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Jan. 7, I860.] The Leader and Saturday 1...
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MORE OF SHAKESPEARE.* rpHERE is no end, ...
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+A Crliiaall&vawinaMatpnf C/iO TqM oftih...
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SERIALS. A NEW year shoulcT give a new s...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Gleanings From Foreign Books. The Pkover...
men have put into circulation many a proverb of doubtful truth and still more doubtful utility . If we have to be on our guard against such infamous proverbs , we have to be infinitely more on our guard against the persons who take pleasure in using them .-rr-M . Q rte s German Proverbs ^ .. ., LIFE 1 ST SOTTTHEEN" BTTSSIA . ¦ . . ~ ¦ ' : the Russians ' caH their vast country " Holy . Russia " and not without right is the name bestowed . The thought of God hallows the whole land ; along all the roads and field-paths are seen crosses , which every traveller reverently greets . Every where rise up their little green and white churches ; their bells are sending forth their voice at all times of the day . Companies of pilgrims continual y traverse the land , and come from regions the remotest to _ the holy cities and monasteries , especially to Kief , the Sclavonic Rome . Images of the saints are the only ornaments of the dwellings of the poor , and at least one such image , with its glaring colours and its « -old ornaments , gleams in the most wretched hut , from a corner ol the dim chamber ; Night and day a lamp burns before this uiumposing image , which every one entering salutes with a sign of the cross and a . profound bend of the body . The churches m the towns
and villages are always full , though the worshippers are obliged tq stand during the service , which lasts for hours . The images and the crucifixes bear the traces of the burning kisses which the devout have lavished on them . The great festivals , all prepared by long fasts , are celebrated with piety and joyfulness , and many worldly amusements mingle with the ecclesiastical solemnities . At faster , and on Christmas Eve , there is divine service at midnight ; > every class and every age take part in it , and in the principal cities it is of the most gorgeous character . Easter is the chief festival , and throws a gleam of joy on the whole population . With the shout , Grtstos WosJct'cis . Christ is Risen , they salute each other in the streets and m the houses , expressing the warmest wishes for each other ' s happiness . This takes place not only between relations and friends , but between masters and servantssuperiors and inferiors . When uttering , the
, shout they make a gift to each other of eggs , many-coloured , often elaborately painted and adorned . In every house an atmndant Easter repast is prepared , consisting of different national dishes ^ and tall cakes crowned with little Easter lambs ; and every one entering and expressing the pious congratulations . of .-the season , andlikewise the servants and the poor , partake thereof . At Whitsuntide the churches-and the . houses are adorned with young birches , which * are also planted in the open air rOund the churches . In the cities during Easter week and-Whitsuntide the people of the cities amuse themselves in the thoroughfares ,- -gathering round swings , carousals , and musicians . At Whitsuntide the much-loved favourit for them is
swings also abound in the country . A e spot the birch-forests , where they are formed simply out of the stems of young trees , Or from slender boughs . The young , girls float up and down in them in the warm spring nights . Their white dresses , and the bright , elastic birch boughs round which they twine ^ their arms , gleam in thp moonlight through the dark green of the forest . The young lads set the swings in motion ; children and grown-up persons stand all round , and ' wait till their turn comes . The voice of the distant nightingale mingles with the laughter , and the shouts which are resounding through the night of spring . In August the ohief festival of the Virgin Mary is celebrated by great fasts , numerous processions , pilgrimages , and divine services . —Foerster ' s Southern liussia .
Jan. 7, I860.] The Leader And Saturday 1...
Jan . 7 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday 19
More Of Shakespeare.* Rphere Is No End, ...
MORE OF SHAKESPEARE . * rpHERE is no end , and there seems never likely to be one , of com-J- mentaries on the great dramatist of the sixteenth and every other century , past or to come . Thirty-six plays , each equal in bulk to a modern novel , of the highest poetry , and deepest and subtlest thought , so vilely printed , that if it were not that the copies are various in their mistakes , there were no understanding hundreds of passages , must always give scope to boundless conjectural and speculative criticism .. For the ftvs't eighty years after the death of the poet ; the . world seems to have been contented with the mangled , doubtful and obscure mode in which his collected work's were ushered into the world . A goodly folio appeared soyen years after his decease , and tho editors seem to intimate in their preface that they had furnished a book which would last for all ages , and they probnbly supposed there would be nothing to do but to goon reprinting it to the end of time . It was so well received , and so little fault
was the last of the original folios , and now the booksellers began to find out that the plays required editing , and , determining to do the thing handsomely , engaged the great popular court poet of the day , Nicholas Rowe , Esq ., to edit themj to write a biography Of the great dramatist , and to indite a critical commentary . ^ He did this , and thus commenced a system of criticism and of conjectural emendation , which has been going on for these hundred and fifty years , and seems by no means exhausted , as the three bulky little volumes before us indicate ^ They are the last fruit of this everlasting tree of knowledge , and are not the most unworthy . Mr . Sidney Walker was a student at Cambridge , and all lovers of elegant scholarship have to regret his early decease . A zealous and painstaking friend , Mr . W . Hanson Lettsom , has gathered his papers together , and edited them with great care and good discretion .
Mr . Walker ' s first essay in Shakesperian commentary ,, was an essay on the versification of Shakespeare , in which he showed great acuteness of perception and delicacy of taste ; and the like qualities are remarkable in the present volumes , with the addition of an elaborate logical system of examination . Of all the investigators into the text of Shakespeare , perhaps none have been so deliberately scientific as Mr . Walker , who seems to have set himself down to the work as if he thought the entire devotion of a life were necessary to do it justice . He very quickly perceived that to authorize anything like dogmatic conjecture , it was requisite first of all to be
acquainted with the language and phraseology of the poet ' s time ; and for this purpose he diligently set to work to discover the primitive meanings of the language of the plays . This is indeed very different from the common interpretation accorded to it by a mere knowledge of the colloquial language of our day . In perfecting this scheme he made several divisions of his labours , in order that lie might group under each heading the species of error which had crept upon and mutilated the great works . Although he left his work incomplete , he had arranged 120 different heads , under whifih lie classified his corrections and suggestions , and which
occupy the first two volumes of the work . Some idea of the nature of this scheme may be formed from the following specimens of the various divisions : —1- Passages in which verse has been mistaken for prose . 2 Passages in which a compound epithet or participle ( or a double substantive ) has been resolved into two simple epithets , or an adverb and ; an epithet , <& c 3 : Instances of \ yhat may be described as an instructive striving after a natural arrangement of words , inconsistent , indeed , with modern English grammar , but perfectly authorised by that of the Elizabethan age . It will be seen by these examples / that Walker was a most ardent and painstaking student and commentator , and that he had devised work out the textand
a scheme which really would , gave us many new means of coming nearer to its true meaning . We are not prepared to say that his system is infallible , nor that we feel bound to acknowledge all its results as ^ displayed in these volumes . ; but we must say that it is very clearly conc-eived , and on the whole very ably carried out ; and that whoever diligently studies Ins pages cannot fail to become a more enlightened disciple of the mighty dramatist . It requires care and attention to follow him , but the reader will be amply repaid by the clear and full comprehension the perusal will give him of the text . In truth , Mr . Walker s , volumes are a valuable addition to Shakesperian commentary , and arc entitled to much consideration , as initiative of a novel and sound method of sifting and examining the text .
vn \ R found with it ( there wore not then a couple of thousand newspapers and critical periodicals to fall upon and detect its numerous errors , or to puff it into notice ) , that in . nine yoars a second ^ edition whs required . A poet , who was also a critic , had been reading this book with more attention than most readers , and pointed out numerous blunders of , tho printers , who it ih ( supposed engaged him ( rave Ben 1 Jonson ) to correct it . If ho did not do his spiriting gently , he did it very loosely ; nnd only removed soino of tho most obvious literal blunders . From tho date of the apponranco of the second folio to that of tho third , elapsed thirty-two years of the fiercest civil broil , in which the contonmers , of art and literaturo , nnd particularly of tho theatre , had tho upper hand . Whether tho third folio would have gone off as well as tho two former editions cannot bo known , for tho greater part of it . was destroyed in the Fire of Lcmdon ; ami it was not till nearly twenty yours after , that a still more bulky edition , called the fourth folio , was issued . This
+A Crliiaall&Vawinamatpnf C/Io Tqm Oftih...
+ A Crliiaall & vawinaMatpnf C / iO TqM oftihakaspa ^ t'o s wtth'llvmarksanhl »> hmmtaqa < tnd that of lib ounlciiipomrios , hMOthvr with Kotaa an his I'ta , ij 9 and I ' ooms . W . Sidney Walkor , fyrmorly Follow of Trinity Colletjp , Otvmbridgo . 3 vola . Fop , 8 vo . London : John RuhsoII ( Smith .
Serials. A New Year Shoulct Give A New S...
SERIALS . A NEW year shoulcT give a new start to literature , and particularly to periodical literature , the nature- of which is to reflect ] the changes of the passing time . We have our friend Blachwood , however still wearing tho old face , and attired in tho old costume ; yet with ono singularity . The number commences with the first pavtt of a poem , intended to be completed in three It is ot the didactic order , and is entitled " St Stephens ; " the purpose being to give sketches in verse of parliamentary orators , commencing with JUiot and closin' - with Peel . Suffice it to add , that the heroic couplets are terse , correct , and telling . A now tale , entitled ' ' Norman Sinclair , " also invites attention . Wo note , that it is carefully written , and that tho visit of George JV . to Edinburgh forms one nf ihho nrominent incidents . Louis Napoleon in a song ,- and
Mr Raskin in mi article , come in for a share of abuse . Next comes a French novel , " Tho last French Hero ; " a satirical attempt at humour , losing its point in its exa ^ eration . The remainder pf flio number ie in the usual strain . —Eraser i 3 censurable for a vain effort at popular style . In this spirit Mr . Collier ' s emendated Shukemero is unduly attacked , not only ungenerously , but eomewhat disingenuously . Thus , we are told that" the spelling of tho Words m tho modern pencil-writing wns modern , while the spelling in tho pretended old ink wns also old . " Only ono instance of tho kind , said to bo under tho ink , has boon dotected , Not in much bettor tu « to is Mr . Peacock ' s paper on Shelley , which contains a correction ot certain facts that had hitherto floated in an sBathotio Uuzo of doubt favourable to poetic portraiture . There is always talent in this tho ymingor eiatcr ol MngiW hut wo liavo found bur more fascinating . U . hu Dublin Unioorsiiy stfU rejoices in M Tho Season Ticket , " which continues in unabated humour . In tho politieal department , tho Popo is treated as the political puppet of the French emperor , One of ,. the papers lias a taking title , to wit , A Rainy Day with Tennyson and our Vw ** , and tho contents arc worthy of tiio-heiuliiitf . ^ Hub of ftUtho nmpKinoB of tl , o mJhthrco ' minond us to MaomW «» 's . " Such •« tho excellencei ot every articlo in it , that Wo huvo beon compelled , to road every vvo » U .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 7, 1860, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07011860/page/19/
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