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PALISSY THE POTTER . The Life of Bernard Palissy , of Saintes , his Labours and Discoveries in Art Science ; with an Outline of his Philosophical Doctrines , and a Translatio * Illustrative Selections from his Works . By Henry Morley . 2 vols . ° ^ Chapman and Hall . Tins is a very interesting book , and one which , ¦ ¦ wit h a little more of art and less of artifice , might have been made an enduring monument . There has of late arisen a false conception of Biography , to which critics are bound to call the attention of writers . Instead of the story of a life the Biographer now aspires to make his narrative an historical romance ' To " give a picture of the times" is a seductive ambition ; but it is \\\ q painting a statue—the encroachment of one art on the province of another . Mr . Morley has an admirable story to tell , and he has the power of telling it admirably , but he foregoes the real advantage for the sake of historical amplification . * The tragedy , the deep moral import , and lasting poetic influence of this story of struggling genius finally victorious , he has very materially endangered by not putting forth his strength in that direction , and by a mistaken preference for historical painting . The two volumes here given should have been one , and that one a jewel . What historical demon tempted him from the straight path of biography into such idle surplussage as those chapters upon Montluc , Calvin , the Reformed Church , the Alchemists , &c . P ^ Was he ambitious of ranking " beside that scientific Frenchman , who in his essay on Glaciers , began with Chaos , and proceeded with an ample cosmogony , because as tout se tient , as one thing is indissolubly connected with every other thing in this universe of ours , so , said he , it was necessary to understand the whole before the part could be understood . We touch here upon a vital defect in the artistic structure of this work . We may add , and willingly , that in his historical digressions , Mr . Morley p leasantly conveys the results of his reading ; but he has no idea how seriously they damage the effect of his book , by withdrawing the eye from the central figure , and by throwing over the whole picture an air of unreality—of " make up . "
Curiously enough , the very week that brought us Mr . Morley s volumes , brought us also a volume of Lamartine , wherein the story of Bernard Palissy is told , and graphically told , in sixty duodecimo pages . In spite of several of Lamai'tine's incurable affectations in the matter of style , we prefer his rapid > memoir to Mr . Morley ' s more elaborate volumes . Indeed , we must repeat our regret that he should so far have misconceived the purpose of Biography as to have diminished the real beauty of this story of a life . Bernard Palissy was born in the sixteenth century—date and place uncertain . He is regarded by Lamartine as a true " son of the people , " which makes his history more romantic perhaps , than if we accept Mr . Morley ' s inference that he was a poor nobleman—an inference founded on the fact , that in those days glass-working was a " gentlemanly occupation , " not beneath the dignity of poor nobles , who made a monopoly of it .
" Pdor nobles , labouring for fo od as glass-workers , taught the trade to tliei sons ; and as few who laboured would be willing to communicate their secrets t strangers , in whom they had not the interest of near relationship , it will be mor especially true of glass- workers , as it was true very generally of most trades lor nierly , and is true rattier generally now , that the occupation of the father comes to be the occupation of the son . Bernard Palissy we know to have been born poor , and to have received in his childhood no more than a peasant ' s education , except that he learned to draw and paint on glass . We cannot err much in inferring , therefore , that his father was a glass-worker . Additional testimony is , however , furnished by the fact that Palissy , himself bml to Verrerie , apparently buliovw the art to be confined to nobles . He speaks at all times , not from books , but irom experience . We may with certainty , perhaps , infer that he himself belonged to one of the innumerable families of petty nobles ; and in that case , undoubtedly , tlic trade to which he was educated he acquired from the instructions of his lather .
Writing in later life , Palissy says— - " < J beg you to consider awhile our glasses , which , through having been too common among men , have fallen to so vile a price , that the greater part ol tli < W 3 who make them live more sordidly than Paris porters . The occupation is noble , and the men who work at it are nobles ; but several who exercise that iiV ^ ^ " tlenicn , would gladly be plebeians , and possess wherewith to pay the taxes . - » T- it it" -1 1 "I « 1 1 /¦ _" i .. „ ... * jiit 4 i 1 * fiQ * lll ' Jlllt * he had to labour for existence artisan a <
Noble or plebeian , as an ; the energetic self-taught glass painter became n Naturalist , a bmonti Thinker , a Discoverer , and a Martyr . Tho history of Ins patient an « indomitable Hiruggkvs with poverty , with failure , witli tho mute reproac i j of starving children , and the loud reproaches of indi gnant vulo h friends , an he . sought , the bailing secret of enamel , making-- ' - "" « ' » dawning of huccosh—the rise of hin fortuiieH till kings and jrugMv m > ^ became his patrons—and finally , his dignified uncompromising aU-i > ^ when Religious Fanaticism threw him into tho Bastille to end his | . V " rl
these ; groat episodes in an heroic hie are such as * "' . , v impression . The story bo himself relates , in the dialogue Mr . 1 VI 01 j has translated in his appendix , is one that cannot be forgotten . ^ How true it is that we human beings are alfected by M » o ninoiiii ¦ human emotion displayed , rather than by tho grandeur ol tl > e <> 'I ^ which calls it forth , may be read in Bernard Palissy ' s strugg les l <> cover the secret of enamel . Accustomed as we are to enamelled ) ' ° '_ ., _ in all shapes , the enamel itself becomes an object of very lll ' " . " ' (| in | , ance ; but in tho splendid strutftf les of unassisted genius discovering enamel , we an * spectators of tho tfi-oal- « nl ; Hic-iilties of humanity P ' - ^ a majestic drama for our admiration . Had I ' alissy been se <>< ¦ ^ ^ elixir vita : we could not have road with inoro palpitating J " ' narrative of his ellbrts : — " Henceforth his work was to bo private ; , and lm was to produce very hooii , ^ ^ believed , illustrious results . A liinmi-o like thai , of Mm g lass-workers """" ' ^ ^ JM whs proved , for the inditing of his onamel . He must have such 11 lun " . ' WIW , bouse , or rather in a shed appended to his house , which at that ln »» |{^ ., -, | situated in the hiiIuii-Iw of the town . Itut they were miserably V ""' . " ' ^ ,., 1-having found mama to obtain bricks , perhaus upon tho credit oi law » u
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Although the approaching season does not promise to be unusually active , the " notes of preparation" are not without interest . Macau lay ' s single volume , and Thackeray ' s novel , and Mary Barton ' s novel , ajid Wilkie Collins ' s domestic story , among other books , suggest pleasant anticipations to critics , if only as calling attention away from Uncle Tom ' s Cabin , which absorbs conversation just now . There is something fabulous in the success of that Uncle Tom . Twenty-one separate reprints have been made , the sale of all of them immense . Mil . W . II . Smith , at his railway stations sells some 300 copies daily . It will soon become a distinction vot to have read the book ! In America , the * sensation" is varied episodically by accusations , quarrels , defamations , and law-suits . From two American papers before us , we see that Dr . Joel , Parker has commenced an action against the authoress , for defamation , damages laid at 20 , 000 dollars . It appears that Dr . Parker , on hearing of the mention Mrs . Stowe had made of his name as the author of an atrocious sentiment , wrote to her , offering proof that she had been misinformed , and that he was not the author of that sentiment . Mrs . Stowe made no reply . She did not reply until a third letter elicited from her the assertion that she had documentary evidence of the truth of her statement . Hereupon , Dr . Parker commenced his action . In the American papers this affair has an ugly aspect , owing to the interference of Mks . Stowe ' s brother , the Reverend Henry Beecher , who , according to the statements before us , published a correspondence between his sister and Dr . Parker , not one word of which did Dr . Parker write or authorize . But as a trial is to take place , it will be wise to suspend belief till ampler evidence is produced . From an American paper , N . P . Willis ' s Home Journal , we may extract a passage relative to our great humorist : — " Thackeray is about taking the bold step of coming over bodily to displace his ideal—an experiment which Dickens and Kossuth found so disastrous , and upon which few authors or heroes that ever lived could safely venture . The soul and the body seldom look alike . Once demigod-ed a man had best stay in his cloud . What sort of descriptions do you suppose the ' correspondents of the country papers' would give Milton , if he were to re-appear and walk Broadway for a month ? America is , to English authors , an optional posterity—the broad Atlantic being a well-adjusted magnifying glass , which produces the same effect as the transenvy-and competition of the Styx . I used to know Thackeray in London . He was our correspondent , you recollect , six or seven years ago—then in the chrysalis of his present renown . He is more likely to be personally popular , I think , than any other contemporary English author avouUI be , on this side the water . He is a tall man , of large frame , and features roughly cast—the expression of his face rather ' no-you-don't' and Great-Britain-ous , but withal very fearless and very honest . He has ( or bud ) no symptom of the dandy about him . Above twaddle , by the lift of his genius , and not having had cither prosperity or personal beauty enough , in eurly life , to contract any permanent illusions , he is ( or was ) more blunt and peremptory in address and conversation than will be expected of a fashionable author . He is satirical on the surlaec , genial at heart . " To conclude our American budget , we may mention that Nathaniel Hawthorne is writing a biography for boys ; the subject is Washington . From the Scarlet Letter to a book for 3 'outh what an interval !
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—rtney interpret and try to enforcethern . —Edinburgh Revieio .
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996 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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It may be remembered that some weeks past , after quoting an exquisite passage from one of Alexander Smith's poems , we expressed our surprise at no publisher having thought of collecting such remarkable poems into a volume . Wo arc glad to learn that two publishers offered their friendly services , and in consequence we arc to see a volume early in next year . Our readers have seen enough of this young poet , to feel an eager curiosity about him ; and we arc frequently asked a variety of questions , on the supposition that we have the pleasure of his personal acquaintance , whereas we must assure our correspondents that all we know of him is limited to the facts of his youth and resilience in Glasgow , and his unquestionable genius—which is that of a born singer . Berlioz , in one of his playful tributes to Alhoni ' s incomparable voice , expressed a wish that he were young and handsome , "I would make Alkoni love me . I would maltreat her , and after six months of wretchedness , she would he the greatest singer in the world . " Is there no cruel Fair in Glasgow that can do this for Alexander Smith—ploughing with sorrow the depths of his nature , distending the diapason of his lyre wit . li more impassioned life , tilling his verse with Tears from the depths of some divine despair , and teaching him the accents that will hereafter be the solace of the wretched ; for , us our finest , essayist says , " 'Perhaps the greatest , charm of books is that we nee in them that other men have suffered what , we have . Some souls we ever find who would have responded to all our agony , he it what it may . This at least robs misery of its loneliness . " This then is what some woman may do for liiiu , if he be misfoitunut . cly fortunate enough . I low to look at Nature and see new meanings in her evanescent forum , he can already teaeh us ; how to look at Lile mid . see deep symbols in its vanishing perplexities and inevitable heartaches , can only hi ; taught by one who , like Ulysses , has gained experience through suHciing .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1852, page 996, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1956/page/16/
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