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given up to a party of paid murderers . It was a combination of private vengeance and public condemnation such as the world had never seen since the days of Sulla ' s proscriptions . To repress the horrors arising from civil war was the final cause which had built the moral foundation of the monarchy / In this act it forgot its historical origin , and made common cause with the very party whose hatred it should have controlled ; its traces were lost altogether in these orgies of blood . " Oral orders , which were carried from town to town with the swiftness of the wind , authorized the rage of fanaticism everywhere . According to the most moderate calculations there fell two thousand persons in Paris alone , and the number massacred in France was not less than twenty thousand . Prom time to time the flame broke out afresh , even after orders had been issued to restrain it . The rage of the multitude lived in its own movements , longing for blood , and nourished with blood . The minds of men were filled with wild fantasies , which made them afraid of themselves , and caused the very elements to appear fraught with terror .
" Charles IX ., about eight days after the massacre , caused his brother-in-law Henry to be summ oned to him in the night . He found him as he had sprung fr om his bed , filled with dread at a wild tumult of confused voices , which prevented him from sleeping . Henry himself imagined he heard these sounds ; they appeared like distant shrieks and howlings , mingled with the indistinguishable raging of a furious multitude , and with groans and curses , as on the day of the massacre . Messengers were sent into the city to ascertain whether any new tumult had broken out , but the answer returned was that all was quiet in the city , and that the commotion was in the air . Henry could never recall this incident without a horror that made his hair stand on end . "
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ANOTHER BATCH OF BOOKS . We must again deal in a summary manner with several volumes claiming notice , and worth noticing . America sends us ( through Sampson , Low , and Co . ) a formidable volume of British eloquence , got up with great care , and of decided value to all men training themselves in oratory . It is called Select British Eloquence , embracing the best Speeches entire of the most eminent Orators of Great Britain . Dr . Gooderich , the American compiler , has not limited himself to the simple selection of great speeches —he has introduced every speaker to the reader , first by narrating the main biographical points , next by an historical introduction to each of the speeches , explaining the circumstances out of which it arose , and thirdly by critical notes .
The Water Lily on the Da ? iube ( Parker and Son ) is an amusing account of a novel adventure , viz ., that of taking a pair-oar boat from Lambeth to Pesth , in Hungary ! The book is far more amusing , and more suited to the public , than the previous little volume , Log of the Water Lily , because the writer has not contented himself with narrating the personal adventures of the crew , but has also sketched in brief , rapid traits , some of the characteristics of the scene through which the crew passed . For an inexhaustible delight to all who love folk lore , for all children of all age , let us commend the rare volume of Yule Tide Stories , edited by Benjamin Thorpe , and published by Mr . Bohn in his Antiquarian Library . It is a collection of Scandinavian and Northern German tales and traditions , full of curious erudition for the erudite , full of fancy and
invention for the general reador . In Mr . Bohn a Scientific Library , we have also the Bridgewatcr Treatise , composed by Chalmers , on the Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and intellectual Constitution of Man . A work which , like everything Chalmers wrote , contains food for thought , but which , both in plan and in details , would call forth much opposition from us were we to enter upon it . That , however , is unnecessary . J ^ vcry one knows the character of the book . To the Classical Library Mr . Bohn adds a translation of Jmcan ' s Pharsalia , by Mr . Kiley , " and the very serviceable volume of Notes on Herodotus , hy Dawson Turner . This book the studont should possess . With a plain text of Herodotus , and this commentary by his side , he will have all that is necessary for general purposes . The notes arc grammatical and explanatory ,
now touching on a point of geography or history , now on a verbal diiliculty . But the volume of Bacon ' s Moral and Historical Works , added to the Standard . Library , surpasses all of them in attraction , for it contains an Introductory Essay on Bacon , the well-known Mssays , with translations of the quotations , and the Apophthegms , the less known Mlctjant Sentences , and the Short Notes for Civil Conversation ; then follow the quaint , fanciful essays on the- Wisdom of the Ancients , amusing as proofs of how a myth may be interpreted ; the celebrated New Atlantis , and the Historical Works , among which the ; noble . Life of Henry the Seventh , ho dear to : ill readers of Bacon and all lovers of style , takes a prominent place . There \» but one thing wanting in this treasury of wisdom , this volume among volumes , namely , an index ; and the omission is the more remarkable , because Mr . Bohn lias distinLruiahed liimsell
among publishers by the ; liberality with which he lias bestowed indexes . Wo are promised a companion volume , containing the Novum Organum and the l ) e Auqmentis ,- let us hope that an index will accompany it . Among the cheap libraries , let a place be reserved for the one issued by Messrs . Ingrain , (' ooke , and Co ., under the title of Universal Library . f i , H shilling volumes may be accepted as separate works , or as parts of a whole . His divided into six sections , and specimens of five sections lie before us . In Biography we have a volume containing Isaak Walton ' s well-known lives of Poiine , Wotton , Sec . In Fiction we have tin ; Vicar of Wakejield and Vicriola ; in Voyages , we have Ansons Voyages ; in I ' oetrv Scott ' s Lady of the Lake and I mi / ofthe . Last Minstrel ; in Mis-TasteOld works theseand
valla neons , we have Alisons H . s . says on . , favourites . ' The attraction of these ' editions is cheapness and uniformity . Lainartine ' s llistoircdc la Restauration (\^\\ ix \\ and Co . ) is now completed by the publication of tho eighth volume , which , opening with the ? aHcent of Charles X . to the throne of France , ends with the ignominious descent , of obstinacy , and its flight before the roused spirit of 18 : 10 . It is a graphic mid interesting volume ; rendered peculiarly no by Laniartme ' s personal relations with many of the aetors in this drama . These relations have naturally given a bias to his pen . ChflrleH X ., for example , is more leniently treated than ho could be by hii historian of l ; amartine ' s party , who had never been honoured and llattered hy the King- The bias , if bias there be , is , however , an amiable wcakuoBS , mid tho reader in duly warned .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Bohn ' s Standard Library—Foster ' s Life and Correspondence . ^ S . ' Or ^ ancTco ! The Fortrait Gallery . Badly Brothers Who ' s Who iw 1853 Partridge and Oakejr S gSS L ^ ta ^ -The Z to the Mystery , **» <*¦* - » A Historical Memoir of Fra Volcino and his Ihmet . By L . Marietta ^ ^^ ^^ &nd Cq _ An Outline of ike Necessary Laws of Thought By W . Thomson . W . Pickering . Essay , on Political and Social Science . By W- »• Greg . 2 wjj ^ ^^ Qreen ^ Co , On Lessons in Proverbs . By EC Trench J- W . Parker and Son Alice Montrose . By Maria J . M'lntosh 3 yols . . R Bentley . The Priest and the Curate ; or , tie Two Diaries . By C . Sinclair . andBlackett . Autobiography of an English Soldier in the Umted States Army . 2 vote . H *™ a ™ f ££ £ o Life of Sif Walter Scott . By Donald Macleod . Sampson w ^ oon . Binaries on the Production of the Precious Metals , and on the ^ P ^^^ l ^^ J ^ Co Cla ^ tn . AT ^ - By Charles Mitchell Charles . ^^^ Z ^ P ^ tll ^ Zatlc w ' Js ^ l ^ ard B ^ er Lytton , Cha ^ n and Hall
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02 THE LEADER . [ Saturda ^
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" Sir , " said he , " I am happy to say there is not a picture in my collection which has been cleaned and repaired ; all are pure and genuine as they left the easels of their painters . " For the first part of this reply there was no want of proof ; but the assertion that they were in the pure state in which they left the easel of the master , was a delusion . Some of the early Italian pictures were chipped , and large pieces loosened by heat or damp had dropped from the panels in which worms , the growth of a warmer clime , had been busied for centuries . Our collector , being asked if he considered restoring old pictures advisable under extreme circumstances , prescribed extreme penalties for any one who should have the temerity to entertain the idea .
CHAPTER III . ANTIPATHY TO REPAIRING AND CLEANING OLD PAINTINGS . fHE writer being on a visit to an enthusiastic collector of pictures , and observing many valuable specimens of the old schools in a very dilapidated condition , took occasion to elicit his opinion with respect to the restoration of damaged pictures , and of the persons usually employed to repair them . It was at once evident that the very mention of " Restoration" was sufficient to disconcert the ardent lover of the picture art .
" Could anything be more absurd , " he insisted , " than for a modern dauber to scrub , plaster up , and repaint an old picture ?" " Certainly not . " " Very well , then , " continued he , " would you have some image-maker commence operations on the Elgin marbles , wash and scrub them , plaster up the chinks , replace the absent limbs , remodel the obliterated features , and , in a word , restore them ? What would you think of such a proceeding ? How great would be your indignation ! How would you mourn the loss of Phidias , and curse the miscreant who could so abuse the sublime productions of that Athenian chisel . Thus should I feel if some oiHcious
hand , some llestorer , should attempt to practice his remorseless craft upon yonder noble specimen—the gem of my collection , a Leonardo da Vinci . " As respects fragments of ancient sculpture , the views of our enthusiast possess some show of reason , but are at the same time full of exaggeration , while the comparison between old pictures-and ancient sculptures is fur from being happy . If the lost member of a mutilated Apollo could he found , there could he no difference of opinion an to the propriety of its resuming its original position . If a Venus stood complete in every limb , in good preservation throughout , with the exception that some unfortunate blow hail struck out one eye , in consequence of which one blemish
the whole statue was affected , and its influence hall destroyed , what objection would there he , could some modeller replace the absent member so cleverly that all traces of the injury . should disappear , and the figure again possess its full and complete effect ? Surely no one could object to such a course ; being taken ? 15 ut because the eye could be replaced ( the other remaining to test its accuracy ) , it hy no means follows that if the nose were lost that feature could be replaced with equal felicity , for although men of taste might venture a shrewd guess as to the kind of nose the face once
possessed , and sculp tors might realize their conception , yet for all that then ; would he wanting the proof by comparison present in the ease of the eye ; and where doubt commences interference with the original work should cease , in deference , to the original artist . However well founded a conjecture might seem , it were far better to rest with the mutilated form than to risk an absolutely supposititious addition to the fragment . As a matter of speculation , the restoration of a broken figure may he accomplished without risk to the original rein nant , simply hy making a mould of it mnl add-
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .
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" Who , in contemplating one of Baphael's finest pictures , fresh from the master ' s hand , ever bestowed a thought on the -wretched little worm which works its destruction f _^ . MAEIA JiDGEWOETII .
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TtnlUQK MQlftO &M ® ^ KMIOW&TQ ©^ BY HENHY MERHITT .
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1853, page 92, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1970/page/20/
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