On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
ran a great chance of believing it . Most men can discriminate between what merely rises up in their fancy , and what they are to consider true and give forth as such . Thus , in a whimsical moment , I could think that at the centre of the earth there laya Seville orange stuck through with an ivory paper cutter , bear ing the initials D . M . ( Duncan M * Tavish ?); but I should certainly not think of imparting the fact to my friends as a geological secret . Now , provided such a whimsy had arisen in Fourier ' s mind , and provided it had had some coherence with the sum-total of his other beliefs , we
would not have guaranteed his not promulgating it as a bit of positive truth . That , however , which probably determined the greater portion of his whimsies , or ; at least , determined which he ^ hould promulgate , and which cast aside , was his dominating notion of analogy as pervading the li-ame of the universe . From the minutest mineral atom , up to the grandest activities of the archangels , there ran , according to the conception of Fourier , a rhythm , a correspondence , a law of repetitions , identities , chords , and octaves . To his strange and abnormal mind , there was an analogy between the very conic sections themselves and the passions of man . The ellipse seemed to him something
extremely resembling love ; the circle bore a close resemblance to friendship ; the parabola typified the feeling of consanguinity ; and that semi-diabolic conic section , the hyperbola , was for all the world analogous to ambition . Full of this sense of the universe as a series of recurring analogies , he dashed with all the power of his mind into the work of universal speculation , caught at all the glimpses of analogy between discordant phenomena that came before him , as one might catch the ends of a billion of depending threads , and then elaborating all his items of observation under the guidance of a peculiar but arduous enough logic , he wove forth such a web of threads' ends as was never seen before .
To sum up , then , the idea of Fourier we have derived from a partial acquaintance with his writings , we would say that he was a man of very large general powers abnormally arranged and put together , who , having accumulated a great mass of excellent intellectual matter , common to him with the most gifted of his contemporaries , inintroduced into the midst of this matter a leaven of altogether special and idiosyncratic thought , and then proceeded to organize the two together into a homogeneous scientific compound . Hence the appearance of his writings—bristling in one page
with the most repulsive tables and terminologies , or stuffed with the most laughter-provoking extravagances ; yet presenting , in the next page , observations and generalities of the highest value , the rich produce of a most teeming brain , and calculated , either directly or by what they suggest , to influence the thoughts of his readers by a legitimate action , and to affect advantageously the course of social procedure . He is emphatically a writer who deserves to be read . Indeed , considering what reasons we are every day getting for believing that the dicta of the mere intuitional passion for analogies ,
which was so strong in Fourier , may coincide more than haa hitherto been supposed with the conclusions arrived at by inductive science , we would even restrain somewhat the inevitable disposition to laugh at those effusions of Fourier ' s mind which seem at present to foam over the lip of the bowl of reason ; and we would be dispoaed rather to encourage than to forbid the activity of men who should speculate in the same abnormal way . Willingly , while our men of science and inductive reasoning are burrowing their way onwards to conclusions , never asserting more than they at that moment sec , would we let loose into the field of speculation
from the other side a band of Dogmatics , wild with a phrensy that would have driven Bacon mad , to cast abroad over all their analogic gaze , and to flood the world with a sea of Hhcer afiinnationN . Mightily , we believe ( and we might cite Oken and othera as examples ) , would the DogmaticH draw on the Inductives ; and in a thousand points the two hands would meet at last . For , after all , ' though it is a line thing , in ranging the universe , to know what is the case , it it ) perhaps u finer thing still to know , out of one ' n own soul , what must be the case . Ne nos , ob hoc dictum , trucidetis , O jilii Itaconis !
So much , in general , regarding a writer with whom it is incumbent on readers of the Leader to be in some degree acquainted ; our remarks on the particular work before us we must reserve for another paper .
LAVENGRO . Ldvengro ; The Scholar , the Gipsy , the Priest . By George Borrow . 3 vols . Murray . IiAVENGBO is worth reading , but not worth rereading . A certain freshness of scene , with real vigour of style , makes you canter pleasantly enough through the volumes ; but when the journey is over you find yourself arrived Nowhere . It is not truth , it is not fiction ; neither biography nor romance ; not even romantic biography ; but three volumes * of sketches without a purpose , of narratives without an aim .
Mr . Borrow has hit the English taste by his union of the clerical and scholarly with what we may call manly blackguardism . His sympathies are all with the blackguards . Not with the ragged nondescripts of the streets , but the poetic vagabonds of the fields—the Rommany Chals—the Gipsies , who are as great in " horsetaming" Hector of old , and great in the art of ** self-defence " as any Greek before the walls of Troy—not to mention other peculiarities in respect of property and its conveyance which they share with the Greeksthe Gipsies in short who are vagabonds in the true wandering sense of the term . The English , as an active , energetic , independent race , have always admired the Gypsies ; always too had a sneaking admiration for fighters . Here then comes Mr . Borrow to chant with Homeric enthusiasm the
praises of " bruisers . " Hearken : — " I think I now see them upon the bowling-green , the men of renown , amidst hundreds of people with no renown at all , who gaze upon them with timid wonder . Fame , after all , is a glorious thing , though it lasts only for a day . There ' s Cribb , the champion of England , and perhaps the best man in England ; there he is , with his huge massive figure , and face wonderfully like that of a lion . There is Belcher , the younger , not the mighty one , who is gone to his place , but the Teucer Belcher , the most scientific pugilist that ever entered a ring , only wanting strength to be , I won ' t say what . He appears to walk before me now , as he did that evening , with his white hat , white great coat , thin genteel figure , springy
step , and keen , determined eye . Crosses him , what a contrast ! grim , savage Shelton , who has a civil word for nobody , and a hard blow for anybody—hard ! one blow , given with the proper play of his athletic arm , will unsense a giant . Yonder individual , who strolls about with his hands behind him , supporting his brown coat lappets , under-sized , and who looks anything but what he is , is the king of the light weights , so called—Randall ! the terrible Randall , who has Irish blood in his veins ! not the better for that , nor the worse ; and not far from him is his last antagonist , Ned Turner , who , though beaten by him , still thinks himself as good a man , in which he is , perhaps , right , for it was a near thing ; and ' a better shentleman , ' in which he is quite right , for he is a Welshman . Hut how shall I name them all ?
they were there by dozens , and all tremendous in their way . There was Bulldog Hudson , and fearlefis Scroggins , who beat the conqueror of Sam the Jew . There was Black Richmond—no he was not there , but I knew him well ; he was the most dangerous of blacks , even with a broken thigh . There was Purcell , who could never conquer till all seemed over with him . There was—what ! shall I name thee last ? ay , why not ? I believe that thou art the last of all that strong family still above the sod , where mayst thou long continuetrue piece of English stuff , Tom of Bedford—sharp as Winter , kind as Spring . " Nay , he thinks the glory of England has departed with the departure of those heroes : —
" I have known the time when a pugilistic encounter between two noted champions was almost considered in the light of a national affair ; when tens of thousands of individuals , high and low , meditated and brooded upon it , the first thing in the morning and the last at night , until the great event was decided . But the time is past , and many people will say , thank God that it is ; all I have to say is , that the French still live on the other side of the water , and are still casting their eyes hitherward —and that in the days of pugilism it was no vain boast to say , that one Englishman was a match for two of t ' other race ; at present it would be n vain boast to say so , for these are not the days of pugilism . "
This , aw wo said , appeals to a large class of Englishmen , and though it would " shock" others and disgust a few , were it the only string to his bow , yet—lucky dog !—he haw another and a safer string ; Under the boxing gloves there lies the Bible ! TIun chanter of Hoinmany , this companion of horse-stealers , this Homer of the ring , ih also a Missionary and a havengro or " muster of languages "—a high Tory and a rampant hater of Catholics ! Now a compound of Hell ' s Life and Exeter-hall is a piquant novelty in literature . It has made Mr . Borrow famous .
Uih present book will stand no criticism—but it will bear reading for the graphie force and directness of the style , the fresh air whjch blows from its leaves , the " out of doorness" into which wo all so willingly escape , and the strange company it introduces us to . While still a child he shows himself a sap-cngro , or snake-master : — " It happened that my brother and myself were
playing one evening in a sandv lane , in the neighbourhood of this Pett camp ; our mother was at a slight distance . All of a sudden , a bright yellow , and , to my infantine eye , beautiful and g lorious , object made its appearance at the top of the bank from between the thick quickset , and , gliding down , began to move across the lane to the other side , like a line of golden light . Uttering a cry of pleasure , I sprang forward , and seized it nearly by the middle . A strange sensation of numbing coldness seemed to pervade my whole arm , which surprised me the more , as the object to the eye appeared so warm and sunlike . I did not drop it , however , but , holding it up , looked at it intently , as its head dangled about a foot from my hand . It made no resistance ; I felt not even
the slightest struggle ; but now my brothe r began to scream and shriek like one possessed . ' O mother , mother ! ' said he , ' the viper!—my brother has a viper in his hand ! ' He then , like one frantic , made an effort to snatch the creature away from me . The viper now hissed amain , and raised its head , in which were eyes like hot coals , menacing , not myself , but my brother . I dropped my captive , for I saw my mother running towards me ; and the reptile , after standing for a moment nearly erect , and still hissing furiously , made off , and disappeared . The whole scene is now before me , as vividly as if it occurred yesterday—the gorgeous viper , my poor dear frantic brother , my agitated parent , and a frightened hen clucking under the bushes—and yet I was not three years old .
" It is my firm belief that certain individuals possess an inherent power , or fascination , over certain creatures , orhejrwise I should be unable to account for many feats which I have witnessed , and , indeed , borne a share in , connected with the taming of brutes and reptiles . I have known a savage and vicious mare , whose stall it was dangerous to approach , even when bearing provender , welcome , nevertheless , with every appearance of pleasure , an uncouth , wiry-headed man , with a frightfully seamed face , and an iron hook supplying the place of his right hand , one whom the animal had never seen before , playfully bite his hair , and cover his face with gentle and endearing kisses ; and I have already stated how a viper would permit , without resentment , one child to take it up in his hand , whilst it showed its dislike to the approach of another by the fiercest hissings . Philosophy can explain many strange things , but there are some which are a far pitch above her , and this is one . "
He soon after tames a snake which he carries about with him in his bosom : — " One day it happened that , being on my rambles , I entered a green lane which I had never seen before ; at first it was rather narrow , but as 1 advanced it became considerably wider ; in the middle was a drift-way with deep ruts , but right and left was a space carpeted with a 8 ward of trefoil and clover ; there was no lack of trees , chiefly ancient oaks , which , flinging out their arms from either side , nearly formed a canopy , and afforded a pleasing shelter from the rays of the sun , which was burning fiercely above . Suddenly a group of objects attracted my attention . Beneath one of the largest of the trees , upon the grass , was a kind of low tent or
booth , from the top of which a thin smoke was curling ; beside it stood a couple of light carts , whilst two or three lean horses or ponies were cropping the herbage which was growing nigh . Wondering to whom this odd tent could belong , I advanced till I was close before it , when I found that it consisted of two tilts , like those of wagons , placed upon the ground and fronting each other , connected behind by a sail , or large piece of canvas which was but partially drawn across the top ; upon the ground , in the intervening space , was a fire , over which , supported by a kind of iron crowbar , hung a caldron ; my advance had been so noiseless as not to alarm the inmates , who consisted of a man and woman , who sat apart , one on each side of the fire : they were both busily
employed—the man was carding plaited straw , whilst the woman seemed to be rubbing something with a white powder , some of which lay on a plate beside her ; suddenly the man looked up , and , perceiving me , uttered a strange kind of cry , and the next moment both the woman and himself were on their feet and rushing out upon me . I retreated a few steps , yet without turning to flee . I was not , however , without apprehension , which , indeed , the appearance of these two people waa well calculated to inspire : the woman wan a stout figure , seemingl y between thirty and forty ; she wore no cap , and her lung hair fell on cither aide of her head like horse-tailn half way down her waist ; her skin was dark and swarthy , like that of a toad , and the expression of
her countenance was particularly evil ; her arms were bare , and her bosom was but half concealed by a slight bodice , below which she wore a coarse petticoat , her only other article of dress . The muu was somewhat younger , but of a figure equally wild ; his frame was long and lathy , but his armn were remarkably short , his neck was rather bent , he ( squinted slightly , and his mouth was much awry ; his complexion waa dark , but , unlike that of th < : woman , wan more ruddy than livid ; there was a deep scar on his cheek , something like : the impression of a halfpenny . The dretsu was quite in keeping with the figure : in his hat , which wan slightly peaked , was stuck a peacock ' n feather ; over a waistcoat of hide , untaimed and with the hair upon it , ho
wore , a rough jerkin of riiHset hue ; Knuulelotlica of leather , which had probably once belonged to a soldier , but with which pipeclay did not Hccm to have come in contact for many a year , protected his lower mnii as far as the knee ; bin legs were caned in long ntockingn of blue worsted , and on his shoes he wore immense oldfashioned buckles . Such were the two be . ings who now came rushing upon mo ; the mnn wan rather in advance , brandishing a ludlu in his hand . 'So I huve caught you at last , ' said he ; ' I'll teach ye , you young highwayman , to come skulking about my properti . s ! ' Young as t was , I remarked that hiH manner of upeaking wan different from that of uny people with whom I had been in tho habit of associating . It was quite au strange as hi »
Untitled Article
Feb . 15 , 1851 . ] &f > e He after * 153
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 15, 1851, page 153, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1870/page/13/
-