as he sapa * * midd . r attached to the Victory , with- an impending- court-martial aaa < nhff- over Him f 6 r the loss of his vessel ! * * The moral orthe " getting up' » of this book may be simplified , wtotkis : Xfit be . triw . rt . befcraya wQefui . conductoa . the part of . the 1 ig « Hsr officers ; i < it be ,, as we . auspect , a compilation , it is . disgraceful to tUa writer . lathe latter case , we need offer no . proof—the work itself is tha proofr-but \« i would simply remark that every newspaper is vilified and declared untrue , whilst several are laid under contribution for the best parts , both aa to style and matter ,, of the present volume . Supposing the work to be genuine , what are we to think of officers , who , uader such circumstances , would conduct themselves as the " middy" describes ?

      Oa returning fxom one of tUesa parties , towards three o ' clock , in the moroW , I recollect finding several of our own officers , who had been making merry with some * w Siai l , erS in another Part of the city- So weU satisfied were they with each other , tiat there had been a complete fraternisation , similar to that which has since taken place between the French and English soldiers at Constantinople . The Etiglish bad the Kussian helmets on their , heads , and-thft Russians wore the naval geM = Jaeed cap , which they would liave no doubt been proad to keep . I mention this circumstance merely to show how little of the spirit of ill-will was borne us by the Russians , whom our periodicals so unmercifully abuse .

      Anybody who can approve of this- work will be pained if the courtmartial should go hard with the ^ nice young midshipman . He appears to have played a prominent part at all the Odessa tea-parties , no matter howsmall , they-migbt ' be . He has a splendid memory , and gives oopies or translations of all the songs which the dear Russian daughters sang to Mnr . Very fortunately we have none of the conversation , for- it was eviflently very nmchJn . the style : of the book : —•¦ Our- conversation was light-and unrestrained ; there , was no attempt at showing ¦ wh at . weknew toeaefc . other , Sometimes it was most trifling , andinnocent ; at othera we talked of Europe ,. of JSngland ; of friends whom we pourtrayed to each other . We gave oiu : opinion on politics * poetry , anything , everything , freely arid unreseryedly . This was truly ; " the feast of reason and the flow of soul . " My young friend , " Amy , listened attentirely , but said little . Her cheek was flushed , aud I could sea that not a remark had been , lost to her understandanff .

      We have no space to criticise tlte grammar of this eneyciopaBdical raiddy , who professes , to kaow everything ; but we wish to assure our readers- that there is the same amusement in the book as there is in many other books on Russian subjects—all of which are open to book-makers ia the British Museum . In . taking leave , of tliis elegant performance we particularljj recommend the professed author to the meroy of thelegal tribunal before which he professes to . tremble . " We feel assured that he had' no , more to do with the loss of the Tiger , than , with the . composition of the little book about its orew in Odessa .

      Remarkable . Sieges is a little work of far more merit , whicli suppUea , precisely that information which everyone says is required ; There ara not only capital accounts of various important sieges , out they are given in a style at once popular and learned . The description of ancient fortifif cation , if no longer useful , is still interesting—not only to the antiquary but to the general reader . Vauban ' s systems are carefully , detailed , and the diagrams and , illustrations will sexve to make many acquainted with . subjects whicb , at present , they have , only talked about . Barbette ? aad 'casemates need no longer be " scaled books , " and bastions and redoubts \ viuYm _ fufcure , be evident to the " meanest capacity . "

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      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . History , oj British Guiana ; comprising a General Description of t 1 i » Colony . By Henry O . Walton , M . D . 2 vols . Xongman , Brown , Green , aud Longmans . Sfer-cur-ius , or the Word-Maker < : An . Analysis of die Structure und Rationality o / speech : iiiehtding the Decyplwrment of Divers Truths that are Figured through ttut Veil of Language . By tjxe Reverend Henry LeMesuriere . Longman , Brown , Green , and ,. Juongmpna . Charles Random ; or , Lunatics at barge . By Thomas White . 8 vols . Xongraoa , Brown , Green , and . Icwngmona . The Rose and the Ring ; or , the Htstort / of Prince Giylio and Prince Jitilbo . AFiresida PantomiDie for Great and Small Children . By Mr . M . A . Titmarsh . Snu tU , Elder , and , Cq »

      The Principles of Physiology • the- Structure of the Skeleton and of tho Teeth } and tfAtt Varie ( ie $ of the Human iface , QOrr's Circle of tJte Sciences . ) W . S , Orr and Co > The Mathematical Sciences : including Simple Arithmetic , Algebra , tmd . the Elemental * Euclid . ( i The Works of William Cowpwi , comprising his , Poetns , Correepcmdetua , aad . Draauto Horn ; with a Life of t / u > Author , By tUe Editor , Robert Southey , LJL . D ,, &a , Vols . VII . and VIII . Henry , G , « ph » , Later Years-. By tho Author of " Tho Old IIouso by tho Itlver . " Sampson tow , Son , nnd Ooffistvry of the Ori ffi ** , Formation , nnd Adoption of tho Constitution of the United States ? vith Notices of its Principal Framevs . By Georgo Tlcluior Curtis . Vol . I . Sampson Low , Son , and Co . Children ' s Trials ; or , the Mtk Hope-Dancers and other Talcs . Translated from tlw German of Auguato Lindon . Trubncar and Co , General Jiounca ; or , tho Lady nnd t 7 ia Lwusta . By G . J . Why to Molvillo . 2 vote . ' John W . Parker and 3 o »

      The East and West : a Song of the War . Gowpa Boll Weanjfoot Common . By Loltok Ultchlo . Dftv 3 ( l K <> S * Uiotory for Hoys ; or , Amtala of the Nation * of Modem Europe . By J . G . « % » r . Tfto Forest Etciks ; or , the Peril * of « Porum » FwmUj amid the Wilds QftheAwton By Captain Mayno Hekl . ^ to Bo gu * Odewa and its Inhabitants . By an Em ^ UoU . Priaouor In KubhU . Thomas Boawortl ;

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      BsOBMMilHr . 16 , 1854 ,. ] TTK-B LBiPBR j ^ g

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 16, 1854, page 1195, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2069/page/19/