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Leader (1850-1860), 18th September 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 973

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      Untitled Article

      Desmond—a clever , beaut iful , and thoroughly sensible semi-Irish girl . Here is her picture by the author :- — Her face was of that oval contour which is so often seen in the west of Ireland , where the Spanish blood has mingled with the native ; the characteristics of which commmglement , generations seem to do little towards obliterating . Her complexion , too , was that which usually accompanies the admixture ; clear and dark thinl

      very bright . Her brows had the same y traced arch . But her eyes!—they were the glory of her face ; large , dark , liquid and languishing in repose , and flashing like light when her face broke into smiles . Hers was a face pre-eminently expressive—intellect , fun , mischief , deep thought , tenderness , or acute feeling , all seemed capable of moulding for themselves an appropriate expression ; and , perhaps , no slight part of the charm was that they succeeded each other so rapidly : it seemed a brow for ever varying , yet never changing

      Archdeacon of Salisbury , who has a fair prospect of a silk apron and shovel hat . The fate of Ernest Herbert is . retributive- His rich and ugly wife becomes insane , he lives a childless , wifeless , and homeless mau , and seceding to the Church of Rome , dies suddenly , " unwept and unhonoured , —except , indeed , by Eva , who , however , wean 3 her heart gradually from its first attachment , and conies at last to love her excellent husband heartily and unrepiningly . ¦ . .

      _ _ , The work is evidently from an Irish pen . The English is redolent of the brogue , and there are sins against taste and truth too common with Irish writers , who seem to forget that they write mainly for English applause . But we shall not comment with any harshness on these faults , as the work has pleased us too sincerely , and will , without doubt , equally well please the novel-reading public .

      without a cause . And here we have the full-length portrait of Ernest Herbert , a young clergyman of Puseyite tendencies : — He was voung—had but just attained his twentysecond year ; but he might have been taken for at least three or four years older , for he was one of , those in whom manhood develops itself at an earlier period , and in a stronger measure , than in the usual order that nature deals with mankind . His limbs , clothed with all the roundness and plumpness of youth , were heavier

      and more muscular than is generally seen at his age ; and that , combined with the expansion of his deep chest and square , well-formed shoulders , showed that his great natural strength had been increased by continual athletic exercise . His step , though elastic , was firm ; his attitude , erect , but natural ; his head well and even proudly set . The head itself was ¦ eminently handsome : classically formed , it was adorned with a profusion of black glossy hair , which fell more in waves than curls ( and would , in itself , have been enough to constitute the beauty ofanv head ) and large , black , and -well-kept

      whiskers . His white forehead was high and broad enough for beauty , though perhaps not / sufficiently so for what- our ideas associate- with great intellectual powers . The portion immediately above the eye , where , the perceptive organs lie ,, was prominent ; which , with the dark eyebrow upon it , gave the well-set-eye . a depth of expression it would not otherwise ^ have possessed . The eye itself was of that dark grey colour , midway between blue and hazel , which , when too bright to be examined closely , looks black ; and he had a certain quick , impetuous way of glancing at any one who advanced an

      opinion he deemed erroneous , or expressed a thought he recognised as just or clever , that made it . seem to look you through . In repose , there was a steadfast concentrated look in the eye , and in the compression of the'full handsomely formed lips , which told that the owner would throw his whole mind and body into any enterprise he undertook ; and once undertaken , would perseveringly carry it through : though that such enterprise would be of a practical rather than of an imaginative or sentimental nature perhaps a physiognomist would determine . His smile was very charming ; there was something so sincere and frank—such manly kindness in it .

      This pair , " so justly formed to meet by Nature , " become mutually attached : Eva with all the strength , tenderness , and trustfulness of her character ; Ernest with equal strength , but under more control , and open to worldly influences . Some very charming scenes of domestic life in its best aspect , and some very clever descriptions of inner lite in Ireland , carry the reader smoothly and pleasantly on to ah unexpected catastrophe . The parents and relatives ( of Ernest set themselves strenuously against the match . Ernest Herbert yields to their united solicitations , and after a severe struggle , for he loved truly , writes a letter breaking off tho inohoate engagement . The feelings of the heart-struck Eva are touohingly portrayed , and when at last she becomes convinced that a rich

      cousin is to be the bride of Ernest Herbert , her proud spirit sinks under the shock , but disguising under a cold , impassive exterior her real agony , she leaves the house of her too worldly relatives and makes her way to Ireland in a stato of mental and bodily insensibility . A kind but eccentric couple , mother and son , the lattor in holy orders , receivo her into their house . The son , Charles Stanhope , a learned , modest , simple-minded , nnd single-hearted m 0 &taVfftlla » w * love ^ ibh » Eva ^^^ best portion of the work is the courtship nnd the way in whioh Eva , who retains all her early heart imprersions , is led to become his wife . After many struggles as a ourato , the talents and piety of guanos Stanhope become known to the Bishop of Salisbury . In a short time poverty disappears , and 3 Sva finds herself among her English rolatives , whom she keeps at a cool distance , the wife of the

      Untitled Article

      LORD KING'S LIFE OF LOCKE . The Life and Letters of John LocTce . "With Extracts from his Journals and Common-place Books . By Lord Kine . New Edition , with a General Index . . H . G . Bohn . The first edition of this book was published in 1829 , and we congratulate the descendant of John Locke , and discoverer of his papers , to whom their original preparation for the press was a labour of love , upon having lived to see the popularisation of his handiwork , which will doubtless follow its adoption into Mr . Bohn ' s Standard Library . Lord King says in hispreface : — .

      _ The works of Locke are universally known , but the individual himself is much less so . I have therefore thought that a more detailed account of his life would contribute to increase , if possible , the fame of that truly great and good man . The friends of freedom will excuse the attempt from the veneration they feel for the man and for the cause which he defended ; they will be anxious to know more of one who so much promoted the general improvement of mankind , and they will learn with pleasure that his character was as pure and as exalted as his talents were great and useful .

      There are , however , others who would fain keep mainkind in a state of perpetual pupilage—who , carrying their favourite doctrine of passive obedience into all our spiritual as well as temporal concerns , would willingly deliver us over , in absolute , subjection , for the one to the rulers of the Church , and for the other to the rulers of the State . These men cannot be expected to entertain any admiration for the champion of reason and truth , nor from them can I hope for any approbation or favour in the present undertaking .

      This was dated in 1829 , from Ockham , an old country-house where the precious papers of John Locke Jiad lain in the old chest of drawers in which they had been deposited by old Sir Peter King a hnndred years previously . The noble editor was perfectly right in saying that his ancestor was the champion ot reason and truth . He was right in his view of the favour with which the doctrine of passive obedience was regarded , even in 1829 , and of the rejoicing with which the friends of freedom

      would make over each ray of pure light that could be evokpd from the remains of departed worthies to pierce through the dense fog of the period . But the friends of freedom addressed by his lordship were quarto and great octavo friends . Aristocratic as the enemies he wrote at , he hardly dreamed , if he dreamed at all in 1829 ; of the readers of family libraries and cabinet encyclopaedias , and of Bohn ' s Standard , Houtledge ' s ' Railway , and Longman ' s Travellers' Libraries .

      The true friend of progress who has seldom had his trumpet blown was the" merchant of Lloyd's , who , while Lord Kin" ; addressed to a public in excelsia the biography of Locke at two or three guinoas , printed tor sale or gratuitous distribution tho ° Life of Franklin" at half a crown . While nil decent literature around him was higli priced , this unnoticod individual alludod to was scheming to reduco the price of Franklin for tho million , ana diminished tho price of his gjift books by thrift and management from tho hnll-crown to somewhere about fournqnee . Ho lived to sec tho maxims and example ol his hero in tho hands of myriads , but Lord King and tho " Life of John Locke" aro only

      iulFt arrived at ^ tlircc-ancreixpcnoe . There aro thousands who may admire tho reflection in , the noble lord ' s pages of his groat ancestors' unquestioned oharaotor ; but thorp are still millions to whom tho ' ' ' champion of roason and truth" will not penetrate yet awhile . To have laid such a light under such a bushel for thirty years and , more is no credit surely to tho noble ana learned author of the trumpet-sounding paragraphs above quoted .

      Untitled Article

      Cosmos . A / Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe , By Alexander Von Humboldt . Translated by E . C . Ottd and W . S . Dallas , F . L . S . Vol . V . ( H . G . Bohn ) . —The . volume before us , which corresponds with the' fourth of the translation conducted by Major-General Sabino , is very creditable to the industry and skill of Messrs . Ott 6 and Dallas , of whom tho latter especially has given previous proof of his competency as ix translator of German scientific works . The first portion of the veteran ' s great work was devoted to tho contemplation of tho Universe as a groat natural whole . He next considered its uranologicol and sidereal spheres , and in his lost division ho devotes himself to tho consideration of tho telluric sphere . Tho present volume

      is divided into two sections , whereof tho first treats of tho earth ' s size , form , density , and internal heat and magnetic activity . Tho second division treats of tho reaction of tho earth ' s interior upon its surface , which loads to tire ^ cwsiawa"tioiin > f ^^ — thermal , gas , and naphtha springs , and of false and truo or mountain volcanoes . It is , perhaps , hardly abort of presumption to say that tho enumeration of tho latter with tho author ' s profound speculations upon the classification and minoralogioal analysis of volcanic rooKs are interesting ; but tho gonorous roador wllJI no doubt agreo with us that a roal rovlowor of Von Humboldt ahould bo hlmaolf another , or nearly another , Hiunboiat , and would demand of ua not verge « nd apace , not by

      Untitled Article

      FIVE YEARS OF IT . Five Years of It . By Alfred Austin . 2 vols . . .. ' . J . F- Hope . This work , the author tells us in his preface , has been twice rewritten .. 'With the same candour we confess to having entertained two opinions of its merits . The first volume was decidedly favourable in its impression ; the second mitigated that favourable impression . The story as developed—and clearly developed in the first volume—led us on with unabated volumeand then the denoue

      interest to the second , - ment , although clearly anticipated at an early period , is so unartistically worked out that we put down the volume with a feeling somewhat akin to disappointment that the author should not have taken more pains to work out the catastrophe according to a less hackneyed pattern . Edgar Huntingdon , the hero , is an artist by inclination and profession , well connected , and expectant heir tof about 2000 / . a year . He is introduced to the mansion of Lord Fairford , and there meets " a figure of moderate height , but

      so elegant and so finely proportioned that nothing could have enhanced and very little marred it . " This is Annette F airford , Lord Fairford's daughter . The lady and gentleman fall immediately into ' high converse" about poetry , in which many fine but not ? very original sayings are ventilated , the speakers of course becoming duly impressed with each other ' s eloquence , and displaying a remarkable unanimity on every topic . Of course the sagacious and vaticinating reader at once jumps to a conclusion , and

      peeping into futurity sees a plain gold ring and parish church in perspective . The conversations end as the intelligent reader surmises ; . the clever couple become mutually enamoured , and the gentle man is referred to the patrician papa . The lover pleads his cause . "' with amatory eloquence , and the peer , after some preliminary curt-and terse dialogue , cuts short the . hopes ' of the lovers by the

      following : — " Well , I suppose I must be patient . "Were I to upbraid you , Mr . Huntingdon , I should only be still more unjust to you . But I must be straightforward . Under what you properly call a sad mistake , I permitted an intimacy between you and my daughter , which has ended thus . I consider it my duty to tell you , however , that / cannot accept your offer , or endorse the sp-easily obtained consent of my daughter . There are distinctions in this world—social distinctions—stupid ones , I dare

      say / but still they exist , and cannot be avoided . A variety of " incidents of no very startling character are interposed to separate the lovers , and the match appears to be considered as good as ended between them ; but the reader knows better . A Mr . Bingham , the bete noire , of the work , who has been only outlined , in the first volume , comes into prominence in the second , finished and full shaded . Virtue , however , has its reward at last : the peer relents , and the artistic Edgar Huntingdon and the

      romantic Annette Fairford are permitted quietly to subside into homely Darb y and Joan . It is doing but critical justice to say there is very considerable talent evinced in this production . But the author has rather too closely studied the productions of certain popular novelists . This wo take to be his great mistake ,. Let him in future works discard his recollections and rely more on his own . powers , and then we think he is not unlikely to have a public of his own .

      Untitled Article

      No . 443 , September 18 , 1858 . ] TIB JVE . A P E B , 973

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 973, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2260/page/21/