surrounded by men at the Foreign Office who are prodigious admirers of Palmerston and of his slashing ways, and who no doubt constantly urge Clarendon to adopt a similar style. All this is to me matter of great regret personally, and it is revolting as to good taste, and, as I believe, to our national interests. It is, however, a consolation to see that the most powerful and influential of our journals has the courage, independence, and good sense to protest publicly against such violent and unjustifiable proceedings." Lord Palmerston remained in office till 1858, when he resigned on his defeat on the Conspiracy Bill. He had incurred great unpopularity by the appointment of Lord Clanricarde to the post of Privy Seal. Dr. Johnson said of Derrick, "Derry will do very well so long as he outruns his character, but the moment it gets up with him he is gone." Lord Clanricarde's character had got up with him, and the howl of execration with which his appointment was received was tremendous. Mr. Greville himself was astonished at the "hubbub" created by this unwise act of the Premier. The old quotation, "Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor," might be applied to the character of Mr. Greville. Nothing can exceed the good feeling shown in the portrait drawn of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Ellesmere. There is also a very impartial character of Rogers given. Rogers had "the greatest aversion" to Mr. Greville, and this dislike extended to his brother Henry. He told Mr. Dyce, "I never go now to Mrs. Sartoris's house, because I am sure to meet there a supercilious Greville." He once bitterly said to a lady, alluding to the Grevilles, "You women are so simple, that if a man tells you he is the finest fellow in the world, you believe him." We have heard an amusing anecdote of an adventure of Mr. Greville with an American spirit-rapper to whom all London went in order to communicate with their dead relations and friends. Mr. Greville went with Mrs. Sartoris to visit the oracle. The unfortunate spirit-rapper began to deliver several affecting messages to the venerable Mr. Greville from his mother in Heaven, w Mr. Greville quietly said to Mrs. Sartoris, "You had better ask some questions about your mother, who is really dead. I am going to call on my mother as I go home." The spirit-rapper collapsed. We have now finished our task, but readers will find other portions of the book extremely amusing, and they will find how Mr. Greville detested the "fasts" and "humiliations" which were ordered during the war, how he thought them "a mockery and a delusion," how he went to hear Mr. Spurgeon and was extremely edified with his discourse, how he gibbets his great friend the Duke of Bedford, from whom he had received unbounded hos pitality, as a "miser"; how Lord Clarendon told Lord John Russell that he valued his support of the Government as worth sixpence; how Lord John Russell became Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 1859; how Lord Palmerston managed him by giving his ideas to Lord John, who introduced them to the Cabinet as his own, and Lord Palmerston supported them as if they were quite new to him (ce sacré Palmerston, as the French called him, had such a way with him); how Lord John Russell the more he was abused the more he was petted at home; how Sir George Lewis, who to the delight of the City became Chancellor of the Exchequer when the unpopular Mr. Gladstone resigned, was as "cold-blooded as a fish," and defied the bitter attacks made upon him by his cantankerous predecessor; how— but we think we have written enough to prove that the third portion of the Greville Memoirs is not only full of grand materials for the historian, but that it is also of the most profound interest to the general reader. 2 M VOL. LXXIX. To the Spirit of the Age. (WITH APOLOGIES TO MR. AUSTIN DOBSON.) IF I were you, in moments of reflection, I would not take the flowers of life, and tear them I'd leave some gossamer of tender fancies In Life's wide meadow, gemmed along with dew, Not sweep them all before stern Fact's advances, If I were you. If I were you I'd leave some twilight hours 'Twixt glaring daylight and the night's black hue, Some neutral-tinted scenes-some shady bowers, If I were you. I would not let the oil of toleration The sameness of one Subdue the free waves' general" width of view" If I were you. I'd not laugh down enthusiasm's fire As antique and high-flown-I'd leave some few Sparks of a noble rage, a generous ire, If I were you. And O! amid the rush for wealth or pleasure, I'd leave some breathing-space, some nooks of leisure, If I were you. C. M. P. The Pilgrims. FROM THE RUSSIAN OF COUNT LEO TOLSTOI. "The woman said unto him: 'Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.' Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him."" I. Two old men resolved to go and worship God in the Holy City of Jerusalem. One of them, who was called Ivan, was a rich peasant; the other, Elisha, had fewer worldly goods. Ivan was a very respectable man: he did not drink vodka (a kind of inferior brandy), nor smoke, nor take snuff; no one had ever heard him use a bad word, and he was firm and accurate in all his dealings. Twice had he been chosen President of the Mir (Council composed of the whole adult population of a Russian village), nor did his time of office cost him a single copeck.* Ivan had a large family: two of his sons and a grandson were married, and they all lived under one roof. He was a tall, powerful man, with a beard which, in spite of his seventy years, was only beginning to turn grey. Elisha was neither rich nor poor; by trade he was a carpenter, but as he grew older he began to stay more at home, and to look after the bees. One of his sons had gone away to work, while the other remained with his parents. Elisha was a good-natured, cheery soul, who drank a little vodka now and then, took snuff, and loved singing. He was gentle and kind to everybody, and lived happily with his family and neighbours. In outward appearance he was short and dark, with a curling beard, and, like him whose name he bore-Elisha, the prophet-his head was bald. Long The President of the village Mir is responsible to the authorities for the payment of the taxes levied on the community, and must make good any deficiency. ago the two old men had promised one another that they would make the pilgrimage together: but Ivan always delayed; his affairs seemed as if they would never be settled. As soon as one matter was done with another would arise-now a grandson was to be married, then the youngest son was expected home from the army, and now an izba had to built. There came, however, a certain Saint's day on which the two old men sat together on the trunk of a tree, talking. "Neighbour," said Elisha, "when shall we go upon our pilgrimage?" Ivan knit his brows. "This year I can hardly go," he replied. "We must put it off for a little while. I have set to work to build a new izba. I had thought not to lay out more than a hundred roubles upon italready it has cost me three hundred, and the roof is not begun. Before the summer I cannot leave home. Then, please God, we will go." "It seems to me rather that we ought to go now," said Elisha. "It is not well to delay. Spring is the best time." "True: but now that this work is in hand, how can I leave it ?" "Have you no one at home? Surely your son will look to the work?" "But how? That eldest boy of mine is not to be trusted; he takes a drop now and then." us. "We shall die some day, friend; they will have to live without Your son must learn by experience." "Of course, of course. But if I could see the work through and finished to my liking "Well, neighbour, there is always some piece of work to be done in this world. Down at my place, the other day, the women were tidying and cleaning up for Easter, and it seemed as if they would never have finished. Then my eldest daughter-in-law-a sensible woman she is-said: 'It is a blessing that Easter does not wait our pleasure, for with all our fretting and fussing we should never be ready for it."" Ivan began to consider. "I have put a deal of money into that izba, and empty-handed we cannot go. I must have at the least a hundred roubles." Elisha laughed aloud. "Come, come, that won't do," he said. "You have ten times as much as I have, and you are thinking about the money! Only tell me when we are to go, and though I have not the money now, you will see that I shall find it!" |