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Ko. 505. Nov. 26, 1859 I THE LEADER. 3.2...
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LITERATURE.
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LITERARY NOTES Oi 1 THE WEEK.
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¦ y MR. W. M. THACKERAY will deliver a l...
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Saracens. The idea of its re-conquest to...
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daily cares, temptations, and sorrows. B...
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VJEWS OF JLAHOUU JVNU OOU>. l»y William ...
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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.
Ko. 505. Nov. 26, 1859 I The Leader. 3.2...
Ko . 505 . Nov . 26 , 1859 I THE LEADER . 3 . 293
Literature.
LITERATURE .
Literary Notes Oi 1 The Week.
LITERARY NOTES Oi THE WEEK .
¦ Y Mr. W. M. Thackeray Will Deliver A L...
¦ y MR . W . M . THACKERAY will deliver a lecture to members of the Bury Athenceum , Suffolk , on "Humour and Charity , " early in the ensuing year . Several public bodies and societies connected with the Highlands have memoralised the Scotch Universities commissioners to take the necessary steps for instituting and endowing Celtic professorships in some or all of the Scotch Universities . Literature in Paris is quite as much influenced by " fashion" as are ladies' dresses . Since the success of" Fanny " a variety of romances have been published , which go under the general title of " Une etude de femrae . " M . E . Gourd on has j ust presented a volume of this class , called " Louise . " The grave historian of the " History of the Congress of Paris " has written a book , which is attracting much attention . ¦ . ¦ The new organisation of the Theatre Francais is said to be decided on . The author's portion of the . gross receipts is to be fifteen per cent . If one piece occupy the whole evening , as is frequently the case , the dramatist has that per centage to himself ; when more than one is played , the authors divide the amount among them . Writers of two plays of equal length will get seven and a-half per cent , each , and so on , according to the number of acts in each production . The lowest portion is three per cent . Thus * when three pieces are played—one of four or five , another of three , and a third of one act—the author of the first will take seven per cent ., of the second five , and of the third three per cent . ' The Lincoln Times says : " It is not improbable that Newstead Abbey , the ; seat of the late Colonel Wildman , and formerly the residence of Lord Byron , with its magnificent domain , will shortly pass into the hands of Mr . Charles Seely , of Heighington Hall , who , we are inform 3 d , is in treaty for this interesting property . " The price paid for the property by the late owner is said to have been . £ 1 . 00 , 000 . The Critic announces that Mr . Josiah Parkes , the father of Miss Parkes , whose strenuous advocacy of the rights and wants of her sex has attracted general attention , is about to publish a volume on , the authorship of Junius . Mr . Parkes is the first of the Junius commentators who has managed to get something out of the Francis family , and that the new facts and documents which his book will contain will udd much additional strength to the case in favour of Sir Philip . The same journal says that the Messrs . Longman are preparing for immediate publication , in ' shilling ' -parts , the well-known Family Shakespeare , edited by Thomas JBowdler ; the first part will appear next week . The work > yill be illustrated with thirty-six vignettes , engraved on wood , from original designs by G . Cooke , R . A ., R . Cooke , H . Howard , R . A ., II . Singleton , 11 . Smirke , R . A ., T . Stothard , R . A ., H . Thomson , R . A ., R . Westall , . R . A ., R . Wordforde , R . A .
Saracens. The Idea Of Its Re-Conquest To...
Saracens . The idea of its re-conquest took hold of men ' s minds . Children sympathised with the general feeling . " The first impulse was given by a shepherd boy , Etienne , of the village of Cloies in Vendome , of whom wonderful narratives spread through France with inconceivable rapidity . He held himself for an ambassador of the Lord , who had appeared to him in the guise of an unknown foreigner , received some bread from him , and given him a letter to the king . His sheep were said to have knelt before him to worship him , a miracle which perliaps was hardly required to invest him with the nimbus of sanctity . The shepherd boys of the neighbourhood gathered
about him , and soon there streamed together more than thirty thousand souls to partake of his revelations 4 and to be thrown -into ecstasies by his discourses . In St . Denys he performed miracles , he was the saint of the day , the messenger of God , before whom the people bent the knee ; and when the king , concerned at this intoxication of a multitude that could not be disregarded , but not- without having asked the opinion of the University of Paris , forbade the assemblies , no one regarding the temporal power . Every day there arose new eight or ten year old prophets , who preached , worked miracles , animated whole armies of children , and led them full
of transport to the Holy Stephen . When any asked these children in pilgrims' coats whither they were going , they answered as from one mouth , ' To God . ' Their orderly processions were headed by oriflams , many carried wax candles , crosses , and censers , and they sang incessantly hymns of fervid devotion and to new melodies : the words , ¦•' Lord ; - raise , up Christendom , ' and 'Give us back the true Gross , ' were often repeated in them . It is to be regretted that the witnesses of a movement which snatched the whole child-world as if into , a whirlpool , have not committed to writing either » he songs or the melodies to which they were sung ; for it cannot be doubted that with them some of the fairest flowers
of popul ar poetry have been loat , however overwrought and morbid may have been the excitement which gave occasion to them . * " The consternation of the parents at this event was boundless . No persuasion , nor even the despair and tears of the mothers , could keep back the boys . Were they hindered , they wept day and night , pined with sorrow , and fell ill with trembling of the limbs , so thai at last of necessity they were let go . Others made light of locks and bolts , found means to elude the most vigilant attendants , to join the representatives of the shepherd boy , Stephen , and at last even to behold this holy crusade-preacher . And there was no distinction of rank : the children of counts and barons ran away , as well as the sons of citizens
and the poorest peasant boys , only the rich parents , when they could not keep their children back , sent guides to accompany them , who quietly may have rescued many . Many parents summoned their children to take the cross , others yielded to what they were unable to prevent , not venturing to oppose the eulogists of the little crusade-preachers . Only a few intelligent men , among whom were even some of the clergy , shook their heads , but it was in vain that they sought to restrain the multitude from their giddy infatuation , which must soon enough carry them to an abyss . No one of them ventured to utter his mind aloud , fearful of being charged with heresy , warned also by the disregard given to even the king ' s command .
THE EPIDEMICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES . From tho Gcrmiui of J . F . C . Heokor , M . D . Trauslatcd by B . G . Bablufftoa , M . D . — Trlibuor and Co . This is the third edition of » most valuable and curious work , to which is now added the author ' s treatise on Child-Pilgrimages . The translation was orig inally published by the Sydenham Society , but it <* has been properly thought expedient to render it more generally accessible , l ' rofessor Hecker is tho most learned modicjal historian of Germany ; and he has h ' erc accumulated the fear ^ jful p articulars of thrc $ deadly plagues— -the Black Death , tho Dancing Mania , ana the Sweating Siclcness . Ilia example proved beneficently contagious ; for Dr . Simpson of Edinburgh , in imitation of tho Grorman physician , 'has lately collected materials for a similar history of tho Leprosy , as it existed in Great Britain during the Middlo Ages . The account of the Child-Pilgrimages is at the present timo , whon religious revivals arc in fashion , particularly seasonable . In the words of our author we imfy truly state that ? ' Demonomanias , convulsions * ' somnambulism , catalepsy , motional disorders oPG ' vory kind , are inaiufejatod at the prosontj day in all places whore fanatical sects pursue their praotiees , with quite as much importuuoo as at any other time , only in wore limited circles . " Of tho GJhild-Pilgrimages in tho Middlo Ages little is * known . Historians have dismissed the fftibjeot ) in a lino or two . Of this class was tho Boy-Orusado of tho year 1212 . Tho Holy Land had then been again reduced under the sway of the
" Tho movement did not last long before there was assembled at Vendome an innumerable army of boys , armed and unarmed , many on horseback , the most on foot , and among them not a fow girls in male clothing . Their number is estimated at more than thirty thousand . " The reader must pursue the story for himself in the book b e fore us , which he will find as interesting as a psychological romance .,
Daily Cares, Temptations, And Sorrows. B...
daily cares , temptations , and sorrows . But for preaching which will come home to men ' s business and bosoms- —which will not appear to ignore those things which must of necessity occupy the greatest part of an ordinary mortal ' s thoughts—commend me to the preacher who has learned by experience what are human ties , and what is human
worry . " So much for the spirit of the book before us , which shines benignantly through the Words we have just quoted . The author has a talent for description , and paints pastoral life admirably . As to sermonwriting , much of late has been written ; and our rustic preacher g ives his account of it pleasantly enough . He much , and rightly , insists on the preacher ' s duty to suit his sermon to his congregation . If , says he , it put the congregation to sleep , it is an abominably bad sermon .
The essays in this interesting volume are various in subject , and desultory in treatment . They consist of a mixture of reflection and description . One blends into the other gracefully enough . G-enerally , too , the essayist contrives to illustrate his own theory of " the art of putting things ;" and so states his propositions as to excite a preliminary interest . Take the following : — " One . of the latest instances of skill in putting things which I remember to have struck me I came upon—where abundance of such skill may be found—in a leading article in the Times . The writer of that article was endeavouring to show that the
work of the country clergy is extremely light . Of course he is sadly mistaken ; but this by the way . As to sermons , said the lively writer ( Idon'c pretend to give his exact words ) , what work is there in a sermon ? Just fancy that yoiiaTe writing halfa-dozen letters of four pages each , and crossed ! The thing was cleverly put ; anl it really came on me with the force of a fact , a new and surprising fact . Many sermons has this thin right hand written ; but my impression of a sermon , drawn from some years' experience , is of a composition yery different -from a letter—something demanding that brain anil . heart should be worked to the top of their bent for more hours than need be mentioned
here ; something implying as hard and as exhaust ^ ing labour as man can well go through . Surely , I thought , I have been working under a sad delusion J Only half-a-dozen light letters of gossip to a friend : that is the amount of work implied in a sermon ! Have I been all these years making a bugbear of such a simple and easy matter as that ? Here is a new and cheerful way of putting the thing I But unhappily , though the clever representation would no doubt convey to some thousands of readers the impression that to write a sermon was a very simple affair after all , it broke down , it crumpled up , it went to pieces when brought to the test of fact . text ht
When next morning I had written my , I thoug to myself , now here I have just to do the same amount of work which it would cost me to write half-a-dozen letters to half-a-dozen friends , giving theni our little news . Ah , it would not do ! In a little , I was again in the struggle of mapping out my subject , and cutting a straight track through tJie jungle of the world of mind ; looking about tor illustrations , seeking words to put my meaning witu clearness and interest before the simple country folk I preach to . It was riot the least like letter , writing . The clever writer ' s way of putting things was wronir : and though I acquit him of any crime wiucn
beyond speaking with authority of a fJung no knew nothing about , I must declare that his representSva ^^ misrepresentation . ItW have sufficient skill you may put what is painful so that it shall ou , Vd p TeaSan tf you may put a ^ 0 ^ bv railway in euoh a connexion > vith cozy cushions , worm rugs , a review or a now book , storm sweeping t 7 , e field ! ' without , and warmth and case Within , at it shall seem a delightful t . ing . You may pu work in abort , so that it shall look hko play . But actual experiment breaks down the representation . You cannot change the essential nature of things . You cannot mnlco black whito , though a clover man may make it scorn ao . "
THE RECREATIONS OF A COUNTRY PAKSOW . — John W , Parker and Son . The life of a Protestant clergyman has a human interest . He is not cut oft ' , like tho Koman priest , from domostio relations . Well , says tho Country Parson , who iioav addresses us , that the Church of Rome , with all all its boasted infallibility , was fiw mistaken when it thought to make a man u bettor parish yr . iest by cutting him oil ' from suoh ties , and Hiuito emancipating him from all the little worries oftkmiostio lub . He toll us that his sermons woro all tho butter for them . " That might bo tho way , " ho ventures to add , " to get men who would preaoh an unpraotioal religion , not human in intorest , not able to' comfort , direct , sustain through "" ? " ono oi' tlioao hyiaua , with Its moloUy , 1 »« h »» 0 > , , , iL l ' n « ' vorod Hluuo tltla wan written . Bco ' « Jivttutfollow ClU'lutoU " doiu , " W & o . —[ TuANrtfcA . Ton . ]
This one extract is enough to prove to our readers that tho book before us is an exceedingly clever specimen of lig ht and intelligible writing .
Vjews Of Jlahouu Jvnu Oou>. L»Y William ...
VJEWS OF JLAHOUU JVNU OOU > . l » y William Uuraoa , B . D . —JoJin KuattuU Smith . Tim author of this small volume is already favournbly known by his Hwomoly lihymos , in the Dorset dialect , nnd his various pooma on rural lite . Other works also of an historical and biographical value have proceeded from his pen . It is , . therefore ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 26, 1859, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26111859/page/9/
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