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NOVELS OF THE DAY.*
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SOCRATES.*
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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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mrotr in Mr . Fairholt ' s picture , we seem to discern in his counteiiiiirce Ji crest fallen expression—a certain air of baffled wickedness which we never remarked before * and which confirms this version . In justice to the giants let us not forget another version , which declares Hint " Corinceus and Gogmagog were , two brave giants , ¦ who nicely valued their honour , and exerted their whole strength and force " in defence of their liberty and country ; so the City of London , by placing these their representatives in their Guildhall emblevnatiirallv declare that they will , like mighty giants , defend the native which
honour of their country and liberties of this their city , excels all others as much as those huge giants exceed in stature the common bulk of mankind . " For this account , however , there is no earlier authority than the ¦ " Gigantick History , " published by Thomas foreman , in 1741 : and we are afraid that it is merely mythical , growing out of the popular feeling towards Gog and Magog . For the people evidently loved their giants : they were associated with all their fetes and holidays ; and to this day , we believe , form part of the Lord Mayor ' s annual procession . Anciently , Gog and Magog were two vast figures , made only of wickerwork and pasteboard . The present two substantial giants were , afc the city charge , " formed and fashioned " by one " Captain Richard Saunders . an eminent carver , in King-street , Cheapside , " somewhere
about the year 1708 . Mr . Fnirhplt hardly solves a question which will strike most of his reader * . Why are giants so universally connected with civic display ? Chester . ' Coventry , Salisbury , Antwerp , Douai , Arras , Brussells . & <• .. have all their giants . We believe that they had their origin in the histrionic performances with , which the ancient bourgeoisie of England . and the Continent were wont , after the fashion of more rjowerfu-1 governments , to amuse the people . For these they appear to have dramatised or otherwise represented popular legends already well known . The history of Gogmagog and Corinanis was , no doubt , one of those which \ vere annually brought forward ; and the giants , we suppose , being elaborately constructed , were preserved , and made to do duty from year to year . The names of Gog and Magou- are ( binid . in the Bible , and Mr . Fairholt has so . me curious remarks ' iipnn the traces that may be found of them in Oriental legends ¦ ¦ " \ ¦ ' ¦
, .... . . , . . , . _ . , ' , _ , * T .-It ' was rii ? Kt that this memoir of the old city giants should be written before their history and the grandeur that anciently surrounded them are for ever forgotten . As : late as the middle of the last century Mr . Fairholt informs us that the great stone hall in which they stand was filled with small shops , and formed a gay bazaar . The ' * Gigaiitiek History "from which we have quoted was sold by its publisher " near the Giants in Guildhall . " But civic glories sire lading fast . An all-devouring centralization , of . more than doubtful benefit , is fast consuming : the city ' s ancient power and indi * penden « -i » . . When last we sauntered into Guildhall the workmen thatof old time
were peaeenblv engaged in a labour of sacrilege , , would have sot the city in , ablaze . They were removing the venerated monument of Ahlenna ' n Beck ford , the great champion of City Radicalisn > , to make way for the monument of the great Tory soldier , tho Duke of Wellington . The change was effected without riot—indeed ,. we believe , without remark . The giants looked down upon the change with faces , as it seemed to us , of deeper crimson than before ; but the-people merely watched the workmen , as if no cry of Wilkes and Liberty had ever been heard within those walls , and pressgangs and general warrants had always been allowed to go forth unquestioned .
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The student of history has no more melancholy task than to trace the career of one of those pioneers of nascent Truth , whose fate in every age of the world it has been to lay down their lives for the creed they preach . To be persecuted , despised , rejected , and undone , such ' is the sacrifice that Truth has ever demanded of men who dared to bo her herald , and well it is that in every case their glory has proved equal to , the risk they ran , and that the names of such live for ever , long after their bodies rest in pence ; and on the brow of nono has posterity placed a nobler crown than that which rosta on Socrates , the pagan philosopher of Athens ,
persons who engaged in them , and their utter folly in supposing that they knew anything at all , we need not wonder when we fine that hatred and jealousy were roused against him , who sought ii such a novel way to propagate the practice of virtue and enforce th < stern duties of morality . The whole city were against him ; and supported singly by the approval of the internal monitor conscience that reigns supreme , and which he called his Demon , to his seventieth year he stood his ground , and nobly pursued the course he had marked out . There can be nothing more pathetic in the range of history than the Moralist of Athens standing at the bar of his country to receive its last award . After a life of self-denial spent in labouring to bring men to the knowledge of the duties they owe themselves , and tc a higher conception of their work below , he stands forth to meethu sentence at the hands of those whom lie has sacrificed all to save Rectitude of purpose unflinchingly pursued and blameless integrity are there in his person , to be judged by the selfish bigotry which represses the one and the proud ignorance that refuses to acknowledge the other . And the result was , as it has ever been * that the life of Socrates , noble as it was , was still more ennobled by his death Martyrdom , indeed , has never failed to raise to the highest rank ol heroism those who have passed through its fiery trial ; and many a name that would have perished long ago , or only , survived to be abhorred , has thus been saved from such a fate . But no commendation is too high for the glorious martyr of virtue of whom we now speak , and his last defence is one of the most touching addresses tliat we have ever rend , which , after many a noble passage ,, thus concludes : — " But you too , my judges , must be of a good courage with regard to death , and must bear in mind this one great truth , that to a good ' man it mutters not -whether he live or die ; nor are the gods regardless of his course : and so even I , helpless as I seem , afti sure that this haB not happened to me by chance , but that it is good for me to die and be removed from this scene below , and I bear no grudge against those Who have condemned , and accused me here /* Charity was not so common a virtue in those or after days , as that we should despise the smallest approach to it we can trace , and it must-have sounded strange on the ear of selfish and time-serving Athens to listen to a man who could forgive the enemies who had broken up and destroyed his ^ bome , and were about to consign him to an unjust and ignominious death . But she reaped abundantly the harvest she had sown ; and the words of the despised criminal who . fell a victim to her blindness , that it would be long ere she found such another as himself , were . amply and mournfully fulfilled . Four hundred years after , in the days , of the Apostle Paul , we find the very same . Athens again . ' rejecting a teacher of the truth , and still devoted to the study of the unknown gods . The very charges that are brought against the one are almost verbally the same as those that were urged against the other : Socrates was condemned bernuse he believed in other than his country ' s gods : Paul was a babbler because his gods were strange , and the similarity may surely serve to invest , the Pagan moralist with something of the interest that attaches to the career of the Christian saint . To those who would further study the practical morals of the former , as presented to us in the works of his pupil Pluto , we can do no better than recommend the series of volumes by Dr . Whewell , of which the ' first has just been issued . The dialogues are arranged in , chronological order , and to each is appended an argument ; while the matter , which consists partly of a terse abridgment and partly of vigorous translation , is illustrated by able notes . English readers have ' to thank the author for having brought homo to them what we are sure , if rightly read , will bo "• a joy for ever , " and for having ' enabled them for themselves to verify the justice of posterity in having reversed a verdict which , more than two thousand years ago , was passed pn . one of the most celebrated characters of that or indeed of any lime .
Whom well inspired , the oracle pronounced , "Wisest of men , lie enjoys , too , the advantage of having met with one among -Iris pupils who was able to do justice to his teaching , and whose works , imsurpnssod for beauty of' style and illustration , still remain the storehouse from which " mprulists of every ago have drawn , as from a jflowing fount , whatever could adorn their pages , or render their lessons more osih . v to understand . Oil nono of the writers of Greece is the impress of the beauty of nature moro clearly stamped than on Plato—tho most eloquent of all , who in every thing that was lovely around , saw a type of ( something still more lovely in the moral nature of man within , His Dialogues should be in every hand , and we therefore welcome with pleasure u volume from tho ablo pen of Drf Whewell , which promises in an adequate manner to throw open this tronsuro to tho ibnglitth reader .
In Soi-ratcs , as in many another who hns boon the chosen ' apostle of tho iMtfhant truths , thero was nothing 1 to attract or allure M the ninny" to his wide . Rude of speech , in appoaranoo plain , with throaXlbnr ' e cloak and unshod feet he walkod by the side of tho polished and luxurious litiaen of Athens , mid hoodless of everything- forcpd his conversation on one and nil alike . And when wo remember Hint the object of these colloquies , was to prove tho ig-nornmto of tho
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I T is impossible for any novelist to . succeed who does not , as a primary element , supply- himself with a sure foundation in tho shape of an efficient plot . To write two long volumes , composed of merely conversational or dry descriptive chapters , is not to produco a novel , in Uie proper meaning of the word . A novel is , after all . » difficult form of composition , requiring not only the imaginative and perceptive faculties , but much general information and actual oxperionco of tho world . In these days of light literature , unfortunately , the rago for novel-reading is only outrun by tho mania for novelwriting : the consequence is , that so much irash is presented to tho public in tho shape of 'tales" and " romances , " Hint at becomes really dangerous to speculate in a book , unless we have the name of a well-known author as a guarantee for tho rospootubility of its contents .
We do not wish tho reader to infer , from tho foregoing roinnrka , that Mr , Wiso ' s new work , Tho Cousins' Ciuuitship , " is entirely devoid of any sort of individual merit . On the contrary , thero is , here and there , dispersed throughout tho two volumes , some little bits ot genuine poetiu feeling , which yluam pleasantly and ^ rofroHhingly through tho long wilderness of uninteresting- detail . Still , however , they aro only gloamings in tliu wihlornons ; tuul wo doubt mu < : h u tho ' patiouco ' of the general render will allow him to wado through ao
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Jan . 28 , I 860 ] The Leader and Saturdayi Analyst . ¦ VI
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* Tho JJiahx / iicii of XHato . By Dr . Whbwihh .,, Trin . Coll ., Oamb . Muc .- \ lilhu > . 18 GU .
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& , ofWItMlr , ami other 7 W « i . Uy tho Author of " Tho N" ^ " ™™ Maids . '' Originally published in Frasor'H Mn . giiffluQ . " Jol »» » r . * « " «<« & §«/ £ / < t X «» ol . By tho Buronoaa Tawwhmvb . Klolmrd Bontloy .
* T / u > CotMiitu' C » tirtshij > . Jly Joua K . Www . 2 vols . Smith , Kldor ,
Novels Of The Day.*
NOVELS OF THE DAY . *
Socrates.*
SOCRATES . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2331/page/15/
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