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356 The Leader cmd SaMrda^ Ana^sL [April...
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THE IlEPOlUIATION. w IiN the. fpurlcenth...
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* IVwWJ'o «nd tho J/vi/ntnots; or, (HMcf...
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SIR E, BULWER LYTTON'SNEW POEM:.• AN ela...
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* St. tStophen'a, A Poem. Oii«iimUy publ...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
'• Geokge Eliot's New Homal^Tce. Rphe Re...
ruptcy purchases the mill and a ^ oinln- ^ mises , offering to retain p &' pffysr ^ nss ^ vttsr &' kXXi SL ^ lhS ewe ' at fffilead S lii employer , calling Ins children Tom and ^ Maggie to witness his solemn decaration ot unremitting hatred towards the fancied destroyer of his life and prospects . He thus endeavoxirs to im . ke each member of his family participate in- his Sn " s , as for as Tom is concerned , he only too readily succeeds ; bS ^ o Maggie—Her finer perceptions at once detect the mcons . st-™ * Ly , e ? en criminality . " of such unchristian anathemas . Time S 4 on and Maggie , still strugglin-with her inward burden at length fancies she has discovered the key to tnte-bappraysMelf- . renunciation . Yes ! she will cease the vain search after the means oHSSg her own idle pleasures , and enter the valley , of humifiatfon For the future she will look at herself out of herself , as llie « nsignificant part of a divinely-guided whole , " and by . reagj , in- herself to patience escape the pam of sorrow . OurJieiome dols not at once perceive the iallacyof this res *™* .- ** " g ^ JJta for experience to enlighten her thereon . Some time attei ttiis , MaggKccidentally meets Philip Wakem , w }^ e ^ ppy affection in the shape of deformity , had , during her childhood called forth all the deep feelings and sympathies of her nature , but beiween whom nml herself a barrier had arisen m - consequence _ of their fathers ' animosity . This young man , who is ardently attached to her , at once undertakes to combat , not only her resolution to carry on no correspondence unknown to her parents , but also her doctrine of renunciation . He immediately draws a distinctionbetween resignation and stupefaction , between . the determination ^ bear sorrow will , a calm , unbended front , which is still sorrow , inflicting the same amount of torture upon the nidividual notwith- . standing that ifc is received unresistingly , and tlmmere dullingof the semes to all outward impressions , and the shutting out the knowledge of our fellow-men . Maggie feels there is some truth in her lover ' s logical definitions , though she cannot see m what way they can be made to bear tipori the question whether a child is justified in admitting of concealment from her parents ; ultimately , however , her feelings predominate over her principles , and the two are plighted to each other . We have not space to follow the authoress through all the subtleties of her heroine s character , and the dangers to which she is exposed in consequence of a too vivia and treacherous imagination . After her lather s death , Maggie refuses the shelter liberally offered her by her mother s relations , and si < niifies her intention of going forth alone into the battle oj life , confident m the ultimate triumph of her own unassisted endeavours . Then comes the last bitter trial , the great temptation by which the strength of her moral reso utions is put to its final test , and an opportunity is offered her ot proving the superiority of reason and principle over the lower attributes of passion and impulse . There are two paths before . her , the right and the wrong ; there can be no doubt upon ' 'her mind , no confusion of ideas as to -which- may be the right or which the wrong;—the twoopen paths stare her in the face , bearing unmistakeable signposts indicative of their separate destinations . But our . heroine has received no training to fit her for combating with the evil which now assails her , has imbibed no strength from the example of others , and cultivated no power of self-control to aid her in the moment when , yielding to her own desires will only too surely lead her to destruction , and so she falls ,, dragging along with her an innocent and light-hearted girl , betrayed at once by the lover she idolized and the woman she trusted , and plunging , * all connected with her ' into misery and disgrace . It is in vain that at the eleventh hour she recoils from the consequences of her own misdeed , and concentrates all her energies in one grand final effort for the mastery of the right , and flies precipitately from the consummation of her treacherous act ; repentance comes too late . Slanderous tongues have been busy with her fair name , no shelter and protection awaits her beneath her brother ' s roof ; , her only alternative is to bow before the storm , and submit to the universal odium and niisconstmction her conduct has entailed upon hoi . AH this is admi . rably worked up . The authoress ' s command of language enables her to depict the several stages of this great self-struggle with wonderful intensity and , accuracy . She suffers no thread to escape her in the complicated meshes of human feeling ^ but in all her characters dives into the very root and core of nil their thoughts , actions , and emotions , presenting us with an insight into these hidden mysteries , winch years of practical experience could scarcely hnve accomplished . . ___
of issuing his mandates , and having them obeyed by priest and people in England . The Pope dared to name cardinals to English benefices , and to meet the emergencva statute was framed in 1358 , and another in the following year . Inl connection with this matter occurs one of the earliest notices of Wyehffe in . our annals . Ihe Parliament had to address remonstrances to the king on the subject . In 1373 a new one represented that the grievance was ^ more intolerable than ever ; and this remonstrance , by command of the long , was presented to the Pope , but without effect Next year , the Parliament caused an exact estimate to be made ^ of the numbeivand value of English benefices held by aliens . The picture of abuse - that it presented was so broad and dark , that it was resolved to send a second Commission to the Papal court . The name of John "Wycliffe stands second in the list of the commissioners appointed for this purpose . . ¦ -.. . _ , T . „ _ Dr . Hanna , who has already distinguished himself by a Life of Dr . Chalmers , has compiled a portable history of this greaV reform er and of the Huguenots , uniting with it an account of Protestantism in France down to the time of the Massacre of St . Bartholomew . Concerning the latter event he accepts the modified version of Professor Soldan , that that terrible act ' -was not altogether so premeditated as generally supposed ; . there was a gradation and accumulation of motives that led to that awful catastrophe . In regard to Wycliffe , the author has greatly depended on the two biographies of Dr . Vaughan ; not neglecting , however , other sources of information . The"Reformer , after his appointment on the royal commission , began to show a bold front , and spake freely against the papacy- ^ so freely , that five separate bulls were lauriched ^ against him But the thunders of the Vatican proved harmless . Wycliffe , in his teach in o " , repudiated the civil and political dominion claimed bv the Pope ; asserted the right and duty of the state to exercise entire control over ecclesiastical property , to the extent ot ¦ with-. holdino- or permanently withdrawing her endowments from the Church condemned the use by the Church of her spiritual arms for temporal purposes , such as enforcing the payment of her revenues ; denied any power in the Church absolutely and unconditionally to bind and loose , to pardon or to condemn ; affirmed , that the censiires of the Church had power arid effect only so far as they were inflicted on what was truly sinful and censurable m the sight of God , and were not otherwise to be regarded ; and averred that ecclesiastics , nay , even the Pope himself , might warrantably be impeached and corrected by their subjects , both clergy and-laity . And these teachings Wycliffe corroborated with his acts , and called on those he taught to disregard the spiritual anathemas that woiiki be directed against such practical measures . Then came his translation of the Bible , and his consequent defence of the right and duty of oilmen to read fa ' Herein Wycliffe met with greater difficulty than any he had yet encountered . Nevertheless , it gave him opportunity to appeal to the texts of Scripture , and to carry the \ xav into the doctrinal province of the Church , which , hitherto be had not attacked . It would , however , says Dr . Hanna , " be difficult to frame a creed from his writings , like that of Augsburg , or the Thirty-nine Articles , or the Westminster Confession . He condemned transubstantiatiou ; but he believed in purgatory . A together he disapproved of persecution . " Christ , stud he , ' wished his law to be observed willingly , freel y * that in such obedience men might find happiness . Hence he appointed no civil punushvnmit to be inflicted on the transgressors of his commandments , but leit the persons neglecting them to the sufferings which shall come after the ' Perhaps there is as much need as ever for the enforcement of these verities . Clearly there is , wherever the authority of the papacy prevails . The recent bloodshed in Porugia and Florence sufficiently demonstrates that a corrupt Church is as ready aa ever for a new St . Bartholomew manifestation , if such were possible . Qn a sma letscale , much evil may yet be inflicted on the conscientious . On tluij account publications like the present are exceedingly useful ; and Dr . Hanna ' s book has , indeed , superior claims to consideration , as combining the facts and views derivable from the beat authorities and most able writers on the high argument which « o" has undertaken to develop and illustrate .
356 The Leader Cmd Samrda^ Ana^Sl [April...
356 The Leader cmd SaMrda ^ Ana ^ sL [ April 14 , 1860 ,
The Ilepoluiation. W Iin The. Fpurlcenth...
THE IlEPOlUIATION . w IiN the . fpurlcenth century begun that lleaotion against tho corruption of llio sources of Popular Instruction which led to its fuller development in tho sixteenth . Tho indolence , ambition , and corruption of the clergy had followed on tho Avenllh of the Church , which , by degrees , hud accumulated to an enormous amount . At the commencement of that century it was at least ten millions . sterling 1 per annum ¦ —ten times tho sum of the whole civil revenue of the kingdom . Tho clorgy , also , wore in possession of more than luilf the landed property of the kingdom . Besides all this , an immense revenue was flowing- dauly into tbe treasury of tho Clmi ' cb , « nd tho clergy claimed exemption from tho ordinary taxation of the country . The Pope hud acquired tho habit
* Ivwwj'o «Nd Tho J/Vi/Ntnots; Or, (Hmcf...
* IVwWJ ' o « nd tho J / vi / ntnots ; or , ( HMcft (>« of the Jltec qf tho Bcf < mn < t ' tion in KvuUind , awl of the Marly Mttttorj / ofVrotfiatmitlom In Franco . By Roy . WjIwUam Wanna , Lfc . D . ThoninB Constable and Co .
Sir E, Bulwer Lytton'snew Poem:.• An Ela...
SIR E , BULWER LYTTON'SNEW POEM :. AN elaborate didactic poem of some two or three thousand lines devoted to the celebration pi' English purlitunentuiy eloquence , has recently excited some curiosity in the pages of Wavkivood , mitt is now anonymously republished in a separate volume , inscribed $ 0 Lord Lyndhursit . It boars evident marks in its style of being tuo production of Sir Edward Buhvor Lytton , and is now generally understood' to have proceeded from his pen . Its merits are , at any rate , of no ordinary kind , and' the work ought wot to b p permitted to pass into circulation without a critical analysis of its contents , and some appreciation of its excellence . . In those days the didactic form of poetry is not popular ; uitlooa , wo have hoard it disputed whether such works uro perns at nil . They are admitted to be sometimes { ulmirable ossuya in verse , hat too much wanting in the emotional element to bo . justly oliai-ucterizoU aa poetic . TJiis , however , was not the opinion oi Greek and liouiiin critics , who were willing to porrnib tho Muhos a wider ruugo than is at present recognised . That range has been confessedly liinilnig itself within narrower boundaries , in proportion us the distuicuon between prose and vorse has obtained . Certain arguments , » t is now agreed , better suit tlio former ; and a troiitiao on tho oratory
* St. Tstophen'a, A Poem. Oii«Iimuy Publ...
* St . tStophen ' a , A Poem . Oii « iimUy published 1 « " Ulacluvooa s Mugnzlne . William BlUckwooa and Sons ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14041860/page/16/
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