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    THE CHURCH AND THE CLERGY.* civilissation of late the

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    position particularly dangerous ; and di « igreeable . But such auttors , whi deal in political subjects , must defy the sarea ^ / j" ^ M asfi-sa ^ g ^^ s small voice'' within has revealed to them as truths , and then , un-B ^ ovld by Vselfish animosities , wait patiently for the verdict of a ^ S ^ oSSul ' be considered a novel of . this class . . And the op l&eio ^^ S point the hero is decidedly an enthusiast ; and thou ^ lt the ^ ture whichhe draws of the hcartlessness of wealth and the misery of poverty may be a little severe , it is , upon the whole , only too

    The story is extremely interesting-. All the characters are well and efficiently developed ; and have the extra advantage of entirely engrossing the attention and sympathies of the reader . An outlinl of the plot ia as follows . A young man , of good family , having imbibed opinions hostile to the class of whichhe is amember ^ ear £ devotes his life to the moral improvement of the ^ masses , and the destruction of " caste" as a barrier to the natural intercourse between man and his brethren . Haying signified-, his intention of beginning the good work by a low marriag ^ , he becomes thereupon calfc out and alienated from his family . This marriage , h o wever , does not take place . The hero , now entirely dependent on his oxyn exertions , enters society under very unfavourab e ,: circrnnstances . infected with the prejudices

    but which do not prevent his becoming of those by whom he is surrounded ; and his zeal , for the good cause , together with his love of the village maiden , begin sen sibl y to diminish . He then introduces himself mto the ranks ^ of hterature , and becomes so successful that be . mute loses . sight . of the object for which he had formerly sacrificed his ^ natural inheritance . Circumstances , however , tend to the revival of the olctfeelings , and , in a moment of religious enthusiasm , he disposes of all his property , renounces the prospects of a brilliant hterary career , ^ nd goes forth , in rags and wretchedness , to preach Ike vanity ot all earthly possessions to the astonished multitude . ^ . - Mfie in Sicily can scarcely be called a novel . Ifr is m fact a series of chapterl descriptive of a young lady ' s tour thvough Sicily , and the thoughts and feelings called into existence by the novelty of the scenes by which she is surrounded r the whole being connected together by a slight underplot , in the shape of a little , inter * ¦ ¦

    estins : love story . , . ' •» ,, , ,. .. This work is admirably written , the author .- . powerfullydelineating the national peculiarities of Sicilian life and character ,- while the . variety ' of scenery presented to the imagination of the reader is given in language so vivid and exciting , as almost ^© betray us into the delusion that we are visiting in person the shores . of that most delightful of European countries . The author also indulges in a detailed account of the principal edifices , temples , monasteries , palaces , < &c , and that in a manner calculated to enchain the attention of even the most indifferent reader . The character of Elfie is , perhaps , one of the most beautiful and fanciful creations in writings of this class ; and though such a being . could never exist except in the ideal of a poet ' s imagination , yet that ideal is so chaste and delicate , that the impossibility of its ever being realized fills us with

    rGSTftfc ¦ ¦ In contrast to her stands out the less perfect character of the hero Vyllers , whoso brooding , d i ssatisfied mind , ever searching after the incomprehensible , is easily led astray by the specioxis doctrines ot the Church of Rome . In fact , we can safely predict that the perusers of these dwo volumes will derive from them considerable entertainment , together with much valuable information . The Hallow Isle Tragedy is a class novel of whiish we entirely disapprove , being calculated not to elevate the mind of the reader , but rattier to depress it . We are aware that some of our most popular works of fiction are fashioned after the same model , but that does not render the model itself any the less objectionable . In ot unsausiac

    the present instance the interest excited is a gloomy , - tory kind . The prinoipal personage in th , o . story is a young Scottish clergyman , with somewhat contracted ideas ot rohgion in general , and who is deputed by the leaderaof the religious movement which , in the year 184 , 3 , agitated the whole of Scotland , to win over to their cause the crude , unlettered inhabitants of Hallow Isle . There is little interest in this novel , except that ltfnd of feverish impatience which is generally excited when anything in the shape of a mystery is carried systematically through throe long volumes ; and when , at last , the riddle is solved , it turns out to be of a naturo at once revolting and degrading .

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    rpHE rapid advance in our ' . years , increase of , 4- popular education , the general progress of tho liation , and the immense anti daily augmented facilities in correspondence and communication , have created a new literary wtint , wbioh was no sooner felt than energetic and painstaking 1 compilers sprang up to supply the necessity . The great extent of our commerce , and the enor-^^ ^ ^ ^ ^

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    mous increase in popular journals have also lent their aid to foster a desire to be acquainted with the whereabouts and professions of those who are , or are likely to become , our customers , o , ur patients , our clients , or our readers . To fill this void , the gigantic Post Office Directory ^—a wonder of t he century— -with all its care and minuteness of description , has not , as yet , been found sufficient ; though it ; goes on , year by year , increasing in bulk , and thro whig off tributary streams of local knowledge , in the shape of country editions , which , in their aggregate almost equal the metropolitan , original . Classes and professions demand something ( indeed a great deal ) more than this to supply the often-required information as to the leading or insignificant members of their own particular walk in lifeaiid hence we have the Army and Navy Lists ; containing

    par-, ticulars of the rank arid services of every individual who holds Her Majesty ' s commission ; the now venerable Law List , in its dingy red binding , seems each year to acquire fresh vigour—and . , not withstanding the vast increase of candidates for the mysteries of Themis , gives in each new issue fuller information as to thehost oHm-iisters and solicitors , whose mighty mass is besieging the courts of Chancery or Common Pleas in the hope of extracting a living income therefrom ; and the Medical Directory supplies a list of the duly qualified to advise , blister , bolus , or heal us . Then there are the Royal Bed Book , or the Court Guide , for your fashionable readers ; the Peerage , Guide

    for your noblemen and your flunkeys ; the Parliamentary iov your politicians . All these had been completely and well put together , and their various compilers had spared no time or expense to make them as near perfection , as possible . One profession alone remained without a perfect register ; there was no book extant which could be depended upon to give a complete list of the English clergy , with their antecedents and present rank . True , there were the old Clergy List , the University Calendars , and Parliamentary Blue Books for the curious and persevering - but no work had appeared , containing , in one compact mass , the information that had to be elaborated from these various soure . .

    until the projectors of the volume before us took the matter m hand . The . Clerical Directory' * is certainly as fully entitled to the rank of a standard work of its kind , as the most careful and copious of its eon temporaries of the other professions ; and , indeed , with some few exceptions , we have seen nothing to equal it in point of information An irate . ecclesiastic here and there-may be found , no doubt , ready to excommunicate Mr . Croclifyrd , and may write to the papers' because the compiler has accidentally overlooked the fact of Wa reverence being a member of the Statistical , the EJntomolojrical , or the Syro-Egyptian societies , or that he carried away the gold medal sornewhere for something fifty years ago ; but the bulk of the ecclesiastical profession will , we have little doubti fully appreciate the labour" and carefulness which have brought together such an enof-r mous mass of facts , with so few trifling errors and omissions .

    This Directory has riot attained its present value all at once—the present is the sixth year of publication , and each annual has been rendered superior to its predecessor , until at length it may fairly be considered as indispensable to every one whose profession or taste lead them to study the details of our influential and extensive hierarchy . Here are the cliristiim and surnames of every clerk in holy orders , from the Primate of England to the humblest Welsh curate , with the alma mater who fostered his education , the list of his college honours , and the date of his admission to each succeeding rank in the Church . If he be clothed with civic dignity as a rural magistrate , here it is set forth ; if he wield the scholastic birch , or ( fortunatus nimiunt ) be an inspector of schools , a surrogate , a rural dean , or a chancellor , it shall be found duly chronicled in these

    pages , wliich . also furnish to the inquisitive the gross amount of his income , —as far , that is , aa \ t can bei ascertained , —and likewise what share he has taken in that making of many books of which Solomon tells us " there . is no end . " And here we cannot but remark upon the enormous addition to the stores of the bookseller ( or of the trunkmakor ) which our reverend brethren contribute—out of some eighty thousand names befqre us , at least a sixth of the number have dabbled more or leas in printing ink ; the outpourings of some being confined to a small extent , while in other cases a column or a column and a half is required to enumerate the mere titles of the priestly author ' s writings . Curious contrasts abound in every page ; take on , e example , in which wo find the names of ?* Donaldson , John William , D . D ., " and " Doria , Samuel , "—the former , among a host of similar » works , distinguished as the author of the " Theatre of the Greeks / ' the "NewCratjlus /' " Varronianus , " and as tho translatorof the"Book of Jashar' ^ wliile he of the noble Italian patronymic warbles

    mildly , " The Sunday School , a Poem ; " " The Grammar School , a Poem : " and an "Ode on , the Crystal Palace ! " Thebullc of this body offwriting consists of practical or argumentative treatises upon divinity and doctrine ; ' though fcliere are those who , wooing the muses , tread in the steps of Milman , Croly , or Kingsley ; and not a few learnedly discourse of chemistry , geology , or astronomy . Contrasts , too , of a less welcome kind are found in turning the pages of this instructive and suggestive volume , ( is for instance when we find one London . Vicar at the head of a parish which brings him a couple of thousands a year , enjoying in addition a canonry of a thousand per nnnum ; while another London Vicar ( without any canonry ) has exactly fortypounds a yearr-bis gross income , according to our guide . Here we find a rural incumbent attending to the spiritual wants ot a population , often thousand souls , his remuneration being some two hundred ai | O . fifty pounds a-year , and in tho next page we stumble UD « o £ VV ; country parish whose rector ' s gross income is qu ' oted at mm , wmio his flock number iuBt five hundred and forty-four . When too , wo find Z hy Tmpropriatpv ' s sharp of the tithe ^ to be £ 350 , in a cortam parish and tke rector's eliai-etQ bo only twelve pound * , wo n » o not

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    ? eb . 11 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 141

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    * Orooty / brd ' ft Qlarival Dirootorj / for 1800 : bailiff a Xionraphlval and fflatirtioat Booh < if jteforenoo for JPaoU r ' olattnff to too OlerfJU «»< # tho Church . Published Annually . London ; John Crockfortf .

    The Church And The Clergy.* Civilissation Of Late The

    civilissation of late the THE CHURCH AND THE CLERGY . * ¦ | I 11 V J ^ . _ J * 1 . ^ ^ . _ ^^ ^ s . ^ d A- Ia d ^ > A ^^ Kd

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 11, 1860, page 141, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2333/page/17/