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Leader (1850-1860), 23rd October 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1126, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      THE LEADER . [ No . 448 ; October 23 , 1858 . J . 1 ZO . , ... . . — . - . — ¦ — - ¦ — - ' ¦ - — - — -

      Untitled Article

      pioneer of the Reformation in England and on the Continent are recognised—his great abilities , learning , and masculine mind are all acknowledged , but we think that hardly sufficient justice is done by the learned author to the effect which Wyeliffe ' s works and labours had on Huss , Luther , Calvin , and those who came afterwards and completed the reformatory structure of which he certainly had laid the principal foundation . A word of compliment is due to the able editor , M . Schneider , for the admirable way in which he has performed his difficult and laborious task . The Curiosities of Literature . "Vol . II . ( Routledge and Co . )—Another volume of this sterling and classical work has been issued . The third volume will complete the publication . . „ Menzies

      of soul which enslaves the senses . " We can promise the reader an hour or two not unprofitable entertainment with this author . The Secret of a Life . By M . M . Bell . ( Routledge and Co . )—We will not divulge the " secret , " but refer the curious reader to the book itself , which _ we need hardly say is among the cheap issues of this spirited publishing firm . Bell Martin . An American Story of Real Life . By T . S . Arthur . ( Hodson and Son . )—We hope there is nothing real about the story , although the leading incidents are certainly those which figure in daily police reports , but without in this case possessing the charm of style to justify reproduction . We are no friends to what has been correctly called "Newgate Literature , " therefore our commendation , even had this tale been of first-class merit , would have been but very subdued . Common Sense and Humbug Attacked , in Arts , Science , and Literature . Part II . By John Bull , Jun . ( Mountcastle . )—This professes to be a satire on men and things . The best way to give the reader a taste of the author ' s quality is to quote : — ¦ WHAT ARE THE ARTS . " The Arts aie visions through volition stealing , And whilst they teach , may influence the feeling . " art NAPrixa . ' ? But Art to rouse no doubt must use Enthusiasm—Peter the Hermit , O'Connell , Puritanism , All urged a truth , in zeal have callen , ' Awake , arise , or be for ever fallen . ' " TI 1 K ATJTHOlt ' s STANDARD . " We want a standard , I myself have taken One , which from childhood never has been shaken , Truth , in its outline has been cut indelible , Speaking to memory as if impellible . " And then magnanimously discarding " Flattering day-fly work in idle wantony , He stuck to Nature ' s book like good St . Anthony . " In the same original satiric strain Modern Arts , Science , and Literature come under the poet ' s lash , and may be considered as henceforward and for ever " teetotally absquatulated . " The British Journal of Homoeopathy . ( Groombridge and Sons . }—The medical act is dissected , and an amusing sketch of the means taken by the supporters Of Homoeopathy to defeat the kind intentions of the " regular faculty * " who hoped by the aid of this act to extinguish the- homoeopathic heresy , is furnished to the public . The remainder of the work is taken up with cases treated by homoeopathic rules , and principally interesting to practitioners who adopt the new system .

      ing the Christian religion , if not undermining it altogether .

      The Apocryptical History contained in the Book of Revelation , solved on an entirely new and consistent Principle . By Harcourt Bland , Dramatic Artist . ( Glasgow : T . Murray and Son . )—How far our histrionic author has fulfilled his mission , it is not for us to decide one way or the other—every reader , according to his bent and bias , must judge for himself . At least , however , we cannot avoid giving the writer great praise for industry in collecting together a vast number of facts and opinions to fortify his own ingenious speculations .

      The Case of the Tanjore Ranee . By J . B . Norton , Esq . ( Madras : Pharoah and Co . )—This is a report of a case heard in the Supreme Court of Madras , in which the eldest widow of the late Tanjore Rajah , asked the Court to declare by a decree that , " as the eldest surviving widow of the deceased sovereign , she was entitled to her husband ' s private and particular effects , " the whole of which , including the sovereignty of Tanjorc , had been tuken possession of by the East India Company . The jewels , money , and wealth of the Rajah appear to have been vast . The agents of the East India Company took possession of the whole and refused to render any account to the widows or relatives . The answer put in by the East India Company is—

      "The Rnjah died on the 29 th October , 1855 , whereupon it was determined , as an act of state by the defendants , and the British Government , that the Raj and dignity of the Rajah of Tanjore was extinct , and that the state of Tanjoro had thereupon lapsed to the de . fondants , in trust for Her Majesty the Qupen , and it was also determined by tho defendants as an act of state and Government , that the whole dominions and sovereignty of Tunjoro , together with tho property belonging thereto , should be assumed by them as part of the British territories and revenues in India in trust for Her

      Majesty as aforesaid . " " This appears to be cool . Wo suspect , howovor , it is singularly illustrative of tho way "John Company , " through hia grasping mid insatiable agents , acted towards the native rulers and princes , and it may possibly afford somo solution of tho causes of outbreak in our Indian Empire and tho dreadful condition of affairs that now prevails . The Power * of the Priesthood in Absolution ( J . and H . Parker ) is another theological work , very forcibly written .

      Free Theological Inquiry By a Lay 'Member of tho Churoh of England . ( Williams and Norgate . )—Wo agree with the writer , that " of late yonrs there has boon a groat Increase of inquiry on theological subjects , " and wo go a stop further , and say that this inquiry must not cease until wo got at such a settled standard for faith as will put an end to thoso scandals wlilolt are now

      woalton-Early Ancient History . Henry . ( Chapman and Hall . )—The author tells the reader in his preface that this work was principally prepared for the middle and mechanic classes . Dismayed at the formidable length of the standard works on Ancient History , and dissatisfied with the compendiums extant , he determined to write a work which should be of convenient size , familiar in its style , and yet containing ample materials and facts for a correct view of the anti-Greek era , beginning " from the earliest period , and continued until that period when the Persian history commingles with that of Greece . " The author has made use of the modern discoveries of Wilkinson , Rawlinson , Layard , and others , and has made his work as complete as possible . The volume is nicely printed and bound , and will be a very acceptable present to persons belonging to those classes of society for whose instruction it was mainly designed .

      A Handy Booh of the Musical Art . By the Hon . and Rev . T . C . Skeffington , M . A . ( James Blackwood . )—The author of this musical brochure very truly states , " never was there a time known when music was so universally cultivated as it now is—never , perhaps , a time when the true principles of art were less understood and less carried out . " With a view to remedy these cardinal defects , the above compendious work , intended only to be suggestive in character , has been prepared . The writer , among other branches of the science , has

      commented on the nature and office of music and the theory of music , including the Region of Sound , the Scale , the Keys , the Law of Discords , Harmonious Sounds and Modulations , the Law of Intervals , the Art of Delivering Musical Sounds Vocal and Instrumental , the Cultivation of Style , and Musical Composition . The writer has dealt with these matters in a brief yet lucid manner , but music is an abstruse science , and' its laws are never fully mastered , except by the gifted few whose organ of music is largely developed by nature .

      Romaic Beauties and Trojan Humbugs . By Rattlebrain . ( Tweedie . )—This little book is evidently the ' production of a clever but crotchety writer . Perhaps the crotchety portion of the latter may be premeditated , and only adopted as a means of drawing attention more forcibly to the pleasant pictures which the writer has presented of Eastern life . The title is a crotchety title , and no more permits the reader to anticipate what he has to expect than would a schoolboy who took up for the first time " The Wept of the Wisht-on-Wish . " Here is a specimen of the author ' s stilted style . Describing a Romaic beauty , he says : — " Marootha was a twenty months' acquaintance of ours , and during that buoyant aime we knew her as well as the sun knows the desert .

      She was the acknowledged queen of Giourkioi , and each of her fingers at will constituted her sceptre . In the year of her nativity , Nature , who had gradually acquired a pressure of too much creative beauty to the square inch in her cylinder , allowed this extra steam to escape whilst fashioning Marootha , and this is the reason why she is , or was , so terribly beautiful . But Marootha lacks the beauty of Constancy , and possesses the inconstancy of Beauty . This fickleness is like an unpleasant black patch upon the skin of this sweot goldfish Marootha , and all the other little silver-fishes of the villages know this . Unlike the fair floweret too , in the Persian tale , in love with the engaging moon , Marootha is like a flower in the planet Saturn , loving and coquetting with each of

      the seven moons in rotation . " A better specimen of the author ' s talents , because in better taste nnd not so overlaid with affected phrases , is in tho following rather warm description of a Romaic dance : — - "Increasing in rapidity as the time progresses , tho dance assumes a new step and character ; tho girls become excited , and the young men shout and snap their long pointed fingers as if disdaining the use of Spanish castanets . The dance has become an animated spiral multipedo . AH eyes begin to sparkle , and some to look as starry-like as tho two quadruply gilt bosses on their zannrr girdles . The

      braided locks of tho pulchrituclinoua fair ones , with their infinity of triplo plaits , are lent to the mercies of the wind . They begin , all of them , maids , spouies , and striplings , to resemblo variegated essences only . The wondering Frank unconsciously rises from his four and a half legged buffet stoot , pinching qut hie cigarette between his fingers , and snubbing unwittingly thd proffered wine jug . The pipe drawls , the viol groans , the little ones mechanically foot it round { tho warm limbs of the whole congregation seem to be moved by a fire within them , turning their blood to stoam . Every oot la e ! oquont ,- ~ every form brilliant -with that liberty

      Untitled Article

      The Shipwrecked Mariner , a Quarterly Magazine . ( G . Morrish . )— " The Atlantic Cable and its Submersion" occupies a prominent part in the pages of this serial . The other articles relate to such matters as the " Eddystorie Lighthouse , " " New Mode of Restoring Persons Apparently Drowned , " " Rewards for Saving Life on the High Seas and Coasts , " and the magazine concludes with a list of the Annual Grants to Widows . The London University Magazine opens with the conclusion of the article on " Our Policy in India . " The best contribution in the number is " Buckle's History of Civilization . " The writer has given a ver } - fair and thoughtful review of that author ' s popular work . The poetry and miscellaneous pieces are of no very striking merit .

      Assurance Magazine , No . 33 . —The articles this month are numerous and various , and fully maintain the reputation of this journal . We must leave the ar . tides on the abstract principles of life assurance to be judged of by those engaged professionally in the application of them . One of the most interesting articles to the general reader is that ¦ " On the Forms of Endorsement on Life Assurance Policies ; " a matter more intricate and important than might be supposed by most persons . The article by Mr . Samuel Bunn , ou the " Progress of Fire Insurance in Great Britain , " also curious and valuable .

      Untitled Article

      BOOKS RECEIVED THIS WEEK . Fellow Travellers ; or , the Experience of ' Life . By the Author of " -Margaret . " 3 vols . post gv 0 - Hurst and Blackett . Philadelphia ; or , the Claims of Humanity . By T . P . Barham , M . B . Post 8 vo . Chapman and Hall . Verse—1834 to 1858 . By Charles Bones . Foolscap Svo . Chapman and Hall . Heraldry in History , Poetry , and Romance . Bv Ellen J . Millington . Foolscap 8 vo . Chapman and Hall . ' Tents and Tent . Life , from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time . By Godfrey Rhodes . Post 8 vo . Smith . Elder , and' Co . The Insurance Magazine , and Journal of Actuaries . No . 33 . Part I . vol . | VTII . Post 8 vo . C . and E . Lay ton . Lott-enj . By Mrs . Jones , of Pantglas . Foolscap 8 vo . Routledge and Co . The Poetical Works of the late liichard Furness . By G . Calvert Holland , M . D ., Edinburgh . Foolscai-Svo Partridge and Co .

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      THEATRES AND PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENTS . PRINCESS'S THEATRE . —Mr . Charles Kean may be said to havo completed his circle of revivals by the reproduction of Shakspeare ' s play o ( Kiny John , with which he commenced it in 1852 . Ho cannot be said , however , in other sense than this , to have left off where he began ; for , whereas he found tho upper classes , if not the whole public , in a state of considerable indifference to the drama , ho has cor . tainly procured its recognition from tho throne itself to the very fringe end of the aristocratic circles ,

      not aa a diversion alone but as a teacher , and has mightily influenced for ' good the dramatic taste of the community at large . A welt-directed spirit of enterprise lias , as we have always contended , in Mr . Kean ' s case as in that of others , contributed much to this result . The manager , tho public , and tho drama again have profited by tho sagacity with which tho formor has retained about him a united , and , as one may say , a permanent company . The sound taste ot tno educated man has spurred Mr . Kean to tno marvels of scenic completeness with which till our readers must bo familiar , has taught him when to stay his handand has guided him in tho eolcotion

      , of tho most enlightened aids . None who add to tins las fervid predilection for the works of our niyriauminded dramatist , and his highly cultivated elocutionary and interpretative powers , can wonder , then , at tho voluntary disarmament of oritioiani in ins case by all who would see tho Musos in their proper theoretical position . None again , who appruciato tUo operation upon tho public of unswerving , loiiytried fidelity to promises of entertainmont , constancy in affording a largo equivalent for thoir broad places , and last not loaat—to use a well-understood generality—of charnctor , can fail to understand tho woh oomo always extended by the massos to tho opening of tho Princess ' s Theatre . In tho preface to n » edition of Kino John Mr . Koan has supplied us w «»

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1858, page 1126, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2265/page/14/