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^a fc T^Hr B Ii-:B A X^BEJ fBr. [No. 292...
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Critics are not the legislators, bat the...
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It would be curious to have before us ac...
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The Quarterly has not a single articl e ...
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Our readers will not have forgotten the ...
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THOMAS CAKIiYLE. Passag-es selected from...
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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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^A Fc T^Hr B Ii-:B A X^Bej Fbr. [No. 292...
^ a fc T ^ Hr B Ii-: B A X ^ BEJ fBr . [ No . 292 , Satubdat ,
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Critics Are Not The Legislators, Bat The...
Critics are not the legislators , bat the judges aad police of literature . They do not make laws—tbev interpret and try to enforce them . —Edtnburgh Remew .
It Would Be Curious To Have Before Us Ac...
It would be curious to have before us accurate statistics of Literature , especially with reference to the prices of books . When we see Dickens selling 40 , 000 copies of a guinea book in shilling numbers , we are apt to suppose that ,-were the price of books reduced , the sale would be proportionately increased . Increased it certainly would be ; but proportionately ? Take Macaux ^ -t's History as an example . The two new volumes cost six-andthirty shillings . The first edition is 15 , 000 copies , and the whole , or nearly
the whole , of this edition is sold before the work appears . Suppose the price were reduced to one shilling a volume , would there be 270 , 000 copies sold ? Or take Kiitgsm : y ' s Westward Ho ! which is published at a guinea and a half . Of this work , Mudie , the Napoleon of the Libraries , has 600 copies . These 600 copies he has issued 10 , 000 times ; and as each copy lent may be fairly supposed to represent 3 readers , we have 30 , 000 readers of the work issued from one library alone . Would 30 , 000 copies have been sold had the book been published at one shilling ?
The figures just mentioned suggest what an enormous difference there is between copies sold and readers ; but they do not show any reasonable ground for supposing that this difference would vanish before a reduction of price . The mass of people do not buy books ; they rely on libraries and book societies . Those who buy books want them , and what they want they will pay for , as we know to our cost . In general , men do not buy books as women buy " bargains ; " cheapnesses quite a secondary element .
The Quarterly Has Not A Single Articl E ...
The Quarterly has not a single articl e referring to the war , or any other actuaUte ; and is none the worse for that abstinence . It is not , indeed , a brilliant number , but it is a literary one . An old French sceptic and divine is introduced in , a pleasant scholarly sketch of the " Life and Opinions of Huet . " Thackeray is lauded rather than criticised , apropos of the JVeweowie * , whieh the reviewer pronounces his greatest work , and which certainly ought to put an end to the old charges against him of cynicism , and want of sympathy with the good and noble . But the most amusing article in the -number is that on " Arago and Brougham on Men of Science . " The writer exposes the miserable national vanity which made Abago so unjust to foreigners , and so wilful in his misstatements when they could " redound to 'the honour of his country . " With Frenchmen patriotism is a religion ; and as right reverend gentlemen lie prodigally when the lie is to serve religion , so Frenchmen lie profusely when la France is in question . La patrie is a mistress ; they flatter her , caress her , deceive her , lie for her , and die for her .
We must borrow an anecdote or two from this article . Mongb , the great mathematician , was appointed by the Committee of Public Safety to superintend the manufacture of arms ; but the Committee did not pay : — -His poverty was such that when Berthollet ordered a warm bath for a quinsey which ' he bad contracted-in the . discharge of his ardnous duties , he was unable to purchase wood to heat the water . His invariable > breakfast waa dry bread , and going forth one morning at four o ' clock according to custom , his meal . under bis arm , . he found that his family had added a small lump of . cheese to the usual fare . " You will bring me into trouble , " Monge exclaimed with . energy . ; " Did I not tell you that , having been rather gluttonous last week , I was alarmed to hear the representative Viou say mysteriously to those about him , ' Monge is getting easy in Mb circumstances ; look , he eata radishes !'" H " or could his poverty shield him : —
Notwithstanding , his services and his abstinence , Monge was denounced shortly . Afterwards and compelled to fly . In 1798 he accompanied Bonaparte in the expedition to Egypt , and from thence to Syria . He came up on one occasion with a soldier fa the desert who was dying of thirst . The man cast a wistful eye upon a calabash which Monge carried round his waist . " Come , take a draught , " said the philosopher , in reply to this mate language of the countenance . The soldier swallowed a single mouthful . " Drink again , " said Monge , persuasively . " Thank you , " answered the man , " but you have shown yourself charitable , and I would not for the world expose you to the atrocious torments I suffered just now . " ^ That is very touching . In the biography of * Ampere there is much interesting matter . The following extract refers to a work on the Mathematics of Gambling :-
—The' proposition which Ampere set himself to demonstrate was , that the regular gambler waa certain toloeo . His method was to show that if two players were in other respects upon equal terms , the chances were in favour of him who could go on the longest . The richest must consequently be the ultimate winner , and his advantage increased rapidly with the superiority of -wealth . The regular gambler engages with everybody { he la one against the world ; an individual with limited means , which he stakes against the resources , which in their aggregate may practically bo called unlimited , of the whole community of players . " In games where the chances are equal , where skill has no part , the professional player is therefore sure to bo ruined ; the formulae of Ampere prove' it beyond dispute . ' The unmeaning words , such as good
lock , good star , good vein , can neither hinder nor delay the execution of a sentence pronounced in the name of algebra . " M . Arago expoote that there will be people to ask , " What Is the use of the demonstration ? " and admits that a consciousness of the inevitable result would not deter -everybody from following the trade . He was acquainted at Paris with a wealthy foreigner who passed his time between gambling and the study of science . M . Arago , to wwn him from his vice , calculated , tho number of throws and' the stakes being cigiveD , what must be , his quarterly losses . The theory tallied with the , fact , and tho 'jg « ptl « maniaokaow ] e 4 ged that ho waa convinced . He abstained for a fortnight , and T | h * i » , o + Ued iBPon M . Arago to say that J » o should never again be the unintelligent tributary of thVhalL » of Paxfoi that ho bad ceased to be the dupe of a ridiculous
delusion , bat that he should continue to play , because the 50 , 000 francs which he knew he must lose every year would not , if employed in any other manner , excite in his feeb le body , wasted with pain , the same keen sensations that he derived from the / varied combinations , sometimes fortunate . and . sometimes fatal , which were developed every evening upon a green cloth . This reminds us of Fox ? s . celebrated saying , " The greatest pleasure in life is to play and win ; the next , to play and lose . " The mention of Fox would form a natural transition -to the article which closes the number , wherein Pitt and Fox are compared from the Quarterly point of view ; but we merely allude , in passing , to this article , and return for more extracts to the one from which we . have already borrowed . Here are two good stories of dogs : —
Among the mental problems which occupied much of the attention of Ampere was the vexed question of the nature of the faculties of animals . He originally decided against their capacity to reason , but he abandoned the opinion in deference to a single anecdote related by a friend on whose accuracy he could rely . This gentleman , driven by a storm into a village public-house , ordered a fowl to be roasted . Old fashions then prevailed in the south of France , and turnspits were still employed in place of the modern jack . Neither caresses , threats , nor blows could make the dog act his part . The gentleman interposed . " Poor dog , indeed ! " said the landlord , sharply ; " he deserves none of your pity , for these scenes take place every day . Do you know why this pretty fellow refuses to work the spit ?—it is because he has taken it into his head that he and his partner are to share alike , and it is not his turn . " Ampere's informant begged that a servant might be sent to find the other dog , who made no
difficulty about performing the task . He was taken out after a while and his refractory partner put in , who began , now his sense of justice was satisfied , to work with thorough good-will like a squirrel in a cage . A similar incident was related by M . de Ltiancourt to the great Araauld , who , with other Port-Royalists , had adopted the theory of Descartes , that doge were automatons and machines , and who , on the strength of this conviction , dissected the poor creatures to observe the circulation of the blood , and denied that they felt . " I have two dogs , " said the remonstrator against this cruelty , " who turn the spit on alternate days . One of them hid himself , and his partner was about to be put to turn in his place . He barked and wagged his tail as a sign to the cook to follow him , went to the garret , pulled out the truant , and worried him Are these your machines f" The great Arnauld , mighty in controversy and redoubtable in logic , must have had a latent consciousness that the turnspit had refuted him .
The denial of intelligence to animals will one day be regarded as one of the incomprehensible errors of philosophy , one of the most striking illustrations of the tyranny of prejudice , and the readiness with which we are imposed on by verbal distinctions ; and it seems the more curious that men should have thus persisted , when we consider what exaggerated notions they entertained of the intellectual sagacity of the very animals to whom they denied intelligence ; as shown not only in the popularity of fables , but in the-current anecdotes about animals . We conclude our extracts with the following curious trait of character : —
It was the inevitable result of the avidity with which Ampere engaged in a pursuit that this excess of action should be followed by reaction—that repletion should give rise to satiety . A steadier pace could have been longer- sustained ; but he ran himself out of breath till he was unable to take one single step forward . He printed a treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus , which was entirely finished with the exception of the title-page and table of contends . Here he paused exhausted . Not all the solicitations of the bookseller could induce him to make the slight mechanical exertion which was necessary to furnish the work with these usual accompaniments , and in this imperfect state it was published . Coleridge ' s want of " finger-industry " to write down a few poems which he had repeated aloud , for which he had been paid , and the delay in providing which drove him day after day to feign humiliating excuses , is not more extraordinary .
Our Readers Will Not Have Forgotten The ...
Our readers will not have forgotten the two piquant articles which appeared in these columns on the English Pictures at the Paris Exhibition . M . E . About has republished them in a charming volume , Voyage a travers VExposition des Beaux Arts , in which he characterises the English , German , Belgian , Spanish , Italian , and French painters and sculptors . Of course la France is superior in both arts to all rivals ; but , apart ' from this nationality , M . About is an agreeable causeur on art , and a very amusing writer . His book contains more esprit than criticism—but what reader will make that a reproach ?
Thomas Cakiiyle. Passag-Es Selected From...
THOMAS CAKIiYLE . Passag-es selected from the Writings of Thomas CarlyU . With a Biographical Memoir . 'By Thomas Ballantyne . Chapman and HalL It has been well said that the highest aim in education is analogous to the highest aim in mathematics , namely , to obtain not results but powers , not particular solutions , but the means by which endless solutions maybe wrought . He is the most effective educator who aims less at perfecting specific acquirements than at producing that mental condition winch renders acquirements easy , and leads to their useful application ; who does not seek to make his pupils moral by enjoining particular courses of action , but by bringing into activity the feelings and sympathies that must issue m eliecuve
noble action . On the same ground it may be said that the most writer is not he who announces a particular discovery , who convinces men of a particular conclusion , who demonstrates that this measure is right ana that measure wrong \ but , he who rouses in others the activities that must issue in discovery , who awakes jmen from their indifference to the right ana the wrong , who nerves their energies to seek for the truth and Hve up to n at whatever cost . Tho influence of such a writer is dynamic Ho docs not tea <*» men how to use sword and muaket , but he inspires their souls witu courage and sends a strong will into their muscles . He does not , porhftps > enrich your stock of data , but he clears away tho film from your eyes that you may search for data to some purpose . He does not , perhaps , convince you , but 'he strikes you , undeceives you , animates you . You are nOt directly fed by hia books , but you are braced as by ft walk up to an alpmo
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 27, 1855, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27101855/page/14/
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