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    THE ART'OF DINING.* .

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    IT is Man alone who knows how to eat ; all the other animals teed . Such ia the maxim of a philosopher who belongs more to the school of Epicurus , than' of him that pronounced roots and water sufficient for a reasonable being , and all the rest superfluity . \\ ithout inclining too closely tu either of these schools , let us freely admit that the art of good living—and by that we do not mean over-hixmious living—is one that tends very much to the welfare of mankind , It illassorted

    needs no very profound physiologist to inform us that - and ill-cooked food will , in time , beget bad digestion ,- —then confirmed b ad houlth , and then a degenerated state of the brain , even in the strongest organizations . The value of the sound mind in the sound body has been recognised in all ages ; and ho is guilty of the gross folly of self-neglect , who permits the fear of being ridiculed as a gourmand to prevent him from studying those principles upon which the good gifts of Nature may be judiciously applied to the sustenance of the human frame . . These verv general reflections have been suggested to us by the

    perusal of Mrs / Tubitha Tickletooth ' s admirable little volume , which , is indeed one of the most useful and sensible manuals upon the subjeot with which we are acquainted . We do not propose to enter yery deeply into the subject , which was nearly exhausted during the memorable discussions excited by the momentous question , " Alow to live on Three Hundred a Year P" and the famous letters ot u . XI . iu . in . the columns of the Times . What will bo . muoh more to the purpose , and of fur greater interest to the reader , Will bo to talco a peep into Mrs . Tickletooth ' s book , and notice such matters in it an appear most ; worthy of observation , and likely to be of greatest service to the render . In the first place , we not unnaturally inquire , Who w Mrs . iiclUctooth P Alas ! we know not . The frontispiece presents the eidolon of a comely , comfortable matron , in old-fashioned muslin cap , luce tionot . and aoron ; Just such a sonsy , well-fuvourad woman as might two uuuohu

    easily bo behoved in her assertion , that she had given , satisfaction to ever so many families of distinction . Ilus P } o ™ " » J picture is described as being from a photograph . by ™ v . Kntoa Watkins , and it is not treasonable , therefore , to suppose that , Mid . Tiokletooth is a deCinito entity . Peace be with her 1 Long muy «» o

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    Jan . 14 , I 860 , ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst , 45

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    to exaggeration or injustice . ' His thought may have been too much influenced by Germany , his style by France ; nevertheless , a broad , strong , genial individuality bursts irresistibly through . The man predominates over the writer ,-and renders the writer much more suggestive and impressive than if be were merely the writer . We do iiot sympathise with Herzeri ' s Hegelianism ,. an& his rhetorical ornaments of the French sort are not to our liking . Hegelianism is a cold and misty moonshine ; and French rhetoric , if intolerable at first hand , must be something at second hand which we do not choose to name . Spite of defects , Herzeri is an author of great power and eloquence . He has distinct ideas distinctl y enunciated . Though he may borrow gaudy Gallic phrases , hehaniniers his meaning home ; and ifc ' is rather the jargon of French publicists than Bossuet bombast , iri which he occasionally deals . The rhetoric of the French of the present day is entirely publicistie . It has no pompous periods , but it mocks us with false clangor : —it is antithetic , epigrammatic , with a dash of the military : it has so much pith and point as to have neither point nor pith . The empire which the French language , French literature , French fashions have hitherto held in Russia , must have been eminently fatal to originality . Herzen has not escaped the contagion , but he has perhaps-suffered as little as it is possible for a Russian , to suffer , ' ¦ The object of Herzen ' s pamphlet is to vindicate the Russian people from certain charges brought against them by Michelet . There are few writers whom we admire more warmly than Michelet ; but he assuredly indulges in that recklessness of assertion to which all Frenchmen at the present day are so prone . Pope Voltairethe only Pope for whom the French care- ^ was in the habit of deciding the more emphatically the grosser his ignorance . His countrymen , even the most insignificant , have not been slow in arrogating the same , infallibility . It is evident that Michelet knew absolutely nothing about the Russian people when attacking them . He was carried away partly by French vanity and vivaci ty * and partly by his sympathy for Poland . When confounding the Russian Government with the Russian People , Michelet was , as Herzen shows , guilty of serious wrong towards the latter . No one can denounce the Russian Government with : hotter wrath ; than Herzen himself . To him it is vicious as a system , Vile in the instruments it employs , horribly cruel ; corrupting-, degrading in its action and results . The Russian Government has had its flatterers : but it has never been its own honest sons who have flattered it . To call it a despotism is not correct ; it is a bureaucracy , based oil lies and guarded by spies . The ; question is , how far the people ^ let their virtues be as great and genuine as Herzen represents them , are responsible for what , is wicked in the doings of the Government ? Herzen neither designs nor endeavours to make out a case ; and he could not even unconsciously be a sophist .. But in all ages of the world the deeds of a Government have been regarded as the deeds of the nation . Why should a nation be willing to share all the fame , yet cast from it the burden of the infamous P What a nation tolerates it approves . When , for fivc-and-twenty years , England saw no disgrace , and felt no shame in being ruled by Charles the Second , was not the foulness of the English Court a stain on the English community ? When , for more than half a century , France was satisfied to have Louis Fifteenth as monarch , did not the filth of Versailles pollute e * ery Frenchman ' s household , its guilt lie at every Frenchman ' s door ? A vast mass of the Russian people are serfs , and , according to Herzen's own statement , the feelings and ideas of the serfs do not go beyond that communal existence to which they are so passionately and pertinaciously attached . The serfs are not a stolid race ; they are lively , quick , dexterous , apt and able . But if their habits , prejudices , superstitions are let alone they are thoroughly apathetic . They seem to have many ot the good and evil qualities of the- Irish ; and we all know'how , spite of ardent affections and brilliant faculties , it is almost impossible to raise the Irish peasant higher than the most embryonic form of political and social life . Michelet ' s accusation , that the Russians are destitute of a moral sense , that they lie and steal , continually steal , continually Jio , and that with perfect innocence , it being their nature , Herzon explains away rather than refutes . We Find rieithor much meaning nor much nobleness in the saying of Hegel , whicli Herzen quotes , that cunning is the irony . of rude strength . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ To Hegel himself cunning was often convenient as the disguise of cowardice . If , from the Government expecting- no mercy , from the tribunals no justice , the Russian peasant retaliates by emmiog , it is a sign not merely that ho is contented with his lot , but that conscience and the conception of right are naturally somewhat feeble in his soul . Herzen prophesies a sublime destiny for Russia , in contrast with the rest of Europe , pining in mediaeval dotage , tormented by scepticism tind despair . But from what class of the Russian people Is , the redemption for Russia itself—for Europe—for the world to spring P The civilization of Russia , so far as it has a civilization , is forced , foreign , artificial . Its barbarism may conceal some generous instincts , but it is lethargic , and itcosts only a liberal application of tlio cudgel to convert it into a Government tool . Its numerous official class is an army of knaves , who can be bland or brutal as circumstances or their own advantage may demand . There is not properly a middle class , and to whatever extent it exists , its clutch is on pelf , its glance on things most sordid . A few enthusiastic students , a few philanthropic noblemen , may long , may . work for the divine transfig-uremenb of the futhorland . But how fruitless nro their words , and their efforts in the mjdst of a multitude which narrows whatever it has that is really alive , to communal order and communal organization . Wo cannot quarrel with Herzen for hoping tho best of his country and for it . Let his country ' s glorious and mighty development be to him a

    faith , a gladness ,- — -if nothing- more , a beautiful dream . Even if he were only a visionary , yet visionaries are in their way always missionaries , too . Still , if we are to calculate the future by the present and the pastj and even introduce some roseate phantasies to help us , we can see * no glimpse of the dawn for Russia , and through Russia for Europe , which Herzen predicts . If Russia has taken a bold attitude , it is not from her own vigour , from her own consciousness of superiority , but from the faults arid feebleness of the exhausted dynasties around her : She owes something to her valour , far more to her unscrupuloushess . Russia , has only one real rival in the world ; that rival is England . But while one of Russia ' s most notable characteristics is mendacity . England surpasses all other nations in truthfulness . It is ; as truthful as Rome when Rome was in its prime . 'Now , England , abounding still more in vitality than Russia—at least , having its vitality more concentrated , and symbolising , besides , that right which alone can give enduring greatness to kingdoms—must , rather than Russia , have the vocation to regenerate the world . It is confessed by Sclav onians that Sclavonianism . has neither the hunger to urge nor the courage to march till impregnated and impelled by foreign elements . The very name of Russia is Scandinavian ; and it is always an influx , an onset from one quarter or another , which has swept Russia into the path of victory . Of course , as long as the other states of Europe are the unmurmuring slaves of an idiotic Medievalism ; as ^ long as they prefer dj'nastie puppets to real rulers , and diplomatic tricks to sagacious and stalwart statesmanship ; as long as potentates and priests dread the democracy more than they dread the Cossack , the Cossack is a peril , and a dread to Europe . Intensely as we hate Russia—riot the Russia which presents itself to us in Podolia , Volhynia , Ukraine , and elsewhere , with something of idyllic charm and patriarchal simplicity—but the Russia which iij crucified by the insatiable avidity for territorial aggrandisement;— -intensely as we hate Russia , we should welcome even Russia as a delivei-er , if otherwise no escape is offered from feudal monstrosities . The kings , the priests , the aristocracies of Europe have ceased to be patriotic . Iri the late war with Russia , there was no attempt to strike Russia where Russia is most vulnerable . The war was thus a sham war . But there was the craven alarm lest , if you kindled a colossal combat in Poland , there would be a rising , throughout Europe . But if kings and priests and aristocracies are selfish , it remains to be seen whether the heart of the people . in England , in Germany , and in other lauds is not sound . If sound , then- Russia has small chance of first enslaving-, then regenerating Europe . The danger in England—perhaps pur only danger—is ,, lest the soil should pass wholly away from the hands of the people . In Russia , the peasant is inthe fashion be likes best—aproprietor of the soil ; and he who is proprietor of the soil , to an extent however small , is yet to that extent a better battler for the fatherland . What is the English peasant ? A drudge , bedewing with his sweat the arid road to the workhouse . Give the English peasant a direct interest in tho soil , a share in the soil , and he will be the soil ' s best defender . ^^ Tbis is the most salutary lesson which we have learned from xxerzen s powerful pamphlet . ' '

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    * Tho Dinner Question ; or , How to JJ b * f ^' ^ S ^^ in ^ d Unhufthc Jlmllmonts of Cookery with Vsq / W Mini * o J > "' " ' - , uul ttarvinq . By 'JPubUtfa Tioklotooth . JLondon i Itoutledgo , Wurno , Koutlodgo . Pp . 102 .

    The Art'of Dining.* .

    THE AItT OF DINING . *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2329/page/17/