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May 25, 1850.] ffitl * &*&&*?+ 211
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We should do our utmost to encourage the...
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ATHANASIUS CONTRA MUNDUM. O ! Athanasius...
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THE APPRENTICESHIP OF LIFE. By G. H. LEW...
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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Transcript
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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.
May 25, 1850.] Ffitl * &*&&*?+ 211
May 25 , 1850 . ] ffitl * &*&&*? + 211
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We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . — GOBTHE .
Athanasius Contra Mundum. O ! Athanasius...
ATHANASIUS CONTRA MUNDUM . O ! Athanasius ! thy too subtle creed Makes my heart tremble when I hear it read , And my flesh quivers when , the priest proclaims God ' s doom on ev ' ry unbeliever ' s head . Yet do I honour thee for those brave words Against the heretic so boldly hurled , " Though do one else believe ; I'll hold my faith , I , Athanasius , against the world . " It was not well to judge thy fellow-men ; Thou wert a sinful mortal like us all : Vengeance is God's , none but himself doth know On whom the terrors of his Wrath will fall . But it was well , believing as thou didst , Like standard-bearer with thy flag unfurled , To blazon on thy banner these brave words , " I , Athanasius , against the world . " Thy faith is mine ; but that is not my theme , 'Tis thine example I would preach to all ; Whatever each believes , and counts for true Of things in heaven or earth , of great or small ; If he believe it , let him stand and say , Although in scorn a thousand lips are curled ; ** Though no one else believe , I'll hold my faith , Like Athanasius , against the world . " V . V .
The Apprenticeship Of Life. By G. H. Lew...
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF LIFE . By G . H . LEWES . Chap . VIII . —Adrienne . The following evening a select circle of friends assembled in the drawingroom of General Laboissiere : Bonapartists all , with one exception , and that exception was Armand de Fayol , whom the General hoped to win over to their party . He was an ally greatly to be coveted . His immense influence over the working classes and the active spirits of the day , his astonishing energy and eloquence made him , in the General ' s opinion , a prize which if gained would determine the overthrow of the Bourbons .
Armand was now thirty years of age . Grave , sad , and yet gentle in his sadness , there was something strangely prepossessing in the tempered gravity of his demeanour . He seemed like one who carried for ever with him the Nemesis of past error ; yet he endured without impatience the sorrow which seemed wasting away bis life . It was only when speaking on the great questions which interested the human race that his eye brightened , his cheek flushed , and his whole frame seemed pulsing with animation : then his eloquence warmed him and exalted him above his own private sorrows , but at other times he was silent and reserved , retiring within the shadows of his own gloom .
The reader left Armand supremely happy ; but nearly ten years have passed over his head , and therefore we must not wonder to find him now in sorrow . If a more special reason be required , we will ask the reader to direct his observing glance across the room , and there , reclining rather than sitting , receiving the homage of her father ' s guests with queenly indifference , he will see the General ' s only daughter . At a first glance Adrienne does not give the clue to Armand ' s sorrow : he
cannot be in love with her ! She is not handsome . Perhaps , however , the peculiarity of her face is even more powerful than beauty ; for it is full of character , it is strange , unlike what you have seen before , and perplexing in its charm . Brilliant black eyes she has ; but her complexion is swarthy , her features irregular . That is the verdict on a first inspection . Learn to know Adrienne , and you will understand how , if a man did love her , he would love her with the devotion of a life . She did not fascinate your senses , she subjugated your soul .
The truth must out : Armand did love Adrienne .... And Hortense ? She is three-and-forty ! In that terrible laconic answer there lies a whole volume . Three-and-forty , for one who has been beautiful , nay who still is beautiful—how harshly the words ring ! Leigh Hunt , with his usual gallantry says : " I ' ve known a check at forty like a peach ' . " So have I : so have we all ; but the words three-and-forty are ugly words for all that . Gone , for ever gone , the grace and charm of youth , the hopes , the illusions , the timidity , the curiosity , the piquancy , the delight which once lured every heart ! Is that nAt sad ?
Sad indeed is the contemplation of that decay which inevitably falls upon beauty and grace ; but what are the feelings with which we should regard such a change were it to come over our wives while we remained as youths ? To grow old together in blessed affection is a sweet and touching thought ,
To walk arm-encircled down the hill and reach the bottom wearied—yet sustained through all weariness by the dear arm upon which we lean while " Setting suns smile heavenly on our grave , " knowing that if Time will destroy something of that perfect beauty on which our loving eyes now linger so fondly , the same Time will kindly dim our sight , so that we shall not detect the change ! To grow old together in love , in sorrow and in joy , in trouble and in prosperity , through gloom and sunshine , through gladness and sadness , linked closer by all cares , by all affections , by all common sorrows and by little habits—therein lies the sacred beauty of marriage !
But change the picture : let one be growing old while the other is growing to maturity : let one be going down the hill before the other has reached the summit—what then will result ? The journey is no longer made together . There is no longer marriage ! Yet be not hasty in your judgment ; do not imagine the question is a question of age merely . Hortense is three-and-forty , but it is not the
encroaching embonpoint , it is not the faded freshness of a cheek , it is not the loss of that inexplicable charm which plays around the lineaments of youth ; no , it is something deeper than these which could change the affection of a man who has really loved ! Had illness smitten Hortense in all the pride of her beauty do you imagine Armand would have loved her less ? And if the sudden loss could not have changed his heart how should the gradual decline —so gradual as almost to be imperceptible—have changed it ?
Again , I say , the cause lies deeper . To be constant to his nature man must be inconstant under such circumstances . We daily hear inconstancy stigmatized as a vice , forgetful that constancy and inconstancy are independent of the will . We do not will to love ; nor do we will to cease to love . As love brings with it its own sufficient reason , so also does the change bring with it its sufficient reason . Every feeling justifies itself ! If love could be commanded inconstancy would be a sin . Hortense was still a lovely woman ; probably Armand admired her as much as ever : I am certain most men would have admired her more than
Adrienne . Hortense , who thought her influence with Armand was declining with her declining beauty , really had no cause of alarm on that score . The danger was elsewhere . She had lost her moral influence : he had outgrown her companionship . Armand at five-and-twenty was really a different being from the Armand whom she married ; he was elevated so high above the stage of existence from which he had then looked down , as totally to alter his view of life ; and that alteration had increased during the last five years . This is the meaning of our growing older ; it is not that increasing years whiten our hair , it is that we reach new table-lands from which to survey existence .
All progressive natures are inconstant ; hence the notorious inconstancy of poets and artists . But the inconstancy is only towards objects . If they meet with natures equally progressive , they remain true to early loves . The case is this . A boy of twenty loves a girl of sixteen . At this stage of development they have each reached a table-land from which their view of life is tolerably accordant ; in other words , they sympathize . Years pass . The
boy has grown into a man , has developed to such a point that his former survey of life is completely altered ; his sympathies are changed . The girl , let us suppose , has either remained stationary or has advanced in so different a direction that the two cannot now sympathize as formerly : how , then , can these two feel the same love as formerly ? Every day we see that the friends of our youth—friends who then filled our hearts and lives—now are only tolerated by us out of respect for old affections ; and yet we rail at
inconstancy I To sum up , I would say that Armand had gradually outgrown his love for Hortense , and needed some larger soul to sympathize with . He was still adorably affectionate and attentive to her , so that people called him the best of husbands ; but she was not his soul ' s companion . He was for some time unaware of this . It first flashed upon him when he discovered that Frangipolo , his friend , was oftener in his thoughts , and nearer to his soul , than Hortense , his wife . He struggled against this for some time ; he tried to love her : vain , vain attempt to recal the irrevocable !
But he met Adrienne . He was a constant visitor at her father ' s house . His republican opinions made him so objectionable to her , that it was with difficulty her father could prevail on her to be decently civil to him . Her enthusiasm for Bonaparte was almost equal to her father ' s , and she had the most fervent faith in the restoration of his family to the throne which his genius had made illustrious . With her Bonapartism was coupled a profound contempt for republicanism , or rather for republicans who , in her
imagination , always personified the Reign of Terror . She had , consequently , a personal distaste for Armand , and took no pains to conceal it . In vain did the General entreat her to be as engaging as possible to the important leader , whom he had little doubt of soon bringing over to his party , thereby gaining a powerful influence over an energetic portion of those ready to overturn the Bourbons ; Adrienne distrusted all such allies , and could not bring herself to break down that barrier of reserve which she threw up before most men
but before republicans especially . One evening , during a discussion in which Armand had been so eloquent as to make Adrienne almost angry with herself for being half carried away , she impetuously exclaimed : — " Ah , yes , a republic would be glorious , if we could have it without the republicans ! " " My clear Adrienne ! " said the General reproachfully
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 25, 1850, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25051850/page/19/
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