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Leader (1850-1860), 15th October 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 17, Critics are not the legislators , but tf...

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      October 15, 1853.] The Leader. Loql

      October 15 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . lOQl

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      Critics Are Not The Legislators , But Tf...

      Critics are not the legislators , but tfce judges' apd police of literature .- They do not inakelilwe—they interpret ana try to enforce them— -Edinburgh Review .

      Among- The "Prospects Of The Season" We ...

      Among- the " prospects of the season" we cannot refrain from making particular mention of the new Scientific Library to be published by Mr . Hig-hlet . Works of a high character are so ill supported in England that it is doubly incumbent on journalists to give publicity to the fact of their existence , that those who would purchase them may hear of them . The works already announced are by such men as Ungeb , Schacht , Xollikee , Gobttp Besanez , & c . We shall take opportunities of mentioning the progress of this series .

      In France , there are signs , of activity . Gitizot's Cromwell is daily expected , and Xamaetine , after announcing three different historical intentions , has finally settled upon the history of the Constituent Assembly- * we say " settled , " because , as the volume will be out in a few days , there is little probability of a new vacillation on the part of his historical muse . If you consider seriously what history is—the Geology of Humanity , so to speak— -what a profound and almost awful thing it is , IAmabtijse ' s

      florid pamphlets , written not for history but for money , with , the haste and recklessness of a pamphleteer , will strike you as somewhat unworthy of the man who held the highest rank among the poets of his nation in this nineteenth fcenturyv and who once had upon his shoulders the solemn responsibility of that nation ' s affairs ! Happily for publishers and for I / amaetijste , the mass of men do not so consider it . The mass desires to be amused .

      " Zwar sind sie an das Beste mclit gewolint , Allein , sie habeii sbhrecilicli viel gelesen . " "It is true they are not cultivated to the highest point , but they have read so much , they-are up to all the tricks of writers . " And Ijamabti : ne will have need of all his long-resounding periods—of all his French spangles and tinsel—all his rouge and powder , to amuse them with this Assembled Constituante . Alphonse Kare has given us another volume , and one that can be placed in the hands of young ladies . It is called , JLettres ecrites de mon

      Jar din , and forms a volume of charming botanical gossip , m a style which the readers of his other works , especially the Voyage autour de mon Javelin , will readily imagine . Other readers , of a graver kind , will thank us for informing them that the eminent zoologist , Pouchet , has just published a Histoire des Sciences Naturelles au Moyen Age . It is devoted to Albektus Magnus , and the group of thinkers who illustrated his epoch . Among German books we may mention Professor Klenckje ' s JMiJcro sicopische JBilder ,- JSfaturansichten aus dem Kleinsten J & attme , in a series of letters forming a good companion to JLiebig ' s Chemical Letters .

      From books to gossip we may pass with the announcement , that Dumas the elder has had Iris comedy on the youth of JLouis XIV . stopped by the Censor , cause unknown . But the great Dumas is not to bo stayed by a Censor , bo he even an Imperial Censor , and accordingly this is the letter in which he declares his intention to give Fortune back her buffets with unconquerable will ; it is addressed to the Director of the Thedlre JTranfais : — "My deaii Director , —I have just arrived from Brussels , hearing that the Jeunessc de Louis XTV . is stopped by the censor . " This is Tuesday ; on Monday next I request a reading . "I ahall read you fivo aetri .

      ' What it is I nhall read you I do not yet know , fdr the news lias reached mo unprepared , Imt these five acts will be entitled Jeuntmc de Louis X V . "I Avill so arrange it that the scenery you have prepared shall all be available . "It is needless to Jidtl , that in the Jam case de Louis XV . there will not bo a single word , not a situation , to bo found in the former pidee on Louis XIV ., which will remain intact , in orho the censor ( should one day restore that work . " Should I bo ready before Monday , you shall hear from me . " Youm , AtjKxanohk Dumah . " Tuesday , throe o ' clock . With a littlo activity on your part ,, the piece may be out in three weoltH . "

      Is it not incomparable P Ho only demands a , week for a fivo-acf comedy , the vory subject of which if ) not thought ; of ! The stylo of this letter in delicious ! Dumas the younger also , Home . time- ago , had bin draino of La Dame ""* ' Pcriest Btoppod by the censor , but has onco more brought it into what ho considers a presentable condition as a drama . It in now in rehearsal . Headers of tho novel T . ai Dame an : n Paries ( noticed by via recently ) will marvel where a drama ' m to bo found in its pagoH , but

      nothing is impossible to an adroit dramaturge ; and Iho care Avhich the l ? ronch bestow on tho reality of their onise en scene renders many a piece effective which would bo utterly lost with ua . It may be mentioned as an illustration of tho low tone pervading Pronch morals respecting women , that young Dumah is said to have taken his own minti-cMH— -a lady of high rank , and perfectly recognisable in Paris- —as the original of Iris Dame avx Perles ! It may not be true—but that it should bo Haul , and Buid without disgust , is sufficiently indicative .

      Books On Our Table. Memoirs Qfjohn Abern...

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Memoirs qfJohn Aberneiht / , JP . R . S . By G . Macilwain , F . R . C . S . 2 vola . 21 » . Memoirs of Thomas Chalmers , D . D ., LL . D . By Rev . W . Hanna , LL . D . 2 s . ' $ ?*** " ** Blackett The Traveller'sIdbrary-TfteC ^ e in Brittany . By J . Hope . 18 . ™ omas fconstable *** <*> , The Young King , a Modern Poem . By Edward ^^^ s ^^ * ° ™> ^^ ^ 'Se Poetical Works of George Herbert ; with I / ife , Critical Dissertation , and Explanatory Notes By Rev . G-. Gilfifiaii . 3 s . 6 d . James Nichols The & iglishCyclovcBdia . ~ Ea , tt 5 . 2 s . Bradbury and Evans Writings of Douglas Jerrold . if Lays . 7 a . Bradbnrv onrl Pmi « PaulPeabody ; or , the Apprentice of the World . By P . B . St . John . No . I ~ % . J * * - The Parlour Library—The False Heir . By G . P . B . James . 1 a , dd . Simms and MSntvre " The Son of Man . By W . Forster . 3 d . W Freeinan ' The Mission of Jesus . By W . Forster . 3 d . W Frpem-m * The Indwelling Word . By W . Forster . 3 d . W * Freeman ' The Knowledge of Jesus . By W . Forster . 3 d . W Freeman ' The Charm . M . Addey and Co ! Home Thoughts . 2 d . ¦ ¦ . Kent and Co . The ABC , orAlphabetical Hail-way Guide . 6 a . W . Tweedie Defects , Civil and Military , ofthe Indian Government . By Sir C . J . JNapIer . 7 s . Qd .

      . ¦ _ _ . , - „ .- » -. „ ¦ - -. , m Charles Westerton . The Correspondence of Thomas Gray and Tfilham Mason . With JVofeg . By the Rev John ¦ „ Mitford . 15 s . E . Bentley . Englishwoman s Domestic Magazine . Is . - Clarke , Beeton , and Co . Clouded Happiness . A Novel . Translated from the French of Ihe Ctftmtess D'Orsay . ¦ Henry Vizetelly . Madoe . By Robert Southey . Is . 6 d . Henry Vizetelly . Thalaba , the Destroyer . By E . Southey . Is . 6 d . Henry Yizetelly . The Chinese Revolution . Is . . Henry Vizetelly . The Life and Adoentures of'Dick Diminy , the Jockey . By Priam , J / fo . I . 6 d . , Mating Times Office . Bonn s Antiquarian Library . —Orderieus Vitali ' s History of England and Normandy . Vol . I . 5 * ' H . G . Bonn . Bohn ' s Classical IAbrary . —The Treatises ofM . T . Cicero . Translated by C . D . Yonge . 5 s . H . G . Bohn . Bohn ' s Standard Library . —The Theory of Moral Sentiments . By A . Smith . 3 s . 6 d H . G . Bohn . Bohn ' s Scientific Library . —Comte ' s Philosophy of the Sciences . By G . H . Lewes . 5 s . H . G . Bohn . The Illustrated London Magazine . 6 d . Piper , Brothers , and Co . The Ethnographical Library . —The Native Races of the Indian Arch ipelago Papuans . By G . W . Earl . 10 a . 6 d . H . Bailliere . Alderman Ralph . By Adam Hornbook . 2 vols . 7 s . G . Eoutledge arid Co . The Manual qf French Cooker }/ . Chapman and Hall . Harold , the last of the Saxon Sings . By Sir E . Bulwer Lytton . Chapman and Hall . The Pathology and Treatment of Pulmonary Tubercttlosis . By J . H . Bennett . Sutherland and Knox . The Tvnn Sisters . A Novel . Jty iucy Field . 3 vols . 11 . Us . 6 d . John Chapman . A Retrospect of the Religious Life of England . By John JamesJTayler . John Chapman . The Religion of the Heart . A Manual of Faith and Duty . By Leigh Hunt . * 6 s . John Chapman . The Poultry Book . ^ 2 s . Qd . W S . Orr and Co . The Portrait Gallery . 2 s . 6 d . W . S . Orr and Co . Chambers's Pocket Miscellany . Gd . W . and B . Chambers . Chambers's Repository of Instructive and Amusing Tracts . Is . W . and R . Chambers . Chambers's Edinburgh Journal . 7 d . W . and B . Chambers . Electoral Reform . By W . J . Isaacson . ' Butterworths . True Account of the Horrible System of Discipline at the Borough Gaol , Birmingham . By Mr . Joseph AUday . la . ¦ p . Pitman

      Buskin's Last Volume. The Stones Of Veni...

      BUSKIN'S LAST VOLUME . The Stones of Venice . Vol . III . The Fall . By John liuskin ; with Illustrations drawn by the Author . Price 31 s . Cul . Smith , Elder and Co . The volume now before us completes Mr . Ruslnn ' s last , and , in tbe opinion of many of bis admirers , greatest work . It is not our purpose to examine closely into its teclinical details , nor to enquire bow far lie lias succeeded in proving what he arrogantly informs us ( p . 254 ) it has been the object of the book to prove , " that all the architects and all the architectural teaching of the last three centuries , have been totally wrong . " There could bo little doubt that a theory so comprehensive in its condemnation ,

      would find critics and antagonists enough ; and Mr . Kuslon can probably boast of fiercer opponents and warmer partisans than most writers . The technical objections of his adversaries . do not , at present , concern us : the charges of dogmatism and intolerance , of hasty generalization and arrogant self-assertion , cannot so lightly be set aside . They proceed , in great measure , from the strength of the faith that is in him . "Genuine belief , " says a very eloquent writer of our time , " ended with persecution ; " a notable saying ! Few men have looked more , 'loAnngly into JNature , and listened more reverently to Art , than Mr . Buskin ; and it is hard for Jrim to believe that eyos and ears which do not receive interpretations so clear and palpable to him , are not wilfully closed .

      The present volume is , perhaps , not flo inch as its predecessors in those wonderful word-paintings for which the author is celebrated , and which fairly dazzle our mental vision , as wo read . To our fancy the style is somewhat ; shadowed and subdued , in accordance with the period of which it treats : no longer Venice in her prime , and in the glory , and brightness , and magnificence of her prosperity , —but ' Venice in her decline , in the decay of all that was great aind noble , tho moral no leas than externalmoral , therefore external—decadence , sot forth sadly and simply in this title-page , us her " Fall . "

      Tho volume contains two great divisions , . Roman lionaisflanoo and Grotesque Itonaiflfla . Tieo . Many pages arc dedicated to the consideration of tho artist , bin education-, duties , a ; ml requirements ; and others to an enquiry into the old , the inexhaustible , the ever-interesting subject—tho causes of the decline of art . It is difficult to make extracts where- tho subject-matter must provolo criticism , without injustice to tho author ; but whether we arc prepared to go all lengths with . Mr . liuskin , upon artistic education , or not , there is much to interest all ^ readors , in Kifl View of TFIK AttTIRT ' fi M 1 HBIOK . " Tho wholo function of th « artifit in tho world in to bo a H « oing ahd fooling oroaturo ; to bo an iriHtrumont of mush tonduraoHS and HciiHitivonoHH , that no HJha ( low , no hue , no lino , no inntaufancouH and « viui « fli : ont oxprefinion of tho ViHlblo thingn around him , nor any of tho omotionH which thoy are capable of convoying to tho Hpirit which haft boon givon him , shall either l > o loft unrecorded , or fyde

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15101853/page/17/