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October 9, 1852.] THE LEADER. 975
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THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF ELECTION COMMITT...
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. The JDodd Family Abr...
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We should do our utmost to encourage the...
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VIII. Audley Hall, Werneth, Jan. 17, 185...
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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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The Landscate 1»Atntkr In Calabria. Jour...
n part of the ruined hall , —a horrible memorial of the crime , strangely coincident with that of the form and name of the rock . " Immediately on the consummation of this double tragedy , the active young Baron Montebello carried off the young lady , his retainers having put all the family of the Marchese to death , except one infant granflbhild , whom a nurse ved ky concealing him in a crevice of the rocks ; the castle was then dismantled , and the lady became Baroness of Montebello . But she never spoke more ; the horror of having been indirectly the destruction of her whole race occasioned her to Tjecome insane , and she poisoned herself within a month of her departure from her native town . '
_ ¦ . , " In process of time , the child saved by the nurse grew up , and was introduced as a page into the Montebello family , the Baron having re-married , and being now the undisputed possessor of both territories as far as the sea ; but , after many years of life , the wretched man became wild with remorse for his past iniquities , and made over all his possessions to the Church , provided only no living descendant of the Pentedatili could be found , a decent proviso , apparently made without any risk . When lo ! the nurse and a small number of the old Marchese ' s friends proved , beyond any doubt , that the page was heir to the estates and revenge of his ancestors ! And here you might suppose the story ended . Not at all . The Baron ' s hatred returned on finding there was really something on which to exercise it , and he
ordered the torture and execution of young Pentedatilo forthwith . But now the tables were turned ; the Baron ' s long reign of wickedness lent weapons to his adversary ' s cause , and , in his turn , the last scion of the murdered Marchese became a tyrant . Forthwith the whole family of the Baron Montebello were destroyed before their parents' eyes , and he himself then blinded by order of the avenger , and chained for the rest of his days in the very room where he had slain the grandsire Pentedatilo . Finally , as if it were ordered that the actors in such a wholesale domestic tragedy were unfit to remain on earth , the castle of Pentedatilo fell by the shock of an earthquake , crushing together the Baron and Marchese , with the nurse , and every other agent in this Calabrian horror ! And also one touch of Mrs . Eadcliffe , with , a curious glimpse into the remoteness indicated by the ideas of England here recorded . A MONASTEEY IN CALABBIA . " Slow and hazardous was the descent , and it was nine o ' clock ere we arrived before the gate of this remote and singular retreat . It was a long while before we gained admittance ; and the Superiore , a most affable old man , having read our letter , offered us all the accommodation in his power , which , as he said , we must needs see was small . "Wonder and curiosity overwhelmed the ancient man and his brethren , who were few in number , and clad in black serge dresses . Why had we come to such a solitary place ? No foreigner had ever done so before ! ' The hospitable father asked a world of questions , and made many comments upon us and upon England in general , for the benefit of his fellow-recluses . ' England , ' said he , •* is a very small place , although thickly inhabited . It is altogether about the third 3 > art of the size of the city of Rome . The people are a sort of Christians , though not exactly so . Their priests , and even their bishops , marry , which is
incomprehensible , and most ridiculous . The whole place is divided into two equal parts by an arm of the sea , under which there is a great tunnel , so that it is all like one piece of dry land . Ah—che celebre tunnel ! ' A supper of hard eggs , salad , and fruit followed in the refectory of the convent , and we tyere attended by two monstrous watch-dogs , named Assassino and Saraceno , throughout the rest of the evening , when the silence of the long hall , broken only by the whispers of the gliding monk , was very striking . Our bed-rooms were two cells , very high up in the tower of the convent , with shutters to the unglazed windows , as a protection against the cold and wind , which were by no means pleasant at this great elevation . Very forlorn , indeed , were the sleeping apartments of Sba . Maria di Polsi , and fearful was the howling of the wind and the roaring of a thunder-storm throughout the night!—but it was solemn and suggestive , and the very antithesis of life in our own civilized and distant home . "
Among the pleasant features of this book are the simplicity , friendliness , and honesty of the people , so skilfully and unobtrusively indicated . Nor must we forget the illustrations—beautiful lithographs from Mr . Lear ' s sketches—which make this a volume to adorn the drawing-room , as well as to fascinate the reader .
October 9, 1852.] The Leader. 975
October 9 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 975
The Law And Practice Of Election Committ...
THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF ELECTION COMMITTEES . 'The Tmw and Practice of JUlcction Committees . By John Clerk , of the Inner Temple , Esq ., Burrister-at-Law . S . Sweot , Chancery-lano . This work is published very opportunely , nowthat the time is fust approaching when Parliamentary agents , and other members of the ' legal profession , . as well as those M . P . ' s who are unfortunate enough to be nominated to serve on Election Committees , will requiro a book bringing down this branch of the law "to the end of the last Parliament , and containing all the recent
decisions of Election Committees . " We hsive read several of the most important chapters , and have looked carefully through the whole work , and we can with confidence recommend it to any person requiring information upon the subject treated of . The style is concise and clear , and the absence of professional jargon will , we are sure , render it a favourite handbook with members of the House of Commons . In an appendix the author gives a collection of useful forms , and the statutes to which reference lias most frequently to be made .
" An Act to amend the Law of Evidence , " introduced by the veteran law reformer , Lord Urougham , and passed in the session before last , rendering parties to a suit competent and eompellable to give evidence , applies clearly to parties to an Election Petition , and , as Mr . Cleric says , " It may therefore bo expected that sitting members and candidates at the election will be ( railed and compelled to disclose the transactions at the election of which they have any cognisance , they being always at liberty to decline answering any question put to thorn which thfcy may consider as tending to criminate- themselves ; " and bribery being a misdemeanour at common law , and an indictable offence , wo fear that the Committees will not got much information on this head from the member whoso return 1 H petitioned against . As to the- probable effect of this law upon the bearing <> f Election Petitions , we cannot do better than quote the remarka of Mr . Clerk , who has had considerable experience in these cases : — " WhoUicr this enactment will enable thono quuHtioning election proceedings to throw much additional light imon tlw matter , rouiaiuu to bo proved . It lnva been
intimated in many quarters , that corruption at elections will , in consequence of this change in the law of evidence , be much more effectually disclosed , and that many members will probably lose their seats in consequence . It may , however , be doubted , whether all the consequences that are anticipated will actually be met with in practice . For though the sitting member or candidate should decline to shelter himself under the dangerous shield of fear of criminating himself by his answer , and should state all that he did know on the matter , how little does a sitting member or candidate , in nine cases out of ten , know either of the bribery or the treating that is going on . He will be able to state on oath how determined he was to act with purity at the election ; how specific his instructions were to his agents to that effect ; how surprised and shocked he has been at hearing of any corrupt dealings , and deny all knowledge of the parties concerned in the bribery ; and thus , instead of the member being more closely connected with the guilty parties , he may be able to show who were his accredited agents , and deny all connexion with those who have been proved before the committee , to have had a share in corrupt transactions . At the same time , from the examination of the candidates , important information may sometimes be obtained as to their connexion with the borough , & c . ; upon whose invitation they went , who made the legal arrangements on their behalf and discharged the legal claims ; what amount of money was paid by them into the hank , and what has been the cost of the election . "
Books On Our Table. The Jdodd Family Abr...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The JDodd Family Abroad . ~ Bj Charles Lever . No . 3 . Chapman and Hall . The Zoist . H . Bailliere . Bleak Souse . Bradbury and Evans . Sponge ' s Sporting Tour . Bradbury and Evans . Writings of Douglas JerroM—Cakes and Ale . Part 5 . Punch Office . British Journal . Aylott and Jones . Bentley ' s Standard Library—TTncle Tom ' s Cabin . By H . B . Stowe . Richard Bentley . Orimm ' s Household Stories—The Two Wanderers . Addey and Co . Picture Pleasure Book . Addey and Co . TaiVs Edinburgh Magazine . Sutherland and Knox . The Popular Educator . Vol . 1 . John Cassell . The Illustrated Exhibitor . John Cassell . A History of Gold . By J . Ward . W . S . Orr and Co . The Life of His Grace the JDuke of Wellington . By J . Ward . W . S . Orr and Co . Portrait Gallery . W . S . Orr and Co .
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We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Gobthb .
Viii. Audley Hall, Werneth, Jan. 17, 185...
VIII . Audley Hall , Werneth , Jan . 17 , 1852 . SS ^^ OSP prized and most honoured Sir , —Although it is most k'HwIKj grateful to me to note that you keep me in your memory , insomuch <§ qwcB § that my poor self occupies your accomplished pen , and that you ^ g !§ P § have engaged yourself in the charitable task of rendering me more fit to hold converse with your so exalted mind ; nevertheless it is in some degree grievous to me that you should so far throw your labour to waste as to commence the impossible labour of convincing me that what I see in England is not existent , but that what I do not see , but is written in certain old books by you favoured , is the thing that I ought to discover here in the realm of Great Britain , and to describe to you over again . For , with reverence be it spoken , the opinion that you urge me to recite to you is void of sense and altogether diverse from the truth , as you shall presently see . The pain that I confess to you , my dear Giorgio , is drawn precisely from the fact , that in England conviction is not stated fully , and that conduct is not downright—why do you spell it " dawnwright ?"—but is evaded , or approached indirectly . I came here the day before yesterday , and after a very brief word with Werneth , who met me at the station , I went straight to his father ' s with him , and was ushered by him into the library , where I found Giulia Sidney writing . At the sight of me she started , and drew back ; but as Werneth retreated and closed the door , she threw herself into my arms . Then drawing back , -with a mixture of playfulness and penitence , she said that I bad come a long way to chide—1 might have waited till her return . She spoke in Tuscan , but I answered in English—perhaps as an instinctive resort to the severer tongue—that I had not come to chide her , but only to know her reasons . " A woman ' s reasons ! " she exclaimed ; and pursuing her artful childishness , she tried to disarm me more by caresses , by tears , by confessions that she was wrong . But I would not be put oft" thus . She had done a real wrong- to Yseult , in setting an example of insulting one who had not wronged her , and who was in every way a truer woman than she is . Nay , I felt a sort of indignation on behalf of Julia herself , as she could be if she chose , for she has many noble points in her nature . Julia is ever trying hard to avoid recognition on her right ground , and to obtain it on one where she has no real footing . Her father was a writer of fame ; her husband will survive oven unto generations able to read him by their own strong sent light , and not as men do now , like people in a railway tunnel , by the glimmering light of the future . Her mother was a George Sand , clear and faithful in purpose , a rebel against insincerity ; and she herself might have continued the line . But , with such a genealogy , she wishes to take her stand upon her husband ' s birth ; and in that vain pursuit she consents to be a female " tuft-hunter . " With a loving heart and quick veins she shapes her way in life by the fashions of those who will not trust or accept her ; and she in a voluntary exile from the world of urt , in the vain hope of earning admittance to the world of high birth and fashion , and social legitimacy . Bitter must bo tho tears she weens—a double outcast ; and her
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09101852/page/19/
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