On this page
-
Text (2)
-
.December .17, 1853.] THE LEAD Eft. 1219
-
BOOKS ON OUlt TABLlt. Clinical Lectures ...
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.
B O Oic M B E If O K E 0 U K T Bib U N A...
the bar e xposed to an elaborate investigation ; he is allowed to display his e loquence and ingenuity , and the Public Accuser retorts . In another case the prisoner merely appears and hears his sentence . " Press of business " Yras the excuse of tbis unseeinly haste . Very much is this the case with the literary Public Accuser . He selects , fro m among the " authors at the bar , " one whose case happens to fall within the sphere of his knowledge or interest . He is minute , microscopic ; he st ates the case , throws doubt on it , admits the prisoner perhaps to mercy , but counsels him to be careful for the future . Others he treats in batches . Better men he lets pass by without question ; worse men without detailed ac cusation . The trial is summary ; the sentence brief ; and as , after all , t he sentence is the aim and end of the trial , the more swiftly it is pronounced the better .
We are about to pass sentence . Some of the prisoners have only to present themselves to be judged . A . lengthened examination would be tiresome , unless it were carried to a length not compatible with the exigencies of this court . Take the first , as an example ; it is an edition of ffrotius de Jure Belli et Pads ( J . W . Parker & Son , 3 vols , price 42 s . ) . Dr . Wheweix has edited this great work , affixing also a translation , with the notes of Babbeybac and others . Grotios is not a bad subject for a quarterly review- article , in which might be discussed his Ethical principles , his i nfluence , his learning and Latinjty , winding up with the criticisms of Dtjgaij ) Stjewabt and Hallam , appreciated and contrasted . But in the space which our columns Can spare , nothing of the kind can be done . Let
us therefore bnefly state what are the claims of this edition , prepared for the Syndics of the University by the Master of Trinity . There is the text , handsomely printed , notes , and at the bottom of each page Dr . WheweIit / s translation . This is peculiar : it contains all the original in nearly half the bulk , not by compression , but simply by the omission of all the unnecessary quotations with which Gbotius ornamented and obscured his text . ^ Every one who has looked into Gbotius is aware of his prodigious erudition . IJke ^ most learned men , he was hampered by his learning ; he could not shake it off ; he was forced to show all he knew . In this translation Dr . Whe-weix preserves only such quotations as are necessary to carry on the argument , the rest are indicated by the names of the authors quoted ;
and as the quotations are given on the same page , in the original * we have only to refer thereto if we desire it . On the other hand , " the didactic and argumentative parts are in general so far from being abridged , that explanatory expressions and clauses are introduced in a great number of passages where they seemed likely to make the meaning clearer . " From such inspection as we have made , the translation seems to us admirably executed . Altogether it is a valuable edition of a work which has long been a Glassic . r The Speeches the Right Honourable T . B . Macaulay ( Longman & Go ., i rice 12 s . ) need not detain us long . A delighted perusal of them issues a an emphatic commendation . We are even disposed to applaud the act Macaulay so indignantly stigmatises , since its result has been to enrich our literature with so remarkable a volume . While engaged on his History , which is now , he tells us , "the business and the pleasure of his life , "
he was suddenly , though reluctantly , forced to publish these speeches , because n bookseller had , without his leave , and without his supervision , given 4 o the world Speeches purporting to be his , which were full of gross blunders , misrepresentations , and which did not bear the faintest resemblance to what lie actually delivered . There is exaggeration here . The speeches may have been incorrect , but that fault lies at the door of Hansard , more than the publisher . There may also be ground for indignation against a copyright system which allows of such republication ; but for this Mr . Viziteley is not to be held responsible . Nevertheless , every one will understand Macaui-ay ' s objection to have that system turned against himself . Every one will sympathise with him in his indignation ; and every one will secretly rejoice in the wrong which occasioned the publication of so much admirable
merature , good argument , and splendid oratory . Little need be said of the new edition of Sir James MacJcintosVs History of England ( Longmaw & Co ., 2 vols ., price 21 s . ) . It is a republ ication of the work so well known in its original form among the volumes of Lardner ' s Ctjclopazdia . It has been revised by _ the author ' s son , who lias thrown into an appendix certain passages of an insulated character , and lias taken upon jumself the responsibility of the whole . The work , which describes English History from the earliest period down to the final establishment of the Reformation , is in two handsome volumes , furnished with a full index , ¦ ihere are few books one would sooner p lace upon the library shelves . . Whenever a man has practical experience to aid speculative ingenuity he 13 worth listening to . If only those who had something of fheir own to say would publish , what very few books we should have , and how much richer we should be ! Thomas Gisbobnm whs a man who had something to
jj . ^ ' Agriculture ; and he said it . In the Quarterly Review of 184 <) and i 1 * - ° < loes not remenibcr those articles on Cattle and Sheep , Drainage , ' fj . A K » 'iculturaI Literature ? They hnvc been reprinted with a fourth , on ( M jf '' ftrn " «< 7 , hitherto unpublished , under the tille of Mssayx on Apiculture oi fi 1 UUY * I ) rice 5 s - ) - A more readable as well as a more valuable work n these subjects wo cannot name . , lng dispatched these more serious books , we now turn to a payer owd of Christmas books , tempting the purses of Parents and Gunrdiiins . "ore js another edition of Mrs . S . C . Ham / h Pilgrimages to English Shrines L "V * Hajx , , Viimus , & Co ., price 21 s . ) , a dainty book enough , with prodigal illustrations by F . W . Faibihmot , its pleasant gossip , not free ¦
, " «« Jtation , however , and its blue and gilt binding . There is an the " i e of ttntiquarianism , gossip , local history , and art , which makes ion a gr « eablo to lounge over as it lies conspicuous ! on the drawing-Vn I r C - Heside it , } in its brilliant colours , let us place the Illustrated fifl . ' J '« Cabin ( Nathanikt , Cookjc , price 12 s . ) , with its hundred and ch » l y 8 fcl'Uing illustrations by Thomas and Mac « uom > . The negro no ;" actori stic 8 are well hit oil ' . Topsy is sublime ! But the . shape of the <' hm ° ettds * ° o often loses the negro type and approaches the Caucasian—a Som » . riBtio wl » ch should have been confined to Uncle Tom himself . them ° * ilIus h' « ition 8 are Frenchified and melodramatic ; but most of r ' 7 > , * collont , and all striking . lotestantiam to bcinnde elegant and . adapted to the drawing-room , that
two such serious subjects as the Life of Luther and the Pilgrim Fathers cannot appear but . as drawing-room books ? We shall find them turned into vaudevilles next . It is true a sort of excuse is made in the preface to this Life of . Martin Luther , in Fifty Pictures , by Gtjstav Konig . ( Nathaniel Cooke , price 12 s . )—an excuse founded on Luther ' s notorious love of the Arts , and therefore , says the preface , " it is particularly appropriate that a book , destined to honour the great Reformer arid spread abroad his name and fame , should derive its principal claim to public favour from its beautiful illustrations . " Is this serious ? Can the editor suppose that Luther's name and fame are to be spread abroad by a series of illustrations , and sucli
illustrations ? We must accept that as a flourish of the pen—the logic of advertisements . There can be no objection , quite the contrary , to a Life oj Luther pictorially presented ; but something less of the drawing-room table style would have been desirable . " Waiving this point , and looking at the book for what it is , we may add that the fifty illustrations , which are said to have created a sensation in Germany , are poor as works of art , German in style , deficient in invention , and certainly not destined to create a sensation here . The book is more quaint than beautiful ; but we have very little doubt that its Germanism and its subject will find admirers .
The Pilgrim Fathers ; or , the Founders of New England in the Reign of James / .., by W : H . Babtuett , ( Arthur ' Hall , Virtue , and Co ., price 12 s . ) is questionable only in its gay attire ; the book itself is an excellent and interesting compilation , in which maybe read the story of an heroic exodus , and in which landscape illustrations of very great merit serve really to illustrate" the text . Mr . Bartlett has chosen a good subject , and treated it lovingly , both with pencil and pen . The eye follows the pilgrims to the various localities , as the mind follows them through their struggles . We have one more illustrated work to mention . The Coinage of the British Empire , by Henry Noel Humphreys , ( Nathaniel Cooke , price 21 s . ) . This work is both curious and instructive . It gives a history of the progress
of coinage in Great Britain and her dependencies , from the earliest period to the present , illustrated by fac-similes of the coins of each period , worked in gold , silver , and copper : the effect of these illustrations is admirable ; you seem to have the coins themselves before you , as if laid out by a collector . In a well-considered introduction , Mr . Humphreys tells of the origin of the art of coining , with specimens of the progressive development through G-reece and Rome . He also increases the value of the work by comparisons of British , coins with those of contemporary periods on the Continent ; . and he . lias . so arranged the work that any student , on gaining possession of a new coin , can at once determine its place in the series . Altogether , we can heartily commend this book .
Mr . Bohn , who is certainly the most enterprising of publishers , and who publishes nothing but works of serious pretensions , has started a new series of British Classics . He inaugurates the scries with Gibbon ' s Decline and Fall , to be completed in six volumes , containing the notes of Guizot , Wenck , Schreiter , and Hugo . The work is to be unmutilated , although edited by an " English Churchman , " and will form a valuable as well as cheap edition , fit for any library shelves . What more need here be said of a work which carries with it its own verdict ? No one needs be told what the Decline and Fall is . There is one little point of interest we may mention , however , since it is not generally known , indeed the editor himself seems not to have been aware of it , namely , that the first French translator of the Decline and Fall was a king ! M . Leclerc Septchenes was the nominal translator ; but it has since transpired that Louis XVI . was the translator of a portion of it . In a future catalogue of Koyal Authors that item should be entered .
We wind up with two Christmas story books . The first is Cherry and Violet , by the Author oi Mary Powell , ( Arthur Hatx , Virtue , & Co . ) a tale of the Great Plague of London , delicately touched , and " got up " in the pseudo-old-fiishioncd style , which is now , we arc thankful to say , passingout of fashion a <* ain . There never was a more absurd mania in publishing . To be consistent , publishers should reprint the Classics on papyrus , and translations of Homer should be recited by rhapsodists . Fancy John Cooper , and George Bartlev , ' TIK . D . L ., engaged to declaim the nrnno nf fipon /«(> nnrl flin wmt . li nf A aniXAAid I The second storv is Cliristwoes of Greece and the wrath of Achilles ! The second story is
Christ-> ias Day ; and How it was Spent by Four Persoits , ( Geohgis Koutlicdge & Co ., price Is . ) . It is one of those books that would never have been written , had not Dickers written his Carol and Chimes ; but the traces of imitation , though obvious , do not prevent the work being a . very pleasant little Christinas book , full of the season and its agreeable associations , moving through a story simple enough , and simply told . There are illustrations by Piiiz , ° wluch do not improve its attractiveness in our eyes , although doubtless they will to others . The author , Mr . Christian Lk Eos , is new in the ranks ; he will rise .
.December .17, 1853.] The Lead Eft. 1219
. December . 17 , 1853 . ] THE LEAD Eft . 1219
Books On Oult Tabllt. Clinical Lectures ...
BOOKS ON OUlt TABLlt . Clinical Lectures on Pulmonary Consumption . By T . Thompson , M . D ., F j ^' Churohlu The Spirit of tho Bible . By E . ITugKinson . V' - T - "WhiMuM . Lectures to Young Women . By W . 0 . JOliofc . Crosby , Nichols , and Oo . Lectures to Ymmg Men . By W . { I . KHot . Crosby , Nichols , and Co , Familiar Sketches of Sculpture and Sculptors . > Z voR Crosby , Nichols , and Co . Memoir of Pierre Tonasaint , horn a Hhtoe in fit . DomUwo . Crosby , Nichols , and Co . Jieinn , Analytically Desertbod in its Chief Jlespocts and Principal Truth * . My John Iticluml I'icknien ) . JoJiu Ol . upman . Maud ; a Citj / Autoljioprap / n / . it vols . Tt - '' V „ The Wetharbus , Father and Hon . Hy . l «»» ^ K- Chapman and Hall . The Shot in the J-Jya , and Adventures with Xaxon Rifle Hangers . By 0 . W- ^ f ^;^^
The Home Circle . . W . H . Johnson Bentleu's Monthly Review . m ™> MophonBon , and Co . Cuba y Hit . Golnerno . T > ° ; Tl , ' A ,, 7 / 7 w »« i . ;»«/ t ; mi nrthe Vnthohuni of Chitlera-Rovolations qf the Past antlPrasont Modes $ 2 w ' i ^ " f ( J ' < > - ' - "y J () lm SkoUon ' M- l ) - ' Wfttson » Tho Lady ' s Almanack for IBM . , a , i-a . ly'H Now . simpor Office . Tho Youthful Inquirer Counselled and Vnconraped . By II . N . BarnoU . W . Irnoman Hi-itoricul J ) cvolovinent of S ^ cutativo Vhitosophy . from Kant to Hovel from * h * Qer ~ inmitflirTinL ChalyiauH . Hy fcho Jtov . A . JMorHlimui . 'P . m . d H . Clark . fUr Philip Sidney and The Arcadia ( Heading for TravvUor * . ) By ^^^ 1 [ al , _ Science in Us Rotations to Labour . By Lyon Vlayfair , M . I ) . 0 lmj ) nnvn and Hall .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1853, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17121853/page/19/
-