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Critics are not tfee legislators , but tue Ju dges and police of literature . They d 5 not make J aws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Itevvsw .
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The most noticeable event this week has been the reappearance of Chbibtoi'HBb North in the pages of " Blackwood , " with his usual power , brilliancy , animal spirits , and beauty , like a young lion at play . The subject he plays with is Othello , and he therein developes his " astounding discovery" respecting Shakspeare ' s employment of double time in his pieces , a long time and a short time , a retardation and an acceleration . It is one
of the most ingenious speculations that have yet been thrown out , and has excited considerable attention from the singularity of another Shaksperian student—the Reverend Mr . Halpin—having also made the discovery , and worked it out in relation to the Merchant of Venice . Nothing . is clearer than that these discoveries were both made independently ; and yet they seem to be as nearly as possible the same view . Christopher North has done more , however , than thrown out a speculation on Othello : he has written a criticism which ,
in his own style—lionlike leaps at the heart of several questions—is magnificent . A poet never comments on a poet without opening up new tracks of thought . The Quarterly Review has done an act of generosity : it has reviewed in a noble spirit of tolerance , that grandest of modern Italian poets , Giacomo Lkopardi . When we add that Lbopabdi
was an Atheist—wrought thereto by suffering , physical and moral , and by the diseased anarchy of the age , not corrected by any wise teacher—the fact of h ? s being mentioned in the Quarterly except in terms of savage execration is in itself a symptom of the growing tolerance of the age . It makes us even bear with patience the article on Ci-ienu , De la Hodde , and the Republicans . The Westminster Review has a very striking ,
very timely paper on the Church of England bold and plain-speaking , yet elevated in treatment , and never descending to the vulgarities of polemics . The Church has been "in danger" any time this last fifty years , but never in such real peril as it is now , when scandals are dislocating it from within , and earnest men are unconsciously uniting to assail it from without . Wo ! wo ! upon it , if in such pressing times of need it continues oblivious of its sacred function , and expends
its energy on frivolous disputes about scholastic distinctions and frivolous adherence to traditionary forms ! In France the literary topic is Ponsahd ' s tragedy : Charlotte Corday . Author and subject both sufficed to pique curiosity . I ' onsaud , the restorer of the " classic" drama—Ponsaho , who to the turbulent public of etudians of the ( iuartier Latin offered the calm , idyllic purity of Liter ece , and made all Paris flock over the water to the Odt ' on to ¦ ¦ ¦¦• !' ¦ ¦ ¦ "jlmbilitation of the ancient and
truly national lorm of drama—Ponsaru , as it moved by the spirit of antithesis , has now transported to the Theatre Francais—the scene ot Corneille , Racine , and Moliere—not a classic , but a revolutionary drama . The public has been uneasy . On the first night the anxiety to secure places was excessive . A hundred and even a hundred and rii ' ty francs were paid for a single stall ; a thing hete
unheard of , except in the case of JjC Prop . Well , this crowded expectant house scarcely dared applaud ! The two parties — Republicans and Moderates—showed mutual forbearance . The poet was impartial : the public would not f orce an application to the present times ; but the application was obvious enough ti » sill . The tragedy was also read at a soiree given by the Minister of the ; Interior ; and there also u painful silence saluted it .
Ciiknit has been found so useful , that his dirty hand has once more beenemployed byaCiovernment which talks of order , and which blushes with indignation at tliu " atrocious" doctrines of Socialists . On Monday appeared . Lea Moii f aj / nnnls de IS 4 S , with a reply , to C-AUssiniKUK and other Dniiocsocs ( the cant name for Democratic Socialists . ) For those whose appetites delighl . in garbage the announcement promises ! Mr . J ki-ks--whose , estimate of a book ' s worth is not unnaturall y regulated by the number of copies sold will also doubtless receive the announcement with hilarious rubbing of his hands . Lamaktink has published u now book ; he
Passe , le Present , et VAvenir de la Republique j the object of which is to render account to the nation of its state and prospects , as the Chambers were wont under the monarchy to render an account to the King . Whatever may be the opinion formed of Lamartine , any word of his is worth listening to .
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One gets inexpressibly weary of these imitation George Sands , —women who outrage all the qualities of their sex , and call the outrage genius . For George Sand herself we have the most thorough admiration : her impassioned intellect , her noble sincerity , her generous aspirations , and her perfect simplicity of manner , so strikingly contrasted with the affectations of her imitators ! She is the greatest genius now living , in France ; and the most virulent of her detractors are forced
to bow to the supremacy of her talent . But as Byron produced a dismal progeny of sallow-faced young gentlemen who turned down their collars and despised mankind , whose hearts were withered by sorrows , and whose lives were mysterious with " dark crimes "—( fortunately overlooked by the police)—so has George Sand produced her rickety progeny of Leilas . She has sculptured her image in marble ; it has been imitated by a hundred—in putty . Of all these imitators we least like the German ; and of all the German imitators we least like Luise Aston , who just now scandalizes
people with her novel of Lydia . Fiiau von Aston was conspicuous in Berlin two or three years ago , by the quantity of cigars she smoked , the androgynous costume she wore , the audacity with which she proclaimed lawless love , ^ and the very slender respect she entertained for Church or State . That she was an excessively " emancipated " female , you see at a glance . But one of the ( jrossicreUs of the Berlin police was its total want of sympathy with " emancipation ; " and Luise Aston was requested , in a manner which admitted
of no reply , to ' quit Berlin at once , neither more nor less . She published an account of it : Meine Emancipation , Verweisuny und Rechtfertiyund j to which those who love buffoonery are referred . But if the gates of the Potsdamer Thor were shut against her , her heart was not shut against the officers of Prussia ; accordingly last year she accompanied a Prussian Regiment throughout the Danish war , and in the agreeable society of the camp probably learned the philosophy she has thrown into Lydia : a book we may notice in extenso
hereafter . While touching upon German navels , we must allude to Konig ' s Cluhbisten in Mainz , an historical picture of the corruption of German courts and German aristocracy on the eve of the revolution . AuEitBACH has of course found imitators ; the best of these is said to be Upfo Horn ' s Bohmische JJ ' drfer , laying bare the actual grievances of the Bohemian peasantry .
In serious literature there is scarcely anything worthy of attention . In this respect Germany is even worse than France . The most remarkable feature in it is the ilattery of Russia by Professor H uber , who is now regarded as the successor to Kot / . ebue . The playgoers of Dresden have not been at all edified by the production of a comedy , in which the familiar life of some recent notabilities in the poetical world has been produced , or rather caricatured , upon their stage : Lord Holland , Sheridan , Lord , and even Lady Byron—the . latter
represented as an overbearing , dressy woman of fashion ; the poet as a perfect hero of philanthropic and liberal tendencies , suffering martyrdom amidst little minds and intriuuers conspiring to vilify and thwart him—are amongst the most conspicuous of the dram nils persona . The author ( a lady ) is a writer of no reputation , but the piece was recommended by M . Rotscher , and his iniluence procured its reception . The better portion of the German press are loud in protesting against the absurdities and bad taste which reign throughout ; this wretched piece . It is entitled Genius and Society .
The poet llaupaeh has just published his tragedy , Mirabea . it , which was refused at the theatre for political reasons , lie has endeavoured to immortalize the committee that rejected his piece by naming them all in his preface .
NKWMA . X ON T 1 IK SOIL . The Soul : lift' Surroivi ami lu-r . / . i / iifuhni ;? . An I ' .-say tow . inls Hit ; Natural Hisloiv i >! the * oiil as tin true Ba-is i >! Theology . My Francis William Newman , i ' diuu'ily I-Vlloiv < il Halliol ( VolU-go , Oxtunl , &c . - ' ml Kdition . John Chapman , U'J , Strsuiil . " Mu . NuwMAiVa sincore und heart-searching book
has now been , we believe , for about twelve months under the ordeal of religious criticism , and we are not aware that it has encountered any further protest than was naturally to be expected from a few of the feebler organs of the traditional and scholastic theology . Our leading quarterlies , as they are called , have observed a discreet silence , possibly under the impression that the dangerous agitation of the religious consciousness of the age which this book is calculated to produce , would the sooner subside if left without the stimulus of controversy . In all our universities , however , the book has been read with an eagerness which clearly shows that it appeals to a
larger and more important class of readers ( and those , many of them , within the Church herself ) than our orthodox reviewers are willing to believe . The character of this book , indeed , as well as its success , is profoundly significant of the spiritual temper of the age ; and it is destined , we firmly believe , sooner or later , to exercise a powerful influence on our religious literature . The well-known piety and learning of the author exclude altogether , or at least entirely neutralize , that kind of criticism , so common and so degrading to the cause of religion , which consists in the imputation of impure motives and imperfect knowledge . The book before us appeals not merely to the intellectual faculties , but to the religious
nature , and is evidently the product of a mind rich in spiritual experience as well as accomplished in various learning . The limits of a newspaper review will not enable us to do more than glance at the prominent features of this remarkable book , which we earnestly recommend to the conscience of every man who is really in earnest in his religion , and who believes that a higher and surer faith is to be found within the soul herself than is reflected in the conflicting dogmas of churches .
In the first few pages of his preface Mr . Newman goes at once into the great argument of his bookthe necessary " directness " of all real com munion between God and the human soul , and emphatically declares " that worship is a state of the affections " which mere dogmatic teaching can neither create nor sustain . " It is nseful , indeed , " lie admits , " to have spiritual teachers , and if they be wise it is wise to listen reverently to them ; but their lessons have not
been successful until the learner has gained an eye for seeing the truth . The object of spiritual as distinguished from moral teaching is to « minister the spirit . ' " How imperfectly this " ministration of the spirit " is being performed by existing sects « 'ind churches , who are mainly engaged in bitter conflict with each other around the mere outworks of religion—its polemical and argumentative grounds—it is needless to
remark . The natural history of the soul ( the only organ by which we communicate with the Infinite ) is skilfully traced ( in the first chapter ) from the first dawn of the . religious life—in the awe , wonder , and admiration of the child and savage—to the realization of those higher developments of the religious instincts which leave us at peace with God , and satisfied with our natural condition ; and , in passing , Mr . Newman has treated , with a profound insight into human consciousness , of the " pathology of the spiritual organ , " laying bare not only its common and evident , but also is
its most secret , diseases . Though Mr . Newman essentially aspiritualist , he strongly protests against every form and variety of Pantheism , and ably exposes the fallacy of those whose morbid fear of giving human attributes to God , at once deprives Him of His personality , and , as far as we are concerned , of His existence . And clearly , if the idea of a moral governor is to be retained as the basis of religious belief , it ^ is impossible to ignore the ideas both of his personality and will , though both may be assumed to be infinite and absolute . Fichte , indeed , objects that the personality of God suggests the limitations of matter , and destroys the idea of infinity ; and Hobbes
considers the idea of infinity itself us a mere negation But the simple answer to both is , that " a sense of the Infinite ; " does actually exist in the mind ; that it is ; ui original and universal conception which all languages have endeavoured , however feebly , to express . The inaccuracy of our metaphorical language , when wo speak of the divine nature , as Mr . Newman says , does not oni ' eeblc the idea we arc endeavouring , however impelfectly , to define . All nations , civilized and savage , have had the idea of a God , or at least of invisible and infinite power with which will is
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38 W % C itra&rr . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), April 6, 1850, page 38, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1839/page/14/
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