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    »»» THE LEADER. [Saturday;.

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    THE' DEAD DOG. '* JeBtts," says ' the st...

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    SELECTIONS GRAVE AND GAY. Mi?c$Tfonies* ...

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    »»» The Leader. [Saturday;.

    »»» THE LEADER . [ Saturday ; .

    The' Dead Dog. '* Jebtts," Says ' The St...

    THE' DEAD DOG . ' * JeBtts , " says ' the story , ' * arrived one evening- aA the gates of a certain city , and he sent , his cliscipj . es forward , to prepare supper , while he himself , intent on doing good , ¦ walked ^ tlirough . the-streets into the market-place " And ,, he ; saw , at the corner of the market some people gathered together looking at an object ou the ground ; and he drew near to * see what it might be . It was a dead ¦ do g , vritb , a halter round his neck , by which he appeared to have been dragged through . the dirt ; and a viler , a more abject , a . more unclean thing , never met the « yes of man . ** - And those -who stood by looked on with abhorrence .

    " * Faugh ! ' said one , stopping his nose ; ' it pollutes the air . ' How longV said -another ; ' shall this foul beast offend our siglt ? ' ' Look at his torn bide , ' said a third ; ' one could not even cut a shoe out of it- ' ' And his ears , ' said a fourth , ' all draggled and bleeding ! ' ' No doubt , ' said a fifth , 'he hath been hanged for thieving I ' * ' -And Jesus heard them ,, aad looking down compassionately on . the dead creature , heveaid , ' Pearls axe not equal to the whiteness of his teeth !' ?' Thea the people turned towards him with , amazement , and said among themselves , 4 is this 1 ; this must be Jesus of ISazareth , for only He could find something to pity and approve even in a dead dog ; ' and being ashamed , they bowed their heads before him , and went each on his way . "

    Mrs . Jameson s fine and cultivated tastes in matters of art is so well known and so widely appreciated , as to make it almost unnecessary for us to say that ttte illustrations to her Commonplac-e : Book , though small , in size ,, are eerily qcAameata to the volame ,, u » dniu 3 t certainly add , greatly- to its . atftcactiQps i « thQ estijnaAijOft of all readers .

    Selections Grave And Gay. Mi?C$Tfonies* ...

    SELECTIONS GRAVE AND GAY . Mi ? c $ Tfonies * By Thomas De Quincey . Edinburgih .: Janies Hogg . London : R . Groombridge and . Song . In our review of the last volume , whicli appeared some months since , we . gave a general notice of the character and scope of these " Selections ; " lftintroaucingthe new volqnae our business may be confined to the p leasant labour , pf . iaiakhig extracts . The present T > pok is fairly- Representative of the mind of De Quincey : of its depth and its flexibility , its giavity and . its ga iety :. The paper on " Murder as a Tine Art" is deservedly celebrated ; 4 tijd we tliink ^ it lias a fair chance—when a . later editor shall again resort to still more limited selections—to a permantftnt place in . the literature of its class—the Essay . The coarse criticism it has met with—that 'Hhe subject is unfit for such levity "—we treat- with contempt : such critics think that Diablerie should deal ' with : Browns and Robinsons ; and would object to Fables as interfering with the functions of ; the Decalogue , De Quincey's own defence of it is inimitable and unassailable—we will not , therefore , mimic it or sustain it : meiely saying , forr once venturing on that style of

    descriptive criticism , that this Essay , marked by Sterne ' s cast of'thought , has the recklessness' of the humour of Kalielais iii the purified style of Jean Paul . The next selection is a paper which we do not recollect to have befor « met , with , describing— -aweurd and wondrous panorama—a strange ep isode' in the tideo-usly dramatic history of Russia — the Exodus of Italraucks . from- Russian 3 ) ommation in . 1760-5 ; This Essay , written , in all thte , gravity of history , is an epic—resplendent with magnificently eloquent jp ^ gsages '; and it reads in startling contrast , with the immediately preceding paper . Of the " Dialogues on Political Economy" we are mot disposed to think highly , and among other reasons because , tempted by what followed , we did not read them . The sketch of the " Mail Coach" and its system is arnongfche best of De Quincey ' s papers rand this ,, as well a $ the less finished , but philosophical Essay on " War , " may be read at the present moment with the extrinsic interest attaching to a vindication of the " godliness" of human warlsire , and to a , description of the machinery by which , in the Peninsular epoch , provincial ^ England learnt , from day to day , news of that marvellous aeries of victories which were won by the two men who now lie side by side iu St . Paul's .

    The Peace Society people , perplexed ia conscience by what is in progress in the Crimea ,, inigjb * read with advantage the views of a scholar and a sage uyon warfare . We . fjive , by way of suggestion , a passage containing a , bold vindication , for which the Christian " Wordsworth is to > some extent xesponsible : — It ia th « strongest confirmation of' the- po-wflr inherent in growing civilisation , to aHwA ; W . a 4 * OJn < l to narrow tlie field ., of war , if we look . back , for the records of . the changes in this direction which have , already arisen in ' generations before our own , TJio most careless ^ reviewer of history can liardl y fail to road a rude outline of progress made by men in the rights ( and consequently in tho duties ) of war through the last twenty-five centuries ^ It is a happy circumstance for man , that oftentimes ho ia lfcd / ' Ibyv pure selfishness into * reforms tho v « ry same as high principle would havo prompted ; and , in the nox £ stage , of his . advance , when- once habituated to an

    improy « d ,. c » de of usages ,, he begins to find n . gratification to . hia sensibilitios ( partly lwaiwm ? flouiHbilitiea , but . partlyiporal ) , in ., what originally hod been a , raerei move ^ nacnt of self-interest . Then , comes a third stxgo , in which , having thoroughly recpn , n . ciled himaolf to a better order of ! . things , and mado it oven necessary to his own comfort ,. , a # leflgfcb . hft boguw i » , l » w rcflee ^ ng momenta to . perceive a moral beauty and a ^ diWisa i * W * An «« m * ntft that had originally < srna # ate 4 from accidents of convenience ; , so , tbat , linajljr , ho ^ nora ^ a , a , aublinw ploasivre-of conscientiousnes s out of that which had commenced ,, ijvtn « meanest , forms of aivsrcenary convenience . JBVmc instance , a , Bonaau lady of ra » 3 t , as luxury advanced , out of mere voluptuous regard to her own -comfort , revolted from tho harsh clamours of eternal chastisements inflicted on her numerous slaves ; eho forbade them ; tlio g * ntoful slaves showed their love for herthis love , by natural reaction awakened hex own benevolent sensibilities ; gradually and eho trained her

    unintentionally feolftigs , when thus liberated from * a- continual tenayfeafcion to cruelty , into a demand for gentler and purer excitement Hor-purpoae originally had boonono of luxury ; but , by tho bonignity of nature still watching for -ennobling opportunities , tho- actual result was a development , given to the higher capacities of her hoart . In tho saino way wh , < m tin * , brutal right ( and ; in many ei *» ¦ cumstancos tho brutal duty ) of inflicting death upon prisoners twkon in battle , had exchanged itself for tho profits of ransom or slavery , this relaxation of ferocity ' ( though : commencing in selflBhnoas ) gradually exalted itself into a-habit of mildneptj and aomo dim perception of a sanctity ia human lilb . Tho very vice of avarico ministered to tho purification of barbarism ; and tho very ovil of slavery in its earliest form was applied to tho mitigation of another ovH—war conducted in tho spirit of pjialioal outrage . The , commereiul inatincts of man having worked one sot of changes in war , a uocond aet of ohwngoa was prompted by instincts derire / d fxwn tiUo arta , of

    omanient and pomp . Martial music , splendour of arms , of banners , of equipages of ceremonies , and the elaborate forms of intercourse with enemies , through , conferences armistices , treaties of peace , & c , laving tamed the savagery of wa r , a permanent light of civilisation began to steal over the bloody shambles of b uccaneering warfare . Other modes of harmonising influences arose more directly from the bosom of war itself . Gradually the mere practice of war , and the culture of war , though still viewed as a rude trade of bloodshed , ripened into an intellectual art . Were it merely with a view to more effectual carnage , this art ( however simple and gross at first ) opened at length into' wide subordinate arts , into strategics , into tactics , into castrametation into poliorcetics , and all the processes through which the first rude efforts of martial cunning finally connect themselves with , the exquisite resources , mathematic and philosophic , of a complex , science . War being a game in which each side forces the other into the instant adoption of all improvements , through the mere necessities of self-preservation , becomes continually , and must become , more intellectual .

    It is interesting to observe the steps by which ( were it only through impulses of self-defence , and with a view to more effectual destructiveness ) war exalted itself from , a horrid trade of butchery , into a magnificent and enlightened science . Starting from no higher impulse or question than how to cut throats most rapidly , most safely , and on the largest scale , it has issued even at our own stage of advance into a science , magnificent ,, oftentimes ennobling , and cleansed from all horrors except those which ( not being within man ' s power utterly to divorce from it ) ao longer stand out as reproaches to his humanity . What opening is there for complaint ? If the object is , 'to diminish , the frequency of wary this is , at any rate , secured by the enormous and growing costliness of war

    In these days of accountability on the part of governments , and of jealous vigilance on the . part of tax-payers , we may safely leave it to the main interests of almost every European population not to allo-w of idle or frivolous wars . Merely the public debts of Christendom form a pledge , were there no other , that superfluous war will no longer be tolerated by those who pay for them , and whose children , inherit their consequences . The same cause , which makes war continually rarer , will tend to make each separate war shorter . There will , therefore , in the coming generations , be less of war ; and whatthereis will , by expanding civilisation , and , indirectly , through science continually more exquisite applied , to its administjratipn , be indefinitely hurmanised and refined .

    It is sufficient , therefore , as an apology for war , that it is—1 st , systematically improving in temper ( privateering , for instance , at sea , sacking of cities by land , are in a . course of abolition ); 2 ndly , that it is under a necessity of becoming less frequent ; 3 rdly , that on any attempt to abolish it , the result would be spxaething very much worse . Thus far ,- meantime , war has been palliated merely by its relation to something else— -viz ., to its own elder . stages as trespassing much more upoa human , happiness and progress ; and , secondly , by its relation to any conceivable state that could take place on the assumption that wax were abolished by a Paa-Ghristian compact . But is this all that can be pleaded on . behalf of war ? Is it good only in so far as it stands opposed to something worse ? No . Under circumstances- that may exist , and have existed , war is a positive good ; not relative merely , or negative , but positive , A great truth it was which Wordsworth uttered , whatever might be the- expansion which he allowed to it . when he said that

    God s most perfect instrument , In working out a pure intent , Ia man—array'd for mutual slaughter : Yea , Carnage is his daughter I " Ther © is a mystery in approaching this aspect of the case , which , no man has read fully . War has a deeper and more ineffable relation to hidden grandeurs in man , than has yet been deciphered . To execute judgments of retribution upou outrages offered to human rights or to human dignity , to vindicate the sanctities of the altar and the sanctities of the hearth—these are functions of human- greatness which , war has many times assumed , and many times faithfully discharged . But , behind all these , there towers dimly a greater . The great phenomenon of-war it is , this and this only , which keeps open in man a spiracle—an ^ organ of respiration—for breathing a transcendent atmosphere , and dealing with an idea that else would perish—viz ., the idea of mixed crusade and martyrdom , doing and suffering , that finds its realisation in a battle such as that of Waterloo- —viz ., a battle fouglit for interests of the human race , felt even where they are not understood ; so that the tutelary angel of man , when he traverses such a dreadful field , when he reads the distorted features , counts the ghastly ruins , sums the hidden anguish , and the harvests

    " Of horror breathing from the silent ground , " nevertheless , speaking as God ' s messenger , " blessos it , and calls it very good . " The wit and learning of this extract , which we make from the aestketical estimate of Murder , will charm : — In these , assassinations of princes and statesmen , there is nothing to excite our wonder ; important changes often depend on their deaths ; and , from the eminence oa which they stand , they are peculiarly exposed to the aim of every artist who happens to be possessed by the craving for scenical effect . But there is another class of assassinations , which has prevailed from an early period of the seventeenth century ,

    that really does surprise me ; I mean tho assassination of philosophers . For , gentlcmon , it is a fact , that every philosopher of eminence for the two last centuries has either , been murdered , or , at tho least , been very near it ; insomuch , that if a man calls himflelf n > philosopher and never had his life attempted , rest aesui-cd there is nothing in h 4 m j and against looke ' s philosophy in particular , I think it an unanswerable ohjectiou , ( ( if we needed any ) , that , although ho carried his throat about with him iu this world for aovouty-two years , no man over- condescended to cut it . Aa these coses of philosophers are not much known , and are generally go > od and well composed in their circumstances , I shall hero road an excursus on that sulbject , chioily by way of showing my own learning .

    The first great philosopher of tho seventeenth century ( if wo except Bacon and Galileo ) was Des Otirtes ; and if over one could oay of a man tliat ho w « s all but mur-r dorod—murdered within an inch—ono must any it of Wnu Tlio casp -was this , as reported by Maillot in his "Vie Do M . Des Cartes , " te-m . i . p- 1 . 02-8 . In tho year 1621 , wnonDes Oart « a might bo about twenty-Hix . ycarH old , ho wns . touring about as U 3 U & L ( forhe wna «» reHlJboBH as a hyena ) ; and , coining tatho Elfoo , either at Gluckatadt or a , ( j Jlamburgli , ho took shipping for Koat Friozland . "What ha coufd wont in Iflaat l ^ riezland no man has over di / tcoverod ; and perhaps ho took this iato conaidorati , on himself ; for , on reaching Einbdcn , ho re . iolvod to aai \ instantly for West Friazland j and being very impatient of dolay , l » o hired a- bark , -with a few mariners to navigato it . No sooner bad ho got out to aoa , than ke nmdo a pleasing diacovory , vise ., that ho had shut , himself up in a den of murdorors . His crow , s « y » M . JiniUot , bo aoon found out to bo " des scdldratrt "—uot amateurs , gontlomon , am wo arc , but professional won—tho height of whose- ambition at that moment wuh to cut hia individual throat

    Kxousomy laughing , gentlemen ; but the fact ia , I always < lolaugh when I think of tlun caao .-r-. two thiuga about it woom bo droll Ono is , toe horrid panic or " funk" ( a » the men' of Mton oaU it ) In which Dos Oortoa must have found niinaoUv upon hoariug

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 25, 1854, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25111854/page/18/