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    W____ THE LEADER. [No. 360, Sajuhsav ,

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    THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMON LIFE. The Philo...

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    BERANGER'S SONGS. B&'anger's Songs of th...

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    LUCY AYLMER. Lmy Aylmer. By the Author o...

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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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    Henry The Fourth And The Leaguers. La Xi...

    Armada , the deaths of Henry de Guide and Catherine de Medicis , the terrorism of the League , the siege of Paris by the King of Navarre , and the death of the third Henry . The fourth , an imposing figure , then comes upon the scene ; the siege of Paris is continued , and followed by the siege of Kouen ; the peace of Vervins closes the magnificent record , and the story of France in the sixteenth century is complete . One sketch of manners , as influenced by the League , is too characteristic to omit . It refers to the period of the Catholic terror : —¦ In Paris the close of Lent was a stimulus to tlie prevailing excitement . A series of processions took place which -were begun , innocently enough , by children , girls and boys , who walked two by two , with tapers , chanting hymns and litanies prepared for them by the priests . . . . Then came parish processions in which all the parishioners of whatever age , sex , or quality , joined ; some of the most devout

    walking to do penance as though in their shifts . Still a new impetus was wanting . It was necessary to warm the popular heart by a great theatrical display . A priest came forward and declared that in these processions over the hard pavements of Parisj nothing could be more meritorious , nothing more agreeable to God , than that women should walk with their delicate little feet bare , however it might cause them to suffer . Immediately , many an enthusiastic young girl devoted herself to this new mortification , and appeared , not with l ) are feet only , but almost naked—wearing only a slight linen drapery , not too carefully covering her form . These weeping and dislievelled Magdalens produced more laughter than edification . At length , the Duchess of Moitpensier , the Judith of the League , decided to act her part without hesitation . She abandoned robes and petticoats , and . dispensed with the light drapery of the penitents , even over her bosom , with the exception of a simple veil of lace . The people rushed to see her . Crowded and pressed , the heroine was by no means disconcerted . She had set the fashion . Matrons and maidens followed it .

    Of course , the clergy eagerly encouraged tlie yielding humours of these penitents , so submissive to correctional discipline ; and many were persuaded to receive ., at anointed hands , the punishment of refractory vestals .

    W____ The Leader. [No. 360, Sajuhsav ,

    W ____ THE LEADER . [ No . 360 , Sajuhsav ,

    The Philosophy Of Common Life. The Philo...

    THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMON LIFE . The Philosophy of Common Life ; or , the Science of Health . By John ScofFern , M . B . "Ward and Lock . This is a better book than its gaudy outside and frontispiece would lead the reader to anticipate . Mr . Scoffei'n writes popularly , and his compilation contains material on various topics affecting the regulation of our health . After a sketch of the human body regarded as a machine , he gives an outline of tlie various kinds of food , and their digestibility . He then treats of circulation and respiration ; of adulterations in food ; of poisons , their action , tlieir remedies , and the means of detecting them ; of the eye and its functions ; of houses considered in a sanitary point of view ; of climate ; of dress ; of cosmetics ; of medical creeds—hydropathy and homoeopathy ; of Life Assurance and of State Medicine . A large and attractive list of subjects , as the reader perceives , and not admitting of more than a rapid popular treatment in one volume of three hundred pages ; but in his sketchy way Mr . Scoffern contrives to indicate

    many interesting facts ; one of them , will be new to most readers , namely , That the blood globules of an animal are subject to change of shape as the result of fright and other emotions of the mind . It has beea stated by Mr . Bowerbank , that if an animal be suddenly alarmed , and whilst in that condition a drop of blood be drawn and examined microscopically , each , of the particles or discs contained in the blood will be found to present a Tagged outline , very different to the well-defined contour which is observable if the animal had been allowed to remain calm . This fact has a physiological significance , though the precise application of it be not Iqaown . The following is worth bearing in remembrance : —

    Remembering well that the animal organism creates no element , the reader will perhaps call to mind certain dietetic fallacies of which he may have been the victim . He may remember , perhaps , when sago , tapioca , and other starchy varieties of food were administered to him under the impression that they were strengthening , and still ho derived no benefit from them . Strengthening they undoubtedly are when administered in due proportion with , other wants ; but alone , they are so far from strengthening , that by no amount of them could life be prolonged beyond a very short period . ^ They hold no nitrogen ; they , hence , cannot make muscle ( flesh ) , nor blood , —nor , indeed , can tliey make the greater number of animal constituents , except fat ; which latter does not contain nitrogen . The same remarks which apply to starch also apply to sugar ; between the two

    the difference of composition is remarkably slight ; hence sugar is unable to support animal life , if administered alone . To some the well-attested fact that negroes in the West Indies rapidly fatten during the sugar season , notwithstanding the haid work to which they are exposed , because of the amount of sugar which they swallow , will aeem incompatible with the statement just made that sugar alone , no matter in what quantity Bwallowed , cannot for any prolonged time support life . Fat , however , does not confer strength ; on the contrary , it frequently becomes a source of weakness . The medical prnctitioner well knows that a 9 a rule , fat persons bear the effect of bleeding and lowering medicines veiy ill ; that they are stricken and die under causes which would not have injuriously affected the lean and spare . Fat , indeed , may be regarded physiologically as a sort of animal coal-cellar .

    Of the practical hints contained in this volumes wo may select from the chapter on poisons information which it will bo useful to bear in mind : — A person who has swallowed an irritant poison by way of suicide will bo less garrulous , less apt to give information , or afford any clue , than a person who liaa taken poison accidentally , or to whom it has been administered purpoaoly by one , whoso aim is murder Moreover , a poison swallowed to the end of suiculo , will in nil probability not have been taken during a meal . Meantime , the investigator looks about ; he tries to discover some glass , or phial , or other vessel ; ho examines the dress of the patient for spots or discolouration . If he finds a phial or other vessel , or ft « Z « MT \ * £ ° " * £¥ " £ ^ S ™ to cither ho tastes a Bourness , he has ? L ??«^ •!? > , , Ca 808 " fficiCntlyforth 0 ^ P lication of a remedy . He is sure SlrlnHh * ™ dhaS f b r nglven < rememberBom ° acid 3 arc not sour ); what kind of WhnZl H "t ? , f know at ?»» te stage , nor does it much avail that ho 9 hould know . S £ ? Z ™ L * -h "T ' ? ' V 8 amo troatm « "t is indicated . Chalk or whiiing ehould be mixed with milk and administered copiousl y . If neither bo forthcoming , a

    portion of the white wall or ceiling may be substituted . Whatever the kinH t "" acid , nothing more can be done at the present stage . The stomach mimr . 8 Ottr eligible in any of these cases , even were it at hand , and a medical man to I > * t * -the sour acid should happen to be oxalic acid , the treatment here indic-ahS" if almost assuredly save the patient ' s life , if administered somewhat earlj * If !•! £ , the strong mineral acids , the case is not so promising . «« net of Again : — - It is of less consequence to be made aTvare that a certain specified poisou of « , class has been swallowed , than any one of the class ; because the treatment in 11 cases will be precisely similar . There is no place for chemical antidotes here at rate , their power is of a very inferior kind . Everything depends upon freeing * $ stomach from the poisonous body swallowed , with the least possible delay . To

    tlend , an emetic , promoted by copious draughts of warm -water , should be aanrinistPr <>* and the circumstance should be borne in . mind , that the ordinary emetic conrDoseT it usually-is , of tartar emetic and ipecacuanha , is ineligible ; not onl y because of 'V depressing tendencj' , but because of its promoting the absorption of any poisoa wfoVh may not be expelled from the system by the direct operation of the emetic . Whenever an emetic is proper in the treatment of poisoning , almost the Very bp

    Humanum est errare , and Mr . Scoffern pays his tribute to this inexorable law when , at page 64 , he speaks of proteine as the origin of Gelatine fibrine , albumen , and caseine . No organic chemist of authority " now be' lieves in the existence of ' proteine . at all : —it is a purely hypothetical sub stance . At page 71 Mr . Scoffern attributes to Harvey the discovery of valves in the veins ; the discovery was made by Fabrice d'Acquapendente in 1574 , and by means of it Hat-vey was led to the discovery of the circulation . Harvey ' s discovery was a grand physiological induction but all ihe anatomical facts on whi-ch it rested were discovered bv others '

    Beranger's Songs. B&'Anger's Songs Of Th...

    BERANGER ' S SONGS . B & 'anger's Songs of the Empire , the Peace , and the Restoration . Translated into English Verse by Robert B . Brough . Addey and Co . It would be affectation to advise any one who can read Beranger ' s songs in the original to read them in translations . Indeed , strictly speaking , songs cannot be translated—they must be re-written . To those , however , to whom French is Greek , we commend Mr . Brough's volume . Some of tlie lyrics , which , we have compared with the originals , are models of accurate interpretation , Mr . Brougli having succeeded to an uncommon extent in

    subduing the idiom to the necessities of his English version . No reader should remain unacquainted with these political songs of Beranger they contain , as Mr . Brough suggests , an outline history of France during tie early part of the present century . As satires they are perfect—the half . hidden irony , running like arterial blood through epigram and carol , contrast and allusion , fable and fancy , as in . The ' King of Yvetot , The Bead Alive , The Common Stamp , and The Petition of the Dogs of Quality . We miss Gail Gai ! by the way , from Mr . Brough's selection . Of his style as a translator , one example is all we can give ; it is My Recovery , and refers to a present of wine , to be taken in internal douches % received by Beranger after an illness . — After a cup of Chablis white , Spirits of tolerance on foot I found the douche had done me good ; . * About the town in cassocks go ; I cursed , the Muse that made me write The Gospel is in practice put , Against the men in pow ' i who stood , j After three cups of red Bordeaux ! Still , from relapse I fear'd rebuffs , — _ j At the last cup of Chablis white , On with the treatment I must go : j My eye all wet with joyful show ' rs , I felt inclined to write them puffs Sees Liberty in garlands bright , After a cup of red Bordeaux ! I . Of olives , golden corn , and ilow ' rs . After two cups of Chablis white , j Laws bind us with a silken thrall ; . At all my past misdeeds afraid , j The Future low ' rs with ne'er a woe ; I see my chamber crowded , quite I I hear the bolts and fetters fall With folks whom pow ' r has happyrciade . ! At the last cup of red Bordeaux ! The sentence of ray judges kind o crystal Chablis ! rich Bordeaux ! Causes repentant tears to flow ; You twain presided o ' er the birth E'en tow ' rds Marchangy I ' m inclined , ! of fair Illusion , born , we know , After two cups of red Bordeaux ! Of Love and Hope , to jilt the earth . After three cups of Chablis white , i Tins vineyard fay two wands of might I see no class that need to groan ; j ( Twin sceptres ) wields o ' er all below , — The press is unrestricted q ^ uite ; i A silver shoot of Chablis white , The Budget censors feels alone ! ! A purple branch of red Bordeaux . The notes by Dr . G . L . Strauss , and by Mr . Brough himself , contribute largely to the interest of this welcome volume .

    Lucy Aylmer. Lmy Aylmer. By The Author O...

    LUCY AYLMER . Lmy Aylmer . By the Author of " The Curate of Overtoil . " 3 vols . Bentley . Lucy Aylmer contains a scries of careful portraits , and tenderly-tinted landscapes , overshadowed "by a dense controversial cloud . Behind the ancestral manor of the Nevilles , the ancestral castle of the Erresfords , the ancient vicarage of St . Walbuxga , behind the pretty young girls and the wcalbcartcd Vicar ., the hierarchy , the squirearchy , and the patricians , rises the haggard shape of Puseyism , morganitic bride of Romanism . An apparition of tliis kind might have warned us from opening the second volume , had not a certain interest , excited by Lucy , lured us on . The character of Lucy ,

    indeed , is a very graceful delineation , —too graceful by far for the uncoutu treatment it receives towards the close of the story , when the author , intent upon a tragic scene , slays her heroine , and spoils her book . Lucy Ai / tiMf abounds , as might be expected , in illogical impetuosities of denunciation directed against , " Rome" and the missal beauty of her churches ; Jind it is a strong test of the writer ' s power that , in spite of these repulsive ingredients , the novel is thoroughly readable from beginning to ond . It is not wanting in pathos , and emits from time to time a spark of satire . CJivcn , indeed , jthnt it is a good thing to write anti-Tractarian romances , to show how a gaudy chancel may bring weak hearts to misery , and Lncy Aylmer is a success .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14021857/page/20/