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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A rasr common -and unjust remark is made by Englishmen who read La Revue de Deux Mondes , namely , " we have nothing in England to compare with it . " True , we have no single Review which is at once so important and entertaining ; but if we consider how many Reviews we have , the injustice of the comparison becomes obvious . France has but one good Review ; has never yet been able to support more than one . The Revue de Paris , Revue Independante , Revue N ~ ouvelle formerly , and now the Revue Coniemporaine , have tried in vain to rival the Deux Mondes : each work has boasted of eminent contributors , and many excellent articles , but steady uniform excellence has not been attainable . Limiting France , therefore , to one , or two Reviews , and comparing the produce with our Quarterly , Edinburgh , Westminster , British Quarterly , North . British , London Quarterly , Dublin Review , Irish Quarterly , Blacbwood , and Eraser , the result must be
proaouoeed insignificant . If we imagine ourselves limited to two reviews , which would thus have the pick of the contributions now bestowed on ten , ifcas easy-to . see that these two works would be of a kind to throw the Revue des Deux Mondes into insignificance . Indeed , such a suggestion leads to -curious comparisons . France a literary nation , and Paris a university capital , . France the " brain of the world , " as she repeatedly tells us , with charming modesty , Paris whera alone the laurel wreath of fame can be conferred on Genius , is as indubitably as far behind England in the market she opens to Literature , as she is in manufactures . Waiving all question of quality , it may be safely asserted that in the quantity and gravity of publications England exceeds France tenfold . In periodicals , and in cheap literature , our superiority is enormous . This implies a far greater spread of intelligence among the people ; which again implies a higher degree of « rvilisation . We draw no odious comparison-between the elite of France
ar id the Mite of England : in many respects they have decided superiority o « er us ; in some respects inferiority as decided . !! he last numbers of La Revue Contentporaine and La Revue des Deux ' Mondes , ^ which led us into these reflections , are certainly not calculated to impugn our verdict . Agreeable , they are in no respect striking . In the C&nteviporaine , M . AumED N-ETtement replies to an insolent article by that most insolent of critics , Gustave Planohe ( a writer who seems to us to have gained his reputation more of means of magisterial dogmatism than by any other quality ) , and the Parisian public may feel some interest in the debate , which to'our * readers would have no attraction ; M . Louis Ratisbonne furnishes a mediocre article on Heine , who demands a first-rate writer if he is . to be treated ) . properly ; Adolphe Adam , the musical composer , gives an agreeable sketch of one of his predecessors , Monsigny ; and Edmond About tells the story of the composition of Tolla—as * we intimated last
week . The Deux Mondes has an able paper on Young Ireland in Exile , by Emice Montegtjt ; an historical study of Mazabin , by Louis » e Cabne ; a most inadequate paper on Achim d'Aknim , the husband of Bettina , by Blaze x > b Buby ; and an elaborate . paper on Longevity , by Jui . es Haime , in which he adiscusses the statistics "of M . > x > b Oha . tbsauxhiup , and the theories of Fjgoubens . We touch on this subject , as regards M . Flourkns , in another part of our Journal , and simply refer those curious on the point to M . Jux . es Hawk . The programme of this number ( which includes several articles not named here ) is as various a 3 one need desire ; but the treatment of the . subjects is certainly below what would bo found in any avorage number of one of our Reviews .
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" Tennyson ' s mewvolume , so long-expected , will soon appear . It contains , . as we learn , three poems of some length : Maud , lan Idyl , and , a poem on Italy ; and although in general we have lacge distrust in the verdicts of friends on works unpublished , wo have in this case too great a belief in Tennx 8 On ' s genius not to put faith in all . that friends say of it . Tennyson iara ^ good example to poets , in , the fastidious reticence and anxious care with « rt « hich he treats the Muse . If this load -him -sometimes into the fault , which ho confesses , To add and alter many times Till all be ripe and rotten ,
it ^ also-savea himdh'om tho perilous hasto snatching unprepared laurels . Ho gives us tho essence of his work , and not the hasty sketches . Equally siowv-laborious , and solid is another , of our . great . writers , Cablyjlk , who pays tttttauabtentionito the ; impatient demands of an eager public— -oi public only too ready to cry out about " falling oil'" if tho work presented be not superior to what has gone before—who docs not care one jot how much wo desire , to . have his Frederick the Great , but cares a great doal how ho is tO'make that" work worth having . The public should bo grateful when men df reputation forogo tho temptation of discounting their names ; and should remember that , Xio Tampa n'dpavgno paa co quo Von fuit sans lui .
WhUe we gossip thus , 4 et us not omit , to notice Alexander Bain ' s wort just published under , the ( to . many ) < attractive title The Senses and the Intellect , a work which , to our knowledge , has been many years in preparation , and of / which we hope to give a more specific account by-and-by . Nor should the History of the Spanish Conquest , by Arthur Helps , be omitted in any mention of laborious works : the thousands who have smiled at the humour , cherished the wisdom , and tasted the fine flavour of st yle in Friends in Council and the Companions of my Solitude , will welcome any new appearance of so rare a mind ; and if " Gossip Report" may be trusted , this appearance in the new character of Historian will be as striking as it is new .
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We recently called attention to the dispute agitating the Paris Academy of Sciences respecting the sugar-forming function of the Liver , which after six years of glory bestowed on its discoverer , Claude Bernard , is assailed by a formidable antagonist , who undertakes to show that the Liver forms no sugar at all , but only acts as a filter and condenser . Nothing new has reached us ; at least no new step in the debate ; but some readers may ba <» lad to learn that the last number of the Annales des Sciences Naturelles is devoted entirely to this question ; ifc contains M . Figuier ' s memoir , M . Bernard ' s reply , and two other papers bearing on the dispute . As far as these documents go , we incline to the opinion of M . Figuier ; but the Commission of Inquiry will , it is hoped , express a decisive verdict .
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Jur . ES Janin , in his feuilleton this week , after a very characteristic rhapsody about Paris as the sole arbiter and dispenser of glory , recals the success of Miss Smithson , whom the Parisians discovered to be a great actress . " In vain the English critics , much disconcerted at this refutation of their opinions given by French criticism , tried to disavow her genius , her triumph was proclaimed for ever . " It is perhaps pedantic to argue with J . J ., but we would venture to ask what he would say if the case were reversed—if English critics were suddenly to be smitten with enthusiasm for an actor whom the French rejected ? Would lie think English verdicts of any force ? Would he not attribute them to want of nicety in the
perception of nuances , if not to want of knowledge of the language ? Inspecting Miss Smithson ' s genius we are unable to form an opinion ; but there are two reasons which make us prefer the English verdict to the French : first , the fact that she was not accepted on the English stage—a stage never very critical—is significant , and points to some prominent defect in the actress ; secondly , the fact that she was an Irishwoman , not free from Irish acceut , and this defect ( not appreciable by foreigners ) would of itself have constituted a bar to her success in tragedy . Some such reflections must have occurred to J . J ., had he not been nurtured in the faith that Paris , and Paris alone , is competent to form an opinion in matters of Art .
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It is a species of literary , and at any rate very interesting news , that the abolition of the newspaper stamp is being followed by considerable newspaper enterprise in the provinces . Glasgow , Manchester , and Liverpool have now announced their penny daily papers . The Liverpool Daily Post , projected by the Messrs . Whitty , is already published daily at a penny , and indicates that in respect to newspapers , England is approaching the condition of Germany and the United States , when the student of public opinion must refer to the organs of each of the large political and commercial communities .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The . Louvre ; or ,. Biography of a Museum . With Two Plans . By Bayle St . John . Chapman and Hall . Cranford . By the Author of " Mary Barton , " &c . ( Cheap Edition . ) Chapman nnd Hall . Lecture on the Method of Teaching Grammar , delivered before the United Association oj Schoolmasters at the First Annual Meeting . By James Telleard , F . K . G . S . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . Monastic Institutions : their Origin , Progress , Nature , and Tendency . By Samuel Phillips Day . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . Land , Labour , and Gold ; or , Two Years in Victoria : with Visits to Sydney and Van Diemeris Land . liy William Howitt . Two Vols . Longman , Brown , Green , and Longmans . The Uipvolytus Stephanephorns of Euriin'des , with short English Notes , for the Use of sZoL J . II . and . / . Parker A Plea for Painted Glass : being an Inquiry into its Nature , Character , and Objects , ana its Claims as an Art . Bv " Francis H . Oliphant . J . H- Parker . Jonas Clint : a Tale . ' J- H- J ' arkor
-A Brief History ofShcrburn Hospital , in the County of Durham , with Observations on the " Saheme" proposed btj the " Charity Commissioners" for the Application ami Management of that Charity , and the Estates and Possessions thereof . J J . II . and J . Parker . May Flowers : being Notes and Notions on a few Created " Things . By " Aohctii . " Lovoll Koeve . The Philosophy of the Cross ; or , Christ as Man . By Henry G . Cooper . 1 J ( jroumbridgo and Sons . Every Boy ' s Book : a complete Enclydopwdia of Sports and Amusements , intended to afford Recreation and Instruction to Boys ' in their Leisure Hours . By <* eorg Forrest , Esq ., M . A . G- Koutlodgo and Co-Administrative Jie / brm : The Meoryanisation of the Civil Service . liy n Subonumw-. therein . Smith , Kldor an . l Oo . Notes on some of the principal Pictures exhibited in tho Rooms of the Royal AiuKMnjt 1855 . liy tho Author of " Modern I ' aintorn . " Smith , Kldur , ll " ( llA ' The Private Life of an Eastern Kim / , liy a Member of tho Household o ! lllrtl j \ Majoaty Nuomr-u-Doon , King of Oude . 11 ( ' 1 ' ° llllU "
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Critic 3 are not the legislators , but tlie judges , and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 570, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2095/page/18/
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