Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended , for Keview should bo addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . ' Tales , Poems , and Masonic Papers . By Emra Holmes . With a
Biographical Sketch of the author , by Georgo Markham Tweddell , Fellow of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries , Copenhagen ; Corresponding Member of the Royal Historical Society , London , & c . Stokesley : Tweddell and Sons . J . Gould , Printer , Micldlesborough .
1877 . IT may be onr misfortune or onr fanlt—this is a point wo must ask our readers to determine for themselves—but we confess we have never , till we received this volume , had an opportunity of reading any of Bro . Holmes ' s contributions to tho London or Provincial press . Ifc is very possible the papers of which Bro . Tweddell speaks so highly have escaped our notice , bnt we certainly had no knowledge of his
qualifications as a writer . We know him by repute as a brother , we had heard of his occasionally lecturing in the Provinces , and we had reason to believe that he was employed in the Civil Service of the Crown ; but this was the limit of our knowledge . Now thafc we have read Bro . Tweddell ' s biographical sketch of the author of these Tales , Poems , and Papers , this defect of ours has been made good , and we
feel ourselves in a position to judge of the reality of Bro . Holmes ' s claims to rank among the literati of the day . However , before ontering on this portion of onr task , we shall briefly consider the manner in which Bro . Tweddell has fulfilled his duty as a biographer . This duty was far from being an easy one , and must have severely taxed the ingenuity of Bro . Tweddell . The materials afc his disposal
were of the scantiest . George Holmes , the grandfather , was born in Ireland , but owing to the health of his wife , and the unsettled state of the country , he migrated to England , and lived , in the first instance , afc Bristol , and afterwards , on his wife's death , in London . He published a volnme of Sketches in some of the Southern Counties of Ireland , collected during a Tour in ihe Autumn 1797 , in a , series o / Letters
which vraa illustrated from his ovrv pencil . In 1803 , Marcus H . Holmes , the father , was born , and having received his education afc the Bristol Grammar School , became in time a student of the Royal Academy , under Fuseli , and carried off the Silver Medal for Still Life . In 1833 he married one of the daughters of a clergyman named Emra . This lady , who was the mother of the subject of
Bro . Tweddell ' s sketch , had literary tastes , and contributed to some of the magazines of the day , many of her papers being published in book form . Bro . E . Holmes was born in 1839 , and , sometime after his mother ' s death , he obtained a presentation to Christ ' s Hospital . On completing the usual course of study at Hertford and London , he was sent for a further period of two or three years to the Grammar
School afc Shepton Mallet . In 1857 , he obtained a Clerkship in the Customs at Liverpool ,. and is now a Collector at Fowey in Cornwall His leisure hours he seems to deVote to literary pursuits and lecturing . We are further told that he is an amateur comic singer and a mimic . He was initiated into Freemasonry in 1861 , but Bro . Tweddell proposes to reserve the details of his Masonic career for that Second
Series of Tales and Sketches which it is promised shall make their appearance at some future time . These , then , are the leading points which Bro . Tweddell has knit together in his Biographical Sketch , extending over some twelve or thirteen pages . We think he has ful - filled his duty in a highly praiseworthy manner . It is certainly not his fault that the materials afc his disposal wero so scanty . Indeed ,
We can conceive of no more trying task than to write at length of one who has done little , if anything , to merit distinction as a writer . We are confident thafc Bro . Holmes is highly and deservedly respected and admired within the immediate circle of his friends , but , as the tenour of our further remarks will show , we do not consider he has the slightest claim to be regarded as a literary man . Pass we now
to the " Tales , Poems , and Masonic Papers " themselves . The tales are five in nnmber , some of them being love stories , of . the class we are accustomed to look for in the inferior penny weekl y publications—the kind of story of which it is difficult to say whether the incidents are more ridiculous or the burlesque on real life the more offensive—while in others , mesmeric influences and
clairvoyance are introduced . The first is entitled the Lady Muriel , and is supposed to be told by a Mr . Beverley , who , when visiting Paris , meets with a Mr . Falconbridge , a gentleman staying at the same hotel . They are thrown pretty much together , and , on the strength of a three weeks' acquaintance thus formed , and an invitation from Falconbridge , Beverley pays the
latter a visit at Ipswich . Ho has hardly been under his host ' s roof more than a few hours before his curiosity is aroused , and he begins , with a snobbishness which ifc is scarcely possible to realise , to question his entertainer as to his early career , and the cause of his melancholy , simply because he thinks that he " might do him some good , " that ho " could better enter into his feelings and sympathise with
him , and that he " conld be more companionable if he were told his history . " We presume , there are persons in the world—retired military officers and others—who are ready , afc a minute ' s provocation , to pour out their griefs to any casual acquaintance they may have met afc a Parisian hotel . AVe presume theie are snobs like this fellow Beverley , for Bro . Holmes has introduced them into this tale ,
and Bro . Holmes , we are given to understand , is the writer of many promising contributions to tho provincial and London press . But with all dne respect to our worthy Brother , we cannot think this kind of people are met with in decent society , and tho people who figure in this story are presumably of that class . This is bad enough ,
but in Falconbridge's story of his earlier life the violence to common sense is still more remarkable . AVe are calmly invited to witness the attempted abduction of a young lady from the homo of her father , who is dean of the cathedral in a Hampshire city , by an officer of the regiment quartered there . The officer , who is drunk , has two confederates , of whom one ia a cabman , The attempt js . of
Reviews.
course , frustrated by the instrumentality of Falconbridge , but to iutrodace any such incident as this , aa having happened in Hampshire in the year 1850 , is a crime against decency without a single palpatory circumstance to excuse it . It is as clumsily described aa ifc is improbable , for even a drnnken Irish officer would hardly find two men to aid him in carrying off a dean ' s daughter , at midnight , in a
common fly . However , the upshot of this adventure is , that the Lady Mnriel jilts Falconbridge and marries Mandevitle , the officer who had thought of carrying her off , and had broken his arm in attempt , ing to do so , and who dies a few years after succeeding to the earldom of Kilpatrick , leaving his widow soon about to become a
mother . As the child , when born , proves to be a girl , the title and estates pass to a distant cousin of her late husband ' s , nnd Falconbridge appears once more on the scene , provides the Countess with funds enough to snpport her comfortably , and on her death , a few years later , establishes himself as the guardian of tho young child , tho little Lady Mnriel .
The second tale , " Gerard Montagu , is a sequel to the first . The Lady Muriel has grown to be a girl of sixteen . Gerard Montagu , a corn dealer in the north , travels south , and makes her acquaintance , falling in love with her at first sight . However , their marriage is not to be .
The Lady Mnriel , whose existence had been ignored by her proud and distant relatives , the Earl and Connteas of Kilpatrick , is invited to visit the latter , and in the result she becomes engaged to marry tho Earl ' s eldest son and heir , Lord Chelmondiston . This is the best written of the five . In the next two are introduced mesmerism and
clairvoyance . In order to show the extent to which Bro . Holmes taxes the patience of his readers , we may mention thafc the incidenb on which is based the first of these two tales takes place in the night mail from Edinburgh . Ernest Blake is the hero whose name fur . nishes the title to the story , and he is journeying from the Scottish capital to London in order to spend Christmas with his sisters . His
fellow-passengers quit the train at Newcastle , and he is anticipating the pleasure of being alone for the rest of the journey , when a gen . tleman and a lady enter the compartment . The former , we are told , turns out to be a barrister , and he is described as " tall and commanding in figure , with hair and beard like Hamlet ' s father , ' a sable silvered , ' and with a tout ensemble that bespoke high
breeding . " The young lady is named Annie , and proves to be his daugh . ter . She has " sweet blue eyes and lovely Grecian features , dainty hands and-charming figure , " bufc " there was a certain pallor on her cheeks that made me sigh for her , and at times a haggard expression about the face , which spoke of frequent pain , and sometimes agony . " As Mr . Ernest Blake is one of those keen-sighted ,
impertinently curious persons whom it is a nuisance to travel with , we aro not surprised he should say , " I noticed all this in a glance , and ic was quite sufficient to interest me in the young lady and her father , and I think we all improved upon acquaintance . " Afc York , Miss Vernon—for the enquiring Blake had already learned the name of his fellow-travellers from tho labels on their luggage—complains
of neuralgia , and this nuisance of what we must call a hero asks permission to throw her into a magnetic sleep . Mr . Vernon and the daughter consent , and Mr . Blake commences operations , remarking , en passant , " ifc was wonderful how friendly we had become within the last hour or two ; but , then , you see , wo had been talking all the way down from Newcastle , and had become quite intimato already . " As he sits " gazing earnestly and fixedly
into Annie ' s sweet blue eyes "—pretty well for a two hours acquaintance!—and produces the promised effects , it then occurs to him that Miss Vernon is a fair subject for further experiments , and he succeeds in illustrating her powers of clairvoyance . She pro claims her father Lord Vernon , and declares that the documents necessary to establish his claim to that title are ly ing at the family solicitors . He then practises a little further , for his own benefit , and learns a little abont the future relations between himself and a
certain young lady , and having done this permits Miss Vernon to pass tho rest of the journey in undisturbed repose . In the sequel Mr . Vernon makes good his title to be Lord Vernon of Wye , while Mr . Blake ' s suit for the hand of Miss De Courcy , the lady about whom he had consulted the fair clairvoyante , is summarily cut short by her engagement to Captain Vescy . In the fourth tale , which is told on
Christmas Day , by Uncle Archdale , the first important incident introduces to us Uncle Archdale , at the time a young lad of eighteen , proposing to a Miss Millicent in a stage coach , the young lady's aunfc being seated by her side . The refusal disgusts him , so thafc he determines on breaking the journey at Reading . But a certain prevoyance of evil induces him to take a light trap , for the coachman is drunk and
the road dangerous . Ho arrives in time to prevent a catastrophe , but Milly breaks her arm , and he takes her and her aunt back to tho inn afc Reading . Here , while tho ladies are waiting to be conveyed home , he spends the happiest days of his life , and he finds himself more in lovo than ever , but Milly is only grateful . Young Archdale in time roaches London and walks the hospitals , residing at a
Mrs . AVingrove ' s iu Bloomsbury . Miss Kate AVingrovo is _ held to be a good subject for mesmeric experiments , and the way iu which she is made to subserve the purposes of the medical student is most inhuman . Moreover , we are asked to believe that a poor young clairvoyante can be made to hannt , literally to the death , a oleigymati in a
remote part of the country , who is engaged to bo married to Millicent , and whom the vulgar experimenter has never seen . Millicent too flies , and her wraith appears to Archdale at tho very moment of her death . To ask people who are sane to imagine it possible that the exercise of a mesmerist ' s will on the subject of his experiment
will drive a third and unknown person into his grave is too atrocious . The last talc , entitled " Hopelessly , " is inexpressively vulgar iu its tone . Thus , Frank Ashbarn calls at his friend Madge Raymond's rooms , bnt is told by tho servant that he is out . " ' Pretty looking
sort of piece of goods , if she were only washed , ' Frank thinks , as ho surveys the servant , who is housemaid , cook , and boots , and scullery maid all in one . " Bnt Madge ( who is a man , not a woman ) is having a most uncomfortable ride of fifty miles ou tho top of a railway carriage , the result of which js an attack of fever , m it ia not
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews.
REVIEWS .
All Books intended , for Keview should bo addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 67 Barbican , E . C . ' Tales , Poems , and Masonic Papers . By Emra Holmes . With a
Biographical Sketch of the author , by Georgo Markham Tweddell , Fellow of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries , Copenhagen ; Corresponding Member of the Royal Historical Society , London , & c . Stokesley : Tweddell and Sons . J . Gould , Printer , Micldlesborough .
1877 . IT may be onr misfortune or onr fanlt—this is a point wo must ask our readers to determine for themselves—but we confess we have never , till we received this volume , had an opportunity of reading any of Bro . Holmes ' s contributions to tho London or Provincial press . Ifc is very possible the papers of which Bro . Tweddell speaks so highly have escaped our notice , bnt we certainly had no knowledge of his
qualifications as a writer . We know him by repute as a brother , we had heard of his occasionally lecturing in the Provinces , and we had reason to believe that he was employed in the Civil Service of the Crown ; but this was the limit of our knowledge . Now thafc we have read Bro . Tweddell ' s biographical sketch of the author of these Tales , Poems , and Papers , this defect of ours has been made good , and we
feel ourselves in a position to judge of the reality of Bro . Holmes ' s claims to rank among the literati of the day . However , before ontering on this portion of onr task , we shall briefly consider the manner in which Bro . Tweddell has fulfilled his duty as a biographer . This duty was far from being an easy one , and must have severely taxed the ingenuity of Bro . Tweddell . The materials afc his disposal
were of the scantiest . George Holmes , the grandfather , was born in Ireland , but owing to the health of his wife , and the unsettled state of the country , he migrated to England , and lived , in the first instance , afc Bristol , and afterwards , on his wife's death , in London . He published a volnme of Sketches in some of the Southern Counties of Ireland , collected during a Tour in ihe Autumn 1797 , in a , series o / Letters
which vraa illustrated from his ovrv pencil . In 1803 , Marcus H . Holmes , the father , was born , and having received his education afc the Bristol Grammar School , became in time a student of the Royal Academy , under Fuseli , and carried off the Silver Medal for Still Life . In 1833 he married one of the daughters of a clergyman named Emra . This lady , who was the mother of the subject of
Bro . Tweddell ' s sketch , had literary tastes , and contributed to some of the magazines of the day , many of her papers being published in book form . Bro . E . Holmes was born in 1839 , and , sometime after his mother ' s death , he obtained a presentation to Christ ' s Hospital . On completing the usual course of study at Hertford and London , he was sent for a further period of two or three years to the Grammar
School afc Shepton Mallet . In 1857 , he obtained a Clerkship in the Customs at Liverpool ,. and is now a Collector at Fowey in Cornwall His leisure hours he seems to deVote to literary pursuits and lecturing . We are further told that he is an amateur comic singer and a mimic . He was initiated into Freemasonry in 1861 , but Bro . Tweddell proposes to reserve the details of his Masonic career for that Second
Series of Tales and Sketches which it is promised shall make their appearance at some future time . These , then , are the leading points which Bro . Tweddell has knit together in his Biographical Sketch , extending over some twelve or thirteen pages . We think he has ful - filled his duty in a highly praiseworthy manner . It is certainly not his fault that the materials afc his disposal wero so scanty . Indeed ,
We can conceive of no more trying task than to write at length of one who has done little , if anything , to merit distinction as a writer . We are confident thafc Bro . Holmes is highly and deservedly respected and admired within the immediate circle of his friends , but , as the tenour of our further remarks will show , we do not consider he has the slightest claim to be regarded as a literary man . Pass we now
to the " Tales , Poems , and Masonic Papers " themselves . The tales are five in nnmber , some of them being love stories , of . the class we are accustomed to look for in the inferior penny weekl y publications—the kind of story of which it is difficult to say whether the incidents are more ridiculous or the burlesque on real life the more offensive—while in others , mesmeric influences and
clairvoyance are introduced . The first is entitled the Lady Muriel , and is supposed to be told by a Mr . Beverley , who , when visiting Paris , meets with a Mr . Falconbridge , a gentleman staying at the same hotel . They are thrown pretty much together , and , on the strength of a three weeks' acquaintance thus formed , and an invitation from Falconbridge , Beverley pays the
latter a visit at Ipswich . Ho has hardly been under his host ' s roof more than a few hours before his curiosity is aroused , and he begins , with a snobbishness which ifc is scarcely possible to realise , to question his entertainer as to his early career , and the cause of his melancholy , simply because he thinks that he " might do him some good , " that ho " could better enter into his feelings and sympathise with
him , and that he " conld be more companionable if he were told his history . " We presume , there are persons in the world—retired military officers and others—who are ready , afc a minute ' s provocation , to pour out their griefs to any casual acquaintance they may have met afc a Parisian hotel . AVe presume theie are snobs like this fellow Beverley , for Bro . Holmes has introduced them into this tale ,
and Bro . Holmes , we are given to understand , is the writer of many promising contributions to tho provincial and London press . But with all dne respect to our worthy Brother , we cannot think this kind of people are met with in decent society , and tho people who figure in this story are presumably of that class . This is bad enough ,
but in Falconbridge's story of his earlier life the violence to common sense is still more remarkable . AVe are calmly invited to witness the attempted abduction of a young lady from the homo of her father , who is dean of the cathedral in a Hampshire city , by an officer of the regiment quartered there . The officer , who is drunk , has two confederates , of whom one ia a cabman , The attempt js . of
Reviews.
course , frustrated by the instrumentality of Falconbridge , but to iutrodace any such incident as this , aa having happened in Hampshire in the year 1850 , is a crime against decency without a single palpatory circumstance to excuse it . It is as clumsily described aa ifc is improbable , for even a drnnken Irish officer would hardly find two men to aid him in carrying off a dean ' s daughter , at midnight , in a
common fly . However , the upshot of this adventure is , that the Lady Mnriel jilts Falconbridge and marries Mandevitle , the officer who had thought of carrying her off , and had broken his arm in attempt , ing to do so , and who dies a few years after succeeding to the earldom of Kilpatrick , leaving his widow soon about to become a
mother . As the child , when born , proves to be a girl , the title and estates pass to a distant cousin of her late husband ' s , nnd Falconbridge appears once more on the scene , provides the Countess with funds enough to snpport her comfortably , and on her death , a few years later , establishes himself as the guardian of tho young child , tho little Lady Mnriel .
The second tale , " Gerard Montagu , is a sequel to the first . The Lady Muriel has grown to be a girl of sixteen . Gerard Montagu , a corn dealer in the north , travels south , and makes her acquaintance , falling in love with her at first sight . However , their marriage is not to be .
The Lady Mnriel , whose existence had been ignored by her proud and distant relatives , the Earl and Connteas of Kilpatrick , is invited to visit the latter , and in the result she becomes engaged to marry tho Earl ' s eldest son and heir , Lord Chelmondiston . This is the best written of the five . In the next two are introduced mesmerism and
clairvoyance . In order to show the extent to which Bro . Holmes taxes the patience of his readers , we may mention thafc the incidenb on which is based the first of these two tales takes place in the night mail from Edinburgh . Ernest Blake is the hero whose name fur . nishes the title to the story , and he is journeying from the Scottish capital to London in order to spend Christmas with his sisters . His
fellow-passengers quit the train at Newcastle , and he is anticipating the pleasure of being alone for the rest of the journey , when a gen . tleman and a lady enter the compartment . The former , we are told , turns out to be a barrister , and he is described as " tall and commanding in figure , with hair and beard like Hamlet ' s father , ' a sable silvered , ' and with a tout ensemble that bespoke high
breeding . " The young lady is named Annie , and proves to be his daugh . ter . She has " sweet blue eyes and lovely Grecian features , dainty hands and-charming figure , " bufc " there was a certain pallor on her cheeks that made me sigh for her , and at times a haggard expression about the face , which spoke of frequent pain , and sometimes agony . " As Mr . Ernest Blake is one of those keen-sighted ,
impertinently curious persons whom it is a nuisance to travel with , we aro not surprised he should say , " I noticed all this in a glance , and ic was quite sufficient to interest me in the young lady and her father , and I think we all improved upon acquaintance . " Afc York , Miss Vernon—for the enquiring Blake had already learned the name of his fellow-travellers from tho labels on their luggage—complains
of neuralgia , and this nuisance of what we must call a hero asks permission to throw her into a magnetic sleep . Mr . Vernon and the daughter consent , and Mr . Blake commences operations , remarking , en passant , " ifc was wonderful how friendly we had become within the last hour or two ; but , then , you see , wo had been talking all the way down from Newcastle , and had become quite intimato already . " As he sits " gazing earnestly and fixedly
into Annie ' s sweet blue eyes "—pretty well for a two hours acquaintance!—and produces the promised effects , it then occurs to him that Miss Vernon is a fair subject for further experiments , and he succeeds in illustrating her powers of clairvoyance . She pro claims her father Lord Vernon , and declares that the documents necessary to establish his claim to that title are ly ing at the family solicitors . He then practises a little further , for his own benefit , and learns a little abont the future relations between himself and a
certain young lady , and having done this permits Miss Vernon to pass tho rest of the journey in undisturbed repose . In the sequel Mr . Vernon makes good his title to be Lord Vernon of Wye , while Mr . Blake ' s suit for the hand of Miss De Courcy , the lady about whom he had consulted the fair clairvoyante , is summarily cut short by her engagement to Captain Vescy . In the fourth tale , which is told on
Christmas Day , by Uncle Archdale , the first important incident introduces to us Uncle Archdale , at the time a young lad of eighteen , proposing to a Miss Millicent in a stage coach , the young lady's aunfc being seated by her side . The refusal disgusts him , so thafc he determines on breaking the journey at Reading . But a certain prevoyance of evil induces him to take a light trap , for the coachman is drunk and
the road dangerous . Ho arrives in time to prevent a catastrophe , but Milly breaks her arm , and he takes her and her aunt back to tho inn afc Reading . Here , while tho ladies are waiting to be conveyed home , he spends the happiest days of his life , and he finds himself more in lovo than ever , but Milly is only grateful . Young Archdale in time roaches London and walks the hospitals , residing at a
Mrs . AVingrove ' s iu Bloomsbury . Miss Kate AVingrovo is _ held to be a good subject for mesmeric experiments , and the way iu which she is made to subserve the purposes of the medical student is most inhuman . Moreover , we are asked to believe that a poor young clairvoyante can be made to hannt , literally to the death , a oleigymati in a
remote part of the country , who is engaged to bo married to Millicent , and whom the vulgar experimenter has never seen . Millicent too flies , and her wraith appears to Archdale at tho very moment of her death . To ask people who are sane to imagine it possible that the exercise of a mesmerist ' s will on the subject of his experiment
will drive a third and unknown person into his grave is too atrocious . The last talc , entitled " Hopelessly , " is inexpressively vulgar iu its tone . Thus , Frank Ashbarn calls at his friend Madge Raymond's rooms , bnt is told by tho servant that he is out . " ' Pretty looking
sort of piece of goods , if she were only washed , ' Frank thinks , as ho surveys the servant , who is housemaid , cook , and boots , and scullery maid all in one . " Bnt Madge ( who is a man , not a woman ) is having a most uncomfortable ride of fifty miles ou tho top of a railway carriage , the result of which js an attack of fever , m it ia not