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OTEBATIIRE, .SCIENCE, ART, &a . ,
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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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The question about " The Vestiges , " unexpectedly revived af ter an abatement of some years , excites apparently as much attention , and excitement as when it was first mooted . The Vnt jc ^ now dis- ^ closes the grounds upon which the attribution of the authorship to George Combe was based . The authority upon which our contemporary speaks is said to be Professor Owen , albeit Ins name is not directly mentioned ; . and the evidence is held to be ""ood enough to wan-ant the compilers of the in the title
British Museum Catalogue transferring of the book from the title "Chambers , " with a [?] , to that of " Combe , George , " also with [?] . Thus stands the evidence , according to tile Critic : — " When ' The Vestiges' first appeared , he ( i . ., the authority referred to ) felt satisfied , as well from the style as from internal evidence , that Combe was the author of it . To test this * he made certain corrections of a few niisstateinents of recondite facts , and caused those corrections to be shown to George Combe , and to him only , ' but when the second edition appeared , those mistakes , and those
only , were : found to hare been corrected . This was pretty strong inferential evidence ; bxit it so happened that af terwards a long private correspondence took place between this personage and Mir . Combe , arising out of some points mooted in ' The Vestiges , ' especially phrenological ones—the former combating Mr . Combe ' s vieivs , wluch were entirely in unison with those of the author of ' The Vestiges . ' But what is more conclusive than all this is the fact , that during the-whole of that correspondence , the person to whom we have referred invariably assumed Mr . Combe to be , and
addressed 7 iim as , the author of' The vestiges ; and this ivqs never denied , or in any way contradicted , by . Mr . Combe . From these facts , and from that time forth , it became a settled conviction in his mind that Mr . George Combe was the author of . ' The Vestiges '—and we are not surprised at it . " This is clear enough proof that George Combe had at least a hand , and a very important hand , in this book . The only question that remains is , whether he " alone did it ; " and upon this point a correspondent of' the Neiocastie Daily Chronicle , signing , " A Man in the
Streets , " offers an ingenious theory— -namely , that the book itself offers strong internal evidence of "being the work of two , if not three , hands ; that passages are interpolated here and there , evidently wr itten by the same pen which , as evidently , exercised , an editorial function ; that the editorial pen is found in the eloquence of tho booik ; ' that the authorship was known to Mr , Robert Chambers , Professor Nichol , and a prominent member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society ; and that George Combe ,
if not the solo author of " The Vestiges ; was one of tho contributors to its pages . This explanation , if not convincing , has at least the merit of reconciling all convicting theories . The debato upon the dispersion or extension of the British Museum must bo interesting to all who are concerned for the welfare of that noble national institution . All its friends will be sorry to see the collections , dispersed so long as uny possibility remains of keeping them together ; and why there should bo any luck of such a possibility ? fox * at lenst a hundred years to come , we ' cannot understand .
M . Panizsi has utilised tho largo quadrangle in the contro of the building — onoe nothing but u large back yard—by covering it with a dome nearly as largo as St . Peter ' s , and turning it into the finest reading-room in the world , with book accommodation in the galleries around for a . million of volumes . There is no four , therefore , of o . ny want of further room for tho library for some tamo to come . Thus tho only question W with tho Natural History department ; and we would suggest that this shoxild be accommodated by removing the dwolling-houscs of tho officers from tho groat quadrangle in front into'one of tho neighbouring squares , and throwing open the whole of tho ground from the corner
of Charlotte Street , so as to give a handsome side up Bedford Square . This would give the means of nearly trebling the accommodation m the Museum , and would render it the most magnificent building of the kind . in the world ; and , what is peculiar with us , one that could be well seen . At any rate , as an experiment / the houses at the corner of Great Russell Street might immediately be added to the site to begin with ; and they could be had for a comparatively small assessment .-No books of any great importance have appeared during the week ; but the Publishers Circular announces some good ones . Messrs . Chambers have issued the prospectus
of what is intended to be then- magnum opus , a . new Encyclopedia , to be called "A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People , " on the basis of the latest edition of the German " Conversations Lexicon . " It will be comprised in seven volumes , and issued in weekly numbers at thi-eerhalfpenee . Judoing from the specimens we have seen , it will be plentifully illustrated with maps and engravings , and will be one of the greatest achievements m the way of cheap literature yet attempted . Among other announcements may be noted that by Messrs . Bradbury and Evans , of the issue ofa series _ of works printed by the nature-printing process , which and
these enterprising publishers adopted improved from the royal printing-office , Berlin . The first issues of this series will be four Volumes , on " Sea Weeds , " by W . G , Jqhristone , containing 220 nature-printed illustrations ; two on " British Ferns , " by T . Moore , F . L . S ., reprinting the letterpress of his -well-known work ( some time out of print ) , with 11 Q new illustrations ; and one volume of " British Mosses , " by Dr . Lawson , with thirty illusfrations . Another important announcement is a " Life of Daniel Defce , " by William Chadwick ( J . R . Smith ); and an abbreviated and cheaper edition of the " Napoleon Correspondence , " to be issued from , the Imperial press .
The annual rumpus at the meeting of the Literary Fund has been happily averted this year by a letter addressed by Mr . Charles Dickens to the committee , concerning the purport of an offer to the society ; but of what nature , apd from whom , was not explained . An early day . has been named for Mi ' . Dickens to communicate Avith the committee , and disclose the precise nature of this offer , and , in the meantime , a suspension of hostilities has been declared , Mr .. Dickens stating that he and his friends would refrain from attending the anniversary meeting for the purpose of making motions adverse to the Committee , as has . been their custom for four years past . We hope ¦ that this suspension may lead to a permanent peace , and that the oflfer may be sucli as to improve the condition of this excellent , but not too thriving , Fund .
Another excellent , and not yet too-thriving fund , is that which was started last year by the reporters and contributors to the daily and periodical press , under tho title of the Newspaper Press Fund . After half a year ' s hard work , the committee have not been ablo to get together more than uincjty-four members—not very much at a guinea a year , certainly ; but they are not to blame ; and it arises from the visual
supineness belonging to all who live by the Jrross . Wnen the idea was started there was some schism among the promoters as to whether donations and benefactions should bq accepted from the general public . Many wore in ' olinod to think that' it would bo degrading to do so , —as if that which every similar institution , whether for . clergy or any other proi ' ossiun does without scruple , would bo degrading to the gentlemen of the press . It was also hinted at tho time that if the
contributions wero thrown open no assistance might be cxpoctod from Printi » ig-house-squoro . Wo aro happy to say that those considerations were disregarded , and that tho committee wisely determined to accept whatever they could honestly got . ' How much thoy have actually got from extraneous sources > yo are not yoij informed ; but it will doubtless bo disclosed at the first annual mooting of the subscribers , to bo hold at the
Freemasons' Tavern , on Saturday next ; but , in the nieantime , we perceive that it is intended to ask the members to separate the contribiitions of the members from those of the public , and to apply the latter to general purposes , as well as to the purposes of the fund—i . e ., to use it in the relief of persons , their widows and orphans , whether members of the association or not , This may be a very proper thing to do when the fuads arising from members can be shown to be in a nourishing state ; but when the income to he counted upon does not exceed . £ 100 per annum , it seems scarcely wise to apply the monies collected to any other than the direct purposes of the committee .
Out of a great deal of general gossip connected with literary matters , we notice that a new autoo-raph of Shakespeare ( particulars not yet disclosed ) is spoken of ; also that the long-lost MS . of Cotton ' s poetical works ( Charles . Cotton oi " Walton ' s Angler" ) has been discovered to he in the possession of Mr . Jewitt , of Derby . This is good news for bibliophilists , or , as a distinguished club of literati now call themselves , " Philobiblians . " The " papers say" that Mr . Thackeray has leased his pen to Messrs . Smith arid Elder for two years for 4 , 500 Z . Is this likely ? We think not . Why should an author who has so ready a demand for whatever he in ay choose
to write , convey himself to any one ? Still , money makes itiore than the - mare to go . It made the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos one of the greatest lords and greatest spendthrifts in the peerage—him that is descended from the great Grenvilles , and has a right to bear " planta genista ! both in his name and bearings ; him also that is not dead , though the papers said he was , a fortnight ago . Money has made this great prince publish private letters , not only without the consent of the writers , but against the express wishes and the written directions of his own father . Of all this Sir Watkin Williams Wynn complains sorely and
justly . . The great revolution which the cheap papers are effecting , not only in London , but throughout the kingdom , is forcibly illustrated by the death of the Edinburgh Advertiser , gne of the oldest . journals in the country , seeing that it was started in 1764 . This veteran of the press has been incorporated ( for few papers actually die—they are incorporated ) with the Edinburgh Evening Courant . .
The items of intelligence from Paris contain the gratifying fact that M . Henri de Pene , the youn <* comic writer , who obtained such notoriety and popularity from being made the victim of a clique of military bravoes , is sufficiently recovered to be once more at work , A volume has lately appeared , under the title ' of u Paris Intime , " containing a collection of sonic of his best papers , which have appeared in the publications to which lie lms contributed , The story of the duel is graphically related in these pages .
Among the most important books which have appeared in Paris during the last week , may be mentioned another of M . Ampere ' s dolightful Studies of Roman History , called . ? ' Cosar , Scenes Hiatoriques " ( Michel-Levy ) , in which the career of the great Ronmn , ' from the day when Syllu detected his growing ambition , down to that fntnl one in tho " Ides of March , " when ho fell , 3 truok by tho dagger of Brutus , is related in a stylo which comprises the fancy of the poet mid of tho roniuncer with the accuracy of the historian . Jules Simon , emulating Mr . John Stuart Mill ,
has published a wwrk , in two volumes , on Liberty ( Wftyhctto ) , completing thu trilogy with tho treatises on Natural Uolmion and Liberty ol Conscience . It is spoken of as carrying tho doctrines of Simonism still iurthor than Ihoy have uvcr yet been carried . '' Dernicrcs Etudes Uistonquos ot Litteraircs" ( LCvy ) is the title of n pair of voliunos by M . Cuvillior IXenry , made up of article by that jourmUiHt , ' and collected from tho columns of old' newspapers . Tho vajuo of such ft farrago liballi in problomuticul . That popular writer , Louis llcybaud , has published a grave trcatiso , called "Etudes sur la Kogimo dus Manu-
Otebatiire, .Science, Art, &A . ,
OTEBATIIRE , . SCIENCE , ART , &a . ,
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Untitled Article
LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 19, 1859, page 363, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2286/page/11/
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