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ANCIKNf KOMANCES. Haanon aftd Catw ; or,...
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of the discussion by this time, and only...
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Handbook of Natural Philosophy and Astro...
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WhaiMen Believe.—If it wete not matter o...
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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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American Romance. The House Of The Seven...
Jigurc sitting in the midst of them . The gloom has not entered from without ; it has brooded hen : all ( lav , and now , taking its own inevitable time , will ]> oski \ sh ' itself of everything . The judge ' luce , indeed , rigid and . singularly white , refuses U > melt into this universal solvent . Fainter find fainter grows the light . It is us if another doable-handful of darkness had been scattered through the air . Now it is no longer gray but sable . There in still a faint appearance at the window ; neither a , glow nor a gleam , ilor a glimmer—uny i > hrnne of light would express Komcthing fur brighter than this doubtful perception , « . r nenflc , ruther , that there is a window there , lias it yet vanished ? No !—yes!—not quite !—And there is etill the swarthy -whiteness—wo shall
venture to marry these ill-agreeing words—the swarthy whiteness of Judge Pyneheotrs face . The features are all gone ; there is only the paleness of them left . And how looks it now ? There is no window ! There is no Face ! An infinite , inscrutable blackness lias annihilated sight ! , Where is our universe * All crumbled away from us , and we , adrift in . tshaos , may hearken to the gusts of homeless wind , that go sighing and murmuring about in quest of what was once a world \
u Is there Ho other tetmnd ? One other , and & fearful one . It it the ticking of the judge ' s watch , which , evel- Since fiep . zibah left the room in Search , of Clifford , he has bfeen . holding in his hand . Be the cause what it may , this little , quiet , never-ceasing thtob of Timfe ' s " pulse ) repeating its small strokes with such busy regularity , in Judge Pyncheon ' s motionless hand , has an effect of terror , which we do not find , in any other accompaniment of the scene . "
Thfere is a want of * kill in the denouement ; indeed throughout the romance we xniss constructive power ; but its originality and vividness are unquestionable .
eminent respectability ) that there -was enough of splendid rubbish in his life to cover up and paralyze a more active arid subtile conscience than the judge ¦ wa s ever troubled with . The purity of his judicial character , while on the bench . ; the faithfulness of his public service in subsequent capacities ; his devotedness to his party , and the rigid consistency with which he had adhered to its principles , or , at all events , kept pace with its organized movements ; his remarkable seal as president of sa . Bible society ; hia unimpeachable integrity as treasurer of a widows ' and orphans' fund ; his benefits to horticulture , by muchesteemed varieties of the
producing two - pear , and to & gf iculture , through the agency of the ftuAous Pytieheon-bull ; the cleanliness of his moral depon * merit , for a great many years past ; the severity with -which lie had frowned upon , and finally oast off , an expensive and dissipated son , delaying forgiveness until within the final quarter of an hour of the young man ' s life ; his prayers at morning and eventide , and graces at meal-time ; his efforts in furtherance of the temperance cause ; his confining himself , since the l & st attack of the gout , to five diurnal glasses of old sherry wine ; the snowy whiteness of his linen , the polish of his boots , the handsomeness of * his goldheaded cane , the square and roomy fashion of his
c & at and the fineness of its material , and , in general , the studied propriety of his dress and equipment ; the scrupulousness with which he paid public notice in the street , by a bow , a . lifting of the hat , a nod , or a motjon of the hand , to all and sundry his acquaintances , rich or poor ; the smile of broad benevolence where-• with he made it a point to gladden the whole world what room could possibly be found for darker traits , in a portrait made up of lineaments like these ? This proper face was what he beheld in the looking-glass . This admirably arranged life was what he was conscious of , in the progress of every day . Then might not he claim to be its result and sum , ana say to himself and the community—* Behold Judge Pyncheon
there I " And allowing that many , many years ago , in his early and reckless youth , he had committed some one wrong act—or , that , even now , the inevitable force of circumstances should occasionally make him do one questionable deed , among a thousand praiseworthy , or at least blameless ones—would you characterise the judge by that one necessary deed , and that half-forgotten act , and let it overshadow the fair aspect of a lifetime ? What is there so ponderous in evil , that a thumb ' s bigness of it should outweigh
the mass of things not evil which were heaped into the other scale ! This scale and balance system is a favourite one with people of Judge Pyncheon ' s brotherhood . A hard , cold n > an , thus unfortunately situated , seldom or never looking inward , and resolutely taking his idea of himself from what purports to be his image as reflected in the mirror of puUlic opinion , can scarcely arrive at true self-knowledge , except through loss of property and reputation . Sickness will not always help him to it ; not always the death-hour" !
Sometimes a remark or an aphorism arrests the eye , from its truth or its felicity of expression , as " Next to the lightest heart the heaviest is apt to be most playful , " which strikes us as both new and true . Again : — " There are chaotic , blind , or drunken moments , in the lives of persons who lack real force of charactermoments of test , in . which courage would most assert itself—but where thene individuals , if left to themselves , stagger aimlessly along , or follow implicitly whatever guidance may befall them , even if it be a child ' s . No matter how preposterous or insane , a purpose is a god-send to them . "
The following is the only bit we can find room for out of the powerful , though somewhat overdone , description of the death of Judge Pyncheon and itn consequences . To make it intelligible we may just mention that the judge has died in an arm-chair in a fit of apoplexy , and is now alone in the house : — " Meanwhile the twilight is glooming upward mit of the corners of the room . The shadows of the tall furniture grow deeper , and at first become more definite ; then , spreading wider , they lose their distinctness of outline in the dark gray tide of oblivion , as it were , that creeps . slowly over the various objects , and the one human
588 Ff|> * 3l*&&*$» [Saturday ,
588 ff |> * 3 L *&&* $ » [ Saturday ,
Anciknf Komances. Haanon Aftd Catw ; Or,...
ANCIKNf KOMANCES . Haanon aftd Catw ; or , The Twb Baeet : a Tfcle » Simpkin and Marshall . The Ancient Britains : a Tale of Primeval Life . Chapman and Hall . There is a class of minds greatly delighted by historic pageantries moving through Fiction ; and more delighted the more remote and unfamiliar the scenes . We are hot of that class . History fur * nishes a good background ^ good costumes , and certain advantages in the way of accessories , but it spoils more fictions than it assists ; not to mention the false ideas which become stereotyped in the
popularity of fiction , ahd which no learned discussion can afterwards efface . But if we receive historical fictions with suspicion , we are still less prepared to accept fictions which , professing to set forth primeval life , have the air of clumsy lectures — " cobwebs to catch flies" in archaeology ! Hence we confess to having failed to read through the Ancient Britons : many a worse book have we gone on with ; but though by no means destitute of cleverness , this tale is altogether without attraction for us , and indeed we regard the author ' s purpose as hopeless . History is not to be taught in that guise ; and Fiction needs a more cunning hand .
Hamon and Catar is a mixture of the prose poem and the historical romance . When we state that the introduction is a soliloquy by Cain , wherein he recounts his crime and subsequent career ; and further , when we state that the drama which follows is enacted in the city of Enoch , a few years after the death of Adam , the reader may guess the terrible anachronisms of feeling and thinking which inevitably disturb one ' s enjoyment of such a story . The author has imagination , and his style , though unchastened , has both power and animation ; but , although he fixes the attention and carries the reader on with him through the windings of his story ,
yet on the whole one feels in a strange fantastic world which has no points of contact with one ' s own , and is , nevertheless , not frankly fantastic . Fairy land is acceptable when peopled by fairies ; but Enoch peopled from the boards of Drury-lane Theatre is not acceptable . We are not casting any slight upon the author ' s power , but simply stating what we believe to be the inevitable result of any attempt to depict the life of remote cities and eras . No talent has yet been found capable of overcorning the inherent difficulties in such subjects ; and Hamon and Catar , though it may delight a certain class of romance readers , has not altered our opinion of the mistake in such attempts .
Of The Discussion By This Time, And Only...
of the discussion by this time , and only a great dearth of Subjects could reconcile us to fit re-ope f the question . Meanwhile , we may say that Mr . Cramp has bestowed great labour and ingenuity upo & thig vexed Biibject , and makes out as good a case as any made out for other persons besides Sir Philip Francis , whom we still believe to have been Juntas .
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Synopsis t > u Hernia Soinmaire tics J ' rtitluits tie I'liuluxlrie e VExposition Univi'rsellrdc 18 !) I . Par Robert Hunt . Kpiccr , Brothers ) . A translation into French of Mr . Hunt ' s useful synopsis of the . Exhibition . There is one use which this translation mny have , and which its low price renders available to the poorest of our readers—we mean the very great facility it will afford the student in the extension of his knowledge of French ; except in a dictionary , nowhere will ho find in ho small a compass such a mass of words to express things aft in this synopsis . JJy taking the English version , and comparing it-with this translation , a very Blender vocabulary may bo splendidly increased .
Juntut tintihit tforfes com / tnrett with the Character and Jfrittngt » ' Philip Dartnev Mtunlutpv , ICtui . of ChtslftfjUild . Hy William Crump , author of lha I'hUusophy of Lnn ^ ua ^ o . Hope uuti Co . This , with three other pamphlets ( including the proposal of a now edition of Junius ) , wo may possibly lind time to notioe hereafter , though wo eiumot promise to do ao , aa the public must be thoroughly tired
Handbook Of Natural Philosophy And Astro...
Handbook of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy , fey DTonygtoa Lardner , D . C . L . Firtt Courts : Mechanic *—HydmtatWi ! Hydraulics—Pneumfctioa—8 © und—Optics . With Upwards of 400 Illustrations . Taylor , Walton , and Muberij * Abd-el-Kader . A iPoem in Six Cantos . By Visooubt Maidstone * Chapman and Hall . ' The Human Body and its Connection with M & n . Illustrated bv tile Principal Organs . By Jambs John Garth Wilkinson . Chapman and Hull . Eetays , Lectures , land Orations . By Ralph Waldo Emerson . W . 8 . Ott and Co , Manual of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Mind By the Beverend James Carlile , D . D . Arthur Ball-, Virtue , ahd Co . The Keign of Avarice . An Allegorical Satire * In Four Canto * ' W . Picketing . The Saint ' s Tragedy . By Charles Kingsley , juui , Rector of Even , ley . With Preface by Professor Maurice . Second Edition .
J . W . Parker * Outlines of Physical Geography for families atitl Schools . fcy Rosina M . Zornlin . Author of " Recreations in Physical Geography . " J . W . Parker , Thoughts on the Chief Bards of the Bible . A Lecture delivered before the Members of the Brighton Mechanics * Institution , By James HoWell . Hamilton , Adams , and Co . Knight ' s Cyclopsedia of London . Complete in One volume . C . Knight . Knight ' s Excursion Companion . Excursions frotti London . C . Knight . Knight ' s Cyclopedia of the Industry of All Nations . Complete in One Volume . C . Knight . Knight ' s Pictorial Shakspere . Part XVI . The Merry Wives of Windsor . C . Knight .
Whaimen Believe.—If It Wete Not Matter O...
WhaiMen Believe . —If it wete not matter of actutil experience , it would sound incredible that men , Women , and children of all classes should , in this age and country , be summoned to read , mark , and learn , with prb & trfction of soul , the oriental imaginings of Arab historians and poets , who lived and died some thousands of years since . It seems an infatuation almost surpassing example , that civilized Christians of the nineteenth century should be called upon to listen with awe to the wild traditions of a remote Syrian tribe , celebrating the triumphs of their furious , jealous , and fickle " God of Host 6 , " and " God of Battles . " Yet , week after week , year after year , we go on ignoring the religious light of our own land and our own times in favour of the patriarchal haziness that obscured the land of Canaan in the days of Abraham and Moses , Joshua and Samson , B-avid and Ezra . Out "
sabbaths , " our " solemn meetings , " our " appointed feasts ' * are still set apart to instruction , setting forth how the sun and moon stood still to countenance the slaughter of men by men ; how the noon-tide shadow went back ten degrees to comfort a king ; how the ass opened her mouth in articulate talk with the prophet ; how city walls fell prostrate at the trumpet's blast , and how an iron axe floated at the good man ' s call . There is , doubtless , in all these stories , and many similar , abundance of beauty and poetry , with usually an instructive moral . But to identify their prosaic acceptance with the soul ' s homage to religion pure and undented , is neither wiser nor safer than would be a similar postponement of understanding to the Norse literature of our own fathers , men no less worthy in their way than the progenitors of the children of Israel . — From the Reverend T . Wilso ? i ' s Catholicity Spiritual a ? id Intellectual .
Pseudo CmusTiANiTY . —Some religious persons the other day , with a view to the promotion of " Christian union , " had a meeting in Birmingham , at which they are said to have come to these two resolutions : —First , that is " everybody ' s right and duty to exercise private judgment ia the intrepretation of the Scriptures ; " and second , that "nobody is to belong to their society who does not hold the divine institution of the Christian ministry , and the authority and perpetuity of Baptism and the Lord ' s Supper . " This is the way Christianity has been spoilt ever since dogma interfered with it ;—¦ ever since something was put upon it that had nothing to do with it , in order that people might dictate to their neighbours instead of loving them , and indulge their
pragmatical egotism at the very moment when they pretend to leave judgment free and to promote universal brotherhood . It is just as if some devil had said , " Christianity shall not succeed—people shall not be of one accord , and find out what ' s best for ' em ;—I'll invent dogma ; I'll invent faith versus reason ; I'll invent the lSinperor Constantino ; I'll invent councils , popes , polemics , Calvins and Donncrs , inquisitions , auto-da-fes , massacres ; and nliould Christianity survive and outgrow these , I'll invent frights about them , and whispers in their favour , and little private popes of all sorts , all infallible , all fighting with one unother , all armed with their sine qudnons , for the purpose of beating down the olive-branch , nnd preventing their pretended object from superaedintf any real one . * ' I do not believe , mind , that
any such thing was said , or that this chaos of contradiction hay been aught elwe but a fermentation of good and ill , out of which good is to come triumphant , perhaps the better for the trial ; for evil itself is but u form of the desire of good , sometimes a necessity for its attainment . But the Bocining needlensncBS of so much evil , or for so long a period , is provoking to one ' s uncertainty ; and tin ) sight of such a heap of folly in a trial of the patience . Our patience wo must not lose , for then we shall ( nil into the error we deprecate ; but let us keep rea «« n and honest ridicule for ever on the watch . A . Hut they snj that ridicule i « unfair . Ji . Ye » ; and make use of it whenever they can . In like manner they depreoate reason , and then reason in fuvour of tbe deprecation . — - LeiahHunt ' s ' Table-Talk .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061851/page/16/
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