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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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Perhaps the most interesting article in "the Edinburgh , besides that on "Army Reform , " mentioned last week , is that on " Vestries and Church Rates , " which discusses an important question of Church Reform in a brisk manner . By-the-way , how clerical the Edinburgh is becoming—articles on Church topics provided , as if studiously ; and the tone of all the articles kept strait and orthodox , far more visibly than used to be the case In its Scotch days . There is a readable article on the " Memoirs of Joseph Bonaparte , " made up of a tissue of extracts in French from , the memory , with interspersed comments and elucidations . These " ¦ Memoirs'' throw light upon Napoleon ' s early character , and exhibit him as a splendid , ambitious young man , full of family affection . There is also a paper on " Macauxay ' s Speeches , " in the beginning of which Mr . Vizetelly ' s attempt to issue the speeches , without having obtained Mr . Macaulay ' s previous consent , is made the text for a discussion of the question , of copyright in speeches , sermons , and so on . The writer says : —
Nor let us suppose that members of Parliament only are affected by the present state of the laTV . Eloquent preachers are perpetually annoyed by a similar injustice . A man . tells his congregation that he is going to preach a " series of lectures ; " in many cases contemplating their ultimate publication , after he shall have elaborated and matured them for the press . No sooner has he made the announcement than—to Ms surprise we were going to say , but it has become too common to excite that—he finds a benevolent and patriotic publisher -filling to i ; ake the trouble off his hands ! Not 0 D ty . ** ke see , what is all fair enough on the principle we have already advocated , a brief report of what he has said in some journal , but an advertisement stares him in the face , setting forth , that " the Eev . Mr . So-aiid-So ' s series of eloquent discourses " will be published seriatim , and in a form admitting of being conveniently bound up in a volume as soon as he has finished the course ! The proper remedy for this state of things , according to the Reviewer ,
is—Just the extension to the separate publication of speeches , lectures , sermons , &c , of flie law of copyright already applicable to every-other work . Allowing precisely the liberty , enjoyed at present , of reporting all free speech in the daily journals , according to . the ability of those who report it , let men be forbidden to publish reported speech , sermon , or lecture in a separate form , or make collections of such compositions for such purpose , just as they are forbidden to reprint any book or pamphlet of a private author , without the author ' s consent ; let a penalty be attached to collecting and . publishing any such compilation before the author ' s death , or within a term of years , unless his consent and sanction Juive been jirst obtained . - ¦
Observe , the Reviewer would keep for newspapers their present full liberty of reporting what they like and whenever tliey like . " The public , " he says , " is fully entitled to know in the daily papers the substance of what passes in Parliament , in the courts of law , in churches , in chapels , in all public assemblies whatsoever . Here reporters ought to be admitted ( as they are ) , and should give the public the best account they can . " By-the-by 9 this notion of sending reporters to churches and chapels is one with an element of revolution in it . In one or two cases newspapers have given sketches of popular preachers , continued from week to week , and evidently prepared by
Sunday rambles of members of the staff among the churches . All the daily papers , on the occasion of the Fast-day , gave reports and abstracts of all the metropolitan sermons . What , if the practice were extended ? What , if the Press were to take charge of the Pulpit , as it has of the Parliament ? What , if every Monday we were to read reports of the previous day ' s sermons in all the chief chapels und churches , with criticisms on them in the leading columns—" It has been our fortune to hear a good deal of nonsense in our day , but greater rubbish than the Bishop of spoke yesterday forenoon in the church of , it has seldom , " &c , —" We have a great respect for the Dean of , but if wo may judge from his pulpit-performance yesterday , reported in another column , his powers , whether of intellect or oratory , are failing . "— " Lot the Rev . Mr . take a hint , reform his grammar , and lay in a stock of H ' s . " Only fancy this going on nil over the country . What would be the result ? Would the pulpit eloquence of the country be improved , and clergymen be obliged to exert themsolves ?
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In January , 1855 , is to appear the first number of a new series of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal , under the joint-editorship of Professor
Edward Forbes , of Edinburgh , and Dr . Anderson , Professor of Chemistry , in Glasgow . Under such editorship , and with the first scientific men of the day on the list of regular contributors , the new series -will doubtless maintain the high celebrity acquired by its predecessor under the editorship of the deceased Professor Jameson . There are to "be some new features in the journal , however , under the new management , so as to extend its range and efliciency in the present advanced state of science . "As hitherto , the leading features of its contents will consist of original papers on Physics , Chemistry , Physiology , Zoology , Botany , Geology , Ethnology , &c . ; " but a portion of each number will be appropriated to the reception of valuable papers selected from foreign journals , to abstracts and analyses of important scientific memoirs , and to biographical sketches of deceased philosophers . There will , of course , be reviews of scientific books , and reports of scientific societies ; and the section of scientific intelligence , giving notices of " new facts and isolated data , " will be greatly extended .
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A project , under the name of Association Internationale et Universelle des Arts , has been set on foot in Paris , we know not with what chance of success , by way of turning the approaching time of the French Exhibition to account . The notion professes to be an extension of that of the English Artr-TJnion ; the members of which , paying a pound a year , receive in return a fine engraving each , with the chance of drawing a prize-work of art . The proposed Association Internationale is to be on a wider scale and under somewhat different regulations . It is not to be confined to French artists , but is to include the artists of Britain , Germany , Italy , the United States , &c . ; and it is to deal not only with paintings and . sculptures , but with all objects
of art-manufacture in bronze , wood , &c . Moreover , a single payment of twenty-five francs ( one pound ) is to constitute perpetual membership . A million members of all nations at this rate would form a capital of twentyfive millions of francs ( one million sterling ) ; which , if invested in the four per cents , would yield one million of francs ( 40 , 000 / . ) annually . This would afford means for a . number of prizes annually , and pay all expenses ; while by the deaths of members—their memberships then ceasing— -new subscriptions would also come in . Such is the project , as far as we can gather its nature from the prospectus . We are informed that Mr . W . Blanchard Jerrold , who has been residing in Paris , is one of the promoters of the scheme . . -
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We have received the following letter , which relates to a literary movement of son \ e importance : Sir , —A libellous statement having been issued "by Messrs . S . Low and Son , in their Publishers' Circular of the 16 th instant , to the effect that-r- " It is currently reported that the agreement between Sir Bulwer Lytton and Mr . Routledge has been rescinded , ' we lose not a moment in asking you to permit us , through the medium of your widely-circulated columns , to give a most unqualified denial to Messrs . S . Low and Son ' s unwarrantable assertion . So far from there being the slightest truth in this attack upon our house , we most positively and unequivocally assert , that not only does our agreement with Sir Bulwer Lytton remain intact , but that we have fulfilled every engagement we entered into with him . ' Wo have communicated with Sir Bulwer Lytton , who is at present absent from town , but imuxodiately that we arc in receipt of his answer we shall make it public . We may also be allowed to add that , so far from the issue of Sir Bulwer Lytton ' s works not answering , as Messrs . S . Low and Son have insinuated , the circulation lias been quito equal to our expectations . —Wo are , Six , your obedient servants , Geo . Routledge and Co . 2 , Farringdon-street , Oct . 19 , 1854 .
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AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD . Gleanings from Piccadilly to Pera . By John Oldmixon , Esq ., Commander , R . N . Longmans , 1854 . Ajt ingenious and elegant critic among oux- French contemporaries , in noticing the defect , among many distinguished mcz-its , of a recent work of African travel , as a tendency to sacrifice experiences to generalisation , and narrative to reflections , addresses a word of sound advice to the whole race of wanderers who write mid publish . " Indeed , what we have the right to demand of the traveller is , not to give us proofs of erudition and phfloaophy , _ but simply to use his eyes well , and to describe faithfully what ho has seen ; in short , to be a truthful and judicious witness of distant countriea before the tribunal of European criticism . For this purpose , the note-book or the journal is the best form of narration . " Captain Oldmixon's profaco to his grumbling and uncomfortable experiences of a suflicicntly commonplace winter's ramble in foreig n parts , disarms frankly and pleasantly enough the criticism which he knew to be
deserved . Nothing indeed can bo more io contrast with the cheerful sagacity of the Preface , than the querulous and cynical tone of the journal winch makes up the hook , and nothing more in contrast with the philosophy of the Captain on his travels , than the unphilosophica ) , not to say ludicrous , apologies of the Captain , about to publish , in liis arm-chaiv at home . Yet , we confess , these diverting inconsistencies have a certain charm for us in their evident sincerity , and , many case , they arc worth volumes of the rose-colouTod toui'ists against whom tho Captain lifts up his honest English gxowl . Wo are fair from wondering at the noble inaisliiT's contempt for poodles , but why should the mastiff deny to poodles the right to vivre da leur vie ? Caiptain Oldmixon ( ho informs us ) wan u piqued" into thu " yuorulouH and cynical tone which unamiably pervades tho whole book , " by " tho peculiarly un-English comforts and contrivances of tho Continent . " Here , in 185 +, is your typical Englishman of tho French stage , whom wo had supposed extiact , who sighs ufter his rosbif , nnd his four-poster , and his fire-irons , an ho rumbles on , a spectacle to gods and men , from one end of Europe to another . There is this questionable advantage , however , m tho grotesque
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Critics aTe not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — ' Edinburgh Review .
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^ By tho sudden death of Mr . Samuel Phillips , the Times has lost its chief literary critic . In its notice of his death , that journal made no direct allusion to his connexion with itself . Nor did it pronounce an extravagant eulogium on his literary merits . It spoke of him as a clover and cultivated ,
and honourable and amiable , but by no means profound , man , who did his best . This seems to be also tho general Suppression . His criticisms in tho Times—or such as wore supposed to bo his—wore well-timed , sometimes striking , and always above average , and administered such notions of literature as , whilo they met acceptance with persons of culture , were particularly suitable for largo capitalists . Mr . Phillips was also an" example of a man who made literature pay , both in money and social distinction . Latterl y , he was a leading man in tho management of the Crystal Palace . Labouring under a consumption , which he knew might at any tirno carry him off in a day , tlio calmness and punctuality with which ho continued his literary labours are said to have been almost heroic . He was not forty years old .
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October 21 , 1854 J THE LEADER . 1001
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 21, 1854, page 1001, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2061/page/17/
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