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December JMJ54.] THE LEADER. im
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A BATCH OF BOOKS. A Sketch of the Rise m...
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Transcript
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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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A Venetian Embassy To England. Selection...
ders , having been seat by my master for the presents , and then on . my way home , so tbofc they let me pass , but rode after me to within a bow ' s shot distance from the walls of Calais , where I found an English aimed bark bound to London , on which I took passage wriJ * my horses , and in one day and night reacked London in safety , praised be God . I like to give you all these details that you may know what a pleasant journey I had on my way to this country . Having reached London , picture to yourself , noble brother , what a stately mission mine was ! for ,, on leaving Venice , to avoid suspicion , I took nothing with me but what ¦ was on my back—namely , two shirts , one over the other , and a certain doublet in the English fashion , all patched and moth eaten , without purse or pocket , or anything in this world : in short , on arriving hereI had to clothe myself anew from head to
, foot , as a Venetian ambassador , just as if I had only then come into the world , and pwxhasing each of . my penn ' orths for twopence . Here they manufacture , no cloths of , silk , receiving all such from Genoa , Florence , and Lucca— a most grievous and lamentable fact , fox it behoved me to take what I could get , and shut my eyes . Think what a figure 1 shall make in Venice , my neighbours' gowns being of silk , and my own of frieze . I bought everything new , at its weight in gold , at the greatest inconvenience , and worse ; for , when at Venice , I shall be unable to use my apparel , as it is all made more according to the English fashion than that of Italy . In the next place , I had to hire servants who were common thieves , not knowing whom to trust and to give you an idea of what they were , you must know that one glutton robbed me of a silver-gilt ewer , for which I paid twenty-eight ducats .
I found that the King , his present Majesty ' s father , to whom my credentials had been made out , was sick , nor could he give me audience , and a few days afterwards he died , and was succeeded by his son , about the time of the rout of the Ghiara d' Adda . I wrote to Venice , that the letter of credence was no longer valid , and that another must be sent me , the wMch did not arrive until the following month of November , so yo * i see how I should have served the state bad I waited for that ! It is well that through the English noblemen whom I had received of yore in my house at Venice ( giving them good welcome , not indeed that I ever thought at the time of going to England , but for my ovra satisfaction ) , I was introduced to this magnanimous prince , not ten days after his coronation , they having heed of my need , and exerting themselves so , that their intercession and arguments caused the King to receive my old letter , although addressed to his father . By God ' s graee he was silent on this score , and heard me so gracioiwly , that , by the favour of the Almighty , he took a liking to me immediately , owing to the good account of me given to his Majesty by my friends , and I was enabled so to influence him , that I got him to write to the Pope in favour Of our most illustrious Signory , requesting him to receive the State into favour and
take off the censures : his Majesty promising for us that we would prove most obedient sons of the Church m future . He made such efforts as succeeded ; and , in addition , sent his ambassador to Rome * who constantly took part with the Venetians , and agavast France . After this , I prevailed on him to write some letters to the King of Spain , praying his Catholic Majesty to consider the most illustrious Signory-as his ally ; and he also wrote endless letters to the Emperor , sending him an ambassador to this effect . . I also caused the King of France to be written to , to desist from the league-against the Venetians , having obtained what belonged to him in the Duchy of Milan , whereas he had no claim upon the other possessions ; and to assure him , that if he chx > se to continue in amity with . his Majesty here , he was to cease molesting the Venetians , his good friends and good Christians , defenders of the Christain faith , who had proved themselves the bulwark of Christendom , by a most immense outlay , both of blood and treasure . Upon this the King of France took offence , and answered sharply , I fanning the flame from time to time , and by letters from said Majesty quieting the Pope and the Catholic King his father-in-law ; and thus , when these powers saw the King of England well disposed towards the Venetians , they likewise
comiuuig . rope , xne impediment lay with tne Kinperor , but I -so plied the King , that he wrote to him offering to mediate and arrange every difficulty between the Signory and his Caesarian Majesty . After so much exertion , toil , and trouble , which never left me a single hour ' s happiness , nor even repose , I was seized with a malignant fever , which never left me for thirty-seven days . Thou mayst imagine how I was waited on , and by whom , and with how much kindness , during this my malady , and . who came to comfort me . I had two physicians , each of whom chose to receive a noble per diem , which is equal to a ducat and a half , and their coming was as beneficial to me as if they had stayed away , and when I had completed : my thirty-seven days' fever in bed , the King received a reply from the Emperor , and not knowing that ^ I was so very ill , sent to tell me to come to speak with him ; so , regardless of the fever , I rose from my bed , on St . Catharine's eve , the 24 th of November , arid went to the Couirt at Greenwich , six miles distant hence , by water , though all dissuaded me from doing so , thinking it would be my death . When the King saw me , he wept for very pity at my having come it seeming to him that I had been taken out of my grave .
December Jmj54.] The Leader. Im
December JMJ 54 . ] THE LEADER . im
A Batch Of Books. A Sketch Of The Rise M...
A BATCH OF BOOKS . A Sketch of the Rise mid Progress of Christianity . By Robert William Macltay , M . A . Author of " The Progress of the Intellect , " & c . John Chapman , Village Development ., Based , on Practical Principles ; or , the Old Vicar ' s Advice . George Cox . Tlte Church and Her Destinies . By . Tames Biden . Aylott and Co . Literary Addresses , Delivered at Various Populan * Institutions . Second Series . Revised and , Corrected by the Authors , Griffin and Co . Essays on Shakspc . are and His Writings . W . Kent and Co . Anne Sokyn ; or , The Siq > i > resaio ? i of the Religious Ifozises . Saunders and Ottley . Introductory Text Baok of Geology . By David Page . Bluekwood and Sons . A Popidar History of British Mouses . By Robert M . Stark . Lovoll Roevo The Vicar of Wakefield , Illustrated by George Thomas . Sampson . Low and Son .
We place Mr . Mackay ' s Sketch of Hie Rise and progress of Christianity on our preaent list , "with the purpose of giving it soino immediate notice , howover short , and -with the hope of being able to I'oview it at greater length on , another ; occasion . Meanwhile , our readers may rest assured thufc this work is on evety account worthy of special and most attentive perusal . A fearlessly practical inquiry into tho causes of the progress of Christianity , and the value of the evidence on which the belief in Christina doctrines rests , is of sufficient importance to advocate its own claims irresistibly to tho attention of all thinking men . Mr . Maekay haw treated his difficult and delicate subjoct in a manner which ought to olleiid no sensible person of any sect or persuasion . He writes moderately us well as fearlessly , with the spirit of a philosopher and the candour of ivu honest man . Many people may di / lbr from somo of his deductions ( wo ourselves umoug tho number ) ; many people also may question hero and there the validity of flomo of Km
authorities ; but—always excepting the extremely credulous bigot on the one hand , and the extremely sceptical bigot on the other—no reasonable person can be offended with this book , and every tolerant person may assuredly learn something from it . Village Development is a very sensible little volume , containing some excellent advice to country clergymen on the management of their churches and the relations in which they ought to stand to their parishioners . "We heartily wish the book a wide clerical circulation , for we are convinced that it is calculated to do great good in a practical and unpretending way . As to Mr . Biden ' s small rhapsody about The Church and Her Destinies , when we have stated that the author has a theological hobby of his own about the ' new Jerusalem , " which leads him into " expounding" from the Bevelattons , and going the whole hog , in an explanator y way . with the Pmnhate .
our readers will probably not care to know more about Mr . Biden and his opinions . However , he shall state his position for the benefit of any persons of an argumentative tendency . « The Holy City , " he writes , in his first paragraph , " the new Jerusalem , described by St . John , has , by divines , been said to be a figure to represent the Church triumphant in heaven . I declare it to be a figure to describe the Church on earth . " If any readers want to argue on this extraordinarily important topic with . Mr . Biden , there is the raw material of dispute for them , to begin upon . The Second Series of Messrs . Griffin ' s collection of speeches by famous modern orators only requires from us an announcement . The present volume contains Literary Addresses , delivered by popular men at popular institutions , and corrected for publication by the speakers' own pens Speeches by Sir Buhver Lytton , Mr . Cobden , Lord John Russell , Mr ! Macaulay , Lord Brougham , Sir Robert Peel , Professor Masson ., and other eminent and honourable gentlemen , fill the pages of this last new book of British Eloquenee- ~ vihic \ i , we may add , is portable in size and very carefully and clearly printed .
It is said , and quite truly , that " everybody turns author now . " Everybody nmst , of course , mean the -whole population , and that necessarily includes a certain sprinkling of insane persons . Of book-writing maniacs we have two specimens this week , so inveterately rabid as to exhibit not the faintest glimpse of a " lucid interval" of any kind . More nonsense has probably "been ^ written about Shakspeare than about any other man who ever lived—but in the lowest depth of literary imbecility there is always a lower deep still ; and the gentleman who has produced the last book on Shakspeare appears to have reached it . We had no room to place his whole title at the head of this notice ; but we -will try and copy it now . Here it is , literally : — " Time and Truth Reconciling the Moral and Reliaious World
to bhakspeare ; the greatest Poet and Dramatist , the greatest Moral Philosopher and Philanthropist that ever lived in the tide of times : -whose greatness , like an Alpine avalanche , continues increasing and increasing and increasing , as the wonderful revelations of his overwhelming Genius roll down the steep of time ! " There is a nice short name of a new book to mention at the libraries ! The main delusion under which the unfortunate author of this astounding title labours , is , that Shakspeare is generally underrated by the public and the majority of the critics . He ( the unfortunate author )' is also insane to a great degree on the subject of spelling , being desirous to alter English orthography in many absurdly useless ways , and feeling enraged with the printers for their unwillingness to help him . Upon the whole , he strikes us as one of the most dangerous literary lunatics at Iar ^ e whom we have ever encountered .
The second insane writer on our list gives us a story about Anne JBoleyn , He ( or she ) raves less loudly , but gabbles faster , in a grinning , conceited way , than our unfortunate Shakspearian friend . This is , for example , the manner in which the delirious author of Anne Boleyn introduces himself ( or herself , as we are inclined to suspect ) to the reader : — - ... I do profess ignorance o £ myself . I can judg « others much better than I can determine me ( sic ) , t defy my own scrutiny . Therefore my readers must not expect me to explain myself . But—pass we on ; pass we on . I am no scholar . I oin no historian noc antiquarian . I am next to nothing . I urn . myself . Nevertheless , feeling deeply upon a subject , I have thought I might write heartily—Timo will toll . There are many—how many !—books published annually , and I suppose the authors make fame or ponce of them . Why may not I ? To write as the many , is but a modest , a very modest desire , one that I care not to follow . I despise the many . The many is a mob . I wouM bo a leader . Could I not be something , I would bo nothing . Th « many ! away . The few for me—and I one of them .
There is moro to tho same purpose—but one such specimon of absolute nonsense as the foregoing is enough for quotation . Seriously , wo are astonished that Messrs . Saundors and Ottley should trlile ( to say the least of it ) with their reputation in " the trade , " by publishing , on . any terms whatever , such utterly discreditable trash as Anne Boleyn . It is pleasant to get back into the clear atmosphere of Science , and to bo able to inform our readers of tho publication of two useful books . Tho Introductory Text-Book of Geology really performs the promise of its titlepage . Tho science is most carefully made clear for beginners , and tho volume is published at a commondixbly cheap rate . Mr . Stork ' s History of British Mosses is also intended for tho widest popular circulation ; and attracts tho botanical student by a profusion of very carefully and beautifully-coloured illustrations . This work is further recommended by an Index ;
and Glossary—it is excellently printed—and ( not the least important in its list of merits ) the young Botanist eau carry it about with him . in his walks as a volume for the pocket . Tho ouly book leit on our list is that swootost , simplest , most inexhaustibly delightful of all stories—tlie Vicar of Wakefkld . Tho present edition of one of tho few fictions which can never ho out of duto , roiidica uh from Messrs . Sampson , Low , and Sou , and is really n beautiful gift-book for the approaching gift-season . It is excellently printed in the old stylo , on paper of tho pleasant old-fashioned hue ami thickness ; contains Huvorul clever illustrations by Mr . George Thoums ; find i » hound in the moat indeatructibly thick gilded covers . Poor artless Goldsmith himself ^ looked not gayer and smarter in the famous " blooin-coluurou coat , " than hia immortal work now looks in the lust new Christinas dread provided for it .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 9, 1854, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09121854/page/19/
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