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[ blue will 932 THE LEADER. Saturday,
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A BATCH OF BOOKS.* Over some men, who li...
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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 Principles Of Hakmony And Contrast O...
other , and become more vivid . But it may happen that the appear to incline to green or to viole * , and the orange to yellow or to red , that is to > say the modification aefs not only upon the intensity of the colour , but also upon its physical composition ; whatever it be , if the latter effect takes place , it is undoubtedly always much feebler than the first . Besides , if we look a certain number of times at these same coloured bands we shall see that the blue , which . at first appeared greener , will soon appear more violet , and that the orange , winch at first appeared yellower , will become redder , so that the phenomenon of modification , dependent upon the physical composition of colour , will not be so constant as those which are the subject of the seventeeen preceding observations . These complementary colours have long been known ; they are the spectral colours that appear to the eye after looking ^ at a real colour . We must consider them as inseparable from the sensation of colour . The merit of Chevreui ' s view consists in proving how the complementary colours act when two such colours are contrasted simultaneously . ( To be continued ?)
[ Blue Will 932 The Leader. Saturday,
[ blue will 932 THE LEADER . Saturday ,
A Batch Of Books.* Over Some Men, Who Li...
A BATCH OF BOOKS . * Over some men , who liave filled no inconsiderable space in the history of their own times , the scene closes , and their names are never heard of again . Otters Jbelong to all time . They are the lords of the world , are enshrined as deities in every heart , and command perpetual admiration . Of such a kind was Julius Caesar—the last and most conspicuous of the sons of Rome . The secret of his success was his marvellous organisation . Alive to every enjoyment , enduring beyond measure , the first in everything he attempted , the peerless general , the consummate orator , the accomplished writer , the master of statecraft , he was born to win and wield universal dominion . As the history of Rome is the grandest of all histories , so does Caesar stand forth as the type of Intellectual and physical greatness . Arnold was the first who dared to express his deep abhorrence of the moral character of this man .
It was he who said that "' the whole range of history can scarcely furnish a picture of greater deformity , " and that " never did any man occasionso large an amount of human misery with , so little provocation . " He dwelt , with indignant severity , on the millions he slaughtered , the sufferings he caused by his spoliations and confiscations , and all this in order that he might be able to attack his country . In spite of conscience , however , the world will never cease to reverence success as such , and Caesar is the man of all others , at least an ancienfc history , who was at once most brilliant and most successful . But whether we agree or not with Arnold , who generally tries to exalt Pompey at the expense of Caesar , who loved the pure character of the one , as he detested the moral degradation of the other , we are never weary of hearing about the nephew of Marius , who , after conquering the world , perished vilely by the hands of assassins , who were also his friends .
Archdeacon Wuhams , therwfore , has chosen an attractive subject . Ever since the time of Plutarch the biographer has commanded more readers than the historian , and when he deals with a well-known name , of whom all wish to know everything that can be said , it is his own fault if he does not succeed . Archdeacon Williams tells us , in his preface , that "he has been far more anrtious to represent facts , their causes and consequences , as they were represented by Csssar himself and his contemporaries , than to exhibit them as coloured by modern writers , more anxious to discover in the history of past events a confirmation of their own prejudices , than the conclusions ¦ which an unbiased judgment must necessarily draw . " The first chapter is introductory , and the remaining portion consists of a faithful narrative of Caesar's life , from which the reader is left to draw his own conclusions . The fault of the book is that it is too much a mere record of facts—it is deficient
in personal interest—there is no warmth of tone , no brilliant colouring . Stall , it is the work of an accomplished scholar , who has taken obvious pains to state all the necessary facts about the life of Julius Ceesar , and will , no doubt , take its place as a very useful and readable biography . A new edition of Gay ' Fables , tvithan Original Memoir , Introduction , and Annotations ^ by Octavius Freere Owen , has been published by Messrs . Routledge . ^ The editor takes extraordinary credit to himself for originality . " We live , " he says , " in the days of literary veneer ; the true Spanish mahogany upon the Honduras of originality is nearly withered to the stump : nothing is said but what has been spoken before . The ' points' of oar best novels are merely ol < l friends in a new dress ; the ' tags' of our dramas , the aia-8 of our overtures , are the odds and ends of ancient compositions . " This tremendous dish of satire is an introduction to a short Life of Gay , and a few notes scattered here and there among the Fables . It is to be hoped that JVtr . Owen will not content himself with this . When an author denounces
with such vehemence the p lagiarism of his fellows , and comes forward himself as the apostle of * ' originality and common sense , " we wait in anxious suspense for a new revelation . But in spite of hia bombastic preface , and some commonplace dulness in the Annotations , Mr . Owen has produced a very creditable edition of Gay ' s Fables , and we hope that it will be successful . The Volunteer Rifleman and the Rifle ., by John Boucher , is one of the many books which wo owo to the war . It was written for the use of the Hanover Park Rifle Association , was originally circulated in a manuscript form , and is ^ published nt the request of some military friends . It is full of practical directions , and has the merit of beings the first treatise of the kind . In , days when the majority of Englishmen have forgotten how to fight , the following remarks are well worth reading : —
The cant phrase with thoso who sneo * nt tho idea of preparing for danger in tUo time of peace , is , tlmt , in tho ovont of an invasion taking pla « e , " England would rise aa one man ; " but this ia absurd , for what would bo tho uao of n half-armed undisciplined rabble , stick ns « ould bo got together on a sudden emergency ? Tho grent mnsa know no more about a . gun than they tlo of tho working of iv fltcam-ongine , and , it intrusted with anna nnil formed into lino , would bo much more likely to cause deatrue-? Williams' Life of Julius Cassar . ( Rautledgo . )— Gatfa Fables . By O . F . Owen , M . A . ( Boutlcdge . ;—The Volunteer Rifleman and the R \ fle . l } v John Boucher . ( Hiirdwicko . )—Balfour ' a Outlines of BoCnny . ( Adam nnd Ohurlos lilixok *)—Philoaopkg of ( he Infinite . By Henry Oaldorwoou . ( Constable « nd Co . )—A Defence of Religion . By H . W . Qrosakoy . ( Chnpmnn . )—Tho Photographic Primer , tyy Joseph Onndol . ( PJioCogrnpluo Institution . )—biproae ' s Funny tiooh . ( HarUwicko . ^—JTeacotc ' s History of the Conqvest of Mexico . ( Bontloy . )—Prttscott ' a History of the Jteign of Ferdinand and Isabella . ( BonUoy . )—Fern Leaves / ram Fanny ' * Por (/ i > lio . ( Wurd and took . )—Fraeer ' s Handbook fhr Ireland * ( Jumca M'Glaalmn , Dublin . )—Anderson ' s Mercantile Correspondence . ( Efflnghara "Wilson . )—Milton ' s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained . ( Nolaor . )
tion among their friends , than injury to their foes . Of the hundreds of thousands in England , few of them have ever handled a musket , and fewer still have ever fired a ball , or have even seen a ball-cartridge . Is this a population to be suddenly called into the field and opposed to the fire of veteran soldiers ? Are these the intrepid hearts and skilful hands that are to " drive the enemy into the sea , " or " find for every invader a bullet and a grave ?" The fact is , that England , as a nation , cannot spring at once full armed into the arena of the battle-field . " Peasants and burghers , however brave , " says Mr . Macaulay , the historian , " are unable to stand their ground against veteran soldiers , whose whole life is
a preparation for the day of battle ; -whose nerves have been braced by long familiarity with danger , and whose movements have all the precision of clock-work . " Yet these men , who from their childhood have lived a life of peace and quietness at home , " buying and selling , or tilling their broad acres , " possess the individual bravery and physical strength of disciplined troops , and only require to be trained and accustomed to the use of arms , in order to place England in a position , to defy invasion ; for , as Lord Palmerston once remarked , " there is no fortification like brave men , aimed , organised , and ready to meet an enemy ; that is the hest fortification , and such a fortification you will always find in the hearts and arms of Englishmen . "
Dr . Balfour's Outlines ^ of Botany contain the substance of the article Botany in the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica , and are now published , " ¦ With the view of supplying a cheap work , which may be useful in schools , colleges , and philosophical institutions . " The book is not so much a treatise on botany as a full and accurate record of the facts of the science , given in the briefest possible form . The Photographic Primer is the name given to thirty pages of lessons on photography , and is published with the authority of the Institution in liondstreet . To those who are fond of metaphysical inqtuiies , we announce the publication of a book called the Philosophy of the Infinite , by Henry Galderwood . The object is to solve the very difficult problem , " What can we know of the Infinite God ? " The present state of the question is this : —The opinions regarding the unconditioned , as an immediate object of knowledge and of
thought may be reduced to four : 1 . The unconditioned is uncognisable and inconceivable , its notion being onl y negative of the conditioned . 2 . It is not an object of knowledge ; , but its notion , as a regulative principle of the mind itself , is more than a negation of the conditioned . 2 . It is cognizable j but not conceivable . 4 . It is cognisable and conceivable by consciousness and reflection , under relation , difference , and plurality . Sir William Hamilton holds the first of these opinions * Kant the second , Schelling the third , and M . Cousin-the fourth . Mr . Calderwood , a pupil of Sir William Hajnilton , differs from that philosopher , as well as . from M . Cousin , describing the doctrine of the former as irrelevant , that of the latter as erroneous / Having set aside their theories , he maintains that clear ground is left in the centre , and arrives at the conclusion that " the infinite , as absolute , is that which is essentially independent and unrestricted , but which may nevertheless exist in relation , and be thus recognised by the mind . " We do not pretend to offer an opinion .
A Defence of Religion is not the most intelligible title in the world . One naturally asks which religion Mr . Crosskey proposes to defend ? Only think of a good orthodox Protestant attracted by the title , and purchasing Mr . Crosskey ' s Defence ! What a disappointment would ensue ! It is true that the book is saved from any such fate by the circumstance ttat it forms a portion of "Chapman ' s Library for the People ; " but still nve advise the author to fix upon some more distinctive appellation . Tfoe Defence of Meligio 7 i is inscribed to George Jacob Holyoake , for whose " brave sincerity , and reverence for truth and justice , " the author professes great regard . Mr . Crosskey is a tlieist , and defends his position by arguments drawn from the constitution of human nature , and by an appeal to experience , on which latter point he says that" tho experience of all religious natures is that man can easily hold real , and actual , and living communion with his God . " Then if we require a test of experience , the required test is to be found in the simple axiom that truth must last . " The following extract is taken from a chapter on " Objections to the reality and worth of the religious sentiment" : — '
Priests , for their own interest , are charged with persuading men to receive tales about the Gods . But , unless an actual tendency of human nature is seized upon , tho chance to deceive is not great . The vain man is deceived by propitiating his vanity —the proud man by appeals to his pride . The deceiver always needs something to work upon in tho character of the deceived . Granted the existence , therefore , of any number of fraudulent priests , it yet remains to be explained whut tendencies of character they took advantage of in order to bo successful in deceit . History shows no possibility of such a wide-spread fraud as thia account represents religion , Altogether unconnected with any part of the natural constitution of man . Moreover ,
priests have always been opposed to pure and fresh manifestations of tho U « ligiou 3 Sentiment . These priests , said to have been its inventors , have been its greatest antagonists . Who opposed the Jewish Prophets ? The priests . Who were < Jhrist * a bitterest foes ? The priests . Who were Luther's antagonists ? Tho priests . A priest ia one claiming to stand between a man and hia God—a mediator and intercessor . Religion is personal and individual communion with tho cyor-prciBont Father . Therefore has every great religious reformation been fought against the priests , and they have been inveterate antagonists of the purely religious lifo of humanity . To priests , therefore , can hardly be ascribed tlio invention of that againat which , they have over faithfully made war .
The most striking feature in Diprose ' Funny Book is that it is not ufc nil funny , consisting of some very old English jokes , and some not good American ones . In ^ addition to the above , we need only announce that Mr . Bontley has published in a cheap form Mr . Prcscott ' a well-known and most vatlunblo works , The Conquest of Mexico , and The lle ' ujn of Ferdinand and Isabella . Fern Leaves from Funny ' * Portfolio wo have already noticed . Fraser ' s Handbook for Ireland has readied a fourth edition , and , " from tho altered state of travelling consequent on the railways , may , in a groat measure , bo regarded aa a now work . " Anderson ' s Mercantile Correspondence is eufllciu ully well known to render any criticism needless , Tlio only other books on our list are an oditkm of Milton * s Paradise Lost , and Paradise Regained , published by Nelson ; a pamphlet by Mr . llawlinson on tho Drainage of Towns : and a ro-publicatiou of the Speeches on National Education , de-Hvcrod by Lord Brougham in tho House of Lords on tho 24 th of July and tlno 4 th of August , 1654 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30091854/page/20/
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