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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd March 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 17, V March 33 I860.] TheLeader and Saturday...

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      Seiuals. Nlackwood This Month Concludes ...

      an eloquent paper on Maclise ' s Illustrations to " The Princess , and another , by a Country Parson , on the religious aspects of the Laureates productions . The latter proves-that , in the highest sense , Tennyson is a religious poet . The provocative to his remarks are certain stnetures ot M . Emile Montegut , who has regarded our poet ' s works . from a French poiht of view , and one not altogether favourable to a just decision . Yet he has hit on a truth or two . Thus / he tells us that Tennyson s genius has a predilection for " heroism in reverie rather than heroism in action ; and that he paints woman not as a whole but in details ; seizing some iaiice evanescent work of

      delicate play of expression , some passing g , some light and shadow upon a golden curl , some bend of the neck , or . some attitude of beauty . " The French critic attributes this habit to the fugitive character of English beauty , which is the least classical and most romantic in the world . Tennyson ' ladies , he says , are" all smiles , all melancholy , or all caprice ; Claribel is a shadow ; Lilian , a peal of laughter ; Mariana , a melancholy look ; Isabel , an attitude . " The number contains also a powerful poe ' Atherstone , on " The River turned into Blood , and another paper on Victor Hugo ' s " La Legen . de des Siecles . " " The Season Ticket" is concludecl . and " The Club-Table" continued . The latter includes ¦

      brief notices of books . . . We trust the Universal Review , which possesses more than nominal claims to its title , and which has now lived through twelve months , will grow , ifdiot in bulk , at least in vigour and in favour with the public . The Cornhill Magazine for March contains , noticeable among its contents , a few words on Junius and Macaulay ; the National Gallery difficulty solved ; and Student Life in Scotland . . " William Hogarth , " " Studies in Animal Life , " " Framley Parsonage , " aud " Lovel the Widower , " are continued . The Eclectic , with its average number of well-chosen and ably written reviews and notices of books , contains a good paper oil Macaulay . The Englishiooman ' s Jonrnat opens with statistics as to the employment of the Women of Great Britain . The inquiry . is comprehensive and well conducted . We can with pleasure recommend a journal such as this , ¦ whose pages are highly entertaining and instructive , and devoted mainly arid with no lack of ability to the social , moral , and intellectual

      advancement of Englishwomen . ' The Working Men ' s College Magazine is . a cheap and useful serial , devoted , as its' name implies , to subjects of special interest and advantage to working men . But though it is called tlieir _ college magazine , it is evidently suited " , and ought to attract the attention of mechanics generally , ' who , from sundry causes , are not associated with Working Men s Colleges . We niention this to prevent any misconception as to the contents of the magazine , and to point out that it contains something more than a registry of the pursuits and progress of the students . In the January and current numbers are papers by T . R . Bennett , M . A ., Barrisect of TradesUnions

      ter-at-Law , which throw much light on the subj ' and Strikes . The origin and objects of these institutions are dwelt upon , and , though the best systems and societies are liable to be , abused-and to require ref o rm , we believe that if " Trades' Unions" were better understood and more prudently managed , their objects would be accomplished with more advantage to the men connected with them , and to the emintry at large . These papers are ably written , and supply the requisite information on a question that has recently been agitated with considerable pertinacity arid some ignorance , attended by more serious consequences than ever before . Other papers , of a popular kind , entitle the Workiny Men ' s College Magazine to a fair share of public support , and strongly recommend it to those for whom it is specially intended .

      The Ladies' Treasury admirably sustains its character as a ladies treasury . The illustrations are , as usual , varied and good , and the contents truly excellent . No . I . ( February ) of The Piccadilly Papers contains an elaborate paper on " the great increase of the public expenditure ; its causes , and how to check it . " It is the first of a series of good promise . Messrs . Longman and Co . have issued the second and third parts of the people ' s edition " of the Memoirs , Journal , and Correspondence of Thomas Moore , edited and abridged from the first edition by Lord John Russell . The ton parts in which these memoirs , ike , are to be completed will contain eight portraits and two vignettes engraved on steel . The socond part has a portrait of the noble and talented editor . It is supcrflupus to add that the life and correspondence of Moore arc most , interesting reading . ' Messrs , " Chapman and Hull lvnvo issued the fourth number of the talc entitled One of Them , by Charles Lever . It progresses plonsaivtly .

      The Spiritual Magazine progresses , and maintains its conflict with objectors , Mr . Grant and Mr . Dickens lreing the two who cause most excitement . ' Mr . Harris ' s extraordinary discourses command much attention ; and some details are given of "Spiritualism among the Mormons , " and " Spiritualism at the Tuilerios , " which arc very properly registered , and should doubtless awaken reflection . Mr . Howilt seems to consider tliftf tlio manifestations ho advocates are the only means existing of confounding Materialism . We may add , that it js only the materialist who can need such proofs ; the truly spiritual believer has long ago transcended tho necessity for such evidence ., and attained to a certainty which they can never supply .. Philosophy will nevertheless do well to examine into the phenomena , which wo may reasonably suppoao havo a scientific ground , and may be referred to intelligible causes . Tho Aj't-Jaumal for the current month contains , from the royal" collections at Windsor , Dresden and Osborne , beautiful engravings of tho celebrated pioturoa of " The Misors , " " Madonnadi San Sieto , " and " The Cow-keeper . "

      Once a Week contains , amongst othor things equally entertaining and cleverly illustrated , " Evan Harrington f or , Ho would l > o a Gontloman , " continued , « A Clerical Captain / ' " Cost of Cottages , " by Harriet Martineau , and " Brihory and Corruption , " by Albany Fonblanquo . Tho very valuable and coinprobousivo Eng lish CyvlojwUa of Arta an # Sciences , . published by Messrs . Bradbury and IS van ' s , has reached its fourteenth part . ' Rocrnativo Sclonco , a monthly record nnrt romoiubrAnpor of intoUoctuul observation ' , possesses real intrinsic vnlm ; , the best of all recommendations any mngaxino or serial can havo to public attention . It certainly lunkos BOlonco attractive nnd ontcrtaining ; its prominent olmrnotorlstic being « n

      endeavour to blend in its pages the charms of Poetry with the truths of Science . ., There , is great care , shown by the conductors of Kingston ' s Magazine for Boys to instruct while they amuse its youthful readers , and this mustj therefore , be . . its chief recommendation to those for whom it is specially intended . N ^ s . 25 and 2 G of Blac & ie ' s Comprehensive History of India come to the charges against Clive in 1772 . It is a . most valuable history , and beautifully illustrated . We have received the eighth part of" Plain or Ringlets , " which story is told with a good deal of wit and spirit , under a title that is evidently curious and interesting to the majority of fair readers whom nature has adorned with rich and profuse locks . For the particularity of the story , however , and how things turn and persons behave , we must refer our readers to the book itself , that they may enjoy the author ' s own manner

      of telling it . Le Follet for March , a journal du grand monde , is , as . usual , learned in Fashion , and elegantly illustrated . We notice that Part II . of Cassell ' s Pojmlar Na : iiiral History is just published . :.

      V March 33 I860.] Theleader And Saturday...

      V March 33 I 860 . ] TheLeader and Saturday ' Analyst . 213

      Foreign Coreesp'ondbxxce. (Special.) Pak...

      FOREIGN COREESP ' ONDBxXCE . ( special . ) Pakis , 29 th February , 1860 . T HERE is no city in Europe where it is so difficult to procure reliable intelligence as to political movements and intentions as in Paris , although perhaps ut the present moment there is no other city from which so many movements emanate , or where intentions arc more significant . It lias been often-observed , in one of- those terse saying's which Louis XIV . brought into fashion by his ¦ " L'Mtat . cesfihoi , " that Prance is Paris j and this might be further condensed to the effect . that . . Paris * is ¦[ the Tuileries ; for assuredly there is the Olympus of the French mythology of the day ; where they used to bake tiles , they now forge thunderbolts , a more aiurust * bat at the same time more dangeixms process .

      However , as I was saying , the manufacture is conducted with so innch secrecy , that it is no easy matter to discover what is aetually going 1 on . Of course there is an abundant supply of canards to makeup for the want of certain news , and we are startled by constant and alarming '' rumours , which do great credit to the ingenious versatility of the person . or persons by whom they are fabricated . There is an amusing play now being-performed ' at the Thantre des Varieles , in ¦ - ¦ which M . Bloxdix , tlie lhythical personage whom the American newspapers represented as having crossed , the Falls of Niagara , is introduced . in the middle of his hypothetical exploit surrounded by a perfect swarm of cluHs . It seems to me that what little appetite there is in Paris . fbv politics , is . ' forced to satisfy , itself with this same ornitholoarical food , which , like Sam Weller ' s

      muffins , is very filling at . the price . In England , all these false rumours are attributed to the hunger of the pehny-a-liner , with whom the wish is lather to the thought , and who argues that if this or that terrific event is not ; true , why it ought'to be , which is almost the same . They order this matter 'bet .. tor in France , as Sterne said , and the penny-a-liner tribe is as vigorously persecuted , or rather prosecuted , as its worst enemies could desire : here " the dude" no longer finds its eleniont in columns of newspapers , though , heaven knows , the columns ' of the French journals are watery enough for a much larger bird . Mow astonishud an Englishman would be to find by the side of the two matutinal eggs that miserable and attenuated sheet which in this country presumes to call itself a newspuper ! There is about as . ' much playful irony in culling these productions news-pnyevs , as in desig-nating 1 Tcwmi ' v lucubrations us philosophy . " _ ' ... _ ¦ '

      _ ... . . J have before mo a Paris daily paper , TJOplmoii j \(( l / onal ( n singularly inapproprinta name , by the way ) , which is _ a very , failspecimen " of its class j and what does it contain ? It is the sisce of a sheet of tlio Times , nnd has four sides , one of which is entirely devoted to advertisements , so that only three ijro available for tho writers . There is no attempt at fair criticism' of events , and the only sign of individuality that can bo clotcdod from ono end to tho other , is n , little feeble vituperation of" Austria . Otherwise , it is a moro cpllcction of odds nnd ends—the despatch of H . TnouvKNF . t , quotations of tho Bourse , lengthy extracts from treaties , and tho ( iorrospondonoe of IS ' a . i'oleox I . relative to tho Pontifical territory , n tedious critique on some conceits , in pluco of tho fouillctou , which is trencrally composed of a chapter of n , novel ; and then tho

      remaining spaco is filled up with little scraps from foroign newspnpers . For cxainiilc , the KngliHh intolligenco is niorel y n curt extract from the Morning JPo . st . Altogether , a moro dismal document you could not conceive , unless it bo ' tho London Gazette or tho Court Circular . There was n paragraph in Lo Nord of Monday last which ( unused mo oonsidcrubly , and ifc hjjows what Horfc of notion is entertained oven now of o ' nr own country . Tlio writer congratulates England on having ; ouclorHed tlio commercial treaty with Franco , and tliom proceeds to hope that it is an onion on tho part of England that aho is commencing a now and moro humane policy ; nnd that for tho future sho will not think it nocoHsary to ruin othor nations , aitxl disturb tho peace of the world , in order to procure her own aggTiindiwornoiitw This is tolerably cool .

      The question by which public focliiiK is chiefly agitajed in not sq much the treaty of commerce , or oven the annexation , as tho problem of the papal territory , nnd what will b

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1860, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03031860/page/17/