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Madame Eton *? d » Gibajbdijt , whose graceful pe n and varied talents have been thoroughly appreciated in England ; who , as-Ihnaanw Gat , made Brawfaread her verses , and , as the writer o £ La Joie fait Peur , made audiences *> b and laugh-with her more truly and more heartily than any dramatist of " the day ; whose Causeries Parisiennes will remain when much noisy literatureia silent—Madame Dk Gibakdin is dead ! She had beauty wit ,. poetry , good sense , savoir-vivre , and power of attaching numerous friends . Her loss will be deplored in France as the loss of a public fav © uiite . In England , her loss wilL be felt as the loss of a rare and accomplished writer . She had essayed her talent in various directions , and had finall y * as we believe , after many tentatives , found her true vein , which was . the drama .. Cleopatra has merit , Lady Tartufe shows dramatic
genius beginning to feel its strength , but Ice Joie fait Peur is a masterpiece , which : in one little act shows greater power -than any five acts produced this century . Death , always saddening , even when it closes a career accompKshed v iastul more mournful when it cuts short a career still in progress . Madame Db GiBABDiN i though no longer young in years , was young" in intellect , in vigour , in originality . And now she is gone , carrying with her all those fine powers , and the sweet affections which made her powers finer I We cannot terminate this brief notice of her better than by quoting one of her delicate and subtle sayings . Parting , she said , was more painful than absenee , because " dans les adieux Vaverdr c * est se quitter : dans Vabsence Pavenir c * est serevoir . "
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Theother day we had to claim for our periodicals a richness and ^ ariety surpassing those of France ; and the somewhat laborious course we have this week made through the batch of Magazines and Reviews produced by hot July , has reassured us that the claim was well-founded . It is no slight labour-for a reviewer with a conscience to go through the periodicals heaped npon his table . Not that the periodicals are heavy or uninviting , but the mass is oppressive ; the mind is distracted by the variety of small subjects from which it has to pass without pause ; just as a picture-gallery is so inexpressibly fatiguing from the constant strain of attention onfluctuating subjects . Had one nothing else to do , no other graver works mutely and powerfully soliciting attention , the reading of these Magazines , one af ter the other , would be a fatigue ; and having this other labour on hand , Magazines , it may be imagined , are more- welcome to the public than to the oppressed critic . Nevertheless O . C . must dismiss personal considerations , must sacrifice himself to an impatient public , and report as faithfully as if he did
it cheerily . Fraser opens with an admirable description of the ascent of Mont Blanc written by Mr . Fx , oxi > , who accompanied Axbbrt Smith in that ascent which the public seems never tired of hearing described . There is also a review of Stdnet Smith ' s life written by Kihgsxjby , worthy of the subject and the writer . A pleasant paper on the Drama ; a sketch of Wagner ' s operas ,, which are now much talked of ; and an important paper on the " English Press and the American Republic , " by Chabijss Bbisted , who temperately and seriously lectures our journalists for the tone so constantly adopted by them . The Americans , he says , are sensitive , and their sensitivenesai is unlike that of the French ; it is not quick to take offence at personal rudeness , but is very quick at interpreting a paragraph into an insult . Mr . Bbisted says : —
On the other hand , the American attaches an extraordinary importance to whatever appears in print , and especially in widely circulated print , lite the coltimn » of a newspaper . He ia not always critical to discriminate the value of the source whence the praise or-censure proceeds ; it is enough for him that it circulates . Much elated by praise , ho is correspondingly annoyed by blame . This fact explains : in , a . great measurotho inferiority of American literary criticism , such criticism being at a discount , because when honestly exercised it almost inevitably , leads to , personal squabbles . It also goes far to account for the influence wielded by some of the American daily papers , an influence of which we should vainly seek the explanation , either in the literary merit of their articles or the personal character of the conductors ' . Moat of the scandalous papers , in England have died out , not because their , proprietors wore perpetually cowhided or perpetually prosecuted , bat because the public refused to patronize them . In America the convicted libeller pays his costs and damages out of the increased circulation which the ' notoriety of a conviction procures for him ; and the thrashing received in his own person , or vicariously in that of one of his reporters
acts as a . reclame for his journal . The suit and the assault are testimonies , of the highest kind to Ilia powers of annoyance . And thus the Barnard Gregory of Now York becomes a candidate for a foreign mission , and . the Alderman Ilarmer of Nassaur Btreot actually obtains a seat in Congress . But ,, it may bo asked , ia not a sensitiveness which leads to such results highly reprehensible ? That is not the . point now under discussion . Reprehensible or not , we find the sentiment existing , and its existence must Ite taken into account in dealing with the people among , whom it prevails . Moreover , this sentiment Ja aggravated tenfold by an unfortunate contrast between a peculiarity of the English intellect aud a peculiarity of the American apprehension . The cultivated Eng lish mind delights ia lianter , in that species of saucy but npt malevolent raillery which popularly tlenominatoa itself chaff " , and which does not necessarily , imply any want of respect or esteem for the object o £ it ,, though its form aad mannar aca anything but respectful . What English writera lovo to , boost of , is undoniabJ ( jf ! , triiot-r-th 4 t they exercise this propensity on their own , affairs and iustitu ^ tions quite as unsparingly as they do on those of foreigners . They are . aa critical on
themselves as on other people . The misfortune is , iowevey , a ^ _ people do notalwaysunderstand . it sowelVW of all people the . worat j ta ur iafUan * **** the J %£ to £ s . They are too serious and earnest to . ta . ke . chaff at , itejust value and meaning . It is not within their comprehend that a paragraphs can quiz an individual or make fun of a nation without entertaining anintenae personal or political 611 sS ^ bSg ^ the temper of our American brethren , it is surely a most unwise thing in journalists to disregard this temper , and , by so disregarding it , to provoke a feeling of enmity where aUSance is on e ^ ery ground desirable ; and we hope Mr . Bristkd ' st paper naay help to repress the thoughtless sarcasm and inconsiderate criticism so frequent in English _ ^
Fraser has only one political paper , Blackwood three . The editor knows for whom he caters , bo we will not venture to offer a remark on tins predominance of politics , accompanied as it is by four « continuations except that it reduces our notice of the Magazine to a few words . We have but two articles to specify : " Vernier , " a poem by Eixwin Absoxd , and a review of the Rev . Frederick Maurice , written in a style of sarcastic levity and theological assumption , which is extremely offensive to all whom it does not C rL Dublin University Magazine is various and entertaining . A good review of Sir Geobge Gket ' s Polynesian Mythology is followed by a pleasant gossip on Sheridan , forming number six of the series of " The Dramatic Writers of Ireland . " A new anecdote about Shebd > ast is an unexpected accession to our store ; here it is : —
Holland ' s theatre , the handsomest in the kingdom , was destined to a short existence , being totally burnt down on the night of February 24 th , 1809 , when * t hadstood only fifteen vears . The following authentic anecdote in connexion with the budding has not before , as we believe , appeared in print . Holland couldnever obtain a settlement or even an interview on the subject with Sheridan . He hunted him for weeks ami months at his own house , at the theatre , at his usual resorts ; but he was nowhere to be seen At last he tracked him to the stage-door , rushed in in spite of the opposition of the burly porter , and found the manager on the stage conversuig with , a party of gentlemen , whom he had invited to show them the theatre . Sheridan saw Holland approaching , and knowing that escape was this time impossible , put a bold face on the matter . " Ah ! my dear fellow , exclaimed , he , " you are the very man I wanted to see— have come most apropos . I am truly sorry you have had the trouble ot
you calling on me so often , but now we are met , in a few minutes I shall be at liberty ; we will then go into my room together and settle our affairs . But first you must decide an important question here . Some of these gentlemen tell me there ore complaints , and loud ones , that the transmission of sound is defective in your beautiful theatre—that , in fact , the galleries cannot hear at all—and that is the reason why they have become so noisy of late . "—" Sound defective ! not hear ! " reiterated the astonished architect , turning pale , and almost staggering back ; " whyt it ia the most perfect building for sound that ever was erected ; I'll stake my reputation on it , the complaint is most groundless . " — " So I say , " retorted Sheridan ; " but now we'll bring h two in the
the question to issue definitively , and then have a . paragrapor papers . Do yon , Holland , go and place yourself at the back of the upper gallery , while I stand here on the stage and talk to you . "— " Certainly , " said Holland * " with the greatest pleasure / ' A lantern was provided , with a trusty guide , and away went the architect through a labyrinth of dark and winding passages , almost a day ' s journey , until he reached his distant and elevated post . " Now , Mr . Holland , " cried Sheridan , " you there and ready ?"— " Yes , " was the immediate answer . — " Can you hear me ?"" Perfectly , perfectly , Mr . Sheridan !"—" Then I wish you a very good morning . " So saying , Sheridan disappeared , and was two or three miles off before Holland could descend . Another long interval occurred ere he waa able to chose the fugitive to . his
lair again . There is also a good anecdote of Abbott ' s presence of stage-mind under trying circumstances . The -writer is speaking of the screen-scene in the School for Scandal : — A ludicrous incident occurred one evening in connexion with this scene , at the HawMns ' -street house , in Dublin , then under the management of "William Abbott . When the screen was pulled down , Lady Teazle was not there , and tbns the great point of the play was lost She had gone into the green-room to , gossip or rest herself , and calculated on being at her place in time . Before the house could recover from their astonishment , or evince disapprobation , Abbott , who played Charles Surface , and loved a jest , with great readiness added a word to the text , and exclaimed , "No Lady Teazle , by all that ' s wonderful ! " A roar of laughter followed , in the midst of which the fair absentee walked deliberately on , and placed herself in a proper position ,
as if nothing had happened . * The article on " German Universities " will bo read with interest , and indeed the whole number ia worth reading . Beii £ ley 7 $ Miscellany ^ from having long been mere whipped cream in its levity , has become the most political of all the magazines , seven articles oi the present number being devoted to politics or the war . Of literature there ia Dudley Costhueao ' s story , " A British Nobleman in a Fix , " and a criticism by " Monkshood " on Ionian Htjnt , written in a kindly appreciative spirit , but disfigured by an incontinence of quotations , scraps sometimes , as in the couplet from Sophocles , dragged in without any provocation- Quotation is a delicate and difficult art ; if " Monkshood " would strike out about one-half of the passages he is tempted to quote , ho would find the effect greatly enhanced .
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Passing from Magazines to Reviews , wo first open the Westminster , attracted by a name which hue peculiar and inexhaustible interest to us—Si'inoza . The article devoted to this grand Hebrew ia without exception the very best essay w © ' have read on hia philosophy , for it manages to present nn exposition which is fit once accurate , and euay of comprehension . No one in the least tinctured with metaphysical knowledge can fail to understand this outline o € Spinoza ' s « lending doctrines , aw exposition whiclv i » aleo a criticism . There are points on which wo differ from the OHaayiat ^ but there is nothing , lilte misrepresentation , in his exposition . or hia criticism . ; and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 650, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2098/page/14/
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