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    ggg ^ III LEA P)ER. [NOi 336, Sattjbda-y...

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    Having made himself a helmet, Don Quixot...

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    It. any publisher of a ' Library' bo in ...

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    MICHELET AS A NATURALIST. VOiseau. Par J...

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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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    ^ The Battle Fought In The French Courts...

    < 31 * rfatU ™ ~ Arnwitd Levy replied ^ " The first thing ia that the dying man ' * will be 2 £ SZT » ThSce s £ dT " That is true ; and bis will is unhappily too apparent . " HsStotaed ^ raTd ? tee » n au had wished for apriest , we would have sent for one ^ fflSwTsoSrf rt M . Forgoes . " The niece appeared to be touched by tlw !™«!* Ar £ « r ^& -w ^ n M . Barbet had g iven her notice , and she gave expression to thlTfeeling > This conversation was immediately repeated to the persons who were in ifc de I-Sennais was perfectly lueid all Sunday . His hand retained some power for o I < Vn < r time .- At ten p . m . he sipped -svith a spoon without spilling , and was vexed when : anyone offered ta support his hand . Doctor Jallat , who had come at half-past eight in tbftOToroing and had gone away again , returned at two o ' clock , and remained

    tilfnight . The nurse who attended M . de Lamennais from Thuraday , the 23 rd February , to the end , the other nurse having fallen ill , is Madame Valleton ; she never left him . All Sunday evening everyone who called was let in ; a- person even was admitted who had never seen M » de Lamennais . Among others who came that evening were M . BenoitrGhampy , one of the testamentary executors ; the Polish nuncio Carrowski , and . General Ullofu Carnot returned in the evening , as did also Henri Martin and Jean Eeynaud . What had passed in their absence was then reported to them verbatim : They all three went away at ten p . m ., and with them Annand LeVy . There remained' during the night Augnste Barbet , Montanelli , Forgnes , Madame de Grandville , and the niece of M . de Lamennais . ired at three minutes

    On the following morning M . de Lamennais exp thirty- past nine , a few minutes after the departure of his niece and of Montanelli . ( It was thought that he would live through the day , so much strength did he retain to the last moment ) There were about M . de Lamennais at that moment some of his friends both old and new . M . Barbet closed his eyes . Henri Martin arrived some minutes before , Armand- Levy some minutes after . Ail which ' things ' we have thought it our duty to set down , now that our memory is still quite fresh , thinking it useful and necessary to indicate precisely amid what circumstances took place the expression of M . de Lamennais' desire respecting the publication and reprinting of his works , in order that it may be ^ possible the better to comprehend in case of need Ms reasons for the same , as likewise in order that it may be duly recorded what were to the last , his independence , his lucidity , his energy of mind , and his firmness of will . Paris , 15 th May , 1854 . , . -, N Giuseppe Montahelu , Arjiand Levy , ( Signed ) H > Martik h . Caenot , H . Jallat .

    The clerical faction are indefatigable in their efforts to obtain from the dying a recantation of the opinion they professed during their lives . They made a great . fuss about a pretended triumph of this kind in the case of Augustin Thierry , whose most intimate friends positively deny that he retracted anything . He was prevailed upon to admit a priest to his bedside , but remained wholly unmoved by the reverend man ' s exhortations . Of M . » je > Lamennais , however , no one will venture to assert that there was any way & ing in bis last moments , much less tbat he accepted a passport to heaven from priestly hands . He passed away fearlessly , as he had lived * loving and . hoping , and bis great name remains intact—a . glory to the

    soldiers of Truth , a token of dismay and rout to their adversaries . " M . de L * AMENWAis "—we quote from our private French correspondence— " M . de IAmexnais , formerly an ardent Catholic , and detaching himself , after having , tried and proved-it , from that communion which offered him so many magnificent recompenses , to pass over to the camp of free thought and democracy / , remaining faithful to them unto death , and beyond death ( since he rests in the fosse commune , beside those poor pariahs of pauperism whom lie loved so much and so well defended )—LiAMennais , I say , of all democratic individualities , is that one which we may exalt upon the most legitimate grounds , and that one , too , whose exaltation most profoundly afflicts the partizans of Catholicism and of the ' principle of authority . ' "

    The philosophical and religious war now pending in France is not waged only between Free Thought on the one side and Catholicism on the other the Catholics are committing mutual havoc with a vigour and a zeal which merit our heartiest applause . There is a capital article on this subject in the last number of the Revue de Paris , to which we can now do no more than call attention e ? i passant .

    Ggg ^ Iii Lea P)Er. [Noi 336, Sattjbda-Y...

    ggg ^ III LEA P ) ER . [ NOi 336 , Sattjbda-y ,

    Having Made Himself A Helmet, Don Quixot...

    Having made himself a helmet , Don Quixote very naturally set about testing its powers of resistance , and with two strokes of his sword he destroyed the labour of weeka . Repairing the damage with pasteboard , h took good care not to repeat his unlucky experiment , but set out on his perilous quest of adventures without putting bis head -piece to further proof . In like manner , Doctor Comkiko deprecates any attempt to challenge the soundness of the authorized version of the Scriptures , in which he has a vested , interest , being an adept , it is said , in spelling the Prophets in two ways . There may bo flaws in our English Bible , but he would not have them- scrutinized too closely , albeit that through them the enemy ' s lance may pierce the sonl . He would not break the hallowed associations belonging to that beautiful version , or disturb Christian minds with painful doubts of its accuracy ; and therefore he advises that we should hush up this question which has been raised about it . But this cannot be 5 the doubts are there ; and there is no way to allay them but by resolving them .

    It. Any Publisher Of A ' Library' Bo In ...

    It . any publisher of a ' Library' bo in search of a suggestion , we have one to ofltoiv Where are the works of Arthur Youjsa?—his admirable Tours in the grieulturtu Counties and in Ireland , ar ! d especially tho Tour in France , which has become Historical ? They have never been reprinted . Abthuk Xounq , in . fact , has a great reputation , and no readers—or scarcely any , « xoepii 8 uoW . a » , reaid » him . fr agmentarily at second hand . Wo should be gliid - —and tho pnttlici we think , would be glad—to see these works ropublinhed in small serial volumes , . with popular commentaries reflecting on them the light of aur . own time * . Readers in , general—M . x >» Tocaujsviucis ' s readers especially—mmld be much interested'by auch an announcement .

    Michelet As A Naturalist. Voiseau. Par J...

    MICHELET AS A NATURALIST . VOiseau . Par J . Michelet . D . Nutt . Unwilling as the public always is to listen to a man who speaks to them on subjects not lying within his professional circle , it makes an exception in favour of Natural History , probably because it supposes Natural History not to be a science . Although , therefore , many will learn with surprise that Michelet , the eloquent historian , has written an eloquent book about birds or rather " the Book of the Bird" to designate it more accuratel y—they will not allow their surprise to subside into scepticism . Why should he not , in hours of relaxation ^ have turned from ancient archives , the very tombs of the past , to contemplate his companions , the birds , so brilliant with life ? And amassing thus slowly and certainly a store of observations , which , reading fructified , getting more and more familiar with these birds , and their history , why should he not communicate these results to the world ? fantastic it would not be

    UOiseau is an original book ; , or signed " Michelet ; " poetic ; full of emotion , trembling with it ; lighted up with charming flashes of his summer-lightning style ; varied with excellent observations , subtle remark , and novel facts ; a book written with enthusiasm , and not to be read without enthusiasm . It touches on all the questions a naturalist would raise ; and if the style is often such _ as would make graver naturalists shake their respectable heads , e ? i revanche it is constantly such as only a splendid talent could have produced . It commences with a long and somewhat tedious chapter narrating in an extremely obscure and extravagant manner " Comment Vauteur fut conduit a Vetude de la nature . ' 1 '' The happy husband forgets that we , the public , are not greatly interested in the history of his wife and her father , nor in her literature ; and this introduction is mainly occupied with her » and by her . The book then begins , and seriatim , touches on the egg , the wing , the decadence of some races , the tropics , the scavengers , the rapacious birds , migrations , the bird as a workman , as an architect , as a republican , and as an artist .

    The reader has only to reflect for a moment on the exquisite grace of birds , their marvellous sagacity and tenderness , and the interest of the questions Michelet has selected , to discern the kind of charm this book is likely to have . Among books of natural history , though none arc dull , this will surely long hold a first rank in point of charm ; and we beg our readers not to be deterred by any preconception , either relating to Michelet as an historian , or to Michelet as a thinker and writer , from possessing so delightful a book . He will have to overlook some passages of questionable taste ; he will have occasionally to remember that the author is given to what modern Frenchmen call ' du lyrisine' and what in England is called ' fine writing ( sometimes rhodomontade ) , but he will read with interest and emotion , and will learn to look on birds with fresh interest . How eloquently he defends the vultures , whom we thoughtless mortals think so odious because we will not consider their real character , as

    beneficent scavengers , living alembics of flame , in \ vliich _ nature casts the material which would otherwise corrupt the higher organisms . Solitary by nature , grave and silent even at their food , they sit down on the corpse of a whale or hippopotamus , and it disappears . They do not quarrel over their food . They pay no attention to the passer-by . With imperturbable gravity and insatiable appetite they fulfil their office . Nothing satisfies their craving . So long as flesh remains on the skeleton , they remain ; fire on them , they return with intrepidity . On the body of a hippopotamus , Levaillant mortally wounded a vulture , which even in the death throes tore pieces of flesh ? for in his stomach found six

    from his prey . Was this hunger No ; were pounds of meat . « ' Oloutonnerie automatique , " says Michelet , " plus quede ferocite . " And he styles them the ministers of death : " Devant eux , vous vous sentez en presence des ministrcs de la mort , mais de la mort pacifique , naturelle , et non du meurtre . Us sont , comme les elements , sericux , graves , inaccusables , au fond , innocents , plutot meritants . " Curiously enough , these birds so powerful are more than any other subject to atmospheric influences : in the humid air of the morning their wings -arc so heavy , they feel so relaxed" that the feeblest prey passes unhurt before them . II Michelet in favour of the inucli

    defends the much abused vulture , he has little to say praised eagle , with its small brain and ferocious instincts . And certainly a we compare the flat , stupid skull of the eagle , which is the degrading mark of this bandit of the air , with the compact little skull of the robin , wo . shall have little hesitation in assigning the higher rank to the smaller bird . " La tete des premiers n ' est qu ' un bee ; celle des pctits a un visage . " Michelet gives an amusing account of what he frequently saw in tlic Jardin des Mantes , namely , the ascendancy which mind exerts over matter , intelligence over mere strength . A crow is there caged wilh a vultureeagle ; and in his black costume , which gives him the air of a pedagogue , lie brulul It is absurd to

    seems trying to educate and civilize his companion . witness how he teaches the giant to play , how he humanizes him ; and this appears to be only done in presence of several spectators ; before a single person Maitre Corbean disduins to exhibit his skill . Exquisitely ludicrous it must be to see him force his big friend to hold a stick by one end while hl tugs at the other . This appearance of a struggle between strength unu weakness , this simulation of equality is capable of softening the savage , wno cares little about it , but who yields to the insistence of his email iukI witiligent friend , and ends by joining in the sport with a sort of rude »""«^'' Maitre Corbeau is not in the least afraid of his terrible companion , inoai , talons and that beak inspire him with no more respect than auilicua to Ktci him out of their reachlie confides in tlio slowness and Htupulity oi i "

    , giant . Ho will even snatch the food from the very beak of his companion , who is furious , " mais trop tard ; son precepteur , plus agile , do son a ; li "V . ' metalliquo ot b ' rillunt comme l ' acier , a vu lo mouveincnt d ' avunco , il auuimci , au besoin , il monte plus huut d ' une brancho ou doux , il groudo a son tour , ndmonesto l ' autre . " t Charming are tho pages devoted to the swallow , which he , who loves moai birds , seems to love with peculiur fervour , perhaps because it itf tho m < j ' essentially bird—it in all wing . Nature soems to have constructed uit > swallovr with reference to a purely aerial existence ; it haa no legs , no > e worthy of tho name ; if it rests on anything nioro substantial tUan air , supports itself on its breast . It docs not need repose ; movement \& its l't'Si

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 30, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30081856/page/18/