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December 8, 1855?] THE LEADER. 1179
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5l*i4A**rt-l-**««A 3tUXlUlUlF* '
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Critics are n.ot tlie legislators, but t...
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This is the age of periodicals—a fact de...
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We have received the following letter to...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
December 8, 1855?] The Leader. 1179
December 8 , 1855 ?] THE LEADER . 1179
5l*I4a**Rt-L-**««A 3tuxlululf* '
% itotmt-
Critics Are N.Ot Tlie Legislators, But T...
Critics are n . ot tlie legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They So not make laws-they- interpret and try to enforce them . — Juiinburglt Jievtew .
This Is The Age Of Periodicals—A Fact De...
This is the age of periodicals—a fact deplored by many and extolled by many ( periodical writers especially ) , but which we must all accept , whether we deplore it or not . In spite of the abundance of periodicals , it is curious how little invention is displayed in the new attempts —a new idea is as rare as a new system of philosophy ; the old forms , the old schemes , even the old prices are ever repeated . The Illustrated London News had a new idea , a new scheme , and its prodigious success has called forth many imitations ; but none of the imitators thought of doing what their model did—none of them came forth with a new plan . The public , recognising in these attempts nothing but another , and inferior , Illustrated News , saw no valid reason for patronising them ; any one who wanted an illustrated paper took the News . Novelty of scheme , or novelty of doctrine , we believe to be one great
element of success in a new periodical . And on this ground we see some hopes for La Libre Recherche , a review published at Brussels , under the direction of M . Pascal , Duprat . The first number is before us . It is like the Revue d-s Deux Mondes , but is to appear monthly instead of fortnightly . It is unlike the Deux Mondes , however , in two respects—namely , in being the organ of the European exiles , and in endeavouring to be a revue universelle . Italy , Germany , Poland , Hungary . Spain , and America are more or less represented in it . Signor Dall 'Ongaro contributes a paper on the periodicals of Italy ; Arnold Ruge , on the political ideas of Germany since the French Revolution ; M . Lelkevel sketches the Hungarian institutions ; and Senor Toledo sketches the present state of Spanish literature . None of these papers are remarkable , but they indicate a wide horizon ; and if the Libre Recherche can get good papers on such subjects , it will have a speciality which will insure success . Novelty of idea is not
alone sufficient ; the idea must be good , and the execution good . Compare the articles in La Libre Recherohe with the articles in Fraser ' s Magazine , for instance , and the euormous superiority of Fraser will at once account for its success . This is an unusually good number : to be sure , it opens with an article which of itself is enough to make the public eager when they hear it is by their favourite essayist , the author of " Friends in Council . " It is entitled " Friends in Council Abroad , " and introduces Ellesmebe , Milverton , Dunsford , in company with a new gentleman , Mr . Mid-HUrst , who has brought his bulldog , Fixer , with him to Calais . The dialogue , managed with the writer ' s incomparable art , runs on passports , English Sundays , meddling interference , the war , the qualities of public men , and other subjects digressively introduced ; and our readers need not be told that the thoughtful wisdom , the quiet , playful humour , and the picked style of this writer , make the dialogues as brig ht , and delectable as a comedy of Mouere . We must extract a passage or two , although wresting them
from the context injures their effect . For example : — MIIWJERTON . Surely your experience of the world , Mr . Midhurat , must have shown you that the moment people have met together in any number—aay even twentythey begin to think haw they shall aunoy each other by all manner of trifling rules and regulations . KLLESMEHE . Aye , and what is worse , there is the unwritten law , by which , human beinga , especially in a country with free institutions , contrive to vex one another more even thau by all tho statutes , laws , and ordinances that ever were penned . You are always complaining of lawyer * oppressing you ; whereas it is tluli and respect able men who are the unconscious bullies of the world . MII . VEHTON .
It is as some safeguard against thin moat oppressive and pervading tyranny ot the unwritten law that I have over thought eccentric person . - * a groat blowing to mankind , liufc for them , wo should all bo crushed down into a semi-lluid state of utter respectability , entire conformity , and nu |> erabunclaut folly . They are the centrifugal forces in life—thoy arc tho wilt of tho earth . Hotter to have them , evun when they border upou madness , than not to have thorn at all . Observe in such n trifling thing as drews how hard it is to gum tho least improvement . Tho Broad-grin Interest— aided by little boyn , tho Respectable Interest , tho Sublime Canting Interest , is always iigniusfc tho improver .
" We have elsewhere quoted Dickens on " The English Sunday ; " here is a new view of its advantages . They have been speaking about the needless persecution of tho passport system , and Em-ksmicke replies Taking tho whole caso fairly into consideration , I think wo 13 ritishern must annoy foreigners when thoy come to hoo us far more than thoy annoy us when we come to see them—iu a passive way , 1 mean . Think whnt lu . s first bnglisu Sunday nmat be to u lively Frenchman . However , our dulnoss has thin advantage—it Hecuros uh iwunfrt the occupation of our country for moro than nix days A foreign enemy would be bo tirod of uh after tho Hovent . h , that he would retreat upon some pretext or other— " strategical , " ho would call it , but anti-babbutical it would be . Admirable things m e said upon the war ; the following is brief enough for extract : —
If there is any one thing in which I suppose wo must conloss oui-hoIvoh to have been wanting , it U boldnoss , —especially as regards tho operations of our flouts . Mark you , I should bo very sorry to pronounce upon this Bubjoot without further evidence , but I conjecture that tho accusation has boiuo justice in ib . My own temperament and nature are ho given to boldness not to say rashness , and my Htudiea , which of late yearn have been entirely with tho doings of tho groat men a , t the end of tUo fifteenth century and the bogioniug of tho sixteenth , may
induce me to overrate boldness . A man who has passed a great part of the last year , as I have , in studying the despatches of Cortes , is not likely to be enamoured of timid counsels . But then this error , as I conceive it to be , ttois want of boldness , is quite as visible in civil as in military affairs . Garry to a statesman of the present day any good plan providing a remedy for . some great abuse , for ¦ which he is bound to find a remedy . He will listen to you patiently ,, then take a sly glance over his shoulder at the clock ( which glance , however , the deputation are meant to perceive ) . He will say something to this effect : —" You are quite right ; the it lantoois excellent
abuse ia very great . I ana sure , I grieve over . Your p , , . But there are many objections to it . I doubt whether we can be sure of its succeeding . I doubt whether , in the present state of public affairs , & c . & c , I doubt whether , in the present temper of the House of Commons , & c . & c . But , gentlemen ( another glance at the clock , not so furtive ) , if you would have the goodness to put jour views in writing , they shall meet with all due consideration at the hands of her Majesty ' s Government . " Bows are then interchanged . " Howdo you do , Lord A ? " ( this to the head of the deputation ) . " I hope Lady A is going on -well . I am so glad to hear it ' s a boy . Good morning , gentlemen . " The deputation retires . doneBut after his want
The minister knows the thing ought to be . year year of boldness , his anxiety to see his -way , as he calls it , his desire to be safe , prevents the thing being undertaken . And so we have safe men everywhere , —safe admirals—safe bishops . We cannot resist this little bit out of a very striking description of " A Sunday in Germany : "It was in a garden near to one of the most delightful of German towns—a Lutheran town , bv the way . The good people had all been to church , and , after their komelv dinners , had assembled to listen to an orchestral performance . of comfort there abundance of chairs and
Every reasonable appliance was ; tables : tea , coffee , beer , and cakes were to be purchased , Whole families came quietly trooping in . Pleasant and quiet recognitions were exchanged . rhe garden began to fill . The elders took their seats . Here and there a middle aged woman comforted herself with , that interminable kmtting which they love so much . The children played about with one another amidst the chairs , orxoith grave dons which endured their caresses . The aged and the infirm were not absent from the scene ; and one poor paralytic man , wheeled thither in his easy-chair , was set a little apart from the company , as if his infirmities had begun to separate him from the world , upon which , however , he was looking kindly and placidly ,
with his hands folded on his breast . How capitally observed is that touch about the dogs ! Indeed , the writer is a true lover of those noble companions ; and the bull dog , who takes his place here among the dramatis persona , is what a friend of ours calls a " divine beast "—a bull dog that appeals to our "best and holiest feelings . " A very pleasant and instructive paper is that on " New Metals , " in which the reader will find a circumstantial account of the alnminium we recently discoursed on . " The Political Press of America " is wr itten by one who knows his subject , and doe s not mimic phrases . " Sutlers in the Camp " is an interesting paper contributed by one who was in the camp before Sebastopol ; but the horrors of war fade into insignificance beside the horrors of imagination as set forth in the thrilling conclusion of Wilkie Coi . lins ' r story , " The Monktons of . Wincot Abbey . " This writer has certainly learned the art " to move a fine horror skilfully , " as Charles Lamb said of old Wkbsteb , the dramatist ; and the conclusion of his story is still more
striking than its commencement . In the way of stories , Black wood this month gives us one from the German of Ferdinand Stolle , which is so outrageously extravagant , that laughter bursts from you as you read , and quells criticism ; it is absurd and poo ° rly written , but the very audacity of its exaggeration becomes a quality . Zaidisb is concluded in this number . There is also an elaborate paper on « Simony and Lay Patronage , Historically and Morally considered , which we have not had time to read , but which deserves to-be read for the aake of the subject .
We Have Received The Following Letter To...
We have received the following letter to which we give the same prominence as was given to the article it answers : — ( To the . Editor of the Leader . ) Sir —Ab vou have commented with houic uoverity upon the part -which you huppo ' bc me Z have taken in a recent meeting at Exeter-hall on tho Temperance ZSon nmHt hog to be allowed to inform your readers that the report which 2 s t / nianBoutted to you do * , not by any ni « uu , ^^ S ^^ j ^ W said on that occasion . No opportunity wuh given mo of roviaiug it , and I only ww it after itopuWieation . ¦ ^ . ^ - ^ We 8 twinBter dMartWt iny convictionth . it the author of the article in me wtawnwr TjtS ^^
I , "Ztt ™ " St ^ L ^ L ^^^^ T ^ i ^ m ^ ss ^^^ hil ml « k wore pulled off , it might prove th » t be ha * no claiui whutovor . 1 tun
, Sir , fate , him , and M . an 3 v » cr i ., The writer cmnot 1 » .. yhy . ologn * . Wl pota , out hU bhuHta . an ,. - i'T ^ j ^^^' jE ^ J ^ i . mask . " No * it » ecm » to » . l * , 1 tl , J » Xyriotogi » t or « gwlogtat . o » . uwl . lt matt- '' l ^ f ^ r . W » l ^ ™ . / on l ,,. « . , — -I "tn : ; " & r ^ r iu ~~ . * *** *• - »* * —~
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 8, 1855, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08121855/page/15/
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