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Leader (1850-1860), 5th July 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 634, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      A small boy complained to a farmer , " O mister , your bulldog has been a-biting me so ; " whereupon the philosophic farmer replied , " Has he ? Then bite ' un again . " We really think the " retaliation " practised upon literary America by pirated England is very much of the same kind as the small boy biting the bulldog . America reprints all our literature—does it so lavishly , that it is not even a compliment to be reprinted in such company ; and England , smarting under the fraud , reprints Nathaniel Willis !

      • If as a question of retaliation we think this procedure unwise , as a question of legislation we think there never can be an advantage in sanctioning what the moral sense disapproves . If it be wrong for American publishers to pirate English works , it is wrong for English publishers to pirate American works . Being a wrong , no Legislature should be asked to sanction it . On this broad general basis

      we object to the tactics proposed by the Meeting of Authors and Publishers , held on Tuesday , at the Hanover-square Rooms , with Sir Edward Lytton as Chairman , and Mr . Henry G . Bohn as Vice-chairman . The present unsettled state of the law is indeed an evil , and should at once be remedied ; but we hope that an International Copyright will be gained by other means than that of a retaliatory spoliation .

      Untitled Article

      Pliny the younger in one of his pleasant letters , which look like anticipations of the French , says" If my discernment is shown more conspicuously in one thing than in another , it is in my admiration for Asinius Rufus—Si quid omnino , hoc certe judicio facio , quod Asinium Rufum singulariter amo . " Supply the place of Rufus with the name of Thomas de Quincby , and we claim the passage as our own . Therefore are we peculiarly sensible to the compliment he pays the Leader , in the last number of Tail ' s Magazine—nay , believing that the praise of such a man will gratify our wellwishers , we will incur the risk of being thought somewhat self-trurnpeting , and quote the

      passage : — " My last paper on Pope lias been taxed with exaggeration . This charge cornea from a London weekly journal ( the Leader ) , distinguished by its ability , by it 3 hardihood of speculation , by its comprehensive candour ; but , in my eyes , still more advantageously distinguished by its deep sincerity . Sutli qualities give a special value to the courtesies of that journal ; and I in particular , as a literary man , have to thank it for repented instances of kindness , the most indulgont on any oucaaion which has brought up the mention of my name . Such qualities of necessity give a corresponding value to its censures . "

      That the simple expression of an unaffected admiration should have given Die Uuincky pleasure is , indeed , a pleasant thought to the present writer . On the point in question JDk Quincjcy sees no reason to alter his view of 1 * oi « k ' s deep and abiding" falsehood , nor do we see any reason to alter our view of 1 ) k Quincey'h dee ]) and abiding misconstruction of l ' oj'is . The very examples he adduces do not , to our minds , bring the slightest persuasion ; and on the literary question of French

      influence ( which I ) k Qijincny altogether denies ) it seems to us of all paradoxes the most untenable to dispute the dominion of French taste all over Europe . The shining locks of young Apollo were recognized only in the periwig of Louim Uua-Tokzk . Not iii Midland only , but in Spain , in Italy , and in ( Germany did this fashion reitfii : it . was cried up by one party and railed against by another ; but to dispute its existence is of all paradoxes the most during and least convincing .

      The number of Ta . it this month is interesting ; Fraser in remarkably good—varied , stirring , and suggestive . The Westminster Review opens with a paper espousing the views of the Convention of Women , held in the state oH Ohio , for the purpose

      of effecting the enfranchisement of women ; it has also a long and pains-taking article on the Exhibition , an attack on the Royal Academy , and a firstrate paper on Greg ' s Creed of Christendom , the authorship of which will be pretty generally guessed . The writer notes it as the most remarkable characteristic of our age , that the most startling attacks are made upon the very foundations of existing Churches , and nobody repels these attacks . Nothing is offered to break their effect , except the inertia of the mass that rests upon the

      base assailed . In the last century every sceptical work produced a score of answers ; but to the sceptical works now published not one adequate reply has been given . " If the efficacy of ' holy orders' is called in question , streams of sacerdotal refutation flow from the press ; but if the inspiration of the twelve Apostles is denied , it is a thing that neither bishop nor priest will care to vindicate . " No one can deny the painful truth of this ; the reason we . take to be , the scepticism which works within the Church as well as without—the

      natural shrinking from inquiries which men dread to open , for fear they should issue conclusions they would rather not accept .

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      Madame Charles Reybaud has sent forth another pretty little story , Faustine , wherein provincial life in France is daguerreotyped . It is a mere trifle , but it is charming . Le Drame de ' 93 , by Alexandre Dumas , turns out to be nothing more nor less than a narrative of the Revolution , in his rapid , novelist style . He has been writing

      novels lately , the time of which is that of the Revolution , and having to " read up " for these , he now turns his studies to other accounts : having carved his statue , he picks up the chips and dust and sells them ! So that the parcel issues from his atelier , the public cares little what shapes it may contain ; and , indeed , he touches nothing that he does not render attractive . Guizot is about to issue a new work , Histoire des Origines du Gouvernement Representatif . This important publication is really a new work , being the carefully revised issue of his Lectures from 1820 to 1822 , which have never yet seen the light , except in the imperfect comptes rendus or the Journal des Cours Publics . Guizot has undertaken to present them to the public in the shape in which he wishes to have them accepted , and no student of history will be long without them .

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      Baiiantk ' s Histoire de la Convention is on the eve of publication ; and the Dibats has given a long extract from it ( on the Massacres of September ) , which excites curiosity . Sverdrup , the most renowned of all the Swedish philologists , died the other day in his seventy-ninth year ; he was for nearly fifty years Professor at the University of Christiana .

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      Tiiackekay ' s Sixth Lecture , and , alas ! the last—was on Stkhnk and Goldsmith . lie stigmatized severely all Sterne's relations with women ; showed up the sham sensibility which wept through his writings ( not altogether such a sham , we believe , as Thackeray would havo us think ; but sincere enough in places , though from the volatility of his mind , serious emotions soon passed into laughter ) : dwelt upon the perilous thing it was to make a market of one's sorrows , and sell the deepest experiences of one's life at so much per volume ; and

      wound up with an emphatic condemnation of the pruriency of Stkhnk ' h writings , contrasting that pruriency with the purity of Dickenm . The compliment to Dickenh came gracefully from Tiiackkray ; but , unless we take Dkjkenh as the representative of our whole comic literature , it should be remembered that all tho comic writers of this day are free from siioh indecencies as soil the pages of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . Goldsmith was painted with a loving hand . All tin : generosity , sweetness , and improvidence of liia Irish nature were emphatically brought

      forward ; and the lecture closed with a strong and in many respects hard-hitting , onslaught upon the current complaint that Literature , as a profession , does not meet with the homage which in its due . He maintained that it met all its due On this head we should have much to say , but neither time nor opportunity favour us at present

      Untitled Article

      GREGORY OF NAZIANZUM . Gregory of JYazianzum . A Contribution to the Ecclesiattieal History of the Fourth Century . By Dr . Carl Ullmann . Tran . lated by G . V . Cox , M . A . J . W . Parke r " . Like most German works of this kind , the biography before us is characterized b y patient industry , and lifelessness . It is obviously the careful product of original research ; but it fails in painting even a dim likeness of Gregory ; nor does it vividly describe the condition of the Churches at that period . In the course of reading , we noted some interesting passages ; but on the whole we

      cannot regard this monograph as of very great value . Only half of the original work is here given , and that is too much . Mr . Cox deserves praise for his translation [( and for an occasional annotation ) ; nor must the prudence which induced him to withhold the second , or dogmatic , part of the volume—wherein Gregory's theological opinions are stated and criticized—be overlooked by a grateful public . At present we have the biography in a compact readable form ; if swelled to twice the bulk , readers would unquestionably have paused before undertaking it .

      With the fourth century Christianity entered upon a new phasis of existence . It became imperial . From the struggling community wherein Faith was paramount , it changed into a dominant Church . From a persecuted it changed into a persecuting Church . Shame and want were no longer the consequences of confessing Christ's name ; honour and emolument were the consequences . Christianity ceased to be an anarchical reformation , and grew into a Polity . Of course the selfish and the worldly-minded thronged its

      churches , now that honours followed profession ; of course luxury and corruption nourished apace within the sanctuary ; of course the eternal siruggle between the honest believers and the vacillating make-believers was there , fighting its way through history ; and , according as we turn our eyes in one direction or in the other , shall we find Religion a terrible reality , or a cosiume worn because it was the mode . From its origin downwards , Christianity has been taken up by great and by sincere men ; but , as Dr . Ullmann remark 1 -,

      —•• But the free course of this development was completely checked , when in the fourth century external force was introduced into a contest hitherto carried on by intellectual weapons . Now ( far otherwise ) outward means of compulsion were thrown into the scales of opinion along with internal principles and convictions . Now , all thinking men were required to understand a Christian truth in precisely the same formula . Now , episcopal assemblages ( the members of which were not always the most pious or the m judicious of the clergy , while the greater number could by no means be considered as pure instruments

      of the Holy Spirit ) determined upon the admissibility and ' objectioniibleness of different formula ; , stamping one set with the seal of divine authority , branding others with the mark of condemnation . Now , that which had been decided by such an assembly ( and that oftentimes under anything but free discussion ) wtis carried out into actual life by the support of the civil luw and external power , occasionally not without the application of violence and bloodshed . Now it was that a Byzuntine courttheology was formed , which , commencin g from small beginnings , by degrees came to such a point , that a

      Justinian was able , by the same act of power , to make a spiritual as well as a civil legislator , and that , under the aegis of his authority , an Origen and ft Theodorus of Mopsuestia , though long in the grave , were yet condemned by persona who were not capable of comprehending tho greatness of their mind , and not worthy to loosen the latchet of their shoe Now , instead of peace being reetorrd by the ntr < ng mm of power , the polemical disputes of the Christians with each other were kindled with the uioro violence , when they no longer had any e xternal

      enemy to contend with . The whole Roman empire from its head to its meanest subject , was in commotion , for tho establishment of one dogmatic formula , and iho suppression of another ; East and West wei'C torn asunder ; cities and families were full <» f "' . " " quiot ; all was dogmatic nnd polemic , and this , in very few instances , from religious interests . It was a time of frightful nart 3 ' -spirit . But where parties exist , religious , political , or scientific , there ifl '"" tolerance and persecution , bo it open or conceal *" ' with tho weapon of the tongue or pen , or with thoB C

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      Untitled Article

      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

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      634 Cf > r ? Lfatrrt \ [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1851, page 634, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1890/page/14/