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February 16, 1856. | THE L Ei^ER. I59
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3P *+ x JLIIErHIUrF*
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Critics are not the legislators, tnit th...
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" One eye may be very agreeable," says C...
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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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February 16, 1856. | The L Ei^Er. I59
February 16 , 1856 . | THE L Ei ^ ER . I 59
3p *+ X Jliierhiurf*
literature .
Critics Are Not The Legislators, Tnit Th...
Critics are not the legislators , tnit the judges and police of literature . 'They do not make laws —they interpret and try to enforce them , -tedinburgh Ilectcto .
" One Eye May Be Very Agreeable," Says C...
" One eye may be very agreeable , " says Captain Absolute , " but as tlie popular prejudice runs in favour of two , I would not affect singularity in that article . " Popular prejudice ma in favour of two ? Why , it is notorious that the prejudice runs directly counter . If popular language be a correct measure of popular opinion , Monoculistn is the ideal of all nations : descendants of Polyphemus are we all ! Two eyes are scarcely ever alluded to ; always by a pleasing synecdoche does one eye usurp the prominence of our respect . We talk of the " public eye , " " eye of a connoisseur ;"Shakspeare
says—Wear your eye thus , nor jealous nor severe . Scott says how something Made the Douglas wet his eye . The Greeks said : Ttyfa rod' ojifia ; even the rude boys in the street , by a bold uuitarianism of feeling , call out , " There you go with your eye out . " Whence this unitive tendency ? A friend of ours , onee writing some such sentence as this— " However it may appear in the eye of a Dissenter , " & c , was asked why he did not credit the said Dissenter with two eyes , in favour of which popular prejudice was supposed to run . He instantly replied , " Some Dissenters have only one eye , and they might take it as a personality if I said eyes . " An unanswerable reason . Is it , then * the hidden delicacy of politeness which suggests monoeulistic language ?
But what are we to say to the " half-eye , " which popular language also credits ? "Oh , you can detect that with half an eye" ! " says the knowing Brown , but he does not specify how half an eye would compqrfc itself . Science , however , comes to his aid ; it tells him that many well-looking people , seeming to have two eyes , have in reality only two halves . Mirastis , amicef We allude to persons who cannot see colour . Coloar-blindness , or Daltonism , as it is often called , has of late attracted great attention . Sir David Brewster , Dr . Geouge Wilson , Professor Wahtmann , and others have investigate-d the phenomenon with surprising success ; and the North British Review has a paper on the subject , to which in all seriousness we refer our readers : —
Till within these few years this affection of the eye was supposed to be confined to a small number of individuals ; but it appears from the calculations of various authors , that one person out of every fifteen \ s colour-blind . According to the experiments made by Dr . Wilson upon 1154 persons at Edinburgh in 1852-53 , one person in ev ^ ery elght-een had this imperfection . 1 in 55 confound red with green . 1 in 60 confound'broiou with green . 1 iu 46 confound blue with green . Hence one in every 17 * 9 persons is colour-blind . Surprising as the phenomenon is , and amazed as we are to leavn its frequency
—The existence of colour-blindness might almost have been predicted fi-om analogous defects in the other organs of sensation . In the senses of Touch , Taste , Smell , and Hearing , such defects certainly exist . The sense of Touch has not yet been sufficientl y studied , but we have reason to believe that it is not only capable , in certain persona , of distinguishing colours , but incapable iu others of distinguishing particular colours . Both Mr . Wartmann au < l Dr . Wilson have examined individuals who correct by the touch the erroneous judgments which they form regarding colouts . Iu the sense of Taste the sauio defect exists .
Some persons aro highly sensible to certain tastes , and uot to others . Some cannot distinguish Sour from Bitter , and we know of a gardener who is not sensible to the taste of strawberries . Iu the sense of Smell , the samo incapacity exists of recognising the presence of particular od «> urs , though others are quickly perceived . But it is iu tbo sense of Hew ing that wo have tho luost perfect analogy with eolour-bliu < lnoss . Certain ears that hear all ordinary aouuda most distinctly , are deaf to grave sounds , while others are deaf to shrill sounds , like the chirp of tho cricket nnd tho grasshopper , j ust as tho colour-blind see the colours at one extremity of the spectrum , aud not at the other .
The article from which these extracts are taken is written by Sir David Brewstisk , who is one of the great authorities on the subject ; but he must permit us to remark that he pushes too far his scepticism of Dr . Tuberville ' s statement inspecting a singular patient . Here ig the passage : — Had he said that his patient saw only lightness aud darkness , wo could' lxnve supposod that objects wluoh appeared to her sight might have had tho tint of red , yellow , or blue , but we oauuo > t understand how any oyo oau seo white without seeing all tho oolouis which compose it . Tho colours of white- light , iu so far as wo know , exorcise , whoa iu a state of combination , tho samo visual and physiological notions which they do separately , a , ud henca we may douy that tho colourblind maid could soo colourloss tho Whito Horse at Bmtbury Cross . But when the Salisbury ooulist tells us that tlua aamo maid " could seo to road sometimes in tho greatest darkness , " and that this extraordinary fuculty lasted only " a quarter of an hour , " we are called upon to believe iu ft phenomenon surpassing iu oxtravagance tho miracles of alair / voyanoe .
On both points wo venture to think Sir David hasty . Respecting the necessity which ho supposes to Ho in tho Brst point , namely , that any one who sees whito inust necessarily soe the colours composing white , wo remark that the facts are directly against him ; ho hus himself recorded instances in which men blind to some colours did nevertheless soo while ; moreover , h priori argument aoonos to us equally against him . I may poreeivo a campound , body—water , for example—without any perception of tho elements wluoh compose it . Tkie waves of ether ( on tho undiitacory hypo-thesis ) which wo perceptible to my eye undor the conditions producing white , may not be
perceptible under the conditions which produce red or blue . Then as to the second point—namely , of the patient seeing in the darkness for a brief period—strange as it may sound , the case is not without well-attested parallels . Prochaska , whose authority Sir David will admit to be weighty on all matters connected with the nervous system , speaks of a man who , during an inflammation of the eye , could see by night , hut who lost the power when the inflammation subsided' Moreover , nocturnal animals have this faculty in their normal condition . The best article in the North British , to our fancy , is that on Ben Jojjson , which only wants to ue longer to leave nothing to be desired . Here is a capital passage about the condition of the dramatists in those days : —
To be a literary man about town then meant but one thing ; to liave a con nexion with the theatres either solely as a play-writer , or , better still , as both play-writer aud actor . To meat the demand for amusement among a population hardly amounting to 200 , 000 persons , there were already several regular or established theatres , such as the Blackfriars , the Rose in Bankside , and the theatre in Holy well Lane , Shoreditch ; besides many other minor theatres , or rather rooms for scenic representation , scattered through the town , in inns and the like , and supported by the classes who now attend oar modern singing and dancing saloons . The frequency with , which new plays were produced at these theatres seems also to have far exceeded anything now known . On an average , the audiences at each , of the greater theatres required a new play every eighteen days . To cater for this appetite on the part of the public , the managers and
proprietors of theatres were obliged to keep continually about them a retinue of writers capable of producing new plays as fast as they were wanted . As the sole end in view was to get ready such pieces as would please when acted ( the subsequent publication of the play being but rarely thought of ) , it was comparatively indifferent to both authors and managers whence the materials were obtained , and whether they were borrowed or original . To furbish up a new playout of old ones which nad served tiieir day , or to bring out at a short notice a new play on a subject already made popular at another theatre , was often all that was required . Hence it was not uncoinmon for proprietors to arrange that two or three , or even five or six of " their authors" should all set to work at once on a projected play , so as to get it done in time . Here / then , was a field for literary talent , fulfilling very much the same purpose for the London of that day that newspaper and periodical wilting fulfils for the London of this .
Here also is a fancy picture of Ben and Shakspjeare , which , in spite of its length , we must find room for : — Assume the time to have been 1615 . Shakspeare was then fifty-one years of age ( the fact that he was the elder of the two is apt to be forgotten ) ; Jonson was forty-two . Glancing froiri the one to the other , one is struck first of all by the difference of their corporeal dimensions and proportions . Fuller must have had this partly in his eye whea he hit on the comparison between the English man-of-war and the Spanish great galleon . The elder , Shakspeare .,,-unless , we greatly misinterpret all the contemporary allusions to him that remain , was not above the average size and weight of intellectual Jplnglishmen—" a handsome , well-shaped man , " says Aubrey ; or , if the imagination insists on being still more literal , let us say , soma five feet nine inches in height , and decidedly oa this side of twelve stone in weight . Opposite to this model of courteous proportions , but
Ben , though nine years the junior , was a Colossus- —height unknown , presumably greater by an inch or two than Shakspeare ' s ; and weight , if not yet actually twenty stone bating two pounds , which we know on his own authority it ultimately became , at least tending to that limit , by 'very visible efforts at increased girth everywhere , but chiefly round the waist . In figure , indeed , and in gait when he -walked , Ben Jonson was a kind of first edition of bis namesake Samuel . Nor doe 3 the resemblance stop here . Like the Doctor , Ben was from his birth of a scorbutic constitution , and bore the marks of it about with kina . Iu his youth his complexion had been tolerably clear and white , but as lie grew older , his irregular habits had produced their-effects , and tliere had presented themselves on his face these seams aud scar 3 and blotches , which made it , according to all accounts , a face among ten thousand . One has only to look at the capital portrait of Jonson prefixed to Gifford ' s original edition of the poet ' s works , and then at any fair copy of the Stratford bust of Shakspeare , or of any of those portraits whose general resemblance to the bust attest their ' genuine *
ness , to be . able to fancy tlie difference of the heads and faces of the two men as answering to and completing the difference of their forms and figures . On the shoulders of Shakspeare wo see that well-known head and face , so difficult accurately to describe , and yet so peculiar , with its general fulness and roundness of contour , its small individual features , its high forehead made still higher in appearance by being bald almost to the crown , its rich and placid expression , and its evident predominance of tissue over bone , of passive sensibility over aotiye onergy . One fancies the complexion fair rather than dark , or at least leas indining to dark than to fair . Look , again , at Jonson . The head seems bigger , tho features are larger ancl coarser , the brow is more gnarled and corrugated , tho hair eeemsto cling and curl about the head with a resolution to be stiff and grey rather than fall off , aud the expression is altogether surly , rugged , defiant , fierce , aud aotivo , rather than passive or impressible . Ono could anticipate , in a general way , how the two men would oouduot themselves iu conversation before tuov ououod their lios . Jonson would be dogmatic , aggressive , controversial , be
blustering , aud rude ; Shakspcaro , unless his fiioo boliod him , would sympathetic , assisting , iuvontive , full of matter , gentle on tho whole and yot to bo roused incredibly by o , proper stimulus . Perhaps , however , while the two men wore quiet , the beta would have beou iu favour of Jonsou . As in the case ot . Lord Chancellor Thurlovy , tho fooling , in looking at his portentous face , would , ba tUat of wonder whether ' any man could possibly be so wiao as tUatnwin looked : very likely , amid a eonipauy of strangors , it would be to Ins raido ot tlie table , and not to that wacro 8 ufckapoiire eat , that all eyea would bo turned . But Bupposo tlio bots taken , aud tho combat about to bogm . Lo ! aow big . tfen , like tho SpnniHh great galloon , heaves under way , how he rolls and awagmuch his ponderous namesake
gore , how ho lays down the law voiy aa did oftonvards in a different oirolo , how ho laughs , and quotes , and browbeats , and uttova most furious wisdom , and only loaves off when there is enough of admiration to lot him fall baok triumphant upon the Canary SluOcHpoaro , meanwhile , has boon lisbouhis to the rhinoceros with the most perfoot onjoymout , aud watching his fiioo , and , wh . ath . or agreeing with Uun or not , thinking him a most wonderful follow in tbo main , and far m > ce loaruod than himself . It ia difficult to gob Shiik-jpoiu'o into a ooatrovewy , butf tjomabimos a word will bo spoken ou one « ioU > ov tho other , whioh loaves hipa w » oholoo but to clovelopo Uia own viow of a . aubjoqt iu contradiction t , o Ben , or W Ban off with some roaring fallacy , nud tlxo houourd of tho evening on twoount of it . Flesh
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16021856/page/15/
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