On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    ever , what a Cabinet like the present were likely to do on such a question , is a very venial fault- in any speculative writer . What is of i * rekter significance in the article before us is the historic retrospect of party combinations during the last five-andrtwenty years . According to the reviewer , Peelism ivas a blunder ab initio * Xtvras merel y an elaborate scheme of unprecedentedly slow suicide . The instincts of self-preservation were benumbed by the . substitution of Conservatism for wholesome and

    invigorating Toryism . The traditionary standards , ¦ whereon had for generations been defiantly emblazoned the inherent right of the noble , the -wealthy , the anointed , and the highly educated , to rule over the rest of the community , was lowered by Sir Robert Peel , and an ever-shifting and always indefinite banner , of blended and chequered hues , set up in its stead . As a device for admitted to

    getting into office , the contrivance is have been admirable and complete ; but as a mode of permanently keeping together or guiding a great party in the state , it was fatuous and fatal . How strangely has this train of thought been verified by what we have seen passing before our eyes , during the last few weeks , by the final disintegration of the Conservative party under the leadership of Mr . Disraeli and Lord Derby ! still marked

    Another article , and one of more ability , is that devoted to an analytical description -of Northern Italy under the Austrians . It is , perhaps , as fair and candid a statement of the case in mitigation of damages , -where the cause pf the defendant is admittedly hopeless ; as could well be . In a variety of important particulars the state of Xombardy is shown to be far less unhappy than that of the other portions of the Peninsula , which are governed by native princes and ministers . Commercial and fnunicipal privileges exist in a ligher degree . ; justice , if not always obtainable , isat aireventsnot bought and sold ; education ,

    , , both in the higher and lower branches , is wellproivided for ; the poor have medical care when they are sick , and abundant food and work when they are in health ; the highways are kept in good order , and highway-men or brigands are comparatively unknown . All this confessedly is out-¦ wei ghed in the estimation of the upper and middle classes , by the fact that they have no voice either in the legislative or administrative government ^ of their country , and by the sight daily of foreign garrisons in all their principal towns . _ Nothing which the Germans could do would , "it i * frankly

    owned , appease the inveterate discontent then * armed occupation of the country keeps alive , and the best alleviation , we are assxired , would be the erection of the Milanese into a separate state , with an Austrian arch-duke for Sovereign . The writer forgets his own . previous confession , that where the system of imperial puppetisnx has already been tried in Italy , it has signally failed . There is a pleasant and scholar-like critique on Mr . " Gladstone ' s " -Homer- ; " and a very well vyrit-. ten , but very depreciatory essay on the novels of Sir Bulwer Lytton . Also a paper on the condition and prospects " of art in England , containing

    nothing original or striking , but , nevertheless , well deserving a perusal . In this , as , indeed , throughout the whole of the articles , the predominant tone 3 s perceptible ; and questions of taste in church architecture are treated in the same manner , and tinged with the same colouring as reform of parliament or- the politics of Italy . Let us , in our turn , bo candid , and say , as wo can , with unqualified sincerity , that we hail with satisfaction the unf orbing of an oriilamme of thorough-going Toryism in Church and State ; and ho long as it is borne in 3 cnightly hands and sustained by honourably frank , earnest , and accomplished defenders of the antique faith that is in them , wo shatf always be proud to "break a lanco with them in the open field . It is quite refreshing to find learned and able men , ^ rho really havo such opinions , and who will stand for them , when challenged , liko men .

    Untitled Article

    HOUND THE SOFA . Hound the Sqfit . By the author of " Mary Barton , " «• Life of Charlotte Bronte , " &o . London : Sampson , Low , Son , and Co . Good writing is a rare gift noW-a-days . There ia » o laok of smart writers , of brilliant essayists , of spasmodic romanoists ^ -but good writers are flrvv in number and ftw between . In those days of express trains , and shilling novels , and pqnny papers , it cannot woll bo otherwise . Wo have littlo timo to think , loss still to road , and almost

    none at all to write ; as Balzac said , we are like the boa-constrictors , who gorge one day and vomit the next . Style , we fancy , like everything else , is regulated by the universal laws of demand and supply ; and if the supply ef good writing has fallen of £ we suppose the demand has decreased equally . Still , without engaging in useless lamentations about the degeneracy of the age , we are at liberty to regret this decay in the power of composition . There is a poetry about prose , as well as abotit rhyme . There is a beauty about the mere order and composition of a simple sentence , which to trained ears has the melody of music . To us , therefore , as to all others who remain faithful to that sweet rythm worship , each new offering at the shrine of our falling faith is doubly welcome , by

    reason of its very scarceness . On this account , if on no other , we always look forward with pleasure to any work that , comes from the author of " Mary Barton . " Here , at least , we are certain of good English . We have no fear of slip-slop sentences—of fantastic torturings of speech , of turbid and confused imagery . The language is always clear , and pure , and sparks ling , like the water of a mountain rill . It is the work , not of a bad journeyman , but of an artist in writing ; and the love of the true artist for his work can be traced in the composition . Every word has its own place , arid knows and keeps it . There is" no fine writinflr in " Round the Sofa . "

    The very excellence of the style is proved by . the fact that we are at a loss to pick out pieces for quotation ; where all is so good it is difficult to make a choice . We cannot , however , refrain from quoting a passage from the charming tale of " Lady Ludlow , " in which that most delightful of grand old ladies is speaking , about flowers :- — " Attar of roses , again , she disliked . She said it reminded her of the city and of merchants' wives , over rich , over heavy , in its perfume ; and Lilies of the Valley somehow fell under the same condemnation . They were most graceful and elegant to look at ( my lady was quite candid about this ) : flower , leaf , colour — everything was

    refined about them but the smell ; that was too strong . But the great hereditary faculty on which my lady piqued herself , and with reason- ^ - for I never met with any other person who possessed it—was the power she had of perceiving the delicious odour arising from a bed of strawberries in the late autumn , when the leaves were all fading and dying . ' Bacon ' Essays' was one of the few books that lay about in my lady ' s rooms ; andif you took it up and opened it carelessly , it was sure to fall apart at his ' Essay on Gardens . ' f Listen , ' lier ladyship would say , * to what that great philosopher and statesman says : ' Next to that ( he is speaking of violets , my of which remember the

    dear ) is the nmsk rose , ' you great bush at the corner of the south wall , just by the ' blue drawing-room windows . That is the old musk rose—Shakespeare ' s musk rose-r-which is dying out through the kingdom now . But , to return to ray Lord Bacon : ' Then the strawberry-leaves dying , with a most excellent cordial smell . ' Now , the Hanbury ' s can always smell this excellent cordial odour , and very delicious and refreshing it is . . . . . My dear , remember that yon try if you can smell the scent of dying strawberry - leaves in this next autumn . You have some of Ursula Hanbury ' s blood in you , and that gives you a chance . '"

    The very delicacy of this description ( which of itself is evidence enough that these stories ore written by a woman ' s hancV ) stands out in brighter contrast when compared with the works of other modern authoresses . It is a positive relief to come upon writing like this , 'after wading through volumes of such works as " Quecchy " and " Amy Herbert , " and the whole of that race of which the " Heir of Radolyffo " is tho crown and glory . It is liko a draught of good clear alo to a stomach surfeited with gingcr-bcor and lemonade . There is one other speciality of all tho writings

    of the popular author , to which we cannot holp alluding . We leave to them none of that mixture of religion and romance , which is tho bane of oitr modern literature , There is no attempt to enforce tho doctrine of justification by faith , through a dialogue between the angelio heroine ana her earnest lover . "We are ashamed to own , that about those stories thoi'eie no highi moral purpose , noondqavour to solve problems , which all the wisdom of mankind has hitherto failed in solving ; no startling hullaballoo , as if tho existence of evil was a recent and novol discovery . There is , however , something different , and , to our minds , bettov than all this .

    Throughout these volumes , as indeed , throughout every work of the writer , there breathes a spirit of friendly feeling , ' of simple good-will , an d tolerant faith , which works its own way silently . " Round the Sofa" is not one of those works which , in the technical phraseology of tlie reh ' oious world , are termed ^' good books , " but it is one of those books which it is jrood to . read .

    " Round the Sofa" is a collection of stories familiar ere now , we doubt not , to many of our readers in the columns of " Household Words . " The whole of the first volume is occupied b y the story of " Lady Ludlow , " . which , if we are not mistaken , has been expanded and improved since its original appearance . Of the others , the "Poor Clare , " a weird north-country story , and the "Half Brothers , " seem to be new to us . Even if we wished it , it would be scarcely possible to tell in a few -words the thread of any of these stories . You might as well try to give a pencil sketch to a few strokes of a Dutch paintings To all oin * readers we can most sincerely reqommend these volumes as worth reading for the stories alone , and almost , if not better , worth reading for the sake of the writing itself .

    Untitled Article

    THE BERTRAMS . The Bertrams , 3 vols . By Anthony Trollope . Chapman and Hall Mb . Tkoixope has not diminished his reputation by "The Bertrams ; " neither will lie have increased it . There is the same amount 6 f acute and sarcastic perception of life and character as distinguishes his former protfuctio ' , but " The Bertrams " wants something of the originality , the freshness , the probability , which are to be found , forMnstance , in his " Barchester Towers ; " The two \ characters which stand out in the strongest relief are George Bertram and Caroline

    Waddipgton , his cousin . The first is a young man of ] 3 lain exterior , but of cultivated and fastidious mind , of high and ultra-romantic principles of honour and disinterestedness , and jjassionately attached to Caroline Waddington . The lady is beautiful , accomplished , high-spirited , and-wayward , but with a touch , arid but a touch , of worldliness . She , too , is secretly attached to George Bertram . The uncle , millionaire whom his hew

    a money-getting , on nep and his grand-daughter are to a certain extent dependent , is desirous of seeing them married , in order that he may leave them heirs to his vast wealth . A series of misunderstandings arise between the young people , and an estrangement ensues , which results in Caroline Waddington giving her hand , but not her heart , to Sir Henry TTnv ^ rmvf-. nr > n . mliitious but risinir barrister , who

    has been tempted to many by the hope of coming in for the reversion of the wealthy uncles moneybags . The il ^ starred union soon proves a source : ol bitter discomfort to husband and-wile . IM mutual love between Caroline and George ^ becomes known to each other when too late , i Ins , when known , arouses the jealousy of Sir Henry ; iccrimination ensues , the wife is insulted beyond female ondnranco , and she quits her husband s root never to return . The uncle , when on his death bed , sends for his nephew ; but although -his wealth might become his nephew ' s W ° V ] ty ™ one word of spoken affection , his nophew , n'OTgu nearly penniless , stubbornly ^ Aiscs to flpcak . that word ; and the old man dies leaving the bufc oMw italSir llcni

    riches to endow a hosp . VXi 2 embarrassed in his circumstance * , . o ® position in society , his prospects , his wiio , and g chancp ; of inheriting tlio uncle ' s wealth , uttcuy lost , commits suicide by shootmg hmiseli . A « a foiu ' years of decent Wow . tho cou « i » come togotlier in tho bonds of matnmony . ljj " ? be rogordod as the main character and the . mwn incidents . There are several episodes ol no iwy inferior interest ; ono in pnrtiouliir-rtho Jc » ob w j yonng clergyman , Arthur Wilkiiijou , nm Addfl Uauntlot—which contrasts ngreoably w 7 { Xinc . passages in tho life of the hero' ihuI ^ roinc ; fir ; Trollopo has in th , i « work «( Tor ( le < lnnothg BDOoimen ofhis keen perception oi oliarnctw , ol u «

    knowledge of life , and oi ' his innn cry »>« »~ BtrongOBF pwwlon that finds plnoo m . the h umjg breast . ¦ But lus pen is dipped dig itl / iii flj l . JJ views of Ufo aroprono to the satiric , and sonic , timofl , when ho th'aws tho character o ft ^ tho portrait can only ho rogardeU as that oj n « Indlviaunl . Wo will givo an extrac a to ^ trato our position . Tho young olcrgyin « n , ArtJ » Wilkineon , has toon presented to iiJiving , ^ ao \ n

    Untitled Article

    430 TIE LEADER fHo . 471 , April 2 , 1859 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 2, 1859, page 430, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2288/page/14/