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    dDrgnntjattmiB nf tjje *$wfitt POLITICAL AND SOCIAL.

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    Cht Atta

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    TIMON OF ATHENS . Faithful to the generous traditions of " Vivian , " who has appointed me his critique blond on occasions when he is absent , or weary , or lazy , or , as now , absorbed in congenial light reading ( you know what he calls light reading , and all I can say is , I can't pronounce the titles of the books ) , I shajl tell you at once , that I did not get to Sadler ' s Wells till the great scene between Apemantus and Timon in the fourth act . The fact is , I am of avery wine-and-walnutty disposition as the autumn draws on , and you must make allowance for a natural laziness of temperament , especially after dinner . Then I was so bold as to undertake the

    journey to Islington on foot , under a vague impression that , by striking down Gray ' s Inn-lane , I should , as a yachting friend of mine was once informed by his sailing-master , as he was running in for the Needles Passage on a foggy night , " Knock down summut soon if I held on . " I was very soon out of all reckoning ; and instead of taking proper lunarobservations , —the confession is humiliating , —I allowed myself to be direced into all sorts of impossible quarters by communicative street-boys of very diminutive frames , very shrill voices , and exceedingly composed and yet

    wideawake manners . When I reached the theatre I found in its very approaches something not merely decent and dignified , but purifying and elevating . The " genius of the place " was as of a temple devoted to Art , and not merely to Amusement . Shakspeare should certainly remove from the atrium of Drury Lane to Sadler ' s Wells . He would be far more comfortable , and less compromised , under the protection of Mr . Phelps . On reaching the boxes I found the theatre crowded with an audience not merely attentive , but intent and rapt ; and a more discriminating audience is not to be found in London . The intellectual

    aristocracy of Islington were there no doubt ; but I was struck with the demeanour of the mechanics in the pit and in the gallery . They thoroughly understood every word ; they caught at every fine thought and subtle allusion : many of them followed the scene with the book . All this may be the derision or the despair of the fast school ; I am not an exclusive dramatic legitimist , nor do I very keenly enjoy your modern Elizabethan five-act plays ; but it was refreshing to me to find that there were still believers in " glorious Villiams , " as French critics call him , and an

    audience capable of soaring above extravaganzas which extravagate extravagance itself . As I purpose another pilgrimage of love to Timon of Athens at Sadler ' s Wells , I defer speaking critically till next week . I content myself with advising all who can , to go and sec this fine play , admirably put on the stage with that reverent and thoughtful care displayed in all the accessories , winch has always marked the productions of Mr . Phelps . The scene between Apemantus and Timon was most effectively rendered by George Bennett and Phelps ; the reading was scholarly and refined . In the last act I had an opportunity of observing how strongly all the subordinate parts were filled , for there is no * starring " Sadler ' s Wells . What has often made Shakspeare tedious is the great number of small characters not inadequately but ridiculously represented . JJut O ! ye doubters , what grand passages there are in this Timon ! What though Is clothed in what a diction ! Hear this on life and death : — " My long sickness Of health , and living , now begins to mend , And nothing briny a me all thinys . " What a solemn sweep , too , in this passage : —• " Timon hath made his everlasting mansion Upon the beached verge of the Halt flood ; Which once a day with his embossed froth The turbulent tsurgo Hhall cover . " The last scenes were cleverly managed to consult spectacular tastes , by a dioramic tiled passing from the city to the sea shore , -with a noble glancing sunset sheen . I wish our French critics , when they visit London , would pay a visit to Sadler ' s Wells in preference to the hlood-andthiindcr atrocities of the Victoria , which do not precisely rep resent the Knglish drama , any more I ban fogs and porter our national existence . So for the present , with best wishes to Mr . Phelps , the " unacknowledged legislator" of Islington , I re main , sans adieu , Le Chat II uant .

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    COOPERATIVE STORES AND THEIR ORGANIZATION . The first cooperators have perhaps never realized their professions . Those Stores , now the most successful and satisfactory , disappointed their first customers . How could it be otherwise ? Beginning with a small capital they could lay in only a small stock , and that not always of the best quality . Then their first sales heing few and far between , the quality of the goods , deteriorated by time , did not always answer the expectation of customers , who commonly began by expecting a better as well as a cheaper article , Then those appointed to "buy in" in the first instances , are not always the best persons . They may want judgment , they may want practice , they may want knowledge of particular articles . But as a new Store is seldom rich it cannot afford to throw away what has been bought injudiciously , or at disadvantage : it must be sold : and those who come to a new Cooperative Store , just by way of giving it a trial , are always the persons who happen to get these articles ; and who , in no wise reflecting upon the difficulties which always beset new beginners in business ( difficulties from which Cooperative Societies enjoy no natural exemption ) , spread an unfavourable opinion around them . I have known many cases of those who ought to have known better , and to have done better , who have withdrawn their custom on these accounts . It is too much to expect either

    better articles or cheaper articles at first . Time must be given for the system to develope itself , which sooner or later it does , and proves an advantage to all who deal at such Stores . The Rochdale Cooperatives sold worse groceries than their competitive neighbours at one short period , and so have Stores nearer the metropolis , and of greater pretensions . The Leeds Flour Mill ( confessedly so effective now ) did not , without any exception , supply from the first , the best quality of flour ; but the capacity of these Associations to compete with , as respects quality and cheapness , and to exceed in advantages to purchasers all competitive dealers around them , has been demonstrated . Let those , then , who wish Cooperative Stores to succeed , give them a Trial , give them Time , and a liberal opinion .

    One ought here to observe that the difficulties adverted to , under which Cooperative Stores have hitherto , in so many cases , laboured , will be obviated by the Central Cooperative Agency of London , of which Organization mention has already been made in this journal , an Organization conducted by the firm of Lechevalier , Jones , and Woodin . Lechevalier being a devising , Woodin an executing , and Jones a species of speaking partner , than whom no more suitable person could be found to undertake that indispensable office . Mr . Lloyd Jones ' s

    functions chiefly at this time lie in the provinces . Presiding over a Branch of the Agency in Manchester , he visits various places , extending his tours as far even as Scotland , to afford to the public that explanation necessary for them to lend their aid , and to Stores that instruction needful for their guidance . The Central Agency in London is able by its comprehensive dealings , to supply to the youngest Stores the best articles , and at the fairest prices , furnishing as it were the buying talent so difficult to find in many places , to all Stores who put themselves into business communication with it .

    Of whatever advantage , and it is incalculable , which the Central Agency—in its development—will afford to the growing Union of Cooperative Stores , of no less moment will be itn value to the purchasing poor . Where now can they go , being sure that they will not have supplied to them deleterious and adulterated articles ? The recent exposures made in public Journals , Medical Reviews , and in Parliament , show the impossibility of the working-classes being nble to buy pure food , ?" . c . food which they shall know to be pure , from tradesmen whom they can trust . The multitude of small tradesmen in all places doubtless intend to keep good faith with their customers ; but they cannot do it unless they can command so much capita ] as will enable them to go to the first markets and helect for themselves . The rich man who

    can order his Wine from Bordeaux or Madeirn , or who can give orders so largo that wholesale houses will supply him , can consciously wepure himself the cheap and genuine article . And out of wholesale houses only the well informed commercially , or through business relations , are able to select the reputable . The working-chum nro again out of the way of all tin ' s , both as respects means and knowledge , and to them a Central Cooperative Agency becomes a moral guarantee of the highest importance , and doubtless the day will come when muny tradesmen will do what private , gentlemen are now doingorder their goods of that Agency—as th : it firm will become a moral guarantee to the customers of tradesmen who deul with them , that the articles they buy of such tradesmen are . genuine and wholesome . Yet for this Central Agency to act efficiently , it

    is needful that it be widely supported , and it is the interest of all that it should be supported . " What it offers to do no other firm offers in the same sense or the same spirit ; and if this opportunity should p ass away , it may not be soon repeated . But not alone in the respect of purity of food is this Central Agency a sourse of public improvement . It is not only honest but it does notpuff " , and that is an intellectual benefit ' which deserves some public acknowledgement ; but of this I shall speak in another letter . Ion

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    • National Charter Association . —At the usual weekly meeting of ¦ the Executive , the final rep ort from Mr . Ernest Jones was read . He visited Sheffield on the 9 th , and afterwards went to Newport Pagnell , in Bucks , and North Crawley . Upon the whole , he thinks the experience gleaned during the tour of a most encouraging character . Notwithstanding the inactivity , the neglect in suhscribing funds and organising , it is evident that a democratic under-current is at work beneath lhe surface , waiting but for the coming commercial crisis to arise , to roll its waves in the broad agitation of a Chartist movement . Now , indeed , there is little action—but there is all the more thought . In the agricultural districts he believes the movement once begun would spread with the rapidity of fire . A special meeting of the Executive has been called for the 24 th . of February . Redemption Society . —The rules for -the manag e * ment of a cooperative store , in connection with the society , are now prepared , and will be brought before a special meeting of the members on Wednesday evening , September 24 , when it is hoped that they will be adopted , and immediate steps taken to carry out the scheme . Moneys received for the week : —Leeds , £ 1 Is . Id . Newcastle , per Mr . Johnson , £ 1 Is . 2 d . Building Fund : —Leeds , 9 s .: Newcastle , 3 s . 9 d . Propagandist Fund , 2 s . 2 d . —J . Henderson , Sec .

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    CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT MIRACLES . September 10 , 1851 . Sir , —The Times , which for the nonce appears to have entered into a holy alliance with Exeter Hwl . has been recently very facetious at the expense or Popish miracles and Father Newman ' s logic . Now , it appears to me that the formal logic of Popery is absolutely unassailable on the grounds taken by tno writer in the Times , and that the Birmingham doctor has really succeeded in placing the advocates ot our popular Protestantism on the horns of a dilemma . The same good people who cheer the No-1 opery

    orators on the platform , grow warm at the eloquence of Dr . Cumming , and chuckle over the delicate banter of the Times , in discussing the pretensions oi winking Madonnas and bleeding p ictures , sit q " J in their pews , and listen with devout attention to tno miraculous elocution of Balaam ' s ass . They believo that the whale swallowed Jonas , and would no aouoi , believe , if the Church so taught ( for it is on ino authority of the Church , and not on the author ay their reason , that they believe these things ; , Jonas Hwallowed the whale ! credu

    Now , what is the real difference between the - lity of the orthodox Protestant and the ortnou Papist in these matters ? The Papist bell y " miracle attested by living men and women , ana » to have occurred in his own time . ' ? lr 400 o believes it miracle said to have occurred Borne years ago , and attested by traditional and urit , testimony . Tho two nets of miracles are V ° ™ W equally purposeless , and the testimony in each case least equally suspieiouH - except that it is nor W ^ fMiHv to ttxnosu a fraud 4000 years old as a fraud oiy

    U-rday . it is quite clear' that tho exerciae , <» u reasoning faculties will lead equally to tne rcj . of the Protestant and lhe 1 ' opish miracles ; and ti if they are believed at all either by y ™/ ? to " * Papiste , it must be on the authority of their flew

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    [ IN THI 8 DEPARTMENT , AS ALL OPINIONS , HOWEVER EXTREME , AUK ALLOWED AN EXrRE 88 ION , THE EDITOR NS 0 E 8 SABILY HOLDS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOE NONE . ]

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    There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and has judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable lor him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable tor his adversary to write . — Milton .

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 20, 1851, page 902, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1901/page/18/