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September 2, 1854.J THE LEADER. 829
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il^-i-rt.tirtl-i^iA jLIIcl [Hull
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Ci"itic3 are ixot the legislators, but t...
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We have before us the first four numbers...
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JBlackwood, as the first of the Septembe...
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The spirit of Goethe still rules in Weim...
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In Norton's (New York} Literary^ uazette...
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The papers announce the death, at Ragaz,...
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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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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September 2, 1854.J The Leader. 829
September 2 , 1854 . J THE LEADER . 829
Il^-I-Rt.Tirtl-I^Ia Jliicl [Hull
literatim
Ci"Itic3 Are Ixot The Legislators, But T...
Ci"itic 3 are ixot the legislators , but trie judges and police of literature . They do not makelaw 3— they interpret and , try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Jtevieto .
We Have Before Us The First Four Numbers...
We have before us the first four numbers of the Colonie Icarienne , a journal of the colony of French Communists , founded in America by the well-known M . Cabet . The colony was first founded about six years ago in Texas ; thence it was removed to Nauvoo , in the state of Illinois , the number of < smpty houses left in that town by the Mormons on their exodus proving a temptation . Nauvoo , however , is only the provisional seat of the colony , and it is 1 k > be shifted to Iowa , farther west . The journal is printed at 2 Q ~ auvoo . It is established for the propagation of M . Cabet ' s system of * Icarian Communism ; ' the chief formula of which , we may explain to uninformed readers , is the very comfortable and comprehensive one , " Toils your chacun ; Chacun pour tons : Premier Droit , Vivre ; Premier Devoir , Travailter : A chacun suivant ses besoins ; de chacun suivant ses forces" ( All
for each ; Each for all 3 First right , to live ; First duty , to work ; To each according to his wants ; from each according to his abilities" ) . Lest that plentiful class who have large ' wants' and small ' abilities' should be for setting off to Nauvoo as the very place foi * them , we beg to say that M . Cabet does not appear yet to have got liis colony quite ship-shape . There are some black sheep among the Icarians , it seems , who are known not to give all their , earnings into the common stock ; and , altogether ^ it may be advisable ; to > postpone emigration till-the colony has definitely settlect . down £ a Iowa , By a census , dated July 19 , 1854 , the colony consisted of 405 individuals , to wit , 184 men , 114 women , and 1 , 07 children ^ Of the men * © 1 were married arid had their wives with them ; 8 were married , but out of reach of wife ; 13 were widowers ; 62 were bachelors ; and 10 were grown fcoys . Of the women . 91 were married , and had their husbands with them
2 were married , but with no husbands accessible ; TO were widows ; arid 11 were grown school-girls . Of the total 405 , 325 were French ; 65 Gentian ; <> Swiss 1 8 Italians ; 3 Spaniards ; 1 Swede ; L English ; and 1 American . From an inspection of the list of names , we have beeri able to . pick out the solitary English ' Icarian Communist ' at Nauvoo ^ and consequently ^ perhaps , on the globe . It is the V Veiif Davis de . Londresy the " Widower Davis of London . " We should like to see that lone icarian man , and to hear his history . After what vicissitudes did lie come within the vortex of
M . Cabet ? Can it be to supply his place that the colony advertises , as it does in the fourth number of the journal , for " a young man of education , with sufficient knowledge of French to understand and be understood in tbat language , and sufficiently acquainted with English to be able to translate from the one language to the other , and to give a course of English ?'' By way of remuneration , the colony is to find the youth in everything , and give him opportunities of perfecting himself in French . Here is an opening ! but M . Cahet warns applicants that they must apply by writing first , and not join the colony till they receive an invitation .
Jblackwood, As The First Of The Septembe...
JBlackwood , as the first of the September magazines that has come to hand , may be noticed by itself this week . It is an average number , rather deficient in the literary department . There is a paper on the " Spanish Revolution , " in continuation of the pi * cvious papers on Spanish politics which have appeared in the magazine , and by the same hand , but not so interesting . An article entitled " The Crystal Palace , " is a vehement attack on . the notion now gaining ground that the ancient Greek statues and sculptures were painted ; Mr . Owen Jones , as the author of An Apology for the Colouring of the Greek Court , being singled out as the representative of this notion . In tlxo initials J . I , B . appended to Jiellerophon , a Classical Ballad—a poem of aome length—experienced readers will detect Professor Blackie , the author of the Metrical Translation of JEscMjhis . But the lightest and likeliest to be popular article in the number is a slashing , yet good-humoured one , by a hand that will be recognised , on Mrs . Sxowm ' s Sunny Memories , The writer banters the famous novelist in a somewhat free strain throughout 1 but on the subject of her literary tastes and preferences he is mute severe . He
says : — " Interspersed with tho actuiil narrative , uro commentaries , or ruthor criticisms , upon art and literature , which , for the mho of tlio authoress , wo could wish omitted . Hqr taste , upon nil subjects of tho kind , is eitliojr wholly uncultivated or radically bud—indeed it would bo absolutely cruel to quote her observations on tho works of tho old musters . In literature , she prefers Dr . Watts , as a , poot , to Drydon , and has tho calm temerity to proceed to quotation- 3 ho says , ' For instance , take these lines : — " Wide ns his vast dominion lies Let tho Creator ' s nnmo bo known ; Loud as his thunder shout his praise , And sound it lofty as his throne .
Spoulc of tho wonders of tlmt lovo Which Qahr ' ml plays on every chord , From all below and ivll above Loud lialk'lujulia to tho Lord . " n " Mr ' '' ^ i . ftB n B P ccuncn of harmonious versification , / would place this paraphrase by JJr . Watts above cverythinsr in the Jinylish lunyuayo . not oven excepting Popc'a Mossmh' 111 WneroiiB , to anyone possessing n common ear , tho lines xnuat runic ns absolute doggrol , and tno mcaa which thoy convoy aro common -plnco and wretchedly expressed . Elacwhorc , hIiq 8 fty i c 7 ~ 1 lcortmnlv do not worship tho old Encliali pools . With the exception , of Milton ana bliftkospoarQ , thoro is more poetry in tho works of tho writers of tho last My years pmn in all the . rest together . ' Wo wonder if she over read a lino of Ohaucor or of Spenser . not to sponk of Popo and » rydon . But bIio objects even to Milton . Horo ia a piece ol criticism whioh wo defy the world to match s— There is a coldnosa about all Mo tusoioua exuoercmct of Mtlton , like tho wind that blows from tho glaciers across these flowory
valleys . How serene his angels in their adamantine virtue ! yet what sinning , suffering soul could find sympathy in them ? The utter want of sympathy for the fallen angels , in the whole celestial circle , is shoclcing . Satan is the only one who weeps " For millions of spirits for his faults amerced , And from eternal splendours flung—" " ' God does not care , nor his angels . ' Our readers , we hope , will understand why we leave this passage without comment . But it may be wortli while to show them the sort of poetry ( beyond Watts ) which Mrs . Stowe does admire , and she favours us with the following as a ' beautiful aspiration' from an American poet of the name of Lowell : — " ' Surely the wiser time shall come When this fine overplus of might , No longer sullen , slow or dumb , Shall leap to music and to light . " In that new childhood of the world , Life of itself shall dance and play , Fresh Hood through Time ' s shrank veins be hurled , And labour meet delight half way . '
" Beautiful aspirations—lovely lines ! "Why—they are absolute nonsense ; and the mere silent reading of them has set our teeth on edge . Try to recite them , and you are inevitably booked for a catarrh ! In like manner she refers to some rubbish of Mr . Whittier , an American xb y mer , as a ' beautiful ballad , called ¦ " Barclay of Ury . '" We have a distinct ^ recollection of having xead that ballad some years ago , and of our impression that it was incomparably the worst which we ever encountered ; though , if a naked sword were at this moment to be presented to our throat , we could depone nothing further than that ' rising in a fury , ' rhyrned to « Barclay of Ury ; ' and also , that ' frowning very darkly , ' cbimed in to the name of' Barclay . ' Bat it was woeful stuff ; and it lingers in our memory solely by reason of its absurdity . "
The Spirit Of Goethe Still Rules In Weim...
The spirit of Goethe still rules in Weimar . The Duke , who is anxious to preserve the traditions of the Gpuxtj and to make Weimar contimie illustrious through literature , has started a Quarterly— Wciniarisches Vierteljahrbiich— -of which HoFftfcAxtr von Faixersleben and Dr . Schade axe the editors . Among the last literary novelties of Weimar is the publication of the letters -written by Goethe to Charlotte and her husband during the Werter period . From these letters will be seen how close Goethe kept to the actual circumstances in his novel ; very often Werter is but an extract from the letters . JERtrsAJtEM ' s lettei's— esrjecially , tne one borrowing Kestner ' s pistols—a fac-simile of ^ ^ which is given ^ -and a charming portrait of GiiAKiiOTTE herself , hel p to make this book very interesting to those who . are ' up' in German literature ; but the book wants editing and annotating to make it intelligible to the public .
In Norton's (New York} Literary^ Uazette...
In Norton's ( New York } Literary ^ uazette end Publisher's Circular , we find a list of books published in the Uiiited States between Aug . 1 and A . tig . 15 . This list , excluding reprints of , current British works and the like , contains seventeen volumes . The number of pamphlets mentioned as published in the same time in the United States is eight . In the same circular there is a list of books published in Great Britain , in the fortnight between June . 30 and July 14 . The list includes eighty-nine items . We wonder if this is a fair representation of the comparative literary activity of the two countries . In the English list , we may add , there are perhaps eight or ten items which one would presume , from the titles , to bo of some litevary interest : in the corresponding American list , judging in the same manner , there are perhaps two or three of literary , as distinct from ' useful knowledge , ' pretensions .
The Papers Announce The Death, At Ragaz,...
The papers announce the death , at Ragaz , in Switzerland , at the age of seventy-nine , of Fredebic WitiiUM Joseph Schklung , the last survivor of that famous series of German philosophers , of which Kawt , Jacobi , Herbart , Fichte , and Hegei ,, are the other chiefs . The deceased philosopher was born 17 7 5 , at Leonberg , in Wiirtemberg . He studied first at Tubingen , where he and Heqei . became intimate friends , both , being at the time very young men ; thence he went to Leipsic and Jena . At Jena he studied under
Fichte , whom he succeeeded m the chair of philosophy at that University in 1798 . In 1803 , he was transferred to Wursburg ; and in 1807 , thence to Munich , where he remained till 1841 , when he accepted a chair at Berlin . This chair he soon relinquished , and tho last years of his life have been spent in comparative seclusion . By the nature of his speculations , developed in a number of fragmentary publications , chiefly in the earlier part of his life , Scheixing ' s place in the great series of German philosophers is determined to be between Fichte and Hegei ... tlie former of whom died in 1814
and the latter in 1831 . Ivant had bequeathed two contrary tendencies to the philosophy of his countrynion— 'that towards Objective Realism , which builds all on tho supposition of a firm external reality in the universe , independent of the mind itself > and that towards Suhjoctive Idealism , which regards tho thinking mind as tho sole reality , and till tho external universe merely as so much various thought of that mind . All subsequent German philosophy has been the prosecution of 0110 or othor of these speculative directions , or tho attempt to reconcile them . Jacoiii and Heiio / MIT took tho realistic side ; and tho energies of the lattev philosopher , in particular , woro
directed against those who developed Kant ' s system to its later idealistic extremes . Of these Fxchte waa tho first mid most thoroug h-going . Kojocting the notion , as Kant had been oontout to Ioiiyo it , of the External Universe and the knowing mind , the Non-Jtyo and tho Ego , ns two co-ordinato substancos , out of whose action on each other all thought ia bred , Fioutb maintained that all emanates from tho Etjo , and , in fiict , that tho universe is nothing hut thought . Out of this Amduniontn ! notion , ho evolved an oxteusivo and very powerful philosophy . Towards fcho end of his philosophical career , however , he began to feel uncomfortable in his doctnno of pure or absolute Idealism—which led , ns ho saw , to tho pit of aheor Nihilism—and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 2, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02091854/page/13/
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