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THE LECTURING SEASON..Lobb Palmebston le...
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Tiir Feaus ov Despotism.—"A London Lawye...
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ODpen Cntutril .
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w [IN THIS DEPAIITMBHT, A3 AW. OPINIONS,...
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There is no' learned man but -will confe...
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THE REV. WIIililAM L.AMBERT. (To the Edi...
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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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The Dull Days. Evujst On The Dullest Day...
peror of Bussia is to be crowned ^ gildec Squadrons are botramp ^ hroxxg h Moscoy , and carriages like fairy pavilions are to be drawn along bj milk-white horses and the city is to w ^ ar a purp le dress , and to be plumed , and bunrished , and turned for the day into a barbaric dream . Perhaps , too , Italy may nresent a burning contrast to this scene ol pomp , half French , half Tartar , for at any tour the Lazzaroni may be assassinating the Neanolitan people , the tocsin may be heard
in Milan , and a shock may take place upon the Sardinian frontier . But all these matters are apart from the London season . No matter where there is to be a coronation or a revolution , we are dull at home , and we almost wish that Prince Aibebt would give the Emperor of Russia an invitation to come and see the people of England , exactly as he invited the Emperor of the Fbench to spend a week in his England . have not
Of other theatricals we many . Tragedy has retired , for a season , and not being able to enjoy La Traviata for the present , we are free to hate its immorality , and to wonder whether Vice should wear a perpetual mask , like a prisoner at Pentonvilie . Only our LiTJCIans , small and smaller , are on the stage , some practising wit , others comicality , that most melancholy resource of dulness , next to suicide . Woe to the destitute , shut up in London , who hope to be amused by hearing a kennel lyric sung on the top of a paper Parnassus ! But what is to be done ? The
weather is bad . No one is in town . There are few new books , or few worth reading . The daily journals are criticizing , afc columnar length , the productions of last spring . Dead masses of dust and shilling volumes encumber the stalls . Only an occasional novel is published . The one chance for a heart drowned in dulness is an introduction to the Queen of Otjde , and her six maids of honour , who are unwarrantably kept behind red and yellow
screens . A lady who can pay twelve guineas a day for the use of an hotel is worth knowing . But she is accompanied by several of those peculiarly qualified Asiatics , who stand with rattans at the doors of the harim to guard whatever mysteries of beauty or ugliness may be within . So that , while her gold and her rubies circulate , she will be like the divinity of a Grecian river— -invisible , though bounteously bribing .
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—THE LEADEE . [ No . 335 , Saturday ,
The Lecturing Season..Lobb Palmebston Le...
THE LECTURING SEASON . . Lobb Palmebston leads off the amateurs at Manchester . There are announcements of other noble lecturers . They will be followed by the professional class , and by the class of local gentlemen who talk to their neighbourhoods for an hour and a half , with no other cost to the institution than a voto of thanks . These are good influences at work ; but a remark contained in the thirty-second annual report of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution
brings to notice a reform that lias been found necessary in the lecturing system . The system , to say the truth , has been woefully abused . A number of men of very low qualifications have adopted lecturing oh their vocation ; audiences have been pleased by flashy experiments , and loose tissues of anecdote ; frequently , the lecture degenerates into ttn entertainment , and under the pretence
pi illustrating the history of music , becomes n aeri ^ of violent solos . The Directors of the Manchester Institution have felt ,. therefore , thai ? the . old system was expensive , unprofitable ^ « nd deceptive . It had ceased to be educational . It > fcad dwindled into a mere process of amusement and display . Certainty they ar ^ rigtyj to net it aside in favour \ ffi lesa frivolous and superacial methods of ' instruction . The proposal is to have better
lecturers and fewer of them , and Mr . Paib-BTrair , Mr . Mobeli ., and Mr . Hunt have , during the past season , proved that the audience of a mechanics' institute may be addressed with effect on subjects of larga interest , in a comprehensive style . There is an essential difference between the common professional lecturer and the common amateur . The Professed is lively , shallow , universal , and indefinitely voluble . He can lecture on the relations of the sciences , on the Hindu cosmogony , on the British
Constitution , on things remote and things familiar , with inexhaustible facility . He is never doubtful or embarrassed . He never penetrates too far into one branch of knowledge , he wants only " facts" and " illustrations" for an hour and a half of discourse , rapid and random , and , whether in regard to the atomic theory , the sources of the National debt , the volvox gldbator , or IjEWENHOEOk ' s notions of animalculae , can " get up his
matter" so as profoundly to impress the two hundred persons , two hundred miles from London , who attend to his clever outpourings . We have heard of a lecture on Eastern history " got up" in a railway carriage , between Paddington and Monmouth . "We have heard of others , which the lecturer was perfectly aware contained statements of exploded but fascinating hypotheses , especially in connexion with the natural sciences .
The Amateur is usually more sincere . He has gone deeply into his seriously-selected topic , and , with somebody " of influence" in the chair , a body of well-dressed friends to encourage him , and the one stray mechanic who is usually seen in a mechanics' institution to listen , believe , and admire , is often a " decided success . " His object is most frequently abstruse , or very special , and he has , in almost all cases , " new views" of his own in connexion with it . Certain hitherto unsuggested ideas in connexion with the
Targums and Talmuds have struck the Amateur , and the friends of " the Institute" who would be glad to know what Targums are , are told that there really is some doubt whether Onke : los or Jonathan had anything to do with them . Or the worship of the serpent is discussed , the Mosaic idea of serpents being attributed to all nations , so that a very ingenious theory inevitably starts into being . These , of course , are exaggerated illustrations , though not fictitious ; but we thiuk some of our readers would be able to contribute a few
notes of not dissimilar purport . The Society of Arts has aided in effecting a change for the better . Many names in its annual list , however , prove that no high qualifications are necessary to obtain whatever in the nature of a credential is implied by a mention in the official catalogue of lecturers . As lecturing will obviously become the fashion of the ago , and as it might be converted into a powerful educational influence , it seems worth while to reflect upon the remarks of the Manchester Board , and to ascertain Avhcther the system may not be largely improved .
Tiir Feaus Ov Despotism.—"A London Lawye...
Tiir Feaus ov Despotism . — "A London Lawyer " communicates to the daily papers a story of petty oppression on the part of the Austrian Government . ' Ho has been practically refused admission to Lombardy , because ho belongs to a family which has shown sympathy with the Italians . Being told to attend personally at the Austiiun embassy to get his passport v * W , ho was there informed that the required authorization could not bo given . After a good deal of mystery , the reason camo out , as already stated . " I at once admitted , " say » the gentleman in question , " that I numbered among my friends eovoral of tho Italian refugees in this country . The pettiness of this system of espionage is a fitting pendant to the oppression of tho Government of Him Moot Apostolic Majesty . " Gknkral Kmicty has addressod a letter to General Sir W . F . "Williams , complaining of his scanty recognition of his ( General Kmoty ' a ) services at Kara , in the course of one of Ilia recently delivered speeches ,
Odpen Cntutril .
dDpw Cmuttth
W [In This Depaiitmbht, A3 Aw. Opinions,...
w [ IN THIS DEPAIITMBHT , A 3 AW . OPINIONS , HOWEVER EXTREME ARF ALLOWED AN EXFltKSSlON , THE EDITOtt NECESSABILY HOLDS HIM SELF RESPONSIBLE FOR NONE . l
There Is No' Learned Man But -Will Confe...
There is no' learned man but -will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If then it be profitable for him to read , why should it not ' least , be tolerable for his adversary to write ?— Mixton
The Rev. Wiiililam L.Ambert. (To The Edi...
THE REV . WIIililAM L . AMBERT . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —As you have admitted into the columns of your journal an official notice concerning me , which appeared in the Ecclesiastical Gazette , I must appeal to your sense of justice to insert my protest against the cruelty of the sentence which it records , and which , from my age and other circumstances , amounts in effect to a sentence of deprivation . I was compelled by my poverty to throw myself upon the just and merciful consideration of the Bishop of London ; and I confess that my knowledge of his Lordship ' s character led me to expect from him a decision very different from that which he has given .
Had I possessed the means of going into the Court of Arches , I am pers uaded that I should have been able fully to confute the evidence on which I have been condemned . But as I could uofc afford to pay for justice in any of the ecclesiastical courts , I can only thus publicly declare , as in the presence of Almighty God , and in the near view of death and the eternal world , that I am entirely innocent of everything laid to my charge , with the exception of that which I had myself confessed , and which took place nearly three years ago . I have the honour to be , sir , Your obedient servant , William Lambert . Ealing , August 13 , 1856 .
A Child with Two Mothers . —A strange dispute as to the maternity of a child is related by the Durham Chronicle . A young woman came before the magistrates to make a complaint . Her counsel stated that she had formerly been an unfortunate girl , and in the month of December , 1852 , she became pregnant . She entered the Sunderland workhouse to be confined , where she gave birth to a fine , healthy female child . Mrs . Davison , who was acquainted with her , called to see her at the workhouse . Mrs . Davison then appeared as if in a state of pregnancy , caused , as it afterwards turned out , by pillows and padding having been placed about her person . Mrs . Davison then stated to the young girl husband to
that she lived unhappily with her , owing her not having any children , and he frequently beat her for no other reason . She asked the girl if she would let her have the child , which was then about a week old , and she would bring it carefully up , and also make her husband believe that she had been delivered of it in his absence . She would consider it a . particular favour , as it would cause her to live more comfortably with her husband . The child , she said , could be seen by tho jpiother whenever she thought proper to visit it . To this proposition tho g irl agreed , and gave Mrs . Davison the child . Mr . Dnvison returned home , and was quite delighted with the " young stranger . " For a time , all
went smoothly on ; the mother frequently saw the child , which was treated witli every kindness . Ultimately , however , the mother got married to a shipwright named Fcnwick , who , when ho learnt the story , expressed n great desire to have tho child brought home . Mrs . Davison , after the mother ' s marriage , refused to allow her to see the child , and therefore Mrs . Fcnwick went to Mrs . Duvison ' s house , and during her absence ran oil with tho child . When Mrs . Davison returned , she wan greatly alarmed at her loss , and went to Mrs . FenwickH house und took awuy tho child . The mother , being dethe other
termined not to bo outdone , went again to woman ' s houso and stolo tho child a second time . Sl «' was afterwards foUowcd by Mrs . Davison and her husband , who claimed tho child , but this time tho mother had tho child oafo . Thereupon violent dissensions ensued , which wore continued to auch a degree that the police interfered , and both the mothers were taken before tho magistrates , who , finding it impossible to deciuo as to tho maternity of tho child , ndvised Mrs . Davison to allow Mra . Feuwiok to keep it , and not to interfere witli her in future . This singular case was then dimiuascl , and Mra . Fen wick walked off in triumph with tlio
child . The i , atk Madamic Vjchthib . — Tlio funoral of tlio lato Madumo Vestris took placo on Thursday week m Konsal-greon Cemetery . Tho ceremony wns of a perfectly private nature , thoro being only one mourning ; coach , in which wore Mr . Charles Muthowa , the phy niciun attendant upon tho deceased , and Mr , Morison , 4 friend of tho family .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1856, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23081856/page/16/
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