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October 21, 1854.] THE LEADER. 1001
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"41* * +rt + -r % , XXlXwXitt*
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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Perhaps the most interesting article in ...
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^ By the sudden death of Mr. Samuel Phil...
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In January, 1855, is to appear tho first...
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A project, under the name of Association...
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We have received the following letter, w...
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AN ENGLISHMAN ABROADGleanings from Picca...
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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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.
October 21, 1854.] The Leader. 1001
October 21 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 1001
"41* * +Rt + -R % , Xxlxwxitt*
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Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They ao not make laws —they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
Perhaps The Most Interesting Article In ...
Perhaps the most interesting article in the Edinburgh , besides that on "Array Reform , " mentioned last week , is that on "Vestries and Church Kates , " which discusses an important question of Church Reform in a brisk manner . By-the-way , how clerical the Edinburgh is becoming—articles on Church topics provided , as if studiously ; and the tone of all the articles kept strait and orthodox , far more visibly than used to be the case in its Scotch days . There is a readable article on the " Memoirs of Joseph Bonaparte , " made up of a tissue of extracts in French from the memory , with interspersed comments and elucidations . These "Memoirs" throw light upon Napoleon's early character , and exhibit him , as a splendid , ambitious young man , full of family affection . There is also a paper on " Macaulay ' s Speeches , " in the beginning of which Mr . Vizeteli / t's attempt to issue the speeches , without having obtained Mr . Macatjlay ' s previous consent , is made the text for a discussion of the question of copyright in speeches , sermons , and so on . The writer says : —
Nor let us suppose that members of Parliament only are affected by the present state of the law . Eloquent preachers are perpetually annoyed by a . similar injustice . A man tells his congregation that he is going to preach a " series of lectures ; " in many cases contemplating their ultimate publication , after he shall have elaborated and matured them for the press . No sooner has he made the announcement than ^ -to his surprise -we were going to say , but it has become too common to excite that—he finds a benevolent and patriotic publisher willing to take the trouble off Ms hands ! Not only does he see , what is all fair enough oil the principle we have already advocated , a brief report of what he has said in some journal , but an advertisement stares him in the face , setting forth , that " the Rev . Mr . So ^ -an d-So's series of eloquent discourses " will be published seriatim , and in a form admitting of being conveniently bound up in a volume as soon as he has finished the course ! The proper remedy for this state of things , according to the Reviewer ,
is—Just the extension / to the separate publication of speeches , lectures , sermons , & c , of the law of copyright already applicable to every other worts . Allowing precisely the liberty , enjoyed at present , of reporting all free speech iii the daUy journals , according to the ability of those who report it , let men be forbidden to publish reported speech , sermon , or lecture in a separate form , or make collections of such compositions for such purpose , just as they are forbidden to reprint any book or pamphlet of a private author , -without the author's consent ; let a penalty be attached to collecting and publishing any such compilation before the author ' s death , or within a term of years , unless his consent and sanction have been first obtained .
Observe , the Reviewer would keep for newspapers their present full liberty of reporting what they like and whenever they like . " The public , " he says , " is fully entitled to know in the daily papers the substance of what passes in Parliament , in the courts of law , in churches , in chapels , in all public assemblies whatsoever . Here reporters ought to be admitted ( as they are ) , and should give the public the best account they can . " By-the-by , this notion of sending reporters to churches and chapels is one with an element of revolution in it . In one or two cases newspapers have given sketches of popular preachers , continued from week to week , and evidently prepared by
Sunday rambles of members of the stafi" among the churches . All the daily papers , on the occasion of the Fast-day , gave reports and abstracts of all the metropolitan sermons . What , if the practice were extended ? What , if the Press were to take charge of the Pulpit , as it has of the Parliament ? What , if every Monday we wore to read reports of the previous day ' s sermons in all the chief chapels and churches , with criticisms on them in the leading columns— "It has been our fortune to hear a good deal of nonsense in our day , but greater rubbish than the Bishop of spoke yesterday
forenoon in the church of . it has seldom . " ike . — " W 7 > lm . v « « im >« f torcnoon in tuo church ot , it has seldom , " & c . — "We have a great respect for the Dean of , but if we may judge from his pulpit-performance yesterday , reported in another column , his powers , whether of intellect or oratory , are failing . "— " Lot the Rev . Mr . take a hint , reform his grammar , and lay in a stock of H ' s . " Only fancy this going on all over the country . What would be the result ? Would the pulpit eloquence of the country be improved , and clergymen bo obliged to exert themselves ?
^ By The Sudden Death Of Mr. Samuel Phil...
^ By the sudden death of Mr . Samuel Philips , the Times has lost its chief literary critic . In its notice of his death , that journal made no direct allusion to his connexion wifcli itself . Nor did it pronounce an extravagant eulogium on his literary merits . It spoke of him as a clover and cultivated , and honourable and amiable , but by no means profound , man , who did his best . This seems to bo also the general impression . His criticisms iu the 2 'imes —or such as wore supposed to be his—were well-timed , sometimes
striking , and always above average , and administered such notions of literature as , while they met acceptance with persons of culture , wcro particularly suitable for large capitalists . Mr . Pmi-uvs was also an example of a man who made literature pay , both in money and sociul distinction . Latterly , ho was a loading man in the management of the Crystal Palace . Labouring under a consumption , which ho know might nt any time carry him Offinaday , tho calmness and punctuality with which ho continued his literary labours nro said to have been almost heroic . Ho was not forty years old . J
In January, 1855, Is To Appear Tho First...
In January , 1855 , is to appear tho first number of a new series of tho Edmlurtfi . New Philosophical Journal , under tho joint-editorship of Professor
Edward Forbes , of Edinburgh , and Dr . Anderson , Professor of Chemistry , in Glasgow . Under Such editorship , and with the fifst scientific men of the day on the list of regular contributors , the new series will doubtless maintain the high celebrity acquired by its predecessor under the editorshi p of the deceased Professor Jameson . There are to be some new features in the journal , however , under the new management , so as to extend its ran ^ e and efficiency in the present advanced state of science . " As hitherto , the leading features of its contents will consist of original papers on Physics , Chemistry , Physiology , Zoology , Botany , Geology , Ethnology , & c . ; " but a portion of each number will be appropriated to the reception of valuable papers selected from foreign journals , to abstracts and analyses of important scientific memoirs , and to biographical sketches of deceased philosophers . There will , of course , be reviews of scientific books , and reports of scientific societies ; and the section of scientific intelligence , giving notices of " ¦ new facts and isolated data , " will be greatly extended .
A Project, Under The Name Of Association...
A project , under the name of Association Internationale et Universelle des Arts , has been set on foot in Paris , we know not with what chance of success , by way of turning the approaching time of the French Exhibition to account . The notion professes to be an extension of that of the English Art-Union ; the members of which , paying a pound a year , receive in return a fine engraving each , with the chance of drawing a prize-work of art . The proposed Association Internationale is to be on a wider scale and under somewhat different regulations . It is not to be confined to French artists , but is to include the artists of Britain , Germany , Italy , the United States , & e . ; and it is to deal not only with paintings and sculptures , but with all objects
of art-manufacture in bronze , wood , & c . Moreover , a single payment of twenty-five francs ( one pound ) is to constitute perpetual membership . A million members of all nations at this rate would form a capital of twentyfive millions of francs ( one million sterling ) ; "which , if invested in the four per cents , wouLd yield one million of francs ( 40 , 000 / . ) annually . This would afford means for a number of prizes annually , and pay all expenses ; while by the deaths of members . —their memberships then ceasing—new subscriptions would also come in . Such is the project , as far as -we can gather its nature from the prospectus . We are informed that Mr . W . Bjcanchard Jerrouj , who has been residing in . Paris , is one of the promoters of the scheme .
We Have Received The Following Letter, W...
We have received the following letter , which relates to a literary movement of some importance : Sik , —A libellous statement having been issued by Messrs . S . Low and Son , in their Publishers' Circular of the 16 th instant , to the effect that— " It is currently reported that the agreement between Sir Bulwer Lytton and Mr . Eoutledge has been rescinded , " -we lose not a moment in asking you to permit us , through the medium of your widely-circulated columns , to give a most unqualified denial to Messrs . S . Low and Son ' s unwarrantable assertion . So far from there being the slightest truth in this attack upon our house , we most positively and unequivocally assert , that not only does our agreement with Sir Bulwer Lytton remain intaet , but that we have fulfilled every engagement wo entered into with him . We have communicated with Sir Bulwer Lytton , who is at present absent from town , but immediately that we are in receipt of his answer we shall make it public . We may also be allowed to add that , so far from the issue of Sir Bulwer Lytton ' s works not answering , as Messrs . S . Low and Son have insinuated , the circulation has been quito equal to our expectations . —We are , Sir , your obedient servants , Geo . Routlbdge and Co . 2 , Farringdon-street , Oct . 19 , 1854 .
An Englishman Abroadgleanings From Picca...
AN ENGLISHMAN ABROADGleanings from Piccadilly to Para . By John Oldmixon , Esq ., Commander , R . N . Longmans , 1854 . An ingenious and elegant critic among our French contemporaries , in noticing the defect , among- many distinguished merits , of n recent work of African travel , as a tendency to sacrifice experiences to generalisation , and narrative to rejections , addresses a word of sound advice to tho whole race of wanderers who write and publish . "Indeed , what wo have the right to demand of tho traveller is , not to give us proofs of erudition and phUofiophy , _ but simply to use his eyes well , and to describe faithfully what he has seen ; in short , to be a truthful and judicious witness of distant countries before the tribunal of European criticism . For this purpose , tho note-book or tho journal is tho best form of natation . " Captain Oldmixon ' s preface to his grumbling and uncomfortable experiences of a sufficiently commonplace winter ' s ramble iix foreign parts , disarms frankly and pleasantly enough tho criticism which he knew to bo deserved . Nothing indeed can be more in contrast with the cheerful sagacity of tho Preface , than tho querulous and cynical tone of tho journal which makes up the book , and nothing more in contrast with tho philosophy of the Captain on his travels , than tho unphilosophical , not to say ludicrous , apologies of tho Captain , about to publish , in his nun-chair at homo . Yet , wo confess , these diverting inconsistencies have a certain charm for us in their evident sincerity , and , in any caso , they arc worth volumes of tho jrose-colouxed tourists against whom tho Cuptain Hits up his Jhonost English growl . Wo aro far from wondering at the noble niastiflT'B contempt for poodles , but why should tho mastiff" deny to poodles tho right to vivre do leur via f Captain Oldmixon ( ho informs us ) was " piqued" into tho " quoruloiiH and cynical tone which unamUibly pervades tho wWe book , " by tho peculiarly un-English comforts and contrivances of the Continent . " Hero , in 18 M , is your typical Englishman of tho French stage , whom wo hnd supposed extinct , who sighs after his rosbif , and his four-poster , and bin firo-irons , us ho rumbles on , a spectacle to gods and men , from one end of Uuropo to another . There is this questionable advmitngo , however , in tho grotesque
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 21, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21101854/page/17/
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