On this page
-
Text (4)
-
950 THE LEADER. [Satp RDAY,
-
Some few weeks ago a manuscript was left...
-
It; may interest some of our readers, es...
-
TIIM KKSTOKATION OK MVAAKV. The llestora...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
S A Matter Of General Remark, That The W...
its reasonableness . For if , as we have seen , there is an expenditure of mental energy in the mere act of listening to ve rbal articulations , or in that silent repetition ' them which goes on in reading—if the perceptive faculties must be in active exercise to identify every syllable—then any mode of combining words so as to present a regular recurrence of certain traits which the mind can anticipate , will diminish that strain upo n the attention required by the total irregularity of prose . In the same manner that the body , in receiving a series of varying concussions , must keep the muscles ready to meet the most violent of them , as not knowing when such may come ; so the mind in receiving unarranged articulations must keep its perceptives active enough to recognise the least easily caught sounds . And as , if the concussions recur in a definite order , the body may husband its forces by adjusting the resistance needful for each concussion ; so , if the syllables be
rhythmically arranged , the mind may economize its energies by anticipating the attention required for each syllable . Far-fetched as this idea will perhaps be thought , a little retrospection will countenance it . That we do take advantage of metrical language to adjust our perceptive faculties to the force of the expected articulations , is clear from the fact that we are balked by halting versification . Much as at the bottom of a flight of stairs , a step more or less than we counted upon gives us a shock , so , too , does a misplaced accent or a supernumerary syllable . In the one case , we know that there is an erroneous pre-adjustment ; and we can scarcely doubt that there is one in the other . But if we habitually pre-adjust our perceptions to the measured movement of verse , the physical analogy lately given renders it probable that by so doing we economize attention ; and hence that metrical language is more effective than prose , simply because it enables us to do this . "
The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin is characterized in a sparkling paper , doing it justice while pointing out its intrinsic mediocrity . In the opening remarks on satire generally there are assertions which if put less conversationally would " make us pause , " but being more like " after dinner talk" than literary history we may let them pass . The next articles are Goethe as a Man of Science , little likely to be read we fear by those who are not interested in Comparative Anatomy , and The Profession of Literature , apropos to a review of Jerdan ' s Autobiography—an article which has the serious drawback—perhaps inevitable—of saying over again , at greater length , what has already been said by Jerdan's reviewers . It is , however , a well-written , well-reasoned article ; and the position assigned to Literature is the true one . There is one more article—besides the
customary surveys of English , American , German , and French Literature—and that is on the hackneyed subject of the Duke of Wellington , which meets us every where now , from Co lb urn's United Service Magazine to Fraser and Blackwood . The Duke , the Duke , and nothing but the Duke ! Mr . Bentley reprints in his Shilling Series the account of the Battle of Waterloo by Professor Creasy ' s Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World , and reprints , with additions from the French papers , the Life of the Duke which appeared in the Daily News . Longmans reprint the Life from the Times . Mr . Bohn issues Maxwell's Life in three forms . Mr . Booth re-issues his History of the Battles of Ligny , Quatre Bras , and Waterloo . In fact , the Wellington Literature just now needs an enterprising man to catalogue it—not Mr . Panizzi .
950 The Leader. [Satp Rday,
950 THE LEADER . [ Satp RDAY ,
Some Few Weeks Ago A Manuscript Was Left...
Some few weeks ago a manuscript was left with the doorkeeper of the Gymnase Theatre , in Paris , which on inspection proved to be a comedy bearing the title La Pariure de Jules Denis . It was read , produced a most favourable impression , was put in rehearsal , when suddenly it became necessary to find out who the author was . TS o name , no address , no indication had been given . Rehearsals went on , and hopes were universal that the author would come forward and claim his work . No one appeared . At length the manager was forced to put an advertisement in the papers , and then , the happy writer avowed herself—for a huly , young , du beau monde , unknown to literature , is the author after all ! The piece is to be performed this week , and from the very originality of its presentation we augur success . ( ioKTiiK j ^ iys it is easier to weave laurel crowns than to find heads worthy to be crowned , yet this is the first time that managers have had to advertise for the head !
It; May Interest Some Of Our Readers, Es...
It ; may interest some of our readers , especially the sulmirers of that admirable and original American novelist , Natjianiki , IIawtiiohnk , to hear that lie has just published a life of his old college " chum , " and stedfast friend through life , Fkanklin I ' ikrok , whom the Liberal hopes would carry into the President's chair , and thus bring us one step nearer t ( j the desired end—the Anclo-Amkuican A i . r . i a i \ u : i <'
Tiim Kkstokation Ok Mvaakv. The Llestora...
TIIM KKSTOKATION OK MVAAKV . The llestoration of Itclicf . I ' arl , II . On tho Kii / xriKii ' unit , . h'fcmni f contained in Ilia . Ii !]> i . s ( lt : s , < o / tt its txariiii / on the . Av // itnnitt . Miicmillim and Co . To restore JSelief— i . e ., belief in (¦ hrisfiaiiify— ( , o its once dominant / and sincere position in the nuiul of ICuropc , is , on the lace of it ,, an impossible attempt ; for the belief which lias once died out , does not , revive again under tho same form . We shall as soon see Feudalism once moro the organization o / ' society . . Hut under whatever fo . rin Belief is possible to be restored , Micro is one imperative and primary condition uilixcd to every attempt at . restoration viz ., a , sincere single-hearted candour in facing Disbelief- -a righteous and manful content , with the enemy . ( Skirmishing with outposts and straggling companies will gain no victory . Let Christianity have its Waterloo .
The readers of this journal are perfectly aware that we earnestly desire to see the battle fouglif , by the Church with all her might . It is not the army of Disbelief that shirks an encounter . And when lirst the Cambridge manifesto was announced , we Avcleoined it in no niggard terms , hoping that the writer of so ambitious a work would , at lenst , do something towardu bringing tho question into open Jield . Our notice of the
First Part courteously abstained from any severe inquiry as to the m ' purport of the argument ; the preliminaries we allowed the author ? settle at his own pleasure , and we were content to await his further n A more precise exposition , in the hope that we should meet with precisin To Part the Second we looked for the opening of serious wartime a the opening sentence seemed to promise a fulfilment : — ' " We are told that Christianity must be content to take its place along w ^ many indeterminate questions , which are , and which should be spoken of amon reasonable men as * matters of opinion . ' S " I deny this allegation ; and I take my position , with all humility , yet fearlessly , on this opposite ground , namely : that , if those modes of proceeding which have been authenticated as good in other cases , are allowed to take effedTin tliia case , nothing in the entire round of human belief is more infallibly sure than is Christianity , when it claims to be—Religion , given to Man by God .
" The same proposition , stated exceptively , may be thus worded . Christianity can be held in question only by aid of violence done to established principles of reasoning , and by contempt of the laws of evidence , which in all cases analogous to this are enforced . " After language so confident , coming from so accomplished a writer , our disappointment is not easily to be expressed , without departing from ' that courtesy we are anxious not to overstep . Yet , in all seriousness , we must assure the author , that the effect of his treatise on our minds was that of what the French call an immense mystification . As to any human soul struggling with doubts being guided and enlightened by such reasoning as may here be met , the supposition seems preposterous . Minds of a weak and casuistic cunning , no less than minds of an acquiescent , sheep-like nature , easily drawn after a confident assertion , and silenced by a bolddenial
may be delighted with this elegantly-worded web of sophistry . But minds of energetic temper—men looking with sincere directness at questions of immense importance , will feel that they are played with , if not mocked , by this oily incompetence and this shifty logic . They might grant—for the sake of argument—nearly everything the writer asks , short of the fundamental assumption , and not be moved an inch from their position . Judge : — The author—who is addicted to graceful and imposing preliminary flourishes , which occupy him more than a direct mind will find agreeable —sets forth with some parade the distinction between matters Avliich . are simply adhesive to history , and matters which are cohesive : the formeras some of the facts related by Herodotus—admit of removal without destroying the integrity of the history ; but with the latter , such a removal is not possible : —
" Wherever the tie is of this kind , an attempted separation of the two masses touches the life , and we should look well to the consequences before we set about it . I- affirm that , in the instance of the canonical documents of Christianity , the connexion of the historic mass with the supernatural , is a case of cohesion , and that it is absolutely indissoluble . " Having asserted that the supernatural element in the Gospel narrative is a case of cohesion , lie has an easy task of it : — " The course of argument , therefore , in relation to Christianity must be this : — In behalf of it , it should be shown , first—That the alliance of the historical and the supernatural which it oners to our view is not an instance of mere adhesion , but of indissoluble cohesion . " We must then show that , unless violence is to be done to every principle which is applicable to the occasion , the conglomerate Cannot be cast aside , its unsubstantial , or as destitute of value ; inasmuch as the historical portion is of indisputable validity : —it is sure , if anything be sure . "
What think you of this as the deliberately occupied position of a man who undertakes to face Disbelief ? If the narrative is true , the miracles are true , because they are cohesive with the narrative—i . e ., form a part of it . If there is any truth in the history of Matthew Hale , then , inasmuch as the supernatural element of witchcraft ' coheres' with that history , witchcraft is a , truth ! If there is any truth in tho narrative of Bernal Diaz , then is the appearance of St . James on a white horse leading tho Spaniards to victory ( our recollection of this miraculous appearance is but hazy—perhaps the reader will supply the precise details for himself ) also to be accepted , because it coheres with the narrative . Wo might prove anything by evidence of this kind . The jugglery by which this author amuses his readers is painful when one comes to examine it . He talkswith all the emphasis of type , of tho
, Pauline stylo as an historic kjoat / ity , and rings the changes on tins word history , without stopping to specify what history , what reality . JNo one doubts that St . Paul lived and wrote . That is history , The doubt is : Did St . Paul write that which is true P When he talks of Imvintf performed miracles , are we to believe him ? Yea , answers our author , for the miraculous is cohesive with the historical , and if you reject ono you must , reject both . This is so solid a position , according to bun , timine boldly rests the claim of Christianity upon its hawis : he sets inspiration aside : - . " Nor do we now touch question us to tho alleged Inhimration ol I '"'
any epistles , or of any other hooks of the Canon . We are often told that we timld ^ hold up this " Inspiration" as ! i . screen , lost this documents of our faith nh <>» < come to be dealt with severely , in the mode that is proper to historic < " ltl <' . ' " j Only let this Historic . Severity 1 nice it * free course , and I ) isbelief will l > e < lnv | ' | j from its last standing-place . It is my perfect persuasion that , in the now iir . "' position of the Christian argument , the ' doctrine of the Inspiration of tho i < a » " nical hooks is of more importance , in a logical sense , to Disbelief than ''
IJelief . , ( huso " If every one of the Canonical books of tho New Testament— every oim <> i ^ ^ in behalf of which Inspiration is alleged , had perished , mid if nothing """ ' " . " _ before us but the uninspired documents of Christianity —( tho . se of the hccoik ^ tury ) I must still he a Christian , although I should often lie at a loss an I' ) ^ singlo items of my Creed . Hut now if the Canonical writings .- ¦ I nspiration ^ roimideml - were dealt with in the historic mode , without prejudice or favour , belief would wither like the of the tropics . " l 4 \ i i - --jj- ~ -
grass I / I 'I M . A ft * ' *!¦*« II I || U'l IH ^ I , < a I J L ^ ¦ HI n » ' ¦ * -p-. ^ ,... It would be a , vain attempt , in any number of newspaper arti (! lo ^ Jj examine in detail tho historic valuo of the Gospel narrative , ana we
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02101852/page/18/
-