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I 114 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Although the holidays ...
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We should do our utmost to encourage the...
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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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(Jrkcrs Essays On Social Scjiknok. Jjjsa...
informed mind , but no special erudition , to the illustration of the old topics ; he brings a clear , animated style , but not one of peculiar grace or felicity , such as would make commonplaces charming . Thus , Mr . Greg being neither Thinker nor Stylist , —not claiming audience in right of important views , nor in right of commanding erudition , —not treating of topics which , because they are permanent and lie somewhat out of the course of journalism , may reasonably justify a desire to rescue ' them from the oblivion of journalism , —we feel ourselves called on to protest against this re-publication , lest it be a precedent . If he was in love with his writings , and could not suffer them to remain uncollected , a cheap , unpretending , " Railway" edition might have sufficed .
Having made this protest , let us briefly indicate the contents of the two bulky volumes . In these days of sounding titles , it may be idle to question the propriety of the term " Political and Social Science" here employed , but we warn the reader that he will find no more " science" in the volumes than is contained in the negative criticism of socialism from the politico-economical point of view , —criticism often excellent and just , often oHe-sided and shallow . The one new idea , which may be regarded as Mr . Greg ' s contribution to philosophy , is the one promulgated in the opening article—viz ., that the African race is destined hy Providence to realize and make operative in European civilization the moral aspect of Christianity I It is certainly a novel idea : risum teneatis amici ? One
may accept it as the dogma of which Uncle Tom is the exemplar . Peasant-proprietorship , taxation , investments for the working classes , ^ French and English Socialism , employers and employed , the coup d ' etat in France , and the expected Ueform Bill , receive in turns the consideration of Mr . Greg . They are excellent articles ; will be admitted as excellent even by those who dissent from the opinions expressed ; they are written clearly , agreeably , earnestly ; they served their original purpose of review and newspaper article , but are essentially articles —i . e ., ephemeral . We shall tolerably indicate the tone when we add , that he speaks of our greatest prose writer as " Mr . Burke , " says that " France is KaTtf-oxqv" something or other , and thinks Mr . Alison a " fascinating historian . "
It is as a thinker , however , that we feel Mr . Greg ' s deficiencies to be greatest . A specimen or so of his reasoning on religious topics must be given . That we really cannot penetrate the " designs of Providence , " he is willing to admit : — " The wisdom of Providence is , indeed , unsearchable , and its ways past finding out . Mortal plummet cannot fathom them . Human sagacity can rarely penetrate them . The frailty of human affections cannot always acquiesce in them . " But if that be his opinion . , what may this mean ?—
" In casting our eyes over the various countries of the globe , and considering both the past history and the intrinsic qualities of their peculiar races , we cannot fail to come to th e conclusion that several of these have been destined by Providence for eai'ly extinction , and were created merely as temporary occupants to fill the void , till pushed out of existence in the fulness of time by other racea of more commanding energies and greater capacities , exhibiting a higher development of humanity , and bearing upon them the marks of a more permanent duration . " " We cannot fail" to come to this conclusion ! Let Mr . Greg be assured that we can fail , —indeed , we come to a totally different conclusion , and absolutely refuse to believe that God made races of men for the express purpose of being " merely temporary occupants to fill the void " till a better race should destroy them by brandy and bullets !
" Why , or with what object , Providence should have peopled ho many countries witli races of men destined to answer only a temporary purpose , and then to be swept away before the advancing tide of human civilization , it would bo useless in us to conjecture . That such , however , is tho plan of Providence , wo think no doubt can remain . " ' The doubt dues remain . Moreover , wo desire to know how it is , if Providence is beyond our ken , —if wo really are not taken into the " wise councils , "—we can assert so positively that we know them ? " lie this , however , as it may , everything points to the one certain conclusion , that whatever other tribes may , in the wise counsels of God , be destined to extinction , the African race is not of the number . " J ^ Lsewhere , after quoting some reflections on the slowness with which the designs of Providence are fulfilled , he sayH : — " The human heart lias , however , seldom enough depth in its philosophy , or resignation in its faith , to acquiesce contentedly in reflections such as these . Wo have a vague-, dim , haunting feeling that , however true , they are yet unsatisfactory . We cannot contemplate without , much profound awe , and something of natural regret , the arrangements of a Itoing who can watch , with calm and impassive eye , generation after generuliuii roll by , without contributing , it may be , one calculable mite towards the accomplishment ol" bis designs , and millions after millions of human creatures pass across the stage , their destiny unfulfilled , the objects of their existence unattained ; who , for six thousand years , has sent labourer after labourer into his vineyard to till tho noil and to sow the seed for a harvest Avhich still seems immeasurably remote , and in which these labourers are t . o have no participation ; in whose estimation , in u word , any lapse of earthly time , any expenditure of human existence , . seems wholly beneath consideration . The reflection unavoidably comes over us , that we too may be us they who have gone before us ; thai our fate , like theirs , may be to wander in the desert , nfar from the promised land , which is the object of our common search ; that our lot , like theirs , may be to how , nnd not , to reap . " Theso refleelioiiH arc jiiHt , und must liavo frequently formenled tho mind . But what answer Jims Mr . Crogr Thin i ' h all : — " Nevertheless , like many , doubtless , who have preceded us , we are disposed to hope for better things . Beyond all question wo do inherit something —much ¦ — from our forerunners . Tlirf ¦ world has indisputably advanced , though with steps deplorably wavering and slow ; and as we reap what the past has sown , it- in but just that we should sow what the future is to reap . We trust ,, too , that , the final harvest ih somewhat nearer than it was ; and our progress towards it . steadier , surer , and more rapid than of old . " Hurely , silence would have boon bettor than this Jaino and impotent
conclusion ! Wo select religious in preference to social topics , beoause the author of the Creed of Christendom has at any rate rejected orthodoxy , whereas the articles on Socialism are in the very sanctum of politicoeconomical orthodoxy , swearing by Malthus and competition .
I 114 The Leader. [Saturday,
I 114 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
Children's Books. Although The Holidays ...
CHILDREN'S BOOKS . Although the holidays are over , or nearly so , it may not be too late , perhaps , to say a word , which parents and guardians will do well to listen to , in favour of two or three books published by Addey & Co . Here is a translation of Grimm ' s Kinder und Hausmarchen , a book known all over the world , as a sort of " European Nights' Entertainments , " and fastened on by children of all ages with untiring avidity . These Household Stories are in two volumes , capitally illustrated by Wehnert , well translated , and nicely got up . A better book cannot be named , nor a more charming present .
The first volume of The Charm also lies in its gay binding before us . We have already spoken of this monthly magazine for boys and girls , which we can pronounce , on the very best authority ( their own ) , to be excellently adapted to juvenile curiosity ; and this volume , containing stories , descriptions of animals and foreign countries , poetry , and useful information , may be accepted as a work complete in itself . Mrs . Follen's New Nursery Songs are charming . This is a tiny volume , full of nonsense verses , and * good illustrations . The stories in Wonder Castle ( by A . F . Prere ) are pronounced wonderful enough , but we have not yet had time to read them , and add our authority to that of the young critics whom we follow .
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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 . —Goetiie .
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g || f ^ ^^ 0 rfo of ify ]^§)< ti > §|| wtrfcr $$ BY HENHY MEREITT . " Who , in contemplating one of Raphael ' s finest pictures , fresh from the master ' s hand , over bestowed a thought on . tho wretched little worm which works its destruction ?" Maria Edgewohth . CHAPTER IV . ? STANDARD PICTURES . PJI ^ II E number , variety , and condition of pictures by the Old Masters v | O | \| would seem to leave no hope of accomplishing their classification- ; Wt but , in other subjects of scientific inquiry , much greater difficulties 4 M % have been surmounted , and distinct departments prescribed . What is wanted is an analysis and classification of pictures for the use of the Restorer , to the end that he may proceed with his work with precision . Hitherto , in the absence of such a guide , his operations have been too much at the mercy of chance . It is quite possible to specify the peculiarities of certain pictures which constitute them the representatives of si class for the special purpose of the cleaner . As an illustration we will take Uacklmysen , who , as a painter of sen pieces , ranks with Vandevelde . The difference in quality of execution between these two painters is not great , but they exhibit marked dissimilarity of style . JJoth present the same subject effectively , but by a different process , as respects the manner of laying ou the colours , the pencilling , and the retention , or rejection of minutiae . Vanclevclde delights in details , and prides himself on his seamanship with all ti sailor ' s coquetry ; he individualizes the perfect model of a ship , defining and elaborating , from his familiar recollections , more than even a sailor ' s eye can seize at a glance : he supplies what distance would obscure , or storm and battle confound and obliterate . Baekhuysen , on the contrary , while he betrays no ignorance of a ship's physiognomy , is content to realize the broader and more prominent features of his subject . Baekhuy sen's ships roll heavily , and pitch deeply , and founder fearfully in the gale or in the battle . His pictures look real , and full of motion . For richness of invention , fulness ami completeness of effects , he rivals Vandevelde . Yet , perfect as is the touch of Itaekhuysen , and com plete , as are his cfleets , in minute mechanical dexterity of execution , and in delicacy of tint , ' ] 1 O is altogether exceeded by Vandevelde , who , as a portrait-painter ' of Ocean life , has no rival . Vandevelde ' s sea pictures are , in ji manner , so comprehensively expressive , that they may be said to include nil other pic .. tines of the kind . The lesson to be derived from this c ^ mpaiison is , tluifc in eleanin-r ., ; ,. _ tares by these two masters , the distinctive method of working employed by each should be fully understood , for the reason that the means and method which would safely clean a picture by Mnekhuysen , would destroy a work by Vandevelde , because of its greater delicacy and excessive minuteness . The process which would remove dirt from the more dclicjite picture , would perhaps answer in all respects for the bolder or courser . It ; must be evident that a general rule aim be drawn for the practice of restoration . In the instance of marine pictures , Hum-, examples which contain the greatest amount of refinement of execution in drawing , light , shade , and colour , must be taken as the basis of stud y . A knowledge of every picture to be operated upon is indiHpensahle , and this would be attainable l > y tins restorer making himself thoroughly acquainted with the distinctive character of the most intricate and perfect works of each class . A knowled ge of the works
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1853, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29011853/page/18/
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