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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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writer ?* Ife signifies , simply , that he hopes to work off a large edition . It is ludicrous enough to find * eritiea' billing to aid in gul-Ling the devotees of the circulating library to "trrite , ' Every page of this work glitters with genius , * is * graven in letters of fire ; ' bat these little pens will have their way , and not 3 » ucb harm is done when your friend , who has produced three volumes of violent absurdity , ds pronounced a female Juvenal . In the interest of literature , however , it is necessary ,
• i&eason . after season , to protest against the -columns of shop-made panegyric which assist in foisting" dros 3 and doggerel upon the ^ book-stalls . An excellent novel of country life j' the remarkable talent displayed in this volume ;* ' the best collection of jokes ever made ; ' ' this volume bids fair to surpass all the other productions of the talented lady ; ' ' a most thrilling tale of extraordinary adrentures ; ' 'told with so much truthfulness that the reader can hardly imagine the story to be si fiction ; ' * the most '
¦ delightful book of travels ever written ; ' one of the most delightfully written tales we have ever read , * are not imagined idealities of criticism , but form a cluster culled from , two -or three pages of a single catalogue . Is this -criticism ? Clearly not , as no authorities are eited . Then , what is it ? Mere impertinence and imposture . We say again , we do not think that such elap-traps will be abolished by being held up to shame ; but the public may be enlightened as to the value of < those little corner paragraphs and fly-leaf panegyrics by which ife is sought to get up
lalse reputations , and to puff into notoriety the sweepings © f English and Amexican literature-. When , after all forms of puffing _ have r " been exhausted in vain , the book remains unsold , a fresh title-page is printed . The volume formerly called The War in the JPtmjab , is now called The JB&ngal JHzttiny J&wery , a tale of appalling interest reappears as Woe f Woe ! a work which should be in every young lady's hands . It will come out next year as JEualine ; or , the Story of an Anguished Heart . We shall be told , This is a fiction of surpassing power . " But who will tell us ? One who would as
willingly indite the praise of a pill or a paletot as promote the immortality of JSualine . There may be "no vice , no dishonesty in the practice ; but if it misleads the public , it is at least pernicious , and ought to be Jsnovra for what it is . It is not to be imagined what rancid trash is forced into circulation by these discreditable arts . Ever since the success of Uncle lorn , moreover , it < has become the fashion to proclaim a sale of forty or a hundred thousand copies , and ^ readers are carried away by the fictitious
tide . If ,, however , they would interpret all anonymous paragraphs of eulogy as mere catehpenny advertising , and discriminate between authoritative criticism and the friendly -exaggerations of minor prints , they might not be so often disappointed after purchasing ¦* the best hook of the Beason , price eighteenjponce . ' You cannot walk a mile without seeing four or . five newspapers , each an-< not » mced aa ' the largest in the world , ' . cbaen shops , as tho ' only shop where the genuine article may be had ; ' and the one ( puff is worth just as much aa the other .
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ATTDIiA AT GALLOWAY . A WrGTOWNSimiE contemporary courteously invites us to explain , why - \ ve said that Charles Cartel defeated the hordes of Attila , when we should have separated the two events , and said .-that on the plain consecrated to the Garde Imperialc Attila was defeated in the fifth , century , whereas "Mnrtel did not defeat the Saracens ou the same spot till the eighth . Why we wrote so slovenly a sentence
we cannot noiv ascertain , since our notes were clear ; so we have determined to lay it on the printer . It is curious , by-the-by , Ih ' at Chateaubriand throws not the slightest light upon the subject iii his historical essay on Atala ! We can , however , scarcely regret our "hideous lapsus , or rather paralysis calami , since it lias drawn out our accomplished and amiable censor in Big \ vi « --townshire , with whose zeal on the right appreciation of Attila we heartily sympathize .
If we erred , who has not ? On second thoughts , these forgetfulnesses are a proof of wisdom and of wit . How many instances crowd upon us ? Lord Bolinghroke imagined that in those fiunous verses , beginning with Excudent alii , &c , Virgil attributed to the Romans the glory of having ' surpassed the Greeks in historical composition . According to his idea , those ltoman . historians whom Virgil preferred to the Grecians were Sallust , Livy , and Tacitus . Yet was not Virgil dead before Livy had written his history , and before Tacitus was born ? J 5 ut there are other blunders ' . besides tmacltvonisius : The Abbe
Biz ' ot , the autlicr of the medallic history of Holland , fell into a droll mistake . There is a modal , struck when Philip II . set forth his . Invincible ; Armada , on which are represented the King of Spain , the Emperor , the Pope , Electors , Cardinals , &c , with their eyes covered -with a bandage , and braving for inscription this fine verse of Lucretius : —
" O coecas hominum mentes ! O pectora caeca !" The Abbe , prepossessed with the prejudice'that a nation persecuted by the Pope and his adherents ' could not rep-resent them without some insult , did not examine with sufficient care the cuds of the bandages which covered the eyes and waved dboxit the heads of the personages represented on this medal ; lie rashly took them for uxs-e . i' e < ti-s , aiul as such they are engraved ! Yet how learned was Bizot ! how clever Bolingbrokc !
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The Atiaxtic Tki-ecsraph . —Tlie Ainoriciiu papers publish a letter from Captain Hudson ( of tin- Niagara , engaged in laying down tho Atlantic ti'lt-gr . -ipli ) to the Secretary of the United States Navy , in which he snys : — " I have the honour , as -well aa the niortitieatioii , to report the arrival of the Niagara at tlii .-s port ( Plymouth , England ) , after having run out three hundred awl tliirtyfour miles of tlie telegraphic cable , nonic jioriioiis of it in a depth of over two thousand anil fifty fut horns , or more than two miles and . a quarter , when it was broken by too much pressure on the break , atlaclnil to tlie machinery foy paying it out . I have every reason to believe , from what we have thus far exp ^ rieucci ! in wire laying , ( that under ordinary circumstances of weather ,
uncl machinery adapted to the purpose—for tuuli as tvo have on board requires altering and improving — -the cubic may be laid in safety on the track marked out over the Atlantic Ocean . At the time tho cable | iurted —• August 11 , DA 5 a . m . —the ship wuu going aluiig four knots , and had been running at the rate-of ( ruin thrco to four knots through tho night , with some mMmn l ' rom a moderato liund sea , aud tho company ' s chief engineer and men attending their l > reaka to luasun the expt-nilituro of cable , until they finally carried it away , which niado all hands of us througli tho day like a lioiisuliold or family which lutd lost their dearest friend , for ollimrd and men had become deeply interested in tho success ol' tu 0 enterprise . "
SicizniiK of Corporation Eki'kot . s koii IJouhms Incomk-tax . —Tho collectors of iiicomu-las at North . Shields , nctir . g under the order of tho authorities at Somerset-house , have seized tho baths and wash-houses belonging to tho corporation of TyueiiiouLh for tlicir ahnre of a reassessment of income-tajc to make up a defalcation of 17001 . by a collector named liriggs . ' ^ corporation have given notice that they hi tend to try tho question ! in a court of law .
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good' had apprehended him , and was in no way rep rimanded for thus insulting a person upon , whose character not the least suspicion rested . Of course , the accused individual was discharged . We are sorry that he seemed to take the matter -very quietly , and expressed no determination to obtain redress for the unwarrantable and ignorant conduct of the policeman . Chi the same day , at the same court , a man and his wife were brought up and charged—with what ? A constable had seen them walking along a street in the City . He noticed that the
woman had something under her apron . He pounced upon her and demanded a satisfactory explanation of this occult proceeding . The simple pair , being alarmed , refused to give their names and addresses , and were hurried to the station-house , where it was found that the woman , being a shade above the class which scorns appearances , had been carrying a jug of beer which she had veiled from the public gaze with her apron . " Was there any circumstance known with respect to the prisoners ? " the magistrate asked .
printed form promising -to inquire . Xothinw more is heard of the ease , and the victim of police brutality is often glad to be let out in the morning without being brought up before the magistrate . Sometimes , however , the case is heard , and it comes out that the police are iu the habit of arresting one person because they think he is ' after no good ;' and another because he has changed a two-shilling piece , a veritable coin of the realm
" Yes , sir ; they had changed a ' two-shuii-jig piece . " v " Was it a good one ?" " Yes , sir . " ^ _ _ " And this fool is in the police force ! But he is not the worst of his class . Among the policemen who do ' duty' at night in the metropolis are some of the most unmitigated ruffians out of the House of Correction . For
a less offence than that of waving a twoshilling piece in her possession , a harmless woman is sometimes dragged to the stationhouse by two half-tipsy guardians of the peace . More than one case of this kind has lately occurred . ' A few nights ago a crowd was gathered on a pavement near
Uegentsfcreet . A man had been beaten to the ground by several assailants , and , exactly in time to be too late to prevent this outrage , a pair of tall and brawny constables arrived . Without making a single inquiry , they seized upon the prostrate individual and began dragging him away . A girl standing near exclaimed , " It is shameful 1 " and for no other offence
whatever she was "brutally seized , pulled along , pushed to the ground , shaken when she fell , and finally i ncai * cerated at the Tinestreet station . A ¥ ~ e make this statement because several persons desirous of interfering were refused admission to > the inspector , and- because formal complaints may be addressed to the authorities without the least result . We are far from wishing to prefer a sweeping accusation against the general body of the night police—wlio , we suppose , are day-police in their turn — but many of
them are utterly unfitted , by their violent tempers , their tyrannical disposition , and their propensity to drink , from pei-forming any of the duties entrusted to them . Tlie little despot of an alley who browbeats men , insults women , and applies his leathern-belt to children , is the prowling fellow who haunts publie-houae doors to wheedle some one out of a pint of beer , and who will suffer hia hat to be knocked off by a clamorous roisterer for sixpenny worth of gin . It is I time that attention should be called to thia
NIGHT POLICEMEN . Two cases heard a few days ago at the Manr sion House , suggest the necessity of keeping ifche Xiondon police more strietly under Burveiilance . A most respectable man was brought before the sitting justice charged with no offence whatever . The constable had « k « 36 n to fancy that ' he wqa after no
subject . What ia needed is a , more thorough inspection of the beats after nightfall , and the establishment of a rule by which the stations shall be open to those who have complaints or evidence to prefer . Nominally they may be so , but practically , when tho policeman has determined to ' lo-ck-up' any poor woman by whom his dignity has been oifended , she is thrust jn the dooysare gliuxuned , the iuniates are deaf to remonstrance , and when tlio commissioners arc addressed they reply by a
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QQ 5 ' -TiHiEr ^ fEJA IKE IBI V [ Kb :-S 9 ^ ? SE ^ gM BiyR 1 ^ 1857 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 19, 1857, page 906, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2210/page/18/
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