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October 7, 1854.] THE LEADER. 949
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5TffTV1*nfit1*l^ ZLWJ-llUUlv* ¦
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Critics are not the legislators, but t"h...
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We have generally remarked that, when mu...
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The publishers seem to anticipate a good...
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From France our news is of the dramatic ...
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OLDHAM AND HIS POETRY. The Poetical Work...
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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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 7, 1854.] The Leader. 949
October 7 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 949
5tfftv1*Nfit1*L^ Zlwj-Lluulv* ¦
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Critics Are Not The Legislators, But T"H...
Critics are not the legislators , but t"he judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
We Have Generally Remarked That, When Mu...
We have generally remarked that , when musical amateurs give private concerts , their selection of music to be performed is guided much more by the idea of showing off their own dexterity than by the idea of amusing their friends . The same sort of plan seems to be followed by Quarterly Reviewers , for the most part . They write on subjects which are excellently adapted to display their favourite literary accomplishments , but which are fclso extremely ill-fitted to interest the public . In the new number of the Westminster Review , for example , the opening article , and a very learned one it is , is on " The Odin Keligion . " How many people in England care to read about the Odin religion ? Two other articles are on the " Use and Meaning of History" and " The Rise and Progress of Diplomacy" —highly respectable subjects both ( especially for school themes or college essays ) ;
but could no literary and political topics of more universal and immediate interest have been chosen to be written on ? The pages about Madame dk Sable , in the article on " "Woman in France , " are the pleasantest to read in all this quarter ' s number—not because the author writes better or knows more than his fellow contributors , but because he has chosen a subject with some novelty and some special human interest in it . So , again , the last paper on the « Crystal Palace , " although presenting nothing strikingly original , will arrest attention , and will be read with pleasure , because people are really thinking about the Crystal Palace . Perhaps " Bajah Brooke " may also appeal successfully to the curiosity of the readers of the review . He was a subject of interest at any rate ; and his famous actions were not performed in the days of the " Odin religion . "
The ^ British Quarterly we have not yet had time to examine with sufficient attention . It seems to be not quite so felicitous in the selection of unpopular topics as the Westminster . It has articles , for instance , on " Manchester and St . Petersburg , " and on " Spain and Espartero , " and an essay on " Swift ' s Life and Genius , " in which all the materials for the subject are pleasantly and unpretendingly turned to good account . The attraction of the article is further increased , to our taste , by the writer ' s moderation of tone . Swift ' s biographers and reviewers have been a little too apt of late years to speak for him . In the British Quarterly he is very properly made to speak for himself .
The Netv Quarterly is as commendably full of book-news and bookcritieism as all quarterlies , to our thinking , ought to be . The Journal of Psychological Medicine has reached us . It contains an article on ** Non-Mechanical Restraint in the Treatment of the Insane , " which is full of interest—not for doctors only , but for intelligent readers of all professions and degrees as well . The necessity of economising space , during this week of war-news , obliges us to abstain from quoting from it , and hurries us on abruptly to the Monthly Periodicals . The National Miscellany continues its amusing extracts from ' ? The Journal of an Officer in the Expeditionary
Force . " Bentley ' s Miscellany appeals to present public interest by three different articles on subjects connected with the war . ' One is ( of course ) entitled " Sebastopol , " and another " Russia and the Russians ; " the third , and best , describes the " Boulogne Fates . " Tait 5 s varied and amusing this month , and contains one article on " Our Social Morality , " which ia especially worthy of perusal , and especially to be commended for the sense , candour , and moderation of its tone . Pooxe ' s famous picture of " Job and his Friends , " And Lance ' s " Summer Gift , " supplying the Art Journal with its lust new large engravings . The lctter-presa columns of this useful periodical contain some very interesting papers on art subjects , among which
we raay mention , as particularly attractive , a very gi'aphic and lively description of the living sculptors at Rome and of the works they are now engaged on ; and a letter from Antwerp announcing that the restoration of Rubens ' s Descent from * the Cross has been safely and successfully accomplished , after eight months of difficult arid delicate labour . This will bo welcome news to all lovers of art .
The Publishers Seem To Anticipate A Good...
The publishers seem to anticipate a good winter season for books , while the war operations arc necessarily suspended . Advertisement lists are already beginning to look nearly as well filled as in the past and prosperous times of peace . Some interesting volumes of the biographical kind are shortly to aippcar . Among them are the long-promised Letters and Life of Lady Blessington , the Memoirs of James Montgomery , and the seventh and eighth volumes of Moore ' s Diary . An announcement of the biographical kind , however , more important than any of these , still remains to be made .
Sydney SmitJSs Memoirs and Letters , edited by his daughter , in conjunction with Mrs . Austin , arcs at lust ready to go to press . We most sincerely rogret to bo obliged to add that the book will bo only printed for private circulation . What motives can have led to such an extraordinary proceeding as this wo are quite at a loss to understand . But we must venture , in the name of the public , and with all possible respect , to protest against the private publication of a work which tine whole reading world has been anxiousl y waiting for , ever since the existence of material for a biography of Stdnmt Smith was firat mode known . It seoma hard , indeed , that a
select circle of private friends only can be permitted to enjoy all the instruction and interest to be derived from the life of a man whose works have already taken rank among the classics of English literature . Ate no personal relics of Sydney Smith to be given to the grateful keeping of the English people , whose cause lie served so well , and whose admiration rewarded him with undying fame ? Even his favourite garden-walk at Combe
Florey has been altered by the present possessor past all recognition ; and now the publication of his Life and Letters is to be the privileged enjoyment of Ms private friends only . We most earnestly hope that the editors of the Memoirs may yet have time and inclination to reconsider their resolution , and deserve the gratitude of the reader who honoured Sx » nett Smith , as well as of the friends who loved him .
From France Our News Is Of The Dramatic ...
From France our news is of the dramatic kind . Geobge Saki > has a new play , in five acts , in rehearsal at the Gymnase . A one act piece for Ra . chel and Geffkov has been accepted at the Theatre Francais . Scbibe is said to be at work on a new five act drama for the same theatre , containing , as a matter of course , a grand " show-part" for Rachel . The Italian Opera has opened with Semiramide ; Mdlle . Bosio , Madame Borghi-Marno , and M . Gassier , being the chief singers . At the A _ mbigu , a grand war-dx * ama has been , produced , in honour of the Anglo-French alliance . The three characters intended to develop the romantic part of the story are a-villainous Russian prince , a chivalrous French artist , and an accomplished English , physician , a member of the Peace Society , enthusiastic about his profession , madly in love with a ravishing Russian damsel * and
bearing the startlingly-naiional name of " Sir Barcxay I" Such is the flourishing condition of dramatic matters in Paris ; and the remoter stage-world of Madrid seems to be in an equal state of activity . The Spanish capital is quite in a state of ferment jusfc now about the crowning of a tragic poefc named Quuttana . There is no question about his right tobeqrowhed ; but there is great difference of opinion about the manner of perforating the august ceremony . The press and populace are all for having it done in the theatre—the learned men exclaim that the coronation can only take place with any propriety ia the Academy- —and the court-party declare that Qtjintana ought to go incontinently to the Palace , and be crowned there by the Queen's own hand . Truly , it is a fine thing to be a play-writer ia Madrid ! We blush for dramatic London , and mourn in secret O"ver our own uncrowned Fitzball .
Oldham And His Poetry. The Poetical Work...
OLDHAM AND HIS POETRY . The Poetical Works of John Oldham . Edited by Robert Bell . Parker and Son . Who was John Oldham ? And what sort of poetry did he write ? These are the two first questions which our readers will most probably ask themselves on turning to the present notice . We beg to assure them , at the outset , that Oldbam ' s life was in many respects remarkable enough to be worthy of attention from his posterity ; and that his poetry has : —with some obvious and glaring faults—genuine and striking merits which ought to have prevented it from ever sinking , as during a temporary period it did sink , into almost total oblivion . By way of proving that this assertion is not made without some justice , we propose trying to show the reader ( by Mr . Robert Bjiix ' s help ) what sort of a man Oldham was , and what title his poetry possesses to the attention of the present generation . John Om > ham was born in Gloucestershire , in the year 1653 , and was
the son of a nonconformist minister . He was educated at Tedbury School ; and perfected himself in learning at Oxford , where he took the degree of B . A . ; and where his turn for poetry first developed itself . On leaving the University , he returned to his friends in Gloucestershire . But he vms soon , wearied of nonconformist society , of idleness , and of dependence on others . A situation aa usher at the Free School of Croydon was offered to hiin , and he accepted it , because it enabled him to get his own living by hia own labour . With this act , the manly and admirable struggle of his life to preserve his independence may be said to have begun . At the Free School
he worked on , bravely disciplining las natural freedom of spirit to submit to the drudgery that he lived by , for three years . During that time he employed his scanty intervals of leisure in Avriting poems , which found their way , in MS ., into the literary circles of London . Rochester , Sedley , and Dorset , among other famous people of the time , read what lie had done , admired it , and sot off one day to patronise the poor usher . But Oldham was not to be patronised . In an ago when every man of letters fawned upon the prosperous and the groat , the usher who wrote verses at Croydon School was the one independent author who would cringe to nobody . Discovering this , Rochester , and Sedley , and Dorset went back to their flatterers in London , and loft uncringing Oldham to drudge on as he mi <; ht at
the school , till ho had the luck to get an appointment as tutor in the family of Judge Thurland . In this situation ho remained for two years ; writing during that interval hid once fuinous " Satires against the Jesuits . " His next situation as teacher was in the house of Sir William Hicks , who had penetration enough to perceive the great and rare qualities of tho new tutor ' s character , and proposed that Oldham should nocompnny 1 ms son on a tour to the Continent—tho " Grand Tour" wl » ich every young gmllomm of parts and family undertook byway of polishing hi » manners Unaly in those days . Tho offer waa declined . Oldhnin . '* literary suoocw bud encouraged him to liopc everything from his future efforts ; and uisloau 01 playing Mentor , on the Continent , to tho Tolornnohus Master Uicks , o went to London to fight his way upward irith hi- pen . * ? i ? S , H a S satires against tho Jesuits had preceded him . Uo now . net the ji , 3 and fine gentlemen-ospecially the three who hud tried to patronje tan rt Croydon School-on equal terms . Ho made th « acnuamt ™ " . ™* ™» *« ftiondohip of D » t » bn ; and was introduced to the fcarl of Kingston , who
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 7, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07101854/page/13/
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