no particular object can be specified, there- sion, especially when lamenting him of so grievous a fore his robbery is general; that is to say, he loss. What mattered it to Z wi ether A had piliered t, has robbed it of every thing that is in or caused it to begin and continue to move, out of the it; so that, because he has taken nothing at embraces of the hoop-bound hogshead, and irrigate the all, he has taken every article in the house, from barren and the thankless floor? Again we say, that Z is the lady's jewels and wardrobe to the shirt, claims, he has robbed me of my heer.' to be excused, if, in bewailing him of such a loss, he exthat is on the gentleman's back. According not allow such loose language to a legislator. Z has in But we will to this kind of argument, if A snap a pistol a the case above committed no theft; be has committed an poor Z with intention to kill him, A has kill-offence it is true and ought to be punished; but he can. ed Z out-right, notwithstanding that Z is per-not be punished for theft, seeing that he has stolen no. fectly unhurt, and that the pistol was not thing. loaded!-We think that the commissione who devised this method of taking the will for the deed, may well call out εvonka; he induces Z's dog to follow A. Here it A's intention be has discovered that which has so long been fraudulently to take the dog out of A's possession, with sought for by the friend of humanity and the out Z's consent, A has committed theft as soon as Z's legislator, and sought for in vain. He has dog begins to follow A."

The next illustration savors of the ludicrous. "(c) A puts a bait for dogs in his pocket, and thus

discovered a method by which the deadly The object of this illustration we suppose effects of duelling may be neutralized. Hence- is to fix the moment when theft is committed, forth instead of recording in our columus the which we should think not very possible, fatal result of an appeal to pistols, we shall without we could call in the evidence of have the far more gratifying task of penning Towzer himself. A has, in his great-coat such paragraphs as this, yesterday morning pocket, some savory viands which he artfully a duel took place between Captain A and Mr. places betwixt the wind and the canility of Z. The parties having taken their grund, Towzer. The nostrils of Tow zer being transCapt. A declared his intention to be to shoot ported with delight, he begins to move toMr. Z through the head, and Mr. Z having wards A, but we should think it very difficult made the same declaration, the signal was for any one to fix that moment. But let us given, the parties fired, and both being killed, suppose that whilst A is walking off, with the seconds declared themselves satisfied, and Towzer nosing his great-coat pocket, Tow. all four went home to a cheerful breakfast zer's master appears upon the stage and calls together." This we hope will be one of the his dog away from A's great-coat pocket. happy results of the new code. Now, according to the code, A has stolen Towzer; let us then suppose that Z charge him with " the offence" and accuses A under

Let us take another "illustration."

14

(b) A pulls a bung out of a hogshead of liquor in Z's possession, with the intention of fraudulently taking some of the liquor without Z's consent. As soon as the liquor begins to flow, "A has committed theft.' Here we must again dissent from the code A in this case has not committed theft, until he has actually received some of the liquor into his mouth, without the interven-your dog, indeed, why, it was your dog that tion of other recipient, jug, mug, or what not, usually wanted to steal my dinner; and most likely employed in the conveyance of liquor to the mouth; o has received some of it in some such vessel by him em to snap a bit out of the calf of my leg. I charge you, under the new code, with letting go loose a furious dog" intending or know

this clause, what will A say in his defence? We should imagine as follows: "you call this a bait for dogs. Why, it is my own dinner. It is not quite so good perhaps as your dinner, or even the dinner you give to your dogs; but it is the best I can afford. Steal

ployed for the purpose. Let us illustrate this illustra

44

tion a little further, and we shall perceive the utter ab surdity of this minute doctrine of 'beginning to move.ing it to be likely to cause Z to believe that Let us suppose that at the moment, that A has pulled he (the dog) is about to assault Z." Here out' a bung from Z's hogshead of Hodgson's best ale, the tables are turned indeed so placed as that the moment the bung is taken out, the A becomes Z, and our old friend Z primus, Z becomes A, liquor will begin to move' or, in plain language, run instead of getting A punished for dog-stealout of the cask. Now, let us suppose that just as Aing, falls himself within the penalties of the has pulled out the bung, he sees or hears, or faucies clause, which provides against that he sees or hears Z coming with a big stick to de-shew of assault" by means of" a furious dog making fend his barrel, and therefore A scampers off, as fast as he can, without having had time to unmuzzled." Poor Z! somehow or other he secure a single drop of liquor. Well, A having run away, and the ale always comes off second best under the new having began to move' for want of a bung, which A in code. By advice of the code he charges A his hurry had forgotten to replace, the liquor continues to with dog-stealing, and is himself trounced in run and run-labitur et labetur, till the whole has escap consequence, by the very same ed, or at least till the liquor within the cask has found shew of assault." All this is enough to code for the level of the bung-hole. Here according to the new break Z's heart. But the code itself, strange code, A has committed theft, and actually stolen the to say, takes upon itself the burden of definwhole hogshead of beer, although he never received a drop of it into his own possession. What cannot, cannot that the following is not theft: ing what is not theft, and nobody will deny exist consistently with truth, cannot be all. We say that it is not true, to say that A in the above case ha committed a theft. It is true that in common parlance and in poetical language, poor Z, when he comes to dis-jeweller any debt for which the jeweller might lawfully cover his loss, may be allowed to exclaim in the anguish letain the watch as a security, enters the shop openly, of his heart, he has robbed me of my beer.' We takes his watch by force out of Z's hand, and carries it should not quarrel with Z for uttering such an expres-away. Here A, though he may have committed cnmi

"(k) A delivers his watch to Z, a jeweller, to be regulated, Z carries it to his shop. A, not owing to the

nal trespass and assault, has committed no theft, inas-out Z's express consent. Here, it is probable that A much as what he did was not done fraudulently." may have conceived that he had Z's implied consent to If this was A's impression, A has not use Z's books. committed theft."

THE

CALCUTTA MONTHLY
MONTHLY JOURNAL.

ASIATIC NEWS.

1838.

There's not a joy the world can give
Like that it takes away.

VICTORIA BALL.

The long expected and much talked of VICTORIA But we must speak of the Town Hall. When we BALL, was at length consummated last night. It had first entered it, we found ourselves in a very bower of been for months in agitation, at one time laid on the roses, and we thought of Oberon and Titania, and the shelf and like to expire, at another revived and newly in-fairies of the Midsummer's Night's Dream," though vigorated; once we almost feared that it was doomed to this, in truth, is mid-winter,-and we looked around for be one of those many anticipated events which never ad- little Puck and his frolics, and before very long we disvance further than the embryo; but now it has actually covered him in the shape of a two-penny Postman; and been perfected in the womb of time, has existed, and is we thought of the "bower of roses by Bendemeer's departed-gone, gone to the sepulchre of the past. All streams," and of the nightingale who last sang the pretty the bustle, and turmoil and excitement is now over, the song to us. When we arrived in the ball room, we vesture-makers will have a little breathing time, the were quite bewildered; we knew not whether we were curious nothing further to enquire about the mystery in Greece, or Switzerland, or the Highlands of Scotlovers nothing to conceal, but the gossips plenty to talk land, or Fairy-land, or whether we were taking a part in about. A pageant of this elaborate nature has general-a tableau vivant, representing an apotheosis of Walter ly a fortnight's moral existence,-it exists a week in pros- Scott, such a diversity of mimic garbs were there prepect and a week in retrospect. It has now become sent, so many costumes of different nations were making something to talk about. up the motley throng. We wish we could do justice to the assembled multitude, and give a correct account of whose dicta, are gospel to us, he who does his best the fancy dresses; but as we have been often told by one,

Never in our recollection has the City-of-Palaces been more full of youthful beauty than it is at the present moment. Bright eyes and rosy cheeks, and pale ones too, which, to us, at least, are still more fascinating ("pale with high and passionate thoughts," as L. E. L. expresses it, in somewhat the same strain as that in which Shakespeare speaks of a cheek, "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought") and light forms full of grace and elegance, and sweet voices now abound every where. There was a time, when we eschewed society, and looked upon a Fancy Ball as nothing better than a fair;" but we honestly confess that we have been utterly land as we saw last night at the Town Hall, Towards Our so- the latter part of the evening a highland reel was danced

assies, are the first in order, to whom we must allude. Miss M. A. Ross and Mrs. Gordon, attired as Scotch Doctor Johnson said, that the only fine prospect which

Scotchman ever sees is the high-road which takes him to London; but the Lexicographer would not have said vanity this, if he had seen such sweet Highland lassies in Scot

"6

unable to resist the fascinations of this season.

cial propensities have been called into action to a degree in excellent style by the two Misses Ross, Dr. Stewart, altogether unprecedented in a life, which has not been Mr. Edwards, &c. The two gentlemen whom we have a very brief one. Who can remain at home when a mentioned, were dressed in a corresponding costume, and a * **, and a————, and * * exercise their irresistible witchery in the mazes of the graceful Avenel, looked the lovely high-born damsel to perfection; and admirably attired they were. Miss Erskine, as Mary dance? Not we-not we !-when we look round upon the throng of graceful, ing forms which fit about like young Sylphides, the buoyance of our by-gone days, again invigorates our frames, and we fancy ourselves in reality young again, ever exclaiming in the words of a poet, whom we do not very often cite as an authority,

undulat

abut we should have thought from her grace and elegance ana," and not in the rustic neighbourhood of the Scottish that she had spent all her days fn the Court of FeliciMonastery. The two Misses Godby, in Polish costumes, looked, as they ever do, very pretty aud fascinating. Mrs. Parker was splendidly attried as Anne of

Austria, and Mr. Parker, in one of the finest dresses in the room, supported the part of the Duke of Buckingham. Miss Trower was a pretty little Swiss peasant. Mrs. Pierce Taylor, and Miss Shaw were tastefully attired, as we think, but we may be wrong, in the costumes of the Tyrol, and Mr. Taylor looked as though he had just stepped out of one of Lewis's pictures. Mr. Bayley was very correctly attired as the Master of Ravenswood; Mr. Henry Palmer as Sir Giles Overreach; Mr. William Palmer as Rienzi, and Mr.Stocqueler

Oh !indeed, when we look upon these fairy forms, we almost imagine that we have fallen into the hands of Medusa, who has cast us into her magic cauldron and made us young again. We have been before the public long enough to have been often cut up without the as

Does well, does nobly, angels could no more, we herewith begin our attempt.

dress, assumed the character of Charles the Second. Mr Kaye, as Sir Piercie Shafton, dressed as Mysie Happer described him, (see Walter Scott's Monastery) talked Euphuism most vigorously; but his courtly pace was somewhat retarded by a very inappropriate limp; we suppose that this was occasioned by the duello with Halbert Glendinning. Mr. Wm. Bracken was admirably dressed in an Albanian costume and looked the character exceedingly well; and Mr. Wyllie, as an Austrian Officer, struck us as a capital personation. Mr. Cecil Trower was beautifully dressed in a Greek costume. Captain Colley, as Meg Merrilies excited our admiration; and a gentleman, whom he could not identify by reason of his huge proboscis, looked Punchinello to perfection. Robinson Crusoe, companioned by a new Zealand chief, in the absence of his man Friday, were regarded with much attention and well sustained their characters. We observed Sir Callaghan O' Brallaghan amidst the assem- To Miss Erskine the following Acrostic was delibled multitude and "a flaxen headed Ploughboy, who vered; we particularly admire the bathos at the end, whistled o'er the lea," looking his character to admiration. and if the poet's request was complied with, we are sure Besides this there were a variety of Turkish, Greek, that he was better paid for his bardship than any Swiss, and old English costumes, which we have no Poet Laureate on record. space to particularize, but we must not forget to mention one character, which was the chef d'œuvre of the night.

A very facetious gentleman, whose identity we were unable to decide upon, went about in the uniform of a two-penny postman, with a large leather bag and dâkwallah's bell, distributing letters to the fair ladies assembled. We were able to exert our influence so suc. cessfully, that we contrived to peruse a few of these epistles and, as far as our memory, which is fortunately one of the best, will permit us, we now present our readers with a transcript of them. The following was recieved by Miss Ross.

Scorn not our revels, Lady, for to-night
Full many a gentle bosom with calm joy
Is beating, as the joyous music swells
And the gay dance progresses. Scorn not us
Because we are arrayed in antic garbs,
And for a little while have cast aside
Our natural manners, striving to appear
That which we are not; do not say that we
Have ta'en our passage in "the ship of fools"
Nor call us silly children; for tis good,
Believe me, sometimes to unbend and cast
The armour of our dignity aside

Wherein we walk so stately-oh!' tis good,
Good for our hearts that we should sometimes fix
Our thoughts on trifles which amuse the herd,
And though we may be fit for loftier things
Still sympathize with those gay souls who spend
Day after days in unoffending sports,
And feel no nobler yearnings; we can hold
No commune with the multitude, nor give
Our kindly, social sympathies full scope
For action, if we move not with the throng,
But hold ourselves apart and from afar
Contemplate, with a grave, observant eye,
Scenes, which we scorn to mix in-Thou art wise,
And higher things engross thee than the dance,
The masque, the revel, and the mimic show,
But scorn not us poor Mountebanks, who strive
Ourselves and others to amuse, deck'd out
In garbs of quaint device.-One wisest man
Full of philosophy has written thus:
"The dignity of life is not impaired
By aught that innocently satisfies

The humbler cravings of the heart; and he
Is a still happier man who, for those heights
Of speculation not unfit, descends
And such beingn affections cultivates
Amongst the inferior kinds"-

The next is an Acrostic, and therefore it would be needless to say to whom it is addressed.

Many an eye beams brightly here to-night,
And many a face is radiant with delight,
Roses and lilies here together vie,
Youth every where throws round its witchery.
And yet there is not one, whom I can see-
No, no, not one, with look more full of glee,
Nor with a sweeter smile than I can trace,
Engraven on thy fair and speaking face.

Rare is such kindliness, and rarer still
On the high summit of a towering hill,
Such bounteous verdure, such sweet flowers to see-
So plentiful is pride, so rare humility.

And are these scenes still fraught with heart-felt joy?
Methinks thou must be weary of them now-
E ver the sweetest things are first to cloy-
Love, only love, excepted. On thy brow
Impressed, the characters of thought I trace
And nobler yearnings speak from out thy face.

In youth's first spring, Ophelia ? or the kind,
Devoted child, who nursed her poor, old, blind
And sorrow-stricken sire? Of these sweet creatures
Which dost thou most resemble in the features
Of thy fair face and thy pure virgin soul?

If thou hast ever, in our own dear isle,
Straying all carelessly, ere chanced to view
A flower gentle as the first young smile
Beaming Aurora flings upon the dew-
Er'st thou hast seen it, thou hast loved it well-
Lady-thine emblem, Lily of the Vale,
Like thee 'tis simple, elegant, and pure,
A s snow new-fallen on the moonlit moor.

Oaks spread protecting branches o'er its head,
A nd fostering guard it with their parent shade;
Kindred thine own-not more regardful, maid,
E ver to soothe thy griefs- and yet son e folks
Surely will think I've only sung a Hoax.

The next we had the pleasure of perusing, was a short scroll from some visionary young man to Mrs. H.

Alexander,

Exceeding sweet, a vision of the night
Lulls my o'er troubled soul with calm delight ;-
I see a mother and a sporting child,
Zephyr ne'er wore look of joy so wild

A s that much loved and chirished infant wears,
Buoyant he frolics round, nor thinks, nor cares ;→
E 'n now that lady smiling thinks upon
Those infant antics ;-thou art such a one,
He is thine own, thy firstborn, only son.
And then too comes a little fairy face
Lisping in broken accents, while she stays
Eyeing her brother's frolics, as he plays-
Xanthe ne'er smiled so clamly, joyfully,
As thy young daughter in her infant glee;
N or Tethys, Queen of Ocean,' neeth the wave
Decked with the richest gems her kingdoms gave
E 'er shone more bright, fair lady, now than thee-
Reproach me not-this is not flattery.

There were also some neat verses addressed to a fair Katherine.

Killarney's lake ne'er richer beauties gave
A gain reflected in it's lucent wave,

Than thine, fair Eastern Queen, for oft to me
Hast thou appeared as some bright fantasy,
E xulting in thy loveliness, and state,
Robed as Zenobia, though as her not great
In battle's throng to join :-that soft black eye
Now speaks of that pure happiness to be,
E xceeding lovely, loved exceedingly.

But in spite of all that we have said, though there were hosts of beautiful faces and gay, sumptuous dresses at the Victoria Ball, it lacked animation. People were contented to dress, and thought nothing of sustaining their parts, with the solitary exception of the two-peney post-man, to whose feats we have already alluded. If in this hasty sketch we have omitted to notice any, whom we ought to have registered more particularly, we must plead the lateness of the hour, and the attendant hurry, as an excuse. However, we have done our best and we have only now to add that we hope very soon to be present at another Victoria Ball.

The Hall was crowded-not less than 600 persons were present. The decorations were of a light and elegant character, well suited to the occasion, and did much credit to the taste of the Stewards and the artists who carried their arrangements into effect.-Bengal Hurkaru, January 16,

THEATRICALS.

OTHELLO.

opinions in the Literary Leaves in an article on the play. I'differ, however, on the material point, from the writer in the last number of this journal. He has, I think, greatly and unjustly lowered the character of Othello by representing him as a man naturally jealous. It seems to me that Shakespeare did not intend to give this tone to the mind of Othello, and that it was not his chief object to show how jealous disposition is ready to seize without original or just cause of suspicion upon trifles light as air, as confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ; but

I have read with much interest the articles in the papers on the subject of Othello. A discussion of the same nature, occurred a year or two ago between the Editor of the Bengal Hurkaru and myself. That gentleman seemed willing at first to adopt the criticism of Coleridge; but he subsequently, with an editorial candour extremely rare, acknowledged, that on more mature consideration he was inclined to return to the general opinion that Shakespeare intended to illustrate the nature of the passion of jealousy in the character and to exhibit the effect of the hideous vice on men of strong conduct of the Moor. I partly agree with the opinions passions and fiery minds. When the poison of jea expressed in an article on this subject in the last num-lousy has once fairly entered the heart, the most trivial ber of the Literary Gazette, and especially do I second circumstances tend to strengthen and confirm its influthat portion of the argument which opposes a preceding ence; but with such a man as Othello, the misery is not writer's notion, (very ingeniously maintained, however,) at first self-inflicted. The Moor was the very reverse that Shakespeare intended lago, and not Othello, to be of a suspicious character, which is always a mean one. the leading illustration of the ill effects of giving too In the words of Dr. Johnson, and boundless in his coneasy admittance to that" green-eyed monster, which fidence. Even Iago, who "knew all qualities with such a