On this page
-
Text (5)
-
Ko 463, ^ebrttary 5, 1859] THE £ E A I) ...
-
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, **
-
LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEElk
-
The Garrick Jubilee went not without its...
-
MAN AND HIS DWELLING-PLACE. Mart and his...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Ko 463, ^Ebrttary 5, 1859] The £ E A I) ...
Ko 463 , ^ ebrttary 5 , 1859 ] THE £ E A I ) E H . 171
Literature, Science, Art, **
LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ART , **
Literary Chronicle Of The Weelk
LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEElk
The Garrick Jubilee Went Not Without Its...
The Garrick Jubilee went not without its historian , neither shall the Burns' Centenary celebration . A contemporary "frae north o * Tweed" informs us that Mr : James Ballantine , of Edinburgh , is hard at work upon the task of chronicling the deeds that were done and the speeches that were spoken on the 25 th ultimo : how Willie . brewed that particular " peck o * maut , " and what Rab and Allan said when they " cam' to pree . " We trust that he will not forget to animadvert upon the evasion of the truth which they were guilty of when they claimed to have only " just a wee drappie in" their " e ' e . " In sober prose , the volume is to be published by
Messrs . A . Fullartori and Go ., and will contain an account of the Burns' Centenavy Festivals all over the world , as far as they can be gathered . The reassembling of Parliament has had a great effect in stimulating the agitators for the repeal of the paper duty to fresh exertions . A meeting was held at Exeter Hall , on Wednesday last , Mr . Milner Gibson presiding , to give an opportunity of a repetition of the old arguments , and a refutation of the old fallacies . But for the appearance of Mr . Nicliol , a printer in G / handos-street , the proceedings would have been quite unanimous . This
once more constituted , and Englishmen-will be proud to hear that- among the distinguished foreigners elected as members of the body are that eminent philologist and linguist Mr . Thomas Watts , of the British Museum library ; Sir John Bowring , Sir Henry Jtawlinson , Lord Macaulay , Babbage , Herschel , and Faraday . Another stray item of foreign gossip is that the Count de Montalembert has caused two silver statuettes of Cicero and Demosthenes to be made for the purpose of presenting them to the advocates who defended him . Both in conception and execution this idea is thoroughly French . Our Paris intelligence does not bring us news of any important work having appeared during the week .
The obituary includes the name of Charles Phillips , the late Commissioner of the Insolvent Court , who died in- the seventy-second year of his age .. He was the friend and biographer of Curran , and did good service to literature by treasuring up and recording many a bright and wise saying that fell from the lips of the brilliant Irishman . Phillips was to some extent an unfortunate man—for his opening prospects at the bar were bright , and yet he died a Commissioner in Portugal-street . His practice was mainly at the criminal bar , and he had the misfortune to awaken public indignation by Iris conduct at the trial of Courvoisier , when he endeavoured to save his client by insinuating the guilt upon another person , a dodge held to be quite permissible among the members of the profession .
gentleman appears to be quite as inimical to the repeal of the duty as Mr . Bohn is , though the object of his taking that view is not quite so apparent as in the case of the latter . As the season seems fitting , it : may be as well to drop a hint to our contemporaries , that to all but one or two papers irr the country , the question of the repeal of this duty will shortly be , without any hyperbole , vital . With the peniiy press the repeal is simply a matter-of life and death , and some of the dear daily papers know this so well that , although they , dare not throw in the weight of their opinions openly , they never miss an opportunity of throwing cold water upon it
when the time arrives . The" cant that the consumer will not profit by the repeal , because you cannot reduce the price of a newspaper by the fraction of a farthing , may be very special , but it is also very false , and cannot be too loudly exposed . The principles of trade have long . since demonstrated that , wherever a duty is removed , competition compels that the consumer , aud not the seller , gets the benefit of it . Nor will this principle be falsified in this instance . Wherever the price can bo : lowered pro ruia with the duty it will be so ; but when ; that is impossible , the aggregate sum paid yearly will be spent in improving the value of the article in other respects . Suppose , for example , that the proprietors of the daily penny papers are relieved from the burden of some five thousand
pounds , hitherto paid in duty , what arc they to do with it P Each man would of course prefer to put it into his own pocket j but competition steps in and compels him to spend it in trying to excel his neighbours . In . every sense , therefore , the public inust be gainers by the repeal of a tax which has boBBu very fitly termed " a tax upon knowledge , " Not many remarkable books have issued from the press' this week : that by Lord Campbell upon the legal acquirements of Shakspcaro is perhaps the most rpmarkablc , though that is but an inconclusive attempt to prove that the immortal bard was once an attorney ' s hack elerk . Captain Mayno Reid ' s new novel , Owen Meredith ' s now poem , and the . ftov .. Alfred H . New ' s glorification of Selina , Countess of Huntingdon , under the eccentric tillo
o £ " The Coronet and the Cross , "—and what more remains to . be recorded ? Wo arc glad to perceive that the shade of doubt "winch rosted upon Mrs . Elliott ' s journal has been removed by Mr . Bentlqy ' s explanation that h * c purchased tho manusoript of Misa Bontinok ,, the grandaftugUtor . of Mrs . Elliott . This , of course , explains tno wholb mystery j but the noxt question is whother tho young lady was aware of tho contents of the > packet before sno consented to make a markot ot her grandnni ' s oharaotor . ^ Aatriotio . Hungarians nifty bewail tho death of fwngawau nationality and tho oppression of tho House- of H » apsburg , but scholars will bo glad to uew that the once famous Magyar Tudomanyos ^ Jinawni ai or Hungarian National Aoadomy , is
Man And His Dwelling-Place. Mart And His...
MAN AND HIS DWELLING-PLACE . Mart and his Dwelling-Place , An Essay towards the Interpretation of Nature . J . Wi Parker and Son . Hypotheses have been rightly esteemed the halfway houses on the road to truth . During the earlier stages of our scientific progress , we for a while rest at them , but still leave them behind us as we pursue our journey . One of the first of these in which we are fain to rest while in our philosop hical novitiate is , that the world and the things in it arc what they appear . This is an opinion which even the present age will not willingly quit ; a prejudice which but few will permit to be eradicated . It
has served its turn , however , and must depart . Scientific intelligence will no longer admit its validity . Our anonymous essayist , therefore , elects to maintain briefly a certain position as proper to'the present stage of our progress—namely , that " the study of Nature leads to the conclusion that there is a defectiveness in man which modifies his perception ; " and " that the universe is not truly correspondent to his impressions , but is of a far more perfect and higher kind . " The author proceeds to illustrate this position by showing that , though Nature is apparently inert , she is not actually so . The history of science is , accordingly , an attempt to understand the universe
on the supposition that the inertness ( or defect ) exists m Nature ; but the attempt leads to the result of transferring the defect from Nature to human perception . Man , in his present condition , wants life . The true life of man is of another kind —it corresponds to true absolute being , his true relations to wbioh have to bo restored . Nature , therefore , in herself is not inert , or physioal , but spiritual . " In other words , there is not a physical world and a spiritual world bosides , but the spiritual world winch alone is ,, is physical to man ; the physioal being the mode hi winch man by his defectivonoss , perceives tho spiritual . " Wo deal with tho phenomena , not with the fact
of . being ; wo appear at rest ; in relation to the objects around us , but we , like thorn , arc reall y in motion . Hence illusion , error , and fnlso conclusion . Soicnco has boon lately occupied in dispersing these consequences by exposing thoir causes . It has been dovotcd to physioal research . Scientific men have " stretched forth their hands unto tho Infinite , " Tho truths of modern soionco will not readily blond with tho conceptions previously formed of Mature . Freedom is demanded instead of that riooesslty bv whioh Nature lias boon supposod to be governed . What Bays Hurnboldt in , his Cosmos ? «* Naturo is tho domain of liberty , " To whioh our author adds , that " tho cUscordanco of our stato with the aspira *
tions and unquenchable assertions of our soul is felt but not understood . It is want of life in man under wbieh we labour that makes the universe physical to us , and subjects us to the tyranny of inert necessities . For Nature is not as we feel it . Thus do we perceive and feel another different fact , thus to feel it not for ever . Life is to be given to man , a life whereby , being more , he shall feel more truly . The instincts which assert for man a truer , worthier being , may assume a loftier tone . Science is their friend and servant , hot their enemy ; revealing deadness in respect to man , it explains the mystery of his present state , adds emphasis to the prophecy
of a different future . Man shall be made alive ; altered not in . circumstances , but in himself . The physical testifies of the spiritual ; the dead , defective world , of which we are conscious , tells us of man , of his deadness , of his need to be made more . ' * We have thus thoroughly expounded the theory of this anonymous author , and in this manner , have done more real service than if we had opposed , instead of explaining , his notion . It is enough that the reader is enabled to do this for himself . The object of books like the present is that , proceeding from thinking men , they cause the reader to think also : whether differently or not is a matter of less
moment . That , in the physical , we are in communion with , a spiritual world which it symbolises , is in accordance with the . dynamic doctrines that now prevail . According to theni , we are related to living forces . The universe is full of glory and beauty , full of activities , full of influences , with which we naturally sympathise . Affection and imagination are once more . united to scientific experiment .. The product * too , has an objective value ; " the tenderness and awe -which move" us , > are not merely " subjective enchantments . " And what is there needed in us in order perfectly to understand such truths as those which our author would teach ? The power of abstraction . . He has ,, with a curious felicity , illustrated it by a reference
to the stereoscope : — If when we look through a stereoscope , it is said , to us that , the object is double , we might reply in the same way , " How can that which I see be said to . be double ? It is single . " True ; it is riot that which is consciously present to our perception that is spoken of , but the object which causes us to have such perception , andto think aright of which we must remember the subjective laws of vision . We correct our perception , as it were , by withdrawing ( or abstracting ) pur eye from the stereoscope . So we must mentally withdraw ( ox abstract ) our Not of thai
eye to judge of the trne reality of Nature . ? which is consciously present to our perception , but of that which truly is , we want to learn . Considering the subtle reasoning involved in the argument of the present essay , the style is singularly clear , neat , and intelligible . A child may understand it , though only the metaphysical man can appreciate it . The author has had the advantage of the labours of . others , and placed on their elevation sees further than many , of his predecessors . Henear the novelty and originality of many of his views . His philosophy , however , is of a cheerful school , and breathes of human kindness .
Our author devotes an entire chapter to an astronomical illustration of the theory . We' now believe , he tells us , that the starry universo is infinite , or ac least inconceivably vast in its extent in spaoe . We reject with scorn the idea that it is confined within a petty sphere round the earth . Yet tho wisest of men before Copernicus could not have believed tho universe to bo as we now know if .. to be . It would have sfoemed as absurd to them to bo told that tho universe is infinite , ns it ; is to us to bo told that it is spiritual . And Why P Simply because ) they asoribed to the starry hqavons a condition which tho
belonged not to if , but to themselves . On scoro of their own feelings and perceptions , they believed Hint the heavens were moving round tho earth , and wore forced thoroforo to oonooive of them ns they are not . Moreover , " men admitted so long that the motion was in tho hoavons , because it was tacitly asauinod j attention was not directed to that question . When tho inquiry was onco distinctly raised , it couFd bo decided # only in ono way . So hnvo wo admitted so long tho inortnoss wo oortainly fool , to bo in naturo , only booauso it has boon tacitly assumed to bo so . " The question has not
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 5, 1859, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05021859/page/11/
-