The Welshman

LITEJIATUKE.—THE MAGAZINES. I BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. There are some very excellent contributions in Blackwood for October. Cornelius O'Dowd is pun- gent and humorous on several subjects that form the staple of newspaper articles, such as Security on the rail," in which the dangers of railway tra- velling and the way in which they should be re- moved, are ridiculed; Mountaineering and Bal- looning," in which the Alpine Club and Mr Glaisher are laughed at; and Centenaries and Commemora- tions," in which the great Shakespeare sham" is ruthlessly exposed- I fervently hope that no indiscreet but enthusiastic admirers of mine in some future age will ever think of honouring me by a centenary. I know the temptation will be strong. I feel that a griteful posterity will be eager to repay what contemporaries have been so lax in acknowledg- ing. I can imagine, too, how the words O'Dowd Com- memoration" would read on a placard and I can fancy the M snobs" of another century running about with" original portraits" and" curious manuscriptil remains" of what they will doubtless call Our Immortal Humorist." Now I hereby desire to place on record my formal protest against the whole proceeding It is not that the great Shakespeare sham has given me a hearty disgust to such celebrations, but that I feel that they are false in logic as in taste and there never was, and probably never will be, a reputation high enough to stand above the ridicule that attaches to such vulgar and low-lived adulation. Had the great Bard's bust been anything but plaster-of Paris, it would have blushed at the company by which it was surrounded. In the first place, these people start with something very like a vote of censure on their ancestors, who, having had a great man amongst them, were stupid enough not to recognise his geriius or admit his greatness. Now, for my own part, I suspect that the ordinary vice of every age is in over-estimating itself, and consequently thinking far too highly of its own products, whether the same be enormous gooseberries or great generals. I am strongly disposed to believe, that our present-day gods and goddesses will be thought very little of by our next-century successors, and we ourselves held proportionately cheap, for the intense admiration we have accorded them. There is this, however, to be said for the judgments of contempo- raries, that they could recognise and appreciate the fitness of the man to his time; and this, of course, no opinions of a remote posterity could pretend to vie with. A small town in the east of Italy, where Rossini had once passed some time, conceived the idea of commemorating the great Maestro'* sojourn amongst them by a s'atue. The zeal was unhappily greater than the wealth, and after some months of unwearied toil the managing committee an- nounced the sad fact, that although one high-spirited indi- vidual had of himself contributed the pedestal, which was already built, and ready to receive the statue, the moneyed contributions only reached twelve hundred francs. In this dilemma they, with a courage that all must commend, waited on the illustrious composer, and asked in what way he would himself advice this sum to be appropriated. #'You want a statue," said he, thoughtfully "and you have, it seems, only got as far as the pedestal." Yes, Illustrissimo, that ia our case." And you have twelve hundred francs besides towards your object ?" The committee bowed their acquiescence. Give me the money then, and I'll stand on the pedestal half an boor next Tuesday. I must leate on Wednesday, or I'd repeat the performance." I wih I could record that the committee had been men of sufficient generosity to appreciate, and of taste to avail themselves of, this offer. That unadorned pedestal would have been a monument to .nake their town illustrious for ages. A neat inscription, too, could have recorded the fact that hpre, on such a day in May," &c., &c. Our Trade" is a valuable and singularly inte- resting article. It discusses several important ques- tions in connection with our exports and imports, the drain of gold and rates of interest. Tne Public Schools Report" is an exhaustive summary of the evidence given before the commissioners upon the London Schools, and those who have neither disposition nor leisure to wade through the Blue Book will find here in a small compass all that they require on the subject. The 11 Memoirs of Richard Whately" is a capital and most readable paper. After some rather severe remarks on the slovenly manner in which Mr Fitzpatrick has written the life of the Archbishop, we have not a mere sum- mary of the book, but a comprehensive and ad- mirable sketch from which we take one or two extracts. The first relates to Whately's elevation to the Archbishoprick. The late Mr Nassau Senior, going in for his bachelor's I degree, was plucked. He failed, it we recollect right, in divinity—to break down in which, as it formed the first subject on which the aspirant was then examined, rendeted fruitless any amount of general learning, and insured imme- diate rejection. Nowise distrustful of himself, Mr Senior determined to try again at the next examination and, in the meanwhile, looked out for a private tutor with whom to lead. He called upon Whately, and expressed a wish to be received by him as a pupil. Whately, never very tender of the feelings of others, though as little delighted in tu pain which he indicted a* man could be, scarcely took tie tiouble to look his isitor in the face, but answered, «• You were plucked, I believe. I never receive pupils unless I see reason to assume that they mean to aspire at honours." I mean to aspire at honours," replied Senior. You doi do your was the answer. May I ask what class you intend to take?" A ?''st class," said Senior coolly. Whately's brow relaxed. He seemed tickled with the idea that a lad who had been plucked in November, should propose to get into the first class iti March and he at once desired Senior to come to be coached. Never were tutor and pupil better matched. Senior read har-went tip, as he Bad proposed to do, into the school in Maroh-and came out of them with the highest honors which the examining masters couid confer. Seniiit and Whately became fast friends at ?hee Lihd to Senior, more perhaps than to Earl Grey him- ielr, whately was, in point of fact, indebted for his advance- ment to the see of Dublin. For Senior, a man of great talent—which a very silly manner and a vast amount of vanity could net war-made himself useful to the Whigs in various ways, and was especially consulted by them in the ( bfeparation of their new Poor Law. It happened that, during an interview with Earl Grey, the latter spoke of the death of Archbishop Magee, and of the difficulty he ex- perienced in finding a successor for that prelate from among a body so tinctured as the more eminent of the clergy then were with Toryism. 14 You need not go fat fat a man who will fill the see with credit to yol1 arid honour to himself," said Senior. Then followed an account of Whately —of his. ccholarship, his reforming propensities, his acquain- iarice with the principles of political economy, and his Libe- ralism. Lord Grey listened attentively, inquired farther about Whately, and finally, in a manner most gratifying to the subject of this sketch, offered him the archbishopric. But we muet not anticipate the incidents of our'story. The next extract we give present the eccentricities of the Archbishop, which are not so well known as his other and better qualities. The rhah who revolutionised the system of popular educa- tion in Ireland-who suggested and mainly contributed to carry into effect, a great plan of Church reform-who snubbed his own clergy because of their over zeal in the cause of Protestantism, and conciliated the more moderate of the Roman Catholics, even while he ridiculed their fa- vourite dogmata—Was one of the greatest jokers of his day, the most uncouth creature that, ever mixed in polished society, and in many respects the strangest mixture of scepticism and credulity. He ridiculed the reputed miracles of Prince Alexander and llohenlohe, yet gave implicit credit to the impostures of spirit rappers and table turners. He was glad when, without profanity, wondrous works of a higher order could be accounted for by reference to natural causes; yet he professed unqualified faith in the mysteries Or clairvoyance. Of his riddles, conundrums, and puna there was no end. Whately's oddities of manner would scarcely be believed, but that the testimony which vouches for them is irresistible. His favourite attitude when attending a meeting of the Irish Privy Council was in front of the fire, if the season happened to be winter, with his coat tails held up if in summer, upon a chair, which he balanced on its hind legs, with his own legs thrown over the back of another chair. It was in reference to the former practice, and of the habits of another member, who in cold weather would occasionally wear his hat, that a wag observed, The prelate in Council uncovers what ought to be hid, and the peer hides what ought to be uncovered." He was quite as little cere- monious in the Castle drawing-room. He has been known, while waiting there, one of a large party, till dinner should be announced, to take a pair of scissors out of a case which he carried in his pocket, and pare his nails. In the same place, and under similar circumstances, he has been seen to throw himself into an easy chair, and, drawing another near him, to swing one of his legs over the back of it. He was a greater smoker than Dr. Parr, and might often be seen by passers leaning against the pillar of his own door in Stephen's Green with a long clay pipe in his mouth. His powers of conversation were extraordinary. There was scarcely a subject on which he could not declaim with more or less correctness, as the following anecdote will i;how:- It happened on a certain occasion that some clever young men belonging to the garrison, who admired the Arch- bishop extremely, yet wished to lay a trap for him, agreed among themselves to get possession of the table-talk at a dinner which was to come off shortly, and to divert it into the subject of fencing. They assumed that the Archbishop could not possibly be as much at home on that matter as themselves, and counted either on his being entirely tbiown out—a circumstance which would be amusing because of its rarity—or, what would be equally ludicrous, on his falling into some palpable mistake in the endeavour to keep up an established reputation. Fencing accordingly supplanted, amid a brilliant circle, all other topics; and the Archbishop, interrupted in the midst of a discussion on language, held his peace. By and by, however, to the great amusement of all present, he interrupted the offioer who was laying down the law; and, quoting one authority after another, pronounced the theory of the speaker to be a mistaken one. A friendly argument ensued as a matter of course, which the Archbishop brought to a close by jumping up from his chair, seizing the poker, and showing how the particular thrust which had been the subject of discussion could best be parried and a counter-thrust delivered. Amid a general roar of laughter the officer confessed that the Archbishop was right, and the Archbishop enjoyed his triumph as keenly and undisguisedly as if he had been deolared victor in aome important strife of dialectics. Dr Whately not only affeated no state as Archbishop of Dublin, but went so far in an opposite direction as to lay himself open to the charge of affecting simplicity. His equipages were of the plainest kind, and his manner of living simple and unostentatious. He even threatened to put, and was not without difficulty restrained from putting, a coat of whitewash over the gilded cornices which orna- mented the ceiling in the archiepisoopal palace. At the same time, his hospitalities were on a scale of great liberality, and his wines both varied and excellent. He was an ad- mirable host, full of wit and fan, and intolerant of a prac- tice not uncommon among Irish Piotestants, of mixing up what is called religious conversation, in not very seemly confusion with lighter matters. A prelate of the Evangelical school happened one day to be among the guests, and, persevering in this course longer than Whately's patience could endure, was at last interrupted by the Archbishop, who asked him abruptly if he knew how the best pickled cabbage was made. The bishop answering in the negative, Whately seized his opportunity, ran off into a sort of treatise on the culture and usts of the vegetable, and put an effectual stop to the annoyance. FRASER'S MA.GAZINE.—Fraser opens with an able but eccentric article on The decline and fall of Whiggery," in which the writer endeavours to show that the Whigs have failed in under standing the exigencies of the day, and have on each occasion been wise too late; that their states- manship, though on various important matters wiser and juster than that which the Tory party will allow their leaders to adopt, is and has been as truly behind the nation as the statesmanship of the Tories. The conclusions of the writer are in our opinion unjust, and will neither satisfy the Whigs nor the Tories. There is a curious and ex- ceedingly interesting paper on Village Life in the Seventeenth Century," founded on old parish account books, and illustrative of the social con- condition of the country in former times. This paper will, we hope, lead to the examination of similar documents throughout the country. The Census of England and Wales in 1861," contains a lot of valuable information. It embodies the leading facts set out in the Report of the Registrar- General, compared with other official statements. We give some of the general results- Although the census of Ireland, and upon this occasion, that of Scotland also, were taken under separate manage- ment, a few particulars of each of these parts of the United Kingdom are embodied in the report upon England and Wales, and the following are the enumeration results PopuUtion (including army, navy, and merchant seamen abroad, about a quarter of a million in number). England and Wales 20,228 497 Scotland 3,096.808 Ireland 5,8.50,309 Islands in British Seas 145,674 United Kingdom, 1861 29,321,288 1851 27,745,949 91 1841 27.036,450 11 1831 24,392,485 H 1821 21,272,187 „ 1811 18,509,116 „ 1801 16,237,300 No exact account of the population at periods prior to 1801 can be obtained but from the estimates formed in those times by contemporary writers, and from the records of baptisms and burials preserved in many parishes [sinoe 1571, as well as from other sources of information, it appears that the population of England and Wales (only) is now calcu- lated to have been 6,335,840 in 1751, and 5,466,572 in 1651. Thus, according to the estimates, the people of England and Wales amounted to more than six millions in 1751 and to more than eighteen millions in 1851, they having in- creased nearly twelve millions in the hundred years while the increase of the numbers in the preceding century (1651- 1751) was less than one million, and the numbers can scarcely be wrong either way more than half a million. The increase of population in the last four years, 1857-61, was as great as the increase from the year 1651 tc the year 1751 from the year of the battle of Worcester to the year Arcot was taken by Clive. It is calculated that that if the whole population of Eng- land in 1861 were massed together, it would extend (allowing a square yard to each person) over an area a mile deep and six and a half miles long. A computation of this sort is of loran assistance to us in forming a conception of the actual magnitude of bih numbers. The increase of the population of England and Wales from 18.51 to 1861 is shown to have been the most rapid in the seaport towns, and in the towns amidst the mining districts where hardware is made. About three-fourths of the total increase of population has taken place in towns, the increase in country parishes having been 6'5 per cent, and in towns 17'3 per cent the difference in these rates of increase is ascribed in the Report to migration from coun- try to town. The population of towns having more than 1,000 inha- bitants, and being 781 in number, ha? been taken to consti- tute the town population' of England and Wales and the proportion per cent, which this bears t) the entire population is o4 6, leaving 45-4 as the population of country parts. Acres. Population. T,)vtns 1,913,945 10,960,998 Country 35.410,938 9,105,226 Total 37,324,683 20,066,224 The following classified table of the 781 towns above referred to is interesting as showing the respective numbers of towns containing population of different magnitudes Population of Towns. Number of Towns 2,803,989 1 400.000 ai d under 500,009 1 3' ',0.'0 400,000 1 200,000 it 300,000 2 100,000 11 200,000 7 50,000 to 100,000 17 20,000 0, 50,000 46 10,000 ot 20,000 78 5,000 11 10,000 152 2,000 „ 5,000 228 1,000 to 2,000 .348 It will be surmised that the five largest of the towns in this table are as follows :-London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds. The increase of each of the seventy-two largest towns in every decennial period of the present century is shown in a table, from which we extract the following particulars as regards the population of the metropolis within the limits adopted by the Registrar-General for the weekly table of births and deaths in London.' Year. Population. 1801 958,863 1811 1,138,815 1821 1,378,947 1831 1,654,994 1841 1,948.417 1851 2,362,236 1861 2,803,989 The inhabited houses in England and Wales, amounted in 1861 to 3,739,505, showing since the last census an increase of 461,466; 184,694 houses were uninhabited, and 27,305 were building. The number of houses I building' was enu- merated in the censas of 1811, as it was then thought that the return might assist in the solution of the question whether England was decaying or flourishing at the period of the great French war. Upon comparing the number of houses building with the total numbers standing, this result is elicited In 1811, to one house building, there were 114; in 1831, the proportion was 1 to 105; in 1861, it was 1 to 144. This seems to imply that since 1831 this indication of prosperity has taken an unfavourable turn.' The Registrar- General proceeds, however, to a clever investigation of the question, and concludes that such an increase has taken place in the relative velocity of building houses," as to justify the opinion that the decrease in the proportion of houses building ia not to be taken as any indication of the failing prosperity of England. Of the fact of the increase of the nation's wealth in the aggregate, there is no doubt we are often called upon to observe it in the rapid progress of our commerce, and (though less strikingly) in the increase of the income-tax assess- ments. It should be notioed, however, that the rate of increase in the population has, nevertheless, been on the decline, the rate in successive decades since 1811, having been respectively 16, 15. 14, 13, and 12 per cent. And in our endeavour to ascertain whether the greatly-increased wealth has or has not been distributed among the population more equally than before, we shall see a oause for much of that extensive emigration to which the slower increase of our population is mainly due, and of which some interesting statistical information is afforded in the Census Report. The writer discusses upon these statistical returns, the subjects of population, emigration, and the civil and conjugal condition of the people. Mr Ottley continues his valuable Notes on Diplomacy and Diplomatic History." "A Campaigner at Home" has been among the heather with the Life of Sir William Napier," which he reviews, and quotes a remarkable letter from Carlyle to Sir William Napier, on his Life of Sir Charles Napier," in which he says- The fine and noble qualities of the man are very recog- nisable to me his subtle, piercing intellect, turned all to the practical, giving him just insight into men and into things his inexhaustible, adroit contrivances his fiery valour sharp promptitude to seize the good moment that will not return. A lynx-eyed, fiery man, with the spirit of an oldjknight in him; more of a hero than any modern I have seen for a long time. A singular veraci- ty one finds in him -not in his words alone, which, however, I like much for their fine rough naivete, but in his actions, judgments, aims in all that he thinks, and does, and says —which, indeed, I have observed, is the root of all greatness or real worth in human creatures.) and properly the first (and also the rarest) attribute ofliwhat we call genius among men. The path of such a man through the foul jungles of this world -the struggle of heaven's inspiration against the ter- restial fooleries, oupid:ties, and cowardice,—cannot be other than tragical but the man does tear out a bit of way for himself too strikes towards the good goal, inflexibly per- sistent till his long rest come the man does leave his mark behind him, ineffaceable, beneficient, to all good men, maleficent to none; and one must not complain. The British nation of this time, in India or elsewhere-God knows no nation ever had more need of such men in every region of its affairs. But also, :perhaps no nation ever bad a much worse chance to get hold of them, to recognise, and loyally second them, even when theylare there. Anarchic stupidity is wide as the night; victorious wisdom is but as a lamp in it shining here and there. Contrast a Napier, even in Scinde, with, for example, a Lally at Pondicherry or on the Piaae -De Greve,-one has to admit that it is the com- mon lot, that it might have been far worse There are in this number two tales, Gilbert Rugge," which is continued, and Rae Gifford," a wonderful story in its way. Although compressed into a few pages, it is strikingly original and written with great power. THE CHURCHMAN'S FAMILY MAGAZINE. —This is not only a useful and instructive, but a really interesting number of the Caurchman's Family Magazine. Among the more practical papers are Papers on Hymns and Hymn Books," The Duties of the Hospital Chaplain," and Working Men's Institutes, or Mechanics Insti- tutes." Besides these, we have a very interesting article on The Privilege of Sanctuary," and a continuation of Miss Strickland's Lives of the Seven Bishops of the Tower," that given in this number being the life of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells. The Clever Woman of the Family," which is continued, is the only tale. LONDON SOCIETY.—The illustrations this month are unusually good. The best are, A Sly Man's Difficulties," in which Mr Doyle hap- pily illustrates the embarrassments of crinoline in the first class compartment of a railway carriage. "The Ashes of Love" is also admirably done. It is the copy of a painting representing a forsaken and dejected maiden at the hearth, burning her past treasures one by one. The other illustrations are, Oh! don't become a nun, my dear," Dan- gerous," and Saturday night in Leather-Lane." The literary portion of the number is every bit as good 'as the artistic. A new tale is commenced- Wanted.-A Wife with money," and The Or- deal for Wives," is continued. Both these are light and amusing tales. The other contributions are for the most part of a similar character. In an idle hour we have no wish for anything more entertainining and agreeable than London So- ciety. PUBLICATIONS OF THE MESSRS. CHAM. BERS.—There is nothing that calls for any special remark in the excellent serials published by Messrs. W. and R. Chambers, of Edinburgh. The Journal maintains its reputation as the most popular of our cheap magazines. The miscellaneous articles are ably written, and we have compressed into them all that is most interesting in the literature of the day, so that the regular reader of the Journal is au courant with the times. The con- tinuous tale, Married beneath Him," is not altogether to our taste. The great work of these publishers is their jEncyclopedia, which, to the people of this country is an invaluable treasury of knowledge. It has reached its eighty-second part, and with occasional double numbers, as this month, we anticipate its early completion. MR. BEETON'S PUBLICATIONS.—The Boy's Magazine for this month contains a story of the great charter, Runnymede and Lincoln Fair," and "Anthony Weymouth; or the gentlemen ad- venturers," some chapters on zoology, fishing, chemistry, cricket, &c., making altogether a most attractive number of an unrivalled magazine for boys. In the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine we have the fashions, with a coloured plate, a coloured design for a work table, a large sheet of pattern designs for useful and ornamental needle work, with several literary contributions. The Boy's Monthly Magazine, designed for those who cannot afford to take the Boy's Own Magazine, is in truth an exceedingly useful and interesting work. MR. CASSELL'S PUBLICATIONS.—Mr. Cas- sell publishes no less than eleven separate works every month. The people of this country are under a deep obligation to him, for putting within the reach of the poorest the means of improve- ment, both socially and intellectually. Not satisfied with merely educational books, he is providing in a cheap and really elegant form some of our most I esteemed and valued standard works. We have now before us the Illustrated Shakespeare, part 8; the Illustrated Goldsmith, part 7; the Holy JVar Robinson Crusoe, part 11 and the promise of Gulliver's Travels. There are also the Illustrated History of England and j?w? 7Z:.?o?/. The .P?M?/- .E?Me?o?, a reprint on thick paper, is perhaps more widely known than any of the others. Besides these there are the Illustrated Bible, a reprint on toned paper; the Bible Dictionary and of magazines-the Family Paper and the Quimr; the latter appearing in a new form, we noticed at considerable length a fortnight since.