Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 26th November 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1293, Untitled Article

Page 1293
Page 9
9 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • LITERATURE.
  • Text (8)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Literature.

      LITERATURE .

      Untitled Article

      »•¦ MR . W . M . THACKERAY will deliver a lecture to members of the Bury Athenaeum , Suffolk , on " Humour and Charity , " early in the ensuing "VGctl * Several public bodies and societies connected with the Highlands have memoralised the Scotch Universities commissioners to take the necessary steps for instituting and endowing- Celtic professorships In some of all of the Scotch Universities . Literature in Paris is quite as much influenced by " fashion ! ' are ladies' dresses . Since the success of " JTanny " a variety of romances have been published , which go under the general title of " Une etude de femtne . " M . E . Gourdon has just presented a volume of this class , called " Louise . " The grave historian of the "History of the Congress of Paris " has written a book , which is attracting much

      attention . The new organisation of the Theatre Francais is said to be decided on . The author ' s portion of _ the gross receipts is to be fifteen per cent . If one piece occupy the whole evening , as is frequently the ease * the dramatist has that per certtage to himself ; when more than one is played , the authors divide the amount among them . "Writers of two plays of e ^ ual length will get seven and a-half per cent , each , and so on ^ according to th e number of acts in each production . The lowest portion is three per cent . Thus , when , three pieces are played—one of four or five , another of three , and a third ' of one act—the author of the first will take seven per cent ., of the second five , and of the third three per cent . is not

      The Lincoln Times says : ^ It improbable that Newstead Abbey , the seat of the late Colonel Wildman , and formerly the residence of Lord Byron , with its magnificent domain , will shortly pass into the hands of" Mr . Charles Seelyyof Heighington Hall , who , we are informsd , is in treaty for this interesting property . " The price ' paid for the property by the late owner is said to have been . £ 100 , 000 . The Critic announces that Mr . Josiah Parkes , the father of Miss Parkes , whose strenuous . advocacy of the rights and wants of her sex has , attracted general attention , is about to publish a volume on the authorship of Junius . Mr . Parkes is the first of the to

      Junius commentators who has managed get something out of the Francis family , and that the new facts and documents which his book will contain -will add much additional strength to the case in favour of Sir Philip . The samejoumal says that the Messrs . Longman are preparing for immediate publication , in shilling parts , the well-known Family Shakespeare , edited , by Thomas Bowdler ; the first part will appear next week . The work will be illustrated with thirty-six vignettes , engraved on wood , from original designs by G . Cooke , R . A ., 11 . Cooke , H . Howard , R . A ., H . Singleton , R . Smirke , It . A ., T . Stothard , R . A ., H . Thomson , R . A ., R . Westall , R . A ., R . Wordforde , R . A .

      Untitled Article

      THE EPIDEMICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES . From the Gorman of J . F . C . Hcckor , M . D . Translated by B . G . Cublntrton , 3 I . D . —TrUbnor and . Co . Tins is the third edition of a most valuable and curious work , to which is now added the author ' s treatise on Child-Pilgrimages . The translation was ori g inally published by the Sydenham Society , but it lms boon properly thought expedient to render it more generally accessible l ' rofcssoi ? Hooker is the most learned , medical historian of Germany ; and he has here accumulated the fearful particulars of three deadly plagues—the Black Death , the Dancing Mania , and the Sweating Sickness . Ilia example proved beneficently contagious ; for Dr .. Simpson of Edinburgh , in imitation of the German physioian , has lately collected

      materials for a similar historyof the JLeprosy , as it existed jn Great ; Britain during the Middle Ages . The account of the ChUd-lHT ^ rimages ^ is at the present time , when religious revivals are in fashion , particularly eoasonable . In the words of our author wo mny truly state that " Demonomanias , convulsions , . somnambulism , catalepsy , motional disorders or every kind , ore manifested at the present day in all places whore fanatical sects pursue theiv practices , with quite ns much importance as at any other time , only in more limited circles . " Of the Child-Pilgrimages in the Middle Ages little is known . Historians have dismissed the subject in n line or two . Of this class was the Boy-Crusade of the year 1212 . The Holy Land hud then been again reduced under the sway of the

      Saracens . The idea of its re-conquest took hold of men ' s minds . Children sympathised with the general feeling . " The first impulse was given by a shepherd boy , Etienne , of the village of Cloies in Vendome , of whom wonderful narratives spread through France with inconceivable rapidity . He held himself for an ambassador of the Lord , who had appeared to him in the guise of an unknown foreigner , received some bread from him , and given him a letter to the king . His sheep were said to have knelt before him to worship him , a miracle which perhaps was hardly required to invest him with the nimbus of sanctity . The shepherd boys of the neighbourhood gathered

      about him , and soon there streamed together more than thirty thousand souls to partake . of his revelations , and to be thrown into ecstasies by his discourses . In St . Denys he performed miracles , he was the saint of the day , the messenger of God , before whom the people bent the knee ; and when the king , concerned at this intoxication of a multitude that could not be disregarded , but not without having asked the opinion of the University of Paris , forbade the assemblies , no one regarding the temporal power . Every ( Lay there arose new eight or ten year old prophets , who preached , worked miracles , animated whole armies of children , and led them full of transport to the Holy Stephen . When any asked these children in pilgrims' coats whither they were

      going , they answered as from one mouth , * To God . Their orderly processions were headed by oriflams , many carried wax candles , crosses , and censers , and they sang incessantly hymns of fervid devotion and to new melodies : the words , ' Lord , raise up Christendom , ' and ' Give us back the true Cross / were often repeated in them . It is to be regretted that the witnesses of a movement vilich snatched the whole child-world as if into a whirlpool , have not committed to writing either the songs or the melodies to which they were sung ; for it cannot be doubted that with them some of the fairest flowers of popular poetry have been lost , however overwrought and morbid may have been the excitement which gave occasion to them .- *

      " The consternation of the parents at this event was b ' oundless . No persuasion , nor even the despair and tears of the mothers , could keep back the boys . Were they hindered , they wept day and night , pined with sorrow , and fell ill with trembling of the limbs , so that at last of necessity they were let go . Others made" light of locks and bolts , found means to elude the most vigilant attendants , to join the representatives of the shepherd boy , Stephen , and at last even to behold this holy crusade-preacher . And there was no distinction of rank : the children of counts and barons ran away , as well as the sons of citizens and the poorest peasant boys , only the rich parents , ent

      when they could not keep their children back , s guides to accompany them , who quietly may have rescued many . Many parents summoned their children to take the cross , others yielded to what they were unable to prevent , not venturing to oppose the eulogists of the little crusade-preachers . Only a few intelligent men , among whom were even some of the clergy , shook their heads , but it was in vain that they sought to restrain the multitude from their giddy infatuation , which must soon enough carry them to an abyss . No one of them ventured to utter his mind aloud , fearful of being charged with heresy , warned also by the disregard given to even the king ' s command .

      " The movement did not last lohgbeforo there was assembled at Vendome an innumerable army of boys , armed and unarmed , many on horseback , the most on foot , and among them not a few girls in male clothing . Their number is estimated at more than thirty thousand . " The reader njust pursue the story for himself in the book before us , which ho will find as interesting as a psychological romance .

      Untitled Article

      THE KECREATIONS OF A . COUNTltY PARSON .-John \ V . Puvkor imd Sou . The life of a Protestant clergyman has a human interest . He is not cut off , like the Roman priest , from domestic relations . Well , says the Country Parson , who now addresses us , that the Churoh of Rome , with all all its boasted infallibility , was far mistaken when * it thought to make a man a better parish priest by cutting him on" from such ties , and quite emancipating him iVom all ,, tjhe little worries of domestic life . Ho tell us that his sermons wore all the butter for them . « That might be the way , " ho ventures to add , " to get man who would preach an unpractical religion , not human in interest , not able to comfort , direct , sustain through

      jdaily cares , temptations * and sorrows . But foi preaching which will come home to men ' s business and bosoms—which will not appear to ignore those things which must of necessity occupy the greatest part of an ordinary mortal ' s thoughts ^—commend me to the preacher who has learned by experience what are human ties , and what is human worry . " So much for the spirit of the book before us , which shines benignantly through the words we have just quoted . ¦ „

      The author has a talent for description , and paints pastbral life admirably . As to serinonwriting , much of late has been written ; and our rustic preacher gives his account of it pleasantly enough . . He nmcb , and rightly , insists on the preacher ' s duty to suit his sermon to his congregation . If , says he , it put the congregation to sleep , it is an abominably bad sermon . The essays in this interesting volume are various in subject , and desultory in treatment . They consist of a mixture of reflection and description . One blends into the other gracefully enough . Generally , too , the essayist contrives to illustrate his own theory of " the art of putting things ;" and so states his propositions as to excite a preliminary interest . . Take the following : —

      " ¦ One of the latest instances of skill in puttingthings which I remember to liave struck me I came upon—where abundance of such skill may be found—in a leading article in the Times . The writer of , that article was endeavouring to show that the \ rork of the country clergy is extremely light . Of course he is sadly mistaken ; but this by the Way . As to sermons , said the lively writer ( I don ' t pretend to give his exact words ) , what work is there in a sermon ? Just fancy that you are writinsr halfa-dozen letters of four pages each , and crossed ! The tiling was cleverly put ; an > l it really cama on me with the force of a fact , a new and ¦ surprising

      fact . -. Many sermons has this thin right hand written "; but my impression of a sermon , drawn from some years ' - experience , is of a composition very different from a letter—something demanding that brain and heart should be worked to the top of tlieir bent for more hours than need be mentioned here ; something implying as hard and as exhausting labour as man can well go through . Surely , I thought , I have been working under a sad delusion ! Only half-a-dozen light letters of gossip to a friend : that is the amount of work implied in a sermon ! Have I been all these year 3 making a bugbear of such a simple and easy matter as that ? Here is a

      new and cheerful way of putting the thing I But unhappily , though the cleve r representation would no doubt convey to some thousands of readers the impression that to write a sermon was a very simple aftair after all , it broke down , it crumpled up , it went to pieces when brought to the test of fact . When next morning I had written my text , I thought to myself , now here I have just to do the came amount of work which it would cost me to yrite half-a-dozen letters to half-a-dozen friends , giving them our little news . Ah , it would not do ! In a

      little , I was again in the struggle of mapping out niy subject , and cutting a straight track through the jungle of the world of mind ; looking about for illustrations , seeking words to put my meaning with clearness and interest before the simple country folk I preach to . It was not the least like letterwriting . The clever writer ' s way of putting things was wrong ; and though I acquit him of any crime boyond speaking with authority of a thing which he knew nothing nboyt , I . must declare that his representation - was a misrepresentation . Ifyou have sufficient it

      skill you may put what ia painful so that snau sound pleasant ; you may put a wearisome journey bv railway in such a connexion with cozy cushions , warm rugs , a review or a now book , storm sweeping the fields without , and warmth and ease within , that it shall seem a delightful thing . You may put work in short , so that it shall look like play . Jmt actual experiment breaks down the representation . You cannot change the essential naturo of things . You cannot make black white , though a clever man may make it scorn ao . " Tliis ono oxtmct is enough to prove to our readers that the book before us is an exceedingly clover specimen of lig ht , and intelligible writing .

      Untitled Article

      Ko . 505 . Nov . 26 , 1859 I THE LEADER . 1293

      Untitled Article

      VIEWS OF I . ABOUIt AND GOLD . Uy William UarnoB , Ji . D . — John KubhuII Smith . T iik author of this small volume ia already favournbly known by hisHwomcly Rhymes , in ; the Dorset diuloct , and his various poems on rural hie . Other works also of an liiatorioul and biographical value havo proceeded ih > m his pen . It is , therefore ,

      Untitled Article

      LITERARY NOTES OF THE WEEK .

      Untitled Article

      * Ouo of thoao hymns , with ltn melody , him but / i »« ' •«« £ * vorud alnoo thla wan written , Bco ' J 3 v « mtftfU « u * Chriulenrtom , " lettO . —[ TuANijfcATQM . ]

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 26, 1859, page 1293, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2322/page/9/