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Leader (1850-1860), 15th January 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 77, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      tatious mutual counsel-taking . Considerable personal acquaintance with the irreligious masses enables us ^ vith . some degre e of ^ confidence to _ asscrt that Broad Church is the only division of the Church at which they do not sneer . If so , might not Evangelicals bomnv the weapons which' in the other hands have proved successful ? We do not wjsh clergy men to turn politicians and demagogues ; but they have a strong warrant and injunction to be " all things to all men . " If in secular and social matters , they really fulfilled Mr . llobertson ' s ideal of " standtnc two extremes 01

      ing as a link of union between society , " and gave themselves , heart and soul , to " softening down the asperities and soothing the jealousies which are too often rankling in the ininds" of the masses , many avenues , now coldly closed , would be thrown open for the entrance of Christian doctrine to tens of thousands of now estranged human hearts .

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      LIFE IN VICTORIA . Life in Victoria ( Australia ) . By William Kelly . Two Vols . Chapman and Hall . Mk . Kelly is a gentleman who has travelled much , who has been across the Itocky Mountains to the great Salt Lake Valley , and great Sierra Nevada ; who has been through the diggings of California ; who has lived every variety of Australian life ; and who is now on his way to British Columbia . Such a man must have much to tell , and he pours it out in no niggardly manner . His book might have been a succession of newspaper correspondent ' s letters ; and it wants but one -thing—a little digestion of

      material . The history of Victoria for the last five years ( 1 So 3 to 1 S . , social and political , from Governor Latrobe to Iiothani , and from Hotham to Barkly , is contained in the two volumes ; but so inextricably mixed up with ' . ' narratives of merely personal and accidental adventure , that those may separate it who can . The coarse , brutal life of the mining population of the colony , and their dependants , is given with no . loving hand , and a little tendency is exhibited to take the individual as an unerring type of the mass . Mr . Kelly ' s style is fast ratlier than humorous ; something like that of

      Mr . G . F . Train , the American merchant , who lias written on the same subject ; and he is , to some extent , safe , as long as he keeps to the surface of tilings . Many men can give a very readable account of the physical aspects of a colony , who are incapable of predicting its destiny , or of theorising upon its political economy . Mr . Wiugrove Cooke was amusing , though prejudiced , during his China ' mission , until he dabbled with the currency question , and discoursed upon the How of silver to the East . The extravagance of diggers and diggers' wives

      in 1853 ; the roads four feet deep in liquid mud ; the scarcity of lodgings , their character , and their prices ; the language of the rough settlers , their habits and their crimes ; the meeting with old acquaintances in very novel positions ; and many other things made familiar to the public by the agency of the press , arc ngaiu described at some length . The following picture of a digger ' s wife at the washing-tub will give some idea ot the state of things existing at that time : — The daj's when tho digger had a sick headache , and hia lady for a little relaxation condescended to ' * get up a few of her light things , " slip alwaya dressed for the washing-tub . Tying her long hair at the back of her

      head in a hard knot , and transfixing it with a huge gold pin with a mother-o ' -pearl head , sho would then shuko off her I 0090 morning robe , and , having disengaged the body , get into the skirts of ft anlin dross , only slightly mottled with punch and mustard stains , but nevertheless protected from suds spatters by a thick bandana ¦ c ut in the form of a stomacher apron , concluding her toilet by clasping on a pair of massive bracelet * , throwing a heavy watch chain over her nook , and stuffing a carved timepiece into her virtuous bosom . Thus arrayod , I presume , to show her neighbours that she did not wash for filthy lucre , or contemptible economy , bt | t only

      ¦ as a colonial substitute for crochet-work . Mr . Kelly gives us some interesting particulars concerning the Australian press , from which it appears that the first newspaper started was the Melbourne Advertiser , published at Port Phillip , in mamtaoript , on the first of January , 1 S 38 . Mr . John Pascoe Fu , \ vknoV , wfts the f 6 ur » der and proprietor of this pen-and-ink journal , and nine nuinbors wore circulated before airy type could bo procured . Several other papers followed before tho establishment of the Argus , now tho leading organ , which publishes n supplement equal in area to the London Times , Speaking 1 of tho way in . which thia journal

      secured its ascendancy in a rough , but busy country , where one auctioneering firm earns nearly two hundred thousand pounds' sterling a year for selling cattle , Mr . Kelly says " its advertisements , contrary to the general rule , secured its circulation . " Here our energetic traveller is at , fault , as we know from the secret history of our own leading journal . The elder Mr . Walters , the creator of the gigantic nronertv . did not concern himself much in engaging _ _ _ _

      the highest literary talent for his paper , or in increasing the staff of his correspondents ; but he did a wiser , and a more far-sighted thing , he cultivated the advertising trade from its loftiest heights in commerce , to its lowest depths amongst domestic servants , sure that when the Times became the great advertising medium , its circulation would be fixed upon a firm and endurable basis . This must be the case with newspapers in all communities , and we record the fact for the guidance of literary emigrants to British Columbia .

      The account of the struggles which ended in the overthrow of the license tax on diggers , is important as showing the resistance to imposts 011 the part of a young colonial state , and the utter feebleness of a marionette governor appointed by ' the home Government . The political future of Australia will be like the present of America—a burst into independence at the first pressure of authority . The persecution of ' the'Chinese immigrants , and the imposition of a poll-tax upon them of ten shillings a . month , is the seed of a difficulty which , if notlooked to in time , may develop into another slavery question , more troublesome than the one in America . We are glad to find our author speakiug harmless

      out boldly against this gross injustice to and industrious - . foreigners ; and also showing how favourably the prudence of the Irish emigrant stands but against the improvidence of the boasting and self-satisfied Saxon . We know even , less of our neighbours and dependents across tlic channel than we do of the African or the Japanese . As we have said before , our author depends more upon the matter of his book than he does upon his style , for in addition to giving the coarseness of colonial dialogue without any pruning , he occasionally favours us with magnificent phrases , and talks about " gaunt hunger griping the bowels of the people in its torturing grasp . " We close our notice by quoting an anecdote of theatrical life in Victoria : —

      Lola Monies , after a short preliminary engagement at the Theatre Royal Melbourne , was induced to visit Sandhurst , where a new and splendid theatre had just been finished , and which Lola filled in every corner night after night with enthusiastic audiences , imperturbable in their good humour and determination to be satisfied and indulgent under all cirenmstunces . For when Lola did not feel in a mood to exhibit the " Spider Dance" ( a universal favourite , and always on the bill ) , or some other advertised attraction , she would come out before the drop-scene , like Charles Mathews in the Critic , to tell the audience some story and make an insinuating excuse , which was always received with uproarious

      satisfaction . I remember one evening—1 think it was on the occasion of her benefit—when every one gave wny to the impression that the " Spider" would be given in all its variations , and eager lads and lasses , who crowded from the remotest gullies , were impatient for the termination of the play , in order to see tho charming dnnseuse in this popular ballet . There was a poaitivo hum of delightful' expectation as tho curtain fell . Every countenance was radiant with anxiety ; every eye was ' ? skinned " in watchfulness 5 every car was at full cock to catch any sound denoting tho approach of tho longed-for moment . The ordinary interval was provokingly exceeded . She ? was only taking more puins in her get-up . Another

      trying pause followed , but the suspense was soothed at a critical momont by her rhfging laugh behind tho scenes . Yet several minutes moro elapsed without tho expected tinkle , when a gruff digger nroao in tho pit , ami thus addressed the drop-scono in good-humoured remonstrance : " Come , Lola ; damn it , come on , olo gal , before tho moon goos down . " And on sho did come , in front of tho curtain , with n hand on that part of her person where gripes arc said to dwell , shaking her head , too , in indication of pain ; but hor ftico gave no token of

      sympathy . However , tho farce burst prematurely by tho aforeaaid digger ' s inquiring if " she took the water nont V" au ironical sully that provoked a general roar , in which Lola most heartily joinod ; and whon silence was rout prod , she tendered thia bit of iidvico to her friends . " Never , " said she , " eat nny of your preserved lioiuligo lobatorti ; I tried somo after , tho play , and only tlwit I had tho good luck of having a good ' Spider ' , " within reach I was a gone coon . ( Thunders of applause . ) 1 ounnot , therefore , give you tho ' Spider' dauoo to-night —( spasm )—but go all of you and drink honest spklora

      to my health , and I will do the same to your 3 . The house ( forgetting the disappointment ) rose at her bidding in a shout of joyous applause , which reached an . astounding climax as she returned with the postscriptive recommendation "to be sure and put the brandy in first . " , '_ . * . . .- % •*¦ *• % ¦ % •¦_ At _____ . « . _ .. " i * mi _ . _

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      POEMS OF GOETHE . Poems and Ballads of Goethe . Translated by "W . Edmond ^ - stoune Aytoun , D . G . L ., and Theodore Martin . William Blackwood and Sons . The smaller poems of Goethe , like those of every great poet , bring the master nearer to the scholar ' s level , and for this reason are especiallydear to the real lovers of the bard ; Those who admire " The Paradise Lost" of Milton , but yet think it open to criticism , ' will readily concede the perfect finish of his " Allegro" and his " II Penseroso , " his

      sonnets , " Lycidas , " and his hymn of " The Tsativitv , " and never question their beauty . Thus , with many who could never penetrate the meaning of " Faust , " the songs and ballads of its mighty author are esteemed as so many gems of the rarest quality . They are so many sports of the great poet ' s " mind , and the ordinary student appreciates him hotter when at play than when at work . It is t-io . i they symoathise and understand each other , without strain or trouble . They meet as fellows ,

      not as teacher an . J learner . Some , however , of . these minorpoems of the German master are difficult ¦ enough , for not seldom they paint a mood , of the mind capricious enough in itself , and hard for the reader to hit ; nay , which he cannot hit at all , unless he can place himself in the exact position of the poet at the time of -writing . To the translator , also , they present another difficulty . Many of them aim only at the merit of execution ; and these are so nicely finished , that if they are to

      be rendered into English , they must be perfect in the choice of word and phrase , * in rhythmical movement , iu rhyme , and whatsoever constitutes the churni of exquisite poetry in the most exquisite verse . To accomplish this end , literal translation is not sufficient , is even sometimes most adverse ; and it will happen that , the poem must be rewritten in the new language , in the same spirit , and in . diction of the same sweetness , though not in the same words . There are few translators , it will be readily

      believed , equal to a task like this . This task , however , Professor Aytoun and Mr . Theodore . Martin have undertaken , and perhaps two better men could not have been selected forits due performance . They had already been associated in a joint production , entitled "Bon Gaultier ' s Ballads , " which the world has received with favour , a verdict that promises well for their co-operation in the work before us . They seem to have played readily and skilfully into one another ' s hands ; each , in the first instance selecting the pieces suited to his genius , and then submitting to each other ' s revision . In some difficult cases , they have both wrought assiduously on the same poem and presented the joint result .

      The principal poem in the collection must , we suppose , be esteemed " The Bride of Corinth , " which bears and merits a high reputation in Germany ; and on this the translators have bestowed their united exertions . Their labour has evidently been one of love , and they , with some justice , have commended their original as something complete and absolutely perfect . We doubt , however , whpther the English reader iu general will participate in these raptures . The fact is , that English and Gorman poems differ in one important particular . The former adopt not only a certain diction , which is especially called poetic , but revel in the use or the abuse of metaphor in the expression of idqas , sometimes even in this way elevating cvou conuuon-nlaco into apparent dignity . Our

      old pouts uniformly did thia to cxoitas ; and our moro fervent ; modem writers , though somewhat moro choico in their figuros , arc little leas abundant . This fact , indeed , makes one of tho difficulties in tho way of Shakapcarqan reading and noting iu Germany : tho foreign elocutionist roquiring to distinguish between tho apparont passion implied in tho metaphorical p hases , and tho real passion intended by the wholos , pcoch ; and it rcquiros practioo to got over tho difficulty . Now , tho German poet is spacing of figures—ho depends rather on tho sontnnont than on tho expression , avoids metaphors rather than counts thorn . His diotiou ia studiously plain , spmotiinos moro simplo oven than prose , loss ornate , loss verbally oloquent . Ho doponds upon a Cow apt words , somo subtlo suggestion of thought or feeling , somo abrupt transition , pr somo metrical ,

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      • " Spider , " an American drink , compounded of brandy and lemonade .

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      TJn 460 . JaktjAbt 15 , 1 S 59 J THE i / eAPER . 77 ^— ' ~ ^¦* . / .. ¦ ' * . ' hi ¦ ' ^ ^ ^ i ^ M ^ I—^ B ^^ M^—^——^—i ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ M - " * ¦ — - ^———^ -: ~ ¦ ¦ 1 , ' ¦ ¦ ¦

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1859, page 77, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2277/page/13/