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July 15, 1854.] THE LEADER. 666
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TPttl>l*rtf tT1*l> 3L tiriUllH t
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Cr.tics are not the legislators, but the...
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Since last week, the literature of Franc...
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Judging by the magazines this month, the...
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In the present dearth of literary enterp...
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HISTORY OF CHAJtLESl. AND THE ENQLISH RE...
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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Transcript
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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.
July 15, 1854.] The Leader. 666
July 15 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 666
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Uttenittnt
Cr.Tics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Cr . tics are not the legislators , but the judge 3 and police of literature . They do not make laws— they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
Since Last Week, The Literature Of Franc...
Since last week , the literature of France has sustained a loss , and the operatic stage lias been deprived of one of its ornaments . The daily papers have spread far and wide the intelligence of Madame Soutag ' s death in Mexico from an attack of cholera ; but the loss of Emii-e Souvestbe is—in England at least—by no means so generally known . The French papers inform us that he died of a heart-complaint at the age of forty-six . Though hardly ranking as a writer of tbe first class among modern French authors , Souvestre , as dramatist , essayist , novelist , and historian , won a notable position in the ranks of foreign literary men . One of his plays , Un Enfant
de Pans , was produced in English , three years since , at the Lyceum Theatre , under the title of A Day of Reckoning , and met with great and well-merited success . Readers of French literature may remember some of his novels , and certainly cannot have forgotten his Piulosophz sous les Volts . The book , however , which is likely to preserve his reputation longest is his Derniers Bretons , containing a very curious and valuable account of manners and customs among the inhabitants of Brittany . This work will assuredly last , for it gives much interesting information , not attainable from other sources , on the subject of the most remarkable of all the races of people in the provinces of France .
Judging By The Magazines This Month, The...
Judging by the magazines this month , the incomprehensible British public seems to be just as inveterately bent as ever on reading about Russia and the War—though nothing new or interesting can . be written , on either subject which has not previously 'appeared- in tlte newspapers . Even musical criticism talks whh a Russian twang in Fraser . The writer of the article called " Phases of Music in Russia , " is , of course , afflicted with the amazing mania of his fraternity for tuneless music of the " classical" kind ; and shudders at Bellini and melody in the most approved style of solemn sarcasm . He shows himself ^ however , to be most innocently ignorant of the predilections of English opera audiences , when he reviles them as " fashionable supporters" of Linda di Chamouni . Though that delightful
opera had a run of many consecutive nights at Vienna , and was the main , attraction of a whole season at Paris , it has never succeeded in England , and is now placed most undeservedly among the " works on the shelf . " But we are digressing to Music , when our business is with Literature . Let us open the National Miscellany by way of returning to our duty . The number this month is of fair average merit ; but it would have been better without the article on Dumas' Kean . The absurdities of this j ) lay have been pointed out long ago . Virtuous indignation against a foolish drama—the mistake of a , great and admirable dramatist—published fourteen years since , is slightly out of date . Besides , the reviewer is evidently " gent . " He is
actually guilty of having compromised The Natio ) ial Miscellany by this very atrocious sentence : — " Does M , Dumas , " he writes , think that the English are all brutes or fools in their conduct towards females ?' ' Female what?—we should be glad to know . Female horses ? dogs ? cats ? mice ? rabbits ? or tittlebats ? It is exasperating enough to hear tbis most vulgar of all errors committed by the popular tongue ; but to see it perpetuated in print , is more than human patience can endure . When a man calls a woman " a party , " he ought to be gently moved out of earshot ; but when he goes still further , and reviles her by the opprobious appellation of female , tlie luw of libel ought to bo forthwith extended so as to reach him .
Blacktoood is rather more serious and political than usual this month , " T / tc Dublin " contains the beginning of a now fiction called Mosses upon Grave-atones . Bentlei fs Miscellany offers the render plenty of stories , preceded , of course , by an article on the war . One of these stories is introduced by a Note , which -wo consider to bo an original effort in literature . In n serial fiction , called u Clouds and Sunshine , " by Mr . C hah Lies Rkadk , author of " Christie Johnstone , " the following announcement actually appears at the bottom of the first page : — " This writer " s works arc written to be rood aloud . ' ''' There is a mysterious audacity in those words which has fairly bewildered us . Does Mr . Risadk mean that the works of writers in
general are not written to be read aloud ? or does he mean that tho only proper way to read his own story of " Clouds and Sunshino " is to read it aloud ? We ourselves , not having any audiencu ready at hand , when we opened Bcnllei fs Miscellany , took the liberty of devouring " Clouds and Sunshine" with tho eye , unassisted by the tongue ; and though ! that tho story , as far as it -went , bore rather a suspicious resemblance to the story of Chough S-Aho'h drama of Claudh . Perhnp . s , if we had followed Mr . Rica pit ' s directions , and luul read his Avork aloud , thu similarity might have escaped us > "Who knows ?
In The Present Dearth Of Literary Enterp...
In the present dearth of literary enterprise ( which , as a nwturnl consequence of the war , is now beginning to bo felt in Franco us w « U as in England ) it is gratifying to bo able to announce tho appearance of a- novelty , iu the shupeof a book . The now volume of Mr . Roiiuut Bicli / h annotated
edition of the British Poets , is to contain all the best songs of all the British dramatists , from the period of the first play written in our country , down to the date of the School for Scandal . Such a complete collection as this made with the skill , correctness , and critical intelligence for which Mr . B bll ' s name is a sufficient guarantee—has hitherto been wanting in our literature . We hope to have an opportunity of examining this volume , when it is published . A song-book which appeals to all ages , all tastes , and all purses is assuredly a novelty ; and—if anything not connected with Russia and Turkey has a chance of succeeding now—seems certain beforehand of success .
History Of Chajtlesl. And The Enqlish Re...
HISTORY OF CHAJtLESl . AND THE ENQLISH REVOLUTION . History of Charles I . and Hie English Revolution . By M . Guizot . Translated by Andrew 1 J . Scoble . In two volumes . Bentley , These two volumes contain the first portion of M . Guizot ' s History of the English devolution , and embrace the period from the accession of Charles I . to his death . The only novelty , however , in this edition is a Preliminary Essay on English Revolution—a translation of the work itself , from the pen of William Hazlitt , having been published nine years by Mr . Bogue . To the Essay , therefore , we shall confine the few criticisms we intend to offer . M . Guizot has spent his life in the study of history . As a statesman , he has been a signal failure . It is a safe prediction that the editor of Gibbon , the author of lectures on European Civilisation , the Analyst of Governments , will be remembered long after the First Minister of Louis Philippe has
shared the fato of men who attempt to govern without the faculty of governing . M . Guizot ' s writings are too well known to require any more special mention . They are all the products of an intellect at once subtle and profound ; they exhibit the results of laboured research , and they are written ia a style remarkable for clearness' and simplicity . In most respects , therefore , M . Guizot is well qualified to write a history of the English Revolution . But , in judging of the conclusions at "which lie has arrived , we must not blind ourselves to three obvious facts—that he is not an Englishman , that he failed , when he tried to apply his principles to practice , and that he discusses English polities from an un-English point of" view . Sometimes , of course , this last defect is a supreme excellence . We do not quarrel with M . Guizot because he is a foreigner , but because he has approached the subject of
English history and English institutions with preconceived notions . His object is not so much to narrate and describe as to select facts in order to prove a theory . A foreigner , with full knowledge and free from bias , is perhaps the fittest person in the world to write onr history . In the Essay , which has now appeared for the first time in . English , M . Guizot endeavours to solve this problem—How is it that * ' what France and Europe have hitherto vainly attempted" was successfully achieved in England ? The answer is that our revolutions , whether political or religious , were based on existing institutions . What laws , traditions , and precedents were to Hampdeh and the patriots , ia the time of Charles I ., the Bible was to the authors of the Reformation . And in addition to these " pledges of moderation" we are told that " Providence added another favour . " The
political reformers , in the seventeenth century , were not condemned , at their very outset , to the wickedness and danger of spontaneously attacking-, without clear and pressing necessity , a peaceful and inoffensive ruler . " But while this " pressing necessity" is fully admitted , while M . Guizot denounces , in forcible language , the u aggressive despotism , " which attacked ancient rights , and opposed the demand for new liberties ; he has no sympathy with , the means by which this same despotism was overthrown . He would have had no revolution at all . Hero was Charles , still secretly conspiring , still granting concessions aad making promises which he waited
only the opportunity to revoke , and yet the faithless monarch should have been dealt with as an honest truthful man . M . G-uizot admits the frivolity , insincerity , and inconsistency of the king , and yet is unable to see that there was no peace for England , no chance for order , so long as Charles was suffered to live . The punishment was terrible enough , but , most surely , it did not exceed the measure of the offence . A nation—long patient under oppression—was goaded past endurance . The vengeance was delayed , but , in the nature of things , it could not but be inflicted . And yet it is of this great triumph of law and justice that M . Guizot writes as follows :
" The jiulgos of Charles I . loft no moans untried to free their action from this fatal character , and to represent it as a judgment of God , which they wore commissioned to perform . Charles had aimed at absolute power , and carried on civil war . Many ri g hts had been violated , and much blood shed , by his orders or with his sanction . On him was cast all tho responsibility of the anavcliy and tho war . Ho was called upon to account tor all tho liberties that had been oppressed , and all tho blood that had been spilt—^ -a nameless crime , which death alone could expiate . But tho conscience of a pooplo cannot bo so fur misled , oven when it is under the influence of distraction and terror . Others beside tho King had boen guilty of oppression and bloodshed . If tho King had violated tho rights of his subjects , — tho rights of royalty , cmudly ancient , equally by law established , equally necessary to tho maintenance ol pubHo liberty , had also boon , violated , attuckoti , and invaded . Ho linden * gaged in war ; but in his own defence . No one was ignorant that , at tho tiino when lio determined on war , it was being prepared against him , in order to compol him , aftor all his
concessions , to deliver up tho rights and tho power winch ho . still rctamod , —tho last remnants of tho legal government ol' tho country . . And now that the King was conquered , he wns judged and condemned without lnw ^ and contrary to all liuv , for acts which no law had over contemplated or characterised as crunos , which the conscience of neither King nor pooplo had over thought , of coiiuidoring as subject to tho jurisdiction of men , mid punishable by their hands . What indignation , what universal horror , would linye been Ml if tho meanest subject of tho realm had lecu thus trontod , and put to duuth for crimes di'lined after tho uxocution ( A' iho sentence , by pretonded judges , I ' onucrly hit ) enemies , now Ills rivals , and about to be Inn heirs ! And ( hut which no 0110 would havo dared to do to lhoobflonw . it hnghalilniin , was done to tho King of England—to tho supromu head of tho Church as well as ot tho Stato—to tho lVprwiciiLutivo and thu symbol of authority , onlcr . lmv , justice , — induo 1 . everything -which , in human society , approaches and tui [» fiUBtn thu idea of tno attributes oi God I "
After this wo scarcely need toll our readers in what light INI . Guizot regards Cruuiwoll . Hwq ia thu portrait : "Aftor having , it is said , Bpont hlsyoutU in tho oxcoshou of a flury toinporamont , in tl » o outburatN of an ardent and roatlosa p ioty , and iu tho mirvico ul tho intercuts or dosiros ol
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15071854/page/17/
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