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    Untitled Article

    Library Tables , in Clubs and Literary Institutions , look unusually attractive this quarter . The Westminster Review , though wanting in the lighter graces which in periodicals so well set off the more serious exposition of principles and exposure of abuses—as a charming wife sets off the solid merits of her husband , and makes his parties pleasant as well as important — gives us a varied and attractive list of articles ; among them will be noticed a temperate and able view of the English Law of Divorce , which will be all the more effective because it will frighten no one . The same maybe said of the article on Sunday in Great Britain , a timely anil sober exposure of that gangrene of our social existence —the puritanical tradition . The picture drawn of Sunday in Scotland is not overdrawn , as almost every one who has had the misery of spending Sundays in that country will admit , The writer , speaking of Scotland in the olden time , sa \ s : —

    Several collections of the ordinances of the Kirk Sessions hare been published recently , and there we have the whole record of this mournful but ludicrous history . There are scarcely any contemporary documents which , equally set before us the life of the quiet homely citizen of the day , or show more clearly under what a frightful spiritual bondage he was gradually falling . All games were strictly prohibited . One man is " set at the pillars " for playiug at bowls on the Sabbath ; another Is fined twenty shillings for playing at football . Salmon fishers gave especial trouble ; some resolute sportsmen even bade defiance to the elders of the Kirk , and fished in spite of them . But , generally , their tyranny was only too successful . We read of an unfortunate widow having to pay eight marks " for having spits and roasts at the fire in time of sermon . " Even-peaceful exercise and walking in the fresh au ' was rigorously put down . " Vaging" in the streets ,

    have eacli an article on Macaulay , that m the National being the best . It is a lively paper , the liveliness giving piquancy to some really serious , thought . The view it suggests of the stationariness of Macaula y ' s mind , its uneducableness by experience , is both novel and deep . " He looks on a question , " it is well saidj " as posterity will look on it ; he appeals from this to future generations ; he regards existing men as painful prerequisites of great grandchildren . " Both the National and the British Quarterly have articles also on Goethe , the former on his " Characteristics , " the latter on his " Life . " Students of Goethe will find much in the former both to interest and instruct them . From the latter , we are tempted to quote this on the morality of Wilhelm Meister : — .

    The latter part of Wilhelm Meisler was written , and the whole given to the piiblic , during the period ^ Yhen Goethe and Schiller were labouring in concert . The beauties and defects of this well-known novel , at once so admirable and so provoking , lie upon the surface . We cannot agree with those who regard ifcs tendancy as immoral . It ? effect as a whole , is to enlarge the sympathies and to gird the loins of action . Every mind in tolerable health will derive invigoration from its pages . It is no more immoral than Macbeth is immoral because S&akspeare does not pause to dilate on the guilt of murder . Antony and . Cleopatra , would not have been rendered more edifying had the poet reminded us continually that the Queen of Egypt would have been happier in a liut with the virtue she had not , than in a palace with the temperament she had , and that the triumvir was exceedingly foolish , to lose tb _ e world for so false a fair one .

    Pleasant papers on Tke English Stage , and on the Conversation and ^ Pot-try of Rogers , help , with the two more elaborate papers just named , to set off tlie serious articles in the National , which is altogether a very attractive number . Very attractive and various also is the British Quarterly , with its due admixture of grave ami gay , of lively and severe—especially severe on unfortunate G ( erman theologians , who seem almost as objectionable when orthodox as when rationalist . Let no one pass over the paper on the Arctic Voyages , a capital resume of the subject with picturesque details interspersed : — The first Arctic voyage undertaken by Englishmen was characterised by an ominous but romantic catastrophe . Three gallant ships , built as ships had never been previously constructed- —for their timbers wepe of surpassing strength and their keels ' were plated with lead—swept proudly past the palace at Greenwich on at the and in the

    a . May morning in the year 1553 ^ Clustered " windows turrets of the building where the sixth Edward lay stretched on a couch of suffering , noble dames « , nd courtly gentlemen were assembled to cheer the mariners with their presence , and bid " God Speed" to the adventurous little fleet . Thousands of the commonalty lined the banks of the stream , and eyed the bold crews who were about to tempt the perils of the North with feelings of curiosity , such as we should entertain were it possible to launch an expedition for the planet Uramis . Shouts flew from the shore to the ships , and back from the ships to the shore , until " the sky rung with the noise . " Few flotillas of disfcovery have probably put to sea under more exhilarating auspices . The good wishes of the nation seem to have filled its sails . It carried a letter from the king addressed to all the princes and governors of the earth , requesting them to give his servants free

    passage " by their regions and dominions . " It was furnished with a code of instructions drawn up by Sebastian Cabot , the great niarithne authority of the day wherein he counselled the adventurers against many real and several f astastie perils—against savages who wore the skins of lions and bears for the purpose of horrifying their foes , and against naked . bai"barians who haunted various coasts , where they swam about in the waters to seize the bodies of men , " which they coveted for ineat ! " The object of the expedition was to discover a short route to India and Cathay , for it was hoped that by probing the north in an eastern direction , a path might be found to those golden climes . In a storm off Norway , Sir Hugh Willoughby , the commander , was separated from , his second , Eichard

    Chancellor . The latter reached Archangel , and for & while escaped . The former , with a consort vessel , rambled onward till a barrier of ice forbid his further advance . Then he turned round and found shelter on the shores of Lapland . After a lapse of some months , two vessels "were seen drifting at random , by some Russian sailors . On boarding them not a living soul could be found . The bodies of the men were there , stiff and frozen : but not one of tho company survived to tell how his comrades had perished . Death sat at the helm , and in his keeping the secret of their fato was secure . Had he piloted the vosselB back to the Thames with their crew of corpses , how the nation would havo mourned to see the Bhipo which had gone forth freighted with life and hope , return silent and sepulchral—changes from thronged and bustling barques into floating hearses . Our space is run out before we have said half our say on the Reviews . A line must suffice to convey our sense of the great care and ability with which the London Quarterly is edited . The present number is very good ,. The article on Chemistry is especially worth reading ; that on Raffaelle and his Cartoons will be certain to catch the eye , and need not be commended ,

    or a stroll to Castlehill , was punished -with imprisonment . An unhappy sinner named David Dugall was censured for " going to Crainond on the Lord * s-day morning with shoes , " and was obliged to find surety against a repetition of the offence . The magistrates and their spiritual rulers were to see that the ordiiunces of the Sessions weie executed , and it was directed that they " shall go up and down the streets upon the Lord ' s-day , after the afternoon sermon ^ and catise take particular notice of such as shall be found foorth of their houses , vaging upon the streets , and cause cite them before the Session , to be rebuked and censured . " The climax of folly and tyranny was , perhaps , reached by the Edinburgh Sessions , who ordered , April 5 , 1658 , that " the magistrates is to cause some English soldiers goe along the streets , and those ouiparts above written , both before sermon and after -sermon , and lay hold both upon young and old whom they find out of their houses or out of church . "

    The writer truly says that the stronghold of Puritanism is the class of small shopkeepers ; and for those who know what small shopkeepers in England usually are , there is something very saddening in the following passage : — Unfortunately , the class of small shopkeepers is , in England , the governing class . A few grocers and tailors can make their borough member eat his words and deny his opinions , because they hold his re-election in their hands . On most questions the shopkeeping class does not interfere ; but when it does interfere , it is sure to be successful . Let any one , who is neither a small shopkeeper nor a Member of Parliament , reflect seriously on the debate of this session on the motion for opening the British Museum and National Gallery on Sunday , and he can hardly fail to see that the true lesson it teaches is , that the franchise must be

    lowered . The wrong kind of electors return the wrong kind of legislators . The higher class of artisans and of day labourers is , in thought , character , habita of reflection , oven honesty , far above the class of petty shopkeepers ; and if these men had votes , they might do something to regenerate the electoral body . No more powerful argument than this for the enlargement of the franchise . One of the ludicrous aspects of this Sunday Question is the difficulty of " drawing- the line" with respect to Amusements . Granting that the Creator of the Universe can be incensed at seeing the human atom amuse itself on a Sabbath ( e ' est tine tr ^ s forte supposition . we have next to settle what is an Amusement ? The writer in the Westminster says , "A clergyman lately told us that he had been severely censured by a Sabbatarian for—carrying a walking-stick on a Sunday I "

    Another energetic protest against vexatious legislation will be found in the article on Medical Despotism . The Westminster has been long a consistent advocate of the modern political philosophy which sees in over-legislation t \\ a source of ton times as many evils as those it professes to remedy ; and this article is nn application of those principles to Mr . Hbaulam ' s dangerous bill . We recommend all parliamentary and medical readers to possess themselves of it , ere tine bill becomes law . Indeed , tho idea of making Medicine a monoply , and of legislating for tho protection of a particular class of Medical men , could never have entercdjthe liead of a reasoning- man if the true nature of Medicine as an Art , not a Science , had been clearly understood . To give tho Royal College of Physicians the ^ rights it claims , is as absurd as to give tho Royal Academy of Painting an exclusive right to appoint tho Artists of Great Britain .

    r lhe best article in the number is one with an unpromising title Tho Congress of Vienna , nu article full of the minute knowledge and picturesque power winch make Caiilylk so fascinating even to those who dissent from his opinions . The writer of this paper is an imitator of Cahlymc , but the imitation spring from kindred sympathy , « nd docs not , display itself in external chnmcten stic-H . The picture of tho Bastci and tho promennders who in those days raaulo it piquant to the observer , is n picture which the reader most indifferent to Congresses of all kinds will do well to look for . The National Review , tho British Quarterly , and tho London Quarterly

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    THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN . Typical Forms atid Special Ends in Creation . By tho Rev , James McCosh , L . L . D ., and George Dickie , M . D . . Edinburgh : Constable and Co . Pa ley dealt many a damaging blow to the Church he served with such remarkable talent ; but the most damaging of all we believe to have been his delightful work on " Natural Theology . " Of course ho was uncoxiscious of the harm ho was doing ; he did it with the best intentions ; he thought he was vanquishing infidelity . Nor can wo , personally , express anything but gratitude to him . His Natural Theology placed the scalpel in ouv hands , and completely banished from our minds the belief in tiiat " design" he liad . taken so much pains to prove . To him we directly owe our interest in the organic sciences , and indirectly our emancipation from the metaphysical theology which calla in the dangerous aid of science . Wo believe that " Natural Theology" has made and will continue to make ten sceptics for one whose belief it strengthens . Nor can it be otherwise . Those who believe already , do not need the confirmation of science 5 those who do not believt will assuredly find no evidence in science ; but many of those who arc hesitating will have their belief rudely shaken by tho appeal to scienco .

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    April 12 , 1856 . ] yjjJA- ^ _ A P E R - 35 *

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    tCitrrnture .

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    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws-they interpret and try to enforce them . -JiUinUurgh ltecicw .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 351, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/15/