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584. TIE LEADER. [Saturday ,
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. A QUEER STORY. Moredun: a Tale of the ...
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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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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-
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Citation
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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/
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