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May 16, 1857.] THE L _ B ADER. 473
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ICtferntare.
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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; , ;. ? - r j 3 — f a J . of : > ; on r...
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In the few words we dedicated to the mem...
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Messrs. Chapman and Hall have published ...
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; The name of Montaigne is beginning to ...
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. ? An interesting discussion has been c...
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HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY. The Jiiwjraphicnl...
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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.
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May 16, 1857.] The L _ B Ader. 473
May 16 , 1857 . ] THE L _ B ADER . 473
Ictferntare.
ICtferntare .
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Sevictc .
; , ;. ? - R J 3 — F A J . Of : > ; On R...
The virtue of arbitrary government is seen in its most advantageous aspect when it wears the mask of justice . To say that it controls the licence of thought and suppresses the anarchy of opinion , is to pay an idle and vulgar compliment to its most obvious superiority : but it is in its last expression , in the form of a corrupt Tribunal , that it comes home to the admiration of every man whose soul is not sickened by the prejudices of honour and morality . In August last ( Leader , No . 336 ) we were enabled to celebrate ' a "Teat victory for the cause of justice and of free inquiry . ' The battle fought in the French law courts over the literary remains of Lamennais had resulted in a complete vindication of the rights of his literary cxecutorship . "W ' c may be permitted to recal to our readers the circumstances of the case : Instead of his Memoirs ( we quote from the Leader of August 30 , 1856 ) , which he had often been solicited to write , it was the intention of Laniennais to bequeath to the world a complete collection of his letters , as the best possible exponent of his life and character . He made some progress towards the fulfilment of this design during the two or three years preceding his death , and committed its final execution to Emile Forgues , whom he appointed his literary executor by his will , dated December , 1853 . The main provisions made in that document -were but two : Madame Kertangui , the testator ' s niece , was constituted his ' universal legatee ; ' but to M . Emile Forgues were left the copyrights of one published work , and of articles inserted in various journals , together with certain papers , being the materials which Lamennais had collected and arranged for the projected book of his Correspondence . M . Forgues was expressly empowered to choose out of these materials what he should think fit , and to publish them when he pleased , the testator adding , " My intentions concerning them are sufficiently known to him through the verbal instructions I have given him ! " The personal confidence thus implied was emphatically exhibited in another clause of the will . M . Forgues was to share equally with Madame Kertangui or her daughter whatever sums he might realize by their uncle ' s literary bequest , but he was not to be called on for any detailed accounts or vouchers , it being the testator ' s " express desire that his simple declaration should stand in lieu of all accounts for the settle- ment of the profits to be divided . " So much for the implicit trust reposed by Lamen- nais in the integrity and discretion of his literary executor . We are in no danger of mistaking the animus of the suit which was instituted against M . Forgues , nominally by Madame Kertangui , but in reality by her brother acting as the tool of the Jesuits . M . Forgues had intimated his " intention of pro curing for publication other letters of Lamennais' besides those which their author himself had collected- This was strictly in accordance with the verbal instructions given by the latter . The instigators of the suit , however , professing to be actuated by a pious regard for the written commands of the deceased , sought to restrain his literary executor from fulfilling the spirit of his will . They stood upon the letter of that document , which entitled their opponent to all the testator ' s papers not of a business nature , and stated that the snme were to be found partly in a chest and partly in the drawers of a certain bookcase let que Von trouvera enpartie renfermes dans une caisse , en partie deposes dans les armoires de la bibliotheqite non vitre ' de mon cabinet ] . This , they said , clearly indicated that M . Forgues' right of publication was restricted to the papers contained in those two places , and they prayed that he should he forbidden to exceed the limits of his powers as thus interpreted by themselves . The court took a different view of the case , and rejected their demand with costs . This trial very naturally created un extraordinary sensation in France , But the contradictory result of the appeal will , we dare say , leave a more serious and enduring impression upon the minds of the most in- different observers of tho prevailing regime . Many such victories would go hard with the victors ; we tnibt they may not live to rue the day in which the last refuge from political tempers was degraded and destroyed . "You have observed , " writes a friend in Paris , "the decision of the Convlm- periale ( never belter deserving that title !) reversing the judgment of the court below , which had confirmed Emii-k Forgtjes in his right of publishing the letters of Lamunnais at his own discretion . The flag-rant iniquity of this decision may bo estimated by simply comparing its terms with those of the will which it annuls both in the spirit and in the letter . It has been extorted from the weakness of the Bench—after a resistance which surprised a public not yet aware how pliant even justice may be- conic—by the Premier President Dki . anglk , to whom , by the way , the cha- racter of M . Forguics was personally known , since it was under M . Delanglk that M . 1 ' oiuujks had commenced his studies : it the bar , and had won the first honours of a high and pure reputation , to which even the servant of the Empire could not refuse a tribute of respect ,. " The truth is that , as in the prod's Vkuon , the Premier President has seized an opportunity of paying his court to power , and striking two implacable enemies of the present regime in the persons of Lamknnai . n and his literary executor . Such un opportunity of disposing publicly of the consciences of his col- leagues , and of testifying to his master with what agreeable facility the awkward obstinacy of Law can be taught to bow with grace—such an opportunity was not to be lost . Certainly the temptation was < .-reat ypf . if servility were not , bereft of . sight , Ar . Dklajjous might well have hesitated to deliver a judgment directly contrary to the conclusions of an honest , Avoeat- GcncVal , and to the decision of the judges of tho lower court . But M , Dis- langlh i » , no doubl , convinced thai , mi upriyht judge is an anomaly iu a Court where an august will is always . supposed to preside . For the present , there- lore , M . Fouguish is prcvontccl from exercising the full and absolute disere- tion which Lamknnaih , by a npccial clause in Jus will , expressly desired him to exercise , froe from all interfcmiec , in the publication of his posthumous wovks . Much of his correspondence , selected from the document * he left in order , at his death , will bo published ; bul , tliauks to M . Djelakuws , u few
precious letters will be wanting to the complete discovery of that lofty genius , and to the full exposition of that noble life . The name of M . Emile Fojrgues needs no adorning , but it will receive new lustre from the courage and fidelity with which he has upheld , in the face of corrupt oppression , the cause of free thought , unsullied honour , and incorruptible integrity , speaking from that pauper ' s grave in which all that was mortal of Francois Lamennais reposes .
In The Few Words We Dedicated To The Mem...
In the few words we dedicated to the memory of Alfred jde Mussex last week , we made a slight mistake in saying that in his latest volume of poems published in 1850 , there was nothing that bore a later date than ' 39— 42 * There are , in truth , some seventeen minor poems in that slender volume , with * dates ranging from ' 43 to the year of publication . Among these , the longest are —the stanzas on the death of the Due d'Obxeans— " Le Treize Juillet ; " the "lleponse a M . Charles Nodier ; " the ode "A MonFrere , revenant d'ltalie , " and the " Conseils a unc Parisienne . " In the concluding " Sonnet au I / ectcur , " dated January , IS 50 , the poet strikes the key-note of despair : — En verite , ce siecle est un mauvais moment .
Messrs. Chapman And Hall Have Published ...
Messrs . Chapman and Hall have published the first instalment of the Memoirs of St . Simon , compressed in an English translation by Mr . Bayle St . John . Mr . St . John's plan is to abridge the narrative and to leave the anecdotes to speak for themselves . We shall next week present an analysis of the two volumes , which are a close reduction of nine volumes of the original .
; The Name Of Montaigne Is Beginning To ...
; The name of Montaigne is beginning to be often repeated in the French , press , on account , partly , of a very curious circumstance . His Chateau and estate , which were worth sixty thousand francs at his death , are now advertised ; for sale , and arc estimated at five hundred thousand francs . A journalist makes the amusing suggestion that some English lord should effect the purchase and make a present of the property to Dr . Pa yen , as a recognition of his praiseworthy and valuable researches into the biography of the Gascon philosopher . Such English lords , alas ! so disinterestedly over-generous , exist no longer , save in the imaginations of French men of letters . c f * r . ^ c !~ ii
. ? An Interesting Discussion Has Been C...
. An interesting discussion has been carried on recently between the Siecle - and some royalist journals on the character of Henri IV . The statue on the r Pont Neuf is being undermined . M . Peyrat , writing some weeks ago in the j Siccle on M . Poirson- ' s cumbersome report—it can scarcely be called a history 3 —on the reign of the founder of the Bourbon dynasty , grappled in a remarkf ably independent spirit with the popular traditions about the good king who J thought so much of the soup-pots of his subjects , and stated the final results . of modern research . The Henbi IV . of M . Poirson is nothing but the old : legendary personage , with a primmer mien and more pedantic step . The > Henri IV . of M . Peyrat , who is , perhaps , provoked into a little exaggeration ; on the other side , is the vert-galant , who threw away his most brilliant victories in order to hasten back to the lap of the fair Corisandre ; who pardoned all his enemies , and sacrificed all his friends ; and who was so eager for peace and quietness in his amours , that when he might have inaugurated the reign of toleration in France under the impulse of the sceptical indifference of Montaigne , lie hastened towards an ignoble abjuration which prepared the way for the triumph of bigotry , and yet did not blunt the dagger of Ravaillac . The Royalist writers arc irritated at the clear manner in which the reign of the Bourbons is shown to have been inaugurated by a perjury , and have sharply attacked M . Peyrat ; but they have found their match . That vigorous dialectician , instead of retreating , lias maintained his point in such a manner that he will scarcely be assailed again . The Siecle does itself honour by the publication of such articles . We may also compliment it on the excellent series entitled Lc Parti Catholique , by M . Lanji-rey , in which the most urbane and yet destructive wit is directed against the ludicrous faction founded by M . Tjixeus . The description of the various sections of this so-called ' party' — an unfortunate designation provoking criticism—competing for public notice , and eacli calling out " Eccoil vero Pulcincllo , " is infinitely comic and damaging . The I ' oliticaf Church will find another implacable but cautious , and therefore dangerous , adversary in , M . Lanfrey . , - a j : " — al t j ° ' le I ] ° \ vi dc P re ^ ' ^ ' ¦' sa v 'i in do co ^ . 1 tn ( scc CVI ucl ini l
History Of Philosophy. The Jiiwjraphicnl...
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY . The Jiiwjraphicnl History of Philosophy , from , its Origin in Greece down to the Present Day . Uy George Henry Lewes . Library Edition , much Enlarged and thoroughly Revised . j . Wm p arkor and Son > Thih volume is not simply a new edition of a woll-known work . While retaining the substance of his original history , Mr . Lowes , in preparing tho present edition for tho press , has pruned away its occasional redundances corrected its casual errors , supplied its admitted defects , and thoroughly revised the whole throughout . Tina revision is indeed so complete , ° the additions thus made are so numerous and extensive , that it would be morecorrect to consider it as a new work than as a mere reissue of an old one it thus chums a distinct recognition , to which n reprint would not bo entitled Our renders will , however , understand why a notice in tho Leader should bo historical and descriptive rather than critical ; indicating tho general purpose and character of the work rather than pronouncing ju « I" - niuutonits special merits . Wo shall accordingly confine ourselves ' " i general account of the history and of tho main points in which the new and library edition dillers from tho popular shilling volumes . The Biographuud History of Philosophy , aa most of our readers will remember , was published tea years ago in four successive volumes of Knight ' s Tlu T , V pro cor »< ov Ild ( J ^ 'j titli sho gen IUUI j ? f ' { inei
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 16, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16051857/page/17/
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