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MEMOIRS OF BISHOP IIUED.* .- .
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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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arose showed the wc $ fdliaiicc . in the most grotesque shapes , and furnished a comedy , . with scones more proper for a farce or a melodrama , than for a more regular production . The characters were not at all of the drawing-room order , ¦ and there was a want of dignity even in the more respectable of the dramatis persona , with ° the one exception , the hero of the fight , the champion , of international justice . Mr . Reade ' s test of the value of the international treaty was in this fashion . He determined to treat with the French authors for the copyright of " Les Pauvres do Paris . " The original piece was legally registered ; a version next produced and legally published , and entered at Stationers' Hall , Mr . Reade having previously advertised in the Times his intention of px'cparing a
version , and that the solicitor of the authors was instructed to restrain any other version , or imitation , b y an injunction of the Court of Chancery . Mr . Reade soon found that ( to tise his own language ) he " liad -walked into a hornets' nest . " But , first of all , a fair offer was made on the part of the Surrey Theatre by Mr . Creswick , to pay him and the French authors a small sum for permission to play a certain adaptation by Mr . Stirling Coyne , which they conceded . Mr . Payne , of the Strand Theatre , however , took another view of the matter , and employed Mr . Ben Barnett and J . B . Johnstone to cqncoet . an adaptation , under the title of " The Pride of Poverty ; or , The Heal Poor of London . " Hereupon , Mr . Reade hastil \ inserted an advertisement in the Era . announcing that injunctions in the Court of Chancery would
he filed , and notice was subsequently served upon him to the same effect . Mr . Payne pleaded that his adaptation was ^ wide of the French , " and so played it on the following Monday . Furthermore , ha assumed the airs of " an injured pirate ; " and he and . Messrs . Barnett and Johnstone finally commenced legal proceedings against Mr . Reade , for having " slandered their title " by his advertisement above-mentioned . The trial at last came off , so far as respected the joint authors of the piracy , who laid their damages , at five hundred pounds , but were non-suited . Mr . lieade found" it . impossible , moan while , to appear as plaintiff . himself' ,-: , in behalf of the French authors , except at a ruinous expense ; and was therefore advised to be . content with such solution of the miestion as the nonsuit implied .
Letnot the reader imagine , however , that the above dry statement . resembles the story as told in the book . Mi \ Reade enlivens it with personal and picturesqiie delineations-, and draws out the whole affair in dramatic distinctness ; so that readers , both English and French , may see the practical operation of the Swindling Proviso surreptitiously ' inserted into the statute . He argues out , at length , the dishonourable nature of the transaction as regards England , and its impolitic nature as regards France . He points out , too , that the French dramatists are men of consideration , and that their good feeling towards England is of itself a great benefit , which it is important in-us to . secure .
M . S . copy of an adaptation , which managers may have for fifteen shilliuys ; " and they will have the right to perform the piece under their contract for the year I 860 , " as ^ subscribersto Cumberland ' s list of acting dramatic jjieces . " We have seen this adaptation performed , and it is as close a copy of Madame Celeste ' s as possible . Is it properly licensed ? The Lord Chamberlain should surely look to this , and refuse Ms lieense- to such robberies . " Here , " shouts out Mr . Reade , and well he may , *• ' here is a monster that offers directly a similar article , with the same title , to any theatre , for fifteen shillings . What inventor or honest purchaser can compete with this ? In France this blackguard would be not only fined ,
but probably imprisoned . In Englajid who cares but Mr . Reade V " In conclusion , it is our duty to inform the reader that Mr . Reade has written a , noble and eloquent book , which will circulate not only here , but in America , where it is already reprinted , and in France . That it will avail to stop the infamous piratical traffic , by compelling the Legislature and Government to frame a just law , we have no doubt . Mr . Reade has written with wonderful force , and also with a most fertile power of illustration , that makes the volume one of the most amusing and instructive ever composed . It is , in fact , an immortal work ; and will , like Milton ' s ' -Treatises on Divorce and Unlicensed Printing , " live as long as the English language .
Mr . Reade proves , by example , that the course we have been pursuing must' extinguish . literary invention . Englishmen , he rightly remarks , " can all see this where any nation but England is the pirate .- We warned Belgium she would extinguish her literature if she played the same anscru vulpine game in all literature we are playing in ' dramatic literature . She persisted , and did extinguish her literature . What is the difference between her and England ? A one in our favour . The only vital difference is this : first , she did not ¦ shuffle" and tamper with" treaties , but did her roguery like a man , and we did it like a pettifogging sneak . " and
: The time has , we hope , now arrived when our legislators statesmen will put aside their jealousy of the author ,, the literary man , the Man Thiukmjr . Such jealousy was always absurd enough . It might , however , be winked at in the days of ignorance . In these enlighteiicd days it is both a blunder arid a crime . Let government and parliament hasten to . ' do justice . Let them put Mr . Reade ' s book , at once , into the hands of a competent lawyer , and codify the principles therein contained on the different matters , particularly the drama , therein referred to ; and let the bill thus carefully and honestly prodxiced be passed into itlaw without a moment ' s delay | or Hesitation . There should be none iu removing the stain of dislionour . from the escutcheon of England .
Frenchmen , it seems , have to pay a heavy pi-jee for the imaginary protection affordedby the statute ; if they do not , they arc entirely helpless . But if they do , what then ? Mr . lieade answers , that " then the heartless , ' lawless ; law encourages another swindler .-to aattiick them , viz . ' the adapter . ' " He destroys them as inevitably as the other . The same pirate that translates the unprotected pieces . p lays iha adaptation swindle on the protected pieces . It costs him ¦ nothing 1 : '" it is as easy as lyingT * or a * daubing a stolen
article with paint . Any stick is good enough' to beat such mere dogs . "is . Victor Hugo , Scribe , Moliere , Shakspeare , Cprneille . ' Merc colourable piracy is punished everyday between Englishman and Englishman ; (?) but it becomes an honest lawful , act when levelled against a French dramatic author , after he has bought of us , at a heavy price , these sacred rights an Englishman gets gratis . Oh , shame ! shame ! shame !" That the Swindling Proviso should be immediately repealed is . ' . »„ , ¦ t » % •* . 1 9 1 ' " ^ 1 " ' 1 ¦* _ . _ 1 ¦ W ' j . . ¦ J . clear This al intruder Reade into
. ' " disloy , " says Mr . , " a great international equity ' has been tried nine years , and convicted as a pettifogging cheat ; down with it ! It is a blot on a noble enactment , and on our national escutcheon ; ' out , damned spot ! ' It is a double-faced , double-tongued , double dealer . It turns one check to tho honest inventor , and says , ' pay the price and I'll protect you ; turns tho other cheek to the rogue , and says , _ ' let him pay what ho will , I'll show you how to do him ; ' and ho . it tempts the honest man to his temporal , and the frail man to his eternal , harm ;' down with it !"
JSTow for the result of tho iniquity thus perpetrated . These are : — High prices , low article , intellectual auditor banished , inventor extinguished , adapter half-starved , petty pirate in rags ;" and these " are not the results of nature , as dreamers think , but the product of feeble legislation , and unjust , incapable tribunols . Franco has a national drama , mainly because she is an honestnation , and worthy of one—England has none , becauso she is at present an author-swindling nation , and unworthy of one . When tho English Legislature shall rise to tho moral and intellectual level of tho French judges , then tho present artificial
opposition ,. jvvhioJiia . a « cA .. aanu . Mi ^ cmx ^ hwj 2 Q ^ md ^^ z \ llJ ^ ojvs > . r moved or lightened , and a great and glorious national drama will that momont begin , to arise by a law of commerce as inevitable ns that which now strangles it . " Mr . Roado has indeed thrown a flood of light on tho wholo question ; and lias shown to * tho public a fact long known to ourselves , that certain managers of theatres have formed a sort of Ki » NArpiNa Association . " Mark tho operation of it . Madame Celeste purchased , for about one hundred and fifty pounds , the solo right to dramatiso "A Tale of Two Cities , " and play it in London . Mr . F . A . Davidson , thoreupon , advertises a
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THE editor of the " Literary Remains of Bishop Warburton has undertaken those of Bishop Hurd , and presented us with some acceptable memoirs and collections of unpublished papers and .-correspondence ... The work is appropriately dedicated to I ) r . Pepys , the present Lord Bishop of AVorccster , and to the Right Hon . Edward John JBa ' Hatherton , as the descendant of ' ¦ Sir Edward '" Littleton , Bart ., the life-long friend of Bishop Hurd ; both of whom have contributed materials towards it . Bishop Hurd was one of those sober thinkers of the eighteenth
century , to whom the forin , of our literature owes so much , -TOTd—the—substatrce— -so— -littler- -X 4 te—bi » h © p » - ~ Hidti « d , —novuv aimed at originality , but only elegance . Mr . Kilvert has taken for his model Mason ' s " Life of Gray ; " and rightly , if only for the similarity- between tho genius of Kurd and the poet of the "Churchyard . " Richard Hurd was the second son " of a respectable farmer at Congreve , in Staffordshire , of whom Sir K . Littleton spoke well , as possessing virtue and good sense , which in . their sojis had proved to be hereditary as family . qualities . Hw early education was at the Grammar-school , at Brcwood ; but , iu 17 ii . 'J , he was admitted a sizar at Emmanuel College , Cambridge , - and took the degree of A . B . in 17 MS-1 ) . Ho was early recognised as a rising scholar . While at Cambridge he thus wrote to a friend : —
" Witli regard to systems of logic , which you inquire after , it -will perhaps surprise you to hoar that wo can havuly bo snid to xisri any nt all . Tho study of logic is ' almost entirely laid usido in this university , and that of tho mathematics taken up in its room . It is looked -upon as a maxim hero , that , a justness and accuracy-in-thinking mid reasoning are bettor learned by a habit than by rules ; and it is an observation foundod upon long experience , that no men arguo moro closely and acutely than they who aro woll versed in mathematical learning , oyon though they aro ignorant of tho rules delivered by tho groat mastprs in that other science . "
In Juno , 17-12 , Hurd was oi'dained deacon of St . Paul ' s , London , by Dr . Joseph Ruttor , Bishop of Bristol , and in July took tho ( legreo of M . A . ; in May , 17-14 , ho was ordained priest . Ho is found thus early to have practised tho habit of extracting from and commenting upon tho books ho road , as well us of registering His own thoughts and reflections on subjects as they piVHi'iitod Uiuuisdvuaiak Juibit ^ which this volume is indebted for much excellent material . Tun first literary work ' appears to have been J lorn ark » on a Jute Book , entitled , An Enquiry into tho Rejection of Christian Miraclos , by tho Heathen , by William Wcnton , B . I ) ., 17 l | S , " - ~ tho nl-ylo ol which was in purt ironical ; and , on tho pi > nco <» f Aix-lu-Cliujxille , in 17 ' 1 H , ho contributed hoiuo wtuimis towards thu ( . ' ambriiltfo concrutulationH on that oecuuiou .
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• Jttmolm of t / i < > I . IU ami n ' t-itiin / n ' of t / ta lii t iht AVc I ! icl « n- < 1 //«/• . / , ///> ,, /<<•>¦<( JHhIioji «/ Wuvvvnter i with u Hulmillun tx \ m \ \\ U < rorr « n | "MHI « . 'iir « , mm "tluir i . iipui ) - UhIioiI I ' miorw . l \ y tlio Kov . I ' 'han « : i « Kilvukt , M . A . Kiclmnl Ui'iitn-y .
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Aug . 11 I 860 . ] The Saturday Analyst and Lead& )\ 719
Memoirs Of Bishop Iiued.* .- .
MEMOIRS OF BISHOP HURD . *
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 11, 1860, page 719, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2360/page/7/
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