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LITERATURE
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return to the iniddle ages with , all the inconveniences of-the feudal statute , -consequently an anomaly in the nineteenth century . - The , Roman code is made up of the most confused and multiplied laws , renewed and added to at the election of every fresh Pope . Its enactments , enactqrs and administrators are all equally heterogeneous , discordant , and retrograde . The only rule observed would appear
to be , that the tribunals should be composed of the niost ignorant and venal men in the state * many of whom are superannuated , or have been dismissed in disgi'ace from other offices . The highest posts , both civil and criminal , are filled by prelates frequently utterly ^ ignorant of all legal studies , or by young men just emerged from ecclesiastical academies . The application of bad laws is thus confided to worse administrators . The sentences
pronounced by them are the clearest proof of their ignorance and injustice . It must ever be impossible to establish a system of liberty and free discussion under the government of a power which lays claim to infallibility in spiritual matters , and rests exclusively upon the principle of authority . Italy can never be powerful -and united so long as it embraces such an element of * weakness and disunion within its very centre , as a state neutral from the necessity of its nature , and isolated from all social and international interests . It is a
curious anomaly that Italians . are now looking to K ' apoleon III . to assist in conferring freedom upon them , when it was due to him that the Roman states were given back to ecclesiastical bondage after the revolution of 1848 ; nor is it less strange to see him as a despotic sovereign in league with revolutionists arid republicans against the despotism of the Continent . The tyrants of Italy have fail' ground for saying to the Emperor of the French : " First cast out the beam
from thine own eye , and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote , from thy brother ' s eye . " Those who place the greatest confidence in Louis Napoleon ' s disinterestedness in the present war , must fee ! that he owes the Italians an indemnity for the ill office he performed in restoring the Papal Government . When Koine was without a Pope in 1848-49 , by . very few Italians was the loss of the Pope and his Government felt to be a calamity . On the contrary , the hope and presentiinent then took birth in Rome , and almost throughout the length and breadth of Italy , that Rome will be truly great and Italy independent
and free , when the priestly form of government shall have disappeared for ever , to give place to a comprehensive government adapted to the whole Peninsula . If the temporal power of the Pope were abolished , then would follow the discussion of the question as to whether the chair of St . Peter might not jbe transferred advantageously to some other site , so as to leave Italy entirely free to form plans embracing the government of the whole peninsula , whether unionist , fusionist , confedorative , monarchical , or any other . But under existing circumstances these considerations may well be left to the great and \ visf » Rtntouninii . — . (^ avfinr * rV A * 7 f * ot \\ f \ "l ? irlnlfi l ? . v _
*> . « w > . f »»> V ** W »^*«»^» a ^ ' •» t ^ Sht » , M AAMV qMVJ AH * VIV 4 tl > JfcWfk casoli , Salvagnoli , and others—who are now so ably and temperately conducting the country through ^ the perils of a transition state . They and the Italians in general are , however , very desirous of the moral support ^ f the British nation , and are anticipating groat advantage from the liberal influence of Lord John Russell as Foreign Secretary of State . The advico of England win be highly appreciated when the period arrives for the readjustment of the several states of Italy . If this nation can Imt preserve its neutrality , and the French maintain their promise of abandoning the Peninsula when they have secured its emancipation from Austria , then , indeed , we may hope tp see realised Italian unity and nationality .
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Imjpkisonment my County Court Judges . — The committee appointed by tho Law Amendment Society to consider this subject have issued a report strongly condemnatory of tho present law and its results . In tho year 1858 more than n , 000 persons were committed to prison by tho county court judges , for various periods , for debts and costs not exceeding 40 s ., and in many cases for n much lower amount . The report declares tho opinion of the committee that the law should be altorod— . first , by putting an end to imprisonment when tho amount recovered by too judgment does not exceed 40 s . ; secondly , by abolishing the power of commitment merely on account oftho deTbtdr ' s non-attondnnco j and thirdly , by providing that no debtor ahull be imprisoned more than once for tho uamo debt .
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- ? - . : . TVrOTWITHSTANDING the engrossing cares of -L ' a contested election , and daily ministerial and political consultations , the Chancellor of the Exchequer found leisure on Wednesday to preside at the dinner of the Royal Literary Fund , which celebration passed off without anything to mar the festivity of the day , In proposing success to the institution , Mr . Gladstone spoke for nearly an hour—a very fair allowance for an after-dinner speech . Perhaps there is no other orator of the day who would have ventured to test the patience of his auditory to a similar extent ; The right honourable gentleman , however was in his happiest mood ; and , indeed , the remark was made then as it has been made before
that yrere he to devote his abilities to the more congenial pursuit of literature , and give up politics altogether , the world would be no loser by the exchange . He touched delicately upon the " arguments and controversies " that have prevailed , but , he added , "I rejoice to see that even those arguments and controversies , though they may have retarded the progress , have notsufficed to reverse it , or Imay venture to say not sensibly to retard it . This institution , like other things great and good , was born and maintained in adversity ; but it has steadily advanced , and in its advance it has been favoured by the combined efforts of those who were possessed of the most abundant means and the highest station ,
Th . fi author of " Vanity Fair" took occasion to vindicate ( by . implication ) the conduct of the Lite rary Fund from the strictures of Mr . C . Dickens and his adherents , and to administer some very hard verbal hitting to some anonymous writers , who in a recent number of an illustrated periodical , had called the Literary Fund the '' Rupture Society . " Finally we may mention that 1 , 6002 . was subscribed . ' We hear from Russia that a few weeks ago the Bishop of St . Petersburg , at a meeting of the ° Holy Synod , proposed to excommunicate Alexander Herzen , the well-known exile , now living in London All the bishops , with the exception of the metropolitan of Muscovy , consented to the motion directed against the able man who was the bold originator of a revolutionary movement in the realms of political literature in Russia ; but the Emperor refused his sanction to the resolution of the episcopal heads of the Church , and reprimanded the dignitaries .
It is announced that Mr . "W . H . Russell is going to Switzerland , in order to find a quiet retreat in ¦ which to write the history of his adventures in the East . Messrs . lioutledge are to be the publishers of the work . The "Vienna Press states that Prince Metternich has left three volumes of memoirs , or rather notes all relating to important political events , written by himself at the time of their occurrence . We find the following remarks in the Critic of this week : —r" In the paper which Dr . Guy read before the Statistical Society , on Tuesday last , lie examined the somewhat interesting question as to the duration of the lives of men connected with
literature . It what he maintained be exact , the pen to most persons who use it , certainly to poets , is indeed a * lethalis arundo . ' We are not , however , altogether satisfied with the Doctor ' s statistics , and hope that poetry is not so nearly allied to death as he intimates . Dr . Guy gives us the names of eight Roman poets , chosen , we suppose , for their celebrity . Striking a mean between the ages of Tibulhis and Martial , he proves that the average duration of life among the Roman poets was only forty-eight and a half years . Tibullus is stated to have died at ithe age of twenty-four , and Martial is selected as the longest-lived among Roman poets . To both of these statements we demur .- It is a moot
point which has called forth more than one ponderous tract from German critics , as to whether Tilnillus did not live at least fifteen years longer than Dr ; Guy allows . And Juvenal , both inpoetical fame and length of days , may well occupy the place assigned td Martial . Taking , then , the next on Dr . Guy ' s list , Persius , who died at 30 , and Juvenal , ¦ who died at 81 , wo get an average of 55 years ; and by statistics , at least as trustworthy as Dr . Guy ' s , add 6 ^ years to the average life of ltoinan poets . We might also reasonably object to the list of Roman historians given , among whom we have Josephus and Terence . The only Terence that we know of was a poet . There is nearly as
much to find fault with in tho list of English poets given by Dr . Guy . We trust that poets in general are neither tio poverty-stricken nor unhealthy as seems to be popularly believed . In considering the statistics in the paper , however , it should be recollected that they are made up of figures representing yexy select lives—the lives of men who have attained celebrity , which is always a very exceptional condition . Taking the whole body of men who have achieved fame by intellectual pursuits , it will generally be found that that they have done so under circumstances eminently exceptional . Some men nevdr coula have amount of labour
attained eminence but through an requiring stamina , industry , and sobriety for its performance , such as Lords Brougham , Campbell , Lyndhurst , &c . Others die young from sheer poverty of constitution , and yet arc famous . Others , in tlie excitement of tho poetic temperament , ana the impatience of a long struggle with tho woria lor bread , kill themselves either voluntarily or involuntarily—Chattorton being ixn example ol tlio one class , and Poo for tho other . So far as tho general conclusions of this paper went—Unit industry u more wholesome than idleness , anil a regular mo than an erratic one , there can bo no doubt ot tuo truth of the conclusions . "
as well as those who have testified their good will from slender resources . It is an institution ' which I believe I am justified in saying has advanced from year to year—almost from day to day . It may not be able to cover the whole field that is open to its benevolent enterprise , but it is able to cover a large portion , and a continually-increasing portion , of that field ; and meetings suchas this , to whatever criticism they may be open , will , I hope , at least have the effect of warming our hearts towards one another , and to the objects of the Literary Fund , and inciting us to the support of what is undoubtedly a work of true humanity , of true philosophy , and of , I believe , the true 3 t wisdom . Sitting , as you do , in the presence of at least one
highly-distinguished foreigner ( Prince Frederick of Holstein ) , you will permit me to say that I dwell with great satisfaction upon what I may call the "world-embracing character of this institution . There is something in > the character of letters , which , although it does not refuse the impress of nationality , affords one of the bast , the most interesting , the most affecting , and the most innocent channels for the convej ' ance of national feeling , yet declines to admit nationality as a fetter and a bond . It is a brotherhood which includes the citizens of the republic of letters—and that brotherhood is aa firm as our common flesh and blood . " Mr . Gladstone spoke of the tendency of the elevated pursuits of literature and arb to render their devotees in
many cases less capable than they would' otherwise be of bringing down their minds to the ordinary cares of life , so that it may constantly happen that one belonging to this brotherhood will come innocently into distress when an ordinary man nob engaged in those peculiar pursuits would not be likely to become dependent upon the benevolence of others . And ( said he ) together with that defect , rendering them lpss capable of the ordinary details of human affairs , there is , as we have all seen , a peculiar susceptibility of organisation which renders tho mind more sensible to the power of pain and caro upon him , and that pain and caro when onco they have assumed influence over him , fall directly upon what ,
to use the language of political economy , we may call his productive power , so that tho whole combination of those circumstances , together with tho liabilities attaching to his profession , and which attach to it in proportion as his profession is devotedly followed , at once constitutes a peculiar case of necessity , and a peculiar right to assistance . Mr .. Gladstone vindicated tho policy of the corporation in according a preferential aid to authors of tho ' severer " class of works , rather than to those who had produced compositions which attained
an immediate but ephemeral popularity , and concluded in tho following terms : — "I rejoice to think it i » in this country that for tho first time tho happy idea has been conceived of founding an institution for tho purpose of administering to the peculiar needs and claims of authors ; and I feol a profound conviction that in this country there is no insurmountable difficulty in finding tho funds of that institution with so liberal a hand that they shall become thoroughly adequate to meet tho groat purposes which we have in view . " Mr . Thaokoray and Professor Owen wore both present , and made speeches in return for their healths bulnu drunk .
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LKADJCHH OF T 1 IK RKFOltMATION—I-uthor , Culvln , UMmor , Knox . l \ y John Tullooli , JD . U—Wl Muui Hluokwood mid Sons . T * iK 8 K sketches are formed from the tnilwtunoe of lectures delivered by tho author at tho Edinburgh Philosophical Institution last Boring . Thoy Uo credit to tho writer ' s perception and power of stylo . Of course , oiu * readers are ranliliar , with tho dotaus . of tho lives of the four theological heroes , whoso portraits Dr . TuIIoch has hero painted . One ¦ emark wo would make , as forced upon us alike l > 2 all : those men delivered the world from suportitions to which thoy woro themselves enslaved .
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772 THE LEADEB [ Literary
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LITERARY NOTES , ETC .
Literature
LITERATURE
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Leader (1850-1860), June 25, 1859, page 772, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2300/page/16/
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