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732 1Rf)$ &£&&£?? [Saturday,
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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.
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St. Giles And St . Jambs. St. Giles And ...
highest class and the lowest class have been made to illustrate in their immorality the necessity of some middle term of wholesome discipline . Jerrold has painted nothing of the kind . His St . James serves to give an antithesis to the title , and that is all . The effect of education , and of circumstance upon his character is not indicated even in the faintest manner . He is , indeed , almost neglected | by the author , and employed mainly as an agent in the story . Occupied with direct illustration in St . Giles , Jerrold has not attended much to contrast . As a set-off to this objection , let us note with applause the admirable consistency with which St . Giles is preserved during the first half of his career . The temptation to idealize has been resisted with a dramatic fortitude as rare as it is admirable .
The knowing young blackguard reared in the London streets—the sharp , ignorant , unprincipled , daring scamp—vicious because he knows not virtue , unprincipledbecauseuntaught—isnever transformed into an heroic , imaginative , or unselfish youth , but preserves his decided individuality through all changes of circumstance . This is a merit which will only strike the critical reader , because only the critical reader will be aware of its rarity ; others will simply think the character " so true " and pass on . In praising this creation , however , we allude only to the St . Giles shown us during the first half
of his career—up to the time when he returns to England as an escaped convict ; for subsequent to that his individuality is lost in the incidents of the tale , and becomes inappreciable . St . Giles the pauper brat , the young thief , and the returned convict , are vivid enough ; but St . Giles the virtuous servant is a nonentity . While on this subject let us also note that Capstick and Bright Jem—both delightful creations—grow a little too intellectual towards the close , and lose something of their individuality thereby . Tom Blast is the best preserved : nothing changes him but the bed of death , which softens all men .
The book has many excellences . Nothing signed by Jerrold can be deficient in wit , fancy , and quaintness of illustration . This work is bright with them ; but many readers will be surp r is e d at i t s surpass i ng interest as a story , especially t h ose w h o d o not b elieve in h is powe r to construct one . In our opinion it is one of the most thoughtful , as it certainl y is the most entertaining of his fictions . There is a more powerful
grasp of reality in it than in any other . He allows his love of the fanciful and fantastic to express itself in images and illustrations , and not—as he too often does—to mingle with the current of the work . And what images ! what illustrations ! what an inexhaustible fancy , throwing out flowers as Houdin throws them from his inexhaustible hat , surprising the audience by their prodigality , no less t han b y their beauty ! How quaint and witty , for examp le , this illustration of an old usurer ' s a < re !—
-" He had sixty iron winters—and every one of them as plain as an iron bar —in his face . Time had used his visago as Robinson Crusoe used his wooden talendar , notching every tluy in it . " How like Sir Thomas Browne this is 1—¦ " For , apart from association , the expression of a bare skull has , to ourselves at least , little in it serious : nay , there has always seemed to us a quaint cheerfulness in it . Th « cheek-bonea look still puckered with a Hinile , as though contracted when it Jtung aside the mask of life , and caught a glimpse of the onc-oming glory . "
Ihen , again , when Miss Canary , " a born lady , " though now a vendor of " apples , oranges , gingerbeer , or bill of the play , " is outraged by the presence of a negro footman , and declares she will not stay in the room with a blackamoor : — " Bewildered , yet endeavouring to make a graceful retreat , she Htill remained motionless , drawn taller as pride and death will draw people . " Hut the pages glitter with bright Hentence . H , rapid telling dialogues , and fine descriptions . Trusting to your being sufficiently guided by our recommendation to fjfet , the book and enjoy it , quietly by { yourself , we shall merely select a passage or ( wo ) y way of Htiumluting' curiosity , and bo leave it : -
THli ClltKAT MUI'I'IN MAKICIt . *• Where Mr . Capstick came from nobody knew' . It was plain ho was one of thone people who now and then drop from the sky into a neighbourhood , for no other end than to adorn and dignify it . Any wuy it whh plain that Mr . dipstick thought as much ; and ho was not a man to disguise his thoughts when they tit nil tended to his self-glorification . True it , wuh , muffins had been known in St . Giles ' s ere Mr . dips lick lighted his oven there . 11 ut what mudins ! How , too , were they made —where vended ? Why ,
as Mr . Capstick would observe , they were made as if they were bad halfpence—and they were quite as hard to chew—in guilt and darkness . Nobody knew what they were eating . Now , all the world might see him make Ms muffins . Indeed , he would feel obliged to the world if it would take that trouble . To be sure , he was throwing his muffins to swinebut he couldn ' t help that . It -wasn ' t his nature to do anything that wasn ' t first rate ; he knew he was a loser by it ; all men who did so were ; nevertheless , a man who was a true man / would go on ruining himself for the world , though he might hate the world all the time he was doing it . His muffins tcere open
to the universe . There was no mystery in him , none at all . And then he would say , glowing at times with a strange eloquence , What a glorious thing it would be for the world if every man made his muffin —whatever that muffin might be—in the open light of heaven ; and not in a cupboard , a hole , a corner ! It was making muffins in secret , and in darkness , that made three parts of the misery of mankind / When people heard Mr . Capstick discourse after this fashion they would confidentially declare to one another that it was plain he was born above his business ; he was a broken-down gentleman ; perhaps come of a Jacobite family , and made muffins to hide his disgrace . True it was , there was a pompousness , a swagger , an affected contempt of the people with
whom he turned the penny , that gave some warranty for these opinions . Notwithstanding , Mr . Capstick , with all his consequence , fall his misanthropy—and he wore his hatred of mankind as he would have worn a diamond ring , a thing at once to be put in the best light and to be very proud of—was a great favourite . The cellars of St . Giles ' s echoed his praises . He was , in his way , a great benefactor to his poorest neighbours . ' You see , Mary Anne , ' he would say to his wife , ' what a blessing there is in corn . When muffins are too stale to sell , they ' re always good enough to give away . ' And these remainder muffins ho would frequently bestow upon the veriest needy , accompanied with phrases that spoke his contempt of human nature , his own particular nature included . "
This amiable misanthrope thus humourously discourses on— THE HEDGEHOG AND THE CAT . " With this , Capstick took two steps from his chair , stooped , and in a moment returning to his seat , p lac e d a hed gehog on the table . " ' Humph , ' said Kingcup , ' ' tis an odd creature for a bosom friend . ' " ' Give me all bosom friends like him , ' cried Capstick . ' Tor then there 'd be no deceit in ' em : you d
see the worst of ' em at the beginning . Now , look at this fine honest fellow . What plain , straightforward truths he bears about him ! You see at once that he is a living pincushion with the pins' points upwards , and instantly you treat him after his own open nature . You know he ' s not to be played at ball with : you take in with a glance all that his exterior signifies , and ought to love him for his frankness . Poor wretch ! ' Tis a thousand and a thousand times the ruin of him . He has , it is true , an outside of thorns
—Heaven made him with them—but a heart of honey . A meek , patient thing ! And yet , because of his covering , the world casts all sorts of slanders upon him ; accuses him of wickedness he could not , if he would , commit . And so he is kicked and cudgelled , and made the cruellest sport of ; his persecutors all tho while thinking themselves the bust of people for their worst of treatment . He bears a plain exterior ; lie bIiowh so many pricking truths to the world , that the world , in revenge , couples every outside point with an interior devil . He is made a martyr for tliia iniquity , he hides nothing , Poor Velvet ! ' and Cap-Htick very gently stroked the hedgehog , and proffered it a slice of apple and a piece of bread . " ' ' Tis a pity , ' said Kingcup , that all hedgehogs ar ' nt translated after your fashion . '
" ' What a better world ' twould make of it ! ' answered the cynic . * Hut no , sir , no ; that ' s the sort of thing the world loves , ' and Capstick pointed to a handsome tortoisenhell cat , stretched at her fullest length upon the hearth . What a meek , cosy face she has ; a placid , quiet sort of grandmother look ! — may all grandmothers forgive ; me ! Then , to see her lap milk , why you 'd think a drop of blood of any sort would poison her . The writ h ! 'tw . iH only last week nhe killed and eat
, one of my doves , and afterwards snt . wiping her whiskers with her lefl , paw , as eomloituhly as any dowager at a tea-party . 1 nursed her before she had any eyes to look at her benefactor , and she hus . sat . and purred , upon my knee , an though hUc knew all she owed me , and was trying to pay the debt with her best Hinging . And for all this , look here--thin is what , hIio did only yesterday , ' and Capstick showed three long line scratches on bis light hand . b
' " 1 hat , ' s nothing , ' said Mr . Kingcup . You know that cats will scratch . ' " 'To I ,,, mini 1 do , ' replied Capstiek ; ' all the world knows it ; hut the world d . mt think the wor * c of them lor , ( ., and lor this reason ; they eflu , when they l . ke , so well hide their claw * . Now , poor little Velvet h < re poor vermin martyr !—h 0 can ' t diagui . se
wha t h e h a s ; a n d s o h e s hun t ed a nd w o rried for being , as I may say , plain-spoken ; when puss is petted and may sleep all day long at the fire , because in faith she ' s so g lossy , and looks so innocent . And all the while , has she not murderous teeth and talons ?'" Here is something in another strain : ¦—CHURCH BELLS AND CHUKCH GOERS . " There ' s something beautiful in the church bells , don ' t you think so , Jem ? ' asked Capstick , in a subdued , tone . 'Beautiful and hopeful—they talk to high and low , rich and poor , in the same voice ; there ' s a sound in ' era that should scare pride and
envy , and meanness of all sorts , from the heart of man ; that should make him look upon the world with kind , forgiving eyes ; that should make the earth , itself seem to him , at least for a time , a holy place . Yes , Jem , there ' s a whole sermon in the very sound of the church bells , if we have only the ears to rightly understand it . There ' s a preacher in . every belfry , Jem , that cries , "Poor , weary , struggling , fighting creatures—poor human things ! take rest , be quiet . Forget your vanities , your follies , your week-day craft , your heart-burnings ! And you , ye human vessels , gilt and painted , believe the iron tongue that tells ye that , for all your gilding , all your colours , ye are of the same Adam ' s earth with the beggar at your gates . Come away , come , cries the church bell , and learn to be humble ; learning
that , however daubed and stained , and stuck about with jewels , you are but grave clay ! Come , Dives , come ; and be taught that all your glory , as you wear it , is not half so beautiful in the eye of Heaven as the sores of uncompl ainin g Lazarus ! And ye poor creatures , livid and faint—stinted and crushed by the pride and hardness of the world—come , come , cries the bell , with , the voice of an angel , come and learn what is laid up for ye . And learning , take heart , and walk among the wickednesses , the cruelties of the world , calmly as Daniel walked among the lions . " ' Here Capstick , flushed and excited , wrought beyond himself " , suddenly paused . Jem stared , astonished , but said no word . And then Capstick , with calmer manner , s aid , ' Jem , is there a finer sight than a stream of human creatures passing from a Christian church ?'
" Why , ' said Jem , ' that's as a man may consider with himself . It may be , as you say , a very fine sight—and it may be , what I call a very sad and melancholy show , indeed . ' " Sad and melancholy ! ' cried Capstick ; ' you'll have a hard task to prove that . ' " ' Perhaps so , onl y let me do it after my own fashion . ' Capstick nodded assent . ' Bless you ! I ' ve thought of it many a time when I've seen a church , emptying itself into the street . Look here , now . I ' ll suppose there ' s a crowd of people—a whole mob of ' em going down the church steps . And at the church door there is I don ' t know how many roods
of Christian carriages , with griffins painted on the panels , and swords , and daggers , and battle-axes , that , as well as I can remember , Jesus does ' nt recommend nowhere ; and there ' s the coachmen , half asleep , and trying to look religious ; and there ' s footmen following some , and carrying the Holy B ible after their missuses , just as to-morrow they'll carry a spanel—and that ' s what they call their humility . W ell , that ' pleasant sight , isn ' t it ? And then for them who ' re not ashamed to carry their own big prayer-books , with the gold leaves twinkling in the sun , as if they took pains to tell tho world they'd been to church—well , how many of them have been there in earnest ? How many of them go therewith no thought whatsoever , only that it ' s Sundaychurch-going day ? And so they put on what they
think religion that day , juatas I put on a clean shirt . Bless you ! sometimes I ' ve ntood and watched the crowd , and I ' ve said to myself , " Well , I should like to know how many of you will remember you ' re Christians till next week ? How many of you go to-morrow morning to your ofliees , and countingbouses , and stand behind your counters , and , all in the way of business—all to scramble up the coinforget you ' re miserable sinners , while every other thing you do may make you more miserable , only you never feel it , ho long an it makes you nioro rich ? And so , there ' s a Sunday conscience like a Sunday coat ; and folks who'd get on in the world put tho coat and the conscience carefully by . and only wear ' em once a week . Well , to think how many such folks go to worship —why , then I must say it , Master Capstiek , to stand inside a church and watch a
eongregation coining out , however you may stare , may bo--I can ' t help , after my fashion , thinking so—a melancholy sight indeed . Lord love you , when we see what , some people do all the week -people who ' re staunch at church , remember—I can't help thinking there ' s a good many poor houIb who ' re only Christians at morning and arternoon Her vice . ' " Here again : — I , UK AN ]) DKATII . " He paused on , crossed tho road ; tho street was thronged . ; the hubbub of tin ; day was at its height ; yet St . Giles saw nothing but those pinioned men , and tho preacher of Chrhit ' H word , in the name of hitf
732 1rf)$ &£&&£?? [Saturday,
732 1 Rf ) $ & £ && £ ?? [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02081851/page/16/
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