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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd December 1854, Edition Country of 2, Page 14, >>1>*i X ILtt^rHtiir^*

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      Cribio3 Are Not Tha Legislators, But The...

      Cribio 3 are not tha legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make Iaw 3— they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

      Jsteither Blackwood Nor Jfraser This Mou...

      JSTeither Blackwood nor JFraser this mouth is so political as might have been expected . Both have , of course , articles on " the war "—Blackwood in the shape of a " Story of the Campaign , '' written in a tent in the Crimea , and describing events from the setting out of the expedition to the occupation of Balaklava ; and Fraser in the shape of " A Retrospect of the War in the East , " compiled at home . But neither has any article containing prospective views as to the poliey of the war , and calculated to influence public or parliamentary opinion . This is wrong . The magazines ought , generally speaking , to leave the facts of the war to be chronicled by the newspapers , which are certainly doing that duty well ; and ought to address themselves , as befits their higher station and their less frequent appearance , to the politics

      of the war . A vehement magazine article , sounding a distinct note , to be heard by our politicians , might be most effective . Or if magazines will prefer the historical to the hortatory function , why do they not take up that kind of historical function , which the newspapers leave them ; and , instead of rewriting the mere news of the month , try to clear up for their readers , by lucid expositions , the deeper historical connexions of the present war with Russia . Panslavism , the Greek . Church , the institutions of Turkey , the past and future of Poland , and such like—these are topics which the newspapers can but glance at , arid on which the magazines might do good service . An article in the National Miscellany , entitled t ( The Russian 5

      Church , axid its Effect upon the present War , ' answers our motions in this respect , and is a more opportune magazine article at this moment than any in Blackwood or Fraser . It is not very deep or elaborate ; but , so far as it goes , it is is interesting and instructive . The writer shows that the Kussian Church , though a daughter of the Greek , has really a character of its own , the result of purely Russian circumstances . He shows also that its power over the Russian mind lies , not in its doctrine or ability to educate the intellect , but in its gaudy and impressive ritual , forming a kind of coarse artistic symbolism , suited to act on the imagination of a barbarous people . Here is an account of one ceremony in that ritual : —

      Let us imagine the scene on Easter-eve , and remember the description of people ¦ who are to be taught the doctrine of the resurrection : the church , is almost dark ; the doors of thelkonostas , which , separate the chancel from the body of the church , are closed | a priest occupies the reading-desk , praying in a low and suppressed voice , and occasionally , reading a . passage of Scripture relating to the events of the week ; the _ whole area is thronged with people , but they are scarcely seen in the gloom , which ia broken only by light sufficient to enable the priest to read , and to throw a

      gleam on . a sort of mysterious tomb covered with a pall in the middle of the church . The clock strikes . In a moment the doors of the Ikonostas fly open with a ringing Bound , the tomb is removed , the whole church blazes with light , not only from its own illumination , but from the tapers which each individual member of the congregation carries in his hand ; the song bursts forth , " Christ is risen , Christ is risen from the dead j" a procession of priests comes forth from the holy doors , singing and swinging their censers ; « very bell strikes out , and every cannon thunders forth its welcome , while rocket after rocket rushes across the sky .

      If Blackwood and Fraser are defaulters in the political , they do their duty in the literary department . Blackwood begins a new romance called " Zaidee , " and has a "bright vigorous paper on the " Prospects of the Modern Drama , '' and a , few pages of pleasant " Personal Recollections of Christopher North , " by the author of " Ten Thousand a Year . " Mr . Waeben ' s recollections of the great " Christopher , " are not particularly valuable ; but all papers of thi 3 kind are welcome , In Fraser wo note with praise , as a paper out of the usual traok , the conclusion of a series of * ' Sketches of Dutch Literature , " giving short accounts of the most celebrated of recent Dutch authors—Fjbith , Hbjumbrs , Biu > brdyk , Tokens , Spawdaw , Da CjomncQ , Da Costa , Van Tennep , Tbr Haav , Djbr Palm , Beets , Moix , and others . The number contains also a well-written Notice

      on " Charles Kemble , " with remarks on actors and the drama ; a well-read paper on " English Letter-writers of the Eighteenth Century ; " and an attack on the Lord , Mayor ' s Show , and on the bad taste of the corporation in holding expensive festivities while our troops in the East are suffering such hardships . Agreeing with the writer so far , wo cannot say that wo see the logic of his argument against festivities at the present time . Certain coincidences ought to be avoided as in bad taste ; but very different things may and must go on simultaneously in this world of oura . Let us say , for the gratification of many , that tlieroia in this number of Fraser , a poent of some length by Fricdjgriox Tennyson , entitled u A . Legend of Despair . " It contains beautiful linos , but , on the whole , its meaning is obscure , and it must be read in much faith .

      The Southern Quarterly Jieview is an American publication—not in very flourishing circumstances , as wo learn from a rather urgent appeal by the publisher to his subscribers to rally round him—devoted to the diacuBsion of political social , religious , and literary questions , from the point of view of the Southern States . The great object seems to bo to uphold u the domestic constitution" of slavery ^ and in almost ; all the papers the object is visible . For Instance , the opening papor , entitled "On the Unity of the Hainan Race , " ia ^ > in reality , n pica for the diversity of the human race . The writer reviews the controversy , adduces the groat names on both sides , states tho Scriptural

      and ethnological arguments for and against , but decidedly leans to the conelusion that the negro is not a " man and brother . " The conclusion of the article , recapitulating its views , worth quoting : — The ground now gone over cannot be better recapitulated than , in the words of ISott and Gliddon ( p . 465 ) . The following points they consider established : 1 . That the surface of our globe is naturally divided into several zoological ; provrnces , each of which is a distinct centre of creation , possessing a peculiar fauna and flora ; and that every species of animal and plant was originally assigned to its appropriate province . 2 . That the human , family offers no exception to this general law , but fully conforms to it ; mankind Tieing divided into several groups of Races , each of which constitute a primitive element in the fauna of its peculiar province . 3 . That history affords no evidence of the transformation of one Type into another , nor of the origination of a new and Permanent Type . 4 . That certain Types have been Permanent through all recorded time , and despite the most opposite . moral and physical influences .

      5 . That Permanance of Type is accepted by science as the surest test of specific character . 6 . That certain Types have existed ( the same as now ) in and round the valley of the Nile , from ages anterior to 3500 years B . C ., and consequently long prior to any alphabetical chronicles , sacred or profane . 7 . That the ancient Egyptians , had already classified mankind , as known to them , into Four Races , previously to any date assignable to Mose 8 . 8 . That high antiquity for distinct races is amply sustained by linguistic researches , by psychological history , and by anatomical characteristics . 9 . That the primeval existence of man , in -widely separate portions of the globe , is proven by the discovery of his osseous and industrial remains , in alluvial deposits and in diluvial drifts ; and more especially , of his fossil bones , imbedded in various rockystrata , along "with the vestiges of extinct species of animals .

      10 . That Prolificacy of distinct species , inter se , is now proved to be no test of common origin * 11 . That those races of men most separated in physical organisation—such , as the blacks and the whites—do not amalgamate perfectly , but obey the laws of Hybridity . Hence , 12 . It follows , as a corollary , that there exists a Genus Homo , embracing many primordial types or " species . " That the diversity theory is absolutely proved , no one can maintain , so long as names venerable in the roll of science hold out against it . But thus much , at least , must , in our judgment , be conceded in a review of the whole subject : —Either there were separate creations of different types of mankind , or man must have existed on earth for chiliads of years . Both of these propositions may be true—one of them must be titie . '

      The reader may like to know who are the chief recent advocates of the " Diversity" theory . The writer of the article enumerates the following : — Morton , Agassiz , Van Amringe , Hamilton , Smith , Burke , Knox , Caldwell > Jacquinot , Hombxon , Giebel , Vivey , Bory de St . Vincent , Desmoulins , Broc , Klemm , and Jeune . On the other side he names Pritchard , Latham , Wiseman , Bademan , Smyth , Johnes , Bunsen , Serres , De Salles , Klee , and Rucliez .

      The Dublin University This Month, Like B...

      The Dublin University this month , like Blackwood and Fraser , treats us , in the political department , only to a historical retrospect of the war ; but is abundant in literary matter of interest and of various kinds . Bentley ' s Miscellany has a welZ-timed paper on the " Attitude of Austria , " and is particularly rich in light brilliant odds and ends . One article , entitled " Paris Viveur , Bohemian , and Industrial" ( a sketch of the eccentricities of Parisian life ) , is unusually amusing .

      Messrs. Griffin Of Glasgow Announce As F...

      Messrs . Griffin of Glasgow announce as forthcoming a collected edition of the works of Lord Brougham , to be issued in parts . By-the-by , it turnsout , on the evidence of a manuscript note of the late Lord Cockburn of Edinburgh—the biographer of Jeffrey , and the caTeful collector during hi 9 life of everything relating to the EdinburgJi Review and Scottish literature generally—that the famous article in the Edinburgh on Byron ' s * ' Hours of Idleness , ' which drew forth tho " English bards and Scotch reviewers" stung Byron into the splendid revenge of his subsequent career , was written

      not by Jeffrey , but by Brougham . Lord Cocicburn ' s library , containing many curious and valuable memorials , hast just been sold ; and a collection of tracts , relating to the Edinburgh Review , and Edinburgh politics and literature during the last fifty years , and profusely annotated by Lord CockbuRn , has boen purchased by the British Museum for Q 51 . 8 s . 6 d . Tho collection consists of 350 -volumes of pamphlets , of which about 60 refer to the Edinburgh Review alone . TUqbo supply , in some cases , the only evidence of the authorship of the essays in that famous periodical .

      Tho Death Of John Gibson Looiuiart, If I...

      Tho death of John Gibson Looiuiart , if it leaves no distinct social blank to bo filled up , is still an ovent interesting in all literary circles . Born in Glasgow , tho son of a Presbyterian clergyman , Lock . ha . ut was cducatod first in Scotland and afterwards at Oxford . Ho was destined for tho Scottish bar , and had actually begun to practice in Edinburgh , when literature attracted him into another career . It was about 1810 , after his return from a tour in Germany , in tho course of which ho saw Gojotuk , that ho commenced authorship . It was about ; the same time that ho became acquainted with

      Scott ; ' and from , that time , till about 1820 , LooK . nA . iiT was ono of the young Tory writers who gathered round Soott , ami , in Blackwood nnd elsewhere , kept up the literary reputation of Scottish Toryism . In 1820 ho married Scott ' s eldest daughter , Sophia . ; and tho four or five years following this marriage wore among tho happiest and busiest years of hia life . The young couple lived near Abbotsford , and it was Scott ' s delight to go over early in tho morning , and wakon them by throwing gravel up at their bodroon * window 5 and then , again in tho afternoon , to como , when they

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 2, 1854, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02121854/page/14/