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No. 420, April 10, 1858.] TEELEADEB, 353
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JANSENISM IN HOLLAND. A History of the s...
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LETTERS FROM SPAIN. Letters from Spain i...
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MR. HAY WARD'S ESSAYS. Biographical and ...
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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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New Novels. The Itethenoooch Of Otterpoo...
- fin" among distant glades , and the far-reaching farms with heavy rentals SP Artainine pass from under his feet , and he becomes a wanderer without ^ Inheritance . All is not so trite in the novel as this beginning would nhr but when is the parental curse to be counted among the obsoletisms of mince ? When is the circulating library subscriber to part with the hard « n who will not hear mention of his ungrateful scion ' s name , although an Tnbidden tear marks the inward struggle ? When will the tall , fair-haired , m ^ rilv but gentle youth grow reasonable and leave off sacrificing vast fortunes to an inconsiderate affection ? Should the fashion ever change , should no velists cease to work upon the antique pattern , the originator of anew scheme would deserve monumental honours ; but it is surprising that the human imagination withall its pinions should so seldom rise beyond conventionalities which must have tired the last century , for it may be supposed that the sin entails its own punishment , and that readers become few because entertainment becomes rare . The Nethencoods of Oiterpool as a novel is one of an extremely large class , not worse than its contemporaries but not better , inas much as , though well-written and exhibiting some knowledge of human character , its fable is one of the most musty order . After the first volume we find some experiments at originality ; but the general conception is
oldfashioned and feeble . „ ., . , The Old Palace . By Julia Tilt , Author of ' May Hamilton and ' Laura Talbot . ' 2 vols . ( Bentley . )—Miss Tilt takes us back to the old days when Hammersmith was distant and rural , when ladies wore polonaises , white beaver hats , feathers , and Flanders veils , when lute-string was in vogue , when ' St . James ' s-street was not disgraced by filthy cabs or disfigured by hired broughams . ' Then , in St . James ' s Palace , the King st ood and kissed the little heroine of Miss Tilt ' s history , and he was a handsome fellow ' in a grand uniform' with ' clusters of jewels upon his sword hilt . ' Then Queen Charlotte walked through the apartments in state in advance of her ' magnifice nt train of so ns and daughters , then in the very zenith of their youth and beauty ; ' through these courtly scenes , and among these royal personages the romance unwinds , there being a mystery in the connexion of Theresa , the heroine , with his Majesty , one of the Georges- Miss Tilt has contrived her novel ingeniously , and leaves the beaten track in favour of a generation and of manners not very frequently illustrated in our days .
What you Will : an Irregular Romance . ( J . W . Parker . )—This onevolume story is full of cleverness and character . The incidents are not numerous , and one , constituting a sort of turning point , is nothing more than a commonplace ; but the writing is natural and pointed , the illustrations of human nature are vivid , and there are some c harming sketches of English home life . The clergyman of Acton Bars is an admirable portrait , somewhat in Mr . Anthony Trollope ' s style ; but the best part of the narrative is described in the table of contents as " The winding-up of the thread ;" it is most tenderly conceived and most touchingly developed .
No. 420, April 10, 1858.] Teeleadeb, 353
No . 420 , April 10 , 1858 . ] TEELEADEB , 353
Jansenism In Holland. A History Of The S...
JANSENISM IN HOLLAND . A History of the so-called Jansenist Church of Holland . With a Sketch of its Earlier Annals and some Account of the Brothers of the Common Life . By the Rev . J . M . Neale , M . A . Parker and Co . The Jansenists of France have not been wanting in historians to perpetuate the narrative of their faith and sufferings , self-inflicted , or otherwise . But that schis matic section which exists in Holland and has its chief seat at Utrecht has not been so well described ; in fact , little is really known of it . Accordingly , to enlighten the students of ecclesiastical history more fully on the subject , Mr . Meale has been engaged since the year 1851 in hunting up old dusty chronicles and . mouldering records , examining into their contents , holding personal and written communications with officials likely to be the guardians of heredi tary traditions relating to it , and in producing a work which should elucidate the origin , development , and trials of the so-called Jansenist Church of Holland . He has also given an interesting account of the Brothers of the Common Life .
In fact , to the founders of this ascetic community should be properly traced the formation of that independence which eventually made the Church of Holland so conspicuous , and broug ht on it the merciless hatred of the Jesuits . To the personal merits and influence of Jansenius hus been ascribed the creation of a new schism ; and throughout France the number of persons who assumed his name and imbibed his doctrines was very great ; but the historian sees in the religious excitement created by the Bishop of Ypres only a revival of that religious ferment which was originally stimulated by Gcert Grooto and Florio liadewijnzoon , whoso lives and characters are well described in the present volume . We may regard these illustrious religionists , indeed , as the Luthcrs of the ante-reformation age , since they protested against the cruelty , the tyranny , and the wickedness of their contemporaries with unflinching zeal . Judging them , too , by their doctrines , we find them proclaiming the same dogmas as at ji suliseauent noriod influenced the lives und conduct of St . Cyrnn , bt .
Vincent do Paul , und , to a certain extent , Blaise Pascal . St . Augustine was their great authority , and his ideas on free will and predestination were received by them with the deepest veneration . Whilst , however , they continued to maintain the purity of life and manners prescribed by the regulations of their order , and aa long as the members of the Church of Utrecht were equally impressed with the necessity of conforming themselves to a strict moral code , the danger of the Calvinism preached did not at first appear . Eventually , it led to the worst results of fatalism , and being grafted on superstition equalled in enormity tho worship of Moloch . In Franco it operated in the most disgusting forms ; and the stories related of the Convul-T 3 lonisfr-nro 7 ~ iTcrhapsr ^ minds of tho ignovuut wrought tho most horrible enormities . This principnl theatru of these scones was tho cemetery of St . Mcdard , To this spot men and women resorted in large numbers . There they worked themselves up
to tho highest pitch of fanaticism \ they leaped wildly about , they ioamod at tho mouth , they tore Lhoir hair and clothing , they sobbed , groaned , bectime hysterical , and throw themselves into tho moat frightful contortions and convulsions . Sometimes a hundred of those Western devotees would be viotinwtizing themselves nt tho smne time . Tho spectacle was in every way
revolting ; and the King at length ordered the burial-ground to be closed . Hence the epigram : — De par le roi , defense & Dieu De faire miracles en ce lieu . This was , however , but the signal- for these fanatics to disperse over the country , and to plunge still more deeply into the excesses of religious madness . Of these unhappy Convulsionists , almost always women , some caused themselves to be publicly scourged , some threw themselves into water and barked liked dogs , some took upon themselves to confess men , till at length
one poor girl was actually persuaded to be crucified . This was on the Good Friday , 1758—exactly a century ago ; and the spectacle was more than once repeated . . , . Mr . Neale has collected a great deal of information on the history of this community , and has reduced it into chronological order ; and , on the whole , his work exhibits praiseworthy research and industry . He is also impartial , except occasionally , as where , for example , he alludes to the transactions of the States-General and the Prince of Orange , which he has highly coloured . However , the work will be valuable to the present student of ecclesiastical history and to any future Mosheim .
Letters From Spain. Letters From Spain I...
LETTERS FROM SPAIN . Letters from Spain in 1856 and 1857 . By John Leycester Adolphus , M . A . Murray . The wanderings of Mr . Leycester Adolphus in Spain are pleasantly described in these letters , not originally intended for publication . They extended through the most romantic provinces and cities of the Peninsula , and brought the tourist among the shadows of Granada , the lemon-scented courts of ° Alhambra , the laughing landscapes round Seville , and the time-tinted splendours that commemorate the Moorish ascendancy . Spanish travel is not altogether a luxury . It means eccentric roads , long intervals of famine , much cabbage , and infinite oil ; but it has abundant fascination for an Englishman in search of the new and the picturesque . If the towns are full of artificial exhalations , the country abounds in natural fragrance ; the men are stately and the women graceful ; and although there is something more animal than human in the masculine black Spanish eye , the ceot > le generally have an orientalized aspect , harmonious with the elaborate
arches and sun-bright roofs of the Saracen palaces . The houses , with their interior courts and decorated facades , are contrasts to the heavy uniformity of modern England , and it is a refreshment to tread on marble stairs , and over embroidered mats , and to see the sash , sombrero , and cloak , in their realities as parts of a popular costume . As the road winds horribly from Gibraltar to Ronda , white Moorish villages glitter on the height , with castles still bearing their proud Oriental names , Benarraba and Benadalid ; vine , olive , fig , and oleander pai nt the mountains green , and at Malaga the Andalusian bull rushes into his arena , exactly as in the olden times , amid lancers , red cloaks and streamers , fans , mantillas , and all the glories of Spanish fashion . Mr . Adolp hus relished these varieties of scene and incident , and transfers them to his epistolary diary so as to produce a narrative at once Alhambra his is less enthu
suggestive and entertaining . Of the description - siastic than that of many tou rists , who represent the palace as a world of fairy colour and radiance , but it is nevertheless warm , and opens up with effect the rich perspective—the vistas of marble columns " slender and white like ladies' arms , " the ranges of fretted canopies , the little enclosed paradise of myrtles and roses , with fountains flinging sparkles over them , and the story of Linderaxa haunting the entire place like a dream . At Cordova , Mr . Adolphus complains of Christian architectural innovation in the cathedral , loading the interior with a ponderously gorgeous choir , letting in the lirrht through sacrilegious windows to destroy the cryptic gloom so perfectly in unison with the masses of Moorish pillars . Of Zehra , the superb folly of the last Abdalrahman , little remains ; the gold and pearl ornaments are nnni > . tho miieksilver fountains have disappeared , the pavilions are sunk
in the same dust with the eunuchs and concubines of the seraglio . Below that dust , however , as Don Pascoval de Gazangos—employed by the Spanish Government in antiquarian researches at Cordova—informed Mr . Adolphus , the walls and rooms of the palace are probably buried . Pieces of white marble , elaborately sculptured after the arabesque fashion , have been found . The frescoed galleries of history contain no pictures more superb than those of tho Moorish rule in Spain , and it is incessantly interesting to follow the traveller who visits the sites and relics of their works , their cities , mosques , and voluptuous seclusion , shrouded within solemn , dull , and mighty walls . Mr . Adolphus , although affecting no poetical ecstasies , and though not addicted to quote Byron , enters thorouchlv into the snirit of Spanish history , and tints his pages with the grace
and freedom of an artist , without any excess of elaboration . Mis volume is li"ht and sketchy , consisting of fragments , notes , and letters , rather than of a continuous narrative , but it is throughout written with elegance , und ia altogether a very animated and amusing book for desultory reading .
Mr. Hay Ward's Essays. Biographical And ...
MR . HAY WARD'S ESSAYS . Biographical and Critical Esaays . lloprintcd from Heviewa , with Additions und Corrations . By A . Hay ward , Esq ., Q . C . 2 void . Longman and Co . Many of Mr . Hay ward ' s Essays are worth preserving . They contain , original personal reminiscences of his distinguished friends and contemporaries , und thus add to the general stock of biographical material , boino , moreover , arc all but biogruphiea in themselves , while others , a * J / ia Art o / Diuiltfh farm little manuals , pleasant , popular , and appealing to deep human synipatnies . ^ Sydney Smith , Samuel Rogers , James Smith , George Selwyn , Lord Chesterfield , Lord Melbourne , General von RmlowiU , the Countess Hahnnnhn , and Lord Eldon . That on Pierre Dupont has its peculiar interest . I ho personal subjects are classified together in the first volume . 1 he second contains , among others , Mr . Hoy ward ' s quarterly articles on Journalism m France , Parisian Morals and Manners , the Science and Literature ot Etiquette , and British Field Sports .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041858/page/17/
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