On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (7)
-
Kittntntt.
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Kittntntt.
Kittntntt .
Untitled Article
The parti pr&re in France has had a fine subject for sounding declamation this week . The stage has been in question . Leon Paucher , with the absurd pedantry of an Economist who fancies that a " prize" will stimulate morality as it stimulates industry , instituted a series of prizes to be awarded to those dramatic authors of France who succeeded in best representing la morale en action . Leon Faucher ' s idea of literature is one which would make Hannah More and Berquin dethrone Shakespeare and Goethe ; he wanted that which the theatre is at all times unwilling to give him , especially in France , didactic amusement ; and as the public is notoriously fond of amusement , and fugitive from didactic " morality , " it became necessary to " stimulate" virtue by awarding prizes . The Report
of the Commission furnished L'Univers with an occasion for fulminating against the theatre as a hotbed of corruption . This is a favourite theme with the bigots . They have always been jealous of the theatre . Rival comedians ! The paper war has not been unamusing . Jules Janin of course defended the theatres , which brought upon him the ignoble sarcasms of L * Univers , who , with customary delicacy , reproached him with being grisonnant , coviperos 6 , et fort ventruj which , anatomically speaking , is true enough , but which could only weigh as an argument with minds like the partisans of L'Univers , accustomed to accept insult as argument . Janin , however , is not the man to be silenced by L' Univers , and his rejoinder has been very amusing .
The whole battle lies in a misconception of the nature of the theatre . The stage is not a pulpit . It is not a chapel-of-ease to Little Bethel . It professes to amusej and although you have a right to demand of it that like other amusements it shall be free from noxious influences , you have no right to demand that it shall be what it does not profess to be , — " a school of morality . " And liberal applications lie In Art , like Nature , dearest friend ; So ' twere to cramp its use , if I Should hook it to some useful end .
Untitled Article
The trial of Gervinus for his Historical Introduction to the 19 th Century will in after years be cited as a specimen of the imbecility of the Dynastic policy of our day . Nothing can more plainly indicate the insecurity of Governments than the childish terror they exhibit at a proclamation or a pamphlet . But the work of Gervinus is not a pamphletit is a somewhat dry narrative of historical facts ; if these facts carry with them conclusions unfavourable to the powers that be , whose fault is that ? The narrator ' s ? Will the march of History cease or slacken , because no sentinel counts the hours ? Either the facts grouped in successive relation by Gervinus are true or they are false ; if true , ignoring them will not destroy them ; if false , their publication will not make them true .
Untitled Article
We cannot but regard it as of incalculable importance that men of the highest scientific eminence are now daily becoming more alive to the necessity of popularising Science , and of familiarising the public mind with principles—les clartfs de tout , as MolIeke admirably expresses it ; for Science must inevitably form the basis of a future Faith . In the Dublin Commercial Journal there appear Letters on Science , addressed to a Lady , which we hope to see re published , so luminous and so intelligible is their exposition of certain fundamental conceptions , borrowed from Auguste Comte , but illustrated anew . They are models of popular exposition , avoiding the impertinent mistake of " writing down" to the supposed level of the reader , avoiding also the use of those technical forms only intelligible to adepts . Indeed , Science is rapidly following in the course of Literature : men are
ceasing to write Latin . It was a great innovation to write in the vulgar tongue , so as to be read by the vulgar ! If a man could not read Latin , so much the worse , to let him remain ignorant was the only alternative ; the idea of descending to his ignorance , and writing what he could read was anarchial ! It was placing the Bible in the hands of Christians—for their perdition ! We have lived through this ; our writers have long relinquished Latin , only those living archives of tradition named Scholars think of writing it now ; and in the same way Science is emerging from its Laboratory into the Lecture Room , eminent men are writing what ignorant men may read and profit by . Science , like everything else , is becoming democratic ; in ceasing to be the privilege <* f the few , it becomes the glory and delight of all .
Untitled Article
SCRAP LITERATURE . A Poet's Day Breams . By Hans Christian Anderson . Bentloy . Kniok-Knaaksfrom an Mentor ' s Table . Uy X . Quyford Clark . Now York . Apploton . "A book ' s a book , although there ' b nothing in't , " scorns to bo growing more and more of a conviction . It is not enough that slight and superficial works should be published , wo nre threatened with a Literature of Scraps . The microscope tella us visibly - how" The very fleas have other fleas , And Hinnllur Ileus to bite- ' cm ; And those ileus have lessor ileus , And ho ad in / lnitum . " and our Literature is becoming microscopic . Time was when only tho lofty folio and bulgy quarto claimed the honour of a book ; if a work was
printed , it was a serious work , but now we have materials for a work often challenging attention ; nay , descending lower still , we have seen that marvellous platitude compiler , Martin Farquhar Tupper , publishing a Boole of Title-pages—the titles and schemes of various works he had not time to execute ! It is one of the evils of our " Age of Print . " Two books lie before us which would exasperate any critic who should look at them seriously . Hans Christian Andersen , whose fairy tales and children's tales are beautiful enough , to make us very tolerant of his mistakes , has thrown upon the world such a collection of maudlin ineptitudes that t
under the pretentious title of a Poet ' s Day Breams , noeven our old regard can restrain our indignation . The book is an impertinence . It consists of twenty scraps , most of which would find no place in any good magazine , and united together by no more recondite art than is employed by the bookbinder . A poet ' s day dreams ! There is not a trace of the poet , nor a glimpse of a dream : it is Northern sentimentality in a hectic style . There is one scrap , among the twenty , in which we recognise the felicitous author of the Children's Tales , and we quote at for your amusement , and as a makeweight against our condemnation .
" it is veby teue . " ' It is a frightful history ! ' said a hen , in a remote corner of the town , where no historian had ever been seen . ' It is a frightful poultry-yard story ! I really would not dare to sleep alone at night . It is fortunate that there are many of us together when we go to roost V And she spoke in such a mysterious way as to make the feathers of all the other hens stand out , and the comb of the cock fall down . It is very true . " But we will begin at the beginning , and that was afc another corner of the town , in a poultry-yard . The sun had set , and the fowls flew up to their perches ; one of them—she had white feathers and short legs , laid her eggs with all due regularity , and was , as a hen , in every way respectable—as she was alfout to go to roost , pecked herself with , her bill , and down fell one of her little feathers .
" ' There it goes V said she , « and the more I pluck out the handsomer I shall become ! ' But this was only said in jest—for she -was the gayest among all the fowls , although , as before said , extremely respectable . So she fell asleep . There was darkness all around ; hen was perched by hen j but the one who was placed nearest to her was not asleep . She heard and she did not hear , as people are so often obliged to do in this world in order to live in peace ; but she could not resist saying to her next neighbour , ' Have you heard what has just been said ? I blame no one , —but there is a hen who has determined to pluck her own feathers out , by way of making herself beautiful ! Were I the cock , I would despise and discard her I '
" A little way above the hen-roost lived an owl , with its mate and owlets ; they had quick cars in that family ; they overheard every word that the talkative fowl had said , and they stared with their large eyes , and the matron owl fanned herself with her wings . ' Oh do—only listen ! But you surely heard what was said ? I heard it with my own ears . Actually one of these hens has so far forgotten all propriety , that she is sitting there and plucking off all her feathers , and allowing the cock to look at her thus denuded !' "' Prenez garde aux eufants ! ' exclaimed the father of the young owls j ' Children should not hear of such doings V "' I shall go and tell the owl who is our opposite neighbour about it though she is a good sort of friendly creature ; ' and away flew the mother-owl .
" ' Hu , hu ! whuh ! ' hooted they both together , while they made the best of their way to a pigeon-house near ; * have you heard the news ? have you heard the news ? uh ! uh ! A hen has plucked out all her feathers for the cock ' s sake ; and she is freezing to death—if not already dead , uh ! uh !' " ' Where ? where ? ' cooed the pigeons . " ' In the neighbouring poultry-yard . I have almost as good as seen it myself ; it seems an incredible story to tell—but it is very true ' "' We believe every word of it , ' said the pigeons , and down they flew to their poultry-yard . ' There is a hen—nay , some say there are two hens , who have plucked oif all their own feathers , to look different from the rest , and attract tho attention of the cock , ^ t was a dangerous proceeding—enough to give them cold and make them die of fever—and they are both dead . ' " * Wake up ! wake up V crowed the cock , as he flew up on the wooden paling ; his eyes were still heavy with sleep , but he crowed away notwithstanding . ' Threo hens have died of untfappy love for a cock . They have plucked out all their feathers . It is a shocking story , but it cannot be concealed /
" ' It cannot bo concealed ! ' repeated tho bats ; and tho hens clucked and tho cocks crowed—and ho the report travelled from poultry-yard to poultry-yard , till at length it came back to the place where it had originated . It was there told that five hens had plucked out their feathers , in order to see which of them had become the thinnest from their unfortunate love for the cock , —that they had attacked each other in a desperate manner , and fought till each , bathed in its blood , had fallen down dead , to the everlasting disgrace of their families , and to the great loss of their owner . " The hen , who had dropped tho light little feather , naturally did not recognise herself to bo the heroine of the tale , " and , aa she was a very respectable fowl , she Baid , ' For my part I can fed nothing but contempt for these hens ; but there aro too many of the same calibre ! Such scandalous occurrence * cannot be concealed , and I do not doubt the story will find its way into the newspapers . It is only what these wretched lions have deserved , and their families to b < x ) t . '
" The story did get into tho newspapers ; it was actually printed ; and it is very true that one little feather can be magnified into five fowls !" Mr . Gayibrd Clark ' s Knick-Knacks is another impertinence . Mr . Clark is tho editor of tho Ntckerbrocker Magazine , and is accustomed to write a page or two of " gossip" in every number , which gossip soems to have been greatty admired by the American subscribers . If it suits tho magazine , ho is right in continuing it ; but wo having , with some wearinoss , read tho volume of collected scraps ,. learn from the preface , with astonishment , that Washington Irving speaks thua of it : — " ' I am ghul to hear '—writes an American author whoso favourable estimate would reflect honour upon a fair worthier literary project than tho present— 'that you are preparing one or two volumes for publication from your ' Table . ' You will perhaps remember that I onco spoko to you upon the subject , and advised you to this course . I have often thought it a great pity that tho Hallies of humour , tho entertaining incidents , and tho touches of tender pathos , which are bo frequently to bo met with in your Gossip , ' should bo coinpurativcly lost among the multitudin ous leaves of a iniuraziiio . '"
Untitled Article
Critics are not the legislators , but the iudges and police of literature . They do not make laws—tEey interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
Untitled Article
¦ « , * March 12 * 1853 . J . T H E L E A D E R . 259
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1853, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1977/page/19/
-