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    accomplishment of plans for which they laboured , should have anticipated results too magnificent . We may look with a kind and loving pity upon ihe -wilderrors aridunselfish aspirations of these earnest men , but there is nothing in them , or in their projects , which ought to . raise our . contempt and aversion . Fourier , dying at the age of sixty-six , a worn-put , disappointed , old man ; Louis Blanc , apoor exile ; Comte , in his did age dependent upon the kindness—shall we say charity—of his friends and disciples , ~ these are noble examples of suffering voluntarily undergone for the sake of others . These men are as true heroes and martyrs as the annals of the world ' s history can furnish .

    The reader can hardly fail to be pleased with Mr ... Sargant ' s concluding chapter . It is full of sound Common sense and reflections that clearly spring ¦ from careful and thoughtful study . The whole trork , indeed , is stamped with the mint-mark of good sense , industry , and ability . The author's fault—and many , perhaps , will not esteem it a fault— -isi that of being too well content with our present social system and too ready to look on it as complete and final . We can judge only from the experience of the past , and it would be too much to suppose that in the indefinite future there will , be no possible schemes or combinations which may unite the advantages of our present arrangements with all

    the fancied blessings that speculators havepromised USi Their phins may riot yet be pronounced entire failures . A part of the work they have accomplished , as Our author -tells us . Some trades and manufactures are successfully carried on upon principles analogous to those they recommended . The chief cause of their failure has ever been the imperfect moral condition of those to whom they addressed themselves , and whose good conduct and moderation were essential to success . We are in little danger , on this side of the Channel , of looking too favourably upon the products of French speculators , or of being dangerously ready to carry out schemes of social change . But if Varro , when he had lost Cannae , received the thanks of the Senate because he had

    not despaired of the republic , we may urge that to have trusted too fondly in human virtue should be regarded in our day as a pardonable error in even " Social Innovators . " '

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    THE THREE CLERKS . The Three Clerks . A Novel . By Anthony Trollope . R . Bentley . The Three Clerks is a " healthy " novel . There are none but real men and women portrayed ; there are ho " monsters at perfection" of either sex introduced ; there is no German high-wrought sentimentality , no display of double-refined sensibility - —all is natural , actual , and the record of every-day life , Tlie Three Clerk * is not so original in conception as Barchester Towers , but it will please more , find be relished by a wider circle- The novel is wholly of a domestic character ; all the incidents are from English home life , all the actors specimens

    drawn from purely English society . The charm of the work is its simplicity and its truthful delineation of scenes and persons * the counterparts of which may be found in thousands of English homes . The three clerks are three young men filling situations in public offices . Henry Norman , a young man of good family and some fortune , is in the office of Weights and Measures . He is described as of high principle , honourable character , but with a spice of that kind of doubtful virtue which has been described as " firjnness in a good cause , obstinacy in a bad one . " Alaric Tudor is in the same office . He is represented as naturally well-principled , but of more worldly tact than Norman , and therefore more

    open to worldly influences . The third is Charley Tudor , cousin to Alaric , clerk in the Inland Navigation , or , as it is familiarly termed , the " Navvy ' s " office—good-natured , clever , but "fast , " given to low pursuits and low company , but with something redeeming nt bottom which only requires a proper opportunity and a suitable arena to manifest itself . These three clerks are introduced to a family , the Woodwards , who occupy a cottage at Hampton . Mrs . Woodward is a widow lady with about 400 ? . a year and three daughters . Her character ia nicely brought put , « pd a more lovable creature it is hardly possible to conceive—the very model of an English matron , a true copy of thousands and' tens of

    thousands that are to be found peculiarly in the quiet homes of England . Her three daughters—Gertrude , very haridoomo and spirited ; Linda , handsome in a less degree , but more feminine ; and Katie , still a child , but with promise of greater beauty and higher qualities than her slaters . Norman falls In love with Gortx ' ude , and Tudor entertains a penchant for Linda , which he contrives to let Linda understand without compromising himself . The two young men , who have hitherto been fast friends , arc destined to find themselves unexpectedly placed In a position of rivalry . The " Administrative Reformers" have beenj at' work , and the principle of Competitive Examination is

    established . A vacancy occurs in the V Weights and Measures , " and instead of the post being filled up , as heretofore , according to seniority , the Board of Examiners which has been established decide upon putting the clerks through an examination and conferring the post on the most . worthy ; Norman and Alaric are among the competitors . A good deal of clever satire is couched under the description of the Commissioners of the Civil Service Board of Examination , and many readers will recognise in Sir Gregory Hardlines and the Rev . Mr . Jobbles types of a class that the recent adoption of the " competitive' * principle has called pretty actively into existence . The result of the competition is that Norman ,

    though possessing the highest qualifications of the two , decides upon retiring from the contest , and Tudor , accordingly , is the successful candidate . This is not the only matter in which Tudor gains an advantage over his worthier rival . Gertrude Woodward rejects Norman and accepts Tudor , who , therefore , transfers his fickle love , from the confiding Linda to her more attractive sister . This event creates a lasting breach between the two clerks . Tudor , however , who is ambitious , and whose motto is " Excelsior , " pushes on his fortune and makes his way upwards until he finds himself installed into the post of commissioner by the side of his patron , Sir Gregory Hardlines . About this time he makes the

    acquaintance , of the Hon . Undecimus Scott , a younger son of a Scotch peer , needy , unprincipled , and resolved , codie que coute , to live . With this dangerous companion Tudor is drawn into a close intimacy , and into a kind of partnership in mining speculations . Tudor has married Gertrude , and , by the help of Scott , is made trustee to a female relative who has 20 , 000 / . left to her . In the course of their Stock Exchange speculations , Scott induces Tudor to lend him 5000 / . of the . trust-money aud to make use of another 5000 ? . himself ; The mining speculations go awryj Tudor is called upon suddenly to account for the trust-money , is unable to do so , is arrested , and committed . for trial . His former

    friend , ScOtt , who has by this time unmasked himself , and shown unmistakably that he was a cold , callous-hearted scoundrel , gives evidence on the trial , and is himself cross-examined with scathing effect by Tudor ' s counsel * Mr . Ghaffenbra 3 S . Tudor is found guilty on one count and acquitted on the others . His sentence is six months ' , imprisonment , after serving which , he emigrates with his noble wife , whose high qualities have never been more conspicuous than in the day of misfortune . Norman , after some years , manages to get over his fir $ t disappointment ; he attaches himself to Linda , and eventually marries her- Charley Tudor , after a graceless career , and a narrow escape from a marriage with Norah Geraghty > the barmaid of the " Cat and Whistle , " wins the affections of Katie Woodward , by this time a lovely woman , whose life he

    had previously saved ; and after a variety of difficulties , all of which are happily surmounted , he succeeds in reforming , in giving up low habits and associates , and in making himself the worthy and happy husband of Katie . Such are the principal materials out of which this pleasant fiction has been constructed . The only circumstances that strike us as remarkable are , first , that the young ladies appear somewhat too readily susceptible ; this , however , may be considered as the result of their retired life and the restricted character of their male acquaintance ; and next that there is a rather too easy credulity on the part of Tudor , who is represented as a man of the world more than ordinarily acute and wide awake , and yet who falls readily and completely into the schemes and snares of such a transparent scoundrel as the Hon . XJndy Scott .

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    ' MAGAZINES . Fbasbvb , — -This number is a very good one , moro readable than usual , because the tone of its articles is more lively , and makes a nearer approach to that standard which created the popularity of these serials . The first article , entitled " Hpdson of Hodson ' s Horse , " is a review of the life of the celebrated William Stephen Ralkes Hodson , whose name and fame are identified with Indian history . The writer of t ) ua reviow , who appends the name of Thomas Hughes to the article , has evidently eet himself down to the task con amore . He 1 ms produced an article full of interest , full of feeling and factr-an

    article that will do much towards helping the British public to a more ample and accurate appreciation of one of her most heroic eons—one of the bravest of the brave band of English heroes whose bodies lie stark in India . Mr . Hughes appreciates at thoir proper value the contributions of " our own special correspondents . " Wo coincide in his views ; we are not admirers of the stilted wora-pfclntlng—the onesided views of events—the obvious clannish biastho , flippant criticisms which have marked the contributions of " our correspondents , " whether writing from the Crimea or India . Mr . llughoa ' a notice is written in a hearty and loving spirit ! , and is worth

    careful perusal . " How I Mused in a Railway Train" occupies thirteen pages ; the " musings ; * however , degenerate here and there into maunderings , and had the length been curtailed one-half they might have been read without a yawn . " Sketches at the Antipodes" are smart ; here and there toe smart for perfect reliance . They , do not contain any matter Very new , but as pen-and-ink " sketches' * of what gold-seekers may expect to meet with in their personal experience , they perhaps will hot be

    without their value . " Holmby House" is continued j so is " Schloss Eishftusen : a . Mystery , " the latter by no means disappointing the promise of its beginning ,, and bringing the " mystery" to that point wher e its solution is eagerly looked for . The second part of " Homer and the Homeric Age , " by the Rev . Barham Zincke , finishes the elaborate critique on Gladstone's Homer . " Buckland ' s Eridgewater Treatise , " very good , and "On Playgoing" and /? A Fear for the Future , " very middling , with a bit of Tennysonian poetry , make up this pleasant number . Service

    CotBOBN ' s United Magazine ani > Naval : and Mimtaiit Journal . —This number opens with a very important article on " The Navies , of England and France . " The aim of this paper is to contrast the . English naval power with that of France ; and from , it we learn , that although France has made gigantic progress in consequence of the application of steam to war purposes , we are quite equal , and in some respects the superior j though inferior to her in lihes-of-battle . This inferiority is owing to our having to reconstruct our navy while France had to create hers , she hiving in 1852 only two lihes-of-battle ; now she possesses thirty-two ^ we absolutely possessing only thirty ;; but we are fast coming up with her hand over hand , as we have more lines-of-battle on the stocks than

    she has . In heavy class frigates , corvettes , and gun-boats ; we have a great : numerical preponderance ,, as well as in force and skill . We refer our readers to the article for the details , which are really important . The . remainder of the articles are interesting not only to the professional but to the general reader . Titan . —Eating and eatables are just now the fashion ; and from what Vre see and hear the deluge has only begun . The most taking article in the February number of Titan is " Scraps from an Epicure ' s Note-Book on Oysters , Lobsters , and Crabs ;" and the grave serial moreover indulges its readers with a good review of Mr . Simmonds ' s pleasing author of

    work on the curiosities of food . The " Behind the Scenes at Paris / ' whose Sharidiart style is at times rather fatiguing , commences charmingly a new novel palled " Getting On . " Thiswriter is a man of evident and great power . The " Mechanic ' s Story , " a la mode Charles Reade , is a welUtold , touching little fragment ; Professor Kopke ' s recollections of Ludwig Tieck , published at Leipzig , furnish materials for a pleasant biographical sketch of the poet ' s life , and a short essay on his style in the guise of a review . Ellis ' s Madagascar is also noticed ; and a learned article enters at some length into the merits of Indian epic poetry . ' _ .

    . _ . . . Br . ACK \ voob ' sMAOAzrisrB . —The present number is above Maga ' s usual high average . The opening paper is on" Carlyle— -Mirage Philosophy—and the History of Frederick . " The writer , who admires his author ^ deprecates the reading or judging of the Frederick by those who have not sounded the depths of Carlyle ' s other Works , but tempers his admiration with most just censure of that author ' s arrogance and determined obtrusion of his own personality into his 11 History . " The article on " Objectionable Books " is a lecture to the zealots who , on pretence of expurgating parochial and school libraries , seek there to replace simple educational and religious works by others of a more doctrinal and polemical character

    A learned essay on " Popular Literature and the Periodical Press" follow » . The reyiewer looks upon the prp 3 S , not as a fourth estate—^ for this he . calls an exploded idea—but as a . second representation of the third . Parliamentary representation is , he argues , district representation , while that of the press is , for the most part , class repreeentatlon . Every class j * represented in the prese . Almost every ppriodicfti is the organ of a clasB , an interest , or an opinion . Take away anonymity » nd you reverse this character , and identify tho organ with the personal in-America Again

    fluence of the signing editor , as in . ,-he defends anonymity m a preventive of unmio publicity of oven private concerns , which tho thirst and necessity for news is apt to lead to . Tho publicity of the newspapor organisation in America loaus nptto circumspection but to astounding personality * Personality is the compliment of egotism . Antagonist egotlstns , playing In' newspappr columns , wowu degrade them , waste tljclr space , and , in time , annoy the most curious public . But put tho invisible c « l > upon the writer ' s head , take Individuality from him . and he ceases to bo ogptistlcal , for his egotism win not profit him . He is no Individual unit but a ropreBentatlvo man . Tlio next paper , a review Ol

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    174 THE IiEA 3 > EIl . [ No . 463 , Febtoary % 1859 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 5, 1859, page 174, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2280/page/14/