On this page
-
Text (3)
-
|#0{S • T-Ifr ff LjEAfrBIfr pfo. 299, gA...
-
GILBERT MASSENGER. Gilbert Mcusenger. By...
-
ARRIVABENE'S ITALIAN POETS. Selections f...
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.
Madame Pfeifper's Second Journey. A Lady...
When a wife 4 ies the husband inherits only half of the good * belonging to her —except what she ha * expressly left Mm as a legacy ; her children are her heirs « nd if she has none , the children of her sister or other female relative . The man can inherit from bis own race only in the female line , —from his mother or ' his fejnalo relatives ; and his property goes not to his own children , but the children of his eister or nearest female relation . - The old Roman laws of creditor and debtor come into our minds as " vye read the following : — There exists at Borneo , as I have already said , a class of slaves , partly prisoners taken in war , and partly debtors who have not been able to meet the claims on them at the appointed time , and h $ ve fallen consequently into the power of the creditor , as a forfeited pledge . Inaccordance with this barbarous law , the debtor must serve his creditor as a slave until the debt is liquidated ; and should he die before that time , his wife , his son , his daughter , or the nearest of his other relatives , has to take bis place . Whoever does not pay his ta ^ es to the sultan for three years , becomes his slave . "We might multiply extracts ; but t hese will suffice to indicate the sort o interest belonging to the work . f
|#0{S • T-Ifr Ff Ljeafrbifr Pfo. 299, Ga...
| # 0 { S T-Ifr ff LjEAfrBIfr pfo . 299 , gA ^^ AY ,
Gilbert Massenger. Gilbert Mcusenger. By...
GILBERT MASSENGER . Gilbert Mcusenger . By Holme Lee . S m ith , Elder , and Co This book has not quite satisfied us . It does not exhibit any advance in sMlfulness of literary treatment on the author's former work ; and its subject is not so well chosen as the subject of " Thorney Hall . " There is a favourite topic in recent English fiction which has become worn out by too much use , and there is also a favourite personne , of whom we have lately seen rather jnpre than is entirely agreeable . The topic is the nobleness of sacrificing affection to a sense of duty j the character is a puritanically pious old maid . Any novel readers who will exercise their memories will , we believe , bear us out in the assertion , that a very large proportion of recent stories set forth the subject and contain the character , to the incessant reiteration of both of which we have objected . Holme Lee has , we are sorry to say , fallen this tame into the error of working with worn-out materials . " Gilbert Massenger " Sacrifices his love to his imperative sense of the duty of remaining single , as
member of a family afflicted with hereditary insanity ; and * ' Gilbert MassengerV' aunt is that same grim , lean , stiff , conscientious elderly female Protestant , against whose reappearance , in novel after novel , we strongly protest . The character of " Gilbert" is sustained equally and skilfully , but there is something in bis dogged endurance and churlish self-restraint which may be true to nature , but which it is not agreeable to read . He gets more gracefully resigned and more gently religious as the story ends , but he is never a loveabje character . His pious maiden- aunt can only , we imagine , be favourably appreciated by Calvinist readers ; and his lady-love , though very sweetly and tenderly conceived , is not made sufficiently striking to contrast successfully with the dreary hero and the grim aunt . Some of the minor characters are much more successful than the principal personages of the book in exciting our interest , perhaps because they are generally associated with the more tender and winning passages of the story . Of oue of these passages we will give an extract , by way of exhibiting " Gilbert Massenger" in his most interesting aspect to our readers : —
A CONFESSION OJP LOVE . At last the parting came—deferred certainly until the last moment ; but when . the clock was on the stroke of eleyen , he was ashamed to linger longer , and rose to go . His kind friend shook him heartily by the hand , wishing him every success . Gilbert then turned to Ellen , who stood near him with a rather pale Jittle face : the separation was for an eternity of three months , remember , And their mutual love was unconfessed . " Come out into the garden , Helen , there is a lovely moon , " whispered he j and somehow he got her little hand in his close , warm clasp , and drew her out of the room , "while her Uncle William cried , * ' Massenger , don't be mad : it is a bitter froat ; " then , added to himself , when they were beyond hearing , " Youth will have itaday . " It was indeed a cold , sharp night ; but neither felt it .
" Helen , you know I love you—I cannot go without speaking , " said Gilbert , quickly : —" give me a promise that you will be mine when I dare to claim you . " A . cold gust of wind carried Heleu ' s auawer out of everybody ' s hearing , save his j but it oftuaed him to lift her in hia arms , strain her to his heart , and call her his ¦ " Sweet life—his joy—his hope—his darling . " " Put your hand in mine , Helen ; let nie hear you Bay you trust me—you love me , " " I-do , Gilbert—X trust you entirely ; " and the frank eyes , glistening with tears , lifted themselves to hia face . >«*« Yiq » love mef "» M . " ¦ Awxthtfr frantic strain to hia heart , a long kiss—tho first , the last—and he dBMMBone . Hcfaa « tood under the porch for a few seconds , and then went in . Her tell-**^ nfl ®* « aw > d her -explanation with her unole : he understood what had passed . * W m -nMtaatly , my net ; he will moke you happy : I have seen it in his face all S Bro * h * r Ton 4 s warning lias . come ifcrue : X shall go © n my travels again . " ' « No , unoj « , you won ' t ; you will have two people to } ove you inatead of one , « ndyoti * iw 3 y 8 eacrOilbertauits you . "
"Jjjittte , one , Uncle William is content if his precious jewel iu happy . " He held out Mb arms to ft ** , wad she © rept into them aa she had done when a child ; he kept . hex f * et a . long while , for she had Buffered the few tears to grow to a shower , end . he would have them -ahed nowhere else than o » his breast " When she was calm again , he kissed her fondly , and bad * hw go dream and be happy ; " After all , ' woe his axjfleotion when rite w « 8 gone , "it ia hard to train up a a » oe warm-hearted thing to be the comfort of your life , and nut when you have l « Avnfc that youcan't do , without her , < to findaome audaoious ( person putting in a claim , for what he has not a . ahadow of right to . Well , I nuppoae I must submit . '' We write briefly of this book because we cannot write favourably of it . But , in what Httte we have said , it must be understood that wo have judged the autihoress ( for we still persist in believing ' Holme Lee to be a lady ) Iff 1 W ' .. WGOBTiinott , standard . Qampa , red iVith ordinary novels , « ' Gilbert i ^ BWWJpV' faulty aa it is , . gains immensely . Xt is the work of a person who can think ana who can write , and of whoso future advance in her , art wo ^ w ;« M » rt « n good hope . If we might venture on " a guess , we should be imclinea to say that tho defects of this novel are mainly tho result of ft want
of sufficient variety in , the authoress ' s life . We are inclined to suspect that she lives too much in the same place , mixes too constantly with the same people , holds too tenaciously always to the same intellectual habits . Her look coines too much from the world within her ( as it seems to us ) , and too lj ^ tle from th e world without . To observe among new scenes , and to study among new people , are very important ingredients in the materials which go towards the making up of a genuinely successful writer of fiction .
Arrivabene's Italian Poets. Selections F...
ARRIVABENE'S ITALIAN POETS . Selections from , the Italian Pods , forming an Historical View of the Development qf Italian Poetry from the Earliest Time to the Present . With Biographical Notices . . By Charles Arrivabene . Bolandi . Signob Akbivabenje is an exile , and has soothed the weariness of exile by the composition of this work , which records the glory of his country—the splendour of Italian poetry . While the Austrian and French uniforms insult the eye of every Italian and every lover of Italy , it is well to remind men constantly of what a nation the Italian is—of what a noble part it has played in European culture and progress ; and Signor Arrivabene has been more truly patriotic in the composition of this book than if he had written thousands of wildmanifestoes , the only result of which would have been to make oppression more wakeful and more galling . Very much do we admire the tone of these notices , and the preliminary discourse : the ardent Liberalism of the writer is rather felt than seen ; it does not flame out into invective—it is the steady light of a conviction shining athwart every page .
At first sight the book seems to be no more than a very useful compendium for colleges , schools , and private students . It consists of an historical essay , tracing the development of Italian literature from its dawn , to the present day ( aa essay written in English , by the way , and very well written)—a selection from the works of all the great writers , in the manner of elegant extracts , with short biographical notices in Italian prefixed to each , and brief explanatory notes on obscure or obsolete expressions . This is the body of the book . For the student this is the plain , practical purpose it is meant to serve . But beside this practical purpose there is another : in the body there is a soul , and the soul is the breath , of liberty . The student of Italian literature will take up this volume like any other educational help ; he will find it portable , practical , cheap , and not too redundant . But , while the student is thus using the book , Count Arrivabene will read it at Brussel s * smile approvingly on his nephew ' s patriotic effort .
As already hinted , the patriotism of Signor Arrivabene runs through the book , animates his biographical notices , and often determines his selections . To cite but a single instance , what student will read that fine poem by Berchet , at page 384 , " Ella e sola , dinanzi le genti" —fine as a poem , terrible as a protest against the Austrian—without feeling his sympathies deeply awakened ? As a specimen of his style in writing English , and of the spirit in which his book is composed , read the following : — Little progress was made in Italian literature in the days of the French
revolution—unhappy days indeed—in which all the monuments of art were brought by the great Corsican Conqueror to the capital of his adoption . Nothing was spared in this shameful pillage by our Republican friends on the other side _ of the Alps—nothing from the Laocoonte of Rome to the Quadriga of the Venetian horses . Yet amidst the turmoil of those days , and the general admiration of the great deeds of Napoleon , the genius of Ugo Foscolo shines brightly forth from such be-starred courtiers as Monti and Cesarotti . He east his verses in the ancient mould of the great school , and was the chief of the romantic literature of his day . He had the right to exclaim
" I hate the Terse which sounds but does not create . " I do not mean by this that Monti doeB not deserve a great place among the classical poets of that time , but only that the enthusiastic and chivalrous character of the Italian poet whose ashes lie in this hospitable land command our love and admiration not more for the brightness of his poetry than for the consistent independence of his opinions . He disdained singing in his adopted land ( Greece ) for the gratification of the barbarian foreigner , and he sought for another where he could freely touch the chords of his immortal lyre . And he was right , for the gorgeous yoke of Napoleon ' s empire but was exchanged for a coarser and more galling one . The Austrian rulers had power to drive their cannons from one end of Italy to the other , and thought and poetry flourish not where the air is contaminated by the smoke of foreign artillery . Unhappily it was thus during the days of Foscolo , and it is thus now . The true poets of Italy refuse to soothe with
their verBes the toils of bondsmen : they prefer to rend the strings of their JyreB rather than submit them to the senseless scissors of Austrian censorship . The independent and virgin power of faith and genius has found a home in a few solitary minds , who full of anxiety at the aspect of present destinies yet with imagination and enthusiasm ( forces almost lost ) raise now nnd then a protesting cry against the great usurpation of bjwrte force over intelligence ^ It is true that our age announces itqejf everywhere in such snored and solemn characters that wo cannot but feel that something great moves within it , It is true that the triumph of science , thiti great instrument of progress , appears already to all minds as a necessary and glorious event in the life of the world ; to wish therefore to arrest it would bo a simple folly , aa to deny it would be pitiful pride . The oar of humanity is inevitably dragged along the road of iron oud fire though the goal at which it ie to arrive is , as yet , a mystery to man .
Still , while adoring that Providence who in the abyss of its designs , prepared this epoch , and admiring the works of human thought which shapes itself into such noble manifestations in the fields wherein it is permitted to work , a sorrow —a deep sorrow—a melancholy rage has taken possession of those few minds which seem destined to preserve the eacred flames of faith nnd genius , They interrogate tho present iu every direction , and where in the general condition of tho world in the condition of Italy iu particular can they find voices to inspire them ? They ask what power governs activo sooiety at this time , and the answer is such as to make them shrink within themsolvos , in tears and isolation . As 11 to heighten their anguish , those few glorious minds , servnntH of God alone , « re compelled to listen to politicians and critics , who accustomed to tho restrictions of form nnd numbers , wish to compile the grammar of poetry also . Thus bewildered on tho one hand by tho spirit of material if in , on tho other by the dread of vacancy , what course of action rcmaius to them but to rovcrt to the past , to reunite spattered traditions , to reaniinato thab aorpao which at least i » tho pody of a giant ? Every reader of Italian possesses the great classics , but very few possess the
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 15, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15121855/page/18/
-