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" Sir , no man but a blockhead ever Wrote except for money . " This was the emphatic assertion of dear old dogmatic , keen-sighted Johnson ; and the assertion contains that amount of truth usually found in his sayings-, emphasized into a generalisation which becomes not strictly true . For although ^ accurately speaking , there are many men , not blockheads , who write from quite other than pecuniary motives , write , indeed , in defiance of all such motives , yet it is certain that a numerous obtrusive class of blockheads do write irrespective of monetary considerations ; and it is always the articles and books offered gratuitously which editors and publishers avoid with the keenest alacrity . Your genuine blockhead is ever so eager to assert himself —to manifest his blockheadism in public—to render himself " a more definite object of contempt "—that the motive of money is altogether in abeyance . He writes " for fame , Sir . " Much foolish rhetoric has been let loose on the
subject of writing for money . Money , indeed , has from time immemorial been the topic upon -which foolish rhetoric has loved to discharge itself . But there is , among other advantages , this practical advantage in keeping the money motive steadily present , namely , that as money is a rough guage of utility , and will only be given for what is wanted by the public , the man who writes with an eye to money will write with a view to public needs . £ We were led into this train of reflection by an article in the Irish Quarterly Revieio ( always a good half-crown ' s worth of agreeable literature ) , in which the writer brings together some curiosities on the subject of " Odd Books . " Here is a specimen : — A shoemaker of Amien 3 published , in 1615 , a tract in which , tracing the history of boots , he asserted that Adam was the first to make them from the skins of beasts , and that he learned the art from God himself .
A Member of the Academy , in a laborious dissertation on the weights and measures of ? the ancients , favours us with the following chronological scale of the various heights of men since the creation : —Adam 123 feet 9 inches , Eve 118 feet 92 inches , Noah 103 , Abraham 27 , Moses 13 , Hercules 10 , Alexander 10 , Julius Caesar , 5 . He sagely adds , that if Provi . lence had not been pleased to suspend this progressive decrease , men would now be no bigger than the smallest insect . The writers of these " Odd Books , " if they had an eye to money , must have squinted somewhat . In the same article there is this curious passage : — Surgery , through the prohibition of the church , was , like money-lending , through the prohibition of receiving interest , confined solely , in its higher branches , to the Jews . The Jews were pronounced impious , and medicines received through their prescriptions declared accursed , and by a decree of the council of Lateran , the
physicians were directed , under heavy penalties , to require that the patients should receive the sacraments of penance and the eueharist , before medicine could be prescribed for them—thus it was supposed that the Jewish physicians would be readily discovered , as through bigotry they would refuse to obey this direction . The prescriptions were curious , but amongst the most strange of all was that commonly known as the Doctrine of Signatures—that is , certain herbs and plants weie presumed useful in curing those parts of the human l > ody to which they bore , or were fancied to bear , a resemblance . Capillary herbs were good in diseases of the hair . Walnuts were presumed to be a sovereign cure in all diseases of the head , from the great resemblance between them and that portion of the human frame—the green , covering of the outer husk represented the pericranium ; and salt made of the husk was good for injuries to the outside of the head . The soft inner shell was like the slcull , and the thin yellow skin was like the dura and pia mater . The kernel was so like the brain that it must of
necessity be a perfect remedy for all diseases or injuries of that organ . William Coles , the herbalist , writes , that the " Lily of the Valley is good to cure the apoplexy , for as that disease is caused by the dropping of humours into the principal ventricles of the brain , so the flowers of this lily hanging on the plants as if they were drops , are of wonderful use herein . " Kidney beans , from their perfect resemblance to the kidneys , were considered of great service in all urinary diseases . The yellow and purple spots upon the flowers Eye-bright , resembling the marks upon diseased eyes , the flowers were esteemed most efficacious in curing these disorders . Thistles and Holly , from their stinging the hand which touched them , were believed to be useful in curing the pricking pains of pleurisy ; imd the Saxifrage , f rom the manner of its growth , was esteemed a most powerful dissolvent of the stone . And because the cones of the pino-treo resembled the front teeth , a garglo of vinegar in which they had been boiled was classed as a most efficacious remedy for the toothache .
Lovers of thrilling and horrible stories may turn to the article in this Review on " The Romance of Life , " in which the original stories , worked up into Monte CUrislo ^ are told by the writer , who for the present reserves his authorities . An article on the " Poets of America" will also bo read with pleasure , containing , as it does , " elegant extracts" very delicately chosen . Arc you at all interested in the last Spanish revolution ? We mean the revolution of 1854 ( in Spanish revolutions it is necessary to be precise ) . If SO , the Revue das Deux Mondes will furnish you with an ample history written by M . Charges i > e Mazade . The same review concludes Amprkb ' s papers on L'lfistoire Iiomainr . < i Rome , with an interesting survey of the works of
Greek Art . Speaking of Myron ' s masterly ropro . scntat . ion of animals , M . AiwrKRn makes this remark , which although not altogether new , is worth repeating . The truthful fidelity of representation in the forms of animals When tlioHO animals are presented away from man , is strikingly contrasted With the want of fidelity in the representation in all statues which present animals accompanied l > y the human figure . TUc horses of the Monte Cavallo group ; tho deer which Diana holds ; the lizard on the tree against Which the young Apollo leans , arc treated with groat negligence . M . Ampioiuo thinks this negligence intentional , tho animals being accessories saorifieod to tho divino principal—and this subordination in tho law of anoiont art . But when nnimals were figured iy themselves , when they
ceased ; tarb 0 * aoce 8 sorre 8 j they were depicted ; wfch ; great ; -fidelity ; . It iffon reasons of this nature tha * we may suppose EtemsnecKEii tor-havee * e * te £ the extremely mythological pantfter on which the exquisite Ariadne ' reclines ; for in that animal there is assuredly no attempt at faithful representation of nature . And on this ground we may explaia the horses of the Parthenon friezes ^ about which criti cs pretend to fly off . Into- raptures ,, hat which ! the most superficial knowledge of horseflesh stxf £ tee& to' condemn' as unreal . Perhaps , however ^ the real reason is , after all , amch simpler . In all times there have been artists who excelled in the representation of animals , and artists who failed in such representations ; and the school of Mteon , like our own Landseers , Ansdells , and Coopebs , may have been more faithful ,
because their love of animals had made them anore diligent students- of animals . It is dangerous sometimes to be ingenious in our suggestion of reasons ; ingenuity lures us far from the simpler track of fact , and overlooking what lies at our feet soars with daring flight into the clouds . An illustration of such ingenuity i 3 offered by M . Binaxjt in his excellent paper on La Comedie des Mceurs en Grece . He is puzzled by the fact that on the Grecian stage the gods and goddesses were solemnly introduced in the tragedies , and an hour afterwards as profanely ridiculed in the comedies : The Drama -was a religious festival ; the subjects were religious ; and yet in the
comedies the gods were made gluttonous , obscene ,, ridiculous . In this M . Binatjt sees more than " an inconsequence and a bizarrerie ; " and he taxes his ingenuity to discern the cause , which on reflection he discovers to be this : there was in the public mind an instinctive desire to separate what was moral in the ancient myths from what was immoral—a germ of that religious criticism which the poets manifested before the philosophers . This thesis M . Binaut illustrates . He points out both in Homer and the dramatists a double aspect of the myths , and argues that we never see the gods ridiculed in the exercise of their divine attributes , but only when they manifested human attributes , human follies and weaknesses ..
Wow , it is scarcely credible that M . Binaut could have rediieed his thesis to a proposition so simple without at once seeing it to be false .- He did not clearly place the proposition before his mind , and then proceed to develop and to illustrate it ; but , as we must suppose , wrought out his proposition during the process of composition , and thus was misled by bis own ingenuity . Looked at in the light we have placed it , what does it amount to t more than saying that the Greeks did not ridicule what was grand and solemn , but only what was ridiculous . The god , considered under his
divine attributes , raised religious thoughts ; the god , considered under his human attributes , was as much a topic for mirth as man himself . What is there in a Greek tragedy followed by a comedy more than is seen every evening on our stage , when the tragic aspects of life are succeeded by uproarious farce , when the jealousy of an Othello is f a llowed by the jealousy of a bourgeois , personated by Abnal or Keeley P Then , again , does not universal experience tell us Low religious subjects , even in devout minds , are often provocative of mirth ? But we must not extend this remark to a dissertation . We mean it only as a hint to the reader of M . Binaut ' s very interesting paper .
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DANBY SEYMOUR'S RUSSIA ON THE BLACK SEA . Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azof : being a Narrative of Travels in the Crimea and bordering Provinces ; with Notices of the Naval , Military , and Commercial Resources of those Countries . By H . D . Seymour , M . P . Murray . 1855 . Mb . Dandy Seymour ' s book is one of the best of the many contributions to contemporary literature respecting Russia on the Black Sea . It is written with a scholarly ease , a vivid clearness , and a hearty feeling for the subject . It is at once succinct and comprehensive ; and it supplies in a compact shape much valuable information , which could only otherwise be acquired by the diligent reading of many authors . The plan on which the book is composed is not the least of its recommendations . Mr . Seymour lived many years in Russia , traversing the Caucasus , journeying across the desert steppes , or pitching his tent in the hospitable homes of the beautiful south coast of the Crimea . Thus he
enjoyed great advantages over the traveller who speeds post-haste from city to city , making hurried notes as he flies along . Those advantages our traveller has turned to good account . But as no man can see everything , or seeing , know its relative value , and as the wise traveller makes a discreet use of the labours of those who have gone before him , so Mr . Seymour , tar from disdaining the fruits of others' labours , lias carefully studied them , and testing them by his own experience , and amalgamating them wjth his own observations , ho has produced a most useful and entertaining volume . Nor has he been niggardly in acknowledgments to the many eminent travellers whose information he has interwoven with the texture of his own acquisitions . It is in the highest decree to his credit , and speaks well for the pains he has taken with his work , and is good evidence of its soundness , that he the of HaxtUausen l
mentions with such tokens of goodwill names egoborski , Hommaire do Hell , ftUlas , Clark , Dubois . de Montperoiu ^ and various other authorities to whoso researches ho is indebted . <> " the whole wo look upon this as one of the most satisfactory and informing works on Russia which has been published in these days . MwM nni * Tho mans also , and plans and illustrations arc executed m a careful and <« stinct ^ c , ihicli makes them pleasant to the eye as well « ™ f ™* v e to the ' mind Tho Sea of Azof , the straith of Kortch , tho mouths of the [) oi a ho do ! of the Kuban , arc clearly delineated ; the relative positions of tl o Cin ' a the mouths of the Danube , and tho coo * of Bessarabia and Kl < r on a " rt r-as Porokop , and tho connexion between tlio Putrid Seaand the CrSca ou one side , . art Southern Russia on tho other , are shown at a glance .
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Critics ars not the legislators ' , but the judges and : police of literature : They do not makelaws—they interpret and . try to enforce them . ^ —Edinburgh'M&oiewi < ¦
Wstiatm,.
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1855, page 627, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2097/page/15/
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