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causes of discontent was our legal provisions for the recovery of small debts . To this he attributes the Sunthal rebellion , and the ill-feeling prevailino- throughout the j ^ orth-west provinces . The viu&gers at Manpore , he tells us , joined in the murder of English ladies and children ; their conduct being the result of the action of our civil courts . They were , for the niost part , dispossessed landholders of the smaller class , and many of them Brahmins—a caste who rarely joined in such deeds .
The effect of the fall of Delhi on the native mind demonstrated the religious character of the original movement . The indiscreet zeal among the missionaries is much censured ; though frequently deprecated by their superiors , it is sometimes excessive and ill-timed . The ingratitude of the moneyed classes is thus exemplified : — "In the month of October , 1857 , when sadly pressed by the deficiency of means to enable me to meet the necessary disbursements of the district , I called on the S ; iharunpore tnahnjuns or bankers , to furnish me with by no means a heavy loan . This they positively refused to do , declaring their
inability to meet my wishes ; that is , to that Government who has never imposed any description of tax upon this class ( a great oversight , by the way ) , and through whose protection alone they had been enabled to accumulate their wealth , these vhen refused a portion of that capital which would have disappeared with the . Government which had fostered them . At such a juncture , indeed , their refusal would have been of little moment ; for had I not almost immediatel y received an unexpected supply
from other quarters , these vermin might have learnt that necessity is sometimes superior to laws , and that we had not protected their property at the risk of our lives without expecting' some reasonable return , should circumstances render it necessary . But never will Indian bankers , while they can avoid it , lend money to the state , as they somewhat justly argue , that the Government , on seeing their wealth , might at last open its eyes , and suggest some trifle towards the expense ot defending their vast accumulations . "
Our author ' s experiences seem to have somewhat disheartened him . He takes rather a desponding view . "Had , " he says , " the alliance of the Seiks , prior to the outbreak , been judiciously courted by the Hindustani , hardly a European would have escaped in all Northern India . " Of the classes of Hindoos most averse to our rule , j the Rajpoots and Chutries are the worst . Their impression was , that with the suppression of the revolt , their religion , not their race , had been conquered . The Hindustani mind , however , is pliable , and has now adapted itself to the change . Never has the success of Christian missionaries been so great in the Ganges-Jumna Doab , as since our re-occupation of that part of the country . The book before us merits attention .
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TALE 3 FIU ) J 1 MOLIEUE'S PLAYS . By Dncro Barrett Lonnai'd . —Chupinnn and Hull . We all recollect the delightful tales that Charles Lamb constructed from the dramas of Shakspeare . It was a happy idea with Mr . Lennard that led him to Molidrc with the same view . Sixteen stories are here given from tho plays of the great comic writer of France . They are exceedingly well told , anil come upon us , familiar as are the
subjects , with admirable freshness . Mr . Lennam retains the vivacity of the original treatment ; and sometimes , oven , we feel more interested in this modification of tho narrative than in the drama itself , This is tho case , for instance , with " Sagnarellc . " The liveliness of tho incidents and ; tho neatnpsa of the outline remain , while what might bo tedious in the dialogue has been altogether eliminated . ' " Brevity is tho soul of wit ; and hero brevity has boon consulted with tho happiest result .
Sometimes Mr . Lennard has acoornpanied histraauotion with a slight oritical commentary , or historical notice . This service ho has done m the oase of " Tarturte , " which he describes as Moh « ire s ohejd ' auvre . Ho defends it from tho charge of an irreligious tendency , and cites Hallnin on the point , who rules that the comedy is so well conducted , that it guards most oarafully against any lnfringpment of the boundaries between the roaUty and its false appearanooa . Aooording to him , no exception at all qan be taken against its moral 5 and he slyly counsels those who take umbrage at the Tartuffb" to read it again , " for there may bo fiooa reason to suspect that they arc themselves
among those for whose benefit it was intended . " The analysis of " Tartufie" is accomplished in a masterly style . Not a trait is lost in the transfer so skilfully , so felicitously is it photographed . We have been also much pleased with the version of " Le Bourgeois G-entilhomme , " and " Le Malade Imaginaire . " Both" are rendered with spirit and accuracy . The wit is brought out with precision and point ; and the sentences are chiselled with the sharpness and skill of a literary
sculptor . To continue the . figure , Ave may add , that the marble , too , is of the highest polish . The works of Molie ' re present instances in which the matter and form are equally excellent . The setting of the diamond is of as much value as the jewel itself . Mr . Lennard has not been unmindful of this peculiarity in the style of Moliere . The publication ought to be one of the most attractive works of the season .
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TJ 1 AVHLS IN MOKOCCO . By the late James Itichardson . liklited by his Widow . 2 vols . —Charles J . Skeet . At the present time , when the old contest between the Spaniard and the Moor appears to have been revived , any book , -with a competent authority to support its claims , that treats of Morocco must possess great interest . The late James Richardson has left imperishable records of his energy and ability in the path of researches in Central Africa and the Saharan desert , and every remark of his will be a contribution to what may be called the science of travel . One i-emark may be accepted in limirie—that the Moorish women were never so profligate as since the arrival of the French in Algeria . But we must take this observation of our author ' s with some modification ; for he likewise states that the licentious actions of the men
and women , particularly on the feast days , present the- worst side of the character of the Moors . The presence of the French , after all deductions are made , must have a civilising tendency . The prospects of the Jews in Barbary are improving , and the ambition of Jewesses to obtain Christian husbands is . very great . They have some privileges not " permitted to the male sex . The < Vtlas Jews are physically superior to their brethren who reside among the Moors , and are _ better off , being permitted to bear arms , and wearing the same attTre as the mountaineers , from whom they are not distinguishable .
" As to the peculiarities of the religion of the Atlas Jews , they are said not to have the Pentateuch and the law in the same order as Jews generally . They are unacquainted with Ezra , or Christ ; they did not go to Babylon at the captivity , but were dispersed over Africa at that period . They ( ire a species of Caraaites , or Jewish Protestants . Shadai is the name which they apply to the Supreme Being , when speaking of him . Their written law begins by stating that the world was many of
thousand years old when the present race men was formed , which , curiously enough , agrees with tho researches of modern geology . The present race of men are tho joint offspring of different and distinct human species . Tho deluge is not mentioned by them . God , it is said , appeared to Ishmnel in a dream , and . told him he must separate from Isaac , and go to the desert , where ho would make him a great nation . There would ever alter bo enmity between the two racos , as at this day thoro is the greatest animosity between tho Jews
and Mahometans . . . " Tho great nucleus of those Sholouh Jews is m Jchel Mvlgc , or tho vast ridge of the Atlas , capped with eternal snows ; and they hold communications with tho Jews of Alt Mousa , Jfrouga or Misfuva . They raroly descend to tho plains or cities ot tho empire , nnd look upon tho rest of tho Jews of this country as heretic 3 , Isolation thus begots enmity nnd mistrust , as in other cases . A fow youvs ago , a number oumo to Mogador , and wore not at all pleased with their visit , finding fault with everybrethr Those Jowish
thing among their en . mountaineers aro supposed to bo vory numerous . In their homos , they aro inaccessible bo they uvo in a wild itidependunco , professing a crood as free as tholr own mountain airs . God , who mado tho lulls , made likowlBO mail ' s froodom to abido tliorolii . Before taking leaf of tho Maroq . uino Israelites , 1 must say something of tholr personal nppoaranco . Both in Tanglov "" id Mogador , I was ortuuato enough to bo acquainted with families , who could boost of tho moat perfect and classic typos of Jowish ? ,, lovollnofls . Alas , that those beauties should auctions
bo only charming animals , their minds and being loft uncultivated , or converted into cavoa of unelfan and tormenting passions . The Jowyawa , in general , until they become enormously Btout « n " weighed down with obosity , aro of extreme boauty .
Most of them have fair complexions ; their rose and jasmine faces , their pure wax-like delicate features , and their exceedingly expressive and bewitching eyes , would fascinate the most fastidious of European connoisseurs of female beauty . " This statement is very curious , and suggestive of a world of reflections , which will undoubtedly arise spontaneously in the reader ' s mind , but on which we cannot enlarge . We could have
desiderated more information on the political relations of France and Spain with Morocco ; but , unfortunately , we find nothing in these two volumes that could fairly be quoted in illustration of the quarrel now existing between the two Catholic powers and the Mahomedan Moor . In other respects , undoubtedly , they are highly instructive . However , they have not been carefully edited ; grammatical and typographical errors being frequent .
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No . 509- Dec . 24 , 1859 . 1 THE LEADER 1399
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I'OEIIS . J 3 y the Author of "John Halifax . "—Hurst and Blackett . Miss Muxqch , whose merits as a prose-writer have received public acknowledgment , has , it appears , been in the habit of contributing occasional verses to Chambers' and other journals . la this publication she has claimed her errant offspring , and assembled them in one family , in honour of the Christmas season . These poems—( for , notwithstanding the author ' s modest doubt , they are such ) - ^ -are very peculiar , and perhaps bear on them the stamp of originality . The sentiment of piety is eminently conspicuous . Like Spinoza , Miss Muloch may be said to be " intoxicated with deity . " This idea is omnipresent in her verses . Sometimes it is loudly pronounced-
as thus : — " O Thou supreme All-satisfying- and immutable One , It is enough to be absorbed in Thee And vanish— thoug-h 'twere only to a . voice That through all ages , with perpetual joy . Goes evermore loud crying , 'God ! Gou : Crod \ The predominance of this sentiment marks out Miss Muloch as a poet of the highest class . She is a Hebrew of the Hebrews , and should be reckoned as one of the sweet singers of Israel , a daughter of the prophets . There are poets of many kinds , as well as of many degrees . There is the feeble singer , to whom rythmical sound is sufficient ; and who , with imperfect rhyme and syntax , makes tentative efforts at verse in the process of self-education . JN " ext , there is the
commonsense singer , who gives expression ^ , common-places and literal descriptions . Then comes the intellectual singer , who . solicits the aid of fancy and embellishes his theme , whether love or patriotism , with pleasant conceits , figures , and illustrations . To a higher elevation climbs the imaginative poet , and invests with abstract beauty the more abstruse conceptions of man and nature which he is gifted to form . At length appears the inspired poet , not always intelligible , who breathes the pure ether of ideas and thoughts , and with difficulty invests his immortal creations with earthly shapes . Of the last of those U , decidedly , Miss Muloch . Hence her ' sublime dissatisfaction with the imperfect and shifting scones , whose illusory qualities she has experienced ;—her forced resignation to the actual , and her wish to make the best of it;—her continual yearning for an in-. visible belovod ; —her sympathies with nuns and solitaires , and her general sense that in . a blighted world the condition of tho recluse is the happiest , and the life of the novico or tho Sistur of Mercy the . most virtuous and beneficial . _ Poetry to her is tho means of arming herself against the disappointments that tho nflbotions suflur m an illassprted world , and in finding a _ remedy for the wounds incurred by the too-sonsitivc in their tempoml attachments / From all tins she lies to the Divine , and would find solace in that serener radiance , which tho fiercer contact of tho merely human forbids . She has formed hoi- own woridra sinless paradise , a supernatural Iwlqn , with , the tree ' of lif t in it , but none of knowledge ; in whioh Innocence would , substitute Virtue . Our poetess , however , has an eye for tho external features ot tho natural world ; and sometimes catches the points of a picture with singular felicity ; . Xuo Slowing poem , which is graced with an . lustration in tuo book , is a favourablo specimen of the writer ' s powers : — A STBMAM'S SINGING . O liow bonutil ' ul ie Monilutf I Ho v tho sunbeams strike tho daUlos , And tho Wnff-oup « nil tho inoudow , Like ft ffoldou-fjhioldou army Marohlua to tUo uplaudu fair 1—
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1859, page 1399, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2326/page/19/
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