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titled ' Gleanings from the Record Office '—a defence of Henkx VIII . from the charge brought against him by Reginald Pole and reiterated by Dr . TjUHQJlKD , having lived in unlawful intercourse with Anne Boletn ' s sister The Monthlies are taking up an important question that has for some time occupied the attention of the Weeklies arid Quarterlies—the growth of Cotton . The Dublin University Magazine and Tait have each an article on the sub * iect . That in the former is an able and elaborate discussion of the capabilities of India as a cotton-growing country , evidently written by one practically satisfactoiilthat with
familiar with the subject . The writer seems to show -y a little more direct and vigorous action on the market by the consumers , and with the increased facilities for transport which the railways now in procress will give , we might soon become comparatively independent of the southern American States , which , in the present state of their ' domestic institutions , ' we need scarcely say is of the utmost importance . The native novelists seem for the present resting from their labours , the two leading stories of the Dublin being by London men—Bxanchard Jekrold and Shi rley Brooks . In ' The Partners '—the title of the new story by the latter we are likely to have sonic Hedpatu revelations .
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In the June number of The Train Mr . Edmund Yates continues the series of ' Men of Mark' with a brief biographical and critical notice of Wilkib Collins . We may speak in general terms of this notice as marked with excellent taste , feeling , and discretion . Perhaps it would have been better to have abstained from instituting comparisons , but with this single reservation we heartily commend the spirit in which Mr . Yates has discharged a delicate and difficult office . He has proved that thorough independence of judgment , and a nice discrimination are not at all incompatible with an unaffected admiration and a cordial sympathy . The following extract will suffice to justify our words : —
After long and careful observation of Mr . Collins ' s writings , I am perfectly certain that he never enters upon a story until the plot , in all its ramifications and bearings , has been thoroughly weighed and digested in his own mind ; and also , that when he has once set to work , his original intention is never departed from . All his honesty of purpose , all this labour , this artistic preparation would , however , be useless had he not the power to carry out his intentions ; but this power he has . Placing him in my own estimation as the fourth in rank among the British novelists of the present day ( and among those prior to him 1 have classed that wondrous -woman whose biography has so recently been given to us )" , I contend that as a storyteller he has no equal ; that he possesses the art de conter above all living writers . Inferior to Dickens in pathos and humour , inferior to Thackeray in the knowledge of the secret workings of the human heart , and in the popular exposition of a C 3 'nicai philosophy , inferior to Miss Brontti in his grasp of persons and places , his power of description , and in the quaint uttering of startling and original doctrines , —he yet possesses a considerable amount of the qualifications of all these authors j while in the talent with which the foundations of bis story are laid , and the edifice afterwards raised to completion , he far surpasses them .
We prefer to say as little as possible about the execution of the accompanying portrait , which we may charitably believe is the result of an accident to the wood-block .
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Messrs . Maxjll and Polvblank have just added to their Photographic Gallery of Living Celebrities a life-like portrait of General Williams of Kars , who appears on this occasion seated , and in plain clothes . The General has a look of suppressed impatience , and at the same time of scrutinizing curiosity , which brings out the characteristics of the head with great effect . The portrait of W . P . FuiTir , U . A ., is calm , thoughtful , and observant , The notices by Mr . E . Walfokd arc in each case careful and sufficient . The next subject in the series is to be Cardinal Wiseman .
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The death of Mr . Bkimley , Fellow of Trinity College , Cambridge , and sometime librarian to that distinguished Society , will leave a blank in a largo but select circle of the world of literature which it would be difficult to fill with equal worth and excellence again . Not to us belongs the enviable but melancholy privilege of speaking of the deceased with the voice of intimate and familiar sorrow ; but we cannot forget that it was under the auspices of his geniul and graceful hospitality that we were first acquainted with the University which he adorned . In the noble labour and tranquillity of that dignificd existence , Mr . Biumlky lived a life of studious refinement , of scholarly serenity , of elevated thought , of unresting and devoted work , surrounded by the affection nnd esteem of friends wliosc society was a solnce , and whose sympathy was a reward . A ripe and rare scholar , a vigorous thinker , a correct and polished writer , a critic endowed with I he nicest taste and the truest judgment , and enriched with the- most delicate sensibilities , Mr . Biumlky was one of
thoso men , so frequent in our country , who arc the unacknowledged legislators of public opinion and authoritative- criticism ; but how few there aro among tlio many that have been instructed , and elevated , and delighted by tho subtle thought , the picroing logic , tho line and delicate feeling , and tho penetrating charm of style , who imagined 1 lint the thinker , and the writer , and tho toucher , was tho quiet Follow of a College , sitting far apart from tho turmoil and the Btrifo P IJis early death will bo no surprise to thoso who know how cheerfully and contoiitodly the suffering and tho weariness wore borno ; but the cessation of a life so nobly lavished , if it docs not tako us by surprise , shocks us by its suddennoss : by tho suddenness , we mean , of tho vaoancy it leaves bohind .
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THE LIFE OF HANDEL . The Life of Handel By Victor Schoelcber . Trttbner and Go . Whatever the Germans may have to say upon this point , we think that we can fairly claim George Frederick Handel as an Englishman . True he was born at Halle in Lower Saxony , was educated at Berlin , made his debut in the musical world as violin , di ripieno in the Hamburg Theatre ; true that after his return from Home the Elector George ( afterwards George I . ) made him chapel-master—all these matters are of small account in our eyes before the undeniable facts that it was to England that his steps were attracted by an irresistible impulse ; that it was in England that he spent three-fourths of his life ; that it was in England that he produced all the works which have immortalized his name ; that is was the people of England
who adopted him as their composer of all others , doing him honour and bringincr him profit during his life , and continuing to worship his genius with a fidelity which has grown ever stronger and stronger ; and that it is in England that his glorious works ( inexpressibly the greatest expressions of musical poetry that have ever been heard ) are best known and most reverenced . And if even stronger evidence be wanting of our claim to consider Handel as a fellow-countryman , can we not find it m the fact that this work of M . Schoelcher , himself a foreigner , makes its first appearance in the English tongue , and that ( according to his confession ) it is in England alone that the authorship of such a work is possible ? reader to Handel
The information hitherto attainable by" the general as and his works is to be derived from the Memoirs by the Rev . John Mainwaring Dr . Burney ' s Account of the Commemoration of 1784 , the History of Musichy the same author , Sir John Hawkins ' s General History of the Science end Practice of Music , and Mr . Horatio Townsend ' s Visit to Dublin . Other matter is of course in existence , or M . Schcelcber ' s book would have been unnecessary , and if every page in the volume did not contain abundant evidence of research , fruitful in results , the copious list of consulted works which runs over seven well-filled pages , bears ample testimony to the extent of M . Schoelcher ' s enterprise ; but the field in which he has worked has not ht
been a very open one , nor has the labour which has been expended lig ; cyclopaedias and pamphlets , musical dictionaries and memoirs , works of all descriptions in English , French , and German , collections of newspapers and of original MSS — such are the materials which M . Schcelcher has had to collect as he best could , to digest , to collate , and to reconcile . And nobly has he executed his task ; for three years has he bent a patient head over things which , to say the least of it , were very different from what had formerlv occupied his attention . The spectacle of an energetic politician resting himself when rest has become necessary is at all times a suggestive one ; " but when we find him seeking rest and recreation m a more change of labour and occupying his talents with the performance of a great and difficult task , we cannot but accord a high measure of esteem to an industry and
a devotion so thoroughly conscientious . '¦•¦ , * The special merits of this book are these ; it corrects many errors in dates and matters of fact into which preceding writers have fallen , and it brings to li"ht facts respecting Handel and works of his which have not been previously known , or which , at any rate , have never before been related or spoken oi in print . It follows , then , that no one can be considered to know all about the great composer until he has perused M . Schoelcher's book . Whatever may be its imperfections ( andit has them—as , indeed , what work has not ?) , it is the best and most complete account of the Shakspeare of Music and his immortal works which has as yet appeared . # A brief statement of the leading facts in connexion with Handel s career may not be unacceptable to the reader . He was born at Halle on the 23 rd of February , 1685 , in spite of the tomb in Westminster Abbey , which stonily asserts , and stoutly adheres to it , that the true date of his birth is the 24 th of February , 1684 . The difference between old and new style may explain this ; but let that pass . His father was a surgeon , and intended the little fellow to be a- lawyer . At a very early age , however , he manifested decided musical tendenciesand the worthy doctor , as many fathers
, have been compelled to do , was fain to let Nature have her way . Mis musical Gamaliel was Zackau , the organist of the cathedral at Halle , who grounded him in music , and laid the foundation of that immense general knowledge of the art which became one of the great composer a leading characteristics . When he was eleven years old , he appeared at Berlin as a prodigy , exciting the wonder and even the envy of Ins future rival , Bononcini . " When he was thirteen , his father died , leaving him poor , and with a mother to be supported . Six years afterwards we find him at the Hamburg Theatre , filling tho not very lofty situation of violin di ripieno . His genius , however did not long suffer him to remain in a subordinate position , for lie was soon ' promoted to the honourable post of conductor . 'Iwo years afterwards he produced his first dramatic work , Almira , queen of Lastille ; or , The Vicissitudes of Royally , which was followed by three more operas , written The Vicissitudes of Royally , which was followed by three more operas , written workswith the
and produced whilst he was at Hamburg . All these , exception of Almira , are lost , and of that opera only one copy is said to be m existence , and that one ia in MS ., and is in tho Berlin Library . In 1706 Handel visited Italy , and there produced some operas and also religious works which raised him to a high rank among composers . Thei opera of Roderirio { rained from the Grand Duke of Tuscany ' a service of plate and a purse containing a hundred sequins ; ' whilst his oratorio the Jtesurreczione won for him the friendship and esteem of the greatest princes of the Roman Church From this time forward his career was triumphant . In 1710 lie paid his first viwit to London , and in February , 1712 , ho permanently settled there . Rinaldo ( his first opera produced in England ) appeared on t he 24 tli of February , 1711 , with immense success . Here let us record for the information , and we have no doubt to the astonishment , of most of our readers , that Handel wrote thirtu-nine Italian operas during his residence in
fcnglund , all of which are known , and only four of which have not been pub . lished . When George I . carno to England ho found his truant ohjipoJmastor occupying a high place in public favour . Disposed to bo a iiwio gruffatfirat , tho king , . who was a great amateur of music , suffered hi nisei t to bo mollified by tho delicious IVator-Music , which Hnndel oovnnoaod o * P ™«| J for one of tho royal pic-nics , and the result was a pension of 200 * ., touoweu
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June 6 , 1857 . ] THE LEADEB . 545
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Leader (1850-1860), June 6, 1857, page 545, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2196/page/17/
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