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I am a good deal interested and amused by the professional models who " most do congregate" on the great flight of steps leading up to the Triaita di Monti from the Piazza di Spagna . There are often to be seen picturesque and varied groups , and single figures of str iking character . Handsome peasant women , with charming brown babies—wild , long-haired boys from the mountains—raven-bearded young men and snowy-headed old men—and coquettish young girls , "with flashing eyes and dashing costumes . There Is one grand-looking old man , with a bounteous white beard , who is said to do a great business in the saintly and patriarchal line . Be is a multitudinous Moses , an inexhaustible St . Joseph , and the pictorial stock Peter of many seasons . There is also a powerful , handsome , dark , and terrible-looking fellow , who does the brigand and bravo .
These various candidates for artistic favour seem to have the most social and agreeable relations with each other—indeed , I have remarked the patriarch chatting and laughing- with the brigand in a familiar manner , scarcely in keeping with his own ¦ ve nerable character . But , let an artist or two ascend the steps , and , presto ! the darkeyed young girls cease their idle gossip , and spring into position—look archly or mournfully over the left shoulder , or with clasped hands modestly contemplate the pavement —the pretty peasant woman snatches up the baby she had left to creep about at its own sweet will , and bends over it tender and Madonna-like , while , at a word from her , a skin-clad little shepherd hoy drops his game of pitch penny , and
takes up his role of St . John . Perhaps a dark , dignified , but somewhat rheumatic old woman , with ler head wrapped up in a browii cloth , makes a modest venture of herself as St . Anna , while the fine old man I hare described makes the most of the comparatively -unimportant character of St . Joseph , or , separating himself entirely from the group , looks authoritative as Moses , or inspired as Isaiah , or resolute as Peter . The handsome bravo or brigand gives a fiercer twist to his moustache , slouches his pointed black hat , appears to be concealing a dagger under his brown cloak , or on the point of drawing an imaginary pistol from his belt , sets his teeth , scowls , and cultivates the diabolical generally in attitude and expression . It is altogether a very amusing and skilful piece of canvassing .
The authoress administers a very just reproof in the passage we are about to quote . However it may humble our national pride to receive lessons on good breeding from our younger sister , America * it cannot be denied that in this particular—the treatment of women (« ° slight criterion of civilisation , fcy-the-by)— -we are much inferior . The remark applies equally to " the politest nation in the -world , " our opposite neighbour . Women in France and England are dependent on the courtesy of individuals for the consideration which in America is secured to them by public opinion . Nor can we take refuge in the belief that the difference does not extend to essentials : in America , wife-beating is not an institution . The Covent Garden Opera House is a grand sight of itself , and the getting up of this opera surpassed all I had ever beheld in scenic splendour . The audience was large—brilliant , in spite of the season—apparently appreciative , and certainly enthusiastic . But it is my unpleasant duty to record that on this night I saw a most
striking evidence of the want of gallantry in English gentlemen . In the pit , more t ickets had been sold than , there were seats to answer ; and I saw fair , delicate young ladies , and feeble-looking , elderly ladies , stand during the entire performance , more than four hours , while around them on every side sat vigorous-looking young men , and burly , middle-aged gentlemen , apparently without once thinking of offering to the half-fainting women , even for a little time , the seats which in many cases they had secured by superior force and astounding rudeness , in rushing before and crowding back the " weaker vessels , " whose maiden modesty ani feminine independence they sentimentalise ahout and take advantage of . I could not pay too high a tribute to the English , gentlemen I have met in society for their kindly courtesy and dignified politeness ; hut I must say that no roughest boors , I had almost said bears , can surpass in rude selfishness and cool incivility the promiscuous Britons in omnibuses and
steamers , the general John Bull of public assemblies . My own countrymen , how inexpressibly proud I feel of them for the generous kindness , the chivalric gallantry , which everywhere mark their manner towards woman , in whatever guise or character she appeals to them . How gratefully and mournfully I think of them when I am elbowed and thrust hither and thither in crowded passages to places of amusement , or when I am sent pitching headlong to the farthest end of an omnibus—for here the gentlemen move towards , not from , the door , \ th . Qn a lady gets into that commodious vehicle . O young and gallant republican , let it still be your pride to sustain this honourable distinction of the American gentleman—a chivalric consideration for woman ; yet be grateful , not boastful ; for , as the old Turk said to his son , while pointing to tho Franks , " But for the special grace of God , you might have been as one of these . "
We conclude with a very life-like picture of the illumination of St . Peter's : — In the afternoon there came on a terrific rain-storm ; but it slackened up towards evening , so that we drove over to St . Peter's ia some slight expectation of seeing the illumination . The p iazza was very dark and dismal , but there was evidently some preparation for lighting up . The rain ceased , and for nearly an hour the heavens were clear , and the stars came out , as though curious to sec what sort of a glare and spurt of light would be brought out in rivalry of their serene and eternal brightness . But gradually there eamo up , just bohind St . Peter ' s , a heavy black cloud , - which for a timo only threatened to give grander effect to tho illumination , but whioh rose and . roao , and spread and spread , till it covered the whole heavens , and curtained off the BtaTs for tho night . Suddenly , with one common consent , that great expectant crowd feroko up in disappointment , and scattered in haste , but not in time to cscupe tho storm tome heavily in tho bosom of that cloud , which came do-vm in thick sheets , in actual
strata of rain . Monday wns alao unpropitious ; but on Tuesday night tho noble display camo off under tho most favourable circumstances . "Wo - \ vero on tho ground nt an oarly how , and watched , almost from the beginning , tho curious process of lighting up . At first , we could distinctly see tho workmen swarming over tho vast edifice , let down by ropes from lofty cornicos , swinging and running lilco apidora about tho most perilous places . Hut as tho twilight deepened wo lost sight of tho agents nn < l all seemed to go on by magic . Tho lights , which were tupors in small paper lanterns , climbed tho pillars , Mtolo in and out of tho sculptures of tho capitals , arched over tho window ** , run along tho cornices , scaled tho dome , mounted to tho summit ^ and sprang out on to tlio armH of tho croH « . At , last it doomed to stand complete—every lines and angle , and curve of that wonder of architecture ) scomoil to live out in light . Hut tho Bight , though beautiful , wuh not grand nor ilaxzlingly brilliant . Tho building actually looked flmnller than uaunl ; tho innumerable tapcro sliono softly , uiid twinkled liko stars . It -was as though the church had been rained upon by n znotcoric shower or though tho milky way had wound Itself about , it from auminit to bnso .
red "banners on the winds of night . They swung bet-ween the pillars of the colonnades , they throbbed among distant shadows , they flashed on near columns and cornices , they made the dome look like a globe on fire ! There was something bo marvellously beautiful , so almost incredible , in the ( tight , that 1 was quite overwhelmed and bewildered , half questioning if it was not some splendid illusion of the senses , some gigantic fairy phantom , some wondrous unreality . It was a singular thing , that the further we went from St . Peter's , after this , the larger it appeared , till it seemed to have grown into a great mountain of light . Seen from the Pincio , it was grand and beautiful beyond all imagination . We remained on this height till very late , and left reluctantly at last , thinking , with real sadness , that those glorious lights would burn away into the morning , and we never see them moie .
But at tho second illumination , iustantanuouHly , universally , tnc vant building and tlio loug colonnades leaped from that Bofl-sluutud life into living name . It , nuomod that the Hnorod lire had descended upon tho croan , which llrst blazed forth , or that . It bad boon lit by lightning 1 . Great , gloriouH lights burnt out of tho darknoHH in a thousand unsuspected placca , sonic pointing atondily towards hoavon , hoiuo streaming like
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TWO NOVELS . Aroon ; or , the Trials . A Legend . By C . Mitchell Charles . Author of " Hamon and Catar , " " Claverston , " &c . Routledge . Matrimonial Speculations . 13 y Mrs . Moodie . Author of " Roughing it in the Bush , " &c- Bentley . Akvon ia well written as to style , and with a certain power of description ; but it does not belong to the higher class of historical novel . The story has an ancient dress ; that is to say , its scene is laid in Brittany in the fourteenth century . It is full of incident and adventure , of plot and counterplot , of murder and revenge , of imprisonments and escapes , and such like " properties" of the historical romance , as any reader could desire . There is a murderer and his victim , there are three mysterious individuals , of a class which , modern society would
denominate " foundlings , " who of course turn out to be the sons of the murderer and of his victim . Two of them at least are in love with the heroine , the murderer ' s niece . The murderer first attempts to disgrace his unknown son , and finally q _ uarrels with and kills him , after which the two sons of the victim are restored to name and honour . The incidents , it will be seen , belong to troublous times ; and yet , though , the story wears an antique dress , there is none of the spirit oi the fourteenth , century about it . Even the obvious materials of interest are disregarded by the author . Jane de Montfort is quite a secondary personage in the drama ; and , though the scene is laid in Brittany , there is nothing beyond the names to remind us of this—not an attempt to realise the social and intellectual condition , in that remote period , » f the province which above all others had retained , even down to modern times , its peculiar and traditionary characteristics , so original , deeply marked , and picturesque .
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VOLUNTARYISM IN ENGLAND AND WALES . Voluntaryism in England and Wales ; or , the Census of 1851 . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . The writer of this book has seized the materials furnished by Mr . Horace Mann ' s admirable volume of the Statistics of Reliyion in England . The writer , however , goes further than Mr . Mann , whose official position only enabled him to lay down facts , and to show * the bearing of those facts , the one upon the other ; -whereas the present writer extracts proofs that the Church of England is declining relatively to the increase of the population , and the increase of non-conforming persuasions . The argument ia set forth in some eighty octavo pages , and ia illustrated b y tables ; but it will be necessary to give this ¦ work a more careful examination .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . TrutJCs Conflicts and Truth ' s Triumphs ; or , the Seven-headed Serpent Slain : a Series of Essays , with an Allegorical Introduction on Some Chief Errors of the Day , By Stephen Jonnor , M . A . Longmans , Brown , Green , and Longmans . Now and Then . The Lily and the Bee . The Intelht . tiud and Moral Development of the Present Age . By Samuel Wurron , D . C . L ., 1 <\ R . S . William Black-wood and Sons . Little Plays far Little Actors—Puss in Boots ; or , Charltij Rewarded . By Miss Corner . ( Illustrated by Harrison Weir . ) Dean and Son . Amusing 2 Wes , adapted to the Capacities of Children , in which Birds , Beasts , and atfter Animals , have Something to Say . By Miss Corner . ( Tho Illustrations by Alfred Crowquill and James Northcoto . ) Dean and Son . A Popular Exposition , of the New Stamp Acts ; with ape . mil reference to the Law of Receipts , Drafts , Bilk of Exchange , and Prommory Notes . Arthur Hall and Co . The Young Child's Lesson Book ) or , What Shall 1 Learn First ? By William Cort . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . John Howard : A Memoir . By Hepworth Dixon . Jackson and Walford . Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans . By Thomas Chalin « rs , D . D ., LL . l ) . ( Vol . 2 . ) Thomas Constable and Co .
Philosophy nt the Foot of the Cross . By Jamon JVuguntuH St . John . Longman , llrown , < Jr « en , and Longmans . The Planetary Worlds : the Topography and Telescopic Appeuranccn of the Sun , Planets , Moon , ami Comets , By Juntos Broen . Kobort llanlwicko . Tim riluulrarcU Byron . Parts 1 . and 2 . Henry Vi / . ctolly . Tka Land We Live JTn ; a Pictorial and Literary Sket . oft-Booh of the British Islands Part , 8 . William T . Orr und Oo . Tka Butterflies of Great Britain ; with their Transformations . Uy J . O . Wcotwood , F . L . T ., & « . Part 1 ) . William T . Orr jind Oo .
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The stories contained in Matrimonial Speculations are supposed to belong to the nineteenth century ; and yet , could we imagine them to be very true or universal pictures of society , we could hardly consider our civilisation much superior in essentials to that of the " dark ages" alluded to above . That there are individuals to whom marriage is but a vulgar speculation , and life itself a tissue of sordid self-interests , is undoubtedly true , but a whole society of such beings as are described in these pages is difficult to imagine ; and if Mrs . Moodie has drawn these American pictures from life , we can only say that we pity her more sincerely for having passed through such experiences , than for all she underwent while " roughing it in the bush . "
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POST-OFFICE LONDON DIRECTORY FOR 1855 ( KELLY'S ) . The Editor of the Post-Office London Directory—the best Directorysays : — " The present volume is considerably increased in size , as well owing to the constant increase of the population in the area previously comprised , and to the fact that as the suburbs are gradually becoming the places of residence of those engaged in business in the metropolis , we find it necessary to continually enlarge the area chronicled in the Directory . "
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1076 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 11, 1854, page 1076, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2064/page/20/
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