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616 THE -LEADER. [No. 379, Saturday
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\ ITttlVriltiir^ j^ UX l UUUrL —^—
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. frifcies are not the legislators, but ...
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Caxltle says, referring toVoLTAiBB, and ...
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LITTLE DORR IT. Little Vorrie. By Charle...
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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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616 The -Leader. [No. 379, Saturday
616 THE -LEADER . [ No . 379 , Saturday
\ Itttlvriltiir^ J^ Ux L Uuurl —^—
Etterafttrt *
. Frifcies Are Not The Legislators, But ...
. frifcies are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not ° mlke laws-theyiiiterpret and try toenforce thexn .-EdinburghZevtew .
Caxltle Says, Referring Tovoltaibb, And ...
Caxltle says , referring toVoLTAiBB , and the numerous memoirs , lives , recollections ^ and anecdotes that were published concerning him , "We have read great part of these thousand-and-first ' Memoirs of Yoltaire , 'by Longcham * and Wagnikkb , not without satisfaction , and can cheerfully look forward to still other memoirs following in their train . Nothing can be more in the course of
nature than the wish to satisfy oneself with knowledge of all sorts about any distinguished person , especially of our own era ; the true study of his character , and peculiar manner of existence , is full of instruction for all mankind ; even that of his looks , sayings , habitudes and indifferent actions , were not the records of them generally lies , is rather to be commended , nay , are not such lies themselves when they keep within bounds , and the subject of them has been dead for some time , equal to snipe-shooting , or Colburn-novels , at least , little inferior in the great art of getting done with life , or as it is technically called , killing time ? For our own part , we say , would ^* hat every Johnson in the world had his veridical Boswell , or leash of Boswell ! With regard to
Voi / eatre in particular , it seems to us not only innocent , but profitable , that the whole truth regarding him should be well understood . " This natural desire seems likely to be fully satisfied . In addition to the Lives of Voltaibe by friends and foes , to the authentic doeixments and recollections published by his secretaries Collini , Longchajo , and WagnUre , to the Baron be Gleam ' s collections , and to the * six-and-thirty volumes of scurrilous eavesdropping , long since printed under the title of Memoires de BachautnontJ we have now just issued two thick volumes of Unpublished
Correspondence . These volumes contain upwards of twelve hundred letters , written by Voltaire to His private friends , and to various public men of his day . The letters , which hare been diligently collected from all quarters by M . de Caybol , are edited with an introduction and notes by M . Fbancois , and introduced to the world in a preface from the ready and able pen of M . Saint-Marc Gebabdin . The editor in his introduction , after explaining the nature of the collection , undertakes what we should have thought a very needless work in Trance at the present day—a defence of Voltaire ' s character and influence . The fierce denunciations against the
' Apostle of Reason' ' a monster of impiety / ' sophist / ' atheist , ' apedemqn / and the like , once so common on both sides of the Channel , are now rarely heard even in this country . By slow degrees we learn to look upon him and all such men with more toleration , to recognise what was true and worthy in them , and speak justly , if not generously , of their character and work . It is acknowledged now that Voltaibe had an important work to do—to expose much , that was hollow , and destroy much that was unfit to live both in Church , and State , to vindicate forgotten rights , and urge neglected duties—and that , throughout the course of a long life , he did this with unfailing courage , gaiety , and skill . Without large views , profound convictions , or
passionate enthusiasm , he had , nevertheless , a marvellously clear and active intellect , a sincere love of liberty and justice , and was , to the utmost extent of his shrewd and brilliant though narrow logic , an apostle of freedom and truth . Any defence of Voltaire is thus scarcely necessary in this country . It seems * however , to be so in his own , as M . Bersot , who notices the ' Correspondence ' in the Revue de Paris , hails the introduction as a sign of the times ; and hopes it may help to recal attention to "Voltaire ' s works , and revive what was best in his spirit and influence , which on many accounts he evidently thinks is desirable . He points out that of late years Rousseau ' s influence has been injuriously dominant , ' and that it would be a great advantage to literature , as well as to the social life of the time , if it possessed more of the perfect clearness ,
force , and incisiveness of thought and action which characterised the aage of JFerney . We all know how Voltaire patronised Shakspeare as an interesting savage , who showed occasionally a certain power of expression , and was not -without some sparks of genius ; how he wondered , nevertheless , with the most polished surprise , that the English could ever endure ' those monstrous farces which he called tragedies / deciding philosophically that it must be from their singular love of cock-fights , bull-baiting , and bear-gardens . But we ought , at the same time , to remember that it was Volxaibb who first introduced
Shak-3 * ba »; e to iFranoe , and that he got into trouble with some of his countrymen for doing-so , being ' . absurdly charged by them with an unpatriotic preference for f oreign literature . This called forth his oelebrated letter to the Academy , in whicli he certainly proves with convincing olearness that he has no undue partiality towards Shakspjbabe . Amongst these unpublished letters is one written to Neqkeb , on this occasion , where he speaks as follows : — " I will never admit Shakspeabb to take such rank in France that wo must sacrifice Cobneille and Raoine to hint . I am like those who are called insurgents in America , and will not be a slave of the Unglish . I wrote the letter to the Academy which you have done . me the honour to mention , to justify myself ' or having been the first panegyrist of English literature . It is not my fault if tho praises I bestowed on the classic authors of that country have been abased , or if some would fain break my head with the censor I used in thoir honour . My letter was that of a good Trenohman who fights for his country , aud-vvjll . wot allow Paris to bo subject to London . " In the current number pf the JRevue cha JQ & w Monde * is a brilliant article
on ' Milton : his Genius and Works / by . M . H . Taine , the author of th happy papers on Dickens and Thackeray which have recently appeared in th * same journal . The writer has evidently studied Milton ' s entire works—hf prose as well as his poetry ; he shows a minute and critical knowledge of h ' writings , which is rare even in this country , and gives an estimate of h ' character and genius remarkably discriminating , just , and , in some respects eve generous . According to M . Taine , 'La science immense et la logiq ue grandiose' form the basis of Milton ' s intellectual character . cc ' The facts accumulated by his erudition , " he says , " were grouped in logical order A reasoner indefatigable , he built edifices of demonstrations -whose rude foundations and solid buttresses bear witness to an energy that is no more On that foundation arose his poetry . The objects he saw were not only more numerous and better ordered than those of other men
they were far grander . The whole circle of his ideas and images , disposed in regular order , formed an immense horizon which lie embraced at a glance . . That magnificent view inspired him , he felt the emotion of the sublime , his spirit overflowed , ar id the ample river of his lyrical poetry poured from him undivided , impetuous , and splendid as a sheet of gold . " " This dominant disposition , " he proceeds , " formed his character . Resting on his logic and learning , Milton was powerful ; for the man who continually strengthens himself with solid demonstrations is able to believe , to will , and to persevere , both in his faith and practice . He is not moved with every accident , with every passion , like the facile , changeable being we call a poet . He remains firmly rooted in fixed principles , is able to embrace a cause and hold fast to it to the end , come what -may . Prom the first hour to the last , throughout his
entire course , he preserves intact the whole system of his ideas , and the logical vigour of his brain gives manly strength to bis heart . With him the serried reasoning awakens the feeling of the sublime , and grandeur is added to strength . He loves his opinions not only with constancy but with enthusiasm . He holds them to be not only true but sacred , and fights for them not only as a soldier but as a priest . He is empassioned , devout , religious , heroic . We rarely meet with such a combination of qualities ; but it exists to the full in Milton . " After illustrating this description by an analysis of his prose works , M . Taine proceeds to speak of Milton as a poet ; and quoting at the outset his owu
description of the object and aim of poetry , the true use and function of the poet , he adds : " Milton practised what he preached . The profane poems he wrote before the civil war are in praise of virtue ; the sacred poems he wrote afterwards in praise of religion . His first work is An Ode on the Nativity . His VAllegro celebrates the poetic joys of the soul . Everywhere he praises piety , chaste love , generosity , and heroic strength . He does this not as a matter of duty , but spontaneously ; the sublime was his true domain . The perception of the grand is the prevailing need and faculty of his mind . He delights to admire as Shakspeake delights to create , Swift to destroy , Spejjsek
to dream . " M . Taine then gives a minute and critical account of Milton ' s minor poems , and this is the best part of his article , showing throughout a genuine and poetical appreciation of the rich , delicate , and glowing imagination displayed in these early works . With Paradise Lost he is less satisfied . Parts of the great epic , indeed , he allows to be magnificent , but , as a whole , he not only condemns but laughs at Milton ' s greatest work . He satirizes the conduct of the poem , and gives a most amusing account of its leading characters and incidents . Adam and Eve in their intensely modern theological discussions are evidently punand his
tanic reasoners of Milton ' s own time-Colonel Hutchinson jUe . Adam , he affirms , must have passed through England before he entered tue terrestrial paradise . He must have studied respectability , and learned tue an of moral lecturing . The heroic greatness and sublime strength with irluoa tue Genius of Evil is drawn , consoles him , however , for Adam and B ^ ael s prosaic dulness . « The most beautiful object in Milton ' s paradise , he terse v says , " is hell , and in that divine epic the first place is certainly gwn to t devil . " There is . ' a good deal of absolute truth in this ; and , relatively to the critic himself , it is , at all events , only what we might naturally expect In the first place , a Frenchman has no taste for epic poems ; in the second , w nww theological dissertations ; and in the third , he specially dislikes Wvinism . How , then , can a Frenchman admire , or even fairly estimate , a Calvimstio epi :. He cannot jump from his own shadow ; and though Milton be the author , naturally satirizes it after the fashion of his nation .
Little Dorr It. Little Vorrie. By Charle...
LITTLE DORR IT . Little Vorrie . By Charles Dickena . With IUustrationa by H . ^ Jj ^^ a Evana-The completion of one of Mr . Dickens ' s monthly number ^^ j fejji * o ? critic what the termination of a year of great eventa is to the PJ "" *^ tho close of an epoch to the historian . T * e general ^^^ ff ^ thout tho perusal of the last chapter to the first chapter of some now worK v j endeavouring to harmonise and arrange thes various impresaion . andera he has derived from the whole ; but it is the duty as well as the pleas" ^ tho critio to turn the completed globe round upon its axis , ana r various lines as they converge towards tho final result . Even to mw evor , the task is not easy . There is such an affluence ot litei in « w Diokens ' s books—bo vast a range of character and obaor vatum Pf f" t , J 0 —so broad a canvas crowded with 90 many shapes and »™ a ° nt * J fl 3 effect on the mind is not so much , that of R ^^ s oyor a j \ n » f 0 (\ ° l doJ ^ o that of looking nt an epitome of life itself . If this ' ^ olves aoine my ^ of imperfection in the mwo matter of story-telhng , c al » o m ™ .,. highest ou ] ogy that gan bo pronounced on a novelist whoso espoojfti v »
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 27, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27061857/page/16/
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