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    11U __ THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    THE HOUSE OP BABY. The House of' Raby; o...

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    Heinrich Heine. Vermischte Schrtften Von...

    that union was not to be found in Heine . Tfut we refrain , and close our notice by expressing our fervent hope that the time may be far distant ere Heine ' s six-years sick-bed becomes a bed of death , and that we may often have the pleasure of calling the attention of the readers of the Lender to iresh products of so inch and great a mind , MADAME DE STAEI , AND " DE r , ' AI / LK > IAGNE . " Is the common anecdote true regarding the origin of de StaeTs celebrated mot , "Which I remember to have heard even as a boy as one of the bons mots of the empire ? It runs , that when Napoleon -was First Consul , Madame de Stae'l presented herself at his residence , to prefer a request ; but although the » officer in attendance assured her in Hie most positive manner that he could not be seen , she insisted peremptorily on being announced to the illustrious person . But when the latter expressed his sorrow that he could not see the celebrated lady , or the simple reason that he voas in his bath , She returned the famous answer that that was no impediment , for genius was of no sex .

    I cannot answer for the truth of this story : but if it be untrue , it is at any rate -well Invented . It shows the assiduity with which the £ ery lady pestered the Emperor . He had no repose from her attentions . She got It firmly into her head that the greatest man of the age should be coupled with its greatest woman more or less ideal . .... But when the good lady discovered that all her assiduity led to no result , she did what any woman would have done , she declared against the Emperor , argued against his brutal and ungallant rule , and argued until the police requested her absence . She fled to us in Germany , where she collected the materials for her celebrated book , wherein German spiritualism is celebrated as the ideal of all empire , in opposition to the material empire of France . With us she made a great discovery . She became acquainted with a savant of the name of August Wilhelm Schlegel . ITe was a genius without sex . He became her faithful cicerone , and accompanied her on her journeys through all the garret 3 of German literature . She wore a tremendous

    turban , and was the sultana of mind . She made all our literary men pass m review before her , and parodied the great Sultan of Matter . Ajid as the latter inquired : How old are you ? how many children have you ? how long have you served ? & c , so asked she of our savants : How old are you ? what have you written ? are you Kantean or Pichtean ? and such little questions ; the answers to which the lady itardly noticed , but which the faithful Mameluke , A . W . Schlegel , her Rustau , hastily entered in his note-book . And as Napoleon had said that she was the greatest -woman who had borne most children , so Madame de Stael declared that he ¦ was the greatest man who had written the most books . .... Her visit was a spiritual billeting , which fell chiefly on the learned . .... The good lady saw in us just what she-wanted to see : a misty spirit-land , where men without bodies , all virtue , -wandered over snow-fields , and entertained themselves with discourses " of morals and metaphysics .

    FEMALE ACTHOBSH 1 P . "When a woman writes , she has always one eye on her paper , while the other is ¦ directed to some man . This is , true of all authoresses , except the Countess Hahnhahn , who has only one eye . Heine ' s opinion op r , oois blanc in 1840 . He has a great future before him , and he will play a great part , ( kough perhaps a short one . HEINE ON THE ItUSSO-TCRKISH DIFFICULTY OF 1840 . Yes , the so-called Dardanelles question is of the most supreme importance , and not merely for the interested powers , but for us all , for the least as much as the greatest ; for the destiny of the world itself is here the Question , and this Question must be solved at the Dardanelles , in some way . So long as this be not settled , Europe will

    sicken with a hidden malady , that will leave her no peace , and which -will come to a rupture , the later the more horribly . .... Were the principle of people ' s sovereignty sanctioned , the fall-of the Mussulman empire would not be so disastrous for the rest of the -world . But in the greatest part of Europe rules yet the Doctrine of Absolutism , whereby land and people are the possession of the Princes , and this possession is to be won by the law of Force , by the ultima ratio regis , by cannon-right . What wonder that none of the high potentates grudge Russia the great prize , and ¦ wish for a bit of the eastern cake themselves ! they will gain an appetite when they see how pleasantly the barbarians of the North manage matters , and the smallest German " duodecimo prince will it least try to get his beer-money . This is the human reason why the fall of Turkey would be disastrous . The political reasons why certainty England , France , and Austria can never let Russia take Constantinople , are plain to a achool-lad .

    TUJ 88 IAK . taODEIlATION IN 1840 , WHEN THEY HAVE GAINED THEIR POINT . They speak of Turkey with a sweet , almost Quaker-like peacofulness . They remind me of the fable of the wolf , which , when he was hungry , seized a sheep . With ravenous hasto he ato the two fore-logs , but ho spared the hind-legs of the animal and aaid : * I am now satisfied , and to this good sheep , that has dined mo with his fore-legs , I leave from motives of piety all his remaining legs , and tho entire "balance of his body . " TRTKIts' I-OQUACITV . N " o one else can say a word while Thiers is talking , and it is only when ho shavea that one can get a chance of being listened to by him . Only -while the razor ia at hia throat is he silent , and vouchsafes attention .

    THIKRS' ORA . TOHY . Thiera can apeak from morning till midnight , unwearied , over now sparkling thoughts , ever mew plays of -wit flashing forth , rejoicing bis audience , teaching , blinding—one might say a spoken firework . A BANKI 21 t * S P 0 MT 1 C 8 . I myself am Bomothnca quite a Republican , You perceive , if I put my hand in my right breeches pocket , where my money is , the contact with the cold metal makes me tremble , I fear for my possessions , and I feel intensely monarchic ; but if I put my hand in my left brooches pocket , which ia quite empty , all foar vanishes , and I whiatlo the Marseillaise , and shout for the Republic 1

    FASKroNAnus anim * aoiNQ . " God receives many visitors to-day , " I aaid , the other Sunday , as I noticed the concourse at the churches . " They are farewell calls , " replied the Cynic . GKOIU 1 H BANJO ON FJIKNCII ACTOKB . "You seo the French are all born comedians , and each plays his part in the world more or less brilliantly , but those among my fellow-countrymen who posHoaa the least talent for acting , there dedicate themselves to the theatre , and become professional Actors . " OLKOPATRA . Cleopatra -was a reino entreUnue .

    oioonoB sawb ' s namk . She chose tho paoudonym of Sand , because it i » tho flrat oyllftblo of Siuidoau j so im called hot lover , a . worthy nuthor , who did not m « k « himself bo colobratcd with T » ia whole name aa bin beloved with half of it .

    " SEE HIS MAJESTY FOB FIVE FRANCS , SER ? I remember very well that I hastened to the Palais Royal , on rny first coming to Paris , to see Louis Philippe . The friend who accompanied me informed me that the king now only appeared on the terrace at fixed homs ; a little earlier , only a few weeka , one could see him at any time for five francs . " For five francs I" I cried , with astonishment , " does the king then show himself for money ? " "No , but he was sho-wTi for money , and it eccurred in this manner . There was a society of claqueurs , dealers in theatre pass-cheeks , and such vagabonds , who offered to show the king to strangers for five francs . If you gave ten francs you would see him turn his eyes to heaven , and lay his hand assuringly on Ms heart ; but if you gave twenty francs , you would hear him sing the Marseillaise . When any one gave a five-franc piece , these

    fellows began crying vivats under the windows of the king , and he appeared on the terrace , bowed and retired . IVhen you gave ten francs , they shouted so much louder , and when the king appeared , demeaned themselves as in ecstasies , and then he , to show his entire composure , turned up his eyes to heaven , and laid his hand assuringly on his heait . The English , however , would many a time give twenty francs , and then the enthusiasm reached the highest pitch , and as soon as the king appeared , they began the Marseillaise , and bellowed so fearfully , that Louis Philippe , perhaps to end the song quicker , bowed , laid his hand on his heart , and joined in the Marseillaise . Whether he beat time with his foot , as I have heard , I do not know . Neither can I be surety for the truth of this anecdote . The friend who told it me has been seven years dead , and I know that for seven years he has never lied . "

    11u __ The Leader. [Saturday,

    11 U __ THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    The House Op Baby. The House Of' Raby; O...

    THE HOUSE OP BABY . The House of' Raby ; or , our Lady of Darkness . 3 vols ., 8 vo > . Chapman and Hall . This is one of the best novels we have read foT a very long time . And the phrase " a good novel , " is not a slight commendation , for what does it imply ? The -union of qualities various and sometimes opposite . Ability to copy , and talent to idealise ; capacity to feel keenly , without which there is no imagination ; capacity to reason clearly , in order to translate those impressions for the reader ' s sake ; acute observation of character , and the power of generalising the knowledge thus obtained into wisdom ; discrimination in the choice of incidents , which must be true in principle rather than in f act , in accordance with the old maxim u le ^ vrai n ' est pas toujours vraisemblable , " rather , the larger truth includes the lesser . To these qualities we must add dramatic art , wlrich consists in recognising and presenting what is essential and typical in a subject . All these _ attributes , and more , combined with an interesting story , go to the production of a good novel ; and , we think , few will hesitate to credit the authoress of the House

    Itaby with the possession of them all . We say the authoress , for we think no doubt can be felt on that subject . This is essentially a woman's book . The dramatic power and the knowledge of character might "belong to a man , but there are certain touches which could only corne from a woman ' s pen ,---indeed we tlrink none but a woman could have painted the two Margarets , —the aunt and the niece—who are the heroines of the book . The story is deeply interesting , sad beyond ordinary sadness , impressive , and even terrible . It is the history of three generations of the House of Raby , over -which there hangs the fatal curse , more awful than the Nemesis of Grecian Tragedy , and like it only to be appeased by the extermination of the doomed race , —hereditary insanity . The different developments of this mysterious and fearful malady are drawn with melancholy truth ; but the authoress is too much an artist to fall into the repulsive error of that degraded school which seeks power in the display and elaboration of mere moral or physical disease . We shall not attempt to sketch the story ; but shall rather devote all the space we can afford to such extracts as may be intelligible in themselves .

    Lord Carleton has married—too weak to obey the stern command of Fate which forbade his race the enjoyment of the sweet , domestic sympathies granted to happier men . The curse is creeping on him , creeping on his infant son . He s « es his wife has a suspicion of it , — he is broken-hearted for the wrong he did in marrying her , and fancies she must hate him as the author of her child ' s misfortune . He resolves to confess all to her . How pathetic is the situation —judge if the treatment be not equally so ! " How little we rnen know of women , till we put theix deepest feelings to the proof ! I told my story with a presentiment that she , having before suspected part of it , had changed the love she once had for me into something like contempt and personal dialike . I had got this idea during tho late perils of the child , whose existence was scarcely more precious to her than his wonderful mental endowments .

    " I did not look at her during all that painful confession . At length I ceased , with words somewhat like these : — And now , Caroline , you know what I have done , and -what a curse I have brought upon you!—I do not talk to you any more as a husband . I claim no love , no duty from you ! You were deceived in me ; you loved a noblo and true man , not one who could allow himself to bo guilty of a cheat , and make you and > those dearest to you its victims V " He paused a moment and glanced towards me ; then looked away again , into the distance , aa if something attracted , his attention thore . Then ho resumed speaking , thus : " Hastings , I hardly know how to tell you what followed , it is bo sacred and dear to my lionrt I—Still , you ought to know . You shall kno-w how strong and Holf-sacrifichig ' a more woman' — a beauty' — ' a woman of fashion' aa she ia ¦ called , can bo !—Not one of tho lofty moral principled women , mark you 1 And that without an effort—for it was without an effort . Oh , thank God 1 it came spontaneously ! It wub not done upon a . principle , !

    u She interrupted mo with outstretchod arms . She drew mo towards her I She could not sponk For tears ; but her kisses wore ahoworod on my cold hands and fevered brow-, —on this insensible hair oven , through which her lingers -wandered nervously , while overcome with my own feeling and hers , I rested my head on her bosom . Ihon Blie whispered fomd epithets in low broken tones ; each word simple—exaggerated , as it would sound in other cars , was a cordial to me j for I whh faint aud sick with tho solitude of my own remorseful heart , and its chilling four thnt there was hencofortn no swoot love for mo on this ourth . —It was n blosuod thing to clasp her in my arms onco more 1 To feel that bIvo loved me , in spito of nil !—I » ald ho ;—and it was then her true womanly soul flashed forth . — Sho hold mo back from her , and looking into my facewith a gruvoloving smilo , mud :

    , , ut Frederick I I hoo thevo ivro many ways of loving , and loving well . I havo my way , ns well oh grander and wiser folku . I toll you truly , na tmro na you hold me now , bo Huro U it tlint I rqjolco witli all my » oul that 1 am your wife ! I am too hnppy to have tioinothinjr to b « ur for your Hnko ;—too happy to bo ho bound to you that all tho « owor » of thla world , not even your own will , could sot mo froo again I * nm deeply glad to havo added , hh you any I have added , to your happinoa »;—fi lft ( l » ovonin tho darkest depth of our affliction , to bo permitted to slmro it with you . Gl » d

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 2, 1854, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02121854/page/16/