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No. 427, May 29,1858J__ ^^ 621 ,
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MAUD SKILLICORNE'S PENANCE. Maud SkUl!co...
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LATXER-DAY POETRY. The Age of feud: a Sa...
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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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Scottish Geology. The Cruise Of The Bets...
by the fissures . This curious rock , so nearly akin in composition and aspect to obsidian , a mineral which in its dense form closely resembles the coarse , dark-coloured glass of -which common bottles are made , and in its lighter form exists as pumice , constitutes one of the links that connect the trap ¦ w ith unequivocably volcanic rocks . _ ¦ . _ . V ^ On E 5 gg is the too famous " Cavern of Frances" ( JJavihJPhraing ) . There the Eig « ians , a few centuries ago , were smoked to death by the clan McLeod , just as , rather more recently , 11 French marshal—Pelissier—martyred some poor-patriots of Algeria in the caves of Dahra . After kicking out from beneath the decayed ream ants of . a straw bed the handle-stave of a child ' s porringer , which lay among the less destructible bones of its little owner , and picking up & coin of the Scottish Mary ., a copper sewing- needle , and other articles of rude housewifery , they come to a level floor , one hundred yards in extent , resembling a charnel-house . Heaps of human bones lay grouped together like what the Psalmist so impressively describes " as when
one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth . " The Mcl-. eod himself landed upon Eigg , driven thither by a sudden storm ; the islanders ., at feud with his clan " rose upon him . In the fray his back was broken and his § arty worsted and driven again to sea , bearing off their chief half dead , ome months after , being partially recovered , he returned , crookbacked and infirm , to take vengeance for this wrong . Warned by the sight of his approaching galleys the inhabitants sought refuge in the cave , but the place of their retreat was ultimately betrayed by the track of footsteps in the snow . The implacable MIcLeod now gave orders to tear down the houses , to pile up their materials , thatch and wood frames , before the narrow entrance and set the whole in a blaze . There he stood , humpbacked and pale with passion , till the last horrid shriek from within had sunk into silence , and there lived not a single islander of Eigg , man , woman , or child . The fact of their bones being allowed to moulder in the cavern is proof enough that none survived to inter the dead .
Few of our fellow citizens as they enjoy the crowning pleasure of " prime natives" and double stout , after the more intellectual recreation of a dramatic evening , are aware that the whole foundation of their metropolis "was originally one gigantic oyster : hed . In the London Basin , which underlies the city , and in the chalk still lower , the shells" are diffused promiscuously through the general mass . These oysters of the oolite once furnished sustenance to nvyr-iads of an extinct order of fish , mayhap reptiles , although net never enclosed nor drag uprooted them -. from their kindred rock . So also the island of Rum is composed almost entirely of oolitic rocks , bearing on top oyster-beds of great antiquity and depth , but for ages ' overlaid .. . with a kindly and fertile mould , bearing luxuriant harvests of grain . . ¦ ¦ ¦'¦ - . . : ¦ ' ' . -. '¦ v ; ' . . ¦ ¦ - . " : . - . ¦ ¦ . ' . ¦
Iloloptvchii aTe abundant at Dura Den , near Cup . ar . The amount of I design exhibited in these ancient ganoids—design obvious enough to be clearly read—is very extraordinary . A single scale of Holoptyckius Nobilissimus , fast locked up in red sandstone rock , laid by , as it were , " for ever , proves , if we care to unravel its texture , such a nice adaptation of means to end as might of itself be sufficient to confound the sceptic . L < ike the human skull , it consists of two well-marked tables of solid bone , with a spongy cellular substance interposed between them , termed the diplae ; the effect of the arrangement being , that the violence which fractui-es the outer table
leaves the inner one unharmed . To the strengthening principle of the two tables , however , other principles are added . Cromwell , when commissioning for a new helmet , his old one as he expresses it , being "illset , " orders his friend to send him a " / luted j ) ol" - —i . e . a helmet ridged and furrowed on the surface , and calculated to break by its protuberant lines the force of a blow , so that the vibrations would reach the body of the metal deadened and flat . Thus , the outer table of the Iloloptychius is a " fluted pot ; " the alternate ridg ^ es and furrows winch ornament its surface served a purpose exactly similar to the flutes and fillets of the Protector ' s helmet .
But here we pause . Intermingled with a large amouut of information precious to the geologist , are numerous anecdotes of men and things amusing to readers of every class . These stories arc truly Scotch , and portray an inveterate love of what the Americans call " trade , " under all circumstances , and at all times , not common among the peasantry of other lands . Take one out of many instances . One day , as Hugh Miller approached the FrceChurch , a squat , sunburnt , carnal-minded " old wee wine , " who seemed passing towards the secession place of worship , after looking wistfully at his grey maud , and concluding for certain that he could not be other than a southland drover , came up , asking in a cautious whisper , " Will ye be wanting a coo ( cow )? " He replied in the negative , and the wee wilie , after easting a jealous glance at a group of grave-leatured Free Church folk in the immediate neighbourhood , who would scarce have tolerated Sabbath trading iu a seceder , tucked up lier little blue cloak over her head , and hied away to the chapel .
No. 427, May 29,1858j__ ^^ 621 ,
No . 427 , May 29 , 1858 J __ ^^ 621
Maud Skillicorne's Penance. Maud Skul!Co...
MAUD SKILLICORNE'S PENANCE . Maud SkUl ! covne' ' iS Penance : a Tale in Two Parts . My Mury Ca thorinc Jackson . Smith tittcl Elder . The title of this novel is apparently a mistake , for we have gone through the two volumes without being able to discover why our heroine did " penance . " The fault , perhaps , lies iu our own want of sagacity , hut Maud has comrnutted ^ no outrage ; she has no serious faults to redeem , and no " Scarlet better to pluck from her bosom . She is a perfectly respectable , beautiful , ununpulBive lady , whose misfortunes arise from her sacrifices to the wishes
oi others . Of course she had a first love ; " what life is complete without treading through this fiery furnace , and who amongst us is really man ov woman until the sweet excess lias been tasted ? AVc should not have such a press o novels if the course of true love could run smooth . When Maud was a girl , she was in love with Arthur Sefton ; but her sweet dream soon came to a close ; for one day , taking up a newspaper—our authoress brings lier catastrophes about by newspaper paragraphs the first thing which caught her vovmg eye" was an " alarming accident" which occurred to iicv lover while hunting . The " latest particulars" announced his death . « uur authoress docs not dwell on any other emotion : she deals iu events
which follow eaeh other thick " as motes in . the sunnes beames . A selfish worldly father persuades poor Maud to fill up the void in her existence by , a marriage with a wealthy -widower . She gives her hand to Mr . Job Skillicorne , who is considerate enough to die , leaving to his young wife all his money and the care of a little son . The money Maud lends to her father , who invests and loses it in the " Metropolitan , Provincial , and General-Steam-for-Doniestic-Purposes-Supplying-Company ; " and our heroine , who bitterly reproaches herself for risking her child ' s fortune , turns artist , and seeks her own livelihood . She is the victim of an unscrupulous speculator , who ought to have been made to do " penance" himself , in a white sheet ; but Miss Jackson , like Fate , prefers that the innocent should suffer ; so all through the period of tlxe tale Maud is toiling and labouring to repair , not her fault , but her indiscretion . It is her misfortune to be generous to an . unworthy- object , but the difficulty in . such cases is to know who is deserving and who is not , and where our good offices ought to end ? Ought we , for instance , to draw the line at fathers ? The heroine brings up her son as an artist ; and this , of course , occasions some lively dialogues on art .
Arthur Sefton comes to life at the end of the second volume under a different name ; and the heroine , who never abandons what John Buricle calls an elegant softness of propriety , is rewarded for her industry and patience by a second marriage . After a separation of twenty years , Arthur Sefton is announced : — He bowed on entering , and said that he called with reference to a portrait . Maud requested him to be seated , and the stranger took a chair at the further end of the room , where the light was somewhat indistinct and gloomy , and proceeded to make inquiries relative to the artist ' s charges for portrait-painting . "lam desirous of having a likeness taken , " he said , " and from some of yours which . I have seen , I think I should prefer your style to that of any other artist . May I ask your terms ? " , " Thev vary according to the size of picture , and the amount of detail involved by the subject—the style of dress for instance , and the flesh-painting required ; also tbe
finish . " * " Might I be permitted to see a few specimens ? I should then be enabled to form a better opinion of the style in which I should like mine painted . " Maud rose , and drew her visitor ' s attention to a screen on which several drawings were hung , and also opened a few case 3 that were lying on the table ; and the one which she had been regarding with such deep emotion prior to the entrance of the stranger she also placed before him . " That is one of my most highly Anisbed , " she said , as she did so : " but the amount of labour requisite to produce this effect would make such a painting very ex-¦¦ ¦
pensive . ' .-: ' " AVas this painted from the life ?" " No—no , " and Maud sighed involuntarily ;;¦ " it is from memory . " fl I aslc if this is one of your recent paintings ?" .- '" It is only just finished ; but I may say tlat it has been the work of years . It is the portrait from recollection of—a friend , and it has employed me in my leisure hours at various' times . It is rarely that I finish a work so highly . I have a few more in another room , " she added presently , while the gentleman was occupied examining the painting , " and I will fetch them for your inspection . "
She proceeded on her errand , wondering at the fluttering at her heart , and the strange nervousness which she experienced . In a few minutes , Maud re-entered the room : she cast a glance at her visitor , -who was now standing in the full light "by the window , and slie started : she looked again - — -he was advancing towards her . In-her . agitation , slio dropped the drawing slie was carrying ; and Maud—the calm , the self-possessed j tfaud—screamed , scarcely knowing why ! The gentleman drew nearer to Maud ; came close to her , gazed into her eyes one moment with a look in which the feelings and thoughts of years were concentrated , clasped both her hands in his , and murmured tenderly , " Maud !" A little hysterical sol ) was her reply , while her eyes , gleaming with tears , sought his . She could not speak . Was she in a dream—or the delirium of fever ? What did it all moan ? . "Oh , Arthur ! " she cried at length—" sjeak to me ! Am I in my senses ? Tell me ! Explain this mystery . "
" What sliall I say ? That I liave found thee at length , my lost love ! Idol of my soul ! long , long , have the cruel fates severed us ; but we have met at last , beloved one : and I fondly trust—never to part !" Silence followed : their hearts were too full for their feelings to be expressed ia language ; and a half-uttered exclamation , a deep sigh , or hysterical sob from Maud , told the agitation of the moment-
Latxer-Day Poetry. The Age Of Feud: A Sa...
LATXER-DAY POETRY . The Age of feud : a Satire ( delivered under the Similitude of a Dream ) in Two Books . By Adolphus Pasquin . With an Introduction by the . Rev . George Grilfillan . ( Jmhl and Glass . )—There is no more dreary reading than the would-be satire of a foolish , self-conceited person who conceives he has a mission to reprove the age and call existing celebrities to au account . The author of the book before us , while thinking he has written a new Dunciad , hits only proved his fitness to be placed among the heroes of that immortal poem . If a union of spite and llunkeyisin were sufficient to make a satirist , " Pasquin" would be one of the highest order ; but he has no other cuialifications . He has upparently hunted up a lew numbers of Jilacktoaod ' s Mayaziiia of forty years ago , and , having collected some venomous and venerable absurdities about " cockneys" and middle-class scribblers , and
some decayed Toryisms ( now forsworn by all but white-waistcoated old gentlemen ) about the degeneracy of the times and the evil effects of " worshipping the democracy , " thinlca he has Buiftcient materials for setting up as a censor-general . So , while bestowing fulsome adulation on a few writers of " family , " ho is very severe and unmerciful on such low-bora people as Mr . Dickens , Mr . Thackeray , Mr . Douglas Jerrold , Mr . Leigh Hunt , Mr . Charles Mnekay ., Mrs . Browning , Mr . Procter , Mr . Alexander Smith , and others whom tho world has been accustomed to regard with some satisfaction . His chief indignation is hurled against Mr . Dickens , apparently because he has had the shucking bad taste to write about low people instead of taking all his characters from the drawing-room circles ailectcd by " Pasouin . " Yet he is so ignorant of what he professes to write about , that lie thinks Mr . Dickcns ' s earlier works were illustrated by Hahlot Browne , and his laterhy George Cruikshunk ! Of Jerrold wo are told that ho " made nil
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29051858/page/17/
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