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    Untitled Article

    "The paper that has noexistence" is sqmaddened 'th impotent rage , because we will not elevate it the dignity of our contempt ,: that its wriggling ntortions are immensely ludicrous . It tries in in to provoke us . We have already said that with it , and the like of it , we refuse to fight . In jays of duelling no gentleman condescended to whose did not

    fight with an antagonist position ntitle him to the satisfaction . The pen has replaced the sword ; but the old principle still remains . Let the Church and State Gazette learn to respect the elementary rules of morality , let it gain a position in journalism , and we will not then refuse to meet it . Till then , let it rail as it pleases , we refuse to recognize it . " Non scribit , cujus carmina nemo legit !"

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    FLORENCE SACKVIL . LE . Florence Sackvillt ; or , S elf ' Dependence : An Autobiography . By Mrs . Bur bury . 3 vols . Smith , Elder , and Co . It has long been an easy thing for hundreds of men and women to write verses which have almost the air of poetry . Poets , we know , are rarities ; but what tribes of Poetasters there are ! And if 3-0 U compare the average verses now with the average of the last century , or even later , how excellent they seem ! The poetical commonplaces of our day are of a higher mood . People write verses

    so correct and musical , so polished in diction , so picturesque and fanciful , that if not actually diamonds , these verses are the very best of paste . It is the same in most things . Elegance has become democratized . The general standard is raised . In manners , speech , furniture , elegance , and literature things are now commonplace which not long ago were exclusive . It is with poetry as with oakcarving . The real work of Labour wedded to Art is possessed only by the few ; but imitation of oakcarving by machinery is to be had cheap enough . ,

    What we have said of poetry applies with even greater truth to Fiction . The real novelist is still a rarity ; but what hundreds of clever novels ! If the works incessantly issuing from the press and swiftly vanishing again into obscurity , be compared with their peers of some twenty years ago , the comparison will be flattering to our authors . But absolutely speaking , we do not perceive any increase of power . As the wardrobe of poetry happens to

    be furnished just now with more varied and more brilliant dresses , and the poetaster need only give himself the trouble to take them off the hook , so also is the novelist ' s repertory more richly stored with incidents , characters , caricatures , and situations . The invention is as poor now as it was in the days of the Minerva Press ; but the Masks are better ; the standard is higher ; people are cleverer , and want cleverer novels .

    Florence Sackville suggested these remarks . It is another clever novel , by a new writer , and that writer a woman . It is amusing to read , and makes one believe the authoress a more amusing woman than her book . But from first to last there is scarcely the faintest indication of invention , and nowhere that urgent desire for reality , which is the ¦ soul of genius . By invention we do not , of course , mean the introduction of that which never before was known , but simply the jindiny of the truth which lies in a character . It is the reverse of

    taking down from its hook in the wardrobe the " dress " which the character has previously worn . All the Kcenes and all the characters in Florence Haclnnlle are familiar to us—some of them obviousl y taken from life , but taken from life to be "Hitfed , wiggeri , spangled , and set ; before the foot'ights that their reality may be lost in " effect . " Mrs . liurhury will understand what we mean when we refer her to the scenes in which Florence figures : i * an actress in country theatres . The details have l > een " got up" with more care than is usual in no vels ,- the slang of the greenroom i . s there ; but M >(> . realit y , we beg to assure her , is wanting . Jn-Klcad of representing theatrical life , she represents whiit she imagines it must be ; and her imagination '" Pleads her .

    We will not dwell on these defects , because they I '" defects ( shared by almost all our novelists ; and „ " is enough if we indicate that Florence Sackville ls n <> t . 11 masterpiece , nor tin ) promi . se of inasterl » u « « : t « s- It is amusing , varied , clever . How many ! v' 1 ( Kt , s ask for more ? ( Jive your idle evening to J , and thank the gods ! There are stirring in-< >< lcnts , shrewd Ternaries , dashes of sentiment , and l't ! t ! iw at lifo : expect , nothing of a more durable " 'ture , - , ln (\ you will bo pleased with the hook . A'h ero i « a new and * true touch in the picture of

    the heroine ' s de'but as an actress . In novels heroines always succeed . They always win their spurs at once . It is otherwise in life . And Florence is very properly made not a great actress , but a clever woman " getting through her part . " " A mass of lights and faces , a tremendous noise of clapping hands , and a sensation that I was curtesying , is all that I remember for the first fewminutes . That I spoke was certain ^ because I heard the buzz of Helen ' s voice in answer , though unable to distinguish anything that she said , and I crossed mechanically at the right time and place , seeing her do so ; but I walked and moved as in a dream : having no more power over myself , and knowing no more what I was doing—so far as exercising thought and judgment went—than one of Madame Tussaud ' s wax figures .

    " At last the scene was over ; all its duties having been gone through in the same apathetic , nerveless , dreamy way . " When the scene-drop fell after the second act , Mr . Beauchamp and a lady wrapped in a large operacloak , and holding closely to her face the fur which enveloped her throat so that none could have recognized her , came to me where I sat . They led me to a remote part of the stage , and Mrs . Hugh Lyndon ( for it was she ) taking both my hands , looked pityingly in my face , and said , — " « My poor girl , you must give this up . I came to scold you ; but it would be cruel to add to what you are already suffering , by a single word . You must give it up . ' T

    _ _ _ " « Why ? Have I made so complete a failure r' I asked , in a faint whisper . " Yes , and no , * interrupted Mr . Beauchamp . ' No one in front can hear a word you say . It is all dumb show ; not ungraceful certainly , but very unsatisfactory . ' * I must do better , ' I said , languidly . " « You cannot . I fear we have mistaken your talents completely 5 and you have gone through , this public and painful ordeal for no purpose . ' •< ' I am afraid so , indeed , ' said Mrs . Lyndon .

    " Mrs . Chace , who had missed me from the greenroom , now came up , and , bowing to my companions , said , — " I wish you could infuse a little more courage into Miss Sackville , Mrs . Lyndon ; she only requires nerve to do very well , and without it she will ruin her reputation and future prospects . A decided failure upon a first appearance can never be

    overcome . " I am greatly disappointed , * murmured Mr . Beauchamp , as if to himself . ' I never was so mistaken in my life . ' *• I must try , ' I said . " It is in vain : you have rot the power , my dear . You read very well—beautifully—in a room ; but on the stage you are terribly at a loss . I can ' t think how we could all have been so infatuated , ' exclaimed Mr . Beauchamp , in tones of great though suppressed annoyance ; and with , as I thought , theslightest possible tinge of contempt . ' * I murmured something about endeavouring ; but lie said , quickly , —

    " ' You ' ve done your b ' . ist , my dear ; I know you have : everybody must see 11 ml acknowledge it . ; only , unfortunately , it is a " best" which will not do for the public . It is a most unhappy mistake . Success is the only thing that can make this profession endurable ; without it , it is detestable . ' * ' The manner in which this was spoken stung me more than the words , and a resolve , made up of half sorrow , half defiance , took possession of inc . I would neither be so contemptuously pitied , nor bo coolly condemned . I would succeed . ' The chagrin of a defeat , the blight of prospects I had forfeited so much to brighten , my mother ' s ruined hopes , all rushed upon iik ; at otico ; and forgetting , in their greater magnitude , the terrors ! in < l languor 1 hud so weakly suffered to unnerve and subdue me , I roused myself to such a . height of indignation nguinst my own cowardice and other people ' s pity , Unit when I went on for the scene with Master Walter , in which Julia signs the title-deeds , I was as self-possessed ( although my heart beat wildly ) as if I had played the purl a hundred times , and was now rehearsing it alone . " An Knglish Jimlienee is generally good-natured and patient ; willing , except in rare instances , to encourage the timid and judge mercifully of a novice . 1 found " them so that night . No sooner did they p <> rceive that I was anxious to exert myself , than they afforded me every encouragement , and gave mi : every token of goodwill . While I finding that they wcru pleased and looked upon me with kindness , throw off the ; thrall of fear , and giving iny . self up to the excitement of the moment , went on with an abandon which would have imtoninhed me far more than anybody else , if I had given myself time , or culmnesM , to think .

    " My only rest was now upon the stage . When off it , 1 paced up and down behind the scones with a rest less , anxious « tep ; heeding no one , thinking of no one : I wuh in a state of wild , impetuous excitement . The Btituo — the Htugo — to be on the Ntugc ,

    before those blazing lights , doing , acting , strivingsanything but to be still , waiting , and alone . " Mrs . Chace did not talk to me ; she saw that my nerves were too tightly strung to be under my own power of control , and knew that while the tension lasted I should go on boldly ; but that , if they gave way while at their present painful stretch , the reaction and depression would be extreme . Thoughtfully and kindly , therefore , she let me alone . " The curtain fell amidst thunders of applause . The instant it reached the ground , I turned mechanically away , and had reached the foot of the stairs , my way to which I had to make through that worst of all abominations—a rush of gentlemen behind the scenes , when Sir Thomas Clifford hurried after me , exclaiming—

    , . m 44 You must go on again , Julia . They will have you . ' " ' No , no , ' I said , mounting the steps ; ' I cannot ; indeed , I cannot . I am exhausted . ' 11 But you must . —Hark !' " And truly the din was horrible . Whoops , whistles , cat-calls , yells , stamping of feet , knocking of sticks , mingled with clapping ol hands and cries of Julia ! ' combined to make a most terrible confusion . I had no time to listen to it , however ; for Mr . Osborne came rushing up , crying , — '

    " Where ' s Julia ? where ' s Julia ? You must go on , my dear ( everybody is " my dear " in theatrical phraseology ) . Where ' s Mr . Alston to lead her on ? Go to his dressing-room , and beg him to come here . Don ' t be frightened : you ' ve done wonders . It will be all over in a minute . Juat pop on at the O . P . door , advance a few paces , smile and curtesy , pick up the bouquets , look unutterable things , and then glide off again—that ' s all . ' " And with this unwelcome , unmeaning , and most absurd ceremony my performance for that night ended . "

    Florence Sackville is clever enough to assure us of future novels from the same writer . Let us therefore suggest that , instead of scattering her effect by the introduction of so many episodes , thus making the novel not a story but a string of stories , she should take a broader canvas and fill that with one central group round which the others may stand , not as separate centres , but as rays to and from the centre . To be able to tell a story of episodes requires great mastery over Vart de conter : Dumas seems the only one who now does it successfully . If Mr . Burbury will compare the simplicity unity , and consequent intensity of the structure of Jane Eyre with that of her autobiographical fiction , she will fully seize our meaning .

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    THE MARTYRS OV FRKEDOM . li ' uotslrpt of our Forrftithen : what they tuffered and what they taught . Junu-u G . Miall . A . C'ocksliaw . TAc Church of England in the lieigni of the Stuarts . A . ( Jockshaw . Tfte Trst ofExperience ; or , the J olun ( nry Principle in the Untied States . By John Ilowurd IliuLoii , M . A . A . ( o <; k * h ; uv .

    Tiiksk are three volumes of a series to which we flc-sire to call attention . The ' Library for the Times is issued by Nonconformists , to « et forth their history and their views ; and , however we may separate from the Nonconformist body in respect of dogmatic theology , we are earnestly and heartily with them in the spirit of their manful and illustrious struin / hi for liberty of conscience . It in

    incalculable the good Kngland owes to the brave Nonconformists who , in the long centuries of peril and persecution , upheld the . saeiediiess of conscience . I lad the } ' not . struggled and sullered , we should now be somewhat in the miserable plight of ( jermany and I ' ranee . If any one doubts this , let ; him read Mr . Miall ' s eloquent Foot steps of our Forefiithers ; one of tin : works we would wi « h to [> ut into this hands of youii ) ' FjUglislunen .

    Its design is felicitous . Taking up certain typical persons or events , it ; introduces the reader into ( . he very scene where those events occurred . Thus Wiclif , the type of " I / iglit , in a dark age , " is the occasion of a picturesque , description ol' the town of Ijutterworili , ancient and modern ; so ofS ^ he rest ; and in this way history , archaeology , and H ^ ograp hy arc . made tothrow light and interest upon the various incidents in the long struggle , for freedom . The execution is admirable . The work is picturesque , animated , eloquent—enriched and not overloaded

    with erudition—varied by piquant anecdotes and pleasant digressions . It i ; i more popular in style than will meet tins approval of those ( dull dogs mostly !) who stickle for tins "dignity oft history , " and who , from reasonable ¦ contempt of " royal roads to learning , " lapse- into unreasonable -desire for " repulsive roads to learning "; but vivacity in not , superficiality , and Mr . Miall ' s book i . i all the better tor its animation . There me some templing passages for extract . We borrow from him a quotation he makes which will iiuuiki : our readers : —

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    Pec . 13 , 1851 . ] JJCftC ILra&fr . " 87

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 1187, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1913/page/15/