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^ sSS ^ f ^^^^ ssaaKffi VirSn a " FS « th has been miraculously transported to Loretto , and that tKo Kcstatica of Botzen is supernaturally inspired . .. m have not been convinced by Mr / Waterton s essay on cannibalism It fc superficial and unsatisfactory The ordinary Reding . of nrn ^ sit ^^^' ^ S a ^ a ^ '&s ^ Marsar ^ sS ^ ,, Kfo ^ 1 v in ^ nimis . Durini ? the whole of his wanderings in the barbarous boxes
interior of Guiana he never once met with , a cannibal , although he saw containing dried human hands ; but this circumstance was explained by another , that when the maroon negroes escaped it was the customi of the colonists to pay a reward for every maroon ' hand brought them , and the Indians having slain one in the forests pickled hi s hands to preserve them to produce at head-quarters . Moreover , the body of the red monkey , _ which is frequently cooked as food , resembles when eaten that of a chiId . ^ Mence a cor ? oboration of the horrible rumour . But Mr . Waterton ' s illustrations and crime
do not suffice to clear up this mystery of human passion . We have been delighted by his Essay on Snakes . He ' advocates the cause of snakes . ' They are a maligned race of creature ^ The prejudice against them originated in Paradise . Orpheus lost his Eurydice through the malignity of a snake , Laocoon and his sons were st rangulated by a seaserpent , Cleopatra died from the bite of an asp , and yet , Mr . Waterton ur ^ es , snakes are neither aggressive nor vindictive—they do not use their pofson-fangs in capturing their food ; even when attacked thevnever strike twice" In no instance have I seen a snake act on the offensive . 11
. assaulted or disturbed , it retorts by pricking its enemy . The adder is a harmless little fellow ; ' the viper seldom uses its fangs . Confiding m his knowledge that snakes never use their poison-fangs , except when driven to extremities , he was accustomed , when in South America , to rove the forests day after day without shoes or ' stockings , ' and yet no other region swarms with ' such a show of magnificent serpents . '
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NEW NOVELS . Quits : a Novel . By the Baroness Tautphseus . 3 vols . ( Bentley . )—The Baroness Tautphams , author of The Initials , has written a better story in Quits . Her style is improved ; her invention has more grasp ; her power of drawing character has strengthened . She has still , however , to guard against a habit . of grotesque delineation , which she carries to its height in tlie pict ure of her heroine playing battledoor . The plot of the novel is by no means involved . It turns upon a family feiid , but the conception is inr geniously worked out , and the effect of variety is produced by rapid transitions of time and place , managed with art , and rendered interesting by a minclin ^ of romancesatireand sketches of pastoral continental lite . Ihe
, , Barones ° writes with a good deal of knowledge of society , and with sufficient taste to avoid exaggeration of language . Incidents that might otherwise appear extravagant are thus reduced to a sober tone . Her device for bnngin ^ the hist o ry to a clo se is certainly original , and takes the reader by surprise after his interest has been thoroughly aroused . We are so weary of fashionable fiction , with heroines of incomparable beauty , superhuman young men , ' a father ' s curse , ' and pale , proud ladies , that it is a refreshment to find a novelist striking into fragrant byways , and going among woodlands and woodmen , without reverting to the old tricks of melodrama . Upon the whole , Quits is a healthy , sensible , amusing book , with a tinge of originality , and vigorously as well as agreeably written . Ireton
^ t . Eustace ; or , The Hundred and One : a Novel . By Vane St . John . 3 vols . ( Newby . )—We have to welcome , in a friendly way , Mr . Vane St . John , who brings us a romance of the seventeenth century , full * of pictures and adventures . His intention is to effect a romantic restoration of manners , customs , and architecture as they existed some two hundred and fifty years ago , dashing his narrative with a few historical epieodes , and relying principally upon the excitement produced by a perpetual procession of incidents , over which are thrown the lights and shadows of the Huguenot Avar . Farina : a Legend of Cologne . By George Meredith , Author of ' The Shaving of Shagpat . ' ( Smith , Elder , and Co . )—Farina is a wild , quaint , surprising story , written with excessive elaboration . Mr . Meredith seems to take up one sentence after another , not laying it down until it has been wrought , chased , polished , and tinted into a separate bit of art or fancy . The effect is novel ; but Mr . Meredith ' s peculiarities are occasionally wearisome . Farina , by distributing flasks of a curious-scented distillation , enables Kaiser Heinrich to enter the odorous city of Cologne , and thus wins the White Rose Margarita , whose bridal preparations are luxuriously described . Such is the legend . The narrative opens at Cologne , where Margarita ' s father is the Emperor ' s money-lender , whose raftsmen were thick upon the Rhine . We have an early specimen of Mr . Meredith ' s literary theory s " A wailful host wore the wives of bis raftsmen widowed there by her watery music . " He is an heraldic artist in the use of colours in bright contrasts . Half his pages are made of purple clusters , red blushes on ' brow and bosom , ' yellow lmir decked with crocuses , blue eyes , silver arrows , and other kaleidoscopic fancies . His Schwarz-Thier ' swung himself on his broad-backed charger , and gored tho fine beast till she rattled out a blast of sparkles from the flint . ' His Werner ' s brows grew black with blood . ' Out of his Margarita ' s cheeks * the colour had passed like a blissful Western red , leaving rich paleness in the sky . ' His Farina is a loving poet , who looks on s tho white sew of the saints / who apostrophises * colourless peace ! ' « Oh , my beloved ! So walkest thou for my soul on the white sea every night , clad in tho strait pall of thy spotless virgin linen ; bearing in thy hand tho lily , and leaning thy cheek to it where the human rose is softened to a milky bloom of red , the espousals of heaven with earth ; over thee , moving with thoe , a wreath of sapphire stars , and tho solitude of purity
around . ' Meanwhile , Margarita * lay and dreamed in rose colour , and if she thrilled on her pillowed silken couch like a tense-strung harp , and fretted drowsily in little leaps and starts , ' she is happy in the end ; Aunt Lisbeth undresses her ; * she stands in her hair , ' and Farina is the happiest man in Cologne , purified by the exquisite perfume of his distillation . The story , with all its eccentricities , is clever and amusing . Nearer and Bearer : a Novelette . By Cuthbert Bede , B . A . ( Bentley . )—Nearer and Bearer is a . trifle and an extravagance . It might have been written in a day , arid it may be read through in an hour . The entire tissue is made up of coincidences and improbabilities , worked over with grotesques , relieved now and then by a passage of graceful sentimentality . The merit of the piece is that it is sure to entertain the reader , to keep him awake in a railway-carriage , to sweeten his solitary coffee—in fact , to answer its author ' purpose , and add a rattling fragment of agreeable nonsense to the series commencing with V ^ erdant Green .
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SACRAMENTAL WORSHIP . The Principles of Divine Service : an Inquiry concerning the True Manner of Understanding and Using the Order for Morning and Evening Prayer , and for the Administration of the Holy Communion in the English Church . By the Rev . Philip Freeman , M . A ., formerly Fellow and Tutor of St . Peter ' s College , Cambridge , late Principal of the Theological College , Chichester . ° John , Henry , and James Parker . The present volume contains the introduction to the second part or Mr . Freeman ' s work , and contains an elaborate history and analysis of the various opinions held respecting the Eucharist at different epochs and in the different countries of Christendom . Hegarding this sacred institution as the basis of the Christian faith , Mr . Freeman uses it as a test of the purity of the Church at various times , and for that purpose divides his account of it into two great periods—the Uncontroversial , when the simple belief in one set of opinions respecting it lasted a thousand years unchallenged , and the Controversial , which includes the subsequent period to the present day It is not our province to enter into the discussions that have taken place and still divide the Christian world on the subject of the ' elements ' and the ' mystery' contained in the Sacrament . Even the most zealous enthusiasts admit their ignorance of the nature and manner positively of the operation of this institution , and hence they fall back upon the terms ' heavenly or spiritual' as explicatory of effects which are above their comprehension . Mr . Freeman relies much upon the superiority of the Liturgies over the Fathers in determining Eucharistic questions , since there is a general tendency in them to maintain the harmony of Eucharistic teachino- when " compared with the capricious doctrines of individual ^ preachers . From this point the question becomes polemical . Perfect submission is no longer the rule of faith . Various views . are taken of the corporeal and spiritual nature of the elements , and the war of pens begins . The doctrine of the annihilation of the Eucharistic elements , first asserted about the year
1035 , commenced the controversy , which extended throughout Europe and Christendom , notwithstanding the condemnation of Berengarius for uphold ing the old doctrines of the West in opposition to the new doctrine introduced . It was this event that brought about the final separation into two great divisions of the East and West , and so far is a matter of history as well as of theology . From this date these two great branches of the Church exhibited diametrically opposite phenomena with reference to the mystery of the Eucharist . The Western mind is thenceforth largely and intently occupied in discussing , defining , and contesting it ; the annihilation view becomes dominant , is systematized by schoolmen , and imposed with increasing
stringency by councils . But in England , however , the opinions that prevailed on the Continent were not altogether palatable . It is true that they were early imported by Lanfranc , after the conquest of this country by William , but they met with a strong opponent in Anselm , and subsequently in Duns Scotus , Occam , Bacon , and Holkot . It is a curious fact that the old English Eucharistic Offices differ in many points from the Roman , especially in not recognising the worship of the consecrated elements ; and the unanimity of the ritual works on this head is significant . Diocesan decrees enjoin reverence , but they refrain from using the term adoration . The reason of this difference between the English and the Papal rituals is
probably to be traced in the insularity of our character . The Pope had never a strong hold upon the affections of the English , and though for a while , during tho pure Norman ascendancy , his authority was enforced , the reaction that took place in the middle of the thirteenth century was a certain indication that his rule was doomed . It is unnecessary to enter upon this period . For the next three hundred years the Church of Rome held disputed sway in this island , and by aid of the fagot and the sword maintained a dubious dominion over the souls and consciences of the people . Tho Wicklifiites and Lollards , however , persevered in the work of opposition until Luther effected the Reformation , when tho national spirit declared itself against Italian interference , and shook off" a yoke they hnd impatiently borne for several centuries .
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NEW EDITIONS . Mrs . Colin Mackenzie has republished 'The Mission , tho Camp , and tho Zenana , ' under a new title , Bellii , the City of the Great Mogul ( Bentley ) . —It contains a good description of Delhi , and is altogether an instructive and agreeable book . In a similar form we have Mrs . Susannah Moodie fl Roughing It in the Xnsh ; or , Life in Canada ( Bontley ) , a volume deservedly popular . Taking advantage of tho excitement concerning India , Captain Rafter reissues his clever compilation ' A Military History of the British Empire in the East' as Our Indian Army ( Bryce ) . — It is full of interesting matter , closely packed and neatly arranged . Tho hundred and sixty-ninth volume of the Parlour Library is The Man-at-Armst ( Hodgson ) , by <*¦ x . x \ . Jamos , and decidedly one of liis best . A somewhat remarkable reprint s Tho Land of Silence and the Land of Darkness , b y / K ^ , ' , "' „ ' £ 2 Ti „ ( Longman and Oo . ) .-It consists of two essays which originally appeared m hTELffh liovie * . Messrs . Smith and Efder announce a series of ^ hoop reprints of successful novels , and now we have Jam Eyro , by Ol » rtotto Bronte , neatly printed on good paper with elastic covers , for halt-a-crown .
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» r » «*« A ^ usx 29 , 1857 . 1 THE REAPER . 837
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 29, 1857, page 837, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2207/page/21/
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