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November1,1856.] THE LEA]) ; EE. 1051
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1 BATCH OF BOOKS. We have several books ...
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Agrippa The Magician. The Life Of Cornel...
passed over , you order me to beg among my friends the means of paying what I owe . What equity is this of yours—what justice ? " Has he not , lie asks , suffered enough contumely without being ordered now to beg for charity ? " Either , " he cries , " confess or deny that the Emperor is in my debt . If ho owes money to me , take his pledge , accept him a & my bail , unless you hold that lie is unfit to he trusted . But if he owes me nothing , free me from nay oath of service to him , and J will not only find wherewith to pay my creditors , but will soon turn this calamity into a matter of rejoicing . " Just and bold speech , utterly unwise , doubtless , but would to God all men disdained , as Agri ^ pa did , to coyer honest feeling with false words . Such direct language being added to the general strain in the Vanity of Sciences and Arts , -we need not wonder that the Emperor hated Agrippa to the death .
To the Emperor , this bold , unpaid author , sent a note , begging that if his clemency-would not permit him to pay what lie owed , he might have the hmtefii of his indignation in dismissal from his post and freedom to depart . High words these to send to an imperial debtor , words issuing from stung temerity- ! But who so bold as an unpaid author ? The creditor courage is a known implacability ; and when the creditor is at the same time an author , leonine audacity is nothing to it . They are not a savage race , the authors , nor , on the whole ,, a courageous race , but if you want to see spir it flaming in ' wrath , despise their -writings , and withhold their money ! Agrippa "was at all times free of speech . Hear how manfully he stands up for Luther against the Lou \ ain theologians : — THE UT 5 CONQ 1 TEKED nEEETTC .
Themanner in , which , in . this Apology , Cornelius Agrippa . spoke of Luther to the men who . were denouncing him , for here 9 y , is the one feature of it interesting to the student of hialife- That he swept with a strong hand through the webs of sophistry in which , the monks endeavoured to entangle him , -we nujy take easily for granted . But it was urged by the sophists that in his book lie had called Luther " the unc on ^ quered heretic" Upon this head , what would he answer ? " I know not , " he said , •" whether by chance there may not be souie superstitious theologians who would . grudge Luther the name : of heretic , as one shared by him with the Apostle Paul , who , fce'bre Felix , professed that he served God after the sect which the Jews called heresy ; but I zuake no doubt that our masters of Louvain approve of me for having called Luther a . heretic , only it offends them much that I have called him unconquered whom they and their associates at Cologne were . the first men dogmatically to condemn- But I am not ignorant that Luther has been condemned for heresy , only I do not see that
he is vanquished , when to this day he gains ground in his battle , and reigns in the nriad of the people which is won to him in spite of authority by tjie dishonesty , ignorance , malice , and falsehood of many of our priests , and monks , and masters . I speak of the event , not of the doctrine , against which , though it has been opposed in the best manner of the schools , judged with all strictness and subjected to the most august condemnation , all efforts end unprosperously . " He proceeds to point out the defections -to the side of Luther even from , among the chosen champions of the Church . If Luther be conquered , he asks , why the cry for a general council ? Why so much effort on the part , not only of priests , but of popes and great potentates ? I know , indeed , he says , that Luther is most stoutly fought against , but I do not yet see that he is conquered . " First , there descended into this arena Hochstraten and Eckiu 8 , so fightiHg as to earn nothing but ridicule . Then succeeded monks , vociferating among the common people rude abuse of Luther ; what did they thereby
hut scatter among the multitude those questions which before were discussed in Latin by the learned , and confined within the limits of the schools . So they impelled Luther to write in die vernacular , and heresy was then sown broadcast . The schools of Louvain , Cologne , and Paris afterwards came but with their bare articles and dogmatical censures , which , while they spread abroad the smoke and fire of books committed to he burnt—as if fire could put out fire—made Luther ' s works more to be sought after , more sold . At length there appeared the terrific bull of Leo , which is so much , scorned by the Lutherans that they hare not hesitated openly to jest at it , with contemptuous scholise and glosses . An Imperial decree was a ' dded , with no better success . The slaughter-houses were next opened : what else resulted but the cutting off heads from a hydra ? Is this the conquest of Luther ? I speak of the event , not of the doctrine , and I wish that Ghrist were not preached as religiously by some of these heretics as by our teachers . Was Arius conquered when his sect churches
occupied more than the orthodox ? Is Mahomet conquered when there are more men of his creed than Christians ? Again , I say , I speak of the event , not of the doctrine . How have I sinued , then , if I have called Luther an unconquered heretic ? Would that I lied , and that Luther had . been conquered as happily as he lias been boldly provoked to war . I wish he were not unconquered heretic , and even , also , conqueror of heretics , to the great shame of our teachers . For who conquered tha Anabaptist *? . Who has withstood the Saoramentarinns ? Was it riot Luther alone ? Show me one writing out of your academies by which you have moved them so much as a . finger ' s breadth . Of what use are you , in the Church , if it be enough to say : We » condemn , because so has the Church decided ? ( And to decrees of the Church our teachers fly whenever they are hardly pressed , and there abide , unable to produce- the Scripture that defends them . ) Certainly , rustics who have not learnt the alphabet , and idiots , can profess aa much . If that sufficed for the reconquest of
Heretics , oh , now would I welcoma Martin Luther , who , while our masters slept and snored , alone watched for the Church , and alone freed it from the strong and violent heresies of Anabaptists and Sacramentarians , who were getting possession of almost all ^ Germany . But I seem here to approve of Luther , and herein I do , indeed , approve of him . But be not enraged ; I approve of him as of the serpent in theriaca , which though in . itself deadly , is iu this form poisonous to poison . " He ends by urg » ng » that if they would conquer Luther they must conquer by arguments drawn from toe Word of God ; that if they must needs argue with fire and sword , they will provoke retort with fire and sword , and only make the Btorin blacker around them . They roust use , also , against Luther better reasoning than they had brought against Agrippa , who professed himself a Catholic and not a Lutheran , and who , if ho had fallen into human error , was not obstinately lent on persevering iu it , and who had not fallen where he could not rise .
Well said , Agrippa ! Nor is this without its sarcastic truth , in our days as then : — * h ^ fi ° - my tBacIlin 6 ' » if r na ( l phmted thorny syllogisms , produced docks and wUk my writin £ i witl 1 sucU salad on their lips tho asses who have judged mo w'th u * fottnd my P * 0011 ^ to their taste , and havo devoured these hooks of mine w « n pleasure . I have planted something higher than their reach , and they become lunoua agawBtmo .. « I think , therefore , that in these days , my Eustoehius , thcro is Aim T * f ° ater - thlU 1 ' ignorance , nothing safer than to tench men nothing , when th « k ° * S Can b ° writton at Tvhich thcro shall not bo some to take oilencc ; but arn f wd know notni : n 6 . or nothing but tho meanest nnd the basest things , imnn K ? eDa ° Ved Srom thi 8 fear ' from these "angers , for of little things large ruin is uiDoasiwe-, and he who grovelB cannot tumble far ; bwt he who eeeka to climb the ttoights , seoma to bo seeking hia misfortune . " One more specimen of hia satiric style and wo have done :-
—NATIONAL CIIAKACTEEISTICS . " Who , " says Agrippa , " that beholds a man strutting like a cock , with the bearing of a prize-fighter , an unruly look , an ex voice , austere discourse , fierce behaviour , a . dress unfastened or torn , does ndfc at once judge him to be a German ? Do we not know the French by a well-ordered gait , mild gestures , blarid aspect , fair-sounding voice , facile discourse , modest behaviour , and loose dress ? We know Spaniards by their holiday step and behaviour , the high lifting of the countenance , the plaintive voice , the choice speech , and the exquisite attire . But we see the Italians rather slow of pace , in gesture grave , in countenance unsettled , low-voiced , captious in talk , magnificent in "behaviour , and having a well-ordered attire . We know , also , that in singing the Italians bleat , the Spaniards howl , the Germans hoot , and the French trill . In speech the Italians are grav > but crafty , the Spaniards polished but vainglorious , the French ready but proud , the Germans hard but simple ; In counsel the
Italian is provident , the Spaniard astute , the Frenchman inconsiderate , the German useful . Over food the Italian is clean , the Spaniard choice , the Frenchman a .. free eater , the German clumsy . Towards strangers the Italians are obliging , Spaniards placid , Frenchmen gentle , Germans boorish and inhospitable . In dialogue Italians are prudent , Spaniards cautious , Frenchmen polished , Germans overbearing and intolerable . In love Italians are jealous , Spaniards impatient , Frenchmen fickle , Germans ambitious ; but in hate Italians are secret , Spaniards are pertinacious , Frenchmen are threateners , Germans avengers . Iu transacting business Italians are circumspect , Germans laborious , Spaniards watchful , Frenchmen anxious ; in war the Italians are stout but cruel , the Spaniards subtle and thievish , the Germans truculent and venal , the French high-spirited but rash . The Italians are distinguished by their literature , the Spaniards by their navigation , the French by their courtesy , the Germans by their religion and mechanic arts . "
These passages have exhausted our space for the present , but we shall return to the volumes to cull from them some curious matter illustrative of the superstitions of the time .
November1,1856.] The Lea]) ; Ee. 1051
November 1 , 1856 . ] THE LEA ]) ; EE . 1051
1 Batch Of Books. We Have Several Books ...
1 BATCH OF BOOKS . We have several books on our table sufficiently important to call for notice , but which would scarcely bear separate treatment . . The Pictorial History of the Russian War ( W . and H . Chambers ) is a carefully executed work , in which the main incidents of the diplomatic and . military narrative are cleverly grouped $ the story of the siege , in particular , being told with great animation . The volume is large , well printed , and boun'd in crimson cloth , with a gold emblazonment , and an excellent series of maps and illustrations , la The Situation and its Masters s oryThe Forces and the Futiere of Europe , a book of eccentric appearance , an anonymous writer aims at developing a ' political- theory in connexion with the existing aspects of the world . It is not easy to obtain a clue to his meaning ; but" the men" indieat-ed appear to be Louis Napoleon and Mr . Disraeli , while the scheme
they are to carry out would seem to consist of a grand revolution , to be effected at a cost of fifty thousand lives . The ivuthor is violent , reckless , and affects a strange ' familiarity with bloodshed and with the infernal regions \ but his work abounds in evidences of useful "though indiscriminate reading . Had he been coherent in his method of explaining himself , he might have contributed serviceably to the political discussions of the day . We are sorry that a similar objection applies , though with far less force , to a volume on Truth-and Ei-ror , by John Hamilton , of St . Ernans ( Macrnillan and Co . ) . Mr . Hamilton writes , in prose and Terse , on the principles of Truth , and on the Causes and Effects of Error . He is amiable , earnest , bold in his ways of flunking , sometimes very vivid in his illustrations . But the drift of his teaching is often difficult to comprehend . The doctrine is set forth in
snatches ; tlie argument becomes confused while the author is tiding to elaborate it . This is observable in the prose chapters . In the verse , Mr . Hamilton ' s ideas are totally unmanageable . Were it not that there axe many signs of premeditation in the preface , and in the interludes of personal remsii'lc , we should say that the writer had sent to press a volume of miscellaneous memoranda . Another didactic book , but of a practical character , is Scandinavia : its Hopes and Fears , / by G . Lallerstedt ( King and Co . ) This volume contains an able statement of all the political considerations involved in tlie projected union of the three kingdoms of the North—Norway , Denmark , and Sweden . The principle of this union , says M . l ^ illerstedt , is recognized by all the enlightened men of Scandinavia ; the public mind has been thoroughly prepared for it ; it was partly the motive of the agitations
in Holstein during the revolutionary years . His account of Ivussum encroachments on Norwegian Finmark , of Ifinmark geography , of old disputes between . Sweden and France , of the progress of Sweden since 1815 , of the political ideas represented by " Scandinavianism" and of the national movement in Denmark , will possess an interest for many readers . A volume entitled Characters and Incidents ; or , Journejiings through England and Wales ( King ) , byj . W . King , is of a different stamp . It is a pleasant , sketchy ^ book a descriptive of familiar scenes and places , with occasional indiscretions in the form of " smart and satirical" sayings . One anecdote i * elatcd by Mr . King is really good . At Huntingdon , within . 'sight of Cromwell ' s house , ho was told by a " respectable employer" that Oliver Cromwell lived all his life at St ; Ivos , and died there ! An Introduction to the Study of 'JEsthetics , by
J . C . MoflTat ( Sampson Low and Co . ) , ia an elegant treatise by the Professor of Greek in the College of New JojMiy , Princeton . The professor rejects Mr . Ituskin ' s proposal of the word Theoretic- aa a substitute for JEstlieticy but admits that the old term is far from satisfactory . His inquiries in connexion with the laws and the limits of art have been varied and extensive , and his treatment of the subject in its several brandies proves him to be an original thinker aa well as a zealous student . It is , not often that American literature is so creditably represented iu association with , a topic so noble and yet so trite . Ancient and noble , also , is the topic selected by Madame lioxey Caplin in her volume on Health and Beauty ( Darton and Co . ) . She writes , however , with good sense and taste , on the fashions that have afllicted tho human form , pointing out the wondrous caprices of the modern fancy , and ottering certain good an < l friendly counsels to ladies of all a ires and nations . A book like this is sure to attrnct the class of readers
to which it is specially addressed . May it work the reform which is tho desire of Madame Caplin ' s mind ! In the opposite hemisphere of literature , we have a cheap edition ( licntlcy ^ Standard Novels ) of Emilie Carlon ' s
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01111856/page/19/
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