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January 24y 1857.] THE LE APE It. 89
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GUIZOT ON PEEL. Memoirs of Sir Robert Pe...
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PRE-RAFFAELLITISM. Pre-Raffaellitiwi ' ,...
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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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Alf1br.I And Goldoni. Aijieri And Goldon...
motion . The merest hack writer of the French or English stage would be almost a Shakspeare by his side . Yet it cannot be denied that the system had its advantages . What trouble and expense were saved to the manager ! Instead of having , week after week , to devise new and attractive costumes , and spend large sums in making them—for even stage gold is not all brass—he simply had to provide each of his four characters with one dress per season . Beautiful and simple arrangement ! Nobody expected to see Pantalone in any other than his ordinary guise ; or Arlecchino decked in aught save his tatters and his tail . What repose for the managerial purse ! ... . . . It ¦ wa s no light reform he attempted when he strove to abolish the improvised pieces ,
and to make the performer say nothing more than was written down for him . He struck at a system in which the actor had been educated all his life , and which procured him half his fame . To make him but a mere repeater of another ' s words was to reduce him , he thought , almost to the level of a puppet . If he did not utter his own witticisms and speak his own language , he was lost . Unfortunately there were not wanting authors and critics to encourage him in this idea . Not to attempt too jnuch at once , Goldoni drew out a comedy , the "Momolo Cortesan , " but wrote only the principal character ; the rest he left to the actors . He gave them special instructions , however , as to their respective parts , and had the satisfaction of finding that the piece was well received .
There was another blot upon the Italian stage , which Goldoni also wished to remove—the four characters were always masked . These masks destroyed all real delineation of character—destroyed all power of expression on the part of the actor . No matter what the sentiment he wished to express ; no matter whether he sought to lepict joy or sorrow , content or disappointment , love or hatred ; his false face always remained the same . He might change his voice to express different emotions ; Lut , without a corresponding change of feature , it only added to the absurdity of the performance , by introducing an incongruity between the words spoken and the aspect of the speaker . There was not , as Goldoni argued , tlie same motive for retaining these disguises as had existed among the Greeks and Romans . In their performances the mask served , we know , as a species of speaking-trumpet , and was rendered to some extent necessary by the vastness of the arena in which the plays were acted . This was not the case upon the Italian stage ; and there seemed no reason for adhering to a custom so ridiculous , except the long usage which had preserved it . But this was a reason that clung with much tenacity to men ' s minds . Woe unto the reformer , to-vvever trifling may be the reform he seeks to introduce ! If he will meddle with the foundation of the house , he must be quite prepared for the walls to fall about his ears . Be sure that no one will be by to give him a helping hand out of the ruins .
It took Goldoni many years to succeed , even partially , in introducing the changes he desired to see accomplished . He was attacked on all sides . He was accused of trying to banish imagination and poetry from the Italian stage ! Gozzi , who was one of his strongest opponents , continually goaded him with , epigrams , which , unfortunately , were only too sharp and welL pointed . To turn actors into marionnettes , make them speak according to rule , and act in harmony thereto ! It was monstrous ! fortunately for Goldoni , his system found many warm supporters , and the public encouraged it . Grumble as critics or actors might , his pieces were successful . Indeed the audience must have been pretty well tired of the wretched scenarii , and anxious for something better . Goldoni ' s path towards reform was strewn , therefore , to some extent , with roses , though here and there was many an ugly thorn !
We have indicated the short-comings of Mr . Copping ' s performance in order that our readers may clearly understand the kind of work which he Las produced , namely , a volume of very amusing biography , b ut not a contribution to literary history . The lives of two Italian dramatists are nav-Tated with care , and in a pleasant style ; and as biography is one of the most popular forms of literature , this volume may hope lor its share of leaders .
January 24y 1857.] The Le Ape It. 89
January 24 y 1857 . ] THE LE APE It . 89
Guizot On Peel. Memoirs Of Sir Robert Pe...
GUIZOT ON PEEL . Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel . By M . Guizot . Bentley . Fjew French books are so essentiall y English in interest as this . It is a noble , generous , eloquent essay , the oration of a living statesman pronounced over the tomb of the dead . To readers in this country it was first introduced by ourselves , so that we have been « in no hurry to return to it , as it now appears , enlarged into a volume , and translated . But the work is too remarkable to be passed over without a particular examination . M . Guizot seems , better than most men , to have comprehended the character of Sir
Robert Peel . Often oppose-I to him in policy , he never suspected his motives , never denied him the credit of hi gh statesmanship , and of pure , disinterested , national principles . The critical estimate of such a man by such a writer must possess an interest for all who care to anticipate the analysis of history , which , in this case , could scarcel y be more calm or more impartial . Having dealt recently , however , with tie incidents of Sir llobert Peel's career , we are inclined to notice , principally , M . Guizot's account of his personal intercourse with the British statesman—on two occasions official , and on one occasion private .
_ M . Guizot was Hrst introduced to Sir Robert Peel upon tlie occasion of his embassy to London during the negotiations on the Eight of Search . Peel , he says , in some prefatory pages , hud no foreign policy that could strictly be called his own , no consistent plan for the organization of Europe . With pardonable facility he assumes , indeed , that England , having no frontiers , has no foreign policy at all : — I do not remember that at any period in English history , the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs has been held by the Prime Minister ; custom , with its deep lying reasons , has usually connected the premiership with the office of First Lord of the Trcasurj-.
This citation of English cabinet history does not affect the point under consideration . That our foreign policy has always been subordinated to our home pohey , is no proof that we have no foreign policy whatever . M . Guizot , well aa he comprehends our English institutions , does not perceive the anomaly that would be created if a First Lord of the Treasury , the Home and Colonial Secretaries , the Irish and Indian Viceroys , episcopal patronage , and police administi-ation weio to be placed under the ' control of a Secretary lor Foreign Affairs . But Peel , he adds , kept two objects in view , pence among nations and honour among diplomatists . He respected the rights and dignity of the weak no less than of the strong . Solicitous for the greutness of his own country , lie was not excited to jealousy by the greatness of others , " and laid no iminia for domination abroad , no fondness for displaying an undeaired and arrogant influence . " We have no right to uuppose that this little summing-up is pointed at any individual
statesman , but it has a touch of personal austerity in it very characteristic of M . Guizot . Of Lord Aberdeen he expresses the hi ghest opinion : — As an ally of Sir Robert Peel , Lord Aberdeen possessed two inestimable advantages : he belonged to the Tory party , at the most brilliant period of their history , in their days of victory , and yet he by no means shaied in their prejudices , their passions , their obstinate or ran coious traditions ; a man of unfettered yet judicious mind , as just as delicate , always ready to understand and admit th « changes of time , the motives and merits of men ; an aristocrat with simple manners , liberal sentiments , and a sympathetic character ; a fine scholar , without literary pretensions ; very reserved in public , but . full of charm in the intimacy of private life ; thoroughly English in principles and habits , and yet very familiar with the history , the ideas , the languages , and the interests of the peoples of the Continent . Like Peel , he desired that peace and justice should prevail in the mutual jrelations of States : - —better than any one else , he knew how to discern and accept their conditions , and to employ only those means and that language which were calculated to secure their predominance ; and by inspiring the men with whom he treated with confidence in his moderation and equity , he disposed them to deal with him in the same spirit .
During his embassy to London , though introduced to Peel , he saw little of him ; but he quotes a letter , "written by himself in December , 1844 , to Lord Aberdeen , which illustrates the cordiality that subsisted between the two Ministers . Lord Aberdeen had hinted at some suspicions publicly promulgated with respect to Spain . M . Guizot replied : — The best thing , I think , for us both to do is to put into strict quarantine all the reports , rumours , complaints , and tittle-tattle , ¦ which may reach our ears regarding the secret intrigues or household quarrels of our agents : —and this for two reasons : first , because such stories are for the most part false ; and secondly , because , even if they have some element of truth in them , they rarely deserve attention . Experience has convinced me , to my great regret , but , nevertheless , it has convinced me , that we could not yet expect to find in , or suddenly to instil into , our agents the same harmony , the same serenity of feeling and conduct which existed between you and me . Among our agents , scattered through the world , there are still remaining strong traces of that old , unintelligent rivalry , that blind and annoying jealousy which long governed the policy of our two countries .
M . Guizot accompanied Louis Philippe on his visit to Windsor Castle in 1844 , and had many conversations with Wellington and Peel . Even then , however , his intercourse with Peel was . less familiar than when , " proscribed by a terrible revolution , " he visited him at Drayton Manor . He describes the family , with Peel himself watching the process of drainage : •—Altogether , a beautiful domestic existence , grand and simple , and broadly active in the interior of the house , an affectionate gravity , less animated , less « xpansive , and less easy than our manners desire or permit ; political recollections perpetuated in a gallery-of portraits , most of them of contemporaries , some Sir Robert Peel ' s colleagues in Government , others distinguished men with whom he had been brought in contact . Out of doors , between the landlord and the surrounding population , a great distance , strongly maredfc in manners , but filled up by frequent relations , full of equity and benevolence on the part of the superior , without any appearance of envy or servility on the part of the inferiors . I there beheld one of the happiest examples of the legitimate hierarchy of positions and persons , without any aristocratic recollections or pretensions , and amid a general and mutual feeling of right and respect .
While these Memoirs were appearing in their French form , we gave a general account of the personal and public views they embraced . The few extracts in this article are by way of further illustration .
Pre-Raffaellitism. Pre-Raffaellitiwi ' ,...
PRE-RAFFAELLITISM . Pre-Raffaellitiwi ' , or , a Popular Inquiry into some newly-asstrted Principles connected with Philosophy , Poetry ¦ , Religion , and Revolution of Art . By the Rev Edward Young , M . A . Longman and Co . It may be pedantry , it may be foolish fastidiousness , but somehow we never can bring ourselves to place much confidence in a critic of style , when -we observe his own style deficient in elementary requisites . Dr . Johnson ' s admirable remark that you may find fault with a carpenter who has made a bad table although you cannot make a table yourself , is perfectly acceptable ; but no one w ill pretend that carpenters can be taught to make tables by men
unacquainted , with the necessary tools . "Without pausing to argue the question , however , we must confess to an invincible distrust of those authors who select difficult and delieate tasks without having the talent necessary for much humbler efforts . To write on Art is assuredly a task both difficult and delicate ; and few succeed in writing books or even essays which the world cares to read ; for the reading public , patient enough in all conscience , under lax syntax , loose logic , and inappropriate language , when the subject treated of is , or pretends to be , instructive or amusing , becomes severely impatient under these inflictions when the subject treated of ia a matter of taste . Tlie iluws and flecks , which no one heeds in crockery , render china , unsaleable .
Mr . Ruslun is one of the few gifted writers who can write upon Art , and secure a large audience . He is doubtless guilty of many errors , but he has the rare faculties which command success . The very prodigality of his mind multiplies his mistakes , by multiplying the suggestions h « throws out . It 13 easy to catch him tripping ; easy-to point out contradictions , especially verbal contradictions ; easy to expose extravagances and spurts of mere wilf ' ulness ; but , after all deductions are made , he remains the one writer of genius who in our days has written worthily of Art . When , therefore , a book is published which undertakes to refute Mr . Ruskin's principles , and to counteract his influence , we may at least expect that the writer , over and above a profound knowledge of Art , possesses fine taste and nice perceptions . The Rev . Edward Young has undertaken this task ; and the very lirst sentence suffices to show the discerning reader how little chance ho has of finding in the work those qualities which it ought to possess : —
If , on going to the Exhibition of our Royal Academy . —say in the year 1849 , or therettbouts-tuere met tho eye a picture entitled , " Isubel , poor simple Isabel , " I presume that no intelligent person would turn away because it was not painted on Greek principles , and did not emulate the pure ideal . A f oolish sentence , in which the nominative of the verl > is left to the imagination of the reader , makes a suspicious opening to a treatise on Art . If the author is latitudinarian in syntax when the various positions of his argument perplex his style , ho may at least be expected to exercise complete control over language in the opening sentence of his work . Tina opening
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011857/page/17/
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