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    Nov . 10 . 1855 . 1 THE LEADEB . lQ * k y

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    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of Uterature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Jtevwo .

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    Among the whimsicalities of literature , Errata occupy a whimsical place . Jean Paul makes his Quintus Fixlein occupied in drawing up a volume of such Errata , from which he says profound conclusions are to be drawn , advising the reader to draw them ! "We have , on more than one occasion , cited some ludicrous examples ; but the accident which disfigured our journal last Tveek , produced a rich crop—as the reader , doubtless , noticed for himself . Yet even the reader , on his guard , may have been puzzled to know which work of Goethe ' s was alluded to as his " unrivalled Ballado" ( meaning the ballads ) , and what could be meant by the " wild flirtation which gave rise | to Clavigo . " The remonstrant reviewer assures us he wrote " mild flirtation which gave rise to Clavigo ; " and the said reviewer declares , that instead of saying " Mr . Lkwes contests the opinion that Iphigenia is a great play , " he said , " Greek play . " These are trifles , however , compared with the misprint which , although it escaped our eye , did not , fortunately , escape that of a friend , who saw the proofs of a comedy , in which this phrase occurs : " Here comes my wife ! These women spoil all . They have got what they call nerves . " The printer had thus interpreted it : " Here comes my wife ! These women sport oil . They have got what they call news !" How many of the obscurities in classic authors are attributable to Errata ? In the " North British Review , " two retrospective articles deserve , and will be certain to secure attention . The one is on Butxek , the author of " Hudibras , " whose life and character are felicitously sketched ; the other is on Fielding ( placed in connection with Thackeray ) , whose life and writings are also set forth with pregnant brevity . Of " Butler " the writer says : Our impression of Butler ' s general character as a man—on which his character as a writer may be regarded as a superstructure—has , we trust , already been conveyed . He seems to have been a man of grave , correct , and somewhat mo . o = e nature , decidedly of that order of mind-which , by way of philosophic distinction , may be called the descendental- a man the basis of whose intellectual being was strong , solid , but very hard and verv earthlv sense . One might compare him with Swift , who , however , had a more savage and demoniac element in him , which led him farther , and brought him in contact atteast with the infernal side pf that which transcends the visible . On the whole one can best realise Butler ' s exact character by regarding him as , more pecu . liarly ' than any other man of his age , the polar opposite to Milton , —Milton the trrnscendental man of his time , and the noblest l ?^ erary representative and defender of that class of sentiments and opinions which Butler derided . This contrast , or polarity in the intellectual world , is discernible in all ages , though it is not always instanced in so remarkable a manner . There are always men who c .. n " stand no nonsense , " who take their footing on what they call the hard fact of things , -who have an innate turn for undervaluing whatever is high , extreme , and ur usual , either in thought or actionhigh metaphysics , hig h art , high poetry , high Calvinism , high anything . On the other hand there are always men who , from some constitutional peculiarity—call it ideality , heart ' enthusiasm , artistic sense , tendency to the metaphysical , or what yoj will—revel in the high feel at home in it , and prefer it . It is from the first class more particularly that satirists are born ; except when , as sometimes happens , a man of the other class steps out , clothed in the very thuuders of his high contemplations , to satirize the satirists themselves , and prove to them the celestial , if only by i . s thunder . Milton himself was a satirist , when he chose , in this sense ; Butler was a satirist in the other . ' From the second article , we can only find space for one extract , and it stall bo the following just and novel distinction : — The difference between Fielding and Thackeray , in respect of that breadth of handline in which it has been complained that the latter is inferior to the former , is a difference mainly of the times lived in and depicted by these -write . s . Does any one supposo that Fieldiiiff would have dared to describe a Squire Western , or a Lady Bollaston , for the edification of subscribers to modem circulating libraries ? Could the respective virtues and fuilincs of a Joseph Andrews and a Tom Jores have been set forth , in a time when tho lins of novelist and dramatist are absolutely locked , with regard to that which Btill exorcises as it ever did , and ever must , tho chief moral energies ol" ulmost all men , durin * many ' and those the most dramatic years of their lives ? Wo do not complain of this refinement of modern speech , though we doubt whether it goes much deeper . On tho contrary wo heartily wish tho reform were more thorough than it is , and that men should never ' rise , even from their talk over their wine , with the flavour in their mouths and minds o . " a phrase , or a sentiirent which ought to make thorn blush to " join the ladies " Keformn often advance from superficial to profound , and a pure tongue is a laudable hypocrisy , if it bo nothing better . Art , it is true , has hitherto been n sufferer by tho improvement . That it will not bo so in tho long run , wo are convinced ; for cvervthinc tlmt really bettera life must better that which ra its representative : but life , as wo have said , is not as yet , probably , very substantially better in this reBpoct 5 and the novelist and dramatist are meanwhile under tho v ilwppy necessity of representing a society which dares not , and ought not to dare , to scorn no bette- than it is . Iho breadth of treatment which is thua impossible for the modern novelist , is substituted in Mr . Tlmckeray ' 8 works by u subtlety of handling which fe almost equally admirable , and which would ecarcely bo compatible with tho strength of light and shade wo find in Fieldintr Mr Thackeray m as much the originator of tins kird of writing as I ' lelding waa of tho oilier ; and if thoro are numerous little indlcrtioiis of leverenco and imitation of tho latter in tho works of the former , the two wrLers , In their main characteristics , are absolute opposite * , although , as wo have said , that oppoalllo 1 is prolmb y no more than tho natural reueotio . i , by two Urst-rato mlnda , of the opposite mewl character of tho ' x times . Those who delight in Biography- —and who does not ?_ wiU read with , great interest the sketch of tho " Life of Charles Bonnet , " the Genevoao philosopher , io La Revue des Deux Mondes ( Oct . 1 ) . Tho writer has had access to many inedited letters , and from them ho constructs a very agreeable biography of a life in which idea 3 were events , and discoveries were

    incidents . We see the young and modest savant patiently toiling over that j microscope , which is at once the source of his glory and despair— . which } brings him fame , and takes from him his health and sight . There is ane j amusing account of his interview with Vomairb , too long for extract ; and ; an unconscious gaiety lurking in the phrase in which bis marriage is intro- [ duced . " H se maria , non sans avoir , selon la coutume genevoise de ce temps , cherche a obtenir d' abord le cceur de la jeune personne , objet de son choix . " i By which it appears to try and gain the affections of your wife , was a " Genevese custom " at that period ! This reminds us of a mot uttered by ; Arkal , in the true Arnalesque style , on being told by a married woman that she loved her husband . " "Vou 3 aimez votre mari ! e ' est bizarre , sans ( Joute , mais enfin ce n ' est pas defendu I " The mention of Aknal naturally carries us to Paris , and as naturally elicits the gossip that Edmond About has a comedy accepted at the Francois , entitled L'Effrontt . The advent of this brilliant young writer among the dramatists is hopeful , if he can but escape the two perils of not attending to the technical part , and of attending too exclusively to it . RSgnier , also—the incomparable Regnier , has , we understand , a comedy immediately forthcoming . He has made the fortune of so many pieces , not only as actor , but as author too , that we may conBdent ' y anticipate an assured success . \

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    . ' . C c ( t ^ ^ THACKERAY'S MISCELLANIES . Miscellanies , Prose and Verse . By W . M . Thackeray . YoH ^ ^ ^^ The sketches with which a great artist nils his portfolio , and prepa ^ s himself tor the composition of great works , have always had , and will continue to have , a peculiar interest in the eyes of admirers . They give . thy < mngsters hopef for they show that masterpieces are not the products of a day , and that mastery must be won by labour ; so that young aspirants need not despair if their undeveloped faculties as yet produce no astonishment in . the minds of the Browns . Besides teaching youngsters a lesson and giving them courage , these sketches have for maturer intellects anothe *»?« ?* charm ; they show the early forms of a talent now" everywhere admired , they betray the natal tendencies of a mind now justly ™ S «^ "V 2 ££ the most remarkable in English literature . For these , and for othei reasons , we predict a hearty welcome to Thackeray s Miscellanies . ^ rpmendou 8 This volume contains his Ballads , the Book of Snobs , the Tremendous Adventures of Major Guhagan , the Fatal Boots , and Cox s Diary . Itis clearlv printed , in a portable form , and at a moderate price . J-he f * «*«* comprls ^ not only 1 & many gaieties which from time to time were laughed over in Punch , but also various pieces from his other works . - "ie Chronicle of the Drum , " which opens the volume , » an ad ™ rablo fcaUad with a moral running through it , like a silver thread ^ J ^ ™ TSi tapestry , and this thread is drawn out at the close as a sort of « gWJg ^*» the horrors and brutalities of war . J We will not mar . its effect % ^™ %££ - an extract-the whole is too long for quotation In quite a < diffe ™* « g ^ how humourous is the " White Squall , " and how Thackerayish the picture . Strange company we harboured ; We'd a hundred Jews to larboard , Ui washed , uncombed , unbarbered—Jews black , and brown , and grey ; With terror it would seize ye , ] And make your souls uneasy , To see those Rabbis greasy , Who did nought but scratch and pray : Their dirty children puking—Their dirty sauepcans cooking—Their dirty lingers hooking Their swarming fleas away . To starboard , Turks and Qreeks were—Whiskered and biwn their cheeks were—Enormous wide their brooks were , Their pipes did pufl" away ; Each on U ' ib mat allotted In silence smoked and squatted , Wlrltit round their children trotted In pretty , plonsnnt play-He can ' t but smile who traces The smiles on those brown faces , And tho pretty prattling graces Of those small honthena gay . And so the hours lscpt tolling , And through the ocean ro'ling Went tho bravo Iberia bowling Before the break of day When a sauALi ,, upon a sudden , Came o ' er the waters scudding ; And the clouds began to gather , And tho sea won lushed to lather , And tho lowering thunder grumbled , And tho lightning jumped and tumbled , And tho nhip , and i » ll the ocean , Woke up in wild commotion . Then tho wind net up a howling , And the poodlo dog a yowling , And tho cocks began a crowing , And tho old cow raised a lowing , Ab she heard the tempest blowing ; And fowls and gcowo did cae'da , And tho cordage and tho tackle Degau to shriek and cracjtle 5 /

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 1083, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2114/page/15/