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1136 THE LEADER. . [No. 296, Saturday,
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EASTERN EXPERIENCES. Eastern Experiences...
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MEMOIRS OF JAMES MONTGOMERY. Memoiraof t...
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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 Life Of Fielding. The Life Of Henry ...
One more extract ,, involving a characteristic story , and we must have done : — - FIELDING ' S REBUKE TO GARRICK . " Fielding was fully sensible of Garrick's good offices in forcing on the representation of his comedy , as the means of relieving him from pecuniary difficulties . Gratitude for this act of kindness , combined with a high admiration for the actor ' s genius , laid the foundation of a friendship as close and sincere as the Very different characters of the two men permitted . In one respect , certainly , they were niost unlike . Fielding was profuse and generous to a fault ; Garrick was niggardly and parsimonious to a pitiful degree . This spirit manifested itself in the actor from the earliest period of his wonderful career ; and nothing delighted Fielding more than to ridicule and expose it . On one occasion , he attempted to do this by means of a practical joke , which is thus narrated by Macklin . Garriek , we are told , " had given a dinner at his lodgings to Fielding ,
Macklin , Havard ( the comedian ) , Mrs . Cibber , and others ; and vails to servants being then much in fashion , Macklin , and most of the company , gave Garrick ' s man ( David , a Welshman ) something at parting—some a shilling , some half-acrown , whilst Fielding very formally slipped a piece of paper into his hand , with something folded in the inside . When the company were all gone , David seeming to shilling from Mr . Mac & lin—here is two from Mr . Havard—and here is something be in high glee , Garrick asked him how much he had got ? "I can't tell you yet , sir , " said David ; " " here ' s half-a-crown from Mrs . Cibber , Got pless her—here ' s a more from the poet , Got pless his merry heart . " By this time David had unfolded the paper , when , to his great astonishment , he saw it contained no more ihan one penny / Garrick felt nettled at this , and next day spoke to Fielding about the impropriety of jesting -with a servant . " Jesting ! " said Fielding , with
seeming surprise ; so for from it , I meant to do the fellow a real piece of service ; for had I given him a shilling or half-a-crown , I know you would have taken it from him ; but by giving him only a penny , he had a chance of calling it bis own . " On closing this notice , we put it to Mr . Lawrence , in the event of a second edition of his book being called for , whether he might not find it worth his while to search for any unpublished letters of Fielding which may possibly be in existence ? We write in perfect ignorance on this part of the * subject , but it is surely desirable to make application to the Denbigh family , and to hunt up any descendants of the novelist , direct or indirect , on the chance of discovering and preserving letters or manuscripts which may not yet have got into print .
1136 The Leader. . [No. 296, Saturday,
1136 THE LEADER . . [ No . 296 , Saturday ,
Eastern Experiences. Eastern Experiences...
EASTERN EXPERIENCES . Eastern Experiences , Collected During a Winter Tour in Egypt and the Holy Land . " By Adam Steinmetz Kennard . Longman and Co . Wk are somewhat tired of the critical traveller . It is neither pleasant nor useful to be told that Genoa resembles Old Wapping , or that the Great Pyramid is a mere exaggeration of brickwork . Whatever " Common-sense " may say , there is some difference between the Bermondsey tan-pits and the Lakes of Kashmir . The old descriptions of the " exhaustless East , " which put _ a bulbul singing on every spray , a Fatmeh languishing : behind every lattice , and inlaid the pavements of Asia with pearl and gold , were more agreeable , and not less authentic , than diaries intended to check the fancy , by insulting its ideal . If we cannot have truth , a glittering fiction is better than a , repulsive caricature . . Mr . Kennard went to the East , laden with pre-conceived ideas . It was
odious to him to recognise , even on the sandy skirts of Egypt , the emblems and signs of Frankish civilisation . He gladly took refuge among the romance-dealers of Cairo , from the half-bred manners of Alexandria . In the Capital , with its narrow , cool streets , beloved of travellers , its coffee houseswhich are scenes from the Arabian Nights—its mosques , bazaars , and inapproachable harims , the Spirit of the East revived , and Mr . Kennard was satisfied that pony-phcetons and French millinery would not pursue him for ever . It is a curious pleasure—which no man enjoys twice—that of walking for the first time among the palms of Egypt 1 When Mr . Kennard left England , the country nrountl Oxford was under water ; the route through France , nearly as far as Marseilles , was dismal and wet . From the mouth of
the Rhone he steamed into the sun-touched south j but in Egypt he first taated the East—saw the sun glowing on the desert—felt the pure air stirring among the palms—knew that it would be impossible to discover a fog or a jmoky street , even if he sought one ; in fact , what novelty is comparable to that jof finding yourself in linen , cravatless , and waistcoatless , in a verandah , wishing foY a fan , at noon on Christmas day 1 Obviously , Mr . Kennard felt all the enchantments of the change , and was soon , immersed in the varieties of Careen life . But he had not come to study " men and cities" alone ; after novae delay he " Kamljiad" up the Nile , " donkeyed" over the desert , visited the palms of Kolsan and the shrine of Philaj ; and , at Esne , saw the evolutions of some dancers : — the
* ^^ * hia Ghawa zee have been crouching on the floor , as if waiting for the moment of inspiration , which at length seems to fall upon one of them ; for , raising her head , and throwing back the long black tresses of her hair , she raises her arms ; then , chinking her castanets to the quivering time of the music , she dowry raises her body , till at last she stands ereot before us . The music now Btreams forth , in double volume ; the thunder of the tarabuka softens tho sharp © totter of the oaetanets , which he is rattling over her head , as if to make them v * £ T ! St ? T for her rapidly-increasing excitement . Raising her voice , she ?!!! fSr ? * h ! * , otthoae wild Arab chants , bo peculiar , and so difficult of imitation , and only to be sought and found among the palms that wave over the Bweet waters of the Nile . With all the musoles of her body working to the time off the music , she moves slowly about the room , bending and twisting her litho figure into all imaginable postures . ?
Meanwhile , the other Ghawazee has been sitting motionless on the ground , tout following with her large kohl-tinted eyes every movement of her sister . At last her time comes . Shaking her castanets , she also rises—the signal for the other to sink apparently exhausted on the divan . With hardly any variation , she repeats the same movements ; and by and by is joined by the first Ghawazee , and then they danoo together , singing in unison . At times they twine thoir arms round , each other ' s waists , and then , suddenly bursting away , they fly far from © aon other ; quicker still they rattle their castanets ; louder and more wild they " ! 2 § ' iT * ^ OBlem fcand outplays itself ; even the Howadji are tempted to throw * i nar 9 ^ ^ t •*»<* indulge in an Arabian dance : but nature can at last hold «?^ 1 «> 8 er ' ! Mid , breathless , the poor Qhawozeo throw themselves on the divan , midst the 'taibrf and ' bravissimaB' of the assembly . "
' This is animated and graphic . It was not to be expected that in a rapid view of Egypt , Mr . Kennard would observe much that was new , or add to our knowledge , either of Nile scenery or antiquities . But , as there are per . sons who abhor old songs , however good , so there are those who think old books , however excellent , only fit to feed oblivion . Thus " the last new work" on Egypt is sure of such reader as look weariedly on a new edition . Moreover , some of Mr . Kennard ' s materials are fresh , inasmuch as he weaves a narrative of personal adventures , and personal reflections with the oft-told tale of a Nile voyage , and a visit to Jerusalem . At Rephia , he passed the granite pillars which mark the line between
Africa and Asia . The flowery country beyond , compared with the desert behind , supplies one of the rarest contrasts in nature , and taxed Mr . Kennard ' s " powers of appreciation" intensely . Near Jerusalem , as at Alexandria , he was anticipating a new sensation—the vista of a new world of thought and feeling , when a crowd of hotel waiters appeared , more pertinacious than the donkey boys , and presented their cards . The gathering idealisations in his mind exploded , of course , and he felt like the Englishman who , gazing by moonlight on the site of Palmyra , was asked by an American lady whether the moon did keep meat from decomposing . Nevertheless , Mr . Kennard persevered in search of the poetical , and found it at Damascus : —
" Dreaming now of Shems-el-nihar and her much-loved prince of Persia ; now of that gentleman , who on the first night of his nuptials was whisked all the way from some exceedingly remote place , and deposited in his scanty night-dress , perhaps at the very gates through which , we had entered the city ; and last of all , and not unfrequently , of that rich Emir , who , falling in . love with the beautiful daughter of the Jew , carried her off from the streets of Damascus , to his mountain palace in the Lebanon , thereby rendering his once solitary home the abode of happiness and love , till in an evil hour came the lady with the ' cold heart ;*—dreaming of all these tales of romance , ¦ which we had read in childhood , and which now seemed to start up before us in sober reality , we used to watch the shadows of the orange trees mount higher and higher up the moonlit walls , till they waved in the soft night air against our bedroom windows , and then we used to separate till the morning . Often it chanced that we met before that time , for if the mosquitoes and the heat conspired to render me sleepless , I used to come out to cool myself on the gallery upon which our rooms opened ; and , looking over into the court-yard below , I was allured by the plash of the fountain , to which I descended , to find one of my companions quietly there regarding the stars . "
In the bazaars of the East , also , he succeeded , where Rasselas failed , and tried the flavour of " perfect happiness . " It was worth even sea-sickness to know what those words mean : — " Seated quietly on the divan of a seller of fine stuffs , smoking his best pipe , and sipping the coffee with which he supplied me , I chatted and bargained for nearly an hour in the most perfect state of happiness , complacently watching the gay crowd that was ever streaming this way and that way beneath , me . Allowing my imagination full play , I _ saw caliphs in disguise , listening to the conversation of their innocent subjects ; took particular note of the whole intrigue going on over the way , between Schems-el-nihar and the Prince of Persia , assisted by the jeweller and the female slave ; whilst , in the next house to where I was sitting , a coffee-house , on one of the divans , sat a second Sinbad , relating to an admiring audience some of his most wonderful adventures . "
We are afraid that his imagination was immoderate . He expected to see mosques with vast halls , splendid roofs upheld by rich pillars , carpeted with the most sumptuous fabrics of Persia , painted like the Indian tombs , —sacred places , with their silence broken only by the play of a fountain , or the holy monotony of a voice reciting the Koran . But why expect these things in Egypt ? poor as it is , pillaged as it has been , Says Mr . Kennard : — "I assert that the bazaars of Cairo and Damascus still retain , without alloy , that rich vein of poetry and romance which looks you in the face from out every page of the-Arabian Nights . " It not this enough ? The reader , probably , will think so , and will agree with us , that to visit the East is not unprofitable , since Mr . Kennard , though ten thousand tourists have gone before him , has been supplied with matter for a book so fresh and so entertaining .
Memoirs Of James Montgomery. Memoiraof T...
MEMOIRS OF JAMES MONTGOMERY . Memoiraof the Life and Writinqs of James Montgomery . By John Holland and James Everett . Vote . HI . and IV . , Longman and Co . It is a bold thing to say , but this really is the worst biography we ever read ( or skipped ); the worst written and the least worth writing . James Montgomery was so excellent a man , and so amiable a poet , that one » amazed to find such a spiritless uninteresting book bearing the title of his Memoirs . Human achievements are , however , beyond all calculation . Two resolute biographers , armed cap-a-pie with material , have laid their lieaos together , and their united incompetence has produced this weary work , "he talent of expansion they certainly possess , and , in virtue of this , four volumes of a very uneventful life only bring the record down to the j car 1830 . This is accomplished by quoting abundantly from the Iris , the newspaper of winch of others
Montgomery was editor—by printing his letters , ami the letters , no matter how uninteresting—by records of conversations so pointless that there is a certain hilarity in their extreme absence of point , and one begins to feel a sort of flutter of expectation as to how far dulness can reach—and , finally , by editorial remarks , not indeed ambitious , but pitiably poor . "When we say not ambitious , we mean not generally ; on occasion we are treated to a flight of eloquence as per sample : — " In the month of March the exilei oi Elba broke his parole of honour , and soon appeared nt the hciul of « powerful army in the heart of France ; and the editorial pen which had " > twenty years past pursued the movements of the Emperor with a perseverance only surpassed by the sword of his conqueror , was unwillingly resumed to descant on the new fortunes of this extraordinary man . " The idea w Nemesis in the Sheffield Iris must have greatly troubled the exile of &«»• Thev had . it appears been antagonists for twenty years . Who can won *!*'
if St . Helena was the resting-place of a victim thus pursued ? Wo will dip ad aperturam libri for a specimen or the conversations here recorded : — . ., „ In September Montgomery was at Harrogato , and an amusing <» ebor'P „ , of a " forenoon" as epeut by him there , may be aeon in tho " JSgotiiit , " No . ***• * Prone l > j a Poet , vol . \ L p . 107 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1855, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24111855/page/20/
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