porary one. Mr. Fechter is, unquestionably, an actor of mark, a clever disciple of the sensation school; admirable in the melo-dramatic training which elevates and purifies public taste and morals, by such classic severities as "Ruy Blas," "The Corsican Brothers," and the "Dame aux Camelias." He may attempt to execute Shakespeare, but he cannot conceive him. Talia could not do it, and he was as Ossa to a wart, in a comparative estimate of ability. Of Mr. Fechter's momentary effect in "Hamlet," there can be no doubt. Old playgoers and veteran actors were taken by it, and exclaimed, "He has thrown tradition to the dogs." It was one of those periodical fits of lunacy to which that usually sober-minded impersonation, Mr. John Bull, sometimes surrenders himself. But the break down in "Othello" restored his balance and dispelled the hallucination. It is difficult to decide which injured Mr. Fechter most in his second onslaught, his acting or his critical and scenic emendations. If such an audacious attempt were reciprocated in Paris; if Mr. ̊C. Kean, or Mr. Phelps, or Mr. we are puzzled for a third name should venture to face the pit of the Théatre Français, as "Polyeucte," "Oreste," or, "Orosmane," in their original garb and dialect, and were to publish new readings of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, founded on a "twenty years' lover's desire" to rescue the hallowed text from the ignorance or incapacity of all native illustrators, there can be no doubt that the entente cordiale between the two great nations would be seriously endangered, and a casus belli might, possibly, be established. But the retaliation is not likely to occur, even should the exciting cause be repeated. Our article has been discursive and rambling, for which we owe, perhaps, an apology to our readers; but the subject embraces an illimitable range. The "myriad-minded Shakespeare,' as Coleridge styles him, suggests an endless crowd of allusions, references, and reminiscences. The wise king of Israel says, "There is nothing new under the sun." The most ambitious painter, then, ought to be satisfied if he can mark a few turns of expression in a familiar portrait more distinctly than they have previously been delineated. THE YANG-TSZE RIVER, AND THE TAEPINGS IN CHINA. It was a stereotyped sarcasm of the bitter old school of reviewing that author, printer, designer, engraver, and publisher had entered into a conspiracy to illuse the public. We may, very honestly, make just the reverse of this remark on Captain Blakiston's "Five Months on the Upper Yang-Tsze." The lively and graphic narrative of the gallant author is set off by well-executed illustrations, valuable maps, and skilfully prepared scientific statistics, without which publications of travels are mere. story-books. The subject, too, possesses the rare charm of novelty; for while recent events have increased our interest in the affairs of China, they have added little to our knowledge of the interior of that vast empire. The celestial land has ever been, till lately, a great unknown to us; and naturally so, for its government allowed no native to emigrate, and no foreigners to intrude, except some Roman Catholic missionaries, who buried themselves in the country, and from whom we learned little. Probably, a few years ago, even among well-read men, there was not one in ten who had a distinct notion of the condition of that large section of the human family which inhabited China, or of the physical features of their country. As for the majority, they just knew that it was the land from which their tea came. For ideas of its "Five Months on the Yang-Tsze." By Thomas W. Blakiston, late Captain, Royal Artillery. London: Murray, 1862. architecture, scenery, and costume, they were chiefly indebted to the ubiquitous willow-pattern which figured on their plates and dishes. Less than a century ago, when Goldsmith wanted a really strange land with which his imagination could play freaks without restraint, he selected China; and in his "Letters from Fum Ho," he successfully conveys the impressions of the most utter stranger to Europe. To Captain Blakiston and his party belongs the distinction of having penetrated this undiscovered land 900 miles further than any previous explorers, if we except the few Roman Catholic missionaries. Having undergone five months of incessant toil, and incurred, during part of the journey, very considerable peril, Captain Blakiston has returned safe to tell what he saw. The route of this pioneer party was up the Yang-Tsze, which is the Mississippi of China. All the great continents of the world, except Australia, possess immense watery highways, which rise in some back-bone of mountain and flow down to the sea, fertilizing the countries through which they pass. Europe has the Volga and the Danube, with a host of lesser streams. The Ganges rolls down from snowy peaks for over 1,300 miles, not unnaturally an object of veneration to the dusky millions of Hindostan. The Nile bears down through the sultry plains of Egypt volumes of water at times desolating in their exuberance. The American continent, richest of all in rivers, can boast the Amazon, the Plata, the Oronoco, the Mississippi, the Missouri. What these different rivers are to their respective countries, the Yang-Tsze and Hwang-Ho are to China. The Yang-Tsze, the course of which Captain Blakiston followed for 1,800 miles, rises, as may be observed by looking at the map of Eastern Asia, out of China Proper, in the region of Tibet, and winds for over 3,000 miles through the provinces of Yu-nan, Sz'chuan, Hoo-peh, Hoonan, Kiang-ri, Au-hoei, till it reaches Nanking, from which city its breadth gradually increases, and it rolls into the sea an immense volume of waters, spreading out at its mouth, like all large rivers, into a vast estuary, with the usual deltas. We cannot do better than at once begin at the beginning, with Captain Blakiston, and follow his fortunes up the flowery land. When, by the Treaty of Pekin, in 1860, a number of ports were opened to British commerce, it became necessary for the representatives of England to visit the three inland towns of Chin-keang, Kien-keang, and Hankow, which are situated on the Yang-Tsze, and to inaugurate in the presence of a few gun-boats, the exercise of the rights recently conferred by the Treaty. For this purpose, in February, 1861, Admiral Sir James Hope started from Shanghai with a compact little fleet of warsteamers, and on board one of these was the "Overland Expedition," as it was called, consisting of Captain Blakiston, Lieutenant-Colonel Sarel, Doctor Alfred Barton, and the Rev. S. Schereschewsky, an American missionary. Their object was to pass up with the fleet as far as possible, and then journey in junks up the river to Tibet, to cross the Himalayas, and so pass over into NorthWestern India. Considering that the whole of the districts through which the upper portion of the Yang-Tsze flows were infested with all sorts of plunderers and assassins, both Taeping and Imperial, to any of whom it would have been a matter of pride and pleasure to have walked off with a few European heads; we cannot but think that the "Overland Expedition" had mapped out for itself an exceedingly arduous and dangerous route. there is nothing like aiming high. Though, as events turned out, they were unable to complete the whole of their scheme, they have made an immense stride into the back districts of China, and they have also one and all returned alive to tell what they discovered. But We shall see that if they had persisted in the attempt to cross into India, they might have penetrated a little further than they did, but they would most probably never have returned. It was not till they were cast loose by the steam-ships of the fleet at Yo-chow, 150 miles above Hankow, that the really interesting and novel portions of their adventures commenced, and we shall, therefore, pass lightly over the journey thus far. The strangest sights recorded up to that point, are the Ming tombs and the porcelain pagoda. Who has not heard of the porcelain tower of China? Who has not seen in the story books about the celestial land, the print of that tall straight turret, with its succession of fancifully projecting eaves, so gigantic, yet so symmetrically quaint, and looking like something between a church-steeple and a lighthouse? And into which of our minds ever entered the doubt that it was not all made of porcelain? For ourselves, we freely confess that our young idea was fixed and clear that it was one gigantic pile of porcelain, and in later years we never troubled ourselves to become sceptical. But from what Captain Blakiston says, we learn that the whole notion was a delusion. There was never such a thing as a tower built of porcelain, and now there is no tower there at all. It was mainly constructed of brick and tile, and it was only the tiling of the succession of roofs which was of porcelain, and now it is nothing but 'a white hill of ruins." The tombs of the Ming dynasty are not far from the tower. In these structures there is now little to remark, but surrounding them are stone figures of camels, elephants, horses, dogs, and men, which are meant to represent a suitable attendance on the spirit of the dead sovereign on its way to the other world. The simple, and, as a Chinese would doubtless think it, intensely vulgar notion that as the figures have been there some centuries, they have waited long enough to attend any reasonable wanderings of the royal spirits, occurs to English observers; but whether they are wanted much longer or not, they give evidence of growing tired of their attendance. Their condition of dilapidation is ludicrous. The lion has only three legs, a tree is sprouting from the elephant's back, one of the nondescripts is on his side, and the men evince a tendency to lie down. Before we start from Yo-chow, we may also direct the reader's attention to Mr. Forrest's graphic sketch of the palace of Hung-tsiu-tsuen the rebel chief, in Nanking, or rather of so much of it as it is permitted the barbarians to inspect. About the most characteristic thing in it, is the map which is entitled the "Map of the Entire Territory of the Heavenly Taeping Dynasty, to endure for a myriad myriad years. nificent square block of land, surIn it a magrounded by seas, is China; another square surrounded by walls is the capital, and all the rest of the world is either not represented at all, or is set down as so many specks. England and France being two little islands in the corner. however amusing; we will at once But we must not delay upon trifles, proceed to the start from Yo-chow, at the entrance of Tung-ting lake, consisting of the gentlemen already 150 miles above Hankow. The party, named, was attended by a very heterogeneous crew. The naval commander was an ill-favoured looking old Chinaman, with a broken-up and unwholesome appearance, the result of the eyes, and features generally suggestive use of opium, a forbidding cast in his of stabbing in the dark. He possessed the name of Ou-hung Foo. The mandarin who accompanied the party was a quiet, soft, inquisitive official, board, and who very much needed who went to take care of all on to be taken care of himself. The cook was ugly even for a Chinaman. He had but one eye, his hat was without a top, his clothes were in tatters, and his only recreations were to watch live eels frying on the pan, and to rush out on deck and shout lustily whenever the crew had to push on the boat against a particularly stiff current; this, in passing, we may remark, was not a useless duty. Everything requiring exertion in China must be accompanied with the stimulus of loud vociferations; and Blakiston was a spectator, in his course even the battles, of which Captain up the Yang-Tsze, resounded throughout with a succession of loud cheers and roars from either side, as a good hit was considered to have been made. Another member of the crew was for almost the whole voyage on a fine athletic young man, who lived opium-smoking. He abandoned himself to stupefaction all night, and was strong for his work next morning; when dinner-time came, he dined on a few puffs of the opium-pipe, and was quite fresh for the evening's toil. But though supported by the drug, it remarks, to see how he wasted away was melancholy, Captain Blakiston under its influence. Another of the junk's company was distinguished by his determined abnegation of clothes. His own skin he considered a sufficiently effectual covering; and from perpetual exposure to all sorts of weather, it in time became marvelously like the skin of a hippopotamus. There was, moreover, a wag or fool among the crew, or at least a person who acted in that capacity, and whose duty it was when the men were at an unusually hard pull in some rapid, to run before them, turn innumerable somersaults, display indescribable antics, kneel down and piteously supplicate them to pull hard, and finally arming himself with a sturdy stick, to belabour them soundly all round, by way of giving point to his previous persuasions. There are many queer customs in China, but one of the most whimsical is this of a crew appointing one of their number to supply them daily with the stimulus of a good thrashing. The foregoing are some specimens of the crew. The "Overland Expedition" had a body guard of four Seikhs, Sepoys of H.M. 11th Punjaub Infantry; a Chinese assistant to the Rev. Mr. Schereschewsky, and two Chinese servants completed the party. Such was the composition of the company which, under the direction of Captain Blakiston and his friends, now commenced the adventurous task of forcing their way to the mountain cradle of the Yang-Tsze, which lies nearly 3,000 miles from the coast. They navigated in a large flat-bottomed junk, drawing about two feet of water, and eighty feet long by ten wide. A big mast was stuck in the middle, on which was hung a large ragged sail of light cotton, crossed horizontally by many bamboos. The mode of navigation was either with oars, or by the crew tracking along the banks as horses do our own canal boats, at which work they got on very well with the assistance of the jester's cudgel. We will not attempt to trace in detail the course of the party during their long navigation up to PingShan, the furthest point reached. We shall merely present the results in a general way. The course of the Yang-Tsze below Hankow has been often described before, and we need only concern ourselves with the up per part of the river. Through the province of Hoo-peh it permeates an immense valley for about 200 miles, up to I-chang, a distance, with windings, of 360 geographical miles; it passes through an alluvial country, for the minute characteristics of which we commend our readers to Captain Blakiston's lively narrative. Generally the country was fertile and not unskilfully cultivated. Of the country near I-chang, for the precise situation of which place the map had better be referred to, we read :— "I-chang or rather its smoke, and the pagoda about a couple of miles below the place, are within sight a long way down, beheld a more beautiful river scene. and I thought at the time that I had never On either hand the banks had become high and precipitous, bold cliffs of rock rose immediately from the deep water. To our left hand as we ascended-that is, beyond the river's right bank-was entirely a mountainous country, and we could observe it extended to the northward beyond the town that lay on the other side in the river valley, behind which the country rose gensionally by a narrow, rice-planted valley, tly into plateau and ridges, broken occathrough which a quick-running stream carried the surplus drainings of the paddy-land to the river. The vegetation was a beautiful combination of temperate and semitropical forms, while the occasional palm occurring here and there served to remind us that in these inland regions one must expect the extreme temperature to reach a high degree. Wheat was now over a foot high, and peas, beans, and peaches, were in blossom. The country everywhere, except on the steepest slopes, or where a rock was exposed, was highly cultivated." From I-chang to Wau, a distance of 140 geographical miles, their route was marked by the strongest rapids and the grandest gorges. A beautiful illustration of the Lu-Kan gorge supplies the frontispiece of the book; and if it be not very much exaggerated, which we have certainly no reason to suspect, seldom has human eye rested on a more magnificent piece of scenery. At Wau the country becomes more open again, till at Suchow it finally rises into the mountain districts of Tibet. During their whole passage up river, the members of the "Overland Expedition" had been objects of mingled aversion and curiosity to the natives. In some particular places they were looked on as being in league with the Taepings, who were devastating all the inland districts. They were generally referred to by the unpleasing sobriquet of "western devils," and wherever they could be kept out of a town by any amount of excuses, evasions, and lies, no exertions to that end were spared by those in authority. The women especially shunned them with provoking pertinacity. When we consider how little the people knew of them, and how much the customs of China enjoin seclusion on the better class of females, we scarcely wonder at their more than oriental shyness. But Captain Blakiston would not tamely submit to be the shunned one of the Chinese ladies, for, to judge by his own confession, he pursued them with a spirit and determination which, no doubt, struck additional dismay into their hearts. Whenever the bearded European face appeared in front of a cottage, all the females fluttered away in trepidation. In a second, the house would be ransacked to find out their hiding-place. Sometimes they would be in the fields, and our gallant author would execute a rapid flank movement in the hope of intercepting their retreat, but they, knowing all the corners well, would cunningly evade him. Then again he tried stealth, endeavouring to creep up behind a party of females who were enjoying the open air, unconscious of the presence of the "western devil," when some odious, watchful cur, filled with wrath at the sight of a stranger, sounds the alarm in shrill yelps, and away the celestials run. More than once, however, Captain Blakiston actually caught a female prize, and after many tears and some force, prevailed on her to turn her face from the wall into which she cowered like a hunted deer, so that he got his reward by the sight of "a face which Oh don't ask me. But they are not all quite so bad." was At Sha-sze the mandarin who accompanied them brought his wife and family, who lived there, on board to see the distinguished foreigners. They were dressed in loose jackets and fancy trowsers, the younger ones having bright-coloured flowers set in their skilfully dressed hair, and our author declares them to have been really pretty. They followed Tartar fashions and did not cramp their feet. Indeed, had they been strictly Chinese they would not have seen the strangers. The odious habit of compressing the women's feet, which some supposed did not extend to the interior of the empire, Captain Blakiston has discovered to be universal. Everywhere the women are to be seen waddling about on what look like little goat hoofs, balancing themselves by touching walls as they pass along, and apparently in imminent peril of toppling over, while the Chinese young gentlemen look on admiringly, and praise her much who waddles most. The further the party got up the river the less they found the people to like them. At Chung-King they were very near being assassinated. When they arrived off this town they sent to the Governor telling him that they wished very much to pay him a visit, and requesting him to send chairs for their conveyance. They had also been asked to dinner by the Roman Catholic missionary in the town, who told them that if they had an objection to chop-sticks, they should bring their own knives and forks. During the evening of the day on which they had sent to the Governor to make arrangements for their entry, a party of imperial soldiers, stationed at the place, came down to the junk, insisted on getting into her, made themselves very troublesome, and showed a strong desire to take away with them several things that did not belong to them. Their desires, too, had an unpleasant turn, for they especially coveted a large sharp knife which was lying about the cabin, and which they could only have wanted for use on human flesh. The doctor finding them in his way motioned them out, and out on deck they went; but one of their number positively declined to pass out on shore, and when seized with a view of being pushed out, he threw himself down, gesticulated frightfully, and made himself as disagreeable as possible. Dr. Barton seeing matters in this state, took up the sprawling warrior and shuffled him quietly over the side into the river. As he struggled to the brink and crawled up, the mob around shouted and cheered, quite enjoying the joke at the expense of the imperial brave, |