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584 THE LEADER. [Satub ]
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A QUEER STORY. Moredun: a Talc qfthe Twe...
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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 Church Asd Phh.Osoph* » Fsance. Uegl...
his nostrils , but the Spirit to whom he turned them . We suppose the rudest Poly- _nesian islander regards with profounder veneration the black , unchiselled , eyeless idol to which he bows _do-vm , than the wisest and mightiest chieftain he knows : the one holds of the unseen and the infinite , the other he can look upon , and examine , and compass in his thought ; to the one he may look in the day of battle , of the other he will think in the shadow of the thunder-cloud ; the one he will respect and obey , the other alone will he worship . Immediately afterwards he adds a consideration which naturally presented itself : — But we think we hear some one indignantly exclaim , Why , in the first place , all this is the extreme o / triteness ; and , m the second , Mr . Carlyle , by his doctrine of _iero-worship , means _reaUy _nothmgmore . This is honestly said . Mr . Bayne , we see , contends that the hero was a mere interpreter between man and his God : never important enough to be the object , strictly , of worship himse f . The Carlylian , however , would reply , You confound the philosophers perception of the relation with the relation as apprehended at the tune by the worshippers themselves . Just let us conceive the conditions of the early races of mankind and then try to suppose them _drawing this distinction of yours ! " In his well-known " Lectures" on the subject Mr . Carlyle is careful to show that the " Hero as God" is the very earliest form of the worships ; and students of the subject _yould do well to keep the order of time in remembrance and not to con- found the modified worship of an Alexander with the worship of _anOdm , of a Hercules , or the like . We know that for all practical purposes Napoleon could command a degree of devotion to which it would be hard to deny the name of worship . Conceive a Napoleon m an age without an alphabet— among a people attaching , supernatural ideas to every wind of _^ eaven , to the thunder and the cloud , to the cave , the forest , and the sea . Would not he concentrate this vague religious emotion , and so help them to that very idea of unity which we are told by our author they felt independent of him ? As far back as we can see into the mists of time immense personalities are the earliest things visible Heaven is peopled by human figures , ruling there in subordinated ranks . Tradition says that Hercules was admitted into heaven —that Romulus was admitted into heaven . How came mankind ever to shape such notions ? Even as an interpreter , the hero did so much that , m its effect upon history , the worship of him was the same as if he had been worshipped plainly and directly as God If Mahomet ' s followers had thought him a mere man , it is incredible that they should have accepted on h » authority what we see they did accept . Yet the phenomenon of his career belongs to a comparatively modern epoch . To some such effectas th _. _s , we say , the follower of the Hero-worship doc- trme would reply to Mr . Bayne . Nay , more he would credit his favourite principle with the results which Mr . Bayne claims for his own creed Mr . Bayne directs our attention to the noble career of a Christian Chalmers , which all men respect But every doctrme he preached was known , as well as the arithmetical table , before his time , and was ( and is ) ineffectually preached every day Be gave his great personality to these doctrines , and hundreds felt them to have become quite new and living for them Here was Hero- worship in one of its forms . Every thinker knows that God is God , and .. I v ¦ _% . T » _i _.-i / -i _i i- . ., . . 7 ¦» . the best Hero only a man .--the Carlylian insists that _^ through great men £ _E _S _7 « J _^ * f _** _" _" _******'> and that m certam _h _» t <> rlcal P « "ods he _uasscooa lor _uroa _ozmseif . We have stated all this , not to impose the doctrine dogmatically upon our _, -u . _.- _> . _i _* V _•^• . _iTVr fc T > , J _^ readers , but that people may see how ineffectual Mr . Bayne s reasoning „_ ij -k i- a' i » » , i nil tm * * -ii _i _i would be in converting a disciple of Mr . Carlyle . That it will be welcome . _„ ., ,. j s _r . % _i ¦ vi a' » ., , , . _t to the ordinary crowd ( who feel , in reality , nothing of the heart-warmth of either doctrine , and who only want an " answer " in" aid of their impo- tence ) isvery probable . But we are much mistaken if such a success would be sufficient for the aspirations of Mr . Bayne . To deal critically with the whole of the book , however , would be to write an essay on the mental condition of the age . We have Mr . Bayne versus Carlyle ; Philanthropy versus Satire ; Christianity versus Pantheism ; Instinct _vlsus Positivism f all the great questions earnestly , if not always ably , handled . Mr . Bayne is an impressive writer ; and—a fact which alone would prove him no ordinary man—he is thoroughly imbued with a relish for Carlyle without aping hfs manner . It is indeed chiefly his feeling of the importance of _Carlyle ' _s influence which seems to have spurred him on to write the book . We think it a pity however that he did not restrict himself to some one subject and exhaust it , instead of throwing himself headlong as he has done into the troubled ocean of thought . _^ _The ability with which the biographies are written leads us to expect much from Mr . Bayne when he devotes himself to a task to which he is really equal ; and considering the many merits of his work , we should be sorry to find that the controversial chapters in the first and third parts interfere with the popularity which the main body of his book justly deserves . _^ . ~~~
584 The Leader. [Satub ]
584 THE LEADER . [ Satub ]
A Queer Story. Moredun: A Talc Qfthe Twe...
A QUEER STORY . Moredun : a Talc _qfthe Twelve Hundred and Ten . By W . S _. Sampson Lowe and Son . The one very doubtful claim of this book to the special attention of the public has been adroitly enough mentioned in tho advertisements it is ** ascribed to Sir Walter Scott . " Tho story , by which an effort is made to justify this ascription , wont the round of tho papers a few months back . Some of our readers may not have seen it ; some may have forgotten it . Before we say a word on tho subject of the book , therefore , it may be as well to recapitulate tho main points of thevery extraordinary narrative which has ushered it into tho world . The story being a little intricate , and extending over a considerable space of time , we will , for the sake of clear- nesa and brevity , present it , with some of the critical consequences which it has produced , in a dramatic form . Let us begin with the Persona of the Drama . These are : — Sir Wai / _teh Scott and his daughter , Miss Annb Scoxx An Eudem . y German Monomaniac . Thus _Eldbrmt German Monomaniao ' h Widow and Daugiitkr . Monsieur E . be Saint _Mauiuoe Cahant—A credulous French Gentleman . Messrs . Sampbon Lowb & Son—Two cautious London Publishers .
Disbelieving Friends of Sir Walter Scott . Disbelieving Critics of the "Athenaeum" newspaper . The Converted Sceptic of the " Journal des De'bats . " The Ditto Ditto of the "Daily Hews . " properties A _Wr _^ _M-desk . A heap of MSS . A Letter ' addressed to « W . S . » u _-yr . s . scene . Partly in _England and partly in France . The Firgt Acfc b ins about tne year 18 lg gir Walter Scott ha ( e | fch _j . de fe fo _^ Qr ft 1 Jttle Jter _^ blication of Waverl ¦ _^ . _^ _^^ When { f . ig don hQ ig n £ satisfied with it _^ hurt hJs reputation . resolves not to publish it . What does he do manuscrip _^ under these circumstances ? Lock it up ?—No . Tear Nq _> He _K gives it to his daughter ! This is the great effect of the ] Thevery fast thmg , iadies ° nd gentlemen , which any man with a gense in _^ _- g head w ° ould think of _^ with a iece o _£ work _wnIch be unworth of him ; s exactly the thing which we represent that _< d eminently prilcticai man , Sir Walter Scott , as having do : _^ fche d cene _faU _, amid general astonishment . The Se _% ond Acfc carries ufon to the r 1825 The scene _^ elderl German monOmaniac appropriately engaged on " statistic and _^ irieg _> ,, He is assisted in his occupations by M . Cabany , tl loug F _^ ench entleman and hero of the play . The monomaniaca Jnto statistic _^ has one interesting and pardonable weakness— h < Walt Scott and is dying to become the possessor of one of Walt manuscripts _ l nay , it is even reported among his friends that he _^ _^ _£ nlesg h _*> wigh . g _^ _^^ While things are in this critica the pec _^ iary affairs of ou _° elderly friend become involved , his « _, . n u _^ ries » h _£ vi apparently not led him as far as his own accou : H _^ s rt * { _J wreck \ his beart is broken : he fa unable t Q ba _£ _{ _^ Buf . he hag eserved a wr iting-desk ; and , it m _^ he ointg mvsteriously to it , and , with " a melancholy _sn hJs faitllful P assistan _£ « This Is all I have to leave you ; but it durable _memorial than any sum I could have bequeathed to n fellow . labourer in the fieid of statistical inquiries . " With these v venerable monomaniac dies , and his widow _iSd daughter depart for ( k - ? writi desk wi _' th them . M . Cabany _» ffers 11 O _oppositi _= laim hig _fe does ive ifc J much as ft _^ cond d v _unsuspecting , as the widow and daughter go their . 8 _writing-desk ? P Hush ! The drop-scene fauVto slow musi Ei _, rht . aud _ t # entv years are suppoSed to elapse ; and the curtair fc _^ M . Cabany discovered . Our credulous French g _r . _& w _^ . now G _^ Director of the % Record . Keeper 3 of France , and Directing Editor-in-Chief of the 1 P ( N _& rologt ) for the ° Nineteenth Century . O the S month of September-for there is nothing like being particulai f . _dficovery-a box arrives for _° M . Caban ° y ! It con * ,, ... n f _f A . _rp _, „ _,, _o _^^ / _^^ r _, o _^ fn / _i u , r „ i , memorable _writing-desk ol Act Iwo ; and is accompanied by a le _< _£ ceased mono D maniac's daughter . The letter explains that the taken £ _eight-and-twenty > _° ears ago by mistake , and that it we b b k fc b t f t ] writer ' s fears that _; t mign , ,, , " u * i * _i r _« a _* . _>^* valuable _enousrh to be worth the expense oi carnage . A relat : " _«" . « = . . v o ever , _happening to visit Paris , has taken charge of the desk , and c , ' / ] - , _^ , e .. _r ' n ¦ , P & i ' _f _> fortunate inheritor oi it irom all need ot payinsc so much as a iai « . _«"" i < = < - _^ . 7 « . . , _^ rnagc expenses . M . Cabany , a little surprised at receiving the c an interval of twenty-eight years , opens it and pulls out first collection of Royalist tracts 1 he next article is a packet of man . _£ e examines it- merciful Heaven ! do his eyes deceive him ? Is Record-Keeper of Franco and Head Registrar of the Dead ai the I Century-or has he become a raving maniac ? No ! a thousand t _« e , ls stlU 1 D »? "S ht _se"sf' and he has actual _y found , n the old des A k an unpublished novel by Sir Walter Scott !! _> ,. Act r , oui : I s , V shercd m by warlike music M . Cabany has mad h _' s wonderful discovery , and has committed himself to al « rench tr of the treasure of fiction found in the old writing-desk _Disbehevin of Sir Walter Scott , and disbelieving critics ot the Athcuarum beg troublesome questions directly . How did the elderly German moi get possession of themanusenpt ? to begin with . —He got it m lb 20 _, ? Jr r ' William Spencer , the once fashionable song-writer of London s What prool?—l lie monomaniacs own conversation . lie was fo ma ' of talking about getting a manuscript from Scott , through . " » fact , ho said he had got it . But we did not believe lam then , Cabany . —Nor do we now ( cry the opposite faction ) . Any other proo a letter in a handwriting like Scott ' s , addressed to W . S . and on ! W . S . ; but , of course , one must mean William Spencer , and the othc Scott ; and ( also of course ) nothing could be more natural than great novelist , at u period of his life when ho was ruined , and whei was of the greatest possible importance to him , should give away , hu _* ° r anonymous publication for a stranger ' s benefit , a manuscript _^ might have published anonymously himself for his own benefit . — Nc ifc ! shout the enemy . Walter Scott never wrote that letter ; Wall WftS the last man on earth to act as it represents him to liavc actt 8 _ides , we were in his confidence , and wo deny that he ever wrote i _novtJi as you have published . —You were not in his confidence , know nothing about it ! cries M . Cabany . —Your book is an impos _J ° ' n the critics of the Athenaeum and the friends of Walter Scott . — ure _aU a m ° _k of scurvy unbelievcra , retorts M . Cabany . Thereupoi buttle ensues , M . Cabany , tho converted sceptic of the J )< Jbat . _s , and _duloua brother of the Daily News , on one side—the diabelioving » ind critics on the other . Both sides claim tho victory , and the _scei w > th a valiant resolution on tho part of M . Cabany to renew tho I English ground . Of Act Five , one scene only has , as yet , been played out . The cui risen and has disclosed our two cautious London publishers , Messrs . > . Lowo and Son , advancing very gingerly to the front of the stage , c
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/sldr_16061855/page/8/
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