On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (9)
-
mo T EC E Ji E ADEB, [Saturday,
-
op** . - ; ByiWrUinrF*
-
Critics are not the legislators, bat the...
-
A vjsar common and unjust remark is made...
-
Tbnntson's newv6lume, so long expected, ...
-
We recently called attention to the disp...
-
Jules Janin, in his feuilleton this week...
-
It is a species of literary, and at any ...
-
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. The Louvre; or, Biog...
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.
Mo T Ec E Ji E Adeb, [Saturday,
mo T EC E Ji E ADEB , [ Saturday ,
Op** . - ; Byiwruinrf*
; iOjteriiinre ,
Critics Are Not The Legislators, Bat The...
Critics are not the legislators , bat the jadgas and police of literature . JT ^ ey do not make laws -they mterprei ; aad try to enforce theca . —EJinburgh Review .
A Vjsar Common And Unjust Remark Is Made...
A vjsar common and unjust remark is made by Englishmen who read La Revue de Deux Mondes , namely , " we have nothing in England to ¦ compare with it . " True , we have no single Review which is at once so important and entertaining ; but if we consider how many Reviews we have , the injustice of the comparison becomes obvious . France has but one good Review ; has never yet been able to support more than one . The Revue de Paris , Revue Indtspendante , Revue JSTouvelle formerly , and now the Revue Contemporaine , have tried in vain to rival the Deux Mondes : each work has boasted of eminent . contributors , and many excellent articles , but steady amforin excellence has not been attainable . Limiting France , therefore , to
one , or two Reviews , and comparing the produce with our Quarterly , Edinburgh , Westminster , British Quarterly , North British , London Quarterly , Dublin Review , Irish Quarterly , Blackwood , and Fraser , the result must be prooouneed insigniacant . If we imagine ourselves limited to two reviews , which would thu 3 have the pick of the contributions now bestowed on ten , ifcas easy to see that these two works would be of a kind to throw the Revue des Deux Mondes into insignidcance . Indeed , such a suggestion leads to ^ curious comparisons . France a literary nation , and Paris a university capital , France the " brain of the world , " a 3 she repeatedly tells us , with
charming modesty , Paris where . alone the laurel -wreath of fame can be conferred on Genius , is as indubitably as far behind England in the market she opens to Literature , as she is in manufactures . Waiving all question of quality , it may be safely asserted that in the quantity and gravity of publications England exceeds France tenfold . In periodicals , and in cheap literature , our superiority is enormous . This implies a far greater spread of intelligence -among the people ; which again implies a higher degree of civilisation . We draw no odious comparison between the elite of France arid the , 2 lite of England : in many respects they have decided superiority ower us ; in some respects inferiority as decided .
iThe last numbers of La Mevue Contemporaine and La Revue des Deux ^ Mondes , ^ whieh led us into these reflections , are certainly not calculated to impugn our verdict . Agreeable , they are in no respect striking . In the Gontempovaine , M- Ajcwred Njkttemlent replies to an insolent article by that most insolent of critics , Gtjstave Pi » anohe ( a writer who seems to us to have gained his reputation more oj means of magisterial dogmatism than by any ¦ pther , quality ) , and the Parisian public may feel some interest in the debate , which ' to our readers would havejio attraction ; M . Louis KAriSBouNiE furnishes a mediocre article on Heine , \ vho demands a first-rate writer if he is to be treated ( properly ; A » oiiPeE Adam , the musical composer , gives an agreeable . sketch of one of his ^ predecessors , Monsignt ; and Edmond AawroT tells the story of the composition of Tolla—as we intimated last week .
The DeuxMondes has an able paper on Young Ireland in Exile , by Emxub Montegut ; an historical study of Mazabin , by Louis de Cabne ; a moat inadequate paper on Achim i > 'Aknim , the husband of Bettinta , by Blazk <» e B . ubt ; and an elaborate paper on Longevity , by Jules Haime , in which be ( discusses the statistics of M . » e OaATBAimmu ]? , and the theories of FiiOTTHENS . We touch on this subject , as regards M . Fx-otrnECfs , in another part of our Journal , and simply refer those curious on the point to M . Jujles HiSKB & E . The . programme of this number ( which inoludes several articles not named here ) is as various as one ^ need desire ; : but the treatment of the subjects is certainly below what would be found in any avorage number of one of our 'Reviews .
Tbnntson's Newv6lume, So Long Expected, ...
Tbnntson ' s newv 6 lume , so long expected , will soon appear . It contains , ¦ ob we learn , three poems of some length : Maud , ian Idyl , and a poem on Italy ; / and although in general wo have large . distrust in tlie verdicts of friends on works unpublished , wo have in this case too great a belief in Xennjtson ' s genius not to put faith in all that friends say of it . Tennyson is . a . good example to poets , in . the fastidious oreticence and anxious care with trhioh he treats the Muse . If this lead l » im sometimes into the fault , which tie confesses , 'To add and altor many times Till all bo ripo and rotten , it ' also saves him "from the perilous hasteof snatching unprepared at laurels . He gi . v . es us the essence of his work , and not the hasty sketches . Equally slow , laborious , and solid is another of . our . groat . writers , Caiu , yz , e , who pays UttleiAibtentton to the impatient demands of an eager . public—na public only too ready to cry out about " falling oil " " if fcho work presented be not superior to what has gone boforo—who does not care one jot how much wo doairo -to . hayo hia . Frederick the Great , but cares a groat . deal how ho is to . mnko-that > w > rk worth having . The pu-blic should be , grateful whon men df reputation'forego the temptation of discounting their names ; and should remjamhar thufc Jt « o Tampa nMnorgna pas co quo l ' on iu . it aaua lui .
While we gossip thns , let us not omit to notice Alexander Bain's work just published under the ( to many ) attractive title The Senses and the Intellect , a work which , to our knowledge , has been many years in preparation , and of which , we hope to give a more specific account by-and-by . Nor should the History of the Spanish Conquest , by Arthur Helps , be omitted in any mention of laborious works : the thousands who have smiled at the humour , cherished the wisdom , and tasted the fine flavour of style in Friends in Council and the Companions of my Solitude , will welcome anynew appearance of so rare a mind ; and if " Gossip Report" may be trusted , this appearance in the new character of Historian will be as striking as it is new .
We Recently Called Attention To The Disp...
We recently called attention to the dispute agitating the Pans Academy of Sciences respecting the sugar-forming function of the Liver , which after six years of glory bestowed on it 3 discoverer , Claude Bebsabd , is assailed by a formidable antagonist , who undertakes to show that the Liver forms no suo-ar at all , but only acts as a filter and condenser . Nothing new has reached us ; at least no new step in the debate ; but some readers may ba oladto learn that the last number of . the Annales des Sciences JValu ? -elles h devoted entirely to this question ; it contains M . Figuikb ' s memoir , M . JBernahd ' s reply , and two other papers bearing on the dispute . As far as these documents go , we incline to the opinion of M . Figuier ; but the Commission of Inquiry will , it is hoped , express a decisive verdict .
Jules Janin, In His Feuilleton This Week...
Jules Janin , in his feuilleton this week , after a very characteristic rhapsody about Paris as the sole arbiter and dispenser of glory , recals the success of Miss Smithsox , whom the Parisians discovered to be a great actress . " In vain the English critics , much disconcerted at this refutation of their opinions given by French criticism , tried to disavow her genius , her triumph was proclaimed for ever . " It is perhaps pedantic to urgue with J . J ., but we would venture to ask what he would say if the case were reversed—if English critics were suddenly to be smitten with enthusiasm for an actor whom tte French rejected ? Would he think English verdicts of any force ? Would he not attribute them to want of nicety in the
perception of nuances , if not to want of knowledge of the language ? Respecting Miss Smithson's genius we are unable to form an opiuion ; but there are two reasons which make us prefer the English verdict to the French : first , the fact that she was not accepted on the English stage—a stage never very critical—is significant , and points to some prominent defect in the actress ; secondly , the fact that she was an Irishwoman , not free from Irish accent , And this defect ( not appreciable by foreigners ) would of itself have constituted a bar to her success in tragedy . Some such reflections must have occurred to J . J ., had he not been nurtured in the faith that Paris , and Paris alone , is competent to form an opinion in matters of Art .
It Is A Species Of Literary, And At Any ...
It is a species of literary , and at any rate very interesting news , that the abolition of the newspaper stamp is being followed by considerable newspaper enterprise in the provinces . Glasgow , Manchester , and Liverpool have now announced their penny daily papers . The Liverpool Daily Post , projected by the Messrs . Whitty , is already published daily at a penny , and indicates that in respect to Jiewspapers , England is approaching the condition of Germany and the United States , when the student of public opinion must refer to the organs of eachoi the large political and commercial communities .
Books On Our Table. The Louvre; Or, Biog...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The Louvre ; or , Biography of a Museum . With Two Plans . By Bayle St . John . Chapmuu and Hall Cranford . By the Author of " Mary Barton , " & c . ( Cheap Edition . ) Chapman and HoU Leotivre on the Method of Teaching Grammar , delivered before the United Association oj Schoolmasters at the First Annual Meeting . By James Toll card , F . K . U . JS . Longman , Brown , Greon , and Longmans . Monastic Institutions : their Origin , Progress , Nature , and Tendency . By « ' » » lliel Phillips Day . Longman , Brown , Greon , ana Longmans . Land , Labour , and Gold ; or , Two Years in Victoria : with Visits to Sydney and Van JDiemen's Land . By William Howitt . Two Vols .
Longman , Brown , Greon , and Longmans . Uhe Mippolytm Stephanephorus of Euripides , with short English Notes , for the UseqJ Schools .- J - IL a " ' ! . " 2 A Plea for Painted Glass : being an Inquiry into its Nature , Character , and Ol > jet : i * , « n » its Claims as an Art . Bv Francis II . Olipliant . J - \\ ,, ' w Jonas Clint : a Tale . J - ll - J " ™* A Brief History ofSherburn Hospital , in t ? te County of Durham , with Observation * < m the " Scheme " proposed by the " Charity Commissioners" for the App lication ai Management of that Charity , and the Estates and ? Possessions thereof . J . II . and ' ' "'
May Flowers : being Notes and Notions on a few Created Thinys . By " ^ ' 1 l ] " jj cev 0 The Philosophy of the Cross ; or , Christ as Man . By Henry < i . Cooper . ^ ( jroi > ml > ndgo « n l \\ Every Boy ' s Book : a complete Endyclopaadia of Sports an I , Amusmua / its , '"'' ' '' j ^' afford Jtecreutiott and Instruction to Boys in their Leisure Hours . i > y ¦ 6 IWt , Em ,., M . A . . «¦ K » lltIo < i «; L , S Administrative Reform : The Iteoryanisation of the Civil Survive . J v "/? ,,, i f ] 0 therein . » i » iUh , KUlor , and ^ Notes on some of the pninoipal Pictures exhibited in the Ilooim of the Royal . '" J'W 1855 . By tko Author of " Modern i ' aintom . " Smith , K < or , ii " The Private JAfo of an Eastern King . By a Mombor of thu lloiuohoM < " ¦ Oy Majesty NuaflUHU-iDoon , King of Oudo . J '" l
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16061855/page/18/
-