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Leader (1850-1860), 18th February 1854, Edition 1 of 1, Page 164, "_ ~~ ~~ : /^f It a (a i*f« v Vl/4Jlr ^U4»* ¦¦

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      overhangs the book in ail p ; arts , where he is not simply compiling . He writes of instinct , and has so vague an idea of what the word means , that he applies it- to such processes as those of nutrition ! " A . fungus * 03 a common edible mushroom , may be at sunset a mere dot of matter , iBCarcdy ^ of iioft at all appreciable to our senses , and may by next morning be a large plant thatiweighs s pound . This indicates an immense activity of its radicles during these few hoars ana a decree of instinctive movement cmd instinctive selection that is very extraordinary . " ^ 'jTiike most writers of his stamp , while denying psychial endowments to inieets and the ldwer animals , he narrates stories of them , in which areIna-^ ued ^ ll the highest faculties . For example—and the passage is interesting in mother respects—speaking of the ants : — " Generally in , each nest , several females or queens lire together , between whom tie greatest harmony seems to prevail . Some time before any of these lays her eggs she is

      actuated by a strong desire to leave the ant-lull and escape from her palace—a desire , however , which she is prevented frpm carrying into effect by the neuters , who , upon such occasions hold them firmly by the legs , and never quit their royal mistresses . They treat them , nevertheless , with great kindness , assiduously feeding them , and conducting them tpjthat part , of the habitation where the temperature is most suitable to them . By degrees tiro . desire of the queen to quit the nest disappears ; and when , she begins to lay , by a most repiai&itiVe instinct she cuts off her own wings' and determinealy settles ' her domestic diOt ^ iegi . ' ' She is Still , h 6 wever , ' c 6 iistantly waited upon by one ant , who appears to be ready in casO ' she should require any thin ^ . This attendant is from time to tune relieved by another , who takes his p lace . When the queen has laid some eggs , the honour in which she is held isjstill further increased ; all the ants of the colony come' to present "their respects to her , and ^ o offer her , food . > If she desire to pass along a steep bit of the dwelling , they press to assist her , andjsojhetim ^ s altogether carry her , a number of otber 3 attending and showing ^ h ^ ir joy by Ha ^ cu ^ around . , her . And if she chance to die they still treat her corpse with respecti : and often for months continue to brush and lick it . "

      " ^ TSi&ijr pray enumerate psychial faculties—rational emotionalt ^ ich are itiapKed in the desires , resolutions , attentions , contrivances , reslt ed ^ foy , and ! sorrow of this passage : most ,. if not all , of which , one may ' ^^;^ y ^ - 'dcap » from the narrator's interpretation of acts which really ntein /^ ptibS | g $ f the kind . ^ ' " We have been ; severe ; but the cheapness of tibisTvcluiney and its ^ plaCe in : so popular a series , will secure it a public , and r ^|« e ^ B .-mukt ¦ '&& ^ "v ^ iniecl ^'; that in tuning this book , they are buying many Cpjnbimsi . ; jttitoces | uijg facts , ' strung together on a most worthless thread . ^ ^^ Kj | o ^ , io whom tli < e Tities paid a ^ veil-merited compliment the other day , rdV . ni # Bola and decisive efforts in popularising good literature at low prices , has added to hi £ Briivih Classics , the first volume of an edition , in four volumes , of Add / son ' s Works ( orice 3 s . < fd . ) . with Hurd ' s notes , and various

      engrayirigs . This volume contaios the Poems ( which darCt read I ); the ZH ^ loffUes ' on JJficieiit- Medals , xn . which the ancient poets are pleasantly quoted and cossipped about—arid thevRentiurte on Italy , It is a v 6 ry ^ hand-B ^^ Qj $ fe lftWan ^ Classical Library he has added the first volume of the Ox § rof tTrjtnslatidn of tdcitns ( 2 ri 6 e 6 s . ) whic ) £ ; Gpntains the Annals ' -j-a book read , n 6 t . Vebause Tacitus was a Latin wiiterj Itfiut because he was and is a classicJ'Mi . Bonn has also added a translation- ^ ap : d an unusuall y spirited translatiopi too—of the works of Apuleius , which are read—at least the Golden Ass is—not . ' because the author was a classic £ i or ' ' j&iiever" ¥ & $% but because his " romance is " curious , and hot a little ;** imbrbper . " In this edition the Florida * sua& ^ tlie * ApJlosid are translated . uuuiyj ^ ci > xu lima cuihiuu tuQ x ? wji tuci uuu tuts stjsoiugia are iranai ^ teu

      f $ r-fhe first time into E % lfeh . Mrs . TighVs poem * of Psyche is ' added . $$ nk ? $ \ MitDiry ofi ; Seifrip , and the Servian ^ Revoiutwn ( price ' 3 s . 6 d . ) , although ^ ifcoJB - ^ tfeii tb sieii ^ e the ' curiosity of the " day , is nevertheless apropos ; j ^ niat Mr . Bohn , by i ^ ay of completing the volume , ' adds to ft a sketch , of Bosnia also by Kanke ,. and a compilation from ' Cyprien Robert , boJfchS \ Sff ^ efPt ' 6 ^ nces of fyrkey . ; And here id a volumej ^ whiQ ^ ki ^ f tng the brightest of the Standard Library volumes will stand pre-enriuneni ^^ $ & !*; - - slation 6 fZ ^ oetJie s Novels and Tales ( price 3 s . 6 d ) , viz ., the ^ ll& £ vW j ^ nitiesr : " Werter , " \ " German Emigrants , " the " GoodWomen * and ihe KogMfette ( des Marcheri ) . The fiyst of these , " Elective Affinities , " 3 tefr , Bonn , assures us in the preface , has been translated by a gentleman Tifell kitipw-nln the literary world , who does not wish his name £ 0 appear ; W 6 " can endorse that statement ; the" name , if it appeared , would greatly stimulate curiosity . Mr . Bonn further informs us , that now , for the first

      his own stores , completing White ' s statements , and occasionally correcting them by more accurate information . The scientific name of each animal is also added ; and woodcut illustrations are given of almost every creature mentioned by White . It is a book very emphatically to be recommended . From t ^ e same active house we have an edition of George Herbert ' s Works in Prose qtt&- Verse , edited with scholarly care by the Rev . R . A . Wilmot , who writes an . elegant introductory memoir . The book is printed in imitation of the old style , and is illustrated with several engravings . The fourth volume of Jerddn ' 3 Autobiography ( Arthur Hall ) concludes that , enterprise of twaddle in the old slipslop , ungrammatical , trivial style

      , and does not show the slightest amendment as a result of all the criticism it provoked . Miss Strickland ' s Rome , I ^ egal and Republican ( Arthur Hatt ; price 10 s , 6 d . ) is a family Kistory of Rome , which , as far as we have exi amined it , seems well adapted for its purpose . It is of course a compilation ^ and one to which no one will look for new . views or hew facts . Bu $ the skill of the editor in rendering history agreeable to young people has been well tried , " and it stands her in good stead here . . , ¦ While noticing this educational work , let a line of commendation be given to JVJr .. Scrymgeour ' s Outlines of General History , Ancient and Modern ( Simpkiri arid jtfarshaH ) . It is a small shilling volume , excellently done ,

      and very serviceable as a sort of index to universal history . Mr . Turner ' s Handbooks of Chronology ( Jfr . Griffin and Co . ) may also be named as serviceable shillingworths ; there are three , one on Roman Chronology—one on Greek and ^ Macedonian—and one on Scripture arid Early Oriental Chronology In the series of Grammar School Classics published by Messrs . Whittaker and Co ., we have to notice Mr . Paley * s edition of Ovid ' s Fasti , with English Notes ( price 5 s . 6 d . ) . It is a handsomely-printed pocket volume , the notes brief , clear , and direct , worthy of Mr . Paley ' s scholarship , and worthy of imitation for their instractiveness .

      Xhe last book on our selected list is a charming book for young people , by Mrs . Newton Crossland , called Memorable Women ( David Bogue ) . It consists of eight miniature biographies of women who may be presented , the writer thinks , as examples of wives and mothers who have done their duty under trying circumstances . They are Lady llachel Russell , Madame D'Arblay , Madame Piozzi , Mrs . Hutchinson , Lady Fanshawe , Margaret Fuller , and Lady Sale . The examples are not accompanied by any formal " preachments , "; but each- story is well told and left to produce its own impression .

      time , we have a ' ? Werter" translated directly from the original ; hitherto , a miserable version , made from a French translation , is all we have had to represent that epoch-making book . It must be a scanty purse that can resist Goethe ' s novels for three and sixpence ! It is now a quarter of a century since the Passages from the Diary of a late Physician first startled the public in the pages of Blackwood , and made each number of that magazine looked for with peculiar earnestness , as many of us remember . The People ' s Edition of the Works of Samuel Warren which Messrs . Blaekwood have commenced , in three-halfpenny weekly numbers , and shilling monthly paita , begins therefore with these Passages

      and here a volume , closely printed , double-columned , lies before us , inviting notice . We do not rank among the admirers of Mr . Warren ; indeed , we have found his later works totally unreadable . But we remember the intense interest with which we " devoured " . these Passages ; and there is no mistaking the fact that Mr . Warren is popular—widely popular . His opinions , or rather let us say his prejudices , are as opposed to . all we hold , as his ) style is removed from all idea we form of excellence . B \ it he is not likely to change the one or improve the other , especially now experience has proved both , to be acceptable to largo classes . We therefore inform his admirers of the fact of cheap re-publication , and leave thorn to avail

      themselves of it . Talking of cheap re-publications , Mr . Routledge ' s daring speculation of purehasing-Bulwer s Works for ten years , and issuing them in the Railway Lilnary , has been a theme of general conversation for some weeks . Here

      is Ptilham for eighteen-pence , with a lengthy memoir or rather panegyric on the author , very misplaced , and absurdly adulatory . If Bulwer ' s name and fame are not enough to carry his books into circulation , such puffs as this will not accomplish it . The same publisher has given ua an edition of that exquisite book , White's Natural History ofSelborue . And this is not a mere reprint , but an edition very carefully executed b y the Rev . J . G . Wood , of Oxford , whose Illustrated Natural History ^ uvcjnnplo evidence of his qualifications . Mr . Wood has availed himself of the nMen ui" previous editors , and added largely from

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      RA 3 TBLAGH . As a bachelor—tout cequHly a depltis gar $ on- —l have a strong objection to the little lt irregularities" of married men . Not to mention the immorality ^ there is the un / airness to us . Tfiey dto not meet us on equal terms . Tlieyjbuv ^ hot to " speak to papa . " Tjiey have not to snow their incomes and expectations . ' They are allowed intimacy and familiarities denied to us . Their intentions being strictl y ^ honourable , they are not called upon to prove ' them honourable . Besides , they have the attraction of forbidden fruit . On all . accounts , therefore , I protest against their entering the lists ; and it does me good to see them get a , " lesson . " Tftto drama gives lessons . Is it not a LayJPulDit—a chapel of ajse ( a somewnit , frefe-and-easy chapel ) tojihe gpeai Church ' of Society ? " Dp > e not aj ^ tiKerif Ibr the express purpose of moral instruction ? * EVery one of us 1 La beU # question ! ' ~ : i

      v In Palgrave Simpson ' rnew comedy of Ranetagh—a version 6 f un mariqtti s ^ c ^ ray ^ e , in which Xafont played so charmingl y at the St ; James's tbeStee —theh ^ bands alluded to receive a lesson . That Sir Robert Rovely , wto ^ fS ^ S ^^ ^ S ^^^^^ i ^ ^ ^ : ? t * y Ametfy and . corily by tne aomestic njeartat » rnsn , cat must be hovering around a mysterious Jpiorenjiiia ' Ht- \ Bk . pimcipt&fr ' aridH capH ' cipus Sealth / _ He is never at lionrei and this condtteFfetlie more ^ noticeable , because it stands in such contrast to the conjugal fidelity of Dr . Coddlelove , the family physician , who never leaves his . wife . ,, In Lady ; Rovely and Mrs . . Coddlelove , we have types of the two agreeables . of marriage : the one is worried by neglect , the other by too surfeiting a devotion ; one starves , the otter cries towours de la perdfix I ( m em : when writer s write tdUfbursperdrix—asitbey all do—they write nonsense )' .

      Properly to adjust the balance 5 s the delicate matrimonial problem ; for you mav just as well beat a wife as bore her . Neither Sir Robert nor Dr . Coddlelove adjust the balance well . One is absurdly neglectful , the other absurdly uxorious . Now in this situation there was an excellent opportunity for dramatic treatment—an opportunity the authors have not availed themselves of , but have sacrificed to the vulgar desire of producing an imbroglio . The piece is amusing ; but it might nave been made nnore amusing , and more permanently so , had the grasp of realities been vigorous , and a picture of life been presented in lieu of this mere stage intrigue , which we have all seen a hundred times . In Ranelagh we have two husbands not recognising their masked wives , as we have had them before in innumerable pieces . The intrigue is sprightly , and the rapid action keeps the audience oscillating between expectation and laughter ; but the laughter has rot ceased before we

      are aware of the unreality of the whole . This want of grasp , this inattention to the real dramatic wealth of the idea , was very visible in the first act , which moved slowly in consequence . There was a happy hint of a sceneonly a hint—where Sir Robert having resolved to stay at home for an evening—a cozy conjugal evening—finds himself horribly bored by domestic delights , and doesn ' t know how to accommodate himself to thorn . There was also a fine opportunity missed at the close of the net , when the husband leaves his wife to her loneliness , unprotected against the machinations of a cousin with arnatory views . But I must not pause to criticise this trifle . It is a sta ^ e piece not a comedy ; a hint of a work not a work . Viewing it as a stage piece , it is , aa already intimated , very amusing . The scene at lianclcigk is a good bit of French ingenuity in construction ; and it was put on the stage with all the attention to scenic effect which Buckstone has displayed during his management . Of the acting , as I am in an indulgent mood , 1 will say little except that the huccchs of the piece rested with

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      164 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 18, 1854, page 164, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2026/page/20/