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    fftirlw- analysed him to atoms before proceeding to value the suggestion of Suidas that the Argonaut ? were pilgrims in pursuit of the alchemical secret . Aeain ' he was as a eritio , too accurate to pass over the Spagyrie assumptions of such names as Crysippus , or to detect the error lurking under leaf 's facile method of evaporating Maria the Jewess into a thin mist of fable . Chemistry he believed , is an older science than Dumas was willing to acknowledge , older than Lavoisier , if not so ancient as to claim Thales as its father Lavoisier , at least , was so impressed by the dogmas of Thales that ibis alembics were long employed in investigating the possibility of converting water into an earthy substance . Scheele experimented with the same purpose in view , and every one has heard of Davy's experiments on the electrolysis of water . These inquiries , carried in certain directions , connect themselves with the history of alchemy . In treating of the Arabian polypharmists , represented by Geber , whose 'Summit of Perfection is the oldest book on chemistry extant , Dr . Brown rebuked the bigotry of Johnson , and does full justice to the ornament of the reign of the Abassides . Geber ' s theory not only pervaded the Bast , but was powerful enough to taint the works of Cavendish and Priestley ; it was in Europe that the science became grotesque . Potable gold , Geber had said , was the celestial hippocrene or elixir , but tbe heretic Arnoldus applied his art to some purpose , and the -essential oil of turpentine , the oil of rosemary and Hungary water , were products of his laboratory . Basil Valentine went far into the search for the philosopher's stone , which he imagined to be a compound of mercury , sulphur , and salt , but he also opened up the science of metallurgy . Then -came Paracelsus , an incarnation of intellect poisoned by vanity , and alchemy was at its climax . Dr . Brown ' s learning was brought to bear upon three points in connexion with the code of the Alchemists : —that they believed in the Alcahest or universal solvent , actually realized by modern ehemistry in the . element fluorine ; in tbe transmutability of metal *—an opinion ' ineradicable from the instincts of science ; ' and in the elixir of life or universal medicine , the last idea not having been conceived until the dotage of alchemy . Dr . Brown did well to follow his treatise on the Alchemists with one on Phlogiston , to pass from oonnieal fluids , the chloride of tin , and the purple precipitate of gold , to the transcendental science of eombustion . In the course of his essay , many biographical notices of extreme interest are introduced , bringing the history to its turning point at the transition from the « ra of Phlogiston and the cupel to that of oxygen and the balance . The Rosicrueian mystery disappeared ; the empyrean was melted in a crucible ; the Zoroastriau creed was brought into ' the presence of a chemical product as combination of caloric and light , a double vibration , a pair of imponder-. ables , and a couple of dynamides . ' Dr . Brown was qualified to deal with subjects of this class , because he was superior to every form of flippancy . His treatise on ghosts and ghost-. seers is not ridicule but reason . Plato , Pliny , Henry More , Donne , Matthew Hall , Samuel Johnson , Addison , and others , he reminds us , believed in appearances . Passavanfc , Eschenmayer , Ennemore , Stilling , Kerner , and Schubert have written gravely on ghostly dreams ; and it is due to a solemn doubt that its grounds should be seriously investigated , and accordingl y the process of argument is carried on deliberately , without sneers or even smiles , And the most rational reader need not be dissatisfied with the conclusion . In fact , the fabric of shadows is undermined , and parts slowly and cloudily into ruins . Nevertheless , Dr . Brown admitted all is not known that may he known concerning ghosts and ghost-seers . The world must learn to wait . It waited long enough for other discoveries . Meanwhile , we point attention to this and the other writings in the two volumes of Dr . Brown ' s collected works , the productions of a cultivated , original , and masculine mind . The regret of every reader will be that so earnest and successful a thinker was vcut off at the age of thirty-two .

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    „ . " T HE LEAD E B > . [ No . 408 , Januart 16 , 1858 . t > D ; .. _ , . ¦¦ . - *? . . .

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    ANECDOTES OF LITERARY LIFE . Fifty Years * Recollections , Literary and Personal , with Observations on Men and Things . By Cyrus Redding . 8 vols . Skeet . Mb . Cybus Redding has lived long in the great world , has associated with -all classes of persons , is free-spoken , and has an excellent memory . He might have written a very entertaining memoir , for the materials were at hand , and it is not every one who has been dandled on the knee of John Howard , preached to by John Wesley ,. frightened by the mutiny at the JSTore , admitted to join the funeral of Pitt , and delighted by the living oratory of Fox . A wondrous and motley procession passes through the Autobiography , including a hundred men and women , celebrated or notorious , whom Mr . Redding has known , after one fashion or another ; and it would have been surprising had he not written a book which , in spite of its tedious Interludes of egotism , w > H be read with interest by many who will meet old friends in its pages , as well as listen to new anecdotes ; but Mr . Redding overflows his recollections with himself , and although a part of his literary ¦ career may have been worth noticing , we mvr ni say he is not a little intrusive with his careful chronicle of early studies , latter-day dialogues , and incidents of no importance whatever to any one but himself . , " I was early in love j " ' * I was pleased with Burns ; " " Scott ' s 'JVfarmion' delighted mo , and it was well calculated to do so , " are specimens of the triviality to which the memoirs owe half their bulk . This we say at once , in order that we may not . have to turn from Mr . Redding ' a more interesting sketches to his follies aa an autoDiographer . During the first period of his life , mixing in what is ^ caUed-goa ^ -flooiety ^ oJtiew ^^ being a picker-up of trifles , has something to aiiy ¦ KrorfclThearing df'Baflu wKen rift was there , drinking three bottles of port wine every Say ,, and of London , when Pitt always quaffed a full beaker be Core he spoke in Parliament , ana when Tierney its said to have called him the Devil ' s darning-needle . At Bath ) Mr . Redding met Sir John Moore ; in London , at the Cheshire Cheese , he dined with Laurence , who carried the colours of the 20 th Regiment at the battle of Minden ; at Brighton was then soon , upon the Stuyne , the Green Man , who painted his house green , and wore hia costume of that colour , to his gloves and neckcloth . It is something like seeing a ghost revisHiiu ? tine glimpses of the moon , to Uear these romiuiuconcea , published

    . " in 1858 , by a gentleman who once walked down Fleet-street in a blue dress coat , white waistcoat , lemon-coloured breeches , white silk stockings , silverknee , and shoe buckles , and a prodigious cocked hat . " Suspenders were not yet in vogue , and the shirt was invai-iably displayed above the waistband . " Add to this that Mr . Redding was present at the Westminster election when Sheridan shouted to the elector who had refused him ' his countenance , ' " Take it away ; it is the most villanous one I have ever beheld J" and we have a tolerable idea of the ancestral voice that is addressing our generation . The boy Betty disgusted him ; by Siddons he was electrified ; the genius of Miss O'Neill he doubted ; Mrs . Jordan ' s acting was , to him , as exhilarating as a cordial wine . In society , he was introduced to Madame de Stael , then past her prime , and to a large number of the individuals called celebrities ; of all he has an opinion to pass , and of some he has preserved interestin <; reminiscences . Mr . Redding ' s notice of Dr . Parr is a good example of his manner : — Parr was under the middle height in stature , square and strongly built , his body large in proportion to his lower limbs . His eyes were grey , of the middling size , and sparkled to the last when animated in conversation . The back part of his head ¦ was massy and capacious , his forehead full . Hia characteristic benevolence appeared most in his mode of life . He waB remarkable for his kindness to his friends , neighbours , and servants , rendering them all the good in his power . He lisped a little ia speaking . He drank seldom more then half a dozen glasses of wine , but he fed largely , rather than choicely , when at a dinner party , or with a friend . It was singular that when alone , he scarcely eat at all , or satisfied himself with a mouthful of anything that fell in his way . His stomach was strong , and his digestive powers excellent . When fish was on the table , where there was shrimp sauce , the moment the fish was removed , he would pour out the sauce on his plate and eat it , and this down to the last yeare of his life . Six or eight persons -were his favourite number at table . It was seldom known at Hatton how many would dine . I have sat down with eight or nine , when he imagiued Mrs . Parr and myself were to be his only guests . The copiousness of his information , the clearness , and order of his language , were remarkable , but the latter was too formal . He was not a mere ' verb and noun man , as some have erroneously said , nor did he parade his learning ostentatiously . He had read almost every English writer of note , besides the ancient classics , which he knew so critically . He did not display his classical knowledge in mixed society . With the right kind of company , he overflowed with this knowledge and learned lore . His manner of speaking , and putting things was peculiar , and more remarkable than his matter ; those of course died with him , and cannot be described . He regarded our sanguinary law with indignation . Placed iu the witnessbox at the assizes , on a life and death case , when he had given his evidence , he begau to lecture the judge and court . " Go down , Dr . Parr , go down , " said the judge . " I will go down , my lord , I will go down , I will go out of this slaughter-house as fast as I can . " Preaching the assize sermon , he took for his text , " God shall smite thee thou waited wall ; for sittest thou to judge me after tbe law , and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law . " He was known to the circle at Hollerton , when William Roscoe was the central figure in Liverpool society , and with Thomas Roscoe he was familiar with the vain and irritable madness of Ugo Foscolo . As a variation , however , we quote a passage illustrative of public manners ¦ : -. — I remember sitting once with the counsel close to a servant girl , in the prime of life , who had murdered her mistress , as some said , ' under the immediate instigation of the devil . ' She did not attempt a justification . She only said her young mistresses had gone out for a walk , and she was below cutting up a cucumber , when something came into her head that she must kill her . She went up-stairs , and cut the old lady ' s throat with the knife she had in her hand . Her mistress was kind , she had no complaint to make against her , she said . While the jury wore out , I threw a note to the solicitor for the prosecution . " They say , if found guilty , she will be executed where the murder was committed ? " I took care that the prisoner , who could see the table over my shoulder , should not observe what I wrote . The solicitor threw me a piece of paper open . "No , she will be executed here , and cut up at Mr . , the surgeon , on Tuesday . " The prisoner was alive , in the full flush of health , not yet found guilty , only the wood panel of the partition between ua . Iu regard to a fellow creature's doom , nuch was the light way in which life was spoken about , in a case of essential madness one cau hardly doubt . ' ? Two men to be hung to-day , gentlemen , at twelve o ' clock , " the gaoler would say , coming into the magistrates' room ; " the time is approaching . " The chairman would then propose an adjournment until half-past two , to lunch iu the interim , when the men would have been strangled and cut down , alter hanging an hour for passing a pound note , or stealing to the vuluo of a few shillings . I remember men for small offences comparatively , who were executed with low spectators present . In those days , it wus the criminal of magnitude tiiat dicw , the sympathy of crowds . Two convicts , I remember , behuved well , until the chaplain began a practice of ondeavourii » g to worm out a confession as to ai \ ncoomplwo . From that moment , they would have no more communication with him , nut even on the scaffold ; and so they died . With Thomas . QatnpbeU he was engaged in many literary undertakings , as well as with Mr . J » A . St . John , editor of the London Weekly ilooletothe principal literary organ of that day- —and tho author of tho Rejected Addresses . From one of Horace Smith ' s letters we make a quotation : — Two more cantos of Don Juan are finished , at which I for one feel little pleasure , for . I hate nil production !} , whatever bo thoir talent , which preedht disheartening and degrading views of human nature . This is , in my opinion , worse than impiety , though it is tho latter imputation which will destroy its popularity in England , ulinout tho only country existing in Europe whoro bigotry retains it « omnipotence . Here is another : — ? ' Upon looking over tho . lottcre of Sholloy that I have preserved , I find that I cannot , however anxious to oblige you , comply with your roqucHt , for thoy ai'O of too confidential and hazardous a nature to bo copporplutod . Several aro rm | iiual 8 for loans to himself or Godwin ; Home inuko private mention of Byrou , Moore , and -Httnt 7 nhat ~ it ~ mlffht-not- » be ~ right ~ to-promulgftto , ~^ heterodox notions aa might horrify many good folks who might happuu to uoo " lOtttl You ahull road those lottora when you next vlalt mo , and I am sure you will youruolf concur in tho prudonco of iny withholding thorn . Mr . Redding glances inside * Vat hole' Bockford'a house : — Jowola , and costly articles of all kinds , lay In open drawers about hia house ; wwi bolng told ho might bo robbed , lie replied ho know nil hia aorvanta too u oil to ' ' that ; and , us to burglars , "lam in no four of them . AH my norvunta aro groat guns in thoir way , and I am a prodigious largo blundorbuas niyuolf . " Onu lot ot diamonds ho had unset . Thoy lay loose in an ancient Causa . Those ho named Jiw * oat diamonds , ' because a relation of his , who kept a number of uata to which , wnvu

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 16, 1858, page 66, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2226/page/18/