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    352 T H E _XJB AJDjE H. [No. Sgg^JATTODA...

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    . TrU. X |LuttIltttt£* ¦¦"' • ' ' ?

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    Critics are not the legislators, but the...

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    The Professorship of Poetry at Oxford, f...

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    The Daily Scotsman states that our notic...

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    The prevailing political distraction, wh...

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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.

    352 T H E _Xjb Ajdje H. [No. Sgg^Jattoda...

    352 T H E _ XJB AJDjE H . [ No . Sgg ^ JATTODAT ,

    . Tru. X |Luttiltttt£* ¦¦"' • ' ' ?

    ICttmtfettt-

    Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...

    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws— they interpret and try to enforce them . —JEdi-nburgtiMevzew . ¦¦ ¦ .. . - ' :. ' . 4 ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦ . : .

    The Professorship Of Poetry At Oxford, F...

    The Professorship of Poetry at Oxford , for which there is about to be a contest , ought , according to the vulgar notion , to be held by . a poet . But this is a vulgar notion only : the Professorship is , [ properly speaking , one of Poetry in the old and Aristotelian sense , that is , a Professorship of ^ Esthetics . Out

    of the three men of distinction ivho have ever held it , Lotvth , Copleston , and Keble , two were not-writers of poetry . This being the case , there could not " be a more proper candidate than Mr . Buskin— -if he -will come forward , which it seems , however , he will not . It would be a pity if Oxford were to lose him through any over-delicacy , or rather fastidiousness on his part . In his absence , the choice will probably fall on Mr . Mattiijb-w Arnold , late Fellow of Oriel , and formerly Scholar of BallioL , a poet , and if a poet rather by art than genius , the more likely perhaps on that account to be a good analyst and critic . The Rev . E . Bode and the Rev . Basil Jones are also in the field with fair chances

    of success : and either would be a creditable Professor . Mr . Gladstone's late Homeric nights have produced a rumour that he also is a candidate . We are glad at all events to see that the contest is likely to be decided by literary merit , and not , as on former occasions , by religious faction . The election takes place on the 5 th of May .

    The Daily Scotsman States That Our Notic...

    The Daily Scotsman states that our notice of the forthcoming publication of Sir "W . Hamilton ' s lectures contained " several inaccuracies ; " hut fails to establish this rather sweeping charge in ia single particiilar . The attempt indeed is made only in relation to an incidental Statement that had but little to do with the matter—Mr . Veitch ' s connexion \ nth the new edition , of Dugald Stewart ' s works . We expressed our belief that Mr . 'Veitcii had something to do with carrying the work through the press , forgetting ; at the moment that all the volumes are not yet published . Our contemporary calls this a

    mistatement , intimating that Mr . Teitch had no connexion with the edition lefore Sir W . Hamilton ' s death ; This is really of very little consequence ; either way , as he superintends the remainder of the publication ; but we believe , nevertheless , that our contemporary will find on inquiry that the statement of the Leader is the more correct , and that Mr . Veitch was engaged on the edition before Sir William ' s death . The matter is scarcely worth referring to at all , except as a curious illustration of "what our esteemed contemporary regards as " several inaccuracies . "

    The Prevailing Political Distraction, Wh...

    The prevailing political distraction , whose influence on the Magazines we complained of last week , has not affected the Quarterlies . Their more hardy vegetation was evidently too far advanced to be seriously affected by the " great wind from , the wilderness , " which suddenly smote the four corners of the House , shaking the men of peace from their stable seats , and scattering the flying gold of the ruined factions far and wide through the land . A general election , in fact , is now-a-days too brief an event to have more than a transient influence on even the lighter activities of literature and life . Formerly

    it was a chronic inflammation of the body politic , which arrested all useful works and destroyed all healthy action for months together . Now it is eminently acute , and as brief as acute . You no sooner feel the true fever-beat of excitement , when all is over—the social thermometer falls from boiling , point to blood-heat , the national pulse is equable as before . The representative machinery may still be complicated and even clumsy in construction , but its ¦ working is no longer difficult or tedious ; and with a tithe of the reforms so liberally promised on the hustings , it must surely become as accurate as it is expeditious .

    Meanwhile , the election being past , and the new Reform BilL still future , there is an interval of idleness , and otium sine literis mors cst . Literary notices begin to appear in the daily papers ; the leading journal opens its columns for county correspondents to discuss the momentous subject of witch-proving '; the voice of the lecturer is heard again in the land ; and white-handed nonelectors return to the circulating libraries , Avhile their brothers and husbands pore witli listless vacuity over the thrice-rcad columns in the news-room Iu these circumstances , even a dull lleview would be welcome ; but the Reviews this quarter , as -we have intimated , are far from dull , —they arc better than usual .

    Take the Westminster ^ for instance , to begin with . It contains half a dozen articles , not one of which coiild be fairly called uninteresting or poor . The most striking and elaborate of theso arc—the first , on " The Present State of Theology in Germany f and tlie fifth , entitled , " Progress : its Law and Cause . " The latter is one of those articles almost peculiar to this journal—popular in form , but thoroughly philoscphical in sxibstancc—in which whole spheres of special facts are gathered into a single principle ; and where , in particular , the of social life

    phenomena , arc subjected to strictly scientific treatment , being shown to illustrate , even in their most trivial and fugitive aspects , the working of a general law . Many of our readers may remember a paper of this kind , cnl . ii . lcd " Manners and Fashion , " which appeared some time ago , in which the most or . dmary forms of courtesy , the simplest usages of every-day life , were traced up to primitive acts of worship and homage as their originals . Iu the present article , the generalization is far more sweeping , as tlic law of progress enounced embraces i > i its range not only all tho phenomena of individual am « l social advancement

    but the geological changes in the Earth ' s history ; nay , the very genesis of the solar system , the productive activity of the entire Cosmos . The following extract gives a general view of the law , and maybe taken as the starting -point of the article : — In respect to that progress which individual organisms display ia the course their evolution , this question has been answered by the Germans . " The investieatin of Wolff , Goethe , and Von Baer , have established the truth that the series of chaW gone through during the development of a seed into a tree , or an ovum into a animal , constitute and advance from homogeneity of structure to heterogeneity of structure . In its primary stage , every germ , consists of a substance that is uniform throughout , both , in texture and chemical composition . The first step in its develon ment is the appearance of a difference between two parts of this substance ; or as the phenomenon is described in physiological language—a differentiation . Each of these differentiated divisions presently begins itself to exhibit some contrast of parts and by and by these secondary differentiations ftecome as definite as the original one This process is continuously repeated—is simultaneously going on ia all parts of the growing embryo ; and by endless multiplication of these differentiations there is ultimately produced that complex combination of tissues and organs constituting the adult animal or plant . This is the course of evolution followed by all organisms whatever . It is settled beyond dispute that organic progress consists in a chance from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous . Now , -we propose in the first place to show , that this law of organic progress is the law of all progress . Whether it be in the development of the Earth , in the development of Life upon its surface , in the development of Society , of Government of Manufactures , of Commerce , of Language , Literature , Science , Art , this same evolution of the simple into the complex , through a process of continuous differentiation holds throughout . From the earliest traceable cosmical changes down to the latest results of civilization , we shall find that the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous , is that in which Progress essentially consists .

    How rich the article is in illustrative facts , gathered from almost all , and often very unexpected quarters , the following extract-will show : — Before passing to other classes of facts , it should be observed that the evolution of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is displayed not only in the differentiation of Painting and Sculpture from Architecture and from each other , and in the increased variety and specialty of the subjects they embody , but it is further shown in the structure of each separate work . A modern picture or statue is far more hetero - geneous in its constitution than an ancient one . An Egyptian sculpture-fresco represents all its figures as on one plane—that is , at the same distance from the eve ; and so is less heterogeneous than a painting that represents them as at various distances from the eye . It exhibits all objects as exposed to the same degree of light ; and so is less heterogeneous than a painting which exhibits its different objects and different parts of each object as in different degrees of light . It uses scarcely any but the primary colours , and these in their full intensity ; and so is less heterogeneous than a painting which , introducing the primary colours but sparingly , employs an e ndless variety of intermediate tints , each of heterogeneous composition , and differing from the otliers not only in quality but in intensity . Moreover , we see in these aboriginal works a great uniformity of conception . The same arrangement of figures is con ^ tinually represented—the same actions , attitudes , faces , dresses . In Egypt the modes of representation-were so fixed that it was sacrilege to introduce a novelty ; and iadeed it could have been only in virtue of a fixed mode of representation that a system of hieroglyphics became possible . The Assyrian bas-reliefs display parallel characters . Deities , kings , attendants , winged-figures , and animals , ; are severally depicted in like positions , holding like implements , doing like things , and with like expression or non-expression of face . If a palm-grove is introduced , all the trees arc of the same height , have the same number of leaves , and are equidistant . When ¦ water is represented , each wave is a counterpart of the rest ; and the fish , almost always of one kind , arc evenly distributed over the surface . The b & ards of the kings , the gods , and the winged-figures , are everywhere similar ; as are the manes of the lions , and equally so those of the horses . Hair is represented throughout by one form of curl . The king ' s beard is quite architecturally built up of compound tiers of uniform curls , alternating ^ vith twisted tiers placed in a transverse direction , and arranged with perfect regularity ; and the terminal tufts of thebulls' tails are represented in exactly the same manner . Without tracing out the like traits in early Christian art , in which , though less striking , they are still visible , the advance in heterogeneity will be sufficiently manifest on remembering that in the pictures of our own day the composition is endlessly varied ; the attitudes , faces , expressions unlike ; the subordinate objects different in size , form , position , texture ; and more or less of contrast even in the smallest details . Or , 5 f we compare an Egyptian statue , seated bolt upright on a block , with hands on knees , fingers outspread and parallel , eyes looking straight forward , and the two sides perfectly symmetrical in every particular , with a statue of the advanced Greek or the modern school , which ia asymmetrical in respect of the position of the Lead , the body , the limbs , v the arrangement of the hair , dress , appendages , and in its relations to neighbouring objects , wo shall see the change from tho homogeneous to the heterogeneous clearly manifested .

    Oar only objection to tlic paper , as a whole , is to the division expressed in the title , which we cannot help thinking is very much like a distinction 'without a difference . Law and Cause , as here employed , arc in fact only two names for the same thing . If the necessary effect of all activity is difference , then , obviously , every agent , every force , must naturally tend to produce this result . Tho attempt to verify deductively under the second division what was inductively established under the iirst , is little more than a , repetition of the inductive process slightly disguised , and does not add much to the elucidation of the law . But the discussion throughout is interesting , and J he writing excellent , in matter , spirit , and style . The article on " The Present State of Theology in Germany "is a sketch of the three great theological parties—tlic Critical , the Orthodox , and the Intermediate party that seeks to unite these extremes . It is condensed and clear , showing throughout full knowledge of the whole subject , and written in a -temperate , philosophical , and earnest spirit . Tlic strictly literary papers of the number arc one on tho " Hindu Drama' '—» very readable account of n , subject new to most readers , but really interesting—especially to xis ; and one on " Literature and Society , " whicli , however , wants substance and purpose , and is a contribution of facts towards the illustration of the subject , rather than a discussion of it . The article on " Glaciers and Glacier Theories , " while giving Professor Foiuws full credit for the glacier facts which he has established , combats \\ h favourite theory , us it seems to us , on substantial grounds .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 11, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11041857/page/16/