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,.., , / ^ ' ^ , , jBHTltHllU* V
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Erasmus from spot to spot;—as in a dark-lantern hunt at scKool , one got a glimpse of the boy with the lantern , by the occasional flash he threw out . He is in France , Germany , England , —always- a- little- spot of light in places of darkness , superstition , ignorance , violence . But consider Low his knowledge was acquired , too ; , how different was- the task of being a scholar then . than . in our day , with its grand apparatus of books , maps , globes ; and an intellectual machinery so perfect , that you can turn out moderate literati as copiously as they mjifce ^ pina , getting a- few yards of ordinary wire , and working them up , heads and all , in comparatively no time ! To be a great author remains as difficult as ever ; bnt iu the days of Erasmus , you could hardly be a man of attainments without being a man of genius . The first editions of the Classics : works , which now are the curiosities of libraries Card
I . believe fetch , large sums , particularly if you can get a copy with the leaves uncut , which , is a bijou ) , were slowly crawling out from the- presses of Venice , Florence , and further nortli sometimes , in Erasmus ' s younger days . He says once , in a letter , that , ' if he could get . some money , ho . would , buy first Greek books , and then clothes . ' There- were about three man at Oxford capable of teaching Greek at that time . The great scholars , in faxt , taught themselves , and oy huge personal exertions . It was a time of grand energy and indomitable- enthusiasm . Europe began to learn , as , centuries before , she had fougtit , with a heroism that was demonic . Erasmus , Budmus , and those who followed these great leaders , were the Vikings of literature . They embarked on the sea of knowledge with hearts as daring as those with which our forefathers long before had spread their sails on the Baitia . aud the German Oceans !" On a ^ very different subject from , this , Mr . Hannay writes just as vividly and agreeably . Hete are some good thoughts about .
HORACES A » l > IH 3 POETRY . " I esteem Horace as a moralist and satirist ( and the Roman satire is essentially ethical ; and indeed all great satirists are moralists ) more than as a poet . It would be more accurate to describe him as a satirist who wrote poetry , than as a poet who wrote satires . A late biographer ( Milman ) deals again , -with that fatal old question ( so often raised also about Pope ) , was he a poet at all ? The very donbt is dangorous to him ; and unhappily time doubts just rise when , poetry itself is taking a . fresh development . Who shall deny the charm of liis carmincu—the nnish . oE his art ? They must be read again , and again with pleasure . But it . seems to me that the key to the whole question was furnished by Battr maun , when he said , ' Horace is not one of those poets who wrote from an impulse of Nature . ' It is a certain condition of mind , original and creative , which makes a man a . poet ; and that that , was possessed by by Horace , I do not see reason to believe . " When one examines his poems , one sees at the first glance that the creation of many of them wastnerely artificial . He availshimself of a tradition—of a . situation—of some little scene foreign to- Rome in place and character ; and this he works up in Italian marble , and gives out as a Latin poem . Thus , many of his lyrics are paintings of old subjects ( Greek subjects- on Roman frescoes ); imitations of the old ; classic models of the Archipelago , and the-east of tha Mediterranean ; and embodyments of a mythology in which he did not lelieve . Then , consider the difficulties to which all attempts to treat these poems historically
give rise ; What are we to make of the Greek names in the lyrics , for instance ? The comuientators ; l } ave-done their best ; and have endowed the philosophic Horace with-Buch-abevv " of . Greek acquaintances , particularly damsels , —lute-playing dancing-girls , with , ivy-bound heads or rose-crowned , heads , with hair of one form and hair of another , —that criticism pauses in . despair . The acute scholar I quoted a moment ago takes these young . Greek persons to task : he exposes Horace's contradictions in his" statements about them ; shows tliat one Lalttgeis quite different from another Lalage ; condemns the notion of their historic existence ; stigmatises those who maintain it as ' gossiping annecdote-mongers ; ' and lays ifc do . wu , that nonrreality is . au essential feature of Horace ' s Odes . ' A misconception is tiius removed about Horace's private life : but , further , one finds many literary difficulties removed likewise . I caunot fancy Horace believing ^ except in an artistic kind of way , in his mythological subjects . You leave him skill , tact , taste , language ; you conceive him , too , under this theory , a much more natural and coherent being , — -as a fine-tasted satirist , and man of t-lie world , who did pictures after the Greeks , —than you do if yon suppose him , as the author of the moral and satirical , discourses * to have been directly inspired by old Pagan piety towards the gods ; or , living in ilia plain way lie did , to have been , habitually enchanted by Greek girls and boys , while sitting under the mytle or the vino . I esteem him in his lyrical capacity , as an exquisite reproducer of old forms ; while , of course , the value of his lyrics is immeasurable in this light , as a picture-of the ancient life , its beliefs , its sentiments , its gaiety . " One more extract from Mr . Hannay ' s last lecture , treating of Byron , and we must have done .
BYUON AND DON JUAN . " It is to be remarked , that all the while that ho wns indulging in the excesses of his agei he nQver'believcd in that course of life . He had to drug his heart and conscience , somehow , before he gave himself up to it . He was always open to remorse ; and when we talk of his soda-water , let us remember that he took repentance along with it . Thero 5 s a strong distinction botween the dissipation of a man whose heart is true , and that of our friend tho ' pig' of the ' garden . ' Ho doesn ' t glory in being a pig : on the contrary , ho means to leave the ' garden' after this one debauch : at all events , he does not make a philosophy of it , and assert that , after all , the ' garden' is the only place for a man . Yet even the dissipation of Byron was but aphaao : when wo remember what ho thought , did , road , and wroto , it can only have been a smull phase in his life . And wo know , from his Ust actions « nd his last poems , that ho was developing into the high antl pure man , of whom what ho hadiwritten was the prodiotion . Don Juun was thu state of transition from Byron tlio Dcuior to Byron tho Positive , the- Doer . In all his first works , from Childe Harold to Maiy ' recl and Cam , ho was at war with the world and with himself ; and tlioso dark figures ^ with their various costumesand their ono notewere expvea 3 ions of that fact .
, , Misanthropy can bo no permanent status for a man ; accordingly , as lie got older , and more tranquil and composed , lie came to a pause in that . caroor ; ana iu Juan we find the results of tho mnso betweon tho Corsair-viow of life and tho higher stago ( tho last to which ho nttnineu ) , tho ambition to servo mankind practically in tho case of struggling Greece , —an enterprise , one object of which wub to redeem himself in tho opinion of his countrymen . Juaii ) therefore , ia the healthiest and most cheerful of his productions ; und in spite of cortain loviLitiB ; horo and there , which I regret as much « s any man ( anil which may servo us . a theme to Stiggins in his leisure hour ) , it is a high and valuable work . Its prcdominunt tono is humorous and satirical ; it ia full of sharp good sense ; and it is , in truth and fact , a work with a good object . It pictures life genially nnd soundly ; excites your lovo of the beautiful and tho lofty ; demolishes cant iu many a . stirring line ; and , above all , tho utter sonso of weariness and disgust it gives you for tho mere life of pleasure , and for tlio false tono of Kiifilieh society , is mosb bonofloial and healthy . I think it disgraceful , the way in ¦ which UiU book ia often trowted . I do not consider it n dangerous boot to anybody wlio is
nc to read it . A lool hero and thoro may mivko tho mistake to suppose that it is intended to stimulnto him into being a Oobknoy-Rochester ; but that cannot bo helped . Tho form ia humorous ,, und tlio adventures romantic ; but tho roaulL is tho thing to bo considered . Tho wholo poem , aa a ploUiro of life , loitvoa you wilh a sonao of melancholy and of satiric scorn , —both , however , much more- naturnl , nnd healthy than thoso I'xoitod by liia other \ vurka . Motuiwhile , your boat foolingu 'liuvo boon nwnkonod by muny moat tender and most noblo HtraiuH uf writing , wliloh have taken your hoart by ntonn . And for tho rest ? Tho rest ia plmsiinlry ami genlluinauly bufl ' oonory , and funtustio afl ' octaliwn . - \ vliero tlio element of humour nnd iutolloet has kept tlio doubtful mutter from bciiiK inlscliiovous , ns pure vmtor Kama lutrBJt Ireali . Lot uh boar in mind , that tho groat liumorint « , froo us they mny bo now ; uuil thon , nro not , tlio ooiTuplhifr mon . If 1 wanted to corrupt a youth ( which lioil torbiil ) , I . would not give him Juvcmil . vv Tristvum Shuiidy , or Don Juan ; tho intwlk-otnnl WjuliiUon , would delight him , ami olicck tho miaohii ; f to hia 11-oJingH ; no , I would hand him tt Junuil tc « t book of moral quuaiiuii »!" " With these examples of wliat tlio rouder may expect to iind in Satire and Satin ' .-its , wo close our notice of u book which really deserves attention from tlio publio ns an interesting and useful contribution to tlio critical literature ol our own times .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itseli . —Goethe . " 5 Douche the Secoxd . The processes of the Water-Cure may sound ridiculous to tlie uninitiated and considerably alarm those whose ablutions , being constantly of ** the lick and promise" character , have an epidermis as much alarmed at the mention of cold water as lovely woman is at a co"w in Regent-street or at a duck of ferocious aspect in . a lonely lane . Nevertheless , the processes are , in reality , extremely agreeable . I cannot deny that they cleanse the skinthey are" open to that objection , " as the man said of the foot-bath ; but I distinctly deny that they are other -than exquisite luxuries ; and whatever curative virtue there may be in water , it has certainly the negative merit
of being unlike curative drugs , which are not on the whole-agreeable to the palate or system . I tliink , indeed , that if some of the Water-Cure processes could only be called vices , and proved as injurious as alcohol and tobacco , they would be as largely indulged in . The immense and exhilarating animal vigour , and general teadency to " whip one ' s weight in polecats , " which succeeds a good bath and rubbing , are sensual indulgences not to be despised ; and it is only the idea of medicaL treatment which can suggest the contrary . The human being objects to " treatment "—shudders at black draughts as at sermons ; and drugs are physical sermons j sermons are moral drags . But if I begin to moralise I shall outrun my space , so let me describe .
At six o ' clock , a brawny batkman with large fat hands tears aside the " blanket of the dark , " and informs you that your bath is ready . If you are to be packed , this is the process : a counterp-ane is taken off the bed , a wet sheet is placed on it , and you , in the character of an Antinous or Satyr , as the case may be , slim or dumpy , handy or obese , recline your form upon that wet sheet , which is- then folded very carefully over you ; the blankets are systematically packed round that , and when you are thoroughly swathed in this way , you are left , with your hands pinioned at your side-, to represent rudely a perspiring Mummy—the Amenophis of private life—in which ' extremely historical condition you remain for half an hour or an hour . If you consider the well-directed horror of the European mind against damp
sheets , you will perhaps be startled at this notion of being packed in a wet sheet ; the difference is not in the dampness , biit in the " packing , " which prevents evaporation , and , consequently , produces a steady suffused glow of warmth , which soothes you into a gentle slumber . I have but one comment to make upon this process , and this is tho incousiderateness with which tho bathmnn . leaves you packed , instead of remaining' to attend to any little wants . Imagine tho torture of lying , swaddled and helpless , while volatile flies career upon your face , or stray hairs tickle you to madness ! More sorious than this , is the objection that possibly your condition is so low that you have not heat enough to produce the necessary reaction , and may bOj aa I was at the first trial , obliged to take a cup of hot tea , or some other stimulant . To return to tho process : You arc awakened from your doae by tho return of tho faithful bathman , brawny and assiduous , who after unwrapping you , invites you to get into a long shallow bath of cold water . The luxury of this cold water , aided by his energetic rubbing , is indescribable J Ifc throw mo at once , historically , into tho Komtin baths , nnd made mo appreciate tho wise nmgnineenec of those old sensualists . Getting out of the bath , I made the niiiu rub my wot skin with easy vigour ; ho then threw a dry shoot ovor me , mid rubbed with energy till 1 was dry . That rubbing was succeeded by a rubbing -with n dry blanket , which in turn v / an succeeded by a rubbing with a » i ) it , dry hand . Tho mysteries uf the toilette followvd , and having oiled in \ whiskers ( for even at Mnlvern ono likos to bo prepared ) I seized a hill post ( or alpenstock ) , and nmide a desjiemto cimrgo up tho heights . Tho good docile water pntiont ut this Htngo ol" tlio proceedings , walks briskly to St . Ann ' Well , or elsewhere , and swills water with bacchanalian gusto i but 1 wns not n docile putiuut , and objecting to water taken internally , both as a limiid nnd as u medicine j believing , indeed , the water-drinking to
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Jujly 15 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 667
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Russia and TwTcey . By J , PL M * Cuilocb , Esc [ . ( The Travellers' Library . ) Longman , Brown Green and Longmans . Indian . Leisure . Petrarch — On the Cliaracter of Othello — Agamemnon—The Henriad—Anthology . By Captain Kobert Guthrie Macgregor . Smith , Elder , and Co . TJie Perihand Adventures of jpriscilla Eaton . An Historical Tale . John F . Shaw Hogg ' s Instructor . No . 13 . James Hogg * . Setue . ll Pastures . By the Author of " Sir Frederick Derwent , " &c . 2 vols . George Roatiedge and Co . The AssuranceMagazine , and-Journal of theInstitute of Actuaries . No . 14 . G . and E . Layton . Our Friend . A Montiih j Miscellany designed for all Classes . John f . Shaw The Southern Quarterly Beview . New Series . No . 19 . Trubner and Co . Funny Memoirs of Foreign Lands . By Mrs . Harriet Beecher Stow © . 2 vols . Sampson , Low , Son , and Co .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 667, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2047/page/19/
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