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delicately , labours sincerely ; -rwhat a contrast to Mrs . " Fanny Fern" " Mr . Verdant Green ! " . - ' x The Chronicles of Wolferts Roost occupy only the first twenty pages ot the volume before us . Tales , sketches , picturesque anecdotes , and snatches of history , travelling experiences , and short essays , fill the book m the most miscellaneous manner . Now , as in Wolfcrt ' s Roost , we have some paces which seem to have been taken from the manuscript of that admirablyhumorous book , Knickerbocker ' s History vf New York . Now , as in The Creole Village , we are presented with an exquisitely-graceful and graphic Sketch , which reminds us of Geoffrey Crayon ' s best days . New , as in . " The Great Mississippi Bubble , " we have a specimen of that delightful power ot
narrating which enables Washington Irving to make the subject new again for all his readers . Whether he is writing " Sketches in Pans , or searching for traces of " Don Juan" at Seville , or telling a ghost story of the " Grand Prior of Minorca , " he is sure to achieve the one great triumph of interesting his readers . Everybody who has read at all knows something by this time of the genial humour , the delicate irony , the quiet tenderness , and the graceful correctness of style which distinguish Washington Irving as a writer . The best and briefest opinion we can offer on the volume now under notice is that it is worthy of its author—which is as much as to say , in other words , that it is worthy of being read by everybody . . We cannot prevail on ourselves to close the book without tempting our readers irresistibly to i ts perusal by an extract . How genuine and delicate is the humour—how exquisitely true and happy the observation m this
•^¦^ WUta ^ K ^ ' » THE TWO DOGS . Beside this African domestic , the seigneur of the village had another no less cherished and privileged attendant . This was a huge dog of the mastiff breed , with a deep , hanging mouth , and a look of surly gravity . He walked about the cabin with the air of a dog perfectly at home , and who had paid for his passage . At dinner-time he took his seat beside bis master , giving him a glance now and then out of a corner of his eye , which bespoke perfect confidence that he would not be forgotten . Nor was he ; every now and then a huge morsel would be thrown to him , peradventure the half-picked leg of a fowl , which he would receive with a snap like the springing of a steel-trap—one gulp , and all was down ; and a glance of the eye told his master that he was ready for another consignment . x
The other village worthy , travelling in company with the seigneur , was of a totally different stamp—small , thin , and weazen-faced , as Frenchmen are apt to be represented in caricature , with a bright ,, squirrel-like eye , and a gold ring in his ear . His dress was flimsy , and sat loosely on his frame , and he had altogether the look of oiie with but little coin in his pocket ; I Yet though one of the poorest , I was assured he was one of the merriest and most popular personages in his native village . Compere Martin , as he was commonly called , was the factotum of the placesportsman , schoolmaster , and land-surveyor . He could sing , dance , and ^ above all , play on the fiddle—an invaluable accomplishment in an old French creole village , for the inhabitants have an hereditary love for balls and fetes ; if they work but little , they dance a great deal , and a ^ ddle is the joy of then * heart . could not
What ha ^ sent Compfere Martin travelling with the Grand Seigneur I learn ; he evidently looked up to him with great deference , and was assiduous in rendering him petty attentions ; from which" ! concluded that he lived at home upon the crumbs which fell from his table . . He was gayest when out of his sight ; and had his song and his joke when forward among the deck passengers ; but altogether Compere Martin was out of his element on board of a steamboat . He was quite another . being , I am told , when at home in his own village . — £ ike-his opulent fellow-traveller , he too had his canine follower and retainer—and one suited to his different fortunes—one of the civilest , most unoffending little dogs in the world . Unlike the lordly mastiff , he seemed to think he had no right on board of the steamboat ; if you did but look hard at him , he would throw himself upon his "Back ;; and lift ^ up hia legs , as if imploring mercy : - ¦" : - _—bluff
At table , he took his seat a little distance from his master ; not with the , confident air of the mastiff , but quietly and diffidently ; his head on one side , with one ear dubiously slouched , the other hopefully cocked up ; his under teeth projecting beyond his black nose , and his eye wistfully following each morsel that went into his master ' s mouth . . If Compere Martin now and then should venture to abstract a morsel from his plate to give to his humble companion , it was edifying to see with what diffidence the exemplary little animal would take hold of it , with the very tip of his teeth , as if he would almost rather not , or was fearful of taking too great a liberty . And then with what decorum would he eat it ! How many efforts would he make in swallowing it , as if it stuck in his throat ; with what daintiness would he lick his lips ; and then with what an air of thankfulness would he resume his seat , with his teeth once more projecting beyond his nose , and an eye of humble expectation fixed upon his master !
That picture of the . two dogs is as perfect a masterpiece as ever appeared on Landseer ' s canvas . Here is another study from the life , of a very different subject , but equally delightful in its humorous and delicate truth of observation : —
MY FRENCH NEIGHBOUR . I often amuse myself by watching from my window—which , by the by , is tolerably elevated—the movements of the teeming little world below mo ; and as I am on sociable terms with the porter and his wife , I gather from them , as they light my fire , or serve my breakfast , anecdotes of all ray fellow-lodgers . I have been somewhat curious in studying a little antique Frenchman , who occupies one of the Jolies chambres do garqon already mentioned . He is one of those superannuated veterans who flourished before the Revolution , and have weathered all the storms of Paris—in consequence , ¦ very probably , of being fortunately too insignificant to attract attention . He has a small income , which he manages with the skill of a French' economist ; appropriating so much for his lodgings , so much for his meals , so much for his visits to St . Cloud
and Versailles , and so much for his seat at tho theatre . He has resided at the hotel for years , and always in the same chamber , which he furnishes at his own expense . The decorations of the room mark his various ages . There are some gallant pictures , which he hung up in his younger days , with a portrait of a lady of rank , whom he speaks tenderly of , dressed in tho old French taste , and a pretty opera-dancer , pirouetting in a hoop petticoat , who lately . died' at a good old age . , In a corner of this picture is stuck a prescription for rheumatism , and below . it stands an easy-chair . He has a small parrot at the window , to amuse him when within doors , and a pug-dog to accompany him in his daily peregrinations . While I am writing , ho is crossing tho court to go out . He Is attired in his best coat , of aky-blue , and is doubtlesa bound for theTuilarles . Hia hair la dressed in the old style , with powdered ear-locks and a pigtail . ' His littla dog trips after him , sometimes on four legs , sometimes on three ,
and looking as - were . gentleman stops to have a word with an old crony who lives in the entresol , and is just returning from his promenade . Now they take a pinch of snuff together ; now they pull out huge red cotton handkerchiefs—those " flags of abomination , " as they have well been called—and blow their noses most sonourously . Now they turn to make remarks upon their two little dogs , -who are exchanging the morning ' s salutation ; now they part , and my old gentleman stops to have a passing word with the porter ' s wife ; and now he sallies forthj and is fairly launched upon the town for the day . No man is so methodical as a complete idler , and none so scrupulous in measuring and portioning out his time , as he whose time is worth nothing . The old gentleman in question has his exact hour for rising , and for shaving himself by a small mirror hung against his casement . He sallies forth at a certain hour every morning to take his cup of coffee and his roll at a certain cafe , where he reads the papers . He has been a regular admirer of the lady who presides at the bar , and always stops to have his walks the Boulevards **** . . .
a little badinage with her , en passant . He has regular on and in the Palais Royal , where he sets his watch by the petard fired off by the sun at mid-day . He has his daily resort in the Garden of the Tuileries , to meet with a knot of veteran idlers like himself , who talk on pretty much the same subjects whenever they meet . He has been present at all the sights , and shows , and rejoicings of Paris for the last fifty years ; has witnessed the great events of the Revolution ; the guillotining of the king and queen ; the coronation of Buonaparte ; the capture of Paris , and the restoration of the Bourbons . All these he speaks of with the coolness of a theatrical critic ; and I question whether he has not been gratified by each in its turn ; not from any inherent love of tumult , but from that insatiable appetite for spectacle which prevails among the inhabitants of this metropolis . I have been amused with a farce in which one of these systematic old triflers is represented . He sings a song detailing his whole day ' s round of insignificant occupations , and goes to bed delighted with the idea that his next day will be an exact repetition of the same routine—Je me couche le soir , Enchante * de pouvoir Recommencer mon tram Lelendemain Matin .
There are some delicious descriptions of scenery , whieh we should like to extract ; but our space is exhausted , and we must refer the reader at once to the book itself . When a new edition is wanted , we would seriously counsel Messrs . Constable to give some prefatory explanation on the subject of the various Papers in the volume . At present , not a word of information is given as to how many of these Papers have been printed before . They are all new to us ; but we can hardly imagine that Washington Irving can have kept by him to the present time such a mass of unpublished manuscript as the contents of this book represent . —
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THE DRAMA IN FRANCE—MDLLE . RACHEL AND " THE CZARINE . " Every one knows that when Mdlle . Rachel refused to perform the part assigned to her in M . Legouve ' s miniature tragedy of Medea , it was at the same time announced by her friends that she had determined to create no new characters . She had probably a presentiment of what was in store for her , and wished to avoid , if possible , making her farewell to the European public under the disagreeable features of the Czarine . Great influences , however — influences superior to the decision of any tribunal—have been at work ; and the same magnificent powers which were once employed on those same boards to exalt popular enthusiasm in favour of the Republic , have been pressed into the service
of a new despotism that wishes to make an old despotism hateful ana ridiculous . The experiment was dangerous for the actress ; and would have been dangerous for the French Government if the points of all allusions were not blunted against theindiffererice of the public spectators * - Some few did , 4 ndeed , laugh knowingly when there was talk of " a great man ready to put half his subjects to death in order to teach the others how to live , " and whispers went about that certain still stronger passages had been suppressed ; but it was generally felt that such back-handed hits were to be attributed rather to accident than to the malice of M . Scribe , who , like many Frenchmen of his calibre , no doubt is only horrified at what takes place on the banks of the Seine , when he sees similar scenes enacted on the banks of the Neva .
The Czarine is called a " drama in five acts and in prose . " It should rather have been called a parody of the various tragic situations known to be effective on the French stage . No one can deny the skilfulness with which M- Eugene Scribe arranges these sort of things . His reputation is so well established , and he is so conscious of his power over the public mind , that by degrees he has learned to neglect nearly all the constituent elements of a play except one—situation . His characters are no longer discriminated with care ; and the literary department is treated with the most supreme contempt . M . Sokibe has written so many libretti for operas whero the words are drowned in harmony , that he has become quite careless of expression \ and the next step will be , probably , for him to construct a drama in which the personages , without uttering any distinct phrases at all , accompany their tragic attitudes and grimaces with a continuous humvariously intoned from beginning to end .
, As the Czarine was written expressly for Mdlle . Rachel , we naturally find m it two or three long tirades , and a great number of startling little phrases , questions and answers , in the delivery of which she is known to be particularly effective ; and it is easy to see that the writer has exhausted his ingenuity to bring in ns many as possible of these in proper places . Tho story—for which IiEVESQUE , Karamsin , Viixebois , and Segur are made responsible—is a kind of solemn version of Bertrand and Raton . The Czar , Peter the Great—made the most of by Beauvallet—towards the end of his career , is away from St . Petersburg . Catherine , tho Empress , whom he has raised from a humble rank to splendour and misery , has recently seen a young Polish nobleman , Sapieha , on a visit to Russia , and has become enamoured of him . The thing is not very
surprising ; nor , perhaps , ought wo to wonder , on the other hand , that the young Sapieha is bewildered by the charms and the majesty of so august a lady , bucn incidents have occurred in more southern and more civilised regions $ and , considering that wo are speaking of the French drama—always so poor and narrow in its suppositions of human nature—wo may almost admit that interest coma not be got up in any other way . Tho action commences before the intrigue . We see the whole development of it . Sapieha is about to leave for 1 ranee because he sees no ground for hoping success . But tho Czarine will not drive him to despair , and having talked a good deal , as usual in such cases , about duty , appoints him as her chamberlain , and induces him by tho most efficacious arguments to remain .
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T [ if his leather smallclothes two tight for himNow the old » .. .. 188 HE LEADED . Saturday , ¦ . ^^^^ M ^—^ M ^^ M ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ . . jb 1 _ 1 _ . if . ' - _ n . i ^ ii'LAn wJVatf 4 m 4 * + S * T * T » + "fc *» -1 » 5 **» ^ Taw * Al . L . m m
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 24, 1855, page 188, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2079/page/20/
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