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No. 441, September 4, 1858,] T Hj^__J^E ...
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A JOURNEY DUE NORTH. A Journey Due uVort...
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HEALTH AND DISEASE. Health and Disease, ...
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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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History Of The Parsees. The Parsecs: The...
is the account of the private manners of the followers of Zoroaster . The author , perhaps partly out of deference to the public he addresses , makes very light of certain superstitious practices in which his co-religionists indulge , whilst he does not shrink from relating them . . ¦ ' ,. „ . ' ' , ,, Our fair readers will not be indifferent , to the following revelation of domestic life among the fire-worshippers : — The Parsee women occupy a much more honourable position than either their Hindoo or Mahometan sisters . The Parsees in general are good and affectionate husbandsand discharge faithfully their duties towards
, their wives , while the latter arc not unconscious of theirs towards their lords , and hence most families lead a peaceable and very happy life-. In a great number of cases the husbands are much influenced by their wives , and considering the present state of education among the latter , it is remarkable that such exceptions ever should exist . Though the Parsee ladies are not seen in society , it is not to be supposed that their life at home is spent in entire seclusion or in female company only , as is the case among the Hindoos and Mahomedans . At home they mix freely in the family , join in the conversation , " and take part in other affairs without reserve ,
while during the day they are engaged in visiting and gossiping among themselves . They also find employment in making dresses for their children , in which they take much interest , also in working in embroidery and Berlin wool , an occupation introd uced among them of late years onlv , but in-which they have made considerable progress . The halls of the wealthy contain many exquisite specimens of this art , which constantly attract the admiration of European visitors , The females of the poorer classes are mostly engaged in the kitchen , attending to domestic matters , or in fetching ¦ water from the wells , which are generally situated at some distance from the house . . .
As a race the Parsees are highly social , and they embrace every opportunity of visiting or entertaining their friends and relations . A religious festival or holiday , a birthday or a marriage , are the great occasions for their social enjoyments . As an indication of the increasing intellectual taste of the Parsees , it may be noted that of late English music forms one of the amusements of their evening parries , instead of the ugly and absurd nautches of native dancing girls , accompanied by musicians ( save the mark !) who are no great masters " of their profession , biit who grin , nod , and stamp , and make horrible faces in their excitement , with a view to deceive the audience into the belief that they are absorbed in the spirit of their art !
These specimens will give some idea of the nature of this volume , which is full of similar nicely written paragraphs on social phases . We recommend our readers to consult it for themselves , and especially to notice the hearty and unreserved gratitude expressed on many occasions by the writer towards tlie English in their character of governors of India . Such testimony is invaluable . As might have been expected , the writer speaks harshly of the Mohammedans , to : whom bis race owes all its disasters , and who arc ever ready , on the slightest provocation , to repeat their onslaughts . His plea in favour of the oppressed Parsees of Persia is well worthy of attention , both by the public and the Government .
No. 441, September 4, 1858,] T Hj^__J^E ...
No . 441 , September 4 , 1858 , ] T Hj ^__ J ^ E AjP _ ER . 907
A Journey Due North. A Journey Due Uvort...
A JOURNEY DUE NORTH . A Journey Due uVort / i ; leiiir / a Residence in Russia in the Hummer of 1850 . By George Augustus Sala . Richard Bentley , New Burlington-street , A great number of persons arc fully awnro that mnoh of tho " Journey due North" was originally published in tho " Household 'Words ; " but , although in tho eyes of its proprietors , contributors , regular subseri & oi's , and their several immediate circles , this serial is one of vast importance , it is , after all , so dispensable an article of literary diet that thore arq myriads of reading and well-read
peoplowho by no chance , or very rarely , dip into Us pages . To such especially we can recommend Mr . Sola ' s book . With it we have lightened the tedium of a journey more strictly duo north than that to St . Potorsburg ; and if wo may not uncontradicted proclaim a work highly interesting that will ongvoss tho'attention of a traveller from Euston station to " M , orry Carlisle , " wo may as well resign tho right of priVftto as well na of publio judgment ¦
,,- ; :- — »— - ' " ' — " - There is little of tho guide-book , hnnd-book , or specml corrospondontry about Mr . Sahfa performanco ; mid so slight is the internal ovidenco that the author over poiiotrated far into tho interior of Russia , that wo at least are not astounded at tho stintless imputation totlmfc effect which ho thinks it worth while in his " EnVoi" to refute . But tho striking icftturos of tho nnoiont and modern capitals of tho empire afford material for even a moro oxtonsivo
portfolio of photogrammata than the present ; and we are well content to allow the artist the space of a future volume for the treatment of subjects he has not yet approached . Russia changes not from year to year—little enough from century to century . There was lit the , if anything , really new in the . roadbook' of Mr . W , If . Russell , the'handbook of llerr Kohl , or the travels of the Marquis de Custine . Mr . Sala has added JifctJe to our deep-rooted impressions about Russia , nor has lie pretended to do so ; but as a rnfi-fishinfr commentator , he is unapproached by
either of the authors we have named . His style is so peculiarly colloquial that his report reminds us , here and there , of that of a travelling expert for the Grand London Lodge of the order of Bohemia sent to investigate the possibility of harmonising Russian institutions with the theories of comfort , civilisation , and progress propagated by that order for'the use of all the world . "I can imag ine , " he says , " ho better way of conveying a palpable notion of things I have seen in this strange land than to institute comparisons between things Russian , which my reader will never know , I hope , save through the medium of faithful travellers , and thinffs familiar to us all in London and Paris . "
And so the reader who finds himself perusing a private and confidential report of the travelling delegate , must not be surprised if , not being one of " us all , " he meet with allusions to things both in London and Paris with which he is utterly unfamiliar . If he take the trouble to read , and not to skim , this book , he will find it is one of no common merit ; although if he regarded it as a . rosary of comicalities only , he might find it even too thick-set , and so inadvertently discard it . To ourselves it appears a series of skeletons for thoughtful essays clad originally in sparkling habiliments to furnish forth , we suppose , the hebdomadal feast of
fun for the readers of the Household Words . Mr . Sala ' s pages' dazzle us with suggestive wit , gathered , in the first place , by the countless facets of his own ingenious mind ; and thence reflected on- to his reader in an easy conversational manner , as if all cue or key were superfluous . The adept being thus gratified by excellent satire , the novice flattered at being left to fill up outlines _ for himself , and the catechumen astounded into admiration by the traveller ' s display of world knowledge , what doubt is there that an extended circle of householders will welcome to their hearths the living words of the modern peripatetic ? In davs when" Englishmen may be tempted to allow
p hilo-Russianism to succeed an equally iindignified Russonhobia , it may be as well to observe , that with all the author ' * amiable liberality , all his obvious intention to repay Russian superficial courtesy with English kindliness , he can no more hinder legitimate old-fashioned deductions from the premises he furnishes , than he can add to or take from the facts of older travellers . Those who have fixed opinions about Russia , the value of her friendship , and the danger of her enmity , will , after reading Mr . Sala ' s pages , be of the same opinion still ; and those who have not yet grade le Russe , will , if they follow him carefully , hardly miss the cutis vera" le cosaque" underneath .
It may be invidious to pick specimens from such a shower of quotable , passages as this book affords . Our author may be indignant at our selection . Our reader may think littlo of our taste , and undervalue tho corpus of tho work from the samplo shown , But it is an evcry-duy difficulty after all . Tho Baltic Steamboat Notes in the opening chapters we thought admirable The Cronstadt Custom-house seemed better still ; but tho rapid and elevor Panorama of the Quays , and the Nevskoi Pi-ospukl at St . Petersburg , threw all previous passages into the shade . Here the . author stepped from mere roadside sketching to the consideration of Russian institutions , socially , morally , and i > oliticnllv ; but first of all he alludos as follows
to tho well-credited instability of tho capital : — Mnny persons endeavour to ox plain the badness of tho St . 1 ' e Corel mrg pavement l > y the severity of the climate , and the tronolierona nature of tho soil on which ^ ho'oit ^ H 8-builr ^ - ^ l lro ^ vliolo ^ Juct ) Hsr'it ^ niist-bQ '' con « fesaed , a doublo-damniod Amsterdam ; and it haa often been with foelings akin to horror that 1 liuvo pooped into a hole on tho magnificent NovskoX when the workman wore mending tho pavement—which they are incessantly occupied in doing in eomo piwt of tho etroot during tho summer months ? At tlio distance of perhaps two foot from tho granite slobs o"f tho footpath or tho hexagonal wooden blooks of tho roadway , you aeo tho ominous rotting of logs and piles on which tho wholoolty is built , and at . a dreadfully short distance from them you soo tho water
—not so muddy , not so slimy , but the real water of the Neva . St . Petersburg has been robbed from the river . Its palaces float rather than stand . The Neva , like a haughty courtesan , bears the splendid sham upon her breast like a scarlet letter , or the costly gift of a lover she hates . She revolted in 1824 , she revolted in 1839 , she revolted in 1842 , and tried to wash the splendid stigma away in floods of passionate tears . She will cast it away from her some day * utterly and for ever . The city is an untenable position now , like Naples . It must go some day by the board . ' Isaac ' s Church and Winter-Palace , Peter the Great's hut and Alexander ' Monolith will be no more heard of , and will return to the mud their father , and the ooze , their mother . There is . something . ¦ ' saddening in the author ' smusings on a Petersburg f ^ te night : ¦—
At midnight , you could walk a hundred yards on the Nevskoi without finding a single soul abroad to look at the illuminations : at midnight it was broad daylight . The windows were blind and headless ; what distant droschkies there may have been made not the thought of a noise on the wooden pavement ; and those rows of blinking , flaring grease-pots resting in the earth led you to fancy that you were walking on the roofs of a city of the dead illuminated by corpse candles . Take no lame devil with you though , good student , when you walk
these paving-stone house-tops . Bid him unroof , and what will it avail you ? There are no genial kitchens beneath , no meat-safes before whose wire-gauze outworks armies of flies sit down in silent , hopeless siege ; no cellars sacred to cats and old wine ; no dustbins where ravens ha ^ os their savings banks and invest their little economies secretly . There is nothing beneath but the cold , black ooze of the Neva , which refuses to divulgeits secrets , even to devils—even to the worst devil of all , the police . ' _ _ ... . . .
Very powerful and affecting is the sketch of peasant life and peasant misery given in the tenth chapter . As it cannot be extracted in its entirety we forbear . from tampering with , it , but will conclude our extracts with a word or two anent imperial progresses : — From Petersburg to Warsaw there is a chaussee or road which , by a fiction as beautiful and fantastic as a poem by Mr . Tennyson , is said to be macadamised . It is perpetually being resmended at the express command
of the emperor . When he travels over it the highwayis , I dare say , tolerable , for the autocrat being naturally born to have the best of everything , his subjects have an extraordinary genius for supplying him with the very best , and the very best it is for the time being . When the Czar is coming , rotting rows of cabins change into smiling villages , bare poles into flowering shrubs , rags into velvet gowns , Polyphemus becomes Narcissus ^ blind men see and lame men walk , so to speak . The Czar can turn anything except his satraps' hearts .
We have heard of shams like this within the borders of our own merry England . Great Highland lords and lady proprietors hav e been known to pass in triumph along fictitious grooves of Boeotian happiness cut through wildernesses artificially created , to multiply sheep and grouse instead of peasants . In this , and in many other eases , we agree with ' our author that for the mote observable in Russia , there is in our domestic eye a beam of corresponding and , under circumstances , of more disgraceful magnitude ;¦ and we can believe and see how , pondering thus , the envoy of the Household Words , the outline of whose fervid sentiment . shows clearly through the rich embroidered veil of humorous writing , turned homeward sadder as well as wiser for his " Journey Due North . "
Health And Disease. Health And Disease, ...
HEALTH AND DISEASE . Health and Disease , their Laws , with Plain Practical Prescriptions for the People . By Benjamin Ridge , M . D ., F , R . p . J 9 . . , $ o . Chapman and Xlall ^ Among the numerous works that have appeared ia recent years treating popularly of the scionce of life , there is iiouo that is more attractive in its style and treatment of the subject , or will givo moro satisfaction to the general reader , than this volume by Dr . Ridge , Almost every man at forty—and every woman at every ago—is fond of speculating in physio . It is an uncontrollable propensity like
the passion lor gambling , or goia-nucung , or nwsuracing ; and volumes of wise saws have been written against it by tho regular practitioners . Dr . Ridge acts moro wisely ; ho recognises tho irrepressible dosiroraitd endenTours ^ o ^ give ^ lra-satfe-direoMon ^ Hewould teach men something about tho laws ol luo ,. the funotions of their various organs , tho disturbances to whioh they aro liable , and ho endeavoursalso to explain in a simple yet striking wny Uio civusos which produce tho more important ailments that allcot mankind .. He does not provido us with a book in which all the diseases of the human lramo are learnedly scheduled aooordnig to the porploxing synopses ol tho writers of dictionaries \ Uo docs not
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1858, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091858/page/19/
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