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Leader (1850-1860), 6th March 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 17

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      March 6, 1852.3 The Leader. 829

      March 6 , 1852 . 3 THE LEADER . 829

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      N^T^S Are Not The Legislators, But The J...

      n ^ t ^ s are not the legislators , but the judges and police . of literature . They do not orwoa « laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

      Thomas Moore Is Dead. A-Long, Active, Su...

      Thomas Moore is dead . A-long , active , successful * happy life , closed quietly and gentiy in its seventy-third spring . To the public he had been dead for many years , although his Melodies and pleasant verses lived in every house ; he had so completely withdrawn himself from the noisy current of our daily life , that his final withdrawal from life itself is scarcely an event , none but those immediately connected with him can consider it a loss . ' His place in our literature has long been definitely settled . Few dispute his position . His beauties are obvious , his pretensions moderate , his faults inoffensive . He was not a great poet , but he was , and will be ,

      a great favourite ; and the secret of his success has been expressed , we think , in the se felicitous words , taken from the finely-written essay in the Times of Monday : — " Most musical , most happy was his genius , and music and joyousness are careering in almost every syllable that he spoke . " This it is tha t makes even the fastidious pardon the tinsel which captivates the vulgar eye with its glitter : under the tinsel a heart is beating ; the spangles and rouge , and false taste * and false sentiment , are worn with an air of irrepressible gaiety , of delicate sensibility , and of pervading pleasureableness . Tears and laughter—genuine both , though neither

      deeplie near the surface of his childlike nature . His verse had one great merit —it went , straight as an arrow , to the common heart . This also is the great success of our great humorist , Dickens , who this month opens wide the doors of Bleak House , inviting us to enter . Before these lines reach you , you have read the whole number , —thought the description of the fog laboured , and not effective ; rubbed your hands , at the prospect of Dickens " working" the colossal nuisance of Chancery ,

      recognised Sir Leicester Dedlock ' s British portrait , got a glimpse of the mystery lying beneath the calmness of his wife , enjoyed that " bit" of the small boy with his head through the railings , and the " person in pattens " who was « poking the child from belqw with a broom— -I don't know with what object , and I don't think she did "—and thoroughly appreciated Mrs . Jellyby and her " telescopic philanthropy . " It is something to look forward to each month , " with the Magazines . "

      The Magazines this month are not peculiarly ^ striking . Fraser opens with a review of Roebuck ' s History of the Whigs , fairly done , but too gentle on the book ' s pervading pettishness ; the admirable review of Sir James Stephen ' s Lectures is continued ; as also Digby Grand ' s amusing autobiography , and Kingsley ' s ambitious , but somewhat wearisome , Hypatia . The new series , under the title of Horce Dramaticee , by a renowned wit and scholar , will , we hope , better sustain his reputation in its succeeding papers : the drama he this month analyses has only the interest of curiosity . The notes on the State and Prospects of France are written by " one having authority , " and are very interesting .

      Tait takes up the Sanitary Question in its opening article , Preventible Death j and the Law of Partnership in another article . The Letter to Lady Bulwer Lytton is right in spirit , but a little too harsh in form ; even her forgetfulness of her sex , and licence of expression , should not have tempted the writer into so angry a reply . From this article we learn that Lady Lytton is incensed against us , because an advertisement account was sent in from our publisher ' s to her for payment—a proceeding which she construes into an " insult . "

      The third number of the British Journal exhibits decided improvement ; very pleasant is Mr . Cole ' s South African Incidents ; Angus Reach assaults a Dozen Giants in truculent style ; Mrs . Cowden Clarke continues to discourse on Sympathy with Unknown Peoples and Frank Fairleigii continues his story . While touching upon periodicals , let us notice the appearance of The Scottish Athenaeum , which contains a long poem by Alexander Smith , called The Page and the Lady , and niggard must be the lover of poetry who would not gladly give his threepence for that remarkable poem , as luxuriant in imagery as anything written by the young Keats .

      Louis Blanc's Third Volume Of The Revolu...

      Louis Blanc ' s third volume of the Revolution Francaise , which promises to be his finest work , is out at last ; we shall notice it at length on some future occasion : meanwhile , we may direct attention to its new facts and new views , gathered in the course of patient research , especially in our invaluable collection of the British Museum . Louis Blanc undertakes to prove that EaALi'riJ was not at the bottom of those conspiracies with which his name has been associated , but that the real culprit was the Comte do PitovicNCK , afterwards Louis XVIII .

      Barante has also published his third volume ofthe Histoire de la Convention Nationule , wjiich . conies down to the epoch of Carrier , at Nantes . 1 iKiuiis Lehoux , who is now an exile in London , is about to deliver a course of lectures on the History of Socialism ; tho interest of the subject the curiosity felt for tho man , and his own remarkable tahjnt for exposition * will doubtless attract good audiences . Pierre Leroux has not only the necessary erudition for tho task , ho has also the prestige of having intimatel y known the modern Socialists .

      Among the pleasant books recently published in France , let us mention AitstiNis Houssaye ' s volume of stories , Les Filles d'JEve , very piquant and French in its treatment ; and Lkon Gozlan's history of a hundred and

      thirty women , Le Niagara , wherein a Frenchman ' s knowledge of things English is illustrated as usual .

      An Attempt Is Made, Under Very Favourabl...

      An attempt is made , under very favourable auspices , to establish an incorporation of the craft of authorship . Such an incorporation as that set forth in the prospectus among . our advertisements , is needed , not for the cultivation of literature or art—corporations have never favoured either letters or art- —but for securing the personal welfare of men devoted to either . The agency is not invited in the desire for the growth of art , but in the desire to establish a means of personal benefit t suited to the social condition in which we live , and to the relation which members of either craft cannot avoid with trading operations . As it is , authors and artists are as helpless as any other of the working classes , who are busy , disunited ,

      and not familiar with commercial transactions . The want of co-operation and organization is very generally felt . A literary man cannot sign a legal document without being reminded that he has no legal professional designation ; and probably he falls back , upon the term " gentleman , " which has in law language a signification different from the herald ' s . In the Athenaeum Institute is an incorporation which would supply the desired professional status . The scheme also includes a provident fund for old age , a benefit fund for temporary need , an educational fund , a machinery for protecting the interests of the profession , and a plan of insurance in

      connexion with an office already established and enjoying a high character By the project , the member would enjoy large benefits , certain or contingent , at a cost comparatively trifling . In the distance looms a common hall , with " chambers , " for the convenience of members ; in short , an Inn of Literature . The enterprise can be made certainly successful by the prompt co-operation of literary men and artists . It already is favoured with support from more than one distinguished man ; its pledged adherents belong to all parties—or rather , in this brotherhood of the craft , to no party ; its success is promised in the excellent spirit with which it starts .

      Science And Scriptube. The Relation Betw...

      SCIENCE AND SCRIPTUBE . The Relation between the Holy Scriptures and some Farts of Geological Science . By John Pye Smith , D . D . Fifth Edition . With short Sketch of the Literary Life of the Author . By J . Hamilton Davies , B . A . ( Bohn ' s Scientific Library . } H . Gr . Bonn . ¦ *^ Science versus Scripture : the grand struggle of the world lies there ! For three centuries , with ever-increasing velocity , the minds of men have been irresistibly drawn to this conclusion ; and since the discoveries of positive science carry with them the inestimable and convincing privilege of demonstration , so that men in vain endeavour to resist them , the last refuge of theology has been to reconcile these discoveries with the precise language of Scripture . The inarch of science has been a rapid conquest ; and affrighted theology sees its most formidable enemy gradually assuming its place in men ' s minds . The fanatical theologian , thunders against science ; the theologian , whose candour and sagacity prevent his thus condemninar human inquiry , and rejecting ascertained truths , tasts

      his ingenuity to reconcile to his own mind the palpable contradiction between Genesis and Lyell ' s Elements . One of these candid and truly religious minds was Dr . Pye Smith , whose work on geology and Scripture , Mr . Bohn has recentl y issued in in his Scientific Library . Five editions testify to the popularity of this book . We should be glad to hear of five more , for it is an admirable treatise , handling a delicate and all-important topic , interesting m it 3 details , and , above all , interesting for the candour , philosophy , and high moral tone it displays . Wo have read no such work on the orthodox side . If we cannot but regard it as most destructive of that very orthodoxy it candid statement in

      is written to support , the reason is , that no can , our opinion , have any other tendency ; and this work is so candid , that we are content to let the cause be judged by its own showing . There are four distinct topics treated , in this volume . I . A defence of the study of science , and the acceptance of its conclusions—a defence rendered necessary by the vehement denunciations of theologians , whose instinct told them truly when it told them to dread science as their merciless destroyer . II . A statement of the principal contradictions between the express language of Scripture and the irresistible conclusions of geology . III . A refutation of the various attempts to " reconcile " tUosfi statements bv declaring the language to be metaphorical—e . g ., that

      a " day" moans an epoch of thousands of years . IV . Dr . bmith a own proposal for adopting tho statements in Genesis to modora viows . We loavo tho nrsfc-mentionod topic untouched . Tho other three shall be briefly examined . Dr . Smith givoi 3 up tho notion of Edon as a general contre ot creation : " It is not Geology nioroly , but other branches of Natural History , that are contradicted by this interpretation of tho Scriptures . Tho fossil remains , whether animal or vegetable , which arc found embedded in tho strata of different formations , aro in general spread over a largo surface ; especially ho , as wo go buck to tho earlier clauses of rocks : but tho extent of surface is limited , in both latitude

      and longitude . This also is tho case in the most striking manner , with respect to the present distribution of tlm earth ' s vogotablo , and , aniinal tenantry ; tho condition to which tho subject before ua precisely refers . Edon , tho region occupied by the first human pair , und tho animals and plants associated with them , provided for their use , and subjected to their dominion , was in tho lincst part of tho temperate zone . Tho persons who implicitly receive the opinion juHt-montionod , lmvo perhaps never asked themsolves how animals , which the Creator has formed with tho most preciso and perfect adaptations to widely different ¦ conditions of habitation , could subsist , oven for a few days , in or around the original paradise t or , if this difficulty bo evaded , by a presumptuous evocation of miracles , or some otlior arbitrary mipposition , tho further inquiry presents itself , by what means the respective racos , whethor progenitors or descendants , could make their wuy to congenial olimoe ; eoino to tho regions of florco equatorial hont , others to thoHQ of

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031852/page/17/