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Leader (1850-1860), 13th December 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 15

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      From I'Rance We Can Expect No More Liter...

      "The paper that has no existence" is so maddened with impotent rage , because we will not elevate it to the dignity of our contempt , that its wriggling con ortions are immensely ludicrous . It tries in vain to provoke us . We have already said that with it , and the like of it , we refuse to fight . In days of duelling no gentleman condescended to

      fight with an antagonist whose position did not entitle him to the satisfaction . The pen has rep laced the sword ; but the old principle still remains . Let the Church and State Gazette learn to respect the elementary rules of morality , let it gain a position in journalism , and we will not then refuse to meet it . Till then , let it rail as it pleases , we refuse to recognize it . " Non . scribit , cujus carmina nemo legit I "

      Dec. 13, 1851j * K%T %Tifot X* 1187

      Dec . 13 , 1851 J * K % t % tifot X * 1187

      Florence Sackvillk. Florence Sackville; ...

      FLORENCE SACKVILLK . Florence Sackville ; or , Self-Dependence : An Autobiography . By Mrs . Buibury . 3 vola . Smith , Elder , and Co . It has long been an easy thing for hundreds of men and women to write verses which have almost the air of poetry . Poets , we know , are rarities ; but what tribes of Poetasters there are ! And if you compare the average verses now with the average of the last century , or even later , how excellent they seem ! The poetical commonplaces of our

      day are of a higher mood . People write verses so correct and musical , so polished in diction , so picturesque and fanciful , that if not actually diamonds , these verses are the very best of paste . It is the same in most things . Elegance has become democratized . The general standard is raised . In manners , speech , furniture , elegance , and literature things are now commonplace which not long ago were exclusive . It is with poetry as with oakcarving . The real work of Labour wedded to Art is possessed only by the few \ but imitation of oakcarving by machinery is to be had cheap enough .

      What we have said of poetry applies with even greater truth to Fiction . The real novelist is still a rarity ; but what hundreds of clever novels ! If the works incessantly issuing from , the press and swiftly vanishing again into obscurity , be compared with their peers of some twenty years ago , the comparison will be flattering to our authors . But absolutely speaking , we do not perceive any increase of power . As the wardrobe of poetry happens to

      be furnished just now with more varied and more brilliant dresses , and the poetaster need only give himself the trouble to take them off the hook , so also is the novelist ' s repertory more richly stored with incidents , characters , caricatures , and situations . The invention is as poor now as it was in the ( lays of the Minerva Press ; but the Masks are better ; the standard is higher ; people arc cleverer , and want cleverer novels .

      Florence Sackville suggested these remarks . It is another clever novel , by a new writer , and that writer a woman . It is amusing to read , and makes one believe the authoress a more amusing woman than her hook . But . from first to last there is scarcely the faintest indication of invention , and nowhere that urgent desire for reality , which is the soul of genius . By invention \ va do not , of course , mean the introduction of that which never before was known , but simply the finding of the truth which lies in a character . It is the reverse of taking down from its hook in the wardrobe the " dress " which the character has previously worn .

      All the scenes and all the characters in llorcnce Sackville arc . familiar to us—some of them obviously taken from life , but taken from life to be rouged , winged , spangled , and set , before the footlights that their reality may be lost in " effect . " Mrs . Burlmry will understand what we mean when we refer her to the scenes in which Florence liguren as an actress in country theatres . The details have been "got up" with more care than is usual in novels ; tin : slang of the greenroom is thero ; but tin ; retiliti / , we beg to assure her , is wanting . Instead of representing theatrical life , h 1 ic represents what sheiinai-ines if- must be ; and her imagination

      misleads her . We will not dwell on these defects , because they are defects shared by almost all our novelists ; and il . is enough if we indicate that Florence Snckville is not , ji masterpiece , nor the promise of masterpieces . Jt in amusing , varied , clever . How many readeiH ask for more ? <« ive your idle evening to it , and thank the gods ! There are stirring incidents , shrewd remarks , dashes of sentiment , and peeps at life : expect nothing of : i " ><» 1 ( - "" ruble nature , and you will be , pleased with the book . There ia a new and true touch in the picture of

      the heroine ' s debut as an actress . In novels heroines always succeed . They always win their spurs at once . It is otherwise in life . And Florence is very properly made not a great actress , but a clever woman " getting through her part . " " A mass of lights and faces , a tremendous noise of clapping hands , and a sensation that I was curte-8 ying , is all that I remember for" the first few minutes . That I spoke was certain , because I heard the buzz of Helen's voice in answer , though , unable to distinguish anything that she said , and I crossed mechanically at the right time and place , seeing her do so ; but I walked and moved as in a dream : having no more power over myself , and knowing no more what I was doing—so far as exercising thought and judgment went—than one of Madame Tussaud s

      wax figures . " At last the scene was over ; all its duties having been gone through in the same apathetic , nerveless , dreamy way . " When the scene-drop fell after the second act , Mr . Beauchamp and a lady wrapped in a large operacloak , and holding closely to her face the fur which enveloped her throat so that none could have recognized her , came to me where I Bat . They led me to a remote part of the stage , and Mrs . Hugh Lyndon ( for it was she ) taking both my hands , looked pityingly in my face , and said , — " ' My poor girl , you must give this up . I came to scold you ; but it would be cruel to add to what you are already suffering , by a single word . You must ive it . *

      g up ___ _ , _ , _ ., ____ . -r " « Why ? Have I made so complete a failure ? I asked , in a faint whisper . •« Yes , and no , ' interrupted Mr . Beauchamp . * No one in front can hear a word you say . It is all dumb show ; not ungraceful certainly , but very unsatisfactory . ' " I must do better , ' I said , languidly . « You cannot . I fear we have mistaken your talents completely ; and you have gone through this public and painful ordeal for no purpose . ' " « I am afraid so , indeed , ' said Mrs . Lyndon .

      11 Mrs . Chace , who had missed me from the greenroom , now came up , and , bowing to my companions , said , — " I wish you could infuse a httle more courage into Miss Sackville , Mrs . Lyndon ; she only requires nerve to d o very well , and without it she will ruin her reputation and future prospects . A decided failure upon a first appearance can never be

      overcome . " 'I am greatly disappointed , murmured Mr . Beauchamp , as if to himself . * I never was so mistaken in my life . ' « ' 'I must try , ' I said . " ' It is in vain : you have not the power , my dear . You read very well—beautifully—in a room ; but tin the stage you are terribly at a . loss . I can ' t think how we could all have been so infatuated , ' exclaimed Mr . Beauchamp , in tones of great though suppressed annoyanee ; and with , as I thought , the slightest possible tin . ^ e of contempt . *• I murmured something about endeavouring ; but ho Raid , quickly , —¦

      "' You ' ve clone your b : st , my dear ; I know you have : everybody must see find acknowledge in ; only , unfortunately , it is a " best" which will not do lor the public . It is ; i most unhappy mistake . Success is the only thing that can make tins profession endurable ; without it , it is detestable . ' " The manner in which lips was spoken Htunfj me more than the words , and a resolve , made up of half sorrow , half defiance , took possession of me . I would neither be so contemptuously pitied , nor ho coolly condemned . I icouhl succeed .

      41 chagrin of" a defeat , the blight of prospers I had forfeited f-o much to brifjjbt . ru , my mother ' s ruined hopes , nil rushed upon me at once ; and forgetting , in their creator magnitude , the terrors find languor I had ho weakly suffered to unnerve mid huI > - due me , I roused myself to nueh a height of indignation nfrahirtt my own cowardice and other people ' s pity , that when 1 went on for the scene with Muster Wal ' , in which Julia nigns the title-deeds , 1 was as self-possessed ( although my heart beat , wildly ) an if I had played the part a bundled times , and was now rehearsing it alone .

      " An KngliKh audience in ?; enernlly ^ ood-nntured and patient ; willing , except in rare ; instanecH , to encourage the timid and judge mercifully of a novice . I found them so that night . No fiooncr did they percoive that . I was anxious to exert myself , than they afforded me every encouragement , and gave me every token of goodwill . While 1 . fhuling that they wer « pleased and looked upon me with kindness , threw off the thrall of fear , and giving myself up to the excitement of tho moment , went on with an abandon which would have astonished me far more than anybody else , if 1 hiul given myself time , or calmness , to think . ' My only rent , was now upon the ntng « . When olfit , I paced up and down behind the HceneB with a rcHtlwut , nnxiouH step ; heeding no one , thinking of no one : I waH in a state of wild , impetuous excitement . The HtBttc- — the Htage—to be on the stage ,

      before those blaring lights , doing , acting , strivinganything but to be still , waiting , and alone . " Mrs . Chace did not talk to me ; she saw that my nerves were too tightly strung to be under my own power of control , and knew that while the tension lasted I should go on boldly ; but that , if they gave way while at their present painful stretch , the reaction and depression would be extreme . Thoughtfully and kindly , therefore , she let me alone . " The curtain fell amidst thundera of applause . The instant it reached the ground , I turned mechanically away , and had reached the foot of the stairs , my way to which I had to make through that worst of all abominations—a rush of gentlemen behind the scenes , when Sir Thomas Clifford hurried after me , exclaiming— '

      , _ .. m , „ . „ « * You must go on again , Julia . They will have y " ' No , no , ' I said , mounting the steps ; « I cannot ; indeed , I cannot . I am exhausted . ' " But you must . —Hark !' •« And truly the din was horrible . Whoops , whistles , cat-calls , yells , stamping of feet , knocking of sticks , mingled with clapping of hands and cries of Julia ! ' combined to make a most terrible confusion . I had no time to listen to it , however ; for Mr . Osborne came rushing up , crying , — must

      " Where's Julia ? where ' s Julia ? You go on , my dear ( everybody is " my dear " in theatrical phraseology ) . Where ' s Mr . Alston to lead her on ? Go to his dressing-room , and beg him to come here . Don't be frightened : you ' ve done wonders . It wm be all over in a minute . Juat pop on at the O . P . door , advance a few paces , smile and curtesy , pick up the bouquets , look unutterable things , and then glide off again—that ' s all . ' " And with this unwelcome , unmeaning , and most absurd ceremony my performance for that night ended . "

      Florence Sackville is clever enough to assure us of future novels from the same writer . Let us therefore suggest that , instead of scattering her effect by the introduction of so many episodes , thus making the novel not a story but a string of stories , she should take a broader canvas and fill that witb one central group round which the others may stand , not as separate centres , but as rays to and from the centre . To be able to tell a story of episodes requires great mastery over Vart de conter .-Dumas seems the only one who now does it successfully . If Mr . Burbury will compare the simplicity unity , and consequent intensity of the structure of Jane Eyre with that of her autobiographical fiction , she will fully seize our meaning .

      The Martyrs Of Freedom. Footsteps Of Our...

      THE MARTYRS OF FREEDOM . Footsteps of our Forefathers : tvhat they suffered and what they sought , By James G . Miall . A .. Cockshaw . The Church of England in tho llcigva of the Stuarts . A . Cocksliaw . The Text of Experience ; or , the Voluntary Principle in the United . States . I 5 y John Howard Hinton , M . A . A . Cocksliaw . Tiiesk arc three volumes of a series to which we desire to call attention . The JAbraryfor the Times is issued by Nonconformists ; , to * et forth their history and their views ; and , however we may separate from the Nonconformist body in respect

      of dogmatic theology , we are earnestly and heartilv with them in the spirit of their manful and illustrious struggle for liberty of conscience . It is incalculable the good England owes to the brave Nonconformists who , in the long centuries of peril and persecution , upheld the fiacrcdness of conscience . Had they not struggled and suffered , wo should now be somewhat in the miserable plight of Germany and France . If any one doubts this , let him read Mr . Miall ' s eloquent Footsteps of our Forefathers ; one of the works we would wish to put . into the hands of young Englishmen .

      Its design is felicitous . Taking up certain typical persons or events , it introduces the render into the very scene where , those events occurred . Thus Wielif , the type of " Light in a dark age , " is the occasion of a picturesque description of the town of Lutterworth , ancient and modern ; no of the rest ; and in this way history , archaeology , and biography arc made to throw light and interest upon the various incidents iit the long fctruggle for freedom . Tho execution is admirable . The work in picturesque , animated , eloquent---enriched and not overloaded with erudition—varied b y piquant anecdotes and pleasant digressions . It in more popular in style than will ineeb the approval of Uiohc ( dull doga mostly !) who stickle for the "dignity of history , " and who , from reasonable contempt of * ' royal roads to learning , " lapse into unreasonable desire for " repulsive roads to learning "; hut vivacity is not superficiality , and Mr . rviiall ' n book is all tho better for its animation . There are some tempting passageH for extract . We borrow from him a quotation ho makc « which will amuse our readers : —

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13121851/page/15/