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Leader (1850-1860), 5th April 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 321, Kittxatmt.

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      Untitled Article

      D ante has noticed how sheep all jump where the one who leads has jumped , though ' no obstacle be in the way ; and in Literature we are constantly reminded of the same tendency in men . Say anything boldly and it has a chance of being repeated ; if it be repeated it is immortal . There is no refuting some salient errors ; they jump and jump from mind to mind ; you may scotch them but you cannot slay them Bulwer has taken pains to destroy the belief that Bacon is the author of that eternally-quoted

      aphorism " Knowledge is Power . He assures us the phrase is nowhere to be found in Bacon . It has " been consigned to Bacon upon the mere authority of the index to his works . It is the aphor ism of the index maker , certainly not of the great master of inductive philosophy . " This is what Bulger asserts in the last number of My Novel in Blackwood j and he makes merry with those who have been simple enough to believe the

      aphorism to be Bacon ' s . We feel grateful to him for the piquant correction of a popular error , but we by no means agree with him that Bacon was the " last man in the world to have said anything so pert and so shallow . " It strikes us as being peculiarly in his sententious manner . It strikes us , moreover , that no one above the rank of a blockhead ever interpreted the aphorism in the sense which Bui / wer so elaborately answers .

      Besides Bulwer ' s novel there is in this Blackwood a delightful criticism on Southey , loving yet sagacious , making us aware of the poet's deficiencies without harshly dwelling on them . Fraser , too , is attractive this month , with a fine specimen of sustained eloquence in the criticism on Miss MARTiNEAtrand Mr . Atkinson—a singularly interesting paper on the Cloister Life of Charles V . — and one on Mozart ' s Pianoforte . The new number of the Dublin Review contains an elaborate article on

      Gfruzrer ' s Life of Gustavus Adolphusy written with Catholic bias , of course , but with greater impartiality than we expect to meet on such a subject from such a quarter . The paper on Mummeries and Superstitions in the Early Church is an erudite examination of the Sign of the Cross , against which such an outcry is senselessly made , as if the mischief of the Church of Rome lay not in its spirit

      and doctrines but in its symbols ! The writer undertakes to defend this and other mummeries by showing how they were practised by those " mighty men of old by whom the world was redeemed from the errors of a corrupt though self-reliant philosophy into the humble but saving light of Christian truth . " To us this parade of precedent is insignificant , but we do not see how those who talk of the Religion of our Fathers can resist the appeal .

      There is more matter touching the Catholic questions of the day in this review , but wo must confess to being thoroughly wearied with the whole subject , and only intimate the fact to those whom it may interest . Catholics would occupy a more dignified position if every now and then the spirit of Rome did not break forth in some gross or trivial example to warn us of the true nature of

      priesthoods . The trial of Mktairik v . Wiskman excites greater scorn , but it is not really more significant than the prohibition of Whately ' s Logic as "heretical , " a fact which is sadly ludicrous , as expressive of the tyranny tlie Church would exercise over thought , and the childish alarms which agitate it .. Whately ' s Logic in the Index Expunjatorius ! The Art of Reasoning heretical I

      We are not by many degrees ho bad as that . If we do set up our little Popes , and claim the transitory infallibility of never being in the wrong , we , at least , allow free discussion , though wo attach soino penalties . Tho header is an example . Imagine the Leader at Rome , or Madrid , or Vienna !

      The Reverend Thomas Wilson , whose eloquent and out-spoken pamphlets , Catholicity — Spiritual and Intellectual , have been mentioned moreithan once in our columns , has been forced to resign his professorship at the Ladies' College , Bedford-square ,, because he was not considered " sufficiently orthodox . " Seeing that Francis j ^ bwman has been the great pillar of that college , this sudden susceptibility of orthodoxy has given

      rise to interpretations not flattering to the council ; and it is with great pleasure we record the dignified conduct of Professor Newman on the occasion . " If , " said he , " friend Mr . Wilson is not sufficiently orthodox , then I , too , must resign , for I am still less so than he . " This was an unexpected blow , and we hear that efforts were made to avert it ; but Professor Newman was firm , and the Ladies * College has lost its most illustrious , its most effective professor .

      Untitled Article

      The third volume of Louis Blanc ' s brilliant history of the French Revolution is on the eve of publication . It contains much that is quite new and unexpected . It paints the corruptions of the court and the intrigues of the Comte de Provence ( Louis XVIII . ) in startling colours ; and it gives a new version to the history of the 5 th and 6 th of October , proving that an attack upon the people was only prevented by the timely march of the people to Versailles . We also observe the announcement of a work

      which , if only moderately well executed , will be of great interest , Dice Ans de Prison au Mont St . Michel et < fc la Citadelle de Dnullens , written by Martin Bernard , the Republican . For the rest , French Literature shows no signs of activity . A little volume , Bluettes et Boutades , par J . Petit-Senn , of Geneva , will please those who are fond of aphorisms and happy phrases ; there is not much thought in it , but great felicity of diction and some good images , e . g ., " How many Churchmen are there who make religion the pedestal of their pride rather than the basis of their conduct . '*

      Untitled Article

      SAVONAROLA IN LONDON . Orations by Father Gavazzi . D . Bog'ue . The announcement of the Orations by Father Gavazzi for sale , and only for one shilling , must have produced with many the same effect it did with us : an effect that , we have no doubt , will be felt all over the three kingdoms , far away beyond the Atlantic . If persons are known to have travelled all the way from Gloucester , from York , and Glasgow , for the express purpose of hearing the Barnabite friar , we can easily conceive with what eagerness every petty provincial stationer , book and tract seller , will be beset with orders for hundreds of thousand copies of the cheap publication .

      The book so advertised , however , does not contain the " orations" of the father , but merely the very clever extracts that had appeared weekly in the Daily News , now reprinted by permission of the said newspaper , and not only without " permission , " but even without knowledge of the orator , who was preparing both an Italian and an Knglish complete edition of his discourses , and who will thus only be able to bring his book to the market when the novelty has worn off , and when the myriads will have come to the resolution to pocket their disappointment , and to remain satislied with the shilling-worth of rhetorical quintessence that Father Prout has prepared , and Mr . Bogue has supplied .

      We will not for one moment enter into tho legality of the question ; we will not even summon the publisher before the equity court of public opinion . We wish him joy of Iris deft speculation ; and we merely Htate the facts , not that we may hope at this stage of matters to oiler any redress or consolation to the Padre for a loss which leaves him " poor indeed / ' but only that our readers may see what can be done in the broad daylight in thin land of equal rights with utter impunity .

      Father Gavnzzi \ h the man after tho Italians * hearts . We have said , in a previous article , that with the best intentions , and notwithstanding grout earnestness of conviction , Dr . Achilli ' s advances to his countrymen will always be received with coldness and suspicion , especially because ,

      notwithstanding many asseverations to the contrary , he comes to them , in the name of a foreign country and sect , as the' stipendiary agent of a foreign " alliance . " Father Gavazzi is self-8 tanding . He has risen by virtue of his own spontaneous impulse , has taken his own ground , irrespective of all extraneous considerations ; has attacked Popery in its own stronghold , and with its own weapons , and begun his mission as if Luther , Calvin , England , and Sir Culling Eardley had never existed , Italy has produced men like the father at different periods , at all periods : most of them monks , like him ; and , like him , men of no very deep learning and no

      very transcendent capacities , preachers in the enjoyment of a certain favour with the masses ; gifted with the readiness , the volubility , the furor ccecus of stump-orators . Father Gavazzi is a most magnificent specimen of the genus . We went once to the Princess * ? Concert-rooms , with a preconceived determination to have a laugh at him . There was not a little to amuse us truly ; but we were nevertheless touched , thrilled , carried away , in our very spite . We were fain to acknowledge ourselves of the crowd ; and there was something more ardent and earnest than mere admiration in our feelings for the Padre—we loved him .

      We loved his broad , firm , manly countenance , his stalwart figure , his voice of bronze , that unmistakeable energy by which nature intended him for a swayer of multitudes , —the ^ sudden flash of thought , the infinite versatility and plausibility of argument , the vividness of imagery , the artless alternation of pathos and humour , of towering passion , of withering sarcasm , the overwhelming fluency , pith , richness , volubility of language .

      Thus to read or to recite by heart—and thus to improvise—seemed to us equally impossible . We have , however , ample assurance that Father Gavazzi ' s orations are for the most part mere extempore effusions . The awful lack of strict logic , the appalling waywardness and we had almost said perverseness of argument , —the happy shifts and sallies , the unexpected resources of the orator in the most helpless intricacies , are by that mere fact satisfactorily explained .

      A perfectly terrific improvisatore he certainly is . We have seen the most admired among the popular bards that go by that name in Italy ; but greater assurance , a more perfect self-possession , a more unwearv freshness and wakefulness of mind , a readier cunning of fence to parry off difficulties , a more stubborn determination to say what the mind wills , and say it precisely as the mind wills , —a greater subserviency of the tongue to the brain we do not remember to have ever witnessed .

      There is a charm in the mere manner that no written words could ever convey . His very pauses , of half a second only , would appear like so many stratagems to make us aware of his astonishing command over his subject . He never flashes forth more glorious than when apparently at a loss what to say next . It is a trick on his part , but involuntary . Elocution is , here , an innate gift . There is not one of his gestures , even to the disdainful toss of the head , the flourishing about of the folds of his Barnabite mantle—there is nothing in all his acting—that can , for one moment , be looked upon

      as the result of study or affectation . It is only thus that he can hold forth , and not otherwise . Send the most consummate of your actors to try to catch the art of that impressive delivery , and the result of the very best imitation will make you aware that the grand secret of Gavazzi ' s power is simply nature . Ah his arguments are not always to be tested by the rules of severe logic , fio his manner is not alwayH amenable to the rigid principles of good taste . There is something wild and uncouth , which , however , few men could wish to soften or

      polish . It in something Ickh than oratory , . some thing above mere stage play . Tho . se who think bin style the mere commonplace of Franciscan preaching have no correct idea of th « peculiar character of Italian popular eloquence . Impetus , passion , fluency are common enough in that country , with monks and lawyers , poets and lecturers , players and mountebanks . But what is astonishing in the Padre , what strikes us as being quite liis , and exclusively his , in the perfect colleetedness , the thorough eoinmiind over tho very passions , on the tide of which be so confidently and exultingly

      abandons himself . Other Italian orators have something of the wildneHS of the loose barbs racing on the Corso at Rome . Gavnzzi ' N . steed can prance and curvet as bravely an tho most fiery of them all ; but it has a rider upon him who knows how to husband its forces , to give tin onward course to its bouiuLs and

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      Untitled Article

      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not makelaws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

      Untitled Article

      April 5 , 1851 . ] ffl / fce ILtaXtCX . 321 . .. - , . — .... _ . . ... _ J ___________^____— . —

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 5, 1851, page 321, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1877/page/13/