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    ^ ocn T^.i^l THE LEADER. 639

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    fttmittttt-^

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    H^*W is mainly biographical this month, ...

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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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    ^ Ocn T^.I^L The Leader. 639

    ocn T ^ . i ^ l THE LEADER . 639

    Fttmittttt-^

    fttmittttt-^

    -*^^^^^

    - *^^^^^

    H^*W Is Mainly Biographical This Month, ...

    H ^* W is mainly biographical this month , three of the six literary articles whi h moke , np the number being devoted . to the lives of Chables the tan / CmmEU BeJ , and Sir Ciiakles Napieb . Of these articles the most intcrestinK is that on Gubbeb Bell , which is marked throughout by clear , vigorous writing critical insight , and fine sympathy . A rare power of subtle yet sympathetic analysis gives freshness and originality to the writer ' s treatment of a well worn subject . We have heard and read so much during the last three months about Miss Bronte , her father and mother , her brother and sisters , her friends and enemies , and everything belonging to her , and all so much in the same strain , that this is really a point of some importance . Many of our readers , in common with ourselves , on seeing an article on Cuiuuui Bell , miolit naturally be disposed to pass it by , in the hope that it must prove the last , and that the critics may be induced at length to forget for a while the literary woman and leave the gentle wife to rest in peace in her early grave . IVe recommend them , however , to-read the article in Blackicood , as it offers a clear and simple explanation of several points which Miss Bkoxte ' s biographer confesses herself wholly unable to explain—the character of Cubrer Bell ' s lather awl of her sister Emily , for example . The latter is very much of a puzzle to all the critics , but we believe , with the writer , that the key to her character is to be found in the fact that , with great powers , she had little ' or no confidence in them , and was , to a great extent , the victim of dcspair . After tracing- the evidence of this deep-rooted hopelessness in her poems , he adds ; -r—Now all this despair ( and we have quoted tints iargely as much to give some examples of a volume little known , as to illustrate the prevailing sentiment ot the more remarkable poems ) is very sad , is very unattractive , and quite unfits one tor social life : it is indeed ruin ; but it is not unamiable . Good Mrs . Gaskell , tvIio Das a firm basis of self-esteem to go upon , and who probably was never troubled in tier life with a doubt as to her own excellent qualities , has no idea of Emily Bronte s reserve proceeding from any other source than indifference and selnshness . Uurrer Bell was not a fool , . ind would never have loved her sister as she did , if that view ot her character were the true one . How tenderly Emily Bronte could feel , how large and steadfast was her heart , these poems and her novel of Wuthenng Heights amply testify . In this latter -frork , too , we find the developed expression of her despairing nature—a hopele ^ ness which paralyzes every power , and is intimately mingled with the most de ^ iy fatalism . Although all the characters are more or less finely conceived- Vnereis onlv one man of yrill and action in the book , and that is Heathclitt , T / no , almost without tl > e slightest exercise of contrivance or power , has only to will , and his will-is executed as by a fate . He is surrounded by people who might easily master him , or who , at all events , might get out of his reach but there they remain motionless where he p laces them , and he has only to say " Dilly , dilly duckling , and thev come to be killed without an effort of resistance . Not that Heathchff is a in-eat m ' an , with much discourse of reason ; he too , like his victims is actuated by a blind fate , ia as helpless and hopeless as the other mortals who he passive m his craap . The whole gloomy tale is in its idea the nearest approach that has been made in our time to the pitiless fatality which is the dominant idea of Greek tragedy . And as if to illustrate the helpless despair which she so grandly conceived , poor Emily Bronte very soon after writing her novel , died to the same dismal tune which inspired its pages . While she was yet dying , she refused all remedy ; she was in the clutches of fate , and fate was fate . Throw physic to the dogs . If she was miserable , why not ? —she was born to misery ; if she was afflicted , why not?—she had only to endure She refused to be comforted , she refused to be nursed ; she bore up with indomitable patience to within two hours of her death ; then she—this simple lass in a lowly parsonage In tho wilds of Yorkshire-laid her head upon her pillow and died like the heroine " of a Grecian tragedy , who willingly approaches the altar when her life is required as a sacrifice to fate . « Severed at last by time s all-severing wave we are reminded of her own beautiful lines , which now there is no loved ono left , sa \ e her father , to repeat over the place of her rest .

    " Cold in the earth , and tho deep snow piled above thee , Far , far removed , cold in tho dreary grave ! Have I forgot , my only love , to love thee , Sover'd at last by time ' s all-severing wave ? Now , when alone , do my thoughts no longer hover Over tho mountains on that northern shore , Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover , Tliy noble heart for over , ever more ? Cold in tho earth—and fifteen wild Decembers From those brown hills have melted into spring : i , vi * i , c , i irwinnd ia tlm anirit . flint remembers .

    After such yenrs of change hiul suffering . " The following pnssngc explains the peculiar fascination which belonged to Miss Brontis herself , and to ( he heroines she delighted to paint : — In The Pntfhtsor , however , na i . i Villettc , and In Jan * / tyrv , sho cnrrlos out her favourito idea of a heroine . In tho general outlino of diameter she in horaelf , in fact , her own heroine . Sho purposely made her horoinoa plain , if not ugly . Deeming tho lovely houria of fiction to bo n niiHtnke , sho said , I will tuko a woman as insignificant and as plain ob myeolf , and I will make her more bowltoliing than tho most romantic of the lino Indies . Sho endowed this ugly Httlo woman with amazing self-control , made her very contont , very gontlo , very neat , and also very delicate ., lull ot strange fancies , morbid likings and dislikes , tho horolno—tho double of Miss Bronte—woh tnc , most matter-of-fact person in tho world . Slio wns always at work , always thinking of duty , never interfering with other people , quiot as n mouse . A good little woman , no doubt . But what waa there so nttraotivo about her ? How wan thia humdrum little oroaturo—this Francos I . Iomi , this Lucy Snowe , thin Jane Kyro , Una Charlotte Bronte—raised into a heroine of romance ? She w . ob not only attractive , oho was fascinating , hecaueo sho had an oyo which nothing oould osonpo . Vory retiring , very diligent , with that wondrous oyo ' of hers sbosuw ovory motive , road every glanco , understood every soul . Powers of observation ao aeutu had , in tho first instance , a fascination UUo tho oyo of a tmsillwk , or llku that which ia attributed to certain Ohinoao und Mormon oxooutfonera . Aniong thoao peoples , one of tho severest punishments ia to sot two men to watch tho culprit night and day—continually they are In his presence , continually their eyes nro fa » touoil upon him , while they novcr open thuii

    mouths . It is torture and madness to the poor sinner . In the same ( way , one might be annoyed or pleased with the close watch and keen insight of Miss ; Bronte and herheroines , but no one could resist the spell of such observation ; and when it was perceived that those brilliant detectives of here were the organs of a mind most loving , most true , and most pure—so pure that one was reminded of the beatitude which declares that the pure in heart shall see God ; the influence ceased to be a mere fascination , an unintelligible attraction—it became regard , and from regard it grew to love . Few readers will he likely to pass by the opening article of the present number— ' New Sea-side Studies , No . II . '—still occupied , like the first , with the marine flora and fauna of the Scilly Isles , interspersed with episodes , sometimes narrative , sometimes archaeological , sometimes personal , but always lively and interesting . Take the following touching Druidisni for example : ¦—Druidical erudition is not common . On probing the recesses of my own . knowledge of this mysterious subject , I found that the principal source of my familiarity with it , „«« tK « nrmra of Norma . For more than twenty years I had reverently followed that

    I splendid priestess Giulia Grisi , and that majestic priest Lablache ; and if to these you add those fragments of undeniable Druidical remains in the persons of the very ancient virgins of the sun , forming the nightly chorus of that opera , little doubt should be thrown on the accuracy of my historical conceptions . With that erudition I had been content . But reaching " Scilly , where the respectable Borlase assured me Druid temples and sacred rock-basins did veritably exist , I was not a little anxious to bring my operatic erudition into direct confrontation with fact . I even cleared my throat tor a pathetic burst of moriam insieme , when I should really stand beside a Tolmen , ana with the mind ' s eye behold my casta diva about to perish , the victim of a superstition which had email sympathy with lovers . , •/ ¦ , ' (• * Following Borlase ' s directions , I soon came upon a towering altitude of stones , m solitary isolation on the shore . A less erudite eye would have seen here nothing but a pile of stones : but the forewarned mind descried in their symmetrical arrangement , ledge upon ledge , crag upon crag , the rude architecture of early days , especially when , we glanced at the stone-hedges ox stone-cottages near at hand , which assuredly were built by human architects , and showed a less symmetneal arr ^ agement than the towering pile . Then , again ; the rock-basins , in which the pure water of heaven was received , who could doubt tb » t < £ tir oval form , and smoothly chiselled sides and bottoms , w ««~ tte " work of man ? If the cairn of stones left vague doubts , these rockbasins veritably -were Druidical remains ; and thus fortified against scepticism , I . indulged in the emotions which naturally accompanied the belief of being in the presence of remnants of a- - great human epoch long since passed away Having indulged in these emotions , and extracted from them all the pleasure they could yield , it was with acquiescent equanimity that I afterwards burned how h-tie probability historical scepticism allowed to these Druidical remains . It appears that the cairns are simp lv cairns , and not temples . The architecture is Natures ; and , ' indeed the forms afe repeated in almost every cairn along the shores Moreover , I hose rock % asinS , which looked so convincingly human in their design and execution , are proved by Science to be the result of the disintegrating action of winds and waters the uniformity of the causes producing that uniformity of result which seemed the betraval of deign . There is something almost pathetic in an acute and erudite man : like Borlase ( a naturalist too , and inventor of the strange worm ^» ch b £ » h » " *» £ Nemertina Borlasia ) , wandering among these rugged rocks , and fi . nding w ' them the traces of an ancient religion ; noticing the oy * l basins , and beheyng then ^ o be human work ; inventing a plausible explanation of their uses , adminn ^ eii dej . gn ^ and feeling a sacred awe in their presence ; whereupon arrives the S ^ ^/*^!^ ' disintegrating explanation , and the whole erudite fabric falls to pieces . Had Borlase . lived hfour Sme , imagine ' the ineffable scorn with which he wou cl have . looked down . upon mv Druidical authority Norma ; yet , you see , he is with all his learning , quite as unveridical as Giulia Grisi , and not half so beautiful If Norma is not a good historical authority , it is at least a delightful one ; and , with Voltaire , I exclaim- ^ " On courr , helas , apres la vente ; Ah , ! croyez-moi , erreur a son merite . "

    The second part of < What will be do with it ? ' fulfils the promise ot the author ' s rejuvenescence given in the first ; but we need scarcely say that in BulwkrLytxon ' s case the renewal of literary youth is not by any means the return of freshness , spontaneity , and power . On the contrary : as his first novel was blase , worldly-minded , conceited , classical , so , faithful to his earliest love to this complexion he again vol . urns . A thorough blast tone may be detected in tho references to women in these two first parts ; classical quotations begin to reappear , and classical notes even lako their place at the foot of the page as of old We must say we don ' t much care for Latin quotations , and classical notes in a novel arc an abomination . We must not forgot to welcome ' Scenes of Clerical Life , No . III . / charming as the previous ones in their delicate insight , perfect truth , and puro English . Frascr is not brilliant this month . The opening letter headed Some further talk about Soot oh Affairs , ' is dull and wearisome talk , ionnaUy garnished rather than enlivened by well-known anecdotes and venerable jokes from the Scottish theological Joa Miller . ' A Chapter on the Sea , seems to promise well , but it is promise rather than performance . The writer evidently acai aooui ^

    feels the subject and knows a good . n , uuv *» »» " - 7 ^ 7 ' ~ paint his emotions and impressions , and so betakes himsoll to the poets tor illustrations . In his quotations , however , the writer omits many ¦ ot Iknnyson ' s iluest references to the sea , especially those in ' Maud which arc amon-stthc most striking in his works . The second paper on Deer is , like iToilSt , full of pleasant gossip and curious history . The < Note , on Canadian Matters , ' which touch on many points of practical interest jut now , arc ffi-nnhic and instruct ive . __ _ , ,..,,,.... „ „„ usual

    • i \ xaJ >« M * UHicMi / j , Moc / azlno holds on its course-. a « ., » V «* £ live of the urtiek-s iu the present number arc continued irom lio las . Ao Co we perhaps ought to add , 1 sixth , that on The Opium TnUHe , w neh is do , lv pcMi ' luntto last month ' s paper on the < Growth o Colic in India The subj . d i « , however , important , and I ho paper a aoaaoimblo nud good ono . The Ate views of tho quarter wo must leave till ni-xt week . The reading of the aMM * ~ a 7 , vl ~ hy Mr . Dii-kkhs , in Si . Mnrti" ^ ^ ttll last Tuesday evening , gave to numb ,,, a welcome W «™* « ™^* £ old friend xCilli a new r » c « , that face boli . ^ hu . mv . j , and ol I au g ' und cherished story told for the llral time iu the living tones ol llio * nio

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 4, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04071857/page/15/