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Leader (1850-1860), 19th March 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11

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      .- -Tsto, ^M^^Abmib ^ Jm^^^^^^^^^^^^'

      .- -tsto , ^ m ^^ ABmiB ^ jm ^^^^^^^^^^^^'

      : V ¦ : Mtekatube, Science,' Art, &C. . ...

      : V ¦ : MTEKATUBE , SCIENCE , ' ART , & c . . . . ' .

      Literary Ciikqnicle <3v The Week.

      LITERARY CIIKQNICLE < 3 V THE WEEK .

      The -Question About "Thevestiges,"Unexpe...

      The -Question about " TheVestiges , " unexpectedly r ^ vell aSer an abatement of some W ^ J apparently as much attention and excitement as STtwas first -ooted The ^ . n ^ - closes the "rounds upon which the atti ibution ot the auil Ssfep to George Combe was- based . The authority upon which our contemporary speaks is Sd to be Professor Owen , albeit his name is not S-ectly mentioned ; . and the evidence is held to be good enough- to warrant the compilers of the British Museum Catalogue in transferring the title of the book from the title "Chambers , ' ^ th a [?] , to that of " Combe , George , " also with [ t ] . ± mis stands the evidence , according to the Critic :- — » When ' The Vestiges' first appeared , he ( z .

      of Charlotte Street , so as to give a handsome side up Bedford Square . This would give the means of nearly trebling the accommodation m the Museum , and would render it the most magnificent building of the kind . in the world ; and , what is peculiar with us , one that could be well seen . At anyrate , as an experiment / the / houses at the corner of Great Russell Street might immediately be added to the site to begin with ; and they could be had for a comparatively small assessment .-No books of any great importance . have appeared during the week ; but the Publishers Circular announces some good ones . Messrs . Chambers have issued the . prospectus of what is intended to be their magnum opus , a new Encyclopedia , to be called " A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People , " on the basis of the latest edition of the German "C onversations Lexicon . " It will be comprised in seven volumes , and issued in weekly numbers at thi-eerhalfpence . Judo-ing from the specimens we have seen , it will be - plentifully illustrated with maps and engravings , and will be one of the greatest achievements ^ n the way of cheap literature yet attempted . Among other announcements may be noted that by Messrs . Bradbury and Evans , of the issue of a series _ of works printed by the nature-printing process , which these enterprising publishers adopted and improved from the royal printing-office , Berlin . T- he- first issues of this series will be four Volumes , on fc > ea Weeds , " by W . G . Johnstone , containing 220 nature-printed illustrations ; two on " British Ferns , " by T . Moore , F . L . S ., reprinting the letterpress of his well-known work ( some time out of nrint ) , with 11 Q new illustrations ; and one volume of " British Mosses , " by Dr . Lawson , with thirty illustrations . Another important announcement is a " Life of Daniel De | be , " by William Chadwick ( J . R . Smith ) , and on' abbreviated and cheaper edition of the " Napoleon Correspondence , to be issued irom the Imperial press . The annual rumpus at the meeting of the Literary Fund has been happily averted this year by a letter addressed by Mr . Charles Dickens to the committee , concerning the purport of an offer to the society ; but of what nature , and from whom , was not explained . An early day . has been named for Mr . Dickens to communicate Avith the committee , and disclose the precise nature of this offer , and , in the meantime , a suspension of hostilities has been declared , Mr . Dickens stating that he und his friends would refrain from attending the anniversary meeting for the purpose of making motions adverse to the Committee , as has . been their custom for four years past . We hope ¦ that this suspension may lead to a permanent peace , and that the oHor may be such as to improve the condition of this excellent , but not too thriving , Fund . Another excellent , and not yet too-thriving fund , is that which was started last year by the reporters and contributors to the daily and periodical press , under tho title of the Newspaper Press Fund . After half a years hard work , the committee have not been ablo to get together more than ninety-four members—not very much at a guineas , year , certainly ; but they are not to blame ; and it arises from the visual supineness belonging to all who live by the 1 ross . When the idea was started there was some schism among the promoters as to whether donations and beneiactions should bq accepted from the goucral public . Many were inolinod to think that' it would bo degrading to do so , —as if that which every similar institution , whether lor the clergy or any othur profession does without scruple ,, would bo degrading to the gontlcmen of the proas . It was also hinted at tho time that if tho contributions were thrown open no assistance might be oxpeotod irom Printing-house-square . Wo aro happy to say that those considerations were disregarded , and that tho committee wisely determined to accept whatever they could honestly got . ' How much they have actually got from extraneous sources > yo aro not yeij informed ; but it will doubtless bo disclosed at the first annual mooting of tho subscribers , to be hold at the

      Freemasons' Tavern , on Saturday next ; but , m the meantime , we perceive that it is intended to ask the members to separate the contributions of the members from those of the public , and to apply the latter to general purposes , as _ weU as to the purposes of the fund—i . e ., to use it m the relief of persons , their widows and orphans , whether members of the association or not . This may be a very proper thing to do when the funds arising from members can be shown to be in a nourishing state ; but when the income to be counted upon does not exceed £ 100 per annum , it seems scarcely wise to appl y the monies collected to any other than the direct purposes ot the committee . Out of a « reat deal of general gossip connected with literary matters , we notice that a new autograph of Shakespeare ( particular ^ not yet disclosed ) is spoken of ; also that the long-lost MSof Cotton ' s poetical works ( Charles . Cotton ot " Walton ' s Angler" ) has been discovered tobe in the possession of Mr . Jewitt , of Derby . This is crood news for bibliophilists , or , as a distinguished club of literati now call themselves , " Piiilobiblians . " The " papers say that Mr . Thackeray has leased his pen to Messrs . Smith arid Elder for two years for 4 , 500 Z . Is thislikely ? We think not . Why should an author who has so ready a demand for whatever he may choose to write , convey himself to any one ? Still , money makes itiore than the : mare to go . It made the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos one of the greatest lords and greatest spendthrifts in the peerage—him that is descended from the great Grenvilles , and has a right to bear " pktnta genista both in his name and bearings ; him also that is not dead , though the papers said he was , a fortnight a ^ o . Money has made this great prince publish private letters , not only without the consent of the writers , but against the express wishes and the written directions of his own father . Of all tins Sir Watkin "Williams Wynn complains sorely and justly . . . The great revolution which the cheap papers are effecting , not only in London , but throughout the kingdom , is forcibly illustrated by the death of the Edinburgh Advertiser , one of the oldest journals in the country , seeing that it was started m 17 G 4 . This veteran of the press has been incorporated ( for few papers actually die—they are incorporated ) with the J 2 di ? iburgh Evening Courant . The items of intelligence from Paris contain the gratifying fact that M . Heuri de Pane , the youn <* comic writer , who obtained such notoriety and popularity from being made the victim of a clique of military bravoes , is sufficiently recovered to be once more at work , A volume has lately sippearod , under the title * of " Paris Intime , " containing a collection of some of his best papers , which havu appeared in the publications to which he has contributed , The story of the duel is graphically related in these pages . Among the most impoi'tant books which have appeared in Paris during the last week-, may be mentioned another of M . Ampere ' s dolightful Studies of Roman History , called . ? 'Cosar , Scenes Hiatoriques" - ( Michel-Levy ) , in which theqareer of the great Roman , from tho day when Sylla detected his growing ambition , down to lhat iatnl one in tho " Ides of March , " when ho fell , struck by tho dagger of Brutus , is relutud in ii stylo which comprises tho fancy of the poet and of tho romancer with tlie accuracy of the historian . Jules Simon , emulating Mr . John biuurt Aim , has published a work , in two volumes , pn Liberty ( Hftyhctto ) , completing tho trilogy with the treatises on Natural Religion and Liberty ol Conscience . It is spoken ot us carrying tho doctrines of Simonism still iurthor than thoy have ovur yet been carried , 'lpernifiros Etudus llistonquos ot Litterairos" ( J ^ vy ) is the title of a pair of volumes by M . Cuvillior Henry , made up of artxcloa by that jourimliHt , and collected from tho colunuis of old ' jiuwnpapers . Tho value of such ft farrago Ubolli in problematical . That popular writer , Loui ' m RcvbauU , has published a gravo trcatiso , called "Etudes sur la Regime dun Manu-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 19, 1859, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19031859/page/11/