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Leader (1850-1860), 8th November 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1066, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      It is with books somewhat as with puns ; after the very best rank the very worst . If you cannot with expanded pinions reach the sublime , fly dauntlessly at tbe ridiculous , and your courage meets with jubilant reward . As an example , take Mr . Warren ' s Lily and the Bee . On reading it , a witty friend of ours declared , that the only explanation he could offer of such a phenomenon was , that " the author had gone mad from unmerited success . " Well , this inexplicable piece of inflated nonsense has gained the distinction of being « i ^ i u ^ A o ^ r > n + " Tt . is onlv mentioned to be talked about" It is only mentioned to be

      " . laughed at , but it is mentioned ; nay , gossip is big with illustrations of the " eminent men " who have written to the author to express their admiration , one adroit old flatterer evading the delicate ground by declaring it to be " above criticism . " ( We thought it below notice , and , therefore , left it to die in peace . ) But , as you know , the value of private criticism on presentation copies , such praises will not astonish you . If you wish to see the lengths official Criticism can go we advise you to read the two pages of

      " cr itical opinions" Messrs . Blackwood are advertising—selected from the London and Provincial Press . They form a literary curiosity . All authors should study these two pages—they may learn there to be modest under eulogies , and patient under blame . If these journals vaguely praise you , say to yourself , They praised the Lily and the Bee ! if these journals vaguely blame you , say to yourself , They praised the Lily and the Bee !

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      This is Magazine week , and , " Laughter holding both her sides , " drags us away from Punch ' s Pocket Booh to Albert Smith ' s amusing Month , and A'Beckett ' s immense burlesque upon Iioman History . That is enough for one evening , the more so as the Drama of A Wife to be Sold ; or , Lies Noces de Champ-de-Smith in Punch ' s Pocket Book will bring tears of laughter into your eyes . Next evening you can in graver mood begin with Blackwood , in which you

      will find a criticism on Henry Iayloii s works , of the highest order ; it treats Henky Taylor as a classic , and is itself a study of art . In Fraser a new story is commenced which promises well ; it is evidently written by an officer ; and is not the article on Colonial Wars written by Charles Adderley ? A History of the Hungarian War is also commenced , which interested us so much

      that we felt disappointed at being obliged to wait till next month for tbe continuation . In Poets and I * layers the writer Kcts forth an ancient paradox on the unfitness of Shaksi'Uauk for the stage ; he docs it . skilfully , but we remain wholly unmoved by his arguments . Tait . concludes its paper on IIkine , and gives us uii excellent paper on Car-LYLic ' . s f / ife of tfterlinn .

      Having gone ; through the , Magazines , here are three Quarterlies to Holicit attention . The liritish Quarterly opens with a remarkable paper , Monarchies and Nationalities ; which in followed by a pleasant discourse on the I'lens art's of literature . The Doctrine of Sin , as expounded by ( Jerman theologians , will be attractive to a certain class—to us decidedly not attractive ;; wo prefer wandering with the gossiping antiquarian through the Old

      M / u / f ish . Houses and Households , or following the scientific water of that excellent paper on ileoloyicu . 1 Observations , who , by the way , makes a confession which will Ntai'tJt ; all true philosophers , viz ., that there are few geologists who have paid that attention to physical science which is necessary to insure a correct interpretation of phenomena ; hence we find , in many geological works , speculations which are at variance with the real operations of physical causes . After all , what , is this but the

      same vicious method of study which allows Physiology as a science to be commenced with Man ? It is as if in learning Greek one were to commence with tEschylus , and finally descend to the Analecta Minora ! The Duke of Argyll ' s Twofold Protest , —BushneU ' s Discourses , —The Rise and Development of Popery , — and Martineau on Apostolic Christianityy are four polemico-theological papers , all directed against what the editor of the Review distinctly sees and aptly expresses as the condition of our Churches , viz ., " According to a certain class of high

      chuTchmen , the only way by which you can hope to save some sort of Protestantism is by becoming all but a Papist ; and , according to a certain class of Unitarians , the only way by which you can hope to save some sort of Christianity is by becoming all but infideL" Truly : Roman Catholic or Spiritualist—there is the alternative men are daily choosing from ! Besides this theology we have a paper on Modern French Historians , and two bold , thoug htful articles on English Statesmanship with regurd to Italy , and on Louis Kossuth and Lord Palmerston .

      The North British and the Prospective Reviews we have still to read . Apropos of reviews , the Italians are holding out their hand to us . In Tuscany they have established a journal on the policy of the late Revue Britannique , to which they have given the title of Rivisla Britannica . Their purpose is to select articles from our great and small periodicals , and offer them to their countrymen in good Italian versions . French newspapers , novels , and magazines come in freely ,

      too freely into Italy . The good ones will sometimes be seized at the frontier , or at the postoffice , by the jealous police of Rome , Naples , and Tuscany : but against anything that is corrupt and debauched no Italian despot , prince , or priest , was ever known to shut his door . French literature , such as it is under most circumstances , can only have the most baneful influence in that enslaved country , and , unfortunately , scarcely an Italian is to be found in the country able to read , who has any

      difficulty in understanding the French language . As an antidote to this Gallic poison , the Editors of the Rivista Britannica have thought of ministering copious draughts of sober , healthful English . The difficulties they have to contend with are immense . The Tuscan Government has so framed its laws on the " free " press as to exercise the most galling censorship on all periodical literature . Consequently , the Rivista Britannica has come to a sudden death almost at its birth ; and only the first and second

      numbers were allowed alimited and precarious circulation . The persevering patriots , however , have tried to evade the stupid law by bringing out their journal in tbe shape of a series of separate pamphlets ; and in this new shape the Review has managed to reach its third or fourth number . Its present title is , Scritti Inylesi di Politica Content * poranea ( English writings on political topics of the

      duy ) . The translation seems accurate , and the selection such as may be expected of a similar enterprise on its first start . The subscription to I ' iiiglish periodicals and newspapers , and the postage or carriage , must occasion a very heavy expenditure , and the precariousness of the Hale in a country where literary property is at the mercy of most unscrupulous Governments , must needs be hazardous in the extreme .

      NeverlheleaH , the Editors seem bent on doing battle vigorously ; and , if driven out of Tuocuny , they have always u safe refuge at Turin and Genoa , where the press , at the present moment , enjoys the inont unlimited freedom . This good and honourable undertaking seems to uh well worthy of the serious consideration of all serious men in England -especially of those who declare themnelven " Friends of Italy , " whether bound by any social compact or otherwine . A great deal is written in England concerning Italy : much that in merely rhetorical and sentimental : nut a little that is outrageously harsh and

      uncharitable j ; but much also that is fair and candTd and very much to the purpose . Let the Italian ' have the benefit of our strictures , good , bad S indifferent . Any man who will send to the Floret tine Editors an English paper or magazine , or anv book or pamphlet worth a reproduction in Italia garb , may both contribute to the enli ghtenment tf a people that is left iti utter darkness , or only dazzled by a false glare worse than Cimmerian night , and to the good understanding of two nations which have so many reasons for mutual sympathy and cordiality , and none for jealousy or " hereditary " hostility .

      The Rwtsta Britanmca has hitherto chosen its papers from the two Great Reviews , Quarterly and Edinburgh , from Chambers ' s Journal , the Globe and Daily News . It reproduces Miss Martineau ' s Adventures on the Fiord , Thackeray ' s Ode on May-Day , and other light pieces , aiming at a due admixture of the utile dulci . Those , however who have spent a sufficient time in any Italian cities , must have been struck with the incredible

      difficulty of obtaining any English reading beyond a stray copy of Thompson's Seasons or the Vicar of Wakefield . Viesseux's Gabinetto Letterario at Florence , is the only honourable exception throughout the Peninsula ; but even there , none but the old-established daily papers and quarterly journals are even seen ; our more youthful and vigorous Literature has actually no chance of making its way into the country . Could the " Society of the Friends of Italy " do

      nothing for a set of men who have virtually organized themselves into a " Society of the Friends of England" ?

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      Kossuth naturally sets many pens at work . In our reviews , magazines , and journals his name has a " damnable iteration" in it . Germany gives us the first volume of a biography , Ludwig Kossuth : der Agitator und der Minister , by one Horn ; and Mr . Charles Pridham lures us into reading a very strange volume of travels by calling it Kossuth and Magyar Land , though it has little or nothing to tell us about Kossuth . Then the Author of

      the Revelations of Russia publishes a stinging pamphlet called Kossuth and " the Times , " which every one should read who has read the " Leading Journal ' s" magnanimous attacks—which attacks are believed to have very materially damaged its circulation of late . While on this Hungarian question , let us not forget to add that Klapka has just published two volumes , Der National Krieg in Ungarn und Siebenbiiryen in denJahren , 1848 und 1849 .

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      CAKLYL . ES LIF-E OF STERLING . The Lift of John Sterling . By Thomas c » ri g « ; pman and Hall . It is a vulgar error that the lives of authors are necessarily uninteresting ; the fact being that tut sort of interest which lies in the subject requires •> more delicate handling than that of mere auvtitures" or •« public services" ; and hence it lies book . with the hiographer to make it interesting . y « , ' if proof were needed , might be seen in bariyit bookWhat had John Sterling done that he sliouu

      . OOOK . VVlUll , UrtU «» 1 » 11 U UlC ; i- "" K / ' ^ have this monument ? He had won the love o < noble soul . For anything that he with his «»«? " » . achieved in Literature , Sterling ' s name wjh in water "; now it is graven on marble . ^ 01 | this biography with that of some illustrious h recently published ; compare it with the misu trash called a Life of Wordsworth ; wit » rambling patchwork of incompetence the i * J Southnj ; with the Life of Coleridge , which , inig ^ ict oi

      have been ko high and tragic a pu life and buttled speculation ; with the Life oj on y which ought to have been intensely » n * ^" of and then compare Sterling ' s worth with " * these men , no less than the poverty oi J > w biographic material * . As a specimen of biojj 1 art this volume will always bo referred to interest . It will also cluim attention a « a v ^ of Carlylt- l . imaelf under aspects leas f »«» JJ \ public . But this , and many other point * Leon ho beautifully touched on ulrcudy u ^ journal , that we , coming » fter ^ ™ 'Jf t ' alread y to Vw * on ; and a « bo many ^^^ J ^^ on of appeared of the book , vro give up our mtentio

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      Critics are not tbe 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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      1066 © f > 0 & * £ & *?? [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 8, 1851, page 1066, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1908/page/14/