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Leader (1850-1860), 14th November 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, 1Pftofnftt1*£ ^ UtllUlU JV •

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      Jjjjjjjll^^ L_No. 399, November 14,1857.

      jjjjjjJLL ^^ l _ No . 399 , November 14 , 1857 .

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      ITtietattu ? .

      ¦ ¦ . ¦ . . ¦ . ' ' ? . ¦ • ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ • ...

      ¦ ¦ . ¦ . . ¦ . ' ' ? . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ Critics are not the legislators , but the judges andpoliceof literature . They do not mate laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

      The Election Of The Rev. Tkedemck Temple...

      The election of the Rev . Tkedemck Temple to the Head-Mastership of Rugby does great credit to the discernment of the Trustees , and will , -we are persuaded , be received with hearty congratulations by all the old schoolfellows of * Tom Brown / who remember Rugby in the Arnold days . It would have been impossible to select a man more completely qualified to revive and restore those traditions which are for ever identified with the name of Airnoud . The new head-master of Rugby is not only what a double iirst-class man and a fellow of Balliol nmst be—a profound and accurate scholar , an accomplished philologist and a sound mathematician , a man of deep and various learning , and something more than a skimmer of the sciences—but lie is wliat many men of learning are not , one in whom force of character and a masculine grasp and

      breadth of intellect , adorned by the most liberal culture , are united with a hearty and generous sympathy for all that is most liberal and liopeful in the tendencies of the age . As Principal of the Training College at Knellar Hall , he rendered signal service to the cause of education , not only by Ms own indefatigable zeal in the conduct of the college , but by the conscientiousness and thoroughness which the Principal's example stamped , as it were , on the character of every pupil sent forth to teach . It is not many weeks since we invited the attention of our readers to Mr . Temple's admirable scheme of Middle-Glass Education , which , if other proof were wanting , would suffice to indicate the direction of his opinions and sympathies . The object of this middle-class education movement , we may remind our readers , is to

      extend to the great bulk of the middle classes of this country the influences and distinctions , if not the direct advantages , of Oxford and Cambridge , and to make our ancient Universities national . The Rev . Frederick Tempxe was a Fellow of Balliol , and on the recent occasion of reopening the chapel of that distinguished college , -when a host of' old Balliol men' -were gathered together once more within the venerable precincts , at the kind invitation of the Master and Eellows , Mr . Tempxe -was warmly congratulated , in advance , on the election of the third Balliol scholar in succession to tbe Head-Mastership of Rugby . Mr . Temple ' s candidatesbip was sustained by overpowering testimonials , but it is only just to say that his appointment has been decided by merit alone .

      The North British Revieio Still Shows Pl...

      The North British Revieio still shows plainly enough the want of an editor and of a staff of contributors . The last number , while containing two or three interesting articles , has scarcely one that can be called seasonable—with the exception of a short and unsatisfactory paper on Beranger , not one indeed . It has no political article at all . At the very moment when we are passing through an unparalleled crisis in our national history , when we are engaged in suppressing a revolt that threatened the integrity of the empire , and is fraught with the gravest results , a journal that lately occupied , and still aspires to hold , a leading place amongst the Quarterly Reviews , lias not a word to say ou the subject . Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the absence of everything like vigorous and efficient editorial management than such a serious

      omission . The actual contents of the number sufficiently prove the absence of any disciplined body of contributors . Take tbe first article , for example , on ' Sir Archibald Alison ' s History . ' It is devoted to an elaborate exposure of the would-be historian ' s gross ignorance , blind prejudices , and general incompetence for tlie work he undertakes . This is done well enough ; but it is so easy to do , and has been so often done , that , without some new and special provocation , it is really not worth while to do it again . Scarcely anybody now recognizes Sir Archibald Alison as an historian , or accepts his bulky volumes as history . He and his works have found their true level . The Mr . "Wordy , of Coningsby , is generally looked upon as a party politician , whose prejudices being stronger than his judgment , and his ambition far greater than

      his power , attempted to raise the hasty and imperfect knowledge , the crude opinions and slovenly style of a third-rate pamphlet into the dignity of history ; and whose efforts liave resulted in a most voluminous but utter failure . The second article , ' On Genesis and Science , ' is well meaning , but weak and inconclusive—an attempt to arrest , on the plea of miraculous interference , the frank interpretation of scientific facts , and thus to reject , avowedly in the interest of religion , the legitimate conclusions of science . Tlie supposition on which all such attempts proceed—that there can "be in the last resort any real opposition between religion and science—betrays a latent insincerity , while the attempt to depress the one to the advantage of the other is alike injurious

      to both . The third article , on ' Prior , ' is a lengthy sketch of liis history as politician and poet , but chiefly as the former , the article being mainly devoted to his political career . The paper , while containing interesting passages , is far too long for the subject , as the conclusion implicitly confesses . In the last page the writer decides that Prior was neither a statesman nor a poet . The article on ' Scotch Metaphysics—Brown and Hamilton , ' is partly biographical , partly critical ; but the biography is too brief to be interesting , and the criticism too vague to be important . Of the remaining articles , one on Memoirs of John Dalton , ' contains a good sketch of the life and researches of the great chemist , and tlie last , Travels in Arabia and Persia / is pleasant and very readable .

      and the very form and pressure of the times' in which he lived ; his earnest sympathy no less than his practised critical insight , and the natural bias of his mind towards what is elevated and sublime in character and thought , will ensure a just and profound appreciation of Milton ' s poetical nature ; while his decided political convictions and liberal sympathies will fit him to interpret truly the . part he took in public affairs . Under the last head , Professor Masson's work will be peculiarly welcome . We have no decently faithful and minute representation of Mij / ton as a politician , and we maybe sure that in

      We are glad to notice that Messrs . Macmixian announce for early publi . cation the first volume of Tke Life of Milton , by Professor Masson . All who are familiar with Professor Masson ' s writings , and in particular with his article on Milton in the volume of his Essays on tke English Poets , recently published , will know that the work could not have fallen into better hands . Strange to say , too , the subject is a new one , as fresh and full of interest as it is important . We have no life of Miltoh at all worthy of the poet , the politician , and the period : and Professor Masson is the very man to supply this defect in our national literature . His power of clear and vivid narration and pictui-esque description , will enable him to reproduce the individuality of Milton

      the new Life full justice will be done to his character and efforts as a statesman in that most stormy and critical period of our national history . As connected with this department of the poet ' s labours , we may be sure Professor Masson will give due prominence to that noble moiety of his works hitherto so much neglected by critics and students of English literature—his political and prose writings . The life of Milton , as conceived by Professor Massox , too , will be a history of English literature during one of its most important eras— -that bounded by the two Queens , the transition period from Elizabeth to Anne . Next to Caklyle we know of no one so well fitted to write tlie

      Life of Milton as Professor Masson , and even Carlixi could not do equal justice to the literary aspects of the subject , ' winch are quite as important as the public and political ones .

      Mr. Bentley Writes To Assure Us That Mrs...

      Mr . Bentley writes to assure us that Mrs . Ma . xcolm : s translation of Debit and Credit is the only unabridged version . We had already noticed the evident imperfections , in this respect , of the other version .

      Mr. Madden Has Published, Upon A.New-Pla...

      Mr . Madden has published , upon a . new-plan , a Gazetteer and , Gazetteer Map of the Seat of Rebellion in India showing the relative positions of the various cantonments , with descriptive notices . It lias been executed by an Old Quartermaster of the Bengal Army , and will "be found very useful by those who desire to trace the exact course of the conflict between the British and Sepoy armies . The displays in the shop-windows consist generally of pictures rather than maps , while even the maps are ' ' diminished in value by the excessive crowding of unimportant references . The -Old Quartermaster's' Gazetteer Map , with its accompaniment of letter-press , should be possessed by all who care for clearness and authenticity in publications of this kind .

      Dr. Livingstone's Travels. Missionary Tr...

      DR . LIVINGSTONE'S TRAVELS . Missionary Travels and Hesearckes in South Africa ; inchulinrj a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in Ike Interior . By David Livingstone , LL . D ., D . C . L . " With Portraits , Maps by A-iTOwsniith , and numerous Illustrfttions . Murray . Dr . Livingstone has opened up an immense perspective in the African interior . The central plateaus of the south , formerly lying under forest shadows , or hidden beyond desert horizons , are now presented in landscape light and beauty—the plains coloured with flovyers , the wilderness encircling a country full of park-like valleys , great rivers fertilising the soil and offering abundant means of carriage , simple , industrious natives , eager to be -visited again from Europe , wonderful indigenous riches and varieties of nature . The traveller is an Aladdin wandering through his new palace , -with its infinite series of chambers , each a treasury ; he is a Marco

      Polo recounting the marvels of Nigritian Cathay ; a Mungo Park coming suddenly upon unknown lakes and rivers ; a Delia Valle in the romance of his adventures , and more than a sixteenth-century pilgrim in the intrepidity of his enterprises . His book is one of the most fascinating ever written . It is a succession of alluring and surprising glimpses into a territory hitherto mysterious , and not surpassed in splendour or interest by any other part of the world . We shall not attempt to illustrate the character of its contents by desultory quotations ; these would but imperfectly suggest the value and the singularity of Dr . Livingstone ' s reseai-ches . The volume is one to buy , to read , and read again , to bind in Russia leather , and place among the classic narratives of travel . No Christinas story will bo more entertaining to the young ; nor can tlie maturest student complete his acquaintance with the known geography or natural history of the globo without following in close detail the whole of the Livingstone discoveries in Africa . Elephant hunts , incidents in the land of lions , anecdotes of grotesque

      manners , prodigious rides on ox-back , encampments by Jay and night , canoe voyages on freshly-found lakes and streams , strange episodes of barbarous life , pictures of thedoserts and woods swarming with millions of wild beasts , form only tho arabesque embroidery ornamenting and relieving u narrative nearly every page of which has a scientific or historical importance . The work 13 accompanied by two maps—a sketch of South Africa , and a detailed tracing of the author ' s route from the point whence it left the ordinary lines of travel to L < onnua on one coast of Africn , und Quillimnnc on the other . Thus the continent , in its vast breadth , is laid entirely open for the first time to within nine degrees of the equator . Livingrftono found himself , for years , beyond the limits of traditional geography , far across the watershed of the south , where the rivero flowed invariably northwards , » " < mounted tho immense plateau , the existence of which , imagined ^ by kir Roderick Impey Murchison in 1852 , wna demonstrated by himself in 1855 . A summary of his general researches is all wo can attempt ; but this , per-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 14, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14111857/page/16/