ESQUIROS' ENGLISH AT HOME. *

Otago Daily Times, Issue 312, 19 December 1862, Page 3

ESQUIROS' ENGLISH AT HOME. *

(From the Saturday Review.)

The only fault of this book is its title. The words, The Enylvsh at Hoinc, would certainly, to an English reader, convey the idea oi' something different from what he will find M. Esquiros' volumes to be. The essays contain a great deal which it will do both Frenchmen and Englishmen good to read, but the " English at Home" are just what M. Esqniros does not write about. The title would lead any Englishman to expect something about the domestic liie of England, which is the very thing he will not find. M. Esquiros writes about our army, our gipsies, our fairs, our clubs, our theatres, our newspapers, but nothing at all about our homes. He is not one of those travellers who go into a country, lionize its capital, go to one or two frequented places elsewhere, and then think that they have seen the whole land. He has evidently been in many different parts of England, and has seen English lite in various aspects; but, as far as his account goes, there is nothing to show that he has seen the inside either of an English manor-house or of an English parsonage. There is no mention of the Universities, no mention of tlie great manufacturing and commercial towns, none of those smaller cities and boroughs which still form no unimportant feature of the country. The book is therefore hardly, in the common sense of the word, "English at Home." . We say this as a criticism wholly of the title, and not at all of the book itself. If if. Esquiros had written a formal work about England, we should say that there were several important deficiencies in. his j book. But he has not written a formal work about England, nor has he at all undertaken io describe English life in all its forms. What he has written is a number of essays in the Revue dcs I)eux Afondes on such points about England and the English a 9 specially struck him, or such as seemed best suited to' answer his own purpose. He was in no way' bound to write about everything, or to.make his detached essays as exhaustive as a formal description of the country and its Inhabitants. .We have therefore, no right to blame M. Esquiros for not treating this or ■that particular subject. And it is not to be wbn.lered at if Englishmen of various pursuits should bn able to catch him in a slip or two here unit there, in the special subjects of each. Nor ia it any real objection that some of his matter is obviously secondhand. M. Enquires is wtitiug-. primarily, not 'for Englishmen: but for Frenchmen, and he o's --writim; wiifi an .object -for , which .every Englishman must tbank him. lie is. ab uo! writing- ipr a book, but a series of articles. We must,.ti}v:rVfor6, judge him according to his own standard—one widely

• The English at Home. By Alphonse Kscguirbs. Trauhlated and Edited by Lascellea ■"WraxaH. Two volumes, London : Chapman And Hall. . 1831. The English at Home. Mssays from the ** Jiev'ne dcs JDcvx Mondes. " Second Series; By Alalionse Esquiros. , Translated by Lascelle* Wraxall, London : CUapmaa and Halt 1562.

E SToVSS °f * PoHtiCal w a le fJi'A li^ ro?' ?«»» for French readers, as a f^n t°i fgland'.anxious t0 P^mote good will between the two nations, and to explain many matter* which Frenchmen are apt to misunderstand. This object comes out most specially in those part, «,*+ sok5 ok wiuch deal military matters, and particularly with the " Vofuntee? Movement,' whose course k Esquires hasevEuv the \ olunteers as permanent, and expects a variety of important results to arise from it Englandis no be looksjor both social and physical resnlt<? Th* bodily strength of classes hithito soL g£ t to te increased, and social distinctions are to he m son c rifle-ground. But of course the main result of the change is the diilerent aspect which it gives to Enc- - 5r i.and in the face of other nations-a subject on winch it is well to hear the judgment of so intelligent and so friendly a sojourner as M. Esqmros:—. n " Will not the new force England has given birth „ to also exercise an influence on the foreign policy of the kingdom '? Lord John Russell's recent circular on Italian affairs may aid us in answering this question. The movement, lam bound to say, was developed at first without any political after-thought and solely to support the English Government in! : defending the country; but, while removing the true oi- imaginary danger of invasion, while sl-owin" statesmen that they had an armed nation at their back, the Volunteers also intend to supply the Go- " yernment of Great Britain with the means of proving h itself firm and worthy, though always moderate, in ; its relai ions with Europe. They say loudly that they _ wished to save their countrythe humiliation of courting- strength. The object of this inquiry was to dissipate certain errors as to the more or less disarmed state ot England: these errors, I allow, were propngated by our neighbors themselves about a year ago, and I will not blame them for it, because nations are like men—they fall from the day when when, believing themselves invincible they defy destiny If the English were afraid, they are no t longer so. tor, even supposing that swarms of Volunteers, helped by the regulars, did not succeed in checking an invading army, or blocking the road to London, an organised force would still be left in'each town and village. To conquer Enaland the English, must be exterminated. Behind England would remain Scotland, with her citadels of granite, builfc by the hand of Nature, and her rude children, who would ' descend from the mountains like an avalanche Great Britain would recover from her wounds, and tiieu woe to the conqueror ! France, therefore, will do well to adhere to her com- ' mercial treaty with England. I do not write this ior the French Government, which, of course knows what opinion to form of the forces grouped beyond the Channel, and t winch, besides, has always protested its good feeling, for our allies : I answer writings which caused a painful sensation in England, perhaps, too, else- - where. War cries were raised by the French preS3, and we may assume that these threats possessed force, as they alarmed the trade and population Im- '' pond the Channel. The English, for their part, seem _ not at all to understand these superannuated feelings _ of national vengeance. Why talk to them about avenging the defeat of Waterloo 1 People do not ' take vengeance for a misfortune, but for an insult. In truth, I do not believe that the invasion of the B British Isles was ever a serious project with soldiers : - it will be less so than cy r since the organization of the Riflemen. But it is well to combat chimeras ~ which, at times, have more weight with tin' unreflecting mind of the masses than wise and prudent advice. M. Thiers said, one day, in the National Assembly, that " his lengthened experience had taught him how important it was to refute false ideas in politicul economy as soon as they display themselves.' There are other Utopias beside tho&e of political economy, and the dreams of the national ambition are not the least obstinate or at the least dangerous. These reflections, I fear, run a . great risk of being unpopular; but what matter, if 7 they be true ? It is only too easy in France to flatter the love of glory, and if that is called patriotism it j surprises me. The true patriots are those who, in j 1812, and beneath a perfectly calm sky, pointed out to France the black point in the foreign "coalition. The modern Volunteers carrj back M. Esquiros to ' the old Volunteers of 1803. He goes to see the grand . review of 1860, and finds an old gentleman who give 3 him a full accouut of the grand review fifty-seven years earlier. We never feel quite sure about M. t Esquiro's English Informants, whether they are real . persons, or whether they are simply a Homeric tii, called up to give more dramatic effect to the occasion. Certainly they make longer speeches, and word them : in more rhetorical language, than is the wont of Englishmen in private discourse. But we must allowsomething for speeches first reported by M. Esquiros : in French, and then translated by Mr Wraxalt into English. The military part of the book will be the most generally interesting just at present. But M. Esquil ros deals with a great number of other subjects, and he gets together a great d<-al of curious information, much of which will often be new oven to P'nglishmen. As he has fulfilled, in his Second Series, the promise of continuation which he gave in what, if it be not n bull, we may call the concluding preface of his First * Series, we hope he may still go on telling us what ho ' thinks of us. As yet M. Esquiros seems to have mainly seen London, the military establishments elsewhere, and sotue particular aspects of English life as displayed at particular times. But what he has ex--1 amine'd he seems certainly to have examined to the bottom. He wants to know about the gipsies nnd about the strolling players: so he fairly goes and . fraternizes with them, and sees and hears a great deal , which will be just as new to most Englishmen as to t any Frenchman. He knows a great deal about the . minor trades of London, and about hop-picking, paper '. making, and s;dt-mining iv other parts ot the country, which is certainly known to few of , onrselves save those whom business or curiosity leads to a more special knowledge of those particular crafts. He has got up our theatres, our race-courses, our rag-and-bottle shops, and all of them more minutely . than most Englishmen who do not specially devote themselves to those several lines. He is as learned in chimney sweeps and shoe blacks as Lord Shaftesi bury himself. The clubs of London he has studied : as a matter of archaeology, as much as of modem ■ society—he has put together all that he could find about their earlier days, from the Spectator, from Macaulay's Essays, or anywhere else. An inquisit tive foreigner naturally finds out, in all these things, much which a native either does not know, or does not think about. He who "is in the line' 1 , takes everything for granted, and does not . remark upon what seems to him a matter of course. He who is not in the line has lar less will, and far less opportunity, to find out about i other men's Jines than a stranger'who is avowedly getting all of them up. In every branch that he touches on, an inquirer like M. Esquiros will give some information, and will do still more to stimulate thought, while each class must forgive a few slips in the details of its own special department. But, after all that M. Esquiros has seen, he ha.s i really done little more than graze the surface of English life. The " English at home" he bas not yot seen,Jor, at least,has not yet written about. We heartily wish he would go and look a little deeper into our ways, as we are sure that he could do it without violating any of those sanctities ot private life which some travellers are so reckless, M. Esquiros has still something to see. Speaking of the performance of " She Stoops to Conquer " at the Haymarket, he says :— " There was, however, one character which stood out from the eeneral exaggeration with the color of life and local truth : it was that of Tony Lurapkin, pi rformed by Buckstone. The actor is too old for the part: but you find in him the country Squire, «ueh as he exu-ted a century ago, and such, I fear, as he still exist* in some rural districts of England. This great spoiled child, who is more than twenty years of a<re, and does not know how to write, a haunter of taverns, a lover of horses, dogs, and cock fights, trusting to his fortune to cover and excuse his ignorance, rough in his manners, jovial, malicious, but good-hearted withal, is, thanks to Goldsmith and Buckstone, one of the most excellent paintings of manners the English stage can offer. Now, such odd things turn up that we cannot positively deny that some rural district of England may ' contain such a prodigy as a squire w'io cannot write. Certainly, an assize court a few years ago did reveal the existence of such a monster in a Welsh county. A defendant to a suit apppeared,,who, as the owner of some two or three* thousand a year, and the son of a county magistrate—happily, not a magistrate himself—was doubtless entitled to be called a; "squire," but who nevertheless could not write. But to say that this sort of squire "exists in some rural? districts" implies at least that there are several of the breed. We have always looked oti our Welshman as a sort of dodo, standing altogether by himself. It would be quite a point for M. Esquiros to look into, whether he reall> has any congeners. . M. Esquiros begins his inquiries with a survey of English geology and ethnology. He is not very strong .in the latter department. He is not so much positively inaccurate as weak in the way of repeating after*others what he does not fully cuter into. Still, even this may be useful to M. K^quinw' countryman, who generally " find ir so difficult to umierstumi the #vasinationa!ity of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and'who, if they grusp it"at all,are tempted to cxatrg"',rato thediversity, ami to"lookon■ the United Kingdom us simethin^ like the Austrian 'Empire. M. Kt..qui.ros, we ure"glaH to see, knowsihnt cromlechs wero .fcM'w, a:ul not altam, though it. is somewhnt' rftals to .ysjpiiie'taut'they'luiist necessarily be the tombs of .Celts.','"lt is probably Mr WraxalJ who i? guilty twice- ■'therefore; not ''purely .by-accident of turning the name of tlid " tjretvfc piiuitevariaouuuicnt of Kent into Kits City Ilpase. . " ; -; M. Esquiros inquiries .into the gipsi^ are very cufiouf. and,many will read, witii.iuterc.st his accounts of Richardson— not thcnoveUsti,but the showman-— and of, the (in later days) better known name ot Wombwsll. „ Altogether, whetnerism grave or trifling i«^fto welcome more of Mtfsdtttch.es of oui^lvel,' , -J%a .;<,.'■

fm^* '""i"T nmiTtTTTTI)|' "ll'mgu'»jmi!'. j.,.j.tok^ia.^jju.pwn wiiii^bm KNTi:iU-;l> INWAKI.3. December 18.~<)mro, 005 tons, M'LucMan, from Melr.ourue Hoyse. Mudic and Co, ageuts. December 18.—Eliza Goddard, 192 tons, William Davis, from Melbourne. Lloyd, Taggart and Co, BNTERED OUTWARDS. December 18.—City of Melbourne, 1,828 tons, R Jones, in ballast, for Melbourne. Dalgety, Rattray and Co, a^eats. J December 18.—San Francisco, 404 tons, N. Shortenburg, in ballast, for Valparaiso. William Smith, agent. INWARDS —COASTWISE. December 18.—Nil. OUTWARDS—COASTWISE. December 18. -Star of Tasmania, 31 tons, Paterson, for Oamaru. C. A. Ross and Co, agents. IMPORTS. Per Eliza Goddard, from Melbourne.—76 horses, 10 tons hay, 5 do bran, 5 drays, 50 hhds Hine, order. EXPORTS. Per Star of Tasmania, for Oamaru.—2o,ooo box palings, 1 dray, 1 iron plough, order. ■» . PORT CHALMERS, December 18. Wind variable, light breeze; weather, thick, with heavy showers. High water on the 19th instant, at Port Chalmers, 0.59 a.m., and 1.23 p.m. • at Dunedin, an hour later. ' '' ARRIVALS. Mariposa, schooner, 164 tons, Moore, from Launceston. Horses, seven passengers. DEPARTURES. Benjamin Heape, barque, 261 tons, for Melbourne, in ballast. Three passengers. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Gothenburg, s s., for Melbourne, 19th inst. Omeo, s.s., for Melbourne, this day. Aldinga, ».s., Melbourne, 31st inst. Nor'-Wester, for Melbourne, 20th inst. Queen, s.s., for Auckland, &c, on arrival of Enffiish mail. Witch of the Tees, for London, 15th January, 1863. Chile, tor London, 20th January, 1863. Storm Bird, s.s., for Lyttelton and Wellington, 20th inst. Excelsior, for Canterbury, this day. Pioneer, for the Molyneux. 17th inst, Mary Jane, for the Molyneux, early. Midlothian, for Waihola Lake, early. Kestrel, for Sydney, 20th inst. VESSELS IH PORT. Aboukir, ship, from Glasgow. Cincinnati, barque, from Newcastle. Surprise, schooner, from Auckland. Fawn, schooner, from Lyttleton. Chile, ship, from London. \ Scoresby, ship, from London. Metaris, barque, from Newcastle.! Montezuma, brig, from Port Albert. J Mary Thomson, schooner, from Waikawa. Cosmopolite, brig, from Hobart Town. Vibilia, schooner, from Melbourne. Jjunedin, schooner, from Stewart's Island. Kestrel, brig, from Sydney. Eliza Goddard, brig, from Melbourne. Omeo, s.s., from Melbourne. Queen, s.s., from North. »San Francisco, barque, from Geelong. City of Melbourne, ship, from Melbourne Nor' Wester, ship, from Melbourne Derwent Hunter, barque, from Hobart Town Mariposa, schooner, from Launceston The schooner Mariposa, from Launceston, with a freight of horses, came inside the Heads this morning, and is brought up in the meantime below the usual anchorage. She discharges her freight at Port Chalmers, which has, already tor a number of days past, been thronged with stockowners and stockdrivers, superintending the landing of large lots of sheep and horses, nearly all of them in excellent condition. The only other arrival to-day lias been a small fore-nnd-aft schooner, which proceeded direct to town. As yet there is no appearauce of the Gothenburg, which is understood to have been detained at Lyttelton by the circumstance of Wednesday being a holiday there. In addition to the number of expected arrivals from Melbourne, we may anticipate the receipt of a nuint>er of coal-laden vessels from Newcastlo during the next six weeks, Captain M'Kinnon having again contracted for the supply of the Melbourne steamers with coal at this port. 'The first vessel expected is the Louisa, and she will be followed by five or six others in regular succession, so as to keep up a constant supply.