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The Literature of the Exhibition will form a large section of our annala for 1850 and 1851 . Large and singularly unwise . What a compendium of folly its true history would be ! The fears which endeavoured to paralyse execution , —the wild Cassandra tones of foreseen evils , —the variety of dreadful consequences this Exhibition was to produce ; and then the foolish , openmouthed astonishment when the marvels were displayed , — the anticipations of great results , as baseless as the fears had been—the careless unexamining
acceptance of all that glittered for gold ; and now finally the grumbling and suspicion excited by the awards ! That no one would be satisfied with the awards was pretty generally foreseen . Every exhibitor , of course , privately believes in his valid claim . But the feeling manifested by France is , we regret to say it , deeply disgraceful to her—disgraceful to an extent she little suspects , implying as it does a moral obliquity . The childish braggadoccio spirit France manifests , is a standing topic of mirth to England and Germany ; therefore , only a smile passed over our lips when we read the foolish flatteries which her journalists petted her with a propos to the Exhibition . She was insanely envious of England having the " glory " of carrying out such a scheme ; but speedily consoled herself with the assurance that , in the first place , the Idea was French ; in the second place , France surpassed all other countries in the articles contributed ! Her journalists told her so—they dared not tell her otherwise . Was the Idea taken from France ? Suggested by the annual " Exposition " it assuredly was ; but the greatness of our Exhibition , that which raised it above a mere Fair , was the cosmopolitan extension of the idea—the making it a Congress for the World ' s Industry—and this only an impudent Frenchman could believe to have been borrowed from France . It is well to keep this point in view . That which made the Exhibition a great symbol , a marking point in history , was the universality of its aim : it was not a national , but a cosmopolitan , glory . Would France have ever admitted such an extension of her Exposition ? True to her ungenerous and self-betrayimj tendency to suspect the motives of others , France asserts that England's " egoism " and " commercial insolence" originated this scheme—as " a triumphant defiance to the world—to show how superior she was to other nations . " ( What a truly French motive !) It may be well to remind the reader that this scheme of an Exhibition did not originate with Manufacturers or Exhibitors—that it was steadfastly opposed by the " commercial world , " and that only by the aid of incessant propaganda could the commercial world be brought to see that it was a good thing for all nations , their own , of course , included . When we read such base nonsense as that which fills French newspapers , when we read their ingenious suspicions of far-fetched motives for actions which are simple and straightforward , how cmi we help seeing in their suspicion a betrayal of their own motives ? Sam . uht finely says , that men only credit in others the virtues they feel capable of themselves :-- " Uhi ( / ( , mtujna virtute el gloriti bonarum memores , qua- sibi t / uisnne facilia factu pulat < equo auimo aceipit , supra < a vtluti jicta profalsis duett " Having swaggered herself into the belief that in every reBpeet hIio transcended all other nations , France is now malignantly reproaching England with " partiality " and " dread of her superiority , " n not awarding her ull the prizes . With a disregard of truth peculiar to seinicivilized people , they write an if the Jurors had been all Knglish , instead of English and Foreign , and overlook the fact that , in proportion to the number of exhibitors , Franco has received more prizes than England . We are
happy to say , that the Journal des Debats and the Republique have strongly and convincingly reproved the other papers for their miserable conduct in this respect . If France were not in a semicivilized condition , ehe would not be so ungenerous in her suspicions , nor so lost to a sense of decency , as not to perceive that these suspicions disgrace her more than England . Suspicion is evidence of a low type . All savages are suspicious . Leaving this unpleasant topic and turning to the Literature of the Exhibition , we cannot but notice
its singular poverty : the books printed have been innumerable , their value is very small . One work , however , stands eminent from the mass—a fit record of the gigantic scheme ; we mean the Official Illustrated Catalogue ,, which , in the prodigality and accuracy of its illustrations , and the brief yet full descriptions accompanying them , stands forth a permanent and valuable record of this great Industrial event .
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Alphonse Kahr is one of the wittiest and pleasantest of the second order of French writers ^ and has one superiority over his Parisian confreres —a loving knowledge of Nature , which will always endear him to English minds . His last novel , Clovis Gosselin , is charming , and may be recommended to those who " shudder at French novels , " for it is as innocent as need be . It is a simple story
of an energetic , ambitious mother , who slaves for her son ' s advancement with a devotion only women know . She dreams that he will be a Physician , and replace the old gentleman who pays visits on his piebald horse . That dream she devotes her life to accomplish . A pleasant love Idyll weaves its silver thread upon this canvas ; and altogether the tale pleasantly occupies the mind , and leaves it with a pleasant impression .
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The only bit of Literary gossip this week has furnished us is the subscription set on foot for a statue to Madame de Sevigne . The lines written for her by Menage ought to be inscribed on the statue , as suggested by Jules Janin : — " Qucsta , qucsta e la man leggiadra e bella Ch ' ogni cor prende , e , come vuol , l ' aggira . " In other words , This is the charming one who took
every heart in her hand and swayed it as she pleased . If glory justifies a statue , she assuredly deserves one beside the best ; yet what monument can equal that of her incomparable letters ? Statues to those whom otherwise we might suffer to fall into forgetfulness , may be becoming tributes ; we honour ourselves in honouring the good and great . But statues to those who live in every memory , of what use are they ?
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In Germany there is not much activity . Every one is reading Gutzkow ' h Hitter vom Cieiste with an avidity almost equal to that which Eugenic Sijk ' k novels excited . Such , however , is the difference of English and diennan tastes in matters of fiction that English readers find the Hitter ineffably wearisome . ( Mem . for those who may be induced to plunge into ( Jcrman novels . ) AuujtiiAcii is about to produce a new work , Neues Lcben , of which report speaks highly . A lively and clever correspondent writes tons that " Aiikimiacii has
become rather savage of late , in order to preserve his individuality , as lie says , or , as others say , his brutality . I called upon ( j ' dtzkow to-day and found his lovely little wife at home . His Hitter vom ( leiste is so interesting that I pass the nights in periiHing it . Hut our really great star , Betty Paoi . i , will bo in Dresden shortly to pass the winter here with me . Sciiuoicdkh Dkviiiknt
has been banished from . Dresden to-day on . account of her interest , in the people in 1818 . Her friends give her a parting iete . Sad timen these ! " Sad times , truly ! What a bitter narcaain upon the Governmental IWcr . s that a singer's political sympatlnes can alarm or offend ! JVIllo . Zkiik , because she sm tfs iu London at a Concert for Hungarians , is punished in Vienna ; S . un ,,,,. ; ,,,, ; , Dkv . uknt iu thought " dangerous " in Dresden , kinw the
miserable farce of Imperial Government a ^ teT " Rome under the patronage of the Cesars , there h been no such pitiable , decrepit , and altogether hat f spectacle as that presented by the Ruling Po in Germany and France at this hour . Hni . T can it last ? lon g
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bbowne's greek literature . " *' 2 ^? h ° f ClaSSical Literaiure- By B- W . Browne , a a Coming after K . O . Miiller's History of g !' ^ Literature , Bernhardy ' s Grundriss , Bode's a i Ulrici ' s Geselichten , Schoel's Literature Greca and other learned works on this subject Profess Browne's History presents a modest figure and would suggest derogatory comparisons , did w ' e nnt remember how singularly deficient our Literature in similar works . All depends upon the point of 5 heb ° S be ******** an addition
^^ ^ _ _ to Literary History , little can be said for it ; if o t the other hand , we regard it as a handbook , s ' ud plying a place not yet filled , it may be welcomed as a very acceptable , and on the whole meritorious work . Colonel Mure's History of Greek Literal ture is for scholars ; this is for the " general public . " This History contains a survey of Greek Poet ? Historians , Philosophers , and Orators , with biographical notices and some critical discussion of a not very elaborate kind . The extent of such an undertaking necessitates a brevity often amounting
to dryness ; it also implies that a great portion of it is mere compilation . The distribution of space is somewhat capricious , and might have been beneficially economized by the omission of the commonplace reflections . Still more so by the omission of the philosophers . In the Literature of a nation . Philosophy has no more claim to a place than Science ; and even if its claim be conceded , Professor Browne is ill-fitted by previous training to treat it successfully . Neither his knowledge nor capacity can be said to lie in that direction . We
should urge him to reject all those pages devoted to philosophy , and fill their place with more ample accounts of purely literary works . The chapters on the Tragedians , for example , are unwarrantably jejune and poor ; yet they might be made very interesting without much trouble . It is true that to make them so , would require a greater familiarity with them than he seems to have . The best pages in the book are those which relate to the Homeric Poems . We altogether dissent from his conclusions ; but the copiousness and clearness of his exposition are such as to prove that , had he taken the same pains with the otlier portions , he would very materially have improved
the book . He is a staunch defender of the Unity of Composition and Authorship—following Colonel Mure very closely . We attach no weight to Ms arguments , but commend them for their clearness of statement . Some of them , however , seem to tell more against his opinion than in favour of it . For example , he calls it a proof of Homeric unity that the language of the Iliad is , throughout , evidently that of one period , " it does not exhibit so much variation as might be supposed to take place during the course of two successive generations . Now , we beg the reader to observe : —First , that the counter hypothesis , declaring that the Homeric Poems were collected and written down by
Peimstratus , or under his directions , and were - quently subjected to severe revision and adap tation to the language of that period , cannot he aU ' ect *" by such an argument as this ; because unity of language must result from such a process ( Drydeii ^ Chaucer is an example in point ) . Second ly , ' " fessor Browne himself has , in a previous passage * thus cut the ground from under his own poHil "" - At page forty-six he declares that , according to all the Jaws of progress in language , the dialed '"" metre of the Homeric Poems unanswerably 1 » ' «»^ that they must have been recited or sung |( l " ^ before tliev were committed to writing . P <»' s ( jU
remarked that the digamina must have 1 ><" » I"" '" noiineed ; yet no trace of it exists in the | I 1 ! 1 IU " scripts . " Jt ih nl . so plain that the slight l "" '" " ^ between the language of Homer and later (« '"' ' ' > when compared with the rapid changes oh . scrva _ in other languages , presents a philological : | " ° " ' very cli / licuit of explanation , except on tlu > I >^ . thesis that the poems wen ; subjected to niui ; n i < - sion and adaptation to language of a inoro iidvano period . " .
1 l I I .. itWil'H A newspaper is not the arena for the I ' . " controversy . We content ourselves with iiitnnaii" ^ that the notion of Unity of Authorship ) H t ' \ . ( li _ minds a delusion fostered by rhetoric and M < tional errors ; aud that Professor Browne has »>
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
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1044 - && * 3 L $ aitet . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1851, page 1044, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1907/page/16/
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