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    point now in debate , and if judged of purely on the ground of its tntrinsic merits , carries home to our understandings and best feelings an i rresistible impression of the " o-oodness , wisdom , and simplicity of the writer . Search the entire compass of et hical writings , ancient and modern , we should not find even one that carries more decisively upon it the characteristics of sincerity and truthfulness . " Why should it , or why should the wrreer , be otherwise thought of ? For no imaginable reason , only this , that > if we allow him his due—then , the plaintiff is very likely to be non-suited . " All we can say in reply is , that our amazement is ever renewed when we think that a man so gifted and so accomplished as the author of this treatise certainly is , should be able to assume an attitude of mind that can for two minutes regard such reasonings as—we will not say conclusive reasonings—but even tenable paradoxes .

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    EEUBEJf MEDLICOTT . Reuben Medlicott ; or , the " Coining Man . " By M . W . Savage , Esq ., author of the " Falcon Family , " &c . 3 vols . Chapman and Hall . Every one remembers the bright , laughing vivacity of the Falcon Family and The Bachelor of the Albany . With them Mr . Savage made a name . They had the fault , perhaps , of a too incessant smartness—a fault not to be charged upon Reuben Medlicott , in which there is but a very moderate amount of fun . The satire , such as there is , will be recognised as healthy , though not particularly mirthful . If not a comic novel , Reuben Medlicott is an amusing novel , belonging rather to the style of a byegone day . It steadily pursues the main theme , which is that of showing how ludicrously a man may fail in life , if he has not something more substantial than " splendid abilities . " This theme is developed with success—not , indeed , without exaggeration , but with no more than the genre permits , to carry home its " moral . " Heuben is the versatile son of a decent and horticultural vicar , and an encyclopaedic mother . Mrs . Medlicott is a lady of high complexion , immense surface-learning , and blue spectacles : a polyglott of pretension . Her son inherits her manysidedness . His desultory education furnishes a natural talking capacity ' with the most varied material . His whole intellect , to speak horticulturally , runs to talk . And as talk is to the mind what a table of contents is to the book , giving immense promise not always fulfilled , so do those readers , who read as they run , credit the fine talker with gigantic capacity . Thus Reuben—like so many men known to the world—is regarded by his friends as a man certain to win the

    highest honours in whatever career he opens . He is the Coming Manthe cynosure of village and of college eyes . The only difficulty is in determiuin" - the precise thino- for which he is most fitted—he seems fitted for all ; propre a tout , propre a rien , says the wise proverb , or , as we have it , "Jack of all trades , and master of none . " But Eeuben is master of one trade—the trade of speech-making ; in these days not the worst of trades . He has that endless flux of words which universally betokens poverty of ideas . Having nothing to express takes away the difficulty of expression ; and Reuben ' s eloquence is never clogged with the obstructive material of thought .

    Such is the mind of this " Coming Man , " and if we add thereto a handsome person , a pleasant temper , an engaging manner , and quick vanity , we have Reuben Medlicott—a type of one class of men in our days . JIow he tries the various professions , and fails in all , must be read in these agreeable pages . We will not take away from curiosity the pleasure it will find in reading for itself ; but we commend to especial attention the vivid and admirable portrait of Dean Wyndham , the strong , lusty , vehement , learned , abrupt , polemical , speculating , restless churchmanthe born Bishop , and of a Church Militant , too , who Hues in these pages , and bears testimony to the high dramatic , power of the author . He is the " gem" of the book . The other characters , though pleasantly drawn , are less life-like and complete . We unty add , however , that they are nil distinct , and individualized .

    There is no passion , no fancy , no pathos , scarcely anything to be called incident , in these volumes ; so that the devout novel reader may , perhaps , be disappointed . Bill , to men mul women who have lived pas I , the age when romance is indispensable , and who can bo amused with good shrewd sense , a , vivacious style , and clear dramatic presentation of character , we cordially commend Reuben Mcd / icoU . And as a fair sample , though a , brief oik ; , we will conclude our notice by this extract from ( lie Dean ' s conversation : " The Dean was talking of Ihieney as a result and a symptom of shallow ness .

    ' Full men , ' lie said , ' live seldom lluent . They arc eloquent , lmt eloquence ; and fluency arc dill ' eivnt things . Young men discourse fluently in proportion to their ignorance , not to their knowledge , of a subject . 'There in no more worthless or more dangerous iicquircmcnt than eloquence , in the vulgar sense of the word . lirucc remarked of the Abyssinians , ' that they were all orators , ' ' us indeed , ' he adi | n , ' most barbarians . ' The observation is extremely applicable to an unfortunate country not a thousand miles oil ' , with which wo are very closely connected . I have always thought , the great misfortune of" that country was , ( hat when the family of the { Shallows . settled there , the family of Master Silence did not

    accompany them . " All laughed Primrose was particularly amused by this fancy of the Dean's , and said lie had no notion so much about Ireland was to ho learned from Shukspeare . " ' His plays are full of Irish characters , * said the Dean . ' What do you wiy ol Much swaggering poltroons as Pistol and Pa miles Y or that facetious , foul-mouthed blusterer , Thersitcsr Are they not Irish to the back-hone ? (' an ' t you Ihncy Pistol member for Limerick , and Thersites representing the city of Dublin \" "' Hut , sir , ' said ltcuhcn , * speaking of Homer ' s Thersites , is not Mint , u very effective speech which he makes in the first book of the Wad C

    " ' Very eflective , ' muttered the Dean , ' but , only in bringing down the stuff of UlvsKes upon the speaker's shoulders . Homer makes Thersites the representative of ' talent without worth , eloquence without character . Pope well observes , that bad Ulysses made the wiine speech , the troops would have sailed that night for < Jniece . Character is to an individual what position is to a general . The . world auks who u man is before it gives him an audience , or , at least , before it heart ) him u Bocond time . We muwt not only take thought what we « uy , but from whence

    we say it . Even in society , the prosperity of a jest depends upon the consideration of the man who makes it , often upon his place at the table . Young rneu ought to reflect upon this , and take more pains to make themselves respected than admired . '"

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Sketches of English Character . By Mrs . Gore . A New Edition , revised and corrected . jBen tley . Lively , farcical and flippant , these sketches are railway readable , and deserve a place among the p leasant trifles included in Bentley ' s Railroad Library , though no one can gravely accept them as sketches of English character , otherwise than as that character manifests itself in farces and novels .

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    The short day was already dosing , and the animated conversation wind ' Edwardes had provoked with Margaret was beginning to flag ; Yseult , who sate in the corner next to me , and opposite to Margaret , appeared to » e dozing , in spite of the attack and retort which had been going on across the carriage . The darkness seemed to have silenced Stanhope ; am perhaps Margaret supposed that the too exclusive attention which Ya - warden had extorted from her to their sport of words had disp leased the artist ; for I heard her answer his marked silence by saying , in the ^ mw , , woi

    VII . Harley-street , Jan . 13 , 1852 . § g £ ! ONLY write , my dear Giorgio , to enclose the letter which I find ? Jp lvin S nere from Ju * > as I llave no time for much more - I retume ( l | 1 § this morning with Yseult , and shall go back with her as soon as she << % § £ summons me ; and , in the meantime , I have so much on my mind that makes writing painful that I shall probably say no more than to tell you the disaster which befel us on Monday last , on our way with Edwardes to keep Twelfth Night at his friend ' s . We came to town early ; Edwardes and I went a hasty round to see divers patients , who were all very accommodating , and we set out for the railway by three o ' clock . Our party was the same as before , with the exception of Comvay , whose absence seemed to cause manifest chagrin to Yseult . At least , she was much more thoughtful than she had been over night and in the morning , and mentioned him several times ; though , m point of fact , they had talked but little together , either on that day or on the Sunday ; and in the very evident friendship between them , I had never noticed anything more than friendship . On the Monday , her thoughtfulness made me watchful ; for the deep interest I have felt in her from the first sound of her name , makes me as watchful of her , especially when she is in painas a mother of her child .

    i : ¦ /¦ i r : i : rt :.,. t-i «* A « ., > ., „> ,. *>/> + -n-ollV" The words soft voice of long familiar affection , " Are you not well ? ' ' bo were ; scarcely out of her mouth before the rapid course of the train « 'llIlU to a sudden pause—a sort of long , sliding obstruction , with a sound grating and crushing ; a dizziness seemed to take possession oi our earring ¦ , which cracked and groaned , and was distorted with convulsive contractions , and then , in an instant , sank into a quiet wreck . One p ause of sllt ! ll < ;'' then a burst of shrieks ; and then a heavy moan , —a sigh of agony ><>» the whole train . I had already turned to Yseult , who said , both to " >*

    -and Edwardes , " 1 am quite sale ; but— Margaret ! " t The poor girl lay motionless . She had not shrieked—she d" " ^ moan ; she made no answer to Stanhope's whispered but vehement , a i » oh . harsh , calls upon her name . We instinctively wade way for 1 > M * ' ™* ^ who was also unhurt . ile bent over her , and somewhat relieve * nH ^ saying , " She is faint . Wait ; an instant ! " As he spoke , slu : * " ™ 1 j , r to it ' wiw only to shrink with pain . Reviving consciousness enal > lei » - » ^ stifle her moans ; but she was evidently in terrible pain ; and > is « »< j ^ huddled up amid the wrecks of the carriage , which had beeii ^ strut : k ^ ^ corner , it was impossible to ascertain how she suilered . * he Wl jt kl ) the door had already been removed by people without ; 1 } ^ ° ^^ d au » i » t , und Edwardes was trying to raise the wounded girl , but he < ta

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    We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .

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    Journal of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria , dfc . By E . Lear . Richard Bentley . Beatrice ; or , the Unknown Relatives . By Catherine Sinclair . 3 vols . Richard Bentley ! Bentley ' s Shilling Series—The Battle of Waterloo . By Professor Creasy . Richard Bentley . The People ' s Life of the Duke of Wellington . Richard Bentley . Bentley ' s Miscellany . Richard Bentley . Blacktvood's Magazine . Blackwood and Son . Sand-Book of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy . By D . Lardner . Taylor , Walton , and Maberly . The Parlour Library—Tlie Cagot ' s Hut and the Conscript Bride . By F . C . Q-rattan . Simms and M'Intyre . Hone Circle . W . S . Johnson . Palissy the Potter . By H . Morley . 2 vols . Chapman and Hall . Alton Locke , Tailor and Poet . Chapman and Hall . Devereux . By Sir E . Bulwer Lytton . Chapman and Hall . The Law and Practice of Election Committees . By John Clerk , Esq . 8 . Sweet . The Reformation of the Nineteenth Century . By J . Ronge . E . Dentsch . The History of the Battles of Ligny , Quatre Bras , and Waterloo . L . Booth . Colburn ' sUnited Service Magazine . Colburn and Co . Christian Examiner . ' Crosby , Nichols and Co . Laicson ' s Merchants' Magazine . R- Hastings . JVeto Quarterly Review . No . IV . Hookham and Sons . Westminster Review . New Series . No . XIV . John Chapman . Village Life in Eyypt , with Sketches of the Said . By B . St . John . 2 vols . Chapman and Hall . Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology . John Churchill . The Crystal Palace and Park in 1853 . What has been Done—What will be Done ? y W . S . Orr and Co . Reasoner . Parts VII . and VIII . J- Watson .

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    952 THE LEADER , [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1852, page 952, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1954/page/20/