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sentence will prevent many readers from venturing much beyond it . It would haiva arrested us , if-we had not been bound to proceed as a matter of stem du * y ; We- can- at least warn ; every one els * not to trouble themselves with- this refutation of' Mr . Buskin . As ar convenient example * of Mr ; Young ' s philosophical capacity ,, and a test of InV powers va dealing with subjects so complex a 3 those of Art , let us consider his definition of Poetry . After noticing the unsatisfactormess of all previous attempts to answer the question , What is Poetry ? he is led to thla . astoundlag revelation that . " Pbetry appeals to the Imagination . And ¦ with , his accustomed felicity he adds : —^ Q £ poetry ik may fce said truly , as of . Goldsmith it was said epitapliically , mfi . il tstagit quod , nan ornemt" ( ha touched nothing he : did not adorn ) , —it is in its nature . ^ Mb . Young , we may be certain * will nofc understand why we read with extreme wemnesa * . writer who exraesseiJ himself , in language aueh as that ;
bnfe our readers will understand why we do not think it necessary to . examine the arguments of saeh a writer . Had not the the title of this work been ana to . attract aitenttoH we should have wasted no space on it ; but as ' tasters / for the public , we are bound to say of Mr . Young « epitaplncally " ndiil teiigzt quad . nQn . maaiiavik
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THE WANDERING JEW . THe £ effimtZqftJl& Wandering Jem . Illustrated , by Gustave Dore . Translated by G . W . Thombury . ^ Addey and Co . Gustave Uoais has illustrated with twelve magnificent designs the legend of toe Wandering : Jew , Bierre Dupont has supplied the versified story , Paul Lacjioix the . bibliographical notice , Beranger the "ballad version , Mr . rifcornbury tha English rendering , and some critical note 3 . For thi 3 translation ,, aitd the remarks accompanying it , not much is to be said . But the il 3 astrations v feonx the ; originaL French plates ,, are superb . They have all the- cbaracteristies manifested by Dov 6 in his previous : works—th& conceptions of vast and cloudy architecture , the miraculous" pine-tree shadows , the ( joainrti groups ) , the wondrously-aged figuttes , storm , sacred horror ; comedy , mingled in- one- picture . Only such , ar * artist could interpret fitly such a legend .. Only suGh ait artist could render tolerable the contrast of the ass nibbling at the beard of the majestic « Jew . What is . merely quaint when M . Dore" presentsiit would be ludieroua presented by a . less creative
fancyo ' clock in the evening , two burghers of Brabant met him in their town . He conversed with them , drank wine with them , related his hifftory , and passed onv He is now , probably , among the recesses of tie Andes , and , while we await his return , his memory is kept green among us by the ten Freud pieces which bear his name , ; by numerous poems Edgar Quinet ' s among others—by Beranger ' s noble song , by Sue ' s novel , M . Ernest Dore ' a music , and M . D ore ' s illustrations , worthy in . all respects of the artist , yho worthily illustrated Rabelais .. First , the moment of the ma lediction is presented ; the Jew has heard his doom , the wild tumult passes on and h « is away on his centuries of wandering . Next , juat emerging fro m an antique town ,, with , a tempest in the sky , and dreary shadows deepening * over the earthy he passes a wayside cross , and shrinks as his eye turns to it in helpless fascination . Then in a town of Belgium , rich with towerscables
, balconies ; strange ^ bartisans , bell-turrets , and jutting windows . He ig invited to rest awlile in an inn , which-, strangely enough , he consents to do . But not long . In the fourth picture lie is seen breaking away from his companions for an hour , the angel drives him on , he hurries along the Rhine and Rhone ; among forests , rivers , and mountains , and now in light * no-win , shadow , now in . the glancings of the water , the figure of Christ bearing the crosa continually meets his eye , with his own figure in an attitude of reviling . Then he enters a black and damp churchyard and groans , in envy of those who lie in their graves . Still the trees and the clouds and the tombstones mock him with the image of the Cross . He rushes on . among the high Sviss vallejs , the pinea and stones take hideous shapes , the beautiful but relentless-angel follow * with her goad of fire . Even amid the mountains of thehiglest regions the same accursed vision is repeated . He rushes into a battle and no
one can kill him . He plunges into tlieocean , stirred into great whirlpools by a hurricane , and does not drown , so that even the faces of the dead are turned to him in wonder ; he travels to the Andes , in the midst of wild beasts , serpents , and gaping river monsters , and does not find the death he seeks . At last the trumpet of the . Judgment sounds . The Jew ,, with a shout of delirious laughter , leans against a stone , strips off his dust-worn shoes ,, and preparea for the rest of the Eternal . Such ia this extraordinary legend , on wMch * the illustrations confer a new vitality . Often grotesque , always exaggerated , Dore never appear * to exceed the grotesque exaggerations of his subject . His fancies are 1 marvellously varied , surprising , Rabelaisian . Mr . Thornbury ealls hhn a painter of dreams . This he is , literally . Has castles , his valleys , his seas , his battles , his street perspectives , have all the shadowy idealism of dreams , yet they are never confused or indistinct .
The illustrations seem to have been taken from the original French plates . They are accompanied by the legend and the critical notices ,, boldly printed on folio pages . M- Dupont's version has been carefully , if not very effectively , translated by Mr . Thornbury , whose rendering of Beranger , is , however * an unmistakable failure .. The prologue has beem ' done into ' elegant and forcible English ; by Mr . John Stebbing .
TSL Laeroix ' s- biblrograpbicaknotice will , be . read , with even more interest fclfean M . Dfupont ' s- metrical version * which , together with Benvnger ' s ballad , Eas * suffered mueh in the-hands of the translator 1 —necessarily so , perhaps , becauseDupont , no less than Be ' ranger ; Js generally untranslatable . The legend of the . Wandering Jew waff current during the whole of the Middle Ages , and even now prevails among the population , of a great part of Europe . The Jew is . siilE beJieve&In ,. and his return is still expected . Long befor-e the conunenGiexaent of the : thirteenth century , certainly , the idea was set afloat that the . curse upaa , the Jewish nation falling u . p on the head of one individual would < 3 nLve hiaa in undying misery round the world ,, until the Judgment-day > M .. Lacroixr adopts the suggestion that the inyth . arose from some pueacher ' s or p-oet ' s aUegory , personifying the Hebrew race , without
liome and without repose . The Crusaders , perhaps ,, brought it from Palestine . At all events , it is of older date than the Crusades , for the unconscious originators of the legend would not have assigned to the Jew a period of wandering which must Save-been terminated before the story had become popufor . The * year One Thousand had' been the . terror of the Catholic ^ Jhur cft . Then was to come Antichrist :, then , the last Judgment , when the Jew -worded cease from his terrible travels . At that time , doubtless , he was personated by numerous impostors , who disseminated , the tradition of hra curse ^ an < i collected the alms of the charitable : in . his name . Theologians , of course ^ took up > the tale ,, and attached to it more than . owe > ingenious commentary . Some said the Jew was Malthus , whose- easr Peter had cut off in the Garden of Olives ; others , that he was
the impenitent thief nailed with Christ upon tHe cross ; others , that he was PHsufie ; while , in an- old tract whieh M . LacTobc seems to have missed ^ w rem « mber having seen him identified with IsGariot himself . Far and wide ,. h » w « ver , the- report of an Armenian archbishop waa accepted ^ declaring-hra * to-have-been Cartaphilus > who-struck Jesus in tho-judgment hall . Bufc tiki * version gradually ga / pe wayUo another , still popular :, that the shoemaker wi-o refused Christ * moment ' s rest at his door ., when fainting under the cross * wa » tlie Wanderfnpj Jew . His- judgtxven * was ia these terms : — ' ^ Xhow hast refused me re 3 t ; thou th y self shalt never rest again untilt the Last Dtay 1 ' ^ Matthew Paris and Philip Maeskos , off Tournay , nevertheless , relhte ' tlke history m its Araxenian forna ^ as applying * to Gartaphilus , or , in later centuries , to Ahasuerus , the same person , under an altered name . In
Jtme 1564 , some-good eatholic of Hamburg , writing to a friend , declared , upon great authority , that , in > the winter of 1542 , the theologian Paul of Eitizen , llemgf-i » a , congregation at Hamburg , saw an old man , witli a prodr ^ o ua bear d anti bao ? e . fiiefci who turned out to be the Wandering Jew . Heh&af beam present , by his- awn account , at the death of Christ , and added 9 orae'rnumt& partaetdam to- the- evangelical history . He had driven Christ from htiff dbor , he aaritd ^ andi upon the words being' utter-ed , " I shall resfe , but yea snail go on , rot dawn hi * child , walked to Calvary , witnessed ttte * cnrcifixionv and 1 ever afteswards wandered ^ under divine- compul < - sionv otto tfte > earthi . Hre alwayat spoko the- language of the country ra wtaott he-happenodi tov sojourn , Bfa eat , drank , and spoke little , never smrieoT ! coalot endure
, aw * n blasphemy . In 1575 , two envoys from ; Hiarfstt ou * met him- m Spaab ,- eomo < yeows ltettew bta wna s « ea in Strasburg ; and m 166 * m France , aa > a road- ia Goaoony . Indeed ^ not . long after ^ wwal ^ raBi « mdib « hwyem racogwaad him ia Eajjii ^ . neat N . otro Dame . At <* ta « tinuM * peopfeio ? Englwnd ^ IHwlty ; Sweden ^ Austrian Polandi and Busmni , declared th « y had : met ) and eonv « w » ed > with Mm ; He wae > certain y at Leipsic in 1642 , if ocufet testimony be- of anr value , and as ce »» amly . liewa » afcBkru » sel&ii » H 64 Oj for tw&eteiaen&ssw him . I In the same y «» r-lie a ^« ef » eaVm tha foP < wt of Soignesj and' he oujfhtt to . have appoaredi nofllang ' irfterwards . m ' LoBdonf , acoopatiag tath « caloulattione of theKmad - bwfr ^ iif w «« not until / the ueconcfc hal& of tho eighteenth century , oc tho 23 nd > < rf April , l" 77 B , that he- w « n = aeen by unspir ituai eyosi At six
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OLIVER CROMWELL . Oliver Cromwell : a Story oftJi& Civil War . By Charles E . Stewart . 2 . vols . Smith , Elder , and Co . A tobtkait of Oliver Cromwell , drawn by Charles Stuart , would rank among historical curiosities . To the novel by the Chai-les Stewart of this title-page , however , we scarcely know what rank to assign . It is a neatlywritten ,, moderately-interesting book .. There are some subjects , in fact , which cannot , again be rendered more than moderately interesting , unless by authors -with new materials at their command , or new interpretations to suggest . Such subjects aTe : —the French Revolution , the English Civil Wars , the subjugation of India , and others of that class . Of compilations and
romantic paraphrases we have had more than enough . Let Mirabeau and Robespierre lest until something , new can be said ; let us wait for Clive ' s account of Plassey , and , until then , be content with our existing political and- military histories ; above all 1 , save us from historical romances rn connexion with the Roundheads and Cavaliers . We have already enough of them to furnish a Brighton Library . What would be acceptable is a thoroughly-sifted Life of Cromwell , on a moderate scale ,, to be classified ¦ with the histories , of Blake and : Pienn , and' the biography , when any one has written it , of Vane . Who would- care for Blake : a Story of the Seventeenth Century , or Penn : a Romance of the Neio World ? and who pares now for
Oliver Cromwell : a Sloryofthe Civil War ? A very small number of persons , we venture to say . TUen , why should Mr . Stewart attempt to do justice to the King or the Protector in a form so trite as that of the novel ? We beg him to walk no more in the patha of James and Ainsworth—to whom no disrespect is intended—but to write history or fiction instead of confusing the two . To this protest against all whom it may concern , —all who , directly or indirectly connive at ' historical romances' about tho Civil War , —we will add that Mr . Stewart ' s volumes are by no means unreadable . Though n « t striking in manner or matter , they bear the impress , of a thoughtful niind , which : never stagnates in dull digressions , or Ion «• reaches of . speculati < m . Readers who can tolerate a new " Story of tho Civil War" find them- , entertaining .
Mr . Stewart ' s theory of breakfasts may be disputed * . Wo mny not , in tfieae days , eat " a , potentl and : majestic : dinner" ' and sis : o ' clouk ia the ' morning ; but Mr . Stewart , may . be aaaurodi that the Queeni ' s ( luurds do not live upon' sodiu-wafeen , champagne ,, and sweet cakes . Uffor are pasties utterl y banished ; . nor is > coffeoi pure " namby-pambyism . ; " Bacon and JBurleigh may hawa-fed upon : beef ,, alo , and ; strong wine ; but it ia doubtful wliethec ouc goufr-sm / ibten ministers and chancellors diet theinaalves in tho aerial way of which the novelist complains . They built fine houseu in the Elizabethan age ,, but whether they dined * or breakfiiated liofctor ii » at least queationablcv
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90 OME ^ LEADEB . [ No . 357 , Saturt ^ at ^
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 90, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2177/page/18/
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