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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd October 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1181

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    • LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, Etc -
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      be worth at least the one dollar cost price . 5 th . The first chief prize : a cottage , with garden land attached , situated in a pleasant country near Eisenach , promised by His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach . 6 th . Numerous other chief prizes , the greater part given Dy sovereign princes and patrons of the undertaking will consist of works of art , articles of luxury , &c ., &c . In mentioning this plan , however , I must , in justicenot omit to note that it meets with strenuoa

      , opposition from some journals , who consider the lotteries as the bane and disgrace of Germany , and complain bitterly that to bring their noble Schiller s name in connexion with a gambling transaction , is to degrade both Schiller and themselves . The enthusiasm for this poet is so vivid that it amounts to religious veneration ; and it must be said that m their preparations for the festival in his honour they earnestly desire to keep clear of dross and commercial speculation . forward to the termination

      We have been looking of the Toll Conference , and the publication of the tariff , but although the latter is completed and in print , it has not yet been made public . The Conference is still sitting . ; There is a prosecution going on against a German paper published in London , but it excites no interest here .. The paper was confiscated : why , is a puzzle to me . The police in this case has again shown great imprudence , for before the prosecution the paper in question was . entirely unknown , now it is sought lor by every one , and will doubtless find more subscribers here , in spite of the high postage upon papers from England . , ¦ '

      Literature, Science, Art, Etc -

      LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ART , Etc -

      Untitled Article

      IT is reported that the classic pile at Newstea . d , the residence of the late Colonel Wildman , together with the estate , exceeding 3 , 000 acres in extent , will shortly be brought to therhammer in one lot . The late lamented owner of Newstead purchased the estate in 1818 for £ 94 , 000 ; and since that period very large sums of money have been expended in improving it . It is to be hoped that the future possessor may have as much regard for the memories and associations of Newstead with Byron as were constantly evinced by the gallant colonel .

      The London correspondent of the Manchester Examiner speaks of a forthcoming history of the Crimean war from the pen of the author of "Eothen . " He says : —" Mr . Kinglake spent some time on the scene of operations ; his powers as a . ¦ writer are too well known to need praise ; and what is perhaps quite as important , he is to have the use of the papers of the late Lord Raglan . I believe that he enjoyed his lordship ' s acquaintance ; and I find it very generally anticipated—certainly in military circles—that the result of the work will go far to the vindication of his lordship ' s character as a soldier . With the exception of an article of Mr . Hay wood in the North British Review , nothing like an authoritative answer has yet been given to the attacks of the Times * correspondent , and the libels which M . Bazancourt compiled for his depreciation and the glory of the French army . "

      A few days ago , Professor Leopold Ranke , the well-known historian , published the first volume of a new work on the history of England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . A Berlin correspondent says : — " The book is written with the usual diplomatic finesse of the author , and will bo of great interest to those who prefer the delineation of character and the pourtrayal of motives to the exhibition of the general features and aspect of the time . Ranke has always been the historiographer —not of peoples , but of states ; and in his new book he has not deviated from the path in which he lias gained so many well-deserved laurels . But the

      principal merit of the work is the exactness of investigation in a field which , as yet , is but so imperfectly known , and . where most of the documents lire like the sleeping princess , still in expectation of tho fairy prince who conies to break tho charmed spoil , As was to bo expected of an author of his tendencies , ho speaks with thogroatoat respect of Macaulny , therein differing from some of the acknowledged writers of history in Germany . Indeed , ho himself Is not less opposed to tho prevailing direction which those writers tako than is his English confrere . The Opinlone of Turin says s- ~ "M . Passerini has written to Baron Ricasoll , Minister of tho Interior , to announce that ho has discovered in the government archives at Florence a ' volume of letters of Macniavelll in tho handwriting of Senator BertbUni ,

      and collected by him for publication . This copy , which was amongst documents lately presented to the archives by the Marquis Bertolini Carregas , will compensate the loss of a great number of autograph documents of Machiavelli which have been carried abroad during the last 60 years . " Mr . Thomas Alton , long connected with the London press , and during the last ten years with the Toronto Globe and the Detroit Free Press , was found dead in his bed , at Detroit , on the 27 th ult ., at the early age of 45 . He left some large sums of money in two banks , of which the local judge at the inquest took possession . _ _ _ . ¦ -.... .,.. ¦ . __; '¦¦ . of the fete of Schiller

      " The committee , " says a communication from Berlin , " has just published the programme of what is to take place here . On November 9 , the eve of the fete , there will be a grand procession with illumination , and coronation of the colossal statue of Schiller in one of the public squares ; on the 10 th a holiday in all the schools and colleges ; distribution of popular writings on the life and works of the poet ; distribution of albums , lithographs and other prints , medals , statuettes , &c . ; extraordinary representations at all the theatres and other places of public amusement ; at night , a general illumination . On the 1 . 1 th , concerts and banquets in different districts of the city . "

      Messrs . Saunders , Otley , and Co ., announce for publication in the present month : " Nelly Carew , a novel by Miss Power ; " The Memoirs of a Ladyin-Waiting , " a novel , by the author of " Adventures of Mrs . Colonel Somerset in Caffraria ; " " Irene , " a novel , in three vols . ; " Helen Lester , " a novel , by the author of ¦¦ " Garestone Hall ; " a translation of Balzac ' s " Caesar Birotteau ; ' * " Pre-Adamite Man ; "On the Steep Alp , " a Collection of Swiss Legends ; " Echoes from the Harp of France , " by Mrs . Carey . Mr . Skeet ' s announcements are : — "Literary

      Reminiscences and Memoirs of Thomas Campbell , " by Cyrus Redding , Esq . ; " Travels in Morocco , " by the late James Richardson , edited by his Widow ; " My Study Chair , or Memoirs of Men and Books , " by by the late D . O , Maddyn , Esq . ; "Four Years in Burmah , " by W . H . Marshall , Esq ., late editor of the Rangoon Chronicle ; " Too Much Alone , " by F . G . Trafibrd ; " Stockwell House , or Keeping up Appearances , " by Cyrus Redding , Esq . ; " Before the Dawn , " by Kate Crichton ; . " Rich and Poor / ' by the author of " Gladvs of Harlech . " follow

      Messrs . Hurst and lilackett . announce tho - ing works in their list of new publications in preparation : " Poems , " by the author of" John Halifax , Gentleman , " with engravings by Birket Foster ; " The Upper and Lower Amobr , a Narrative of Travel and Adventure , " by Mr . Atkinson , author of " Oriental and Western Siberia , " in 2 volumes , with numerous illustrations ; " The Life and Times of George Villiers , Duke of Buckingham , " by Mrs . Thomson ; " Pictures of Sporting Life and Character , " by Lord William Lennox ; " Mr . and Mrs . Asheton , " a novel , by the author of " Margaret and her Bridesmaids ; " and new works of fiction by the Hon . Mrs . Norton , Miss Kavanagh , Mrs . Howitt , Mrs . S . C . Hall , the author of" Margaret Maitland , " &c . The next volume of Hurst and Blackett ' s " Standard Library " will comprise Sam Slick's " Wise Saws and Modern Instances . "

      The Philosophic Institution of Edinburgh will commence its new session on the 4 th of November , when Professor Aytoun will deliver an inaugural address on " The Popular Traditions and Poetry of the North of Europe . "

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      UNDER BOW BELLS . A City Book for all Readore . By John Hollingshead . Post 8 vo . —Groombrldgo & Sous . Facility of expression has surely reached a state of perfection , and the innumerable leading articles in newspapers , and essays and tales in other periodicals , show us that this talent has been largely disseminated . But together with such facility must bo joined considerable power of observation , and a feeling for the good and the true , nqfc unmixed with a sense of the ludicrous and the absui'd .

      This style has much to recommend it , and is greatly to bo admired if it be not strained , and if it do not vorgo into affectation or lapse into a mere cant of phraseology . It is , as all talents aro , the offspring of the age in which we live . Our senses are stimulated to the uttermost , and observation is roused to tho keenest state . Everything that surrounds a man of any mental activity tends to sharpen his faculties to the uttermost ; and this very keenness of observation induces a sharp outlook to be kept on cant and humbug , so that there must be no less good sense than vividness of description and penetration of observation in the writings of a popular essayist . To one eminent writer may be attributed this tone and tendency of modern literature *; and it is no discredit to him to say that sotyo of those called forth by his genius surpass &m in strength offense

      and aptitude of illustration . Amongst those is the writer of the present volume , Mr . John Hollingshead—a name that would long since have been familiar through the length and breadth of the land had the odious system of anonymous writing not hitherto merged ' his reputation in that of the journal to -which he has so ably contributed . There is indeed but one sentence in the present work we could ri ° idly condemn ; and that is the one containin ^ thanlcs to Mr . Dickens for permission to publish these essays in a collected form . We are perfectly aware that the proprietor of a periodical has the legal rig ht of preventing his contributor emolument

      from reaping reputation and further by the collected publication of his essays ; but when a sufficient time has elapsed , so as not to interfere in the periodical sale , it is but a dog-in-themanger sort of spirit that would prevent the author from obtaining his fair acquirement of reputation and a full return for the articles . The foregoing such an arbitrary exercise of power by a man of genius at the very head of his particular class oi literature surely hardly requires such explicit thanks . We allude to this subject warmly because it is of vital importance to the interests of literature , and so of the public and the nation , that authors should not sink into the condition of mere

      journeymen , and that the capitalists and leaders of authorship should not do as other capitalists and manufacturers do * take all the honour and reputation as well as the greater portion of the profit to themselves , Whilst the inventors and the talented who produce the works are generalised in an undistinguished mass of journeymen and foremen . The tendency of modern literature flows in this direction , and a grasping arrogance on the one hand and a mean-spirited indifference , except towards the wages point of the view , oil the other , are fast hastening it to a state very undesirable in every way and for all concerned , whether writer , readeror public . . ¦

      , _ „ _ We are doubly g lad to meet Mr . Hollingshead , in his own proper person , and in his horiest manner ; and we are quite sure the public , having made his personal acquaintance , will not willingl y relinquish it . His po . vors are of no common order , for if , according to the very hackneyed " difficile estproprie" &c . — " itis hard to say common things properly" - —he triumphs in this way . His style , without having an iota of slip-slop , js easy and flowing ; his humour is genial , and ^ runs into satire that has no trace of morbidness ^ in it . He touches also the chords of our feelings lightly and effectively . ; and his powers of description are admirably truthful and graphic . The book is such

      easy reading that it is hardly necessary to point out particular passages . We are quite sure every page of it will be read . " The City of Unlimited Paper" has already received a large circulation , having been recopied into almost all our newspapers , from the limes downwards ; and " My Lost Home" is an admirably pathetic tale . But it would be endless to go through the twenty-five papers , and therefore we will conclude by recommending the reader to immediately get the little volume ; and we are quite sure he will appreciate not only the excellent writing but the immense amount of accurate information contained in ; » t . Mr . Hollingshead has the power of tho writers of fiction , but he has a mind that leads him to apply it to the promotion of sound truths and the reporting of rigid facts ,

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      Thjb Edinbu rgh Review ( No . 224 ) . —Amongst the departments-of knowledge , which can still be more successfully treated by the quarterly than by daily and weekly periodicals , wo mny place all that relates to Psychology or mental science . I he time will come when it will be so simplified * " that , like every other merely descriptive science , it may p © successfully treated by the most popular journals . As yet it is so encumbered by tho uncouth phraseology of the schoolmen ; and the phenomena of conwhich embrace all otlier hen

      sciousness . pomena , are so seldom considered exclusively « nd separately , that writings on tho subject are calculated rather to confuse than onlighten , and , therefore , are neglected by those who write for the multitude . For reflecting students wl , th anuch leisure , ana , more affectionJo * learned crudities than practical knowledge , who ' constituted the bulk : pf readers a century ago , . sucli works still liavojV 9 hftrra » and tliKphw , pf JPWflWW will read with pleasure the flrpt arftclo Ai \ i hO 'Wfe burgh Review on << # aln ' a Psychology . " . TJbyJmJl bo induced by it to read the work criticised , if tHey

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      UTERARY NOTES OF THE WEEK

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      SERIALS .

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      No . 500 . n ^^ . i fl 59 . T THE LEADER . "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1859, page 1181, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2317/page/17/