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Leader (1850-1860), 16th June 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Supplement to 273, Page 8, . A QUEER STORY. Moredun: a Tale of the ...

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      The Church And Philosophy In France. Veg...

      his nostrils , but the Spirit to whom he turned them . We suppose the rudest Poly- uesian islander regards -with profounder veneration the black , unchiselled , eyeless idol to -which he lows down , than the wisest and mightiest chieftain he knows : the one holds of the unseen and the infinite , the other he can look upon , and examine , and compass in his thought ; to the one he may look in the day of battle , of the other he will think in the shadow of the thunder-cloud ; the one he will respect and obey , the -other alone will he worship . Immediately afterwards he adds a consideration which naturally presented itself : — But we think we hear some on « indignantly exclaim , Why , in the tot place , all ¦ _" " 2 _£ _5 _£ * £ 2 _SWS 2 i _, _Si _£ ** 5 eC ° ' _^ y a ° Ctrme _rr _,,. . _, f ; , ., ¦»«¦ r > - i . _jx _ia- m . _* . \ i _. This is honestly said . Mr . Bayne , we see , contends that the hero was a mere interpreter between man and his God : never important enough to be the object , strictly , of worship himself . The Carlylian , however , would reply , « You confound the philosopher _s perception of the relation with the ¦ relation as apprehended at the time by the worshippers themselves . Just let us conceive the conditions of the early races of mankind and then try to ¦ suppose them drawing this distinction of yours ! In his well-known -Lectures" on the subject Mr . Carlyle is careful to show that the " Hero as God ' is the very earliest form of the worships ; and students of the subject would do well to keep the order of time in remembrance and not to con- found the modified worship of an Alexander with the worship of an Odin , of a Hercules , or the like . We lmow that for all practical purposes Napoleon could command a degree of devotion to which it would be hard to deny the name of _worship . Conceive a Napoleon in an age without an alphabet— among a people attaching supernatural ideas to every wind of _^ heaven , to the thunder and the cloud , to the cave , the forest , and the sea . Would not he concentrate this vague religious emotion , and so help them to that very idea of unity which we are told by our __ author they felt independent of him ? As far back as we can see into the mists of time immense personalities are the earliest things visible . Heaven is peopled by human figures ruling there m subordinated ranks . Tradition says that Hercules was admitted into heaven —that _Komulus was admitted mto heaven . How came mankind ever to shape such notions ? Even as an interpreter , the hero did so much that , in ., _^ rr . , ,. . _.-. - ¦ _c if . ' _,-, . _„ , _, , , ' its effect upon history , the worship of him was the same as if he had been worshipped plainly and directly as God . If Mahomet ' s followers had , . _,-j _t . _Ti / r -d -vt i- u _j-. r- x _> ¦ _* trme would reply to Mr . Bayne . Nay , more , he would credit his favourite _i .. _\* _r i . ¦•• v TV * - -o _ti r _t j -r / _t principle with the results which Mr . Bayne claims for his own creed . Mr . v > * t . .. .- , . , ii c r _^ x _. ' i .- / _-i- _i Bayne directs our attention to tee noble career of a Christian Chalmers , which all men respect . But every doctrine he preached was known , as well as the arithmetical table , before his time , and was ( and is ) ineffectual _^ preached every day . He gave his great personality to these doctrines , and hundreds felt them to have _^ ecome quite new and liv ing for them . Here was Hero- worship in one of its forms . Every thinker knows that God is God , and the best H _« ro only a man :-the Carlylian insists that through great men the chief work of God is achieved ; and that in certain historical periods he has stood for God himself . We have stated all this , not to impose the doctrine dogmatically upon our readers , but that people may see how ineffectual Mr _° _BayntfsreSsoning would be in converting * disciple of Mr . Carlyle . That it will be welcome to the ordinary crowd ( who feel , in reality , nothing of the heart-warmth of either doctrine , and who only want an " answer 1 ' in aid of their impo- tence ) is very probable . But we are much mistaken if such a success would be sufficient for the aspirations of Mr . Bayne . To deal critically with the whole of the book , however , would be to write an essay on the mental condition of the age . We have Mr . Bayne versus Carlyle ; Philanthropy verms Satire ; _Christianity versus Pantheism ; Instinct vlrsvs Positivism _f all the great questions earnestly , if not always ably , handled . Mr . Bayne is an impressive writer ; and-a fact which alone would prove him no ordinary man—he is thoroughly imbued with a relish for Carlyle without aping his manner . It is indeed chiefly his feeling of the importance of _Carlyle's influence which seems to have spurred him on to write the book . We think it a pity however that he did not restrict himself to some one subject and exhaust it , instead of throwing himself _headlon- as he has done into the troubled ocean of thought . The ability with which the biographies are written leads us to expect much from Mr . Bayne when he devotes himself to a task to which he is really equal : and _considering the many merits of his work , we should be sorry to find that the controversial chapters in the first and third parts interfere with the popularity which the main body of his book justly deserves . * ———

      584. Tie Leader. [Saturday ,

      584 . TIE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

      . A Queer Story. Moredun: A Tale Of The ...

      . A QUEER STORY . Moredun : a Tale of the Twelve Hundred and Ten . By W . S . Sampaon Lowe and Son . The one very doubtful claim of this book to tho special attention of the public has been adroitly enough mentioned in the advertisements it is * ' ascribed to Sir Walter Scott . " Tho story , by which an effort is made to justify this ascription , wont tho round of tho papers a few months back . Some of our readers may not have scon it ; some may have forgotten it . Before wo say a word on tho subject of tho book , therefore , it may bo as well to recapitulate the main points of tho very extraordinary narrative which has ushered it into the world . Tho story being a little intricate , and extending over a considerable space of time , we will , for the sake of clear- ness and brevity , present it , with some of the critical consequences which it has produced , in a dramatic form . Let us begin with the Persons o f tho Drama . These are : — Sir WAt / riitt Scott and his daughter , _Misa Annk Scott . An _Euoehly German Monomaniac . _Thhj Eldbri . y German Monomaniac ' s Wmow and Daughter . MoHsimm E . » e Saint _Maujeuoic Cabany—A credulous French Gentleman . MKssita . Sampson Lowib & _( _3 o _> n—Two cautious London Publishers ,

      Disbelieving Friends of Sir Walter Scott . Disbelieving Critics of the "Athenceum" newspaper _, The Converted Sceptic of the " Journal des De'bats . " The Ditto Ditto of the " Daily News . " properties A Wr { ti _, ig . desk . A heap qfMSS . A Letter ' addressed to " W . S ., " and signed * " W . _S- " scene . Partly in England and partly in France . The First Act begins about tho year 1818 . Sir Walter Scott has writte ,, ( either a little before or a little a « L the _pubHcation _ofWaverley ) J _% »_ toncal Novel . When it is done , he is not satisfied with it ; thinks it will hurt h ] s utation ; resolves not to publish it . What does he do _with X manuscri { under these circumstances ? Lock it up ?—No . Tear it up _?_! Nq He gives it to his daughter ! This is the great effect of the First Act The _fast thing , ladies and gentlemen , which any man with a grain of sense j _^ . g head _^ ould think of _£ oi wifch & iece of work which h % f _, ° _^ be unworfch of him is exactly the thing which we represent that eminent y great and eminently practical man , Sir Valter Scott , as having done . And f h drop-scene falls , amid general astonishment . Th ge _£ ond Act carries u ° on to the l 825 Thc scene discloseg elderl German mOnomaniac appropriately engaged on " statistical work _" and - J irles _» He is assisted in his occupations by M . Cabany , thc credulous F _? ench gentleman , and hero of the play . The monomaniacal inquirer . statistics has one interesting and pardonable _^ _Yeakness-he idolises Wal Sc and is d m to he _° ome the possessor of one of Walter Scott s mjuluscript 8 _ lnay , it ig _J even reported among his friends that he actually wiU _£ aless h ?> wUh ig atif _£ d . While thfngs are in this critical position he _^ affilirs of ou _? elderly friend become involved , his " statistical _; *[ ries ,, having apparently not led him as far as his own account-books . H H rt * f * 1 wrec _£ . his heart is broken . he is unable to M Caba _£ £ sa f ary \ But he has preserved a writing-desk ; and , in his last momJu he Jints mvsfceriously to it , and , with » a melancholy smile , " _savs h ; fait ] lfui P ass ; stan _£ « This fs an f have to ieave you . bl / t it is a mo " re \ _i . f 1 _+ _u __ r _~ 1 i v , _n _„ KQn , o « n Li + _™ _i a durable- niemonal than any sum 1 could have bequeathed to my valued feIlow . hbc , urer in the fleld of statistical inquiries . " With these words the venerIlbIe monomaniac dies , and his widow and _daughter depart for Germany , is in the ¦ vvritinff-desk r xiusti ! 1 he drop-scene falls to slow music . - _& . , ? , , fo . _-, . _^ i ¦ _¦ _., . • f I Ei' _^ ht-and-twentv years are supposed to elapse ; and the curtain rises for ,, . ? . , . , » J P J , v i r \ i i _= _v _^ u _^ _* i the third act . M . Cabany discovered . Our credulous . trench gentleman I , . ., _, -, ; u - _^ i _t- » - _+ c + i g _„ + <• I _£ as _"** m the _™ ' He _» now . . Gen _«? J D . ire _^ ° . r f f _* ° p f _W ° f _gecord-Keepers of France , and Directing _Lditor-m-Chief of the Universal _Register of the Dead ( _Necrologe ) for the Nineteenth Century . One day in the month of September-for there is nothing like be _. ng particular in cases of lmP < _£ tant _discovery-a box arrives for M . Cabany It contams the memorable writing-desk of Act Two ; and is accompanied by a let er from _^ dec _« ased monomaniac s daughter . The letter ezplains that the desk _, _vns _* aken awa _^ eight-and-twenty years ago by mistake , and that it would have be f n _« ent back . . ° 1 ' _* fo , r the writcr % fears . that lt A m f _? _"" ' J 0 valuable enough to be worth the expense of carnage A relative ho _v-^ _T' ha PP _= f to _vf . fc _, P / ns ' h ** taken charge of the desk , and freed the fortunate inheritor of it from all need of paying so much as a farthing for _carnage expenses . M . Cabany , a little surprised at receiving the desk __ aft an interval of twenty-eight years , opens it , and pulls out _farst a curious collection of Royalist tracts . I ho next article is a packet of manu _^ _iptrbe examines it- merciful Heaven ! do his eyes dcco 1 Ve him ? Is ho s ill a Record-Keeper of Franco and Head Registrar of the Dead in the N . neteetl Century-or has he become a raving maniac ? No ! a thousand times no ! _" V 3 stl 11 ln }» . _' ? "S } 1 * se " s _? 8 ' a _^ _vvl _" _c _° _n , V _'" ° des _] c _^ n _unpubhshed novel by Sir Walter Scottill ! _, . Act F ? nrr r ! s"shered in by _, warllke m . u 91 c ; . . M ' Cabany has made known his wonderful discovery , and has committed himself to atrench translation of Uie treasure of fiction found in the old _wnting-dcsk . Disbelieving fnends of Sir Walter Scott , and disbelieving critics ot _thoAthetueum begin to ask troublesome questions directly . How did the elderly German monomaniac _§? fc _^ _f . 8310 _" of themanuscript ? to . beg' » with—He got it in 1820 , through _JJ' . William Spencer , the once fashionable song-wntor of London society .-What jP 1 " 0 ? , 1 . _?~ l 1 C _monomaniacs own conversation . lie was fond , poor J na " ' of _, talk ! A abou _, t S ctt »» g a manuscr . pt from Scott through Spencer ; in fuct , ho said he had got it . But we did not believe him then , says W Cabany . —Nor do we now ( cry thc opposite faction ) . Any other proof _f _'—xes , a letter in a handwriting like Scott ' s , addressed to W . S . and only signed W . S . ; but , of course , one must mean William Spencer , and the other Walter Scott ; and ( also of course ) nothing could be more natural than that thc great _novelist , at a period of his life when ho was ruined , and when money was of the greatest possible importance to him , should give away , mosUilccly for anonymous pubHcation for a stranger ' s benefit , a manuscript _whuih he might have published anonymously himself for his own benefit . —Notabit ot it ! shout thc enemy . Walter Scott never wrote that letter ; Walter Scott WftS _^ 10 _* rtSt man ° . n eiirt '' 1 t _( > _»« t _« s it represents him to have acted . liesides , we wore in his confidence , and wo deny that ho cvor wrote any sucli n ° _vcl as you have published . —You wero not in his confidence , and you know nothing about it ! cries M . Cabany . —Your bonk is an imposture , _re-J om tno _^> t ' cs " _* ' tne Athenamm and thc friends of Walter Scott . —Ana you are ' all u mob of scurvy unbelievers , retorts M . Cabany . Thereupon a . gi ; cat battle ensues , M . Cabany , tho converted sceptic of tlio _Dcbats , and his ere- I uuIt > _us brother of the Daily News , on one side—tlio disbelieving » 'ICI 1 (~ and criticp on tho other . Both sides claim the victory , and thc scene closes witu a valiant resolution on thc part of M . Cabany to renew the battle on English ground . . g Of Act Five , one nceno only has , us yet , been played out . Tho curtain nns risen and 1 ms disclosed our two cautious London publishers , Messrs . Samps ° n Lowo and Son , advancing very gingerly to the front of tho stage , each car-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/scld_16061855/page/8/