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No. 507. Dec. 10, 1859.] THE LEADER- 135...
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STORIES OF JNV-EXTOTRS AND DISCOVERERS I...
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TWO BOYS' BOOKS.
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THE WORLD OP ICE ; OR, ADVEXTUEES IN THE...
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SERIALS.
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Kingston's Magazine for Boys. (No. X.) C...
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Tho Black Danes: ANoxuiau of the ohurch-...
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MUSIC AND THE DRAMA.
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St. James's Hall.—Mondat Popular Concert...
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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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Australian Facts And Prospects : To Whic...
the rumour that an engagement had been proposed to that gentleman to come to Australia on the same term ' s , with an additional £ 1 , 000 for travelling expenses . " We are glad to learn , upon Mr . Home ' s authority , that education thrives In Australia , and that there is no difficulty in the proper instruction of a family ; though at present the youth of the colony , ¦ while precocious , are exceedingly ignorant . Mr . Home enters at large into the land-question , and the gold-question , and the other relations of colonial property ; and , in all , delivers himself with
clearness . . Notwithstanding the discouragement to which literature is subject in a new home , we cannot fail to discover that Mr . Home owes something to his literary character . It . served to introduce him to Major Chisholm , and get him at once appointed to the command of the gold-escort in 1852 . He has since held the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Fields—( 1853-4 ) . In 1855 he was a Territorial Magistrate , and lie is at this time Commissioner of the Yan Yean Water Supply . The results of his
literary knowledge and self-education ( for every literary workman is in a measure a self-educator ) , have aided him in acquiring and maintaining these different positions ; and there can be no doubt ' that lie has got such hold of the governmental influences that urge on the progress of the colony , in which he lias gained so fair a footing , that he ¦ will reap the benefit of its social improvement , and be fonnd , at no distant future , among the leading men of Australia . To that result , the present book is likely , in no slight decree , to contribute .
No. 507. Dec. 10, 1859.] The Leader- 135...
No . 507 . Dec . 10 , 1859 . ] THE LEADER- 1351
Stories Of Jnv-Extotrs And Discoverers I...
STORIES OF JNV-EXTOTRS AND DISCOVERERS IN SCIENCE AND THE USEFUL , AKT . S . A Cook for Old and Young-. By John Timbs , F . S . A . —Kent and Co . Here is indeed a rare Christmas book ! We may see upon our table many a rich quarto or octavo islet of type floating oh a sea of-vellum paper , decorated with all the fancy of the binder , and called a " Christmas Book ; " but few , we fancy , ¦ will be such a boy ' s own book—aye , and such , a man ' s own book too—as this " Stories of Inventors and Discoverers . " In a struggling a ^ c , when of folks dail ht
TALES FRO 3 I BENTL . EY . ToL 2 . —Richard Bentley . This second volume of the tales reprinted from " Bentley ' s Magazine , " contains fourteen stories , many of which , we recognise as old favorites of former times . Each of then > are well suited to beguile away the time while travelling between London and Putney .
myriads our young are being y taug the necessity of living by their wit—not in the dishonest sense— -if they would live well , and succeed early in life , we can . hardly imagine a work ¦ with a more captivating title than that before us , or a book that , when purchased , will prove of a more stimulating character . The " Stories of Inventors and Discoverers" are a number of rapid sketches , written or compiled from the best sources by the accomplished author , of the lives and triumphs of the most renowned men , who by chemical and mechanical genius have advanced the world . From the screw of Archimedes , invented 287 years before Christ ( such a one as may be seen toiling away in its primitive form at the N " e \ v Westminster Works ) , to the elegant stereoscope of Wheutstonc , brought to perfection within the last year or two , Mr . Timbs leads us smoothly and pleasantly . He stops at such interesting stations an Printing Machinery , Watches , the Marquis of Worcester , Leonardo da Vinci , Prince Rupert , the Automaton Chess -play or ( a mystery solved since we were boys ) , Babbago ' machines , Newton , Watt , Compton , Ronnie , tho Thames Tunnel , Ilorsehel , Brunei , Palissy the pottor , tho Stophensons , photography and its applications , gutta povclm , tho Groat Eastern , and many more-. These fertile thamos areof course , not abstrusely ,
, but very interestingly treated , and tho above list of them will L'ivc a better idea of what we thiukn charming book-than nil the laboured criticism in the Avorld . In his preface the author touches lightly on tho fate of " martyrs to science , " which must oxcuso our suggesting that a chapter so ontitled would have boon a fitting complement to such a stimulating mental feast . Mr . J- 1111 ] 3 ? young readers—and by tons of thousands will his modest littles book bo read—should havo presented to them , side by side with its fascinating page , that the glacis of the Walhalla thesu heroes have eaoaladed is strewn thickly with tho corpses of their unsuccessful follows , who have fluttered and died as wretchedly as can suffer and die only those who have been cursed by nature with a gift more fatal to tho majority of its possessors than that of boaxity—namely , tho faculty of invention .
Two Boys' Books.
TWO BOYS' BOOKS .
The World Op Ice ; Or, Advextuees In The...
THE WORLD OP ICE ; OR , ADVEXTUEES IN THE POLAR REGIONS . By R . M . Ballantyne , Author of " Hudson ' s Cay , " & c , & c . —T . Kelson and Sons . OUT AND ABOUT : A BOY'S ADVENTURES . Written for Boys . By Haine Fris-well , —Groonibridgc and Sons . This Christmas has produced more boys' books than any season that we remember . The Arctic regions is likely to prove a fertile theme for this class of writers ; and already we see there are three boys' books written on the subject . Mr . Ballantyne is the writer of , at least , a dozen instructive books for youth , and his present one will , we are sure , become a great favourite . The hero of " The World of Ice" is a Frederick Ellice , who went out in the Dolphin , in search of the crew of the Pole-Star , who were missing for a long time while searching for Sir John Franklin . Of course young Fred , goes through all the hardships consequent 3 to a long stay in those regions , which gives Mr . Ballantyne an opportunity of winding into his narrative all the facts that are known of the Polar Seas . From Dr . Kane and Captain Osborne he has drawn pretty freely ; and the readers of their travels will find little new in his work ; but to those who have not read the accounts of their voyages , Mr . Ballantyne ' s book will be found very interesting a'ud instructive .- The work is well illustrated . " Out and About" is a work of very much the same character , though more pretentious it would seem , as it is addressed to ' - ' . men and boy readers . " It purports to be the faithful history of Edward Paget , who , losing his parents when young , had to- fight his own way in the world . After 3 having been some little time afc a school , " Ned" goes to London , where he stays lono- enouo-h for the writer to initiate him into
the ways of London life . From thence he is transposed to the Arctic regions , where lie endures great hardships , but gathers some knowledge of the Arctic Seas and the Esquimaux . From the Arctic regions he goes to America , from there to the Prairies , then to the Feejee Islands ; from there to Persia , . and back again to England , where , in the end , he marries a pretty little girl called Lucy . From this slight sketch of the work our juvenile readers will get a very fair idea of the contents of " Out and About . " It is readable and instructing .
Serials.
SERIALS .
Kingston's Magazine For Boys. (No. X.) C...
Kingston ' s Magazine for Boys . ( No . X . ) Concludes the first volume , and is accompanied with an m DirnLiNUNivEnsiTY . ( No . COCXXIV . ) Contains an excellent article on Joseph de Maistre , a sketch of whose life is given with impartiality and talent , by tho Kov . William Alexander , A . M . " The Season Ticket " is continued , and abounds with , philosophy and humour . Tho political article is of tho usual alarmist kind , and of slender merit . Rkcukative Science . ( No . V . ) Containsi a good papor on Microscopic Geology , which will bo read with much . interest by the intelligent . The number is furnished with philosophical and scientific lnformation of the utmost utility . CoMPJREirBNSIVR HlSTORY OF ENGLAND . ( FartS XXV . and XXVI . ) Conduct us to 1784 , and tho lost commences a chapter on our civil and xnilitary hiutory in tho reign of George . III . Poetical Wouks oi ^ Thomas Moore , ( Part IX . ) Moore ' s National Aira , ( No . VII . ) Moore ' s Life of Byron , ( Parta I . and II . ) Equally do credit to tho Messrs . Longmans , and Mr . Murray , by whom they ore respectively issued . vvrx s tt Englishwoman ' s Jouunal . ( No . XXII . ) Hurt ) are ten articles of sonic interest , either ia thoir topic op trcutmont . — , . Onb oii Them . By Charlos Lever . ( "No I . ) I ins is a now illustrated tale by a celebrated author , and begins with an apology for tho title . Italian me furnishes tho mattur of tho story , which begins characteristically , and promises well .
Tho Black Danes: Anoxuiau Of The Ohurch-...
Tho Black Danes : ANoxuiau of the ohurch-iUuBtrative tales , publisheu ' by John H . and James Parker , and oxooutcd witn , ho usual talent ,
Music And The Drama.
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA .
St. James's Hall.—Mondat Popular Concert...
St . James ' s Hall . —Mondat Popular Concerts , —The directors seem bent on carrying out the idea they so shrewdly struck out , and have hitherto so loyally worked at . Their plan of mixing the popular in ease of Mr . Sims Reeves' singing , with , the popular in posse , of the chamber music > of Haydn , Mozart , Mendelssohn , not to speak of popularities more remote , the symphonies of Spohr , Schubert , and the abstruse school is , in no small degree , likely to forward their view . On Monday last , the course of
what we call training—the lesson , in fact , in high musical taste—comprehended Hadyn ' s Quartet in E flat , No . 80 ; Beethoven ' s Quartet in A major ( being No . 5 of the set called L . obkowitz ) , a trio in C minor , by Mendelssohn , played on the pianoforte , violin , and violoncello , by Miss Arabella GoJdard , Herr Becker , and Monsieur Paquc , and a pianoforte sonata , called " Ne Plus Ultra , " by Woelfl , in which the above-named lady , as' usual , charmed alike the critics and the uninitiated . The quartets were well played by Herren Becker and Ries , Mr . Doyle , and M . Paque . The former gentleman , who maide his first appearance on . Monday , has not a half of the fire of Wieniawski , with whom in St . James ' s Hall he must he compared ,
though , if vre may judge from a single hearing , he is a high class executant . The Woelfl sonata , which was played for the first time at these concerts , is a work but little known , and by a comparatively unknown composer * on trhom it may remain for Miss Arabella Goddard to bestow a posthumous fame , by repeated performance and , perhaps , popularization of his works . The clever editor of the Monday Popular Concert Handbook gives us a very amusing account of this wayward musician , from which we may find room to extract the story of this who
the Ne plus Ultra sonata . W oelfl , was a highly scientific musician , being highly disgusted at the neglect of his string quartets , instrumental , trios , symphonies , & e ., and at the preference shown in the first years of tli ' e present century for the trashy pianoforte airs varics of inferior composers , endeavoured-strenuously , but vainly , for a while to stem the tide , and correct the public taste . It was not given him to triumph thus , while Mozart , Clementij and Dussek , of the then time , were neglected , and Bach and Handel , of the past , almost ignored . So he hit at last upon the following expedient . —
" Inwardly conscious that he could write displaypieces with a great deal more facility than any . of the pretenders , who were fast destroying the taste for pure and healthy music , and perform them with an equal superiority , he resolved to give the fashionable world a test of his ability . His fame was European , and lie enjoyed the most distinguished position as a teacher . Thus his influence was considerable , and he had only to feign adherence to the prevalent style to swamp all his competitors . The JVe Plus Ultra was the fruit of his new resolve .
Unable , however , to yield so gracefully to the breeze as his suppler contemporary , Daniel Steibelt , our more vigorous and unbending musician began his new work with a stately adagio , followed by an allegro , solidly built on those principles wlnuli arc the foundation of art , and with which art ltselt must perish . Having thus proved that hq was still Joseph Woelfl , he immediately set about the rest , which was at once to propitiate the false idol of the period , and arrest the triumphs of its worshippers . A short andante , the air " Life let us cIk-imsJi , ana the variations constructed upon it , eou . < tuuiud tlie
remainder of the sonata , . . „ Well—the publisher of Woelfl ' s mus » u , a bit of a dilettante himself , was torriflod when he gluiicod at tho manuscript . Ho might have oxelalnicd . "•* wastl —and so have foroshawdowod a conceit ul Dickons , as Woelfl has foreshadowed the entire cwalwn ot llerz Not so lucky , liowovor , as to immortalise hSelf by an interjection , All the puUM . or said was— " Whv . who tho clouco can play it ? ¦ } Uantfellun jiisn
vill it pla /' -rcpliod Woelfl , in -. n « . uy ^ S you won ' t buy tho copies . No one but yourself , or Dussolc , can play tho « % / w--aiia 1 doubt if oitlior of you can mastor the variations . Wooitt sat down to the instrument ( a crackoil oia harpsichord ) and convinced tho worthy publisher of horror . Sot only was the publisher com ; lnaod , but onohanted . " What shall we call it t ho inquired . " Call itiVb Plus Ultra , " said Wooll , rubbing his hands with iimato satin faction . ' Now " hall wo sco if Horr Von Ksoh vill movo play , or Ilerr Bomdombo mako do variation . " And No Plus Ultra was consigned to tho hand * ot tlie ° K ° oin » t produced by tho now sonata , and especially by the variations , which ( as Woolfl had suspected ) wore soon . fioparnted from tho allegro , and published alono , was extraordinary . Xhe work was eagerly bought , and , to the confusion of several professors of high roputo . whoso incomnetonoy had previously escaped detection , was placed > oforo them by their pupils with a very urgent
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1859, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10121859/page/19/
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