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Leader (1850-1860), 26th May 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16

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      .Eccentkic Litima-Ture* As The Facility ...

      But " Eve , " we are informed , " was present when Adam , as a mortal man , was revolving : that admirable plan of language in his mind , and trying its application with his mouth . To say all , she even laughed at him oftentimes for his passing whole days in uttering strange sounds which she did not understand . This has been the lot since then , " moralises our philosopher—because Eve did what any spirited girl would be apt to do if she found her lover " uttering strange sounds with his mouth which she did not understand ' — " of almost every great discovery , tobe first derided even by those who were afterwards to profit by it . "

      Again , according to this work , there has never been in the world any such things as false religions , idolatries , or superstitions . The Dii majorum gentium , or , Gods of the great nations , were incarnations of the most powerful spirits that dwell in heaven , and were sent down to mortals as special " envoys from God . " In the heathen world they appeared as Jupiter , Saturn , Venus , Mars , Mercury , Apollo , & c . In the Christian world they were the Apostles , " , " in the spirit-world , " begged to be born as poor men and women about the same time , in order to have the honour of ministering , in different capacities , to Christ , and of co-operating to his great mission . " We have had Mars and Neptune among us m very recent times . In the individual life of Nelson , who won for England

      her proudest naval victories , the author of " Miranda" marks the identity of the spirit of Neptune . In Napoleon , who lost Waterloo , is marked the identity of the spirit of Mars . We wonder what spirit had its avatar in ' Wellington , who conquered the very god of war himself . Napoleon III . was originally Mercury , and he has been , in his extraordinary migrations , Seth , Cadmus , St . Paul , the Bible , " says this anonymous author , " is the 119 th Psalm . Mahomet , William III . of England , Robespierre , & c , & c , & e . With one illustration niore of the peculiarity of this work , we shall close our remarks upon it . " The longest chapter of That Psalm contains 176 verses . The first coincidence which I

      shall notice in that Psalin consists in this , that , being composed of 176 verses , every one of these verses eulogizes the Bible . This is done in a variety of manners , as , for instance , by such beautiful ejaculations asf these ' . —' HJessed are the undefiled in the way , who walk in the Law of the Lord . ' ' With , my tohole heart have I sought Thee , ; Oh , let me not wander from Thy commandments !' * Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness ; so shall I keep the Testimony of Thy mouth '" Thejwncidence here meant is the f elation of these words to the doctrine of the Bible . " The second coincidence is that this very-Psalm ; the longest of all biblical chapters , is a great acrostic from beginning to end . There are more than one million of different books extant : how many will you

      find in which the longest chapter is an acrostic ? How many , again , in which the same chapter , besides being the longest of all , besides being an acrostic poem , will be found to repeat with uninterrupted regularity , at more than a hundred measured intervals , in every verse , the name or periphrasis of the very book itself ? What writer of poetry or prose ever subjected himself to so hard and strange laws of composition ? Had he broken nine strings of his decachord psaltery , and , as he did in a later age , when he became Paganimr ^ ruclc—out—from—the—l'emaining-ehord—a-long-stratmcharming melody , the psalmist would not have done by much so wonderful a thing as writing these hundred and seventy-six verses , which shall delight the sons of men , and lift up their hearts to heaven till the end of the world . "

      Though much tempted to do so , we shall not prolong our remarks upon this extraordinary work . What skiey influence , or intellectual law , or moral instinct , tli . e author of it i « governed by we are unable to determine . It is the vain and foolich work of a powerful mind . According to his own theory , if it be true , we may eay that he has migrated , not into the body of an owl or a spider , but , at certain intervals , into some poor Egyptian , Indian , Chinese , and other zealots , getting equally saturated with and enumouredof all their superstitions , and , in his last , and it may be worst incarnation , he has become the reconciler and advocate of ¦ their respective By stem s ; carrying out according to a pre-determination , his scheme of engrafting them all upon a nobler and purer system of religious truth for the satisfaction and delight of his ancient co-religionists . But , conjecture apart , while we sympathize with one so earnest and sincere as the author of this work seems to be , wo regi'et that he has bo strangely and foolishly misapplied his great talents in the production of a work which must , from the very nature of its views , inevitably sink into the limbo of oblivion . Before , however , we put the finnl stop to our remarks , if any reader should he curious to know the name of the author of " Miranda / ' and should he be gifted sufficiently to read the stars , he may ascertain it by solving the following problem put by the author himself : " To the seven stairs which constitute the two linen , mutually pcrpendiculnr , of the northern cross formed by the brightest stars of the swan , nine more stuns aro added , in ii manner which would be highly remarkable even if it were destitute of any known signification ; but they are so ingeniously arranged that the sixteen stars , combined in different manners , figure my own name in cnpital Roman letters . " The initials and addresfl of the author havo already been intimated . Tin ' s problem certainly has a slight touch of insanity ubout it , nnd , notwithstanding tho numerous murks of a logical mind which the work evidently bears , and tho pure morality of its pages , wo munt say thut the writer ' s devotion to his boloved theory hus in no small degree disturbed his reason . ,

      500 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ma...

      500 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ May 26 , I 860 .

      Romances.* A New Romance, By An American...

      ROMANCES . * A NEW romance , by an American author ,- having previously achieved a great success in the New World , has at length found its way to the mother country , England is thus called Upon to endorse the opinion of America upon this first production ot an author hitherto unknown to fame . We are given to understand by the general advertisements which have preceded this work that it has created among our transatlantic neighbours as great a sensation as " Adam Bede" originally excited in England . Such an announcement has necessarily awakened the curiosity of an eager and expectant public , and we feel called upon in our office of entid to bestow upon it more than ordinary care and attention . " Sir liolian s Ghost " such being the singular heading of the volume before us , is a work in which there has evidently'been enlisted powers ot a most

      extraordinary kind . The author possesses an imagination of unusual fertility , a lively and creative fancy , a keen poetical perception , and a flow of language that at times startles us by the brilliancy of its descriptions and multiplicity of its images . In fact the too-easy possession of this latter faculty is apt to lead him astray , the similes in many instances , being overstrained , difficult of apprehension , and unequal to the test of careful auatyzation . We dp not wish , however , by these critical remarks , to depreciate the unmistakeable genius displayed by the author ; the blemishes observable in this his first essay at romantic composition , being the result of exuberrance of talent rather than any shortcoming or incoinpetency existing in himself , and as such they will be readily passed over , and even forgotten by the intelligent reader . ^ # ¦ will be to ive ht

      A slight analysis ' : of this work necessary g an insig into the author ' s intention . Sir Rohan , the hero , is introduced in the first chapter as haunted by the consciousness of a great crime , This consciousness has for twenty years pursued him through every phase of his existence . In vain to escape this inward pressure has he rushed into the intoxicating din of the battle-field , travelled through foreign countries , sought relief in intellectual employments ; every thing wears the impression of the one great horror . The image of a fair young girl floating down the unresisting stream , growing gradually fainter and fainter , till at length it disappears beneath the weight of waters , is ever before and blocking up all the avenues of his mental vision . This spectre to Mm is every where in every thing , ' making . itself palpable in light as in darkness , in crowded -thoroughfares as in unfrequented solitudes , hiiiising itself

      into every atom of the universe , and converting all that is fair and beautiful into a caricature of its awn hideous self—and this is Rohan ' s Ghost . Shortly after the commencement of the story , the conscience-stricken man discovers a new occupation , in the active pursuit of which he fondly hopes to allay the fever of tormenting recollections ; in obedience to this resolve , he devotes himself to the art of painting . But as the--legitimate province of the pencil is the realization of the mind ' s ideal , and us Sir Rohan has _ but one knowledge , one thought , one ideal , ever present to his introspective faculties , it cannot be wondered that every form and countenance impressed upon the canvass should be but a reproduction of . the f orm , the countenance , with its dark eves glaring upon him with unrelenting ire , till in his frenzy to annihilate'the loathsome seinr

      bTance , the wbriro f ^^ the labourer again commences his toilsome tusk , again to meet'with the like result . ' Soon , however , two new arrivals . make their appearance on the scene—Miss Miriam , whom we must hereafter designate as our heroine , and her guardian , St . Denis , an old friuml and companion of Rohan's , both of whom present themselves unexpectedly at the castle of the latter , where for si time they conveniently take up their abode . Tho guy and light-hearted Miriam speedily exercises a beneficial influence over the mind of her host , and the fascination of her presence releases him fora period from the machinations of his evil genius . Many incidents occur which it would be useless here , to enumerate . One , however , tending to interfere with the high ground upon which the author has hitherto taken his stand , we feel compelled to notice . Our heroim % Miriam , while walking , or rather trespassing , upon the grounds of the gruiui conservatory belonging to the castle , becomes suddenly conscious of 1

      another presence , a . supernatural development of form , a something " floating toward her , never tinged by-tiny of the gorgeous shades under which she passed . " She , in fact , beholds what the author has hitherto led us to conclude us tho phantom of u diseased and disordered imagination , presented in the shape of a veritable ghost . We think this incident would have been bettor omitted , as lenaiug to no ultimate result , and us standing directly opposed to the great object of the work . When the author condescends thus , as it were , to materialise his ghost , by giving it an existence out of the mind of the guilty person , ho destroys at oncu tho idea of a criminal pursued by the terrors of an ever-wukei ' ul coiiHciunce , shaping and distorting tho very atmosphere into visions the likeness of itself , thereby demonstrating thut tho scuming spectre , which for him possebses tho most vivid mid fearful tangibility ,, is but tho eonsequeuco and development of his own wicked and perverted thoughts , tho portion ! ficution of evil in his own htuut , his own second self . Thorn can bu no doubt thut this is the idea , which tho author has

      * Sir Jtojian'a Ghost. A Romuncp. London...

      * Sir JtoJian ' a Ghost . A Romuncp . London : Triibnor & Co . + Caatle Richmond . A Novel . By Anthony Thollopb . Thrco vols . Ch , upnmn & . Hull . The Firstborn ; or , a . Mother ' s Triah . By tho Author of " My Lady ' . " Three vols . Smith , Elder , & Co . Tho Madman of St . James ' s ; a Narrative from the Journal of a Physician . Trunulutod from tho Gemma of l ' aiui' Galen , by T . II . Three vols . J . F . Hope .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1860, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26051860/page/16/