On this page
-
Text (4)
-
92 The Leader and Saturday Analyst, [Jan...
-
QUARTERLY REVIEWS, AND OTHER SERIALS. IT...
-
*JBonttet/'a Quarterly Xtevie\o. No. IV....
-
LETTER FROM ITALY. (special.) Rome, 1.8t...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Novels Of The Day.* It Is Impossible For...
many tedious chapters in order to arrive at-these-brig hter portions , which , after all / can only be likened to so many specks of light upon a darkened surface . In fact , " The Cousins' Courtship" rs , as a hovel / utterly unreadable . It possesses not the slightest incident that can claim / for a moment the undivided attention of the reader . The characters are all imperfectly conceived , and still more imperfectly developed ; moreover they fail in eliciting , almost without exception , the smallest amount of sympathy . The author has , indeed , ^ shown considerable talent in filling the pages of two decentlysized volumes with little or nothing to write about . We are aware of that perfectly legitimate proceeding on the part of novel readers , - -namely , skipping the duller and less agreeable portions , —and we were surprised , in the present instance , to find to what an ^ extent we might indulge in this laudable license without the slightest detriment to the story .
A series of tales , formerly published in Frasers Mlagazine , nowcollected for the first time , constitute , on the wholes a volume of very pleasant reading . The scenes are ehiefly laid in Scotland ^ whose national peculiarities are well depicted by the author . Meg of Elibank , and Lady Strathmore ' s daughters , are particularly worthy of commendation . Quits , a novel by the Baroness Tautphaens , author of " The Initials , " is again issued for the approval of the public . The fact of its having attained a third edition is a sufficient guarantee of its merits .
92 The Leader And Saturday Analyst, [Jan...
92 The Leader and Saturday Analyst , [ Jan . 28 , I 860 .
Quarterly Reviews, And Other Serials. It...
QUARTERLY REVIEWS , AND OTHER SERIALS . IT . is all in vain—he may try—but the Quarterly Reviewer cannot keep pace with the politics of the tune . A . new serial is , of course , ambitious , and must attempt a display of political acumen , and political influence , and political prophecy- ^ -for your political writer is a great seer into the future . No wonder , therefore , that Bentley , In his fourth number of his " Quarterly , " * should come out with a great political article ou " The coming Political / Campaign . " Alas ! scarcely has it appeared , than the whole aspect of things lias changed . The relations of the French Emperor with the Pope have been determined ; Free Trade in France has been initiated , xincl the reaction of these great events on our Government has commenced , and imposed new conditions' on parliamentary parties . Mr . Disraeli and Mr . Bright must yield * to the pressure , and alter
their . tactics '/¦ to suit unexpected contingencies . ' Whereupon the argument of the article falls to the ground , and the wholejjecomes almost waste-paper . Assuredly , a much bettei article might have been turned out by a less prejudiced writer , but the result could -scarcely have been different . An article on " The Ordnance Sur-• vey " is rnuch better—scientific , direct , iiitelligent , and intelligible . With the exception of the Highlands of Scotland , and a portion of Northumberland and Cumberland ^ the whole of the British Isles has mow been survej'ed and . drawn ; and , notwithstanding the ! obstructions caused by the disputes in Parliament as to the scale on which the inaps should be published , the remainder of the work is once more steadily , progressing . The Reviewer treats with well-merited
scorn and contempt " the fussy ignorance which prompted the parliamentary crusade against scientific exertion . " . Literary papers on Georges Sand , and Ben Jonson follow—old subjects , not yet exhausted , but not pressing for notice . New periodicals frequently afford a field for this kind of prize-essay writing . In those of long standing ' , such stock subjects have already been treated , and are not in general permitted to be resumed . " Mill on Liberty " is somewhat late on the ground ; but the Reviewer grapples ably with the difficulty that the democrat nppreheuds- ^ -thc control of individual will aud opinion by society . Therp is peril in all republican institutions , and one which has been felt in America , that each man ' s next neighbour may become a tyrant and spy on his actions and , thoughts . Mr . Mill rightly demands the completest development of the individual compatible with the liberty of others and the preservation of society . Society does no ^ , at present , permit this , but opposes the moral coercion of public opinion , and the physical force of penal law , to the natural growth of individuality . The individual is so brought ud as to prefer even conformity to choice : thus the mind is
enslaved from the birth . The Reviewer evidently thinks that the picture is overcharged , and the facts overstated . Custom , he holds , though powerful , is not omnipotent . The existence of Puseyism in aii anti-popery country like this appears to the writer to be a proof in point ; and / evidently , too , his preferences are to that line of thinking . To us that fact proven the contrary . It is merely reactionary—an eflbrt to restore a ouatom which was nearly slain but not yet dead . Such is the feeling that lies at the bottom of all reactionary movements ; they would have us go back to a state which we have almost left . Nay , but the freed man must go forward , or return to the'slavery Which ho fears to quit . Thought and its expression should bo absolutely free ;—raction requires restraint , but the smallest possible is the best possible . In the Reviewer's opinion , however , liberty may be very well for the highest qlnaa of minds , but for those of average capacity authority is necessary .
We deliver oureolvoa from this metaphysical circle , and recognise with much pleasure an ablo article on Domestic Architecture , " and a decidedly original though rather ill-considered esaay on " Modern English , " in whiqh the works of Dr . Trench and Mr . John Russell Bartlott ' s booh " on Americanisms are supposed to bo reviewed , Wo regret that the writer should have narrowed his subject to newspaper literature , nrtd that some of his remarks should betray an unphiloaophioal and common-place mind . Ib is a good topic spoiled
leading article on " Oratory , " theological paper on . " Natural and Supernatural" according to Mr . Horace . BushneH , of New York . There is also a paper on Miv Mill and Liberty , m which both are rather severely treated . — No . 38 of the Assurance Magazine contains some excellent papers on population , mortality , and statistics .- ^ No . 35 of the Ladies' Treasury presents its usual allotment of subjects , which are treated with ability and appropriately illustrated . —CasselVs Popular Natural History has arrived at Part X ., which is mainly occupied with the varieties ot rats and mice , of which interesting engravings are given . 1 he same publisher ' s Family Bible also proceeds satisfactorily . Fart V 111 . carries us down to vii . Deuteronomy . The illustrations continue to hflOnod—Mr . Charles Knteht ' sBnqlish Cyclopaediastill maintains
and the the by bad treatment . We agree with him , however , in his preference for Teutonic words . v . An elaborate review follows of Miiller ' s ^ History of the Literature of Ancient Greece , " as continued by Dr . William Donaldson . There is also a just and sympathetic article on the Earl ofDundonald ' s autobiography , which does the editor great credit . Altogether it may be said that this number of the Review is an improvement on the last . _ . The British Quarterly Review for the present January contains nine respectable articles , nnd the usualepilognB on affairs and books . Among the former we select an essay on "Wordsworth , remarkable for its originality ; not ignoring , however , the merits ot tie
its well-earned reputation . Part XII . ends the third volume , and con ^ eludes with the article " Eyre . "—The story of Plain or Ringlets \ s continued . Part VI . is equal to its predecessors , —Amonjr some smaller books of the season we may notice the Christmas Book ,-a brocimre describing " Christmas in the Olden Time , its Customs , and their Origin , " and which contains some really curious matter . It is published by James Pattie . —J . H . and J . Parker have sent out another number ( XI . ) of their historical tales in aid of Church principles , entitled The Conversion of St . Vladimir , or the Martyrs of Kief . It is a tale of the early Russian Church . —We have also re-The North American Reviewwhich
ceived the January Number of , contains the best article on " Tennyson ' s Idylls" that we have yet seen . All the papers are indeed excellent;—the subjects are important : —viz ., " The Assyrian Empire ; " "The Commerce and Currency of the United States ; " " -. The Condition and Needs ot the Indian Tribes "— -a topicoi remarkable interest ; " George Cunning ;" " The China Question ; " " Wesleyan Methodism ; " Washington , and " The Literature of the Italian War ; " besides the usual miscellaneous collections . It is seldom that such an imposing array ot titles can be set forth from a modern Review-. There is , indeed , vigour in the critics of New Yorki :
*Jbonttet/'A Quarterly Xtevie\O. No. Iv....
* JBonttet /' a Quarterly Xtevie \ o . No . IV . January , 1800 .
Letter From Italy. (Special.) Rome, 1.8t...
LETTER FROM ITALY . ( special . ) Rome , 1 . 8 th January , 1860 . W E all know the story of Boccaccio ' s Jew who went to Rome , and came back a Christian . There is no need for alarm- ^ it is not my intention to repeat a story which most of us hiive "heard a great deal too often . As for those who don ' t know it , I can only refer them , to the columns of any daily paper , where , before many weeks are past , they are sure to see the anecdote related " apropos de bottes" at the commencement of a leading article . Mean win le the object of my own allusion Jto the stock story is , to introduce the remark * that at the present day the Jew would have returned from Rome hardened ill heart and unconverted , The flagrant profligacy , the open hnmprality which in the Hebrew ' s judgment supplied the strongest testimony to the truth of a religion that survived such scandals , exist no longer . Rome is , externally , the most moral and decorous of European cities . In reality , she may be only a whited sepulchre , but at any riite the whitewash is laid on very thick , and looks uncommonly lii ' co stone . F > 'orn various motives this feature is , I think , but seldom brought prominently forward in descriptions ot ' the papal city . Protestant and liberal writers slur over , the facts , because , however erroneously , they are considered inconsistent with the assumed iniquity of the government arid corruptions of ' tiio Papacy . Catholic narrators know , perhaps , too much of what goes on behind the scenes , to relish calling too close attention to the apparent propriety of Rome . Be the cause what it may , the moral aspect of the Eternal city seems to me to bo little dwelt upon , and yet on many accounts it is a very curious one . . Next to Glasgow , Rome is perhaps the most Sabbatarian of cities which it has been my fortune to come across . AH shop . s except druggists , tobacconists , and places of refreshment , are hermetically closed on Sundays . Even the , English reading-room is shut throughout the day . There is no delivery of letters , and no mails going out , A French band plays on the Pineian during the afternoon , and the Borgheso gardens are thrown open—but these , till after sunset , are the only public amuseinonts . In ( ho evening " , the theatres , it is jjruo , though not the opera , am open . But then in Roman Oatholip countries Sunday evening is universally accounted a feust . On Fridays every theatre is closed , und once a week or more there is suro to be a saint ' s day as well , on which shops ftnd all are shut—to the groat trial , sometimes , of ji traveller's temper . The amusements of thd public aYo roguluted with , the strictest regard to' their morals . There aro no public dancing places of any kind , no casinos or " cafe ' s chantanta . " No public masked balls are allowed , except one , I think , afc the opera , on thu last night of the carnival . The theatres themselves are kept under the moat rigid surveillance . It is only during 1 u eiuall portion of
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28011860/page/16/
-