REVIEW.

Evening Star, Issue 4086, 31 March 1876, Page 4

REVIEW.

The Devil's Ghp.m, by Edward Jenkins, M.P., author of “ Ginx’s Baby.” Strachaii and Co. j -London; Reith and Wilsie, and Wise and Co., Dunedin. , , We give' , one illustration of tbe graphic . and life-like v fiffiimer in which the several characters introduced by the author are put upon the scene : ;• He seemed-to be fifty years old, or more; for his face, though flabby, was withered, and his eyes were sunken and his forehead wrinkled. He attempted tq steady his trembling head, and assumed ’ a bold stare, but the effort miserably failed. His coat had been the coat of. jutward gentlemanliness. It was well cat, and once fitted him well, but it now sat loosely oh the'palsied limbs. It bad but - one button on the front; its frayed edges, and .■ shiny Stems, and badly mended rents showed bow ' the. nardusage of shoUldering walls and rolling in the gutterhad triedits texture and* its gloss.-There w2w no/Wolstcoat beneath the garment, a want ' WlUch bad beeri phrtiaUy concealed with the aid of ' A phi in the two flaps of the coat. The wretched piece j'df bilk, which, did. .luty as a neckerchief, had long since lost its color; and: the glimpse'of shirt front 1 which its slovenly ease permitted, showed Only a -yellow, dirty, and ragged apology for linen. . ' Nevertheless, as the man stood up, strengthened , a bit by his, Cordial, with his hand thrust Into his breast, and his eyes fixed as steadily os was conve- . nient upon Cotoner, you Saw that he had, at some time, been used to : the dignity of a gentleman. Thete wfte a shocking air of fallen fineness about hi*.

“ Who areyou ?”said the Coroner, briskly. . ; The man started, and looked an instant indignantly at his querist, as if the sharp address bod - touched within him some long-lost chord, of selfrespect;. “I beg your pardon, sir,’’ he- replied with a certain dignity, “ are you addressing me P", The Coroner noticed the tone, and was reproved. - . “Yea,.Sir,”.be rejoined. “Will you oblige me with yonr name ?” . “ Certainly, sir/’ said the Other with a ludicrous . air of condescension. ; ” My name, sir, is Lucius ghafto-Grenville Hnrlingnam.” Who is there that. cannot call to f recol- ■ leection, as within his own personal kuowlodge, the original of this picture, and how ,r unspeakably pitful the picture is.. “Link the Seventh" has “A Vision of ' Death” which we do not recollect haying seen surpassed as a terrible and striking delineation and impersonation of the vice of intemperance. - MI have fancied,” Says Mr Jenkins, ‘‘that in a vision I could see the evil that overshadows the - "land embodied and personate in a-demon spiritcolossal—a monster truly to make the whole world tremble!” s After haying invoked representatives from -the- different classes of those who, for various reasons, use intoxicants to come “ and watch 'him at big deadly work !—truly a mighty 'dread portentous demon ! ” he continues : Aloft upon his huge distended trunk behold Jthe - featured", not of o smooth apd laughing Bacchus, OS poet and ordst love to figure him, but of a brute, foul and fierce, presenting withal the features of’a . .man. See the bloated, red, and pimpled face, the • purpled cheeks, the huge swelled lips which, openjng, show the cankered teeth and feverish foulness i or his unhealthy month; matted in rough locks over the slanting forehead,. red flaming hair, oiOwned, in mockery, with wreaths that have withered at the touch of his burning brow. See the bloodshot eyes, small and opening, rolling with cruel ecstacy as he urges fast aud furiously his fearful task. Gross-kneed he sits, malignant os Siva! his prodigious trunk swathed in n motley robe the patohwora spoils of many victims. His apparel is zed with the blood of murder and crime, of rage : and cruelty, of madness and situ 0, look here, Christian and civilised Britons ! look upon these ■garments, red and gory, and tell me what the .frightful motley means ?” This garment is then described, indicative pf the manifold ranks and conditions of men from whence the Demon draws his victims. He is then described as fashiouiug a chain, Long, living,' endless.; it interweaves - and enthrals society with a warp of death woven from Out itself. In gathering materials for this chain, the Demon is aided by '‘attendant imps.”

Inspired and pillared city; iu smoky manufacturing • towujin vaUeys resounding with the hum and •long olf labor—labor blessed of. God, cursed of ‘ this poteht fiend 1 'neatfa peaceful eaves of pastoral , homes, and pretty' woodbined hamlets, see those ’. busy workers garnering in the Demon's prey.: Oh, much falls to their snares, of the best of the life • and hope and promise of a goodly land! What ministers ! Widespread as society, active os angels of grace, pernicious as Sdl! And as they scour the wprla jn reckless energy, for his rewards are right >generous and rioh, he, the drunk demon, " trtveCps into his lap their shrinking spoil, and twists the living victims one by one into a great chain of life and death. And ol) the while he rears and calls for chorus. We give three verses from the Demon’s song, which reminds us somewhat of that temble song of Charles Mackay’s “ The Gin , k Fiend.”

' Dwob—For the devil a wondrous chain shall wear ■Of twisted bodies, strong and fair. Am to leg and leg to arm, ,' Linked together, quick and warm, . Of bad and good, of high and low, •A chain for his Majesty down below. Long ascending, Ever descending, : 1 Out of the light lute the night, Choeos—Drink, drink!! Drain, drain! Another .link Por the Devil's chain. Demos—King and courtier, priest and nun,* Daughter, father, mother, son, , Doctor, patient, judge, and crier, Former, yokel, lord, and squire, Weave them all in the Devil’s chain For ever and over tight as the strain! Chobus—Drink, drink! : Drain, drain! Another link Por the Devil’s chain. Demob—Jolly eve, ghastly morrow, Sorrows drowned to bring new sorrow, Bars thronged—prisons crammed, Baby chorus—shriek of damned! Choelis—o drink, drink! Drain, drain! Another link Per the Devil’s chain! There is - a weird like fascination about , this book from which we can hardly free our- 1 selves. Ifcannot fail to produce a wonderful influence on society. The literature of the temperance movement has many able works in which the terrible results of our drink system are set forth and strung to- ‘ • gather in fiction. There are tales of the class of the “ Burnish Family, or Danesbury House,” by Mrs Balfour ; “ Wyville Court, ” by Mrs' Woods ; the powerfully - told flues of T. S. Arthur, such as “Ten Nights in a Bar Boom,” and that forcibly-written and beautifully illustrated little book of Mr S. 0. Hall's, “ The Trial of Sir Jasper;” but we have hot before met with anything which brings together fact, illustration, and argument in such powerful and impressive com- ' bination as “TheDevil’s Chain. The fame of ‘ the author and . his influential position in society will secure for this his latest work a very extended circulation, and we pity the man who sits and reads tins book and docs noV rise‘fyom its perusal &oths- a sadder * and a. wiser man than wbfln; he sat

down. The book 'is handsomely £ot up, in large print on good paper, but we trast soon to hear of the issue of a cheaper edition than that now before us, so that this latest addition to the literature of social reform may be brought within the reach of all.