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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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Novelty is vital to a newspaper. If you ...
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BAMBIES IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA. Bumb...
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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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Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—tbey interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Beview .
Novelty Is Vital To A Newspaper. If You ...
Novelty is vital to a newspaper . If you have not news to feed subscribers with , they naturally enough throw you aside : you cease to exhibit your raison d ' etre , as the philosophers say . And yet when there is no news ? Readers generally put up very well with what is called a " flat season ;" they are in no dearth of books ; and the absence of novelties only enables them to live iu more familiar intimacy with the books of a past age . Thus , for example , when the passing day brings with it no gossip , we turn to the p leasant gossip of Pliny's Letters , and do not find ourselves the worse . But that which we and the Reader , too , privately find to be an agreeable compensation , in our " public capacity" —as journalists , on the one hand , and subscribers on the other , finds no acceptance at all . If we have no news to communicate , we must " show cause why . "
This is one of the hardships of our ofiice . Another , and a worse , is that of being forced to taste food for which we have no appetite , in . order to tell an omnivorous public " what to eat , drink , and avoid . " That Pliny , to whom we referred just now , reminds us how at a feast we praise the whole , though tasting but a few of the dishes , not allowing a rebellious stomach to erect its decisions into laws for others : " Nam et in ratione conviviorum quamvis a plerisque cibis singuli temperemus , totam tamen ccenam laudare oranes solemus : nee ea , quae stomaehus noster recusat ,
adimunt gratiam illis , a quibus capitur ; " all which is polite and philosophical , but touches not the Critic . _* He must taste all , and pronounce accordingly . What is it to him that the sheep nibble the short grass , the cow the long and coarse , the noble horse seeking out the fine and tender , and the honest ass disdaining all for thistle and furze : he must eat for all , and decide for all ; and , having honestly got through his task , must submit to be told that his opinion is " malicious , " if not favorable ; for you will observe , that an author cannot be made to understand how it comes to pass that his critic does not admire him , if " impartial . "
But a monitor warns us that this plea for journalism in a dull season is not news , and we must see what the week really has furnished in that way . If it have furnished nothing else , it has given us some more poetry by Alexander Smith , in the pages of The Critic , where the reader is advised to seek it , until some publisher shall have practical sense enough to collect the exuberant fragments of this young poet , and make a volume of them . There is much to be said in the way of deduction from the eminent merits of this Writer , so prodigal in imagery , and so poor , as yet , in experience , but there is no mistaking the fact—and it is a " great fact" to be recorded of any one—that he is a born Singer , a poet by divine right . Read but the opening lines of this scene from A Life Drama _.-
" The lark is singing in tho blinding sky , Hedges are white with May . The bridegroom sea Is toying with the shore , his wedded bride , And in the fulness of his marriage joy , He decorates her tawny brow with shells , Petires a space to see how fair she looks , Then proud , runs up to kiss her . "
Is not the fancy beautifully set forth ? And observe the perfect originality of the imagery . He does not call upon his memory for the echoes of other men's verses ; he paiuts what his imagination distinctly sees—the tawny shore , the fond retiring sea , and the proud rush of fondness and delight to kiss the beautiful brow of his " wedded bride . " That is poetry in its essence . Very different , not in degree but in kind , is the poetry which calls forth the just severity of the Irish Quarterly Review , in an article ( all " malice " of course ) on Reade , Bclweh , and Moir . In this said number of the Irish Quarterly will be read with interest , a paper of antiquarian prattle
on tfce Streets of Dublin , and a long but inell ' _ectmj nttempt to make out that the late Dr . Mao inn was a man of genius and a very considerable writer . There is something hearty , though not very wise , in the enthusiastic admiration of Irishmen for Irishmen ; and that strange national partiality which makes a marvel of Catiierinh Hayes , may excuse the writer _<> i the article on Maginn , for comparing him with Luoian , Rabelais , » nd FiELinNC , . But to tliose in whose veins thc rich current of Irish Wood flows not , Mag inn must stand as a quite fourth-rate writer . His scholarshi p was more showy than solid ; to judge , at least , by any evidence he has left . His wit was rather animal spirits than the wine of intellect .
*« 8 poetry was of that kind which most literary men can write . His atftunnents . in philosophy and politics were not noticeable ; and his novels were barel y readable . In the " slushing" days of Blackwood , Fraser , and _> e John Bull , Maginn ' h _sollicking , reckless , prejudiced , aiid amusing contributions _, made him of some mark ; but nothing that he then wrote w "l hear re-reading , and the specimens which his friendly critic adduces | _ll"e but meagre performances nt the best . The article is curious , however , iH inuny respects . In nohe more so than in thd _p icture it presents of the e of a " writer about town" in those days : ii sad picture , since it pre-8 Cnts that _dcepeat of all impieties , an unworthy life—Dell' immenzrt hnpiota , In "vita indegna .
Bambies In North And South America. Bumb...
BAMBIES IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA . Bumbles and Scrambles in North and South America . By Edward Sullivan , Esq . Bentley , The unassuming narrative of what an English gentleman saw and suffered in North and South America , is not a book to be slighted , although one cannot lay much stress upon it . Mr . Sullivan is essentially English in all his thoughts and tendencies . He went away strongly biassed in favour of our government and institutions ; he returned confirmed in his bias . The fact is , cursory observation , such as he could give , must only tend to strengthen prejudices , or to suggest false generalizations ; and if his mind had been one degree more p hilosophical than it is , he would , with wise moderation , have abstained from any conclusion whatever . Let us hasten to add , that Mr . Sullivan troubles the reader with very little
political or social speculation . He has his eyes open , and notes down what he sees with a certain English straightforwardness and matter-offactness very agreeable to read . He indulges in no flights of frivolous rhetoric , wearies us with , no tabular ostentation of second-hand statistics , irritates us with no " profundities" or " prophecies , " but quietly , without emphasis , without affectation , tells us what he saw and thought . An occasional feeble attempt at jocosity serves to prove it not habitual to him ; and he quietl _y relapses into his unaffected manner . Travelling for pleasure , y et , like his countrymen , understanding by pleasure all activity , however dangerous , he does not saunter from town to town , but " lives fast , " whether in town or on the prairie . It is , however , on the prairie he is most at home . His English manliness has full play there , —his English prejudices are in abeyance . How like an Englishman , strong in his love of the " dear old establishment , " is this : —
" There being no established church in America , dissent and unbelief nourish in their rankest growth , and Boston takes the lead in the manufacture of new religions . Owing to the influence Dr . Channing exercised at Boston , the Unitarians compose a large majority ; but as in arithmetic unity is next to nothing , so in religion the belief of a Unitarian is very close to no belief at all . A new sect of Unitarians , calling themselves Transcendentalists , and embracing a majority of Unitarians , are nothing more nor less than Free-thinkers . They find it very easy , after reasoning themselves with a great deal of labour into a disbelief in the existence of Two Persons of the Trinity , to extend the doubt to the Third Person . The ease with which the Abbe Sieyes promulgated fresh constitutions , is a joke to the celerity with which the popular preachers of Boston propound fresh religions . They are quite above following in the old paths of Christianity , and unless they have some new idea for their audience every Sunday , their popularity would soon be on the wane .
" The Roman-catholic is the next most powerful sect—then Baptists , & c ., the Episcopalian coming fifth or sixth . In America , the Baptist , Unitarian , and Episcopalian congregations , appear to be composed equally of all classes of the community , and the preponderance of any one class is not remarked . I am quite convinced from what I have seen in America , that an established church is the only certainly the best means , of ensuring the proper amount of order and decency in the conduct of Divine service . " He does not like
saeatoga . " Saratoga , the Cheltenham of America—though from the vulgarisms one _sees perpetrated there it reminded one more of Ramsgate in August—is the paradise of snobs , and is , without exception , the most odious place I ever spent twenty-four hours in . It is _famoufe for some mineral springs , and crowded during three or four months of the year with New York and Boston shop-keepers , and snobs , dressed within an inch of their lives ; women in excess of Parisian fashion , with short sleeves ; men in extra Newmarket and bad Parisian style , crammed to the number of three _andTfour thousand in five or six large hotels , breakfasting together , elining together at two o ' clock , smirking and flirting the whole time . Tho men smoke all
day , swinging m rocking chairs , and squirting tobacco juice between their feet , or over their ncigbbemr ' s shoulders . The ladies promenade beforo them , talking loud , and making eyes—altogether it is tho most _foi'eed and least natural state of society I ever saw . It is the quintessence of _snobbisin , beating Ramsgate or Margate iu August . In the latter placed the cockneys have ne > pretence whatever , but eat shrimps out of strawberry pe _. ttles , and bury themselves in the sand , because tbey really enjoy it , anel don't care sixpence what other people think of them ; whereas at Saratoga , if a lady were to go to dinner in a morning dress , or a gentleman walk about in a shooting jacket , public opinion woulel be se ) strong against them , that their friends , if they hail nny , woulel have to cut them . "
But wo will quit the thick air of e . itie « to follow him on the prairie , and cateli a glimpse of our old friends the Indians : — " Crossing tho Chippowuy River , we at length _reached « Laequi-Parle , ' and found a _ciuitp of nearly two hundred * lodges , ' about two thousand Indians in all , collected from the Rocky Mountains anel every part eif the ; Sioux territory , waiting ior _MoLeeid _' s arrival with the ammunition , aud also under the impression that there ; was a treaty pending with the American government respecting the purchase of some ; e . f their html bordering on the Mississippi . The ; first glimpse of the encampments , the ; . _setting sun shining em two hundred cow-skin lodges , as white as snow ( tho Indians kill tiio cows in summer feir their _loelge's and for their _etwn dresses , us the skins are not warm enough for the ; trailers to buy ) , with hundreds of horses tethered about , was altogether a highly pictureseiuo and wild scene . There wero
about two hundred young men , stripped to the ; waist , in their wur-piihit anel plumes , performing the ; scalp-dance to the ; monotonous chant of about twt > hundred squaws , who wero squatted round forty poles , from whie-h woro ' suspended the ; sculps e . f _sentie ; wretched Pawnee men , women , and children" which had be ; _e'ii brought in by a .-war-party a few days beforo . They had come ; suddenly on the Pawnee ; e > _ne-ampment , whilst the ; _warrien'H were ; em a hunt , and had maele ; a great ' raise ; . ' Every now anel ( hen during the ; dance , some warrior would dash forward and strike his tomahawk into _seimo particular post , signifying that he ; was tho ' brave' who hael taken that scalp . Whcroupon the ; squaws woulel redouble their chants , calling out his name , ar . d extolling his bravery ; antl then suddenly changing their _toncn _, tbe ; y would break out into a yell , expressing contempt for tho _unfortuiiafo deceased , calling him dog , coward , and either abusive ; epithets , and abusing his futher , mother , and relatives to the latest generation . It is rather a disgusting sight , but gavo us a greater idea of _suvngo life than anything we saw during tho trip . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18091852/page/19/
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