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Leader (1850-1860), 19th February 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11, LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK. It will ...

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      No 465, Twharv Ic>. 1859.1 The L Bade B....

      No 465 , TWharv ic > . 1859 . 1 THE L BADE B . 235

      Litekature, Science, Art, &C.

      LITEKATURE , SCIENCE , ART , & c .

      Literary Chronicle Of The Week. It Will ...

      LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK . It will be difficult to deny that Mr . Ayrton s bill for removing from the Statute-book a whole host of repressive , but obsolete and inoperative statutes , atfecting the public press , is not a wise one It is no argument to say , that an obnoxious statute is inoffensive because it is never enforced . It may be enforced at any time by a Ministry disposed to carry matters with a high hand ; and it is no new thing to have a forgotten enactment du" - up for the benefit of some special offender . Some one said , that whenever the Statute of Habeas Corpus was important to the public liberties , it was sure to be suspended ; and as a convei ' . se , to leave those penal statutes against the press slumbering upon the-code , ; would be to leave a very dangerous weapon within the reach of those who may one day be prompted to use it . The Association for Promoting the Repeal of the Paper Duty have prepared the mind of the Solicitor-General for the question , by addressing to him a letter , pointing out that his own publisher , by simply publishing Sir Hugh Cairns's speech on the Government qf . India , has rendered himself liable to a penalty of 120 / ., su publication being against the provisions of the 60 th Gep . III ., c . 9 , which enacts that , " no neAvspaper , pamphlet , or other paper , under 714 square inches in size , or under sixpence in ' price , and containing any comment on any matter in CJiurch or State , can be published without security being first given that it shall not contain any blasphemous , seditious , or personal libel . " This is , of . course , one of the statutes that Mr . Ayrton ' s Bill proposes to repeal ; " and we do not wonder at the Solicitor-General for coming to the . conclusion that " the sooner such statutes were removed from the book the better . " An mterosting correspondence , between Messrs . Roixtleclge ( fitly called the Sosii of tho publishing trade ) , and the Commissioners of the Board of Inland Revenue , illustrates , in a very remarkable manner , the obstructive action of the paper duty , in preventing- the invention of new processes and new kinds of raw material . It seems that Mcssi ' ri . Iloutlcdge have been manufacturing , at their mills at Eynshain , near Oxford , a kind of paper pulp , made from a raw vegetable fibre , of which they assert the supply to be practically unlimited . " Their design has been to sell this in the state known aa half-stuH * ( upon which' no duty is payable ) to other makers , and for this purpose to send it to the market in the form of rolls or slabs . Anxious to avoid all chance of collision with the Excise , these gentlemen have taken the prudent course of communicating their intention to the board ; but they receive for answer that the board considers these slabs to be paper , and that the only way of avoiding the dMKculty will be for Messrs . Houtlodge to have them torn into small pieces and so sent for sale , an operation which in the opinion of theses gentlemen would bq detrimental , if not i ' atal , to the goods . The upshot is this ; whilst her Majesty ' s Coimils have received special orders from homo to keep a bright look-out for any new raw material for paper , her Majesty ' s Excise Qlliecrs at hpxne receive orders not less stringent to prevent any enterprising firm from doing all that in required . Two boo | v 8 of great importance have appeared during the week . The iirst is M . Chevalier ' s able treatise " On the Probable Fall in the Value of Gold" ( W . II . Smith ) , translated / by Mr . Cobdun , with a preface by the same ; and the other , the two volumes of the "Memoirs of the Court of George IV ., " by theDuke of Buckingham ( Hurst and Blaokett ) . The former of those is a really valuable addition to tho financial library , emanating , ae it does , from tho pen bust calculated to deal with the subject , and baying tho advantage of being revised in translation by so celebrated an economist as , Mr ., Cobdon . Tho other consi sts of numerous letters and- documents , full of ftnocdote , with a thread of narrative } , probably contributed by W . II . Smith , Esq ., who was tho Duke ' s librarian when his Grace had ft library

      to be looked after . It is a book sure to be eagerl y sought for on account of the revelations it makes oi Coifrt life in George the Fourth ' s time . It seems brimful of high-life scandal . Judging by the publishers' promises , we may soon expect a brisker season in the publishing trade . — Messrs . Longman , taking advantage of the agitation upon " the oreat dinner question , announce "The Art of Dining , " by L . F . Simpson ; also a work on « Ceylon , " by Sir J . Emerson Tennant ; a third series of " Essays on the Unity of Worlds and of Nature , " by . the Rev . B . Powell ; " Prairie Farming in America , " by Mr . James Caird ; and a " History of the Application of the Roman Characters to the Languages of Jndia by Monier Williams , M . A . —Messrs . Blackie and Son promise , " Notes of a Clerical Furlough spent in the Holy Land , " by the Rev . It . Buchanan , D . D . —From Messrs . Constable , the " Life and . Discourses of the late Dr . Brown , Professor of Exegetical Theology to the Presbyterian United ChurchV to be edited by Dr . Cairns . —From Messrs . Fullarton , "A Memorial Volume of all that was said and done all over the World Upon the Centenary of Burns , " arranged and edited by James Ballantyne . — From Messrs . Bell and Bradfute , a treatise by T . S . Paton , on the Law of Stoppage in . Transitu ; " a treatise on Trusts and Trustees , " by Alexander Monerieff and Hill Lancaster , Advocates ; and ; a treatise by George Hunter Thorns , Advocate , on " Judicial Factors , & c . "—Messrs , Smith , E lder ,: and Co ., are about to publish , " A Lady ' s Escape from Gwalior ; " " Christianity in India , " by Mr . Kaye ; a book on " Hong-Kong and Manilla ; Mr . Swainson , the author of the new work on New Zealand , on " Australia ; " and an essay on the Oxford Museum , " by Dr . Acland and . Mr . Ruskin . A few interesting matters of personal nossin may be recorded . Mr . Samuel Warren , Q . C ., Recorder of Hull , author of "A Diary of a Late Physician , " " Ten Thousand a Year , " " The Lilv and the Bee , " has been appointed to the office of " Master in Lunacy , vacated by the precipitate resignation of Mr . Higgins . Let us cono-ratulate the lawyer-like and literary gentleman upon his accession to such a very comfortable bed of leo-iil roses . We believe that there is no authority " for saying that Mr . . Disraeli purposes to visit America , as stated by the American papers . Judging from the following piece of literary gossip , given upon the authority of the Critic , his presence and his activity will both be wanted in England for some time to come : — . " It is rumoured that in consequence of a disagreement between Mr . Charles Dickens and Messrs . Bradbury and Evans , a proat chaiiRO will bo made with regard to Household Words . This publication , as is pretty ' general I y known , was founded at the suggestion of Mr . Wills , its presont editor , and was intended as a sort of rival to Chambers 1 Journal . Mr . Dickons became a shareholder , and his name is constantly announced as its " conductor , " although his contributions to its pages have boeii few and infrequent . Acting under an impression that it is his name that offers tho sole attraction to tho public , Mr . Dickons has determined , it is Baid , to withdraw from Household Words , and found another periodical upon a ' similar plan , and matters have proceeded , so far that an office for tho now journal is cither taken , or in progress of being taken , in Wellington-street . Messrs . Bradbury and Evans , on their part , havo rcHolvod to continuo Household Words , und it is whispered that they have endeavoured to provail upon Mr . Thackeray to become its conductor . Whether they havo succeeded in persuading tho groat Titiinarsh to accoilo to their prayer wo aro unablo to say ; but it is'certain that they will have at their disposal the whole of tho Putwh stalf ; and it it confidently stated that they will invite tho return to Household Words of Mr . George Augustus Sain , whoso witty and suggestive pictures of life and manners formed the ohioibst attraction of that publication a few years ago , and the outpourings from whoso pen were so frequently attributed to Mr . Charles Dickens , If this be true , wo do not anticipate that this admirable periodical will bo muoh damaged by the change , and U is certain that the public will not lose by a competition for excellence between two such antagonists . "

      Of course we cannot vouch for the truth of this All that we can say is , that from what we have heard on the subject , it has an air- of vraisemblance . Sr _ .,.- ¦ -m-qo The important sale of M . Libn s lUbfe , is fixed to take place in London by the end of March , and is looked forward to with great eagerness bythe virtuosi . The cataloguecon- ; sists of 300 pages , with thirty-six pagfcs of fac-« imile . The number of lots is nearly l , 20 Q , eoni-P risin < r manuscripts in many ancient and modern ton « m ? s . There are at least a hundred specimens belonging to periods anterior to the reign of Philip Augustus , and some as old as the seventh and eighth centuries ; volumes belonging to the times of the Carlovingians , with miniatures in the Byzantine style ; autographs and unpublished MSS . of Galileo , Kep ler , Tasso , and Leibnitz ; chivalric romances , and volumes ot poetry which have never yet appeared ; an apo-? ryphal Bible , in Arabic , hitherto quite unknown ; besides a vast number of other curiosities , the mere enumeration of which would far exceed the boundaries of this article , _ The bu dget of novelties . from the French press is - full one . ° First in importance are tile Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Orleans , by an anonymous editress . Some of our literary contemporaries have blundered not a little as to the identity of this personage ; but the fact has oozed out ^ through the cohunnsTof the generally weU-informed Independarwe Beige , that the real individual is . MadameTD Hautpoul , widow of one of Louis Pluhppe * ministers , a lady whose opportunities for giving any information as to the inner life of the citizen-king andhis family , niust have been mmierous . ^ Mentioning the Orleans fhmily , it is a cimous fact , and not altogether without significance , that , the ¦ sons , of . . Lotus Philippe are beginning to make themselves heard in the French press—and are unopposed . The forthcoming number of the Revue des Deux Mondes contains an article on Steam Navigation , from the warlike pen of the bold Jomvillc—¦ the rrcntleman who some years ago volunteered to mvade En-land with a French fleet ; but lie has since that time been contented to . inyude her m a more peaceful manner , and take up bis abode on tree-chid Richmond Hill . ... w To return , however , to French novelties . W c may chronicle an interesting workby M . Alexander Roger , the Memoirs of ltevcrdil , Councillor ot State to tjhristiuii VII ., of Denmark . ( 1700- / 2 ) . The inner life of that northern court is here portrayed with extraordinary minuteness . Oho intrigues , the back-stairs plots , the amours of btruensee , tnc kind ' s physician , a favourite of the young Queen Matilda , all these are embodied forth as in the life . Another welcome appearance is the second volume of the Napoleon Correspondence , giving tUP . correjroomlonce from September , 1790 , to April , 179 / . M . Granier de Cassagnae , the political ijainphletcer , has lniblished a pura romance of the idyllic school , under tho name " La Roinc dc-s lVnivieP . This , it is presumed , is in order to be m clumicter with his nowly assumed role of upholder c » i pure morality in letters . The French critics speuls well of ISHistoire de la IMunionde la Lorraine a la trance , by the Count d'llaussonville , of which thy iourlli unit ¦ l ast ¦ volume , comprising the period between lim death of Charles V . of Lorraine and thai of Nimwlaus , has but just , nppOarucl . M . Ja'oii 1-eu ; n-iv ii »« produced an agreeable volume ol Lantctvres ft Portraits Litt & aircs du XV I . Sidclo , ¦ . „ , « , u ung much that is intcroHtinpf an < l new to J 1 " ^^'"" reador concerning Manmiym ; , Ka-be . u .-, A i ppu d ' Aubigne , and Amj . it , Muii « . l ^¦ ^ A l Franco are delighted with a tniiwlnlmn ^ } ' ; ^; maud Ponuuier of two tfuologu-. d works ol gieat inmortanee by M . de Fifippl , tho direotov ot tl o Geological Miweum at Tiu-m—onc t ;> n IS oah « Deluge , and the other a Series of Letters on the Creation of the World . ^

      We Mayhoro Notice, With Tho Sinccrcst »B...

      We mayhoro notice , with tho sinccrcst » BM . V tho doaUi of Mr . Charles Mitchell , who , as tho editor and orltfhmtop of tho Newspaper Press Directory , , ad as a boral and enlightened advertising ngont , had ostabliahod a communication witU tho country

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 19, 1859, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19021859/page/11/