The Day-dream of the Doctor's Boy. By Walter Thornbury BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY. HERE AND THERE. THE Italians have a colloquial expression, of old date, which has more that one significance. "Quinci e quindi" is the phrase, meaning, literally, the title of this paper. But besides the "here and there" of Tasso and the public, Salvator Rosa applies it to those for whom his veneration is not the most profound. "Here and there people," he says; and in that sense we avail ourselves of "Quinci e quindi" to speak of our new ministry, reserving the general application of the words to what else may come under our notice. Let us take the list of the members of Lord Palmerston's cabinet, now that it is completed, and see how it has been got together. Sir G. C. Lewis, Sir C. Wood, Lord Granville, Sir G. Grey, the Duke of Somerset, and the Duke of Argyll represent the premier's own following; Lord John Russell stands apart, the representative, in his solitary person, of the Whig, pure and undefiled; the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Cardwell are Peelites; the Earl of Elgin, a Liberal in its best sense, has been withdrawn from diplomacy; and Messrs. Milner Gibson and Cobden are out-and-out Radicals—until official experience, haply, makes them wiser. Of "plain John," alias Lord Campbell, we say nothing, because his elevation to the woolsack has been a mere pis aller, the necessity for keeping Sir R. Bethell in the House of Commons being too great to admit of his translation to the House of Lords. This combination, then, presents us with every political element, save the Conservative, and we cannot think it miscalled when we bestow upon it the appellation of the "Here and There Ministry." The lion and the lamb lie down in company, the ends of the earth are got together, but, in spite of this unexpected gathering, we do not believe that a political millennium is at hand. The team is a showy one, but there are in it bolters and starters, and kickers and gibers, and one at least who, if he has a chance, will again upset the coach. The programme of the new ministry is peace abroad and reform at home. Lord Palmerston says, in his address to the electors of Tiverton: "It will be one of the great objects of the government to preserve for their country the blessings of peace; and to take advantage of any favourable opportunity that may present itself to exert the moral influ ence of Great Britain to assist in restoring peace to the continent of Europe." Very good. But in what respect does this declaration differ from the policy of Lord Derby? And is the "favourable opportunity" so much nearer? The French and Sardinian armies, again victors at Solfarino, have probably, ere this, fought another bloody battle on the eastern side VOL. XLVI. B of the Mincio, and, from their antecedents in this war, we will not affect to throw a doubt upon the result. In the midst of this triumphant protill he has accomwill gress, is it likely that the French emperor pause plished the end which he originally proposed the complete expulsion of the Austrians from Venetia, as well as from Lombardy Proper? And if not, what is to be said of the armed mediation of Prussia, who, faithful to treaties, and the defender of the rights of the Germanic Confederation, has intimated that the passage of the Mincio is the point at which German territory is held to be invaded? With Prussia and the rest of the German States in arms, with Russia confederate with France, with Austria beaten, it may be, but resolute to the last, does the "favourable opportunity" shine so very bright in the distance? Lord John Russell, perhaps, is to enforce the pacific views of England, while all the Continent is in a blaze of war! His mission to Vienna met with such unexampled success, that we may well be permitted to doubt that his will be a "voice potential" in the approaching crisis. The remainder of Lord Palmerston's address refers to the "great" domestic question: "We shall also have to consider the important question of the amendment of the laws which regulate the representation of the people in parliament, and I trust that we may be able so to deal with the subject as to strengthen the institutions of the country, by placing them on a firmer and broader foundation." "Good sentences, and well pronounced," as Portia says; but-as Nerissa rejoins-" they would be better if well followed." Lord Palmerston may, perchance, make a gulp at Lord John's Reform Bill and swallow it, however unpalatable; but to what end are Mr. Cobden and Mr. Milner Gibson in the cabinet, if their admission there were not intended to express that the reform principles of their excluded chieftain, Mr. Bright, were those of the rest of its members? Will the Manchester men, after all their demonstrations, tame themselves down to the adoption of such a measure as will satisfy the reforming conscience of Lord Palmerston? We do not say that this is impossible, for your "office"-like your "if"-is a great modifier; but, granting this harmonious issue, what becomes of the broad basis on which the present administration was formed? It simply resolves itself into common clap-trap, and shows that expediency alone has been the guiding principle of the "Here and There Ministry," whose measures with regard to the defences of the country have already been somewhat rudely questioned. Notwithstanding Mr. Gladstone's disclaimer, in the matter of naval retrenchment, the Times was right in saying that he starved the Crimean war, reduced the estimates and forces, and broke faith with the seamen; and it needed a man of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's versatile logic-to use no stronger term to deny what is patent to all the world. "With respect to Mr. Gladstone's conduct in the Crimean war (says the Times), it is, unhappily, fresh enough in the memory of all Englishmen. He began by insisting that the expenses of the war should be met out of the ordinary revenue, and to this hopeful proposal we believe that the terrible disasters of 1854-5 were originally owing. After the war was concluded, Mr. Gladstone's exertions to break up the fleet which had just been reviewed at Spithead were only too successful, and we declare, what every naval man knows, that faith was broken with the seamen who had been in vited, nay, almost implored, to enlist in 1854, and who were turned adrift two years later, to fill the American ports with complaints of the ingratitude of the mother country." The trumpet-note of the Times has, we trust, been sounded in time to prevent the honest, earnest efforts of Sir John Pakington from being nullified at the promptings of the Manchester duumviri. Reference to this question leads us, in our own "here and there" progress, to a book just published which deserves an attentive perusal. It is entitled "Our Naval Position and Policy," and is written by "A Naval Peer;" and, in dedicating his work "to the volunteer riflemen, who, by learning to defend their country, are removing a cause of danger and reproach to the kingdom and its inhabitants," he strikes the key-note of his subject, his design being to show how completely we lie at the merey of a Russo-French alliance, if our naval system and policy be not remodelled. The naval peer's arguments are most conclusive, and the illustrations he offers of what has been done in France to amend her naval system, show the necessity of setting precedent at nought and adapting our defences to the exigencies arising from modern discovery, in relation to steam and artillery. The necessary supremacy of our navy, if England is to hold her place of pride, is a theme incidentally inculcated in another recent publication -"George Canning and his Times," by Mr. A. G. Stapleton. There is not a page in this valuable book which does not increase our reverence and admiration for the great statesman, the worthiest inheritor of the policy of William Pitt; but it is chiefly from a naval point of view that we now consider the opinions which he so earnestly advocated. Mr. Canning never suffered the vital question to be lost sight of, that the strength of England lies in her navy, and it will be well if those who attempt to walk in his footsteps bear ever in their memories the maxims of the greatest foreign minister that this country has ever known. The name of Canning recals that of Charles James Fox, and his again brings us in contact with "The Recollections of Samuel Rogers," one of the most singular publications which we have seen for many a day. The book is edited by Mr. W. Sharpe, the nephew of the poet, and it strikes us as passing strange how a man of his acknowledged ability could have thought it worth while to disinter such bald, disjointed fragments as are here exposed. Mr. Sharpe unconsciously provokes a very unflattering estimate of the intellectual grasp of his deceased relative, by setting down"what conversation he thought most worthy of being remembered during that time of his life when his faculties were the strongest," when we are treated to such specimens as these. Fox is the subject of Mr. Rogers's recollections, and we take the notes as we find them. "When he first comes to town in Winter, he devotes two or three days to seeing sights and lion-hunting." In other words, Fox did exactly the same as everybody else. "Looked out of the Gallery Window, and thought the sun was burning his turnips." Profundity of a statesman's thoughts! "Tired of the ballet." A somewhat common complaint. "Went to a concert afterwards at the Banker's." A great social move. "Rose from table with Mrs. Fox. Coffee." Had it but been brandy! "Fox admired the Gobelins." He was alone in his admiration, we suppose! "He loved children." Who (but S. R.) does not ? Pictures, I like them." Sin gular taste. mer." "Marbles. I must have Nollekins' bust of Brutus." "A Buffon-I wish for one coloured." "Preferred Box Hill to Leith Hill." "A distance essential to a house." "Gnats very numerous-cold sum"A garden." "A bat's wing very beautiful." "Water and all white wines improved by ice." "Wasn't it enough to make one cry when the air was so thick last week?" "Fitz's Body and Soul."" "Never read Grotius' Erasmus." "Never saw Rousseau nor Condorcet." And so on, to the end of the chapter. Are recollections such as these "most worthy of being remembered?" Let the past carry us to something better. The death of Mr. Charles Ollier must not pass unrecorded in these pages. A fellow-labourer in literature, one occupying a place amongst the highest, has recently written a biographical sketch of him who was his friend, from which we take some points of interest. "Mr. Ollier was," says Mr. Leigh Hunt, "descended from a respectable French family of Protestants, who came into this country at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The family were connected by blood with that of Locke, the philosopher; and there is reason to believe that it was similarly connected with that of Sidney Smith, whose mother was an Ollier. The name, very uncommon in England, does not appear to have been widely spread in France; but it is met with in good company in the Letters of Madame de Sévigné, one of whose friends was a Madame Ollier; and there was an Abbé Ollier, who is still mentioned with honour by the founder of a distinguished institution in Paris." Mr. Ollier began life in the banking-house of Messrs. Coutts, but literature proving more attractive than the art of money-making, he set up, when still very young, as a publisher and author, but Non benè conveniunt nec in unâ sede morantur he experienced the proverbial fate of those who combine the two callings, and though he introduced to the world the earlier works of Shelley and Keats, he made no name in the publishing world, and relinquished that part of his profession. As a novelist, he might-had he so pleased— have left a more enduring name, but " Ferrers," "Althara and his Wife," and "Inesilla; or, the Tempter," are proofs of his possessing remarkable powers as a writer of fiction. Mr. Ollier, however, pursued rather the track of a miscellaneous writer in the periodicals; he lectured on popular authors-Shakspeare being the god of his idolatry—and lent his valuable services to other publishers, as an adviser and assistant. Mr. Hunt also says that Mr. Ollier was so accomplished a player on the flute that Nicholson, the most popular flutist of the day, once prevailed upon him, in spite of his modesty, to take his place for him in the orchestra. A few words more from the same pen-words which our own experience confirms-will suffice to describe the man: 'My friend was a devoted husband and father, and was rewarded by possessing a wife and children worthy of him, who blessed him from first to last with every kind of attention, and who were qualified to do honour to his memory, some by acquiring names of their own, and all by their goodness." Mr. Ollier died in his seventieth year. |