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    June 27,1857.] THE LEADER. Gt9

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    A NEW NOVEL. Anne Sherwood; or, The Sovi...

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    NEW EDITIONS. We have the following new ...

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    /fi r J+a (2j -rfcf ^^JUiJlr /-vvHaU

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    ¦ - — 'y . MADAME RISTOTiL-^CAMMA. Comma...

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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 Englishman In Jmoumonland. A Visit T...

    sensible arid unprejudiced account . Respecting the particular polygamy of the Mormons also , lie puts forward some suggestive and just remarks : —• Apart from the deeper and more social deterioration polygamy must effect , it -will , ¦ wherever it exists , be abused ipore or less for mere purposes of sensuality ; nevertheless , -where it is not regarded as illicit or opposed to religion , and is sanctioned by law and custom , the generality of men ( 1 think ) are scarcely more impelled by mere sensual feeling in taking a Second or' a third Wife than others in a first marriage . Of the Mormons , thus much I can say from . having mixed with . , them : first , the community at large—for about the few who maintain large harems 1 say nothing—Relieve the custom allowable and good . Secondly , as a matter of fact , they are not a specially sensual people ; nor , from the nature of the coantry-j as already described , could an indolent race avoid starving . Men in Utah cannot obtain divorces except for one cause ; women may obtain it upon trifling grounds , suck as disagreement with other wives ; tat family ruptures of this , kind are by no means common : —

    The -wretchedness of wives in Utah , has l > een greatly exaggerated . It is true there can be no position more painful tlan that of a woman who has come to Salt Lake half ignorant of the existence of polygamy , and , perhaps , a Mormon only because her husband is so , when she finds him about to take another wife . Many actually do live in a continually vague fear of such an event , ' , perhaps , by the favour of poverty after all escape it ; " those again who have been divorced , no doubt , have little love for this ' peculiar Instit-ution / though from more external reason ? . But one must look to the average , net to the exceptions . The Mormons are not generally licentious or addicted , to drinking ; swearing is rare ; and theft is prohibited by one of . the most tremendous acts of- law ever framed ; that is to . say , when a roan has stolen three or four times , the statute-book declares that 'he may disappear , ' and no one will inquire af ter him . After several chapters of rfbrmal tihrough p leasant description , Me . Ghandless gossips about his personal -experience in Utah , and thus sketches the fourth wife of a happy Mormon family t—

    The fourth wife was a " handsome girl of seventeen ; her husband ' s eonsin , and not long married j but she was a vast favourite with all their children -whom she petted immensely : perhaps she had been a playmate previously . " Give me a drink , Liddy , " " Do toss me , Liddy , " " Won ' t you mend my coat ( or my frock ) , Liddy ?" resounded through the household . T & ey never called her " aunt , " as they did the others , and as they are taught to do , upon the principle of all the -wives being sisters : not but what the Test were'fond enough of each other ' s children—almost as fond , indeed , as if they had & een really aunts , « nd the children were quite as fond of them . Tfce . latter , indeed , when-they -wanted a game at play , always congregated into ' Auat Elizabeth's ( the eldest wife ' s ) room , for she was less particular about a * racket' than the -others , and her thieatenings were long delayed in execution . We have next a . glimpse of their economy . Each wife m this household had & separate 'bedroom ; two shared a sitting-room ; "but fheypassed from one to another and took all their meals together ; the children were sweetmannered ; but there was a blot upon the polish of the Mormons :

    Two or three things one may remark in all discussions with Mormons ; they speak of the subject of ' plurality' before iheir wives without any restraint , argue the physical and mental inferiority of the female sex , and even touch on subjects too delicate , or too indelicate , to be beard without calling up a brush on the cheeks of any modest woman elsewhere . Sometimes the women would become -very brusque with their husbands , and half savage with myself , the innocent cause of the argument ; but a blush seldom rises in Utah : Mormons . rather think it a merit to speak in Tery plain language of ' those things we know naturally , ' and run freedom from affectation into coarseness . Whether or not this springs necessarily from polygamy ( as 1 hardly suppose ) , it is a sign , and must be a cause , of moral deterioration . This is , perhaps , the most peculiar account in Mormon manners : — is the

    The one special point of romance here ( and yon must look close for it ) , relation in which married men and girls stand to each other : elsewhere , the attentions of the former to the latter pass for nothing ; here a girl knows that her partner may at any moment be her lover and her suitor , though his wife is dancing in the vis-avis ; and many a flirtation is buoyed up by the circiuwrtance . Men , too , of the brighter sort , love to use their position , and carry on canvas that would capsize a monogamist craft . Seoond and third wives take little heed of the flirting or the wooing ; but you may now and then see a woman glancing too eagerly round , and from her haif-concealed jealousy and hatred , and fear predominating over the other two vou may guess , what you will b « told , that the watcher is an only wife : other SSiTinSyStar , TrfJwn . « ud tell ' her 6 he is no Mormon to look so after Her husband , and laugh at her iboteh expectation of keeping * n entire husband to heraolf . . Such scenes are exceptional , for polygamy is -not the most prominent . characteristic of Mormon society . Without , therefore , commending the jiisti-+ » t ; nna nf tlifi Rait Lake , we arc elad to have a report irom a discreet and l be asto

    candid traveller ; a « d we have no doubt that some who read it wil - nished to find nothing said about tfempfaian ravels , the . public baptism of " unrobed ladies lily-white / or those other horrors and wonders usually comprised in a full , true , and particular account of the Mormons .

    June 27,1857.] The Leader. Gt9

    June 27 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER . Gt 9

    A New Novel. Anne Sherwood; Or, The Sovi...

    A NEW NOVEL . Anne Sherwood ; or , The Sovial ImtiMiom of JJhmkmd 3 vote . ( Bentfoy . ) — Those who read simply tfbr amusement nmy find what they seek » - *»«; Sherwood Those who care for the opinions -of an unknown writer will fiud fhem stated with prodigious emphasis and Illustrated with « xtraordinary boldness-but let no one intent upon studying the . social institutions of England be deceived by this title-page . A more artificial or repulsive p . ctu ? eTf society hos never been drawn » it seems to be the vengeance of a morbid governess ; yet while it is designed to cxcilo eymnathy for the SS 5 e £ 3 L , it tends to 6 how-if suclfa book has any tendency at allfhat th ? y have almost better opportunities of getting ^ n « . We than any other sort of people . Wo ouppao it » generally considered a fine Ihing to colonelaim uiuu ¦

    obtain first the fortune of an opulentoW , v »«««« « ' » countos rbut M " The heroic Arae had remained at her fnthea ' s v . cm-age , would she have had those splendid chances ? It would seem to us that ,, f Z becomes u bitter , worldly , -mocking woman , the ^» * " ^ riTbeST tftinly it is altogether false to teaoh that a young girl must necessarily bo _ die-Ported into a vftvioUbreathingcy ^ o by a few years of ^ dependence ¦ . **« £ « ¥ of Anne Sherwood is a palpable vtaggeration . The two sisters are reduced

    so far as to strike up a beggar ' s ballad in the street ; but the one , ultimately planted in a curate ' s cottage , ripens into the sweetest fruit of earthly content and piety , while . the other , engaged as teacher in a fashionable family is insulted by llie silent scorn of a white beauty with a perfect bust , and , m the end , hears of that white beauty ' s elopement with a . yonn , g peer , and herself marries the deserted husband— "but only to punish hinx . She has previously , however , ' . married an ancient colonel , in his moral dotage , who dies on the wedding-day , and is laid out in his dress-boots and old-fashioned finery ; ultimately , her second husband also dies , and Anne sees the repentant young peer at ' her ieefc . He goes , however , where glory waits him , at Balaklava , and might have-returned at last to marry his own Anne had not some Russian gunner bowled him down . It is impossible to say more of Anne Sherwood than that it is an ingenious adaptation of extravagance .

    New Editions. We Have The Following New ...

    NEW EDITIONS . We have the following new editions on our table : —Mr . 'G . P . R . James ' s romantic novel , The Woodman ., . and Grattan ' s Cvrse of the Black Lady ., wrih . other Tales , reprinted in the Parlour library ( Hodgson ); The Lion , of Flanders \ The Miser , and Miss Pardoe ' s Home , in the The Amusing Library ( Lambert and Co . ) ; Bon Gaultier ' s delightful Book of Ballads , now issued , for the fifth time , with illustrations by Leech , Doyle , and Crowquill ; Gossip , by Mr . Henry Morley , a scholarly and pleasant -volume ( Chapman and Hall ) of Miscellanies from Household Words j ^ Essays and Sketches , by the late William Pitt Scargill ( Hardwic & e ) ; and Mr . Harinay ' s Eustace Cotters ( Chapman ' s two-shilling series ) . Messrs Chapman and Hall have issued the first volume of Lever ' s Tom Burke of " Ours" with illustrations -, by Hablot K . Browne , well suited to the bold and brilliant dash of the story . To Mr . Bonn ' s Classical Library has been added a new literal translation of The Metaphysics of Aristotle , ' with , notes , analyses , questions , and index , by the Rev . John H . M < Mahoii , M . A ., Gold Medalist in Logic and Ethics . The edition appears meritorious .

    /Fi R J+A (2j -Rfcf ^^Juijlr /-Vvhau

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    ¦ - — 'Y . Madame Ristotil-^Camma. Comma...

    ¦ - — 'y . MADAME RISTOTiL- ^ CAMMA . Comma is a snixea production ; written under the influence of two contending theories—a compromise ¦ b etween the Alfierian tragedy and the class of drama to which Adrtenne Lecouvrevr belongs . Signer Mskxakelu was evidently uncertain whether he should adhere to or discard the unities and proprieties ; whether he should imitate the grim but grand oia model , or take advantage of the licence which modern stage practice allows . The result is any thing hut satisfactory ; and , in spite of the immense talent thrown into her part by Madame BisTOKi , we may safely predict that Comma will gradually drop put of sight , i it be not definitively condemned , so far as England is concerned . When it was

    last played on Monday , the applause-was purely polite ; and intended , it may be , partly to cheer the actress , partly , perhaps , as complimentary to the author , if we can suppose an English audience animated by good feeling so gratuitous . Both Madame Ristori and Signor Montaneixi left the impression of great power but not the power to interest wbich v their reputations promise . The story of C < umma is simply one of vengeance , and tends to the death of one man by poison treacherously given as satisfaction for the death of another . The heroine , who has lost her own husband by murder , marries the assassin in order to share the bridal cup made poisonous by her own hands with him , ; and both perish , one despairing , the other in ecstatic joy . Here was a horrible and repulsive subject , that might reasonably be chosen , however , because it coukl Ristoki with to develop the

    not fail- to supply Madame opportunities peculiarities of her genius . But it was the duty of the poet to excuse the horror and diminish the repulsiveness as much as possible . When we read his tragedy it seems that he has done so . Great art is expended in raising our sympathy with Sinato , the husband , our hatred against JSinoro , the murderer . But Signor Montanem-i has forgotten that on the stage the testimony of the eye often contradicts the testimony of the ear , and impressions struggle victoriously with allegations . This is the general reason why playe , supposed beforehand to be sure of success on the stage , so often fail miserably ; and also why plays that aunear on inspection in the cabinet , to possess no dramatic qualities , meet occasionally with ^ signal triumphs . The object of the drama is to produce a series < vf-nictures or erouns—animated and eloquent—by means of which a story as

    evolved- If these are clearly conceived , and the chain is not much broken t > y soliloquy or bustle , the laws of ' construction '— -the despair of young dramatic writers , that often remains a myst « ry even to the oldest—are complied WiUi . Sicnor Montanwwui has not attended to these rules . He introduces interlocutors but not groups—at least in most cases—Talese and IHonara , Gddo and Taleae , and so forth—who narrate incidents and < lescri . be the passions and adventures of absent people . When Camma comes upon the stage , there w certainly more life and motion . But no one can have failed to remark that , at nnv rate , her earl y outbnrsts of . passion and feeling seemed the product rather

    of some galvanic process than of any natural occurrence . iwen tue select portion of the anddencef amiliar with the language were unprepared for them . Ahey were not accounted for—so far as the stage was concerned . The fact is , Camma ought to have begun , in the good old Massimoicr . style , with a grand departure < rt ,, 8 wato —a Hkotob and Anuromaohe pnrting—a murder on the stage amidst darkness « md terror . The despair of Camma would then have been , it we may so speaJc , optically understood and relished , and the audienco might iiave eympathUted with her in her projects of vengeance . Signor Monxanbixi was "evidently led astrnyfVom this simple idea bytlie absorbing reflection that he had but one LTr « at artist to provide for—that ho was not expected to give any lnteres ing tue

    part to one of the male actora of the company . What is reaunr wuen VMese comes in to toil Camma that lier husband has been murdered ,, lie ownniijnicates Jn an aside to ft rather troublesome fellow called ClM o the fact that Dionara lias been left by him— - Lfc aul oammin dei mirti tramortatn ; and then very lengthily communicates hia Bad intelligence . Madame Ribtotu here nlayB grief , despair , and deolro of vonRennce magnificently , but does nob aul to Seetl 10 strange impression of an effect without a cam fohe does not mto SSto Jbfcw 1 . ™ d / or it , mad tlw image of Stnato ' s ireaoUerou * murdorer

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 27, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27061857/page/19/