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    Aprii* 20, 1850.] ®fj£ gLtatttt* 89

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. Le Moyen Age et la R...

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    The Roman. A Dramatic Poem, by Sydney Ye...

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    NOTES AND EXTRACTS. Where is the Standar...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    A Battery Against The War-Office. The Ho...

    ing the period when the exercise of their remaining faculties can prove advantageous to the community at large , is not exemplified in the one instance only now under remark , but holds good generally speaking , when those who have the might to remedy the evil tacitly sanction the consequences attendant on such absurdities being permitted to exist . •« It would seem that views taken by different old < rentlemen on the case in point by no means verge towards a like conclusion , for at the Ordnance we find a regulationrecently announced , excluding officers who

    , have passed the age of forty as ineligible to hold the appointment of a barrack-master , although the very head of the department has survived upwards of eighty years , and deems himself fully competent for carrying out the multifarious and highly responsible duties devolving on the post of Master-General , among which obligations an . itimate knowledge of the barrack-master ' s branch forms out a part ; still no officer of forty years of age can , in . he estimation of the ruler of that branch of the army , ;> y possibility perform the functions devolving on a tarrack-master ' s position !"

    It is one thing to honour the duke , another to suffer jhat honour to take the shape of serious detriment to others . One of the complaints urged by our author is that : — " Neither the Duke of York nor the much-lamented Lord Hill hesitated at granting an interview to whatever officer had occasion to approach them . Not such , however , is permitted in the present day , for none save the Horse-Guards' officials have access to the * Great Man , ' and consequently all regimental officers are prohibited from making their appeals in person , let the subject matter urging them to solicit an audience be as momentous as it may ; and what is the consequence ? thisofficers seeking redress listen with ill-concealed disgust to the ever-ready and oft-repeated phrase ,

    • The Duke has decided , ' well knowing that , such being the case , no redress is attainable while the high and honourable post of Commander-in-Chief is filled as now it is ! " But not for one instant , as I before remarked , does the imputation of connivance at this unjust and brusque mode of settling a difficult point rest on the gallant individual , whose universally acknowledged and well-known hereditary courtesy cannot but render the words he is compelled to echo as painful in the utterance to his feelings as a gentleman , as he well knows the decision arrived at to be wrong .

    " Why such things are tolerated must be answered by those who sanction their continuance ; yet , if credit be Siven to the public papers , and those in particular proiessing the advantage of deriving information from authoritative sources , " it would appear that the delay in the nomination of colonels to two regiments lately vacant was accounted for in no other manner than by the startling assertion that ' the Duke has forgotten the circumstance , and no one dare remind him of it ! ' and , as it appeared , so is it here reprinted . Headed—?" The Vacant Regimental Colonelcies .

    —Rumour has bren rife for some time at the Horse Guards respecting the non-appointment of a successor to the 80 th Regiment . On die , the Duke has certainly forgotten the subject of the vacancy , and not one of the officials dare mention it to him , particularly as the number of the corps corresponds with his own age . His grace could not be treated with more delicacy on the subject of his age were he an old lady , instead of a vigorous elderly gentleman . Neither the military secrehis the

    tary nor Mr . Fcrgusson ojui even hint to grace annoyances to which thejrare subjected by the repeated visits of expectant general officers , who , with long and doleful countenances , betray the greatest anxiety as to th ° ir chances of obtaining the colonelcy . We do hope that the circumstance of the 68 th Light Infantry having just become vacant will give a refresher to the Commander-in-Chief ' s memory , and ease the minds of sundry old veterans , and send them home to their firesides and the yule log . ' vi

    " And yet at the same time we are told that , so - gorous is his grace in the enjoyment of his green old age , he is able to ride several miles to covert , and heartily enjoys the day ' s sport afterwards . " The author also strongly reprobates the system which pays colonels only £ 500 a year , and allows them to make up their income to some £ 1300 out of their " profits" as " army clothiers " : — " The clothinc ? of the men is thrown into the hands of the colonel , who forthwith selects a prime minister , yclept an army clothier ; and a very lucrative calling I cipiuo the said clothier must have of it , as , by reference to Hie Trades' Directory , it appears there arc exactly fifty of them .

    11 The selection having been decided on , the parties proceed to business , producing as the fruit of their labour the satisfactory result , that as in point of quality of material , in durability of wear , and capability of excluclintt the cold . and wet , arc the garments of an J ^ njilish gentleman , when compared with those furnished by the parish for the use of the inmates of the « unions , ' , in every point of comfort and convenience , is the manufactured aitide . served out to the tioops of all European Tuitions superior to the ' pealed pattern' provided for the Lntish soldier , and familiarly known ainon . ^ th e men by the euphor . ious of ' bull ' s wool . '

    cognomen " The amount of money granted by the country lor clothing the army is amply sufficient for the purpose to which it is supposed to be dedicated ; but a comparison between the army estimates printed by order of the House of Commons , and the books of any regimental quartermaster , will speedily convince the most sceptical that scarcely one half of the sum voted in Parliament for clothing the infantry private is devoted to that specific purpose , while but one third of the amount allowed by

    the same authority is appropriated for the benefit of the corporal ; thus , taking the regiment at eight hundred and forty rank and file , a saving is effected to the colonel of about £ 800 , which , when added to his pay as before named , amounts somewhere to £ 1300 , and this too exclusive of allowances for supernumeraries , augmentations , & c . " As civilians , bound to be profoundly ignorant of the organization of the War-office , we cannot be expected to sit in judgment on this work . " Competent persons" must decide upon the truth of its statements ; meanwhile we may say that they appear true enough , and are well worth looking into . A dozen coloured illustrations , in which the hand of an amateur is very visible , but which are not without humour , serve to lighten the text . Indeed the whole book , though grave enough in , matter , is pleasant and lively in form .

    Aprii* 20, 1850.] ®Fj£ Gltatttt* 89

    Aprii * 20 , 1850 . ] ® fj £ gLtatttt * 89

    Books On Our Table. Le Moyen Age Et La R...

    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance . Public sous la direction de Al . Paul Lacroix et M . F . Sere . W . Jeffs . During the present rage for Mediaeval Art such a work as this magnificent one , at all times of high importance , has a peculiar appositeness . It contains a history and description of the manners and customs , commerce and fine arts , of Europe during the periods known as the Middle Ages and the Revival . Its text is furnished by some of the most eminent antiquaries and men of

    letters , and it will , when complete , have no less than 250 large plates and 800 engravings inserted in the text , representing some 4000 specimens of Mediaeval Art . The work is published in numbers , one iranc and a half each . It is impossible within any reasonable limits to convey an idea of the variety and riches of this repertory of antiquity ; but the most careless inspection will suffice to convince any one of its extreme curiosity and value : it lies on Mr . Jeffs' counter for inspection , and subscription . We must confine ourselves to a simple indication of its existence .

    National Evils and Practical Remedies , with the plan of a Model Town , Illustrated by two engravings . Accompanied by an examination of some important moral and political problems . By James Silk Buckingham . Peter Jackson , London . Mr . Buckingham is an indefatigable labourer in the vineyard of commonplaces . Without the poetic concentration of Morelly , the exhaustiveness of Considerant , the glowing style of Louis Blanc , the graceful variety of Morgan , or the solid sense of Bray , as manifested in their treatment of " National Evils ' and Remedies , " Mr . Buckingham ' s works have , nevertheless , their charm , and that charm lies in their easy garrulity , supported by the confidence of experience and illustrated by the

    infinite reminiscence of the traveller . But Mr . Buckingham is more than the chronicler of Reforms : he has identified himself with them in their earliest stages . He claims to have striven for the abolition of West Indian Slavery when ardent abolitionists thought it impracticable— and before the days of Waghorn to have recommended the overland route to India . Those internal reforms in the administration of our Eastern empire which Lords Bentinck , Metcalfe , and Glenelg have since promoted , Mr . Buckingham considers himself to have heralded . If , however , half of that to which he informs us in this book he has primarily directed public attention be traceable to his exertions , he has won a right to be heard , as an authority , on his present theme . In respect to operatives and trade arrangements , Mr . Buckingham proposes to limit , by legislative enactment , the profits of

    Joint stock , or associated bodies , to eightor ten per cent , upon the capital , and in addition to the wages of labour , to divide the residue of profits among the labourers , so as to give all a tangible interest in the common prosperity . Respecting the organization of labour , Mr . Buckingham is more comprehensive and courageous : he proposes to originate a company of shareholders of £ 20 and upwards , who are to purchase 10 , 000 acres of land , and to build upon it a town entitled Victoria ( of which his work contains a showy design and the ground plan ) . The town is to be occupied by the shareholders , who are to carry on manufacturing operations . The remuneration of capital and labour is to be equitably adjusted . Mr . Buckingham assigns £ 4 , 000 , 000 for the cost of the experiment from which he calculates a revenue of twenty-five per cent , will be derived .

    As the two reforms—of trade and society—are of growing interest , we have specified them as marking the progress of the hour . But Mr . Buckingham treats of many other changes also and has the merit of proposing something in the way ot" improvement on all . His book is not one of mere talk , it is one of practice . InlirUal Princii > ul : Discussion cntrc iW . Prourilion et M . Bastiat sur l'intGrfit < les capitaux . W . JoH ' d . This very amusing and instructive discussion should be

    translated and circulated widely . In it M . Bastiat—one of the most liberal of modern economists , and known in England by his advocacy of Free Trade—undertakes to vindicate the rights of capital ; while Proudhon , in his trenchant decisive style , undertakes to show the iniquity o £ "interest " at the present stage of civilization , and to prove how credit might be gratuitous without injury to uny one . In the course of the discussion many eollatera 1 topics are introduced , and the whole ground may be said to have been ploughed up between them .

    Nor olio ' s Part-Hong Book . No . T . J . A . Novello . A monthly collection of vocal part-music , clearly printrd , and issued at half the price of a modern ballad . The peculiar feature of the work , however , is that one hundred pounds is to be annually ex pended in premiums for the best part-songs , th « first premium of eight pounds , to be awarded with the July number . Wo have little faith in the system of prize-giving as far as the progress

    of art is concerned , convinced as we are that the highest available talent can always find a ready and certain market . The design , however , is laudable , and if it do not succeed in exciting matured genius , it may aid in bringing forward many whose chief drawback to success is the mere difficulty of obtaining a hearing . Handel ' s Oratorio ' * Samson . " No . IX . The Three favourite Masses of Mozart , Haydn , and Beethoven No . III . J . A . Novello . These cheap editions of the standard works of the standard composers are uniform with the many others which have already obtained so high a place in publio estimation , and which have stamped Mr . Novello as one of the most zealous and conscientious of the people ' s publishers .

    The Roman. A Dramatic Poem, By Sydney Ye...

    The Roman . A Dramatic Poem , by Sydney Yendys . Richard Beutley . More Prose and Verse . By the Corn-law Rhymer , In two volumes . C . Fox . The Education of the Feelings . By Charles Bray . Second Edition , Longman and Co . Captain Cobbler or the Lincolnshire Rebellion . A Romance of the Reign of Henry VIII . By Thomas Cooper ; author of " Tho Purgatory ot Suicides . " Part I . J . Watson .

    Notes And Extracts. Where Is The Standar...

    NOTES AND EXTRACTS . Where is the Standard ?—Universality is made up of countless individualities ; and not only does each different species of creature feel itself of great importance to nature , but each individual of each species regards itself as of special account , and compares itself complacently with all the world that surrounds it . Each individual of necessity makes himself the standard of comparison for all others ; by his own senses he measures yours , by his own excellence or incapacity he estimates the qualities of others . The far sight miscalculates the neat sight ; the near sight miscalculates the far ; the simple sight , which only sees unity , cannot judge of the double

    sight , which takes in two different objects , one with each eye ; nor can it judge of the compound sight , which see * only a complication of parts—perhaps only one part distinctly at a time , and the rest as in a dim kaleidoscopenot to speak of many wonders , such as the learning of man has never yet fathomed or conceived . But each of these owners of eyes ( and at this moment , and , indeed , throughout this little book , all eyes are equally respected by the author , and no favour shown ) , each of these owners of eyes , let us repeat , very naturally , and of

    necessity , considers his especial pair , or set , as the standard of all correct vision . If he happen to have imperfect eyes , and to know it , then he makes the eyes of his species stand for his belief in perfection . It is quite clear that all of us—men , bees , ants , fish , spiders , cats , robins , and the rest , —see things very differently , not only as shown in the present fragment of natural history , but throughout creation ; and equally certain is it , that each species sets itself up as the true seer of things as they are . The grand question , therefore , is , who is right ? Is nobody right , anyhow ; or , are we all right , somehow?—The Poor Artist .

    The Shadow op Coming Events . —A people that have found a new shape for their Parliament will not believe their Church inflexible . The clergy , who apparently cannot distinguish between the permanence of objective truth and the mutability of representative forms and dogmas , will probably wait for the painful lessons of experience . But other classes , startled by the reappearance of doctrines worthy of the age of Laud , and discussions in the style of Peter Lombard , are meditating the question whether the Church is really fulfilling the understood conditions of an establishment . This question , as now entertained , goes much further , we arc convinced , than it ever has before . It is not a mere

    doubt about patronage and the sale of presentations , though that is a thing odious to common sense and natural piety ; it is not a scruple as to pluralities , though custom only can grow tolerant of the abuse ; it is not an objection to the incomes of the bishops , though they do seem to detach the apostolic function from the apostolic lot ; it is not a discontent with the monopoly of the Universities , galling as that is to the intellectual aspirations of dissent ; it is not a pity for poor curates , or an aversion to ecclesiastical courts , but the far deeper question , whether that which the Church teaches can truly be

    called the religion of this nation . Its theory of life , its picture of human nature and representations of the divine , its ideal of moral perfection , its demands on intellectual assent—are they in agreement with the living faith , the noblest inspirations , the clearest knowledge , and the true heart-worship of the present English people ? Or must it be said , that what is held true by the best-informed rouses the frightened ecclesiastic instinct ; that what the devoutest believe is not written in the creed ; that what the purest and richest souls admire breathes through no appointed prayer ; and that in the real doubts and strife of their existence men betake

    themselves to other thoughts than the curate's commonplace ?—Westminster Iteview for April . Why Women caue so much for Dress . —Men order their clothes to be made , and bave done with the subject ; women make their own clothes , necessary or ornamental . and are continually talking about them ; andtheir thoughts follow their hands . Itis not , indeed , theniaking of necessaries that weakens the mind ; but the frippery of dress . For when a woman in the lower rank of life makes her husband ' s and children ' s clothes , she does her duty , this is part of her business ; but when women work only to dress better than they could otherwise afford , it is worae than sheer Joas of time . To render the poor virtuous , they must bo employed , and women in the middle rank of life , did they not ape the fashions of the nobility , without catching their ease , miffht employ them , whilst they themselves managed their fa ml lies , instructed their children , and exercised their own minds . Gardening , experimental philosophy , and literature , would afford

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 20, 1850, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20041850/page/17/