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Leader (1850-1860), 19th November 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1277, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      and it is much to be regretted that he did not live to see the proof-sheets . The literary world , however , will not be disappointed , as his son , Mr . Thornton Hunt , the well-known journalist , has . finished the work begun by his father . Mr . Thornton Hunt has also contributed two new chapters to the new edition of his father ' s autobiography , published this week by Messrs . Smith , Elder , and Co . —Mr . J . C . Kobinson , the author of ' Whitefriars , ' has just comp leted of which is historicalIt

      a new novel , the subject . will not be published before the spring . Mr . J . lay ne Collier , the Shakespearian scholar , has in the press a new and complete edition of the works of Edmund Spenser . The work will be published in the spring , by Messrs . Bell and Dalcly , in their Aldine Poets . Mr . Buckle has nearly ready for publication the second volume of his valuable ' History of Civilisation . ' In this volume the mode of arrangement is much superior to that adopted in the previous

      volume . " Mr . Skeet announces two works by authors who propose for the first time to make their appearance in the literary arena . Miss Crichton who came out , we are reminded , on the London stage a few years back , in opera , has since that time been residing in Italy , where a dangerous illness so impaired her vocal powers as to compel her to relinquish her profession . Her work , " Before the Dawn , " is intended to illustrate the condition of the people of Italy previously to the recent struggle . Mr . Winwood Keade , a nephew of the celebrated Charles llrade has written a novel of college life , entitled «* Liberty Hall , 'Oxoii . "

      Untitled Article

      A VIEW OF TIIK . EVIDKN'GKS OF C'HKI . STIANITX . In Three l ' arts , by ¦ IVillhmi I ' . aley , 3 t . A ., Archdeacon of Carlisle . With Annotations , by Kich ; ad Whately , 1 ) . I > . — . John W . I ' ia-ker and Son . v The Archbishop of Dublin is an acute logician , but unfortunately he is little more . Whether the assumptions Avbich logic necessarily supposes be true or not , he has no faculty for perceiving . XYith him Christianity is a matter of historical belief , not of spiritual faith . Ilumc was a more philosophical religionist than he , when he stated that a perpetual miracle is performed in the

      consciousness of the l'eligious believer , in the act of faith with which the supernatural is received . The archbishop ' s mind is , in fact , dead to all transcendental influences . No wonder , therefore , that always he speaks with ill-disguised aii ^ er , and feigued contempt of German systems . They are still more above and beyond him than they were to Dugald Stewart ; and hid incapacity to appreciate them is even more decided . Stewart was too indolent to investigate then ?; but Dr . Whately wants the faculty by which alone they are to be understood .

      It is quite natural that such a mind should grow up on the soil of Protestantism . Our reformers appealed to the intellect , and reduced the articles of faith to intelligible fonnuhe . Philosophy also became speculative , and subsisted on the fruits of observation and experience , in place of those antecedent verities which luid previously served , not only for the forms , but for the ' m ; uter of thought . Views lower , and still lower , were taken of science , until some recognised phenomena only , to the ignoring » 1 most of ( he laws of the universe ; and some speculators on morals , like Paloy , wore fain to substitute expediency for right . Here , and

      there the voice of a solitary Platoiu .-a was heard , who sought , but oQmpartitivcly in vain , to recall the mind of'ihe age to tlie old truths * ( hat still , to the initiated , looked lustrous through the mint of ages . Meanwhile , the mere inU ' llectualist could not exactly stand still . He caught at least some echoes of that , voice , and was induced to revisd his schemata , and in considerable measure to exercise reflection . Speculative reasoning was still reasoning , though too frequently unmindful of its moral and practical foundations , and was enforced to ideasThe

      recognise certain principles and . way onward was also necessarily the wny upward ; and thus it cnino to pass thu . t a W . lmtoly , succeeding a Paloy and becoming his commentator , saw ft little further than his predecessor , and was to a corresponding extent ; enablud to con \ 'Ct sumo of his errors . Hut he was none the losm boliiml the groat schools of philosophy which had established Ukmusclves on ( In ; Continent , and supplied motive for X'osearch to the thoughtful and learnod whereof ho remained contentedly ignorant , and whereto ho stood in an attitude of obstinate antagonism .

      In the volume before us wo liavo thun Dr . Whately annotating and reforming Pnkyj himseli noeding to bo annotated and reformed to a greater extent , yet complacently esteeming himself a

      master to whose decisions no reasonable man . can take exception . A madman , ho frequently gives us to understand , possibly may ; but the cases must be rare , even in Bedlam , so thoroughly clear and demon strati ve are all his statements . Happy delusion , shared no doubt by other episcopal minds—probably shared to a greater extent ; for long ; ago Dr . Whately surrendered all apostolic claims on the part of the clergy , and is not at all tainted , with the Puseyitc heresy . Let us be thankful for this , and not ungratefully receive his amendments on the worldly religionism of Paley . " Will lie as gratefully receive some amendments on his own ? We find , for instance , in p . 27 , an unphilosophical assertion ; namely , " that there was a time when men did not exist . " i i 3 r I : [ :

      This is a proposition nearly as untenable as that " there was a time when there was nothing ;" which ' Coleridge lias so well exposed in the introductory essay of his " Friend . " Time had its birth with the . human intelligence of which it is the form ; and is therefore coeval with man , but not anterior to him . Kant , to every philosophical mind , has demonstrated this beyond the power of contradiction . To assert otherwise is to be misled

      by appearances of the same class that induce the vulgar observer to assert that the sun _ rises and sets , and that the earth is sedentary . Science , that corrects the vulgar observer in one case , corrects him also in the otlier . In the one case motion is abstracted from one body and assigned to the other , and in the latter time likewise is abstracted from the perceived appearance and given to the perceiving nmid . It is a law of our thinking , and not necessarily that of the object .

      The merely carnal state of Dr . Whately ' s mind is something awful . What does the reader think of his hypothesis as to the tree of life in Paradise ; that it bore medicinal fruit whicli , when habitually eaten , ensured physical immortality ; and when no longer partaken still ensured longevity for many generations , until its original virtue was worn out of the human constitution by gradual decay ? Here we find the archbishop at issue with King Solomon , who tells us that " . Wisdom is the tree of life : " Cut . then it is clear that Sn ' onioji did . not interpret Genesis literally , and Dr . Whately does—adding tin ' s medicinal fancy of his own as a sort of historical or scientific gloss .

      In his great proposition , that each individual civilised man is a standing revelation , we ajjree ; and also in the . impossibility of the savage civilising himself . Civilisation is , doubtless , the original state , and the first man was , in the highest sense , a revelation . Nay , why should we not say with the lale John Wibon that " Man is the one Revelation , " and thus , in the manner of Xewton , uuiversalise the fact , and announce the Lawi' Dr . Whntely has glimpses of the truth ; but , wanting the philosophic faculty , the transcendental sense , lie

      necessarily fulls short of its full acceptance , stops short , we see , with the individual phenomenon , and ascribes reality to the appearance . In this manner also he overrates the importance of the historical evidence of miracles to the authenticity of a religion , as if they wore necessarily demanded and absolutely required . Not so the Scriptural writers , who state them to be needed only b y _" u carnal and adulterous generation . " The spn-ituully-minded recognise internal wonders of far higher value .

      Untitled Article

      TIMljif , «» 'l other IVK'Uis . ; iiIho , TIIK COMPACT , r \ . l ) r < min , &e . Ac . Jly . l ., H . I ' owelli-lMpur , ' Bu-phcufion , mul Spi'iicc . , . '" ¦ . Mb . Fowkm * has already made liiin $ i . 'lf known as a labourer-poet , in U volume enlided " Phases o » Thought and Feeling , " which was eurne . st mid promising . StuMi men reveal to us what arc the poor man ' s wrongs and nulfurinjr ;—what uucli ? r-Ii'Ss thej social condition that is the real causo of Strikes and Discontents ; and in what respect * the balance between Labour and Capital needs

      readjusting . These are stern truths lor poetry to deal with . It . is hard to get them Into metre , ami mako them rhyme ; but this Mr . Powell attempt * , and performs the tusk with skill mid force . The leading iicicm of his volume has a story , taid a most interesting one . It relates how the son of a buoliish craft siann Locarno a schoolboy , and got ahcud of hiH fellows , became a tutor , and then , for the sake of independence , a labourer in a' paper mill , Dismissed fVoin thence , ho wanders in London , seeking work in vain , and is glad to return to the niiistor who had discarded him . And now ho

      contrives to amuse his evening hours with lan . dscape-painting-, and finds solace in the exercise of artistic instinct . Gradually he gains perception of the laws of commerce , learns to hope , and thinks on marriage . But misfortune dogs him . Thrown out of employment at length his steps wander to Manchester , where he meets with all the difficulties that beset the more ' enlightened sons of toil from the brutal companionship of their fellows , The " iron enters into his soul . " But still he endures the scorn and the wrong , and maintains a poet ' s soul in the midst of labour , which is still sc much of a curse that it affords no hope of bettering , of itself , his condition . Rude and crude ant unpolished as are the stanzas in which' the tale ii told , they bear the lesson of a life . Is it a true one ? We fear it is . -N"ay , we have the author ' s witness for it , in his own experience . Does it noi follow that there "is something rotten in the state of Denmark ?" We present a -few stanzas as specimens of the author ' s power : — Come forth , ye city denizens , who sadden Amid perpetual strife ! come forth , and view Kind nature ' glowing ; scenes , which smile to o-ladden , <; ivetirtiu to woo her pleasant charms , in lieu Of vulgar pastimes , which degrade the crew Who feel a pleasure ' mid the tap-room ' s revel . Come forth ! forsuko the wiles of drink , review The Maker ' s works , aspire to wisdom ' s level . And thus escape the vices that enthrone the devil . Alas : that thousands :, bred iu want and sin , Should harden , suffer , sicken to despair , Striving with latins' energies to win ' Know of fortune to suspend froni care Their shatte-r'd forms , which ne ' er can know repair . Alas ! that children , emblems sweet of truth , . Should victims prove to goM ,- condemned to bear The pains of toil from . infancy to youth , Then die diseased ,. uusolaeed , e ' tii by loving- ruth . Lo ! Justice slumbers while expression reigns . ! Eternal Power , may weakness woo thy aid Ere crime in madness wantonly sustains . .. The infant forms that' mid pollution wade , Likv » troddru flowers to prematurely fade . Heavens ! what rankling miseries plague-like crowd Where ill-requited slaves by ilammou made , Get lean in want with achinjr ' hands down-bow'd , While Justice slumbers deep iu "Wrong ' s , accursed shroud . 4 Impervious fate ! shall pining weakness ever Withui the grasp of avarieo groan , and pray That death in hastfi may conii \ to kindly sever The soul iinmortitl from ; r . ? lionise of clay—Dear Cfod ! dost thou thy tender mercies stay ? ¦ While ' commerce swells on- infant toils and woea , As home affections-one by oue decay , And parents and their children meet as foes In Mammon ' s ' petiiig mart , where life swoons out in throes These arc no dainty verses : they bear the impress of the rough hand of toil : but it is a thinking head that directs the hand , and' the appeal gains strength even from its defects . Better , however , are some of Iris lyrics ; though , devoted to real life , they paint tlio street-walker ' s misery and the drunkard's fata . As we proceed , we find the-versification mend . The following , for instance ., shows mi improved ear ; in fact , it is very musical : — WHI . Sl'KUS OF WISDOM . I sut in the ylory of Summer , Shnd >>\ v'd by time , And voices of wisdom , in whispers , Caiiiu on the breeze . They cuine as tli «* h < r : iMs of heaven , Wliisporlug low ; And c-vuii the birds that were Minyiny fu'i'iia-u to know . And my spirit on wU \ n . i of bounty Sal ' lUd away , JJuckoti'd by druiiiiKT i * uud KJigoa ( II olden day . Viulciirtli . willi itH liciivlnf sorrow , Win . lil ' t luhliitl , Ah tin- lii'iiwii of \ vl «< U . m , orh-liko , . "llOlH ' .- lMI IM . V illlllll . ' Other poems , tw : h aa iho .-H on Nnna Sjihil * and tho Indian ltov . » ll , ovidoncc an incronsing power oCcxriri-rtfion . 'I'lto uuiiioimu . s subscribers to this lilllo volume have done well in imablinn- ( . ho lmiublc pout lo uh . Um-IuUo its ptibliciilion . Wu Hlrnll'probuhlv lioiir i »»« ' « 'o <« f ''• ' »• 1 » energy , dirpi-tiiosH , nndilif roalitv .. I'liiri topic-, lie U not ui . li asly to dike b . isi plac- * , itinoii ^ ptu ^ aut pouts , ad a lund ol Eng lish Burns .

      Untitled Article

      tfo . 504 . Kov . IP , 1859 . 1 THE LKADEB , 1277

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      Tlt . UiK' UIJASrAS | . 'I «) . U SCOTTISH 1 M . STOHV . Killiibui'ijli i TIjuiiiiim Coimtiililu and Co . Tiiukk drainnsi arc containmi in this volume—,,,, im . ] y , " litwlriif . " " Wulliico , " and " . Juineri tho First " of Scotland . " Tho two former , it , would nppiMU ' , Imvo bueu previously puliliwhud . We know nut what rocontion thoy may have met with , but ( hey certainly deserve , if ( hey Imvo not yet comiiiiuuUmI , succcHsi . Tho uutlior is capable of portraying dmmutio ohurnoter , and dealing with

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 19, 1859, page 1277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2321/page/17/