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enable them to appreciate duly their worldly blessings , and to enjoy them for a ] e ncrth of time ; but alas ! this is not so . As truly as ' that charity covereth a multitude of sins , ' so surely do personal beauty , great talents and accomplishments , a coronet , or a large estate , not only cover too many personal and mental defects existing , but completely prevent all anticipations of the evils which may come after . . . ,, r . " Few that have attained longevity have passed a life of celibacy ; . indeed . many of those whose lives are quoted , have been married often ; and it is curious that in many instances the man and wife have died within a very short time of each other : thus showing , that whilst in all probability the mode of life adopted was conducive to health , the pleasures of domesticity and companionship were not lftSS SO . "
We have here a definite point round which to gather the whole argument . When we said , there was a fixed limit to the life of man , our meaning was not , that a certain number of years might be ascertained , circums cribing the life of all men , short of accidents ; but that Death being the inevitable residue of the activities of Life ( we will not here inquire into the how and why ) , a certain limit there must be for every organism —and this limit will , of course , vary with the varying composition of the organisms . Every cell has its definite phases of development and decline . Every flower has its limit of existence ; but the same limit is not absolute even for similar flowers . In point of fact , we are seeking for a will-o ' -wisp in seeking Time as the limit—it is only the record of the limit . Death does not depend on Time , but on the accomplishment
of certain effects , which take place in Time , but are not influenced thereby . Hence the proposition is , that Certain organisms have within them a reparative reproductive power greater than others . This is really the same as Dr . " Van Oven ' s proposition , when he adduces Hereditary Constitution as the cause of longevity ; but he will scarcely maintain , that anything like uniformity in sxich constitutions can be expected ; we must re-organize the world and obliterate the whole past , before such an uniformity could be attained . This question of hereditary transmission is so important , that we shall , in confirmation , translate a passage from Beraud's JPhysiologie , just out :
"It is no longer possible to doubt that duration of life is often an hereditary attribute . In certain families , early death is so universal , that very few only of their members , by dint of precautions , escape the doom . The individuals of Turgot ' s family rarely survived the age of fifty , and he who has made the name famous , on approaching the fatal epoch , although enjoying excellent health , and endowed apparently with a strong constitution , remarked that it was time for him to arrange his affairs , and to finish an undertaking which he had commenced , because the term of years allotted to those of his race was drawing to its conclusion . He died , in fact , at fifty-three .
" Ordinary duration of life is not less an hereditary attribute ; the most reasonable expectations of prolonged life are founded upon such being a family inheritance . Rush says he never knew an octogenarian , in wlfose family there had not been frequent instances of longevity . Upon this assertion , M . Lucas proceeds to examine the duration of human life . He distinguishes average duration of life from individual longevity . Average duration depends evidently upon situation , hygiene , civilization ; individual longevity , on the other hand , is independent of these conditions . Instances of it are found in all acjes , in all countries ? , under all
conditions , among all races . The census made under Vespasian shows that in one part of Italy there were 65 persons upwards of a century old . In France about 170 are reckoned annually ; in England , one in every 3100 individuals reaches the age of one hundred . Everything tends to prove that longevity arises from an inherent vital tendency . This vitality is so peculiar , and so strongly implanted in their nature , that it characterizes their whole organization . They possess generally u kind of immunity from di . scase . All the functions and faculties of lifesensorial , emotional , locomotive , mental , and sexual—are accomplished , in these individuals , with peculiar energy , regularity , and persistency . "
It is , indeed , evident , a . priori , that as the parents transmit to their offspring the peculiarities of organization , they will also transmit this pcculianty of longevity . This point discussed , we have to consider the practical part of Dr . Van Oven ' s work—namely , the means of attaining longevity ; because , nthough each organism has a definite limit , beyond which its reparalive reproductive power cannot travel , yet , as before noted , very few really attain their own limit , and it is eminently desirable that the means o / doing so should be known . This will occupy us in our next article .
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AN AMERICAN CRITIC . Mental Portraits ; or , Studies of Character . By Henry V . Tuekormun , Author of " Artist ' s Life , " &c . Hentloy . It is becoming daily more and more of a serious conviction in . England , that American literature has passed from its early and imitative bondage , into a freedom of national development , promising the best results . Its worku are no longer reproductions of the mother country ' s forms of thought and expression , but are distinctively American . The consofluenco is , that we arc beginning to regard ' every new work that crossen liio
Atlantic with feelings of real curiosity ; and , amid the cargoes ol rubbish , wo find valuable commodities . Hero is a volume which cannot , indeed , be recognised as specially American , in anything except , perhaps , the ambitious aim which is ex post , facto given to it , but it in a volume ot elegant literature , very acceptable , come wlionco it may . It is a ropubheatiou of various review articles , written at considerable intervals , and subsequentl y made to stand fora gallery of " Mental Portraits" with tniB afterthought of a purpose : — _ " It is the delight of naturalists to \ mlieato how tho samo law assorts itself under widel y different circumstances : they point to tho leaves and stems visible- in fossil remains
, to tho snmo botanical organization in the pale flower buried under Alpine » nowa and tho radiant calyx of" the Tropic *—to the identity of material in tho cloud nnd tho iceborg . A minilm- parallel may bo drawn from tho hintory of character ; its phases ro-npponr continually , modified b y time and place , yet essentially «» o and tho unmo . No oluna i « ropreaontcd by tho philoso phy of Antiquity ; no general or apodal development in stamped on any ago , nnd no individual niuu has
become memorable—but have their existent prototypes and representatives . Human nature has always been the same . " Asa series of " studies , " embracing -Southey , Boone , Constable , Wilkie , Lafitte , JLorner , Savage , Jenny Lind , Leopardi , Jeffrey , Hawthorne , Brockedon Brown , D'Azeglio , Audubon , Washington Irving , and Campbell , it is both entertaining and-suggestive . Mr . Tuckerman has an elegant mind , a catholic and cultivated taste , a clear unpretending style , and touches each subject with a graceful completeness , very rare , in reviewers , who have a tendency to become ponderous when not fragmentary . It is not easy , in a brief notice like the present , to give an idea of his mode of treatment ; we shall borrow , therefore , a passage or two , and let them speak for themselves : —
THE LITERARY ADVENTURER . " The distinction of civilized society is that human life is systematic , and the natural effect of those circumstances which , in any degree , except an individual from its usual routine and responsib ilities , is to induce the impulsive action and precarious expedients that belong to wild races . In the world of opinion and habi t I occasionally see those who , goaded by misfortune or inspired by an adventurous temper , break away from the restraint which custom ordains , and by hardihood in action or extravagance of sentiment , practically isolate themselves from nearly all the social obligations acknowledged by mankind . Indeed , every human pursuit
may be said to have its respectable and its vagabond followers . In trade these extremes are obvious in the merchant and the pedlar ;—in the church , we have the bishop and the field-preacher : and in literature , the author who devotes the leisuro that intervenes between the care of his estates and the engagements of fashionable society , to a review , a poem , or a history , and the man about town-who lives by his wits , and whose dinner is contingent upon a happy epigram or a successful farce . Even when fortune and rank obtain , natures imbued with a vagrant or adventurous spirit will cut loose from social bondage through mere waywardness or courage , as if there were gipsy blood in their veins , or the instinct of heroism or discovery in their hearts .
" The enthusiasm of misanthropy made Byron a pilgrim , that of reform drove Shelley into exile , and that of sentiment won Rousseau to a picturesque hermitage . How much of human conduct depends upon the source whence is derived the inspiration or the sanction of existence ! Family pride leads to a constant reference to the standard of external honour ; the desire of wealth to a keen adaptation of all occasions to interest ; while the consciousness of having nothing beyond personal resources to look to for advancement or happiness , breeds in earnest minds an independence of mood almost defiant . To this we attribute , in no small degree , the recklessness of Savage . Every circumstance of his life tended to encourage self-will . He found neither in his birth , his fortunes , nor the incidents of his daily experience , any vantage-ground for confidence . Fate stemed to ordain between him and society a perpetual enmity . Hence his dauntless egotism ; driven from the outworks of life , he fortified the citadel . Sure of no palladium but his genius , he held it up as a shield against the arrows of scorn , or thrust it forth as an authentic emblem of his riarht to demand from others the satisfaction of his
wants . # * * * * * * " The genuine literary adventurer is , indeed , a kind of social Ishmaelite , pitching the tent of his convenience as necessity or whim suggests . It is his peculiar destiny to ' take no note of time / for he falls into any incidental scheme of festivity at morning , noon , or night , joins aii 3 r band of roisterers he may encounter , takes part in the street-corner discussions of any casual knot of politicians , and is always ready to go to the theatre , the club , a private domicile , or a codec-house , with the first chance acquaintance he meets . He hangs loose upon tho skirts of society . If the immediate is agreeable , he scorns change , and hence will prolong his social visits to the infinite annoyance of those who keep regular hours . Where he breakfasts , dines , or sleeps , is problematical in the morning . As the itinerant musician goes forth to win entertainment by his dulcet notes , tho vagabond man of genius trusts to his fund of clever stories , his aptitude as a diner-out , his facility at pencraft , or his literary reputation , to win upon the sympathies of souk ; humano auditor , or chain the attention of tho inquisitive , and thus provide for the claims of physical necessity .
" His appeal is threefold—to the benevolent , the curious , and the vain ; and in a largo city , with the entree of n few circles and places of resort , it will be , indeed , a strange hazard that deprives him wholly of these long-tried expedients . His agrceahility makes him friends which his indiscretions at length weary ; but a . s ho generally prefers to do all the talking himself , ho gradually ceases to be fastidious , and when ho cannot fraternize with : i scholar or a gentleman , contents hiuiKelf with inferior society . Tho consciousness of superior gifts and singular misfortunes , soon blunts that delicacy which shrinks from obligation . He receive * a favour with the air of a man to whom consideration is a . birthright . He i . s , a . s Lander
nays of woman , more sensitive than grateful ; borrows money and books without u thought o ( returning them , and although the most dependent of beings , instantly resents tho slightest approach to dictation as a personal insult . Ho i . s emphatically what Shakespeare denominates a ' landless resolute ; ' considers prudence- too mean a virtue for him to adopt , and industry a habit unworthy of Inn spirit . His wits are his capital , which ho invests , day by day—now and Mien , perhaps , embarking them in a more deliberate venture , by way <> f polishing his tarnished escutcheon . Kqually exempt from the Iiiwb of sentiment as those of economy , ho makes unconscionable drafts upon tho npprobativeness and tho malignity of others , by inditing panegyrics and lampoons .
* * * > x < * * *• " It is peculiar to this class of men to bo unconscious , of the diverse attractions of talents and character . Their egotism prevents an habitual recognition of tho important fact that the entertainment a / Ibrdcd by conversational abilities and personal sympathy arc two very distinct things . Heeauso their lalk is listened to with avidit y , their wit productive of laughter , and their reputation of deference , they deduce tho erroneous conclusion that individually and for themselves im interest is awakened ; whereas , in most cases , the charm is purely objective . By men of the world , genius of a literary kind i . s regarded in tho kuiid light an dramatic , artistic , mid juggling cleverness— the result ; is not associated with the person ; it , is tho pastime , not . tho man that wins . A conviction ko wounding to welf-lovo i . s not easily adopted ; ami , us n natural consequence , the deluded victims of Hocial applause continue , in spito of mortifying experience , to look lor u degree of consideration , and demand u sympathy which it is absurd to expect from any
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September 24 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 931 ^— _ l ' .:. ¦¦ ¦ - - ¦ :.. ¦ . . - — ¦ - ' — ... ...... ¦¦ . ...
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1853, page 931, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2005/page/19/
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