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;Febbua.ry 21, 1857.] THE LEA33EB, 187
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PICTURES OF BOHEMIA. Travels in JBohemia...
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T1MK AX1) FAl I'll. Time and Faith : an ...
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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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Sir Joshua Reynolds. Sir Joshva Reynolds...
So spelt by Sir Joshua , lut " Miss Fisher " is also -written in a different Laud on tho same page . Valuable information of this nature docs Mr . Cotton exchange for the sLillings of the ' delighted reader ; ' -whose feelings' on th < 3 transaction need not specially Tbe indicated . An exact man is Mr . Cotton ; twaddling , perhaps ,, but assuredly exact , and he corrects the random assertions of others : e . g . — Reynolds ' s application was indeed great , Imt FarLngton ' s assertion that he frequently received five , sis , or even seven sitters daily , aud some of them at the early hour of six or seven in the morning , is not altogether borne out by Sir Joshua's diary , as we find no one instance recorded of a sitter coming before nine o ' clock . The following extract from the pocket-book for the year 17 G 1 , gives ils the names of seven sitters in as many consecutive hours , on Saturday , March 7 th . At 9 o ' clock , Captain Wynn , At 1 Lord Waldegrave , 10 „ Captain Foot , 2 Mrs . Trapaud , 11 „ Colonel Trapaud , 3 Mr . Fane .
12 „ Lady Waldegrave , Notwithstanding this extraordinary pressure of commissions , Sir Joshua ' s care and attention never relaxed ; and the great reputation he had gained only made him the more anxious to increase it . The same unabated desire of improvement occasioned frequent alterations in the progress of his pictures , and it was often long before he could satisfy himself . He was never so happy as when he was in his painting-room , and he often confessed tliat when he had complied with the invitations of the nobility to spend a few days *> f relaxation at their country seats , although every luxury was afforded which could possibly be desired , lie always returned home like one who had been kept so long without his natural food . None of his hours wevo ever spent iu idleness or dissipation .
For so exact a man , who . -will control assertions by gleanings from diaries , does it not strike the by-this-tinie-not-at-all-deUghted-reader that the Last two sentences contradict each , other ? If Reynolds spent a few days relaxing himself at country seats , how can Mr . Cotton , the exact mau , say that " ¦ nonecki Iteynolds ' s hours "were ever spent in idleness ?"
;Febbua.Ry 21, 1857.] The Lea33eb, 187
; Febbua . ry 21 , 1857 . ] THE LEA 33 EB , 187
Pictures Of Bohemia. Travels In Jbohemia...
PICTURES OF BOHEMIA . Travels in JBohemia , with a Walk through Hiq Highlands of'Saxony . By an Old Traveller . 2 vols . Newby . Bohemia is one of tlie most picturesque countries , Prague one of the most picturesque cities , In Europe . It is the North touched with Eastern colours . When first you meet its peasants on the road , their many-tinted costumes—red , green , lilac / yellow , purple—at once attract the eye ; even the men , ivith their long , blue garments , Hessian boots , solid countenances , and shadowy hats , make up a dramatic show . Then , the people inhabit the most extraordinary houses—talL narrow . edifices * with high-pitched roofs , and . windows dwindling from iive in a line to one , that winks like a half-shut eye from under the eaves . The welcome of a Bohemian hotel is not unlike that of an Oriental caravanserai—begrimed with Northern smoke . Under a broad arch , into a cavernous kitchen , through long stone corridors and galleries , into rooms of vast dimensions , scantily , and coldly furnished . But the traveller understands little of Bohemia until he reaches Pracrue of the
Hundred Towers ; be has seen no city like it ; it is unique— -a dim vision of Asia . The towers are neither enormous rotundities or squares of Norman architecture , nor aerial Gothic spires , but composites of dome and minaTet , gracefully crowning the masses of private habitations , which , again , are sculptured and fretted , and quaintly wrought in traditionary forms . The bridge of the Veltava , crowded , perhaps , by a procession of pilgrims , has a thoroughly Eastern aspect . Traversing it , and ascending one of the hills along the river , you look down on the turreted roofs of Prague : — Conspicuous among them are the lofty towers of the Teyn church—a building of varied memories , that of John Huss predominating . SmalL turrets riae from the angles of the towers ; each of the latter has a spire , composed of eight planes , in its centre , and from four out of the eight , spring slender spiral shafts : the numerous points , presented by all , are profusely adorned with glittering balls , crosses , and stars of gilded iron , gleaming brightly iu tho sunshine , -which here , and at this season , rarely fails to add its life-giving touch to tlie landscape .
The writer of these lively-volumes admits , and proves , that his pictorial faculties are the slightest possible . He praises , but does not describe . 1 J is hook is chiefly amusing on account of its spirited narration of incidents and its store of legendary anecdotes . In his weak , faint way , too , the " Old Traveller" conjures up an occasional scene ; he was charined by the white and purple stockings of the pretty Bohemian girls , and" their short , gay petticoats ; but the hemp-coloured moustaches of the men were abominations in his eight . We suspect him one of those smooth-shaven Great Britains , wio hate prejudices , and hate bearded foreigners . Notes of this kind , however , are interesting to home-stayers : —
Fow persons visit old German towns without remarking the middle-ago , aspect given to the houses by the strong iron gratings which cover all the lower windows ; they are sometimes exceedingly handsome , and almost always very massive , if not of rich workmanship , but they ever suggest ideas of violence and insecurity . Not a fow of the older houses have besides their . staircases secured at the foot , and others even at each landing-place , in the same manner , l > y strong iron doors or gratings namel y , as was customary in the towns of Italy during the . stormy times of the Italian republics : many instances of the practice may indeed be still scon in certain cities of Northern as well as Southern Italy at tlie present time . Here is a tradition of the Ilradschin , ox palace fortress of Prague , supposed to contain four hundred rooms , and iu part as old as the heathen ages : —
A certain part of the Hradsliin , according to this account , wan in old times used a « 1 dungeon , to which the prisoner was let down from above by cord *—a not unfrc-<] u « nt feature in these places of confinement ; but the peculiarity in this cuhe , if the tradition still retained liere may be credited , was , that the body of him who had been previously adjudged to the frightful death of hunger in thin dungeon—whence the to * rer itself is called tbe Hungcr-Towcr—not being removed by those who had cant him in , Yemained until the descent of the next sullerer , who was directed to hurl it jato a lower depth , the grated door of which he was instructed to find and lift , before being himself closed up in hia living tomb . A further addition in made to tho horrors of the Hunger Tower ; and prisoner *) are 9 * id to nave been let down into these dungeons in pairs , tho one with hands and feet
bound , he being condemned to an instant prccipitatiou intotlie lowermost depths , that receptacle for the dead before mentioned , while it was the o-ilioo of his companion to lif t the trapdoor and plunge him in , the limbs of tho latter being loft free for that purpose . On one occasion two hapless brothers of a noble Moravian family wore condemned to this hideous doom ; but when they liad reached the floor of the uppermost prison , the younger , who had remained free , cut tho bonds of tho older , who was bound , and refused to obey the commands of those , who called on him to cast his brother into the depths , on pain of boing thrown in with him . l'Voin that time , says tradition , the miserable creature thus condemned to be the oxecutionor of his fellow was compelled to . fulfil the frightful office imposed o-u hiux before receiving hia last wretched portion of food and driuk .
Another fortress of ' Prague is the Wyssehrad , which tVowns over the Veltavn . The legend declares that it was built , in ancient times , by a young girl named "Vnhwjta , who originated the Maidens' War , revolted u « ainst masculine rule , retired to her stronghold with a bouutii ' ul iinuy , and lought until conquered . Unhappily , the more muscular of the belligerents prevailed , the maidens "were forced to surrender , delivered up their arms , nnd received a chastisement so severe and so mortifying that they promised never again to rebel 3 and always to remember their punishment and i-epont their contumacy . These two volumes are of a light and entertaining character . They possess some novelty , and may refresh the reader weary of commonplace . Nile , Rhine , or-Rhone tours .
T1mk Ax1) Fal I'Ll. Time And Faith : An ...
T 1 MK AX 1 ) FAl I'll . Time and Faith : an Inquiry into tlie Data of Ecclesiastical History . G roonilmdgo and Sons . The title of this book is calculated to mislead the reader- ; if , indeed , it suggests any idea m his mind , a circumstance ' which \ v « : u * e . . inclined to doubt . It is a lengthy pamphlet in two volumes , more pedantic than learned—interesting probably to . the few who delight , in questions of theological antiquarianism , but not inviting to the general reader . The author commences by an elaborate inquiry inlo the di lie-rent cycles ¦ of time as known to the ancients at different epochs . He endeavours to show how utterly mistaken are our notions about their divisions of time . lie attributes , for example , to the " year" of the antediluvian patriarchs ' -only the tl
space of a lunar month , " which would red uce the age of Methusaloh at tho period . of . his death to less than half a century more than that of Thomas Jenkins , wlio died iit the age of 1 G 9 . It is said that some of the Russian peasantry have attained this remarkable longevity . The Aztoes , or ancient Mexicans , "svho possessed a more perfect method of computing time than we had adopted before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar into this country , arc also specially mentioned . The various , festive- Heasons of the Ecclesiastical Year obtained a very remote nnd "primitive origin , according to-the-author of these volumes ; and lie is severe-upon Byron for being -pleasant upon the word Carnival , which the poet interprets as " farewell to flesh , " the author-observinjj that traditional customs do not
originate in puns . We fear that this censure ought to strike deeper than the facetious JJyron , for what dictionary , froiu the oracular I > oetur . Johnson ' s downward , will not assign tlie same derivation to the word . More learned than Byron , or Johnson ,-or Walker , the author , refers tlio origin of the term to the Greek Karnria , the name by which the nine days ' - festival of the Isia was chiefly known , among the Greeks . " Wo prefer , however , if it bo possible of attainment , a more modern solution of . such -words and ceremonies ; although plausible reasons for the former supposition may be found in the fact that Christianity , after it became patronised by the state , adopted and naturalized , many of the institutions of the Pagan world . The complex , method of tho writer's argument may be shown in the following extract : —
Among the ' eldors of a tribe there urc always some who oh . serve t . ins stunt nnd tho order of the seasons with more attention than the rest ; and thus , in the absenco of almanacks , Ibccomc indispensable authorities upon all the otieMtiniiH which almanacks now determine . Thftir knowledge on . those HubjeeU , acquired l » y cxporiwira 1 , gives them a reputation for wisdom on other *; and tliey am in consequent * . !] consulted in cases of sickness or other calamity , uud uppeukid to an arbiters in dwpiilen . Under the generic name of priests , therefore , we may discover tin ; first iislrouoiuor , tho first physician , a . nd tho first magistrate . Ha is the Nestor of a tribe ; tlie venerable father •—Patriarch , 1 ' apn , Pape , mid l'opc . JieiH-tlic : tSu ^ e or Nopliiiit ( mijthtw , wise and skilful ) - —the Persian Hophi ; the Zoroasler and C ' ohfiM'iiis of Jiiii dny ; tho scioiitiflo M ; ijian ; the wondur-workiiig Mayiciun . JJo is the Aiiohorili : mid tin : Slar-nocr , retiring from the villages of tlie valley to meditate in undisturbed ( olil . udc , ami necking some elevated spot where tho stars can be best hccii . il <; is tin ; Miuinlcr o | ' Heaven , or his time js ]) iiHswl in watching the Imavcns and in invcstiir / il iii ( C ( licir jilie » ioiiii-na .
lla traces iutelligcii'ie in tin : mechanism of t lie uuivir . sc , ami | u-oclainiH iL Jlin hearers nom jirelicnd him iinperfectl v , ; iinl biipjio . si ; that h < : lias < li : n : o \' crcil , and in iu communication with some mysterious bein ; .-H in the huh and moon . The ufjiid -philosopher HiuilLts ut the « rror as an innocent deliiMion . His Icmh earnest- minded HiieeeHsors encourage it . wlicn tltcy find it proi / taMe . 'I lie < . onl . ril ) uli' / ii , 'i of ninth ami lcindred , tlio jiavments in kind exacted an magisterial fceu nnd judicial fjcnalticH , iisMitne a religiouii character . They nn ; now oderiiigs and sacrifices . The old man ' s Imt lias /{ rown into a teni ] de . The eminence on which it . stood a * an observatory is a sacred mountand cither < ) lyiripus or one of the " high jilaces" of Itaal . Tiie liourtlistorx ! on which his jjrovi « ioJi » were dressed has become an / iltar . The llrst Mimjde creed that thej lawn of justice are the laws of Heaven , hut * expanded into a religious code of minute and all-comprchcnsivc rc & ulutioriH directly prescrilied hy the ^(>< 1 h . 'J'ho gre . at feature of the . se regulations develops itself in iujum .-tioiiH that oxen and « h <; ep , corn , wine , and oil , and at last tklicn ui all j ^ ood things , shall l ) e brought to the temple to propitiate the favour of the god .-i or aveil . the eoii . ^ equenceH of their displeasure . of to
A ^ reiit vuriefy subjects relative liiblicnl knowledges nnd ecolesiastical institution h , to the OldTctstument , Zodiucal mythology , tlxs (^ lirintiun era , transitional Judaism , tlie Vespasian (; ra , Trajiiu , Adrian , and the AntonincH , & c , arc treated of in these volumeH . Moroover , ( iibbon in taken to ta . sk for his errors on Unman udiniiii . sLrnlion and the rise of ibc fienuan tuition . The historical portion tenninntcH with the ; deatli of Coiihtantincj . We are promised , however , the continuation of the work down to tlm full of llonie , bhould the author be encouraged to prow-cd . We must admit thai , tbe writer exhibits tlie results of considerable rc * curch ; his reasoning i « ingenious , if not always convincing ; and the whole is uocGiiipftuicd by vitricd and interesting notes .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 21, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21021857/page/19/
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