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THE HEARTH AND ITS HEROISMS.
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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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St . Helena . To one , who of events like these , might say with truth , ' " Quorum pars nmgna fui , " their memory must we think have struck a chord that could answer even in the hour of death . Then , too , the recollection of the long- half , of his later life , of his mila home at Florence , in : that pleasaht Tuscan land , would cross his mind peacefully after the troubled dream of his-early years . The last period of his lite had , we suspect , left a less vivid impression on his mind . We have heard that latterly the old mail ' s Tinwfirs worn immuredthough not destroyed ; and so , though a wore impairedthough not destroyed ; and so , though a
, powers , daughter of the House of Savov stood by his bedside as wife of his Only son , though messages of inquiry came daily from Baden , where a new Napoleon was holding- a new Congress of Tilsit ; yet we suspect that the second empire and the dories of the second Emperor must have mingled hazily in his mind with the recollections of the past , and the prevaiiin « -thought , if thought there was , must have been tnat tne grave Imd given - back the mighty dead , and that jS t apoleo > . - was returned to claim his own ajrain . ' _ ¦
There are families like those of the Napiees and the Wez .-xeslivYS , all of whose members have a greatness of theirown . This was net the case with the Buoxapabtes . Hone of Imapoleox s brothers showed anything of original ability , and , with the death ot Hafoxeojs" , they all died , moral ! v . The reason , according to the "Idees Napoleonieunes , " which induced the Empekok to make tincr-s of his brothers was " because they alone as kings could submit to his will , and could consent , in obedience to the decrees of his polfcv , to relinquish a throne in order to become again mere French princes , for they alone united the apparent independence of i-ovalty with the depeiidance of the family . " In other words , they were not men of " sufficient vigour to stand alone . Napoleon
might with , truth have parodied the saying of Loris XIV ., and said , "La famille e ' est nioi . " Jerome formed no exception to this rule , and whatever merits lie possessed were of a negative description . Still his death will leave a void behind . It is sixteen years since Joseph , the ex-King of Naples and of Spain , died as Count of Sur-Tiiliers , having spent the last year or two of his life in an out-of-theway village in our midland counties ; and now the last of the kin < rbrothers , the last link between the old empire and the new , has passed away . There is a strange fitness in the epoch of his death . He had lived to see another Marengo and a new Arcola . He had survived to witness the treaties of 1815 , whieh put
a ban upon his family , torn into shreds by a younger jSapomjoi ; aiid the last news almost whickystruck Jus dying ears was that of the " Te Deum" chanted for the restoration of the old frontiers of France , Never could the " Nuiic dim ittis" have been siihg more fittingly for the "last on he Buonapartes . " They are going , it is 8 aid , to bury him at St . Denis ,- —the shrine of the old Kings of France , It would be better , so it seems to us , ii : the dead Prince were laid ut rest beneath the dome of the M Inva-Jides , " where , according to his own wish , the great Napoxeo ^ sleeps " on the banks of the Seine , amidst the people that he loved so well . "
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i 3 Lhas-hfc £ u-j , vittily . _ said . ... " JNo man is a iierp to Jus own valet . There Is , indeed , something in the -original ' "leaning bfTh'b" word hero , which takes it out of the home circle . It implies at least something grand or ' noble ,-something lord-like , masterful;—among the Greeks it signified amah \ vho was something more than a man , a man who was half a god , It is still used in poems and romances for the principal personage , and to the present duy retains a curtain , mytholoyic dignity . The character of the hero in ancient literature was nothing less than a demigod . The old Greek tragic poet had no notion of selecting a pnrelyhuman subject—his hero must be a colossul being , mysterious in its origin , mighty in act , immortal in destiny . He must , in a word , be PrometJieus thelitan , not the Man . Tt has , indeed , been said of his poet—who , in his own way ,
was a Titun too—that " his men are gods , his gods mysterious abstractions , dim and vast . " All . in his sublime _ drama is superhuman . But this height could not bo invariably maintained . JEschylus himself in other plays consented totread the earth ; and Sophocles and Kurh'iues , particularly the hitter , condescended to paint the inddor-life of his fellow Greeks . To him we are indebted for the touching story of Admictus anil Alcestis , the wife who died in her husband ' s stead . However , this could not be told by a Greek poet without the introduction of a miracle , and her rescue from the tomb by the inight of Hebguies . Modern literature has reversed almost all these conditions ; it prefers simple humanity in its humblest forms . Shaicespkauk is intensely human , hut ho was wont to veil the mortal in the monarch ,
"Woul . l dare imprisonment , and venture flrgnfc , Though near her piles of lances weres arrayed : Your modern heroine in love ' s behall Will often dare hostility as dread . Not seldom , you will meet a maid whose heart Was pledged to one of lowly heritage , But of high qualities , that well atoned The churlish lot of Fortune . Enmity ^ . From haughty parents , exile from the sphere Had been her own from birth ; chill penury , And other ills as weighty , have conspired Against her love , and yet she has avowed it , And cherished it as life . " # Other instances , less romantic , are classed also " in the same cage of rushes , " namelv , the heroic of modern time . For example : —
" Some patient wife , who meekly bears , By her hearth ' solitude , the cold neglect Of Mm , who swore to foster her ; fulfils Duty ' s behests , with uncomplaining toil ; Itestrain the sigh , her bitter fate would prompt ; Loving , thoug h unbeloved , so bearing slight , Should teach her slighter kindness . " The term "hero" has especial reference to war;—an ordinary life is a battle-field / requiring too oft the spirit and attituqe of soldiership ; including severe sacrifices of comfort and ease , and that contempt of prudence ani caution out of which the attractiveness of heroic actions is frequently derivable .
Modern life has its trials and temptations , its struggles and dangers , which , not content with pursuing a man to his doorstep , sit down with him at his hearth-stone . There is nothing so marvellous to the reflective " mind , one of our most elegant poets affirms , " as the wondrous patience of the poor . " They have to learn the heroism of endurance , of that virtue the calmness of which irritated so much the wife of Job ;—that is ; if her speech to her husband on the occasion be correctly translated , which we more than ^ doubt . Womanhood , in these times , has shown as much heroism in such cases in the wife as in the husband . Suffering , in our days , indeed appears in a multitude of instances to sit , easier on woman than on man . The latter is frequently restless , and avenges the wrongs of society on his uncomplaining partner . Such a pious spouse we can readily imagine as apostrophising her impatient lord in some such language as the following , which may be accepted as an improved version , pivrutheiparapiirase , of the speech of the Consort of the Man of Uz , as , perhaps , hV ought to be understood : — " Ap _ peal to God , and let thy Sun of life . _ ~ ¦ ¦¦ " ¦ ¦ ¦ Set in -the light of his responding glory . _ To the Afflictedls prayer He- will reply Gompassionate , and make the day ' s decline _ The triumph of the Patient and the Poor . "
Beaumont and Fletcher , in their way , were human ; but their characters ufi ' ect a certain " gentility , " as it was known in their age—we should call it " nobility" in this . They recojjniaed eluss , and were afraid of vulgarity , though not of immorality . Tho inflnenceof X lutaboh ' 8 " IiiveH" iH present in our . elder Jiteruturfl ; our modern romance haa little of thin ferocious character j— it deals with actuiil life , und respects , with Christian charity , the sufferings of tlie poor * disdaining not their virtues , und regarding their vices ¦ with that mercy which would rather reform than punish . The victim of society is at once lilted into tho hero , and , however his martyrdom may bo borne , still retains tho name . Tims , wo aro told by a popular poet , . , < ThQ { ^ Of the heroic change from » ge to iige , Tho spirit in tho forma renminn tho Btime . Your heroine of old , in love ' s behulf
u 7 rfmHJhTn ^^ ward purpose that ignores all speculative and many practical difficulties ;—these are the characteristics that sustain the hero of private life , and leave him at length a winner at the goal of his ambition . Not the least annoyance that he has to endure is the criticism of friends and well-wishers , who think themselves entitled to advise , yet know less of the ' means and objects of his pursuit than . himself , and are totally , inexperienced in the impulses by which he is inwardly assured . Out of this annoyance , sternly put aside , grow self-confidence , and that resolution which is "the column of nobility
r ! And "in the huts-where poor men lie , " many suclianangci of mercy , 1 whispering such consolation , may doubtless be found j and in many a suburban dwelling , where the sorrows of respectability are only too familiar—the vain strife of merit with fortune hourly ¦ -bringing some new disappointment , the tender kindness of a . sympathizing wife has supported the almost hopeless husband in the very crisis of fate , and made the painful path of transition less uneasy . Man ' s , heroism under such ; trials is of . a more rugged texture . A defiant will , an eager hope , an instinctive rather than a reasoning faith , an
in man ; " which laughs at all forms of lalse prudence , and feels itselt master of the event . It-disdains , all meanness , and recognises a greatness iu itself which will command a correspondent greatness in its destiny and companions . ' It refuses to be the dupe of the world ' s littleness , and disregards many things deemed important by ordinary ' minds , regarding thorn as trifles to bo despised , by an active intelligence tiint , has u task under considerable difficulties to achieve . In Art , in Science , in business , every . render must know that of sucli heroes we have many biographies;—but our drama , our romance , our poetry , has not yet taken enough account of them ; nevertheless the spirit of modern life will require justice to be done in this respect in tho fulness of time .
It needs not , however , that success should crown a man ' s efforts to constitute him a hero . The loss of the battle will try a man more tlian the winning of it ; and if he ri « es superior to defeat , then may we bo sure that he possesses tho true qualifications of tho heroic character . Such examples of it are confessedly rnro ; - —but souls capable of such high service aro always triumphant . ' They are , suys a modern ' sage , ' remarkable for good humour and habitual hilarity j !> they are full-of-a noble-scorn , and :. contempt of consequences , such , aa we recognise in the ancient Greolc und Roman character , and in tho more critical periods of British history . Private life hns many a Scrrio , Socuates , Sir Thomas JVIoris , . ErAMi-NONDA 8 , CoLTJMjays , Sidney , HAitrpiiN , wlio only want their poot to realize an epical celebrity . '
If considerations like these should tend to direct the attention of tho serious to'the circle of home as tho Bphoro of tho ' hotoic , their statement will not have been without a special utility . _ Why should we look abroad for what may be found iu the midst of us P It is the common mistake that is mudo iu the seurch after
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610 The Leader mid Saturday Analyst . ^ J June m > lb 60 '
The Hearth And Its Heroisms.
THE HEARTH AND ITS HEEOISAIS .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1860, page 610, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2354/page/10/
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