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Leader (1850-1860), 7th October 1854, Edition Town of 2, Page 949, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      We have generally remarked that , when musical amateurs give private concerts , their selection of music to be performed is guided much more by the idea of showing off their own dexterity than by the idea of amusing their friends . The same sort of plan seems to be folio-wed by Quarterly Reviewers , for the most part . They write on subjects which are excellentl y adapted to display their favourite literary accomplishments , but ¦ which are fclso extremely ill-fitted to interest the public . In the new number of the Westminster Review , for example , the opening article , and a very learned one it is , is on " The Odin Religion . " How many people in England care to read about the Odin religion ? Two other articles are on the " Use and Meaning of History" and " The Rise and Progress of Diplomacy "—highly respectable subjects both ( especially for school themes or college essays ) ;

      but could no literary and political topics of more universal and immediate interest have been chosen to be written on ? The pages about Madame db Sabib , in the article on " Woman in France , " are the pleasantest to read in all this quarter ' s number—not because the author writes better or knows more than his fellow contributors , but because he has chosen a subject with some novelty and some special human interest in it . So , again , the last paper on the " Crystal Palace , " although presenting nothing strikingl y original , will arrest attention and will be read with pleasure , because people are really thinking about the Crystal Palace . Perhaps "Rajah Brooke " may also appeal successfull y to the curiosity of the readers of the review . He was a subject of interest at any rate ; and his famous actions were not performed in the days of the " Qdin religion . "

      The ^ British Quarterly we have not yet had time to examine with sufficient attention . It seems to be not quite so felicitous in the selection of unpopular topics as the Westminster . It has articles , for instance , on " Manchester and St . Petersburg , " and on " Spain and Espartero , " and an essay on Swift ' s Life and Genius , " in which all the materials for the subject are pleasantly and unpretendingly turned to good account . The attraction of the article is further increased , to our taste , by the writer ' s moderation of tone . Swift ' s biographers and reviewers have been a little too apt of late years to speak for him . In the Britisli Quarterly he is very properly made to speak for himself .

      The Neiv Quarterly is as commendably full of booi-news and bookcriticism as all quarterlies , to our thinking , ought to be . The Journal o f Psychological Medicine has reached us . It contains an article on " Non-Mechanical Restraint in the Treatment of the Insane , " which is full of interest—wot for doctors only , but for intelligent readers of all professions and degrees as -well . The necessity of economising space , during this week of war-news , obliges us to abstain from quoting from it , and hurries us on abruptly to the Monthly Periodicals . The National Miscellany continues its amusing extracts from "The Journal of an Officer in the Expeditionary

      Force . " Bentley ' s Miscellany appeals to present public interest b y three different articles on subjects connected with the war . One is ( of course ) entitled " Sebastopol , " and another " Russia and the Jtussians ; " the third , and best , describes the " Boulogne Fetes . " Tait is varied and amusing this month , and contains one article on " Our Social Morality , " which is especially worthy of perusal , and especially to be commended for the sense , candour , and moderation of its tone . Poolb ' s famous picture of" Job and his Friends , " and Lajsce ' s " Summer Gift , " supplying the Art Journal with its last new largo engravings . The letter-press columns of this useful periodical contain some very interesting papers on art subjects , among which

      we may mention , as particularly attractive , a very graphic and lively description of the living sculptors at Rome and of the works they are now engaged on ; and a letter from Antwerp announcing that the restoration of Rubens ' s Descent from the Cross has been safely and successfully accomplished , after eight months of difficult and delicate labour . This will be welcome news to all lovers of art .

      Untitled Article

      The publishers seem to antici pate a good winter season for books , while the war operations are necessarily suspended . Advertisement lists are already beginning to look nearly ns well filled as in the past and prosporous times of peace . Some interesting volumes of the biographical kind arc shortly to appear . Among them are the long-promised Letters and Life oj Lady Jikssington , the Memoirs of James Montgomery , arid the seventh and eighth volumes of Moore ' s Diary . An announcement of the biographical kind , however , more important than any of thusc , still remains to bo made .

      Sydney SmitJi's Memoirs and Letters , edited by his daughter , in conjunction with Mrs . Austin , are at lust ready to go to press . Wo most sincerely regret to be obliged to add that the book will bo only printed for private circulation , What motives can havo led to such an extraordinary proceeding as thu we arc quite at a loss to understand . But we must venture , in the name of the public , and with nil possible respect , to protest against the private publication of a work which the wholo reading world has been anxiousl y waiting for , ever eince the existence of mntoriala for a biography Qt bxwrax Smith was first made known . It seems hard , indeed , that a

      select circle of private friends only can be permitted to enjoy all tlie instruction and interest to be derived from the life of a man whose works have already taken rank among the classics of English literature . Are no personal relics of Sydney Smith to be given to the grateful keeping of the English people , whose cause he served so well , and whos « admiration regarded him with undying fame ? Even his favourite garden-walk at Combe Plorey has been altered by the present possessor past all recognition ; and now the publication of his Life and Letters is to be the privileged enjoyment of his private friends only . We most earnestly hope that the editors of the Memoirs may yeit have time and inclination to reconsider their resolution , and deserve the gratitude of the reader who honoured Sidnet Smith , as well as of the friends who loved him .

      Untitled Article

      From France our news is of the dramatic kind . Geohge Saw > has a new play , in five acts , in rehearsal at the Gymnase . A one act piece for Rachel and Gefikoy has been accepted at the Theatre Fkancais . Scribe is said to be at work on a new five act drama for the same theatre , containing , as a matter of course , a grand u show-part" for Rachel . The Italian Opera has opened with Semiramide ; Mdlle . Bosio , Madame Bobghi-Makno , and M . Gassier , being the chief singers . At the Ambigtj , a grand war-drama has been produced , in honour of the Anglo-French alliance . The three characters intended to develop the romantic part of the story are a villainous Russian prince , a chivalrous French artist , and an accomplished English physician , a member of the Peace Society , enthusiastic about his profession , madly in love with a ravishing Russian damsel , and

      bearing the startlingly-national name of '' Sir Barclay ! '' Such is the flourishing condition of dramatic matters in Paris . ; and the remoter stage--world of Madrid seems to he in an equal state of activity . The Spanish capital is quite in a state of ferment just now about the crowning of a tragic poet named Quint ana . There is no question about his riglit to be crowned ; but there is great difference of opinion about the manner of performing the august ceremony . The press and populace are all for having it done in the theatre—the learned men exclaim that the coronation ^ aHTariy take place with any propriety in the Academy—and the court-party declare that Quintana ought to go incontinently to the Palace , and he crowned there by the Queen ' s own hand . Truly , it is a fine thing to be a play--writer in , Madrid ! We blush for dramatic London , and mourn in secret over our own uncrowned Fitzball .

      Untitled Article

      O . LDHAM A ! NI > HIS POETRY . Tke Poetical Works of John Oldham . Edited by Robert Bell . Parker and Sou . Who was John Oldham ? And what sort of poetry did he "write ? These are the two first questions which our readers will most probably ask themselves on turning to the present notice . We beg to assure them , at the outset , that Oldham ' s life was in many respects remarkable enough to be worthy of attention from his posterity ; and that his poetry ha 9 — -with some obvious and glaring faults—genuine and striking merits which ought to have prevented it from ever sinking , as during a temporary period it did sink , into almost total oblivion . By way of proving that this assertion is not made without some justice , we propose trying to show the reader ( by Mr . Robert Beix ' s help ) -what sort of a man Oldham Avas , and what title his poetry

      possesses to the attention of the present generation . John Ojldham was born in Gloucestershire , in the year 1653 , ami was the son of a nonconformist minister . Me was educated at Tedbury School ; and perfected himself in learning at Oxford , where he "took the degree of B . A . ; and where his turn for poetry first developed itself . On leaving the University , he returned to his friends in Gloucestershire . But he -was soon wearied of nonconformist society , of idleness , and of dependence on others . A situation a 3 usher at the Free School of Croydon was offered to him , and he accepted it , because it enabled him to get his oyrix living by his own labour . With this act , the manly and admirable struggle of his life to preserve his independence may be said to have begun . At the Free School he worked on , bravely disciplining his natural freedom of spirit to submit

      to the drudgery that he lived by , for three years . During that tune ho employed his scanty intervals of leisure in writing poems , which found their way , in MS ., into the literary circles of London , llochester , Sedley , and Dorset , among other famous people of the time , read what ho had done , admired it , and set off one day to patronise the poor usher . But Qldhani was not to be patronised . In an ago when every man of letters fawned upon the prosperous and the groat , tho usher who wrote versea at Croydon School was the one independent author ^ Yho would cringe to > nobody . Discovering this , Rochester , and Sedley , and Dorset went back to their Jllatterors in London , and loft uucringing Oldham to drudge on as he mi ^ ht at the school , till he had tho luck to got an appointment as tutor in the family of Judge Thurland . In this situation he remained for two yours ; writing during that interval hid once famous " Satires against tho Jesuits . " His next situation as teacher was in the house of Sir William Hicks , who had

      penetration enough to perceive tho great and rare qualities ot tlio now tutor ' s character , and proposed that Oldham should accompany Ins sou on a tour to tho Continent—the " Grand Tour" which every young g-ontloinaa of parts and family undertook by way of noK » liii >« . !>«••• »»» ' » ' »« '' » finally m those days . The offer was declined . Oldlinm ' H literary aucoew had encouraged him to hope every thing from his future offbrlH ; and instead ot playing Mentor , on the Continent , to tho TolUii »» elni » Master Hicks , he went to London to fight lib way ujnviuvl with hw pen . lhofomeot tho satires against the Jesuits had preceded him . Ho now met tho wi . b and fine gentlomen-ospecially the throt , who had tried to patronise him at Croydon School-on equal terms . Ho roiu u the acquaintance and won tho friendshi p of Dutjmsn ; and was introduced to the Js . iu-1 of Kingston , who

      Untitled Article

      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh , Review .

      Untitled Article

      October 7 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 949

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 7, 1854, page 949, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2059/page/13/