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    No; 458, January 1,1859.] THE LEABEB. 11

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    LITERATURE, -SCIENCE, ART, «P.

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    LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

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    Tub shower of books upon our table has b...

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    MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM BECKFORD

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    No; 458, January 1,1859.] The Leabeb. 11

    No ; 458 , January 1 , 1859 . ] THE LEABEB . 11

    Literature, -Science, Art, «P.

    LITERATURE , -SCIENCE , ART , « P .

    Literary Chronicle Of The Week.

    LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK .

    Tub Shower Of Books Upon Our Table Has B...

    Tub shower of books upon our table has been plentiful enough , but the absence of . anything of marked importance is yet a noticeable phenomenon of the present season . Of miscellaneous trifles there is plenty . A little Harlequin-like book of tricks and parlour magic , by Septimus Piesse , a pundit who hath written learnedly upon perfumes , is published by Longmans . Mr . Sampson Low issues the first instalment of a new talo by Mrs . Stowe , which ' bids fair not to be brighter thant

    " Dred . " Macmillan and Co . publish a new ranslation of the Iliad , by J . C . Wright , Esq ., which is well spoken of among scholars . W . Blackwood and Sons , of Edinburgh , issue a neat and pleasant little volume of selected translations from the poems of Goethe , by those staunch collaborators Theodore Martin and Professor Aytouti ; the same publishers also give the first instalment of a work long looked for , and with deep interest , " The Physiology of Common . Life , " by George Henry Lewes , the biographer of Goethe . Among the other novelties of Hie week . must be named "The Life of Douglas JerroW , " by his son Blanehard Jerrold ( Kent arid Co . ) .

    We perceive that a wide-spread , indeed , a general , movement against the paper duty is to be made .-in the coming session . It seems very powerfully organised through the country , and the partv pledged to support the abolition in the House of Commons is of great numerical strength . It is said that some of the larger manufacturers intend to oppose it , ostensibly on the ground that it will only render the raw material ( rags ) dearer in the market ; but paper may be made of many substances besides rags . Publishers are divided on the advantages resulting from a repeal , but authors seem to favour it .

    The concluding series of the Cambridge Essays opens with an exercitatiou upon " Newspapers and other Writers " from the pen of A . J . B . Beresford Hope , Esq . ( erewhile known as D . C . L . of the Morning Chronicle ) , in which the social position of journalists ia reviewed and commented upon . Mr . Jlope ia quite right when he observes upon the changeful spirit with which the " gentlemen connected with the press" arc looked upon , according as they may happen to inspire terror or anger ; and hia description of the way in which people will assure you with one breath that articles in the papers are written by persons of the very highest

    Mr . Chambers . But really we do not understand why there should be so niuch mystery about this work . Scientifically speaking , it was not a very decisive productiou , and it is probable that but for this very secrecy the discussion as to the authorship would have been long since abandoned . The American list of novelties is full enough , though not of very important matter . Messrs . Kudd and Carlton have just published a new volume of " Lola Montes ' s Lectures , " which are

    in the Bookseller appears to be aware of . About four years ago , a Mr . Page , a skilful working geologist and lecturer , left the service of Messrs . Chambers , after having been in it for some years . A short time after leaving , this gentleman , delivered a lecture , in which he openly and boldly stated that Mr . Robert Chambers was the ' author of the " Vestiges , " and that he , Page , had been requested by that gentleman to conceal the proof-sheets . This statement , which has never to our knowledge been contradicted by Mr . Chambers , is ecrtainly of far greater weight than a vague rumour that proof-sheets were sent to ' ¦

    not by Lola Moritcs , but a clerical amanuensis in her service ; also several light , works of fiction , with one of a more tragic vein , bearing the sinister title , " Isabella Orsini : an Historical Novel of the Fifteenth Century , " by F . D . Guerrazzi . Tickner and Fields have issued a reprint of Lord Dufferin ' s " Yacht Voyage in High Latitudes , " and of Kingsley ' s book on " Sir Walter Raleigh and his Times . " The same publishers also reprint the " Specimens of Douglas Jerrold ' s Wit" from the pages of the National Magazine . find

    Summing up such sparse -literary , items as we in our note-book , it is worth recording that 1 S 59 opens without a single public promise of a new paper , a rare fact in journalism of late years . The only change of importance is that the Mechanics' Maga ~ zine is henceforth to be published as a weekly paper , devoting its attention entirely to mechanical science . The Critic also appears in its new and enlarged form . Rumour whispers that Mr . Charles Dickens is preparing for the press a new volume of tales , and that the literary speculations of that gentleman will henceforth be confided to new publishers .

    importance , whilst with the next breath they denounce the writer of some offensive composition as " a wretched penny-a-linor , " would be ludicrous if it were not so perfectly true . We cannot , however , hold him as otherwise than mistaken when he assumes that the writer upon the public press is not received by society as if ho were the member of a regular profession . Doubtless there arc many men whose personal conduct -would fail to win for them respect , to whatever class they happened to belong ; but so far as mon of recognised position and good conduct arc concerned , wo arc conviuoed ( hat their social standing is as good as if they followed any

    other intollootual calling . Lord Brougham—himself an old press-man— -lias indeed denounced them as" tho members of an unsatisfactory profession , " but as his lordship did not condescend to point out the distinction Dctwccn a journalist ' who gains Iris . H y ing 1 by his pen and a barrister who pcrlonua ft similar operation with his tongue , we arc at a loss to understand how the one cau bo a whit more unsatisfactory than the other ; The Bookseller says : — " Wo arc authorised to styto , that ' Mr . Robert Chambers is not llio author

    oLthe " Vealigps of Creation . " Probably what giwo rlso to triio rumour in tho firat instance ! was tho faofc of somo of tho proof-ahects having been forwarded to him . " Authorised by whom P By w , . Robert Chuinbors ? If so , why docs not Mr . Chambers ' mako tho contradiction hi Ins own namef Of every four persons who have formed any opinion as to tho authorship of tho " Vestiges" throo will "o found to nttribulo it to Mr . Chambers , Ilia J . WCl stands against tho book in tho oatuloguo ol x British Muaoum , and the ovidenoo in' support « that viow is muoh more serious than tho writer

    Memoirs Of William Beckford

    William Beckford , ihe . youriger , will hold a place in history far different to that which has been generally accorded to him by his contemporaries . As with Horace Walpole , greatly his interior in all that ennobles the intellect of man , posterity will greedily amass all it can glean of the history of the author of Valhek , as we liave done the scattered relics of the author of the Cattle of Otranto . No biography of Beckford can be satisfactory in which but few autobiographical documents find a place . From our own sources of information we know that these are by no means wanting . Were there no others , the margins of his books would furnish , them abundantly ; for , like the poet Lucullus , lie often made them the depository of his most secret thoughts . The Lansdowu Library , the collecting of which was the pursuit of a life , still eiists entire , and is preserved at . Hamilton- Palace by Ms noble grandson , to whom access is far less difficult than it was to himself . But there is another source which is rapidly becoming dried up , as death removes the parties from the scene . When at his house in Park-lane he went to the exhibition , views of pictures , and auctions of works of literature and art . He received no dinner company , except his relatives , who used to call him " The Caliph . " He tvent once or twice in the season to hear some favourite opera , and generally retired to bed at ten o ' clock . When . in town he rode , or went in hia carriage about two o ' clock to Jennincfs ' s , the printseller in Cheapside ; then , if not before , to Kundell and Bridge ' s * Ludgate-hill ; to Bohn , the bookseller , near Coyent-garden ; and at four o'clock to the house of the Smiths , the eminent printsellers , in Lisle-street , where he would sometimes remain a couple of hours . Then , calling at the Duke of Hamilton ' s in Portman-square , he returned home to dinner at half-past six . . ¦ ;

    Though not very accurate , this account or the usual daily town travel of Beckford : should have suggested to his biographer the obvious policy of availing himself of the knowledge of the parties referred to , who must all , more or less , retain many personal recollections of the many hours passed in . his society . With those whom he knew ana valued , he entered freely into conversation , and many ^ ao . anecdote of his past life , or incidents in his foreign travel , would , no doubt , have resulted from sucn applications . But two doors off the shop of his biographer ' s publisher , Beckford ' s carriage and dogs might liave been , noticed , day after day , standing for hours together . It was his love of books whicn attracted him to the spot originally , and made him a daily visitor , when in town . Proud of the pure Saxon blood in his veins , lie never for a moment imagined that by entering freely into conversation with those into whose society he was thus thrown * , he was losing sight of . that Hue of demarcation in society which he was wont to say " was necessary to keep up the dignity of puddle-blood aristocracy , whose adopted Norman names but ill matched with their Cockuev oricrin . "

    MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM BECKFORD , Memoirs of William Beckford of Fonthill , Author of " Vathek . " Two Vols . Charles J . Skeet . Biqgraviiy is to history what miniature painting is to art—the more pre-Raphaelitc the one , the more full of detail the other , the nearer docs each approach to perfection . History satisfies herself with the production of a great picture in which the individuals of . which tho grouping is composed must all form one harmonious whole . Biography isolates the individual , and makes him the centre of interest ; his individuality must never be lost sight of for a moment . If grouped , his must be t lie prominent figure ; if placed by himself , the position must bo such that the lights and shadows fall upon his character , and bring its peculiarities out into tho boldest relief , as the torch does the beauties of a sculptured Apollo Bclvidcre , or _ n Venus de Medici . Hence a perfect biography is ono of tho rarest of books , even whoro materials aro abundantly at hand ; whore these aro but scanty , it requiros , tho skill of a consunir mate artist so to use them ns to prevent the deficiency becoming at once apparent , and destroying tho reader ' s interest at the outset . There is an old folio volume containing tho lctfora of Erasmus , Sir Thomas More , and Vi ' ves , which has always « l ruck us as a good study for a biographer . If wo dip into it a pages wo aro sure to stumblo upon sonio loiter of Erasmus , lively and full of wit , describing somo quaint old custom in such a way , that you bolicvo almost that you have known it all your life , or introducing soinp friend , with whom you at ouco booomo familiar , and arc desirous to shako by the hand . You involuntarily becomo interested in tlio most trivial cirouinataneot * , and cannot ; divest yoursolf of tho idea that they aro aotuall . y taking placo heforo your ayes , Of modern writers Soul hoy approaches n ' oarcst ' to this standard , and his life of Kelson i * perhaps tho best biographical model in our language-.

    From our own knowledge we are enabled to state that in one , if not more , of the popular novels of the day , episodes in the life of Beckford have been permitted to find a place with his sanction ; and we could name one , in particular , where his future biographer will find two incidents of his early life , narrated in language so like his own , as almost to lead us to believo they must have been furnished ia manuscript by himself . From what we have said , it is evident that this Life of Beokford does not come up to our expectations . Tho dulnoss of the first seventy pages of the first volume is deterring , devoted as it is to the genealogies of -the Beckfords , and the tedious career of that ; very austere-looking gcntlemuu whoso monument iu Guildhall furnishes the rising generation with an apt formula for bearding any futuro sovereign who may givo oar to those who sjiall dare to alienate tho afiections of tho Crown from its subjects iu general , " and from the City of London in port icular . " Onoo beyond that , tho reader will tlnd much to interest him , and , as a specimen , wo oxtrnct somowhafc at length tho account of an artist ' s visit to Lansdown , within a year of tho death of its kind but eccentric owner ,, which displays much of his manner and tho stylo of his conversation with those whoso society was congouial to him . Ho w « a not ftwaro of my Intended visit , ami on my calling nt hia houso ono morning , his sorvonc bogffofl Ihnt " wo would allow him to tfefor nnnouuciiig us for ft

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1859, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011859/page/11/