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December 10, 1853.] THE LEADER. 1195
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THE HOPE OF THE FAMILY. When I was on th...
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THE THIRST FOB GOLD. A real Adelphi piec...
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MONT BLANC. That most convenient of auth...
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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[The Jesuit Who Appears In This Dialogue...
tern worthy of the name . What can be the meaning of morality , if not utility , to one who professes ignorance of the soul ' s antecedents and destiny ? Protestants have done more mischief by their ethical systems , concocted apart from revelation , than by any other of their rationalistic vagaries . " What is the use of , talking about thelaw of your nature when you haven ' t an ontology ? What is the soul P What the law ? Why should the soul obey ? Where did its subjection begin ? What are the advantages of the law ? What its terrors ? Back through the past and into the future , lost alike in prospect and retrospect , extend the vast fields of
etnicai investigation I But man cannot , of himself , solve these problems : he cannot say whence evil and sin came , or whether it be evil or sin . Yet these are questions that outlie ethics : he must answer them if he would pass on to a scheme of moral government ; not answering them his rise shall never be above the level of the coldest and most calculating utility . Conscience ! pooh , pooh ! Where did you get your conscience ? Give back to the Church what you took from her , and then we will proceed to consider your case . Conscience is another rebel from the Church , as hard to deal with as reason itself . I tell you , when you join us , that you must give up your senses , your reason , and your conscience , to boot . Could anything be more reasonable , —I speak to you as without the pale , —than that the Church , which gave consciences to its members , should be the keeper of their consciences ? If man had not fallen , his reason , moral sense , and other senses , would have sufficed for him ; but by the fall he lost the secret of their use , of which the Church is now the sole
repository . JNot rational , then , but fond of a reason ; not conscious , but conceited ; not conscientious , but daringly unscrupulous ; not sensible , but the plaything of sensation ; not willing , but wilful ; man tends to go farther from the truth and from his fellows , the more he presumes to act for himself . ' " You doubt my position , and yet you illustrate it ! Very well . Let me tell you a story , which I remember to have read , of an opulent Dutchman , who lived and died in the sixteenth century . Meinheer , one day , gave a dinner , at his house in Amsterdam / to a select comoanv of
gentlemen , among whom were Signor Petro Papa , lord of the bedchamber to a foreign prince ; Martinus Lutherus , a German ; and Joannes Calvinus , a citizen of Geneva . Behind these illustrious guests stood Socinus , Molina , Jansenms , Pelagius , John Knox , Whitfield , John Wesley ; an Irvingite , a Moravian , a Quaker , a ^ Jumper ., a Shaker , a Swedenborgian ; a New Light , an Old Light , a Morisonian , Agapcemonite , and Latter-day Saint ; besides many others not mentioned in the Dutch manuscript which records the story . In due course , one-half of an excellent chees e , whose plane edge was as smooth as glass , was placed on its convex surface on the table . I must tell you , before proceeding further , that a Dutchman hates nothing so much as to havtf his cheese duar into , like a
Cheshire cheese m an English tavern . His guests , however , had no such ideas of deformity . Petro Papa , drawing the cheese near him , prepared to cut it , but first favoured the company with a story about his master the Prince . While he was speaking , Lutherus , becoming impatient , pulled the cheese out of his hand , and scooped a large piece from its centre ; and Calvinus , striking offa portion from the right corner , conveyed it to his plate . But to the infinite astonishment of their masters , the servants now advanced from behind the chairs , and , seizing knives , assailed the poor cheese so furiously , that Meinheer , in disgust , snatched it up , and flung it out of the window , where a beggar who was passing found it , and took it home to his family .
" Ihe confusion produced by the unseemly behaviour of the servants would not soon have subsided , had not Lutherus , damning the attendants for a pack ofvarlets , driven them with kicks and curses from the room . When the glasses were produced , and the bottles set on the table , Petro Papa , pleading the urgency of his master ' s affairs , and the sudden recollection of an engagement , withdrew from the party . Lutherus then amused Meinheer by reporting an odd conversation which he had with the devil whilst ho sat in the little house ; and Calvinus gave a comical account of the frizzling of one Servetus . Our host sang a jolly song about " right good fellows / " in the chorus of which his illustrious guests joined heartily . When they got drunk , he showed them down stairs , and they parted in the dark street in perfect good humour with each other . "
December 10, 1853.] The Leader. 1195
December 10 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1195
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The Hope Of The Family. When I Was On Th...
THE HOPE OF THE FAMILY . When I was on the Gold Coast I mot a boy so very unlike me in general appearance , that bad not considerations- of geography ( and my own strict morals ) rendered tho belief absurd , I should have believed ( hat there before mo stood a son of mine—an indirect heir—an " accident" -an "Oat , " in short ( that in , on the supposition of my having sown any wild oats !) . On interrogating thus hoy . 1 found ho was what Mth . Slipslop calls a " fondling ; " a party without pnronl . H . j Co seemed to grieve Homowhat over this obscurity , but I . quoted tho remark of tho French ¦
Hugo— " One iH always tho son of Homebody—on cst loiijoitrs lr jits do * X" < ' fqw ' tin ¦ : cela console ; " which romiirk seemed to him profound . " Ono is always tho son of Homebody ; but , happily , one ih not nlwayH the hither of somebody . I congratulate myself in ranging under that category every timo 1 wee my friends revelling in tho '' blessings of boyn . " Ilowovor , if one has a hoy there is always the hope that he may run away ; 'whi console ! But na all human felici ' has its drawbacks , even that charm has its perils , for the boy who runs away nometimos returiiH , and soinotnries ( in novels and eomodioH ) is replaced by a substitute . ThiH substitution wo observe in The Hope of the JfamUij . . Poor Sir IViUUtm . Melville him an omnibuH cad palmed upon him an his own non , and in not ]> roud of his offspring . But then , an I always say , if men will have sons , ) y » y ( hoir blood be on their own heads ! After ail , an oinnibuN cad , avhen ¦ "Hokstone ia that cad , may not he less a blessing than the veal Simon
Pure ; and so if you please , we will see how Sir William enjoys his paternity . Understand , then , that Sir William j j No , I will , not tell the story ; it isn't amusing and it ' s Very old . Goand see it m the comedy ( which is not , a comedy ) , for that is amusing in spite of all its faults . When I sav ' it is amusing , I mean Buckstoue is so , i ^ d as the piece rests on his shoulders , the result is that one laughs without allowing criticism to disturb enjoyment . &
The Thirst Fob Gold. A Real Adelphi Piec...
THE THIRST FOB GOLD . A real Adelphi piece—a genuine " Adelphi hit "—a long melodrame , full of fun and terror , spectacle and story , moving incidents ° and strongly marked characters , is this Thirst for Gold , which they are now playing at the Adelphi , and at the Ambigu under the title of La priere des Naufrages . It is in five acts , and all varied . Act one passes on board ship . There we have Keeley as a " tar , " reared at Putney , and representin ° - a sort of comic providence ; Webster as a cool , quiet , calculating villain , a fatalist and a mammon-worshipper ; Madame Celeste as the mother of ' a little girl , and wife of the ship ' s captain ( Selby . ) Webster , who has intimations of the gold mines , gains over the crew to mutiny . The captain , wife , and child are put into the yawl , and sent adrift on " the ocean wave . " Act 2 gives us a glimpse of the result . The captain , -wife and child , with the tar whose presence is ( melodramatically ) requisite for the purpose of enlivening the scene with " funny" passages , are discovered shut up in the ice . This act is the spectacular effect . I regret that melodramatic exigencies before alluded to should have dragged the comic element into this scene , thus depriving it of its real terror ; but the scene is a good one nevertheless , and when , after enduring the icy horrors of the place , these wretched creatures are seen on the blocks of melting ice—when they are seen separated thus , and finally engulfed by the seat leaving the little child alone upon a block of ice , praying as she kneels there tossed about by the mad waves , the effect is tremendous , and the house shakes with applause .
Act 3 passes in Mexico . Webster has become the Marquis Darbes , possessor of untold wealth . He has reached the goal of his ambition . All traces of his guilt are destroyed : at least he thinks so . But the child whom we saw kneeling- on the block of ice when the curtain descended , now appears as Ogarita , a young- Indian girl . We have never a doubt of her identity , and we foresee the drame , which is to be developed in acts four and five in Paris . And a very interesting drame it is ; but I shall say no more of it . Enough if , while recording the interest of the piece , mention be made of the costumes and getting and the acting f WebsterXeelevand wovuuiio wim gciuu ^ \
up , o . . . u ^ , iiy , uuu iue acting oi vv euscer , j . eeiey , ana Madame Celeste . The last named had a long and arduous part . She never played better . Her Indian girl brought out her well known pantomimic qualities ; her semi-civilized girl of the fourth act was both picturesque and effective ; her grande dame of the fifth act was cold , terrible , viperine . The scene wherein her vengeance is consummated was played with immense effect ; the look with which she turns tipon Darbes , when he lovingly twines his arm round her waist , and she pours forth her pent-up hate , and triumphs in her revenge , could have been done by no one else . Vivian .
Mont Blanc. That Most Convenient Of Auth...
MONT BLANC . That most convenient of authorities , a morning contemporary , in forestalling our announcement that Albert Smith has re-commenced his " Ascent of Mont Blanc , " mentions that the entertainment haa become a national institution . The third season begins , indeed , with as much crowding , expectancy , surmise , surprise , and gratification , as if- it were the first . There have been important changes and additions , which will help to sustain the renewed interest . Most of the scenery is new ; and never were genus of Beverley so worthily and effectively set . In place of decoration , there is the entire adaptation of a Bernese village , or at least a great part of one . Tho balconies for spectators are the quaint pinewood balconies of real Swiss dwellings ; and private-box occupants look out of window
. All this , of course , gives a charming air of reality to the views , which arc seen through a natural perspective of gables , rocks , heaths , and a stream , wherein a mill-wheel patters to most refreshing music . The same fountains dance tho same defiance to Marlborough-IIouso principles of taste ; and gas jets continue to grow , with mini Jar boldness , in transparent flower-pots . In the entertainment itself a considerable change has been made . Wo arc taken by a different route to Chamouni , so that the first part is quite new . The iihine bridge at Basle is tlio opening scene ; Basle having been reached by a rapidly descriptive process , through or past Boulogne , Amiens , Paris , Epernay , and Strasburg . A pretty glimpse of Zurich , with scarcely enough of the lake , is the next picture ; and men we get the grand burst from the lii
ghi ICuhn , looking over the valley of (* oldau to the Jiossberg . Sonic old friends begin to turn up here ; Mr . Parker , the undecided , formerly of Cairo , and tho man who played the tin trumpet on the Alexandrian boat are among ( hem . At intci'lakc-ii wo find more old friends ; and we uiako acquaintance , at the Wen gem Alp Inn , with a man who is rather worth knowing . This is a rapid traveller , who tells you , in a , high pressure song , how to hoc Chainouni , Pompeii , Naples , Vesuvius , and Paris in Josh than a fortnight . Tho song in a marvel of patter-Hinging , quite as astonishing as Charles Matliows ' s " When a man travels ; " and it finishes off the firnt part with akind of fizz . The awent ; , occupying another division , has been suflioiontly curtailed to admit tho Rupor-position of a third part , winch , like the first , is entirely now . Kven those now familiar terrors of the ascent have been rendered
more vivid , apparently by a complete renovation of tho artist ' s work , or by Homo considerable amount of new touching . A fresh start is made , too , from tho foot of the Brevent , whence , looking towards the Mont ilanc chain , wo have a pretty view of Chainouni . Then tho Cascade dos Pe'lerinH is hooii from a more removed ground than formerly , tho viow now taking in tho chalet ; and forest of the P < $ lori » 8 . Uu to the Glacier den ]) o » sons , in pliort , all appears to us
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1853, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10121853/page/19/
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