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Leader (1850-1860), 6th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1187, Untitled Article

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      social institutions , is pronounced to be marvellous . No one better understood all this than Edward Thorpe , but lie was a man amongst ten thousand . He remembered that this rude population had been quite destitute of instruction , secular or spiritual , time out of mind . He knew that the grossly ignorant and . rough men about him were still human ,, because he had found tham accessible ito kindness '; because he had tried kind treatment , and bad found it to succeed in softening their natures , at least quite as well as brutality had , previously to his time , succeeded in knocking what little sense they had left out of them . In this work of reformation amongst

      a people so apparently lost , Edward Thorpe intended to associate Avice with himself , and , as a preliminary step , he at once formed a girls' class in the rude primitive school-room . He had formed a right estimate of Avice s high nature , that while it was not to be appalled by anything human , was capable of being attracted towards anything human . He knew well enough that any ordinary schoolmistress that could be engaged would complain bitterly of the difficulties in the way , if she did not allow them to conquer her altogether . He expected Avice to pave the way for such an -inferior nature , and to perfect her own work afterwards . And Avice did

      not fail him . Avice has a daughter , and after about eighteen years' monotonous existence , her husband dies . " There is a sort of underplot , in which a Mr . Ry . croi ' t plays a prominent part . He is a low , cunning-minded man , who contrives to ingratiate himself with old Osborne , and at Osborne ' s death is left sole guardian of the daughter , believed to have disgraced herself by an

      intrigue with a pcrsou below her station , and who is declared to be insane , and left in the care of JRycroft , who , however , knows that there was no disgrace , but a legitimate marriage , and a son , of whom the unhappy wife was deprived as soon as born . Many years elapse , and . many new actors fill the scene , to appear and disappear , but at length Avice , who finds herself the heiress of immense wealth , left by an old . friend , meets again with Walter Osborne . And here we refer our readers

      to the book for the finale . . We have purposely omitted mention of numerous characters with which the canvas is , as . -we think , somewhat superfluously crowded . There Can be no doubt about the power of tlie author to draw characters extremely well , and that he has had no small experience in the various walks of life so well depicted . We niay fairly pronounce this novel io be a work of very considerable merit , and not unlikely to have a run .

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      TENTS AND TENT LIFE . Tents and Tent Life , from the Earliest Ayes to tJie Present Time- By Godfrey Rhodes , Captain , H . M . 's 94 th Regiment . Smith , Elder , and Co . Captain Rhodes was a sufferer by the great hurricane that tore up by the roots the British camp before Sebastopoi , oil the 14 th of November , 1 S 5-1-. On that occasion three tents only , of all occupied by the head-quarters staff , and guard ., weathered the gale , and one of these belonged to a noncombatant , who had picked up a few wrinkles about camping out on his travels in Asia and America . Our author determined , if possible , to " improve " the occurrence , as somo folks would say , and having thoroughly got up ancient and modern "tentology , " finished by becoming an inventor . The advantages he claims for his patent tent are its great lightness and stability , the ease and rapidity with which it may be pitched and struck , the economy of space gained by the absence of any centre pole , and tlio ventilation this absence also admits of . Its form ,

      accomodation of only twenty . To be critical , it strikes us that if the butts were keyed into 4 i g ht metal screw sockets , on Mitchell ' s system , which we would at all events see adopted for tent pegs , the gallant author ' s plan would be , if possible , even nearer perfection . The excess , weight of such appliances over the ordinary pegs he proposes to apply to his ground or base ring , would be immaterial , whUe a hurricane-proof degree of stability would ; we think , be attained . Captain Rhodes also contemplates applying his curvilinear system to the construction of tunnelshaped endless tentage on the principle of the French tente d ' abri , so tliat soldiers halting may , by

      uniting their several portions , instantaneously pitch a camp without dependence upon the uncertain arrival of a military train . He has also written an entertaining and careful disquisition , illustrated by many drawings , upon the civil and military tents of all nations and tribes from the time of Jabal , called in Genesis " the father of such as dwell in tents , " to the present year , when out of 410 , 000 people in the Australian colony of Victoria not less than 135 , 000 are so dwelling-. Foreign governments have helped him to perfect this portion of his work by allowing him every facility for contrasting tl \ eir

      service tents with our own , and he has generously not ignored the plans of other inventors and patentees . He concludes with an essay on ancient and modern camps and encamping . With this he incorporates our War Office regulations , and some professional papers by the late Dr . Jackson , sometime Inspector General of Army Hospitals , and the Baron Larrey , a French surgeon employed near the person of the Emperor at , the Chalons camp . The work , may , on the whole , be fairly pronounced well worthy the attention of military men and amusing to the general reader .

      a curvilinear octagon , obviously oilers Iqss resistance to the wind than cither the perpendicular wall of the marquee , or the conical side of the single-pole bell tent now in use . It lias jointed flexible ribs , whoso upper ends fit into sockets on the periphery of a wooden disc , the centre of which boing suitably pierced , admits of mi nsccmling current , and thus of a fire . The butt-euds of those ribs pass through equidistant oyes in an endless band or ring of rope , and arc thrust eventually into

      holos driven m tho ground . The skeleton of the tent , therefore , resembles that of mi expanded , aticklcss umbrella . Tho canvas cover ia put on like a cap over tho erected frame , and stropped to tho ground ring . Additional security is lent by storm ropes radiating outwards -from tho covor . Tho system is claimed ns applicable to every description of tout and marquee , and must bo especially so to tho largo onos used for field hospitals , if , ns tho author avers , he cim provjdo for one hundred siok men on tho area now occupied for tho

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      BRITISH COLUMBIA AKD VANCOUVER'S ' ' ISLAND . Brltlth Columbia and Vancouver ' * Maiut . tfo . $ o . By William Caiw Hiulht . O . KoutloUtfe nml Co . Tiik right book nl tlio riy ; Ut limo ; and at tho n « l » t price . Tho npprondimg soltlomcnl of tho Hudson ' s

      Untitled Article

      allow himself to be inveigled into matrimony witl a bold , coarse-minded flirt such as Miss Osborne h depicted , of whose conversational powers this is i sample : — "Jane ! " exclaimed her sister , with a theatrical air " you cannot mean to give an empty hand to one whe has chosen you from all the world ?" " Indeed , Fanny , the hand is empty enough in more senses than one ; if it were not , it might be differently bestowed , and as for choosing me from all the world . ha ! ha ! my little sister , I hardly know where the choice' lay . " " What can vou mean , Jane ?"

      " Why this : —that as long as my ' worshipper had a chance of gaining that puling Miss whom we met at Battesden , he never thought of me as an ' idol . ' With all her innocence , I suspect she was a deep little hussy ; but , if I was not deeper , I was at least bolder . I had not kept such a fish on the hook for a year and a half , and played him all that time , to let such a chit as that land my prize at last . ! N " o , no , I knew a trick worth , two of that , so I just laid him quietly on the bank by a coup de main . "

      The marriage takes place , and the refined and cultivated Scotch Sir Leslie has his eyes opened marvellously by the following specimen of honeymoon conversation from his English wife . Sir Leslie , who has taken , his wife to his Scotch estate , wishes to interest her in his plans and improvements . She pi urn ply refuses , because " the cabins , " she said , " smell so fearfully of fish and peat smoke . " " And the road , as you must know , " she went on , "is strewed with dead fish , enough to poison a Greenlander , and the children come and touch my dress with their filthy fingers . One day , thinking to " be very good , while you were on the beacli , I put my head into the . school-room —faugh ! : —I very soon drew it back again , and , as I

      turned round with my handkerchief to my nose , the little ill-bred imps laughed at me , and an old crone who was passing had the impertinence to grin too , and mutter something in her abominable jargon , about ' thae Saxon fine leddies . ' For my own part , I don't see what business Indies and gentlemen have poking into such places , and forgetting their own sphere . I have no . doubt you are horridly imposed upon by these people , who only care for what-they can get out of you . Take my advice , Leslie , leave them to the servants , who understand them , to the clergyman who is paid to attend to their wants , and to that old fogey Fairburn ,-whom you are so fond of , and Avhp seems to me fit for nothing else . What ' s the use of being rich if you can ' t enjoy life ?"

      GORDON OF DUNCAIRN . Gordon of JDuncairn . 2 vols . " , Richard Bentley . A Scotch . hbvel > when it really illustrates Scotch life aud peculiarities ,. is a very- good thing . But when it is only Scotch in names and localities , with nothing distinctive , it is comparatively a poor aifajr . There is something racy and idiomatic in the Scotch vernacular , but when plain Cockneyism or bald Saxon is provincialised by Scotch pronunciation and spelling , then the charm is lost . The writer of this novel is Scotch , and had he or she been contented with drawing all the characters

      from Scotland , we might have had a warmer meed of praise to bestow on the performance . But the characters are mixed and contrasted , are drawn presumably from Scotch and English societydrawn from thence without very much skill , and certainly with but little regard to facts presented in real life . But authors , like poets , are permitted to have a certain lioence , and though the boundaries of this licence have been in this instance overstepped , according to critical notions , we will not be hard upon national tendencies . The novel opens with Minnie and Lilias , two Scotch lasses , introduced as speaking and looking' like types

      that are not usually supposed to be characteristic of the other side of the Tweod . The young lady Minnie , or Marion , had been picked up at sea by Lily ' s father , Lieutenant Greetne , and adopted into his family , because he could not find out her connexions . The eldest son , Archie Grccnie , falls in love \ vith Minnie , proposes , and is rejected . The scene changes to England . Lilias aiid Archie visit Battesden , the scat of their English relatives . We arc hero treated to n short dialogue in IVcnoh , between the waiting-moid and Lilias , relative to the best modo of dressing hair , which convinces us that Chaucer ' s " French atto Bowe" is not , entirely a dead language . At Buitcsdcn , among other personages * two destined to figure

      prominently in tho story make their appearance—Sir Leslie Gordon of ' Duncnirn , Scotch ; Miss Jane Osborno , English . Sir Lcslio is a veritable proum checaliet ' , and here iigiiin M'c miss every distinctive Scotch lineament . Miss Osbornc , a " fust" young lady , but of what class of English society sho is supposed to bo tho typo wo must plead ignorance A good ninny jmges arc consumed in showing how Miss Osbonto , heartless and scheming , wanting virtue nnd virtuous principles , succeeds in entangling Sir Lcisjlio Gordon into an engngement and eventual innjiTUigc , ihojiylk all the timo in love with Lily Gnome . It is bomewhnl ; perplexing to understand by vital ; kind of psychological p eculiarity a sonsiiivo , cultivated , observant Scotoiimiui ag Sir Loslia Gordon is rei > resented to bo , could

      " That depends upon what we consider enjoyment , " he answered , in a tone between jest and earnest . " My idea is that making others happy and serving them is the highest enjoyment one can have ; and as for riches , do you suppose tlioy were given us to be spent wholly on ourselves ? I expect Fairburn , as my steward , to account to me for what I entrust him with ; do you think I am not accountable for what is entrusted to me ?" " Oh ! if you come to that sort of cant , I know nothing about it , " was the reply . " You have plenty of absurd , stupid notions of that sort , I believe . As for old Fairbiirn—of course you hold him accountable , and rightly , too , and a pretty strict account I'd make him give , for I dare say tho old fellow knows very well how to feather his o-vvn nest . " '

      Among the visitors invited to Sir Leslie ' s new mansion by his wife is Lord Charles Lascelles , a former admirer , for whom she retained a secret penchant . While riding about with Lord Charles , who pays her rather moro attention than her husband approves of , Lady Leslie is thrown from her horse and sustains severe injury . But , before this necident , Sir Leslie has become aware of his wife ' s worthless character , and her duplicity towards him . in the case of Lily Gnome . After Lady Gordon ' s recovery , she elopes with Lord Charles ; and then wo conic once more to the fortunes of Archie Gnome and Minnie ; Gray . After a series of small

      adventures tlio pair arc brought together again , have an explanation , and find out , what the reader knew all along , that mutual lovo exists . Minnie discovers that Sir Leslie Gordon is her brother ; of course , all diillciilties in the way of union with Archio Groctne vujaish at once , and tho only caro of tho author is to bring about another union between Sir Leslie and Lib / Gnome . This cannot bo accomp lished "while the shameless Lady Leslie is alive . This obstacle is surmounted . Lndy Leslie is deserted by her seducer at Baden , is found by Sir Leslie , taken back to Scotland , nnd dies ropenUtnt . Sir Leslie and Lily confess tnulual ntliichmonf , » nd all ends " as merry ( is a marringo-bcll . "

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      No . 450 , November 6 , 1858 . ] THE . LEADER . 1187

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 6, 1858, page 1187, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2267/page/11/