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Leader (1850-1860), 31st July 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 732, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      Justice—which is Love in action—all men feel to be the high prerogative of our race ; and when it is outraged there is no one hearing of it whose cheek does not feel the mounting flame of virtuous wrath . Unhappily our prejudices so often distort our vision that we cannot always see injustice to be what it is ; or else how could men tranquilly permit such things as are daily being transacted before them ? Out of the many we single one . The aged and respectable Nees . von Esenbeck ' , the friend of Goethe and of Schelljng , one of the great names among living botanists , who for thirty years has been the upright servant of the state , the loved Professor at Bonn , and Director of the Botanical Gardens , whom the late

      King of Prussia honoured and rewarded , is now , at the age of seventyeight , dismissed by a paternal Government " on account of his political opinions "—the dangerous doctrinaire ! the anarchial Botanist ! the terrible corrupter of youth ! At seventy-eight he is thrown upon the world and the world's sympathy , because his opinions are not well received by those in power . A subscription is set on foot in Germany , which we trust will be ample enough to take away at least the material harm pf this dismissal ; meanwhile the Germans in London , and others of our sympathetic readers may be glad to ( contribute their offerings . We shall be happy to receive any subscriptions : they may be addressed to our Office , or to Mr . Franz Thimm , German Bookseller , 88 , New Bond-street .

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      We have somewhat neglected German literature of late , there have been so very few publications worth announcing . In the small activity there has been , we have noted , with some satisfaction , that Theology and Metaphysics have retired into silence and insignificance ; two works recently published , however , deserve a passing mention . The first is a volume attributed by vague rumour to Schelling , upon what authority we cannot say , and bearing this comprehensive title , Ueber den Geist und sein Verhaltniss in der

      Natur—running rapidly through the whole circle of the sciences physical and social ; the second is a history of German Philosophy since Kant , by Foetlage of Jena—Genetische Geschichte der Philosophie seit Kant . He is a popular expositor , and as his work embraces Kant , Jacobi , Fichte , Schelling , Oken , Steffens , Cakus , Schleiermacher , Hegel , Weisse , Fries , Herbart , Beneke , Reiniiold , Trendelenbtjrg , &c , it will l > e interesting to students of that vast logomachy named German Philosophy .

      In science we have to note one or two decidedly interesting publications . A massive , cheap , and popular exposition of the Animal Kingdom , by Vogt , under the title of Zoologische Briefe—the numerous woodcuts to which , though very rude , are well drawn and useful as diagrams : Vortiscii Die Jungste Katastrophe des Erdballs , and Lotze Medicinische Psychologie oder Physiologie der Seele will attract two very different classes of students . While the lovers of German Belles Lettres ( we presume there are such

      curiosities of intellectual desire ) will learn with tepid satisfaction that a new work is about to appear from the converted Countess IIahn-IIahn , under the mystical title of Die hiebhaber des Kreuzes , and a novel also by L . MuiiLiiACii ( wife of Theodore Mundt ) upon Frederick the Great , culled Berlin und Sans Souci , which Caklylk is not very likely to consult for his delineation of the Military Poetaster . Can you not anticipate the scorn with which Curlyle will dismiss the ambitious mediocrity of Frederick ' s verses—he who is tolerant of no man ' s verse ? and it must be confessed

      that Frederick ' s poem was the " Seven Years war , not the French verses he composed to captivate Voltaire . One may apply to him the pleasant lines of Mo lie he , — " Jo le tiens galant , honnne en touten leu maniurca Hommc de qualite , < le merite , <* t do cunir , Tout < : e qu'il vouh plaira , niais fort im ' chant autcur . " What strange passion is it that thus seizes conquerors as well as coblcrs , deluding them into the belief that they are poets ? Arc poets , then , really such happy , godlike beings , that , as ( Joktiik pathetically notes , no man is content to be a shoemaker , every man insists on being a poet . " Nieniand will ein Schuster weyn Jedermun ein Dichtcr !" or do they simply want the golden crown without the victorious agony which wins it—the song without the sulltxing- —t \\ v . splendour of success without : the gloomy shadows qf neglect ? Even so . It is not the poetic nature , but the poet ' s rcwurd they desire . They would not at all iipprciciatc the noble pride ho finely expressed in Hornk ' h Orion ( we go on heaping quotation on quotation , as is our wont when once we begin , abstinence being ho much easier than temperance ; and perhaps across the far Hcas Uornic will fed this extended hand of friendship , —for is not quotation , no to speak , a Htetury shaking hands ?) " The poet of the futuro knows his place , Though in tho present shady bo his seat , And all his laurels deepening but the shade : '

      CHARLES MATHERS AND THE FBENCH DEAMATISTS . Letter from Mr . Charles Mathews to the Dramatic Authors of France . Translator ! from himself by himself as a specimen of " Fair Imitation or Adaptation" accord ing to the terms of the International Copyright Convention . John Mitchell " Those who hare seen our best of comedians in one of bis gay , easy , ofp hand characters , making effrontery charming by the goocLhumoured elegance of his manner , and . the imperturbable not-to-be-beaten readiness

      of his wit , will recognise him in this extremely amusing better to the Dramatic Authors of France . We shall require so much of our space for extract , that we must abstain from criticism . It was originall y written in French , and in that form receives the critical admiration of Jules Janin a competent authority in matters of wit and style ! The French is re ' Erin ted here with a translation done by Charles Mathews— " by himself om himself as a specimen of fair imitation . " See how he makes his bow : —

      " Gentlemen , —I am a weasel . Don't be astonished , I am telling you the simple truth ;—a guilty but repentant weasel , who comes to compliment you on your having succeeded at length in putting a ring through , his nose . Yes , gentlemen , you see before you , one of the dramatic weasels of the ' Perfide Albion / who have so long sucked the eggs of your Gallic nightingales , and I am here to offer you my congratulations on your having at last asserted your rights in the British dominions . I congratulate you with all the sincerity of the old fox who declare ? himself delighted when he hears that his bosom friends the geese have at } ast been clapped safely under an iron coop . At the precise moment when I can no Jonger steal with impunity , am I seized with an irresistible desire to become honest . I have robbed you , plundered you , disfigured you , maimed you , assassinated you ; I admit it all ; and the love of virtue only enters my head at the very foot of the gallows—a kind of repentance by no means uncommon in this wicked world .

      " Seriously , gentlemen , I am the manager of an English theatre , and I throw myself at your feet to implore your forgiveness and ask your advice . Manager , did I say "! more : manager-author-actor . Manager of the Lyceum , author of several of your pieces , actor of all the good parts I can get . I know too well the odious light in which this triple character , this tria juncta in uno , is looked upon by the single-nibbed professors of the dramatic art , and I am very sorry ; but what can I do ? Here I am like Cerberus , ' three gentlemen at once / and I can't help it . I have consequently a triple task to perform—first , to write your pieces ; secondly , to accept them ; thirdly , to act them . Nay , I beg pardon , there ' s a fourth I had nearly forgotten—Fve also to pay the piper and run the risk . Thus , you see it is clear that I have a three or four-fold interest in the new Dramatic Convention , and if you ' ll only grant me a quarter-of-an-hour , I . should like to talk it over with you in a friendly manner , and point out one or two difficulties I foresee in the way of its execution . "

      He then proceeds to enumerate the twenty-three theatres of London , giving the prices of admission ( a table not without its interest ) , and then examines these theatres seriatim to see what chance there is of French plays being serviceable to them . We cannot extract the whole , but here

      are some amusing passages : — " Drury Lane , the other ex-national house , is , alas ! more like an omnibus than a theatre , a huge omnibus running short stages at a very low price , but with plenty of noise , changing its coachman every other day , and in order to entice tho mob , ( though without succeeding in the attempt ) printing the slang of the cads upon the way-bill . Authors have but little to hope for here . The present manager , poetlibrettist , dreams of nothing but English operas , marble halls , and ballets . Drop a tear , gentlemen , and pass on in silence . It is the mausoleum of Shakspeare . a It m « ka lf _ ^\ l ^ bU «

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      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 Jleview .

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      732 THE LEADER . [ Spatijrpav ,

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      " The Victoria is a model house , the type of a school to which it gives its name . It is the incarnation of the English ' domestic drama / or rather of the drama of English domestics . There you will always find tho truest pictures of virtue in

      rags , and vice in fine linen . There flourish the choicest specimens of all the crimes that make life hideous—robbery , rape , murder , suicide . It is a country abounding in grand combats of four—a region peopled with angelic maid servants , comic house-breakers , heroic sailors , tyrannical masters , poetical clodhoppers , and diabolical barons . The lower orders rush there in mobs , and in shirt sleeves , applaud frantically , drink ginger beer , munch apples , crack nuts , call the actors by their Christian names , and throw them orange peel and . apples by way ofbouaucfcs . ^ tyvfif" ?* - tlemcn , this is no plac lum pudding , and abominate French kickshaws . "

      Tho Marylobone and tho City ThcalrcH are thus characterized : — " Though more in the country , it is not on that account more simple in its tastes . The gentle shepherds of l ' ortinan Market have no love for the Idylls of Gessner , nor for the pastoral idealities of Georges Hand . They prefer selling mutton to tending sheep , and Robin Roughheiid has no notion of paying his inonoy to look at himself . Why should he ? lie can do that all day long , and has enough <> t it , as well as of shepherdesses and lambkins , ile must have powerful excitement of an evening—assassins , wolves , tigers , by way of change . His object in to got away from himself . He can ' t indulge his taste for hull fiLrhts without tfohiK to

      Madrid , and the state of his exchequer forbids that , ho he is obliged to bo satisfied with the playhouse as the nearest approach to his favourite amusement , and ot course , the more brutal and ferocious the exhibition , und tho more his horselaughter in excited , the happier he goes away . Neither M . Scribe nor M . Alfred do Mun . set would be able to tickle his fancy at any price . ' Xht , varre d ' eau , ' would be literally ' a glass of water' to him , a tiling lie never wishes to touch oh long iu » n pot of beer is to bo had lor money ; and if you wero to give him a truncation oi ' II fetid qiCutw porte suit owner la ou Jhrmw ; ' it would merely amount in his oyus to Che self-evident truism that ' a door niiiHt be either open or shut / and bis udvioo to the manager would be to shut it if he lnul nothing better than that to amuse

      him with . " Wo will now turn to the city . "At the head of the theatres thero in Sadler ' s Wellu ( No . \ 1 ) , i \ i \<\ u very different place it is from any we have yet spoken of . Tho classical , the statel y * ^ stilted , banished from its natural homo , lindn refugo within its wulkj . Tho J ^ at , iQndl drama has retired hare , as to a watering place , for the bwJU ofitq Iwqlth * # **

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 31, 1852, page 732, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1945/page/16/