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THE SPIRITS OF THE AGE.
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plaining that their public services are quite inadequately considered By the Government ; no mere misanthropist—• • " ' - ^ bringing to mind ^ , Like doomsday , all the faults of all mankind ' * no inventor bewailing the neglect of the hundred and * fiftieth patent nut-crackers . What we should want would be , Sharps versus Blunts , FKnts versus Steels , Stiffnecks versus Bullheads , and the several members of their families . What editor ' s mouth would not water at the idea of a Highland or Corsiean feud , paid for all by the kindred ? Ink and Joseph Giixot , instead of blood and Asdeea Febeaea , and lasting 1 ad infinitum , -without the
or , in Shakespeare ' s words , the determination " To wrong the wronger till he renders right , "a rather indefinite process .
" truces of God " of the middle ages . There are many subordinate arrangements , many minor benefits , of which we shall be content to indicate only a few—most of them , be it observed , dependent on the ample scale of payment insisted upon , — -payment for contributions—for the paper itself should be cheap ; not too cheap , as we are apt to undervalue what we underpay for . Even scandal , one of our greatest luxuries , would be still more highly appreciated if well paid for . Scandal has lain hitherto under a great disadvantage in this respect ; it has been too cheap ; costing rarely more than weak bohea , and trifling risk ; it would bear English pineapple price , or that of any other exotic , raised from a at h lass
dung-heap , under coyer , and sometimes peeped througg windows , fed with eavesdroppings , sweet and prickly . Bather than that the delight should be relinquished , as many profits might be raised upon a bit of mischief as there are on other articles between first growth and final purchase . The scandal discoverer , the scandal spreader , the scandal exaggerator , and the scandal listener , would all pay ' - , and freely , for their several shares of enjoyment , if payment were necessary ; and if people would pay extravagantly for what they know to be scandal , what would they not pay for what they believe to be justice , and jtistice to themselves , blended with sweet animadversion on the faults of others ? Our notion is
that for such a gratification it would be difficult to gssign a price which wealthy " parties " would not be " agreeable " to put down ; but we have to consult for those also who are iiot in a position to invest a _ fortune in a debate , though many have wasted one in what was , considerably less worth while than a vindication and recovery of their charaeteFs . How-stich a paper woxild wiiv 011 both hands , from the justifiable firmness of the right , and the notorious btstinacy of the wrong ! But we should consult" means , " without permitting- any to plead exactly in formd pctuperis ; we should have our three sized types ,
for patrician , middle-class , and plebeian quarrel , v . ifch payment accordingly . We would not have our pages poliuted with ^ minx " and " scoundrel , " and '' for very strong langmtge short of this , there shoiil'd be proportionate pay . What lessons would be thereby inculcated of decency in dispute I What an improvement of popular style i What skill , just to avoid libellous matter 1 What force , without violence of expression ! What conciseness , and what keeping to the question in hand , to escape unnecessary expense ! What regulation of the winding innuendo of the educated , and desultory onset of the illogical ! imes offer deli
- ^ -g ^« -ftditor ^ ighiLson-iet a little cate though not final arbih-ation , and by encouragement and discouragemeiiTrnrltmrs nately fan the flame . Expending now and then some of the receipts of the paper at the secret information offices , lie might arrive thereby at something of the real truth of 'the matter , which he would generally be wholly unable to ascertain from either of the parties to the contest . As disputes and accusations continued , the public would begin gradually to experience a newly-created interest . Names , at first utterly insignificant , might gradually dilate into importance j and the same process might at once turn nobodies into somebodies , and supply an infinite fund , of general amusement , to say nothing of instruction in style . Condensation is much wanted in newspapers at present , as in Parliament .
If London would supply a harvest , what arc we to say of the provinces , but that they would supply a much more plentiful one ? So the larger country towns , or , still better , a union of third or fourth rates . Here , we care comparatively little about gossip , except the scandal of our particular circles or the mutual abuse of our particular friends ; but further in the country , ' amongst the MoNT-AGfES and CAn . x . r . TS of York or Exeter , where all know everybody , and everybody talks about all , what opportunities of comment xipon every controversy , and eonversatinnnl correct iona of it from personal knowledge of character . What hnppy purties to be amused out of the material of unhappy homes ! Some Frenchman tons snid thnt small towns and villages paid the lawyers , in proportion to their population , ten times better than Paris or London , nnd from our personal experience we should bo very much inclined to believe him .
Fortunately , all people are not of Shebidan's temperament , who is saTd ""' to have nttneked himself most violently uv upiiper , the pages of which he could command , in order that he might afterwards vindicate himself triumphantly from his own charges , which after nil ho was too luzy to do ; and so the accusations were loft to perform their work . Such a temperament would indeed . be ruinous to our adventure ; but the fact is , no man can get sincerely nnd thoroughly angry with blows which he inflicts upon himself . Our paper » hould be guarded , if possible , from all mock attacks likely to dio off in this' extremely unsatisfactory . manner . We . must have—¦ " TIip pntiont wntch , nnd vigil lonpr , oi'liittt who treasures m > n ivronjr : "
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«* rpHERE are as good fish m the sea as any that ever came i- it . " This is si proverb that we have frequently heard ^ cited by disappointed men , conscious of merit , and expectant of ultimate success . That it is not believed in is , however , evident from the criticism to which the famous line in Mr . Taylob ' s " Philip van Artevelde" was once subject : — " The world knows nothing of its greatest men . " . To be sure the verse in question went a step further than the proverb . It asserted that there were better fish in the ocean than out of it ; reversing another proverb also , which asserts that " a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush . '' The world is not disposed to give so much credit to the ocean and the bush ; butafter all , this may be because it knows nothing of their
, real tenants , and is disposed to congratulate itself upon what it has managed to possess . The world naturally values its acquisitions , and regards property with an affection which it cannot extend to what has not yet become property . Besides , it cannot get on without self-flattery . It is as vain as a player or a portrait painter . Said an artist once to us , when sitting for our likeness : * ' You are silent ; don't you like the picture ? If you do , I wish you would say so . To speak the truth , I can't get on without a little flattery . " So , of course , we felt in duty bound to become demonstrative in our approbation . Our most popular living tragedians have the same failing . Provincial audiences are sometimes very dull and stupid , and neglect to applaud in the proper or any places . The country
spectator is a diffident " animal , and , in fact , is afraid to use his privilege , or incapable of doing so ^ . He is either ashamed to give h i s opinion , or has no opinion to give . It isnotevery piie who has their audacity of the kitchen-maid , who , when summoned . to the parlour to pass her judg-ment on two pictures , and called on to decide between a Bowles-and-Carver coloured engraving ( such tilings were celebrated a quarter of a century ago ) and " a sketch by Feseli , gave the preference to the former because it was so smooth and glossy , and the latter so scratchy and disagreeabk \ The poor player , however , who /' struts and 'frets his hour upon the stage , " is little inclined to accredit his audience with the virtue of modesty , and would prefer eTen the kitchen-maid ' s assurance to apparent , indifference . Accordingly ,: the . ' eminent actors to whom we have referred ,
liave . more than once come forward on the stage , and announced to the country audience that unless they were applauded they , could not possibly proceed with the perfprnutnee , so discouraging wa& it to be kept in ignorance whether they were liked or not . pf course the audience thus appealed to did with the players as we ditl with the painter , applaud "to the very echo that did applaud again . " Now the world is quite as avaricious of , praise as either the artist of the studio or of the green-room . It expects the assent of every man who would live by it , and lie who is not disposed to please the world is not very likely to be pleased by the world ; The world , in fact , flatters itself that the prize it has taken the pains to capture fimi secure is worth more than the unknown treasure that still remains unmoved or unwon . And yet ~ thiS"way ^ irDtHrJTe- ; opiivit > ijr-ofhim who had conquered that same . world- —for he wept that ¦ there : were no xnoro worlds to win , and , according to the poet ,-
—"All lie had done of little worth esteemed , Conrpared with what he \ efc had power to do . " And there aro speculative Alexanders , too * wlio , in the greatness of their imagination , " apprehend a . world of figures " in those blank spaces of history where nothing yet has figured , and peoplo the void for themselves with beings of impossible excellence . What proof have we that the greatness of which we know nothing , is greater than that which the penny-trumpet of ¦ fame has sounded with so much persistency and effect P Is it not a fact ; , now accepted and Undeniable , that the acknowledged great men ot any age are . the expressions of its spirit and principles ? There is a progress in tho development of the human being-, both socially
and individually ; and the steps of this development murk the several ages in their succession . The mass of mankind ' siru inarticulate animals : but thoi'o arc a select few who can speak , and do speak , in more than one language—the poet , the orator , the artist , the statesman ; and in these tho i ^ rinciples that govern the time are oinbodied . Sometimes it happens that one among these is their single exponent ; and in him the spirit of the race and of the age is incarnate . To attain to this elevation , much force of trhiiracter , much original ability , ' much patient waiting for opportunity are necessary . Without opportunity , power and talent go for nothing . Honce it happens that mmie readily yield to the notion that
opportunity is the all-in-all , and that the great men of whom tho world is ignorant consist , of those who had all the will and merit , but were not blessed with the opportunity . Such reasonery , however , forget that ~' opportunity in itself . Tliout'tiiuiH oi men have abundant opportunities , but neglect them ! Tin- opportunity is realized only by him who takes advantage of it ; and this same taking 1 advantage presumes that the successful individual hud the ' sufficient energy , and was on the look-out lor the chancy . > We , therefore , Hee that the three must go together : —the virtue , and the patience , and the opportunity ; and that these three unite in the acknowledged hero of tho occasion .
On the other hand ,. anyone who has had much experienco with tho world , and lm « reflected over' so little , must bo aware that there always is a lnrye crop of unused talent and genius iu it . In some
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592 The Leader ant } Saturday Analyst . [ June 23 , I 860 .
The Spirits Of The Age.
THE SPIRITS OF THE AGE .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 592, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2353/page/12/
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