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    December 18, 1852.] THE LEADER. 12 *3

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    MR. COMMISSIONER PHILLIPS AS STUDENT AND...

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    St. John's Isis. Isis: An Jeqyptian Fila...

    « jg it the same fountain within us that pours forth the tears of sorrow and ivlit or are there springs at the two poles , as it were , of feeling , which are o en ' open , and discharge their sealed waters , when , through the operation of Juses internal or external , we are intensely happy or unhappy ? <> It was not probably the movements of Leila or Fatiina that constituted the f cination of the dances I witnessed , but the associations accidentally awakened by them , which sent back my thoughts over four thousand years of Egyptian history , d called up in some sort a buried world before me . Present at Shaharah in peron I was intellectually and morally far away amid the dim lig hts of tradition , vith the disciples and children of Athor and Isis around me , amid the palm-groves of the Heptanomis , or in the island of mystic beauty which floats midway between the torrid and temperate zoges , and woos from the sun the perpendicular glahces of the tropics . " _ And for the following on THE E & YPTIAN WOMEN .

    « We probably form a false conception of the life of the haritn , misled by writers who suppose its inhabitants to be swayed by a system of ideas different from that which really prevails among them . My own opinion is , that they are quite as happy as tlie resfc of tneir seX ) otnerwise nature would not have given perpetuity to the institution , which seems quite as suitable to the East as very different institutions to the North . At any rate , the women themselves are the best judges , and they appear upon the whole no less contented than their sisters of JYankestan . « Besides , their seclusion is not so absolute as we imagine . I have seen

    respectable men and their wives going out to spend the evening pleasantly in the fields between Cairo and Shoubra , forming little groups , but not so far removed as to prevent conversation . They did not , of course , belong to the upper classes , which everywhere sacrifice the heart and its best affections to pride and vanity ; but were probably shopkeepers , or what are called in the East , little merchants , extremely comfortable , and , as we express it , well to do . At any rate , if mirth be a criterion , they were as happy as Greeks , for they talked , laughed , related stories and anecdotes , smoked , drank sherbet , and ate sweetmeats and all sorts of delicacies with much greater gusto than the same number of princes and princesses in

    the sombre North . "Again , when I visited the Mosque of Flowers , I saw at least four or five hundred women , many of them of the highest rank , distributed through the various aisles , in pleasant little groups seated on carpets , some sewing , others suckling their children , others talking and laughing , or eating and drinking , while their slaves stood round in attendance . As I was dressed like a Turk , they bestowed no more attention On me than on any other person . So I gazed on them at my leisure , while I affected to be regarding the architecture , the colours of the painted windows , and the materials of the pavement . " Even in the bazaars , when not too strictly attended , the Muslim women sometimes venture to converse with strangers , sending forth their soft voices , at first , perhaps , from behind their veils , but as the dialogue warms , throwing these aside for a moment and exhibiting their beauty , as the moon flashes from behind a cloud . One day , as I was examining some linen for a turban , a Turkish lady , who had likewise come to purchase finery , addressing me quite in a familiar tone ,

    said" ' That , O stranger , will not suit you ; but this / touching some Manchester muslin as she spoke , ' will look very handsome , though the fashion now is to wear the Fez plain / " The ice being thus unceremoniously broken , we continued talking on a variety of topics , though the female slave who attended her displayed numerous signs of anger or alarm . But the mistress was not to be checked . The rare opportunity of conversing with a Frank having presented itself , she was resolved to make the most of it , and went on chatting and laughing for a full hour at least . As she put several questions to me respecting the females of Europe , I ventured to inquire , in my turn , into the internal economy of the harim , respecting which she disclosed to me some curious particu lars , fully confirmed afterwards by moro than one Levantine matron at Alexandria .

    December 18, 1852.] The Leader. 12 *3

    December 18 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 12 * 3

    Mr. Commissioner Phillips As Student And...

    MR . COMMISSIONER PHILLIPS AS STUDENT AND JUDGE . The Loves of Coles tine and 8 t . Auhcrt : a Romantic Tale . By Charles Phillips , A . B . and Student of tho Middle Temple . With a portrait of the author . 2 vols . J . J . Stockdale , 1811

    [ a uetkospkctivk bkview . J When an elderly gentleman , who lias been " wild" in his youth , manifests indignant , inioleruneo of the peccadilloes of his son , every bystander feels that whatever wisdom Micro maybe in the reprobation of " wiklnesH , " it comes with a very bad grace when it comes harshly from one who formerly Hueeuinbed to the ternptaLion . The father may p lead ^ that his greater experience givos greater authority to his reprobation of vice ; it does « o ; but it ought at least to give him greater tolerance for tho weakness which succumbs . A man who has never erred may not l > e expected to have much sympathy with error- ; his JiarBhuoHH is ignorance . So also a ma . li who has never wavered in his belief may look upon incredulity as an immorality : but for tho converted infidel to take this view is to nay ,

    implicitly , " I was a scamp , and therefore J was anjnfidel . " We are about to confront , Mr . Charles Phillips as a young man with Mr . Charles Phillips on the bench—tho student with the Commissionerto show that the man so pure and inlloxihlu in-his orthodoxy , who cannot now take the evidence of ono who will not accept the . Bible , was in his . youth the seoruer of Ingots and fanatics , the idolater of Koufisoau , Tame , and Condoreet , the sintagoriint of Marriage , the erotic advoe / Uo of flawless love , " the mouthpiece of the foolish trash which the waves of the devolution threw as foam upon the shore and wo will then ii . sk the public to judge of the dignity and becoming-ness of the scene at the Insolvent Court tho week before last .

    Let iih not be misunderstood . We are by no means of opinion Mint the errors or miHLiikoH of a man ' s early life aro to h » brought up against him as evidence in his old age ; as well might ono hold a man accountable for the ignorance of his childhood , which would bo ilagrantly absurd . . Hut although a man ' s present is not to be measured liy his past , we- may legitimately gather from his past , certain indications which will allect our estimate of his present . It ift no argument against the sincerity of a iimn ' n . Protestantism that in his youth he was a Oatholic ; it was no argument against ( Godwin that in his youth ho had written sermons . Hut if a mau wan iij . his youth a liar and a thief , ono would naturally have some

    suspicions of Ms morality in old age . If in kis youth he was fond of balla andpic-nics , which he now thinks " frivolous , " we have a right to question his harshness towards youths who are now attracted by these in vonties . If in his youth he worshipped Rousseau , Paine , and Condorcet , we have a right to question his sincerity when he says that any man who holds the opinions of Paine , Condorcet , and Bousseau is unworthy of the rights of citizenship , unworthy to be heard in a court of law , unworthy to be credited with a conscience ; or if we allow him to say so , then we must

    interpret his language into a confession of his having been the reprobate he is scandalized at—and if so , how came he to sit on the bench ? It is for this purpose that we have taken Celestine and St . Aubert as the text for a retrospective review . When Mr . Charles Phillips wrote that work , and published it , " with a portrait of the author , " dedicating it to the Countess de St . Marguerite , he was either a sincere though mistaken young man , or a man so immoral that his oath was not to be taken in a court of law , his position in society that of an undeclared outlaw . He may choose his horn ! . _ „ ,., - , ... ? . Aubert is foolish and erotic novelin

    The Loves of Celestine and St . a , the style of the last century . Celestine is a young lady of " warm" temperament , but in case the reader should condemn her , he is apostrophised thus" Frown not thou canting priest who under the- cowl of sanctity wearest this world and this world ' s appetites , Celestine is among the blessed ; yes , if suffering can expiate imprudence , or mercy ' s love forgive it , she is happy . " The " imprudence" alluded to is adultery : Le mot est decent , je le retiens ! The reader is also warned : — " If thou art a bigot , close the book ; it may offend , and nothing can improve thee ; it flatters no prejudice ; it follows no tradition ; it speaks the simple language

    of nature , and is addressed only to those who believe her dictates superior to those of man . Bead it not , then , thou , who fanciest that what is old must of course be venerable , that what is established cannot be erroneous , or that self-applause should be conceded to worldly opinion . It may shake thy principles and will certainly offend them , for its first assumption is that superstition should give way to truth , and that neither power , nor age , nor prejudice can consecrate a custom naturally absurd . Far absent be the slave , the cynic , and the hypocrite ; they can feel no sympathy with me : but come , thou child of nature , who canst participate in the joys , and pity the errors of thy species . Come , thou man of feeling , who wouldst rather soothe than sadden the misfortunes of life ; thou mayst take some interest

    in the history of Celestine . " Might not Mr . Holyoake have quoted this when his oath was refused ; what is that ceremony but " a superstition that should give way to truth" ? and who so ready to acknowledge "that neither power , nor age , nor prejudice , can consecrate a custom naturally absurd "—for surely it is absurd to make a man take an oath that is not binding on his conscience , or else refuse his oath altogether P Let us hear- CHARLES PHILLIPS ON EOTTSSEATT . " Bousseau has been much calumniated by those to whom the triumph of genius can never be acceptable . No doubt the panegyrist would be injudicious who should deny his failings , but he was such a man , that I would even mistrust my judgment should not be measured b

    when it attempted to condemn him . Superior minds y the common standard ; their enlarged principle must seem a paradox , their refined opinion , a prejudice , to inferior understandings . In such a case to attempt criticism is always a work of vanity and not unusually one of envy also . I ^ erhaps it may excite derision , but I never yet saw a great man censured by a puritan that I did not the more admire Mm ; yes , I loved him for his error as much as I respected him for his talent ; because , while the one dazzled my view and darkened me with its splendour , the other told me the prodigy was human and cast a dignity on my species ! Who would substitute an insipid regularity for the romantic wildness of nature ! Who would the less admire the fiery meteor of heaven , because it rolled not in a path prescribed and regular ! Rousseau was ono of those whose very failings render him more sacred ,- a . precious relick , whose ? very specks make it more estimable ! Like some romantic mountain in his own lovely land , ho was n

    beauteous disproportion . If his majestic elevation sometimes caught a passingvapour from tho earth below , still , when its transient dimness vanished , it only left his view the more retincd ; his vision the nearer heaven . That such a man lived and died poor is perhaps one of the strongest arguments for the necessit y of that revolution which afterwards humbled fclie worthless aristocracy of the land in which he was neglected . " Now let us hear

    C 1 TAKLKS PTTITiLTPS ON TAINE . " Amongst these tlicro was one whom I could not help viewing with peculiar admiration , because , by the sole power * of a surprising genius , he had surmounted tho disadvantage of birth and the difficulties of fortune . Lt wn « the celebrated Thomas l ' airu \ a man who , no mutter what m .: » y be tho difference of opinion an to Inn principles , must over remain a proud example of mind unpatronised and unsupported , eclipfling the factitious bavins of rank and wealth and pedigree . I never Haw him in his enptivity , nor heard Hie reviling * with which he has been mneo assailed , without cursing in my heart ( hat ungenerous feeling which , cold to tho necessities of treniirs , " m clamorous in tlio publication of its defects .

    " Ye great ouch of bin nation ! ye pretended moralists ! so forward now to cast your interested indignation ujkhi the memory of Paine , where- were you in the day of bin adversity ! which of you , to assist his infant merit , would diminish even the niirpluH of your debaucheries ! - — where wits the fostering hand to train Ins mind to virtuo ! whore tho mitred charity ' . — the practical religion ! Consistent , derlainier . s ! rail on : —what , though bin gonhiH was th r ift of heaven his heart , tho aJtnr of ii )<; ixl « lii |>! what , though wit And eloqnonci ) nnd anecdote Mowed freely from hit * tongue , while conviction ttmd < t his voico her messenger ! what , though throne * trembled and prejudice Mod urid freedom camo tit h ' m command ! he , dured to question tho creed which you , believing , eontrudioled , and to despise the rank which you , boasting of , debused ! !"

    rm AHi . N . s rim . MPN on . " ( h )(\ of benevolence ! in giving nu > existcnee , didst thou intend the gift to be a winiK unto thy creature ! in giving >»<> <»•< ' <> will , didst Uiou intend it as my condunnmtion whould I exert it to avert calamity ! Away , away , thou hIsuhIwouh and timid sophist—tho great heutlion hh # o , ho who anticipated Christian virtue ) , might have avoided death , yot would not—tho puvo and spotloBH prophet ho preceded

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1852, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18121852/page/17/