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error- we can , however , bear with it when the cause is a great one , and the writer gifted . But when the dogma enunciated is our old whole hog , ± eetotalism , and the work itself just one long lawl in its favour , it deserves no quarter , and we should dismiss Antipodes with this remark were it not one of those few books that are so bad as , to demand ail especial censure . It is only mediocrity that we can dismiss ' with a word f superlatives of both extremes demand a little more attention . We all know what a teetotal meeting is . The chairman , usually a quaker , proves a little on the Scriptural argument , and then Philip Sober proceeds to prove what a thorough scamp Philip Drunk was ; what an angel of li g ht is Philip Sober . This book is Philip Sober's stock speech written out into three volumes . It should have been called " Reminiscences of a Drunken Parson , " written by himself the morning after . It has been remarked how complacently a man will admit to
that at a given time he was an ass ; how be will encourage his irienas believe in his assdom at that particular period ; while no man will suffer any one even to insinuate that he may be one also at this particular present . Antipodes is one long rant to prove how drunken a fool the writer was for several years , what a dear , self-conceited , pious gentleman he now is . Now taking our evidence from these volumes , our clergyman appears to have been a much better fellow as a drunkard than when sober . When he drinks , he simply drinks ; he doesn ' t talk , and talking with him implies coarseness and stupidity ; he is humble from conscious guilt ; and he forgets injuries with an obliviousness intensely Christian in character if not in its origin . When sober he is revengeful , spiteful , coarse , abusive ; a compound of the bully , the sneak , and the ignoramus ; an habitual , eavesdropper ; living and speaking under the firm conviction that total abstinence from alcohol justifies the wildest intemperance in words . Let us give our readers an idea of his storv . _ ¦
The author , confessedly teeming with conceit , has gone up to Oxford on an allowance starved out of a pittance by his parents , with the ignorant assurance that he would carry off a double first-class , and win a rich fellowship . He barely escapes plucking , however , and returns to his native village as exasperated and soreheaded a bear as it could be anybody ' s misfortune to encounter . Of course he wants a title to orders and a curacy ; but the vicar , " who would sell the communion wine for money , " will only engage him for no salary , so he remains at home , skulking about , a pecuniary burden to his parents , and a nuisance to the entire parish . An old flame of his , whom he never takes any personal notice of , marries another clergyman ( a scoundrel according to the assertion of his fellow-minister , our author ) , and then the measure of his exasperation and unbearableness becomes full . Sick
at heart , he is despairing , when one day a friend offers him—a pinch oi snulF ! He takes it—sneezes—feels his head cleared and his spirits lightened — -darts put and buys a box and some Prince's mixture , and forthwith proceeds to devote his whole energies : to making his nose a perfect Bataklava of filthy stagnation . But snuff , he finds , affords no enduring solace to a man labouring under wounded vanity , a lost mistress , nothing to do , and less income . Bored to death by him , as he is , his mother suggests a pipe as a soothing influence : forthwith our clergyman lays in a stock of shag and p ipes , and thenceforth substitutes tobacco for meat , drink , and sleep , becoming in a few weeks a walking skeleton . Anxious for his existence , his mother ( foolishly as we think , for he would manifestly have been no loss ) recommends an occasional glass of good ale . He follows her advice , ~~ A : « « Aa-r , nvfnrn ia 4-Tiot . lioaefiiaot . fiirni nf AnirtlearA——nTIA who hoOZ 6 S ¦»— ¦¦» - ¦—•
-Qljy J * l Cm \ Jk % mj \ J ± 1 / ¦ ¥ v * fc » v **** v vwMwVMvm ; * v * *** - v > ^ mm . *•« . ¦¦ - *»•• w—— ¦ . —— — — . — — in private . He is snuffing , smoking , and drinking on the most colossal scale , when he gets an unexpected curacv , and Volume I . ends . Appointed a curate , he commences as a teetotaller in pipes and alcohol—wins golden op inionsjfroni his parishioners—a farmer ' s daughter deliberately offers him marriage , and the squire * flings his"daugh"teF * at him " . His ~ succession tothe living at the vicar's death is certain , when , in an evil hour , he is induced to smoke a pipe and drink a glass of whisky , and straightway relapses into a drunkard , walking away with malice prepense some ten to twenty miles to wayside taverns , and getting blind-drunk there in fancied security . In these visits he always encounters a strange man , who speaks exactly the same language as we find in Beaumont and Fletcher s p lays , and who generally carries him drunk to bed . With one of these drinking raids ends Volume II .
The vicar dies , and , satisfied that he will be the successor , our clergyman calls on Lord Rolle , the patron of the living , finding that eccentric peer to be the identical strange man who so often has seen his private temperance . Of course Lord Rolle , eccentric as he is , does not give him the living , and he returns home once more , snuffing , smoking , and drinking on a more antediluvian scale than ever , until one day he sees a teetotal procession . Nothing could be grander than this spectacle . He admires the banners : he thinks the rosettes lovely : he is struck with the healthy appearance of the people . Always in extremes , a few 'days see him a pledged teetotaller—pledged in public , and irrevocably . Instantly everything changes . Curacies rain on him—livings turn up—the husband of his early love dieshe marries the widow—gets a snug rectory—all his friends turn teetotallers , and instantaneously become rich and happy—all his enemies continue drinking , and end as wretchedly as the work . Seriously , and with exact veracity , this is the whole story of the Antipodes . We think our readers will easily
believe that a man who could write and publish such a tale as this is also capable of telling it in the most offensive style conceivable . This we assure them he has done : and in parting with him we recommend him to be a whole hog in one thing more—by total abstinence from novel writing . It is quite a relief to turn to Mammon , a novel which , if it be not of the highest character , is certainly an eminently readable book . There are few of our female authors to whom the reading public that reads for pure entertainment have more reason to be grateful than to Mrs . Gore . Unquestionably she cannot be called a woman of genius . She awakens no strong emotions—she creates no typical characters . But for a steady supply of equable entertainment , written always yvith consummate ease , with complete knowledge of her subject , and of the life she delineates—a light but quite distinctive perception of characters , for good , sound , plain sense and absence of conventional prejudices— -there are few larger creditors on public gratitude than Mrs . Gore . . When you take up one of her novels there is no chance of the deeps of your being stirred—if you want that , you may go
elsewhere— -but vqu are certain of a pleasant pastime , with no chance of offence or ennui . Few of Mrs . Gore ' s later novels have been equal to her earlier productions , and we do not think Mammon as good even as some of her later stories . Nevertheless , it is an entertaining tale , told with her accustomed ease and perfect unamateurness . Ihe interest of the tale centres almost entirely in the . gradual deterioration of a naturally-fine intellect and character , by the succession to immense wealth . A baronet ' s son , who marries against his father ' s consent , for love , supports himself partl y at the bar , and enlists our sympathies with his character while giving signs of future eminence in his profession , suddenly is left by a distant maternal relative an immense fortune of over one million of money . Slowly , but surely under the influence of Mammon , does this man dwindle down into a purse-proud , unfeeling , parvenu-aristocrat , and his intellect degenerate into the obtusely vulgar capacity of county magistrates . The conception of this character is bold , and its development is worked out in a very masterly manner . No less masterly is the delineation of a companion character in the book ; a Chancery barrister , who having at fifty amassed a large fortune , retires from practice , marries a good woman , and step by step , as his pupil , the hero , degenerates , enlarges into a warm-hearted and enlightened sage from a rather selfish and bilious bachelor . These two characters are the dii majores of the novel . The lesser satellites are all well drawn ; and Mrs . Gore has manifested her usual good sense in sketching , not daguerreotyping , mere accessory personages— -no slight , merit . Altogether , we can recommend Mammon to our readers with perfect confidence .
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CURIOSITIES OF LONDON . Curiosities of London . By John Timbs , F . S . A . Bogue . Me . Timbs states in his preface that this work js the result of twenty-seven years labour , and we are bound to welcome , with respect and acclamation , an author who , on the old plan , has put his life into one work ; for whatever else Mr . Timbs has done in literature seems but an episode in this main employment . The book evidences the labour , and is a result worthy of the ambition . On the whole , it may fairly be pronounced the most complete and comprehensive of the many similar contributions to the illustrative history of London . It comprises half a dozen such " Hand-books ' * as Cunningham ' san admirable one in itself—and the management of the details indicates qualities superior to ^ any which have been hitherto braught to bear upon mere archaeology — the qualities of a first-rate scholarly intellect . We have no doubt whatever that these curiosities will , for years , be the standard work of its species , and will give the name of jthe author a fame of that sort which would best please him , coeval : with that of London itself ; so that when the New Zealander does arrive , he must have John Timbs , Esq ., F . S . A , in his hand . tne Diunaers
But no doubt these curiosities are still lmpertect : many , me omissions countless , and the design itself inevitably narrow . This is only to say that the work is the work of one man . When the History of London—of its streets and houses—is properly written , it will be a combination of the labours of half a dozen men—by a " survey , " ordered by the Government upon the same system which secures us an accurate " map ' of the present metropolis . We have commissioners for everything ; why not commissioners . to collect London ' s curiosities ? The commissioners selected should be healthy young men of parts , disposed to enter into an agreement for a life ' s devotion to such well-paid literary labours ; and the compliment should be paid to Mr . Timbs of appointing him to preside .
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FORSTER'S POCKET PEERAGE .. Forster ' s Pocket Peerage . Fifth Year . Bogne The " Governing Classes " seem , just at present , in some danger of losing their ascendancy in the State . But it is to be apprehended , that so long as we have lords , the nation will continue its national characteristic of loving them ; and at any rate , while there are Peers , Peerages will be necessary . Mr . Foster ' s Pocket Peerage is indispensable to the reference library . Compact , careful , comprehensive , it is a miracle of minute information , and it is very cheap .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Echoes of the War , and other Poems . By Henry Sewell Stokes . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . The Philosophy of Joint-Stock Banking , By G . M . Bell . ( Second Edition . ) Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . Manual of Political Science , for the use of Schools , and more especially of Candidates for the Civil Service ; arranged in Chapters , with Questions at the end of each , and preceded by an Introductory Chapter . By E . R . Humyhreys , L . L . D . Longman , Brown , Geeen , and Longmans . Queen ' s College . Introdnctory lectures delivered at the commencement of the Academ \ ca . . Year 1864—1855 . By Adolphua Bernays , Ph . D ., &c . John W . Parker and Son .
The Royal Gallery of Art , Ancient and Modern : Engravings from the Private Collections of her Majesty the Queen and his Royal Highness Prince Albert , and Art Hetrloomsofthe Crown , at Windsor Castle , Buckingham Palace , and Osborne . -Edited by S . C . HalL F . S . A ., &c . Colnaghi and Co . Songs of the Wars by the best Writers . Edited , with Original Songs , by James Wain Friswell . Ward and Lock . The Ladies Guide to Life Assurance . By a Lady . Partridge and OaRey . Speeches of Eminent British Statesmen during the Thirty-nine Years * Peace , from me Close of the War to the Passing of the Reform Bill . ( First Series . ) ¦ Richard Griffin and Co .
Lives of Philosophers of the Time of George the Third . By Henry Lord Brougham , F . R . S . Richard Griffin and Co . Thoughts to Help and to Cheer . ( Second Series . ) Croaby , Nicholls , and Co . Notes on Duels and Duelling , alphabetically arranged , with a Preliminary JItstorKat Essay . By Lorenzo Sabine . . . Croaby , Nicholls , and Co . Pictures of Palestine , Asia Minor , Sicily , and Spain } or , the Lands of the Saracen , vy Bayard Taylor ! Samaoh Low , Son , and Co . The History and Poetry of Finger-rings . By Charlea Edwarda . TrUbncr and Co . The Unspeakable : or , the Life and Adventures of a Stammerer . Clarke and uceton .
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212 THE LEAPEB . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1855, page 212, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2080/page/20/
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