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Leader (1850-1860), 13th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 378, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      So decide whether they arise from his prejudices or want > f knowledge of the subject on which he is speaking . In iither case that spirit of candour is wanting m which ¦ done so important a subject should be approached . The iame may be said of his by-blow at Socialism . Mr . Hughes , as a minister of Christianity , ought to know that the doctrine he so summarily condemns was held in all its fulness by the Church of which he is a minister , in its days of infant purity and strength , before it was contaminated and degraded by contact and alliance with a selfish and corrupted world . Bather than join the cry against those who would restore the primitive practice of the Church , he should recognise the faith which animates and the constancy which sustains them , and if he cannot cooperate with them he should , at all events ,

      hesitate to condemn . A Career in the Commons ; or Letters to a Young Member of Parliament on the Conduct and Principles necessary to constitute him an enlightened and efficient Representative . By William Lockey Harle . Longman and Co . In a plain straightforward style Mr . Harle here sets forth the duties of an M . P ., which are no longer so limited as they used to be when the privilege of franking letters and " dropping in" to a debate , with the effort of occasional eloquence , formed the staple of an ordinary

      member ' s work , but have become really arduous duties which call forth the whole energy of the man ; but Mr . Harle has done more than merely sketch the programme of such a career , he has added discussion on the principal topics of the day , and has conducted them in a sincere , sensible , suggestive manner ; mingling with them some rapid criticisms on the more eminent men of the day . It is an useful book ; useful to those who are members ; useful to those who are about to become members ; and useful to those who take any interest in the actual working of Parliament .

      Untitled Article

      Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art in drencester , the Site of the Ancient Corinium . By Professor Buckman , F . L . S ., F . G . S ., &c , and C . H . Newmarch , Esq . George Bell . Hearts in Mortmain and Cornelia . John Chapman . Religious Mystery Considered . John Chapman . The Imperial Cyclopcedia . ( The Cyclopaedia of Geography . ) Part 111 . Birmingham to Buckinghamshire . Charles Knight . Half Hours with the Best Authors . Part III . Charles Knight . Pictorial Half Hours . Part II . Charles Knight . The Man who Eloped with His Own Wife . By Lieutenant-Colonel Hort , Author of " The Horse Guards , " " The Days when We hadTails on Us . " With Three Coloured Illustrations , etched on Steel , by Alfred Ashley . J . and D . A . Darling . The Free TJiinleer * s Magazine and Review of Theology , Politics , and Literature , No . 2 . James Watson .

      The Hebrew Cosmogony and Modern Interpretations . John Chapman .

      Untitled Article

      NOTES AND EXTRACTS . The Foua Characteristics . — The Hebrew was mighty by the power of faith , the Greek by knowledge and art , the Roman by arms ; but the might of the modern man is placed in work . This is shown by the peculiar pride of each . The pride of the Hebrew was in religion , the pride of the Greek was in wisdom , the pride of the Roman was in power , the pride of the modern man is placed in wealth . —Reverend Henry Giles . Sunday is not the Jewish Sabbath . —If there be persons who believe the Sabbath was not abolished by Christ , they are bound to keep it as the Jews kept it . As Paley observes , " If the command by which the Sabbath

      was instituted , be binding upon Christians , it must bind as to the day , the duties , and the penalty , in none of which is it received . " In this view we could neither light a fire nor cook meat , on the Sabbath , without rendering ourselves liable to the punishment of death . It would be endless to cite earl y writers on the subject . Justin Martyr , Iren « us , Tertullian , were of opinion that the Sabbath was a special ordinance confined to the Jews . Origen condemns the observation of all festivals . He says , ' To the good man every day is a Lord ' s day . " St . Chrysostom says , that after the congregation is dismissed on Sunday every man might apply himself to his

      lawful business . St . Athanasius and St . Augustine may also be quoted against the observance of Sunday as a particular day par excellence . Calvin , too , held strong opinions on the " gross and carnal superstition of Sabbathism ; " and used to play at balls with the boys on Sunday afternoon , at Geneva , in order to exhibit an example of the use of Christian liberty . Jeremy Taylor says , the Lord ' s day did not succeed in the place of the Sabbath ; but that the Sabbath was wholly abrogated , nnd that the Lord ' s day was merely of ecclesiastical institution . Cranmer , Tyndal , Luther , Knox , Milton , Robert Barclay ; and , in modern times , Arnold , VVhately , Baden Powell , and numerous other eminent divines , and learned men , all agree that there is no divine authority for observing Sunday . —The Post-office and the Sabbath Question .

      The Puess above the Pulpit . —For a century now , and with vast accelerated force of late , has the press been confronting the pulpit in every walk of life , both secular and religious , until it has become the stronger of the twain , and the press is now the church of the nineteenth century . All matters of dispute , public or private ; all the crotchets and conceits of unsettled stomachs ; all the bursting cries and rapt , ecstatic reveries of the earnest and the spiritualized find utterance by a natural process through the press . More convictions arc sent home to the minds of men through the press—more resolutions influencing the destinies of the individual are formed by its influence in one month thnn by the pulpit preachings of a year . What is the inilnenco the most popular divine possesses to the influence of the London Times ? What is the influence of Archbishop Whately preaching at St . Patrick's —of Dr . Vaughaa preaching at Manchester—to Richard

      Whately issuing books from the London press , and Robert Vaughan editing the British Quarterly Review t To such a Popedom has literature elevated itself ; but , as yet , its followers have not risen a la hauteur . They have battled with the pulpit for influence ; they have gained and appropriated the influence it possessed ; but they have very quietly said nothing about the responsibilities they themselves very zealously attached to that pulpit influence . —Social Aspects , by J . S . Smith . Feudalism and Trade . —Trade was the strong man that broke feudalism down , and raised a new and unknown power in its place . It is a new agent in the world , and one of great function ; it is a very intellectual force . This displaces physical strength , and instals computation , combination , information , science , in its room . It calls out all force of a certain kind that slumbered in the former dynasties . It is now in the midst of its career . Feudalism is not ended yet . Our governments still partake largely of that element . Trade goes to make the governments insignificant , and to bring every kind of faculty of every individual that can in any manner serve any person , on sale . Instead of a huge army and navy , and executive departments , it tendsto convert government into a bureau of intelligence , an intelligence office , where every man may find what he wishes to buy , and expose what he has to sell , not only produce and manufactures , but art , skill , and intellectual and moral values . —Ralph Waldo Emerson .

      Untitled Article

      THE LYRIC DRAMA . Last Saturday Otello was revived at Covent Garden , -with a powerful cast , and magnificent appointments . It is not one of Rossini ' s great operas , but how full of life , movement , and dramatic passion it is ! how full of the " warm south . ! " how transcendently superior in its prodigality of beauty , of melodious grace and fire , to the so-called dramatic operas of the " new school ! " Pedants will tell you that it is not Shaksperian . We tell you that the difference between Othello and Otello is little more than is implied in the difference between the northern and the

      southern genius ; because , although Otello does not rank , even among Rossini ' s works , on a level with that tragic masterpiece which , transcends all that the world has yet seen in the dramatic form , and cannot therefore fairly be compared with it as a product of genius , yet is it so instinct with the true dramatic spirit , so fervent with emotion , so riotous in beauty , caprice , movement , variety , so large in its outlines yet so exquisite in details , so careless , and so unpedantic , that you feel it is in elemental passion a worthy musical interpretation of a great dramatic work . But it is not like Shakspeare ! Oh , no ; not in the lon . st . We r . milrl fill an easv column bv uointine out

      the dissimilarity . , gay gourmanu anu most careless of inspired men , never thought of Shakspeare ; probably had never heard of him ; certainly never troubled himself about our chcf-d ' a ; uvre . But he had just written II Barbiere , ( a six weeks ' product which will last six centuries !) and in the full tide of success , animal spirits , and delight at having enraptured his public and having invented a new salad ! he sat down to the libretto placed before him , " confident as is the falcon ' s flight , " pouring forth melodious ideas as they rose singing in his mind , quietly appropriating the ideas of others or of his own previously put forth , whenever he wanted them , careless of repetition , careless even of mannerism , careful only of impregnating his work

      with , true passion in all the great situations , and producing a work which will outlive the noise and clang of hundreds of ambitious new school" operas . Is not this after all a more Shakspearean work than , five hundred Tempestas crowded into one ? Has it not the Shakspearean essentials , viz ., passion , dramatic life , beauty , grace , caprice ? It was impossible to listen to it on Saturday without feeling that a great maestro was discoursing to us . The execution was very satisfactory . Grisi was in finer voice than we have heard her for some years ; and , although her acting in . the earlier scenes was somewhat clumsy and unideal , occasionally verging upon the style of a distracted housekeeper , and by no means recalling that

      " Gentle lady married to the Moor , " yet in the passionate scenes of the second and third acts " Grisi was herself again , " singing and acting with immense energy . We never heard her singing the graceful Assisa al pti d ' un salicevtith . more truthful pathos ; but the lovely prayer , Deh ! cabna O ciel ! though perfectly given in some passages , was disfigured by some variations totally unwarrantable , as the music happens to be exquisitely expressive in its simplicity . Since Donzclli we have had no good " Otello" till SignorTamberlik , whose energetic style

      and tremendous voice—especially in the opening . Ah ! si per voi , and in the duet with Ronconi , called forth enthusiastic plaudits . Tamberlik is superior to the race of Young Italy tenors in his capacity for singing with ease the florid music of Rossini , whereas they can do little but declaim ; at the same time he has all their energy and force ; and the astonishing power of his voice , which is almost entirely chest voice , and seems to gain in intensity of vibration in proportion as it rises into altitudes where other tenors

      warble , makes his declamation triumphant . His great vice is the tremulousness first introduced by Rubini and since imitated ad nauseam by the tenors and violinists . But he is a fine singer , and in parts like " Otello" has no rival . Ronconi played t he small part of " Iago" like a consummate artist as he is : indeed , we have never seen " Iago " played on the English stage—with Young and Macready in our memory—in a manner so thoroughly cold , cruel , diabolical , and yet not ruffianly . The tones of his voice , the calm superiority and intellectual coldness of his look , the cat-like cruelty of his face while watching the effect of his treason , and the pregnancy of terror in his simple Ascoltami , made our blood run cold . Maralti , as " Rodrigo " was a little out of tune at first , but on the whole sang with spirit and effect . The exquisite strain of * ' The Gondoliere "

      ( Dante ' s words , in the story of Rimini , " Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice nella miseria" ) , we are sorry to say , passed without even a bravo ! On Tuesday we were disappointed in not hearing Madame Martinez ( the " Black Malibran , " as Mr . Lumley ' s bill with inconceivable vulgarity styles her ) , as the theatre was closed on account of the Duke of Cambridge ' s death .

      On Thursday the remains of that grand artist , Pasta , were made a painful exhibition in one act of Anna Bolena . Deeply as we grieve that circumstances should have made it necessary for her once more to appear upon those boards her genius had so often graced , we cannot but feel that some other mode might have been adopted which would have spared the melancholy spectacle of ravages which Time has made upon that which once was very nearly perfect . To see a woman who has been lovely , and who still retains traces enough in her features to make you

      lend an easy ear to those who , having known her in her prime , speak of it with deep entbusiam , —to see her dressing still " for effect , " taking the harp into her graceful embrace , and otherwise announcing that she is arrayed for conquest , is a sad , a pitiable , when not a ridiculous spectacle . In the same way to see a great artist , whom we remember in her splendour , now coming forward in a famous part with all the terrible disadvantages of age and disuse , is a spectacle altogether saddening . Let us hope it will not be repeated .

      Untitled Article

      RACHEL AND HER ADMIRERS . The performance of Polyeucte gave the audience an opportunity of estimating the immense superiority of Racine over Corneille . This opinion would be heresy in France , for there the soldatesque swagger of Corneille rouses men to transports ; but in England most unprejudiced minds will prefer the passionate poetry of Racine , instinct with life and emotion , to the lawyer-like poetry of Corneille , always casuistical when it should be emotive , always hard , abrupt , and grandiloquent . There are , it is truemagnificent passages in Corneille ; and a virile

      , spirit animates his dramas , which made the great Conde say that his was the true language of heroes ; but , tiresome to read , his plays are to us generally insupportable on the stage . Polyeucte is a favourite play ; and the subject is capable of great tragic collision ; but Corneille makes the collision more a matter of argument than of passion . Rachel , however , is so masterly an actress that her scenes were interesting ; and the closing burst , when , baptized in the blood of her martyred husband , she becomes a Christian , was delivered with terrific power ; her utterance of

      " Son sang , dont tes bourreaux viennent de me couvnr M ' a dessillC les yeux , et me les vient d ' ouvrir . Je vois . je sais , je giiois 1 " especially the last line , with its mounting exultation and radiant glory , her face lighted up with a fervour which was irresistible , her whole frame convulsed with fanaticism , produced such an effect upon the audience as we have seldom witnessed , and they burst forth into applause which lasted some minutes . After that word je crois everything must be an anticlimax ; yet she managed to produce another effect , also very powerful , by the close of her speech , in which she raised her arms to heaven , while her face breathed such fervent aspiration that she seemed like a martyr welcoming death as the portal through like

      which to pass into heaven . It may look an exaggeration , but we assure you it was well worth the price of admission and sitting out five acts of Corneille to hear that one word je crois ! One of Voltaire ' s notes on this play we must touch upon , as we last week had a laugh at the accuracy with which Frenchmen spell English . On the word " oyez ho used at th

      notes that it is now no longer except e Bar ; but the English have preserved it- " les hmssiers disent oiss , sans savoir ce qu us disent I wno would suspect oiss to be oyes ? . . « Rachel also appeared on the same evening in a one act classical comedy , Le Xloincau de Lesbic , an agreeable trifle enough , but more French than Roman . Every one remembers the ode of Catullus" Lugete , d VenereB , Cupidinesque "one of the pretty delicate bits of sentiment with which he occasionally varies the dirt that soils iob

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      Untitled Article

      378 &fyt ^ Leatxet * [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 378, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/18/