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    tern worthy of the name . What can be the meaning of morality , if not utility , to one who professes ignorance of the soul ' s antecedents and destiny r Protestants have done more mischief by their ethical systems , concocted apart from revelation , than by any other of their rationalistic vagaries . What is the use of . talking about the law of your . nature when you haven't an ontology ? What is the soul P . What the law ? Why should the soul obey P Where did its subjection begin ? What are the advantages of the law ? What its terrors ? Back through the past and into the future , lost alike in prospect and retrospect , extend the vast fields of ethical investigation ! But man cannot , of himself , solve these problems : he cannot say whence evil and sin came , or whether it be evil or sin . Yet these are questions that outlie ethics : he must answer them if he

    would pass on to a scheme of moral government ; not answering them his rise shall never be above the level of the coldest and most calculating ¦ utility . Conscience ! pooh , pooh ! Where did you get your conscience " ? Give back , to the Church what you took from her , and then we will proceed to consider your case . Conscience is another rebel from the Church , as hard _ to deal with as reason itself . I tell you , when you join us , that you must give up your senses , your reason , and your conscience , to boot . Could anything be more reasonable , —I speak to you as without the ¦ < pale , —than that the Church , which gave consciences to its members , should be the keeper of their consciences ? If man had not fallen , his reason , moral sense , and other senses , would have sufficed for him ; but by the fall he lost the secret of their use , of which the Church is now the sole

    repository . Not rational , then , but fond of a reason ; not conscious , but conceited ; not conscientious , but daringly unscrupulous ; not sensible , but the plaything of sensation ; not willing , but wilful ; man tends to go farther from the truth and from his fellows , the more he presumes to act for himself . " You doubt my position , and yet you illustrate it ! Very well . Let me tell you a story , which I remember to have read , of an opulent Dutchman , who lived and died in the sixteenth century . Meinheer , one day , gave a dinner , at his house in Amsterdam , to a select company of gentlemen , among _ wliom Avere % » or JPetro Papa , lord of the bedchamber to a foreign prince ; Jkfqrtinus Lutherus , a G-erman ; and Joannes Calvinus , a citizen of G-eneva . Behind these illustrious guests stood Socinus , Molina , Jansenius , Pelagius , John Knox , Whitfield , John Wesley ; an Irvingite , a Moravian , a Quaker , a Jumper , a Shaker , a Sweclenborgian ; a New Light , an Old Light , a Morisonian , Agappemonite , and Latter-day

    Saint ; besides many others not mentioned in the Dutch manuscript which records the story . In due course , one-half of an excellent cheese , whose plane edge was as smooth as glass , was placed on its convex surface on the table . I must tell you , before proceeding further , that a Dutchman hates nothing so much as to tiave his cheese dug into , like a Cheshire cheese in an English tavern . His guests , however , had no such ideas of deformity . Petro Papa , drawing the cheese near him , prepared to cut it , but ¦ first favoured the company with a story about his master the Prince . While he . was speaking , Lwtlierus , becoming impatient , pulled the cheese out of his hand , and scooped a large piece from its centre ; and Calvinus , striking off a portion from the right corner , conveyed it to his plate . But to the infinite astonishment of their masters , the servants now advanced from behind the chairs , and , seizing knives , assailed the poor cheese so furiously , that Meinheer , in disgust , snatched it up , and flung it ¦ out of the window , where a beggar who was passing found it , and took it home to his family .

    " The confusion produced by the unseemly behaviour of the servants would not soon have subsided , had not Lutherus , damning the attendants for a pack of varlets , driven them with kicks and curses from the room . When the glasses were produced , and the bottles set on the table , Petro Papa , pleading the urgency of his master ' s affairs , and the sudden recollection of an engagement , withdrew from the party . Lutherus then amused Meinheer by reporting an odd conversation which he had with the devil whilst he sat in the little house ; and Calvinus gave a comical account of the frizzling of one Servetus . Our host sang a jolly song about " right good fellows , " in the chorus of which his illustrious guests joined heartily . Wken they got drunk , he showed them down stairs , and they parted in the dark street in perfect good humour with each other . "

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    THE HOPE OF THE FAMI . LY . Wiii ? n I was on thft ( rrold Coast I mot a boy so very unlike me in general appearance , that hud not considerations of geography ( ami my own strict morals ) rendered tho belief absurd , I should have believed that there before mo stood a won of mine—an indirect heir—an " accident" —nn "Oat , " in short ( that is , on tho supposition of my having sown any wild oats !) . On interrogating this boy I found ho was what Mrs . Slipslop cnllrt a " fondling ; " a . parly without parents , Ho Hoemed to grieve somewhat over this obscurity , hut I quoted tho remark of . tho . French sage— " One in always the son of somebody—on ast luujours / . <; Jils dc qticlqu ' un : cela comofo . ; " which remark scorned to him profound . One ia always tho son of somebody ; but , happily , one is not always tho

    author of somebody . I congratulate myself in ranging under that category every time I sec myfriends revelling in tho " blessings of boyn . " . llovv-<> vor , if one has a boy there is always the hope that be may run away ; wl-a console I . But as all human felicity has its drawbacks , oven ( hat charm has itn perils , for tho boy who runs away sometimes returns , and hoiuotiinos ( in novels and comedies ) is replaced by a substitute . This substitution wo observe in The Mope of tho Family . Poor Sir William . Mcl-* '' ¦//« has an omnibus cad palmed upon him an hin own son , and in not l > rou < l of his oIlHpring . But then , as I always say , if men will have sans , ^ ' » y their blood bo oil their own heads ! After all , an omnibus end , when ¦" uc ' kalono ia that cad , may not bo less a blessing than the real Simon

    Pure ;_ and so if you please , we > will 8 ce how Sir William enjoy * hi * paternity . Understand , then , that Sir William No , I-will not tell the Story ; it isn't amusing and it ' s very old . Go and see it in . the comedy _( which is not a comedy ) ,, for that is amusing in spite of all its faults . .-When I say it is amusing , I mean Buckstone is so , and as the piece rests on his shoulders , the result is that one Whs without allowing criticism to disturb enjoyment .

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    THE THIRST FO R GOLD . A beal Adelphi piece—a genuine "Adelphi hit "—a long melodrame , full of fun and terror , spectacle and story , moving incidentsfand strongly marked characters , is this Thirst for Gold , which they are now playm » at the Adelphi , and at the Ambigu under the title of La priere des JSTau frages . It is in five acts , and all varied . Act one passes on board ship . There we have Keeley as a " tar , " reared at Putney , and representing a sort of comic providence ; Webster as a cool , quiet , calculating viDain , a fatalist and a mammon-worshipper ; Madame Celeste as the mother of ' a little girl , and wife of the ship ' s captain ( Selb y . ) Webster , who has intimations of the gold mines , gains over the crew to mutiny . The captain , wife , and child are put into the yawl , and sent adrift on " the ocean wave , "

    Act 2 gives us a glimpse of the result . The captain , wife and child , with the tar whose presence is ( melodramaticall y ) requisite for the purpose of enlivening the scene with ' ¦ funny" passages , are discovered shut up in the ice . This act is the spectacular effect . I regret that melodramatic exigencies before alluded to should have dragged the comic element into this scene , thus depriving it of its real terror ; but the scene is a good one * nevertheless , and when , after enduring the icy horrors of the place , these wretched creatures are seen on the blocks of melting ice—when they are seen separated thus , and finally engulfed by the sea , leaving the little child alone upon a block of ice , praying as she kneels there tossed about by the mad waves , the effect is tremendous , and the house shakes with applause .

    Act 3 passes in Mexico . Webster has become the Marquis Darbes , possessor of untold wealth - He has reached the goal of his ambition . All traces of his guilt are destroyed ; at least he thinks so . But the child whom we saw kneeling on the block of ice when the curtain descended , now appears as Ogarita , a young Indian girl . We have never a doubt . of her identity , and we foresee the drame , which is to be developed in acts four and five in Paris . And a very interesting drame it is ; but I shall say no more of it . Enough if , while recording the interest of the piece , mention be made of the costumes

    and getting up , and the acting of Webster , Keeley , and Madame Celeste . The Ia 3 t named had a long and arduous part . She never played better . Her Indian girl brought out her well known pantomimic qualities ; her semi-civilized girl of the fourth act was both picturesque and effective ; her grande dame of the fifth act was cold , terrible , vipcrine . The scene wherein her vengeance is consummated was played with immense effect ; the look with which she turns upon Darbes , when he lovingly twines his arm round her Avaist , and she pours forth her pent-up hate , and triumphs in her revenge , could have been done by no one else . Vivian .

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    MONT BLANC . That most convenient of authorities , a morning contemporary , in forestalling our announcement that Albert Smith has rc-cominenced his "Ascent of Mont Blanc , " mentions that tho entertainment has become a national institution . The third season begins , indeed , with as much crowding , expectancy , surmise , surprise , and gratification , as if it were the first . There have been important changes and addition ' s , which will help to sustain the renewed interest . Most of the scenery is new ; and never were gems of Beverloy so worthily and effectively set . In place of decoration , there is the entire adaptation of a Bernese village , or at least a great part of one . The balconies for spectators are the quaint ln '

    newood balconies of real Swiss dwellings ; and private-box occupants look out of window . All this , of course , gives a charming air of reality to the views , which are seen through a natural perspective of gables , rocks , heaths , and a stream , wherein a mill-wheel patters to most rcfreslung music . The same fountains dance the same ' defiance to Marlborough-Houso principles of taste ; and gas jots continue to grow , with similar boldness , in transparent flower-pots . In the entertainment itself a considerable change has been made . We are taken by a different routo to Chainouni , so that the first part is quite new . The Rhine bridge at Basle is tho opening scene ; Basle having been reached by a rapidly descriptive process , through or past Boulogne , Ainions ,

    Paris , J ^ pernay , and S trashurg . A pretty glimpse of Zurich , with scarcely enough of tho lake , is the next picture ; and ( hen we get tho grand burst from the itighi Kulm , looking over the valley of ( loldau to the Koasbcrg . Some old friends begin to turn up here ; Mr . Parker , the undecided , formerly of Cairo , and the . man who played the tin trumpet on the Alexandrian boat are among ( hem . At I . ntorlaken we find more old friends ; and wo make acquaintance , at the Wen # ern Alp lim , with a man who is rather worth knowing . This is 21 rapid traveller , who tells ' you , in 21 high-pressure song , how to see Chamouni , Pompoii , Naples , Vesuvius , and Puriw in less than a fortnight . The song ib , a ¦

    marvel of patter-singing , <| ni < e as astonishing as Charles M . athe \ v «' s " Wlion a man travels ; " and it finishes olf tho first part with ukind of {[?// . The ascent , occupying another division , has been nuflicienlly curtailed ,, to admit the super-position of a third part , which , like the first , is entity new . ' Kvon those now familiar terrors of tho accent have been ren ^ orod more vivid , apparently by a . complete renovation of the artist ' s work .,, or by some considerable amount of new touching . A fresh start in iiuade , too , from tho foot of the -Ih'ovont , whence , looking towards tho Mont Blanc chain , wo have a pretty view of Uhamoiini . Thon » tho Cascade dos Polorinn is seen from 21 , more removed ^ ro ^ ind ijiau formerly , tho view now taking in . the chalet and foreyj , of tho Polorinfl . Up to the Glacier des Bohhouk , in short , all appears to uh

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    December 10 , 1853 ] THE LEADER , 11 ^ 5

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1853, page 1195, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2016/page/19/