On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
dent . Campbell ' s « Hqheniinden' is a " silly poem , " and Campbell himseli was * " sill y- " This is the way in which Mr- Hogg splashes dirt to the right and left . He even revives the foolish ci-y about ' Cockney' writers , which had been very deservedly forgotten for some thirty years . But , with all this supercilious manner , the University-bred censor is not able to write decent English . For the instruction of ' Cockney' readers , we will gather a few flowers from this Oxford garden : — " In the ancient world , the sacrilegious impiety of one who had disclosed the Eleusinian mysteries , must be expiated by his death . " "An extreme freedom of opinion , or to speak more correetl } - , of declaration and discussion , together with a taste for chemistry , had been , acquired whilst Shelley was a schoolboy , by his intercourse and intimacy with a physician , " &c . " One of Mrs . Shelley ' s admirable novels , it seems , the date points out her wonderful invention , ' The Last Man , ' had been advertised by the publisher in her " This attempt , which many will condemn as strangely barbarous and utterly barbarian , was happily unsuccessful . " . "He ( Godwin ) presently fell into a sound sleep , sitting very forward in his chair , and leaning forward , so that at times he threatened to fall forward " But the work is open to more serious charges than those arising out of clumsiness of style . The materials are ill put together ; the narrative is - confused , abrupt , and fragmentary . The volumes , in fact , are not so much a Life of S helley as a collection of personal reminiscences , some very . amusing , and others rather trivial and garrulous . The writer is too fond of telling anecdotes about himself , whioh nobody will care to learn ; and his perpetual efforts to be funny are very fatiguing and quite out of place . Mr . Hogg is so disagreeable a person himself that he even contrives , on the whole , to give us a disagreeable impression of the fine-natured poet . Shelley had in him an element of antagonism , which sometimes , it must be -admitted , carried him out of bounds ; and this is the very feature of his ¦ character which Mr . Hogg brings out most strongly . He makes , also , some -statements which require further explanation . Shelley affirms in one of his letters to Godwin that his father wished to induce him , by poverty , to -accept a commission in a regiment on foreign service , designing , during his - absence , to prosecute the Atheistical pamphlet , to obtain a process of out-Jawry , and thus to make the estate , on his ( the father's ) death , devolve on Percy ' s younger brother . The poet also relates that he was twice expelled irotn Eton , and recalled at the instance of his father . These statements , and some others , Mr . Hogg says are purely imaginary . He does not accuse his friend " of wilful untruth , but says his fancy was so vehement that he deceived himself . This is scarcely credible in such important events as those . alluded to ; and we must confess we are not disposed to receive Mr . Hogg's ¦ denial of the correctness of Shelley ' s statements with respect to his own Jife . The biographer ' guesses in connexion with the more paradoxical features ¦ of his friend ' s character are worthless . He is quite incapable of forming - any philosophical generalisation on such a subject ; and accordingly his remarks do not in any degree add to our conception of Shelley . The most valuable parts of the volumes are the letters of Shelley und of some of his contemporaries . Those of the poet himself chiefly relate to doctrinal matters—to questions of religion , politics , and morals . They . show a mind painfully agitated and rocked by contending principles ; but they confirm , what the world is beginning to recognize , that , in religion , the tendency of Shelley ' s intellect was towards Deism—a Deism of a very refined , spiritual , and Platonical nature . Mr . Hogg says that , so far from ieing materialistic , he was inclined to superstition ; but that depends upon -what is meant by superstition . Some correspondence between Shelley and Oodwin in the year 1812 , before they had seen one another , is very interesting . The young poet was in Ireland at the time ; and , being shocked by the misery and moral degradation of the Irish , he had issued proposals for the creation of a number of societies which should . meet and discuas existing grievances and their remedies . The older head of Godwin saw that this was likely to lead to insurrection , anarchy , and bloodshed ; and he condemned the scheme , which Shelley , after some letters of argument , gave up . Mr . Hogg has collected the materials for some future architect ; but he has not the capacity to build the mansion . t i ; ; , : * . .
Untitled Article
SWITZERLAND AND THE REFORMATION . ¦ Switzerland the Pioneer of the Reformation . By Madame la Comtease Dora d'Istria , Translated from the French by H . G . Vols . I . and II . Fullarton and Co . Dora d'Istria is a princess of Romaic origin , a native of Bucharest , twenty-nine years of age . Her education has aeon a compound of English and Oriental , of Attic and Spartan ; she reads Plato in t lie original , and swims like a Xiacedemonian . Her husband is a prince of an ancient Musc 6 vite family , tracing his lineage to the Vikings , but her career scums to have been generally independent of any other iniluence than her own ; sbe has wandered from "Wallachia to Germany , to Italy , to Russia , to Switzerland , and is now engaged in completing Uio work of which the first two volumes are before us . It is a book exhibiting much talent nnd learning ; it abounds in erudite allusion , and there is something of Eastern richness in the language : the sketches arc animated nnd interesting , and from many sources the writer has gathered materials particularly curious and vuluuble . But the translator ' s enthusiasm carries him too far , both in eulogizing the countess and venturing his own interpolations , for , in tho first place , lie is extravagant , and , in the second , not a little obtrusive . Itia true that Dora d'lstria'a compositions , historical and controversial , have boon extensively ¦ circulated in Europe , to bo flattered and denounced by Protestants or " ^ 0 atholics ;^ but"she ~ is ~ byTrt ^ believes , nor is her discretion so unimpeachable as ho assorts . On tho contrary 3 in tho bitterness of her Eastern Church dogmatism—imputed to her for praise in tho preface—eho ia singularly free in her quotations of traditional statements , and colours one pago with blood m elaborately as eho inlay a , another with ornate tessellations of eloquence . Her flowers of rhetoric are cultivated , and of southern warmth and fragrance ; but in thoir excess their beauty disappears , nnd instead of writing history tho princess
f frequently constructs prose lyrics of gaudy and fragile texture . Tim ib ~ e her narrative favours this style of elaborate sentiment and superlluo ' 1 eoivition . It is addressed , in a series of letter . * , to a certain NaraiuH V I apostrophized as having a poor morbid heart by one who lias retired to ?/ Swiss valleys to contemplate the fortunes of the people in the interval- e ¦ her . own despair . Then the prospect , widens into a picture of tho I \ and mountains , and the rosy sky shadows into violet while John lluse ^ upon the scene . Here the key-note is struck , and several varieties of /^ aid in giving emphasis to denunciations of Ultramontane , atrocity 'vf ^ sketch of Huss is critical , biographical , and polemical , and Dora ci'Istr * blackens zealously the faces of the Catholic persecutors . Her descrint" a of the Reformer's death is undoubtedly well calculated to stir a < rain th * passions that once raged among the descendants of the Albi" -enses and n & sibly with concordats multiplying and Jesuitry militant in * all its o-lory > may be a useful work to popularize on the Continent a . view of thtfProtes tant struggles in Switzerland ; but tho acrimony of the relation is too evident , and it becomes painfully manifest that the authoress assumes to separate the angels of this world from the fiends , to number the angels on one side of the mountain and the devils on the other . lYoin the niartvrdoin of lluss she passes into an interlude of poetical description , until a remembrance of the Inquisition drives her to Lecorf ' s magnificent exa" - > r < . ratinn . shown the precipices of the Jungfrau . All the handbooks of Switzerland were placed mi »< y table , and every one read the most terrifying passages , hucIi as were uui .- > i lilti-ly M discourage mo . The contrary , however , happened ; for my curiosity was »<> nuieli oXcited by those uccou . nts , that I burned with impatience to commence the journey . 1 could think of nothing except those deserts of snow which crowned the » uiuuiiiel the mountains . 1 held a private conversation with Peter , mid npoko to him with lirmne-.-, in order to strengthen hia resolutions , and my word * succeeded . " Whatever may happen , said he , " will you take on your elf tho responsibility V " " Cert duly , " I replied , and 1 gavo him my hand , urying him not to bo shaken by any remuiisiranee , mid to encourage the guides on their arrival , . so na to strengthen them against the iulhieuee of any third parties , lie promised me to do no , and his face brightened up a-i lio saw " mo tranquilly mulling . Ho luft my to prcnidu over tho preparations for the (• X | . e'luion , and to get my dread roiuly for me , —a inini'd suit , composed of black and while ehucUcu woollen trousers , a buttoned-ii |> coat , extending to the knees , a round full hat , nuo t hoso worn by tho mountaineers , and n large und thick pair of bouts . Wo follow hor up tho mountain : — Wo were in the niidrtt of nu imimsiibo desert , faco to face with tho i ^ kie-i »> iu 10 wonders of nature . Wo ascended perpendicular block * of atone , leaving snowy Himl " mitrt on our left . The way now became more and more dillieult . Wo climbed on a fours , gliding along like outs , and springing from ono rock to the other liK > ' Bl l " ' ru V J Frequently a handful of moss or bramble . * was our only support , when we luum i < oloft * . A few drops of blood often stained , like purple llowora , tho verdure \\ o ] "l odL' 1 over . This part of the narrative explains why tho Romaic princes bud written a book so vigorous ) bold , and entertaining .
Untitled Article
373 THE ¦ JC ^ AJP ^ Ejg ,.- [ No . 421 , April 17 , 1858 .
Untitled Article
THE WEATHKU . Ohwrtwthwf in Meteorology . By the Hov . Leonard Jonynu . Van Vooiat . It is an old and popular topio—tho wculhor j but if tho general gossip abroad would study his subjuot a little more profoundly , thuro woU ,,, ' more nitoreat in n conversation upon tlio rain , tho i ' og , or tho sun . world ia i > erpetually talking of atmospheric variations , uquoous p lionoiiiom , tho teinporature and direction oi' the winds ; but ufter all tt few Bontuncu »
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1858, page 378, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2239/page/18/
-