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January 5, 1856.1 THE LEADEB. - 1 . 5, —...
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littrntatt.
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/¦>¦_ ¦ ! ¦ r.» -nnf tl-.o lpp-islators ...
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We liave received a letter from Dr. Lati...
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Fraser's Magazine, this month, opens wit...
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THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT. TLc Shachy of Sh...
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Transcript
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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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January 5, 1856.1 The Leadeb. - 1 . 5, —...
January 5 , 1856 . 1 THE LEADEB . - 1 . 5 , — ¦— - » " — " —— — _^___ ^—— ^ m ^———^— mmtm ^^ ^^^—^ iMMMM _^ M ^ ^
Littrntatt.
littrntatt .
/¦>¦_ ¦ ! ¦ R.» -Nnf Tl-.O Lpp-Islators ...
/¦>¦_ ¦ ! ¦ r . » -nnf tl-. o lpp-islators but the judges and police of literature . They do not ^ lUCB Zkc ? a " s-thly interpret and try fo enforce them . -MMure h Review .
We Liave Received A Letter From Dr. Lati...
We liave received a letter from Dr . Latium on the-subject of " Hiawatha " and Longfellow ' s supposed plagiarisms . Writing , as we do , in complete ignorance of " Kalewala , " and consequently unable to form any opinion of the amount of resemblance actually traceable between it and " Hiawatha /' we are at a disadvantage which Dr . Latham will appreciate ; but , nevertheless , we cannot alter our present position in the controversy . The question raised has two points : one of fact , and one of literary morals . The question ivuuw [» ui ui uivt ^ »~
our first love . You are smiling at me . I see you are unworthy to have a . pond , and that you do not know the beauties of it . Thither come the more contenipl ' ative insects , and sit upon the waters , or perch upon the top of the reeds . Qvrieit old fish , wrho have seen much of life , make their lazy waving way through , the dull waters . You can trace their movements by the light ripples on the top , even when you cannot see the fish , themselves . Then , perhaps , there is a majestic water-LUy ( there was one in my early suburban pond ); and what can be more glorious to behold ? And then , too , however small the pond , the sky is to be seen in it . A learned and admirable review of Prescott ' s " Philip the Second " succeeds : let no historical reader pass it over , for it is a rare thing to meet , with a review of a serious work written by a man who knows the subject ; and this wr iter evidently knows his . The article on " Men and Women" is one of those criticisms which leave behind them , a durable impression . It dw « Us
Of fact IS : —J- > lll LONGFELLUW uuc -m » .. < u . > u , ~» - ... ^ it ? The question of morals is : —Can the poet be justly blamed for not naming the work he has imitated ? To botli our answer would ( under present circumstances ) be a negative . We do not believe Longfellow knew " Kalewala ; " , if he ever read that poem , it had escaped his memory , we should imagine , at the time of writing the notes to " Hiawatha . " Our reason for this statement is that we have entire faith in Longfellow ' s integrity He says nothing of " Kalewala / ' simply because lie felt no obligations to it . Observe , he does not claim originality . He freely mentions sources from which all his legends are derived ; and we cannot conceive a reasonable motive for lnis concealing his obligations to " Kalewala , " had he felt any . lT /»« o . rn « 1 o « - T * v r . atmam Iip heard : —
with disproportionate emphasis , we think , on Browning ' s faults ; but teen it is meant as a serious lecture to him , and beside it there is no lack of appreciation , keen and hearty , of his fine qualities . On a young poet such remonstrances would produce lasting benefit . On a poet of confirmed maturity we do not fancy much impression can be made . The critic lectures the poet ; but we feel tempted also to lecture the critic . There is one fault in this article which we should not have expected fr & m such a wr iter , namely , the acquiescence in . a form of expression which I sounds like slang cant , and is very prodigally employed by a certain set of writers who mean to be emphatic when they talk of " God ' s sky , " and " God ' s earth , " and "God ' s ocean , " " God ' s winds , " as if there were ____^« T "T fill ' _ _ *_ . - aevii is irreve
Sir—I see that the Atltcnceum is not the only paper that has noticed the relations between Long fellow ' s " Hiawatha . " and the fine poem of " Kalewala . It is a matter upon which I have always been certam that ink would be spilt ; and I have looked out for the first spirting * of it with some little interest . T-lie writer of the notice in the National Intelligencer ( U . S . ) , as quoted in your literary column of last week , says , that Longfellow has transferred from the " Kalewala" to "Hiawatha" the " entire form , spirit , and many of the most striking incidents " of the poem . This is , in the main , a true statement j indeed if , instead of " many " we wrote " some , " it would be unexceptionable . * f > w as the « " ' tcr says <{ incidents , " his . view , is perfectly compatible with the fact that Longfellow announces in his notes , viz ., that the legends are taken from Mr Stoolcraff s work on " The American Indians . " No one doubts this . The queS is £ > to the " form and spirit" and some « mcidents , "~ the « form and spirit" beincr the more important . * HW far the suggestions from the " Kalewala " ought to have been acknowledged bv the author of "Hiawatha" ( and that , under any point of view , they are bku ueij ^ 10
, . ^ ^ . _ sky , earth , ocean , and winds belonging to tae . xnere more - rence than , emphasis in this form of expression , and it should be left to sermons and tracts . _ Blackwoad is very political this month ; and ' politics it is not our cue here to speak . A new story , called " A Military Adventure in tie Pyrenees , " is commenced this month . There is also a well-timed article on " Drinking arid Smoking , " in which the vrriteV not only attacks the Teetotal nonsense * but indica tes in a few rapid paragraphs the advance of the general population from the bestial indulgence of former days to the rational indulgence of our own days . There is a long quotation from an article by Sydney Smith ., in * the Edinburgh ( not reprinted in the " Works" ) , which was well worth reproducing , so admirable in its mixture of pleasantry and good sense . lmon « tlie new serials starting with trie beginning of the year , our attenfie iratn
very considerable i . s a matter upon wmcu raere cau ue ow vmuus , another matter . „ tf _ . „ ~ , , Suppose tbat / ten years after the first publication of " Ossiau , a French poet , cognisant of Eng lish , had written a poem Oasianic in " form and spirit , but Breton or Basque in respect to its legends , what should be the contents of his -preface or notes ( supposing he lind them ) in the way of allusion to , or acknowledgment of , bis sources ? Would he be justified in referring only to tho writer from whom lio got his legends , wholly ignoring Ossiau ?¦ : I ask this question without answering it ; but I add , that mutatis mutandis this is the case with the relations between " Hiawatha " and the " Kalewala . I remain , Sir , yours niost faithfully , 1 H . G . Latham .
tion . has been especially directed to a magazine called l . we cave not had time to examine this new venture very attentively , hut we can honestly report upon it , at the outset , as being cheap , excellently printed , and judiciously limited as to the length arid number of the articles . Having only been able ' glance at the papers in the present month ' s number , we cannot be expected to go into detail on the question of the merits or defects . Our o-eneral impression is that such short articles as that on the various types of " Boys , " by Mr . Yates , and that on " Wilkes And Number Forty-Five , " by Mr . Draper , ( whom we hope to meet with again on the subject of Wilfces ) t
' Dr . Latham ' s illustration is excellent ; but we should answer the question respecting the Ossianic imitation by saying that it depends entirely on the amount of obligation , and the nature of the points imitated . Long fellow ' s legends are not his own invention ; the metre is not his own invention ; but the poetry is , and in a poem this is the principal matter . Goethe did not invent the story of " Hermann mid Dorothea ; " nor did he invent the metre ; nor did he ever , in note or preface , allude to the origin of the story , or to his predecessors in German hexameters ; yet we have heard none of his virulent critics accuse him of plagiarism or poetical dishonesty . In Longfellow ' s assumed it is direct
are of the kind that the Editor ought most to encourage ; and that he mus be well on his guard , in the serial stories , and in the poetical contributions * aoainst allowing too much of the slap-dash and wilfully smart style of writing , to o-et into the columns of The Train . Besides the contributors whose articles we have mentioned , SIr . Oxenford Mr . Sala , Mr . Smedley , Mr . Godfrey Turner , and the brothers Brough are members of the " staff" of the new magazine . The illustrations are by Sir . M'Connell and Mr . C . II . Bennett . We are glad to see a paper on the " Ballads of Victor Hugo" advertised among the contents promised for next mouth . Honest and careful criticisms on valuable he
case the obligation to " Kalewala " is : very possiuly no obligation at all ; but , granting the obligation , we entirely absolve the poet foi' not having mentioned it .
contemporary works are sure to be of help in malting the reputation ol I Train . The rest of the Periodicals we must leave till next week .
Fraser's Magazine, This Month, Opens Wit...
Fraser ' s Magazine , this month , opens with a second part of " Friends 111 Council Abroad , " not equal to the first in point of serious interest , but bright with delicate and happy touches which may make it even more acceptable to the mass of readers . Let us take a fragment from the commencement . MILVKKTUN . Yes ElloBmero my lovo for woods is unabated " . There id so much largeness , life and variety in thorn . Even tho way in which tho trees interfere with 0110 another tlio growth which in hindered , as well as that which is urthorcd , appoars to mo most Huggostivo of human life ; and I boo around mo things that remind mo of governments , churches , sccta , and colonion . lhen one w not , ^^ in «^ rl lw tiri . Homo . noiRV winds , whioli , thoupclitlioy may bo . good things tor
health , arc n . hindranco to thought . A little- bit of il breo / o now and then Htraya into tho wood , but it is innocuous . UogartUuHR of it , the fungi expand , the 1 ( lead bougbM inalutuin their hold , and the niuiBioBt iiiHOOtt * arc not dirtcoinnouodl . iuveyy wood ih full of history and nntiquity . But if you wore to wsk me what I prefer most iu mitural wconury , it would uot bo ( i wood-K 1 . 1-128 M . KIUS . 11 T 1 1 il . . .. ( I
w ui \\ i inun f ¦•• MII . VKUTON . There ato two luiuln of Hoonory which faHcinatc a man : oiks connected with his early aiHHooiutinnH , tho other oi . nvBpoiuling with hi « ohnmotor , You know that little rill behind our inn , which bubbles down amidst great stonoH . I wnn thinking thin niorning , an I watched it , how unutterably fond of tmolmrill , throughout bin life any man would bo who had boon born near it-. My first rooollootkmn arc of a pond , and you muy laugh us you ]> 1 oiiro , but lilb bcoihh « omo \ vhnt insupport-« blo to mo without , u jxmd—iv H < iuari « h pond , not over clean . You will iwk mo ¦ why I do not mako one at Worth-AHhton . l ' orl > ui > n , aH tho yours go ou , I » hall , mid totter feebly about it- in socond childhood , having roturntxl , a « wo do all , to
The Shaving Of Shagpat. Tlc Shachy Of Sh...
THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT . TLc Shachy of Shappot , an Arabian EnterUnuHunt . My George Morj dJ ^ ^ ^ No art of religious svinbolism lias a deeper root in nature than that of turn * in- with revemice Wards the East . For almost all our good things-our most precious vegetables , our noblest animals , our loveliest flowers , oui arts , cur religious and philosophical ideas , our very mwsery tales and romances , have travelled to us from the Bast . Iu an historical as well as 111 a-phyaicaF sense , the East is the Land of the Morning . Perhaps the simple reason of this may be , that : when the earth first beann to ihotc on her axis her-Asiatic side was towards the mm-licr Eastern cheek tint blushed under Ins rays ciiess
And so this priority of sunshine , like the first move m , B «™ »« « £ « thu nreeedenec tlioVh not the pre-eminence in all things * just as the gaiclcn 1 V in f ^ ntS morning sun yields the earliest -edlin ^ though those seedlings may attain a hardier and more luxuriant growth by being transplanted . But we li-ave tbie question to wiser hauls--" l ' olix qui potuit rorum coguosccro causiw .
1 os done wisi'lv to K » uir « l against the supposition oi its being « translat on , by prelixin ^ S , e iuu " « HM » t lhat . it is derived from no Eastern soums but » altogether his own . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 5, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05011856/page/15/
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