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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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s&s ^^^ ssj S&S&EAtt&S W , ariTdream . Perhaps , too , Italy may preset a burning contrast to this scene of £ Z half French , half Tartar , for at any hour the Lazzaroni may be assassinating the TSTfiftDolitan people , the tocsin may be heard
in Milan , and a shock may take place upon the Sardinian frontier . But all these matters are apart from the London season . No matter where there is to be a coronation or a revolution , we are dull at home , and we almost wish that Prince Albert would give the Emperor of E-fssia an invitation to come and see the people of England , exactly as he invited the Emperor of the French to spend a week in his England .
Of other theatricals we have not many . Tragedy has retired , for a season , and not "being able to enjoy La Traviata for the present , we are free to hate its immorality , and to vronder whether Vice should wear a perp etual mask , like a prisoner at Pentonville . Only our IiirciANS , small and smaller , are on the stage , some practising wit , others comicality , that most melancholy resource of dulness , next to suicide . Woe to the destitute , shut up in ! London , who hope to be amused by bearing a kennel lyric sung on the top of a paper Parnassus ! But what is to be done ? The
weather is bad . No one is in town . There are few new books , or few worth reading . The daily journals are criticizing , at columnar length , the productions of last spring . Dead masses of dust and shilling volumes encumber the stalls . Only an occasional novel is published . The one chance for a heart drowned in dulnesa is an introduction , to the Queen of Oitde , and her six maids of honour , who are unwarrantably kept behind red and yellow
screens . A lady who can pay twelve guineas a day for the use of an hotel is worth knowing . But she is accompanied by several of those peculiarly qualified Asiatics , who stand with rattans at the doors of the harim to guard whatever mysteries of beauty or ugliness may be within . So that , while her gold and her rubies circulate , she will be like the divinity of a Grecian river—invisible , though bounteously bribing .
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THE LECTURING SEASON . LoBD Pjllmerston leads off the amateurs at Manchester . There are announcements of other noble lecturers . They will be , followed by the professional class , and by the class of local gentlemen who talk to their neighbourhoods for an hour and a half , with no other cost to the institution than a vote of thanks . These nre good influences at work ; but n remark contained in the thirty-second annual report of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution
brings to notice a reform that has been found necessary in the lecturing system . The system , to say the truth , has been woefully nbused . A number of men of very low qualifications have adopted lecturing as their vocation ; audiences have been pleased by flashy experiments , and loose tissues of anecdote ; frequently , the lecture degenerates into an . entertainment , and under the pretence
of illustrating the history of music , becomes n aeries > of violent solos . The Directors of the'Manchester Institution have felt , thereibre , that the old system was expensive , unprofitable , anty deceptive . It had ceased to be educatiotial . Ifc had dwindled into a more process of arauuemeut and display , Certiftiuly they are right to . set it asi ( fe in favour ot less frivolous , and auporfieial methods . of inatruction . The proposal is to have better
lecturers and fewer of them , and Mr . Paibbtjrn , Mr . Moreix , and Mr . Hunt have , during the past season , proved that the audience of a mechanics' institute may be addressed with effect on subjects of larga interest , in a comprehensive style . There is an essential difference between the common professional lecturer and the common amateur . The Professed is lively , shallow , universal , and indefinitely voluble . He can lecture on the relations of the sciences , on
the Hindu cosmogony , on the British Constitution , on things remote and things familiar , with inexhaustible facility . He is never doubtful or embarrassed . He never penetrates too far into one branch of knowledge , he wants only " facts" aud "illustrations" for an hour and a half of discourse , rapid and random , and , whether in regard to the atomic theory , the sources of the National debt , the volvox qlobator , or Lewenhoeck ' s
notions of animalcules , can " get up his matter" so as profoundly to impress the two hundred persons , two hundred miles from London , who attend to his clever outpourings . We have heard of a lecture on Eastern history " got up" in a railway carriage , between Paddington and Monmoutb . "We have heard of others , which the lecturer was perfectly aware contained statements of exploded but fascinating hypotheses , especially in connexion with the natural sciences .
The Amateur is usually more sincere . He has gone deeply into his seriously-selected topic , and , with somebody " of influence" in the chair , a body of well-dressed friends to encourage him , and the one stray mechanic who is usually seen in a mechanics' institution to listen , believe , and admire , is often a " decided success . " His object is most frequently abstruse , or very special , and he has , in almost all cases , " new views" of bis own in connexion with it . Certain hitherto unsuggested ideas in conuexion with the Targums and Talmuds have struck the Amateur , and the friends of " the Institute" who would
be glad to know what Targums are , are told that there really is some doubt whether Onkelos or Jonathan had anything to do with them . Or the worship of the serpent is discussed , the Mosaic idea of serpents being attributed to all nations , so that a very ingenious theory inevitably starts into being . These , of course , are exaggerated illustrations , though not fictitious ; but we think some of our readers would be able to contribute a few
notes of not dissimilar purport . The Society of Arts has aided in effecting a change for the better . Many names iu its annual list , however , prove that no high qualifications are necessary to obtain whatever in the nature of a credential is implied by a mention in the official catalogue of lecturers . As lecturing will obviously become the fashion of the age , and as it might be converted into a powerful educational influence , it seems worth while to reflect upon the remarks of the Manchester Board , and to ascertain whether the system may not bo largely improved .
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Tiiic Fkars ov Dkspotism . — "A London Lawyer " communicates to tho daily papers a story of potty oppression on tho part of tho Austrian Government . lie has been practically refused admission to Lombardy , because ho belongs to a family which has shown sympathy with tho Italians . Being told to attend personally at tho Austrian embassy to get his passport vise , ho was there informed that the required authorization could not bo given . After a good deal of mystery , tho reason camo out , as already stated , - " I at onco admitted , " aaya tho gentleman in question , " that I numbered among my friends several of tho Italian refugees in this country . Tho pettiness of this system of espionage is a fitting pendant to tho oppression of tho ( Joverniiicnt of His Most Apostolic Majesty . " Gknierai .. Kmety lias addressed a lottor to General Sir W . F . Williams , complaining of his scanty recognition of his ( General Kmety ' s ) services at Kara , in tho courao of pno of hit * recently delivered speeches ,
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There is no learned man but - confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If then itbe profitable for him to read , why should it not ' least , be tolerable for his adversary to write J—Mijlxok
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THE REV . WILLIAM LAMBERT . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ') Sir , —As you have admitted into the columns of your journal an official notice concerning me , ¦ whi ch appeared in the Ecclesiastical Gazette , I must appeal to your sense o justice to insert my protest against the cruelty o the sentence which it records , and whi ch , from my age and other circumstances , amounts in effect to a sentence of deprivation . I was compe lled by my poverty to throw myself upon the just and merciful consideration of the Bishop of London ; and I confess that vay knowledge of his Lordship ' s character led me to expect from him a decision very different from that which he has given .
Had I possessed the means of going into the Court of Arches , I am persuaded that I should have been able fully to confute the evidence on which I have been condemned . But as I could not afford to pay for justice in any of the ecclesiastical courts , I can only thus publicly declare , as in the presence o Almighty God , and in the near view of death and the eternal world , that I am entirely innocent of everything laid to my charge , with the exception of that which I had myself confessed , and which took place nearly three years ago . I have the honour to be , sir , Your obedient servant , William Lambert . Ealing , August 13 , 1856 .
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[ IN THIS DEPARTMENT , A 3 ALL OPINIONS , HOWEVER EXT REME Anv ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOB NECESSARILY UOLDs ' mw SELF RESPONSIBLE FOB NONE . ] ^ "
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A Child with Two Mothers . — A strange dispute as to the maternity of a child is related by the Durham Chronicle . A young woman came before the magistrates to make a complaint . Her counsel stated that she had formerly been an unfortunate girl , and in the month of December , 1852 , she became pregnant . She entered the Sunderland workhouse to be confined , where she gave birth to a fine , healthy female child . Mrs . Davison , who was acquainted with her , called to see her at the workhouse . Mrs . Davison then appeared as if in a state of pregnancy , caused , as it afterwards turned out , by pillows and padding having been placed about her person . Mrs . Davison then stated to the young girl
that she lived unhappily with her husband , owing to her not having any children , and he frequently beat her for no other reason . She asked the g irl if she would let her have the child , which was then about a week old , and she would bring it carefully up , and also make her husband believe that she had been delivered of it in his absence . She would consider it a particular favour , as it would cause her to live more comfortably with her husband . The child , she said , could be seen by the mother whenever she thought proper to visit it . To this proposition the girl agreed , ami gave Mrs . Daviaon the child . Mr . Davison returned home , and was quite delighted with the " j'oung stranger . " For a time , all
went smoothly on ; tho mother frequently saw the child , which was treated with every kindness . Ultimately , however , the mother got married to a shipwright named Fenwick , who , when he learnt tho story , expressed n great desire to have the child brought home . Mra . Davison , after the mother ' s marriage , refused to allow her to see tho child , and therefore Mrs . Fenwick went to Mrs . Davison ' s house , and during her absenco ran oil with the child . When Mrs . Davison returned , she was greatly alurmed at her loss , and wont to Mrs . Fenwick ' s house and took away the child . The mother , being dethe othoi
termined not to bo outdone , went again to woman ' s house and stole tho child a second time . She was afterwards followed by Mrs . Davison and her lninband , who claimed tho child , but this time tho mother had tho child safe . Thereupon violent dissenoions ensued , which woro continued to such a degrco that the police interfered , and both tho mothers were taken before tho magistrates , who , finding it impossible to deculu as to tho maternity of tho child , advised MrB . Dnvison to allow Mrs . Fenwick to keep it , and not to interfere with her in future . This singular caso was then dismissed , and Mrs . Fenwick walked off in triumph with thu
child . Tiik i . atic Madamic Vkstbis . —Tho funeral of tlio late Madame Vostris took place on Thursday week at Kensal-greon Cemetery . The ceremony was of a perfectly private nature , there being only one mourningcoach , in which woro Mr . Charles Mathowu , the phy , Rloian attendant upon tho deceased , and Mr , M . Qriaon , rt friend of tho family .
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—^—— THE LEADER . [ No . 335 , Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1856, page 808, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2155/page/16/
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