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Jult 29, 1854.] THE LEADER. 7H
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IPtf^fnfiti*^ jLUlllUUll*
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Critics are not bhe legislators, bub the...
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The influence of the Oriental question a...
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Under the rovorential title of Shahapear...
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Speculations and projpoaitiunH on thu su...
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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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.
Jult 29, 1854.] The Leader. 7h
Jult 29 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 7 H
Iptf^Fnfiti*^ Jlullluull*
Ittwattttt-
Critics Are Not Bhe Legislators, Bub The...
Critics are not bhe legislators , bub the judges and police of literature . They dc not make Iaw 3—th . ey interpret and try to enforce th . em . ~ -Edinburgh Review .
The Influence Of The Oriental Question A...
The influence of the Oriental question and the war-gossip on the literary market is a topic on which we could say a great deal , if" we liked . Instead of making an original disquisition on the subject , however , we will help ourselves to some considerations , not unconnected -with it , which we find ready to our hands in an article in the last uumber of the British Quarterly Review . We have already noticed the number : the following is from its opening article on Dryden and tlie Literature oft / ie Restoration . " It is a common remark that literature flourishes best in times of social order and leisure , and suffers immediate depression whenever the public mind is agitated by violent civil controversies . The remark is more true than such , popular inductions usually are . It is confirmed , on the small scale , by what every one finds in his own experience . "When a family is agitated by any matter affecting its interests , there is an immediate cessation from all the lighter luxuries of books and music wherewith it used to beguile its leisure . All the members of the family are intent for the time being on the matter in hand : if
books are consulted , it is for [ some purpose of practical reference ; and if pens are active , it is in writing letters of business . Not till the matter is fairly concluded are the recreations of music and literature resumed ; though , then , possibly , -with a keener zest and a mind more full and fresh than before . Precisely so it is on the larger scale . If everything that is spoken or written be called literature , there is probably always about the same amount of literature going on in a community ; or , if there is any iacrease or decrease , it is but in proportion to the increase or decrease of the population . But , if by literature we mean a certain reculiar kind and quality of spoken or written , matter , recognisable by its likeness to certain known precedents , then , undoubtedly , literature flourishes in times of quiet and security , and _ wanes in times of convulsion and disorder . When the storm of some great civil contest is blowing , it is impossible for even the serenest man to shat himself quite in from the noise , and turn over tie leaves of his Horace , or practise his violin , as undistractedly as before . Great . is the power of pococurantisni ; and it is a aioble sight to see , in the midst of some Whig or Tory excitement which is throwing the general
communion into sixes and sevens and sending mobs along the streets , the calm devotee of hard science , or the impassioned'lover of the ideal , going on his way , aloof from it all , and smiling at it all . But there are times when even these obdurate gentlemen will "be touched in spite of themselves to the tune of what is going on ; when the shouts of the mob will penetrate to the closets of the nqost studious ; and when , as Archimedes of old had to leave his darling diagrams and trudge along the Syraeusan streets to superintend the construction of rough cranes and catapults , so philosophers and poets alike will have to quit their favourite occupations , and be -whirled along in tlie common agitation . These are times when whatever literature there is assumes a character of immediate and . practical interest . Just as , in the supposed case , the literary activity of the family is consumed in mere letters of business , so , in this , the literary activity of the community exhausts itself in newspaperarticles , publk speeches , and pamphlets , more or less elaborate , on the present crisis- There
may be a vast amount of mind at work , and as much , on the whole , may be written as before but the very excess of what may le called the pamghlet literature , which is perishable iu its nature , will leave a deficiency in the various departments of literature more strictly so called—philosophical or eKpository literature , historical literature , and the literature of pure imagination . Not till the turmoil is over , not till the battle has been fairly fought out , and the mental activity involved in it has been let loose for more scattered work , _ will the calmer muses resume their sway , and the press send forth treatises and histories and poems and romances as well as pamphlets . Then , however , men may return to literature with a new zest , and the very storm which has interrupted the course of pure literature for a time may infuse into such literature when it begins again , a fresh and stronger spirit . If the battle had ended in a victory , there will be a tone of joy , of exultation , and of scorn , in . what men think and write after it ; if it has ended in a defeat , all that is thought and written will le tinged by a finer and deeper sorrow . "
Let our readers make tlxeapplicatioa of these remariks for themselves , and console themselves with , the expectation of new vigour in our bookmaking , after the Oriental blast is over . After all , however , we are not so badly off as might foe thought—probably because the Oriental question does not harrow our civic vi . fcals as a civil controversy would . Even the war itself is grist to the mill of our literary gentlemen—as witness the thousand-and-one books and pamphlets abo-ut Russia aucl the Czar , Turkey and the Sultan . And , besides this literature of cphcmci-als bred out of the war itself , have we not such works as Sin William Hamilton ' s edition of the Collected Works of Dugald Stewart , of which the first volume has been published , and Looo Mahon ' s History of England from 1713 to 1783 , of which the seventh and concluding volume has just appeared , and Mr . Crowe ' s Reigns of Louis XVIII . and Charles X . —not to speak of novels and of our reprints of such classics as Golosmitii and Giubon—to show that Nicholas does not occupy all our thoughts , and that , tliough the Cossack is at our gates , our publishers are still bold enough to buy copyrights ?
Under The Rovorential Title Of Shahapear...
Under the rovorential title of Shahapeare ' s Scholar , an American journalist , Mr . Richard Grant White , undertakes to rescue his great master from the hands of Dryasdust . Profoundly , and undisguisedly , ho hates the tribe of commentators , and immcasuvcd is the contempt which ho entertains for Mr . Coixiiaii ' s folio of 16 ;) d . Therein ho finds that poetry is turned to prose , dulness substituted for wit , dramatic propriety exalted , the context disregarded , and the really important alterations destitute of novelty . According to Mr . Wiiitb , SiiAKsriBAiirc is his own interpreter . " It is folly to say that the writings of such a man need notes and comments to enable readers of ordinary intelligence to apprehend their full meaning . There is no protonco for the intrusion of such aids , except the fact that StiAKsvEAma wrote two hundred and f illy years ago ; and this seems to bo but a pretonco . " Wo shall give a fuller account , of Mr . Warna next weclc . Meanwhile , wo gladly welcome this addition to Siiaicsimsaiuan litomturo from the other aido of the Atlantic .
Speculations And Projpoaitiunh On Thu Su...
Speculations and projpoaitiunH on thu subject of education arc increasing at an enormous ruto . It i « as if nil tho inqusitivonesB mid all the philanthropy of tho country Vcro for thu time working in this ono direction . What to teach , and how to touch it , aro the prohlcma of tho day . Tlic Cryatnl X alaco it soU figures in vur current literature as something deriving iLa ohici
interest from its connexion with these problems ; and there is now m London an exhibition , called specifically the " Educational Exhibition , " and under the superintendence of the Council of the Society of Arts , the purpose of which is to bring under one view , for persons interested in . educa- » tion , all the apparatus , devices , and appliances , —in the shape of books , models , maps , pie tares , and the like , —anywhere in use , whether in Great Britain , on the Continent , or in America , for facilitating the process of instruction in schools . This is but a palpable representation of what is going on everywhere in a dispersed manner . The press teems with books and pamphlets on tlie science of education . Almost every number of every periodical has an article bearing on the subject . And our Wheweixs , our Fa » aj > ays , and other men of note , seem to have been seized with a passion for lecturing on educational reform .
A . 11 this is hopeful ; but judging from the heterogeneousness of that mass of speculations which now lies before the public in the character of materials tovrards this greatly desired " science of education , " it will be a long time before the public , or their authorities , can come to any satisfactory agreement , even as to the fundamentals of the " science . " It will require a miad of some force to drive a straight furrow through so much mingled sense and-crudity as has been already accumulated on the subject . Confining our attention to school instruction alone , what a number of notions and projects do we see abroad—each carried about like a flag ; by some educational reformer , or other , and followed by a band of exponents and
advocates ! There is the " teaching of common things" notion of Lord Ashebtibton , one of the best o-f them all . By way of extension of this notion , there is a demand by some , for a species of schools , which should be , in part , model-farms , in part workshops , where youths might be trained in the useful arts of common life . Then , there is also the notion that youths should all be drilled as soldiers , after something like the Prussian system . "'Teach ' . drawing , " say some , " cultivate the sense of form and colour . " "Why is not music taught in all our schools ? " is the hobby-question of others . " Teacli the elements of physical science and chemistry , " say some ; "let children be made familiar with the constitution and laws of the world
they inhabit . " " Teach rather physiology , " say another set of exelusives ; " it is , above all , essential that children should , become acquainted -with the structure of their own bodies —the laws of health , & c . " " Instruct the rising generation in the truths of political economy—the laws that regulate the exchanges and the other processes of society , " is the advice of a numerous class , who trace strikes and other evils to the ignorance existing on these subjects . And so with a whole world of other notions , some broad and some narrow , but all characterised by a spirit of protest against the too exclusively literary and linguistic education hitherto given in schools .
To extract tie good and the practicable art of all these suggestions will , ¦ w e repeat , require more philosophy than has yet been brought to the task . Some of the suggestions , however , are clearly of more value than others . All those efforts , for example , that are being made to introduce into education a provision for the instruction of youth in thoie orders of ideas wliicli relate to their duties and functions as citizens , deserve especial attention . We have before us a lecture by Dr . W . B . Hodgson , well fitted to suggest this remark . It is one of a series of lectures on education delivered at the Royal Institution , and published by Messrs . Parker and Son . The first lecture of tho sei'ies is by Dr . Wheweix , and is entitled On the Influence of the History of Science upon Intellectual Education ; the second is by Professor
FAJtAPAY , and is entitled , Observations on Mental Education the third is by Dr . Latham , and treats of Tlie Importance , of the Study of Language as a Branch of Education for all Classes ; the fourth , by Dr . Daubknt , is On the Importance of the Study of Chemistry as a Branch of Education for all Classes ; the fifth , by Professor Tyndaix , makes similar claims for the Study of Physics ; the sixth , by Mr . Paget , advocates similarly the Study of Phy ~ wlogy ; and this by Dr . Hodgson is entitled , On the Importance of the Study of Economic Science an < i Branch of Education for all Classes . The idea of teaching economical science in schools is certainly more novel than that of teaching either chemical , mechanical , or physiological science . The most ardent advocate of this idea , wo believe , is Mr . William Ellis , of Cambcrwcll , a gentleman of independent means , who has now fox a scries
of years put it into practice with signally good results , by actually himself teaching the principles of political economy to the hoys in several largo soliools in and about London , and has also written various pamphlets with a View to bring tho matter more largely under tho notice of those interested in education . Already , wo believe , a considerable impression lias been made by Mr . Ellis—Mr . Cobden and other men of influence having boon aroused to tho importance of tho reform proposed by him . It is Dr . IIojhjson ' s object , ia the loeturo hnfnro no to rooommnnil this reform . He ccciisidora that , if the dements of sound political economy—ns tho doctrine of "wages , and tho like—were taught in schools , tho results would be very favourable to social well-being . Ho would havo this kind of knowledge inu < lo a part of the education , not of tho poor only , but of tho rich ; not of men only , but of women also . Ho enys : —
11 It in iintm-ar to fluppoao tlmt in mutters touching mon ' a ' bumiiosH nnd lmsom » , oven though of daily nml hourly i-ecuiwicc , instruction i « not noedod , imd tlmt , common sonao In iv aufnuiont imido . Aln « ! common iuma « in widely dillureiit from proper sonao . It is prociauly in tho « o tnibjucta that error moat oxtonr . iv . ily pvovuila . ami tlutt U la moat pernicious wlioro it dooa prov ' uil . In mutton * flu- wmovo . l from ordinary lifo and oxjpononco , pure Ignorance «« iwsiiiblo , porhupa ; and , in compiirlaon , littlo mischievous . But in those winch concern ua / ill and nt all timea , it ia ullko lm \) OHaillo to bo purely ignorant and to fco ignorant
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 29, 1854, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29071854/page/15/
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