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Wh « n the curtain fell , I found that Sedley had quitted the box ; so I lay back and ruminated on this ireful apparition —this deep-breasted Roman matron . But Caturina ' s triumph was reserved for the last act . The general conception of the ace was ridiculous enough ; but her acting redeemed it . She has taken off her Jewels and . the rich robes which befit a noble ' s wife : there is nothing save her white ni ^ ht-gear around the queeD . Her small feet are bare ; and though they are blue with cold , the marble floor does not chill her . She advances coldly , calmly , stillylike the visitant of a dream . What wants tbe queen ? She knows well , no doubt ; ¦ for there is neither hesitation nor embarrassment in her gait . But look into her eyes . They are blank s expressionless , like a statue ' s . The lamp is there , but the light lias
foeen extinguished , or rather inverted , turned in , to illumine that inner life men call the conscience . For see , a spasm of pain contracts tbe pale lips , and the white hands wring each other in a fierce pressure . " Out , damned spot . " 'Tis in vain . That -white arm and that little hand , all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten them again . Ay ! she knows it . She will give up the figlit . The fever has devoured her life , and the damned spot has eaten into her soul . What a sigh is there ! 'Twas that sigh snapped the beart-strings . Back to bed , fair queen , an you list : but it matters not . The hours are numbered . No man or woman could groan that bitter groan and live . So the pale apparition passes away to her doom , —pale , but with the flush of pain still upon her cheek .
" Catarina -wants us to sup with her , whispered Sedley , as the curtain fell upon the funeral train that bore the queen to burial . " Where ? In Hades ? " f asked , for the spell was not yet broken . We . hear and read enough of tbe Chancellor oj ? the Exchequer , yet are glad io recognize his portrait in the following brief sketch .: — D -was a remarkable man in his way . There was an exaggeration , an epigrammatic bombast in his talk at which many wiseacres grinned , and which Catarina mimicked to the life . But he was a remarkable riian—much more so than his critics . His political and historical creed was no doubt partly fictitious : it smacked of the in-« mceTity -which must always attach to th « creed of the mere artist ; but he construed it at least with the breadth and generosity of a poetic intellect . His nature was large and unselfish . He was insanely ambitious , but never base . He could abandon liis principles : he never abandoned his friends . And . his persevering insouciance , his obstinate nonchalance , were indomitable . Nothing could shake him from his purpose lie held on to it like grim death or an English terrier . And he did not exactly fail He -was first minister of the Oceanic Republic when he died .
Amongst the intexesting pages in . Fraser we may notice a good review of STroitde ' s History of England , and an amusing one eatitled Cf The Zoologist About Town . " . ' .: . .. . ;¦ ' :-. . :. ¦ / ;; 3- . /¦ . ' / ' : : . : - -. . ¦ .. , The Dublin University Magazine has a long " biographical article on Sir E . B . LvTtQN , that will be attractive just now ; a striking narrative , entitled " The Identification ; " and a third article on ¦ ¦ " Trinity College , " to which we may proWbly return .
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THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD . -A History of England during the Reign of George the Third . By William Massey , M . P . VoL II . — -1770-1780 . J . W . Parker and Son . We may now anticipate the immediate completion of this work , and when the remaining volumes have appeared , it will come before us as a whole for ^ appreciation as a history . Written throughout with vigour , and distinguished by many graces of style , it possesses one other merit , rare in pro-< luctions of the same character—it Is purely and invariably impartial . Mr . . Massey has no heroes ; he has not set up his king as the demi-god of an era ; ilia purpose is chiefly descriptive , and he varies the colours of his picture without any apparent intention to glorify one man or party at the expense of another . However , the book must be judged , from this point of view , an its entirety . As yet only two decades of the reign have been concluded ; but Mr . Massey has paused to preface the second by an elaborate account
• of morals and fashions during the Georgian epoch , surnamed the English Augustus by the pedantic flatterers of a later day . This , again , is preluded by a glance at the progress of manners from the middle ages , through the Stuart period , and down to the moment when the Royal George , kissing his dying wife , promised to fulfil her last request , declared lie would never marry again , and vowed that for her satisfaction in the tomb he would henceforth content himself with mistresses . In picturesqueness the medieval period , of course , was superior to the eighteenth century ; but the variegations of romance vanish at a closer view , even of high-born maidens in p alace-towers , and of plumed knights in giant castles . The ruin , it may be conceived , fractured and moss-grown , produces a deceptive eflect upon tlie imagination , - which forgets the scullion mob that has filled the hull , the
-dirt and damp of the corridors , the grossness of the Plantagenet chivalry huddling upon the floor , nobles aud Indies in . the same dormitory with horseboys ana beggars . Mr . Massey ' s notices of the three classes of architecture , as developed towards the close of the Tudor reign , tire particularly interesting . And yet what had been gained when the dirty traditions of the first . James were revived by the second Charles—a more indiscriminate and a less hypocritical libertine—when the palace was a haunt . of wantons , when murder : and blusphemy defiled the king ' s favourites , when bullies were employed by noblemen , to assassinate a poor player ? If , nevertheless , tho court of Charles II . presented a revolting combination of brutality and indecency , it was no worse than thut of George III . Mr . Massey , -we are glad to say , has been misled by none of tho purchased eulogies in honour of the " first gentlemen" dynasty . _ There is hardly any instance of grossness and profligacy cflince the Ke&torfttion , he remarks , which cannot bo matched from the records
of society during tho hrat half , at least , of the reign of George 111 . The fulness aud clearness with which he justifies this opinion confer a peculiar value upon his work . It is well that tho good old times when George 111 . was king should bo painted faithfully for tho benefit of a sceptical generation . The ordinary pulpits were crowded with parasites , pimps , and brokendown advonturei'B ; tho superior clergy were tho ugunts and flunkeys of the Court and aristocracy j the race of statesmen , though brilliant iutoHoctually , were in morals utterly degenerate ; men of fashion , the admiration of the day , were nothing more than the devotees of dandyism and sensuality . That silken and gold-laco era , red with paint and Bickly with perfume , Unit
day oi gewgaws and ' patches , of tools chattering sinuously on the Aj ; , i | ^ debauchees gambling sit the taverns , rendered " London the womlw of " the provinces , but it converted the Court into the principal hi / 11 in the ci . urtr * Then came the Dukcof Grafton to St . James ' s with his miss , nn <[ SamuWl ' and Dash wood stood upon the Corinthian capitals of polished society ' sitfitudes which would have sent-less ancestral profligates to Bridewell " T ? Franciscan Club , with its defiled cloisters , mock nuns , and licentious " cqvc monies , helped to do the work which Protestantism was suppose ; I to b ^ " doing , and fine ladies , who imitated their ' husbands in the dash and "Utter of their manners , gambled themselves into insolvency , and then paid for assistance—to harsh creditors or benevolent friends—the hio-hest price o *" all . On the general subject of fumiuine education and manners ' ^ 1 >' . Masscv has tlie . following passage : — ... * . « .
The manners of women were a favourite theme of satirical writers Tor the first half at leitst , of the eighteenth century . The great writers of the age of Anne exhibit the prominent foib ^ s of the sex in those days ; but neither tUe exquisite raillery yl" -Veld ' son , nor the . polished couplets of Pope , nor the stern censure of Swift , had the -li < Vhte * t effect in producing a reformation . Ladies have iu all times resented or despised the discipline of satirists ; nor am I aware of any instance in which wit li .:. s obtained victory over fashion . Excepting in dress , which is tlie subject of ever-varying caprice the ladies who flourished in the early part of the ivign of < ieorge ILL diflVieil littl " from the ladies who adorned tlie side-box , or sauntered'in Spring-garden , in ' the davs of Anne , ¦ The same rage for play , the same appetite for scandal , the-ssune lwi . ty . 6 f carriage , and the same licentious freedom of conversation ,-were still prevalent Th » education ot
women , in the former period , was either wholly neglected , . > r perverselv misapplied . The daughter of a country gentleman was taught tho duties of a cook "; sometime- * , also , if her parents were ambitious that she should shine in after-lifts as an accomplished hostess , she received lessons from a cawing-master . The cardinal duty of hospitality , as &he heard it inculcated at home , was for the lady to press tho guests to eat to repletion ; while it was the province of the master of the house to makes ' them , drink to excess . This , perhaps , Avas a fitting education for a young woman who -was to become the helpmate of a rude landlord , who regarded a wife as an . uppi-r . u-rvant , and who thought the company of women an irksome restraint upon the freedom . ' social intercourse . To a woman of any education or refinement , an lingUshmanorhouse , during at least the eailier years of the Hanoverian succession , must hav < s been an intolerable homo .
Here is another picture of the regretted good old times :- — The insolence , licentiousness , and ferocity of tbe people , especially in the capital and other great towns , > vere such as a traveller -would hardly now encounter in the most remote and savage regions of the globe . No well-dressed individual , of either sex could walk the streets of London , without rial * of personal insult or injury . It was , indeed , an undertaking of difficulty to pass through the streets at all . The narrow foot-way , separated from the carria $ re-road only by a line of unconnected stakes , or posts , at wide intervals , was frequently blocked « p with chairs , wheelbarrows , and other obstructions , some of them placed there wantonly , to annoy Toot-passengers . Caimen and hackney-coach drivers considered it excellent sport to ' . splash'decent people from head to foot '; . and-when a terri . ti . ed female or bewildered stranger was tumbled into the kennel , the accident was hailed .-with shouts of delight . Yet , on the whole , it was as sale and less disagreeable to traverse the streets on foot tlian in a
conveyance . Chairs and carriages were upset , and collisions were constantly occurring ; the least inconvenience -was , that the progress of vehicles through tlie great thoroughfares was interrupted by the absence , or rather disi-egard , of regulations for the traffic . But the delay was rot the only annoyance . When a stoppage took place , or an accident happened , the ears were stunned l > y . a storm of oath , * , aud abusive altercation from the drivers and servants . Thieves were always ready to take advantage of the confusion , which they hud theinsel-vea probably originated for their own purposes . Beggars , also , availed themselves of the opportunity to y \ y ih ' trade . The dismal tale of sickness and funiinu was drawled out , and corroborated by hc-rrible exhibitions . Stumps of limbs and diseased children were held up tn the . carriage windows of the quality . If there were ladies in the family coacli , a street vocalist would probably , begin chanting some lilt by doggerel , of which llie refrain would be taken up by the bystanders .
This part of Mr . Massey ' s volume is of remarkable interest . The jieneral narrative , coming down to the Lord George Gordon riots , is full of animation , and Iina obviously been based upon extensive , and discriininat ing research . ¦
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MISSIONARY ADVEKTUKES IN TEXAS AND 'MEXICO . Missionary Adventures in 7 ' exaa und Mexico . A . Personal Narrative of Six Ycari ' Sojouin in thc .-c Regions . By the AbbJ Domoiiech . Translated from tho French under the author ' s superintendence . Lougjiiau and ( Jo . The chequered und perilous existence of a Catholic missionary consecrating himself to the euro of souls in the wilds of Texas and "Western Aim-iiea , his physical and moral , struggles , aire here portrayed walk a vivid truthfulness well calculated to arrest tlie sviypjLthy of our reader * . Uis eHerts in this bcjhulr' are cither very partialfy understood or inadequately appreciated by society . The utmost exertions ot zeal , devoteunu&s , am ) courage avail him not . lie dies amidst the ice of tbe north or iu the sardv diverts ot the tropics . His life is one long conflict with imperative necessities , which soon undermine his constitution , and wbich compel him to dissipate , in providing for tbe commonest necessities , those enurgies barely sulliciuiit to enable him to educate those for whom lie breaks the bread of I'lb . A lost
persons require to be informed that Caitholic missionaries , bishops , und priests , receive no stipend Jrom their government or church ; t ' m-ir only resource for subsistence , maintenance , joui-neviug , building of churches , liospitals , schools , convents , and colleges , is derived from their personal industry , the oHurings of their families—in general very poor - und p blio or private charity , with some small and inadequate contribution from the Propagation of the Faith . The entire receipts of that body for all purposes , iu the si m . ee ol' twenty-four years , that is , from 1 « 22 to 18 iG , amounted lo about thirty millions of franc * . The English . Bible SoeLuiy , iu existence only a few yenrs ) comparatively , had disbursed iu 1 B 51 above nincly-live millions . If to tliis be added the enormous outlays of Iho AmoiitJini Hiblc Society , the lliinloslan , Anglo-Indian , and German Societies for thudill ' u . MOU of liiblert and religious hooks in India alone , we liuvo a total quite fabulous and incredible , in comparison with which the nu-uns at the disposal of rho Romish priesthood will appear as the grain of mustard-seed mentioned ia Holy Writ .
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642 , THE LEADER , __ TNo . 432 , July 3 , 1 N 58 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 3, 1858, page 642, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2249/page/18/
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