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    fo. $80, July 4 1857.] . T H E L E A D E...

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    y» x 1111^11111^ ¦ *" **" v vv v * ?

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    ? a are not the legislators, but the jud...

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    wood is mainly biographical this month, ...

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    The reading of the Christinas Carol by M...

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  • 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.

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    Fo. $80, July 4 1857.] . T H E L E A D E...

    fo . $ 80 , July 4 1857 . ] . T H E L E A D E B ,. 639

    Y» X 1111^11111^ ¦ *" **" V Vv V * ?

    fttmitttrt

    ? A Are Not The Legislators, But The Jud...

    ? a are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not » tOte laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Roviev ) .

    Wood Is Mainly Biographical This Month, ...

    wood is mainly biographical this month , three of the six literary articles i make-up the number being devoted-to the lives of Charles the Fifth , leu Bell , and Sir Charles Napiek . Of these articles the most intc-Lg is that on Cureer Bell , which is marked throughout by clear , vigorous is :, critical insight , and fine sympathy . A rare power of subtle yet sym-: tic analysis gives freshness and originality to the writer ' s treatment of a ivorn subject . We have heard and read so much during the last three hs about Miss Bronte , her father and mother , her brother and sisters , ¦ iends and enemies , and everything belonging to her , and all so much in

    ainc strain , that this is really a point of some importance . Many of cadcrs , in common with ourselves , on seeing an article on Cuiuuui Bell , ; naturally be disposed to pass it by , in the hope that it must prove the last , hat the critics may be induced at length to forget for a while the literary in , and leave the gentle wife to rest in peace iii her early grave . We . micnd them , however , to-read the article in Blackwood , as it offers a and simple explanation of several points wliich Miss Bbojjtk ' s biograconfesses herself wholly unable to explain—the character of Currer ' s father and of her sister ICm jxy , for example . The latter is very much puzzle to all the critics , but we believe , with the writer , that the key r character is to be found in the fact that , with great powers , she had or no confidence in them , and was , to a great extent , the victim of dc-After tracing the evidence of this deep-rooted hopelessness in her 5 , he adds ; - ~ -

    v all this despair Cand we have quoted thus largely as much to give some jles of a volume little known , as to illustrate the prevailing sentiment of the remarkable poems ) is very sad , is very unattractive , and quite unfits one for life : it is indeed ruin ; but it is not unamiable . Good Mrs . Gaskell , -who has basis of self-esteem to go upon , and who probably was never troubled in her th a doubt as to her own excellent qualities , has no idea of Emily Bronte ' s e proceeding 1 from any other source than indifference and selfishness . Currer as not a fool , and would never have loved her sister as she did , if that view of aracter were the true on

    con-, ' there is only one man of will and action in the book , and that is Heatheliff " , almost -without tin ; slightest exercise of contrivance or power , has only to will , Is will-is execiited as by a fate . He is surrounded by people who might easily l- him , or who , at all events , might get . out of his reach , but there tley remain iless where he places them , and he has only to say " Dilly , dilly , duckling , " icy come to be killed without an effort of resistance . Not that Heatheliff is a man , with much discourse of reason ; he too , like his victims , is actuated by a fate , is as helpless and hopeless as the other mortals who He passive in his The whole gloomy tale is in its idea the nearest approach that has been made time to the pitiless fatality which is the dominant idea of Greek tragedy . And o illustrate the helpless despair which she so grandly conceived , poor Emily ? , very soon after writing her novel , died to the same dismal tune which inspired ^ es . "While she was yet dying , she refused all remedy ; she was in tlie clutches

    f , and fate wns fate . Throw phj-sic to the dogs . If she was miserable , why -she wns born to misery ; if she wns afflicted , why not ?—she had only to e . She refused to be comforted , she refused to be nursed ; she bore up with itable patience to within two hours of her death ; then she—this simple lass , in y parsonage in tho wilds of Yorkshire—laid her head upon her pillow and died 10 heroine " of a Grecian tragedy , who willingly approaches the ultar when her required as a snerinco to fute . " Severed at last by time's all-severing wave , " 3 reminded of her own beautiful lines , which now there is no loved ono left , save ther , to repeat over the place of her rest . " Cold in the earth , and the deep snow piled above thec , Far , far removed , cold in the dreary grave ! Have I forgot , my only love , to love thee , Sover'd nt Inst by time ' s all-severing wave ?

    Now , when alone , do my thoughts no longer hover Over the mountains on that northern shore , Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover , Tliy noble heart for ever , ever more ? Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers From those brown hills have melted into spring : Faithful indeed is the spirit that remembers , After such years of change hnd suffering . " c following pnssn'gc explains the peculiar fusciiialion which belonged to Bronte herself , and to ( he heroines she delighted to paint : — 7 Vie Professor , however , ns in Villettc , and in Janu Eyre , she enrrios out hor rito idea of a heroine . In the general outlino of diameter she is horself , in fact , vn heroine . She purposely made her horoinos plain , if not ugly . Deeming the houris of fiction to bo n mititnkc , she said , I will tuko a woman as insignificant 3 plain ns mysolf , and I will mnko hor more bewitching than the most romantic

    ilno Indies- Sho endowed this ugly littlo woman with amazing self-control , her ver } ' contont , very gentle , vory neat , and also very delicate , Full of strange s , morbid likings and dislikes , the heroine—the double of Miss Bronte' —woh the matter-of-fact person in tho world . She wns always at work , always thinking y , never interfering with other people , quiet ns n mouse . A good little woman , ubt . But what was there no attractive about her ? How wan thia humdrum creature—this Francos Henri , thia Lucy Snowe , thitt . lane Kyre , Una Charlotte « - —rnf 8 od into ft heroine of romance ? 8 ho w . ns not only attractive , » ho was ating , bcoaueo sho had an oyo which nothing could osoapo . Very retiring , very nt , with that wondrous oyo ' of hora shosnwovory motive , road every glanco , \ m-» od every soul . Powers of observation bo acutu hnd , in tho first instance , n ation llko tho oyo of n basiliwk , or llko that which is attributed to certain iee and Mormon oxcoutfonera . Among thoso peoples , one of tho sovoreflt puniahi la to sot two men to watch tho culprit night and day—continually tlvoy are in eaonoc , continuall y tholr oyes are fn » touoil upon him , while they novor open thuiv

    mouths . Xt is torture and madness to the poor sinner . In the same way , one might be annoyed or pleased with the close watch and keen insight of Miss Bronte and her heroines , but no one could resist the spell of such observation ; and when it was perceived that those brilliant detectives of here were the organs of a mind moat loving , most true , and most pure—so pure that one was reminded of the beatitude which declares that the pure in heart shall see God ; the influence ceased to be a mere fascination , an unintelligible attraction . —it became regard , and from regard it grew to love . Few readers will he likely to pass by the opening article of the present number— ' New Sea-side Studies , No . II . '—still occupied , like the first , with the marine flora and fauna of the Scilly Isles , interspersed with episodes , sometimes narrative , sometimes archaeological , sometimes personal , but always lively and interesting . Take the following touching Druidisni for example : —

    Druidical erudition is not common . On probing the recesses of my own . knowledge of this mysterious subject , I found that the principal source of my familiarity with it was the opera of Norma . For more than twenty years I had reverently followed that splendid priestess Giulia Grisi , and that majestic priest Lablache ; and if to these you add those fragments of undeniable Druidical remains in the persons of the very ancient virgins of the sun , forming the nightly chorus of that opera , little doubt should be thrown on the accuracy of my historical conceptions . With that erudition I had been content . But reaching Scilly , where the respectable Borlase assured me Druid temples and sacred rock-basins did veritably exist , I was not a little anxious to bring my operatic erudition into direct confrontation with fact . I even cleared my throat for a pathetic burst of moriam msieme , " when I should really stand beside a Tolmen , and with the mind ' s eye behold my casta diva about to perish , the victim of a superstition which had small sympathy with lovers .

    Following Borlase ' s directions , I soon came upon a towering altitude of stones , m solitary isolation on the shore . A less erudite eye would have seen here nothing but a pile of stones ; but the forewarned mind descried in their symmetrical arrangement , ledge upon ledge , crag upon crag , the rude architecture of early days , especially when > we glanced at the stone-hedges or stone-cottages near at hand , which assuredly were built by human architects , and showed a less symmetrical armagement than the towering pile . Then , again ; the rock-basins , in wh' ^ ' { ue pure water of heaven was received , who could doubt tba *; t ~ £ lT oval fonn r and smoothly chiselled sides and bottoms , wft *« tile work of man ? If the cairn of stones left vague doubts , these rockbasins veritably were Druidical remains ; and thus fortified against scepticism , I indulged in the emotions -which naturally accompanied the belief of being in the presence of remnants of a great human epoch long since passed away .

    Having indulged in these emotions , and extracted from them all the pleasure they could yield , it was with acquiescent equanimity that I afterwards learned how little probability historical scepticism allowed to these Druidical remains . It appears that the cairns are simply cairns , and not temples . The architecture is Nature ' s ; and , indeed , the forms are repeated in almost every cairn along the shores . Moreover , those rock-basins , which looked so convincingly human in their design and execution , are proved by Science to be the result of the disintegrating action of winds and waters , the uniformity of the causes producing that uniformity of result which seemed the betrayal of design . There is something almost pathetic-in an acute and erudite man like Borlase ( a naturalist too , and inventor of the strange worm which bears his name , and in them the

    Nemertina Borlasid ) , wandering among these rugged rocks , finding traces of an ancient religion ; noticing the oval basins , and believing them to be human work ; inventing a plausible explanation of their uses , admiring their design , and feeling a sacred awe in their presence ; whereupon arrives the geologist with his disintegrating explanation , and the whole erudite fabric falls to pieces . Had Borlase lived in our time , imagine the ineffable scorn with which he would have looked down upon mv Druidical authority Norma ; yet , you see , he is , with all his learning , quite as unveridical as Giulia Grisi , and not half so beautiful . If Norma is not a good historical authority , it is at least a delightful one ; and , with Voltaire , I exclaim- ^ - " On court , helas , apres la verite ; Ah , ! croyez-moi , l ' erreur a son merite . "

    The second part of ' What will he do with it ? fulfils the promise of the author ' s rejuvenescence given in the first . ; but we need scarcely say that in Bul" \ vkk . 1 atton ' s case the renewal of literary youth is not by any means the return of freshness , spontaneity , and power . On the contrary : as his tirst novel was blase , worldly-minded , conceited , classical , so , faithful to his earliest love , to this complexion lie ugaiu vol . urns . A thorough blasf tone may be detected in tho re fore n cos to women in these two first parts ; classical quotations begin to reappear , and classical notes even tako their place at the foot of the page as of old . We must say we don ' t much care for Latin quotations , and classical notes in a novel arc an abomination . We must not forgot to welcome ' Scenes of Clerical Life , No . III . / charming as the previous ones in their delicate insight , perfect truth , and puro English .

    Frascr is not brilliant this month . The opening letter headed , ' Some further talk about Scotch Affairs , ' is dull and wearisome talk , formally garnished rat her than enlivened by well-known anecdotes and venerable jokes from tho Scottish theological Joe Miller . 'A Chapter on the Sea , ' seems to promise well , but . it is promise rather than performance . Tho writer evidently feels the subject nnd knows a good deal about it , but is not able adequately to paint his emotions and impressions , and so betakes himsolf to the poets for illustrations . In his quotations , however , the writer omits many of Tennyson ' s finest references to the sea , especially those in ' Maud / which are amongst the most striking in his works . The second paper on 'Deer' is , like ( ho first , full of pleasant gossip nnd curious history . The ' Notes on Canadian Matters / which tonoh on many points of practical interest just now , arc graphic and instructive .

    Tho Dublin . Utt ' u-ersiti / Hlnr / azino holds on its usual course- — literally so , na live of the articles in tho present number are- continued from tlio last . Tothose wo perhaps ought to add a sixth , that on ' Tho Opium Truffle / which is evidently u pi'tulunt to last month ' s paper on tho ' Growth of CotLou in India . ' The subject is , however , important , and I ho paper a seasonable and good one . Tho lie views of tho quarter wo must leave till next week .

    The Reading Of The Christinas Carol By M...

    The reading of the Christinas Carol by Mr . Dickkns , in St . Martin's Hall hist TuoMiluy evening , guve to numbers u wvlcoine opportunity of soy ing an olil friend willi a new fueiJ , that face lusiutf his own , and of honriug u lumilwr and cherished story told fur llic llrsl time in the living tones of Ilio writers

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 4, 1857, page 639, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_04071857/page/15/