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Leader (1850-1860), 13th February 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, Critics are not the legislators, but the...

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      Ko. 412, Fisbruaby 13, 1858.} The Leader...

      Ko . 412 , FisBRUABY 13 , 1858 . } THE LEADER . 169

      '3p*+Ih V F*'Ftrt*I≫ Jliijtujliltr ?

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      Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...

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

      It Is Assuredly An Honour To Our Country...

      It is assuredly an honour to our country to be able to record that the most remarkable Biographies , in the whole range of European literature , that have appeared of late years , have been written by Englishmen . In more than one instance , the subject of the biography has belonged to a foreign literature , and to the literary history of a nation surpassed by no other in intellectual activity . Take Germany , for instance : the Life of Goethe has been welcomed with enthusiasm , and permanently accepted as a classic and a text-book , not only by-the intellectual aristocracy , but by the whole reading public of Germany . Three editions of a German translation , admirably executed , have been rapidly produced , and the third , a cheap popular edition , is eagerly taken up . In the midst of their honest and grateful admiration , liberally expressed by the eminent German critics , a sentiment almost of jrique , certainly of dissatisfaction and regret , pierces through the warm words of welcome to the foreigner , who , for the first time , has made Goethe , the man , familiar to his countrymen . There had been for years a library of Goethe literature , in other words , of building materials for the construction of a Biography ; but out of England the architect was to conic . If ever there was a nation constitutionally jealous and exclusive in its claims * that nation is France ; and French men of letters arc quite as self-asserting as French Colonels . Yet , what do we find in the last number of the Imperialist RevueContewporaine ? A notice of the recently published ' Biography of Montaigne , ' from which we copy the introductory sentence : — It is from London that we receive this Biography . England has stolen a march upon us once more . This work , -which might have seemed to belong to us of right , ¦ which we had prepared for by so many researches , which , perhaps , we were actually intending to accomplish , has been executed by a foreign writer , and , let us frankly confess , executed so happily and with so much care , so completely and so well done , that the hope of doing it better , by doing it otherwise , is , I think , forbidden us henceforth . . This is high praise ; but the French critic goes on to justify it by evidence from the work itself of that fine composition , as painters would say , which , by a judicious grouping arid a true perspective , makes the hero of the Biography , as it were , a central figure of his epoch , without prejudice to the rest of the picture .

      M. Lanfre Y , Author Of Ijeglise Et Lea ...

      M . Lanfre y , author of IJEglise et lea Philosojrfies au XVIII Siecle , which ¦ we noticed some time back , has just brought out another work , not less remarkable , entitled , Essai sur la Revolution Francaise . We shall make a point of noticing it in a more detailed manner at a future period , being content now to indicate the original criticism of the Mountain , and especially of RobesrEERRE ; and the brilliant manner in which a new theory of progress , without the sacrifice of liberty to imperial or democratic violence , is sketched by implication . The chapter on ' The Principles of ' 89 '— ' a phrase the sense of which in half a century lias been forgotten , and which is made subservient equally to liberty and servitude '—is admirable , both for its boldness and its philosophical truth .

      Marine Zoology Has Recently Become Popul...

      Marine Zoology has recently become popular and fashionable , numbers who formerly went to the sea-side simply for change of air and physical recreation , being quite as anxious to go there now for the mental enjoyment which the pursuit of a new and fascinating study affords . The volume of nature is certainly a decided improvement on the only other volume known at the sea-side—the third-rate circulating library novel , which , by a mysterious ordinance , every unhappy visitor was compelled to peruse , and which proved as deadening to the spirit ns the sea-air was reviving to the body . The new study enables the mind to share in the reviving influences that invigorate the wearied frame , and to derive from them not only present enjoyment but lasting profit . The studies commenced on tho shore arc continued at the fireside by the help of books and specimens such as tho aquarium conveniently supplies . A really

      serviceable and , interesting manual is tlio great desideratum of such students , and , as a natural result , many short but excellent treatises designed to meet tho popular want have recently appeared . Wo know of none , however , at onco so charming antl so practically useful as Mr . Liswes ' s papers on the subject , originally published in Black -wood , and just collected into a volume undor tho title of ( Seaside Studios at 1 Ifl'acoinue , Tenby , lha Stilly Inlands , anil Jersey . Tho articles having excited a good deal o ( attention at the time of their appearance ? , wo havo little more to do than chronicle tho fact of their republication . A . s somo students in natural history , howovor , mny not have " had an opportunity of seeing the papers on their first publication ,

      we shall be doing them a scrvioo by directing attention to the ~ volmne 7 HmraH 3 e ^ Jlonlt to meet with in happy combination , yet at the same time so important in a handbook of wca-sitlc studies 5 it is at , once popular and scientific , charming ns a companion , and instructive as a guide , The clmrm lies in the stylo and manner of treatment . On tho slylo of an author so veil known wo need scarcely dwell ; it has the case and vigour , tho trunt * pnrout clearness and vivnoity , which mark Mr . Liswus ' a writings . Thcro is . something ulmOst dramatic , too , in Mr . Lkwks ' b treatment of the subject winch irresistibly

      awakens the attention of the reader , leading him to watch , the experiments , and listen to the . discussions they excite , with unabated interest to the end . While the matter is thoroughly scientific the form is purely literary , the papers abounding with touches of . a pleasant personality , with vivid descriptions of scenery and sketches of adventure , with quaint and lively fancies , grave ironical reflections and light shafts of social satire , with learned reference and apt literary illustrations , interspersed here and there with glimpses of

      noble moral truths springing from the depths of a rich and wide experience . It seems to us , that for general students no way of dealing with the subject could be more truthful or more happy than Mr . Lewes ' s . Natural History in his pages takes its true position as a part of general culture , being unconsciously wrought into the larger whole of literature and life . With regard to the matter of the volume , the new experiments , the critical discussions and higher generalisations it contains , it will be enough to say that the great anatomist to whom it is dedicated has himself recognized both the value and originality of Mr . IiETVEs ' s contributions to his science .

      The Current Number Of The North British ...

      The current number of the North British Review is a decided improvement on its immediate predecessors , several of the articles being both good and seasonable . Among vthe former , is one entitled ' Mill ' s Logic of Induction / a temperate , but at the same time searching , and , at least partially , successful ; criticism of the fundamental defects- in that masterly writer ' s philosophy . Another paper on Arnold and his School' is well worth reading as a contribution , by one who evidently knew him well , towards a just and truthful estimate of the Rugby master and his work . The view given by the writer of the character , position , and probable fate of the school Arnold founded is sagacious and instructive . Take the following passage as an illustration : — Arnold was a man of passion , as are all who have exercised immediate influence on the world , and he held Ma idea of work in immediate connexion with his deep Cftnatian feeling . His school appear to us defective in this grand point of motive torcewhat was passion with Mm is conviction only with them , or rather , . it would D « truer to say , what was passionate conviction in his mind represents ltselt as cairn , almost dry , conviction in theirs . And this connects itself very closely with the second feature which we have pointed out as distinctive of this school—their decided prererence for the objective . Arnold ' s mind took this character , because the understanding was in him much more strongly developed than the higher intellectual powers , tie admired Aristotle , we have heard him say , more than Plato , because it seemed to rum grander to confine himself to the truth , which could be defined and proved , than tc launch out upon the subliinest speculations . This adherence to the positive led him into what men called his crotchets . His crotchets were rigorous deductions ot ti « understanding from the facts which he took as premises . It made his strength , because it gave a reality to all his views , right or wrong . But passion with him supplied the deficiency of imagination , and gave a greatness even to his inferior conceptions . His school took after him in their adherence to the positive ; but , while they are equally as defective on the side of imagination , they have not like him the compensating force of passion to vivify their opinions . Hence a certain hardness and

      coldness of tone is apt to disfigure their views , and to rob them of the attraction wnicn would naturally attach to their unselfishness and substantial justice . How is it that among so many men of undoubtedly superior talent , who have sprung from Rugby during and since Arnold ' s time , not one , so far as we know , has been able to take hold of the popular mind ? Tliere are many who are highly respected , and more than respected , admired even , within the limit of their own larger or smaller circle . Ihey are excellent administrators , clear and enlightened and earnest writers , sensible preachers , accomplished poets , & c , but no one takes hold of the world . And this wo do not believe to be from want of genius , men of certainly leas genius contrive to make more impression . How is this ? We attribute it in part , perhaps , to a moral discipline , which has rendered them averse from the arts by which popularity is often caught , but more to a really refrigerative effect produced by a training in winch the objective was made so predominant . We get excellent utterances from them , but their truth is flattish , and smacks of the reservoir ; we do not find them offering us the sparkling element which comes fresh from the well-spring , and even if it be scant

      in quantity , speaks yet to the great underlying deep . It seems ungracious , perhaps , while ndmitting so fully , as wo trust we have been felt to admit , how valuable , or we might almost say how irivaluable , an element Arnold ' s school forms in the society of our day , to express anything but gratitude to thorn , and a sense of the social benefit which they confer . It ia not incompatible , however , we hope , with a full sense of this benefit , to appreciate its shortcomings . It is impossible for any earnest man , examining , with a sense of its meaning , the social condition of his own time , to confine his reflections entirely to the actual passing moment . We cannot contemplate the force of the stream without thinking of what this vast body of waters is hurrying on to do . To-day unavoidably carries tho suggestion of to-morrow , and we are compelled to ask ourselves what tho present portends of apprehension or i > romiso for tho future . And hero it is that the character of a school , deficient in imagination and sentiment , becomes unsatisfactory . AU wo can say for the Rugby school is , that it does its best to impress right notions and sound principles upon its own generation ; but will these hold ? Wo havo our doubts on the noint . Tho course of tho world at largo ib governed , not by principles , but 10

      bv aentimenta and ideas , and it is only so far oa tho former can bo , so apeak , into the latter shape , that they dominate society . It was Arnolds faith , as opposed to his doctrine—tho spirit of the man , not the tenets he inculcated—wlucn created his school , and if wo are correct in bclioving that his followers hoia tho doctrino without , or , at least , with but a faint measure of tho faith , wo are justlHod iu approhondiiig that it lias lost its vital olomont , and may bo expected to bocomo oro long extinct , or rather lot ua say , again dormant , till another shall aviso to Droaic its slumbers . The two artiolcs— 'Naples , 1818-1358 , ' and 'Capital and Currency '—aro seasonable as well as good . Wo may udd that tho Review contains—to au article w * Swrcirmxurin ~ scioTT ^ ming ' s life and labour .

      Tho Announcement Of Now Works By Tho Aut...

      Tho announcement of now works by tho authors of Friends vt Lwnoil , rho Saints' Tragedy , and the Nemesis of Faith , would at any time l > c welcome to us , but in tho present dearth of literary intelligence it is peculiarly acc ° Pt " ablo . Messrs . J . W . I ? aiikkii and Son aro about to publish a tragedy by Mr . Hjblps , tho title of which , OutUa , the Serf , act-ma . to promise revelations Q *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 13, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13021858/page/15/