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Courier in ability as it is in charity , we allude to the Nonconformist , whose words we cordially endorse : "An Atheist is not to be tabooed . He is not to be thrust out of the pale of humanity . Our puritan forefathers would have branded and imprisoned him ; we would reason and plead with him . To us he is , and to them he ought to hnve been , a man and a brother . If he really believes there is no God { prove it he cannot ) , the ' portentous heroism' of such a creed awakes within us thrilling' emotions of wonder and surprise . And if with this no-belief he connects a life irreproachable and unselfish , if with this no-belief he associates high patriotic yearnings
and generous political sentiments , and if with this no-belief never a word of scorn or cankering hate for those who are entrapped by ' superstition' escapes his lips , then we dare not despise , much less loathe , such a man : we can ; give him the right hand of true friendship , and not fearing that he will make us worse , we will try * to make him better . By all means let the Atheist have free speech , let him address the public ear by the press and by the platform with most tmchartered liberty ; we would no more denounce him than we would attempt to silence him . He has as much right to speak his conviction as we ours . And not only so , it is his duty to do this . Suppression of thought leads to suppression of truth . Concealment of conviction becomes an-extinguisher of truth . "
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ST . JOHN'S ISIS . Isis : an Egyptian Pilgrimage . By James Augustus St . John . In 2 vols . Longman and Co . Me . J . A . St . John , the father of a literary family , and the author of various esteemed works , here returns to the land of his early love , and talks of it with the enthusiasm of a lover . It is a strange book . One cannot describe it as a book of travels , though it sets forth the long results of travel . It is what the French call un livre de fantasie ; it mingles reverie with description , musings with anecdotes , remark with stories ; having Egypt as a canvas whereon the varied embroidery is worked , and giving in a pleasant rambling way the results of reading and observation .
Bosoms and sunrises—moonlight scenes and the ever-shifting phenomena of the sea—stars and the desert—Egyptian life and travelling incidentsphilosophy somewhat of the " rose pink" order , and semi-poetical digressions such as we meet with in romances , and are there called " beautiful imaginings "—these form its staple , and the volumes are of that kind well suited to a sultry afternoon , when the body is indolent and the fancy active . Jfceclining under a tree or amid the ferns , or basking in the sun on a ledge of rock looking out upon the sea , this Isis would be very fascinating reading . We found it agreeable even during the dull and ceaseless rains of this cheerless December . Let us borrow from it an illustrative extract or two for the enjoyment of our readers : —
CLEOPATKA AND SHAKESPEAKB . " Cleopatra ! Whence arises the fascination attached to this name ? Other women , celebrated in history , were more beautiful , and , perhaps , also , more lavish of their beauty—Lais ,-Phryne , the elder and the younger Aspasia . Yet there is a strange spell about the memory of this wife of Ptolemy , which belongs to few other female names in history . It is not that Shakespeare has given her a place in one of his dramas—for the ancients regarded her as we do , and the Italians , before Shakespeare wrote , were possessed by the same sentiments . Besides , to speak the truth , Shakespeare has vulgarized her , not by exaggerating her wantonness , which might have transcended his power , but by attributing to her ideas and language incompatible with her refined Sybaritism . His Cleopatra is a fierce , coarse , wayward , unimaginative and imperious courtesan , bestowing herself where she does not love , divided between licentiousness and ambition , and dying , when she could no longer devote herself to pleasure in her own way . In this he is not borne out by history . Pleasure in her had , no doubt , hardened the heart and corrupted the sentiments , but in the midst of her voluptuousness she retained that eleerance and refinement of
manners which constituted so great a part of her witchery . " The musical tones with which she spoke Greek—itself the most musical of languages—sent , we are told , a vibration to the heart , even of the most iiidiueront persons . According to her own theory , she was mistress of herself , that she might be the mistress of others . Shakespeare makes her brawl and rave like a northern virago . Cleopatra may have had the poison of the south under her tongue , may have had no fibre in her body which did not vibrato to the touch of vice ; but while her opinions were profligate and her soul corrupt , she preserved that syren softness , without which , beauty still greater than hers would not , have been able to seduce the reason of mankind ; and convert history itself into panegyric of whatever is most pernicious and disastrous to the world . " Last week our readers had a scientific theory of Tours act before them , let them compare with it this MOKATVIZINU ON TUAKS .
" Hero in the north wo dislike fo vii > l « l nnfuMinllv * ' » u «> wr »« r < nri . ii » riw . i < .. „ . r , u » i Jloro in the north we dislike to yield outwardly to sorrow , even when we feel it most . But the Orientals find a luxury in shedding learn , und indulge in it , both men and women , to a degree which must silwayn astonish persons of colder temperament . They have on this mibjYet a theory , which may not be altogether without truth ; namely , that while the great and iho noble weep without reserve , those of selfish , narrow , and little souk are . iiuapa . l > lo redisplaying this token of grief . "And no doubt , tears in themselves are moat beautiful , especially when the fragrance of repent mice or love is united with their brightness . They M-em to wash away the v \ ains of the hou ] , mid to restore it to that , unsullied purity which it knew before Lliii fallAll that
. , is loved , loveable , or sweet in humanity , has ' Won cradled und as it , wero bathed in fears . We are ushered into the world ' with tear * , wrung by the birth pangH from the rye * of our mothers ; with fears do they watch over uh in infancy , when pain and sickness visit our fVsiil bodies ; and jiRerwurdu , whafevern-eling in deepest in life , whether joy or sorrow , lean , „„ . sure fo hallow it , to show how close in our nature the fountains of delimit , iu , to thoso of nnguiHh . Finally , when wo Htand on tlio last verge of time , and aro about , to put oil" upon the fathomless und boundlc , ™ ocean of eternity , the teura of Uiohu who lovo us puur round our departing houIs , and often drop upon iliu cold day after the nnrit Jiiih deserted it- for
evni" n O *™ $ . ' 1 * ftaWB ^ Vn "hIiiuiicmI learn , which are thn Wrmt inheritance of humnrnty , una . ^ MW ^ t ^ 'tlttMt freely by those , perhaps , who have the largest hear t * the widwt tfyniputM ( t& uJ ^ , Hie strongest love for their fellow-creatures . " Connected with te ^' and other expressions of MeiiHibility f ] u > ,. ( , [ ,,, cttrioii * Chapttjr ' mZMtagfp immortal troutim ; on tho Lnoc . oon , fo which wo refer tlxo gtiittbntJ : TJ& ^ flbntanoous tendency of men in undoubtedly to .. ' ! " : / :. i : 'AV ' '; \ A ''J
exhibit all emotions ; the second stage is that of repressing the exhibition , and all half-civilized beings , whether Savages or Fashionables , are ashamed of emotion ; the third stage is a return to the spontaneity of nature . It is worthy of remark that Homer makes his Trojans stoical and silent , his Greeks emotional and outcrying . Homer had no notion of disguising the expression of emotion . He makes even the wounded God quit the battlefield howling . "We must find room for Mr . St . John's remarks on
THE DANCINO GIRLS . " Many are the accounts which have been given of the Hawalim and Ghawazi , the singing and dancing girls of Egypt , who have been painted in the . most opposite colours ; placed by some on a level with the polished hetairce of Athens , and degraded by others below that wretched sisterhood who haunt the streets of European capitals . In whatever light we view them , it is impossible to comprehend the nature of Egyptian society without ascertaining their real position . At once degraded and courted , condemned to a life resembling that of outcasts , yet admitted occasionally into the most respectable company , flouted and despised even by the very liber tines who frequent their dwellings , yet introduced into the harims of the great , and employed to instruct their female children in singing and dancing ; we may be truly said to possess in Europe no class resembling them . " There seems to be good reason for suspecting that , with the unavoidable
modifications produced by time and circumstances , they are identical with the class of women represented dancing with instruments of music in their hands in the sepulchral chambers of Eilithyias . These , perhaps , were priestesses of Athor or Isis , who , devoted to the worship of the reproductive principle , took vows the reverse of those pronounced by modern nuns , to be in many , if not in most , cases broken . The Ghawazi never made , nor do they still make , professions of chastity , but lead a wild , irregular life , in which , apparently , they discover some compensation for the scorn and obloquy to which they are exposed ; not that they are despised by all . I saw a Muslim , poor but apparently respectable , take his little daughter , then about eight years old , to be educated by the Ghawazi at Shaharah as a member of their society ; and this , I was told , is not uncommon , though , upon the whole , the sisterhood would appear to belong to a particular caste or tribe , having no affinity to the nations of El Islam , but Pagan in its origin and Pagan still , though affecting to adopt the faith , while abjuring the manners of the Koran .
" However this may be , the day after my arrival in Cairo , I joined a party of gentlemen who were going to witness what may be called the Egyptian opera , at the only place in the whole land of Isis where it is performed in perfection . My classical recollections caused me to picture to my imagination the groves of Daphne , the bowers of Paphos , and the blooming suburbs of Athens and Corinth ; but the village of the Ghawazi is surrounded by no such luxurious shades . It stands in the midst of the scorching sands , grey , dingy , half calcined by the sun ; though beneath those homely roofs were concealed some of the most magnificent female forms in
Egypt . " When we approached the village , numbers of the girls came forth to meet us , clad in airy and bewitching costumes , their black hair entertwisted and glittering with ornaments of gold , the palms of their hands and tips of their fingers tinged with henna , so that each nymph reminded us of the Homeric rododactulos eos , their eyes , black and lustrous with kohl , and their whole forms breathing health and pleasure . We alighted at the door of a coffee-house , in which was a spacious saloon filled with Ghawazi and Hawalim , who were tripping to and fro , with tinkling anklets , singing snatches of gay songs , not in mock merriment , but with a joyousness that was evidently genuine .
" Nothing could exceed the negligence , not to say the audacity , of their dress . There was art in what they concealed , as well as in what they exhibited ; but upon the whole it was easy to perceive that their figures were rich and beautiful , though in general somewhat too much inclined to be plump . It is said that in the north small hands and feet are the exception—not the rule . In Egypt it is exactly the reverse . Nearly all the women have pretty feet and hands , and the largeness and fulness of the limbs make them appear even smaller than they are . In features the Ghawazi , of course , differed much from each other , but they were all fairer than any other class of women in the country , and some had features singularly symmetrical and delicate . The mouth , above all things , was beautiful , and the lips being full and ruby-coloured , imparted to the whole countenance an air of extrcmo health , greatly strengthened by the sparkling brightness of the eyes .
" With regard to their conversation , it was impossible to detect in it nny difference from that of other women , except that they talked a great deal more , apparently because they had more to say . This fact mny lie rendered intelligible by the circumstances of their lives , which familiarize them with high and low , learned a ignorant ; liesideH , it is their business to make themselves agrceuble , and this compels them to think a great deal more than their'female neighbours , on tho best means of uniting the utile with the dulce . Tho tokens of thoir proflflfcioii were discoverable in their looks and gait , in their tolerance and equanimity . They sung Kongs , sentimental and impassioned , but not licentious , and Httimed to have among them certain rules of decorum which it would have boen considered ill-bred to violate .
" When they danced their He plus ultra dances , it wan not in public . I hoy retired in pairs to Hopurate roornn , with u musician and their audience , small or grout , and there went through their varioun evolutions . Tho music to which they danced hud only one merit ; that of being adapted to tho occasion . Far from being brilliant , or scientific , it threw itself forth in gushes and wails , abrupt , broken , fierce , and languishing by turns . I recollect no complete air ; but the ends , as if were , of tuueH , unntelieH of imperfect ; melody—* -haunt me from timo to thno , »« tho HurnpM of villttgo Hongs uHed to haunt tho memory of Koussenu . 1 hlive HO-id the music was jiot wmtntiHc , but it wan Homothing bettor ; fin- it indicated by u procession of wound * what tho luovomenta of the dunce would have Im ; cii ulmblo to express without it .
" When the soul is touched , it i . s immaterial through what instrumentality if it * worked upon . For example , it muttered not at all that the musician who played to llHi ( Jhawazi wan a meagre old Arab , with wonibro turban and habiliments , « nd oyoH half clown ! by dr <> wny sentiment ; that ho beat upon ft rudo < lruit > > or elicited Hounds from u flut « which , for aught J know , might huvo boon taken from tho coili us of tho J'huruoliH . " Tho armngeniont of tho noteu was inexprosmbly delightful , and utt ' ooted tho soul in ii immnor inexplicable by any art of mine . Passion , noisy , an it wore , in •<¦» upper development ,, heroines quiet , —IiIihImuI— aliiumt Hilunt , uh you touch iln depths , and oeeufiiontdly wends forth a wuil which might bo oontbundod with that of pnin , but for a tone of wweetn «« s « that pervadew it .
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1212 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1852, page 1212, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1965/page/16/
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