On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (5)
-
jA*rfrA*nr 20, 1855.] THE liEADEE, 33
-
3PtWltftf11> JLTOi U44lT?«.
-
Critics are not tke legislators, but the...
-
The political article in the present mim...
-
The new Quarterly is decidedly superior,...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Ja*Rfra*Nr 20, 1855.] The Lieadee, 33
jA * rfrA * nr 20 , 1855 . ] THE liEADEE , 33
3ptwltftf11≫ Jltoi U44lt?«.
Wnxtftsxt .
Critics Are Not Tke Legislators, But The...
Critics are not tke legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret ana try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
The Political Article In The Present Mim...
The political article in the present mimber of the Edinburgh Review takes the shape of a historical sketch of " The War in the Crimea . " It is throughout an apology for Ministers , and is written in the spirit of the mildest and smallest Whiggism . Everything that the allied governments have done in the East has been done as well as , in the circumstances , it possibly could be done—such is the doctrine of the article ; it -winds up mth a xecoanxnendation to let the Ministers patch up a peaee . In the present temper of our contrymen , flushed "with , the excitement of unaccustomed efforts and with the heroic achievments of the army , it may require some courage in a Minister to speak of peace on any terms , not absolutely inconsistent "with the strength and the rights of the empire to -which we are opposed . Yet peace is stm our object , and our only object . "We have bound ourselves by treaty to France , as she has bound herself to us , to seek no territorial aggrandisement or advantage in this
war which shall not be common to the interests of Europe . No one has ever yet attempted to show that any exclusive or preponderating British interest was engaged in the quarrel ; though British interests of the first order are identified with the independence of the East , and with the general cause for which we are contending . Those interests and those rights being defined by our alliances with the powers pursuing the same objects , we have no motive to put forward any pretensions different from theirs ; and if the people of this country were so unreasonable as to attempt to prolong the horrors of war , and to impose incalculable sacrifices of treasure and of life not only on this nation but on the rest of Europe , after the essential objects of the war have been obtained , we should ourselves become an object of distrust and alarm to other nations , and we should lose that influence in Europe which , thanks to the disinterestedness and temper of the British Government , has never been more conspicuously displayed , nor more beneficially exerted , than at the present time .
Another article in the number , bearing generally on politics , is one entitled " Parliamentary Opposition . " It is an attempt at a scientific appreciation of the faculties necessary to a successful Parliamentary oppositionist , and also of the uses of Parliamentary opposition . As there are no allusions to existing politicians , the article has a thin and somewhat abstract character ; there is also too much of quotation from Livr and the Philippics of Cicero jn it—as if the writer had not forgotten his essays in the Union Debating Society . In fact , the article reads like a faint reminiscence of a chapter of
Abistotub ' s Rhetoric . Still it is suggestive , and by no means commonplace . Characterising Parliamentary " opposition as consisting in the Science of Objections and the Science of Alternatives—that is , in the knaek of pointing out faults in a proposed measure , and the knack of suggesting alternative measures to the one proposed—the writer discusses , in detail , the various tricks of the oppositionist in practice ; the general effect of what he says is loath to lower the estimate one is apt to form of what is necessary for an opposition leader , and also to show that " Her Majesty ' s Opposition " is an essential element in our Parliamentary Government .
By far tiie most interesting article in the number is one on " Cardinal Mezzofanti , " giving an account of the life and acquirements of that unparalleled linguist , who , before he died , could write , read , or speak , some seventy different languages . This is precisely the kind of article that one likes to . meet with . ^ a j Reytezy— -pleasant , full of information , and yet novel . The writer prefixes to his account of MEizzoi ^ NTi" a ^ series of brief notices of all the most celebrated linguists before his time , commencing with Methkidates , the famous King of Pontus , and coming down to 1774 r which was the year of Mezzofanti ' s birth . The article is of a kind from which it is useless to make extracts ; and whoever takes up the Review will be sure to read it , whatever else he may skip . A good deal of the information in the -article , we may mention , is derived from a memoir of Mezzofanti , T £ ad "before the Philological Society by Mr . Thomas W-atts , of the British Museum , a gentleman whose own acquisitions as a linguist are , according to all accounts , not surpassed , if they are equalled , in Britain .
The remaining articles in the Edinburgh are—one on " Charles the Fifth , " one on " Modern French Literature , " one on " The Siege of Rhodes in 1480 , " one on " Private Bill Legislation , " one on " The Monasteries of Mount-Athos and Lord Carlisle ' s Diary , " and one on " Marsden ' s History of the Puritans . " There is nothing very remarkable in any of these articles ; one or two of which are solid and useful , while others are so trite and so little superior i % execution to the most common and most ephemeral writing , that wo wonder on what principle they are sclectod for the Edinburgh .
The New Quarterly Is Decidedly Superior,...
The new Quarterly is decidedly superior , on the whole , to the Edinburgh . The opening article—one on " Fires and Fire-insurance "—may rank , in point of freshness and interest , with the article in the Edinburgh on Mezzofnnti . It is a complete account of the organisation of tho London Firebrigade , and includes a summary of the statistics of fires , their causes , & c . ; and the arrangement of the article is masterly . Here is an extract : In contrast to tho immense rabble of Bumble engines and the Uutdii-Bazouks of privat 0 establishments , wo have the small complement of men and material of tho firo brigade . It consists of 27 large horBC-engines , capable of throwing 88 gallons a minute to a height of from 50 to 70 feet , and 0 smallor ones drawn by hand . To work them thoro aro 12 engineers , 7 mib-cngincerri , 82 senior firemen , 89 junior firemen , and 14 drivers , or 104 men and 81 horses . In addition to these persons , who form tho main establishment , and live at tho different stations , there is an extra staff of 4 firemen , 4 drivors , and 8 horses . Tho members of this supplementary force are also lodged at tho stations , afl well » s dothed , but aro only paid when their services are required , and purauo in tho daytime their ordinary occupations . Tula not very formidable army
of 104 men and 31 horses , with its reserve of £ men and 8 horaea , is distributed throughout the metropolis , which is divided into four districts , as follows : —On the north side of the river—1 st , Prom the ^ eastward to Paul's-chain , St . Faul ' s-churchyard , Aldersgate-street , ana Goswell-street-road ; 2 nd , From St . Paul ' s , & c , to Tottenham-court-road , Crown-street , and St . Martin ' s-lane ^ 3 rd , From Totoenham-courfc road , & c , westward ; 4 th , The entire south aide of the river . At the head of each district is & foreman , who never leaves it unless acting under the strperior orders -of Mr . Braidwood , the superintendent or general-in-chief , whose head-quarters are la Watling-street . In comparison with the great Continental cities , such a force seems truly insignificant . Paris , which does not cover a fifth part of the ground of London , and is not much more than a third as populous , boasts 800 sqpeure ^ pompiers : Tff 9 make up , however , foi 'wait of numbers by activity . Again , our look-out is admirable : the 6000 police of the metropolis , patrolling every alley and lane throughout its length and breadth , -watch for a fire as terriers watch at rat-holes , and-every rpa . ii
is stimulated by the knowledge , that if he is the first to give notice of it at any of the stations , it is half-a-sovereiga in his pocket . In addition to the police , there are the thousand « ager eyes of the night cabmen and the houseless poor . It is not at aU uncommon for a cabman to earn four or five shillings of a night by driving fast to the different stations and giving the alarm , receiving a shilling from each for the " calL" In most Continental cities a , watchman takes his stand during the night oq the topmost point of some high building , and gives notice by either blowing a horny firing a gun , or ringing a belL In Germany , the quarter is indicated by holding out towards it a flag by day and a lantern at night . It immediately suggests itself that a sentinel placed in the upper gallery of St . Paul's would have under his eye the whole metropolis , and could make known instantly , by means-of . an electric wire , the position of . a fire to the head station at Watling-stroet , in the same manner as the Americans do in Boston . This plan is , however , open to the objection , that London is intersected by a sinuous river , which renders it difficult to tell on which bank the conflagration is raging . Nevertheless , we imagine that the northern part of the town could be advantageously superintended from such a height , whilst the southern -half might rest under the surveillance of one of the tall shot-towers on that bank of the fromwhich &
Thames . The bridges themselves have long been posts of observation , , large portion of the river-side property is watched . Not long ago there was a pieman on London-bridge , who eked out a precarious existence by keeping a good look-out up and down the stream . " Watling-street was chosen as the head-quarters of the fire brigade for a double reason : it is very nearly the centre of the City , being dose to the far-famed London Stone , and it is in the very midst of what may be termed , speaking igneously , the most dangerous part of the metropolis—the Manchester warehouses . As the fire brigade is only a portion of a vast commercial operation;—fire insurance—its actions are regulated by strictly-commercial considerations . Where the largest amount of instired property lies , there its chief force is planted . It wilL it is true , go any reasonable distance to put out a fire ; but of course it pays most attention to propertywhich its proprietors have guaranteed . The central station receives the greatest number of " calls ; " "but as a conunander-m-chief does not turn out for a skirmish of outposts , so Mr . Braidwood keeps himself ready ibrafiTairs of a more serious nature . When the summons is at night— -there are sometimes as ^ many as half-a-dozen—the fireman , on duty below apprises the superintendent by means of a gutta-percha speaking-tube , which comes up to his bedside . By the light of the
ever-burning gas , he rapidly consults the London Directory , and if " the ^ eall should lie to what is called " a greengrocer ' s street , " or any of the small thoroughfares in Tryparts of the town , he leaves the matter to the foreman in whose district it is , and goes to sleep again . If , however , the fire should be in the City , or in _ any one -of the great "West-end thoroughfares , he hurries off on the first engine . The next article , entitled Life of Ballon—Atomic Chemistry , B partly Biographic , and partly Scientific , and without being very brilliant and striking , is decidedly able . It is followed by a short paper highly laudatory of Mr . John Leech ' s Pictures of Life and Character . One has only to read a few sentences of this pleasant and peculiar little paper , to be aware that Mr . Thackebay is the writer , It opens thus : — -
We , who can recal the consulship of Plancus , and quite respectable old-tfbgyfied times , remember amongst other amusements which we had as children the pictures at which we were permitted to look . There was BoydelTs Shakspeare , black and ghastly gallery of murkyOptes , - glum Northcotes , straddliug-lFuselis ! thCTejwere J ^^ Oberon , Hamlet , with starting muscles , rolling eyeballs , and long pointing quivering fingers ; there was little Prince Arthur ( Northcote ) crying , in white satin , and bidding good Hubert not put out his eyes ; there was Hubert crying-, there was little Rutland being run through the poor little body by bloody Clifford ; there was Cardinal Beaufort ( Reynolds ) gnashing his teeth , and grinning and howling demoniacally on his deathbed ( a picture frightful to the present day ); there was Lady Hamilton ( Romney ) waving a torch , and dancing before a black background , —a melancholy museum indeed . Smirke ' s delightful Seven Ages only fitfully relieved its general gloom . Wo did not like to inspect it unless the elders were present , and plenty of
lights and company were in the room . . . • * Our story-books had no pictures in them for the most part . Prank ( dear old Frank !) had none ; nor the Parent ' s Assistant ; nor the Evenings at Home ; nor our copy of the Ami des Enfans : there were a few just at the end of the Spelling Book ; besides tho allegory at the beginning , of Education leading up Youth to the temple of Industry , where Dr . Dilworth and Professor Walkinghame stood with crowns of lourd ; there were , we say , just a few pictures at the end of tho Spelling Book , little oval groy woodcuts of Bewick ' s , mostly of the Wolf and the Lamb , the Dog and the Shadow , and Brown , Jones , and Robinson with long ringlets and little tights ; but for pictures , so to speak , what had we ? The rough old woodblocks in the old harlequin-backed fairy-books had served hundreds of years ; before our Plancns , in . tho time of Priscus Plancus—in Queen Anne ' s time , who knows ? We were flogged at school ; wo wore fifty boys in our boarding house , and had to wash in a leaden trough , under a cistern , with lumps of fat yellow soap floating about m the ice _ and water . Are our sons ever flogged ? Have they not dressing-rooms , hair-oil , _ hfpbaths , and Badon towels ? And what picture-books the young villains have ! What have these children done that they should bo so much happier than wo wero ? .
Of funny pictures there wore nono especially intended for us children . Thoro was Rowlandsori ' s Dr . Syntax : Doctor Syntjix , in a fuz « -wig , on a horse with legs like sausages , riding races , making Jove , lroiicKing with rosy exuberant damsels . Thoso pictures wero very funny , and that aquaxiniing . and tho gay-coloured plates very pleasant to witness ; but if wo could not rcaa ino poem in those days , could we digost it iu this ? Nevertheless , ' apart from the text ¦ which wo could not master , we remember Dr . Syntax pleasantly , like theme c ™ erfW . painted hieroglyphics in tho Ninoveh Court at Sydenham . What matter for too arrow-hoad , illegiblo HtuffV give us tho placid grinning kings ,. twanging thour joUy bows over their rident l ^ orsea , wounding theso good-humoured enemies , who tumble gaily off tho towers , or drown , smiling in tho dimpling waters , amidst the anerithmon igelasma . of tho flsh . _ Here is a description of the caricatures that used to wauee our grandfathers : —
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 20, 1855, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20011855/page/15/
-