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    No. 394, October 10, 1857.] THIE LEADEB,...

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    -Tl v '4.-. 4— jLufHlUU?. ?

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    Critics are not the legislators, but the...

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    The current number of the Westminster Re...

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    THE REBELLION IN INDIA. The Rebellion in...

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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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    No. 394, October 10, 1857.] Thie Leadeb,...

    No . 394 , October 10 , 1857 . ] THIE LEADEB , 977

    -Tl V '4.-. 4— Jlufhluu?. ?

    literature /

    Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...

    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

    The Current Number Of The Westminster Re...

    The current number of the Westminster Review opens with an article on what may at first sight appear a light and trivial subject : ' Fenaale Dress in 1857 . * So far from being really trivial ,, however , this is rapidly becoming one of our gravest social evils . It is no longer a mere passing caprice of fashion , a temporary eccentricity of taste , but a public nuisance , wliich the persevering satire of Punch and lighter humorists is powerless to abate- For a time we lived in the pleasing hope that the vanishing bonnets and expanding skirts must have natural limits , beyond which the first conditions of their existence could no longer be fulfilled , and that when this point was reached there must be a reaction . But no such reaction is apparent . On the contrary , the bonuets continue to diminish till they have almost reached the mitiimunt visibile , and the dresses to expand till their awful proportions blot out sun

    and sky in the foreground of our social life . [ Female dress is , however , obnoxious to more serious charges than those of vitiated taste , outraged propriety , and violated use , which are , however , in all conscience , sufficiently heavy . It is bad enough that the dress of Englishwomen no longer accomplishes its first end —that it encumbers without clothing the form , so that they encounter wind and storm at once heavy-laden and unsheltered . It is bad enough , again , that to the man of aesthetic mind half the beauty of the world is gone , that he can no longer behold loveliness of form or grace of motion , and that instead of comely matrons and fair maidens he meets now only moving ; heaps of animated haberdashery . Beauty , however , is a vital and pervading essence which can only be effectually extinguished at enormous cost . And the frightful expense of the present tasteless style of dress is , socially considered , its

    gravest offence . In this aspect it becomes a national evil , threatening to destroy the peace and comfort of home , and undermine the very foundations' our domestic life . These swollen dresses require ways of life equally hollow , reputations equally inflated to support them , and if the passion for heavy , tasteless , costly dress continues to increase , our social life will become little better than an enormous wind-bag , soon to be pricked into hopeless collapse by a milliner ' s bodkin or a dressmaker ' ^ needle . The subject is , therefore , quite important enough to arrest the attention of the most dignified journals * and we ai-e glad that the Quarterlies are beginning to take it up . The article in the Westm inster , written with knowledge , spirit , and ability , discusses the subject throughout in an earnest , temperate , practical spirit , as mil be seen from the following extract touching what is literally the greatest evil of the present style : —

    The middle-class man , then , finds his house and garden too small . The dinnertable will not accommodate the old number ; and if a leaf is inserted , the waitingmaid can hardly get round ,- —a process the more difficult from the number of breadths in her skirt , and the extent of stiff cord in her petticoat . The most delicate flowers in the garden are cut off by the ladies' hems as they walk the path , and the little greenhouse is no place for such tragedy queens ; they cannot move without knocking down half a dozen pots . If the children are youpg , the parent dares not commit more than on « at a time to the charge of the nursemaid , for a neighbour ' s child was actually swept into the water from a bridge by a stiff skir t which went flaunting by —the wearer being unconscious of the mischief . If he walks with his wife , he has to be on his guard all the time . If the wind blows , he is fettered by her superfluity of garments ; and if it rains , no uvnbrella can cover them both . If the weather is settled

    line , cue lady strain raises a cloud of dust , and sweeps the path of all loose filth as they go . If they enter the parks , the steel rim of her petticoat cuts his leg as the 3 ' squeeze through the narrow gate ; and if they try tire high road , there is too much probability that the whole apparatus may become inverted by a sudden . gust catching the balloon . Umbrellas get turned wrong side out ; and the existing skirt is much mure easy to invert . If it is to be a drive , and not a walk , the good man runs the risk of besing dismissed as a haughty actress dismissed an old friend . With a vehement prohibitive gesture she drove him back from the carriage-step , with " Pardon me—1 and my dress occupy the carriage . " The same women who in their youth marvelled at the slavery to fashion which induced their grandmothers to kneel in the carriage for a drive of many miles to suve their lofty head-dresses , now banish

    husband or father to the box , or compel tliem to walk , to make room for the accommodation of flounces and steel springs . Sunday is changed . The children cannot go to church , because mamma leaves no room for them ; and papa has to stand aside , in the face of tho congregation , while his lady is efiecting the diflicult enterprise of entering her pew . Are the ladies awnro that the dulncss of church is relieved to bachelor gentlemen by the amusement of watching , and afterwards discussing , ( ho comparative skill of the ladies in passing their pew-doors ? We arc concerned to find that a new method of getting up Prayer-books and Bibles for church use enables the ladies to find their own amusement while apparently engaged in worship . It aecms to bo really the fact that the ladies' Traycr-books have a small mirror bound up with the cover , —probably of about the same size as that in tho hat-crowns of dandies , which they consult while devoutly covering facea on entering their pews .

    In tho present travelling sea » on , tho trip is found a pursuit of pleasure under difficulties , unless tho ladies will retrench their garments . It is now a common thing to take more pljiccs everywhere than the number of individuals requiring them ; and on cross roads , where coaches and posting are the only means of conveyance , the gentlemen have no > chance of room unless the ladies take more places than they want . On the Scotch , English , and Irish lakes , tho decks of tlio small steamers aro unsafe for children and other unwary passengers amidst tho sweep of hoops and hittden clotheslines . It is out of tho question for the Indies to trust themselves to a pony for a mountain ride , while carrying a balloon about their waists ; and they cannot climb to the ridges in a dress as heavy as themselves , and longer tliuii their own heels . If tUey venture on foreign travel , the prevailing fashion compels a kind and amount of custom-houB « Bcnrch highly distasteful to any fumily man . . And whero is the recompense of all this ? If it in troublesome » t home that no wardrobe or closet will hold tlio household gowns , it is no compensation to witness the effect of thoac dresses in company . An admiring father , who till lately delighted in his daughter ' a grace and

    lightness of movement and her elegant figure , now sees her deformed and trammelled , whether at the piaao , in . the . dance , or simpl y sitting on the iofa . In the first easel she can perform only at arm s length : in the second , she steers about like a great steamer on the river , which all boats get out of tha way of With all speed and in the third case , the spectator is reminded of nothing so much as the old way of bathing at path , when the Uwlies waded about in the ponds , finely dressed to the shoulders : while hoops and the waters concealed all below the waist . The fourth article , devoted to Mr . Buckle ' s elaborate aud . acute work on . ' The History of Civilization in England , ' gives a full analysis of the author ' s plan , and justly criticizes his fundamental principle , ' that the totality of human actions is governed by the totality of human knowledge . ' No doubt knowledge is power , often a social and political power of enormous strength ; but not in the narrow sense to which Mr . Buckle restricts it . divorced from

    government , religion , and literature . Such abstract knowledge has never been amoving power amongst men . It is knowledge brought into living union with men ' s passions and - imaginations that produces revolutions , overturns ancient empires , and determines the progress of the race . And it is a serious defect in an historian to underrate the influence of the imagination and the affections as motive powers in the development of national life . The article on ' Aurora Leigh , ' though rather late , is well worth reading ; while doing full justice to Mrs . B . Browning as a poetess , and , indeed , exaggerating some of her peculiar merits , the author signalizes the false philosophy of her poem more clearly than we have seen done elsewhere .

    The last number of the British Quarterly Review is weak in the department of literature . It is social , industrial , political , scientific , theological , but not in any marked degree literary . Of the two literary papers in the number , the first , devoted to ' Statius and his Age , * contains an elaborate analysis of the bad taste and barefaced imitations of that weak and pompous writer , well done , but not worth the doing ; the second , on ' Berauger , ' is a biographical and critical sketch of the great lyric poet , displaying throughout keen , reflec tive insight , and fine , sympathetic appreciation . It is by far the best account of Berahgeb we have met with . Here is a description of the man and the poet : —

    BeVauger is described as having been a little man , of stout , healthy , and cheerful appearance , with lively eyes , and a large , bald forehead . He was never married , and lived latterly as a brisk old French bachelor , with a circle of lady correspondents , some of whom are beginning , we see , to publish his letters . He was polite to English visitors , and knew something of English literature through translations . His habits in composition were slow , and every song he wrote was the result of the most careful study . The thought , the sentiment , came to him suddenly , and often , as he said , at night ; but the form and the expression , even to individual lines , rhymes , and words , were submitted to the strictest and most fastidious scrutiny ere his taste was satisfied . Something of this painstaking exactness may be seen in his handwriting , in a specimen of which , prefixed in fac-simile to the large Paris edition of his works , every

    comma , and semicolon is distinctly marked , while the writing itself is close , regular , and neat . The effect as regards the style of Beranger-was a perfection of logical accuracy such ns has hardly been equalled by any other French poet . He has the Horatian felicity of phrase in an extraordinary degree ; and when we add to this the wonderful charm and variety of his metres , it will be seen why , even among lyrical poets , lie should present peculiar difficulties to the translator . We have glanced at one or two English translations of songs selected from his entire collection ; but , with every wish to maie our quotations from him in English rather than in French , we have fo-und it impossible to use anyone translation we have seen without such a misrepresentation of the poet as could not be warranted . Scarcely in one instance have the translators made an attempt to keep the metre of the original ; which , in a translator of songs , is in itself an unpardonable offence .

    The Rebellion In India. The Rebellion In...

    THE REBELLION IN INDIA . The Rebellion in India ; Jloto to Prevent Another . By John Bruce Norton . liichardson Brothers . Wk receive . with gratitude a book -written in India on the Indian mutiny . But we must also receive it with caution . The writer is an able man , of long and large experience , but , in common with most ' Indians , ' military or civilian , he is liable to very warping influences . He is in danger of becoming n partisan ; ho is in danger of mistaking the colour of public opinion at home ; he is in danger of being carried away by his personal feelings . Honest and talented as it is , who will deny that the Indian press overflows with personalities , and who will doubt , after reading this volume , that Mr . Norton is exactly such a writer ns might contribute to the Bengal llurkam , the Madras Athcn < eumy or the Bombay Telegraph and Courier ? Ilia mind has

    bent to the opinions of a party ; nevertheless , he is a counsellor worth hearing at this unexampled crisis . That which we doubt is his capacity to surmount all prejudice , and with a clear , culm , penetrating eye , to take a bird ' s-eye view of the actual affairs of India . Ilia tjentiments carry him too fur . We might also say that , if Mr . Norton were an infallible authority , everything oilieially done in British India lor the last ten years hns been wrong—always unwise , frequently immoral . This tendency to exaggeration detracts from the value : of a really important publication . Thus Mr , Norton ailirms the rebellion to be national ; but his evidence amounts tc little or nothing , lie quotes two or three testimonies as to the bud feeling of the natives ; but the only fact cited is , that out of ten thnseeldars in tlu

    Meerut district but one 1 >< is remained faithful . The villagers in many in stances have thrust forth the Christian fugitives and bid them pass on . Tint may be a proof of enmity or of cowardice . Mr . Norton asks what agricultural population has rallied in defence of order . What Indian agriculture |) o ]> ulaiion lids ever done so , hns ever checked the advance of an enemy , Kisever resisted bayonets , or taken part with the minority ? Tho point has no significance whatever . We are better inclined to listen when Mr . Norton comes to the actual incidents of tho military revolt . Writing some weeks ago , he notices that at Madras a government ball Iiml been danced out under a European guurd , each man having twenty rounds of ball cartridge in his pouch , that Triplicune was in a panic , that certain Mohammedans at

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 10, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10101857/page/17/