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that union was not to be found in Heine . But we refrain , and close our notice by expressing our fervent hope that the time may be far distant ere Heine ' s six-years sick-bed becomes a bed of death , and that we may often have the pleasure of calling the attention of the readers of the Leader to fresh products of so rich , and great a mind . MADAMS DE STAEL AND " DE L ' AIXEMAGNE . " Is the common anecdote true regarding the origin of de StaeTs celebrated mot , which I remember to have heard even as a boy as one of the bans mots of the empire ? It runs , that when Napoleoa was First Consul , Madame de Stae'l presented herself at his residence , to prefer a request ; but although the officer 5 a attendance assured her in the most positive manner that he could not be seen , she insisted peremptorily on being announced to the illustrious person . But when the latter expressed his sorrow that he could not see the celebrated lady , for the simple reason that he was in , his bath ,
she returned the famous answer that that was no impediment , for genius was of no sea :. I cannot answer for the truth of this story : but if it be untrue , it is at any rate well invented . It shows the assiduity with which the fiery lady pestered the Emperor . He had no repose from her attentions . She got it firm ] y into her head that the greatest man of the age should be coupled ¦ with its greatest woman more or less ideal . . . . . But when the good lady discovered that all her assiduity led to no result , she did what any woman would have done ,. she declared against the Emperor , argued against his brutal and ungallant rule , and argued until the police requested her absence . She fled to us in Germany , where she collected the materials for her celebrated book , wherein German spiritualism is celebrated as the ideal of all empire , in opposition to tne material empire of France . With us sle made a great discovery . She became acquainted with a . savant of the name of August Wilhelm Schlegel . Me was a genius without sex . He became her faithful cicerone , and accompanied her on
her journeys through all the garrets of German literature . She -nrdre a tremendous turban , and was the sultana of mind . She made all our literary men pass in review before her , and parodied the great Sultan of Matter . And as the latter inquired : How old are you ? how many children have you ? how long have you served ? &c , so asked she of our savants : How old are you ? what have you written ? are you Kantean or Fichtean ? and such little questions ; the answers to which the lady hardly noticed , / but which the faithful Mameluke , A . W . Schlegel , her Rustau , hastily entered in his note-book . And as Napoleon lad said that she was the greatest woman who'had borne most children , so Madame de Stael declared , that he was the greatest man who had written the most books . . . , . Her visit was a spiritual billeting , which fell chiefly on the learned . .... The good lady saw inns just what she wanted to see : a misty spirit-land , where men -without bodies , all virtue , wandered over snow-fields , and entertained themselves with discourses of morals and metaphysics .
FEMALE AUTHORSHIP . __ When a woman writes , she has always one eye on her paper , while the other is directed to some man . This is true of all authoresses , except the Countess Hahnhahn , who has only one eye . heihe's opinion of ioois blakc in 1840 . He has a great future before him , and he will play a great part , though perhaps a short one .
HEINE ON THE RUSSO-TtrRKISH DIFFICUXTY OF 1840 . Yes , the so-called Dardanelles question is of the most supreme importance , and not merely for the interested powers , but for us all , forthe least as much as the greatest ; for the destiny of the -world itself is here the Question , and this Question must be solved at the Dardanelles , in some way . So long as this be not settled , Europe Will sicken , with a hidden malady , that will leave her no peace , and which will come to a rupture , the later the more horribly- . . . . Were the principle of people's sovereignty sanctioned , the fall of the Mussulman empire would not be so disastrous for the rest of the world . But in the greatest part of ^ Europe rules yet the Doctrine
of Absolutism , whereby land and people are the possession of the Princes , and this possession is to be won by the law of Force , by the ultima ratio rtgis , by cannon-right . What wonder that none of the high potentates grudge Russia the great prize , and wish for a bit of the eastern cake themselves . ' they will gain an appetite when they see how pleasantly the barbarians of the North manage matters , and the smallest German duodecimo prince will at least try to get his beer-money . This is the human reason why the fall of Turkey would be disastrous . The political reasons why certainly England , France , and Austria can never let Russia talks Constantinople , are plain to a school-lad .
JtTJBSIAN MODERATION XN 1840 , WHEN THET HAVE GAINED THEIR POINT . They speak of Turkey with a sweet , almost Quaker-like peacefulness . They remind me of the fable « f the wolf , which , when he waa hungry , seized a sheep . With ravenous haste he ate the two fore-legs , but he spared the hind-legs of the animal and said : " I am now satisfied , and to this good sheep , that has dined me with his fore-lega , I leave from motives of piety all hia remaining legs , and the entire balance of his body . " THIER 8 ' I , OQTJA . CITY . N " o one else can say a word while Thiers is talking , and it is only when he shaves that one can got a chance of being listened to by him . Only while the razor ia at hia throat is he silent , and vouchsafes attention . THIBKS' ORATOKT . Thiera can . speak from morning till midnight , unwearied , ever new sparkling thoughts , ever new plays of wit flashing forth , rejoicing Ids audience , teaching , blinding—one might say a spoken firework .
a banker's politics . I myself am sometimes quite a Republican . You perceive , if I put my hand in my right breeches ppeket , where my money is , the contact with the cold metal makes me tremble , I fear for my possessions , and I feel intensely monarchic ; but if I put my hand in my left brooches pocket , which is quito ompty , all foar vanishes , and I whistle the Maraoillaiao , and about for the Republic !
- :. ' God receives many visitors to-day , " I said , the other Sunday , as I noticed the concourse at the churches . " They are farewell calls , " replied the Cynic . OKOnOK SAND ON FRENCH ACTORS . " You see the French aro all bora comedians , and o&oh plays Mb part in the world moro or less brilliantly 5 but those among my fellow-countrymen who possess tho least talent for acting , there dedicate themselves to the theatre , and become professional Actors . " omsopatra . Cleopatra woa a reina cntretemie .
QEOBOB BAND ' S NAME . She chose tho pseudonym of Sand , because it 3 a tho first syllable of Sandoau ; so ma called her lovor , a worthy author , who did not make liimsolf bo colobratod with bus whole namo aa his beloved witli half of it .
" SEE HIS MAJESTY FOR FIVE FBANCS , SIK ?" I remember very well that I hastened to the Palais Royal , on my first coming to Paris , to see Louis Philippe . The friend who accompanied me informed me that the king now only appeared on the terrace at fixed hours ; a little earlier , only a few weeks , one could see him at any time for five francs . " For five francs ! " I cried , with astonishment , " does the king then show himself for money ? " "No , but he waa shown for money , and it occurred in this manner . There was a society of claqueurs , dealers in theatre pass-checks , and such vagabonds , who offered to show the king to strangers for five francs . If you gave ten francs you would see bun turn his eyes to heaven , and lay his hand assuringly on his heart ; but if you gave twenty francs , you would hear him sing ; the Marseillaise . " When any one gave a five-franc piece , these
fellows began crying vivats under the windows of the king , and he appeared on the terrace , bowed and retired . When you gave ten francs , they shouted so much louder , and when the king appeared , demeaned themselves as in ecstasies , and then he , to show his entire composure , turned up his eyea to heaven , and laid his hand assuringly on his heart . The English , however , would many a time give twenty francs , and then the enthusiasm reached the highest pitch , and as soon as the king appeared , they began the Marseillaise , and bellowed so fearfully , that Louis Philippe , perhaps to end the song quicker , bowed , laid his hand on his heart , and j oined in the Marseillaise . Whether he beat time with his foot , as I have heard , I do not know . Neither can I be surety for the truth of this anecdote . The friend -who told it tne has been sev « n years dead , and I know that for seven years he has never lied . "
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THE HOUSE OF RABY . The House of Baby ; or , our Lady of Darkness . 3-vols ., 8 vo . Chapman and HalL This is one of the best novels we have read for a very long time . And the phrase " agood novel , " is not a slight commendation , for what does it imply ? The union of qualities various and sometimes opposite . Ability to copy , and talent to idealise ; capacity to feel lieenly , without which there is no imagination ; capacity to reason clearly , in order to translate those impressions for the reader ' s sake ; acute observation of character , and the power of generalising the knowledge thus obtained into -wisdom . ; discrimination in the choice of incidents , which , must be true in principle rather than in fact , In accordance with the old maxim . " le vrai n ' est pas tbujoiirs
vraisemblable , " rather , the larger truth includes the lesser . To these qualities we must add dramatic art , which consists in recognising and presenting what is essential and typical in a subject . All these attributes , and more , combined with an interesting story , go to the production of a good novel ; and , we think , few will hesitate to credit the authoress of the House of JScSy with the possession of them all . We say the authoress , for we think no doubfc can he felt on that subject . This is essentially a woman ' s book . The dramatic power and the knowledge of character might belong to a man , but there are certain touches which could only come from a woman ' s pen , —indeed we think none but a woman could have painted the two Margarets , —the aunt and the niece—who are the heroines of the book .
The story is deeply interesting , sad beyond ordinary sadness , impressive , and even terrible . It is the history of three generations of the House of Raby , over which there hangs the fatal curse , more awful than the Nemesis of Grecian Tragedy , and like it only to be appeased by the extermination of the doomed race , —hereditary insanity . The different developments of this mysterious and fearful malady are drawn with melancholy truth ; but the authoress is too much an artist to fall into the repulsive error of that degraded school which seeks power in the display and elaboration of mere moral ot physical disease . We shall not attempt to sketch the story ; but shall rather devote all the space we can afford to such extracts as may be intelligible in themselves .
Lord Carleton has married—too weak to obey the stern command of Fate which forbade his race the enjoyment of the sweet domestic sympathies granted to happier men . The curse is creeping on him , creeping on his infant son . He sees his wife has a suspicion of it , —he is broken-hearted for the wrong he did in marrying her , and fancies she must hate him as the author of her child ' s misfortune . He resolves to confess all to her . How pathetic is the situation —judge if the treatment be not equally so ! " How little we men know of women , till we put their deepest feelings to the proof I I told my story with a presentiment that she , having before suspected part of it , had changed the love she once had for me into something like contempt and personal dislike- I had got this idea during the late perils of the child , whose existence was scarcely moro precious to her than his wonderful mental endowments .
" I did not look at her during all that painful confession . At length I ceaBed , with words somewhat like these : — ' And now , Caroline , you know what I hftvo done , and what a turae I have brought upon you !—I do not talk to you any moxe as a husband . I claim no love , no duty from you I You were deceived in me ; you loved a noble and true man , not one who could allow himself to be guilty of a cheat , and make you and those dearest to you its victims 1 ' " He paused a moment and glanced towards me ; then looked away again , into the distance , as if something attracted his attention there . Then ho resumed speaking , thus : " Hastings , I hardly know bow to tell you what followed ; it ia so sacred and doar to my heart I—Still , you ought to know . You shall know liow strong and self-sacrificing ' a mero woman' — ' a beauty '— ' a woman of fashion' as she is called , can bo!—Not one of tho lofty moral principled women , mark you ! And that without an effort—for it was without an effort . Oh , thank God ! it came spontaneously ! It was not done upon a principle /
• ' She interrupted mo with outstretched arms . She drew mo towards her ! She could not speak for tears ; but her kisses wore showered on my cold hands and fevered brow j—on this insensible hair oven , through which hor fingers wandered nervously , while overcome with my own feeling and bors , I rested my head on her bosom . Then eho whispered fond opithots in low broken tonoa ; each word eimplo—exaggerated , aa it would sound in other cars , was a cordial to mo ; for I was faint and sick with the solitude of my own remorseful hoart , nnd ita dulling fear that there was henceforth no Bwoot love for mo on this earth . —It was a blcHHod thing to clasp her in my arms onco more I To foci that she lovod rno , in spito of all I—I said bo ;—and it was then hor tiuo womanly soul flaBhail forth . — She hold mo back from hor , and looking into my f « cowith a graveloving amllo , said :
, , " * Frederick ! I sea there arc muny ways of loving , and loving well . I have my way , as well as grander and wiser folks . I toll you truly , aa Burc as you hold mo now , so suro ia it that I rejoice with all my soul that I am your wife I I am too happy to have something to boar for your oako;— too happy to bo bo bound to you that all tho powora of this world , not oven your own will , could sot mo free again ! I am deeply glad to havo ad < led , as you any I bavo added , to your liappinoas;—glad , oven in tho darkest depth of our affliction , to bo porauttad to eharo it with you . GJaa
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1144 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 2, 1854, page 1144, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2067/page/16/
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