British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIII: January and April, 1871Various
History
British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIII: January and April, 1871
Various
English periodicals
We can only mention the journey through Java, Siam, and Canton. Much of
the interest lies in the description of the court of the King of Siam,
rendered familiar to the English public by the recent account of the
'English Governess.' At Hong Kong, the author's admiration of English
rule again breaks forth. And we take our leave of the distinguished
party, of which he appears to have been the very life and soul, with
hearty thanks for the boldness with which the young Marquis has dared to
assert his conviction that the English alone are fitted to found a
colony, and that no other nation is possessed of the patience, the
calmness, and true sense of justice which are needed to render the
natives submissive to civilization and the yoke of the foreigner.
_Fair France._ By the Author of 'John Halifax, Gentleman.' Hurst and
Blackett.
At a time when France is torn and tortured by the most terrible war the
world has ever known, it seems strange to open a volume of peaceful
travel in the beautiful country which most of us know so well, and which
has undergone such an unparalleled transformation. The authoress (_pace_
Thackeray) of this charming volume is well known to the public as a
novelist, and however critical judgments may vary as to her artistic
power, of her purity of tone and freedom from the vicious tendencies of
modern fictitious literature, there can be no question. For our own
part, we find her even more agreeable as a tourist than as a novelist.
She looks at the world with unprejudiced eyes; she finds that even
French _curés_ are human beings, and not the frightful demons that they
appear to the excited imagination of the honourable member for
Peterborough. We have, in these days, been accustomed to travellers of
many kinds: there is the sensational tourist, who bursts into mysterious
eloquence on the slightest provocation; and there is the cynical
tourist, who with upturned nose regards all the world as a gigantic
imposture--looking up into the dome of St. Peter's, or down into the
crater of Etna, and contemptuously remarking that 'there is nothing in
it.' But the truly pleasant traveller is the man or woman who starts
with intent to enjoy the trip, who looks at the bright side of
everything, and who, writing a book, writes cheerily and gaily. This is
precisely what we find in 'Fair France.' The dedication deserves to be
quoted: 'I inscribe "Fair France"--France of yesterday--to those heroic
and suffering souls in the France of to-day, who yet suffer in hope,
seeing light through the darkness, and believing in a new and nobler
"France of to-morrow."' That new and nobler France is no dream of the
ivory gate. This siege of Paris, to which the siege of Troy seems
trivial, will purge the French people of many evil qualities, and leave
them greater than before. This is the belief of all who know them
well--who know how their higher life has been eclipsed by noxious
influences. However this war may terminate, and whatever may be the fate
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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