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* *o. 380, July 4,1857 1 THE LEADER. 641
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THE PROFESSOR. 'rqfessor. A Tale. 13y Cu...
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THE SAPPERS AND MINERS. History of the H...
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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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Letters From High Latitudes. Letters Fro...
¦ rill not close his delightful narrative without quoting an example of tyle in which it is written , and . of the adventures encountered by the " Lid now almost reached the eightieth parallel of north latitude , « jd still an letrable sheet of ice-extending fifty or sixty miles westward from the shareredaUhopes of reaching the land out of the question . Our expectation of findbe north-west extremity of the island disengaged from ice by the action of the n ? S ^ aa-at all events ' for this season-evidently doomed to disappointment . ^ ererirtadyaihostJn the latitude of Amsterdam Island-which is actuall y ^ west Doint—and the coast seemed more encumbered than ever . No whaler vlr succeeded in getting more than about one hundred and twenty miles further than we ourselves had already come ; and to entangle pelves further in the unless it were with the certainty of reaching land—would be sheer folly . The
thiner to be done was to return back . Accordingly , to this course I determined fen myself if—after standing on for twelve hours longer—nothing should turn improve the present aspect of affairs . It was now eleven o ' clock at night ; Fitz iigurdr went to bed , while I remained on deck to see what the night might bring It blew great guns , and the cold was perfectly intolerable ; billow after r came sweeping down between the sea and sky , as if it were going to swallow e whole universe ; while the midnight sun —now completely blotted out—now y struggling through the ragged breaches of the mist—threw down from time to in unearthly red-brown glare on the waste of the roaring waters . r the whole of that night did we continue beating up along the edge of the ice , s teeth of a whole gale of wind . At last , about nine o ' clock in the morningvro short hours before the moment at which it had been agreed we should bear id abandon the attempt—we came up with a long low point of ice that had hed further to the westward than any we had yet doubled , and there , bevond ,
jen sea ! open not only to the northward and the westward , but also to the ard ! You can imagine my excitement . " Turn the hands up , Mr . "Wyse !" it ship ! " " Down with the helm ! " " Helm a-lee ! " Up comes the schooner ' s to the wind , the sails flapping with the noise of thunder ; blocks rattling against jck , as if they wanted to knock their brains out ; ropes dancing about in galed coils , like mad serpents ; and everything to an inexperienced eye in inexle confusion ; till gradually she pays off on the other tack—the sails stiffen into boards—the stay sail sheet is let go— . and heeling over on the opposite side , she darts forward over the sea like an arrow from the bow . " Stand by to make " Out all reefs ! " ( I could have carried sail to sink a man-of-war !) , and the little ship went , playing leap-frog over the heavy seas , and staggering her canvas , as if giddy with some joyful excitement which made my own heart
j so loudly . . e shall say but one final word : no Englishman or Englishwoman : tomed to read can fail thoroughly- to enjoy this graphic and genial
* *O. 380, July 4,1857 1 The Leader. 641
* * o . 380 , July 4 , 1857 1 THE LEADER . 641
The Professor. 'Rqfessor. A Tale. 13y Cu...
THE PROFESSOR . ' rqfessor . A Tale . 13 y Currer Bell . 2 vols . Smith , Elder , and Co . ae novel-reader this posthumous work of one who has given so much ht to novel-renders , will have but feeble interest ; but to all who are us about the Ilistory and development of genius it will afford many jstive reflections . In the first place let us say that the publication of ' rqfessor completely exonerates the London publishers , who unanily declined it . Currer Bell , in one of her letters , intimates that it leclined because it was too quietly truthful , and-wanted the ' thrilling ents' and ' romantic characters' which novels usually present . Currer was mistaken : the Professor was declined because it was dull . This jss does not arise from the quietness and every-day reality of the story , rora the weakness and essential unreality of the story and characters , oiding exaggeration and romance , she has not achieved simplicity and
y . The persons are at once disagreeable and improbable , xhe story is > me and improbable . So great is the distance between the Professor and imcdiate successor , Jane Eyre , that we are amazed at the total absence ; nius , or indeed of any indication of superior talent in the first story ; : annot sufficiently applaud the fortunate sagacity which induced Messrs . i and Elder to urge Clurrer Bell to write a second story ; for even now , [ itened by the event , and profoundly admiring the faculties displayed ne Ei * , we do not detect their germs in the professor , nor can we 3 tly say that on such evidence as it affords should we have encouraged rriter to try again . spite of unanimous refusals , in spite also of her more matured power , he brilliant success that power secured , Currer Bell could not see the ts of this tale ; accordingly she was . nearly perilling her reputation by iblication sifter Jane Eyre and Shirley . In the preface she drew up , we this curious passage : —
ad not indeed published anything before I commenced " The Professor , " but in a crude eflbrt , destroyed almost ns soon as composed , I had got over any such as I might onco have had for ornamented and redundant composition , and come for what was plain and homely . At the same timo I had adopted a set of pies on the subject of incident , & c , such as would bo generally approved in r , but tho result of which , when carried out into practice , often procures for nn r more surprise than pleasure . lid to myself tliat my hero should work his way through life as I had seen real men work theirs—that he should never got a shilling he had not earned—that Iden turns should lift him in a moment to wealth anil liigh station ; that whatmall competency ho might gain , should be won by tho sweat of his brow ; that , he could Hud so much as an arbour to sit down in , lie should master at least ne ascent of * the Hill of Difficulty ; ' that he should not even marry a beautiful
r a liuly of rank . As Adam ' s son he should sharo Adam ' s doom , and drain ; hout lifo a mixed and moderate cup of enjoyment . the sequel , howovcr , I found that publishers in general scarcely approved of thid 11 , but would have liked ( something moro imaginative and poetical—something sonsonnut with a highly wrought fancy , with a tasto for pathos , with sentiments tender , elevated , unworldly . Indood , until mi author hua tried to disposo of a ioript of tilia kind , ho can novor know what Htoroa of roinanco and sensibility don in broasta lie -would not have auspoctucl of caakotiiig such treasures . Men ilnoes are usually thought to prefer tho runl ; on trial tUo idon will bo often found ioua : a paBtuonitto . preference for tho wild , wonderful , and thrilling—tho sti ' ango , ng , and harrowing—agitates dlvors aouls that show a culm nnd sober aurfneo . answer the second , sarcasm first , wo will observe that even supposing shore to bo wore matter-of-fact than other people—which is certainly
not the case with all of them—they , having to consult the taste of the public rather than their own private taste , will naturally demand from an author the romance demanded by the public . And to answer the sarcasm respecting the unpleasant discrepancy between theory and practice , we have only to say that the Professor fails , not because it was constructed on the false theory that Nature and simplicity are the surest guides in Art , but because it was unreal and perverse . The incidents , as incidents , are almost all -threadbare from , use in poor novels ; while their mode of presentation is at once disagreeable , and fantastic . Where the writer draws from life * from her own actual experience , she does it with the crudeness of one who , had she not afterwards manifested such genuine power , we should have considered incapable of artistic reproduction . Where she ' invents , ' she is following in the beaten track of third-rate novelists . in this first work of fine
Great is the interest , however , pondering on a genius , not more like the maturer works than a motionless grub is like the airy butterfly . Still more is this comparison heightened when we find that in the Professor she has employed the same basis of personal experience as she afterwards so successfully reproduced in Villette . The positions are changed , but the experience is the same . Brussels , and school life at Brussels , form the staple . The Professor is the sketch of M . Paul ; and Frances Henri of Lucy Snowe . But how different the details , how different the picture ! In the Professor , as in her other works , we are struck with the constant and obtrusive presence of a purely disagreeable element . The characters are not only gratuitously , unnaturally rude , but the rudeness is of a kind which springs less from want of polished manners than from want of symwhich the writer
pathy . They do , say , and feel things , , are explained by as proceedi ng from what we must call an irritable antagonism , and a gratuitous pedaa-otnc ° desire of inflicting pain « for your good . ' The hero is as vicious in this respect as the others ; and the author evidently considers it a virtue . This fault which we believe has been the source of that repulsion felt by many readers of her other works—is the more surprising to us now we have read her Life , and know that the sympathy , tenderness , and benignity , so rarely finding an expression in her writings , found ample expression in her daily life . The steadfast friend , the adoring sister , the devoted daughter , and the woman who could leave her writing to go into the kitchen and cut out the ' eyes' of the potatoes rather than that ' Tabby ' s ' feelings should be hurt by entrusting such an act to another servant—this Charlotte Bronte was assuredly very different from the harsh , unsympathizing , pedagogic ' Currer Bell . '
In conclusion we earnestly beg young writers to give no heed whatever to the sarcasms in the Preface to this work ; to pay no attention to the supposed proof there afforded that Nature is only a ' theoretical' demand , not a demand made by readers ; and instead of appealing to Currer Bell , as an argument against writing stories which in their motives and movement resemble life , appeal to the Professor as a proof in favour of that practice , for it is precisely in its departures from reality that this story is most wearisome .
The Sappers And Miners. History Of The H...
THE SAPPERS AND MINERS . History of the Hoi / al Sappers and Miners , from the Formation of the Corps . By T . " \ V . J . Connolly . Second Edition . 2 vols . Longman and Co . There is no longer a corps of Sappers and Miners . Established in 1772 , it was merged into the Royal Engineers in 1850 . Quartermaster Connolly , therefore , has been enabled , in a second edition , to bring his history to a natural conclusion . First published , about two years ago , his volumes have now been considerably enlarged , and will probably take their place in the military standard library . So far from being purely professional , however , they are as well suited as any we know for general circulation . The army will prize them for their minute relation of incidents interesting to the soldier , and for their seventeen bright illustrations of uniform ; but the curious
public will be entertained by Mr . Connolly ' s singularly varied collection of anecdote , and his accounts of stirring events on—and under—flood and field , written with all the enthusiasm ot a Sapper and Miner , but addressed to no particular class . He has included , in this new issue , the services of the corps in the Aland Islands , in Turkey , Bulgaria , Wallacbia , the Crimea , and Circassia ; but so quickly was the original edition exhausted , that doubtless hundreds of persons missed it altogether . It will not be superfluous , then , to indicate the character of its contents , in order to show that it is in no sense technical or dry . The Sappers and Miners were embodied about eighty years ago , and among their earlier works were the celebrated subterranean galleries of Gibraltar . During the terrific siege of that fortress , the military artificers not only created a multitude of new defences ,
but exhibited the bravery of lied Cross Knights . JLhey may be said tp have laid a practical foundation for the power of tho English in tho Mediterranean . One of their next engagements was to strengthen the Tower of London against the chances of a Jacobin attack . Then , during the great French war , they bore their part at Antigua , Valenciennes , Dunkirk , Toulon , Gundalouno , St . Louis , the Bruges Canal , and Ostend . They were at tho blockade of Malta , at the capture of tho Danish West Indian settlements , at Oporto , Talavera , Flushing-, Almeida , Busaco , and Barrosa . In fact , they wore every where , from 1793 to 1815 , and showed brilliantly at Waterloo . The peace gave thorn another kind of employment . They becaino trigonometrical surveyors , pontoon experimentalists , and destroyers
of sunken vessels , and carried their triangles down tho valleys of tho Euphrates , across New Holland , into Canada , and back once moro to Gravoseud . There they cleared tho wrecks out of the bod of the river . After another adventure in Australia , and a visit to Spain , detachments of tho corps were set to work upon Scotch triungulntiim ; but one of their most important services was tho demolition of the Koyal George . " Wo have- noC read a ploasantor chapter than Qunrtormnstor Connolly ' s account of this operation , enrriod out by divors , who sometimes foug ht with crabs and congor-ools , anil sometimes with one another , and succeeded in recovering a vast amount of valuable materials , Tho Syrian war broke the monotony of thoir peaceful occupations ; but , perhaps , nothing could bo more interesting than thoir oxpodition to mark
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 4, 1857, page 641, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_04071857/page/17/
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