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Jan.-7, 1S60] The Leader and Saturday An...
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one threepenny, and a-lugiu-n- of penny ...
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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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Bedlamlte •Litjs.Rature. Clapham , Famou...
parliament )> nor cause his ( Elizabeth ' s ¦ " ¦ still sniall" ) voice to be heard ( even ) in Fleet Street , where the papers are printed and aent to the editors . "We \ vere ignorant of a portion , at least , of the following texts :. " Mrs . Cottle has hitherto had the ' Book of Life ' and papers printed only for herself , arid has sent them out into all the world , ' without money and without price , ' ( Isa . lv . 1 , 3 , ) even for postage stamps . Matt , xx , 2 ; Luke ; xx . 24 . " The following circumstance will reach most people for the first time : — " Summer is nigh ( May 25 ) , and it ( the Cottle Church ) is even at the doors ( of Kirkstall Lodge and All Saints' Church , and the doors ot the Houses of Lords and Commons ) . " Here is a valuable article of faith : " New ( Cottle ) wine must be put into new ( Cottle ) bottles , and both ( the new and old Wine ) are preserved ( " in the new he : < ven and new earth " of " the new name" of Cottle ) , Rev . xxi . 1 , 3 , 12 ¦; lsa . lxvu 22 , 24 . ' .
A most important point is , to " renounce the devil , and all his legal and theological works . " The latter condition would , perhaps , be no great trial . We learn from Mrs . Cottle that these sentiments -were forwarded in manuscript to the " two emperors of : France and Austria at Villafrauea , to the Pope Beelzebub , to Victor Emmanuel , the Queen , Lord Palmerston and ministers , and the editor of the Times . " To judge from the title given to one of the intended recipients , we should doubt if the document in that case ever readied its destination . ¦ _ ' ¦
However , Mrs . Cottle , in October 1850 , addresses Lord Palmerston , and , although expressing her satisfaction at the fact that seventy thousand papers of the above description have been received " without dissent or opposition , " from which she augurs great things , nevertheless , she informs his Lordship that she " Mrs , Cottle cannot go on pouring out the spirit any longer , for if she did , she would fail ( Isa , lvi ' i . l . G ) . " We may therefore conclude that there will be a cessation of the labours of the Cottle propaganda . But "' ¦ to speak seriously , what can be the circumstances unde . i which these impious ravings ( and we have made no unfair selection ) are printed and circulated ? They cannot be the work of one poor insane fanatic . There must be several sane persons associated with her ; in fact , the wicked trash must be altogether disseminated by sane people . There must be an amanuensis and a ministers to the
printer at least ; and probably many other grave recording of the passing -. extravagancesof a deranged mmd . Of what type of character or status in society these persons can be , our readers will pi ' obably be as nuich at a loss to determine as ourselves ; and they will agree with us , that they have been guilty . of no small oft'ence to : decency and good morals . Ifc is not enough to say that this is-but a harmless means of venting the delusions , of a mind diseased . There can be no necessity that the desire , of humouring the unhappy patient should be carried to the length of actual publication , to say nothing of the scandal promulgated , and the expense incurred . It is only becoming that the melancholy frensies ot the unfortunate victims of mental disorder should be kept as much from the public gaze as possible ; and those who . . make an exhibition of them are guilty of . an uncalled-for outrage on the decencies of social life .
Jan.-7, 1s60] The Leader And Saturday An...
Jan .-7 , 1 S 60 ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 15
One Threepenny, And A-Lugiu-N- Of Penny ...
one threepenny , and a-lugiu-n- of penny daily London papers , which lay life tragedies and comedies , played in the day in ' . Westminster Hall , or elsewhere , upon every breakfast table . The man ' rejoices in no breakfast table , often in only half a breakfast , but yet who was one of the playgoing class of former days , how commands , whether in his modest garret or in his box at-the-coffee-shop , the luxury of such a meal of social revelations as might iti one week ' n't a Lope de Vega with " a very fair stock to commence work . upon . What On earth can the horror and scandal-crammed British public of this day care for genteel tragedy , or comedy as we 'find it embalmed in Bell ' s or Cumberland's collections ? Were not the Palmer , Smethurst > Archer , Rowley and Bell cases more tragic- or comic , as the case may . be , than any production of the school alluded to ? Are we not panting for new and piquant details of a new Norfolk tragedy , and particulars of the great Kentish scandal , lit to make one ' s hair stand on end ? Depend-. upon , it , your regular Drama has not half the flavour of the modern Law or Police eases ,
and will never hold up its head again while these mornuag performances are so regularly and so efficiently popularised . Such a piece as " The Stranger , " which in our young days was considered too vapourish by half for a poco-curante age , is not in its " pathos and bathos and laclirymas roarem" very far below the pitch of our tragedies of modern . society . It is possible , in . a few years' time , that as the necessity for still stronger excitement supervenes with civilization and business pre-occupation , our public may seek new sensations in . real heroic tragedy . They have not gone far in that direction at present , but the character of their demands in the contrary one seems certainly to favour , the argument . The successful comedy of the present day must be a string of rattling farces . The farce must comprise physical and practical jokcs >
stirred with the flavouring substance of antique pantomimes . Pantomime itself has been sharpened to the same extent . Burlesque has beeii revived in our . time , and carried to an extent that the author of BomJjastes Furiaso never dreamed of ; and now the entertainments of the present Christmas tide number .. several hybrids , Comprising not only the perfection of comic singing , ballet dancing , comic word spinning and twisting , but also those of caricature drawing , dressing , and acting , besides a quality of scenepainting seldom before aimed at , and a full harlequinade to boot . The pantomime at the City of London Theatre is , we apprehend , one ot the old school , written by a master of the art , and acted , machined ' , and decorated in the-old style . But in the above particulars , itsi ensemble is no more to be compared with the entertainments at either of tho
six first West End houses than Mr . Nelson Lee to Shakespere . We have then to report that the decadence of the legitimate drama during the twelvemonth has been progressive ; and we see no occasion to anticipate a change . A first-class and ferocious tragedy on the return of the African Roscins , Ira Aldridge , with a crop of St . Petersburg laurefc , may just impede , for a fortnight , the gentle efflux of its life-blood ; but for the reasons stated and others , if we were put to them , we conceive that decay is in the constitution of the patient . There is , to use the language of the mart , a better feeling for pure comedy , but no great demand . . Farce is in request : the supplies from France are deficient in the element of laughing gas . 1 ' rom that country we have had an influx of comedietta and small drama , but these have always required the assistance and support of burlesque , being not well able to stand up alone . Oui : children , old and young , insist upon going to the play for diversion , and diversion only ; and the new school of writers get more fun , money , . and
app lnuse but of pun-embroidered fables than weak mal-adaptations from the French . The greatest theatrical event of . 1859 was the departure of Mr . Kean for a long provincial tour : the smallest , the publication of his memoirs and autobiography . He has already begun to reap tho fortune for which he speculated so judiciously and so extensively during bis Loydon management . Mr . Greenwood , of Sacllcrs Wells , took , lust sprin . gr , n company of pontomimisfs to Berlin , where tho huliyines were nearly as bewildered with tho entertainment as the Into Prince ofOude . who pronounced one ho saw to be a beautiful poem , anil ordered his moonshce to translate jt at his leisure . The production of an intense drama , by Mr . J . A . Heraud ; the opening of the Lyceum , by Madame Celeste ; the occupation of nine playbills at once by Mr . Tom Taylpr ' s translations ; tho gront success of " Ono Touch of Nature ; " nnd " The Dead Hcnvt , " at the Add phi ; tho groat merit of a charming comedy , " Homo Truths , " at tho Princess ' s ; and tho death of Mr , Wright ,
comedian—have , wo boliovo , boon tho moat prominent occurrences during tho hist thentriqal year . Wo can havq np objection to jumi our hopes ¦ with those of others more immediately concomod , thattho chronicle for 1 S ( 5 O may bo richer in important jnul interesting matter . . , .. . The prospcct ^ c-l' Music , however , seem to brighten as -those ot tho Duama fade . Tho seed sown by Mninzur , Kullhh , and Ju-lhon is boaring fruit , and tho English show strong symptoms of becoming n . musical nation in ii wido sonso of tho word , lhnfc the J . yno nnd Harrison enterprise mnintninod tho high position it took at starling , through thp yenr INof ) , in spifco of intorostod nu £ urioH , oiui in mhjl
STATE OF MUSIC AND THE DllXMA . Le Bui cst . JUbre .- The Ic Hoi ! The year of grace 1859 has happily passed away , panics and prophecies notwithstanding , without the utter break up or violent convulsion in cither the great world itself , or in its satellite worldlets , the religious , tho fashionable , the artistical , or the literary . In the latter , it is true that several notable now formations and re-formations arc inaugurated with the new year ; wot tho least valuable of which is , wo apprehend , observable ' by our own subscribers ; but in the dramatic nnd miisica . 1 worlds , time has wrought little enough during- tho year ISoi ) , and action 860
wo see no reason to anticipate his violent during I . Tho " Retrospects , " . " Reviews , " and ' ¦ Obituaries , that fill so much space in contemporary pages , reminjl us that . wo too ought to glance at tho progress or rogross of tho musical and dramatic arts during tho past twelvemonth : nnd in a few words wo will do so . The progress of tho regular drama may bo sot down as JNil . Its condition is ono of unquestionable decay . Tho wido dispersion of bur good actors since the opening of tho trade in thcatros , tho lack of rich now blood in tho shape of plays and players , have had something to do with this . Tho increasing thirst for combined music and beer , in such gorgeous , complete , and well-ordered pnjneos as those of Evnna ' , the Canterbury Hall , tho Holbprn . Music Hall , and tho like , has given tho stngo another shrowd blow , bo lias tho musical—oloa-ant musical tnsto , so industriously phmted and fostered
in the middlo class mind by John Hullnh , tlio Chappolls , nnd Honediet . And last , not lonst , wo tnko it , tho marvellous populnn / . ntion of social tragedy nnd comedy , through tho notion yJ tho olienp press fur years , ' and latterly , through that of tho Divorco Court , has almasti givou tho couj > do r / raco to tho logitimnto drainu us thoso words ' wero a few yonra ago understood . Whether tlio failuro in tho crop of good players follows that in tho crop of good " plays , or , vice vormi , oonVos of tlio cold flluulo thrown l > v ^ an ' nq ; er-a ( ttorn upon tlio ronl- of tlio profv'P « ioiv , or what not , we will not nfffiio hon \ Tlio quofuion-him boi ' n dincusfiod ad itttn / rtfin , ii > our dhinlciiifr , for years . Tl , will no ' ver lio solved , and iln solution may a . fi . cr all never bo required . For if tho . world roll but a low yenrs longer inlitn prosont ^ gronvo , tlio doinnnd lor Jogil . imnlo notorn of the order wo nro now acquainted with , nnd legitimate drnmadrtls , wilUmvo died out nUocfethor . r J'l ) ovo arc , wo boliovo , four fonrppnny ,
bucked by stout oirortn to tlio contrary , was one , » tlio yoaiv The naturnlizution of" Oinornli , " the CV . vh ( hI Vahuo > iu < l Bradford Festivals , tlio prolonged run of " Sjitnuqlln' by ono imtlvu composer , tlio warm reception of " Vmtovnio " hy « not | ior , nl ! hoJp to hIiow tho wny of tho wind . . Opern hero ! Opom llicrcl Oporn < -vory where ! <) pora ahvnys at one of tho twn ffivnt \*» " ? ° \ ,. f' \ J ; int . orn . ittont . lynt tho othor . Opnru hy HI ,, and mI . iHs nil Ih j ' ' / '' JumoH ' K . Si , n flncoyosvownrclod cnonnouMlvii . r () pl'm nl , Sl o . ^ MV ilnitsh tinx ' tnir opora in Uoodnuvn ' s Kiuhln . Wcd j ly wnroiiM inS Sfomr nil Iho yenr round at . tlio I . uIIh of SI , . mneH
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 7, 1860, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07011860/page/15/
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