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• I 1124 THE LEADER. [Saturday, ! ¦¦¦ ^ ...
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Joh *¦ nt , ¦*«» - ! ¦<«< - £«< am On, •...
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E ng ie1 P ,.,« " a Lt ft ;« tic 6 * in ...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Selections Grave And Gay. Mi?C$Tfonies* ...
if human energy can suffice ; faithful was he that drove to hu terrific duty ; faithful was the horse to A * command . One blow , one impulse given With voice and hand hy the stranger , one rash from the horse , one boxind as if in the act of rising to a fence , landed the docile creature's fore-feet upon the crown or arcling centre of the road . The larger half of the little equipage had then cleared our over-towering shadow : ifcrfwaf evident even to my own agitated sight . But it mattered lntle that one Sreck slould float off in slfety , * % oa the wreck that pemhed were ^ barked he human freightage . The rear part of the carriage-was that certainly beyond the line of absolute rain ? What power could answer the question ? Glance of eye thought of man wine- of ang-el , which of these had speed enough to sweep between the questio ^ d ^ answe rf an ^ divide the one from the other ? Light does not tread upon the steps of light more indivisibly , thandid our all-conquering : arrival upon the escaping efforts of the gig . That must the young man have felt too plainly . His back wfk now turned to us ; not by sight could he any longer communicate with the peril ; Joh hut by the dreadful rattle of our harness , too truly had Ms ear been instructed—that all was finished as regarded any further effort of his . Already in resignation he had *¦ nt rested from bis straggle ; and perhaps in his heart he was whispering " Father , which art in heaven , do thou finish above what I on earth have attempted . Faster ¦*«» than ever mill-race we ran past them in our inexorable flight . Oh , raving of humcanes that must have sounded in their young ears at the moment of our transit ! ¦<«< Even in that moment the thunder of collision spoke aloud . Either with the swinglebar , or with ; the haunch of our near leader , we had struck the off-wheel of the little £ «< ete , which stood rather obliquely , and not quite so far advanced , as to he accurately am parallel with the near-wheel . The blow , from the fury of our passage , resounded On , terrifically . I rose in horror , to gaze upon the ruins we might have caused , Jj-rom •*« my elevated station 1 looked down , and looked back upon the scene , which in a mo- Ft ment told its own tale , and wrote aU its records on my heart for ever . at Here was the map of . the passion , that now had finished . The horse was planted ne immovably ,-with his fore-feet upon the paved crest of the central road . He of the H < ¦ whole party might tie supposed untouched by the passion of death . The little cany W £ carriage—partly , perhaps ^ from the violent torsion of the wheels in its recent move- .-ment , partly from the thundering blow we had given to it—as if it sympathised with & human horror , was all alive with tremblings and silverings . The young man trembled not , nor shivered . He sat like a rock . But his was the steadiness c-f agitation * u frozen into rest by horror , As yet he dared not to look round ; for he knew that , if any- ci < thing remained to do , by him it could no longer be done . And as yet he knew not wj for certain if their safety were accomplished . But the lady—— . Hi ' But the lady- ! Oh , heavens ! will that spectacle ever depart from my fr < dreams , as she rose and sank upon her seat , sank and rose , threw up her arms th wildly to heaven , clutched at some visionary object in tie air , fainting , praying , U £ raving , despairing ? Figure to yourself , reader , the elements of the case ; suffer me to recal before your mind the circumstances of that unparalleled situation . ^ l'rom g ] the silence and deep peace of this saintly summer night-from the pathetic blending ^ of this sweet moonlight , dawnlight , dreamlight—from the manly tenderness of this flattering , whispering , murmuring love—suddenly as from tie woods and fields—suddenly as from the chambers of the air opening in revelation—suddenly as from the "' eround yawning at her feet , leaped upon her e with the flashing of cataracts , Death sc the crowned phantom , with all the equipage of his terrors , and the tiger roar of his a V 0 The moments were numbered ; the strife was finished ; the vision was closed . In is the twinkling of an eye , our flying horses had carried us to the termination of the n umbrageous aisle ; at right angles we wheeled into our former direction ; the turn of g the roacl carried the scene out of my eyes in . an instant , and swept it into my dreams „ for ever . , .- '" . r : John L The ' . Rural i Tales I The Sand i Our i Alone - at a new e * we !~ h * * whi Ly is the ?> 1 & m T t to 5 In is He of fir ms
• I 1124 The Leader. [Saturday, ! ¦¦¦ ^ ...
• I 1124 THE LEADER . [ Saturday , ! ¦¦¦ ^ —
Joh *¦ Nt , ¦*«» - ! ¦<«< - £«< Am On, •...
A BATCH OF BOOKS . Howard ; a Memoir . By Hepworth Dhton ; a New Edi t ion . _ . Jackson and WalfortL Poetical Works of William Shenstone , with Xife , Critical Dissertation , & c . By the Bev , George Gilfillan . ^ , _ . K _ , ^ "J * and Historical Gleanings from Eastern Europe . By Miss A . M . Birkbeck . Darton and Co . of the Desert and the Bush . From the German of Friedrich Gg ^ k JJ ; and Qo Inner Life of the House of Commons . By J . N . Spellen . J ™*™ « S S " and Shells . Nautical Sketches . By James Hannay . K ° t ?^! v and Co * Holiday : A Week in Paris . By Percy B . St . John . *» £ * and Co . . ' . PLAcrsa the best book in our present list at the head of it—and a long way the ' head of it , too—we must "beg pardon of the authors of professedly works , if we give our first attention andbest greeting to a reprint . Mr . HemvorthDixon'sTable and honest memoir of JohnHoavaed isinow published , are rejoiced to say , in a cheap form A book which ^ Jbeen so genuinely and -deservedly successful as this biography , —a hook which teaches great truths and records noble , acts in language worthy of its subject-has reached a position which places it above the necessity ot claiming more from us than the announcement of its publication , at a price ch p laces it within everybody ' s reach . In these times , when ^ me of the most perversely and utterly bad writing which has probably ever issued from the -Knglish press , is addressing itself to the much misused maionty ot " li-ht-pursesV' it is a welcome . sig ht indeed to see a really good , useful , a ° nd earnest book entered on the list of the cheap publications . Another reprint which requires honourable mention is the P ° etry ot Shenstone . Essentially one of the minor minstrels , Shenstone has a homely simplicity and gentle grace as a poet , which-thoughhtt verses are too often disifigxired by classical trivialities and artificial allusions-stil entitle him to be read . The volume now under notice is of the good old handsome , » Library" sort , and is very beautiful v and clearly W ^ J * L °° jj drawback is a preliminary Essay on the Life and Poetry of Shenstone , by the Rev . George Gilfillan / whichr as a spedmen of boldand *™™ g \^> quite a literary curiosity-of a certain kind . The Rev . G . G . bursts into a complete classification of English poets at page 1 . JPope Jrpf ^ ge . st class ; 1 Shakspeare the second (!); Milton the th ! rd Butler the fourth ; nobody in particular the fifth ; and Shenstone the sqcth . Shakspeare our readers will be astonished to hear , was one of " the fluctuating ; pertain , untutored , but divinely-inspired children of genius . " Milton , ^ f f ^; 3 S « . sr 3 * : w % s « Ft ! 2 « olss of s ifted and cultured minds , whoso beauties and b f ^ ^^ llke f colossal ; (!) the former , however , outnumbering the latter . ( 1 !) ihiok ^ ot Milton , living in the admiration of all posterity , to be ^^^ "JLgS is a man of ° "ifted and cultured mind , " and as really having , in a poetical pint oTvtew , ° niore " beauties" than « blemishes r ^ o '' trump otjame " Is a penny trumpet , indeed , when it gets into the hands of the Rev . G . Or . ! Mis Birkbeclc ' S' volume about flungary is a ™^ y- ^*^* »^ J « 5 interestinff book . Some of the pictures of Hunganan life are touched Xa delcacy and skill which wfuld do no discredit to . far more prjtjsod mMmMmi $ ii and carelessly done ; and the tales , though founded ^ en ^ %° " ^ X ^^ and striking subjects , are told in adull , roundabout manner The Germans have a wonderful appreciation of the sort of materml which IS f ^ J ° ™ making of a good story , and yet , strangely enough , they are , the ^ ^ f never seems to enter their heads . . . exnen-Of the " cheap publications" the best on our list is also the least ejP JV sive , and the mostUpretending . Mr . J . N . Spellen ' s Juner ^ . f ^^^ o / Commons ( the work we refer to ) , is a lively , and most graphic account oj all those proceedings in our « roprosontativo chamber , " winch £ » g £ are so universally anxious to . boo , and _ wh . di , when they ^ ° ^ M ^ a ^ rsfiS'at ^^ . -rSSa its saken mariner , bobbing on a scarlet l > uoy , in ' ^ " ^^ " ^ Sl point of MrarnB « b on the title-page to . niind , v ; % jo ^ about ^ m a ^ ticjl ^ int . ^ S : SEtfeS = lES --buoy and a smalt-coloum sen ? ^ J ^ J ^ ped limsol f , by moans of a with a discerning public , after Ho Has airc uuy y f , ' nothing ot a
E Ng Ie1 P ,.,« " A Lt Ft ;« Tic 6 * In ...
ng E ie 1 P ,., « " a Lt ft ;« tic 6 * in o a 3 t it : t is buy The and ; orS- i aten 8 te of = hack to dea HOME LIFE IN RTISSIA . t Home life in Rmsto . By a Russian Noble . Revised by the Editor of" Eecollections a of Siberia . " Hurst and Blackett . 1854 , c In a time like the present , when public curiosity is so attracted by anything Hussian , it was to be expected that among the thousand and one volumes c teeming- from the press on Russian subjects , there would be many got upfor the occasion- But we hardly anticipated meeting with such gratuitous < " cooking" as we find in the work under notice . Tie contents are simply a } Russian play stolen from an illustrious Russian author , without the slightest i intimation of its origin , and turned badly into a long story . Tins story is palmed off on the British public under the taking title of Home Life m Russia , with a kind of warranty in the preface that the facts are authentic , and an intimation that the author conceals his name for fear of ofiending the Czar , as if the Czar would care about one of his subjects making a dull English tale out of a play ho has allowed to become popular at home . One of the greatest poets and p laywrights of Russia was . Nicholas Jxogol , who died at Moscow in 1852 . One of his best pieces is entitled Dead Souls . This wiiB translated into German in 1846 , formed the basis of an article in the Revue des Deux Mondcs at the close of 1851 , and , transformed into a short tale , appeared about the same time in Chavibers' Journal ; and yet it is this eaxaebead Souls , elongated and spoiled in the elongation , which is now presented to the public in the volumes under notice . This , and no The story in itaelf is good , and more than good as told by Gogol . It is simply this - . —Russian nobles own serfs , which they buy and sell as we buy and sell calicoes . The serfs , by an exquisite irony , are called souls . Ihe Russian noble , being an extravagant animal , is frequently "hard up _ ; and to save the continued sale and resale of serfs , there is , or was , in bt . A otorsbur <* a fund set apart to advance money on the security of serf-souls . One Tchichikoff , a Muscovite swindler , takes advantage of a great mortality amon "" the serfs , shortly after the census has been taken , to get convoyed to him ui living all such souls an have died since the census , and on the strength of this title does the loan fund to a heavy extent . It is easy to perceive how this plot oan bo made amusing in a brief compass by u man of genius j it is equally easy to understand how it is wearisome and dull , when boaten out into two volumes by a man of no genius . The names , the main facts of the Dea d Souls , are adhered to in these volumes ; additions and alterations theru are and when the reader meets with a dull passage , or one inconsequential incident , lot him be suro those are they . But wo arc certain that there is little or nothing in this work that a moderately sharp English hack could not ha . ve manufactured from the articlo ulludod to in the Aetna des deux Mondes . .,, . If from a laudable desire to spread a contempt ot Uuasian society among BtrftixKer 8 , or from any other reason , our lluaunn noble folt himself compelled to write a book , why not have t nmslated this , and that other better
PJJ oft ill ™ out . En ; cas ( A rea ( ' piece of Gogol ' s , The Inspector- General , and , publishing them -with an account of their author , thereby have done honour to the memory of one of the few illustrious poets of Russia , and , at the same time , have given us the veridical outcome of a man of genius ? Perhaps the Russian noble ' s sojourn in England may be sufl & ciently prolonged to render this hint available ; in any case , let him not repeat the present experiment . Also in conclusion , might we suggest to our leading publishers to keep a reader of foreign literature—at least of the Revue des deux Mondes ; it might save them some visits from literary nobles , Russian and others .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 25, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25111854/page/20/
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