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Leader (1850-1860), 24th April 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 397, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      To metap hysical readers the announcement of Sir William Hamilton ' s Discussions on Philosophy , Literature , and University Reform , mil be welcome news . These essays , long known to the philosophical world , and already collected and translated in France and Italy , Sir William has heen urged to collect and repuhlish , for the convenience of all students . He has done so now . On a future occasion we shall notice them at length ; it is merely as literary news that we announce the volume now . Men , who having lost all anchorage of traditional belief , and who nevertheless feel

      within them a self-determination towards paramount and regulating principles , cling to the visionary hope that Metaphysical speculation may yet wrest the secret from the Universe ; and even among those who share no such hope , but feel the helplessness of all attempts , there are some willing to encourage metaphysics as ' * intellectual gymnastics . " To the latter , jjamilton "will be invaluable . His pages are the training school for Athletes . In these days of second-hand erudition , his pages are marvellous for the extent , variety , and originality of the citations .

      Apropos of second-hand erudition , weak as it is , there is much to be said in ' its defence ; provided it be not dishonestly used . Pascal , some-r where in Les Provinciates , alludes .. to having been twitted with the citation of authors he had never read , and replies , " It is quite true that I have not read all the books I have cited , or I should have passed a great part of my life in reading very bad books V The edge of the sarcasm will be turned > unless we remember the kind , of books he repudiates having wasted his life upon .

      Untitled Article

      Except that Professor Nichol is at last about to bring out his Travels in America ^ ^ and .. 'Mr ' '' ST . ] : iRi . iNiG , a work on the Cloister Life of Charles V , gossip has nothing tO / circulate . The Bookselling Systeni is the literary topic j and unless the voice of authors , aided by the obvious interests of the public , be impotent , we may conclude the question as good as settled . Only one remark we pause to make . The strongest point in the Protectionist defence lies , as usual , in an epithet , and the epithet -is " underselling / ' Those who declare the discount allowed to the trade to be disproportionately large , are sneeringly termed ^ undersellers ; " and as the public instinct rises up against " underselling , '' the assailants of the old system appear in a false light . Now the object of those who agitate for a new arrangement , is not to agitate for the privilege of underselling , but for the privilege of not paying forty per cent , porterage upon all books .

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      Granier de . Cassagnac , long known to France as an impudent , unveracious , reckless journalist and critic , anxious to " make noise , " were it even by firing a pistol in the air , and so attract attention to himself , has become , a " personage" sincp the blessed Restoration ( that , namely , of Religion , Property , and the Family—Oh ! above all , the Family !); and this prominence has induced the republication of some critical essays written in his obscurer days . He calls them , by an involuntary irony ,

      CEuvres Litt 4 raires : if these are his literary works , wfyat are his other works ? The volume contains articles on Chateaubriand , Lamennais , Lacordaire , Corneille , and Racine , Dumas , Hugo , &c , &l \ written in the brilliant style of French journalism—the fireworks of literature ! Cassagnac is always on the side of paradox , and the Romantic School finds in him a headlong advocate , as Louis Napoleon finds him an unscrupulous tool .

      Since the loved name of Louis Napoleon falls from our pen , we may record here the anagram on that name which now amuses Paris ; after the Honor est a Nilo of IJqratiq Nelson—after the Un Corse voUleflnira of La Revolution Franpaise—may certainly be placed this anagram on Louis Napoleon Bonaparte : Ni plat et polisson ; bon a Her ou a pendre 1 ( " Born a brute and a blackguard ; fit for chains or the gallows . " )

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      THE FASCINATION OF CRIME . Narratives from . Criminal Trials in Scotland . By John Hill Burton , author of Life of David Sumo , &c . Two vole . Chapman and Hall . Wiijbuisin consists the deep , irrepressible interest felt l > y all , high and low , literate and illiteratp , bravo and timid , healthy and morbid , in the recitals of crimes that disgrace humanity , and make the heart ache with pity P Wherein lies this fascination of crimo P Delicate women who faint at tho sight of blood , and eontlo mon . who cannot witness any act of brutality without disgust , are found eagerly reading all tjio details—the prosaic

      and disgusting details—of tholast " shocking murder ; " and next to a groat hero in tho excitement of an , ovation , thoro is no one gathers to such a focus of admiration all tho eyes and minda of people , a » a great criminal on his trial . No groat Artist over roused such deep and feverish anxiety . A wretched brute , whoso very stupidity , perhaps , is tho main cause of the atrocity of his crime , suddenly finds himself the " cynosure of neighbouring eyes , " because his passions have found , issue in a vengeance more " shocking" in its details than the daily murdors are .

      Something of this is traceable in tho profound romark of Goethe , that lio never road or hoard of any crimo , no matter how atrocious , t / ho j .. ought of which had not , at some time , passod through his mind , as a diabolic suggestion pf an act . Wo believe this to bo true of tho most virtuous . The diffprenco between tho virtuous and tho vicious consists in tae suggestion as a passing thought , and the suggestion as an abiding

      thought , realized in act . In the criminal , the ' . suggestion- is taken up and viewed as a simple means to an end—it is isolated from all relations of circumstance and feeling , which form consequences and conscience , and being thus isolated is acted upon ; whereas , in a larger mind the relations which this act bears to all circumstances , and to the whole moral being , render it so repugnant ! that it is rejected . Hence Socrates could say , with considerable truth / that [ Vice was Ignorance ; if we could ¦ " " See , as . from a tower , the end of all , " , we should never he criminal .

      In the recital of some criminal action , then , we recognise within ourselves a something which betrays a dim possibility of our committing that deed under temptation . The criminal is felt to be a brother . We are startled at Seeing " as in a glass darkly" a fearful reflection of the worst parts of ourselves ; and this snatches hold of our interest , and forces us through all the details of the history . But beyond that dim feeling of intimate connexity ; with the prisoner at the bar , there comes also into play the natural n \ xma , n appetite for emotion , which makes the " luxury of woe , " and which gives to sorrows a keen edge of pleasure unsuspected by the bystander . A fire—a wreck— -a murder—a domestic brawlwhatever it may be that calls the emotions into play , is thereby a source

      of gratification ; and women , who are far more emotive than , men , are notoriously " fond of scenes , " because in " scenes" their emotional activity is called forth . A great crime makes us shudder ; and we like shuddering . The horrible details haunt a terrified imagination ; and the greater the terror the more exquisite the delight . Such appear to us , briefly stated , to be the two main sources of the fascination of criminal stories . Every new contribution to the literature of crime , therefore , may be certain of attention ; and Mr . Hill Burton ' s volumes will not need the adventitious aid of reviewers to secure a public . For the sake of our readers , however , we will briefly indicate the nature of these Criminal Trials of Scotland . The work is no Scottish Newgate Calendar . Crimes there are , of course ; but the crimes are not selected for their own sake , so muck as for the sake of illustrating history .

      Mr . Burton has well chosen his task , and executed it with felicity and care . By a skilful mixture of history and moral reflection with the narratives found in old archives and undisturbed collections , he has produced volumes that have the abiding interest of fiction , with the far-reaching suggestivenesa of historical thought . With the picture of / barbaric existence painted by Mm in his opening section , Proceedings against the Clan Gregor , the thoughtful reader will be delighted and , indeed , throughout , the materials for reflection are abundant . The criticism and reflection introduced' by Mr . Burton are always spontaneous , and to the purpose . The narratives are well told , often in the words" of contemporaries ; while the variety of the subjects prevents the reader ' s interest from failing . We shall , in a future article , describe more in detail the contents of these volumes : meanwhile , we will extract this characteristic

      STORY OF THE FIBE OF FKENDBiLTTGHT . " Gordon of Rothiemay having estates which , heing contiguous to those of Crichton , had to bear all the evils of a frontier territory , there were conflicts in the law courts , followed out by hand-to-hand battles with broadsword and matchlock . One of these engagements took place in 1630 , and was fought with great obstinacy . . Rothiemay was mortally wounded , and only survived for a fewdays . The relations of the slain man made arrangements for talcing signal vengeance ; and in addition to their own followers , they obtained the aid of a kind of mercenary soldiery , ready at that time for any service in any part of the worldthe Highland freebooters , of whom 200 well armed , were encamped round the house of Rothiernay , under two renowned robher chieftains named Grant , against whom the law had in vaui heen fulminating for years together . The head of the Gordons , however , the Marquis of Huntly , and his relation , Sir Ilobert Gordon , used all their efforts to arrest tho threatened ' harrying / as it was termed , of the

      territory of the Crichtons . Thoy were unusually successful in producing , at least , an apparent reconciliation , ' and so all parties having shaken hands in the orchard pf Strathbogie , thoy were heartily reconciled / " Tho Crichtons agreed to pay a sum of 50 , 000 merks to Rothiemay ' a widow ' in composition of the slaughter . ' A follower or client of Crichton , culled John Meldram , of Rcdhil ) , had heen wounded in tho fray with Rothicmay . He expected some reward for his services , which ho did not ohtain , and took umbrage at his chipf . For a gentleman of landed property his method of seeking redress would in tho present day he considered somewhat strange . ' Whereupon , John Meldrum cometh secretly , under silenco of tho night , to tho park of Frondraught , and conveyeth away two of Frondraught ' s best horses . Frendraught takoth this lightly , and calloth John Mcldrum befovo the justice for theft . Ho turneth rebel , and dpth not appear . ' Ho was sheltered in the strong fortalico of his brother-in-law ,

      Leslio of Pitcaplc . Frendraught mid his relation , Crichtqn of Conland , met by accident tho son of Leslie of Pitcaple , and high words passed about tho sheltering of Moldrum . In tho middle of the dispute Crichton of Conland drew fprth a pistol , and shot young Leslio . Thus out of a family who hud been their \ va"'m friends , tho Crichtons made bitter feudal enemies . Frendraught , alarmed apparently ut his position , appeared desirous to conciliate tho Gordons , and asked the Marquis of Huntly to use his influence to heal tho feud with the Leslies . But young Leslio was lying in his father ' s hull between life and death , and a reconciliation undor such circumstances was impossible . Frondraught had urged his suit when on a visit to Huntly ' h castle , and the chivalrous chief of tho Gordons wus desirous that ho should , ut all events , bo sufo in returning from tho custlo of Stratjibogio to his own homo ; a very unlijcoly consummation , ninco an armed . band of tho Leslies were oh the * watch to waylay him . Huntly , after having entertained him for a few days , sont his son , Lord Aboyno , and tho young Laird of Itothionmy

      aB his escorts . _ " Whim thoy reached Frendraught , they wero desired to remain thoro and partake of its hospitalities . The Lady Frondraught was especially mixioun that thoy should seal tho abandonment of tho old feud between tho Gordons and the CrichtonH in conviviality . In tho words of an old ballad : . " When steeds woro saddled and well bridled And ready for to ride ; Then out camo aliq and false- Frondruugut , Inviting them to bido .

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      Untitled Article

      r- ^ Hes ar e not the legislators , but tlie judges ana police of literature . They do not " ^ make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Jteview .

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      ji ^ i ^^ LEADtl ¦; , ; . ' ; ; : ; ' ; ; :.-|| | , , ..

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1852, page 397, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1932/page/17/