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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mmatntt.
mmatntt .
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The perils of literature" are illustrated in this week ' s news , by the double attempt to burn the house of G . P . R . James , the British Consul at Virginia , who has incurred the implacable hatred of all Legrees , by the reputation of haying formerly written a song , in favour of emancipation . What would these people do to Clarkson or Mrs . Stowe ? Mr . James has not , with us , had the character of being a very terrible anarchist ; not even a formidable poet ; but in Virginia , he is both . The " curiosities of literature" — -a more pleasant topic—have furnished a writer in the Irish Quarterly , with some very piquant details , for his
amusing article on Fashion in Poetry and the Poets of Fashion . The paper embraces a series of fashionable poets , from Han bury Williams to Haynes Bayly , with liberal extracts from their works . In the introductory remarks on the fantastic conceits and literary vagaries of old writers , such as acrostics , anagrams , lipograms , ( verses with some letter uniformly evaded , ) and "figure poems , " or poems written in the shape of the object they describe , our readers will find curious matter ; and we will borrow two excellent specimens of "figure poems" here given , from Panard : — Que inon Flacon Me semble bon ! Sans lui L ' ennui Me nuit , Me suit , Je sens Mes sens Mourants , Pesants . Quand je le tiens , Dieux ! que je suis bien ! Que son aspect est agreable I Que je fais cas de ces divins presents ! C ' est de son sein fecond , c ' est de ses heureux flancs Que coule ce nectar si doux , si delectable , Qui rend tous les esprits , tous les coeurs satisfaits . Cher objet de mes vceux , tu fais toute ma gloire ; Tant que * non coeur vivra , de tes charmants bienfaita Ilsaura conse ' rver la fidele memoire . Ma muse , a te louer se consacre a jamais . Tantot dans un caveau , tantot sous une treille , Ma lyre , de ma voix accompagnant le son , Repetera cent fois cette aimable chanson ; Rcgno sans fin , ma charmante bouteillo , Eegne sans cesse , mon cher fiacon .
We next present the glass : — Nous ne pouvons rien trouver sur la terro Qui soit si bon , ni si bean que le verro , Du tendre amour berceau charmant , C'est toi , champetre fougere , C'est toi qui sers a faire L'henreux instrument Oil souvent petille , Mousse et Grille Le jus qui rend Gai , riant , Content . Quello douceur 11 porto nu coour ! Tot , Tot , Tot , Qu ' on m'en donno , Qu on l ' entonno ; Tot , Tot ; , Tot , Qu ' on m ' en donno , Vito et comnio il faut : L ' on y voit sur cos / lots ch ^ ria Nagor 1 'allegroKso at lea ris . There liavc been several poems written , of which the boast was that tsoino letter of the alphabet was banished ; there ; have been several , also , in which Nome hitter was obtrusively initial , —thus , in the Pw / na Porcorum of Lko Pi'AOKNTKjp , every word begins with p . Here is u specimen : —• " Plnudito porcelli ; porcorum ]) ign \ pvopngo Progralitur , plums poroi pingucdine j ) lcni Pug-imnk'H peigunt . Pccudmn parn prodigioNU , Porturhut pedo peti-owis pleruuiquo plateau ; Pain portentoso populonuu prata proCanaL " 'marine the laborious frivolity of such n feat , and the utter impossibility of any one ' s reading such " damnable iteration !" The same number of the Irish Quarterly contains a long analysis , with translations , of Jertlme Paturot , rather late in the day , but entertaining to those to whom it may bo a novelty ; u continuation of the gonsiping
uutiquarianism on The Streets of Dublin j "Premium" Madden ; Irish Industry , and an Irish National Gallery .
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Our wish , at all times , to give both sides a hearing , no less than the suggestiveness of the communication itself , induces us to print the following criticism : — " I confess myself very much instructed by the articles on the Vestiges . You are extremely happy in your remarks upon Time , to consider which as a positive condition of change is absurd . Nevertheless , you have marked some passages from the Vestiges in italics as being erroneous , which I find escape the very objections you urge . For instance , the author of the Vestiges says , 'We might almost regard the progression as the result of an aspiration toivards neio and superior fields of existence ; ' now , instead of this remark about aspiration being connected with progress seeming fanciful , I find it profoundly true . First , from my own consciousness
the unrest within my brain , the love to be something better than T am is at the root of my every advance in culture . Again , from observation , the naked savage's aspiration to be independent of fierce extremes of hcafc and cold causes him to use clothes , and the reaction of clothes on his body changes the nature of his skin . Descending the scale of animal life , there is not a single animal , however dull , but manifestly prefers a certain quality of food , or a certain habitat , which shall add to its comforts and preserve its life and the life of its young ; and this continual unborn tendency always g ives the new generation a benefit , however small , which reacts on its physical and mental nature , producing some kind of change . In Chambers * s Paper on c Animal Instincts and Intelligence , ' which you once called truly ¦
philosophical , the writer observes that , ' in studying the influences at wor k among the sociable tribes it is impossible not to recognise the probability , if not the certainty , of something approaching to civilization , or the striking out of valuable devices by the good heads which occasionally start up , which , devices are spread and continued by imitation . We find that necessity , the mother of invention , sometimes operates in enlarging the sphere of action of a species ; ' and he then gives an instance of crows adding turnips to their articles of diet . Whenever this was done , the new food , &c , must necessarily re-act on their system , change in som e respects its nature , and the change be transmitted to their posterity ; yet this could never have occurred without a desire , aspiration , or tendency , for comfort and longevity in the animal . J . Shaw . Our objection to the phrase " aspiration towards new and superior fields of existence * ' was its metaphysical character , implying consciousness of superior existence , " denoting a foregone conclusion , " and thus aiding and abetting the Author's primary error of a " Plan . " The fact of Progress is undeniable ; undeniable the effect of new wants in producing new forms of existence ; but when the crow added turnip to his diet he may have heen impelled thereto by hunger , curiosity , gulosity , or simple accident , but surely not by any " aspiration ? " In like manner when water birds became land birds , it is probable that scarcity of food had far more influence than " an aspiration after new and superior fields , " unless that " want" is to be translated by aspiration , which translation would be a relapse into the very metaphysics we combat .
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Some signs of literary activity in France maybe noted . George Sand continues her dramatic innovation ; setting aside all theatrical exigencies , and relying solely upon the magic of style , and the interest cf rustic scenes , she has once more redeemed failures bv a great success . Her new piece , Le Pressoir , bids fair to rival Frangois le Champi j and the critics are rhapsodical in delight . Dramatic , in the proper sense of the word , her plays are not ; but they bear the same relation to dramas that her late
idyls , Le Mare au Diable , Francois de Champi , and La Petite Fadette , bear towards novels . In a country so fatigued with theatrical combinations and stage effect , and also so ready in keen appreciation of literary excellence , such an innovation may hold its ground for a time . At any rate it is gratifying to sec both Gkohoic Sand and theatre managers , undeterred by failure , courageous in new efforts , resolute to persist in a direction they believe to be true !
Alexandria Dumas , the great theatrical thaumaturge , has a comed y in rehearsal at the Theatre Fran fais , which will no doubt be a curious contrast with Madame Sand ' s rustic sketch—si contrast ; as great as that of the Court of Louis XIV . and a vineyard in the South . The mention of Dumah reminds us that his son ' s novel , La Dame mix Perles , which reaches us via Brussels , is a great , disappointment . Humour preceded it tmmpet-tongued . It was obviousl y intended to be si pendant , to Jja Dame aux CamMias , setting forth the love of a Duchess , as that work did of one who was not u duchess . The first volume is very promising ; but it soon relapses into conventional and impossible inelodnune , only relieved here and there by an occasional touch . It is not ut all " adapted for family reading , " as we carefully warn you !
Something for family and other reading , however , wo can commend , — namely , Prohi'kh Mi ^ iumkk ' k new volume . It contains three dramatic sketches , Ijus JJetnv Heritages , n proverb charmingly written bill ; ill-constructed ; / y InspectU'ur General , a oomedy translated from the Russian ol (* o < H ) i , ; and Les ' . Oe bills d ? un Avcnturicr , a dramatic episode in Mie life ol Dtmftrivs , the pretender , whose history M .. M ' KKiniftK has written in a volume translated into English . To write memoirs seems now the occupation of Frenchmen , more than ever it has been since the great Revolution . To those already announced
we muy suld two more autobiograpiiers—very different ; < : a <; h attractive . One is Dr . " Vision , the proprietor of Le ( Jonstitutionnel , whose " personal relations" gloriously cover his personal insig nificance , and will make his luemoirtJ curious the other ia Vjm . kmain , whose personal Higuiiicuntit ) and personal relations will make his memoirs valuable *
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Crities are not the legislators ., but the judges and police of literature . They do no make laws—tney interpret and try to enforcethem . —EdinbnrghBeviev > .
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¦ ' ¦ - ¦ ¦ . ' m ' / ' Septsmbbb 24 , 1853 . ] THE LEA D E R . 929
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1853, page 929, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2005/page/17/
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