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Leader (1850-1860), 15th May 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18

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      The Ancients And The Moderns. Jlistuire ...

      moderns , by their interference ; aiud general superficiality of learning , have talked themselves into utter oblivion . All this debate , however , though carried on upon false principles , could not fail to assist in the progress of refinement , us -well as in the liberation of taste from the influence of fixed models . It began in the seventeenth centirry , when the revival of letters , -which was nothing , in fact , but a renewed

      and extended acquaintance -with classical literature , had at last produced all its results . We refer principally to France , the chief scene of this curious controversy . Under the reign of Louis X . TV . a sort of revolution had become necessary . ' Most of the writers of that much-vaunted period had ceased to tbini in literature of anything but mere style in the narrowest sense of the "word . The highest object that genius eould . aim at was , " Imitation- of the -ancients . " It was , forgotten that this imitation may be recommended to young writers , as copying the old masters may be recommended to young painters : but that after all , in literature as in art , it is

      N " ature we must take as our model . Nature was quite set aside , and little was thought of'but agreeable arrangements of'words . Of course , even with this false system a man of genius cannot avoid showing himself : but it is quite surprising , if we examine attentively even the test productions of the Grand Siecle , to see how slight is the impression produced upon them by contemporary society—how full they are of reminiscences of a state of things that has passed away . A great part of that literature is " adapted " from the classics , pretty nearly by the same process thait our playwrights now adapt \ French pieces for the English stage . Greek and Roman sentinaents andinorality are oddly mixed with modern allusions .

      A . reaction against 'this state of things was necessary . It came from a quarter where the idea of progress had been conceived more by instinct tlian ireason . ' M . Iligault , with the patience and the taste which have won him his eminent position as a critic , has studied all the episodes of this reaction , aiad gives us here the results in a volume whicK we have r-ead with great pleasure . Sometimes , it is true , the 'interest languishes ; but this is isecause the same topics , only varied by varying treatment , necessarily recur / at all the different stages of the controversy . One of the best parts of the book is the narrative of what M . Rigatilt calls " The English Period of the Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns , " beginning ^ r ith the Tesidenee of Saint-Evrenaond in England , and ending with an analysis of Swift ' s famous ^ Battle of the Books . We suspect that the present generation of -readers in Eranee will hear for the first time of *•• Slashing Bentley / ' and'the part he played in a discussion which , however

      puerile in its apparent object , has exercised such a decisive influence on the fortunes of French literature . We can bear testimony to the aecuracy of * his portion of M . RigaTilt ' s narrative . Indeed , the characteristic of the whole work is care united with elegance ' ' We recommend whoever would understand the subject it treats of to ° go no farther . He will here find everything that he wishes to know brought together in the best manner . One anecdote is told of two Roman nobles rwho onee had a serious quarrel as to the pre-eminence of Tasso over Ariosto . ¦ A duel ensued , And the partisan of Ariosto received a mortal Wound . Pope Benedict XIV . went to visit him onhis death' -bed . c ' Alas ! " said he , "is it possible that I must die in the pTime of my manhood for the sake of . Ario 3 to , whom I have never read ? Even if I had read him , I should not lave understood him j for I am too great a fool . " So saying , he gave up = tfee ghost . The quarrel between the friends of the Ancients and the friends 4 > f the Moderns sometimes reminds us of this serio-comic incident . But it

      gave'occasion for the elucidation of some of the most important principles of criticism . Grimm once saidthat the dispute had never produced a good book . He was mistaken then ; but he would bo still more mistaken now . The book of M . . Rigault is a very good book indeed .

      &74 The Leades, [^^J^^ Ma^Is, 1s58.

      & 74 THE LEADES , [^^ J ^^ Ma ^ IS , 1 S 58 .

      Novelettes. For Anil Against ; Or, Queen...

      NOVELETTES . For anil Against ; or , Queen Margarets Budge . A Domestic Chronicle of the Fifteenth Century . By ' Frances M . " Wilbraham . 2 vbls . ( J . W . Parker and Son . )—It seemed all but impossible that a romantic interest should be revived an the wars of the Roses . They had been pillaged by novelists and dramatists , and tbc principal characters of the history had been presented in every variety of development ; but a careful student and an inventive writer has produced a story which , though its incidents belong to that time-worn period , is new in construction , colour , and spirit . Miss Wilbraham ., unlike the generality of historical romancists , has not been content tosearch through a few manuals , but has outlined and filled in her p ictures-with antiquarian accuracy , avoiding anachronisms , and concentrating upon her -scene the real light of the fifteenth century . She herself ) aided by suggestions from the chroniclers , has contrived the narrative but

      fasten , iJiarante , b osbroke , Lydgate , Clmuoer , Drayton , Ormerod , and others , . lave furnished the details , the . forms and tints of the costume and furniture , the aspects of villages and towns , the modes of . speech the court ceremonies , tlie ( fashions of hospitality , chivilhvy , and festivals All this . » wrought without pedantry into the progression of the tale , which ia partly , as the title-page signiaes , of a domestic . tenor , while partly it moves acros 6 ; tho . broad stago of history , the artistic restorations beW everywhere finished with meritorious integrity , and with really aduiinable effect In the delineation of her feminine characters the author . has been peculiarly successful . For and Against ia precisely 41 book . to lie on family , tables . Me Cmeleat y Wronffof All . By the Author of " Margaret ; or , Prejudice at-Hoine . " ( Smith , JJMer , nndCo . ) -Tue writer of & tale has mastered the secret of thatsort of interest which flutters circulating-library renders The crudest wrong of all is the wrong inflicted upon the heart of a woman ' 4 icib mveic

      raa :. upon ana painfully illustrated in the hwtory of the heroine whoae career niteraates between faflhiounblc and unfashionable circles and wJiosoultimute human deatiny is regulated upon a principle -which satisfies poeticnl justuse without dispersing , the general sadness of the book . To this ^ T ^ V 3 "fctribu | 'abl * ' w *«* oat-degree , tho interest of The Cmelcst Wrowi ofjdll . iiorMxQ . authvnhaa . o . pathetic vein , * nd there is atender sweetness ui tho tone oi her narration . Sometimes this becomos ^ morbid , and . tooofton

      writer ' s apparent object being to develop quietly and naturall y a number of characters belonging to modern life , and to unravel some of the problems of passion and caprice at work in all ages and among all classes of society . Thus , although the plot is the simplest conceivable—being summed up ia ' the popular phrase , Who would have thought it ?—an interest is gradually created which is sustained to the last chapter . As to the continental ' -wanderings , of the Marsdens and the Digbys , they supply at once the basis of a charming domestic tale and of a most intelligent narrative of'travel , for we seldom meet with criticism so suggestive , or gossip so pleasant , in the diaries of ordinary tourists . To say the truth , the authoress paints the panorama of Austrian travel , tie imperial establishments , the chateaux of the blue-blooded race , the Manners of the burgher-classes , the peasantry and innkeepers , the material forms of civilization in vogue , and whatever else an

      the flitting shadows fall iipon incidents trite in themselves ' andnotorifnn allv turned to the purpose of this particular story ; but these : faults do no ? interfere with the general merit of the work as readable and entertaining . Likes and . Dislikes . Some Passages in the Life of Emily Marsdeu . ( J W . Parker and Son . )—Two-thirds of this volume are occupied with an account of a family tour in Germany . There is scarcely any story the

      observant English visitor might be expected to notice ,- and this is done with so much correctness , and with so little effort , that , there lias evidently been no conflation in the matter . It is rarely that a volume of fiction can be praised as informing as well as amusing ; but this quality belongs to Likes a > ulDislikes . In the second part— "At Home "—the incidents are dramatized upon n slightly more romantic level , and the " waver ing-morris of cross-purposes becomes more exciting-, until a climax arrives , very cheerful in its influence upon the reader no less than upon Emily Marsden and the excellent people at the Oaks , with the sweet young girls and the thoroucrb . ly English young men who are to make them happy . The book is full-of grace and fascination .

      Haston mid its Inhahilants ; or , Sketches of Life in a Country Town . By L . E . ( Booth . )—We are afraid that Easton is a county town to he found under another name on the map of England , and that L . E . has been photographing the old maids , gentlemen of all nges , and ball-room beauties of that locaJity . Such a group has evidently not been drawn entirely from imagination , although there is an . inevitable heightening of characteristics and exaggeration , so to speak , of birth-marks and eccentricities . The portraits arc judiciously varied , and the individuals are made to go throuoh long exercises of babble and scandal , as if the writer intended to expose their frailties . We hope that JSaslm and its InJiabitanls was written with 110 vicious intention , and that we are doing no harm in directing attention to itslively pages .

      Publications And Hepublications. The Des...

      PUBLICATIONS AND HEPUBLICATIONS . The destiny of Piedmont , as the vanguard of Italian independence , is an object of lively interest and solicitude to Englishmen . " We are daily more and more anxious to get at the realities of Italian life and character , so as to be able to form an estimate of the capabilities of the race fur a freo national existence in modern Europe . Mr . Gallenga , whose name is well and favourably known to English literature , has intimately studied the Italian character 5 n Piedmont , his " country by blood , " he says , "if not by ' birth , " and he has "looked for it , not in the worn types of a populous toivn , but in the more p-rimitive forms of a . rural district . " Mr . Gallenga , it appears , has ., from circumstances to which we need not more particularly refer retired

      from public life in Tiedmont , and has returned to settle in England his adopted country ; still , in nourishing and stimulating English sympathies in behalf of Italy , he is doing good service to the cause that mu « t ever be nearest to bis heart . Mr . Galknga is one of those Italians who have acquired a perfect mastery of our language , and he writes English in a free , lively , and generous style . We shall read liis new volume ^ ° Conn In , Life { a Jhedmont ^ ^ ( Chapman and Hall ) , with great interest and attention , ami we shall b « glad to give an early account of its pages to our reader . * , many ot whom , we dare ssiy , will anticipate our judgment vand read it for themselves .

      In and Around Slambovl , by Mrs . Edmund Hornby ( 2 vols ., Eentlev } is a description of life in Turkey in 1855 and 1836 , arranged in a series of easy familiar letters from the authoress to her family and friends ut home . lurlcey has been a little overdone by tourists , but the dates of these letters suggest new points of view and incidents worth rccordino-. Intellectual Education , and its Influence vpon the Character audlfanuhi ™* of Women , hy kmily fchirrefi ; one of the authors of « Thoughts on Self-Culture ' ( J . W . I arker and Son ) , seems to merit , by the gravity of its purport and the serious earnestness of tone that pervades it , a thoughtful and attentive perusal . 714 ° / ' T ' t ^ ' G » rdin o er ] , published a course of lectures On Mali ,: } ,,, ' mid Medical Education ( Sutherland and Knox ) , delivered at the comnieiuHuncnt oi the m « dical session , 1850-57 , before the students of tho Edinburgh medicul school . Tho text of the lectures , as delivered , is in their published form considerably amplified and amended .

      Another _ Cookery-3 iook ! No wonder , if it be true that cookery-books fetch the best prices n the book tnide . The present treatise appears to possess tho merit of being eminently simple and practical , and tho portrait which represents Mrs . Ann Smith , tho authoress , in a most cheerful and comfortable shape and with the kindliest and homeliest effaces , decidedly bespeaks our critical good-will . Mrs . Ann Smith has served in the kitchcu butteries for forty years , and among the mottoes inscribed on her fin- mny be remarked « Mansion-liousc : Carroll , Lord Mayor . " The ^ ml lady ' s experience bus an honest claim , therefore , to our attention , andsho has luulthe sound soneo to put the results ofher culinary experience into her own plain language . But when Mrs . Smith begs of the public not to censun ' work until they hayc tried her receipts , wo must , as conacientioiw critics , rospeetfully deprecate such an attack upon our honesty . How run we « cnsuro Mrs . fcmit 1 after tasting all the good things ao seductively ' sut forth in . her pages ? Ihe wJ , olo title of her book is as follows : —J > r « c / ic « l < nd Economical Cookery 201 th a Scries of Mils of Fare ; also , Directions on Carobio ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 15, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15051858/page/18/