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gone out of that moment ; the corpse alone remains ; and ve who have nothing tut the cold corpse " wonder" it could ever have had living value . IThere is something in the recording of praise , which , when it is read in after years , seems to imply a greater weakness than really exists . Intolerant as our vanity always is of the vanity of another , the intolerance is sharpened in such cases . We get a volume crowded with details of admiration ; we read them m an hour , and forget that they represent . years ; we read them afraid , and forget that they were written in the ebullition of the
moment . Journals—and this is their real vice—are necessarily false . The most truthful man that ever lived could not write a truthful journal , unless he confined himself to the merest skeleton of facts , and then it would only be a selection , not a picture . We believe that William Wilberforce was a truly religious man ; but the deep disgust with which we read his Journals , the painful sense of hypocrisy which forced itself upon'us , is not yet effaced , although now some fifteen years are gone since we read the Journals ; and their effect has been to render the image of that man for ever unpleasant in
our eyes . We need all the testimony of his life and friends to counteract the effect of his Journals . We . will say more : we , too , have kept Journals , and honestly declare that on our reading them at some years distance our impression of our own character was , that it was an odious caricature . Indeed , Ut is this vivid sense of the moral impossibility of writing a journal truthfully , which has of late years made us desist . For purposes of after reference , we still keep a Journal , wherein dates and bald facts are occasionally entered , and we find all the advantages of a Journal thus secured with none of the drawbacks .
Tor it is a drawback , and a fearful one , to be constantly attitudinising to an imaginary reader on your own life and actions—it is a danger , and a fearful one , to tamper thus with truth under the mask of secresy—to suppress , to feign , to exaggerate , to lie ! Moreover , we should struggle against , and not encourage , the habit of making our own thoughts and our own actions of such dominant importance as to deserve daily chronicle . There is no danger of our neglecting ourselves ; there is danger of our neglecting the "work which lies before us . We reprobate the practice of Journal-writing ( in any form but that of
mere memorandum-keeping ) , because it has a vitiating influence on the mind , and earnestly warn our readers to bethink them of this . As strongly do we counsel men who are celebrated , or who hope one day to be , not to let such Journals exist , lest they fall into the hands of Biographers ; for certain we are , that no such permanent damage can be done to the reputation of a man , as to have copious publication of his Journals . Letters are bad enough , written as they are on the spur of the moment , in the heat of temper , and the haste of business ; but Journals are still worse , because they have a more deliberate air .
With this protest , we pass to the consideration of these volumes , as regards their attractiveness . Setting Moore wholly aside , we think they are agreeable volumes of gossip worth reading once . They have some good stories , ' bon mots , and personal glimpses . But Moore had no great talent for Journalising , and hence we must read with large " skips . " They are not for an instant to be compared with Haydon ' s Journals . Lord John , who has been roundly abused for his negligent editorship , far more than we think he deserves , contributes very little to these volumes . From the Preface to the sixth , we extract a good passage on the question of Moore ' s vanity : —
" There is much truth in the maxim of La Rochefoucauld , that what most offends us in the vanity of others is that it jars with our own . ' Every one says to himself , ' There is a man so absorbed with his own merits that he does not perceive mino . ' Still there are different kinds of vanity , and each partakes of the character of the person in whom it resides . Of these kinds the worst is that which makes little display , but is continually at work in depreciating others that our own superiority may become conspicuous . A vanity of this kind is largely mixed with envy . It is an envy too the more odious , as it is not content witli hating some single person , or aiming at some single advantage , but hates every person who is admired and loved , and every quality for which a person is admired and loved . This kind of vanity cannot hear that a girl of eighteen should bo admired for her beauty , or a child of three for its prattle . Any thing that attracts and absorbs attention is gall and wormwood to it . But above all , when that particular merit which competes with its own supposed eminence is
admired , nothing is spared to injure , to depreciate , to depress the person thus endowed . The most sacred bonds of friendship , the strongest ties of affection , are broken to indulge its boundless passion . Truly did Mr Sheridan say , that ambition and avarice are- not so destructive in their rago or so furious in their career as vanity , lie must have meant vanity of this Icind . There is another kind of vanity , which is in many respects the opposite of that which I have described . It is open and ingenuous , taking for granted that all the world adopts its own estimate of its own excellence , and therefore in excellent humour with all the world . If tho world sneers and depreciates , a person of this character ascribes the sarcasm to the malignity of some one , or some fow , and goes on satisfied and happy as before . Vanity of this kind is often joined with much kindneas , and even with simplicity and candoixr . It is compatible with a high appreciation of the works and acts of others . It ofLen overflows in benevolence towards family , friends , neighbours , and mankind in general . confession of this
" I own it appears to me that an open kind is preferable to a humility which is often nothing better than hypocrisy . It is difficult to believe that a poet , an orator , or an historian , whoso fame is an echo to every effort of his genius , can bo ignorant of his own merit . When Horace says —• ' Exegi monumentum sere perenmus , ' and When Ovid , in tho same spirit , exclaims' Jiunquo onus exegi quod nee Jovis ini nee'ignis , Ncc potent funuin , ncc edax abolero vetustas . ' I applaud their manly candour , and acknowledge tho truth of their prophecies . It is tho same with Dante , Milton , Aiiosto , and many othens . They knew their powers , and weio too honest to affect ignoranco of them . lint when Mr . Burke , who mu . it have been coiiHcious
that his , eloquence was stamped with genius and fraught with the treasures of a rich imagination , represents himself as nothing moro than an industrious plodding member of Parliament . ' I cannot fail to perceive that ho in mocking his hiuircr . s , and that ho pretenda to a humility he docs not feel . " Now it would bo folly to deny thatJMooro had a good opinion of hte own powers , and that ho was delighted with every tribute , oral , written , and printed , to bin talents , Butjhin lovo of p .-niso was joined with tho most generous and liboral dispensation of praise to others . Ho reh ' sned tho worlca of Byron and of Scott us if ho had been himself no competitor for fume with them . Another man , in his position , upon . seeing tho hospitable mansion of AbboLsfonl , might lmvo felt some envy at tho largeness of tho possession acquired by t ho pen of a rival . But Mooro only felt that it was a position duo to genius ; and , when tho fniil fabric of Scott ' s fortune tumbled to tho ground , lamented with genuine sympathy tho downfall of a prosperity to wliioh ho liimablf hud never aspirod , but which he considered tho right of tho * Author of Waverley . '"
This is very true , and the more worth saying , because people in eene 1 are so hard on the vanity of others , not discriminating between the vaV which is innocent delight in self , and the vanity which is aggressive n others . Consider for example , this naive self-admiration of John H ter ' s : — unf John Hunter , onee saying , to Lord ^ HoIland , If yon wish to see a great manyou hav before you . . I consider myself a greater man than Sir Isaac Newton . ' Explained then 1 ° ^ that discoveries which lengthen life and alleviate sufferings are of infinitely more import to mankind than any thing relating to the stars , &c . &c . " * UUce You ' smile perhaps ; do you see any barm in it ? Not more than in Cobbett ' s advertising , " On Monday next will be published TusserV $ W Hundred Points of Husbandry . By William Cobbett . With a portrait of Myself . ' ' '' ^ . . ' , ^ J We said there were some capital mots in these volumes ; a few may be selected . Here is one from the ever-welcome Charles Lamb :
" Charles Lamb sitting next some chattering woman at dinner ; observing he didn't attend to her , ' Yon don ' t seem ( said the lady ) to be at all the better for what I have been savinoto yon . ' ' No . Ma'am' ( he answered ) , but this gentleman at the other side of me must for it all came mat one ear and went out at the other . '" '
Here is an exquisitely humourous touch from Luttrell , worthy of Lamb : " Rogers calling on Wilkie the other morning ; when he entered the room , Wilkie exclaimed 1 and your goat ; ' on which K . turning " round saw that a goat had followed him out of the street , and came upstairs with him . l . uttrell said it was notan uncommon thing forgoatsto follow people in this manner , and to affect to belong to them . " . This also is perfect in its unconsciousness : " Kemble's opinion of Kean ' s ' Othello : ' ' If the justness of the conception had been bat equal to the brilliancy of the execution it would have been perfect ; but the whole thin ? was a mistake ; the fact being that Olhdlo wasa slow man . " Every one who knows anything of A . W . Schlegel knows what a coxcomb he was ; here is a glimpse of him : .
" Dined at Lord Lansdowne ' s : company , Lord Auckland , Macaulay , Eogers , Schlegel , Charles Murray , &c . Eogers seated , next Schlegel , and suffering manifest agony from the German ' s loud voice and unnecessary use of it . Got placed between . Lady Lansdovrae and Macaulay very agreeably . In quoting Voltaire ' s ' Superflu , c 7 iose si necessaire , ' I remarked that it had been suggested , I thought , by a passage in Pascal's 'Lettres Provinciales ; ' and Macaulay agreed with me , and ( remembering , as he does everything ) repeated the passage . " Had some talk with Sclilegel after dinner ; asked me , if a man conscientiously , and without any intentional levity , published a book in England expressive of his disbelief in the Scriptures , and giving the reasons of his disbelief , how such a book would be received ?
Answered , that as to the look , I didn't know , but I knew well how the man would be received ; and I should not like to be in his place . In speaking of Pope , whom I , of course , praised , but whom he seemed not to have much taste for , he exclaimed , ' Yes , to be sure , there are some-fine things-in him ; that passage , for instance , " Upon -her neck a sparkling cross she wore , " charming I So much for the German ' s appreciation of Pope . Intimated that Goethe was jealous of him in consequence of sume Indian poem that he ( Schlegel ) wrote or translated . Kogers and I in doubt whether we should go to Lady Grey's or Lord Burghersh's music ; decided for the latter . Told me , that on his asking Schlegel , in allusion to Goethe ' s death , ' Are there any German poets now left ? ' Schlegel blurted out , ' / am a German poet ; ' throwing his arms open pompously as he said it . "
Goethe jealous of Schlegel ! Sydney Smith , who was , take him all in all , our greatest English wit , figures often in these pages . The following is charming : " Told of Leslie , the Scotch philosopher , once complaining to him that Jeffrey had ' damned the North Pole . ' Leslie had called upon JefTrey just as the latter was going out riding , to explain some point ( in an article for the Edinburgh Review , I believe ) concerning the North Pole ; and Jeffrey , who was in a hurry , exclaimed impatiently , as he rode ott , ' O damn the North Pole ! ' This Leslie complained of to Sydney ; who entered gravely into his feelings , and told him in confidence , that he himself had once heard Jefirey speak disrespectfully of the Equator . ' This also is good : "Jn talking of O'Conndl , of the mixture there is in him of high and low , formidable am contemptible , mighty and mean , Smith summed up all by saying , 'The only way to with such a man i * to hang him up and erect a statue to Iiim under his gallows . ^ The following observation is noticeable ; it agrees with all physiological
deduction : " Eogers mentioned an observation of John Hunter's , that wherever there was lra ^ boy with a number of sisters , the boy was sure to be effeminate ; and John Hunter uj give it as a proof of Homer ' s knowledge of human nature , that ho makes tlie co »^ ujr youth , Dolon , in the night scene , ' sole brother of five sisters /" AVe close with a subtle remark : t » cd " Quoted an excellent mot of somobody to Fontcnelle , on tho latter saying that ho Hatter himself lie had a good heart— Yes , my dear Fontenclle , you have as good a heart aa <• . made out of brains . ' "
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TWO NOVELS . B Alderman Ralp h '; or , the History of the Borough and Corporation oj'J ^ 1 !! 0 ^^ Co . Adam Hornbook . 2 vols . Price 5 s . # Geo . Ro utMgc au ^ Maud ; a City Autobiography . 3 vols . Price Kb . Gd . , . Foit purposes of critical contrast , it would be difficult among tho boo ^ a . ii » 4 *» 1 il ik frw CiXk ^ f fnrrw iwkff . ^< * li * i-rk Hiri iwwroid lw » fiim 11 M . AldCrM ™ ' * ' A , .
as characteristically manly and mannish , as Maud is wom anly and w * . the one smacks strongly , and the flavour i . s pleasant , of our old noV , ' Circuothcr as strongly , and the flavour is less commendable , of our mou ,. j n lating library . One deals largely in local politics , and but ® P ?^ o , luces love ; the other has some episodes , but its storj' is all love . One ^ ^^_ us to the squables and incidents of borough politics , the other i » t ^ _ turics of " sentiment" not always of tho most intelligible kind . ^ ja vigour
racters in Alderman Ralph arc sketched with objective , ' . ^ j ^ Alnud , on the contrary , are what the critics call subjective . ¦ , \ tg Itsclt as it presents itself to the observing mind of a man , and 11 S ltPr C ^ ' lVorksto the romantic mind of a girl , may be seen indicated in these ^^ j ) 0 oks As a critical exercise , we advise the reader to tsiko up tueso ^ in succession . They arc both amusing , but from difloront rcaso . , are both faulty , but their faults are different . - . j n tcrcfit of Alderman Ralph is one example , among many , of how little u \ ^ ^ ^ ix story depends upon the magnitude of the topics it employs , anc fc OIl upon the treatment . Justaa in life we see tho passions roused a . ^ ^ the stretch by things intrinsically insignificant , so in fiction the i ^^ to display tho passions in action without much regard to whit r ' jvoiy iti Borough politics call forth the qualities of human nature as oji ' n ., go national politics . What is the nation , to the parochial mind , but an i
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1266 THE LEADER . D [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 31, 1853, page 1266, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2019/page/18/
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