From The Saturday Review. THE HUNTING-GROUNDS OF THE OLD WORLD.* hand across his eyes, rushed into the jungle, saying, 'Do not let him linger.' When his back was turned I placed the muzzle of my pistol to the suffering animal's temple, and pulled the trigger." THE sporting recollections of the gentleman who, with a modesty which appears to be somewhat superfluous, conceals his name under the initials H. A. L., are even more extensive and diversified than is usually the case with Indian officers. They extend not only over all parts of India, but to Circassia and Algeria; and they conclude, appropriately enough, with a chapter upon the use and different descriptions of fire-arms. H. A. L.'s style is less simple, and aims rather more at fine writing, than that of most of his fellow-sportsmen; but on the whole his book is exceedingly amusing, and its blemishes are very few and very pardonable. Since the year 184-,- for he seems as modest about the precise dates as he is about his name, he has been a hunter, constantly growing by practice mightier and mightier. His earlier feats were performed upon sambur or jungle deer, which are not unlike the Scotch red deer, except that they are considerably larger. Some of these he contrived, with the assistance of a friend, to shoot, by way of initiation into Indian sporting. His account of the pursuit of them reads very like parts of Fenimore Cooper's novels, as the deer have to be followed with all sorts of precautions through jungles which are al-abled him, whilst a second laid him dead. most impassable, and in which the track is followed up with a tact only attainable either by practice so early and continuous as to resemble an instinct, or by long and careful study and observation. Boars introduce the subject of tigers; and H. A. L., like Captain Shakespear, whose work we recently noticed, has a great deal to say upon that subject. He has the satisfaction of being able to recollect that he put to death a confirmed man-eater, which was supposed to have devoured about a hundred persons, and was proved to have killed twenty-two, as parts of that number of bodies were found in his lair by H. A. L. and his companions who beat the jungle for him. The sight was one of the most revolting that could possibly be witnessed. The comments of the party appear to have been singularly characteristic. "What a fearfully sickening sight it is,” said the first. "I wish we had brought some beer with us," added the second. "Poor woman," remarked the third; "here is a lock of her hair I found sticking to my boot. I shall keep it." A day or two afterwards H. A. L. went alone in the evening to a place where the tiger was in the habit of springing on passers-by, and was fortunate enough to attract his attention. The man-eater sprung into the path close by him, and was met by a rifle ball which dis Another tiger was at any rate somewhat more fortunate in his death-in so far, that is, as it can be considered a comfort to be revenged of one's enemies in such a case. He struck down one of H. A. L.'s native From deer H. A. L., promoted himself to servants and killed him on the stop, immewild boars, which are ridden upon with diately after which he was himself shot spears, after a fashion which can only be through the head. The hunt at which this compared to fox-hunting without hounds incident took place is excellently described. the fox being replaced by an animal which H. A. L., with a friend and his native seris perfectly qualified, both by his strength vants, encamped for a day or two near a and by his fierceness, to put both the men large pool formed by a mountain stream deand the horses who pursue him into the scending from the Neilgherry hills, which most imminent danger. On one occasion, was the resort of all the animals of the the horse of one of H. A. L.'s companions neighboring forest for the purpose of drinkwas cut down by the rush of a boar which ing. A sort of hut was erected on the top had just received a spear through the loins, of a huge black boulder ten feet high, in such and the painful duty of shooting him de- a manner that the rifles commanded all apvolved on H. A. L. himself. The story is proaches, either to the rock or the pool. All told in a really affecting manner. "I saw at day and all night the pool was visited by difa glance that it was a hopeless case, and tap- ferent birds and beasts, each animal selectping N on the shoulder, I gave a signif-ing its appropriate time. At midday all aniicant look to the small pistol that I always carried loaded in my belt. The poor animal, in spite of his agony, recognized his master, for he raised himself up partly from the ground, and rubbed his nose against his shoulder in a most affectionate manner. N kissed his forehead, and passing his *The Hunting-Grounds of the Old World. By the "Old Shekarry," H. A. L. London: Saunders, Otley, and Co. 1860. mated nature appears to be overcome by the fierce heat; but as the day wears on, butterflies flutter about, whilst bees, beetles, and myriads of insects keep up a perpetual hum, which "produces an effect singularly strange, soothing, and dreamy." This sound is varied at times by the cries of peacocks and jungle fowl, the chattering of monkeys, and the screams of paroquets. Towards evening the birds return homeward from their feed ing grounds-flamingoes, pelicans, ibises, a wonderfully beautiful and interesting counstorks, herons, egrets, and plovers; and as try, and is prolific in strange adventures. the night comes on, moths flit about, frogs One of the stories which H. A. L. heard croak, and crickets chirp, "keeping up a there sounds like an exaggeration of the perpetual serenade." "Then is heard the well-known anecdote of the bird-catcher of whooping of the great rock-monkeys, the the Hebrides, who to save his own life cut bark of the elk, the mournful howling of the away from under him the rope by which his hyena, the unearthly shrieking of jackals, father and brother were suspended. Eleven the trumpeting of elephants as they crash Abbassians, with five Russian prisonersthrough the underwood. At intervals, the four men and a woman-were returning distant roar of a prowling tiger is re-echoed home from an expedition across a steppe among the hollow arches of the forest, as he covered with snow. After a time they found leaves his lair in its inmost recesses to search that they were pursued by a horde of wolves. in the plains for prey, and great horned owls They hastened at their utmost speed towards flit past on muffled wings with strange se- the nearest hamlet, which was seven miles pulchral cries, like evil spirits of darkness."off, but their horses were tired, and the Whilst encamped in this romantic situation, wolves gained on them. They then "deterthe hunters shot two tigers, a deer, and a mined to sacrifice the prisoners one by one, huge carp weighing upwards of sixty pounds. so as to gain time for the rest to escape." This creature met its death from a ramrod They began by hamstringing the woman's which was fired at it out of a common musket, horse, and she and it were in a moment torn with a cord and some wire attached. The to pieces, but ground was gained. After a ramrod passed completely through it, and time the wolves again approached, and all carried the wire and part of the cord with it, the prisoners were sacrificed, one after the but such was its strength that it took an other. Two of their own party then fell; a hour's work to get it landed. The whole of third-an old man whose sons were present this hunt was successful, several bisons and some wild elephants forming part of the spoil. One of the latter was a ""rogue"that is, he was a beast who had been turned out of the herd by the other elephants, and was marked in various places with the scars which he had received in fighting with them. These rogues, from their solitary life, become morose and vicious, and will, without provocation, attack any one they happen to meet. H. A. L.'s Circassian experience has more novelty than his Indian stories. After the conclusion of peace with the Russians, he made his way into Circassia with six attendants-an Arnout, a Koord, a Nubian, a Khabyle, a Hindoo fakeer, and another Hindoo who had been sold as a slave in his childhood to the Circassians. This motley group was the remnant of a troop of BashiBazouks which H. A. L. commanded on the Danube before our troops landed at Varna, and which was composed of men of twentyseven different nations. Circassia abounds in all sorts of game. "It is my belief," says the author, "that swans, ducks, geese of all kinds, besides snipe and woodcock, choose these secluded and almost inaccessible spots to herd in, migrating here for that purpose from all the other countries of Europe." "I killed in one day in a jheel (marsh), near The concluding chapter relates to Algeria, the foot of the Abassadagh mountain, four- and is less interesting than its predecessors, teen miles from Tshamshira, thirty-four brace as H. A. L. could not persuade the lions of woodcock, eleven couple of snipe, seven which he hunted to come and be killed. He geese, and sixty-one ducks, and could have had the pleasure of hearing one of them continued the slaughter, were it not that the snore and grunt, and he very nearly fell on villagers, for whose benefit it was intended, the top of him in a ditch some six feet deep. declared that they could not carry more The lion was dreadfully frightened, and ran away." The east coast of the Black Sea is away; and H. A. L. got an attack of fever. killed his horse, and so gave himself up to the beasts. Another man and horse were shot by the leader of the party; and at last the remainder, with one exception, reached a hut and barricaded themselves in it. The remaining man was devoured with his horse before their eyes. The wolves stayed round the hut for nearly two days, trying to get in, and eating up such of their own number as were killed or wounded by the fire from within; but in the course of the second night a violent storm arose, and they took themselves off, leaving the six survivors to escape. H. A. L.'s principal feat in Circassia (besides shooting an enormous bear, four feet high at the shoulder) was the ascent of Mount El-Bruz, the highest mountain in the country. He did not get to the top, but only to one of the lower peaks, from which, however, he had a magnificent view extending from the Black Sea to a dense mist in the opposite direction, which as he supposed overhung the Caspian. The ascent was adventurous enough, as a huge lammergeier, measuring nearly ten feet across his wings, was shot, as well as an ibex with horns thirtyfour inches long. One of the party, a Nubian, died in the descent-probably from heart disease. From The Spectator, 16 June. BARON GROS' EMBASSY TO CHINA AND JAPAN.* curious incident, illustrative of Chinese manners, imparted a touch of the ridiculous to this fatal Occurrence. Three old men came on board. They had been sent by the relations to offer IF publishers were much in the habit of themselves as substitutes for the prisoners. letting their business transactions be gov- They were willing, they said, to be hanged in erned by sentimental motives, we should not lieu of those who had committed the offence. be so entirely unable, as we confess ourselves They were very much surprised when their offer to be, to assign any plausible reason for the was refused by the commander, and, indeed, on appearance of M. de Moges' lively but shal- leaving any one seeing them would have said that they had been badly used by him. Had low little book in an English dress. It was their proposal been accepted, they would have a merc waste of labor to translate it, except obtained a large sum in return for their lives, as an act of international courtesy, which which would have enriched their relations for indeed would be the more laudable for being years. They had missed a good bargain in wholly gratuitous. Although M. de Moges consequence of the childish scruples of the These extraordinary transacwas officially concerned in the proceedings French officer. of the French embassy to China and Japan, tions are not uncommon in the history of the he writes like a dilettante, and there is little Chinese empire, and, indeed, they are closely interwoven with Chinese manners. The Engin his gossip that can interest the country-lish have often been deceived in this way on the men of Mr. Oliphant, Captain Sherard Os- Canton River when they have endeavored to obborne, and Mr. Wingrove Cooke. The most tain justice from the mandarins for attacks upon novel thing we find in his notice of Tien-tsin their countrymen. In such cases, poor creatures, is, an account of some Chinese caricatures who had voluntarily taken the place of the murof the foreign devils, with which the latter derers, and who were perfectly innocent of the were greatly amused. "One of them rep-crime, have been executed with great solemnity resented a European accoutred after the in presence of the persons appointed by the Eumost outrageous fashion, buying a hedgehog, ropean authorities to see that the punishment working himself into a state of excitement was actually inflicted." to drive a hard bargain, but at last making Having finished his business at Tien-tsin, the purchase with a big bag of money." A Baron Gros took the opportunity of visitcapital emblem surely of the nature and re-ing the Great Wall to ascertain the truth of sults of our diplomacy in China; it gives us the statement, that it begins at the seaward a higher opinion than we had yet conceived near the entrance of the Gulf of Leotung. of Chinese wit. How often have the rogues He found what he sought :made us pay dear for what was worth little, and pricked our fingers when we tried to lay hold on it! When sailing down the Peiho, after the conclusion of the treaty, M. de Moges picked up a story worth telling: "We passed near the junk of M. Delorisse, the naval officer, who, having charge of the transport service between Tien-tsin and Pecheli, had been for some time living with a few European sailors in the midst of the enemy's country; We learned, to our surprise, that he had hanged two Chinamen the night before. Two of his sailors had gone on shore, in the usual way, to buy provisions, and had been attacked at the corner of a street. One of them had received six deadly wounds from a spear. M. Delorisse armed his twelve Europeans, gave his junk in charge to the Chinese crew, and set out in pursuit of the mandarins of the village. He told them that, if they did not deliver up the perpetrators, their own heads would suffer for it. They brought the guilty parties without delay. One was already dead from wounds he had received. The two others were alive. They were hanged from the mast of the junk. A very *Recollections of Baron Gros' Embassy to China and Japan in 1857-58. By the Marquis de Moges, Attaché to the Mission. (Authorized Translation.) With Colored Illustrations. Published by Griffin, London. "We had before us the most interesting and most picturesque scene in China. Along the meadows, and dotted here and there with vilcoast lay a spacious plain, covered with rich lages buried in the midst of trees. Further in the distance, the landscape was bounded by lofty mountains, some of which were abrupt and rocky, while others were wooded and green to their very summits. The general effect was magnificent, and, perhaps, only to be equalled among the Alpine valleys of Switzerland. The Great Wall gave it an additional charm. Terminating in the sea, covered with bastions and pagodas, and clambering over the wildest and to the whole landscape calculated to stir even most precipitous crags, it imparted a character the most sluggish imagination. At the foot of the wall, on the Chinese side, we could see the white tents of two Tartar encampments, the horses belonging to which were wandering at large in the surrounding pastures. The landscape, in the golden light of dawn, was charming. Seen from the Chinese side, the Great Wall resembled a huge earthen mound crowned with battlements built of brick. Everywhere, it had an old and dilapidated appearance. In some places, it had been altogether destroyed. On the Mantchoorian side, on the other hand, the Great Wall seemed constructed of bricks, resting upon a basement of stone. It is flanked by square towers throughout its whole length. These are placed at the distance of about two bow-shots, in order that the enemy may be everywhere within range. It descends into the sea in two parallel piers or jetties, which slope so gently that one can ascend to the top from the water flowing between them. The largest ships may approach within two miles of the wall, and, indeed, it is the very place at which visitors should, in future, disembark." The members of the embassy landed under an escort of a dozen soldiers, for the purpose of exploring the Wall, but their intention was very civilly resisted by a force of three hundred Tartar horsemen, whom they could easily have kept at bay with the twelve bayonets of their escort and the revolvers of the civilians; but the French envoy was unwilling to engage in a quarrel upon a mere matter of curiosity. The French party were astonished to find that their Tartar friends, encamped almost at the gates of the capital, were not even aware of the fact that their government had been at war with France and England. The visit to Japan occupies little more than fifty pages. The most notable thing in it is, an account of a misunderstanding occasioned by the manner in which the French envoy entered Yedo in the chair of state he had brought with him from China. The incident is not without interest, as showing how easily Europeans may be led, by their ignorance of Japanese peculiarities, into giving unintentional offence: "The evening before, in the historical chair which had figured at Tien-tsin, Baron Gros had made his entrance into the town, carried by eight Japanese coolies decked out as Chinamen. Now, it appears that it is a thing quite unknown in Japan, for a native to appear in Chinese garments; it is an enormity—a violation of all propriety. It is more; it is a crime. On this occasion, the unfortunate coolies were not considered the only guilty parties. Six hundred Japanese officials, who had not prevented the prisonment! Here, then, was a total of sixty offence, were sentenced to a hundred days' imthousand days imprisonment, all on account of this unlucky palanquin. The ambassador was much annoyed when he heard of this proceeding, and took care to get the prisoners immediately liberated. But if a wholesome respect for Japanese legislation had been taught the two hundred officers sent by the taïcoon to guard and watch us, they had also been alarmed to an extent painful to us, lest we should be found wanting in respect for those rites to which the without their having it in their power to keep us government attached so much importance, right." THE last hours of La Fayette are described by M. Guizot, who belonged to a younger generation; but who, in all likelihood, will not see the end of the French Revolution : of his life, he died. In arranging his funeral, it was a recognized fact in the family, that M. de La Fayette had always wished to be buried in the small cemetery adjoining the convent of Picpus, by the side of his wife, in the midst of "No life had ever been more passionately po- victims of the Revolution, the greater part litical than his; no man had ever placed his royalists and aristocrats, whose ancestors had ideas and political sentiments more constantly founded that pious establishment. The desire above all other prepossessions or interests. But of the veteran of 1789 was scrupulously respected politics were utterly unconnected with his death. and complied with. An immense crowd-solIll for three weeks, he approached his last hour.diers, national guards, and populace-accomHis children and household surrounded his bed; panied the funeral procession along the boulehe ceased to speak, and it was doubtful whether yards and streets of Paris. Arrived at the gate he could still see. Ilis son George observed of the convent of Picpus, the crowd halted; the that with uncertain gesture he sought for some-interior enclosure could only admit two or three thing in his bosom. He came to his father's as- hundred persons. The family, the nearest relasistance, and placed in his hand a medallion which he always wore suspended round his neck. M. de La Fayette raised it to his lips; this was his last motion. That medallion contained a miniature and a lock of hair of Madame de La Fayette, his wife, whose loss he had mourned for twenty-seven years. Thus, already separated from the entire world, alone with the thought and image of the devoted companion tives, and the principal authorities entered, passed through the convent in silence, then across the garden, and finally entered the cem etery. There no political manifestation took place; no oration was pronounced; religion and the intimate reminiscences of the soul alone were present; public politics assumed no place near the death-bed or the grave of the man whose life they had occupied and ruled." From The Saturday Review. JOHNSON'S LIVES OF THE POETS.* indiscretion which he committed as a boy in ness which tormented him through life to an eating too largely of fruit. Nintey-nine biographers out of a hundred would have let this statement pass. Swift might be expected and if he said that he made himself ill with to be the best judge of his own stomach; But Johnson remarks, that " the original of eating fruit, why should he be contradicted? diseases is commonly obscure. Almost every common sense is eminently and successfully displayed under the several heads of the exSCARCELY any book written a century ago criticism of ideas and notions peculiar to the amination of particular biographical facts, the enjoys greater popularity now than Johnson's Lives of the Poets. Many of the biogra- poet of whom he is speaking, and the exposphies still remain the only readable account ure of delusions more widely entertained, but of minor poets; and if the lives of the connected with the circumstances of the poet's greater poets have since received more elab- history. Under the first head, the instances orate notices, they have never been described but most of the facts of any man's life are will necessarily be of rather a trivial nature; and criticised with more judgment and wit. Johnson's book was the first work of criticism trivial, except to himself, and it is one of the written in the modern fashion, and the greater first duties of biographical criticism to pass part of it is exactly what the critics of the pres- so as to put these trivial facts before the a rapid judgment or raise a passing doubt, ent day would say if they knew how to say it. It is only as a model of critical writing reader's mind in the right light. It so hapthat we now propose to speak of so well pens that both in the Life of Swift and in that known a work. Few educated persons have of Pope, there is an example of this kind of failed to enjoy, at some time of their lives, ing the trivial subject of the poet's eating. criticism as applied to statements regardthe pleasure of reading these charming vol-Johnson tells us that Swift attributed the illumes; but it is necessary not only to read, but to reread them, in order to see what we may term their critical construction-the principles on which the criticism is based, and the arts by which it is set off to so much advantage. Much the greater part of criticism consists in applying common sense to decide on the value of what has been written, and in stating the result in a telling style. In this department of criticism Johnson is unrivalled, and so far his criticising must remain a permanent model to all English crit-boy cats as much fruit as he can get without ics. A few examples will best show what we mean, and as examples may be best taken from the Lives which are probably most familiar to the reader we will confine ourselves to those of Pope and Swift. These two Lives supply abundant instances both of the application of Johnson's strong common sense, and of the happy turns of language which gave point to the expression of his judgment. There is also another department of criticism in which the critic shows his appreciation of authors whom he thoroughly admires, and connects the particular views of the author whom he is studying with a general system of morals. Here Johnson is, we think, greatly inferior to the critics who have succeeded him, and especially to Coleridge. His moral remarks are indeed, so badly expressed, and so near the surface, that they may be examined rather as warnings than as models. There are moral passages in the Lives so bad as to make a critic feel reasonably alarmed, and incline him to abstain from moral remarks altogether. It is only for the pungent expression of the dictates of common sense that Johnson deserves any high praise as a critic. We may class the instances in which his * Johnson's Lives of the Poets. London: Mur ray. any great inconvenience." This is obvious, There cannot be a better instance of crit Her |