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The great topic of literary gossip just now is the new Guild of Literature and Art , started with such enthusiasm and personal sacrifice by gentlemen who have drawn out a well-considered plan for the improvement of the condition of authors . In general the response of the press has been hearty . The Times has distinguished itself by an insolent and ungenerous sneer both at the proposed
Guild , and at the gentlemen who have undertaken to write and act for it . Difference of opinion on such a subject may well exist ; but there is nothing to warrant sarcasm . Those who support the Guild will do so by voluntary gifts . No one will be forced to pay towards it . Why , then , impede the action of a charitable design , even should it not compass all that can be conceived ?
Some misconception prevails respecting the possible good such a Guild may effect . To hope that it will foster and develope Art is to close our eyes against all experience . Academies and Guilds are good for professional men ; they hurt rather than encourage Genius . Les quarante qui out de Vesprit comme quatre will never swerve from their
conventional route to recognize the eccentricity of the orbit of Genius . This is true ; but those who raise an objection upon it against the new Guild , forget that Genius is a thing excessively rare and exceptional , to be reached by no Institution , and should , therefore , be left out of consideration in the discussion of the
Guild . Besides the small exceptional class of Artists in the true sense of the word , there is at present a Fourth Estate of Literary Men , comprising talent and industry of infinite gradations , men who are incessantly employed in developing , applying , modifying , popularizing the discoveries of science , the conclusions of philosophy , and the
gathered information of research ; men who thus to a large extent may be considered as the workers of Progress ; the engines of Civilization . Of this class many are improvident because their work is precarious , many because they are errant and reckless by temperament , but many more because they have no practicable means of being provident . How worse than useless—how ruinous it is for a man of
letters to insure his life , when he is not certain from six months to six months that he can pay the premiums , and thus , perhaps , after years of saving lose all because he is not ready with one premium One of the objects of the Guild is to make men insure their lives—to give them an inducement to this in the shape of a claim upon the Guild for Membership . But , unless the Insurance Office adopts some very different system , the inducement will not be strong enough to outweigh the obvious
disadvantages . With men who can command the sum requisite to pay the premium , Insurance is an imperative duty ; with men who never know how long they can command such a sum , it is perilous . Some scheme , therefore , to meet this difficulty—some assurance to the man of letters that the amounts paid by him would not he lost in the event of his being unable to continue—seems to us indispensable to the full realization of the project . Meanwhile , it is idle to say that because the Guild will not , cannot provide for the illustrious improvident , that , therefore , it is iiNclcsa . If it
provide for a icw deserving men whom age or ill health have rendered unfit for the struggle with want—if it assist in the prosecution of some " work of noble note" which no publisher could pay for , but which a man might accomplish as an Associate , then , although it will leave England miserably behind France and Germany as respects the treatment of literary men , it will , at least , do worthy work , ^ f « 0 p » ju 8 tify the hopes of its charitable jfot ( ftjrefigfr * ' 1 yjtyH : c is nothing more impedes progress ^ i ' n ^ fi ^^ KjUent than the spirit of small objec-? tioV ^^^ Jty iftWQQselves againut a ponitive good ,
because they foresee that all the good they conceive will not be accomplished , or because there are with the good some attendant evils of minor character . Offer these men the sun , and they refuse it , because it will not warm them during the night ! ' .
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The Exhibition is not only the topic of the day , but has naturally enough absorbed almost all the Literature of the day . The two Official Catalogues must not be overlooked ; they will be historical monuments . The larger Catalogue , which is descriptive and illustrated , is a work interesting in itself . The introductory chapters give a lucid account of the story of the Exhibition , from its first conception through all the stages of its execution ; and the illustrative woodcuts will render it a delightful work to turn over hereafter , when the images have somewhat faded in our memory .
But , meanwhile , the Exhibition has stifled the Book Trade . Among those rarities , New Books , let us note Kelly ' s Journey to California as the most lirely , picturesque , and agreeable book that we have yet seen on this subject ; and Dr . Gregory ' s Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism , which promises—on a cursory inspection—to be a truly philosophical exposition of the present condition of that much-debated question as regards those who favour Animal Magnetism . We shall return to both .
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In France there is somewhat more activity . Lamartine has issued his long-talked of Tailleur de Pierre de Saint-Point—another specimen of his Village Narratives—and one we shall examine hereafter . De Ba . ra . nte , the delightful author of the History of the Burgundian Dukes , has completed a work , the title of which raises expectation :
L'Histoire de la Convention Nationale , suivie de la Biographie de la Convention , 1792-1795 . It is to be in four volumes octavo . Those familiar with his style of writing history—scribere ad narrandum non adprobandum—will be curious to see how , in treating such a subject , he can abstain from the critical function , and simply narrate the events , as much as possible , in the words of eyewitnesses .
The French Revolution forms the Literary Diggings . The mine is inexhaustible . History , Pamphlet , Memoir , Novel , Biography , Drama , Letters , Sketches—every species of Literature finds pabulum there . And , after chronicling the work by De Bakantk , it seems natural and proper to add something else on this eternal theme : it is nothing less than three volumes of Letters addressed
by Mibabeau to the Cornte I ) k i , a Makck , the devoted servant of Marie Antoinkttk . They contain the history of all Mirabeau ' s transactions with the Court : so that , at length , we shall know the actual truth of Miraiikau'h suspicious position during the last three years of his life . It was but a week or two since that the dialogue was discovered wherein Mikaheau tells the whole passionate history of his love for Sophie ; and now , from his own hand , we are to learn the history of his relation to the Court .
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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 .
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416 ® t ) i > UraDrr . t SATUHPAy >
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A It C T 1 C V O Y A ii K 8 . Sir John franklin and the Jlrclir . Heffion * : showing the Progress of British ICnternfise Jor I hi : Dircovfi 1 / of the . Nort / tfVtutl i ' assuyc during the IU / A Century . Hy 1 * . I .. HiiiiiikukIh . Ueorgu Koullwlfje and (;<>• T 11 IB is really an interesting little A'olume , coinpilopl from the works previously published on the subject , with the addition of isoine coimnuniratioiiH from Lady Franklin , Sir John Barrow , &o . It profcHscs to be no more than a compilation ; and , an such , is carefully though not very artistically executed . It contains succinct accounts of Captain IIokh ' k voyage to Hudson ' M Bay in 1 H 1 . H ; of Franklin and Iludmn ' n to Spitsbergen in 1 H 1 H ; of Franklin ' s Fir « t Land Expedition in 1 H 1 <> - * 21 ; of Parry's First Voyage in 1 H 19-20 , and Second Voyage in 1821-23 ; Lyon ' H Voyage in 1 H 24 ; Parry ' w Third Voyage in 1824-25 ; Franklin ' s Second Land Expedition in 1825-fj ; Beechey ' s Voyage to Behring'H Straits , 1826-28 ; Parry's Fourth Voyage , 1827 ; IIohs ' h Second Voyage , 1829-33 ; Back ' s Land Journey , 1833-35 ; Deane and Simpson ' H Diaeoveriea on the Coast of Arctic America ,
1836-39 ; Sir John Franklin ' s Last Expedition , 1845 ; and of all the expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin . ' , To crowd all this matter into one volume of some four hundred pages much compression has , of course , been necessary y and , as a consequence , many of these pages are dry and uninteresting : but this occasional tedium is compensated by the animation of the other parts , and by the advantage of all that
of having under the eye a succinct view has been done in the way of Arctic Discovery . The interest of some of these chapters is very great adventures , life and death struggles , ingenuity of resource , glimpses of natural history and natural phenomena , and that halo of romance which always accompanies the perils and exploits of daring travellers , give many an extractable passage , but we must be sparing : —
CRIMSON SNOW . " A singular physical feature was noticed on the part of the coast near Cape Dudley Digges : — 'We have dmcovered ( says Ross ) that the snow on the face of the cliffa presents an appearance both novel and interesting , being apparently stained or covered by some substance which gave it a deep crimson colour . This snow was penetrated in many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet by the colouring matter . ' There is nothing new , however , according to Barrow , in the discovery of red snow . Pliny , and other writers of his time , mention it . Saussure found it in various parts of the Alps ; Martin found it in Spitzbergen , and no doubt it is to be met with in most alpine regions . "
FOOD IN LIEU OF SLEEP . " In the course of this tedious , and often laborious , progress through the ice , it became necessary to keep the whole of the crew at the most fatiguing work , sometimes for several days and nights without intermission . When this was the case , an extra meal was served to them at midnight , generally of preserved meat ; and it was found that this nourishment , when the mind and body were both occupied , and the sun continually present , rendered them capable of remaining without sleep , so that they often passed three days in this manner without any visible inconvenience , returning after a meal to their labour on the ice or in the boats quite refreshed , and continuing at it without a murmur . "
THAWING OF OUB . BREATH . " The vapour , which had been in a solid state on the ship ' s sides , now thawed below , and the crew , scraping off the coating of ice , removed on the 8 th of March above a hundred bucketsfull each , containing from five to six gallons , which had accumulated in less than a month , occasioned principally from the men's breath , and the steam of victuals at meals . " A TIRE . " On the forenoon of the 24 th a flre broke out at the storehouse , ¦ which was used as an observatory . All hands proceeded to the spot to endeavour to subdue the flames , but having only snow to throw on it , and the mats with which the interior was lined being very dry , it was found impossible to extinguish it . The snow , however , covered the astronomical instruments and secured them from the fire , and when ihe roof had been pulled down the fire had burned itself out . Considerable as the fire was , its influence or heat extended but a very short distance , for several of the officers and men wtre frostbitten , and confined from their efforts for several weeks . John Smith , of the Artillery , who was Captain Sabine ' g servant , and who , together with Sergeant Martin ,
happened to be in the house at the time the fire broke out , suffered much more severely . In their anxiety to save the dipping needle , which was standing close to the stove , and of which tl . ey knew the value , they immediately ran out with it ; and Smith not having time to put on his glovt > H , bad his fingers in half an hour so benumbed , and the animation so completely suspended , that on hiH being taken on board by Mr . Edwards , and having hi . s hands plunged into a basin of cold water , the surface of the water was immediately frozen by the intense cold thuH suddenly communicated to it ; and , notwithstanding the most humane and unremitting attention paid him by the medical gentlemen , it was found neoenHary , some time after , to resort to the amputation of a part of four fingera on one hand , and three on the other . "
As a specimen of the Pleasures of an Arctic Winter , and the privations which the travellers had to endure , we extract this from the account of Franklin's First Land Expedition : — " On the morning of the fn \\ of August they came to the mouth of a river blocked up with shoals , which Franklin named after his friend and companion Back . "The time spent in exploring Arctic and Melville Soundsland Jiaihurst Inlet , and the failure of meeting : with Esquimaux fioin whom provisions could be obtained , precluded any possibility of reaching Repute Isay , and therefore having but a day or two's provision h-ft
Kranklin considered it prudent to turn back after reanhinir I ' oiiitTuriiugnin , having Hailed nearly COO geographical miles in tracing the deeply indented coast of Coronation ( iulf from Ihe Coppermine River . On the 22 nd Au Ru » t Uie return voyage was commenced , the boats making for Hood » River by the way of the Arctic Sound , and beinir taken an far up the stream an possible . On . the 31 » t it was found impossible to proceed with them farther and smaller canoes were made , suitable for crossing ai . v of the rivers that might obstruct their progress Tim weight carried by each man was about 90 lti and with 'oluu £ S- reMCd Ut th rUtC ° f * n " le aU h 0 UriH"
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 3, 1851, page 416, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1881/page/12/
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