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    1050 THE LEA.I>EB; [No. 345a Satu^ay.

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    LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA. Life in Ancient I...

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    AGRIPPA THE MAGICIAN. The Life of Cornel...

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    Gerald Massey's Poems. Craigcrooh Castle...

    In my ears tie siren , river Sings , and smiles up in my face ; But for ever , and for ever , Guns from my embrace . * ' Spring by spring the branches duly Clothe themselves in tender flower ; And for ner sweet sake as truly All their fruit and fragTance shower But the stream , with careless laughter Runs in merry beauty by , And it leaves me yearning after , Lorn to droop , and lone to die . In my ears the siren river

    Sings , and smiles up in my face ; But for ever , and for ever , Runs from my embrace . M I stand maze'd in the moonlight , O ' er its happy face to dream ; I am parched in the noonlight By that cool and brimming stream ; I am dying-by the river Of her life that runs , from me , And it sparkles by me ever , With , ita cool felicity , la my eats the syren river

    Sings , and smiles , up in my face ; But for ever , and for ever , Runs from , my embrace . "

    1050 The Lea.I>Eb; [No. 345a Satu^Ay.

    1050 THE LEA . I > EB ; [ No . 345 a Satu ^ ay .

    Life In Ancient India. Life In Ancient I...

    LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA . Life in Ancient India . By Mrs . Speir . With Illnalrations by George Seharf , juh ., F . S . A . IP Smith , Elder , and Co . This is an uncommon " book in every way . Its covers of rich blue and gold , its tinted paper \ vitb . gilded edges , its delicate and fanciful Illustrations , did not prepare us for a number of Oriental essays , the results of genuine scholarship , and of extensive researches in & . field partly new . Mrs . Speir has been an observer as well as a student , has lived in the East , has taken counsel in fier-speculations with Orientalists of the first rank , and has produced what , may be described as a pictnresqne analysis of Indian society , before and aftertlie- age of Alexander . Her preliminary chapter , tlie least original , thoughnot the least necessary part of the work , contains a sketch , of India distributed into four divisions—the Punjab with the provinces contiguous , the peamsula , the plains of the Ganges , and Bengal . This classification of territories ' , itmust be owned , is of the most arbitrary kind ; but it assists Mrsi . & peir in the completion of her plan , which is not geographical , but artistic . " . . '" . :. - . . - ¦¦ ¦ ' ; ' ¦ ¦ . . ,. : '"¦ ¦ "¦ ¦ : - . ;¦ ' ' ¦¦ ¦ " ' . . " . - . '' . - ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' A critical account of the Rig-Veda precedes some interesting speculations on the earl y history o £ the Hindu race . Thi 3 singular people , first settling along the slopes of the Aravalli hills , and thence southward to the sea , appear to have brought with them many traditions from the country of their origin- They-were called Aryas ; they measured the land with rods , they p loughed the earth fox barley , they carried away the produce of their fields in carts , they wove fine cloth , they wore earrings and finger-rings , they drove chariots with wleels and yokes of gold . Thus did an ambitious civilization grow upon the sumptuous Asian plains . The physicians of this society thought all healing virtues were possessed by water ; that by water alone could human sufferings be allayed . Then , through the long vistas of poetical tradition , we see the Patriarchs on the Indus writing hymns , invoking the gods , making war on the predatory nations along the Aryan border . There were five classes of men , kings or chieftains , warriors , priests , agriculturists and mechanics , and , it is supposed , the aboriginal race , who stole cattle , but who possessed fields , cities , and gold , tempting to the intruders . In the Vedic hymns alone are traces of this history found ; neither the Persian nor the Chinese annalists cast even the most uncertain light upon the infancy of the Hindu people in India ; " , consequently , when the Rig-Veda lets the curtain fall , a pause ensues of about six . centuries . "

    After that immense lapse of time , the Aryas reappear ; the Sanscrit is spoken , the " Vedas are read once more ; but the Aryas are now in possession of the great valley of the Ganges , and of cities in Oude and . Tirb . ut . Their holy men sit on mats of sacred : grass ; . they wear a quaint religious costume ; they receive the homage of kings ; they aspire to control all classes ; they meditate over mystical doctrines of cosmogony and of immortal life . This Immortality consisted , for the- few and the most rarely gifted , of absorption into the divine infinite ; inferior beings were born again as trees , beasts , kings , or gods , though this new life was far from eternal . Mrs . Speir

    presents , in connexion " with the religious organization of the Hindus , a careful account of the four castes , of the Brahminical process of education , of the duties prescribed to rulers and warriors ; but all this part of the picture is necessarily confused and dim . It is not until the Rayanaana appears , when a glow of epic li g ht suffuses the dusky East , its cities , gardens , shrines , its festivals , processions * and ceremonial solemnities , that the descriptions become real and clear . The ILayainann story is perfect in colour , admirable in construction * , and illustrates , in . wonderfuL detail , the varied characteristics of ancient Indian : society .

    Never did the human mind invent more fanciful distinctions than those of the Brahminical code , especially where it referred to punishments allotted in a future life . If a man stole gram , in the husk he was- doomed to be born A rat ; if a mixed yellow metal , a gander ; if exquisite perfumes , a muskrat ; if potherbs , a peacock ; if raw grain , a hedgehog . But if a Brahmin killed a Sudra , he only paid the fine awarded for the slaying of a cat , lizard , or crow . A . Sudra , indeed , was valued as . the sixteenth part of a Brahmin . He was forbidden to read the Vedas ; they could not even be read , silentl y , in his contaminating presence . The industrious classes attained high proficiency in their several callings . Mrs . Speir quotes the strongest testimony on « this point . We saw what the ancient Indian plough was , at the Exhibition of 1851 . Their drill ploughs anticipated , by many centuries , the uwentionfl of modern Europe . They understood the

    system of double and rotatory crops , which Dr . Roxburgh believes ^ Western nations to have derived from them . They exhibited also X most _ positive proofs of social culture , by practising the refined aiVof iff teratjon They smelted iron ; they forged steel ; they manufactured t ££ of metal for their wheels , and u it has lately been discovered tbat the far famed Damascus Hades were of Indian steel , manufactured in the We f of India . Mr . Wilkinson has proved that the'figuring-of . these swords S pends upon the-peculiar crystallisation of the wootz , the name by whict manufactured steel is known in India . " In 1851 a dagger , with pearls let into the centre of its blade , and a dagger with one blade within another were sent to the Great Exhibition from the province of Delhi . Then , in architecture , the Hindus far surpassed t-lie Chinese , whose ancient arts have been converted , by some unaccountable process iutn favourite subjects of modern flattery . The quarries are still to be seen

    whence the blocks were chiselled of which ' the grandest cities of the East were constructed . They Avere built into ' walls ,-colonnades , arches , and the most effective machinery was devised for lifting the immense monoliths employed by the Indian builder . In a social point of view , Mrs . Speir regards " the antique Hindus with no little admiration . Women , in "those n <* es , she is gratified to say , were not less free than in Troy or Judea . They were treated with as much respect as affection . They went to public feasts , they fought- 'in battles ; their opinions were solicited , ' . if the testimony of the Upanishads be . credited , by the king in council , and they were taught to expect immortality . But in the Brahminical code they are ranked * with Sudras , children , and pupils ; they might be chastised with-whips or canes yet even here they are promised the rewai'ds of a future life .-

    Une ot tue most usetuJ . chapters m Mrs . Speir ' s Volume is that in which she remarks upon the existing aspects of ancient Indian institutions . Only one of . the original castes survives—theBrahminical ; the Ivshatriya , Vaisya , and Sudra , as castes , are extinct . Even the Brahmins are not extant in their original character . They are often , as Professor Horace Hayman Wilson observes , illiterate and poor > and obliged to live by manual labour , while " men ¦ of low caste are frequently the influential religious guides of society . " The Sudras , existing no longer as a caste , constitute an ~ indcpondent clan , proud of their origin , and utterly forgetful of their historic degradation . Sudras have been kings , and all the Mahrattas are Sudras ; in many parts of India none but a Sudra is a . scholar or an artist . Professor Wilson , is , therefore , justified in saying that the Bralmiinical system of caste has utterly failed . Mrs . Speir has written a graceful and thoughtful boolc , to which we may confidently send the reader in search of an accurate and vivid picture of ancient Indian life . The first chapter excites an interest which- is sustained to the end .

    Agrippa The Magician. The Life Of Cornel...

    AGRIPPA THE MAGICIAN . The Life of Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim , Doctor and Knight , commonly known as a Magician . By Henry Morley . 2 vols . Chapman and Hall . In this biography of a once celebrated scholar , Mr . Morley wprtliily completes the series opened by the biography of " Bernard Palissy ; " and if there is a falling off in point of interest , there is assuredly none in point of diligence in collecting materials , and ability in using them . IUr . Morley has satisfactorily proved one thing on which he was bent , namely , that Agrippa , though he did write on Magic , was no Magician , no -vulgar charlatan , but a various scholar , sorely tried by the world , leading a

    wandering , uncertain life , and dying miserably m exile , aged fortv-nine , hated by priests , hunted by fools , and ill-treated by Emperors and courtiers Mr . Morley has taken pains—too much pains , indeed , if the paradox may pass ; for had he confined himself more rigidly to the biography of Agrippa , and not dragged into it-so many pages of historical digression and elucidation , the interest of his -work would have been greater . Only a great master of the art can properly manage this historical scenery for the actors ; in hands less able , historical scenery becomes wearisome without any corresponding advantage . We cannot say that a clear picture of the times is here presented ; only a great many details about the times .

    The pains Mr . Morley has bestowed on the analysis of Agrippa ' s works must on the contrary earn the gratitude of every reader . Probably these pages will be thought the most curious and interesting of the whole . As a picture of the scholar ' s life in the early part of the sixteenth century tills biography is very curious , and teaches us to regard with affection the restless , accomplished , satirical , and loving Agrippa , who is so foiul of Ins two wives , his children , his friends , and his dogs ; who is so ill-u .-ed by Ins tliird wife , by the priests , and by courts . A hard time lie had of it , dependent on royal patrons who never paid his salary but uscdliis talents ; and very interesting it is to hear him speaking boldly out against the Emperor Charles V ., who suffered him to be arrested for debt , because the imperial salary was obstinately withheld . This was the language ho held in presence of his judges : —

    " You would not , " he said , " concede me time to pay my dobta ; you would not credit me with the pledge of the Emporor . Why am I to implore of you clemency , when you deny me justice ? Do you account the Emperor one of those men who nr ° not bound by their promises ? In harshness , avarice , ingratitude , open breach of luj written word , whut excellent material you offer me for writing Cu ? nar \ s praise . I ell mo whether it is fit that I should bo bound by oath to the Emperor for two year ? , as the keeper of his recordn , and , my dues from him being withheld , my . xorvke to him he compulsory ? Whilo I have been following him about for the lost year ns a beggar , I might have died of hunger had not the most reverend apostolic legate , Cum """ with ninny

    Campegio , sustained me . l ' osaiWy you may suy that 1 share tliis evil others , that not I only live upon other people ' tables , but that almost nil the Imperor ' a retainers , satellites , and doorkeepers , even those of his chamber , do the same , whoro wo see going the round of other men ' s dinners , as seekers of table-talk or piy n " Hites , to the no slight nliama of the Emperor himself . Hero let me any I widi you sometimes hoard what I hear very often ; bow what I see . Certo . s , if you nft | l heart tho credit of the Emperor , you would advise him otlierwi . so , nnd would not ic your eyca blink as they do at his avarice , as if It were not base in liini to let hia pc ' sionora go ragged for lack of their pay , hia nobloa without salaries do suit to otnen for their meat , to- suffer me , his historiofrrapher , to bo dragged into suits before yo » , and vexed with-the terroro of a gaol , whilo I have Cwaar iixr nay debtor , aud he wm

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01111856/page/18/