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neither branch of the protestanfc church did the wretched conflicts of the time permit sufficient peace for the cultivation of letters . It is not that high and tierce controversy generally leaves a church intellectually barren ; on the other hand , it sometimes fosters the highest powers , and draws their harvest into prominent ¦ light It seems to have been the petty local character of the dispute , with its low malignity and sordid motives , that left the age so barren of distinction . In the great conflict of the Reformation , Scotland came forth with bright lustre , in the genius and high acquirements of men like Knox and the Melvilles , Arbuthnot and the elder Spotswood . All the universities of Europe attested the intellectual growth of the Scottish Reformation in Buchanan and Scrimgeonr , the Johnstons , Craig , Napier , Gordon , Boyd , Jack , and a host of other names whose fame reached foreign lands from Scotland * or was sent home to their native country from the continental seats of learning which they adorned . All this glory was departed , and Scottish Protestantism had scarcely a representative in the republic of letters . Of the inferior , but still eminent , generation who followed the first reformers , and made the age of the Covenant , all the ablest men were gone .
"It was , perhaps , from the very causes which made the church so barren in the fairer intellectual departments , that in another , of a far less pleasing character , the party which had been persecuted stands forth almost unrivalled . This is in the literature of complaint , remonstrance , and castigation , shown in the various testimonies of the sufferers , and their declamations against the tyranny to which they were subjected . Occasionally such remnants of this class of documents as protruded beyond the Revolution are quoted in these pages , and may afford a faint idea of a curious department in the world of letters , not without its attractions to those who admire a terse , strong , effective style , turned to the purposes of rapid and powerful declamation . These documents are rarely matched in earnestness and strength . The words are sonorous and abundant , yet never too many to enfeeble the stern fierceness of the writers' thoughts . There is a luxuriance of imagery—frequently scriptural—but it . is always apt and expressive ; and however coarse or irreverent it may be , it is never allowed to degenerate into feebleness or incoherence .
" Along with this literary growth of persecution and controversy , is another of a sadder and sweeter character in the histories of those who suffered for the cause of conscience in the long dreary age of persecution . It required no literary merit to give interest to such narratives , and none came to the task . The best of them were written by a pedlar , whose unadorned descriptions of suffering and heroism convey a lesson to the heart which no genius or learning could strengthen . And herenaturally we are brought to the name of one who , in the opinion of many , is sufficient in himself to withdraw from the church of the Revolution Settlement the reproach of being illiterate—Robert Wodrow , the voluminous historian _ of The Troubles . Of the value of his labours there can be no doubt . He set himself to the task of covenanting ma ' rtyrolpgy with a single-hearted zeal , and a protracted patience , to which the sustained literary ardour of a Gibbon or a Niebuhr could only furnish a parallel . He well-earned the title of 'The indefatigable / Besides his great work , he wrote an abundance of biographical memoirs , and set down his
fugitive opinions and the more remarkable events of which he heard from time to time , in a diary or series of notes , second only to Pepys'diary in garrulous interest . The note-book of Wodrow , indeed , derives its peculiar flavour from the same source which confers so lively an interest on the journal of the candid secretary to the Admiralty . It was the repository of his own secret communing with himself , and was not intended to meet the public eye . The great source of entertainment in both , is in the weakness rather than the strength of the writer . Wodrow does not , of course , adorn his pages with the moral shortcomings which censorious human nature delights to find in the experiences of the well-intending but frail secretary . His weaknesses are intellectual rather than moral , and consist in an inordinate credulity and avidity for the marvellous . His pages are crowded with ghost stories , dreams , visions , prophecies , portents , and miraculous interventions , which , like those in the lives of the saints , always have a tendency to elevate the cause he loves , confer substantial benefit on its champions , and overwhelm with calamity and
dismay its opponents . His prejudice is as intense as liis credulity ; there is no height of excellence on his own side , and no depth of depravity on the other , to which he doos not give instantaneous and intuitive credit . Indeed , according to his principle , all people of the episcopal persuasion are by nature blasphemers and profligates—cheats , drunkards , and incontinent—just as , on the other hand , all zealous presbyterians are c hildren of light and purity . Yet with all his bitter prejudice , few works are more truthful than his History of the Troubles . Apart from the imputation of motives , and portraitures of private life , he spoke to matters which were before the day , and could not safely be discoloured . And it was his fortune that no language , certainly none within his capacity , could make the history more tragic to tbo one side , and scandalous to the other , than a bare narrative of events rendered it . The most valuable feature of the work is the quantity of documents it contains . But to its valuo literary merit contributes nothing , for it is difficult to conceive anything moro destitute both of literary solidity and decoration than
the stylo of the indefatigable Wodrow . " In several shapes , as will appear from time to timo in these pages , the dearth of intellectual power in the church was felt throughout Scotland . One shape in which it seems to , have acted in unison with the re-nctionary influence- of a hightoned fanaticism , was in filling tbo junior church with what might bo called petty heresies , Tho students in divinity have no high intellects to overawe mid direct the tendency of their studies and opinions , searched and thought for themselves , and frequently discovered what it wuh not intended or desired that they should discover , Henco in Wodrow ' s notes , and in tbo contemporary correspondence of tho clergy , there is a perpetual tremour about lapacs into infidelity and heresy . Tho ( li-parturo of the old clays when great men ruled absolutely over tho intellect of the church is lamented , and they are sadly compared with tbo right-hand
compliances and left-hand defections of tho day . The stifr-neckednesa and conceit of young mon puffed np with ill-digested carnal knowledge , who audaciously sot forth new doctrines imsunetioncd by the father * of tho church , are sadly mourned over . There was nothing in a quiet , moderately-endowed church , slumbering in tho exhaustion of strong excitement , to call into oxintonco a now host of commanding intollectB ; and so the inferior race went on with littlo earnestness of purpose , generally conforming , but in noino measure prying about , and finding occasion to carp and " doubt . Tho seeds which , in their ripening , brought on tho Church of Scothind tho reproach of Inkowiinnncwj , if not of n slight degree of scepticism , wore thus sown in tho re-action against atom fanaticism ; and , indeed , it m uppnront that for tho first twenty or thirty years after tho Revolution , many of tho studento in diviuity had found thoir way to tin imperfect belief , if not to infidelity . ' *
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HOME LIFE IN GERMANY . Some Life in Germany . By Charles Loring Brace . _ ^ Bentley . Mb . Bbace is an A merican , who has already proved his ability as & writer of travels ~ b y his Hungary in 1851 , and who now presents us with the results of his experience of German life as seen under its more familiar domestic aspects . Those who have lived in Germany will testify to the general fidelity of the picture , and will not be sorry to have their own impressions recalled . Those who have never been there will get a tolerably distinct , idea of the forms of life peculiar to Germany as they present themselves to a sensible Englishman or American . Mr . Brace speaks kindly , heartily , yet discriminatingly , and we have enjoyed his book almost as much as a rapid trip into the old localities dear to .
memory .. _ „ . , , „ „_ .. .,. Mr . Brace is astonished , as all strangers have been , at the swearing permitted in society : ¦—"In colloquial language , nothing will so utterly surprise the stranger—yes » shock him—as the universal profanity among the ladies . In the best circles of Germany , I have heard more Oaths in one evening , than I would in the same time from a ship ' s crew . Ach GottI Mein Gott 1 mein GottJ Jesus Christus ! rung over and over at the veriest trifles . " It was some time before I could accustom myself to it . Of course the words have no irreverent sound to them , and are used like the French Mon Dieu I still how 60 foolish a habit could have become so general among sensible people surprises one .
" It is singular , in the usual literary conversation , how little ia said of modern German literature . Gothe and Schiller are classics now ; and Jean Paul is even quite passe , so that few of tho young people know anything about him , except his inextricable sentences . This would not be so strange , for the great teachers of a nation are seldom discussed in common talk ; but among all the many romances read there is scarcely ono of tho German . And an American is surprised to find himself discussing the naturalness of Johanna ( Jane ) Eyre ' s character , or the morality of Bulwcr , or laughing over the remembered jokes of Hots ( Boz ) , as they call him , just as he did at home . Cooper and Irving I find everywhere , and the
children all know ' Leatheratoclung , ' and tbo Indian chiefs perfectly , and have confident hopes of meeting him , if they should over cross to the Now World . In fact , tho English and American novels arc the mode at present in Germany , and there lias scarcely appeared ono of any worth for several years without being speedily translated into Gorman . But tho foreign work , which , of all others , has been read most eagerly by thinking men in Germany these late years , and which is exerting a most happy influence , is Macaulay ' s History of lingland . And if Macaulay never does any other good through it , than what is effected in this land , he will have accomplished a great work . "
But ho is hasty in saying Gotho , Schiller , and Jean Paul , are not talked of . They are quite as much as Shakspearo , Byron , and Wordeworth arc with us , perhaps more so ; and if ho did not hoar them so frequently named , it . must have been because his friends supposed lie was not familiar with them . The following is an instructive illustration of PATERNAL G 0 VJCKNM . 1 CNT . "It appears on the 31 » t of March , List year , a child was born at ScohauBon in Prussia , which tho father wished to be baptised under tho name of Jacobi Wnldock , onch name being that of a distinguished democrat . Tho officiating clergyman refused to baptise tho child under such detested names . The father wan determined it should bo btiptised as a democrat , or nothing elso , and accordingly was letting it grow up without tho rite . Such a heathenish state of things won not to bo poruiittcd , and ho was summoned before a court , and a guardian appointed to tho child , who was empowered to baptise it with or without the names desired by tho father , according as the consistory ( of clergymen ) should determine . They decided that it should bo baptised with tho ununl names . Tho parents tttill refused to send tho child , and the guardian was proceeding to administer a forced baptism , when tho mother with hor babo euddonly disappeared , and could not bo found .
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LIFE AND TIMES OF DE STAEI .. Life and Titnes of Madame d , e Stael . By Maria Norris . D . Bogue . When will writers learn the felicity and infelicity of Titles ? Many a work gets snubbed by critics , and thrown aside by the public because it introduces itself under false pretences ; an amateur who sings agreeably will be heard with pleasure if heard as an amateur , but let _ hiin claim professional rank and his incompetence is resented . Sounding titles ^ are dangerous introductions ; and the Life and Times of Madame de Stael will raise expectations' which Maria JSorris ( Mistress or Miss P ) is unhappily in no condition to fulfil * / . .. . ¦ ' : _ ,, Let any one for a moment imagine what such a titJe implies . Inere is first the French Revolution , with STecker ( her father ) , as an important actor ; then comes Napoleon , with whom she is in active antagonism . So much for the historico-political themes . Then there is Coppet , and
her residence there , animated by the presence o ± boMegei , montmorency , Chateaubriand , Benjamin Constant , Madame Hecanuer , and others—what a topic for a pen such as St . Beuve's ! After that , think of her visit to Germany—the scenes which a writer would have delighted to paint , between her and Goethe , Schiller , Jean Paul , not omitting Bettina , who cordially hated her ! Of her visit to England , with the abundant anecdotes about Coleridge , Byron , Macintosh , &c . Such a succession of pictures from the " times" of De Stael ! Or , supposi ng the biographer to have had another aim , what a fine subject De Stael offers for an exposition of the rise of the Bcole ¦ Bomantique , and the introduction of German Literature into France . . .- _ .
__ _ _ Whichever way we turn we see how fertile is this field—Life and Times of Madame de Stael ! B ut on reading the work just published our disappointment is excessive . Maria Norris has written a sensible , but somewhat dull Memoir , that is all ; and as De Steel ' s life does not furnish material for an interesting story told memoir ^ wis e , all we can say of this work is , that it belongs to the class of books which parents are fond of presenting to young ladies , but which the parents themselves are but moderately disposed to read .
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764 THE LEADER . [ SATtreftAYi ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 6, 1853, page 764, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1998/page/20/
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