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3m. 4. i85i.] W *>*a**t. it
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FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. Friends in Council; ...
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MQOlvS ON OUit TA1JLK. Cmcral 11 tutor y...
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Tlie Freethinker's Magazine, Rerieic of ...
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Miserable Sinners.—Expressions of the de...
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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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Bennett's Poems^ Poems. By "W. C. Bennet...
Tiny scorns of smiled reproving * That nave mote of love than loving *; Mischiefs done with suoh a winning Archness that we prize such sinning ; Breakings dire of plates and glasses ; Graspingt small at all that pastes ; Pullings off of all that ' s able To be caught from tray or table ; Silences—small meditations Deep a 3 thoughts of cares for nations ; Breaking into wisest speeches In a tongue that nothing teached ; All the thoughts of whose possessing Must be wooed to light by guessing ; Slumbers—such sweet angel-eeemings That we 'A ever have such dreamings j Till from sleep we see thee breaking . And we 'd always have thee waking ; Wealth for which we know no measure ; Pleasure high above all pleasure ; Gladness brimming over gladness ; joy in care ; delight in sadness ; Loveliness beyond completeness ; Sweetness distancing all sweetness : Beauty all that beauty may be ;—That ' s May Bennett ; that ' s my baby . " Now here , though there is much to be desired in the way of form , the sentiment is real , universal , vet particular , and the lines in italics are quite adm irable . Had the volume been filled with thoughts an d ¦ ~ oBservationr ~ aff ~ direct Hftewn 4 ife ^ Jnstead _ of coming from books and mere fancy , and had a little more care been bestowed in winnowing the expressions and images , it might have made a name . As it is , it can be reckoned only among the verses of the day—to be forgotten on the morrow . This may sound harsh to him , but we mean it in all kindness j there is greater unkind ness in flattery , and , as Sydney Smith well says , " Among the smaller duties of life I hardly know of one more important than that of not praising where praise is not due . " For the sake of the subject , and illustrating , at the same time , the mild mediocrity of the volume , we will quote this satire : — " THE CEY OF THE LAWFUL LANTERNS . DEDICATED TO CERTAIN OPPONENTS OP NATIONAL EDUCATION . " A people dwelt in darkness , In gloom and blinding night , Till some grew tired of candles , And dared to long for light , When straight the established lanterns Were stirred with hate of day , - And loud the lawful rushlights In wrath were heard to say , ' Oh , have you not your lanterns , Your little shining lanterns ! Why need have you of sunshine ? What do you want with day 1 * " Then loud the people murmured . And vowed it was n't right For men who could get daylight , To grope about in night ; Why should they lose the gladness , The pleasant sights of day ! But still the established lanterns Continued all to say , ' Oil , have you not your lanterns , Your nice old glimmering' lanterns 1 What need have you of sunshine ? What do you want with day ? * " But people loathed the darkness , And dared at last to pay , ' You old-established rushlights Are good things in your way ; But are you , candles , sunlight , — You lanterns , —arc yon day 1 ' Still loud the lawful lanterns Did answer make and eay , ' Oh , be content with lanterns , Your good old-fashioned lanterns 1 You really want too much light ; Don't auk again for day . ' " At last the crowd ' s deep murmur Oi-uvv , gathering- to a roar . Ami that they would have daylight , In lanterns' apito , th <; y uworn ; And fcur wan on all uiHhlightH , And trembling and dismay ; * Al . is , iiIhb for lanterns ! * The people heard them say ; ' Oh , woe—oh , woo for luntcrim ! What will bor-ome of luntcrntt ! Alack , they will have HiiiiHhine : Alaa , there will Ini day !' " And . as the tempest thickened . Aloud they Hhrieked in fright , ' Oh , oucu let in the luiiujliine . And what will bu our light I We , Bhintnx lljjliU in darkness , Hhall nothing l > o in d » y ; Oh , don 't ml in it tlio sunshine ! Keep out the daylight , pray 1 Oh , don * t put out your laiiturns ! Your own old littlo lantern * 1 Oh , do without the sunshine 1 Oh , dou 't lut in tho day 1 '
*• The day came in ; but prophets Do say , 'til certain , quite , That long , throegh coming ages . Will lanterns hate the light , That to our children ' s children , In sorrow still they ' 11 say , ' Oh , for the times of darkness , Ere lanterns passed away ! Why laid they by us lanterns , Their fine , their good old lanterns "We ' re sure it ' s bad , this sunshine , This horrid glare of day . "
The spirit of this is good , the conception satirical , though not very striking ; but how facile and lax the execution ! how deficient in the vigour , vehemence , terseness , and eloquence of satire ! They are the sort of verses dashed off at a sitting ; and the whole volume seems little more elaborate .
3m. 4. I85i.] W *>*A**T. It
3 m . 4 . i 85 i . ] W *>* a ** t . it
Friends In Council. Friends In Council; ...
FRIENDS IN COUNCIL . Friends in Council ; a Series of Readings and Discourses thereon . 2 vols . Pickering ^ It would ill express our admiration of the author of" Friends in Council" to say , that he is incomparably the best of living essayists , or that few of the essayists who have gone before can take precedence of him ; he strikes us as being more of an essayist than any of his rivals—they are humourists , egotists ^ or-ioMJ ^ woio bigwigs ^ -he ^ has many a touch of quiet humour ; but no egotism , no bow-wow .
He essays each topic with his meditative , subtle , independent-thinking mind , and in his grave , animated , suggestive style ; the result is a few pages full of well-thought matter , exquisitely expressed . He is decidedly an original thinker in the sense of thinking for himself the thoughts he publishes : and there is scarcely a subject , however old , but he will say something new and noteworthy on it when it comes before him . He has no affectations , plays with no paradoxes ; yet the page is incessantly bright and varied .
This new edition—whether the third or fourth is not stated—of a book known to most cultivated readers , calls for little remark from us beyond the fact of a new and welcome addition in the shape of an index . Yet , in turning over the well-known pages , we were again struck with the singular -felicity of thought and expression which arrests the wandering attention . Not simply in pointed epigrams and weighty yvw / xcu , but also in the easy windings of dialogue , in which he is a master , we see examples of classic excellence . What can be finer than this , for instance : " Vague injurious reports are no men ' s lies , but all men ' s carelessness" ? It is an essay in an epigram . Again : " Perhaps the greatest charm of books is , that we see in them that other men have suffered what we have . Some
souls we ever find who would have responded to all our agony , be it what it may . This , at least , robs misery of its loneliness . " Vanity , one would think , had been so analysed , as to leave nothing new to be said ; yet note this : " It takes away much of the savour of life to live amongst those with whom one has not anything like one ' s fair value . It may not be mortified vanity , but unsatisfied sympathy which causes this discomfort . " There is a species of vanity which manifests itself in humility , by no means the least disagreeable of its manifestations , because , while prostrating itself upon the ground before you , it calls clamorously upon your goodnature for the admiration it deprecates ; and this vanity is thus sketched : —¦
" There is a oluss of dreadfully humble people who make immense claims at the very time that they are explaining that they have no claims . They say they know they cannot be esteemed : they are well award they arc not wanted , and so on : all the while making it a sort of grievance and a claim that they are not what they know themselves not to lie : wheieus , ii they did not fall back upon their humility , and keep themselves quiet about their demeritH , they would be strong then , and in their place , and happy , and doing what they oould . "
The peculiarity in construction of these volumes is a novel and happy one . Jennys are first read upon KOino topic or other , and then a sort of critical conversation follows between three men who suggest doubtH , modifications , and amplifications ; not as men do in books , but very much as they do in real life—digrcsHing , enlarging , jeBtiiitf , disputing , and returning to the point ; with all the variety and all the flavour of good conversation .
Mqolvs On Ouit Ta1jlk. Cmcral 11 Tutor Y...
MQOlvS ON OUit TA 1 JLK . Cmcral 11 tutor y of th < i Christian Hitligion and Church . Tiuiihlutoil from tho Oitrinini ol Or . Augimtuu Nciunhir . Uy . Iouoph Torrny . New edition , carefully re . vi tied l > y the Kcvcrcnd A . J . AlouiBon , ll . A . Vol . 1 . ( DoIiii ' h Htandard l . ilirury . ) 11 < i . Holm . At all times a most welcome hook , this ih peculiarly welcome just now when . England is dhicusoing with more
or less eagerness the position of the Christian Churches . Neander was a man renowned among Germans for his solid pains-taking qualities—a learning which disdained reliance on second-hand authorities , and a power of generalizing and grouping his materials , which forms the true historical compliment to learning . His style is not graphic , but it is intelligible—which is something . The present version seems to us both accurate and readable . In this , the first volume , Neander takes a survey of the religious condition of the world , Jewish , Greek , and Roman , on the advent of Christianity ; he then traces the history of the diffusion of Christianity , its sufferings , and struggles . This is followed by an instructive history of the constitution of the Church and its discipline , an account of the heresies and schisms , and a programme of Christian Life and Worship .
The book is an admirable book ; but it is written by a theologian , and is vitiated as a history by the one great fundamental assumption , that Christianity is not a power that has sprung up out of the hidden depths of man ' s nature , but has descended from above when heaven opened itself anew to man ' s long alienated race . This we call a profound historical blunder ; but to the theologian it is a fundamental truth . Some Account of the Life and Adventures of Sir Reginald Mohun , Baronet . Done into verse . By George Cayley . Cantos II . and III . W . Pickering-. Gay and easy verses , with more pleasantry than wit , done in a style which Beppo and Don Juan have tempted many to follow , as if on purpose to exemplify " L ' art difficile d ' ecrire des vers faciles ;" Precisely because this style admits of the greatest licence ^ -it-requires--the greatest-talent to -elevate it into pvripllf > nfif >
Tlie Freethinker's Magazine, Rerieic Of ...
Tlie Freethinker ' s Magazine , Rerieic of Theology , Politics , and Literature . No 8 . ( Enlarged . ) J . Watson . Tracts on Christian Socialism . No . 7 . The Case of the Authors as regards the Paper Duty . By Charles Knight . Charles Knight . Hebrew Records . An Historical Inquiry concerning- the Age , Authorship , and Authenticity of the Old Testament . By the lteverend Dr . Giles . John Chapman . Elementary Anatomy and Physiology , for Schools and Private Instruction ; with Lessons on Diet , Intoxicating Drinks , Tobacco , and Disease . By William Lovett . Illustrated with Ten Coloured Jflate 3 . Darton aud Co . The Professor ' s Wife . From the German of Berthold Auerbach J . W Paiker . A Christmas Offering . Original Foem 3 . By Richard Friend . John Johnson .
Political Opinions on the Roman Catholic Question , expressed in Parliament and in Public . By tlie llight Honourable Lord John ltussell , M . P ., compiled from the most authentic sources . By a Barrister . liichardson and Son Gleanings from the Blue Book in favour of a better system than the present " Prolix , Expensive , and Fexatious" one of the Laws , relating to Land . By J . G . J . Greene , l . sq , M . A . Charles 'Whittiughain . The British Journal of Ilomwopathy . Pait XXXV . Samuel IJig-liley . The English Republic . Gud and the People . Edited by W . J . Linton . JSo . I . J- Watson .
Pehiodicals . Fraser ' s Magazine . The Rambler . Tait ' s Edinburgh Magazine . Leigh Hunt ' s Journal . Part I . The Journal oj Industry . JS'o . ( 5 . Household Words . Household jM ' arrutive . Mirror of the Time . No . 23 . S . G . Walker Penny Maps . ( Part VI . ) Chapman and Hall
Miserable Sinners.—Expressions Of The De...
Miserable Sinners . —Expressions of the deepest contrition and remorse doubtless abound in Scripture , and assuredly they still meet hut too often with a itsponsive groan in the bosom of most of us ; but why should Evangelic Christians harp only upon one string of dismal note , whin the theme of scriptural song so often swells into a glad anthem , awakening responsive melody in our own hearts ? It is easy to gather from the penitential psalms or the apostrophes of an indignant . Prophet , burthens of lamentation , and mourning , and woe ; but it is no less easy to find odes and lyrics of joy
and pride in the honour and glory of Manhood . To quote would be endless , but we all know that the same sweet singer of Israel , whose spiiit sinks within him at the thought of vvild crimes of passion and worse sins of treachery , rises again with elastic spring from the level of a crushed worm to the rank of a righteous and a royal man . Lord , who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? lie that worketh righteousness and H , > eak < th tho truth , he that neither injures nor slanders his neighbour , in whose eyes vile tilings ure despised , hut things honourable are honoured -he who thus lives shall never die . Such is
the Hubtitunce of one psalm among many tumilur , then why is it ignored in favour of such fearful efl'uaions of remorse as arc poured forth by the Jewish King after tho betrayal and murder of Uriah the Jlittite , a tragedy deep and dark nn a drama of the Greeks ? Let us but exercise * judgment ii » the study of Scripture , rending it in a free spirit , of religion , not . a servile idolatry of Mijii'i Mtition , nnd wi : shall fulfil the condition on which it presents itself as a providential boon to Christendom ; wesh ; ill uvoid iiniong other pri iln the gloomy exaggeration of evil which would make man a little lower than the beasts
rather than the ? angels — his life a bunh n and a curse rather than an honour and , a blessing . The Hihle urgiH uh to try ilH npirit by our own ; the written innpinition of the past by tho living inspiration of tho presenttrying itll thingM and holding fast to what in good . Then * neither in nor e . in he good in seeking to glorify God by professing to degrade ourselves , the best , of his earthly creatureH , and there ia danger moreover in giving ouibelveH a had name , lebt wo grow resigned to be the " grovelling woiiiih " we eall ourselveH . — Wilson ' s Catholicity , Spiritual and Intellectual .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 4, 1851, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04011851/page/17/
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