On this page

• Text (6)

  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.

  • 

    11Q8 THE LEADER. [No. 501, Oct. 29, 185Q

  • 

    JONATHAN OLDAKEK; Or, LEAVES FKOM THIS T...

  • 

    THE FRIENDS, FOES, AND ADVENTURES OF liA...

  • 

    .* "Mi-. Q , of thq Black Woojs, now ta ...

  • 

    and battery In tho public streets." Tho ...

  • 

    THE GITANA, A BALLAD OF SPAIN : and othe...

• 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.

    The Nut-Brown Maids; Or The First Hosier...

    aracter bf Boystou Keene , as the type of the class indie army he represents , than in any work we tcould mention . Cecil Trevelyan is a pretty picture , and that is all ; If her mind is , as the writer -would have his readers believe , as beautiful as her . figure , she never throughout the work displays any ¦ greater abilities than an ordinary ^ young lady .. \ Ve fre not advocates of the Ideal School of fiction ; "but , on the other hand , we do not care for ttafe novel in which the leading points delineated aie S as are despicable in human nature ^ *™* ggj Empathies areWened in the good ^* e" f £ iLo . Besides , the novelist has a higher task to perform than mere delineation of charactor . he i * a ieacW , and perhaps the art of * J ^& * " a fiction , is the most important branch of the art .

    11q8 The Leader. [No. 501, Oct. 29, 185q

    11 Q 8 THE LEADER . [ No . 501 , Oct . 29 , 185 Q

    Jonathan Oldakek; Or, Leaves Fkom This T...

    JONATHAN OLDAKEK ; Or , LEAVES FKOM THIS TTTA ^ Y OF A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER . By J . Crawford Wilson , author of " The Village Pearl , " & c . —Ward and Lock . Wjugn " Jonathan Oldaker , " was first published -we recommended strongly to the favourable consideration of our readers ; its price then precluded it from being read by the large body of men of -srhom it treats . We are pleased , therefore , to receive a second and much cheaper edition , which will bring it within the reach of all travellers -whether commercial or railway . The present edition has been revised and some additions made , "What more can we say than reiterate our former opinion by recommending it to the notice of the public ? ¦ . .

    The Friends, Foes, And Adventures Of Lia...

    THE FRIENDS , FOES , AND ADVENTURES OF liADY MORGAN . —Dublin : W . B . Kelly . i As miich light as possible should be thrown on the character and surroundings of Lady . JVIorgpn , and this reprint from the "Irish Quarterly Review " ¦ will be welcome . This . extraordinary lady was the daughter of strolling players , and was born , not on land , but on sea , wken her parents were crossing the Irish channel . Owenson , her father , vas proud of her ; and Ned Lysaght , the extempore Irish poet , her god-papa , cherished her , when an orphan , till his own death in 1809 . Under such influences , Sydney Owenson was a verse--writer from the nursery . The name of Sydney for " the infant muse" was selected by her father in recollection of the benevolent government of Sir Henry Sydney in the reign of Elizabeth , during which period the Protestant family , from -wliich he was collaterally descended , had settled an . the West of Ireland . There are many amusing sanecdotes of Owenson ' s theatrical career , and of ike Dublin theatre in particular , under Mossop ' s ¦ management . Owenson seems to have excelled in Irish characters , such as Sir JLucius O Trigger ¦ and to have resembled our own Tyrone Power in their gentlemanly assumption . Where was " the infant muse " educated ? has tieen often asked . The question , is here answered . « ASt Miss Crowe's seminary in North Earl-street , Dublin . ' ? In the Dublin Directory from 1787 to 1801 , the name ' Elizabeth Crowe , milliner , 20 , North Earlstreet , * appears on record . That this establishment had some connexion with ' the eminent seminary ' up stairs , wo are inclined to think likely , The local ^ customs of the time sanctioned such a , combination . 3 Every / student of the literary history of Ireland towards the close of the last century , is familiarly acquainted with the name of Samuel Wliyte , the accomplished preceptor of the Duke of Wellington , , Sheridan , Moore ; and Emmet . Wnyte was a man of distinguished erudition , and a poet of no mean calibre , His seminary was , as Moore ' s ' Life of ( Sheridan' informs us , the first in the metropolis . WUbou ' b Directories of the period thus notice it : — * Whyto , Samuel , Mastor of the" ) ' BlwfiZP & o * 11 Grammar «> 7 S , Gratton-stroot . ' Why to , " Will / am , grooor . ) * ' "When we find that Whyte ' s * famous academy

    for young gentlemen was admittedly none the worse for its proximity to figs , sugar , and bottled cider , it would be hardly just or fair to pooh ! pooh ! Miss Crowe ' s seminary for young ladies , because the shop below may have displayed a large and varied assortment of colossal hats , and other obsolete , but once fashionable articles of female head-gear . " Sydney Owenson was educated as a Protestant , but was not at all sectarian in her views . Many of the effusions of the early period of her life describe the associations and scenery of Sligo , where she resided for some time , as a visitor to Sir Malby Crofton , of Larigford House . It was in 1801 that her first volume of verse was published —a ^ ny book , inaccurately printed . But itgained a circulation in consequence of the influence of the Countess of Moira . In time the authoress herself became sought for , and Sydney Owenson became the lioness of metropolitan parties . She sang to the harp , which she played . In 1802 she appeared as a novelist , and " St . Clair ; or , the Heiress of Desmond , " saw the light . It was followed by " The Novice of St . Dominick , " and that , in 1805 , by " The Wild Irish Girl . " It is not necessary to pursue her biography any further . Her marriage with Sir Charles Morgan calls for no remark . They spent their time in travelling , and her book on France is a chef ( Vouvre . The critic of the Irish Quarterly defends her knowledge of the French language . The moral that he draws from her life is the triumph of female authorship over critical virulence . On this topic he is most indignant . Here is a tirade ! . " The blows aimed at her own fair fame she made recoil upon her assailants . r rhe finest poetic genius that had ever shone on the world had been already quenched prematurely by the deadly grasp of John Wilson Croaker ; a violent attack in the Quarterly Review killed poor unresisting Keats . An unadorned slab , almost smothered by rank weeds , in the churchyard of St . Werburgh , Dublin , communicates to the reader the melancholy fact ,, that Edwin , one of the most promising Irish actors , died in 1805 , from a broken heart , caused by an illiberal criticism in Croker ' s 'Familiar Epistles on-the Irish Stage . ' ' There is nothing so detestable , ' says Addison , 'in the eyes of all good men , as defamation or satire aimed at particular persons . It deserves the utmost detestation and discouragement of all who have either the love of their country or the honour of their religion at heart . I have not scrupled to rank those who deal in these pernicious arts of writing with the murderer and assassin . Every honest man sets as high a value upon his good name as upon life itself : and I cannot but think that those who privily assault the one , could destroy the other , might they do it with the same security and impunity . " To virulent criticism the brilliant Montesquieu also fell an unresisting victim . Aristotle having been accused by critics of ignorance and vanity , poisoned himself in the intensity of his bitterness . Cummyns , an eminent quaker , declared , shortly before his death , that some ill-natured criticisms in the public pajpexa were hurrying Mm to eternity . Hereelitus , persecuted by his countrymen , retired in disgust from the world . Anaxandrides , dreading ' . hostile criticism , burned his dramas . Racine died of ' extreme sensibility to a rebuke , and exclaimed that one severe criticism outweighed all the gratification which the concentrated praise of his admirers could produce . * The melancholy death of Dr . Hawkesworth is attributable to a similar circumstance . Marshani burnt the second part of his valuable " Chronology " because some flippant critics assailed the first . Pelisson records the death of a promising young tragic author from tho effects of I / JEtoile ' s criticism . Disraeli , among other sadly interesting instances , reminds us that Ritson went mad from the persecution which he underwent from ignorant reviewers , and died under the hallucination that they all surrounded his death-bed armed with weapons . for Ms destruction . The learned Abbo Cassagne' also went mad , and died from a stroke of Boileau ' e literary criticism , Scott of Am well never recovered from a ludicrous criticism . Batteux became a prey to excessive grief . Newton suffered from the malignant jealousy of Liebnitz and others , and abandoned the publication of a valuable work on optics in consequence of some premature cavils . Innumerable instances might be cited to show the number of brilliant minds who in all ages have weakly succumbed to tho poisoned shaft of ambushed antagonism . What a vast amount of invaluable literary and scientific achievement have been thus lost irrevocably to the world ! We do not depreeato adverse criticism when offered fairly and

    conscientiously ; but we detest to see it made the veMcle of malignant assault from private or tmrtv motives , as was the case with the majority of thr > examples we have cited . Had Sydney Morgan bared that heart which blazed with pure patriotism to the dastard stab , and submitted her dead body to be trampled upon , as Aristotle , Racine , Hawk esworth Eitson , Cassagne , Montesquieu , and Keats , submitt ed ' and were trampled , this memoir would have had but an inferior moral to dignify it That brilliant woman , however , grappled with the arm which sought . . to destroy her fair reputation , and p os sibly her life , and like the good fairy crushing the evil genius in a pantomime , she smote the arch-foe to the earth , and placed her tiny foot , cased in white satin , upon his ponderous coat of mail . There are two sides to this question . But we forbear .

    .* "Mi-. Q , Of Thq Black Woojs, Now Ta ...

    . * " Mi-. Q , of thq Black Woojs , now ta his oighty-flrat jteofe Is , with ono exception , tho last surviving 1 pupil of Whyto ' fl . That gentleman is our authority for tho state-¦ snentthftt tho . late Duko of Welllng-ton received instructions at W ^ yte ' s'Academy . Mr . Q——hflij heard his old preceptor vauntjngly declare , that ho had flogrgad t ?» s breech oftho subjugator or TJppoo Saib . How v «« lly would Mr . Whyto ' e pride have boon Increased , h % ji ho lived to boast . Stoat the conqueror of Napoleon had been under hie hand , JS » a . pltopualy cried for mercy at his knees I Mr . Q FjU £ UB < thati Why to ' e-taste ftna talent for flogging were not 'I ^ W . Wto Mr . Bduoors ' B passion Jn the aamo airootion . Al-. 2 ££ I ? jaft > WB right arm wia short almost to deformity , It ^ WaSS ??» fBJS ' li ^[ 8 ? fi rt ^ t wftB * 62 terror of every pupil , mSttzlzvr 1 *' } PQKfflnff . ^ observes Mr . Q , ' would now ¦*« « Mff * be tQlwafodlhon an indolent attempt at assault

    And Battery In Tho Public Streets." Tho ...

    and battery In tho public streets . " Tho very Interesting reminiscences of Emmot with-svhlch Mr . Q——Itaafavouroa up . wo shall ueo on bojoto future ooanglon . Whyto alea OotoboWth , 18 U . "

    The Gitana, A Ballad Of Spain : And Othe...

    THE GITANA , A BALLAD OF SPAIN : and other Poems . By Arioll Thorn . W . Kent and Co . So far as easy versification constitutes a poet , Mr . Thorn is entitled to the appellation , thoiigli sometimes his ear deceives him as to rhyme , e . g .: " Though my days are passed in moui'iiiiw Sonic sure instinct , true aud strong , Tells me that a hope is dmou ' iir / , And it will not tarry long . " ' This is even worse than a mere Cockneyism , being an imperfect rhyme as well . Young poets especially should attend to these little things . They should first learn to be correct . Here / again , we have a more outrageous specimen of the Cockaigne style : — ¦ ... " And my mother ,, if she saw me : "With a bent and troubled brow , . Drew forth books and letters for mcv . Saving-, * Let ine teach tbee now . ' ' Despite , however , these defects , there is a pleasant vein of feeling and thought in these stanzas . Some of the poems are better than the ballad . The following is a favourable specimen of the author ' s best moods : — FLOWERS . I . The Lentli-bells on the moorland , The . harebells on the lea , Nod to the slumberous murmur Of the heavy honey bee ; The fair and fragile blossoms Outshakcn to the breeze Look up to greet the glimpses Of sunlight through the trues . H , The garden . rose outswcljefh Her crimson ^ -liyhtcd urn . The pallid diiy-beains / ill it , And into glory burn ; The velvet pansy turuetji Her soft buds to tho sun , And the curled and folded petals Stand open , one by one . in . Tho KJ ' fiiit Flowers hoar tho plashing Of dow in every cup , Tbo silver chime it ringeth \ Vulceth the sleepers up ; And through tho starry vigils . Like nuns that wiiko to nrny , They soatter friigrant incouse Uutll the dawn of day . e IV . In D-nrdons and in hedgerows r ™ »« painted petals lie , Down In tho shaded forest "Whore no atop passesby . They light tho darkened alloys , They g-om tho grassy sod , And Into crowded cities They bi'loag ; a smllo froih God . v . But Jo I upon their boivuty A human touch hnfl passed , From IMon ' a curso some shadow Upon tholr light Is oust \ Tho trembling Iohvob drop downward , The colours filial awivy , Tho eoarod and withered blossoms Droop Into dull doony . , VI . I ^ oiivo . loav o thdmin tho meadow , Nor Wing them from tho wood To ffxuoo , with fading- beauty Man s arear and dark ubodo \ Amid thy braided troasoB 13 lnfl not tho frag-llo « oms , Hor oIobo within thy fflrdlo TUo Utho and slondor stems . v « . Some touch of human sadness ¦ W ould fall upon thorn soon , Our blight would ovorgathor Their short ana suwuy noon \ Tu « n leave thorn in the meadow , And pans thoir boauty by , Nor oloHd It with tho shadow Of thy humanity .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1859, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29101859/page/10/