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Leader (1850-1860), 23rd October 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14

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      Neander'a Church Ilistory. Vol. Ix. Part...

      pioneer of the Reformation in England and on the Continent are recognised—his great abilities , learning , and masculine mind are all acknowledged , but we think that hardly sufficient justice is done by the learned author to the effect which Wycliffe ' s works and labours had on Unas , Luther , Calvin , and those who came afterwards and completed the reformatory structure of which he certainly had laid the principal foundation . A word of compliment is due to the able editor , M . Schneider , for the admirable way in which he has performed his difficult and laborious task . The Curiosities of Literature . Vol . II . ( Routledge and Co . )—Another volume of this sterling and classical work has been issued . The third volume will complete the publication . Menzies

      Early Ancient History . Henry . ( Chapman and Hall . )—The author tells the reader in his preface that this work was principally prepared for the middle and mechanic classes . Dismayed at the formidable length of the standard works on Ancient History , and dissatisfied with the compendiums extant , he determined to write a work which should be of convenient size , familiar in its style , and yet containing ample materials and facts for a correct view of the anti-Greek era , beginning " from the earliest period , and continued until that period when the Persian history commingles with that of Greece / ' The author has made use of the modern discoveries of "Wilkinson , Rawlinson , Layard , and others , and has made his work as complete as possible . The volume is nicely printed and bound , and will be a very acceptable present to persons belonging to those classes of society for whose instruction it was mainly designed .

      A Handy Booh of the Musical Art . By the Hen . and Rev . T . C . Skeffingtbn , M . A . ( James Blackwood . )—The author of thi 3 musical brochure very truly states , " never was there a time known when music was so nniversally cultivated as it now is—never , perhaps , a time when the true principles of art were less understood and less carried out . " With a view to remedy these cardinal defects , the above compendious work , intended only to be suggestive in character , has been prepared . The writer , among other branches of the science , has

      commented on the nature and office of music and the theory of music , including the Region of Sound , the Scale , the Keys , the Law" of Discords , Harmonious Sounds and Modulations , the Law of Intervals , the Ait of . Delivering Musical Sounds Vocal and Instrumental , the Cultivation of Style , and Musical Composition . The writer lias dealt with these matters in a brief yet lucid manner , but music is an abstruse science , and its laws are never fully mastered , except by the gifted few whose organ of music is largely developed by nature .

      Romaic Beauties and Trojan Humbugs . By Rattlebrain . ( Tweedie . )—This little book is evidently the production of a clever but crotchety writer . Perhaps the crotchety portion of the latter may be premeditated , and only adopted as a means of drawing attention more forcibly to the pleasant pictures which the writer lias presented of Eastern life . The title is a crotchety title , and no more permits the reader to anticipate what he has to expect than would a schoolboy who took up for the first time " The Wept of the Wisht-on-Wish . " Here is a specimen of the author ' s stilted style . Describing n Romaic beauty , he says ;— " Marootha was a twenty months' acquaintance of ours , and during that buoyant aime we knew her as well as the sun knows the desert .

      She was the acknowledged queen of Giourkioi , and each of her fingers at will constituted her sceptre . In the year of her nativity , Nature , who had gradually acquired a pressure of too much creative beauty to the square inch in her cylinder , allowed this extra steam to escape whilst fashioning Marootha , and this is the reason why she is , or was , so terribly beautiful . But Murootha lncks the beauty of Constancy , and possesses the inconstancy of Beauty . This fickleness is like an unpleasant black patch upon the skin of this sweet goldfish Maroothn , and all the other little silver-fishes of the villages know this . Unlike the fair floweret too , in the Persian tale , in love with the engaging moon , Marootha is like a flower in the planet Saturn , loving and coquetting with each of

      the seven moons in rotation . " A better specimen of the author ' s talents , because in better taste nnd not so overlaid with affected phrases , is in the following rather warm description of a Romaic dance ;— " Increasing in rapidity as the time progresses , the dance assumes a now Btep and character ; the girls become excited , and the young men shout and snap their long pointed flngors as if disdaining the use of Spanish castanets . The dance has become an animated spiral lnultipede . All eyes begin to sparkle , and some to look as starry-like as the two quadruply gijt bosses on their zunnrr girdles . The

      braided locks of the pulchritucUnous fair ones , with thoir infinity of triple plaits , are lent to tho mercies of the wind . They begin , all of them , maids , spouses , and striplings , to resemble variegated essoncos only . The wondering Frank unconsciously rises from his four and a half legged buffet stool , pinching out his cigarette between his fingers , and snubbing' unwittingly the Proffered wine J ug . The pipe draiyls , the viol groans , the little ones moolianioally foot it round ; the warm limbs of tho whole congregation seem to bo moved by a fire -within them , turning their blood to steam . Every oot is oloquent . —• every form brilliant with that liberty

      of soul which enslaves the senses . " We can promise the reader an hour or two not unprofitable entertainment with this author . The Secret of a Life . By M . M . Bell . C Routledge and Co . )—We will not divulge the " secret , ' : ' but refer the curious reader to the book itself , which we _ need hardly say is among tho cheap issues of this spirited publishing firm . Bell Martin . An American Story of Real Life . By T . S . Arthur . ( Hodson and Son . )—We hope there is nothing real about the story , although the leading incidents' are certainly those which figure in daily police reports , but without in this case possessing the charm of style to justify reproduction . We are no friends to what has been correctly called " Newgate Literature , " therefore our commendation , even had this tale been of first-class merit , would have been but very subdued .

      Common Sense and Humbug Attached , m Arts , Science , and Literature . Part II . By John Bull , Jan : ( Mountcastle . )—This professes to be a satire on men and things . The best way to give the reader a taste of the author ' s quality is to quote : — - WHAT AKE THE ARTS . " The Art 3 are visions through volition stealing , Aud whilst they teach , may influence the feeling . " ART NAriUNG . " But Art to rouse no doubt must use Enthusiasm—Peter the Hermit , O'Connell , Puritanism , All urged a truth , in zeal have callen , 4 Awake , arise , or be for ever fallen . ' " THE ACTHOn ' s STANDARD . " We want a standard , I myself have taken One , which from childhood never has been shaken , Truth , in its outline has been cut indelible , Speaking to memory as if impellible . " And then magnanimously discarding " Flattering day-fly work in idle wantony , He stuck to Nature ' s book like good St . Anthony . " In the same original satiric strain Modern Arts , Science , and Literature come under the poet ' s lash , and may be considered as henceforward and for ever " teetotally absqiiatulated . "

      the British Journal of Homeopathy . ( Groombridge _ and Sons . )—The medical act is dissected , and an amusing sketch of the means taken by the supporters of Homoeopathy to defeat the kind intentions of the " regular faculty , " who hoped by the aid of this act to extinguish the homoeopathic heresy , is furnished to the public . The remainder of the work is taken up with cases treated by homoeopathic rules , and principally interesting to practitioners who adopt the new system . The Apocryptical History contained in the Book of Revelation , soloed on an entirely new and consistent Principle . By Harcourt Bland , Dramatic Artist . ( Glasgow : T . Murray and Son . )—How far our histrionic author has fulfilled his mission , it is not for us to decide one way or the other—every reader , according to his bent and bias , must judge for himself . At least , however , we cannot avoid giving the writer gre . it praise for industry in collecting together a vast number of facts and opinions to fortify his own ingenious speculations .

      The Case of the Tanjore Ranee . By J . B . Norton , Esq . ( Madras : Pharoah and Co . )—This is a report of a case heard in the Supremo Court of Madras , in which the eldest widow of the late Tanjore Rajah , asked the Court to declare by a decree thut , " as the eldest surviving widow of the deceased sovereign , she was entitled to her husband ' s private and particular effects , " tho whole of which , including the sovereignty of Tanjore , had been taken possession of by tho East India Company . Tho jewels , money , and wealth of the Rajah appear to have been vast . Tho agents of the East India Company took possession of the whole nnd refused to render any account to tho widows or relatives . Tho answer put in by tbo East India Company is— ¦

      " Tho Rajah died on the 29 th October , 1835 , whereupon it was determined , as an act of state by the defendants , and the British Government , that the Raj and dignity of the Rajah of Tanjore was extinct , and that the state of Tanjoro had thereupon lapsed to the de . fondants , in trust for Her Majesty tho Queen , and it was also determined by tho defendants as an act of state and Government , that tho whole dominions aud sovereignty of Tanjoro , together with the property belonging thorcto , should be assumed by them as part of tho British territories and revenues in India in trust for Her Majesty ns aforesaid . " Tins appears to bo cool . Wo suspect , howovor , it is singularly illustrative of the way " John Company , " through his grasping and insatiable agents , acted towards the native rulers and princes , and it may possibly afford some solution of tho causes of outbreak in our Indian Empire and the dreadful condition of affairs that now prevails .

      T / te Poxoera of tho Priesthood in Absolution ( J . and H . Parker ) is another theologi c work , very forcibly written . Free Theological Inquiry By , a Lay Member qf tlio Ohuroh of England . ( Williams and Norgato . )—< Wo agree with tho writer , that " of iatoyenrti thoro has bpon a groat incroaso of inquiry on theological subjects , " wo go a stop furthor , aud say that this inquiry must not ooaao until wo get at such a settled standard fur faith as will nut an end to those scandals which aro now

      wcakoning the Christian religion , if not undermining it altogether !

      1126 The Leader. [No. 448, October 23,18...

      1126 THE LEADER . [ No . 448 , October 23 , 1858 ^

      The Shipwrecked Mariner, A Quarterly Mag...

      The Shipwrecked Mariner , a Quarterly Magazine ( G . Morrish . )— " The Atlantic Cable and its Submersion" occupies a prominent part in the pages of this serial . The other articles relate to such matters as the " Eddystone Lighthouse , " " New Mode of Restoring Persons Apparently Drowned , " " Rewards for Saving Life on the High Seas and Coasts , " and the magazine concludes with a list of the Annual Grants to Widows . The London University Magazine opens with the conclusion of the article on " Our Policy in India . " The best contribution in the number is " Buckle ' s History of Civilization . " The writer has given a very fair and thoughtful review of that author ' s popular work . The poetry and miscellaneous pieces are of no very striking merit .

      Assurance Magazine , No . 33 . —The articles this month are numerous and various , and fully maintain the reputation of this journal . We must leave the articles on the abstract principles of life assurance to be judged of by those engaged professionally in the application of them . One of the most interesting articles to the general reader is that " On the Forms of Endorsement on Life Assurance Policies ; " a matter more intricate and important than might be supposed by most persons . The article by Mr . Samuel Bunn , on the " Progress of Tire Insurance in Great Britain , " 13 also curious and valuable .

      Books Received This Week. Fellow Travell...

      BOOKS RECEIVED THIS WEEK . Fellow Travellers ; or , the Experience of Life . By the Author of " Margaret . " 3 vols . post 8 vo . Hurst and Blackett . Philadelphia ; or , the Claims of Humanity . By T . F . Barham , M . B . Post 8 vo . Chapman and Hall . Verse—1834 to 1858 . By Charles Bones . Foolscap 8 ro . Chapman and Hall . Heraldry in History , Poetry , and Romance . By Ellen J . Millington . Foolscap 8 vo . Chapman and Hall .

      Tents and Tent-Life , from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time . By Godfrey Rhodes . Post 8 vo . Smith , Elder , and Co . The Insurance Magazine , and Journal of Actuaries . No . 33 . Part I . vol . | VIJI . Post 8 vo . C . and E . Layton . Lott-ery . By Mrs . Jones , of Pantglas . Foolscap 8 vo . Routledge and Co . The Poetical Works of tie late' liichard Furness . By G . Calvert Holland , M . IX , Edinburgh . Foolscap 8 vo Partridge and Co .

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      Theatres And Public Enter' Tainments. Pr...

      THEATRES AND PUBLIC ENTER' TAINMENTS . PRINCESS'S THEATRE . t—Mr . Charles Kean may be said to have completed his circle of revivals by the reproduction of Shakspeare ' s play of King John , with which he commenced it in 1852 . He cannot be said , however , in other sense than this , to have left off where he began ; for , whereas he found the upper classes , if not the whole public , in a state of considerable indifference to the drama , ho ha 3 cer . tainly procured its recognition from tho throne itself to the very fringe end of the aristocratic circles , not as a diversion alone but as a teacher , and has

      mightily influenced for good tho dramatic taste of the community at largo . A well-directed spirit of enterprise has , as we have always con ton Jed , in Mr . Kean ' s case as in that of others , contributed much to this result . Tho manager , the public , and the drama again have profited by tho sagacity with which the former lias retained about him a united , nnd , as one may say , a permanent company . The sound taste ot tno educated man has spurrod Mr . Kean to ino marvels of scenic completeness with which au oui readers must be familiar , has taught him wlioii 1 to stay his hand , and has guided him in tho wlootlon of the most enlightened aids . None who adu 10 } " s his furvid nrodlloetion for the works of our myriaueiocu

      mindt'd dramatist , and Ms highly cultivated . tionary and interpretative powers , can wonder , men , at the voluntary disarmament of criticism i » " «« case by all who would eee tho Muses in thoir proper theoretical position . Nono again , who appreciate the operation upon U 10 public of unswerving , K ) 'fittried fidelity to promises of ontertainmont , co'iBtancy in affording a largo equivalent for their broad pieces , and last not least—to use a well-understood generality—of character , can fail to understand tno w come always extended by the masses to tup open ing of tho Princess ' s Theatre . In tho profaco to edition of King John Mr , Keen has supplied us iuui

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23101858/page/14/