On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    We must say our experiences have not taught us the lesson Mr . Farrar wishes to inculcate . We are inclined to think that school days and school associations have in general but very transient influences fceyond the schoolboy period . We think they do little towards determining the good or evil direction of the man , and certainly , only in exceptional cases , Iiave little or nothing to do with influencing his character or career in after life . The tale of Brie would , however , persuade us that the contrary view is . nearest the truth . L . ct the reader draw on his own personal experiences and judge between us . We claim no infallibility , and " concedeia respect to the moot point ,

    , that " much may be said on both sides . Eric is represented in his early youth as fearless , independent , and trained up by his aunt carefully and relig iously to be truthful , honest , kind , and brave . Eric is sent to Rosslyn school . Here he meets with the usual share of bullies and bullying . We hope the character of Barker is exaggerated , though in its salient points we trace a strong resemblance to a school tyrant of our own school days . The good points and weaknesses of Eric ' s ¦ character are brought out conspicuously , and , after risins and falling : in the estimation of his preceptors ,

    lie performs an act of gallantry in saving the life of a fellow pupil , which act stands him in good stead ¦ with the head master on one occasion when expulsion Imngs over his head . Two new scholars make their appearance at the school ; and here temptation . begins , here commences the turning point in Eric ' s character . Though despising one as beneath him ia character , and associating with the other only on account of his animal spirits , he is insensibly led to intimate associations with both , arid with the Club of Anti-muffs , established secretly by them—to break the rules of the school- —to tolerate spoken and acted depravities—to learn to smoke though forbidden—arid , finally , to join in midnig ht debauches at alow public-house , where he and his boy

    companions usually get intoxicated . The principal , 3 Dr . Rowley , detects him in this state , and expulsion is formally pronounced , but commuted to lig-hter punishment in consideration of the gallant action to which we have already referred . " Little by little , " Eric loses his purity of character , until , feeling his moral degradation , he runs away from school , enters himself as cabin-boy on board a coaster , is brutally treated , escapes from the ship , and makes his way home , broken in spirits and constitution , to die repentant in the arms of his family . We intended at first to present our readers with an extract or two to show the author ' power of style , but we prefer sending them to the book itself , as there is an amount of vigorous and truthful delineatipn both of character and scenes that unmistakably shows the author must have drawn from something more material and actual than imagination .

    Untitled Article

    has not been treated in that exhaustive spirit of which the theme is susceptible . Eor instance , the reviewer has left out of sight the Aladdin-like structure of speculation , which almost more than anything else has marked the advent of the present French dynasty . The edifice of wild speculation of all kinds which has been fostered by speculators , and which has even found favour in the highest quarters —which has made the fortunes of countless parvenus

    —has more than once tottered to its centre , and every oscillation has been felt even within the atmosp here of the throne itself . Shake but the fabric of speculation which has reared itself into such enormous proportions within the last ten years , and you shake the foundations of the present Empire . The collapse of Credits Mobiliers , Credits Fonciers , and other joint-stock inflations ^ which , bolstered up by artificial means , and repudiated by all sound economists in this country , will inevitably

    involve the collapse of the incoherent empire . We have no fear on the subject of a war with France just yet , but we quite agree with the reviewer that it will be as well to lose no time in putting the defences , military and naval , of this country in such an efficient state as to enable us to meet and surmount proximate or remote contingencies . " Sanscrit Literature" is the subject of the next article . In the paper headed " German Church Historians /* the state of British Church History is contrasted with the state of Church History in Germany , and the conclusion is , we fear too truly , most unfavourable to the reputation of lish

    this country . We have no work by an Eng divine comparable to Neander ' s German History , and the reviewer has stated a pregnant truth in the following sentence : " English Church history has yet to find its Hallani—has still to wait for its Macaulay . " Sir Alexander Grant ' s Ethics of Aristotle gives occasion for a somewhat pedantic investigation into the question of the influence of Aristotle on Oxford—an influence which has assumed so marked a feature in the Oxford mind and on Oxford thought . We do not consider the article is quite up to the mark ; certainly some of the deductions of the reviewer are fairly open to question . " Popular Education in Britain and Ireland" condemns the National system in Ireland as a failure in its comprehensive aspect , but on inaccurate , grounds . The

    THE NORTH BRITISH REVIEW FOR NOVEMBER . The article on " The Present State of France " was evidently prepared with the view of balancing the probabilities of war on the part of France either with Europe or with England . The reviewer is correct in stating that on the question of external politics " Great Britain and France arc the two European empires from whose mutual alliance each has the greatest commercial and diplomatic advantages to secure , " but not so entirely accurate in what immediately follows , that " from whose mutual hostility eaoh possibly has the greatest danger to apprehend . " No doubt war with France is most undesirable , but the circumstances would differ . War would entail serious inconveniences on the British Empire , but they would bo light and

    transitory compared to the crushing consequences which would fall on the existing state of things in France . No one , wo suspect , knows this better than Louis Napoleon himself , and though at present dimly , and if at all , distantly contemplating a oontest with this country as just within the range of probabilities , wo feel satisfied that war with us will only bo tho dernier ressort , tho last card on , which the yet uncrowned gamester stakes his ultimate fortune . Tho reviewer got 3 together a strong array of oircumatiuices to show that France is not in a condition to So to war , that neither her sooial , political , nor naucial position will permit her to indulge tho martial ardour of her army . To tho facts brought forward in reference to tho insecure political and social position of Franco , we are inolined to subscribe generally ; but wo think her financial position

    failure is by no means well ascertained ; the obstructive causes are centred solely in the Roman Catholic priesthood . " The Decay of Modern Satire" is readable enough , but does not go sufficiently deep into the subject . Very few will be inclined to ao-ree with the writer of the article " that the satires of Moore and Byron are obsolete . " Moore ' s polished and pungent satires may be only occasionally resuscitated , but Byron ' s " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" will at least have as long an immortality — we hope the Hibernicism will be overlooked—as the writer predicts for the anti-Jacobin jeux < F esprit . " Novels by the Authoress of John Halifax , " sets forth the specialities as well as the short comings of the talented authoress , and " The Atlantic Telegraph" is a fair summary of the inception and completion of this modern miracle of science .

    Untitled Article

    The second portion of the work is a sketch of th < different races which have made Mexico theii home : while the third touches on the agricultural resources of the country in general . Mr , Sartorius evidently addresses his pages tc ¦ scientific readers . To one unacquainted with' botanical and geological technicalites , the first portion of this book will not only seem dry , but almost unintelligible ; the style may be gleaned in . a few words . Speaking of the American fig , the author thus explains : — The large dark leaves of the tree itself cast a deep shade , besides which the descending shoots are entwined with every imaginable variety of creeping plants , by bignonia , paullinia , anstolochia , convolvulus , &c , which often form the most brilliant festoons . On the thick

    branches are masses of large bulbed orchideae and epidindrjs ( for example , E Cavendishii ) , with beautiful umbellate blossoms , and on the thinner branches all kinds of tillandsiaa , especially the tillandsia zisnerides , which floats in the breeze like a grey veil . The ground is covered with dense groups of long-leaved bromilise ( brmiliapita , for example ) , the tough fibres of whose leaves furnish the best thread for leather articles . Our author next travels into some very interesting matter relative to the geological properties of the soil , and in alluding to the highlands where he now carries his reader , he thus accounts for their formation :.

    ——¦ " The eastern side of the Andes presents us -with a vast plain resembling the sea ; the principal mountain ridge , instead of jutting forth , gradually rises in the form of terraces , each of which is distinguished by the peculiar character of its vegetation . The whole of the country from the Gulf of Vera Cruz to the highlands is evidently of volcanic formation nowhere is there a trace of granite or gneiss , but on all sides we meet with conglomerate and tufa , lava , basalt , and porphyry . Everywhere there are' conical mountains with fallen , craters , all open to the east—a proof of the fearful convulsions the country must have been subject to . In many places there is a crystalline-slaty stone , with a

    regular angle of incidence of about 60 deg . rising in a curve from below ; at other points calcareous mountains appear between volcanic formations . " And thus C . Sartorius gives us an exact , though somewhat technical , description of the ground itself as well as the features which embellish it . He then proceeds to give an account not only of the aborigines , but also of those various tribes which , have sprung from the commingling of strangers . He portrays at some length the peculiarities of the pure Mexicans , or descendants of the celebrated Aztecs- — the Mestizzos , and the Creoles , who here

    mingle together . From his account , and he doubtless draws it as a flattering picture , we must confess that morality is at somewhat a low ebb ; amongst the men \ rc have always heard of drunkenness and a love of gambling , but our author here gives us a somewhat loose description of the manners of the females , who seldom marry without having gone through the forms of abduction . One more extract from this work—the portraiture of a Mexican ( Creole ) family—and we will , compelled by want of space , draw to a close : —

    MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS . Mexico and the Mtxicaiu . By C . Sartorius . Edited by Dr . Gaspey , Triibner and Co . The very title-page plunges us into a mystery from which the short preface does not relieve us . Whether this work has been originally written in German by C . Sartorius and translated by Dr . Gaspey , tho intelligent reader is left to discover , nor throughout is this point olearcd up . The subject , however , in itself carries with it such warm interest that we gladly pass over tho doubt , and at once commence our literary researches through regions which have seldom been graphically depicted , although they demand , not only from their present

    position but their past history , a olear and full exposition for tho benefit of tho European reador and the European traveller . Ilumboldl s New Spain is , as yet , tho best work on the subject . But as there are many parts of it too dry , too strictly statistical for general perusal , our present author proposes to ornament by " his carving ; and fluting" tho ponderous ediilco of the great Baron . Tho volume beforo us , which only consists of 100 pages , is divided into three parts ; the first showing the poouliar features of those regions , and in this portion our nutlior shows a most profound knowledge not only of botany and arborigy , but also a more than ordinary smattering of geology .

    A somewhat stout senora sits on the bed on a fringed tiger-skin , in the Turkish fashion ( with her legs doubled up under her ) , enjoying a cup of chocolate , whilst a maid is seated near her on the ground , holding a silver plate with a glass of water upon it . The good lady has a cloth thrown over her head and shoulders , but the curious will not fail to observe that she wears no cap ( invariably the case with Creole ladies ) , but that her hair hangs down her back . Her morning gown , too , is not plaited , but hangs about her much like a sack . Merry poals of laughter in the next room lead to the presumption that the young people are there . Sure enough they arc the daughters ; but strange to say , not one has her drses closed : one has hor arms out of the

    sleeves even , which are tied round hor waist like a sash . Their plaited hair hangs down their backs , the feet arc enclosed in silk slippers , but tho stockings are -wanting . Of what uso would they be in so mild a climate ? The bluio and white cotton wrappers are worn ; but they conceal but little . The young people gaily smol < o their cigars , whilst one of them is seated on a mat on the ground , having her long glossy hair combed by tho mnid . Tho room is not over tidy ; the stockings Ha about the room ; on the bed are silk dresses , which are oviclontly for attending niasa ; on the chairs are crapes ami othor articles of dress . Tho dreasing-tnblo ia not well aupplied with bruahoB , soaps , essences , &c , but with a complete nasortmont of rings , earrings , bracelets , brooches , chains , And pins .

    And tlion our author goes on to give us a specimen of the conversation indulged m by these Creole belles in thoir boudoirs , tho burden being , of course , Love—eternal Jjovo . t Tho remainder of tho volume i » flUcd up with tho agricultural powors and properties of Mexico ,

    Untitled Article

    No , 452 , Kovembeb 20 , 1658-1 THE LEADER . 1253

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1858, page 1253, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2269/page/13/