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This is magazine week .. Bentley ' s Miscellany takes a new start , and seems inclined to run the race witn greater vigour , though with the same jockeys . Albert Smith leads off at a hand-gallop . Shirley Brooks following with the opening chapters of a novel , which promises to be gay and sparkling —( What a graphic touch is that about the lawyer ' s clerk , who tf wrote a beautiful hand , borrowed money from every new clerk , and was rather supposed to be an atheist because he never swore > and because he had been detected in reading Voltaire ' s Charles XII . ! " ) Professor Creasy commences a mouthy work of historical declamation on the " Imperial Four , " which , however , will find admirers , we have little doubt . There is also a remorseless contributor of more Wellingtonianaj and a portrait of Ada Byron , Lady Lovelace , which will excuse the " letter-press " accompanying it . While alluding to this engraving , let us not forget that Leech ' s unrivalled pencil is called in to lend its gaiety and observation to Bentley's Miscellany .
Fraser is excellent this month . Its charming articles on fishes—so learned , so racy , and so piquant—are continued by a curious account of the thunny , rightly named the " fish of many n * mes , " with its various titlesthunnus , thynnis , pelamys , sarda , auxis , xanthias , triton , thersites , cheledonias , melandrya , synodon , cybia , cete—not farther to extend this polyonymousness ! Even the most unlearned reader will follow the writer through his etymologies ; while for curious facts , take a sample here : — " The roes deposited at the beginning of June , shortly afterwards become young fry , and at the end of the first month are about the size of gudgeons , an <^ weigh between an ounce and a half and two ounces ; by the end of the next month , their volume and weight are trebled ; by the time October is out , these infants of four months old are twenty-fold their original bulk , and weigh above two pounds ;
greatly exceeding in this surprising power of development , not only all the inmates of lakes , rivers , and ponds , but those also which , in common with themselves , fatten upon the salt (?) of the sea . All , however , do not live to exhibit this sudden growth , but many come , instead , to a sudden end ; by far the greater portion of the nascent brood never reach maturity , being hunted , out and eaten up by the unnatural mother , as soon as the mass of roe is quickened into life : only a small fraction escape their infanticidal dam , whom , when a little older , and able to protect themselves from her jaws , they follow ; and pay a first visit , under her escort , to the Mediterranean Sea . All that winter they do not change either name or condition , but the next spring , on again accompanying the thynnis on a new spawning expedition to the Euxine , they bury themselves in the fattening ooze , and
come ' out pelamyds ; so called , saya one great authority ( Aristotle ) , from this concealment in the mud : irapa rb iv tco thjXw fiveiv ; or merely , says another ( Plutarch ) , from a habit ofherdinjr together : 8 ia t 6 ne \ eiv & { ia . After passing the anniversary of their first birthday , these pelamyds were considered to have attained maturity , and were dubbed thunnics in consequence . Aristotle does not say how long they enjoyed this majority , but as he limits the life of a tfui / j / os to two years , it follows , by inference , that he is only a thunny for the space of one year . What , then , becomes of this large fish when two years have passed over his head ? According to the above author , in his ' poetics / not ' logic / of natural history , he dies ; not , however , in fact , but , like Boileau ' s inamorato , only in a
metaphor' Toujoura bien mnngeant , qui meurt par niGtaphoro , to come out some time after , a new fish with a . new name—an orcynus , of unwield > dimensions , or , as Atheneus informs us , a cete , or brevet whnlo . And here we sir forced to stop , for at what precise period of this great Kcomber ' s career ho rejoiced in the appellations of triton , cybia , melandryH , or xanthius , we know positively nothing . Pope , imitating Juvenal , rtjKMikH , in a well-known piiHsage of the Duncuid , of the difficulty in usuuing a handful of obscuro critics and libellers' Sons of a < luy ! just buoyant on tho Hood , Then numbered with tho puppies in tho mud ;
Auk you ( heir names ? f could a « « o < m < Jis < : lo . s <> ^ The . names of those blind puppies as of those . ' There is also another natural history article—Bison Hunting in India , which few will leave unread . In curious contrast with these . stands the interesting sketch given of Conrad Gessrur , the great scholar and naturalist of tho sixteenth century , whose ; learning would have amazed our pundits , whoso rca . lv writing would have appalled even our ready writers . Ihere are several other papers in the number , among them , as may be expected ,
articles on Mooiik , Wkhhtkii , nml Slavery . lilarkwood also has its article on Mooiik and on Mcwery I «« ^< - » descriptive rather than critical , with a good V urged lor literature . It ul . so begins a new story , Lady tee ' s Widowhood : and c , i « l » a very longone -My AW / , l , v Sir H \ ,,, vvKK Lytton . The tetter to hnse / nuson Many T / u ^ s , has all the p leasant tl . oughtndne . ss of its processors , and we shall .. raw upon it for our Note , and tracts . Meanwhile , the folowing Init of «« . „ calory , setting forth the title of L »» ih Naim . i . kon to the K .. l , sli
crown , will amuse the reader : ¦ « If Louis Buonaparte should be « , ulm . inl oh to inyml « Hnff lnml , what will the I 1 OII ' si . lmK pe . tee Uicties think of a new claim winch ho urny net up , w . thoufc « rtmv , Y / W // ---no 1 « hh than . n claim , by genealogy , to the ( Vown oi K ,, - rVi-I . ' H ' pause u num . ent to admire the quaint wit of Lord St . Vincent , lll LI «» ¦ y > ' <*«««• •»«*• ' »!» th « illvll 8 io 11 W 11 S t """ n . ¦ " i Z , „ I only m , y they can't . *> , „„ hy «»• " iM > ta «»« W ™ f < W »* T ^ S . , ni eti a L \ L , and Hillorst . in , a ( Imnan . Lvro authors who were rll ; ; u . ^ Z by Muonnpurte ( .- we ,, n , sfc call bin , ) the Kirnt , pretended to prove puul 1 «*« « ... jh Jjr Jto | Hii . ro ( ht ; ii . ollli gmtM ) U Iron . luHcuny to £ i- « ud — U were fdlknl to the u « -t uuoiont luscuu I Wu *
even to that of the house of the Medici ; and as this house has given two queens to France , the Buonapartes are , therefore , relatives of the Bourbons ; and the sceptre , therefore , of the French , empire is still , under Buonaparte the First , in the same family , though in a more worthy branch . Spaniceti received 1000 Louis-d ' ors in gold , a pension of 6000 livres for life , and the place of Chef de Bureaux in the ministry of the home department of the kingdom of Italy , producing yearly 18 , 000 livres , or 75 OZ . The Bourbons would surely use the proverb , " Call me cozen , but cozen me not . " I wonder if this genealogy will flourish in the pageant on the crowning the Emperor . But here is the further claim , which he may ,
when he thinks fit , present with his compliments to Queen Victoria : for Billerstein , the Bavarian genealogist , proved the pedigree of the Buonapartes as far back as the first Crusades , and that the name of the friend of Richard Cccur-de-Lion was not Blondel , but Buonaparte ; that he changed the latter for the former only to marry into the Plantagenet family , the last branch of which has since been extinguished by its intermarriage and incorporation with the house of Stuart ; and that , therefore , Napoleon Buonaparte is not only related to most sovereign princes of Europe , but has more right to the throne of Great Britain than had George the Third , then reigning when this precious genealogy was composed , being descended from the male branch of the Stuarts , while George the Third was only descended
from the female branch of the same royal house !! This is going it pretty strong , and is quite lit for emblazoning , by the sound of trumpets , on the coming day . Billerstein was presented with a snuff-box , with Buonaparte ' s portrait , set with diamonds , valued at 12 , 000 livres , and received 24 , 000 livres ready money , together with a pension of 9000 livres , or Z 751 . per annum , till he should be better provided for . He was , besides , nominated a Knight of the Legion of Honour . It cannot , therefore , be denied that Napoleon rewarded like an emperor—a great encouragement to genealogists to try the liberality of the nephew . By this genealogical arithmetic we may learn the relative value of the two crowns . ^ Of that of England , there is scarcely a genealogist of any country , we should think , out of France , who would indorse the table with ' I wish he may get it . ' " Every one will look for an article on the Defeat of the Ministry , and sure enough there it is , confident , prophetic , regarding the defeat as perhaps , on the whole , a triumph , and looking forward to speedy re-accession to
power ! The British Journal is certainly a liberal sixpennyworth , and opens the new year with a very good number . Among the articles will be distinguished the commencement of a novel by Mrs . Hooper , entitled The Pride of the Bridgenorths ; the Habits of the Emperor Nicholas j and Mr . Alfred Cole ' s account of Bush-fighting in South Africa .
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RECENT POEMS mipedocles on Etna and other Poems . By A . B . Fellowes Poems . By B . R . Parkcs . John Chapman . Poetry differs from Prose , as we constantly declare , in kind more than in degree ; it differs from Prose as Song differs from Speech , and this not by reason of any rythmic melody of language so much aa by a peculiar and inseparable melody in the thought itself . There may be perfect metro and unexceptionable diction without a pulse of that life wo all recognise as poetry . In every Art there are countless Amateurs , of varying degrees Wherein lies the secret of
of merit , but all stopping short of mastery . this mastery avc cannot say , but tho effect is distinguishable enough . Poetry , like every Art , has a few masters ; men born poets , whether they practise at College or at the plough ; it has also its countless aspirants , among them highly gifted natures , capable of producing verso fcliafc has every quality but that mysterious quality of Song ; and there being no ready test a man can apply , to determine in his own ease the dilleivnce between aspiration and inspiration , he is forced to ask the Public to answer the question for him . The public does answer it , emphatically—by silence . The readiness with which they welcome any man who has a spark of poetry
in his soul m ; jy be Keen in the reputations of several contemporaries . Although it is quite true fchafc Poems in the real sense of the word are rare , it is also true that very delightful verses are often written by men and women whom one cannot ; , strictly spe ; iking , name poets . In prose Literature , genuine Hooks are rare ; and yet an ever-teeming press incessantly issues volumes that have their merit , their purpose , and their charm . As critics Mien— / asters for our Publi<—wo are bound to show that attention to the verses we show to the volumes , and , while maintaining the principles which make our praise chary , do justice when we can . would be tedious
To notice all , or anything like all , the poems sent , us and idle ; we select two volumes because they bear the traces ol cultivation , sensibility , delicacy , and p oetic feeling ; although \ b is clear that neither of these poets would have expressed themselves in verse , had there not been numerous singers before them inciting them fo emulation In both we see ihe poetry of the Amateur . They have not laboured at the Art with the patience of a passion ; they have ; been easily satisfied , not sensitively fastidious ; they have taken the imago that came hV « t and the epithet that whs ready ' ; they have mounted Pegasus not ridden him . is reall htfu volume
Htrnwdoclvs on Klmi ami other I ' ocms , y a delig , and issues from a lughl . y-eultured , highly tempered mind . It bears tins epigraph : 2 o < l > a > T , iT < n > , xi """* ' « w « 7 'K * " ? " / ' ttuvtu , winch nmy be Kngl . slied A wonderful Sophist is Time , for nothing esci . peth his vision , and Time seems here to have taught a meditative jnind many a sad and many a cheerful lesHon ; but Time has not taught thin Ivhhoh m Art , that 44 ' spares nothing done without his aid " I , e temps n ' epurtfiie |» n « «»< in ' on tail wins hii , and the poet lias l . i . n , self to thank if las verse ho less durable than lie wishes j i
. , ., ., -n , , ,,,, . . -i ............ I iiu ii limrethnr 11 . miSl . UKfi . KmiMwIi wL > u The principal poom wo regard as altogether a mistake . EmpedoeleH , disheartened with tho world , ascends tttna , and alter a duo amount , of monologue precipitates himself into the crater . Hut what thenr Wherefore the poem P It is not a poetic exposition of tho philosopher ' s life , nor of his doolrinen . Jt is but a Blonder thread upon which " A . may string otmy thoughts aud images . Moreover , the eWaieality
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not maJce laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
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January 8 , 1853 . ] THE LEADE . R . 41
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1853, page 41, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1968/page/17/
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