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ecribes to have been at the confluence of a brook with the river , in front of the noble old Elizabethan mansion at Charlcote Park . The Squire of Charlcote , says Mr . D'Ewes , was the wonder and amusement of the country round . He excluded all visitors from the hall , living there , ' like hermit poor / on the venison and wild rabbits of its spacious park . Although a clergyman by profession , and educated at Oxford , he indulged in the . most extraordinary liberties with the Queen ' s vernacular . Once a year—and once only—he issued to the surrounding gentry cards of invitation to what he styled * a cold collection ; ' when calling attention to the ancestral portraits suspended round the walls of the apartment , he regularly introduced them to his visitors with the following remarkable speech : « ' These , ladies and gentlemenare my postasses . " Passing a summer on the coast , it was
, his boast that he had evaded the knavish designs of hotel and lodging-house keepers upon the wealthy Lord of Charlcote , by travelling ' in a cog . ' A poor exiled Frenchman resided in his village , quietly pursuing the profession of an artist . By the joint warrant of the then Lord Warwick—another Dogberry—and his own , he commits him to prison under the conviction that he had caged the conqueror 6 f Marengo in disguise . Young D'Ewes , desirous of propitiating this second Master Shallow , used to introduce himself and basket , stored with an offering of pike and perch newly taken from the brook , exactly at noon , by a modest ring at the . hall bell . A matronly serving woman conducted him to the parlour , -where sat the lord and lady invited to
of Charlcote , discussing a dish of deer's fry , and he was always partake . Then followed a glass of home-made wine , a present of sixpence for schoolboy disbursement , and what the little fisherman prized more than all , unreserved permission to explore every nook and corner of the beautiful stream that meandered through the park , and the green meadows beyond , which was the object of his visit . " Peace be to their manes 1 " adds the recipient of these hospitalities . " Their memory is associated with some of the happiest moments of my life ; and although the mysterious economy of the old hall has been replaced by the profuse and noble expenditure of the present race , and errant schoolboys are no longer free topoach in the preserves , or lunch on deer ' s fry with its proprietor , still there is a lingering charm about the olden time of , which no modern magnificence can
dispel . Being appointed to an Indian cadetship , he was stationed at Wallajjabad , where the swamps and paddy fields afford the best snipe ^ shooting in the Madras Presidency . Four different species of" this description of game are found in India : the large or solitary snipe , nearly the size of a woodcock ; the common full snipe ; the painted snipe , rather larger , of beautiful dark , variegated plumage , slow of flight , and not much esteemed for'the table ; and the jack , or half snipe . An indifferent shot may bag from twenty-five to fifty couple during the morning's shooting , ' washing out h \ a gun as often as it becomes heated , and restoring his own energies with a little cold brandy pawnee . ' An instinctive dread of snakes mars his enjoyment of thesesporting rambles . The hideous cobra , so frightfully domestic in its habits , often
creeps into the officers' beds , and is met with coiled up on the stone steps of their quarters ; and once being pitched off his pony , that fell in leaping a nullah , or ditch , on gathering himself up , D'Ewes saw a cobra capella sneaking off within a few yards from the spot where he lay . A drunken soldier confined in the black-hole , felt as he lay stretched upon the straw something gliding over him , which from its movements he well knew to be a snake . He dared not move , or touch it with his fingers ^ The reptile having crept up to his breast , insinuated itself beneath his military undress jacket , and curled itself up comfortably to repose . With a nervous system debilitated by habitual intemperance , the soldier endured hours of mental torture , knowing that every attempt to free himself from his dreadful position would be at the risk of life . The period of his confinement having expired , and the door when thrown open admitting a strong glare of sunlight , the cobra hastily glided from its nest to an obscure corner of the prison . The man rushed out , a deplorable picture of emaciation and terror . His hair , which hours had turned
twenty ^ fpur previously had been of a dark colour , perfectly grey , and he died in a fevr weeks .. Among the wild animals infesting the neighbourhood of Visiapoor , are numberless hyenas , and Mr . D'Ewes witnessed n curious proof of the toughness of that animal ' s hide . A hyena had been seen to enter u hole in some ruins , and a shikaree volunteered for a trifling recompense to either catch the beast , or cause it to bolt from its lair , as we pleased . He commenced operations by making a second opening in the earth , whence a low growl was heard , and a large duuunel gundy made his appearance at the mouth of the hole , from which he had no sooner projected half the length of his body than several spears were thrown or poked at him , but which , although sharp as penknives , bounded off his hide like a racket-ball , and had only the effect of accelerating hia pace when he emerged into daylight . The author on another occasion planted a hog-spear , sharpened to the finest edge , right between the shoulders of one he hud ridden down on the plains near Jaulnah , without being able to pierce the impenetrable hide , and was glad , after the experiment , to make on himself .
On his return to Europe , he visited France , to enjoy the cause of the stag and wild boar in the royal hunting establishments adjacent to Paris , then under the able superintendence of M . le Comte de Girardin . He says that his first excursion to mingle in these sylvan pastimes was in company with a well-known English sportsman und master of hounds , George Templar , of Devonshire . Hunting during July—a Paris July—greatly outraged the English prejudices of Templar ; but he made up bis mind when at Koine to chime in with the Romans ; so he ordered a horse to be brought to him at ArimTnviHIeii ^ thTrap ^ and , steadily refusing to accept one of those belonging to his friends , he resolved to hunt on loot , convinced he knew how to see as much of the ohose aa the beat-mounted cavulier out that day . "With a thorough contempt for the artificial aid of dress , and in sober contradistinction to the bright scarlet coats and gaudy trappings of the French sportsmen , ho was attired in a full suit of black , und but for the jovial expression of his countenance and the merry twinkle of his eye , looked far more like a wellconditioned member of the Established Church than what he really
wasperhaps the best practical sportsman in England . The hunted deer usually made for a large piece of water in the forest , and thither the author and his party turned their horses' heads . Tha approaching sounds of the music of the pack and the horns of" the picqueurs , shpwed they were in the right track , and on arriving within sight of the etang * the first object that met their eyes was the stag nobly breasting the waves with the whole pack in full cry after him . On the bank stood George Templar , mopping his head and good-humoured countenance , which the sun and exercise had tinged with " the deepest vermilion , and giving the death halloo with the intonation of a true British sportsman . Presently Monseigneur rode u p , and
requested to be informed who was the individual in black , whose voice woke the echoes of the forest and could be heard even above the noise of the French horns . Upon being told he was one of the most celebrated masters of hounds in England , he treated him with much courtesy , and was greatly amused when Templar informed him that the huntsmen and picqueurs whom he had frequently met in his short cuts on foot through the woods ( guided by the wind and his own thorough knowledge of the chase ) , had taken him for an English priest—unpretre anglais—and had interpreted one or two British hunting halloos which he could not refrain , as vociferous benedictions or loud curses upon the sport he was pursuing . "
This was in the time of Charles X ., who spent a great portion of the latter years of his reign in hunting and shooting at Fontainebleau and St . Cloud . It was at the close of an unsuccessful chase at Rambouillet , and after the king had returned to the latter place , as he stood looking towards the ' Avenue de Paris , ' that the Comte de Girardin , the chief huntsman , suddenly directed his attention to a courier advancing at full gallop down the Avenue . Charles X . remained motionless . In another minute he was at the Kind ' s feet . Every eye turned on him with a look of mournful inquiry . The courier muttered only a few words . He had brought the news from Paris , of July 26 th , 1830 , five minutes p . m . The Ordonnances had been promulgated , and the revolution was begun . We give but a very cursory analysis of this book , which may serve as a guide to those readers who desire to combine an economical residence on the Continent with unlimited hunting , shooting , and angling . Brittany , Huy , on the Meuse , Offenburg , and several portions of Germany , seem to possess these desirable requisites . Mr . D'Ewes also travelled and sported in Australia and China .
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NEW NOVELS . Margaret Hamilton : a Novel . By Mrs . C . J . Newby . 3 vols . ( Bentley . ) —Margaret Hamilton is an interesting novel , and Mrs . Newby writes with great vivacity ; but the book has one serious defect . It is false as a view of life . Regarding it from only one point of view , as it bears—which it does strongly—on the question of frugal marriages , we must say that if Mrs . Newby ' sidea of household economy were not absurd , happiness would be impossible among persons with incomes of less than a thousand a year . _ It is fair to acknowledge that we are turning a sc apegoat into the desert , and that Mrs . Newby has had many predecessors in the sin of disclaiming all practical acquaintance with poor people ; but young readers are apt to be impressed by the teachings of the circulating library , and it is necessary at times to suggest that the reports of novelists upon society must be from
received with some reserve . We had , not long ago , a romance a fashionable lady ' s pen , which depicted the miseries of a married couple with one child on five hundred a year . They lived on black chops , scrags of mutton , and potatoes ; when they attempted a dinner party everything was dark , greasy , and unwholesome . The husband walked hungry from his club and the wife was compelled at Christmas to turn an ancient silk gown , which was her only stock and store of that material . All this has a very vicious effect , and Mrs . Newby , if not among the worst specimens of the preachers in derision of poverty , is unconsciously , in the same sense , a bad instructor . It is true that her theme is virtue battling against a cold , proud , and rich world ; but mark how she distributes a salary of 130 / . a year , the income of a broken banker who has been forced to accept a clerkship and live in Islington : rent , 321 . ; taxes and rates , 8 / . ; housekeeping , 52 / . ' Fred's schooling and other necessary expenses , ' 23 / . ; and ' Mary ' s wages , '
15 / . 1 The little family has to limit its bread-and-butter , to make fourteen cups of tea out of two spoonfuls , to ' bring Fred ' s appetite within compass , ' and to suffer occasional ' hunger and faintness . ' Margaret eats ' as little as possible , ' and denies herself ? the temptingly thick slice of bread-and-butter . ' Apart from these exaggerations the story of Margaret Hamilton is wholesome and entertaining . Uncle Ralph : a Tale , By the Author of ? Dorothy , ' ' Still Waters , ' &c . ( J . W . Parker and Son . )—We have in Uncle Ralph a very good example of romantic family history . The writer has not a perplexed plot to disentangle , and seldom forces a startling incident into her narrative , though there are situations sufficiently striking to carry the render along ; but she paints a large group , in which every figure is naturally and distinctly individualized . This skill in tho delineation of character is her principal merit , accompanied as it is by a tender and touching sympathy with all that asks for affection and for charity in banian life . YVo think Uncle Ralph will become » general favourite . :
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PUBLICATIONS AND REPUBLIOATIONS . W » merely announce this week the publication by Messrs . Longman anu Co . of Essays , Biographical , Historical , and Miscellaneous , contributed chiofly to ~ the ~ Edmburgh ™ Qnd ~ Quarterly ~ Re » iewa ^} &yJk \ ^ Gleig stutos that they form but a firugmont of the essays the authorship oi which he would be entitled to claim . The Children ' s Bower ( Longmuns ) , so far as we may judge by a first and rapid glance at its pages , appears to be as full of fine feeling , delicate nna subtle fnnoy , rich and various learning , scholarly refinement , and high chivalrous spirit , as nil the former works of Mr . Kcnelin H . Digby , who ( albeit a Catholic ) is , to our thinking , certain peculiarities apart , one of the most graceful and genial of guides , philosophers , and friends . He ponduots
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18 g THE LEADEJl . fNo . 413 , PEBRtTAHY 20 , 1858 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 20, 1858, page 188, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2231/page/20/
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