On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (5)
-
¦ ¦ JMEAJfiqg - 7,3.S&7-J • • TI113 ii^A...
-
SMALL NOVELS. Gil Talhot; or, TFoman's ^...
-
( S \ f (t rt CTj ¦»«¦(• jv Va/*Jv ¦¦ JUrl.W * ¦ . ¦ ¦
-
THE NEW ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE. "Are ¦ •we ...
-
TIIKATItlCAL NOTES. Morton's Cure for th...
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.
-
-
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.
Quedaii. Qziedah; Or, Stray Leaves From ...
They are not prized by the Chinese for their fiavomv but because they supply incomparable " thickening" for soups and gravies . Captain OsboTn ' s book is one that is best described by quotations . Wo shall select a few passages illustrative of Indian Archipelago scenery and manners . This is a picture of justice as enacted by the Siamese— -upon women as well as . men : — One was cooking a human being alive : a hollow tree , either naturally so , or scooped out by manual labour , -was loft with merely its bare stem standing ; * nto it a prisoner ¦ was put iiaked , his hands tied behind his back , and a large piece of fat lashed on his head ; the tree-was then carefully coated with an unctuous mud , to prevent its ignition , or if it did ignite , that it might merely smoulder , and then a slow , steady fire was maintained round it , the unfortunate victim ' s sufferings being by those means terribly prolonged , his shrieks and exclamations being responded to by the exultant shouts of his executioners .
Another torture was that of carrying the pirate or rebel down to the banks of a river where a peculiar species of palm-tree grows , and choosing a spot in the mud where the sprout of a young plant was just found shooting upwards , which it does at the rate of several inches in twenty-four hours , they would construct a platform around it , and lash their miserable victim in a sitting posture over tlie young tree , so that its lance-like point sh . ouia enter his body , and bring on mortification and death by piercing the intestinea—in short , a slow mode of impaling . Captain Osborn alludes to the practice of smearing people with honey and tying them to trees , near the nests of venomous ants , but lie is wrong in imputing it to the Malays alone . It was formerly the habit of the Dutch women in Java to inflict this torture on any young handmaiden of'whom they happened to be jealous . Here is an Eastern perspective , the picture of a bamboo to-svn :
It is almost-impossible to convey a good idea of the beauty and neatness of abodes entirely constructed of wood , bamboo , and . matting or leaves . Those of Kangah , although far above the river , were , according to the constant rule , built upon piles three to four feet highy ; possibly this might be a necessary measure for the rainy season , but at that time , when the earth was baked as hard as rock , it seemed an act of supererogation . They , liowever , were generally oblong in the ground-plan , having a gallery-extending along each of the long sides , to-which a primitive ladder gave access from the ground . "The floor ( for each house was only one story high ) consisted of strips of bamboo , sufficiently strong to bear the weight , but giving a pleasant spring to the tread ; over these bamboos , -which were perhaps an inch apart , and kept so by a tranverse " snaking" ofstrips of ratan , neat mats were spread , their number , fineness , and beauty depending upon the wealth of the owner and the skill of his women . The walls were constructed of cocoa-nut and other paltn leaves , secured with such , cunning and neatness as to be perfectly / wind and-water tight , and at the same time pleasing to the eye . The roofs were somewhat high and peaked ,, betokening heavy rains , and with "broad , overhanging eaves , which added to the picturesque appearance of the buildings , and reminded me strongly of the " ch & lets" in Switzerland .
Lastly , a night chase of a prahu on a river : " We -were sooa on her heels , and guided by the sound she inad « in forcing through the mangrove swamp , held our course : now aground upon the straddling legs of a mangrove tree ; then pushing through a thicket , out of which the affrighted birds flew shrieking ; then listening to try and distinguish the sound of the flying canoe from all the shrill whistles , chirrups , and drumming noises , which render an Indian jungle far more lively by night than by day . Once or twice we thought we were fast catching her , when suddenly out canoe passed from the mangrove swamp into an open forest of trees , which rose in all their solemn majesty from the dark waters . We saw our chance of success was now hopeless , for the scout canoe had fifty avenues by which to baffle us , and terra firma was , we knew , not far distant . It was a strange and beautiful scene . The water was as smooth as burnished steel , and reflected ¦ wherever the trees left an opening , the thousand stars -which strewed the sky : the tall stems of the forest trees rose from this glittering surface , and waved their sable plumes over our heads ; whilst the fire-fly , or some equally luminous insect , occasionally lit up first one tree and then another , as if sparks of liquid gold were being emitted from the rustling leaves . To read such a book as this is a pleasure .
¦ ¦ Jmeajfiqg - 7,3.S&7-J • • Ti113 Ii^A...
¦ ¦ JMEAJfiqg - 7 , 3 . S & 7-J • TI 113 ii ^ ADISlL ... ' 235
Small Novels. Gil Talhot; Or, Tfoman's ^...
SMALL NOVELS . Gil Talhot ; or , TFoman ' s ^ Manceztvres . andMan's Tactics . By A . 3 \ I . Mnillard . 3 y ols . ( Newby . )—With so much twaddle to be had at a shilling a volume , it is astonishing to find Mrs . Maillard publishing hers , in three volumes , nominally at the regulation price , ll . 11 s . 6 d . Gil Talbot , we believe , is her sixth work of the same size and quality ^ by such is oblivion fed . The heroine , Claris , should have been kept at school , and disciplined with some severity ; Grothen Travannes , the captain , whose heart is agonised , is simply a suit of regimentals stuffed with straw ; the hook , in fact , is compounded of old clothes , old crockery , and broken lay-figures from the storehouses of second-hand and tenth-rate romance .
Friends of Bohemia ; or , JPhaxcs of London Life . By E . M . Whitty . 2 vols . ( Smith , Elder , and Co)—The character of this -production is best exemplified by the circumstance that its very respectable publishers have apologized for its publication . We may regret that they have not exercised a , discretion similar to that which , in a recent instance , resulted in the suppression of a libellous tirade ; but , in the present case , such a proceeding might lave been superfluous . Few readers will enre for the political oracles of the reporters' gallery , the social " phases" of public-house life , the dialogues of shabby cynics and ucribbling Thugs , which make up Mr . Whitty ' s " satirical novel . " There is no story , the incidents aro disjointed , improbable , and repulsive ; some of the conversations arc specimens of raw impropriety . The work is at
once coarse and juvenile . No woman will read it through on account of ita dulncss ; certainly , for other reasons , it ought to lie on no iamily table . In this strange compound of bile and bad manners , there is a foul sprinkling of what is probably intended to be satirical , but would more properly bo called spiteful , allusion to certain organs and personages of the London press , to whom , no doubt , the author is indebted for a recognised existence . Indeed , these two volumes appear to have been written for the express purpose of relieving an indigestion of malice . Now , this may be diverting enough to the author and to his select admirers ( the Irish ruffian who murders hia friend and benefactor from behind t \ hedge has hud his admirers and apologists , and why not this Friend of Bohemia his ?) , but it is
scarcely possible for the most curious of scandal-loving readers to make his way through sucli a farrago of ignorance and absurdity for the sake offsetting at the tidbits of insult and abuse . The polities , we repeat , are the scourin <» s of the Strangers' Gallery ; the'life and manners are the life and manners of the back slums of penny-a-liners ; -. the talk is the talk of pothouses in or near the Strand . No doubt an author may be pardoned for describing the only sort of life he has known , but the general public may Toe equally forgiven for taking a very limited interest in those experiences . As to the " author ' s personalities , we do not usually attach , much credit to the opinion of their masters which discharged servants are apt to express—especially if they have been discharged very summarily for gross negligence and incapacity . There are men who can forget , but never forgive , an obligation ; and if , as -we have heard , tho writer of this dismal book expelled himself from the comparative heaven of London journalism on account of certain eccentricities not appreciated among gentlemen , let us pity his writhings in the purgatory of provincial insignificance . He may yet find promotion in Donnybrook until his ' Australian Republic' has room for more of those Friends of Bohemia , whom the England of their detestation -will so gladly spare . Odisse quem Iceseris , we arei inclined to believe , would have been a fitting motto to this sorry and malignant trash . Western Border Life ¦; or , ) J hat Fanny Hunter Saw \ and Heard in Kansas and Missouri . ( Low and Son . )—This specimen of the American novel is monotonous , but neatly written . It is special in its purpose , and , therefore , addressed to a special class of readers .
( S \ F (T Rt Ctj ¦»«¦(• Jv Va/*Jv ¦¦ Jurl.W * ¦ . ¦ ¦
The New Italian Opera House. "Are ¦ •We ...
THE NEW ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE . " Are ¦ we to have a second Italian Opera House ? and , if so , where is it to be ? " are questions-which , as the Spring draws near , the fashionable worldfollowing Parliament into London , as Oberaris elves " follow darkness like a dream "—is naturally beginning to aslc itself . Does Mr . GrYu intend permanently to take up his dramatic abode within the narrow bounds of thcLYcEOM ? Or will he erect a new house in Leicester-square , causing " the Great Globe" to "leave not a rack behind ? " Or will he turn Burlington House or Devonshire House into temples for the Olympian utterances of Maiuo and Gftisi ? Tho Times ' of- Monday answers these fond inquiries by a direct negative , as regards Mr . G-ye's ultimate designs . He will do none of these things . For the present season he must , of course , make special arrangements ; but , for the future , he -will recall the vanished theatre which , for more than a century , has made Bow-street as , celebrated for classical dramas , of one sort or another , as for police cases and the achievements of the " runners . " He will still force the aristocracy of the West-end to consort three times a week with plebeian cabbages and democratlcal potatoes ; and he will make tho neighbourhood of the piazzas again resonant with the sounds of Italian melody . For—says the Times" We are now informed , upon the best authority , that the necessary documents ate signed . The Duke of Bedford has leased to Mr . Gye , for ninety years , not only the ground upon -which Covent-gnrden Theatre stood , but also that which is covered by the Piazza Hotel , together -with other tenements in the rear , ' -extending into Hartstreet—the whole being equivalent to upwards of an acre of land . The lease becomes the tnore advantageous to the holder from the fact that it is unfettered by any of those drawbacks , such aa renters' privileges , property boxes , & c , which weighed so heavily on former administrations . The only reservation exacted by hia Grace is one private box for hia own family . - " Some few particulars connected with the plan of tlie new building may not be uninteresting to our readers . The area of the theatre will be considerably larger than . previously , comprising an enclosure of two hundred and forty feet by one hundred . The roof is to constitute a span of one hundred feet , without any intermediate supports—so that the scenery and stage appurtenances may be removed at the shortest notice , and tho whole interior converted into a vast concert-room . The building is to be entirely fireproof , the timbers being prepared on the fireproof process which is now adapted in constructing the Government lighthouses . Although the space to ho occupied by the theatro is necessarily large , it will not include the whole of tho ground comprehended in the lease . It is intended to devote the remuining portion to a ilovver-niarket , in the shape of a vast glass bazaar , eighty feet in diamoter and two hundred and iifty feet in length , for the exhibition and . sale of flowers , plants , and all the objects and conveniences that "incidentally relate to them . This idea was suggested by the well-known Marchc u / tx Flairs , which forma one of the moat populur and agreeable lounges in that city of loungers , Paris . " In the ensuing spring and summer , Mr . Gyk ' s company , we bbliove , will perform at Diit ; nY Lank .
Tiikatitlcal Notes. Morton's Cure For Th...
TIIKATItlCAL NOTES . Morton ' s Cure for the Ikaruicha—one of the popular comedies of half a cen- > tury ago—was revived at Diujry Lani : oh Monday , for the purpose of exhibiting Mr . Ki 5 i 3 L , KY as Old Jlapitl , a sleepy-headed elderly fool , tho very antipodes of his name ; Mr . Oiiahluh Mathkws aa Young lia & id , an ever-active , vivacioua rattles , as rattles were , or were supposed to be , in tho days of our fathers ; Mr . Timjpuy us Afr . Vortex , a Nabob of tho true stage cut ; Mrs . Kisbi-ey as a rustic boy , Frank Oallawh ; and Miss Omvkk and Mias Ci-kvuiunw in two young-lady parts . So excellent a canto gives vitalit } ' to an obsolete style of drama . Mr . Diu . on has been performing nt tho Lyceum the part of Bon Cesar da Bazun , in tho drama of that name ; and ho has also produced another version of tho French piece Anga tt J > em < m , in which ho and MrB . 1 ) ij , i , on perform tho husband and wife , and Mr . Toolk tlie part of the devoted servant , exhibiting therein a groat deal of humour , streaked with patUos and tragic power .
We regret to leurn that Mrs . Stiiu / ing lias been seized with Biiddun indisposition , anil has boon obliged to abandon for n . time her part in Mr . Tom TAYixm ' s drama , A tfhe « p in Walf ' n Clothing . Mry . YVitiAN now appears in tho part ; so Unit the piece still goes on .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07031857/page/19/
-