On this page
-
Text (5)
-
524 THE LEADER. [No. 474 ^ April 23, 185...
-
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ARTr &c.
-
LIl'ERAHY CIIIIONICLE OF THE WEEK. ; . ?...
-
Scarcely lias the vexata qveestia about ...
-
LITERARY REMAINSLiterary Remains} comiat...
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.
524 The Leader. [No. 474 ^ April 23, 185...
524 THE LEADER . [ No . 474 ^ April 23 , 185 Q .
Literature, Science, Artr &C.
LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ARTr & c .
Lil'erahy Ciiiionicle Of The Week. ; . ?...
LIl'ERAHY CIIIIONICLE OF THE WEEK . ; . ?— ' ¦"
Scarcely Lias The Vexata Qveestia About ...
Scarcely lias the vexata qveestia about the authorship of the " Vestiges " died away , when a sort oi iniiior ?( j . ua 1 ' > ble about who wrote a moderately successful novel s called " Adam Bede , " follows in its wake . From some cause or causes unexplained , the author of this ephemeral trifle chooses to conceal his name , and aflect the airs of a " Great Un--known . " In vain have the quidnuncs of the clubs and the gossips of all soi-ts of circles—soi disant literary and otherwise—discussed , and rumoured ,
Drama , * edited and translated by Mr . Edwin Norn ' s , Sec . B ; A . S . ( Oxford : at the University Press . ) In his preface , Mr . Norris inform Us that ' these three dramas constitute the most important relic known to exist of the Celtic dialect once spoken in Cornwall . They are of greater amount than all the otlier remains of the language taken together , and the only other Cornish composition left of the same antiquity , the poem of " Mount Calvary " is barely equal to one-fourth of their extent . ' Besides the translation
into English , Mr . Norris has further added a Cornish Grammar and Vocabulary , as also an Appendix , giving some account of the remains of Cornisli literature ; an essay upon the Cornish language , to which he feels disposed to assign a higher antiquity than to the Welsh or Armoriean ; and Notes on the [ Names of Places , & c . mentioned in the Dramas , ' contributed by Mr . E . Hobbyn Pedler . The entire work is one calciir lated to give a spur to the study of our Celtic literature and antiquities , and extend Jlr . Norris ' s well-earned reputation as a philologist .
" The long-expected geological survey of the State of Pennsylvania has at last made its appearance , in two handsome quarto volumes , entitled , ' Tlie Geology of Pennsylvania ; a Government Survey , with a General View of the Geology of the United States , Essays on the Coal-formation and its Fossils , and a Description of the Coal-fields of North America and Great Britain . By Henry Darwin Rogers , State Geologist , & c . ' ( W . Blackwood and Sons , Edinburgh . ) This highly -valuable , survey was begun as far back as the year 1836 , but after its to
sixth year its operations were discontinued , Owing the pecuniary embarrassments of the State . They were , howe v , afterwards , resumed , and the author has now the satisfaction of seeing the result Of his labours in print , although , in the performance of his task , he had to meet with unusual obstacles and hardship ? . The work , strange to say , is printed in Scotland ; the reason beirig that the author is now ' Professor of Natural History in the University of G lasgow '—the first instance , we believe , of any American occupying the post of Professor in any of our universities . "
The present week has not witnessed the issue of any very remarkable book from our home publishers . This , however , may easily be accounted for ; not only b y the fact that the mind of the country is occupied in other matters , ¦ whilst the dread of war and the depression of trade exercise their usutil baneful influence over all branches of the Fine Arts ; but also by the circumstance ] that the opening of what is called the London season is now fast approaching .
A newspaper paragraph informs us that the Emperor of the French has presented Mi * . Henry Bradbury with a gold snuff-box , mounted with brilliants , in acknowledgment of his labours in perfecting the nature - printing process . Farseeing politicians , who are in the secret of the history of that px'ocess , fancy that they see in this a fresh insult to Austria , more significant even than the scolding administered to Baron IlUbner . Another parngi'ngh , in a Liverpool paper , aiir
nounccs the departure for Australia of Mr . Iiidwam Whitty , the author of " TheGovcrning Classes , " " Friends of Bohemia , " & c . As Mr . W nitty onoc gained great celebrity by his writings in Tjwrc Leapick , where his " Parliamentary Sketches " excited more attention than any piece of mere journalism hns done for a long time , wo may he pai'doned for recording this cvGnt as an excuse for enabling us to wish him very heartily " God speed , " and all success in the country of 1 x 5 b adoption .
French literature has just received a valuable accession . in the form of an excellent translation of " Dr . Livingstone ' s Travels in Africa , " by Madame Lwetvu ( Hachetto ) . M . Charles Gourand has produced an eloquent and remnx'kable volume , entitled " Lysis : Histoiro Contomporaino " ( A . Durand ) , intended to represent the struggles of intellect against political obstacles , as strikingly exemplified by modern Italy . Metaphysical Quixotism is wittily bantered by M . Erckmann-Ohatflain , in a volume called "L Illustro Dootour Matthc ' uB ( 'Librairio Nouvello ) 5 and M . Alexandro WeXll adds another to his already wollknown and mueU-adrnired Bories of rustic romanoos- —it is called *? Emoraud . "' M . Doltour contributes a valuable addition to the history of
and guesped over the matter;—the author of this three volumed novel is as inscrutable as the sphinx , and as undiscoverable as the author of " Junius . " Quefaire ? How is the world to get on if this mighty nut be not cracked ? This appears to have been the view taken of the matter , by a certain Reverqnd Mr . Anders , who conceived the ingenious idea of tempting the snake but of his hole by piping false notes at the orifice . This gentleman pits down straightway and indites a letter t 6 the Times , in which he boldly laysthe onus of authorship upoxi the shoulders of one Joseph
Liggins , of jSuneaton . Who Liggins may be , no one seems to know . He has made no sign : and it is not unlikely that a letter directed to Joseph Liggins , Esq ., Xuneaton , would find its way back through the post , with the words " 2 ^" ot Known , " endorsed thereupon . At any rate , be he of stx ^ aw , or be he of flesh , Mr . Liggins has served his purpose ; for up jumps a Mr . G-eorge Eliot , who wx * ites to the Times , that he , and he only , is the author ; that Anders is the inditer of tilings that are not ; and that he is , moreovexv neglectful of the courtesies usual amom ? ° entlehien , when he attempts
to pry into what Mr . Eliot would fain have kept concealed . To mystify the matter still more , it is now said that Eliot is not Eliot , but mex * ely a nom de plume . Now , what nonsense this is ! What right has Mi * . Eliot , or Mr . Blank , alias Eliot , to assume that there is any courtesy to prevent the discovery of his identity ? Docs he mean to assert that the public has not a right to learn his name if it can ; or that the winter , of an anonymous book is in a position one whit better than the writer of an anonymous letter ? Is he not awax * e that ci'itxcal law has
literature in his volume entitled " Les Ennemjg de Racine au XVIIe . Siecle " ( Didicr ) , written as . his thesis fox * the doctoral es lettres . M . ¦ Eugen e Poujadc has a volume on the Clvristians amf the Turks . ( Didier ) , and . M . Francois Lenormant one on La Question Ionienne deyant L'Europe" " ( Dentil ) : M . Hachette publishes a very useful " Atlas of the French Railways , " compiled by M . A . Joanne . M . Alfred Sadous has executed an important translation of a course of lectures delivered by M . Alfred Webcz , as Professor in the University of B rlin , on the History of Indian
Literature . Perhaps the most important literary trouvaille to be recorded is , however , a collection of some unpublished works , of Piron , edited by M . Honore lionhoimrie . " We have not yet seen the little : duodecimo in which they are contained , but they are spoken of as being , of the greatest interest . One of the greatest attractions -which the book possesses is a correspondence between Piron and Millies . Quinalt and De Bar . Many of the poems are said to possess a personal interest and meaning , upon which much light is thrown by notes of the editor .
Add to these novelties from the other side of the Channel a valuable Woi'kon the history of the foi'eign troops who have been in the service of France , from the pen of M . E . Feiflc . This will excite some interest in this country , and especially iii Ireland , where many families have contributed cadets to the armies of France . Ercderic Mistral , the celebrated Provencal bard , has written another poem , called "JMireio ; " but as few , even among Frenchmen , understand the . ancient patois of Langucdoc ( about as few as there arc Englishmen who know Welsh ) , we can scarcely expect that this fact will excite any great amount of interest in this country .
The death of M . de Tocqucvillc ,, somewhat prematurely announced last week , really occurred at Cannes , on Saturday last , the ICth instant . Alexis Charles Henri Clerel de Tucqucville was born at Verneuil , in the Department of . the Seine and Oisc , in July 1805 , consequently "lie Imd completed his fifty-third year . lie was the great grandson of the famous Malesherbcs , on the ' mother ' s side , and was brought up to the law . In 182 ( 5 , at the curly a < rcof twenty-one , he became /«^ c d ' InstnictioiL at Versailles , and , in 1830 , Jvge Svpplcant . boon after this he was sent by the Government , accompanied by M . G . de Beaumont , to report on the penal system in vogue in the United States , ana on his return he published u report thereupon . anoinci
Not Ion" after that return he published work , the fruit of his American joume y ^ mder the title of " La Democratic en Ameri < iuo C ? " ^' a work wliich at once established ( lie reputation 01 M . do Tocqueville , and wns translated into ^ fjf after obtaining the Montezun prize , one ol tuo highest literaxy diHtinction . s which France is . capab 0 of bestowing , hi 1841 , M . de / rm'quev . llo was elected < i member of the AcadOinie Jjrimvmso . ui his labours in the . Chnmber of Deputies ami e Constitutional Assembly , we shall nut speak iioie , suffice it to say , that wlien he , in common ^ vit exovy bravo and virtuous man in * runcc , protesiou ngninst the iniquity of December , Ifiul , M > « Tocquuvillo was imprisoned by the "dionci 0 Mlu . people , " but was shortly a fterward , * not nt libci y . Among his xnoro celebrated hteravy l ^ l ^ ' ^' S not hitherto wiontionod , may bo named ^ "J ™" Kogimo ct la Revolution" ( I $ 00 ) ; " Du bisUwo F ^ tontiiu-4 aux EtatB-UnV Om ) ; " 1 ' ^ Critiques du lttguo de Louis XV . " 0 » f ) \ « JJ a lox-ge number of political ptiwplileta »»^ b ) 0 cJtures .
always regai'ded such concealments as a species of literary . ' fraud , ' , and have iiever failed , whenever it lay in their power , to tear away the mask which false modesty , pusillanimity , or well-grounded x'Cmorse have assumed ? Is there not a " Dictionary of Anonymous Authoi's ? " Do not the librarians of all great public libraries enter the names of wouldbe Unknowns , " whenever they can be discovei'ed ? If sOj let us hear no more of Mr . Eliot ' s interpretation of the " com * tesies usual aiiiong gentlemen . " Let liim tell the truth as to his' name , and shame Mr . Atidcrs .
Those who are fond of talking of the honour due to literature , axe in high feather about the knighthood of Sam Slick , ^—alias Mr . Justice Haliburlon , To our apprehension , however , this questionable honour is about as literary in its origin , as was the peerage of Lox-d Macaulay . Sir T . C . Ilaliburton is a Canadian , as well as an author ; the threatening aspect of affaii's in Canada has suggested to hex * Majesty ' s advisers the necessity for doing everything possible to conciliate the inhabitants of that country . Wo bolieve , thorefox'o , that it is the Colonist , and not the Clock . 1 nak . 0 r , who lias been knighted : and nls 6 that , in the literary point of view , he will always bo better knenyn as " Sam Slick , " than Sir Thomas Chandler Haliburton , Knt . The Critic gives nn a . cpount of some l'ecent publications of interest and importance .
" Alive also to tho nocoasity of preserving ae many monuments as possible of the language , manners , and customs , of our ancestors , tho University has just published a series of three mlrnclo-plftys in tho Cornish dialect of tho Celtic language , from a MS . in the Bodleian kibnu'y , of the fourteenth or fifteenth century . These plays are entitlod resp ectively , ' The Beginning of the World / ' The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ , ' and ' Tho Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ . ' They ftpponr in two octavo volumes , entitled * Tho Ancient Cornish
Literary Remainsliterary Remains} Comiat...
LITERARY REMAINSLiterary Remains } comiatinc , of Zccturvs ««* * j ™* on Political Economy 0 / the tiHeJtov . llnl « 'J JQ formerly Professor if PolithalBo 0 m > mi , ( U ^ f J India iWvyo , lluiloybury , amiMomb * j < ™ Jg $ i ^« Wi ^^ of Trinity Collie , ^ bj i ^ ^^ jn * Tiro Rev . Richard Jones wne . tho mn ^»*™ tflgj at Tunbridgo Wells . Peetinod to iollow w >
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), April 23, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23041859/page/12/
-