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Leader (1850-1860), 15th March 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 260

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      Untitled Article

      360 THE LEADEB . [ No . 312 , Saturday , ~ - ———¦ - - ^^^~^^ *^ - ^ i i |

      Untitled Article

      some are fattening in those two counties , or in the midland districts ; some may be growing in Flanders , Holland , or Holstein , and some in Ireland ; the short-woolled sheep may be luxuriating on the Downs of Sussex ; the longwbolled may be grazing in Leicestershire ; some are suckling , and some are fattening . There are twice as many oxen and sheep always existing , destined for London consumption , as there are human beings in London—five millions for two millions and a half . " It is also curious to learn that it has been calculated by economists that the London consumption of meat in * 1750 could not haves , exceeded 70 lbs . per head , per annum , and that for our time the average has been set down by Mr . M'Culloch at 122 lbs ., and by Mr . Mayhew at 140 lbs . It appears

      that the number of cattle and sheep sold at Smithfield in 1853 , according to the official returns of the clerk of the market , was 276 , 888 of the former , and 1 , 461 , 070 of the latter . In 1854 there were 263 , 008 cuttle and 1 , 539 , 389 sheep sold . But this does not give the total of the numbers exhibited . Mr . Dodd ' s description of a market-day at Snoithfield is highly graphic ; in concluding , he passes the following comment : — " The great day at Old Smithfield was a sight worth seeing once ; but it is well that the scene is closed for ever . '' In the article on salted and preserved meats we are told that upwards of of salted

      one thousand million pounds beef , salted pork , bacon , and hams , were imported into London jn 1854 ; that 5 , QQ 0 tons of black-puddings are made annually in England ; that a canister of Gamble's boiled mutton , left in Prince Regent ' s Inlet by one of the Arctic expeditions in 1824 , was found in excellent condition by Sir James Ross , when he visited the spot in 1849 , a quarter of a century afterwards ; and that there are nearly twenty kinds of soup , broth , and meat essences- ^ twelve or fifteen kinds of fish—poultry , game , and venison—butchers' meat of every kind—tongues , hams , bacon , kidney , tripe , marrow- ^ uearly all the fruits and vegetables ordinarily eatenmilk and cream—all now preserved in canisters for lengthened keeping . Could venture to to

      _ we [ Billingsgate , take note of the quantity of fish brought daily to that majrket ; could we go to Leadenhall , and number the varieties of poultry and game brought into that majket , we might show how little the subject of the supply of food has yet been exhausted . But bur space will not permit . Neither can we more than mention that London consumes 80 million quarts of milk , and 29 million pounds of butter annually ; whilst we must leave it to the reader to determine for Inmself what portion of 120 , 000 tons of cheese , and 1 * 500 million eggs , the quantity consumed yearly in the United Kingdom is required for * J 5 m etropolitan iharket . Neither can we enter upon the subject of fruits and vegetables ; of tea , coffee , cocoa , chocolate , sugar , rice , tobacco , snuff , and cigars . For the satisfaction of those who are curious to know the amount of liquids consumed in London , we shall conclude by stating that the nearest estimates make the consumption of beer and ale rise above 1 , 200 , 000 barrels of b / er and ale , or , as it has been facetiously calculated above a thousand million of "tumblers " - ^ -of spirits about 2 § million gallons—and of wine about seven million gallons .

      _ mere is one feature in this work which we think highly valuable . Mr . Dodd treats his subject from an . economical point of view . At every turn we fi jid suggestions by which the price of provisions may be reduced- ^ either by the mode of transit , a better regulation of dues , or the manner in which the original material is converted into articles of diet . This alone would make the work an important one .

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      CHRISTIANITY—PURE AND SIMPLE . The Preaching of Clirist . By James Augustus St . John . Chapman and Hall . There are at present two grand religious movements going on in the English world—one consists in the effort to restrict the interpretation of religious truths by dogmatic forms , and to assert that any perception of truth which does not harmonise with those forms is heterodox , non-religious , impious ; the other movement consists in a general tendency to set aside pedantic forms , and to ascertain the broader truths which make themselves felt through the affections and the instincts as well as the intellect . In the one case , any church must gradually contract into a sect which , while it drives forth from its bounds an increasing number of schismatics , equally deters strangers from admission to it . Notwithstanding the immense worldly rewards which the Church of

      St . Jphn ' s object , however , to edit an edition of the Bible for the sake of pedantically displaying his accomplishments , or for the sake of amending particular interpretations of the text . After all , the language of the Bible is human language , with all its imperfections ; the translations are human translations , withmany of those uncertainties that beset the transfer of meaning from one tongue to another . But the broad incidents of the story are not dependent upon verbal interpretations ; the truths that were attested by sufferings , and by the wonderful transformation of oldraces in their feelings and opinions , far transcend the narrow limits of any one dialect , and are too much to be paltered away in petty disputes of cross-commentators . The accomplished St . John has no wonderful worship for what we call " knowledge : " fewer thoughts well thought out , and corrected by the natural inspirations will enrich us more than appropriating the whole substance of a Glossary or Jineyclop £ edca .

      Mr . St . John takes the Gospels , retraces the events that . they record , supplies here and there asketch of the scenery , and connects the . illustrations of the tacts with the surrounding circumstances that were a matter of course to the speaker , but are unknown or forgotten by the distant foreigner . He reads o / ver again the New Testament with the light of the traveller and of the humanist . Not departing , from the dogma of Ms church , that a divine JNature walked the earth in a human form , he speaks of Christ , throughout , as being embodied in that human form ; discusses the development of his mind as connected with the character of nature around him ; reminds us that he

      lived habitually in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee , at Bethsaida , at Capernaum ; that all along the shore he had friends and relatives , whom probably he visited , as he did Lazarus . Thus a fresh light is thrown upon that most impressive Story of a Life . The character of Jesus is brought out by putting together his own acts and words , and the most emphatic rebuke is thus given to the followers of Christianity who have , as it . were , dishonestly appropriated the name , embezzled divine authority , and perverted it to purposes of intolerance ; If we accept Christianity , Mr . St . John says , we must learn to think lightly of secular pleasures in c omparison withtue beauty and splendour of tie soul : — v

      To the same object tends -that saying , " "Whosoever has given a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in my name , shall not lose bis reward . " It is useless to have recourse in interpreting these injunctions of Christ to subtle and refined theories , and to persuade ourselves that he meant to speak figuratively in these places . His language is here , if anywhere , to "be understood literally , and whoever would imitate Mm , must make sacrifices for the sake of others , xmist say to hims ^ liy "I have deprived myself of sueh and such gratifications to-day , in order to diminish the sufferings of others , " and he raust derive his happiness from that sacrifice .

      To be understood literally , and in the most direct sense;—andthere are those now living—> aye , and mingling in ordinary society—who are capable of understanding the moral , practical , and substantial rewards of sacrifice ; even as there are those who have known how to accept of sacrifices ; in tooth casesto procure directly the most positive happiness , even in this world , which worldly possessions ore powerless to bestow . Nor is it necessary that those who make the sacrifice , or accept , should be ignorant of the enjoyment that wealth and power can give ? It is not in ignorance that such sacrifices are ever made ? not only because there would be no sacrifice if there were ignorance , but because , if we may be allowed the expression , the choice must be made with a true epicurean philosophy , capable of electing the better , and leaving the worse . A divine has just favoured the world with a sermon " on the Severity of God ; " let him read once more , in the simple words of Mr . St . John , a wellknown story :-

      —While he was teaching in the temple , a " woman was brought to him . who had been taken in adultery , a sin which , according to the law of Moses , was to be punished with death , by being overwhelmed with stones . Looking at the woman and her accusers , and knowing well their character and manners , our Saviour said , " Let him who is without sin cast the first stone at her . " While they-were deliberating on this decision , he stooped down and wrote on the ground , and after awhile , looking up , he observed that they ha 4 all departed , leaving the accused woman standing alone in the midst . Then Christ said , " Where are those , thine accusers ? " and she answered , " There is none , Lord . " He

      then said , " Neither am I thine accuser ; go and sin no more . " These , it seems to us , are not the words of Goulburn . There is , indeed , a church in England infinitely wider than that whose gates Goulburn seeks to close . The priests in that Church are not all of them recognised by its Pharisees and its Sadducees . Establishments have beenaddicted to the practice of crucifying any new witness ; it is the advantage of our day , that men can attest the truth without repeating the martyrdoms that have first established the truths ; and amongst the preachers in this national church there are few who speak with so full a knowledge and so simple a language as Mr . St . John .

      England can bestow upon proselytes that join it , very few churches have made so few converts . It cannot in the smallest degree vie with those dissenting bodies that have abandoned their share in the worldly property of the Church , to cast tlieir bread upon the waters of religious freedom . But it is perhaps in th 6 bosom of the Church itself that we find this living reaction , this strong desire to merge the distinction of sect in the broadest union of Christianity . The movement is reciprocated from the laity , and even from bodies without the Church . We even find science aiding in this development ot religious ideas ; we find forms of-association that rejoice in the prefix of anti now mitigating-their hostility ; and again we find clergymen or laymen in the Church of England seeking to express themselves in a language which might he adopted by the members of any community in the United MS - One of the most interesting works lately put forth in this spirit Xs . the yolutne by Jaraes Augustus St . John ; a faithful member of the Church otJingland , whose commentary on . the PreacMna of Clirist will sneak the

      vxews o * many Christians , and will cause surprise to many at finding that they are Christians though they did not know it . Few of our public writers are more accomplished than Mr . St . John : he is a learned man , in the literal sense pf the word : familiar with the dead languages , he handles many of the modern languages as familiarly ; long active in the discussion of our home ¦ ^ ii A i un <* erstamds ° « r social and commercial questions ; he lias traywea foreign lands , knows the customs of the people , the scenery in which ¦ SS ^ k «? ' ft 8 l n * the ' lanKuago which thcyjpeak , and the institutions by IRvS IJ * te - B Qveifnea i Amongst the lands to which he has wandered are wffi ^ , * yn *> The events that are recorded in the New Testament hap-ISKfiW ^* Trtw eU he . has trodden j the parables that illustrate the prenchgsWf ™?;* komiftsfeenerywhich ho has surveyed . He brought to lan ^ S ^ S ® B iT a

      Untitled Article

      CONTEMPORARY CONSTELLATIONS . Men of the Time ; Biographical Sketches ofEminent Living \ Charactert . Boguc , The preface to this volume says that its plan and pretensions may be ascertained by a glance at its title page and table of contents . Not so . Nothing in the title fiage , or table of contents , led us to expect a Review as well as an Encyclopedia . It was not the proper office of the compiler to distribute to ? ' men . of all politics" their " due meed of praise . " We shall , all of us , benefit by tlie possession of a manual in which the lives of eminent contemporaries are briefly and accurately sketched ; wo shall not bo hnrmod by the introduction of some names not at all eminent ; but who wants , in a mere

      book of reference , a collection of anonymous , cut-and-dried opinions ? Will a biographer or a critic consult Men ' qfthe Time to know whether Mr ! Cnrlyle publishes " rant , " " passion torn to tatters , " "truths inflated till they burst ? " or whether Hugh Miller is ' ? justly" celebrated ? There is too much of this random impertinence in the volume , which is , in ninny respects , a useful and creditable compilation . Some important " men" and " women " ore omitted ; many are introduced who have no claim to a place in this or any other gazette ; but a great amount of labour has been bestowed on the contents . With its deficiencies and excrescences , therefore , the manual deserves to be- popular , for it supplies a real want , and will , no doubt , tnko a place in th « libraries of all public institutions .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 15, 1856, page 260, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2132/page/20/