On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    tirement of the minister during the period of the Junian fulminations —his madness , or gout , or whatever it was , real or feigned , that kept him shut up at Hayes—his bitter hostility to King , Lords , and Commons—the cessation of ' the . "Letters" when his party had become thoroughly broken up— -his intimate connexion with the Court , even while officially severed from it—his fearlessness of the consequences of bis denunciations—the timidity of the King and courtiers , who feared to stretch out their hands to arrest the speaker of evil against dignities- —the general belief that it was no understrapper or clerk concealed behind the mask— the concurrent pointing by contemporaries to some mighty political commander — the analogy that exists between the speeches of the one and the writings of the other—the similarity in . the handwriting between some of the MS S . and that of Lady Chatham—all these points are made use of by Mr . Dowe in support

    of his hypothesis . He goes further . He admits Philip Francis , who owed everything to Lord Chatham , into the conspiracy . His purpose has been to show that young Philip Francis was the confidential agent of Lord Chatham during , the . Junian period . And in adverting to the correspondence of Lady Francis on the subject , he remarks : — " The strong necessity of truth produces from lady Francis the admission so damaging to the belief to which she is attached , that Lord Chatham had a hand in the letters . He certainly had , and a head too . " . In summing up Mr , Dowe is more explicit . " Lord Chatham and Francis were allies . And if it be conceded that each would play his natural part—that the eloquent and exasperated statesman would act like himself ,

    and the smart little clerk of twenty-seven would stick to his proper vocation—we shall hot be very much at a loss or at variance about recognizing the truth of the matter , unless indeed we should have some other logical reasons for our particular belief . Everything , in fact , leads us to this : Junius was Lord Chatham . " Here the question rests—a question that has taxed the legal acumen and critical penetration of not a few of the ablest men of the last three-quarters of a century . To those who would wish to sift further the statements and arguments of a Chathiunist , we recommend the work of Mr . Dowe . His -views are clearly stated , 'with , however , a little affectation of pleasantry , and an unfortunate introduction at times of inelegant and untranslatable Americanisms .

    Untitled Article

    THREE WORKS OF FICTION . The ' Metaphysicians . Being a Memoir of Franz Carvel , Brushmaker , written by Himself ; and of Harold Fremdling , Esq ., -written andnow republished by Francis Drake ., Esq . ( Longman and Co . )—There will have been a decided advance on literature when one third of the stories published are as clever as The Metaphysicians . The book not only contains good writing , but exhibits real thought . The good writing is occasionally overdone , the thought is overwhelmed amid conceits and commonplaces , yet the residue of talent find originality suffices to mark with superiority the chronicle of Franz Carvel's experiences , and the life of Harold Fremdling . The author is , in his own way , a humorist and a philosopher , dry , cold , quiet ; he laughs and moralises , moralises and laughs ; his heroes mock the world , and the woi'ld

    retaliates upon his heroes . In the one narrative he portrays the individual , growing and learning ; in the other , society aspiring and expanding , and in both a hazy lore of metaphysical subtlety rises between the eye and the object it discerns . It must be premised that this is our interpretation of the aim and scope of the work , since Drake and Carvel are not a little obscure in their ultimate exposition . This obscurity arises not so much from a -want of precision in the style- —we have said the stories are well written—but from a certain density enveloping the point to which the incidents as well as the dialectics converge . Franz Carvel is a disciple of Immanuel Kant , and his treatment of that philosopher ' s doctrine is sufficiently ingenious , though it may be necessary , now that the sin of studying at secondhand threatens to corrupt the flow of our literature , to warn all impulsive readers against ; supposing that they know anything of Kant without having studied him . for themselves . Suffice it that they understand a book who have read it ; summaries , commentaries , quotations , are for the most part worthless

    anonymous writerWho has produced "The Metaphysicians . " He is ] P scholastic , and more sentimental ; his style is not so severe ; on thecontrarv festoons of exuberant fancy decorate the discussion of abstract problems the controversialists pause ever and anon while a vivid , natural Mississinni landscape is rapidlv painted before the mind ; the narrative is almost rhythmic ^ the talk is cordial , bright American touches are scattered ov ^ r the perspective—the great steamboat deck , the river coasts , the ffrou ™ belonging to various gradations of New-World life . In his Pacific stories Mr . Melville wrote as with an Indian pencil , steeping the entire relation in colours almost too brilliant for xeality ; his books were all stars , twinkles flashes , vistas of green and crimson , diamond and crystal ; he has ' now tera ' pered himself , and studied the effect of neutral tints . He has also added satire to his repertory , and , as he uses it scrupulously , he uses it well . His

    fault is a disposition to discourse upon too large a scale , and to keep h ; s typical characters too long in one attitude upon the stage . Lest -we should seem , to imply that the masquerade is dramatic in form , it is as well to describe its construction . It is a strangely diversified narration of events taking place during the voyage of a Mississippi river boat , a cosmopolitan philanthropist , the apostle of a doctrine , being the centre and inspiration of the whole . The charm of the book is owing to its originality and to its constant flow of descriptions , character-stretching , ^ and dialogue , deeply toned and skilfully contrasted . ""¦" .. ° vj

    Madaron ; or , the Artisan of Nismes : an Historical Romance of the Sixteenth Century . By D'Aubigne White . 3 vols . ( Cash . )—This is a novel elaborately constructed of historical and romantic materials . The author is at once inventive and studious . He has ransacked the chronicles of the religious -wai's in France , he has closely copied the manners and costumes of the sixteenth century , he has gone far in search of testimonies to the characters of such personages as Charles the Ninth , Henry of Navarre , the Chancellor L'Hopital , Hene , the royal Perfumer , and the Cardinal of Lorraine . Then , Madaron is a . dioramic picture of southern French scenery along the Rhone and Durance , of Itonian antiquity and feudal customs about Avignon , Nismes , and Sisteron ; the civil strife of Languedoc lends its passion and tumult to the story , which gains in tone and variety by

    being interwoven with the adventures of the Y icomtesse de Clavaro , of the ancient chateau of Beaucaire . Madaron himself is a development of the historical iigure sketched by the accurate and learned I > e Thou . Blaise de Montluc and the savage Beaumont stalk across the scene : Tintoretto comes with his easel to paint a sacred "Virgin ; more is said of Catharine de Medicis than would be warranted by Brantome , who compared her beautiful hands with those of the goddess Aurora ; much , indeed , is boldly imagined . The result is a clever , extravagant story ; but ' Mr . White is fati « uingly diffuse . He might have spared half his space by cutting down the dialogues , onaitting altogether a weighty oration on Opinion , sacrificing a number of unimportant though laborious details , and suppressing a variety of incidents neither intrinsically dramatic nor converging towards the general cata-1

    strophe . A few notes on Madaron will sufficiently illustrateits qualities , We have Lucrezia Gazzi , a TVasteverine Aspasia , painted on an iiltar-piece by Tintoretto , and Ximena de Clavaro at a feast in the Boccacian gardens of * the ( "Villa D'Armagnac ; we have a gallery of Cleopatran portraits , among these is that of the Vicomtesse of J 3 eaucaire , " dressed in a white , glittering material , which shone like floating silver , " lc thin and transparent . " She wears a double tunic of this Hetairian texture , a girdle of uncut rubies , gold bracelets engraved with hieroglyphic characters , a jasmine ¦ wreath , a Saracen shawl . Mr . White indulges continually in descriptions of such fairyland loveliness and light attire as might harmonize "with the diaphanous architecture of the Purple Halls of Ineffable Felicity , of which children go home to dream at Christmas , especially when he relates how the

    young nuns and the luxurious Benedictines hold a Mempluan revel—the monks in scarlet and gold , the snowy-armed penitents in Druid drapery and embroidered turbans . By way of variety , he adjusts the delicate limbs of Ximena de Clavaro upon a rack , and allows Madaron to personate the executioner , and to deceive the judges by torturing her tenderly . Again , the confession of Rene' is a spasmodic effect introduced to intensify the melodrama . We have no doubt that Madaron has been the work of many patient days ; it certainly evinces knowledge and talent , but there is a superabundance of romantic blazonry ; the interest is generally of a barbaric kind ; in fact , Mr . White has endeavoured to compose a . story almost entirely of pearl , gold , poison , passion , Olympian beauty , white tunics , and surprises .

    always imperfect , often stupid , sometimes positively false . Harold Fremdling , whose connexion with Franz Carvel is very close , is the disciple of no metaphysician whatever ; he . approaches such topics reluctantly , and almost under compulsion . Yet his , also , is in one sense the romance of metaphysical investigation , the satire closing keenly with the technicalities of philosophy . Of course , it is easy to ridicule every science the terminology of which abounds in curious words , to play fantastically with the noumenon , and the several potences , with subsuniption and the Aristotelian apparatus , but it is quite us easy to ridicule the common cant of trade—the lively pepper , the brisk rice , the dull barley of trade reports—as to follow the Absolute in its undeveloped essence through the realism and idealism of its indifferences . But the author , who is obviously familiar with the supersubtleties that furnish the materials of his pedantic comedy , touches now and then , with a firm hand , some other topics of the times . His Francis Drake ^ for example , discusses whether , shutting out Judaism , Mohammedanism and Buddhism from view , it is possible to fix a state standard of religions education . Be it Christianity , it is su « i £ rested . Then what

    Christianity ? Athanasian or Arian , Roman or Lutheran , Armenian or CalvinisticP Clearly , the wisdom of our ancestors has settled that question by S-ovidmg the Church of England . But what Church of England ? The Jgh or the Low ?—the Puseyitic or the Evangelical ? That which admits tho right of private judgment or that which denies it ? That which seeks supremacy for the Ecclesiastical corporation , or that ^ vhich refers all disputes in the Ecclesia to Parliament ? We have no doubt that the book will make its way among thinking readers , yfho will have to pardon , however , BOino occasional coarseness and interludes of monotony . . The Confidence : Man and his Masquerade . By Herman Melville , Author of ? l « i ° i / i ° i ' -i & 0 \ Authorize < l Edition . ( Longman and Co . ) -In ™ iw ? ° l \ lr ^ lulo 8 O P V . 3 brou 6 ht out of its cloistera into tho living I « ™™ i 9 m t £ Tm . , mOr ° aimi > l ° '—^ thor men are to bo trusted or suspected t Mr . Melville has a manner wholly different from that of the

    Untitled Article

    THE LITTLE WORLD OF LONDON . The Little World of London . By Charles Manby Smith . Hull , Virtue , and Co . Mr . Manky Smith presents us with a picture of London life , after the Chinese school of painting , only that his colours are not so brilliant . There is a total want of perspective . His figures , individually , are dra wn with a . recognizable degree of correctness , but they are all of the same height . and dimensions . His colourings too , is monotonous—a dull , cold grey pervading every part . Or , perhaps , we should more correctly describe the impression we have received from a conscientious perusal of his work , by likening his sketches of character to those silhouettes in black paper cut out with a pair of scissors by some itinerant untaught genius . The outlines are suuiciently accurate to enable one to recal the features of a well-known countenance , but utterly incapable of affording any clue to the character or disposition oi a stranger .

    The physiology of London life will ever be an interesting study to the philosopher and economist , and might be made equally amusing to the million . It is a favourite subject with magazine writers , and has also been frequently taken in hand by popular authors , possessed of descriptive powers almost equal to their faculty of perception . And yet from some cause or other it bus never been treated in a , manner worthy of its importance . There are two opposite faults , into one or both of which tho illustrators of London life have invariably fallen—a tedious enumeration of details , or a proneness to hasty generalizations . As statists the Brothers Mayhew stand without a rival near their throne , and their investigations have evidently been con-

    Untitled Article

    _ jgg ___^^ TJHE LEADER . [ No . 368 , Sattjrday .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 11, 1857, page 356, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2188/page/20/