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    rtaxtpativ © a rare and continuous fascination , enhanced b y -details of high jiJyie fin < & jjgaoflgapiaical and historical sense . M . Ferner describes the ^ jeflt riverjHebmund . ^ vlxidi disappears in the lake Seistan , die province of g ^ tan itself , 'the Turcomans , Beloochees , Uzbeks , and other races of Tarliey , for T « rt » rs'they are , of the vast nation that spreads from the Northern geft'to € he Chinese'mountains . His sketches are taken in every conceivable ^ ioiety of situation , in bazaars , coffee-houses , camps , -caravans winding Aygr . ij he desert , walled villages , pastoral hamlets , -baths , palaces , prisons , lonely passes , among shepherds , soldiers , and gipsies . Mr . Danby Seymour jjemarks that J ? errier supplies the latest account of the countries of Central Asia ; he might have added , the fullest and the best . JM . Eerrier believes that no country in Asia is inaccessible to a European ^ o-Bpeclks the language fluently , and is acquainted with the customs and religion-of the inhabitants , and the necessity of respecting them . His

    sueoeas ; in ^ Afghanistan he attributes to his habit of conforming to the manners and modes of . thought of the people ; his failures to the circumstance that no European bad attempted to traverse the Afghan territory since the English ^ wasters at Kabul . As a first precaution , he adopted the Afghan dress , ihough with the resolution of always avowing himself a European . iHbeipeople of-Herat were disposed to be more courteous than M . Ferrier ^ meoted xtc desired . Approaching the capital , he heard that Yar Modittoed , * prince of sinister reputation , was preparing to receive Jhim in public with--extraordinary . honours . Several battalions of troops were in teadinessst the gate , and a glittering cavalcade of chieftains were to meet

    Irim ^ as he drew near to the town . This was perplexing : —• " How could I riiake a public entrance hanging on one « ide of a camel , with my servant on ihB-trther , with a solitary baggage camel in the rear ?" J evade . the flattery of an official reception , he hastened his march , and contrived . to reach the suburbs before dawn . Waiting for the light among the ruins of a magnificent mosque , he passed in as soon as the gates were Open ; but the event was at once proclaimed , and soldiers came running frjwn-all quarters to dignify his arrival . Then follows apleasant chapter on life . in H ^ erat , displaying a thorough knowledge of Central Asian history , tinged by a not unnatural bias against the methods -and results of British fitetern policy . of

    ' ^ Pfee "artists Damascus , who seem to have been inspired from Italy , weTe employed by Tamerlane to beautify the old Tartar city of -Samarcand . Probably , as M . Ferrier suggests , they afterwards , in the service of the fflirniificent-Shah Rokh , produced , some of the marvellous works still in existence at "Herat . He saw u mausoleum in a mortuary cell , dedicated to a iffnTjfffti princess , which proved that , at one era , art and taste jnust have 44 urShed , though only as exotics , among the nations of Tartary . A vast block of black marble , finely polished , -was covered on three sides with tttlmberless flowers , involved and interlaced in marvellous intricacy , but cut a ^ deeply , and with * such delicate finish , that it seemed impossible to intagtoe'how anything .-so exquisite and so minute could have been wrought with a chisel . _ _ of to

    . At 'Herat M . ^ Eerrier received the permission the chief continue his journey towards India . He proceeded among the mountains , pastures , and Ufcd'tent-dwelling tribes to Balkh , the original capital of the Persian moriferchs , the building of which is ascribed by Orientals to KaYamur , the first of the Pishdadian line . It -was prosperous when Alexander of Macedon marehed that way , and though devastated b y Genghiz and by Timour , still flourishes , ' the'Mother of Cities , ' in the midst of orchards and meadows . TChence onwards , across the Paropamisian range , among the Hazarah Tartars , until he reached the country of the patriarchal Seherais—a tribe of Ifcrtar ^ pagans . Here the hospitality of the desert took a peculiar form , and as M . Ferrier conformed , on principle , to the usages of men and cities , he tied without reluctance into the allurements of the court of Timour Beg . at chieftain had somewhat astonished his guest by sending a pretty young ve to welcome him ; but what was M . Ferrier ' s wonder when , upon requesting permission to retire , he was led to his apartment by a bevy of the % herai damselswho bathed and shampooed him from head to foot , and

    , Oeased not to polish his corporeal frame until he prayed for some repose . Among the / Eisnak women , who inhabit the table-lands and slopes of Paropamisus , a more remarkable characteristic was observed . They are Amazons , dreaded by the Asians as much as the men , and not allowed to ifcarry until they have performed a feat of arms . *< In his second journey from Herat , across the steppes to Kandahar , M . jfcrrier explored' some scarcely known territories , and met with many Tedfcrkable adventures . At Mahrnoodabad and at Girishk he was thrown into wison , half starved , beaten until the blood burst through his skin , and rfepeatcdly robbed . But no difficulty seemed sufficient to break his spirit ; the hour of his release saw him pushing on for Kandahar . Ho reached that Cfcy -but , compelled to return to Girishk , was once more confined in a tower overlooking the Herat road , and threatened with death by torture . Sometimes ho was tied to a post and exposed to a burning hot sun , while a fc hble of soldiers shattered him with all varieties of abominations ; then a ttraer was held to his throat ; lastly , boiling oil and red-hot irons were presi

    ibfetl : . until two nights and days of misery , without loou , unnK , or eop , fore < iut his resolution , and he gave way to the most infamous extortion . 3 &fee ( provinces of Kandahar and Seistan , described by M Icrricr , have 4 * wmTa new importance , as Mr . Danby Seymour remarks , from the trade tW haa sprunK up at thoScindo ports , since the dethronement of the lalpoor foincea . JHitherto their large and active populations have been sunnhod itfth-BritiBh manufactures through Kussia , by the steam traffic of . the Volga , % fj&wpian , oven the Aral .. Boo . From Kurrachec , however , a prac-« W » le . route loads inwards which might be converted into the channel ot an uumimii

    VMWVTfl anUiproilUlUU ! vu . . : KjBV » rrier aeems to believe in the possibility of a Russian invasion of to # . Without , pretending to limit political or military powibilitics , we do SKwwder that oven his minute local knowledge , and his elaborate and tt * m » tang . argument , koar very conclusively on the question . Influence «^ , A&h 5 « , and Persians as they might , trace lines of march through the RwJtewML richest , most thickly populated territories , avoid the crested

    ridfjGS , collect ; boats , Jbor 3 eg , and-camels wherever they can be found , establish vast depdts on the Eastern shores of-the Caspian , and the ^ Russian army , whether it take the route of Baikh or Kandahar , must march an enormous distance through an ill provided region , environed by difliculties , and exposed to innumerable dangers from tthe caprice or treachery of the untamed and warlike races of Central Asia .

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    SHAKSPEARE'S ENGLAND . Skakspere ^ s England ; or , Sketches of the Social History in the Reign of ^ Elizabeth " SfY G . W . Thornbury , Author of t&e " History of the Buccaneers , " &c . 2 vdK ' Longman and Co . Mb . Thobnbohy Jias taken great paiae with a very good subject , and has produced unpleasant , readable book , where a Jittle more . pains , or perhaps another conception of his . task , would have produced a work of permanent interest . Jt seems to us that the desire of being popular , rather than of making the most thorough use of his materials , has caused him to be sketchy and fragmentary where only full pictures could have had much worth . He seems fearful of beimr dull"for a sinffle page . He never is dull ,

    but he sometimes becomes fatiguing . Details are so crowded on the page , images succeed each other with such rapidity , that the eve becomes jaded . Nevertheless , although the book falls short of what it might have been , we must repeat our expression of approval of what it is . So many pictures of Elizabethan life , so many details gathered in the coui'se of extensive reading , cannot but be both agreeable and useful ; and if the whole reads magazmish and sketchy , the fault is far more pardonable than its oppositedryasdust fribble and black letter tediousness . Mr . Thornbury deserves thanks both for what he has done and what he has not done . He has written an entertaining book , and he might have written a very tedious one . He describes in Volume I . the Streets of Old London , the Mansions and

    Palaces , the Amusements , the Laws of Duelling , the Serving-men , the Diet , the Dress , the Cheats , Thieves , and Beggars , and the Hunting and Hawking : subjects which might more effectively have occupied both his volume ? , since , by giving a little more space , the details being less crowded would have produced more effect . We will give the reader " a taste of his quality" from various sections . Of Old London be says : — We can scarcely imagine London a walled city , having gates like Thebes , and able to stand a siege like Troy . There was a deep , fond feeling of home when Ludgate , Bishopsgate , Cripplegate / Moorgate , Aldgate , &c , were shut at a certain hour , when Bow-bell rang , and citizens felt they were barred in for the night , guarded and watchefl over br men of their own appointing . London is too large now to love as a mother ,

    and too dirty-to honour as a father . The picture he paints is indeed a strange one , when Holbornwas a country road leading to the pleasant village of St . O-iles ; and when At this time there was a feeling of social pleasure over the whole city ; Grocers ' , Drapers ' , Ironmongers ' , Salters ' , and Merchant Taylors' Halls had all their gardens and bowling alleys . Sir Paul Pindar , Gresliam ' s contemporary , had gardens in Bishopsgate-street . There were gardens in Aldersgate-street and Westminster . There were gardens round Cornhill Market , and gardens in Clerkenwell . Simthneld was planted with trees ; trees waved in St . Giles ' s ; and Ely-place was famous for flower * . Leicester Fields and Soho were open tracts ; and near Leather-lane the Queens gardener lived , and lived to plant and sow . Mr . Thornbury , however , usually alive to the distinctions between the present and the past , seems to have forgotten that his readers have not the

    same knowledge , when he says : The butchers' shops , however , astonish ua bjrtlieir prices : a fat ox , 26 s . ; a fat wether , 3 a . 4 d .- ; and the same price for a fat calf ; a fat larab 12 d . ; three pounds of beef , a penny . Everywhere the same cheapness : milk from a farm in the M . iaones , the three ale pints , Ud . in summer , and 2 £ d . in winter . Wine , too , is very cheap , and within the reach of any poor man , though not quite so much so _ aa in J ™* VIII . ' s time , when , by statute , Gascon wine vas sold at 8 s . the gallon , ana tne cheapest at Id . a pint , and 4 d . the pottle . Mttlmsey and sack at 6 s . the gallon . He should have aded the relative value of the shilling in those days to the shilling in our own ( Mr . Froude makes oat the penny in the days of Henrj VlllV-to have been equal to our shilling ) , and then , perhaps , the astonishment at such prices would vanish . „ ,. „„ . „ , ! To those who deny progress i" n ^ rul culture , we especially recommend Mr . Thornbury ' s chapter on Bear-bait . ng . He truly says , tfa £ t ^" Sj ™ " has grown too civilized to tolerate a saya ^ e d » vers . onjbat Shakspeare , Bacon , Raleigh , and Sidney may have watched with breathless eagerness . We borrow the following :

    . , . , , At Kenilworth , on Elizabeth ' s visit , thirteen great bears were ™ rrie * ^^" ^ mmMmmmi m aim by the throat , he clawing thorn on the scalp , ™ \™ fj A ^™* * ££££ bowline and bark ng , growling and snarling ; 8 ome dogH limping to their maatOW , wZdok thorn as curs f aomc lying on their sides , licking their wounds .

    ^ iff ^^ atxr&w-s ^ S ^ ssS £ ^ ' = ^^ -fi ^ r ^» ssSaSfc it resembled the gaoler ' a public whipping of stmnapeta at the cartataU , * . a * fftu " »«» "TS ^ srr ^ s ss ^ ss ; * s 3 gE £ s * J ? s ^ hSTJ ^ Z ^ S ^^^ S ^^^ the presence of conceited young gentlemen .

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    Jm m 21 > 31856 . Q TEE aLIEm . JJ > mBKi 395

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 595, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2146/page/19/