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Leader (1850-1860), 16th August 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 16

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      Quakerism. Quakerism ; Or, The. Story Of...

      -women Friends preached . I was told afterwards that it was to me they preached , and that they had admonished me , and hoped good for me and my consistent walk through life , most beautifully . I did not hear a word of it . I knew somebody was speaking , but the words conveyed to my mind no more im aning than the sound of the waves as they ripple < n the shore . One of the speakers was my own new sisterin-law . Ever her voice , which was very peculiar , did not rouse me out of that dreamy state which the lengthened restraint I- was compelled to keep myself in , while the public exhibition lasted , had sent me into .

      ? ' Our dinner party was very large . All our respective fathers and mothers , uncles and aunts , brothers and sisters , brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law , nephews and nieces , and first cousins , had been invited for a month beforehand ; and from far and near they came . We assembled over eighty altogether , and the feasting and merry-making continued for nearly a week . Some of my near relatives were not Quakers . They drew me aside from the crowd , and prayed for me , and blessed me ; so did my own dear father and mother , but no one else . That such a service is desirable , I believe rarely enters into the head of a true Quaker .

      " My father had spared no pains or cost to provide an entertainment worthy of the occasion . Even one of his own pet beautiful peacocks , was sacrified to do us honour . Venison and pine-apples , & c . & c , were sent him by his noble acquaintances ; and the lord bishop of the diocese actually sent his own French cook to dress the dinner . Quakers boast of being ' a self-denying people . ' It would be curious to analyse in what the ' self-denial consists . The ministers , elders , and oversee ' , who rule over each Meeting , are certainly very strict in denying the young people those indulgences , and that liberty of thought and action ,

      which is the inherent birth-right of us all . To maintain their order , to uphold their system , is necessary to them . It is a pleasure , not a cross to them , to wear the garb , and use the language , and live isolated from even Christian communion with their fellows ; and it is a pleasure , not a cross , to tyrannize , as they do , over the mass , by enforcing on them those burdens which few , comparatively , have sufficient energy of mind to reject . The great body of the Society tamely submits to the arbitrary dictum of the few ; but that cannot be called self-denial . I have asked different individuals , both in England and in Ireland , dozens of times , ' Why does thee wear the bonnet or the hat ?'

      —and the general answer was , ' I wear it to please my father and mother . I hate it , and can see no earthly good in it ; but the overseers would torment us if I left it off . ' This was not self-denial ; and I ; tm sure , that in the matter of appetite , some Friends are the most self-indulgent in the world . "

      780 Irqe %T&1*T T* [Saturday ,

      780 IRQe % t & 1 * t t * [ Saturday ,

      Books On Our Table. The Preacher In The ...

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The Preacher in the House ; or , Family Sabbath llcadin » -H Edited by the Ifeveivnd D . T . K . Driiiiiinoud . ° " Hamilton , Adams , and Co . A volume of sermons by celebrated preachers ; adapted for family reading . The Steam-Kn ^ iiie ; a Popular Account of its Construction Action , and History , jiy llu ; o lteid . Illustrated by Forty Wood-Eiigruvin-jd . Third edition , revised and impnMcd . Ciroonibiidge and Sons . There have been many books on the steam-engine ; among the very best in that of Hugo Reid , the third edition of which lies open before us . It is comprehensive in design , and familiar in treatment . A suecinct statement of the general laws of Heat and Pneumatics , on which the action of the steam-engine depends , forms the introduction to the hintory " description of the great power of modern tiYncs . In the appendix there are Home , analytical remarks on Arago ' s Elogc de Watt , combating Home of it . s statements and rectifying its mistakes . How to See the Inhibition . In Four Paris . By \ V lllanch-ird J « -rrol < l . ISradhury ' and Kvans . We have already , in noticing the Hint part of thin little work , expressed our opinion on its utility as a supplemental catalogue , or portable guide-hook which visitors to the Exhibition will find nave them ' incalculable time and trouble . The three lust parts justify wluit we / said of the first .

      Tim Statuh Oj- Tiij; Amazon. —The Power ...

      Tim Statuh oj- tiij ; Amazon . —The power of the Amazon , the strength of expression , the agony of the horse—a grand and terrible mixture of dismay and desperation- are triumphant proofs of the artist ' s jjenius ; and it in , therefore , nil the more to be regretted , tliut ho noble a work / should be marred by one or two very obvious blemishes . Observe the attiti * l * oift tfc < i AWtflwIv She bus loHt her Kent ' , and is thrown ^ bivck fm ;^ n ^ mpoHsible portion on the haunClierf of Jtlu ? h qist ^ Vlurn to the back of the HtfttiKi , and look At flfld JiVrse ' H tail . Jt iH cant

      up 1 / f . hing ^? i * > J $$ MK **™ t" ™ were in Mate oi h | gh exultation , in $ t * m < 6 £ being drawn in between it * legs by the eflBbr > of tffcfcj ^ r , which would inevitably ini \ ke it O 0 il up afrit * fttfyfch'H . Them ; faults are deductions froni . the Hieri * f » of tho work as a perfect » tudy ) tytf van <» ugh » MtfiahiH behind to justify the highest bnc 0 jinlumk 4-Jrraser ' s Maqaxinc ,

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      We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Gokthe .

      Spontini. Hy Hector Bekliojz. (Translate...

      SPONTINI . HY HECTOR BEKLIOJZ . ( Translated and abridged expressly for the Leader . ) On the 14 th of November , 1779 , there came into the world at Jesi , in the March of Ancona , a child whose name was Gasparo Spontini . I am not going to say of him , what most biographers are never weary of recording when writing the lives of celebrated artists — " He early manifested extraordinary dispositions for his art . He was hardly six years old when he already produced remarkable works , " & c . My admiration for his genius is too great and too well founded to allow of my using the commonplaces of vulgar praise when speaking of him . Besides , every one knows what the value of the chefs d ' eeuvre of wonderful children really are , and how much more in the interest of the fame of those

      children when grown into men , it would be to destroy those foolish memorials of their much-vaunted infancy . All that I know of Spontini's early years is what I have myself heard him tell , and is limited to a few facts which I will merely record without attaching to them more importance than they deserve . He was twelve or thirteen when he entered the Conservatore della Pieta at Naples . Was it in accordance with the child ' s desire that his parents gave him the advantages of that famous school of music ? or did his father , who was doubtless not rich , think

      that in placing him there he was furnishing him with the means of pursuing an easy and humble career , never dreaming of his becoming more than the maitre de chapelle to some convent or second-rate church ? I do not know . I should incline to the latter hypothesis , considering the tendencies to a religious life manifested by all the other members of Spontini ' s family . One of his brothers was cure of a Roman village ; the other ( Anselmo Spontini ) died a monk in a Venetian monastery , a few years back ; and his sister likewise ended her days in a convent , where she had taken the veil .

      However this might be , his studies alia Pieta soon bore sufficient fruit to enable him to write , with no great show of originality , one of those unmeaning trifles , which in Italy , as elsewhere , are pompously termed operas , and was called / Puntigli delle Donne . I do not know if this first essay was ever performed . It inspired its author , nevertheless , with sufficient ambition and confidence in his own powers to induce him to run away from the Conservatore and go to Rome , where he hoped to be more easily able to obtain a hearing at the theatre than in Naples . The

      runawaj- was soon overtaken ; and , under penalty of being brought back to Naples as a vagabond , compelled to justify his escapade , and the pretensions which had led to it , by composing an operu for the Carnival . A libretto was given him , called ( Hi Amanti incimento , which he at once set to music , and it was almost directly performed with success . The public treated the young maestro to the transports

      usual with the Romans on such occasions . Ilia age , moreover , and the episode of his flight had predisposed the dilettanti in Iuh favour . Spontini was therefore applauded , called for , carried in triumph , and —forgotten at the end of a fortnight . This shortlived success brought , him hi « liberty ( he was permitted to leave the Conservatore ) , and a tolerably advantageous engagement to go and ( an it is called in Italy ) write at , Venice .

      He was thus emancipated and left to himself aftei a Htay of no great length in the Neapolitan Conaervatoie . This i . s the proper place for solving the question which naturally presents itself : Who was his master ? Some have said the I ' adre Martini , who died long before Spontini entered the Oonnervat . ore , and , 1 believe , even before ho was born ; other . * , a person of the name of IJaroni , whom it was possible he might have become acquainted with at Rome ; others again have given tho credit of his musical education to Sula , Traettii , and even to Cimarosa .

      1 never had the curiosity to question Spontini on the subject , and he never mentioned it | o nu . | j uL I collided this confession from his conversations that the real masters of the author of iM y ,-stale ' Cortetc , and Ohjmpin were the / 'real , works of Uluck

      which he first became acquainted with on his arrival in Paris in 1803 , and instantly began to study passionately . I believe that not only Gluck , but Mehul who had already written his admirable Euphrosine and Cherubini , by his first French operas , must have ' developed the latent germ of his dramatic faculties and hastened their magnificent development . ' On the contrary , I find no trace in his works of the influence which the German masters , Haydn , Mozart , and Beethoven , might have been supposed to exercise over him in a purely musical point of view . The latter was hardly known by name in France when Spontini arrived there , and La Vestale and Cortes had long shone on the boards of the opera at Paris when their author visited Germany for the first time .

      To take up the thread of my biography once more * I must confess my ignorance of the doings of young Spontini after the appearance of his third opera in Italy . I do not know with any certainty on what theatres those that followed were performed . They brought him doubtless as little profit as renown , since he determined to try his fortune in France , without having been summoned there either by the public voice or a powerful patron . The names of the thirteen or fourteen Italian operas written by Spontini during the seven years which succeeded his first ephemeral triumph are as follows : —L'Amor secreto , L'Isola disabitata , L'Erois .

      mo ridicolo , Teseo riconosciuto , La Fmta filosofa ^ La Fuga in maschera , I Quadri Parlanti , II Finto Pittore , Gli Elisi delusi , II Geloso e VAudace , Le Metamorfosi di Pasquale , Chi Piu guarda non vede , La Principessa d'Amalfi , Berenice . lie preserved in his library the manuscripts and even the printed libretti of these washy compositions ; and pointed them out occasionally to his friends , with a smile of disdain , as the toys of his musical infancy .

      Spontini , I believe , suffered much , on his arrival in Paris . He contrived to exist by giving lessons , and got his Finta filosofa performed at the Italian Opera , where it was favourably received . It appears certain , although most of his biographers differ on this point , that the opera of Milton , with words by M . Jou } ' , was Spontini ' s first attempt with French words , and preceded the slight and insignificant work called Julie , or Le Pot de Fleurs .

      The printed copies of these operas tell us that Milton was performed at the Opera Comique on the 27 th of November , 1804 ; Julie on the 12 th of March , 1805 . Milton was tolerably well received ; Julie , on the contrary , sank under the indifference of the public , like thousands of similar productions which daily appear and disappear unnoticed . One of its melodies alone has survived . The famous actor Elleviou having taken a liking to Spontini , and being anxious to obtain for

      him another hearing , procured a libretto for a comic opera in three acts , which the imprudent musician had the weakness to accept . La Petite Maison fell so completely that no trace has remained of it . It was not even completely performed . Elleviou filled an important part in it ; indignant at a few hisses , ho forgot himself so far as to betray his contempt for the audience . The most frightful tumult ensued , the pit in its fury rushed into the orchestra , drove out the musicians , and destroyed everything that came in its

      way . After this double disaster , it seemed probable that the young composer would be shunned , every door necessarily be closed against him . But the patronage of the Empress Josephine remained to him ; ulie did not forsake him , and it is certainly to her alone that the genius of Spontini , which ran tho risk of being extinguished before it bad fairly dawned , owed itH ascension two years later into the highest region o art . M . Jouy had long treasured in his desk a libretto for a grand opera , La Vestale , which both Mehul _ ana Cherubini had rejected . Spontini begged for it so earnestly , that the author at last determined to intruHl him with it .

      Poor , decried , and hated by the ignoble music ""!* of Paris , Spontini forgot all to full eag le-like on Iiih noble prey . lie shut himself up in a miserable garret , neglected his pupils ; and car clean of the firtft ncrC" * wanes of life , be laboured at his work with tna feverish eagerness and tremulous passion winch " - the certain indications of tho first eruption of n ¦ musical volcano . " ¦¦ r . > -.. - . t l , ^^ .. 1 i' / lUU 111 " letedthe

      ii-When the opera was comp , EmpreBH ^ Htantly gave it to be studied at the Opera ; uU } _ for Josephine's protege began the torture <> ' hearsals ; a fearful torture for an innovator will" j acquired authority , and to whom the entire " X ,. performers was naturally and systematically ' V ' perpetual pitruggleH agniriHt ill-natured in ten » lieart-reinling efforts to move obstacles , to wi icicles , to reason witli madmen , to talK oi cuuuciiH , of imagination to idiots , of art to lal )* ^ of sincerity to liaru , of enthuBiiism to the enVlo y jjl 0 courage to cowards . Every ono rebelled aguuin

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 16, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16081851/page/16/