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Forest Trees , ( Ingram , Cooke , and Co ., ) which uniting the legendary and historical with the scientific attractions of this inexhaustible subject , and bringing wood-out illustrations to aid the writeivpresents us with a large amoun t of information agreeably set forth . Windsor , Epping , Bean , Sherwood , Dartmoor , and the New Forest , are graphically brought before the eye ; and many pleasant details vary the descriptions . A good index makes the volume serviceable for reference . An excellent compendium is The History of English Literature , by Prof . William SnolHi-n ™ . / fi ; mni > : « ~\ f ~ t ii . i f « , ¦* ««^ + ^;^;^™ •;« ^ * xiig \ iu
. " —~ ~^»»« v » , ^ » jj . juLipj , liLaiBUtLU ) Haiti kj \ j ., / uuuiaiuiu g xjj . brief yet not careless outlines , the origin and growth of the English language and literature down to 1852 . It is carefully compiled , and with more independence of judgment than one usually finds in such works ; as a manual for schools , families , and private reference , we can recommend it . Whatever opinion we may hold with respect to Sir Archibald Alison as a writer and thinker , there can be no doubt of his enormous success , nor , let us add , of the actual merit which created the success ; merit not of a philosophic kind , but of a kind the public at large is better able to appreciate . Hence the new edition of the History of Europe ( Blackwood and Sons ) , in weekly numbers at threepence , and monthly parts at one
smiling , will carry the work into many a hotise where its rampant Toryism , tawdry commonplace , and continuous platitude , will be forgiven for the sake of its marshalling of facts , and its animated narrative . The first volume of that great undertaking , the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica , ( Simpkin , Marshall , and Co ., ) lies before us , rich in matter , rich in promise . This volume , complete in itself by the way , contains the Five Preliminary Dissertations , which , however , need one simple thing—an index—to make them perfect . The publishers should think of this , and supply it in time . An index to the Encyelopcedia itself would obviously be needless , and scarcely possible , but these historical dissertations , crowded with , facts , names , and citations , require
an index more than most works ! It may be necessary to state that the third dissertation , entitled A general View of the Rise ; Progress , and Corruptions of Christianity , isiiefo , and is ( x > ntribute # by no less a person than Archbishop Whately ; it forms a very suitable pendant to the two preceding dissertations on the Rise and Progress of Metaphysical and Ethical Philosophy , by Dugald Stewart and Mackintosh . At present we merely notice its introduction among the series ; on a future occasion we may enter more elaborately into its argument ; but for so important a work we need space and opportunity . The editor has done well to incorporate with Mackintosh ' s dissertation the preface written some years ago by Dr . Whewell . Mr . Bohn is indisputably the Maecenas of our age , venturing upon publications such as no patron could venture on , and endowing the poor
pubhc with recondite works at trivial prices . What in the name of all that is speculative could Mr . Bohn imagine to be the possible profit of such a volume as this last in the antiquarian series r It comprises Pauli ' s erudite , admirable , and exhaustive Life of Alfred the Great , a book which certain ^ ought to be on every Englishman ' s shelves , if the »« ti ? nal spirit be not wholly extinct ; but—and here commences our wonderment—Mr . Bohn has asked the great Anglo-Saxon , B . Thorpe , to edit the volume , which he has done , affixing to it Alfred ' s Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius , with a Literal' JBmgUti / L Translation , on . the opposite pages , and an Anglo-Saxon Alphabet , a brief Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Glossary—all for the sum of five shillings ! You will soon see that the miners and weavers of Cornwall and Lancashire are adding Anglo-Saxon to their attainments ! What a reflection to those who still think it a
" pity" the people should be educated and made " dissatisfied with their condition , " ( as if any being above the intellectual status of pig is , or ought to be satisfied with the incompleteness of the present !) and who regret the days when all literature was Latin ! Pursuing his relentless course of emancipating the people , and admitting those who have never received a " liberal education" into the arcana of Greek and Latin literature , Mr . Bohn gives us a translation of The Lives of the Philosophers , by Diogenes Laertius ( Classical Library ) , executed by Mr . C . D . Yonge . Diogenes was not a wise man nor a good has been of
writer ; but the plodding stupidity of the old Laerfcian considerable service in transmitting anecdotes , opinions , and citations which otherwise would never have reached our hungry curiosity . Mr . Yonge has translated the book stiffly , but accurately , as far as our inspection enables us to judge , and has added some brief , serviceable notes . Altogether , it is a very creditable volume , with—as usual in Mr . Bohu ' s libraries—a good index . Bechstein ^ H Gage and Chamber Birds ( Bonn ' s Illustrated Library ) , newly translated by Mr . H . G . Adams , who has incorporated tho whole of Sweet's British Warblers among his numerous additions , makes a very
agreeable volume of natural history . Tho philosopher and tho philanthropist will bo equally interested in examining the beautifully-executed work Mr . John Edward Taylor has printed as the first of a series for the Bristol Asylum for the Blind . It is a Life of James Watt , published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge , and is printed in relief , so that tho blind may accept the intimations of touch with an aocuracy almost equully to that of tho intimations of sight . It is a very curious volume . In the cheap series of Bulwor's novels and romances wo liavo Leda ; or , the Sieqe of Granada , and Calderon the Courtier , in ono small volume ; miinr . ™™ nnfl TTnin . and aro thus brought within tho roach of those who
oould not hope to possess them in thoir original exponsivo form . In Whittaker ' s Traveller's Series ( Whittakerand Co . ) we have - « o » jw Oarlvle : a Critical Mssay , reprinted from tho Wesleyan Methodist Magazine . It is really very well written , although of course irom a point of view neither we nor any of Carlyle ' s admirers can accept ; ana passes in review his Style , his Teaching and hw Tendency . The last work on our list is Misa Margaret Darton's Earth and U * Inhabitants , ( Arthur Hall , Virtue , and Co ) an excellent book J ^ datod to effect its object , which ifl that of making geography intereating to children .
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E E N A 2 J" I . On Saturday we had Ernani with a new cast . There was Tamberlit for Ernani , Roneoni for Carlo V , and Belletti , who made hia defeat at this house , for Don Silva ; the Elvira was to have been Madame itosio , but " sudden indisposition , " or , as lobby-gossip averred , " champagne at Epsom , " deprived us of her piercing voice , and so we had to listen to Mdlle . Albini by way of trial of patience . The trial was severe . I cannot share the common prejudice against Verdi . His tiauaicseems to me fully equal to that of many operas we accept de confiance . * * % t has life , brio , melody , movement . It is noisy , commonplace , but not dull . There are charming vocal effects in it , and occasionally exquisite phrases . If the instrumentation is poor , if the choruses are written in unison to conceal poverty of harmonic invention , if the trombones clang uproariously , these are defects I find abundant elsewhere , and therefore , on the whole , by way of variety , I welcome Verdi , and especially Verdi ' s best opera , Ernani . On Thursday the Huguenots was given for the first time this season , and drew an immense audience . It is perhaps the most popular of all the operas played at Covent Garden , while Guillaume Tell , so immeasurably its superior , can scarcely get an audience ! There were three novelties in the cast . Belletti performing St . Bris , and making it an important part , by his excellent singing , such as no St . Bris in London has approached ; Mdlle . Didiee performing the small part of the page , with success ; finally , Stigeui displacing the horrible Soldi in the Huguenot soldier , and singing the rataplan couplets instead of howling them like a maniac cart-wheel that never was greased !
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THE REAL PIG AND THE IMITATION . There is a story of a Roman actor ( which , of course , you know , hut which I will ask you to listen to once again for the sake of the commentary ) whose imitation of the squeaking of a pig was vehemently ap- 1 plauded ; a jealous rival , probably critical in pork , appeared before the audience , holding under nis toga a real pig , which he made squeak lustily by pinching it . The audience hooted , hissed , and " off-ofTd , " utterly discrediting the miserable attempt , so inferior to that of their darling actor ! Whereupon the actor produced the real pig , and scornfully demonstrated to the audience the valueless nature of their judgment , applauding the false , and hissing the real ! I am not so certain of this demonstration . Had I been one of the
audience , I should perhaps have said , " My dear sir , you are hasty , illogical . Your pig is truly a pig , and the squeak thereof is real ; but although a real pig , it is not a Representative Pig ( no more than Jones is one of Emersons Representative Men ) , —it is not a type , —it is not ideal , —it does not give articulate expression to the abstract possibilities of pork ! On the stage I require Pig , —not this pig or that pig , but Pig par excellence , —Abstract Pig . My favourite actor gave me the squeak ot that Representative Pig , and I applauded him ; you have given me the . « tpaealc of an individual , —a pig perhaps with an idiosyncracy , r- * -a pig' with a col& in his head , —a pig who can't pronounce Jbis . jr ' s ,---in a word , a , miserable concrete pig , with whom Art has no transactions !"
Or if , instead of that defence , one were quietly to disbelieve the whole story ? Tliafc , perhaps , were wisest ; for the story is not a probable one-. Audiences , though not wise , have sagacity enough to detect the real , afl we saw at the Haymarket on Saturday , where , to the inexpressible astonishment and delight of the pit , Albert Smith personated himself , in the place of his imitator , Mr . Caulfield . You have seen , or at least have heard , how in BucJcstone's Ascent of Parnassus there is a view of Mont Blanc , and of Albert Smith acting as " guide , philosopher , and friend , " up its snowy inaccessibilities . In this scene Mr . Caulneld gives
an extremely feeble imitation of the illustrious Showman ; and Albert Smith , prompted by the spirit of practical joking , or probably wishing to test the credibility of that ancient story anent pigs , suddenly mounted ia Mr . Caulfiold ' s placo , replying to Buckstone's queries with tone and manner so resembling those of the original , that the audience , for a moment puzzled , burst forth in a roar of recognition ! There never w&a a better imitation . Nevertheless , the real is not always appreciated . I hear , for example , that a very wise wiseacre objects to Mathews ' s dres » in The Lawyers , and advises him to go down to Westminster Hall to seo how the real Lawyers array themselves . Unhappily for the critic , Mathews ' s dress is the actual gown and wig of a barrister , lent him by » friend !
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It A C II K L . It is really " an event" in the season when tho great tragic actress opens a series of performances at that most charming of theatres , the St . James ' s . All those who hayo never aeon her , feel within them the longings of an old desire ; all who have trembled beneath her passionate ' eloquence long onco moro to fcel the strange thrill which follows tho flashing terror of those eyes , the wild unearthly grandeur of " that little rod of Moses . " And hero she is again amongst us , in tho power and tho glory of her genius , in the consciousness of her unapproachod oxcellenco I PKhdte , languishing in the restlessness of unButisttod uuholy
desire" Cost Venus tout enticro a mi proio attucheo , and recurring in remorse to the time when "Mesjourn moiiiH agitea couloienfc duiw l'innoccnco . " Phhlre , miserable , becauHo from amid all tho sophistications of passion , emerges the clear steady conviction of her own criminality" Objefc infortun ^ dtu vengeances celestes Jo m ' abhorro oncor plus quo tu no mo de ' tontes . ** in a word , Pkhd-re , tho groat creation of a groat poot , who haa infinitely surpassed hi * Greek model , is represented by Haohel -with an intensity
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June 4 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . &&
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Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1853, page 549, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1989/page/21/
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