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      Critics Are Not The Legislators But The ...

      Critics are not the legislators but the judgew and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Bevtew .

      England Since 1848 Has Held A Position S...

      England since 1848 has held a position similar to that held by Holland in the 17 th and 18 th centuries—all the stifled voices of freedom gain free utterance here . German literature may be termed en route for England . Our free press is an irresistible attraction to men upon whom the Pressgezetze weigh like an incubus ; they do not relish " ' large discourse of reason " as edited by the police ; the shadows falling from the gloomy walls of Spandau , Spielberg , Stettin , chill the current

      of free thought ; within those shadows only noxious weeds will grow , such as we see in the literature of reaction . Publicists were wont to rail against the censorship . It is abolished . Press laws have taken its place . But when King Stork was substituted for King Log the " social arrangements " were not found to be highly satisfactory to the Frogs . The Pressgesetze are incalculably more tyrannical than ever tbe censorship was j and thinking men are silent . They crowd to England as much to breathe the air of freedom as to see the World ' s Show .

      But Paternal vigilance follows them even here . A police force has been organized , not , as it was ludicrously reported , to look after " the foreign thieves , " but after the foreign literati who are here from all parts of Germany . Their passport is delivered at the Embassy , their arrival is known , their steps watched , —if they have had any communication with Huge Kinkel or any other name of terror , it is reported—nay , even the lectures of Kinkel . were visited by German detectives for the purpose , it is supposed , of reconnoitring the audience !

      After all , one sympathizes with Paternal Governments pestered by children who will think for themselves ! As Paul , Louis Courier sarcastically says , " Printing is the origin of evil ; murder there finds its source , and Cain was a newspaper reader in Paradise ; we cannot doubt it , for the ministers say so , and ministers never lie , above all at tbe tribune ! [ C ' est l'imprimerie qui met le monde a mal . C ' est la lettre moulee qui fait qu ' on assassine depuis la creation ; et Cain lisait les journaux dans le paradis terrestre . II n ' en faut point douter les ministres le disent ; les ministres nc mentent pas , a la tribune surlout . " !

      The Contest For The Vacant Fauteuil In T...

      The contest for the vacant fauteuil in the Academic furnishes gossip to Paris . Alfred de Musset and Emile Augier are candidates ; the former has too good a claim to have much chance , for in academics it is had to have genius on your side , you are sure to have the blockheads against you , and they are the preponderating influences . AlkxandueDumas was reported to have become

      a candidate ; but Dumas , with an European reputation , can have no chance . He feels it to be ho , and therefore desires his son to write a contradiction to the report , " he not having time to attend to such matters . " Meanwhile we obscrre that he has time to write a letter of emphatic puff respecting the new scheme of pleasure by contract , wherein for fifteen francs thirty days' amusements of every description are offered !

      We presume that all those of our readers who occupy themselves with German literature are 'Wan ; of the change which has come over the ftpirit ° l » Ue Countess IIaiin IIaiin , whom sorrow , the most , profound and inconsolable , has driven into *¦»« bosom of the Holy Catholic Church . She has . l"sl issued a lililo work called Jus Jerusalem ,

      which , though fervent enough , and immensely powerful iu intci jeetions , leaves something to he ut'fured on the . score , of He . nse and coherence . Ah ll 'i- production of one who gained celebrity by senf-nueiital free-thinking and aristocratic " advanced views , " i ( is curious and painful ; but as a work it ' « Religion in hysterics more than anything else . mc llas '"> great reason to bo proud of her

      convert . Proud , perhaps , of the Countess ' s namej proud of the eclat attendant on the conversion of one so opposed to the Church j but scarcely proud of the rhapsodies in which she gives utterance to her newly-found consolation . ^^

      With Us Nothing Can Be Flatter Than The ...

      With us nothing can be flatter than the state of Literature . In the absence of topics even Mr . Macfablanb ' s name rises into conversation , carried thither by the reverberations of astonishment at the audacity of his denials of Mr . Gladstone ' s statements , and at the taste and amenity of his style . It is amusing to see the energy with which men labour to render themselves more definite objects of contempt ! Mr . Macfarlanb ' s pamphlet shows what Churchill calls

      *< A matchless intrepidity of face , " if it show nothing else . It shows how stanch Conservatism can be . While contemplating such Conservatism , we recal what Paul Louis so admirably said of some defender of Order : — " On the day of Creation what a hubbub he would have made ! he would have exclaimed : O God , let us

      save Chaos ! Mon Dieu , conservons le chaos !" Why not ? was not Light a Revolution , and is not Revolution the greatest of evils , even when it be an issue into good ? Light is Utopian ; only brainsick dreamers and bloodthirsty ruffians want it ; every virtuous and respectable man will " stand by the Chaos of his Forefathers ! " Credat Macfar-LANE !

      Buskin's Pbe-Baphaelitism. Pre-Sap/Iaeli...

      buskin's pbe-baphaelitism . Pre-Sap / iaelitism . By the Author of " Modern Painters . " Smith , Elder , and Co . We have already intimated that the thesis maintained by Mr . Ruskin in this pamphlet is the ancient truism that success in Art can only be achieved by an earnest , self-forgetting study of Nature—that the Painter must intensely observe facts , and allow reverence for mere tradition to sit lightly on him . He ciust follow Nature , not the Royal Academy ; fact , ' not the critic in the Times ; truth , not convention * This , though it be a truism ,

      needs frequent emphasis , Mr . Ruekin , as every other critic , does well to keep it prominent . But we looked for something more from him . He should have more distinctly specified its application to the new school . Instead of doing- so he treats of almost everything except the Pre-Raphaelites . His evasion of one point is too remarkable to be overlooked . Not only does it leave a capital question , as regards the P . R . B . ' s , unnoticed , but it also betrays a reticence or misgiving in Mr . Ruskin's own mind on the subject of Human Form . We need few sentences to show that the Human Form , as the flower and consummation of creative

      energy , must also be the crowning difficulty in Art . It is known that the P . R . H . ' s have peculiar views on this subject ; indeed , this we should call the capital point of their system . Mr , Ruskin is silent on it . Nay , this silence is to be regretted in all his writings . The Human Form was to have been treated in the third volume of his Modern Painters ; but that volume has never appeared , other works have taken precedence , and his silence on the allimportant subject is unbroken . Is this reticence or misgiving ? Has lie not made up his mind ? Therearc excellent pages , however , in his pamphlet . lie begins by \ -cry properly demanding that the Painter he fit for his work ; that he choose a branch of the Art because it suits him , and not because it is in the abstract fine . The advice is not restricted

      to Artists . We all need it , for we have all a passion for inequality : —¦ # " The very removal of the mossy bars which once separated one cl ; ih » of society from another , hns rendered it tenfold more nham'jful in foolish people ' n , »" . c . in most people ' s cvef , to remain in the lower Rrmlcsof it , than over \ t wns before . AVhen a man bom of an artizin was looked upon an nn entirely different species of animal from u man born of n

      noble , it made him no more uncomfortable , or ( inhumed to leinain that different spec ie » of animal , than it makes a home ashamed to remain a horno , and not to become a giraffe . But now that a mnn may make money , and line in the world , and associate himself , unreproncheil , with people once far above linn , not only m the natural diHcontcntcdnrott of humanity developed to an unheard-of extent , whatever n mun h poeiition , but . it becomes a veritable « hame to lain to remain in tho etato ho was born in , and

      everybody thinks it his duty to try to be a « gentleman . Persons who have any influence in the management of public institutions for charitable education know how common this feeling has become . Hardly a day passes but they receive letters from , mothers who want all their six or eight sons to go to college , and make the grand tour in the long vacation , and who think there is something wrong in the foundations of society , because this is not possible . Out of every ten letters of this kind , nine will allege , as the reason of the writers' importunity , their desire to keep their families in such and such a station of _

      life . ' There is no real desire for the safety , the discipline , or the moral good of the children , only a panic horror of the inexpressibly pitiable calamity of their living a ledge or two lower on the molehill of the world—a calamity to be averted at any cost whatever , of struggle , anxiety , and shortening of life itself . I do not believe that any greater good could be achieved for the country , than the change in public feeling on this head , which might be brought about by a few benevolent men , undeniably in the

      class of ' gentlemen , ' who would , on principle , enter into some of our commonest trades , and make them honourable ; showing that it was possible for a man to retain his dignity , and remain , in the best sense , a gentleman , though part of his time was every day occupied in manual labour , or even in serving customers over a counter . I do not in the least see why courtesy , and gravity , and sympathy with J ; he feelings of others , and courage , and truth , and piety , and what else goes to make up a gentleman ' s character , should not be found behind a counter as well as

      elsewhere , if they were demanded , or even hoped for , there . " The special application of this to Painters is obvious . A man gifted with a talent for drawing cows should draw cows , and not splash with vague ambition at historical subjects because they are grander . Poetry has spoiled many excellent clerks ; the drama has robbed commerce of many excellent shopmen ; historical painting has likewise wasted the mediocrity of many clever men .

      Connected with this ambition to achieve greatness in the highest departments , is the false notion that Will can do the work of Intellect , that Effort can supply Genius , and that mere intensity of desire can give intensity of power . As we often say , it is a fatal mistake that of Aspiration for Inspirationthe desire to be great for the consciousness of greatness ! Mr . Ruskin touches on a point of very great importance , to our thinking , when he says boldly that No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort . A great thing can only be done by a great man . He does it without effort . A paradox , but a truth ! This is no encouragement to idleness , for Genius is essentially active , creative ; nor does it flatter the conceit of Heaven-descended

      Genius in turned down collars that work may be dispensed with . It simply and sternly says that the Crow is not an Eagle , and no amount of sunstarings will make it one : —

      " Therefore , literally , it is no man ' s business whether he has genius or not : work he must , whatever he is , but quietly and steadily ; and the natural and unforced results of such work will be always the things that God meant him to do , and will be his best . No agonies nor heart-rendings will enable him to do any better . If he be a great man , " they will be great things ; if a small man , small things ; but always , if thus peacefully done , good and right ; always , if restlessl y and ambitiously done , false , hollow , and despicable . "

      This is sound sensible teaching . Mr . Ruskin will not be accused of undervaluing labour because he here says that labour is not genius ; labour is necessary to attain mastery in Art ; but no amount of concentrated effort will produce dignity , grace . grandeur , beauty . " Is not the evidence of Ease on the very front of all the greatest works in existence ? Do they not plainly say to us , not ' there has been great effort here , ' but , ' there hay been a great power here ? ' ' * An illustration enables Mr . Ruskin to show tho vanity of the present—KDUCATION OV TI 1 K rAINTKIt .

      " Understand this thoroughly ; know once for all , that a poet on canvas is exactly the same species of creature as a poet in Honjr , and nearly every error in our methods of teaching will be done away with . lor who among us now thinks of bringing men up to be poeta ?—of producing poets by any kind of general recipe or method of cultivation ? ttuppono even that wo bco in a youth that which we hope may , in its development , become a power of thin kind , should wo instantly , tiupposing that wo wanted to make a poet of him , and nothing ehte , forbid him nil quiet , steady , rational labour ? Should wo force him to perpetual ( spinning of new crudities out of hi . * boyirth brain , and net before him , ns the only objects of his study , tbe laws of versification which criticism has supposed itaolf to discover in tho worka of pro-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1851, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23081851/page/15/