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Januaby 17,1857.} THE LEADER. 65
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TPHlM* fif TTPiV ^Lil-t- i- lH-Ul** '
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- —-? ¦• . . Critics are not the legisla...
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" I was married at an early age, being n...
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ARE BOSWELL'S LETTERS AUTHENTIC? Letters...
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.
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Januaby 17,1857.} The Leader. 65
Januaby 17 , 1857 . } THE LEADER . 65
Tphlm* Fif Ttpiv ^Lil-T- I- Lh-Ul** '
JLItoturt
- —-? ¦• . . Critics Are Not The Legisla...
- — - ? ¦• . . Critics are not the legislators , but trie judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
" I Was Married At An Early Age, Being N...
" I was married at an early age , being not yet sixteen , having lost both my parents many years before . I became acquainted with my husband B . T ., who was by trade a journeyman printer . From the first week of my married life I commenced working at my needle as well as performing all the household duties such as our humble state required . My husband continued to-work at his business as a printer during three years after we were married ; but the nature of his occupation was very precarious , he not holding a permanent situation , and it being the time of the panic . However ' with our joint efforts , we had , at the expiration of three years , contrived to save 50 * . ' and with that sum took a very small house and shop in- for my business as straw hat manufacturer , for which we paid rent 251 . per annum .
There are certain works which are honoured by much notice from the press mainly on account of their intrinsic feebleness , which tempts reviewers to display their strength . One of this kind is the work of M . Ploukens on Longevity , which , after being well exposed in various quarters , is again dragged before the judgment bar of the Edinburgh Review and the London Quarterly Review . As we have already discussed the question of Longevity , we need only refer to these essays . More to our immediate interest is the article in the Edinburgh on the " Rights and Liabilities of Husband and Wife "—a subject of profound social importance , and one which every year presses more urgently on the Legislature . The Edinburgh is temperate in tone and liberal in sentiment—not , indeed , going deep into the question , nor advocating it with any novelty or force—but expressing itself , on the whole , in a way which reformers -will notice with satisfaction . Conventional assumptions , which every one ' s experience flatly contradicts , are as usual made the grounds of objection to a more equitable adjustment of the law of divorce ; but reformers at least gain an advocate for the alteration of the law now giving the whole earnings of the woman to lier husband—a law so iniquitous in principle , and so immoral in its consequences , that the mere presentation of its effects when seen in individual cases ought , one would think , to rouse every earnest mi ad into indignant protest . The Edinburgh cites some typical cases ; and one of th ese we shall quote , adding that the writer having inquired into the circumstances believes the statements are strictly true :-
—" Very shortly after our removal there , my husband discontinued entirely his trade , and we lived from the proceeds of my business , tie nature of the same preventing the possibility of a man being either industriously or actively engaged in it . We there continued some short time . I had been very prosperous in that small way ; and at that period being arrived at the age of twenty-one , I received a small property left me on niy mother ' s side : he , as the law prevents a married woman receiving money without the husband ' s signature , took possession of it . . " " We then removed to larger business premises , situated in ; and I can affirm , excepting in cases of indisposition , I never quitted my business , and frequently in the have worked from sixteen
busy season to eighteen hours incessantly . From that time forward I continued increasing my business until we took fresh premises in -, for which we paid 210 / . per annum . I was at that time making money very rapidly my Jmsband still continuing out of business , and , as necessarily followed , he had the control of my business . I still continued to increase my business largely , making mon « y fast . My husband became extremely selfish and dissipated ; having by nature a very weak mind , he formed bad associations , and from them commenced all the misery of myself and family . He was also exceedingly whimsical in his selfishness , indulging himself in everything that money could procure ; took lessons in writing music ; had a French master , a riding master , and took lessons in swimming . went from bad
' Things on to worse , until at last it was no uncommon occurrence for him to absent himself for four or live months together , returning only in the daytime to take the proceeds of the business . In the year 18— -, my husband was supporting two women in one apartment . I discovered the residence of the relatives of one of them , and finally took her to them , hoping she would be prevented continuing the acquaintance . I also took away at the same tim « an iron chest , containing the title-deeds of the various properties he had acquired by my labours—leases of houses railway stock , Last India stock , & c . & c . ; and I managed , by the kindness of a friend , to keep it secured from him during six months . But at the end of that time , my husband , finding that ho could not get any more dividends , or rents , or money to squander on his paramours , returned to my house , and , after many protestations that .., ? *** to llvc respectably and retrieve his character , and live with me and our children , of whom we had seven living , I listened to his tale , and gave him back all bus property , or rather minewithout any conditions .
, This was on a Friday ; and on the Sunday following , whilst I and my children were at church , my husband absented himself , having taken with him his personal property , leaving mo with my children perfectly destitute ; and from that day to the present time we have never seen him . He then converted all the property into money , and left me penniless , having sold tlie lease of the house in which I had carried on business . " Here is another case of legal villainy coolly perpetrated : — " A respectable woman , named , having been many years in service , had saved a considerable sum of money , when site was sought in marrmge by a man of suitable ? i ? \ ™ > ™ " ^ wedding shortltook laceShe had given her
^ ^ y p . bank-book to her husband , but on the very day of the wedding he said to her , ' I have not such good health as I used to have , and do not feel equal to supporting „ wife ; therefore I think you had better go back to service . ' The woman , as might be supposed , in a state of indignation , replied , < Very well , I will go back to service immediately , but givo mo back my bank-book . ' ' Why , ' replied he , ' as I don ' t feel able to work just now , I require tho money , but you can go as soon as you like' So she turned away too heart-broken to speak , left tlio vagabond , who hodgono through the marriage ceremony as the only logul means of obtaining ; her money , and , returning to Horvice , has never seen him blikio . 1 had all this from her own lips . " Kay , so ilagrant is the injustice of the present law , that it permits a man
to live in idleness on the earnings of his wife , and at his death to bequeath her money to / it ' s illegitimate children !—• ii ' lady who 8 ° husband had been unsuccessful in biiHiucss established herself an a milliner in Manchester . After aoine years of toil aho realized sufficient for the family
to live upon comfortably ; the husband having done nothing meanwhile . They lived for some tune in easy circumstances after she gave up business , and then the husband died , bequeathing all his wife ' s earnings to his own illegitimate children . At the age of sixty-two she was compelled , in order to gain her bread , to return to business . " The citation of cases such as these must powerfully affect the discussion which will shortly take place in Parliament . It is of no use to call such cases " exceptional ; " the law which sanctions such exceptions creates thousands of cases only differing from them by fine degrees . In the same number of the Edinburgh there is an amusing , paper on " French Society under the Directory , " which will be read because it is amusing , but which nevertheless is no more a true picture of the times than a pound of plums is a Christmas pudding : —in the desire of being piquant the writer falls into the common error of piquant writers , the omission of dull but essential details . Here is a specimen : — The pleasure to which France , when she began to seek for pleasure , turned , was the pleasure of young nations and savage nations , as the most natural manifestation of activity and strength—it was dancing . This became & rage and a necessity , and all France danced as one possessed . In the winter of 1796 there were in Paris six hundred and forty-four public balls ! Every locale was appropriated by these ardent votaries of Terpsichore , from the palace of royalty , from the hall of justice , up to the cloistered solitudes of religious study and monastic contemplation . Nay , even the home of the dead was not respected : the cemetery of Saint Sulpice was transformed into a salle de bed , and whilst those who understood them , might read the words , " Has ultra tnetas beatam spent expectantes requiescunt , " engraved upon the entrance arch , the crowd saw only " BaZ des Zephyrs , ' written in letters of light upon a rosecoloured transparent canvas , and the crowd hurried on and danced , night after night , upon a flooring of graves ! The Faubourg St . Germain danced at the so-called bal des viclimes , and what was entitled " good company , " though somewhat mixed , danced at the Hwtel Longueviile , at the Pavilion de Hanovre , at the Tauxhall of the Rue de Bondy , and at many , other places where the price of admission ( by subscription or not , as the case might be ) was put at the very high rate of five francs . But descending in the scale , and leaving at the top this Almacks * of the exclusive , -we learn what was the respective cost of these pleasures to the entire population of Paris . For thirty sous , clerks and shopmen danced with dressmakers and grisettes ; for twenty , apprentices , hair-dressers , upholsterers and tailors' 'boys' danced with needlewomen and ladies * maids ; for two sous , locksmiths and carpenters , journeymen joiners , and cobblers' drudges , danced with fishwives and tavern-scullions . Nor was this the lowest or last step ; there was lower still : there were the balls of the canaille , the barns , where , by the glimmer of a rushlight stuck into an iron candlestick , and hung by a cord from a rafter , a foulsmelling , noisy , ragged , hideous throng , jump , stamp , swear and scream , tumble , plunge , squeeze each other to suffocation , and drown in the din . they make the wretched squeak of the hurdy-gurdy that is supposed to jlay to what they call their dancing ! . . . . . .
At the led des victlmes , the sons , daughters , brothers , sisters of the guillotined , were all dancing furiously . Once the little short bow of recognition made , which goes by the name of the " salut de Vechafavd , " and is meant to simulate the inclination of the head upon the block , (!) once the several pairs made up , the whole room is in a whirl , and the pages of a contemporary publication relate what went on in the pauses of the dance : —" I saw a handsome young man" ( Polickinelle is the narrator ) , " and he came towards me and said , 'Ah ! Polichinelle ! they have killed my father !' ' What ? ' I cried , they have killed your father !'—and I drew my handkerchief from my pocket . I was overcome ; but he , the handsome young man , was deep in a riaodojiJ" . ¦
And all this time they who do not dance are starving , for they may literally be said only to abandon pleasure when their physical strength is exhausted by positive want ; and they do not desist , they drop oft' from the Bacchanalian whirl because their head turns , and their feet give way , and they have eaten nothing for "weeks , except what they have picked up in the gutter . At the very doors of the places of public resort dead bodies were found , stiff and stark ; they are the dancers of yesterday , and their mouths are still full of the unchewed grass , which , torn up from the street pavements , has been their food for the last few days ; and the fat , sleek , luxury-loving jiarvenus who emerge in groups from one or other of the countless
restaurants that have sprung up like mushrooms from the hotbed of the revolutionary soil , are impeded in their scarcely steady progress by some couchant human form , disputing on all fours the possession of a bone with a lean hungry dog ! In the Psychological Journal there are two articles which the general reader will find of great interest ; one on the insanity of Gkorge III ., anecdotical and historical ; the other on the effects of mental labour in altering tlie condition of the blood , by Dr . Thkopiulus Thompson , who inclines to the supposition that the excessive action of the brain affects the blood by withdrawing from it some special material necessary to its perfect condition as a nutritious fluid . We are more inclined to attribute the
influence of over brain-work to a disturbance of the blood-making processes , than to tlie blood itself ; but the treatment proposed by Dr . Thompson would be as applicable on the one supposition as the other . This question of mental labour is thrown into sudden prominence by the recent deplorable case of Hugh Miljjbh ; and one of the worst points in tins peril , which nil brain-workers incur , is tho insidiousness of the approach of the disease , the apparent triviality of the symptoms . Bodily excess is obtrusive in warning , menial excess gives no warning , except to the physiologist . Who can be expected to pause in the strong race , simply because he observes a fluttering at his heart , or a singing in his ears ? There is no pain , no incapacity , —how can tliere be any danger ? So the victim deludes himself ; he works on heedless of the low-voiced warning , until the time comes when ho ciin work no lonirer !
Are Boswell's Letters Authentic? Letters...
ARE BOSWELL'S LETTERS AUTHENTIC ? Letters of James Jhsuwll , addressed to the Rav W . J . Temple . Now first published from tho original MSS . With an Introduction and Notes . Bentley . Literature has in modern times been so often perplexed with forgeries , skilful and unskilful , especially in the shape of Memoir . ) , Letters , and Historical documents , that tho public has a right to demand the application of the severest tests to every new work purporting to be an historical document , and to see ttiat every guarantee of authenticity be produced .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 17, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17011857/page/17/
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