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October 6, 1855.] THE LEADEE, 963 ^
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IPtWrttttt* * §JMtllVKl
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a ._ nt tv, _ lec/iglatora, but the judg...
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It will scarcely be denied that the Revi...
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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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October 6, 1855.] The Leadee, 963 ^
October 6 , 1855 . ] THE LEADEE , 963 ^
Iptwrttttt* * §Jmtllvkl
Eiteratatt
A ._ Nt Tv, _ Lec/Iglatora, But The Judg...
a _ nt tv , _ lec / iglatora , but the judges and police of literature . They do not CfltjC ^ ake laU-they interpret aud-try to e nforce theax . —JSMnburgh Review .
It Will Scarcely Be Denied That The Revi...
It will scarcely be denied that the Reviewer who in one week reads and notices seven or eig ht good octavo volumes of history , philosophy , criticism , polities , and fiction , must be a mau of rapid reading , rapid writing , and dauntless courage . Nor will it be denied that every number of a quarterly review contain / more matter , more thought and learning , than an ordinary octavo . And the same may be said , in a less degree , of each number of Blackwoati , Franer , the Dublin I nicer sit y , & c . The articles are necessarily varied . They contain the learning and the thought of many writers on many subjects , packed close . Now if that mythical personage , the Courteous Reader , will be courteous enough to put these two facts together , he may form some estimate of the demands made on us once every three months ; for in less than the space of a week we are expected to read and review the Westminster , the National , the British Quarterly , the Irish Quarterly , the London Quarterly , Jilacluoooil , Fraser , Tail , and the Dublin University . The thing , obviously , is not to be done . We can only read some of the articles , glance at others , and utterly decline transactions with the rest . The unread authors will not understand this . However busy , we at least might read their articles . The } ' cheerfully admit that we cannot be expected to be interested in all topics , but surely their topics are of too important a nature not to arrest every cultivated mind . They admit that we cannot be expected to combine a knowledge of Comparative Anatomy with Arrow-headed inscriptions , the history of Literature with insight into the finances of Uussia , German Metaphysics with Exegetical Criticism , the English Constitution with the Geographical Distribution of Races : no one head—not even that of which Svdnky Smith said that science was its forte and omniscience its foible—is expected to contain all these subjects , yet Brown thinks it " too bad"' if you don ' t know something of the Tobolsk Mines , on which he has written , or on the Currency Question , on which he has new views . This , therefore , is our complaint . We place it beside the one humorously set forth in lilaclcicood this month , wherein the writer narrates how reviewers arc abused by unreviewed authors . It is certain that no man believes he is unreviewed because he is not worth reviewing . Who ever heard of a play refused by a manager because it was not good , or of a work which the world very willingly let die because it had small merit ? The thing does not exist . Hut we hereby make known to all whom it may concern , that we do not read every article in every periodical , nor do we intend to d <» so in future . Leisure , taste , an idea of our readers and what they will like , guide us to certain articles , and these we notice and chat about with no more elaborate purpose than that of indicating what we think will be found worth reading , and of touching here and there on a point worth considering . Review-writing , it is well said by a brilliant writer in the National Review , exemplifies the casual character of modern literature . He has with equal wit and sagacity noticed the peculiarity of reviewers , and their adroit use of the fact that their space is circumscribed . "A real reviewer always spends his first and best pages on the parts of a subject on which he wishes to write , the easy comfortable parts which he knows . The formidable dillioultios which he owns , you foresee by a strange fatality he will only reach two pages before the end ; to his great grid' there is no opportunity for discussing them . " Is not this excellently said ? Indeed , the whole article—which is on the First Edinburgh 7 i '< viewers—is a rare example of felicitous writing , brilliant , thoughtful , pictuivsijue ami playful , yet presenting in its easy pages good matter for thinking . His sketch of' Lord Kj . don , and of the state of the British mind acquiescent in Kldonis ' m is admirable . His portrait of the ideal Whig , and his exemplification of it in IioiiNKii ; the wav in which lie makes you feel the true relation of the Etlinhurah /!< rit iv and its whiggisni to the state of' opinion at the time , belong to tin' masterly style of historical painting . Very humorous , and Cutting ly true , i : < the indication of the scepticism which justifies the adherents to the status . /«<>—< . g . Lord Kliltm never ivad 11 um « « ••«• Mi > ntMv ; ii <\ l > ut oeeasiimally . in tin intrr-tiivs wf cumbrous law , you nwiy liud M'liliiiiv- ; with their meaning , it' nol in their manner ; " Dutnpor ' rt ease always MrucK me us rxir . ii'rilin . irv , Inii ii" you depart I ' rein lMimpurV case , whut is tlioiv t <> pivwut a depailure in cvriT direction . " We must extract this bit about Kuancis IIokni : k : — - Francis Hoiiui ' h wa- < a short and singular life . lie was the son of an Kdinbmyh » hopkeoper . lit-died at thirty-nine ; and \ v Jn « n lie died , 1 ' roin nil . sides of the usually cold lloums of Commons /^ ivat Matesmeii and thorough i ^ eiithmen ^>> t up t «> deplore Iuh Iohs . Toarx arc run'ly parliamentary : all in > n art' arid tntrunts i /< uw < i Srtttc / mu n ; 3 * ot it was one of that inch m , nt wtti >> u whom statesmen of the specie * Castlcrca ^ h , and HtntCHinen of tho Hpceics \\ hiilmad— with all the many kinds ami p peeios that lie . botweeu tho two—roao in Hueees * ion to lament . The fortunes and Nuperlieial feature : * of tho man niako it more ningular . lie . had no wealth , vwis a brielle « s barrister , never hold an otlico , waa a conspicuous member of the most unpopular of all oppositions — tho opposition to » gloriouu and successful war . He never had the moiuirt of obli ^ in ^ any one . Ho was destitute of nhowy abilities : ho had not the intense eloquence or overwhelming ardour which enthrnl ' and captivate popular assemblies : lib powers of AUmlnLitration wcni little , tried , and nmy possibly bo nightly « mentioned . In hi . s youthful readiug ho was remarkable for laving down , for n lew months of study ,
enormous plans , euch as many years would scarcely complete ; and not especially remarkable for doing anything wonder & il towards accomplishing those plans . Sir Walter Scott , who , though by no means illiberal in his essential intellect , was * keen partisan on superficial matters , and no lenient critic on actual Edinburgh Whigs , used to observe , " I cannot admire your Homer ; he always reminds me of Obadiah ' s bull , who , though he never certainly did produce a calf , nevertheless went about his business with so much gravity , that he commanded the respect of the whole parish . " It is no explanation that he was a considerable political economist : no real English gentleman , in his secret xcul , was ever sorry for the death of a political economist .- he is much likelto be
more y sorry for bis life . There is an idea that he has something to do with statistics ; or , if that be exploded , that he is a person who writes upon " value ; " says that rent is—you cannot very well make out what ; talks excruciating currency ; who may be useful as drying machines are useful ; but the notion of crying about him is absurd . You might as well cry at the death of a cormorant . Indeed , how lie can din is very oM . You would think a man who could digest all that arid matter ; who really preferred " sawdust without butter ; ' Mho liked the tough subsistence of rigid furmuh \ might defy by intensity of internal constitution all stomachic or lesser diseases . However , they do die , and people say that the dryness of the Sahara is caused bv a deposit of similar bones .
The explanation of Horneb ' s influence is also admirable ; but it must be sought by our readers in the Review itself . We can only spare room for the following defence of the literature of our day : — There is , as yet , no Act of Parliament compelling a bond fide traveller to read . If you wish him to read , you must make reading pleasant . You must give him short views , and clear sentences . It will not answer to explain what all the things which you describe , are mot . You must begin by saying what they are . There is exactly the difference between the books of this age , and those of a more laborious age , that we feel between the lecture of a professor and the talk of the man of the world—the former profound , systematic , suggesting all arguments , analysing all difficulties , discussing all doubts , very admirable , a little tedious , slowly winding an elaborate way , the characteristic eflfort of one who has hived wisdom during many studious vears , agreeable to such as he is , anything but agreeable to such as be is not
—the latter , the talk of the manifold talker , glancing lightly from topic to topic , suggesting deep things in a jest , unfolding unanswerable arguments in an absurd illustration , expounding nothing , completing nothing , exhausting nothing , yet really suggesting the lessons of a wider experience , embodying the results of a more finely tested philosophy , passing with a more Shakspearian transition , connecting topics with a more subtle link , refining on them with an acuter perception , and what is more to the purpose , pleasing all that hear him , charming high and low , in season and out of season , with a word of illustration for each and a touch of humour intelligible to all , fragmentary yet imparting what he says , allusive yet explaining what he intends , disconnected yet impressing what he maintains . This is the very model of our modern writing . The man of the modern world is used to speak what the modern world will hear ; the writer of the modern world must write what that world will indulgently and pleasantly peruse .
Our extracts will have shown that this writer is one worth looking after ; indeed , the article is by many degrees the best of the many we have read this quarter . It is followed by one on Decimal Coinage , which we ought to have read , but somehow the " stern Idea of Duty" did not coerce us in that direction . The paper on Cobxewall Lewis and the Credibility of lioman History is seriously and thoughtfully written . The -writer combats the decision of Sir G . C . Lewis , and establishes some ground for historical acceptance of the legends . Non nostrum est tatitus componere lites . A slight but well-written paper on Hannay ' s Eustace Conyers , Mrs . Gaskell ' s North and South , and two other novels , is succeeded by an analysis of the Blue Book on the Cicil . Service . Tennyson ' s Maud is of course reviewed—no
periodical can be without that subject—but the writer seizes the occasion to discourse on Tennyson general ! y , which he does both with novelty and acumen . Statesmen of the Day is after-dinner talk , about some of our leading men . St . Paul is a very disappointing article ; interesting from its notice of the works of Stanley and Jowett—works which show the English Church to possess men of large and liberal minds , aided by learning , ample and minute ; interesting also in a lesser degree from certain ideas which the writer propounds ; but disappointing because a grand subject is obscurely and unsatisfactorily treated ; the ideas are so coiled up in the wordy exposition , that they are seized with dilliculty , and fail of the elfect they might have had in a better exposition . Thus it is an article which will be caviare to the public , though theological readers will not pass it over . In . strikini ! - contrast stands the article on Dr . I . ' u mining and Evangelical
7 '< aching , in the Wi . sti , i ' mshr , which the public will road more eagerly than theologians , Cor its wit , its subtle analysis of the popular preacher ' s mind , aiul its wise philosophy , gentle as it is wise . The writer docs not attack Dr . Ci'm . minu ; but his article is terribly severe in its analysis ; and it exposes -with an unsparing hand his shallowness , his want of veracity , and the utterly immoral tendency of his teaching . This it does partly by grave argument , partly by wit in which argument is concentrated ; as , for example , on the siibj . vt ot' everlasting punishment , i ' ov which Dr . Cvmminc . is clamorous— " Po wo object , he asks , to everlasting happiness" ? Then why object to everlasting misery Y Reasoning which is , perhaps , felt to bo cogent bv theologians trim anticipate t ! i < everlasting happiness for themselves , at / the
everlasting n < t ' sery for tli < . ir neig h f > ours . " In tho following , botli argument and wit arc employed : — This leads us to mention another conspicuous characteristic of l'l- < ¦ 'I "" " " , ' * teaching — the m / kiiii ' i «;/' . < - /"" ' / " charity . It is true that he makes V ^ ^™ ,, ! , v ' ] l 0 tiilerunce and liberality within u certain circle ; lu l ' xlll " C '" ' ' '"' " !! , () n , nehe . s of would have Churchmen fmterni . se with Disinters , and exhort * tlicse n » ^ ^^ ^ ( Jod ' s family to defer tho settlement of their dirtvreiKV . s <'" ' ! 1 " > 1 Ilt ,.,, oinsin to tho love thus uiuirhl is the K . vo of the clan , which i » the corre uinv 'f » " ^ u ) I , but rest of mankind . It 1 * not sympathy mid ?> 'Y ^ o olTsninll minority . Dr . towards men as Christians , and as Christians in trie « iir «« ^ cJmrtcr to hatred ; Cumming ' H religion may demand a tribute of love , oiu h IbclioVO that God tolls it miiv enjoin charity , hut it foster * nil iincluin ««• ion ? b .. a require 8 mo mo to Wo mv enemi * , but at the wunc time fiatM H" ° « " ° »< - nuoa «
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1855, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06101855/page/15/
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