On this page
-
Text (1)
-
No. 477, Ma* 14, 1859.] O\HE LEADER. 619
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Local Etymology: A Derivative Dictionary...
is that several Deposit Banks Lave recently been formed under the authority of Acts of Parliament , where not only the working-man , but also persons in the middle class of life , are now enabled to make deposits at rates of interest more favourable to them than that allowed by the Government savings' banks . These deposit banks also offer both to ° depositors and the public the advantage of tak ^ - ino- loans of money at interest upon all the current securities of the day—a system which , it is believed , will prove highly beneficial , both to tlie ¦ borrower and lender . ¦ ' .. ¦
. _ . As a matter of history , and in conclusion of tliis article , it niay be . mentioned that the oldest bankino-firm in the metropolis ( and provinces ) is that of Messrs . Child and Co ., Temple-bar . Oliver Cromwell was a customer to it , and the firm now possesses autographs of this great man , once the head of the State , and the terror of all Europe . Life in Tuscany . By Mabel Sharman ' Crawford . With IUustrations . Smith , Elder , and Co . A book in subject just fitted for the time , if not altogether in form and treatment . Mrs . Crawford
commences her work with a description of the Baths of Monte Catini , and similar objects and places , such as Viareggio , Lucca , Pisa , and Florence . At this point she begins to paint not only the scenes , but the amusement of the people that inhabit them . She then condescends on the state of society in general , and proceeds to details of the national character . Her . ¦ portrait of the peasant forms , as it were , the central figure ; from his condition that of the rest may be gathered . Ilis general state she thiis describes :-
—• " With the fertile soil and the warm sun of Tuscany , joined to the indefatigable industry of the peasant class , it is ' . quite evident that their beggarly aspect , their meagre food , and their cheerless homes , must arise from some'peculiar evils in their position . Devoid , generally speaking , of property in the soil , the peasantry are yet very far from standing in the same relation to their landlords as the two corresponding classes are to each other in England . The English tenant pays to the proprietor of i-lie farm he cultivates a fixed annual sum Of money , whilst the Tuscan tenant is bound to render to his landlord the half of all the produce raised upon his-farrri . Wheat , wine , and oil are divided , share and share alike ; and even in articles of the most trifling kind the halving- system is applied . Of every brood of
chickens the landlord can claim his half , and even eggs may come under the operation of a similar rule . The evident hardship of such terms is mitigated by the fact that the landlord contributes , in some degree , towards the expenses of the cultivation of the farm . He provides the house , supplies a moiety of the requisite seed corn , contributes in the same proportion towards the purchase of cattle and of mulberry leaves for the silk worms . Even taking , however , these landlord contributions into consideration , the bargain on the tenant ' s side seems evidently a far from favourable one ; and in the absence of oppressive taxation , to this system of land tenure must be traced , the comfortless and struggling life led by the frugal and industrious contadino . " There is as little doubt of the industry as of the frugality of the Italian coniadino * He expends the largest amount of the former for the smallest of rewards . His fields are well-cultured , but his home is neglected . He rejoices in poverty and dirt , and is encouraged in it by the national superstition . Civil and religious institutes alike teach the virtues of patience , submission , and ' content ; and in some instances renl pious feeling predisposes the viotiin to those sluggish merits . All seem to be afraid , of free and independent activity ; and with reasonfor the slightest exertion would disturb the whole fabric of society , and bring it down in ruin on the head of peer and peasant . True , well-directed industry is virtually freedom ; but in Italy none is
made what she is by artificial accidents . And what is the first cause of her being what she is ? The nominal celibacy of the Clergy . It is to the Church of Italy that the evils of Italy are attributable . Good government in Italy is impossible with the Papacy . Mrs . Crawford's Italian politics are rather curious . She wishes all Italy to follow the lead of Victor Emmanuel , but avoid Louis Napoleon . Now , as the former needs the help of the latter , . and can probably do nothing effectually without it , we cannot exactly perceive the value | of Mrs . Crawford ' s advice . This world is one of compromises ,
and we cannot make of it a fancy toy , and play with it as we please . The kid-glove politician is not exactly suited to the exigencies of the time or country . Revolutions are . not to be made with rose-water . Adversity introduces a man to strange bed-fbllows ; and we must sometimes -put tip with doubtful company , and learn to endure the infliction . Let , by all means , Italy and Sardinia unite ; but neither of them can reject the aid of a powerful friend in contending with a . powerful foe . Leave the consideration of ulterior objects to the time when they shall declare themselves , and then deal with them bravely and wisely . Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof . Chiefs of Parties , Past and Present . By Daniel Owen Maddyn , Esq . 2 vols . C . T . Skeet . Something more than the term " clever " is due to these something more than mere " pen and ink sketches" of political men—two or three , however , are not quite worthy of being ranked among the " chiefs " of parties . We like Mr . Maddyn ' s appreciation of bygone political chiefs somewhat better than his estimate of living celebrities . In the first Mr . Maddyn has shown a large smd liberal spirit . Take , for instance , his Pitt , Fox , and Burke . In the latter he . has not been quite so happy , nor , to our thinking , so wholly
unprejudiced . Take his judgment on Lord John Russell , Mr , Gladstone , and viscount Palmerston . Some of the anecdotes are of a too trivial character , and rest on a too doubtful basis , to find a place in a w ork that has well-founded pretensions to be regarded as an authority for a very fair amount of accuracy and impartiality . Then , again , it is hardly possible to give entire acquiescence to his parallel portraits of Mr . Stanley , now Lord Derby , and the late Mi-. Daniel O'Connell , as antagonistic politicians and orators . The reputation of Mr . O'Connell as a first-rate orator never travelled
but of the limits of Ireland . In the English Parliament he took second rank , and even on his pet subject , " Justice to Ireland , " he has been known to make more than one failure . Mr . Stanley , on the contrary , was always the polished , vehement , and finished orator—immeasurably superior to Mr . O'Connell in argument and in general debate . The first won his laurels from Irish mob audiences —the latter obtained his from Englishmen of cultivated intellect . Hence the difference between the twain . We can cordially recommend these pleasant , eloquent , and informing volumes to all classes of readers .
Robert Mornay . By Max Ferrer . Chapman & Hall . Robert Mornay has been written to exhibit the ill effects of not exercising a little solf-denial , and the serious consequences which too often ensue from indulging our vanity to excess . This affords a fertile theme for the pen of a practised writer ; but it can scarcely bo said that Max Ferrer has put his materials to the best use . His hero is intended to bo a young follow of excellent heart and manly sympathies , spoiled by his uncUrbod passions and entire freedom from tho necessity of earning , ms own livelihood ; but he will appear to most norsons simply as a selfish egotist , indulging his whims and fancies without any regard to tho feelings of others . Robert Mornay and Mabol Fairon ( sweot name omiuiiooalormeu
is wanting in proper self-esteem . "We are too wicked , " said a Roman gentleman to our authoress , and therefore not suited for free institutions . The opinionist was of the Anti-papal party ,: yet he took this discouraging , view of his own cause . In Tuscany the feeling is general , and contributes more , says Mrs . Crawford , " to the stability of € he hated Government of the Grand Duke than the army of Austrians he has at command . " But what is the " stability" thatthe . fair . ' writer predicates ? And have not the Austrians the Grand Duke more at command than he them ? It , is wonderful how much a confusion of ideas enters into all apologies for despotism . . The falseness and hollowncss of the whole
system of society may be gathered from the disrespect in which the ministers of the Church axe held . They command no reverential feeling . Prudent people avoid , as much as possible , the admission of the cose nere ( black things ) into her house . Avarice , stinginess , and immorality are generall y imputed to them , liankj too , is treated with little respect ; nor are the means of obtaining it always respectable ^ Some towns are entitled to a Libro d ' oro ( golden book ) , in whose pages the names of candidates for nobility are inscribed .
Nothing more is necessary to secure the patent . It is procurable for money ; the charge varying from thirty pounds to one . hundred . What can be expected from a sham like this f After this , who would , wonder that a . nobleman was more easily created than a man . Unworthy customs * as well as an ill-constituted Government , make an unworthy people .. But the despotism , to which they are subject nevertheless act . with , considerable force in the production of the national character . AVemay readily enough concede to our lady traveller that " the energies of the human mind cannot be
altogether repressed ; " and that if denied vent in a useful , rational way , they will make for themselves an outlet of a widely different character . Our authoress illustrates it by a familiar image / "¦ The fertilising river , " she says , " whose onward course between its banks is checked by a strong dyke , will lay waste the land around in unwholesome marshes . What the dyke is to the stream , despotic institutions are to the character . Liberty of speech and action denied , legitimate objects of ambition refused , mental activity looked upon with suspicion and discouraged , it is only a natural consequence that the innate energy of the Italian character should exhibit itself in an . unworthy manner . " To this cause the writer attributes the character of the
Italian youth . Excluded from politics and theology , he resorts to love , music , and poetry , as stimulants to mental exercise . Thus he becomes Epicurean in theory and practice ; and the tone of Italian society is frivolous in the extreme , and its usages most enervating . The upper and middle classes of society are inveterately idle : to be diligent in business , or to have business at all , is voted vulgar . " The tone of thought , " writes Mrs . Crawford , ' which ruled society in Tuscany in the days of the Medici , is extinguished utterly ; the lad of fifteen apes the man—rapes him in the levities , and too often the vices , of his career . The youth of twenty is thoroughly a man of the world , intimately acquainted with the world ' s worst features . So long as he can find the means to buy light kid-gloves , and billhe liv
attend the opera , pay Ins cqfe , es on contented with his position : his future troubles him not , so long as Ins present wears an agreeable aspect . " Our lady author ' s experiences of the Italian Revolution were not favourable . But it is too evident that she fears the mob more than she dreads the- despot . Tho former ^ oven when right , is noisy ; but tyranny does things quietly , oven many things : and tho lady likes quiet and gentility , as it . is natural she should . No doubt , nowever , she is correct in her faots ; for such facts occur in all such pases . But tho error lies in supposing that there is an Italian peculiarity of character , 6 r born baseness , which leads to such facts . The rationale of the matter is verv different . . Any x'aoo of men , under similar circumstances , and subjected to them for long years , would display the same vices and weakness . Tlie immediate
this ) , brought up togothor in their , an attachment as infants , which , as they grow oldor , ripened into a mature and deep lovo for oach other . This affection , which thoir parents allowed to proceed when tlioy considered it devoid of danger , they hiffhlv disapprove of w » ° » they had grown up , and onWbort dbslrJng to marry his botrothod , hormother strictly forbids the union . In this Tobias Mornay , tho hero ' s flithor , acquiesces j and Robert , finding both noxorablo , resolves to loavo England in search of tho " wators of oblivion . " Rich and handsome , ho finds liia way eimy ovorywhoro , and wo moot with him again at JiWonoo , revelling in all the luxuries of Italian sconory . Uolng an artist ho natuarlly , goo » in flotirch of the boautiful , and , as a nmttor of course , meets iv very pretty Italian girl , with whom
cause for tho evil isj wo aro next told , the nodal code of Italy ; and that tho public life of n country is tho reflex of the private life . Tho woman of Italy is not what she should be , whether as mother , wife or maiden . Granted s—but it would bo hard and unjust to suppose that sha is worso than tho woman , of any otW country . Again , she is
permitted to aspire . Ho who should infringe on tho rule of passivity would subject himself to distrust . Each man , our authoress tolls us , suspects his neighbour of selfish aims . They clo not eeem _ to understand that , within oortain limits , selfish aims are' needful . Italians lament , site says , the low moral tone they exhibit , and ascribe to it their unfitness , as a nation , for freedom . Mrs . Giwyford forgets that it is only the few ever that win political privileges for nations . Freedom is won by individuals , not by masses \ but tho masses finally receive tho benefit . "A little leaven leavonetn tho whole lump ; " but a gradual , very gradual procons , intervenes between the introduction of tho fermenting body and . tho final strike . Tho Italian
No. 477, Ma* 14, 1859.] O\He Leader. 619
No . 477 , Ma * , 1859 . ] O \ HE LEADER . 619
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), May 14, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14051859/page/15/
-