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Leader (1850-1860), 24th January 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, Critics are not th.e legislators, butth....

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      83 Tfe Iimdee, [No , 357, Sato&Day,

      83 TfE iiMDEE , [ No , 357 , Sato & day ,

      ~» Alttl?Rillux£ ^Uviuiuii*

      Ctterattut ,

      Critics Are Not Th.E Legislators, Butth....

      Critics are not th . e legislators , butth . ejud . ges and police of literature . They do not make laW 3—they laterpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

      It Is Very Desirable To Check If Possibl...

      It is very desirable to check if possible the current of popular errors ; and one means of doing so is to substitute precise language for the loose and approximative language in which popular errors gain currency . M . Henhi Mabtin , in an interesting article , " La Persecution sous Henri II . " in the Revue departs ( January 1 st ) , repeats and emphasises the error of attributing to Sebvetus the discovery of the Circulation of the . Blood , a discovery made by many anatomists in detail , but by Habvet alone as & full and rational explanation of the phenomena . The merit ^ Sebvet as is great , bis discovery awards him an immortal place in the History of Science ,

      but it was not -what we moderns mean by the circulation of the blood , and should not be confounded with it . Let us be more accurate in our statements , and more just to discoverers . Sekvetcs was but an indifferent anatomist , yet he first proclaimed the fact of the pulmonary circulation , that is to say , he first proclaimed the fact of tie blood passing wholly from the right ehamber of the heart into the lungs , and from the lungs back into the left chamber . This is however only half the circulation , the lesser circulation , as it is called , the other and larger circulation he knew nothing of . But Sebvetus added to the importance of his discovery , by recognising the lungs as the true seat of the transformation of black venous blood into red

      arterial blood , in contradiction to the reigning opinion which made the liver the seat of that transformation . . Sebvetus is one of th-e strange figures of the sixteenth century , known to all readers by his unhappyfate , but known to few readers in any intimacy , M . Maktin tells us nothing new about him ; but he quotes the phrase with which Mblancthon—the ' mild ' Mei « ancthon—approves Caxvin ' s odious act . " The Church thanks and will for ever thank you ; your magistrates have acted justly in putting this blasphemer to death . " But as M . Mabtui truly says , " La posterite n ' a pas avoue la parole de Melancthon , ni ¦ lea fanatiques reponses de Calvin et de Beze a la voix chretienne qui , de Bale , eclata contre les juges de Geneve . " It is very useful to keep the memory of such episodes green .

      In the same number of the Revue de Paris is a pleasant article on the famous quarrel of the seventeenth century respecting the Ancients and Moderns , in which , among other things , we read with amusement Pjebbaui-t ' s verdict on Piato : " Platon est juge : 31 ne plait pas aux dames V In Putnam's Monthly Magazine there is a paper on the " Odors of Plants " in which , among some sentimentalisms and some inaccuracies , we find many curious details and suggestions . Few of us are aware of the influence exercised over iis by a flower-scented atmosphere , unless the scent be obtrusive . Every plant that rises into the sunlight affects the atmosphere even though in deserts unseflft by man it blushes with purest ray serene : —

      There is ever a strange and mysterious feeling of heaviness weighing upon our mind in a forest , whether we -walk in the dim shade of broad-branched fir-trees with Tbalsamic fragrance , or in the lofty arcades of royal palma . The cause is , in both cases , the same—a thousand plant-lungs are breathing heavily under the dense canopy , and the thick vapours , seeking in vain an outlet through the branches and leaves , pass wearily to and fro in the close air . The South , and the North afford here , of course , still more attractive and decided distinctions . The noble forms of Grecian pines and laurels , the graceful outlines of the asphodel , crocus , and lilies that grow at their feet , and the sweet fragrance exhaled by all alike , had , no doubt , their profound effect on the bright , beautiful myths of the cliildren of Hellas . In the home of our forefathers , on the contrary , dense oak forests , frowning for ever in dark , mysterious shade , with countless hosts of poisonous plants hanging in rugged ravines , or bred in clamp darkness , and giving out a close , overwhelming smell , lent their colouring in like manner to the sombre and often bloodthirsty worship of the Druids .

      Pulnamy also , this month makes an upright stand for " International Copyright , " refuting the sophisms with which so many Americans are still in the habit of defending the present dishonourable state of things . From the opening paragraphs the tone msiy be gathered : — It is time , and more than time , that something were done by our national legislature towards securing th « claims of foreign authors to their woiks . We liave considered the subject in its pros and cons for muny years ; the bearings of it are well understood , and the public mind has attained as great a uniformity of conviction in regard to it as it is possible to attain in the existing diversity of human interests and feelings . Many , who were once hostile to any action in the premises , now profess to be in favour of it : no formidable opposition to the scheme exists anywhere , that wo are aware of , and the inauguration , of a now administration is an auspicious hour for the initiation of a new policy . ,

      All times , however , ate fitting times for doing justice to our neighbours ; and this question is one , as it has always seemed to us , not of expediency merely , but of positive right , it is pre-eminently a question of justice . Has the maker of a book—by which we mean of the inward contents , and not of the outward form alono—a title to the control of its publication , and to the profits that accrue from the sale of it ? Haa ho a proprietary interest in it , to the extent of declaring when , and whore , and how , n ! ? ' aS th ° ownor of otlier Property has ? If ho h » 8 , then the laws of every civilized country ought to proclaim that right , and protect him in the enjoyment of it ; and , if he has no-t then tholawa which already recognize it , in bo many forms , as tho patent laws and domestic copyright , are a gratuity , and ought to bo repealed . Our readers will note with pleasure the statement of a change of opinion which this writer expresses on tho part of those even who onco were hostile to an international copyright . In a few years the law must pass .

      Alf1br.I And Goldoni. Aijieri And Goldon...

      ALF 1 BR . I AND GOLDONI . Aijieri and Goldoni : thtir Lives and Advontures . By Edward Copping . A < ldey & Co . It was a happy thought to present , in one compact readable volume , a picture of the great tragic and comic dramatists of Italy—one renlly a man

      of exalted genius , the other a man of so sprightly and fertile a talent that in the dearth of Italian comedies , his works still retain an eminent position in dramatic literature . Both of these celebrated men have written their own Memoirs , and written them with so much force and vivacity that it is to he regretted Mr . Copping , when he schemed his pleasant volume , did not see the advantage there would have been in translating , abridging , and annotating their narratives , instead of rewriting them in his own way . The little he has been enabled to add would very well have come in as notes and introductory remarks . We should then have had vivid pictures inste ad of the somewhat vague and characterless indications of this volume . The reader not already acquainted with Alfieri will gain but a blurred indefinite image of him from this volume . The facts are givenbut the spirit is

      , absent . We do not make acquaintance with that ardent , haughty , irascible nature , struggling for so many years with the restlessness of genius , which has not yet become conscious of its powers , not yet found the issue for its activities ; travelling aimless ; driving hisown carriage to London parties , and instead of mingling with the frivolous crowds in those lighted rooms , remaining outside on the coach-box—a coachman among coachmen ; falling into the snares of a worthless woman ; fighting Lord Ligonier in the park ; detecting his mistress in infamy ; turning from society to study , and becoming conscious of his genius ; henceforward living the life of a writer , and knowing the joys and sorrows of creation . Mr . Copping has not made us acquainted with this strange figure , at least not more intimately than essays on great men usually do , and far less so than Alfieri ' s own Memoirs do .

      The same remark applies to his sketch of Goldoni , though with less force , because Goldoni wns a more superficial character , and easier to sketch . Nor does Mr . Copping compensate for this inferior biographic interest by introducing us to the times in which these dramatists lived . He has modestly refrained from , such extensive criticism of the various chefs d'eeuvre of these writers as might in some sense convey to the English reader an idea of their peculiar genius . He touches on the state of dramatic literature , but he does not treat it with , the fulness and specific detail which would have added advantageously to the interest and utility of his volume ; We extract what he says of Italian Comedy previous to Goldoni ' s reform :

      Since the sixteenth century comedy may be said to have died out in Italy . It had flourished during that century with considerable vigour . A host of writers had arisen , not , it is true , of commanding talent , but of sufficient to keep the comic stage at a fair intellectual level . The fertility of these writers was profuse , tlie age considered . More than a thousand comedies are said to have been written at this period . If there was no great genius exhibited , there was plenty of facile invention . During the whole of the following century there was even more abundant invention , but it was of much lower order . Manners had grown more corrupt , public life more stagnant , virtue less and less recognisable ; the comic dramatist , as in the days of our own Glorious Restoration , and of King Charles of virtuous memory ( son " of the Blessed Martyr ) , aided the general prostration of mind and morals , instead of striving to raise them from their degradation . The literary merit of these writers -was so far inferior to that of the writers who had preceded them , that it scarcely obtains recognition . Comedy had , in fact , become extinct .

      The pieces played in its name—and there was no lack of them—were mere frameworks filled up at will by the actor . The author wrote out the plan of his piece , the order of the incidents , the disposition of the characters ; the actor did the rest . This system , so utterly prejudicial to the true development of the dramatic art , had been growing in popularity from a very early period . The strolling quack , who with hia Merry Andrew traversed the country from town to town , is supposed , and no doubt ¦ with reason , to have been its originator . From a mere dialogue between two personi , the Knave and the Fool , the transition would be easy to a little farce sustained by three or four characters . In time , as these farces grew in importance , they were deemed worthy of publication . Flaminio Scala , it has been said , was one of the

      earliest authors of these pieces whose productions had that honour . But Scala ' s farces date no further back than 1611 , while those of Beolco Ruzzante were published as early as 1530 . Increasing in popularity year by year , these sce ? iar * 7 , or commedk deir arte as they were called , had , during the seventeenth century , almost complete possession of the comic stage in Italy . Nay more , they penetrated into 1 'Yance , and assisted in establishing genuine comedy there . Moliere ' s first essays in dramatic Composition were , wo know , adaptations of these pieces . His farce , " Le MeMecin Volant , " is only a free translation of an Italian piece , " II Medico Volante , " afterwards versified by Boursault . " La Jalousie du Barbouilld , " and some other farces of Moliere , which have not reached us , were from similar sources .

      At the commencement of the eighteenth century the improvised pieces were still supreme in Italy . If a few comedies , fully written and developed , were from time to time produced , they had no chance against their less restricted rivals . They seemed stiff and pedantic by the side of pieces which allowed to the actor the fullest liberty of speech and action . They might pleaso the educated few , although their merit was not always sufficient to produce that result ; tut the public at large cared nothing for them . They could only find amusement in tho improvised pieces , and those sank to a lower level , intellectually and morally , day by day . One remarkablo feature in these productions , which tended to keep them at a low literary ebb , was the little field they afforded for invention on the part of the author . Four characters appeared in every piece , under different circumstances it is true , but invariably with tho same attributes . They were the very pillars on which Italiau comedy was supported . Representative types of character , they were endowed with names , dress , and manners , which never changed . Tho first of these persons was the

      Pantalone . Ho was an honcBt old man , a trader of Venice . Ho wore a black robo and woollen cap , a red waistcoat , breeches cut off short like drawers , stockings and slippers , and a beard ridiculously long . It was the costume of the early Venetian traders , and is that still worn b y ono of our old friends of Christmas pantomime . The next was a member of the loarned professions ; ho was the Doctor . Supposed to bo of Bologna , he wore the drcas of its university . Ho also was old . Tho remaining characters wore two valota , Bri ^ hclla and Arlocchino , who sometimes had other names . Their dress was poor , patched -with unnumbered pieces of different stuffs and colours . A hare ' s tail ornamented their hats . Briglieila was all cunning and address . Arlccchino wis somewhat of a blockhead . Sudi were tlie four [ icnsc-nagcs of tho Italian comedy . But in addition to this unchanging feature of tho scene , tho female characters were almost always cast in the sarno mould and bore the same iiamcn . Kvon throughout Goldoni , nearly all tho young lad y hcroinoa are cither Beatrice or Honnum , tho ono lively , pert , and rattling , tho otlior tender and submissive . Tho servant is invariably Colombinn .

      Wo can imagino tho intellectual height of Italian comedy with such a system >» operation . All real mental lubour wan taken from tho author . Creation of character was a thing ho never dreamt of . Ho had not ovon to invent imxnes . Ilia four pcraon * were there , like four puppet . i ) ho had only to pull a fow slriuija and put thmn ia

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011857/page/16/