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No. 440, August 2S, 1858.] THE LEADER, 8...
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SHUCKFORD'S HISTORIES BY WHEELER. The Sa...
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Leaves from Lakeland. J. Ptvyn. (Windovm...
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HUMBLE CREATURES. Uunible Creatures; The...
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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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Kovels And Novelists. Novels Emd Novelis...
tempt any a nalysis or classification of Mr . Dickens ' s numerous conceptions . They constituted a -world in themselves , and to become fully acquainted with each of them would require a long pericd of study . What is remarkable about the entire collection of them is that , notwithstanding their numbers , there are no repetitions amongst them ; no old friends peep out in the later stories , taken from the characters of the preceding tales , and only dressed in slightly different costumes . Mr . Dickens is alwtn' 3 new and without precedent in
his conceptions ; he never , as it is termed , " reproduces himself . " To say that an author is prone to repeat himself is no charge against him , if the repetition is an improvement on the first attempt . Mr . Thackeray is a remarkable instance of an author using and re-using and using yet ngain the characters , situations , events , descriptions , and even conversations of his works ; but with . bim reiteration is never significant of barren wit , for every time he reproduces an old piece he adds strength and delicacy to the picture . It does not , therefore , at all Follow that we should have a lower estimate of Mr .
Dickens , if it could be proved to us that he had made the same materials do service on several different occasions . Still it is a fact that naturally arouses our wonder that the motley throngs that people his fictions , each of which is ark-like in its abundance of living creatures , are so constituted that no two persons are exactly alike " . There are many fops , many villains , many ruffians , many misers , ' many wretched children , many foolish old maids , many higli-blood « d young men , and many blushing maidens , but they aTe all different from each other . Stiggins is other than Chadband ; and Mr . Pecksniff can never he confounded with Mr .
Casby . Each character from that dense crowd not only is unlike any other in the fair , but its distinguishing features are clear and definite . The distinctiveness of '' Shakespeare ' s creations lias always been insisted upon by his critics as a striking illustration of the inexhaustible fertility of his imagination ; Imt it has long been our opinion that Dickens ' s conceptions surpass those of 4 > ur great poet in this important quality as much as they do in number . Certain it is that in the entire range of our noble literature , Shakespeare alone can be for a moment compared with Dickens , as a noble and prolific delineator of human character .
It would be a long task to say all that Dickens has done for the English novel . It would be easier to state what he has not done for it . Indeed the novel of this generation is so completely a vork of : his ?* e-creation , that it would be mere ingratitude backed up by stupidity not to hail him as the immediate parent of it . He took it up when at best it -was but a cold imitation of Sir Walter ' s polite formality and - " elegant prolixity , and too often was scarce fit for a servants' hall , in which a fac-simile cf Theodore Hook presided as butler . He raised it" from its low estate , and rnade it what it is , —loved and honoured by the wise and good as mucli
as by the simple and unenquiring . He put aix end to the hateful calumny of Sir Walter Scott that it was calculated only to amuse ; for he gave it earnestuess of purpose- —and , as means for arriving at its aim , -wit unprecedented , and language such as men had never before listened to . Of all the novelists now figuring in our literature , there is not one who is not largely indebted to him ; and the popular and applauded ones are not few , whose diameters , jlots ? , tricks of handling , modes of description , oven to the slightest mannerisms of expression , may be immediately traced to him , although their artistic aspirations m « y be the exact reverse of his elevated and benevolent ones .
Thisjudginentmay lead the reader to an estimate of Mr . JeallVcson ' s own genius ; for it is the key to many of his opinions and unlocks the'mystery of much of his criticism . The idea of comparing Shakspcnvo to Dickens ( noi . Dickens < o Shakspearc ) , as the only approachable author , is -worthy of the worshipper ot the modern school ; nevertheless , we shall adhere to the ancient worship , regardless of the out cry from the voting herd of " sickening cant and irredeemable duiidcrhcitdism . " Finally ,
we may say of these volumes Hint they arc lively and pleasant reading ; thai they revive and stimulate ninny pleasant . reminiscences , and contain the result of a good deal of hard labour and some conscientious criticism ;' although they arc often disappointing , sometimes unjust , and not a little slioi't-coming . If the author be young he will live to correct these blemishes , and may make the work in future editions a standard one in English literature .
No. 440, August 2s, 1858.] The Leader, 8...
No . 440 , August 2 S , 1858 . ] THE LEADER , 875
Shuckford's Histories By Wheeler. The Sa...
SHUCKFORD'S HISTORIES BY WHEELER . The Sacred and Profane History of the World connected , from tke Creation of the World to the Dissolution of the Assyrian Empire at the Death of Sardanapalus , and to the Declension of the Kingdoms of Judah and' Israel under the Reigns of Ahag and Pekah . With the Treatise on the Creation and Fall of Jit an . By Samuel Shuckford , M . A ., & c . New Edition . Notes and Analyses , by J , Talboys " Wheeler . 2 vols . Tegg and Co .
C < vnon Siiucklpord s work was intended by him to be introductory to Dean Prideaux's Connection of Sacred and Profane History from the Declension of the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel to the Time of Christ , Imt although the title of every edition would lead the reader to imagine such to be the case , the learned canon ' s labours cease with the death of Joshua , B . C ., 3426 . The hiatus , however , may be supplied by Dr . Russell's Connection of Sacred and Profane History to the Decline of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah . The primary object of the author was to bring together and synchronize the ancient history of the -world , as recorded in the Scriptures ou the one hand , and as preserved in heathen traditions on the other . But in carrying out this design he has frequently been led into long and interesting digressions . He has thus entered into learned and curious inquiries respecting the longevity , population , religion , and arts of the antediluvians ; the geography of Eden ; the nature and origin of language ; the confiision of tongues ; tke invention of letters ; the religion of the Patriarchs as compared with the religion of the Persians , Chaldeans , Arabians , Canaanites , and Egyptians ; the origin and progress of the departure of mankind from the true faith ; the character and , ¦' constitution of the ancient priesthood ; and finally , he has appended to his Historical Connection a full and orthodox discourse on the Creation and fall of Man . ¦ ¦ ' . '¦ . ; . ' . "¦ " . ' ., . . ; . . ' ' ¦ ' -. ¦ . No doubt much li ad already been done to Iris hand , some half century earlier , by the celebrated Samuel Bochart , who , during his residence at the Court of Queen Christina of Sweden , composed l » is IIiefozoicq ) i 3 sive deAnimalibusS . Scrip fur & and his Phaleg et Canaan , s ' we Geographica Sacra , pubj lished in London in 16 G 3 , and which were reprinted with notes by Leusden and Villenandy , in 1692 , at Ley den . Speaking of these works , tlie learned Dr . Wotten has said that " the whole natural history of
the Bible is . exhausted by Bochart iunis Hierozoicon , as the account how the world was peopled after the Flood is in his J ? halc // and Canaan . " Bochart ' s labours were , however , inaccessible to mere English readers , and hence those of Canon iSliuckfoi'd have always been , to them "in every respect a valuable and remarkable book ; " for in illustrating the extensive range of subjects which we have just enumerated , he has brought to bear a clear and powerful intellect , and profound and varied learning , gathered for the most part from Greek and Itc-man . literature and from Christian and Rabbinical
commentators . There is one merit due to our author ' winch , in these days of rapidity and movement , we are apt to overlook ; at the foot of the page all passages referred to arc carefully noted , and so the reader , if at all in doubt , may go to the fouulain head and convince himself . We are not going to criticise a book which is to be found on the shelves of every well-furnished library , and our remarks must necessarily , therefore , be confined to the additions and alterations n ' uulc by its present editor , the son of one and the godson of another well known and respected . publishers , who , as partners in trade , did much to enrich our p hilological and philosophical literature by translations from the German more especially .
In the first place there is prefixed to each volume an admirable analysis of its contents , under appropriate heiulings , separating the different books into divisions , and the divisions into paragraphs . Analytical' headings and dates arc also placed as headlines to every page . The dates are calculated backwards from the Christian era , and not onwards from the Creation , as in the older editions . Besides these the notes arc both many and important ., especially recording tho results of modern discovery in the Holds of comparative philology and physical geoj graphy , and beyond those numerous explanations , ; illustrations , aiid corrections arc introduced into the t oxt as well as into the notes . Tho less learned
readers will he glad to find an English translation of all Greek and Lai in passages quoted . We extract the following paragraph from the editor's ] i re I a co , which applies equally to his edition of 1 ' ridcanx ' s Connection as to tiio work before us : — It wsih duo to tho reputations of both Shuckford and IVuleaux that their widely celebrated connexions should bo reprinted entire , with no alterations , excepting such
as could be thrown into the form of additions . Accordingly , in its present shape , the following book i » not only a valuable elucidation of primeval history , but it emphatically belongs to the history of human progress . The results effected by the eighteenth , century are here brought face to face with the results effected by the ninet eenth ; and the student will be better able to comprehend each subject in its several bearings , and to estimate the value of modern discovery , than by any other means whatever .
We refer the reader to the sections headed respectively " The Nature and Origin of Language , " and "TheConfusion otTongues , " as evidencing the great amount of careful editing which has been , bestowed upon , this reprint of Shuckford ' s celebrated book . These occupy twenty-nine pages , the greater portion of which are supplemental and critical , and extracted from works of the highest authority . . Thus , we hare Ewald's estimate of the changes of biblical Hebrew made clear by reference to the changes in the tatinity of the Roman classics as compared with that of the Twelve Tables , Moses and Job with
Lucretius , David with Horace , Isaiah with Virgil ,, and the Prophets who flourished about the time of the Exile with the later writers , Quintilian to Claudian . Then , as to the changes in Greek , theeditor differs from his author in supposing that the-Creek language has undergone such great changes-Modern travellers , conversant only with the language of Homer and Thucydides , have found no difficulty in making themselves understood in modern Athens . Indeed , Romaic , or modem . Greek , is much more nearly identical with the ancient Greek than Italian is with the ancient Latin
language . Most of the new grammatical forms canstill be recognised by a classical scholar . The declension of the ancient grammar has been preserved-The conjugation , also , hardly contains any new elements . Some forms have gone out of use , as , for instance , the dative in the declensions , the dual in > declension and conjugation , the pptative > and also , to a great extent , the old infinitive ; and there arealso some few periphrastic tenses which have found their way into the modern Greek .
We would , in conclusion , supply one remarkableconnexion between the sacred narrative and profane history , which appears to have escaped both the learned canon and his painstaking editor , as ifc bears evidence that the miracle of the standing still 1 of the sun was credited also "by the Gentiles , and upon such a point the testimony of a pagan writer ot great antiquity is most valuable . "In thosedays , they say , " are the words of Herodotus ( JSuterpe , \ 0 ) l xt the sun rose four times out of his usual custom . "Where lie now sets there he rose twice , and where he now rises there he twice set . "
We hear that Mr . Wheeler is now engaged lit editing Dr . Russell ' s portion' on the same plan ,, and that with it he will give an historical review of sacred and profane history to the Babylonian captivity , which will be executed similarly in all respects to that which is prefixed to his edition of Prideaux . When completed , the entire series will be sure to meet with the success it so justly merits .
Leaves From Lakeland. J. Ptvyn. (Windovm...
Leaves from Lakeland . J . Ptvyn . ( Windovmoro : Hamilton and Adams . )—Those , clever sketches have already appeared in several of our popular serials . Wo need do no more—aa they have already bcoti well roceiveil by thu public—than nay they deserved publication in a collected form . Hours o /' iStot and Xhutlc . By Vernon do Montgomery . ( Longman anil Co . ) - —Tho author is already -woll known na a pormlur lecturer . This volumo of Tulet ) , Poems , mid Eeaaya is wu cvtdenco of . cultivated tuslo and poetic feeling .
Humble Creatures. Uunible Creatures; The...
HUMBLE CREATURES . Uunible Creatures ; The JSarthtoorm and the Common Housefly . In Eight Letters . By James Samuelson ,. assisted by J . Braxton Hicks , M . D ., & c , with Mi . croscopic Illustrations by the Authors , and Eight Plates . John Van Voorst .. Rea-dhh , have you a good pocket-lens P They are jlentiful and cheap enough . You will never regret the investment of some three half-crowns in such apurchase . If you do not believe us , secure a copy of the book named above , study the eight microscopic illustrations , and admit that wonderful are all the works of Creation—the most despised insects not less so than the higher animals themselves . But we would court you to the enjoyment of many new and untold pleasures : —
If you are not satisfied with the ipte dixtt of another ,, who may appear to you an imaginative enthusiast , let us ask you to try tho experiment yourself and form your own opinion on the subject , Tho next time you go out on your morning or evening : ramble , if you chance to sco a worm in your patli , do not kick it aside nor stop over it . ; but take it from the ground , and lay it on tho palm of your hand ; and aa it tries to crawl away you will experience a alight sensation of roughness on your skin . Now take out your pockot-lons and examine ciircfully tho under siilo of the worm ' s body , you will poTccivo Huveral rows of fine sharp hooks oxtonding from one oud to t !> o other . Those minute hooks cause tho rough sensation alluded to ; and that portion of tho body on which they aro placed corresponds to tho abdomen of tho higher animals , tho hooks tbonaa « ivc 8 being
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1858, page 875, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_28081858/page/19/
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