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Leader (1850-1860), 12th November 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, LITERATURE. SCIENCE, AET, Etc.

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      Liberal Writers Of Italy. It May Be Rega...

      beautiful- The " Conciliatore " had the credit of putting an end to mere verbiage , and terminating the age of literary nullity . Its first-number was issued Sept . 3 , 1818 . It was discontinued in 1820 , in consequence of the censorship to which it was subjected , and which , lefr , as its writers complained , little wore than tic titles Of the articles and signatures ot the authors . It appears to have been mainly hi con - sequence of the political views expressed by him . in the " Conciliatore" that Silvio . Pellieo was arrested at Milan , Oct . , 1820 . 1 he particulars of the ten years' imprisonment winch succeeded have become world-renowned through his book , " lie Mie Prigioni . " Released August 1 st , 1830 , he lived chiefly in his native land , Piedmont , until June 31 , 1834 , when he quitted

      this life . His fellow labourer , Berchet , wrote for bis own age , and for the enslaved provinces of his country . Ilis poems produce hoine-sickness in the exiled and kindle the fire of independence in the bosoms of those who breathe the air of the Peninsula . Though he may have done little for art , according to the severe rules of Italian criticism , he did a vast deal for his country . Gratitude and veneration are due to him in that , with the capacity to do much more , he willingly sacrificed a portion of his fame to his endeavours to secure the ¦ liberty of his native land . ,

      Carlo Troya , by his historical and political writings , and Giuseppe Giusti , by his political poetry , sought to shake oppression and free their country from the yoke of the foreigner . The former presided over the Constitutional Ministry at Naples in 1848 . Among the niost memorable of the writings of the latter is a satirical poein , written on occasion of the visit of the Emperor of Austria to Milan in 1838 , when nearly all the Sovereigns of the J ? eninsula—the high-minded and independent iving of Sardinia excepted—went to offer him their homnge , Giusti died March 31 , 1850 .

      1252 The Leader. [No. 503, Nov. 12, 1859...

      1252 THE LEADER . [ No . 503 , Nov . 12 , 1859 ,

      A Birmingham Paper States That Four Pair...

      A Birmingham paper states that four pairs of shoes have been taken from the sliop of a shoemaker at Broseley , in the execution of a distress warrant for the noii-payment of a church , rate . Two cheeses were also "weighed by the executors of the law in the house of a widow , who resolutely refused to compound for her goods ; but her daughter ultimately was induced to pay the money . The Lien reports a curious sentence which has been passed at Unterwalden , Switzerland . One Melchior Risi , nccxised of disturbing the public order , has been condemned to a mouth ' s imprison " ment , and to a regular attendance for two years at the morning and afternoon religious services !

      A correspondent of the Australian Mail , writing from Auckland , mentions that Dr . Sol wyn , Bishop of New Zealand , has taken his departure in his little yacht , the Southern Cross , on a tour through a number of the Milenesian Islands . "Itis , I believe , his lordship ' s intention to pay a first visit to some new groups for the purpose of conveying to the natives ' the glad tidings of the Gospel , ' and to endeavour to induce some of them to accept of the advantages of an education in ' the College of St . John , so as to fit them to become in their turn instructors of their fellow men . He is expected to call at Norfolk . Island . " •' Trying IX ON . "—Bullions Lithogr . aphie Sheet

      gives the following curious lottor as having been addressed to the Emperor Napoleon . It was detained at the . Offlce for Examining Petitions to J ^ is Majesty : •—> " Sire ,- ~ Being the possessor of ft email property in the Beaujoles , favoured' l ) y a good soil for wine and turnips , and , on Wednesday , two days before . Christinas , my wife having made us a soup of those turnips , I found the tusto so exquisite and so sweet , that the idea of our denr Emperor instantly occurred to me , and I said to my wife and my two sons , their Majesties have not perhaps a bottur soup . Then a happy inspiration passod through tho mind of my eldostson , and he suid , ' Father , you ought to

      send a cask to their Majesties . ' Sire , wo are giving affect to tho idea . May tho vegetubk ' 9 bo agreeable to you , and tro shall catooin ourselves so fortunate to have procured you that trifling pleasure . ( Wo have more of thorn still . )—I am , with tho most profound respect , sire , your very humble and yory davoted , subject ,, JK \ liowHQNT , shirtmaker at I £ oi » F < iy Ain ) . ' TJiia lettor wus followed by a second , In which V . Bolmont prayed that bis oldest son ( ho ¦ who h & 4 conceived such on excellent Idea ) might bo exempted ftrom military service . It is not statod wnetnor Wa Majesty has approved tho soup or oxoinpted tho * anv ¦ * l * l

      Literature. Science, Aet, Etc.

      LITERATURE . SCIENCE , AET , Etc .

      Literary Notes Of The Week.

      LITERARY NOTES OF THE WEEK .

      The Matriculation Examination Of The Bom...

      The matriculation examination of the Bombay University commenced on the 3 rd of October , simultaneously at the town-hall in Bombay , and at the assembly rooms in Poonah . It is satisfactory to notice that eighty-eight candidates presented themselves for examination at Bombay , and forty at Poonah , making a total of 128 candidates . A statue has been decreed by the City of Mexico to the illustrious Alexander Von Huniboldt . The statue is to be executed in marble by an Italian sculptor . It will be placed in the interior of the " School of Mines , " and will bear the inscription- ^ "A Alexandre de Humboldt , le Mexique reconnaissant . "

      TT / MTH regard to the rectorship of the University V V . of Edinburgh ,, we understand that the election will be between Mr ; Gladstone and Lord Ncaves . The committee which had been formed for Lord Campbell and Lord John llussell have united with the Gladstone committee . It is reported at St . Andrew ' s that the principalsliip of the United College , vacant by Sir David Brewster ' s removal to Edinburgh ,, has been conferred on Dr . Wordsworth , Bishop of St . Andrew ' s , and the report has been so far credited that both the senatu 3 and the provost and magistrates have memorialised Government against the appointment .

      A commission , appointed by the French Academy of Sciences to draw up a report on the results of the scientific expedition undertaken to observe the late total eclipse in Brazil , calls attention to the very important total eclipse which will occur in July next year , and will be visible in Spain and Algeria . The commission believe , that at least forty astronomers , from France , England , Germany , Russia , and Italy , will assemble in Spain or Africa to witness this eclipse . . _ A great deal o £ . the attention both of the Tuscan Government and the population turns upon matters connected with the Ministry of Public Education . The Marquis Ridolfi is thought to have been

      anything but felicitous in his new appointments . The vacations are drawing to an end , and the Universities of Pisa and Siena are soon to feel the benefit of their enlarged endowment and the newly-padded professorships . The same activity in the same branch of administration is exhibited by all the Governments of Central Italy . Whole batches of new professors are seated on newly-erected chairs at Parma , Moderta , and Bologna . In the latter place Count Carlo Pepoli , long a resident in England , and well known as a poet and scholar , was offered the dignity of Jiettor Magnifico , ox President , of that

      eldest of all Alma Maters . He answered , he would only accept on one condition , and that was that he should be allowed to open the University in the morning , to close it again immediately , in the evening of the same day , after distributing to all students applying for a certificate of matriculation billots of admission into the ranks of the various corps of the national armies , M . Philoxene Boyer hns interrupted his course of lectures on Shakespeare in order to pronounce an oration upon the gonius of Schiller . The salon of the reunion of the learned societies was crammed to

      excess , there being a lax'ge number of Germans pi'osent to hear an eloquent Frenchman express his appreciation of their renownod countryman . M . Boyer ' s oration , delivered entirely without the aid of notes , occupied nearly two hours , and the admirable manner in which he exhibited the prominent points of the poet ' s character , tl » o fervid eloquence with which ho extolled tho genius and tho simplicity of the . man , and the masterly way in which he gavo to general principles of liborty an indirect but tolling application , constantly drew from the

      closelypacked audience the jnoa t enthusiastic applause . M . Ainoclee KentSe the well-known French journalist is just dead . ' M . Kenoo was the- author of several works . The last wore , " The . Nieces of Mazarin , " and Manners and Characters of tho ISigutoenth Century . " He formerly contributed to tho Jicvue do Paris , and to tho Encyolopcdit } des gem du Monde . In the spring of 1807 he replaced Mf . do C < jsena na raductt ' ur-on-o / iqf of tlie Constitittionnel and of tho Pai / s , but was not acting in that capacity at the time or hia death .

      Shadows In Which Memory Invests The Past...

      shadows in which memory invests the past . JSlx Trollope ' s pencil , however , suffers no such inconvenience . He begins his book on board the brio--describes the state of the wind and the wave , and proceeds to Cien Fuegos , to resume his peli and his voyage . In truth , the book opens with great spirit , and a touch of character in the everlasting poor " blue-nosed skipper , " which demonstrates at once that a quick-eyed observer is on his travels . But to come to more special matters . Jamaica is not so thriving now as it was once and Kingston , adds Mr . Trollope , " is a disgrace to the country that owns it . " Ugly buildin gs are a continual eyesore . Spanish town is even worse ; -: "It is like the city of the dead . There " long streets there in which no human inhabitant is ever seen . In others a silent old negro woman may be sitting at an open door , or a child playing , solitary , in the dust . Tlie Governor ' s house—King ' s House , as it is called—stands on one . side of a square ; opposite is the house of the Assembly ; on the left , as 3 r ou come out from the Governor ' s , are the executive offices and the house . of the Council , and on the right

      some other public buildings . T . he place would have some pretension about it did . it not seem , to be stricken with an eternal death . All the walls are of a dismal dirty yellow , and a stranger cannot ' but think that tlie colour is owing to the dreadfully prevailing disease of the country . In this square there are no sounds ; men and women never frequent it ; nothing enters it but sunbeams ; anil such ' sunbeams ! The glare from those walls seem to forbid that men and women should . come there .

      " The parched , dusty , deserted streets arc all hot , and perfectly without shade . The crafty Italians have built their narrow streets so that the sun can hardly enter them , except when he is in the mid heaven ; but there has been no such craft at Spanish Town . The houses are very low , and when there is any sun in the Heavens it can enter those streets ; and in those heavens there is always a burning , broiling ' sun . " But tlie place is not wholly deserted . There is here the . most frightfully hideous ruce of pigs that ever made a man ashamed to own himself a .

      baconeatiivg biped . I have never done nuu-h m ]> t ^ s myself , but I believe that pig-ly grace consists in plumpness and ' comparative shortness—in shortness , above all , of the face and nose . The Spanish Town pigs are never plump . They are the very ghosts ot swine , consisting entirely of bones ami bristles . Their backs are long , their ribs are long , their legs are long , but , above svJl , their heads and noses are hideously long . These brutes prowl about in the sun , and glare at tho unfrcqucnt strangers with their starved 03-03 , as though doubling thonirfel ves jjhether , by some little exertion , they might not become beasts

      of prey /' Such is a specimen of the stylo of this smirked book ; hen- is a penman who can flourish away , without being tedious ; copious , and yet witty . Homlnt , in Denmark , thought it stnmge to hoar that " the world had grown honest , "' nni ^ ii-areu that " doomsiky was near . " Hut Mr . Irollope had no such ienr in Jamaica ; though Ik ; speaks in high terms of the honesty of the people . Another comfort he had , that though helmj l been compelled to speak disparagingly of the principal town , the country round about deserved ( he highest praise . Ho found , too , the people exceedingly comfortable . ... Though the sugiir-cnnc is the chief production nf . Tnmirmn .. Mr . iVnllone tells us that " one may

      travel for clays in tho island and only see a enno piece here and there . " Mr . Trollope hns a chapter devoted to the ense of MlncK Men , which will be xoi \ d with interest . Tim Creole hns no country of las own ; none of his adoption . Ho has no language of hirf own ; none o |»» s adoption . With no idea of country , . no prulo ot race , no religion of his own , the Creole Hns , nevertheless , dovolopod tastes of his own , habits , nptitudoa , and faults , that peculiarly hulivii uu isu him . He . is capable , too , of tho hardest bodily labour . Intellectually , ho ia ambitious , and Imu ;» s to bo rcgurdod ns a scholar . Religious . tenoum ,, has not boon inoperative for good with Inin i >» ul Mr . Trollopo does not seem to Jmvo niucli hum in missionary huooosb . . Tho following coiii'iMsions —for in Mr . Trollope they nro conue ^ ioiw-i" ^

      important . "But the groat point to bo sottlud is thisj whether this rncso of mulattos , a . Uitdxopi ) H , »>»«•»»• and what not , are capable of luivnnglng l )! l ator j \ ,, £ I tliomaelvosj of undertaking tho higher walks ot luoi oflivhig , in short , as nn independent people " " proper uharo of maatonlom ; and not nowHanniy «»» a servile people , as Uowera of wood and drnwoia ui

      WJHIO W 1 BST TND 1 BB AND THJfl SPANISH MAIN . , liy Anthony Trollopo . — ( Jlmpman and Hall . Tun pioture painted in preBonoo of its objeots ia < moat likely to bo correct , though in tho literal 1 rendering there may bo a , ^ vatit of tho spiritual

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1859, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111859/page/16/