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Leader (1850-1860), 25th September 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 18, A WALK INTO SPAIN. A Walk across the Fre...

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      926 The Leader * [Saturday,

      926 THE LEADER * [ Saturday ,

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      Critics Arc Not The Legislators, But The...

      Critics arc not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Meview .

      A Collection Of The Works Written By Gre...

      A collection of the works written by great criminals would not be without its interest , although the literary merit of these works would have but little share therein , for in spite of the once popular theory of the intimate connection between genius and outlawry ., one cannot seriously accept the pretensions of criminals to intellectual superiority . Les grands crimes , according to Voltaire , n ' ont ete commis que par des celebres ignorants , and if there be some exaggeration in the remark—if all criminals have not been ignorant men , it is beyond dispute that they have never been remarkable as intellectual powers . Madame Laffarge , who died the other day , has left the manuscript of a work , Dix Annees de Captivity which will , doubtless , be read with something of the curiosity that followed her Memoires j but no one who ever glanced at those Memoires will anticipate literary excellence , or dispute , in her favour , the position just laid down . Madame Laffarge died at the age of thirty-six , at the little watering place Ussat , where , although repulsed from the doors of many houses , she found herself a sort of " lion , " with the halo of celebrity round her headthe celebrity of crime ! She had some fascinated visitors , to whom she gave autograph sentences of the " rose-pink" order . A ludicrous incident happened to one of these visitors : a lady living in the neighbourhood became assiduous in her attentions , until one day Madame Laffarge offered her some refreshments , and an involuntary shudder ran through her as she saw Madame Laffarge present the cakes , and stammering out an excuse she departed swiftly . Visiting a Brinvilliers is ungent enough , but eating the cakes she offers . . . . ! In the last Revue des Denx Mondes there is an historical sketch of the Academie Francaise , by Villemain , forming the Introduction to the elaborate work he is preparing , in which he points to the unchangeableness of that Institution in a country where all things change so rapidly , and deduces therefrom that the Academy is peculiarly adapted to the Nation . We agree with Villemain in regarding such an Institution suitable to the tendencies of France , although repugnant to the tendencies of England ; but we do not agree with him as to the reasons of this suitableness . We detect in this difference the national differences in regard to Liberty . The French , in spite of their revolutionary vivacity , are essential servile in spirit , loving theoretical Liberty , but determined by their whole intellectual and moral condition to worship despotism , and to delight in rigorous external coercion , political and literary . The pedantic servility of their Literature to what is called " le grand siecle "—their incessant proclamation of " models , " to imitate which is the ambition of all right thinking men—the jealous susceptibility on all questions of established rule , and the desire to preserve the language of the 17 th century from innovations—all this adoration of Literary Despotism is not merely a literary taste , it is a national weakness . There is of course a good as well as a bad side to this , as to everything else , and our extremely independent Literature has with the vigour of independence much of the chaotic lawlessness the French dread . If France attaches too great an importance to fastidious details of style , England is , on the other hand , too indifferent , and admits not only in public documents ( such as Lord Dkkjjy ' s letter , to take a current example ) , but also in appbiuded works , n laxity of diction and a defiance of grammar which a little vigilance would have prevented . With us it sounds almost pedantic to quarrel with a man ' s style . But if one may reasonably object to' have material work " scamped" by hasty or incompetent workmen , surely intellectual work deserves as much vigilance . In the same Revue , there is a narrative of a journey to Persia ; among other noticeable details we read of the Demon-worship of the Yc / . idis : a worship the writer seems to regard with more contempt than we can muster . To our minds it seems a very logical religion . Che' itdn—i . e ., Satan—is the object of prayer in preference to ( iod ; for , say these Yezidis , Satan having the power to do evil and to hurt mankind m spite of the divine power , it is wise to adore and propitiate him ; and in reasoning thus , they do not appear to us to be reasoning with less sagacity than do our wthodox divines , who while preaching everlastingly about the infinite goodness , wisdom , and mercy of (» od , arc in the same breath calling upon us to pray to that ( jiod as if lie were a " jealous ( Jod , " a revengeful (» od , and a ( jod of so little wisdom that he knows not when to send rain or sunshine , plagues or victories to his adoring children . To propitiate ; the Devil is a prudent course . He can hurt us , and is disposed to do so . Hut to propitiate ( Jod ! To ask Infinite ; Wisdom to turn aside from its plans ; Infinite ( ioodncss to alleviate the misery it sends ; Infinite Mercy to have ; " mercy upon us miserable sinners !" When orthodox persons complain of the . assaults of heterodoxy , and talk of " their most sacred convictions" being outraged , it does not occur to them that our most sacred convictions are equally outraged by their statements . They say , " Oh , that is a very diU ' emit thing ! " They do not believe in the existence of " Cathedral of Immensity . " They do not worship there . If they did - if for a moment on some starlight night their thoughts were lifted with their eyes to Heaven , and any sense , however dim , of the Infinite

      Life that animates Creation , were to steal into their minds and to summ up by contrast the strange , fantastic conception which Jewish tradition h ** handed down to them of The Most High , they would start back at th blasphemy against the Divine Life , and confess that they , too , like the Per sians , had been worshipping Satan ! It is some comfort , however , to reflect , that in spite of the fierce vitalit of this Hebrew Myth , the ranks of Spiritualism are daily increasing in ajj parts of Europe and America . A book that . will materially aid this propagande of more enlarged ideas is the celebrated Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion , by Theodore Parker , which Mr . Chapman has just included in his Catholic Series . The eloquence , conviction , and learning of Parker make him an invaluable ally . His piety is as unquestionable as his power .

      A Walk Into Spain. A Walk Across The Fre...

      A WALK INTO SPAIN . A Walk across the French Frontier into North Spain . By Lieut . March , 3 J . M . Bentley . When a man writes with , the gay and facile pen of a Dumas , much is pardoned , in consideration of amusement , which , were the pen less skilful , would call forth the critic ' s ferula . Lieut . March , consciously or unconsciously , writes a book of travels in the Dumas method , but without the Dumas style . He fills his pages with legends , anecdotes , historical sketches , just as the incomparable Dumas manufactures volumes with . whatever comes to hand ; but unhappily , he wants the grace that should

      redeem such method . He writes pleasantty , sometimes felicitously , not perhaps , with sufficient fastidiousness in the acceptance of his diction ^ ( when we add in a parenthesis that he talks of having laved his wayworn feet in the limpid waters of the Lissague , the reader will seize our meaning , ) but on the -whole , in a style which carries you swiftly and agreeably to the end . Yet , although we willingly render this tribute to his volume , we are forced to add , that his style is not sufficient to excuse such bookmaking as must be noted in the narrative of Catalina de Erauso ' s wellknown history . Dumas would have told that story in a way to force its acceptance ; the sixty or seventy pages Lieut . March gives to it are not acceptable . We make the remark , because in giving us a volume about North Spain , the author has recorded so little original observation , and dragged in so much surplusage . A walk into North Spain should have furnished some picturesque sketches of scenery and manners ; but Lieut . March has heen more occupied with historical recollections , and military obser * vations , than with the tourist ' s observation . Of the few glimpses at manners , we select this : — THE CHICKEN DANCE AND GAME OF GOOSE . " The haile de polios ! Imagine a plump capon , buried in the ground , with its head just visible , and a peasant , his eyes bandaged , making all sorts of awkward attempts to decapitate it . Of course the sightless headsman made a thousand ridiculous mistakes , and , for a long time , unsuccessfully swept his sabre right and left , until a shout of " hondo eqttina / " ( well done !) from the spectators , proclaimed the lucky stroke , which deprived the bird of its head , and gave the swordsman a supper , for it became his prize . " The juego de ganzos had more pretensions than the haile de polios , but was decidedly cruel . Five young men , mounted on shocking bad horses , and fantastically dressed , according to their ideas of the Grand Turk , successively galloped at a dangling goose , which was to become the prize of the one who managed to cut its head oil" during the rapid transit . " In Puentarabia , Lieut . March saw another , and still more curious Gamo of Goose , which may be contrasted with our rustic game of climbing soaped poles : — " By throe o'clock the shore was lined with spectators ; and hundreds of boats dotted the surface of the Hidasson . " As soon as the municipality , the provincial deputation , and the band of music had taken their places , a trim whale-boat , steered with an oar , and . swiftly prop ped by ten vigorous rowers , darted forwards towards a goose that dang led , head downwards , within a few feet of the water , from the centre of a cord , attached to two poles about forty feet apart . " In the bow of the boat stood a man wearing nn old cocked-hat and a white shirt and trowse ™ , and as it ( lashed under tin ; pendant bird at full speed , bo firmly grasped its neck , and in an instant was swinging in mid-air , holding on to the goose , amid the obstreperous merriment of the multitude , whilst persons , ongagw lor the purpose , now ram him up some twenty feet , and then suddenly let 1 '"" down into the water with a tremendous splash ; a feat that threw the beholders into ecstasies . A ^ ain and again these inseparables—wo hardly know which was the greater goose of the ; two--were hoisted adoft amd plumped into the briny clement , vanishing for a moment in its crystal depths , and then rising hall exhausted to the surface , the reasoning biped dinging to the web-footed one with ft tenacity that could only be explained by the fact that it was to become bis prize 1 lie succeeded in wringing oil'its head . After being ducked , or goosed , adwtusetnn , and drawn up for the sixth time , dripping like a sen-god , to undergo another im mersion , lie Jet go in despair , mid swain to a boat . It was clean * tho goose i . i < remarkably tough n < : ek , amd if the rest , of its body was in the sumo condition , ti » possessor of the teeth that could masticate , and of the stomach that could diges - « > was not to bo envied . . . " The next comer was more fortunate , and succeeded in decapitating the V )< '"' after receiving three cold baths . His predecessor ' s efforts had Hindered it a » J ^ J tank , and illustrated the old ndage that one man reaps what , another sows . / \

      ( Tknno1 Ann's H Fstory Of Imii Losoimiy...

      ( TKNNO 1 ANN'S H fSTORY OF IMII LOSOIMIY . / A Manvtd of the llistorj / of I'hilotiop / ,,,. Trai . Hlatod from tho ( lerniiin "J ^ y ""^""" - ! . by Mm ilev . Arthur , lo ) inmm . ftoviscd , enlarged , and continued by «»• ^ j ^ ,,,. ( Ihilm's I' / iilofot / ieul Jjilmtrjj . ) ' ' ^ It watt au excellent thought of Mi * . UoIim ' h , in re-publishing < " . "j " i Manual of the Rhtort / of l >/ iilo . sop / ti / , to havo it re-cdited , n ' vlH <>( ' ' fl enlarged . " Johnson ' s Inundation , an \ Sir William Hamilton H ' ! ' / : , os 0 . very poor performance ) , the IrniiHlator ' H ignorance of tho -K- " Jj ? ^ n hat ) phy having grcutly iiuhIchI him in tho uho of tcmiH . Mr . J . lv . More

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091852/page/18/