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    - 'i. 5LlIBr{lI!irt»

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    - 'I. 5llibr{Li!Irt»

    EtteratiirL

    Untitled Article

    "One eye may be very agreeable , " says Captain Absolute , " but as the popular prejudice runs ia favour of two , I would not affect singularity in that article . " Popular prejudice run , ia favour of two ? Why , it is notorious that the prejudice runs directly counter . If popular language be a correct measure of popular opinion , Monoculism is the ideal of all nations : descendants of Polyphemus are we all ! Two eyes are scarcely ever alluded to ; always by a pleasing synecdoche does one eye usurp the prominence of our respect . We talk of the " public eye , " the " . of a connoisseur ; " — Shakspeare

    says—Wear your eye thus , nor jealous 3 ior severe . Scott says how something Made the Douglas wet his eye . The Greeks said : rty ^ oj toS' o / i / za / even the rude boys ia the street , by a bold unitarianism of feeling , call out , " There you go with your eye out . " Whence this unitive tendency ? A friend of ours , once writing some such sentence as this— " However it may appear in the eye of a Dissenter , " &c , was asked why he did not credit the said Dissenter with two eyes , in favour of which popular prejudice was supposed to run . He instantly replied-, " Some Dissenters have only one eye , and they might take it as a personality if I said eyes . " An unanswerable reason . Is it , then , the hidden delicacy of politeness which suggests monoculistic language ?

    perceptible under the conditions which produce red or blue . Then as to the second point—namely , of the patient seeing in the darkness for a brief period—strange as it may sound , the case is not without well-attested parallels . Prochaska , whose authority Sir David will admit to "be weighty on all matters connected with the nervous system , speaks of a man who , during an inflammation of the eye , could see by niglit , but who'lost the power when the inflammation subsided . Moreover , nocturnal animals have this faculty in their normal condition . The best article in the North British ) to our fancy , is that on Ben Jo = nson , which only wants to be longer to leave nothing to be desired . Here is a capital passage about the condition of the dramatists in those days : —

    To he a literary man about town then meant but one tiling ; to have a coa nexion with the theatres either solely as a play-writer , or , better still , as both play-writer and actor . To meet the demand for amusement among a population hardly amounting to 200 , 000 persons , there were already several regular or established theatres , such as the Blackfaiars , lie Rose ia Bankside , and the theatre in Holy well Lane , Shpreditch ; besides many other minor theatres , or rather rooms for scenic representation , scattered through the town , in inns and the lite , and supported by the classes who now attend our modern singing and dancing saloons . The frequency with which new plays were produced at these theatres seems also to have far exceeded anything now known . On an average , the audiences at each of the greater theatres required a new play every eighteen days . To cater for this appetite on . the part of the public , the managers and

    proprietors of theatres -were obliged to keep continually about them a retinue of writers capable of producing new plays as fast as they were -wanted . As the sole eud in view was to get ready sueh pieces as would please when acted ( the subsequent publication of the play being but rarely thought of ) , it was comparatively indifferent to both authors and managers whence the materials were obtained , and whether they were borrowed or original . To furbish up a new play out of old ones which had served their day , or to bring out at a abort notice a new play on . a subject already made popular at another theatre , was often , all that was required . Hence it was not uncommon for proprietors to arrange that two or three , or even five or six of " their authors" should all set to -work at once on a projected play , so as to get it done in time . Here / then , was a field for literary talenfc , fulfilling very much the same purpose for the London of that day that newspaper and periodical writing fulfils for the London of this .

    Here also is a fancy picture of Ben and Shaespeabe , which , in spite of its length , we must find room for : — . Assume the time to have been 1615 . Shakspeare was then fifty-one years of age ( the fact that he was the elder of the two is apt to be forgotten ) ; Jonson was forty-two . Glancing from the one to the other , one is struck first of all by the difference of their corporeal dimensions and proportions . Puller must have had this partly in his eye when he hit on the comparison between the English man-of-war and the Spanish great galleon . The eider , Shakspeare , unless we greatly misinterpret all the contemporary allusions to him that remain , was not above the average size and weight of intellectual Englishmen—" a handsome , well-shaped man , " says Aubrey ; or , if the imagination insists on being still more literal , let us say , some five feet nine inches ia height , and decidedly on this side of twelve stone in weight . Opposite to this model of courteous proportions ,

    Ben , though nine years the junior , was a Colossus—height unknown , but presuina"bly greater by an inch or two than . Shakspeare's ; and weight , if not yet actually twenty stone bating two pounds , which we know on his own authority it ultimately became , at least -tending to that limit , by very visible efforts at increased girfch . everywhere , but chiefly round the waist . In figure , indeed , and in gait when he walked , Ben Jonson was a kind of first edition , of his namesake Samuel . Nor does the resemblance stop here . Like the Doctor , Ben was from his birth of a scoi-butic constitution , and bore the marks of it about "with him . In hia youth his complexion had been tolerably clear and white , but as he grew older , ftia irregular habits had produced their effects , and there had presented themselves on his face these seams and scars and blotoiaes , which made it , according to all accounts , a face among ten thousand . One has only to look at the capital portrait of Jonson prefixed to Gifford ' s or ig inal edition of the poet ' s works , and then at any fair copy of the Stratford bust of Shakspeare , or of any of those portraits whose general resemblance to the bust attest their genuineness , to be able to faucv the difference of the heads and faces of the two men as and fi

    answering to and completing the difference of their forma gures . On , the shoulders of Snakspoare we see that well-known head and face , so difficult accurately to describe , aud yet so peculiar , with its general fulnesa and roundness of contour , its small individual featxires , its Trigh forehead made still higher in appearance by being bald almost to the crown , ita rich and placid expression , and its evident predominance of tissue over bone , of passive sensibility over active energy . One fancies tlie complexion fair rather than dark , or at least less inclining to dark than to fair . Look , again , at Jonson . The head seeniB bigger , the fe atures aro larger aud coarser , the brow ia more gnarled and corrugated , the hair seems to cling and curl about the head with a resolution to be stiff and : grey rather than fall off , and the expression is altogether surly , rugged , defiant , fierce , aud active , rather than passive or impressible . One could anticipate , in a general way , how the two men would conduct themselves in conversation before they oponod their lips . Jonson would be dogmatic , aggrossive , controversial , blustering , and rude ; Shakspoare , unless his fuco belied Mm , would bo sympathetic , assisting , inventive , full of matter , gentle on tho whole , and . yet to be rous « d incredibly bv a mroner stimulus . Perhaps , however , while the two suen in tUo ot

    were quiet , the bets would have fceou in favour of Jonsou . As oase . uora Chancellor Thurlow , tho feeling , in looking at his portentous face , would bo tUat of wonder wb . atb . or auy man oould possibly be bo wise as that man looteett : very likely , rvmid a company of strangers , it would bo to his side ot tbe tfUHe , and uot to that whoi-o Shakspoare sab , that all eyes would bo turned , iiat Buppoao tho bets taken , and tu « combat about to begin . Lo ! how big J 3 en , liko tho Spanish groat galloon , hoavoa under way , how ho rolls and BWftggors , how ho lays down tho law vory inuoh as Inn ponderous namesake did ftftorwarda iu a different circle , how ho k u ^ lis , and quotoa , and browwhenthere

    beats , aud utters most furious wisdom , and only loaves off , ia enough of jvdiuiration to lot him fall back triumphant upon tho Canary Shakspoaro , moauwhilo , has been listening to tho rhinoceros with the most perfect oivjoymout , aud watohiug hia faoo , nnol , whofcher agreeing with him or not , thinking him a most wonderful follow iu tho nauiu , and far mow learned tban hunsoUf It is difficult to gob Shakipearo into n controversy , but aomofctmea a word will bo apokon on one side or tho other , wUioh loaves him no ohoice but to devolopo hia own viow of a aulyeot in o&atradiobion to Ben , or let Ban off wMth uoine roaring fallacy , ftud tho honour * of the evening on aoooxint of it . I tosh

    But what are we to say to the " half-eye , " which popular language also credits ? " 01 ) , you can detect that with half an eye ! " says the knowing Brown , but he does not specify how half an eye would comport itself . Science , however , comes to his aid ; ife tells him that many well-looking people , seeming to have two eyes , have in reality only two halves . Mirastis , amice ? We allude to persons who cannot see colour . Colour-Mmdness , or Daltonism , as it is often called , has of late attracted great attention . Sir David Brewstjsr , Dr . George Wilson , Professor Waetmann , and others have investigated the phenomenon with surprising success ; and the Norih British Review has a paper on the subject , to which in all seriousness we refer our readers : —

    Till within these few years this affection of the eye was supposed to be confined to a small number of individuals ; but it appears from the calculations of various authors , that one person out of every fifteen is colour-blind . According to the experiments made by Dr . Wilson upon 1154 persons at Edinb urgh in 1852-53 , one person in every eighteen had this imperfection . 1 in 55 confound red with green . 1 in 60 confound brown with grzen . 1 in 46 confound blue with green . Hence one in every 17 ' 9 persons is colour-blind . Surprising as the phenomenon is , aud amazed as we are to learn its frequency

    —The existence of colour-blindness might almost have been predicted from analogous defects in the other organs of sensation . In the senses of Touch , Taste , Smell , and Hearing , such defects certainly exist . The sense of Touch has not yefc been sufficiently studied , but we have reason to believe that it is not only capable , ia certain persons , of distinguishing colours , but incapable in others of . distinguishing particular colours . Both Mr . Wartrnann and Dr . Wilson have examined individuals who correct by the touch the erroneous judgments which they form regarding colours . Iu the sense of Taste the same defect exists .

    Some persons are highly sensible to certain tastes , and not to others . Some cannot distinguish . Sour from Bitter , and we kuow of a gardener who la not sensible to tbe tasto of strawberries . Iu the sense of Smell , the same incapacity exists of rocsgmsing th « presence of . particular odours , though others are quickly perceived . But it is iu the sense of Hearing that wo have the most perfect analogy with colour-blindness . Certain ears that hear all ordinary souuds most distinctly , are deaf to grave sounds , while others aro deaf to shrill sounds , like tho chirp of the cricket and the grasshopper , just as tho colour-blind see the colours at one extremity of tho spectrum , aud not at tho other .

    The article from which these extracts are taken is written by Sir David Buewsteu , who is one of the great authorities on the subject ; but he must permit us to remark that he pushes too far his scepticism of Dr . Tubervillk ' s statement respecting a singular patient . Here is the passage : — Had ho said that his patient saw only lightness aud darkness , wo could have supposed thub objects which appeared to her sight might have had - the tint of red , yellow , or blue , but wo cannot understand how any eyo oaa see white without seeing all tho colours which compose it . The colours of white light , £ u so far as we know , exorcise , when in a state of combination , the sivao visual amd physiological actions whioh they do separately , aud hence wo may deny that * ho colourblind maid oould boo oolouvloss tho White Horso ait Banbury Gross . But when the Salisbury ooulist tells us that this aarao maid " oould soo to road sometimes m tho greatest darkness , " and that this extraordinary faculty laatod only " a quarter of an hour , " wo are called upon to believe iu a phenomenon surpassing m oxtravaganco tho miracles of olairvoyanoe .

    On both points wo venture to think Sir Djvvid hasty . Respecting the necessity which he supposes to lie in tho first point , namely , that a » y one who sees white must necessarily seo the colours composing white , we remark thnt the facts arc directly against him ; he has himself recorded instances in which men blind to some colours did ncverthol « ss see white ; moreover , fr priori argument seems to us equall y against him . I may perceive a compound body—water , for example—without any perception of the elements which compose it . The waves of ether ( on tho undulatory hypothesis ) which aro perceptible to nay eyo under the conditions producing white , nuay not be

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    Qritics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . Tbey do not make laws -they interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgk Review .

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    February 16 , 1855 . ) THE LEABER . 15 g

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 159, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2128/page/15/