On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    &B THIS LEADER, T^o. S^Satued^

  • 

    THE GREEK HISTORIANS. A Critical History...

  • 

    THE ENGLISHMAN IN JMOUMONLAND. A Visit t...

• 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.

    Herschell's Essays. Essays From The Edin...

    Bnt toil-worn , Imcfc to tbat o ' erenrwded bark •( No homo abroad adhieved ) , 1 sadlylned : Therepruned my flagging -wing 'for fresh essay , Andlaunchea * i » w to seek , in ipurer air , A wider prospect , by a loftier way : And caught one glimpse , and snatched one trophy rare , . And . bore it . home , And mused / or many a day On sunny realms , -where grew that bough 59 fresh and fair . JIow fare tliee well , thou dim and wave-tossed speck , < No more for me fit prison or fit lair ! No more for me fit cause of dull delay I Though 8 ore ~ ' twould grieve me yet to know thy vrreck . ON BCEHING A PAfiCKTi OF OLD MSS . Wrecks of forgotten thought , or disapproved * Farewell ! and as your smouldering flames ascend , Kead jute a . parting lesson . As the friend Familiar once , but sintee less fondly loved ' ^ ( Dire spite of earthly dhance ) , and wide removed With earthquake of the heart ! has ceased to blend Warmth wife isy warmth , and sympathies extend , 'When mine are linked and locked ! Had I but proved Earlier your weakness J Yet not all in vain Do 1 receive your warning . On X hie , All conrepreased , though cautious ; nor complain ( if £ oint essays in tottering infancy . Enough , if cleansed -at last from . earthly stain ,. My homeward march be firm , and pure my evening sky . The volume is fortunately oiot made up of verses . Yet even the prose was scarcely w <> i 4 h . republishing . The review essays are the best , but they are not of Atoh excellence . They show , what indeed every one knows , that Herschell is a . great master of scientific knowledge ; but they show also a more than agreeable proneness to vague , ineffectual rhetoric , and heavy moxalisino-. The review of ' Whewell ' s Inductive Sciences' is the best , and -contains a . well-thought and well-written refutation of WhewelTe views of a prioriknowledge . The review of * Quetelet on Probabilities' also < iontauw sl . lucid and valuable history and exposition of the ' ^ Doctrine of Chances ' as it is called- The review of ^ Humboldt ' s Cosmos' is as ineffectual as an article on such a subject coming from a mind so richly stored could well be .

    The various Addresses' were suitable enough on their separate occasions , though never striking , and might surely have been left with all other occasional jnatter undisturbed . In a word , this republication must be regarded . as a mistake On the part pf the accomplished author . About one half of the volume might have been reprinted without objection , not inore . Ifc xnay suggest some reflections to observe liow a mind so eminent as HerechelTs could fall into the mistake of publishing pages so-poor as the majority of these ; and we think the desire to be ' eloquent '—without the power of eloquence—which disfigures the prose , may account both for the composition of the verse and the mistake of supposing it fit for publication . In questions of science Hersehell is at his ease ; in questions of literature lie is -without that tact which power and experience give .

    &B This Leader, T^O. S^Satued^

    & B THIS LEADER , T ^ o . S ^ Satued ^

    The Greek Historians. A Critical History...

    THE GREEK HISTORIANS . A Critical History of the language and Literature of Ancient Greece . By William More . Vol . V . Longman and Co . Wbatbtsb may be the differences of sentiment excited by Colonel Mure ' s criticisms of tireek literature , there can be but one opinion as to the importance and integrity of his researches . Genuine scholars are not common now that so much antiquity is seen through German spectacles by writers who quote classic books and names -with almost profane facility . The student , drenched with second-hand pedantry , can do no better that consult tniscriticalliistory , which is ia reality a remarkable work , kindling a grateful light in the libraries of Greece , of Attica especially . The fifth volume contains two elaborate memoir * on Thucydides and Xenophon , with a third ,

    on a smaller scale , treating , of Ctesias , Theopompus , Cahsthenes , and other Attic chroniclers and biographers . To Thucydides is devoted a long ^ and calm analysis , wanting , perhaps , in sympathy with the master-spirit of Grecian historical art , yet in aim candid , and in effect not unjust . Thucydides , whose biography it would be impossible to write with amplitude and certainty , is to be judged aa an Tiistorian or not at all , and the first question raised is , whether he was ^ acquainted with the researches of Herodotus ? The negative has been aauerted in Germany ; but Colonel Mure traces clearly a ( OOBnexion between , the works of the authors , and produces a number -of parallel passages almost identjicaLin form and purport . The evidence iaao , overwhelming that we consider the point to have been now set at rest . The question between Thucydides Kt \ d € leon is not quite so satisfactorily rifled , yet here also tfee proof is singularly strong , and the historian is Vtimjipated . against the ; demagogue . QBut with reference to his knowledge of Herodotus , the scepticiem of Dahlmamx and Muller is almost unintel-©

    M |^; ibe . men were contemporaries , citizens ot one commonwa « n ^ ; eau-< mted .. under the snrae system , wrote on kindred topics- ; the one practically toqk f Upjroany ( episodes . that -were left uncompleted by the other . It may bo s ^ pjg ^^ at ... T & vicydJdes does not / name Herodotus , but it woultf _ bave been marvel k > utj hod , he not foeawl of bis labours or his existence . We are glad . to *» i ^ jk » pejl . lW [ u » e , when . comparing the two writers , pausing through a personal argument without a . display of iviolence or / partiality :. Xt is eo cuatomary ^> meet , with libels < md ^ flatteries among the . modem partisans of Athens . and gparta , that it rib < a positive relief to meet w * t « n cntic not ft

    depraved by Mitford's method , and who can deal with a phHosopnor or rhetorician * £ the Pericleau » ga without distilling into his ( Statement the essence pf » 2 ? indario off the nrenbm of * lampoon . Colonel Mure renders iulljwtioe to the unbiassed taonesty of Thucydides , pointing at the same tim « to Jxjsrdefects of atyle andiplon . It cannot fairly be imputed to him as a fault , however , that he seldom touches on the progress of the liberal < and beautiful arts in his country . He describes himself as the narrator of a war , and if he does not mention SapTiodtes-or iSocrates , ( Phidias or Gorgias , it is because they were not ' « ct © rs < m the Bbloponuesitm war . It was no

    part of his duty to record that contemporaneously with the c ' rim — at Melos and Mitylene , the humane maxims of Sophocles iSX * " *?! ?* applause , und the sorrows of Hecuba drew public tears at Athe P v ^ lr historian who described the twenty-seven years' contention of the IT N ^ States , from its remote origin almost to its close , had a special tasl * form , and assigned to his work a special name . After a close am ? * " *" the Whole , satisfactory criticism of . the style employed hv--f 1 j" ? Colonel Mure passes to Xenopnon , ' L ' * y lhu <> y ( 3 ides , With Xenophon he has even less sympathy than with Thucydides - he dershim to have been an egotist of a mediocre quality , without powerful * - " tues or vices , wanting in truthfulness as a man and in patriotism as a citi ***' His partiality is excessive , unscrupulous , and transparent ; he falsifies eve T * suppresses the actions of those he dislikes or envies , dilates upon whatever is honourable to himself , and conceals what would be creditable to his riv Is

    We think this criticism too severe , the more so as Xenophon ' s work is wanting in the proofs of design or regularity which would be necessary to convict him of literary practices so utterly dishonest . We think with Colonel Mure that an account of Xenophon ' s " Memorabilia" was not the proper place in which to introduce a survey of the life and character of Socrates ; but it must be said that he escapes from the law he has laid down and anticipates the evidence by a verdict indirectly pronounced . At the same time we note a deficiency of critical application which , when Colonel Mure dismisses the " Memorabilia , " will leave the student in doubt as to the writer ' s estimate of their historical value .

    It is not on convivial occasions alone , that Socrates is introduced by Xeuophon abetting immorality- Among the didactic dialogues of the Memorabilia , is one between the philosopher and an itinerant courtesan , of the more licentious class of ber profession . It having been mentioned to Socrate 3 that this adventuress , by name Theodota , then on a visit to Athens , was very handsome , and her lodging- nmca frequented by artists for the purpose of modelling the more striking beauties of Tier person , he proceeds , surrounded by his pupils , to make her acquaintance . The reader whose impressions of his character are derived from other more ideal portraits , -will naturally suppose that his object was to reclaim her from her vicious course of life . But on entering he informs her , in highly complimentary terms , that he visits her , as he was in the habit of visiting other professional persons , for tbe purpose , by bis advice and instructions , of improving her skill and promoting her success ia her

    calling . He accordingly , in most untranslatabl e offensive detail , explains his views of the best modes of turning her allurements , both of body and mind , to account ia securing and maintaining her hold on her-victims . At the close of the interview , Theodota , expressing her gratitude , proposes , naturally , that he would afford her opportunities , in his own person , of showing how ^ fell she had profited by his lecture . But , While . admitting that she had inspired him wfth a desire to partake of her favours , he excused himself on the ground of having more important business on hand . All this passes in the presence of those young friends , whom his biographer describes him as habitually warning against the fascinations of vice and vicious companions . If Xenophon ' s report of this extraordinary interview be correct , whatever may have been the harshness of the punishment , it would be difficult to impugn the justice of the verdict ,, which pronounced Socrates ' a corrupter of the Athenian youth . ' The brief notices of the minor -Attic historians will be particularly serviceable to the student of Grecian literature .

    The Englishman In Jmoumonland. A Visit T...

    THE ENGLISHMAN IN JMOUMONLAND . A Visit to Salt Lake ; being a Journey across the Pluins , and a Residence ia the Mormon Settlement at TJtali . By William Chandless . Smith , Elder , and Co . Mb . Chandless is the first Englishman who has written about Salt Lake . That circumstance confers an immediate distinction upon his book . Moreover , he is almost the first person of any country who has written about them seriously and dispassionately . He was among them for a considerable time , and there is an evident reality in all reminiscences and pictures . Those , therefore , who would understand what Mormonism is , in its actual development , cun do no better than read this authentic , though light and lively volume . e Wo have invariably held that Mormonism is the result of a craving tor material luxury , combined with a spirit of ignorant restlessness and passiou for excitement arnonff the depressed classes of society . Those passions .

    these desires , this restlessness transported to Utah , beyomc reguintea anu take a special form ; but they exist at home also , and what we witness among tens of thousands of our own uneducated classes is the same . yearnings without the same restraint , Mormonism without its Joe , polygarny without concord , Brigham Youngism unlimited . Better , wo say , bo Mormons at Salt Lake than in Lancashire ; for the one produces uttec demoralization , the other only a peculiarly shaped society . Not tUat morality takes a high flight beyond the poppy-sprinkled plains , but t ia Mrs . Ferris , and other foolish thoug h amusing chatterers havo gratuitous ly maligned it , while a deluge of runt has been poured out against it in wigland by preachers and compilers , who know nothing whatever oi its mantutional order , or of its practical effects . Firstly , Salt Lake valley to * well-chosen habitation , abounding in beautiful paatures , with nuo ton «• « B t . ; v ™ . « soil nf fixnellent averaee fertility , and uot a fow fucilitioa oi iw " - j woub

    culture , industry , and traffic j of course it is liable to droughts ami , but the country is in a raw state as yet , und a healthy climate innkes up ior many deficiencies . Other territories may have been more mvitintf . uuj none more safe as an asylum , Utah being encircled by immense «« PfPjJ tracts ,, more difficult to cross than the ocean . Eight years ago UW * not 1 no stick or stone gave promise of a city , generally walled , und gl stonyg witl hopes or prospective sp lendour . About fifteen thousand person . dw « u 1 or near the SionoF Salt Lake-Americans , Enghah , a sprinkling of ScoUJ » largo proportion of Welsh , not a few Frenchmen and Danes , some » Geu »« J ancf Italians , one Irishman , one Jew , and one negro , among w /' jho polygdinists , says Mr . Chandloss , appear to be in a dooided » " » ° »^; * Mormons believe in one God eternal , Mltaiatont and aupromo , £ M * J form and substance , in a spirit world inhabited by human wuto MJj ^ i incarnation in the mission of Christ / and in a future state whero wom « * belong to their first , or spiritual husbands ; widows marrying appaH-ain , theirfqoond spouses d « W until death , reverting to tlw ^ nf ^ y ¦ afterwards . Of the Book and its doctrines , Mr .. Chandlosa gives a vwj

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 27, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27061857/page/18/