Part 27
“A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most successful efforts of a successful novelist.”--_Daily News._
“A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty.”--_Standard._
THE UNKIND WORD.
“The author of ‘John Halifax’ has written many fascinating stories, but we can call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring charm than the graceful sketches in this work. Such a character as Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of all that is truly noble, pure, and womanly.”--_United Service Magazine._
YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.
“‘Young Mrs. Jardine’ is a pretty story, written in pure English.”--_The Times._
“There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome.”--_Athenæum._
“A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any of its predecessors in elevation of thought and style, it is perhaps their superior in interest of plot and dramatic intensity. The characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural and clear.”--_Morning Post._
WORKS BY
MRS. OLIPHANT.
_Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s._
ADAM GRAEME OF MOSSGRAY.
“‘Adam Graeme’ is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The plot is cleverly complicated, and there is great vitality in the dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive passages, as who that has read ‘Margaret Maitland’ would not be prepared to expect? But the story has a ‘mightier magnet still,’ in the healthy tone which pervades it, in its feminine delicacy of thought and diction, and in the truly womanly tenderness of its sentiments. The eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in the life, with a delicacy, a power, and a truth which can hardly be surpassed.”--_Morning Post._
THE LAIRD OF NORLAW.
“We have had frequent opportunities of commending Messrs. Hurst and Blackett’s Standard Library. For neatness, elegance, and distinctness the volumes in this series surpass anything with which we are familiar. ‘The Laird of Norlaw’ will fully sustain the author’s high reputation. The reader is carried on from first to last with an energy of sympathy that never flags.”--_Sunday Times._
“‘The Laird of Norlaw’ is worthy of the author’s reputation. It is one of the most exquisite of modern novels.”--_Observer._
IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS.
“In ‘It was a Lover and his Lass,’ we admire Mrs. Oliphant exceedingly. Her story is a very pretty one. It would be worth reading a second time, were it only for the sake of one ancient Scottish spinster, who is nearly the counterpart of the admirable Mrs. Margaret Maitland.”--_Times._
AGNES.
“‘Agnes’ Is a novel superior to any of Mrs. Oliphant’s former works.”--_Athenæum._
“Mrs. Oliphant is one of the most admirable of our novelists. In her works there are always to be found high principle, good taste, sense, and refinement. ‘Agnes’ is a story whose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all readers.”--_Morning Post._
A ROSE IN JUNE.
“‘A Rose in June’ is as pretty as its title. The story is one of the best and most touching which we owe to the industry and talent of Mrs. Oliphant, and may hold its own with even ‘The Chronicles of Carlingford.’”--_Times._
PHŒBE, JUNIOR.
“This last ‘Chronicle of Carlingford’ not merely takes rank fairly beside the first which introduced us to ‘Salem Chapel,’ but surpasses all the intermediate records. Phœbe, Junior, herself is admirably drawn.”--_Academy._
LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING.
“A good book on a most interesting theme.”--_Times._
“A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. ‘Irving’s Life’ ought to have a niche in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of instruction, interest, and consolation.”--_Saturday Review._
WORKS BY
GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D.
_Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s._
ALEC FORBES OF HOWGLEN.
“No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades the work from the first page to the last.”--_Athenæum._
“A novel of uncommon merit. Sir Walter Scott said he would advise no man to try to read ‘Clarissa Harlowe’ out loud in company if he wished to keep his character for manly superiority to tears. We fancy a good many hardened old novel-readers will feel a rising in the throat as they follow the fortunes of Alec and Annie.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._
“The whole story is one of surpassing excellence and beauty.”--_Daily News._
“This book is full of good thought and good writing. Dr. Mac Donald looks in his stories more to the souls of men and women than to their social outside. He reads life and Nature like a true poet.”--_Examiner._
ROBERT FALCONER.
“‘Robert Falconer’ is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human interest. It is a work to be returned to again and again for the deep and searching knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings.”--_Athenæum._
“This story abounds in exquisite specimens of the word-painting in which Dr. Mac Donald excels, charming transcripts of Nature, full of light, air, and colour.”--_Saturday Review._
“This noble story displays to the best advantage all the powers of Dr. Mac Donald’s genius.”--_Illustrated London News._
“‘Robert Falconer’ is the noblest work of fiction that Dr. Mac Donald has yet produced.”--_British Quarterly Review._
“The dialogues in ‘Robert Falconer’ are so finely blended with humour and pathos as to make them in themselves an intellectual treat to which the reader returns again and again.”--_Spectator._
DAVID ELGINBROD.
“A novel which is the work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest class of readers.”--_Times._
“There are many beautiful passages and descriptions in this book. The characters are extremely well drawn.”--_Athenæum._
“A clever novel. The incidents are exciting, and the interest is maintained to the close. It may be doubted if Sir Walter Scott himself ever painted a Scotch fireside with more truth than Dr. Mac Donald.”--_Morning Post._
“David Elginbrod is the finest character we have met in fiction for many a day. The descriptions of natural scenery are vivid, truthful, and artistic; the general reflections are those of a refined, thoughtful, and poetical philosopher, and the whole moral atmosphere of the book is lofty, pure, and invigorating.”--_Globe._
SIR GIBBIE.
“‘Sir Gibbie’ is a book of genius.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._
“This book has power, pathos, and humour. There is not a character which is not lifelike. There are many powerful scenes, and the portraits will stay long in our memory.”--_Athenæum._
“‘Sir Gibbie’ is unquestionably a book of genius. It abounds in humour, pathos, insight into character, and happy touches of description.”--_Graphic._
“‘Sir Gibbie’ contains some of the most charming writing the author has yet produced.”--_Scotsman._
“‘Sir Gibbie’ is one of the most touching and beautiful stories that has been written for many years. It is not a novel to be idly read and laid aside; it is a grand work, to be kept near at hand, and studied and thought over.”--_Morning Post._
LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS.
_WORKS by the AUTHOR of ‘JOHN HALIFAX.’_
Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s.
JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. A WOMAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. A LIFE FOR A LIFE. NOTHING NEW. MISTRESS AND MAID. THE WOMAN’S KINGDOM. CHRISTIAN’S MISTAKE. A NOBLE LIFE. HANNAH. THE UNKIND WORD. A BRAVE LADY. STUDIES FROM LIFE. YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.
_WORKS by GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D._
Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s.
DAVID ELGINBROD. ROBERT FALCONER. ALEC FORBES. SIR GIBBIE.
_WORKS by MRS. OLIPHANT._
Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s.
IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS. THE LAIRD OF NORLAW. A ROSE IN JUNE. ADAM GRAEME OF MOSSGRAY. PHŒBE, JUNIOR. AGNES. THE LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING.
_WORKS by the AUTHOR of ‘SAM SLICK.’_
Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s.
NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE. WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES. THE OLD JUDGE; OR, LIFE IN A COLONY. TRAITS OF AMERICAN HUMOUR. THE AMERICANS AT HOME.
_LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] It may be objected that this story pertains more to the seventeenth than the eighteenth century; but, as the man Roderick was alive in the last century, I claim him as belonging to it.
[2] ‘The History of St. Kilda,’ etc. By the Rev. Mr. Kenneth Macaulay. London, 1764.
[3] ‘Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, called Hebrides,’ etc.
[4] Harris.
[5] _Scottice_, are without.
[6] ‘A Late Voyage to St. Kilda, the Remotest of all the Hebrides,’ etc., London, 1698.
[7] Head-dress.
[8] Venus, her lap dog.
[9] A game at cards introduced into France by Signor Justiniani, Ambassador of Venice in 1674. The players are the dealer or banker, his assistant, who looks after the losing cards--a _croupier_, in fact--and the punters, or anyone who plays against the banker.
[10] To understand the numerous allusions to the game of cards called Quadrill, it is necessary that the principles of the game should be given. It was played by four persons, each having ten cards dealt to them.
The general laws of this game are, 1. It is not permitted to deal the cards otherwise than four by three, the dealer being at liberty to begin with which of those numbers he pleases. 2. If he who plays either _sans prendre_, or calling a king, names a trump of a different suit from that his game is in, or names two several suits, that which he first named must be the trump. 3. He who plays must name the trump by its proper name, as he likewise must the king he calls. 4. He who has said ‘I pass,’ must not be again admitted to play, except he plays by force, upon account of his having Spadille. 5. He who has asked the question, and has leave given him to play, is obliged to do it: but he must not play _sans prendre_ except he is forced to do it. 6. He who has the four kings may call the queen of either of his kings. 7. Neither the king nor queen of the suit which is trumps must be called. 8. He who has one or several kings may call any king he has in his hand; in such case, if he wins, he alone must make six tricks; if he wins, it is all his own, and if he loses, he pays all by himself. 9. Everyone ought to play in his turn, but for having done otherwise, no one must be beasted. 10. He, however, whose turn is not to play, having in his hand the king the ombre has called, and who shall tramp about with either spadille, manille, or basto, or shall even play down the king that was called, to give notice of his being the friend, must not pretend to undertake the vole; nay, he must be condemned to be beasted if it appears that he did it with any fraudulent design. 11. He who has drawn a card from his game, and presented it openly in order to play it, is obliged so to do, if his retaining it may be either prejudicial to his game, or give any information to his friend, especially if the card is a matadore; but he who plays _sans prendre_, or calls upon his own king, is not subject to this law. 12. None ought to look upon the tricks, nor to count aloud what has been played, except when it is his turn to play, but to let everyone reckon for himself. 13. He who, instead of turning up the tricks before any one of his players, shall turn up and discover his game, must be equally beasted with him whose cards he has so discovered, the one paying one half, and the other the like. 14. He who renounces must be beasted, as many times as he has so done, but, if the cards are mixed, he is to pay but one beast. 15. If the renounce prejudices the game, and the deal is not played out, everyone may take up his cards, beginning at the trick where the renounce was made, and play them over again. 16. He who shows the game before the deal is out must be beasted, except he plays _sans prendre_. 17. None of the three matadores can be commanded down by an inferior trump. 18. If he who plays _sans prendre_ with the matadores in his hand, demands only one of them, he must receive only that he mentioned. 19. He who, instead of _sans prendre_, shall demand matadores, not having them, or he who shall demand _sans prendre_ instead of matadores, cannot compel the players to pay him what is really his due. 20. Matadores are only paid when they are in the hands of the ombre, or of the king his ally, whether all in one hand, or separately in both. 21. He who undertakes the vole, and does not make it, must pay as much as he would have received had he won it. 22. He who plays and does not make three tricks is to be beasted alone, and must pay all that is to be paid; and, if he makes no tricks at all, he must also pay to his two adversaries the vole, but not to his friend.’--_The Oxford Encyclopædia_, 1828.
[11] Dressing-gown.
[12] Entendres.
[13] Wonders.
[14] These leaden combs were used for darkening the hair.
[15] Pulled down 1885.
[16] Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauri Fronde comas--At ego secura pace quiescam.
_Milton in Manso._
[17] John Speed, the historian, died 1629, and was buried in the church of St. Giles’, Cripplegate.
[18] The few hairs of a lighter colour, are supposed to have been such as had grown on the sides of the cheeks after the corpse had been interred.
[19] ‘MDCLV. May vi, died my (now) only and eldest son, John Smith (_Proh Dolor_, beloved of all men!) at Mitcham in Surrey. Buried May ix in St. Giles, Cripplegate.’
[20] Edward Philips or Phillips, in his life of Milton, attached to ‘Letters of State, written by Mr. John Milton,’ &c., London, 1694, (p. 43), says: ‘He is said to have dyed worth £1,500 in Money (a considerable Estate, all things considered), besides Household Goods; for he sustained such losses as might well have broke any person less frugal and temperate than himself; no less than £2,000 which he had put for Security and Improvement into the Excise Office, but, neglecting to recal it in time, could never after get it out, with all the Power and Interest he had in the Great ones of those Times; besides another great Sum by mismanagement and for want of good advice.’
[21] Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol, thus writes in his life of Milton, prefixed to his edition of ‘Paradise Lost,’ London, 1749: ‘His body was decently interred near that of his father (who had died very aged about the year 1647) in the chancel of the church of St. Giles, Cripplegate; and all his great and learned friends in London, not without a friendly concourse of the common people, paid their last respects in attending it to the grave. Mr. Fenton, in his short but elegant account of the life of Milton, speaking of our author’s having no monument, says that “he desired a friend to inquire at St. Giles’s Church, where the sexton showed him a small monument, which he said was supposed to be Milton’s; but the inscription had never been legible since he was employed in that office, which he has possessed about forty years. This sure could never have happened in so short a space of time, unless the epitaph had been industriously erased; and that supposition, says Mr. Fenton, carries with it so much inhumanity that I think we ought to believe it was not erected to his memory.” It is evident that it was not erected to his memory, and that the sexton was mistaken. For Mr. Toland, in his account of the life of Milton, says that he was buried in the chancel of St. Giles’s Church, “where the piety of his admirers will shortly erect a monument becoming his worth, and the encouragement of letters in King William’s reign.” This plainly implies that no monument was erected to him at that time, and this was written in 1698, and Mr. Fenton’s account was first published, I think, in 1725; so that not above twenty-seven years intervened from the one account to the other; and consequently the sexton, who it is said was possessed of his office about forty years, must have been mistaken, and the monument must have been designed for some other person, and not for Milton.’
[22] Between the creditable trades of pawnbroker and dram-seller there is a strict alliance. As Hogarth observes, the money lent by Mr. Gripe is immediately conveyed to the shop of Mr. Killman, who, in return for the produce of rags, distributes poison under the specious name of cordials. See Hogarth’s celebrated print called Gin Lane.
[23] Probably in the month of September, as the entry of his baptism in the registry of the chapelry of Middlesmoor, in Netherdale, says ‘Eugenius Aram, son of Peter Aram, baptized the 2nd of October.’
[24] Though no warrants were issued against them, Aram was arrested for debt, in order to keep him; yet he immediately discharged this debt--not only so, he paid off a mortgage on his property at Bondgate. Suspicious facts, considering he was, notably, a poor man.
[25] Finding.
[26] The esne was a man of the servile class, a poor mercenary, serving for hire, or for his land, but was not of so low a rank as the other classes.
[27] An Act relative to German and Swiss redemptioners.
[28] Bedlam was then in Moorfields.
[29] A large wickerwork receptacle behind the mail-coach.
[30] Palmer invented the mail-coach, and supplied horses to the Post-Office.
[31] Lunardi made the first balloon ascent in England, Sept. 21, 1784.
[32] Birmingham halfpence, struck by Boulton and Watts at their works at Soho, Birmingham.
[33] Kew Bridge was opened to the public, September, 1789.
[34] Some idea of the duelling that went on in Ireland in the latter part of last century may be gathered from the following extract from Sir Jonah’s book (vol. ii, p. 3): ‘I think I may challenge any country in Europe to show such an assemblage of gallant _judicial_ and _official_ antagonists at fire and sword as is exhibited even in the following list:
The Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Earl Clare, fought the Master of the Rolls, Curran.
The Chief Justice, K.B. Lord Clonmell, fought Lord Tyrawley (a privy counsellor), Lord Llandaff, and two others.
The judge of the county of Dublin, Egan, fought the Master of the Rolls, Roger Barrett, and three others.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. Isaac Corry, fought the Right Hon. Henry Grattan (a privy counsellor), and another.
A Baron of the Exchequer, Baron Medge, fought his brother-in-law and two others.
The Chief Justice, C. P. Lord Norbury, fought Fire-eater Fitzgerald and two other gentlemen, and frightened Napper Tandy, and several besides: one hit only.
The judge of the Prerogative Court, Dr. Dingenan, fought one barrister and frightened another on the ground. N.B.--The latter case a curious one.
The Chief Counsel to the Revenue, Henry Deane Grady, fought Counsellor O’Mahon, Counsellor Campbell, and others: all hits.
The Master of the Rolls fought Lord Buckinghamshire, the Chief Secretary, &c.
The provost of the University of Dublin, the Right Hon. Hely Hutchinson, fought Mr. Doyle, Master in Chancery, and some others.
The Chief Justice C. P. Patterson, fought three country gentlemen, one of them with swords, another with guns, and wounded all of them.
The Right Hon. George Ogle (a privy counsellor) fought Barney Coyle, a distiller, because he was a Papist. They fired eight shots, and no hit; but the second broke his own arm.
Thomas Wallace, K.C., fought Mr. O’Gorman, the Catholic Secretary.
Counsellor O’Connell fought the Orange chieftain; fatal to the champion of Protestant ascendency.
The collector of the customs of Dublin, the Hon. Francis Hutchinson, fought the Right Hon. Lord Mountmorris.
Two hundred and twenty-seven memorable and official duels have actually been fought during my grand climacteric.
[35] ‘The Female Soldier; or, The Surprising Life and Adventures of Hannah Snell,’ &c. London, 1750.
[36] A farmer of repute.
[37] For a pension.
[38] The action off Cape St. Vincent, when Sir John Jervis, with fifteen sail of the line, attacked and defeated the Spanish fleet, consisting of twenty-seven sail of the line.
[39] ‘The case of Mr. John Walter, of London, Merchant.’ London, 1781.
[40] Then in Lombard Street.
[41] Lord North resigned, and Lord Rockingham succeeded as Premier, 1782.
[42] Logotypes--or printing types in which words, etc., were cast, instead of single letters.
[43] The centenary of the _Times_ was improperly celebrated in that paper on the 1st of January, 1885.
[44] _i.e._, in the liberty or Rules of the Fleet.
[45] A foot-lock or hobble.
[46] From the link-boy’s natural hatred of ‘the Parish Lantern,’ which would deprive him of his livelihood.
[47] In throwing dice a corruption of the French numerals is used, as ace (one), deuce (two), tray (three), &c.
[48] _I.e._, That sentence of death, owing to his pleading benefit of clergy, or ability to read, was commuted to imprisonment, and branding on the face with a red-hot iron. By degrees, however, the iron got colder, until, at last, it was barely warm.
[49] Mews, or horse-pond.
[50] ‘The Humours of the Fleet.’ A Poem, by W. Paget, Comedian, &c. Birmingham.
[51] Where the Fleet Market is now, there was, a few Years since, a Ditch, with a muddy Channel of Water. The Market was built at the Expense of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, who receive the Rent for it.
[52] The Door-keeper, or he who opens and shuts the Jigg, is call’d the Jigger.
[53] Billiards is a very common game here.
[54] Fine Ale drank in the Coffee-room, call’d the ‘Alderman,’ because brew’d by Alderman Parsons.
[55] A Runner is a Fellow that goes abroad of Errands for the Prisoners.
[56] Begs.
[57] Persons who give any Considerable offence are often try’d, and undergo the Discipline of the Pump. The Author was one of these in a drunken Frolick, for which he condemns himself.
[58] A Spacious place, where there are all sorts of Exercises, but especially Fives.
[59] A Publick Place, free for all Prisoners.
[60] Where those lie who can’t pay their Master’s Fee.
[61] There are several of these Jiggers, or Door-keepers, who relieve one another, and, when a Prisoner comes first in, they take a nice Observation of him, for fear of his escaping.
[62] A cant Word for giving some Money in order to show a Lodging.
[63] Which is One Pound, Six, and Eightpence, and then you are entitled to a bed on the Master’s-side, for which you pay so much per Week.
[64] Mount-scoundrel, so-call’d from its being highly situated, and belonging, once, to the Common-side, tho’ lately added to the Master’s; if there be room in the House, this Place is first empty, and the Chamberlain commonly shows this to raise his Price upon you for a better.
[65] Half-a-guinea.
[66] A Bed-fellow so call’d.
[67] When you have a Chum, you pay but fifteen Pence per Week each, and, indeed, that is the Rent of a whole Room, if you find Furniture.
[68] The Upper Floors are accounted best here, for the same Reason as they are at Edinburgh, which, I suppose, every Body knows.
[69] It is common to mention the Fleet by the name of the Place, and I suppose it is call’d the Place by way of Eminence, because there is not such another.
[70] A Cant Word for a Dram of Geneva.
[71] A Chew of Tobacco--supposed to be given him.
[72] When there are Holes above Heel, or the Feet are so bad in a Stocking that you are forced to pull them to hide the Holes, or cover the Toes, it is call’d Coaxing.
[73] As the Prison is often called the College, so it is common to call a Prisoner a Collegian; and this Character is taken from a Man who had been many Years in the Place, and like to continue his Life.
[74] The Name of the Cook of the Kitchen.