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    734 THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    BOOKS ON Omt TAHT,E. Tjife in Mexico dur...

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    Money and Moral*. lly .lolin Lulor. Jlin...

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    Rkminisoioncks Of Tjioucj Ht And Fkelinu...

    Desultory , like the book , shall be our notice , leaping from point to point as humour urges . First let us hear some fragments of the sermon on that British ( above all others ) ambition of GETTING ON IN THE WOBLD . " It is not the wish to get on that I have any controversy with ; for I am wel aware that competence must be in a way to be secured , before the mind is sufficiently liberated from a thousand sordid hopes and fears , to rise to any generous or exalted effort . It is the never losing sight of ' getting on , '—it is the fusing of every point and . purpOse of existence in that , pursuit , and the setting that one object _, before the heart as all it has to seek , which I resist and disapprove of ; and I believe if the matter were scrutinized , it would be found that every man carries a counsellor in his own breast , which with ' a still small voice / resists and disapproves of it also . " And what a great matter is it to understand , and be in amity with , this counsellor , —this Divine moderator between the man and his heart , —this regulator of its wild impulses , —this calm , centralizing rebuker and restrainer of its excesses This reads marvellously like the philosophy of those privileged beings having " a comfortable independence , " ( and what that is has been told us by the pious particularity and love of exactness which dictated the clause in that famous prayer , " And if , O Lord , thou shouldst not know what

    comfortable independence is , — 'tis three hundred a year ! " ) for you observe the writer will not allow the mind to be capable of rising to any generous or exalted effort , unless competence have liberated it from sordid hopes . This , though a slip of the pen , is indicative . Let us , however , hear the continuation ; she is speaking of the restraining conscience , as distinguished from the onward rushing will : — " But few persons , it will be said , are sensible of this restraining power . Granted ; yet that is no reason why they should not be so . They do not perceive its influence because there is a want of humble passivity in yielding to it . The will has become so imperious by long indulgence , and has so often and so violently torn itself away from its proper centre , that it runs on unchecked in its froward , zigzag course ; sometimes exploding and wounding itself , and sometimes wounding others . Could the planets have also found a will of their own , they would probably have long since upset the universe . But to the consideri

    " resume point we were ng . " There is nothing like a clear understanding of terms in acting upon a proposition . A man proposes to get on in life . " Very good ; let him do so by all means , for nothing can be more in unison with nature and reason than such a design . Everything gets on to its appointed end , and is intended to do so ; but as the man has to shape his own course to his own object , and is not governed by necessity as the seed in the ground is , to take uniform steps to a uniform end , but is left to adopt such measures as seem to his particular choice to look like getting on , it is surely of the last importance that he should have a most distinct and ever present comprehension of the exact meaning of the term , and of the sense which he himself attaches to it . " Now , as far as I can judge , the gentleman whom I have just visited , considers ' getting on' to mean getting up _ribove other people ; possessing more splendid appointments , a more aristocratic acquaintance ; "ignoring the customs , manners , and even the existence of those who have not ascended as high as himself in the ladder he is mounting ; and the sitting down at last at the top of it , a pompous goose in almost everybody ' s eyes but his own . " This is surely a ' lame and impotent conclusion' to arrive at ; but it is the legitimate result of forgetting the consideration of moral progress while calculating the problem of success , and of viewing things not as they are , but as they seem . " Nothing can be culled success but that which is accompanied with peace of mind ; and peace of mind , be it known to all the world , is not a thing that slides into the lot as an accident , a matter that may or may not be there , just as it happens . No , no—your true ' getting on , ' is first and firmly recognising this ingredient of success as essential , and as that which must bo got and grasped before all other getting . " Although not of the newest , this is of the kind which needs being preached to men in their feverish blindness of pursuit . Some qualification _Hi'cnis necessary as to that mipposed indispensable condition , " peace of mind . " We should rather say—looking at the energetic conflicts of life , the very passion of which makes victory glorious- —that " agitation of mind

    " was quite as indispensable as peace ; just as activity is necessary to the muscles , and makes us sensible of repose , so are conflict , agitation , terrible anxiety , infinite _yearnings , fluctuating gleams of liopo and shadows of doubt , necessary to keep the mind from mantling , like a stagnant pool , with fertile inferiority of life , and to make us fitly enjoy the blessing of peace . "I sometimes feel the want to die as tho wakeful feel the want to sleep , " said Madame I hi Defl ' and ; but tho miserable and the wakeful only feel this longing for peace at times : peaco is death , and life is conflict—ever-renewing , ever-welcome conflict . What our authoress says in her summing up , is well said , and to the purpose : ¦—" Tho sum mid substance , therefore , of what might bo said to the man whose pridu is his stepping-stone , is this : * If you would rise to true nobility , which menus the nobility of mind , establish it as an abiding principle of action , never to do anything- thai , you would be ashamed of . And observe , always , the distinction between what you , the absolute judge , aire ashamed of , and what tho inferior you , the wayward will of srtf , would only be ashamed of , if it were known . Tho one is tho king that rules in the conscience , and must be . treated with tho reverence < lue to a king ; the othor is a poor sneaking slave that would do everything that is ineaii and crooked , even to the robbing of an apple-stall , if not kept in awe by the rightful monarch . ' Reverence thyself , ' is it profound maxim of ancient wisdom , and be suro to keep up the reverence most , when most alone . Thus _oxcrcising your pride lor the purpose for which it , was bestowed , you will have its services on solid grounds , and will not exhaust the eapaoitio . s of this useful agent in poor and paltry _entei-princH . Tho real object for which you are working may still be _Kolf-aggrandizcnicnt , but it will be tho greatness oi' a well-regulated , _jx- _'ucetul , honourable iute-

    Rkminisoioncks Of Tjioucj Ht And Fkelinu...

    rior , that you keep constantly in view as the condition in which you hope to sit down , and say with the old song , " ' My mind to me a kingdom ia » It is an inconceivable blessing to understand the true nature of things ; for it is scarcely an exaggeration to say , that far more than half the misery that desolates the world , arises from the profound ignorance of mankind respecting the intrinsic value of the objects which they covet , and spend their best energies upon . " I do not say that these objects are without certain attractions , or that they may not be very pleasant to possess ; but I do say to everybody , know them for what they are , and estimate them accordingly ; and do not make the fatal mistake of supposing that coronet , or coach and four , or any worldly matter whatever that may be dangling before the mind ' s eye , has any relation to the mind ' s peace ; though , unhappily , it may have a very potent influence in promoting its povert y , in so far as its genuine worth and nobility are concerned . " Turning from this subject to another , see how nicely she reveals one of the little weaknesses of our race : — COXCOMBET OF CONFESSIONS . " This desire of creating a sensation , exists , perhaps , in greater strength in the

    female sex than the other ; but it is a potent part of humanity in both- In the religious world it is disguised becomingly under the notion of anxiety about spiritual welfare- Nothing is more engaging and really interesting , than any evidence of sincere solicitude in young persons , or any persons , to know the way of truth and righteousness , and to acquire those elevated views and principles which are the only shield we can interpose between our temptations and our passions . " But really , as it seems to me , all right teaching and preaching does so distinctly turn the inquirer away from human help , and drive him so dir ectly into the closet of the heart , there to ' shut the door , and pray to his Father which seeth in secret , ' —that when I have heard young people talk of consulting their ' dear minister' about this and the other temptation , I have found it impossible to believe but that a lively desire of creating an interest for themselves in the heart of their spiritual adviser , was more actively prompting them , than a simple wish to do what is right ; for , when this is the only motive , how near is the counsellor !" The sarcastic moralist who thought that lovers found pleasure in each other's society , because they talked incessantly of themselves and their feelings , would probably be at no loss to infer from the above passage , why young ladies are so prone to fall in love with the " dear minister . " Here is a passage every Reviewer will endorse : — " There is something in the first glance we cast upon a new book ( at least so it is with me ) which tells at once whether or not it will be pleasantly readable . Particular words catch the eye , and strikin g the mind something after the manner in which a tuning-fork strikes a piano-forte , they elicit a response which is or is not in unison with the thoughts they awaken . There are certain terms and phrases which , in the twinkling of an eye , extinguish all my hopes and expectations from a book . " This is a prejudice , some will say , and should be overcome . There may be something of prejudice in most instantaneous decisions ; but I have lived long enough to have a great respect for first and prompt impressions ; and in regard to know the occasion in which

    books , I scarcely a glance of five minutes over a new one , did not suffice to tell me its genuine character ; and I dare say , most readers ( by which I mean people who reall y do read a book , not those who look at it ) would say the same . " When , therefore , in the ' Memoirs of Margaret Fuller , Marchesa d'Ossoli , ' I caught the names of Dante , Goethe , Ariosto , and poetical allusions in English , German , and Italian to the arts , —to genius , and such like spangles , sprinkling almost every page , I had a strong presentiment that I was to meet with a mind too stilted to furnish her observers with the plain homespun which is ' your only wear / in such a world as this;—and which is so constantly useful , that one is ready to beg , borrow , or steal a bit of it wherever it can bo found . " * If these passages have stimulated the reader ' s curiosity , they have done enough . It is a book for a quiet summer afternoon .

    734 The Leader. [Saturday,

    734 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    Books On Omt Taht,E. Tjife In Mexico Dur...

    BOOKS ON Omt TAHT , E . _Tjife in Mexico during a Residence of Two Years in that Country . J \ y Madftmo Culdoron . Abridged from the _original . ( Tho Jiook-Case . ) _Simrris and Mulniyro . Madame Caldhhon j > e j > a _Bauca ' s gay and sparkling letters , descriptive of Life

    in Mexico , have been somewhat abridged , and so brought within the compass of > i Fsingle volume of Simms and Mclntyre's JfooJc-Case . The same publishers havo issued a now edition of The , Wilmlnglons , by the author of Mmilia W _' yndham , in their Parlour Library . _IVncyclopapdia of Engineering , Civil and Mechanical , or General . Dictionary of Arts , Hdeiw . es , and Manufactures . _JJy . Kriward . Lomax , CIO ., assisted by TIioh . ( _iunyou and W . 11 . Villiors Sankey . Part . I . J _' otor . _Tucknon . Tins is tho first part of u now _encyclopedia , which although useful of course , as all such dictionaries of reference are , lias nevertheless no specific quality which renders its publication desirable , for it is inferior to the more elaborate _encyclopedias both in compass and ability , and at tho same time bus no prominent feature to compensate for that general inferiority . The design of the work is t . oo extensive or not extensive enough . Ah a Dictionary of Civil Engineering it contains too much unnecessary matter ; as a General Dictionary of Arts , Sciences , and Manufactures , it is somewhat meagre . There arc to be —0 of these three-shilling partH .

    Money And Moral*. Lly .Lolin Lulor. Jlin...

    Money and Moral * . lly . _lolin Lulor . Jlintt to _Railway Traveller * , and I ' oimtry Vmitorti to Titmdon . . Hio hi / < lf J > r . Aiheriilan _Attmnraff . / Iih / _ik- ' h ( Inidejor TrareUem- ¦¦¦ _Jlrtt / _ittin anil the . . / thine . Le ' ttrc tin M . ( _lharh ' _. K Mat he . ten mix AuUnrx _DratnutUjuet d , 7 ' fti- I ' oetry of _i'hililhood . II y ( loodwyn _Huniiliy . I < Jncyclo / i < iulia _Altitro / _io / itana . History (>/' tin : ( _'hrix / itm Church in My . 1 . A . _JiM'oiurtt _, I ) I ) . _Jliitorii d << la . Heataitnttion . Par A . _Dn I _. nmnrlinc . Inver t went * for the Working Vdwute * . Ity W . Jt . drop . The . liookcate _. .- _-Revuirkaldti 7 _' Jiif . _utn in thn Carter _tifNajudtwn . Parlour Library . —lleule . lbe . ra . lly ( J . 1 ' . It . Juiaot ) . Ilome Circle . Tuft XXXVII . J . Chapmiur Jtrurihiiry and Ev » n » . . Jolin Chun-hill-1 ) . _Hol'uo . In France . . 1 . Mit _« : h « _HW . _Twcddio . the . _Second and Third Cent uric * . ( Jiillln and ('<>¦ "W . JoH ' h . Longman , Ilrown , and _t '<> . HimniH Mid M'lnlyro . HiianiH and _MTu'V" - W . H . _Johu . ion .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 31, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31071852/page/18/