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428 THE LEADER. [No. 471, April % 185Q.
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.' . ¦ ? ¦ LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, &c.
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LITERAIir CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK. -—-*p——
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It is not merely the fact that we are ar...
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AMERICAN LITERATURE. Triibner's Biograph...
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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.
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428 The Leader. [No. 471, April % 185q.
428 THE LEADER . [ No . 471 , April % 185 Q .
.' . ¦ ? ¦ Literature, Science, Art, &C.
. ' . ¦ ? ¦ LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ART , & c .
Literaiir Chronicle Of The Week. -—-*P——
LITERAIir CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK . - — - * p——
It Is Not Merely The Fact That We Are Ar...
It is not merely the fact that we are arrived at that lull in publishing matters which precedes the great doings in May and the opening of the London season ; but it is plain that the absorbing interest which is excited by . matters altogether non-literary has produced an unnatural scarcity of those topics to which this article is usually addressed . Precluded by a sense of propriety from commenting upon matters of mere personal interest upon the one hand , and by the utter
absence of specific facts on the other , our condition is only to be paralleled by that miserable dilemma in which the children of Israel found themselves when they were required to make "bricks without straw , and were not even allowed a scanty modicum of chaff for a substitute . Perhaps the most interesting event of the week —though it is certainly one which will be cared for in a very limited circle only—has been the commencement of the sale of the Libri MSS , at Messrs . Sotheby and Wilkinson ' s Rooms , in Wellington-street . To the uninitiated observer ,
strolling in accidentally to wile away an hour over the sale , in the expectation of watching the ihicttiatirig biddings and the eagerness of the "bidders , it would be a disappointment to find the whole matter in the hands of some twelve or fifteen very ordinary-looking personages , disposing of the whole business in a very calm , ¦ unconcerned , and undemonstrative manner . No excitement , no anxiety , none of that eager covetousness which distinguishes a sale which is attended by wealthy buyers , by the amateurs themselves , and where the conclusion of a
vehement struggle for the . mastery is greeted by a round of applause . In point of fact , almost the only attendants at the Libri sale are dealers , with commissions , of course , from great collectors and national collections , and these gentlemen very naturally get the matter over with as . little trouble and excitement to themselves as possible . The truth is , that at all these sales the intervention of an agent is absolutely necessary ; for , independently of the fact that they have a better understanding among themselves than outside "buyers can possibly have , they are invaluable in
peeping secret the identity of the actual purchaser , which is a point of infinite importance . Were it known , for 'instance , that the British Museum or the Bibliothecpie had determined upon having a book , the price might be run up against them , to a ruinous extent . In spite , however of the secrecy preserved , we believe that the British Museum and Sir Thomas Phillips have been the great purchasers in the first four days' sale . During the early part of the first day , the prices ranged ridiculously low ; but an influx of orders from the country and abroad made a great change in tho aspect of affairs , and it is now thought that tho entire collection will
Messrs . Kent and Co ., a monograph pn rabbitcooking , by an English gourmet . This amateur of the timid inhabitant of the warren gives no less than one hundred and twenty-four distinct ways of cooking rabbits ! ^ Text week we have forthcoming a new novel by the talented author of " It is Never too Late to Mend . " We understand that Ihis time Mr . Reade will be really original , and will give a practical answer to those conturners who assert
that he is obliged to trade upon borrowed capital . The name of this coming book is a proof that he has not lost his predilection for proverbial titles ; it is , " Love Me Little , Love Me Long , " and is intented to illustrate the lesson which Davie Gellatly gave to ' young Waverley , that the passions of young men are like blazing straw , and that which burns not so bri g htly hath more endurinsr heat . —
" Young man ' s wrath is like lig-hifc straw _ fire , Heard ye so merrily this little bird sing ; But like wJiite-hot steel is the old man ' s ire , And the throstle-cock ' s head is under his wing . " Another candidate for fame in the field of fiction is Mr . H . F . Chorley , who ; has ridden many tournays in the lists of literature before this ; though ( sooth to say ) he has always been worsted hitherto . Mr . Chorley is said to have chosen for this new venture "the wrongs of the women in the higher classes . " As it may be fairly presumed that he never would have undertaken such a subject without a proper knowledge of the subject , some amount of success may be at last : expected .
Among other announcements are a volume of poems by Mr . Garnett , of the British Museum Library , called " Io , -and other Poems . " Mr . Garnett has already earned some laurels by a little unpretending volume , entitled " Primula " ( Hardwicke ) , which made its appearance anonymously last year , and attracted some notice . He is the son of Garnett , the linguist , also formerly of the British Museum . A posthumous work of Hugh Miller ' s is also
immediately forthcoming , entitled , i'A Sketchbook of Popular Geology , " consisting of lectures delivered at the Philosophic Institute of Edinburgh , and with a preface by his widow , herself no mean geologist . Messrs . A . and C . Black , of Edinburgh , will produce , on the 1 st of May , the first volume of a new edition of Waverley , with most of the old engravings , and at a price reduced much below the last forty-eight volume edition . .. .
It is pleasing to find that all gratitude is not yet extinct in the world . Lady Bulwer , grateful to Mr . Woodley , the proprietor and editor of the Somerset County Gazette , for his zealous advocacy of her rights during her late incarceration in ah asylum , ' has presented her champion with a magnificent silver inkstand . May he never have occasion to use it in her service again ! The Bookseller , among other items of interesting intelligence , informs us that Mr . Edwards , formerly of the British Museum Library , more lately Chief Librarian of the Manchester Free Library i and , the author of the great work on Libraries , lately published by Mr .. TrUbnor , has takqn to trade by joining the firm of Dunnill and Palmer , in Manchester . Our French notes of novelties are but meagre .
M' Augont Aubrey has published an interesting paper on the trial and execution of JKavalllac , the murderer of Hena'i Quatro , as part of his series called " Le Tresor dos pieces raros ot inedites . " There is a now Gazette des Beaux ' Arts , started under the editorship of M . Charles Blanc , tho brother of M . Louis Blanc , and now ( wo believe ) employed in tho engraving department of the Bibliotheque Imperiale . It is now in its sixth number , and , from the specimens wo have soon , is , bptli as to matter and illustrations , second to nothing of tho kind that has over boon attempted . Wo liave to correct an error in stating that Mr . Baynes , tho author of the masterly essays wo lately reviewed , is an American . The Scotoh are too proud to own him to allow this ex * ror to pass unoorreotcd .
not fetch much less than < £ 8 , 000 . Among the lots , which excited the greatest amount of competition wo may notice a vellum MSb of the venerable Bedo ' s . Commentary on St . Mark , which fetched 124 ? . ; a splendid manuscript of the Epistles and lesser works of St . Cyprian , belonging to the eighth century , which , brought 1701 . ; n paper Dante , 581 . ; a fine Greek manuscript of the Evangelists , with various readings , 174 / . ; an Armenian vellum copy of tho Evangelists , with
illuminated calendar and letters , 907 . ; a Latin Gospel on vellum , with a preface of | Hioronymus , 1501 . ; an illuminated Gospel , 1002 . ; a . MS . of an unpublished work of . Galileo , entitled "De Munch Sphrora cum Figuris , " in his own handwriting , 101 / . ( this was purchased for the British Museum ) 5 a Hebrew MS . on the Pascal Feast , ¦ with , Spanish illuminations , 108 / . Tho sale will notf be concluded until next Tuesday . We should bo at a loss to pronounce upon tho most compact book which has appeared during the week . With soarce ani exception , they have been of a slight or ephemeral character—pamphlets , novels , and the like . Perhaps tho most curious la that of a little brochure published W
American Literature. Triibner's Biograph...
AMERICAN LITERATURE . Triibner ' s Biographical Guide to American Literature a classed list of books published in the United State of America during the last forty years . With Bibliol graphical Introduction , IVotes , and Alphabetical Index . Compiled and edited by Nicholas Trubner . Trubner and Co . L concluded . ] ' Periodical literature , independent of such publications as more properly come under the denomination of newspapers , forms another , class , and the names of the journals which it embraces fill seven pages . Indeed , newspapers and periodicals devoted to literature and science may very justly be called
the foster parents of American literature , and therefore , in a work like the present , they claim for themselves a careful and accurate classification . The first newspaper , or news-placard , as its ori < nnators designated it , which appeared in America , was printed at Boston , in 1689 ; but the first regular issue of it was in the autumn of the following year . This " News-placard" is one of the greatest of bibliographical curiosities , only a single copy of it being known , preserved in our State-paper Office , at Whitehall . It was rigidly suppressed , as it " came out contrary to law , and contained 1
reflections of very high nature . " By hi g h , as applied in the language of the Circumlocution Office of that day , we presume we are to understand offensive to the Government , at the time quite sufficient , ground for suppressing any newspaper- at home . Freedom of the press'was thus nipped in the bud , and it was not till fourteen years afterwards , ill 1704 , that the postmaster of Boston , John Campbellj produced the Boston News Letter , which is , properly speakings the parent of American newspapers . That journal continued in existence till 1776 , and its success called into being two rivals in 1719—the Boston Gazette and-the
American Weekly JHTercurie-r-a . ll three issued weekly ,. and the latter at Pliiiadelphia . In 1754 Boston issued four weekly newspapers , representing the opinions of the New Englanders , the politicians from whom sprang " the Tea-party , " to -whoni the declaration of American independence , iii 1776 is mainly duq . Pennsylvania and New York , also , each had two weekly papers in 1754 , but it was not till after that declaration that the freedom of the press called into being a host of newspapers , and even in the first year of independence no less than thirty-four weekly newspapers we ' re published in the young republic . In l « 01 the number had
increased to something like two hundred , several of which were issued daily . In the year IS 10 the official report gives a total of three hundred and fifty-nine , of which twenty-seven were daily papers ; and in 1850 , the date of the last official statement , quoted in the volume , those hail increased to two thousand eig ht hundred , with an annual circulation of between four ami live , hundred millions of copies Since then it h estimated that the number of newspapers published m the . tinted States is little less than four thousand .
Habits of thought once acquired by ft peon 0 seldom lose their original nationality . U e quMo agree with the opening . passage of Air . lrubnore prolegomena :- ^— . * " The literature of a people takos its impross Jroni their peculiar habits of-thought , or it would not no national but universal . In no case is tins woro <»« - dont than in that of England , in all blassos ot wine there is tho unmistakable practical Anglo-bivxw sense as its chief characteristic . If we wish to unrWstnmi thflso habits of thought of nny nation , vo
must carefully study tho gradual forms In whichj ney have bcea developed , beginning with their ^»™ and tracing thorn down to our own t mo 8 . lUotoro nation oath , which Dunatan prepared f »»* V ™ XSaxon king , is-still , but slightly nltor e < l , tl > o coronft tion oath of the sovereigns of England 11 and »« » w «» f the eye over tho six volumes of Anglo-biuxon e » n » JJJj collected by the late Mr . J . M . KomWo . one islorad to admit that , allowing for altered oiroum « tancoB , tho Anglo-Saxon mind of the tenth century hoM j a strong affinity to that of the Enghsmum i g nineteenth . If this be so with regard g literature , how much moro iiocessary is , tlw jnoj lodge of tie sources which have P ^ rml to Jmrn wo habits of thought of thQ people of % ho United bt « 00 of Araorlw . who , in little more than half a century ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 2, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02041859/page/12/
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