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    118 The Leader and Saturday< Anal yst. L...

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    sistency that are rare, we can cordially...

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    . . SERIALS. . : '¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦" . . ¦ . . .;...

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    LETTER FROM ITALY. (SPKCIAL.) K THE l'Ai...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    118 The Leader And Saturday< Anal Yst. L...

    118 The Leader and Saturday < Anal yst . L b- ' 4 , 1 S 60 .

    Sistency That Are Rare, We Can Cordially...

    sistency that are rare , we can cordially recommend Mr . Iiolhiig shead's book . .

    . . Serials. . : '¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦" . . ¦ . . .;...

    . . SERIALS . . : ' ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦" . . ¦ . . . ; . THE Universal Review ( No . 12 ;) comes out this month in considerable force . There is a really good article on Father Pi-out , and the old Ffaserians , though on the hitter we could tell the reviewer much more than lie ha 3 set down . There is also some minute criticism on what is called " "Verbal Landscape Painting , " in Mrs . Browningr and other poets , ' which is not altogether bad ; and there is a really careful review of Lord Macaiilay , to which we may add a clever paper oft Charles Kingsley . The number commences with an elaborate differential essay on the characters of Stephenson and Brunei , and their respective engineering undertaking , which requires to be read slowly and attentively , and will rewsu-. l the student for his pains . —BlacTctcood -continues " Norman Sinclair , " "The Luck of Ladysmede , " and " Fleets and Navies ;" and ablyadvocates " the diffusion of taste among- all classes , " as " a national necessity . " Good news this for Mr . Qttle ' y , and the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts , which we are pleased to perceive is rapidly progressing . The didactic poem on " St . Stephen ' s" improves on acquaintance . The second part describes Fox , Pitt , Bnrke and Wilberforce , with great poetic discrimination . There is , of course , a political article . It is on " France and Central Italy , " hut is at least three weeks after time . — -Fraser , more judiciously , in its political article , proceeds specnlatively , aiid takes tims by the forelock . It proposes a reform of the House of Lords , as rendered necessary by the impending- refornh of the Commons ' Hoitse . It opens , however , with an ethical ¦¦ . article , on " going up " and " coming down" —recommend ing the latter rather than the former to those who are struggling with fortune ^ In fact , the writer illustrates his case by reference to . Mr . I ? .. H . Home , the author of " Orion , " who " shook from his feet the dust of Britain" rather than " come down . " We do not think the

    reference quite iairi especially as the writer confesses lie knows nothing of the poet , or his' truly fine epic . There is , also , anotlier paper on Mi \ Collier , in which the writer insists on the Old Corrector ' s alterations- being fabrications , and casts divers aspersions on . Mr- Collier ' s literary character , as it seems , most uiideservedly to us . The remainder of the number is of great merit . —The jirt-Journal is illustrated this ' . month with Le Jeune ' s Liberation of the Slaves , and 'Carlo Maratti ' s Virgin and Child . Foley's Statue of Caractacus also makes a splendid engraving . The literary matter is exceedingly good . —The Eclectic has a serious article on Revivals . The number is , on the whole , meritorious . — - The monthly record of Recreative Science is satisfactory , and the JEvaZishwoman ' s Journal contains some creditable essays . —The

    second number of the CornJiill Magazine equals its predecessor in interest and ability . The opening paper , "Nil nisi Bonum , " treats the memory of Washington Irving aiid Thackeray in a genial and reverent manner . A short but truly beautiful poem , entitled . ' ¦ ' Tithonus , " is contributed by the Poet Laureate : and some Essays upon the Life of . Hogarth have been comiuencetl by Mr . Saljv—that in the present number is delightfully written , and promises well for the series ; characteristically enough , however , it contains little about Hogarth , and a great deal upon other subjects . Two good articles , " Studies in Animal Life , " and " Invasion Panics , " also deserve notice . —MdmnillarisMagazine ( No . Ill ) contains an excellent article , by the Rev . F . D . Maurice , on Lord Macaulay ; and Mr , F . Lushington writes on the subject of Arctic Enterprise , with

    judgment and knowledge . In the political article there are some sensible remarks concerning Italy , and the interest which England must have in the ovei'throw of the Papacy . The poetical and literary contributions to the number are all . of remarkable excelleiico .-T-The serial with" the strange title , One of Them ( No . III . ) , by Mr , Lever , sustnins the interest of the tale with vigour ; the description of the Hector ' s dinner party is capital .-r-The Leisure Jffour has reached its ninety-seventh monthly part—a success fairly earned by the pains bestowed upon it by its editors and contributors ; the engravjjngs , also , are excellent : one , in particular , a poi - trnit of Dr . Livingstone , . is-a most highly finished work . —if ? Follet presents it 8 usual engravings , coloured and plain , and explanatory letter-press , with some literary varieties calculated to atmiBC .

    Letter From Italy. (Spkcial.) K The L'Ai...

    LETTER FROM ITALY . ( SPKCIAL . ) K THE l'AiPAI . NKWSrAl'KU PKKSS . Rome , 24 th January , I 860 . AT Rome there is no public life . There nro no public events to nnrralc , no party politics to comment , on . ISvents , indeed , will qeour , and politics will exist , even in this host regulated of countries ; but as all narration of the one and all jxinnifeotation of the otlver nro equally interdicted , for press purposon , neither events nor politics exist . To one who knows the wear and tear of the London

    the greatest mystery of all . Even the genius of Mr . Dickens was never able to explain satisfactorily to the readers of " Nicholas Nickleb . v " why Squeebs , who never taught anything and never intended anything to be taught at Dotheboys' Hall , thought it necessary to engage an usher , to teach nothing ; and exactly in the same way it is '" an insoluble problem why the Papal Government , which never tells anything , and never intends anything to be told , should publish papers in order to tell nothing . The greatest minds , however , are not exempt , from error , and it must be to some hidden flaw in the otherwise perfect pontifical system that the existence of newspapers in the sacred city is to be attributed . The marvel of his own being must be to the Roman journalist a subject of constant contemplation . ' ¦ ' ... '' . ¦ There is the

    The press of Rome boasts of three papers . GWnale diRomd , the J ) iario Romano , aiid , last and least , the Vero Amico del Pppolo . The three " organs of papal opinion " bear a suspicious resemblance to each other . The Diary is a feehle reproduction of the Journal , and the Teopte ' s True Friend is a yet feebler compound of the two . In fact , the Giornale di Roma is the only one of the Jot that has the least pretence to the name of a paper . It is indeed the official paper , the London Gazette of ' Borne . It consists of four pages , a little larger in size than those of the Leadkb , and with about as much matter altogether as is contained in two of your pag-es . The type is delightfully large , and the spaces between the lines are really pleasant to look at . Next to a Roman journalist , the position cf a Roman compositor must be the plea-Fautest in the newspaper world . Things are taken-very easily here , and the Journal never appears till six o ' clock at night , so that' editors and printers can take their leisure and be in bed betimes . There is no issue on Sundays and feast days , whieh occur about once or

    twice a week . This ideal journal , too , has no fixed price . The case of any one being impatient enough for news to buy a single number seems hardly to be contemplated . The yearly subscription is seven scudi , which comes to about five farthings a number ; but fora single copy the agent here has the impudence to ask half a Paul , or twopence halfpenny . This , however , must be regarded as a fiiney priee , as . single copies are not an article in demand . Suppose , for the sake of argument , there was an ' . 'English newspaper at Rome , let us consider for a moment what would be its summary of contents , this 'day on . 'which I write . Putting aside foreign topics altogether , what might one naturally , suppose woviltl be the Roman news ? There is the revolution in the Romagna;—if

    private reports are hot altogether false there is insurrection in the Marches ; there is the question of the Congress , the policy of the Papal Government , the rumoured departure of the Frenqh troops . the state of the adjoining kingdoms , ' the movements of the pontifical army , and . the promised Papal reforms . Add to all this there is the recent mysterious murder , about which all kinds of private rumours are in circulation . The little that I know , or think I know , about any of these matters— -all of vital interest to Roman subjects—I know either from vague report or from the English or French papers . Suppose , however , that I am a Roman citizen , and either understand no foreign language , which is extremely probable , or else have no means of catching- a glimpse of foreign papers , which is more probable still : what in this case should I learn from my sole source of

    information ; my Giornale di Roma , about my own ' city and my own country , on this * 9 th of January , in the year of grace 1860 ? The first fact brought before my eager gaze on taking up the paper would be that yesterday was the feast of St . Peter ! s diair . Solemn \ n « ss was , I learn , performed in the cathedral in the presence of" our Lord ' s holiness , " and a Latin oration pronounced in honour of the sacred chair . After the ceremony was over , it seems that the Senator of Rome , Marquis Mattei , presented an address to the Pope , with a copy , of which I am kindly favoured . The Senator in his own name and in that of his colleagues declares that " if at all times devotion to the Pontiff and loyalty to his Sovereign was the intense desire of his heart ,, it is more ardent to-day than ever , since he only re-echoes the sentiment of the whole Catholic world , which with wonderful unanimity proclaims its veneration for the nug-ust

    FaUier of the faithful , and offers itself as a shield to Die Sovereign of Rome . " He adds that " his mind revolts from those fallacious maxims , which some persons try to insinuate into the- feeble minds of Die people , throwing- doubts on the incontestable rights of the Church , and that ho looks \ yith contempt on such intrigues , " A * . however , the Senator and his colleagues are nominees of the Pope , I feel sceptical as to the value of their opinion , Tho next paragraph tells mo , that in order to testily their devotion to tho papacy , the inhabitants of Rome illuminated their houses last night in honour of tho feast . Unfortunately , I happened to walk out yesterduy evening-, and observed that the lumps were very few and fur between , while in the only illuminated . house I entered , I found tho proprietor grumbling at tho expense which the priests had instated ou his incurring 1 . I havo then a whole column about the proceeding * at

    the " Propaganda" on tho festival of tho Epiphany . Tho Archbishop of Thebefl . I rejoice to learn , " excited tho pupila of tho academy to ^ nutate ( ho virtues manifested in tho Magi , by an appropriate homily , drawing 1 a striking parallel between tuosiinplioity , thofaiith , and tlto honesty of tho three kings , and the . djtabeliehuid hypocrisy ot tho kicked King 1 HnitOD—X wondev if I have cvor heard of Hkuod midor « inoro modorn nanio , luid pnss on to u passage written ^ in italicH to attract my ppcciul nttontjum . 'J'ho " Propayanda" mowtiiitf is , I am informed , "< t \ noble Bpoctnole , which Uovno nlouo can oifor to the world—that Rome which Otov has inado the cnpitnl of Ilia immortal Kingdom , " This concludes the whole of jny domestic intclliyuHio—all that J Know , or am to know , about the ytnto ofmy own country .

    presa—to whom the vory name of a nowspapor recalls Into hours and interminable reports , despatches and telegrams , proof-shoots , purlinmototary debates , and police jntolligen , co , loading" articles and corvof ^ pomdonts' letter ** , a very series of Sisyphean labours without ro » tor end—to suoli an one tho position of tho Roman joumaliHt soonis a haven of poaop—tlio . niofit dolightful of all . sinccurefl . Thoro are ninny mystcrH'S indeed about tho Roninn prosfl . Who writes or composes I bo pnpers \» a iny » tcry ; who vcads or purcliascs them is , perliups , a ffroator inystt'iy ; but tho \ Gry ihet oiMtlioir exiatenco is

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04021860/page/18/