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Christianity . Unhappy editor ! he tried to be candid and retain his orthodox subscribers !
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Minor Morals is the theme of some wise and lively moralizing in Blackwood this month , forming the best paper of the number / and well worth looking after . The writer amusingly notes how rich we must be in men of commanding eminence , " mute inglorious Miltons , " to judge from the magnificence of " testimonials" always ready when any situation becomes vacant . He dwells also on the " corruption of our nature" implied in the readiness to believe ill of friends : — " Let the man who has been to you as a brother make a slight slip , winch , without anyway affecting his character , places him in a ridiculous point of view , and the odds are that you chuckle at the story . We shall do you the justice to believe that , if seriously assailed , you would defend him vigorously and truly ; but you
don't think it worth while to interpose in his behalf , simply because a satirical insect is attempting to puncture his cuticle . Now this is—excuse the expressionrather "base upon your part . There is said to be , in Norway , a minute fly called the Furia infemails , the bite of which is so painfully venomous as to drive a man distracted ; and you may rely upon it that many a satirist of society can inflict a wound as torturing as that of the Scandinavian pest . You are indeed very foolish if you omit any opportunity of taking a slap at the gadfly . AH the while that he is buzzing about , amusing you by aggravating the raws of others , be is keeping his small , sharp , microscopic eye upon you j and , sooner or later , you are doomed to feel the insertion of his proboscis . And with what show of reason can you complain if he makes free with you in your turn ? Did you not snigger and cachinate
when he exposed the weakness of your luckless friend ; and did you not own with a touching candour , that , though a good fellow in general , his conduct , on that particular point , could not be defended ? And that you call backing of your friends ! Even though you don't know anything about the people whose frailties are so unmercifully handled , why should you become a pleased partaker of this harpy banquet of scandal ? What matters it to you that Tomnoddy , who never did you any harm , has made himself supremely ridiculous , or that there is a scandal abroad about a certain stately dowager ? Are folly and vice so very rare in the
world that these details can interest you ? Is there no virtue in the divine precept which ordains us to speak evil of no one ? If there is , what man alive bufc must take shame to himself for participation in the scandals of a malicious coterie ? " It would renlly seein as if we required some new apostle of charity , for , practically , it has disappeared among us . Why is it that , almost invariably , we put the worst construction upon the conduct of our neig hbours ? Why should we seek , witli such amazing avidity , to infer guilt from equivocal circumstances , and reject , with a certain fiendishness of purpose , all extenuating matter ? That is a very common but a very bad feature of the age we live in . "
We regret to see the passage weakened by such a sentence as the last . Surely the vice is not peculiar to our age , but lies deep in human nature ! Does lie suppose that Socrates did not relish a bit of scandal whispered at Aspasta's , or that Semiramis and Pharaoh were averse from having a laugh at some dear friend ? - ,, , Fraser is remarkably good this month . There is a paper on Manchester , ly a Manchester Man , which all will read , and one on Parasites and Ancient Festivities , which no one ought to pass by , so full of erudite pleasantry and curious research as it is . We must quote a passage on the word parasite : —
" The word parasite is now associated in the mind with objects only vile or mean the lowest plants , the most revolting species of insects , and the most despicable characters of our own kind are alike termed parasites ; yet the word originally was so far from conveying a slur , or being n term of reproach , that a Greek centlcman mi-ht have been proud to affix it to his enrd , as a badge of honour and distinction In correspondence with the-respectability of the title , the first paraalike for ui
sites , like the first Jesuits , were ' all honourable men ; m repute ** learning and integrity , and holding situations of high trust m Church and State . For a considerable period , some of the body wore associated with the highest func tionarics of the Government , two being assigned to the minuter or the home depaZent niid one to the ^ o ^ aPXoS , or minister of war , with . salary , and a table wel furnLhed , especially with fish , found them by the state bo honourable was the ^ profession , and so great the confidence reposed in the body by the citizens at We that a Certain sacred granary , or halle au . v llhs , in the service of the god ,: flSwith corn , called Pan . sitiu .,,, was placed under its nmnedmte custody and control . " The luttony of the ancient philosop hers is thus mentioned : —
g «« 1 Wh love for philosophy was scam ) Htronger than his addiction to nga . Arcbc Uau " ' greediness for grapes was equally great , m that be turned 1 ... stomach AiUiCHiiauH £ « - « - "' b » T 1 . j f ( y « ccro whs sit a Iohh to conceive ( Tusc . ) what 01 any phj ^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ wmj wont i () Ins palate ; whilst hpicmus p PowXcyciv , an Tft : JJ ^ ^ \ f r ^ utS of the pleasures of ^ as connected what all must admit , t a n (> f eniovinc . it : and to the same
pur-1 1 r 1 ?« f lift- Sophocles puts a nearly similar Henthnent into the mouth of one of l \ t bl ^"« nS wto holds that an eUefe ban -W is no longer a man , hut of hw dinnalu . any , of ^ ^ . ^ ieil m Mhcnnim only ( e / i ^ X "" mv > "' 3 , , ih undlbo . ^ b th « Cynic * nllecU'd to H . mrl at this , ~ = = irH = £ ; fe ^ r : v" = ; ab » tr . ictu l air « h i te . uhe .-8 of sobriety can forget then- own precepts * z £ & ££ ^* - * (> « f r , tlMi . 1 ) onos - ' Nw woM i ] w dinciPics a whit Ichh greedy than their philosophical n . structor * . " If , an Ep icuruH HiiiffH , All our joy from eating springs , jlo munfc immmIh moBt p lciiHuro < lraw Wlio ' s longmt throat ami largont maw , « ay « one ; following out which idea , another Kpicuroan » igh » piteouBly for an
esophagus a la . giraffe , partly that be might thereby retard the progress of the food as ft passed downward to his stomach , and partly because each savoury morsel having so many additional inches of pipe to traverse , the points of contact would be thus multiplied , and the pleasurable sensation diffused over a larger surface . After this , we need not wonder to find the vault of the palate , or Epicure s heaven , designated ( at a time when all the world were Epicures ) by the same word as the vault of the sky , both being indifferently called ovpavov " Bentley ' s Miscellany gives an average number , and the second-number of the National Miscellany is a decided improvement on the first . But the
among serials , the most important in our eyes is the new edition of Penny Cyclopedia , issued in separate divisions , under the name of the English Cyclopedia . The first monthly part contains the commencement of the two divisions , Natural History and Geography , beautifully printed . It is a new work , although based upon the old , and those who desire to possess the Natural History , for example , without encumbering themselves with a whole cyclopaedia , may do so by the present admirable arrangement . The excellence of the articles , and the profusion of woodcuts illustrating the Natural History , make us desire to call the particular attention of our readers to this re-issue .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Bohn ' s Illustrated Library-Norway and its Scenery . By J . forester . H- g- Bobn . Bohn ' s Scientific Library—The Coin Collectors Manual , By H . IT . Humphreys , avoa . ^^ ,,..... -ci * . ^ ttt J . Richards . The Museum of Classical Antiquities . Part V 111 . E Wilson . Oar Representative System , its Tendency and EJfects . J . ' Wesley . Spirit Mappings . J . Wesley . Table Moving by Animal Magnetism , Demonstrated . Tames Hoee Autobiographic Sketches . By Thomas De Quincey . ttWIW ? g ' A Comparative Atlas of Ancient and Modern Geography . By A . G . 1 ' incUa ^ . ^ ^^ ^ ^ ¦ d , 7 -rr Y i , Bradbury and Evans . Bleak House . No . 16 . Bradbury and Evans . Handley Cross ; or , Mr . JorrocFsHunt . Punch Office . Writings of Douglas Jerrold . A Man made of Money . Partridge and Oakey . Taifs Magazine . -y ? g Johnson . l&XZinrari-S * TkeoJore BrougUon . PiSro ^ erf 23 S £ Diogenes . Part 5 . * j {_ Bentley . LasAlforjas . 2 \ ols . By G . J . Cayley . B . Bentiey . The Apocalypse its own Interpreter . By J . W . Forster , LL . V . Bentley . Colomba . A Corsicun Story . Uy Prosper Mwiniee . e " Bentlev . A Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX . By Prosper Mt-nmce . Chapman ' and Hall . The Dodd Family Abroad . Part 10 . - Ingrain , Cooke , and Co . Universal Library . _ T . P . A . Day , Lawaon ' s Merchant ' s Magazine . J . W . Parker and Son , Osme ; or , the Sp irit of Froust . ' yy g OrrandCo . The Poultry Book . W . S . Orr and Co . The Portrait Gallery . Fleet Street . The Home Companion . Kent and Co . Home Thoughts . lonmian and Co . The Educational Expositor . Ackley and Co . The Charm . j . Constable and Co . S ^ S ^ SSi ^ aSS'p ^^^ . D , * . Foresee . J jg ^^ --; 7 'ha Pioturo Pleaauve Boole . , . _ p .- , TZnniixh Govern-Bohns Standard Library—The Constitution of England ; or , an Account pf the jM 9 ' £ n £% 6 £ lm merit . By J . L . Do Lolme . -r t ? w Vanderkiaic J . Eisbet and Co . ^ Ji £ VSfliZ ^ ISZL' * Sfc& 2 : ' ' - ft S ^ fr 5 £ 22 RZ % - ^ £ l& £ S * u » - » o-h-. j * »• c A ^ _ Bee ; ; md Oo
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AN AKT-STUDENT IN MUNICH . An Art-Studeni in W ^ cJ , By Anna Mary Hewitt . In 2 vols . Longman and Co , If rho reader « ill consent to tolerate a certain amount of affectation , ( not wJioUv Bffi : ctoA , if the paradox maybe allowed , ) and will not be critical as to the substance of these ambitiously labelled volumes , lie will imd them , ^ re venture to say , unusually amusing and suggestive . Miss Howitt is a student of painting . In company witli a sister spirit , alio sat herself down in the soini-stupid , semi . artistic city of Munich , there to learn the secrets of arf-from Knulbaeli , who was generously attentive , and from the works of ancient and modern masters there gathered tosetjxer . Ihe letters written homo , and the articles written for Household Words , have furnished material for these volumes ; and , as we said , they present both interesting and suggestive pictures of Bavarian life , and of the life of women
beginning tho artists career . . It is certainly a pleasant thing , for those who regard women and their culture aa we do , to note Ihe ciinoMing irifhujnce of a steady pursuit of Art not aa a careless accomplishment , hut as a serious occupation . Juiurnorate , for a moment , what stores of happiness and healthy activity tins study implies ! They have to learn Anatomy , —and the marvellous complexity of our orjranizations is no longer " repulsive" to them hut becomes invostedwith intcnseandinoxlmustible interest . They have to learn Botany —and the myriad forms of tho vegetable kingdom are no longer regarded . is mere forms , no longer cared for as objects to be named horticulturally , but subserve higher purposes , and BUggesl ; < lce |) cr meuiungM . Uiey iiavo to keei ) their eyes open to all forms of Architecture , Costume , Landscape , &e ., —a ( inaint gable , a picturesque ^ -asanfc , a sky-o . it ine , a vanishing cloud a breezy upland , or a dark narrow street ,- everything has interest
This being the case , one may , perhaps , explain by it wh y students of Art should luive such noti < eiil ) le proelivity to Cant . . 1 here is more cant canted about Art than about anything cIho , except Religion ; there is more spurious entbusiasin about it , than aliout anything « 'lse . Jones , who declares , with a slight air of si »>< u-i «> nty , that he does not pretend to understand philosophy , would consider himself aggrieved , d you doubted bis tasto for pietures . Brown , wliio ih > v « m- read u poem in Ins life , and is Bareastie on " He » ti . nen < al trash , " will give n pniiee s ransom for au old master " And , if . Jones , junior , or Brown ' s nephew , take to painting as » profeHsion , you may Mum expeel , L <> hear such i-Jwtoric on Art , such hyporbolio entbusiasm , and nucli eolosaal pretenH . on , as will make you half ashamed to give utterance to your own enthusiasm , lest it also look ridiculous ¦• . .
. . . ,. ., ,, „ .. „ ., W (» hear A'ftry strong condemnation of the " affectation" in those VOlumoH but as was hinted before , we cannot altogether consider it in the light of affectation . It seems to ita to have real enthusiasm underneath
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Jpne 4 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . ___ 5 jt 7 ^ — ^ ^^^— . . . — - - ~~ —— ' ¦ ¦¦ — i ' - ¦ ' —¦¦ — ¦ . . — . .... . - ~~~~ 1 - ¦ —— > «—^»»» " ^^ -- ^ M ntt ^
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Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1853, page 547, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1989/page/19/
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