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? - ¦ ¦ .. It is &e fete of celebrated men to be expensive in pr inter ' s ink , and whenever much ink is used it will be the vehicle of not a small amount of nonsense . Monstrari digito may , or may not , * e agreeable ; all depends upon ihe digit . In ihe same way , to be written about , to have one s name , deeds , biography and mistakes worked up into memoirs and criticisms , is doubtless a very questionable draft on that impalpable banker , Fame . Here , also , all depend *? on the digit . We do not imagine , for instance , that Thomas Babdtgtok Macauiat will read with any satisfaction the «• Biographical Notice' * which is affixed to the Photographic Portrait of the Historian pubitself will be
lished by Messrs . Maum , and Poi . tbi . ank . The portrait very acceptable , and t he vast ignorance of the public will perhaps accept with gratitude the meagre details of the Memoir , learning with interest that MacAbxat is the son of Zachabt Macadi . at , the anti-slavery advocate , and of Seuka Mills , the Bristol bookseller ' s daughter—so that his love of liberty and love of books may be affiliated on \ hjs parents , assuming that the fair Sei-ina read ^ hat her father sol 4 . ; a gratuitous assumption we admit , for , in general , pastrycooks ; . do ; not eat . largely of tarts . If . this detail and the . half-dozen < lates interest the * reader , he may forgive the style of the Menioir ^ althbtig h the price of this publication ought to command something more creditable .
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Eraser opens . this ., month with a paper of unusual interest , firstly to us southrons because it tells us of Scotch clergymen , and secondly to Scotchmen , because it tells them of their General Assembly ; which they either love and reverence afc dutiful sons of the Kirk , or abominate as schismatics . If any one of our readers wishes to get in an easy way a general idea and picture of . " ' Edinburgh during the General Assembly , " let him open Fraser : — As the days lengthen towards the close of May , arid the foliag&grows thicker in the Princes-street and Queen-street gardens , an unusual influx of black coats and white neckcloths announces the season of the annual meeting of the Scottish Convocation , the supreme legislative and judicial court of the Kirk , the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland . The ecclesiastics of Scotland have chosen for their
meeting literally the »* Beasori atween June and May , " twelve days divided between the latest of May and the eaorEest off June ; < It is-a time of those delightful long twilights which ScotlandgiriM oVerthft southern 1 < M > unties of : England , by Some six or seven degrees ; of latitude- farther towards ttie northJ By ^ the 25 th or 26 th of May the * streets svtatoL i 'with clergymen of every possible diversity' of appearancie , and from every corner of : Scotland r old college friends , who' had parted as striplings , meet again as responsible fathers of families ; at the ' railway stations we are constanly being run against by men with white stocks and large portmanteaus ; the lodging-houses are crammed with them ; not only does the General Assembly of the Kirk meet at this time , but also that of the " Free Church , ' \ which has closely copied the organization of the national establishment : there are more clergymen , for the time , in Edinburgh , than there are priests in Rome .
A very minute and graphic description of the ceremonies follows , interspersed with criticisms and anecdotes . Of the former , we select that on Dr . Robertson .- — The recollection of what Dr . Robertson has done for the Church in the way of founding new parishes , will always , we trust / cause him to be listened to with respect ; and his speeches are really characterized by massive sense , great acutehess , and much piety and earnestness . But he seems to feel it incumbent upon him to speak at tremendous length , on every question that ^ cornea 'Jbefore the Assembly ; and he ia beyond comparison , the most insufferably diffuse and tedious speaker wo ever listened to . He has a fatal fluency which enables him to speak on any subject for any given time . He generally sits at the table , and speaks standing beside it ,,.. 'I'he stranger entering the Assembly Hall at any hour of any day , is quite sure in ' a little while to perceive a short , very stout old gentleman , withwhite . hair , rjse from his seat neat
the Moderator , and begin to speak , in a fearfull y ^ arehv ^ ipe , with an awful Aberdeenshire accent . With a snuff-box in , hie hand , aipfd turning on his ajxis like , a roast before the fire , hegwidvu ^ ly talk ^ himpelfibio a h ^ rricana of louuneps , } he very driest metaphysical master being apparently sqmci ^ nt ! to excite liim to the hi g hest degree . Wiry ' on earthdoM lie ^ say ^ K-k-k-V-rpy ^ when he would utit ' er the Saviour ' s name ? Ttf | fy /< fc > ea ' he / ia 1 k' / of ' athurratfal ^ whori he means authority ? and wherefore , should he aj&afc ' of . ' lvypor ^ asBtpp lofte , —6 ^|' ppaud i 8 atiutyensj ; and , panae , —of the Endoamunt skalm . and ' i tfl gre »^ ' oo ^ Wcit , ^—of ^ ^ tflio is ^ viflg of the ' ta ^ us and the advantage £ o the wtirrYeela ^ hat woiitd follow if that efcaini were mamtahtieil akkurding to the views of tnp reverfinij docwr on th ^ oth ^ r / soyd pf the ^ ouse r ., .., ' rvQfff lg latter , ne on the unsuspected : advantages of railway tunnels : -tt .. iWeicannot h « lpirepoatlng a narrative , which wo heard on one such occasion , told
with infinite gravitybyja cjergrman whose name we at onco inquired about , and of whom we , shall onlv aay that fie in . one of f the best and . worthiest of the sons of the Kiri ^ , andknows when , fto be serious as well as when to Jest . " Don't tpll me , " said h " o t ' oV simple-looking Highland brother , who had apparently made his first trial of railway travelling in coming up to the Assembly , " don't tell me that tunnels on railways are an unmitigated evil ; they nerve high moral and rosthctical purposes . Only the other day I got info ; a railway , carriage ,, ; ai"t I , had hardly taken my seat whfin , the ^ rahi » Urted , . On looking up , . 1 saw sitting opposite mo two of the most rflbl ^ l > lf 0 ent fr ^ ^^ Hanp . I felt at on < i e that the re could be no pleasure for me in that'joum ^ heart arid countenance I leaned back in niy corner . But pit at once wo plunged into a long tunnel , black aa night , arid when we emerged at / 'tftfe ' dtWe ^ cn ^ ' ^ Wow ^ wHgMilear and my ilMimhour was entirely dissipated . ^ M * Uil | oU yb ^ OioV tMd c dt ^ to W ¥ 'All the way through the tunnel I was shaking ! mjsribtui the X > U $ « nte * sflmco ^ iiridimaklngibJorrible mouthgflt thom , and that relieved mi ) and «« bjbftall jflgbti / Don ' t Bpoakvagainat tunnels agata , my dear friend I" . : thfc ntmg
^ MrJCnAiiiuBtf B < 6 ^ bu ^ in Magazine , takes Sir Edwin Xandseeb jJfeij&a ^ Vry ^' ialak * b * misrepresenting-tho red de ^ 'bygiving them tw 6 { AWeii ^ oWf bf tall ' fchan'&ey reallypos ^ es ' iT ; ' and ^ hia"mistake appears to bo always made by the artist , in spite of his general accuracy . The point was
quite worth insisting on , and Mr . Boner has done it in a friendly way . He also notices Lanjdseer ' s treatment of antlers : — We remember but one instance where an imperfect acquaintance with the formation of the feature in question is disclosed . It is in the otherwise charming plate which forms the frontispiece to Mr . Scrope ' s Deer-8 talkitigr The antlers of the stag to the right are incorrect . Whatever number of points a stag may lave besides those termed " brow "" bray , " and " tray , " they always belong to , and contribute to form , the group at top composing the crown . Below this group , between it and the bray antler , no point ever shoots out of the beam . In the instance in qustion there are two such supernumerary points : which , consequently , is wrong , It would not . have been , wrong , however , if the two , and half a dozen , besides , had been added to the crown . The following is worth extracting : —
The antlers , as Landseer gives them , always greatly heighten , sometimes indeed wholly make , the effect . He goes occasionally to the very utmost limits that he safely can . A step further , and the consequence would be bombast and caricature . There being such a diversity in the growth of antlers , their sweep and formation indeed often surpassing our most fanciful imaginings , we think it is to be regretted that Landseer should introduce , as the point of attraction or interest , the same " head which has already figured in a former picture . Its mighty beam and long brow antlers may make it very effective ; but others are to be found quite as much so , and there were no need for the " Monarch of the Glen" to wear the same royal diadem we had already seen tossed skywards by " The Stag at Bay . " We maybe called hypercritical in this , but be it remembered that the antlers of a stag are his badge , the feature by which he is known and identified year after year , 6 n mountain , and in forest , among hundreds of his fellows . They are what a strongly-marked countenance is among men . For ,
as a sportsman , Sir Edwin will know that there is a personality in a stag as much as in the human race . He is recognized directly he is seen . To put the same stag therefore into several pictures , is as if Wilkie had introduced , a characteristic wellknown face—the Duke of Wellington's for instance- ^ in bis "Reading the Will , " Distraining for Rent , " and again in two or three more of his best works . Of all the animals we have seen by this great master , the stag also is the only one in representing which he ever seems to think of an " effect . " We do not say it is always so ; but neither is it always otherwise . Yet with his hinds there is never a trace of such endeavour ; they are as if daguerreotyped from nature on to the very canvas itself . .... , .. lV . . » But the stag of the Highlands is Landseer's hero ; and where there is a trace of that is to be
the " " ¦ heroic" to be found in his picture , 'tis some Grampian royalty sure its representative . To us who have been among the red deer ia their homes , who have watched them when scared , who have seen the stag keeping the maddened bloodhound at bay , and have heard , and followed the while , as he roared with passion , we confess he seems in Landseer ' s pictures occasionally a little theatrical . He puts himself into position , and " calls up a look . " At such times there is that about him which we see in the portraits of actors ; a certain unmistakable something , an evident pose which reminds us invariably of the stage . It is not merely a proud bearing , but rather an air of hauteur , which Sir Edwin gives his stags ; they are evidently intended for effect , and , to borrow a phrase , are expected " to bring doTirn the house . ' This is the more striking , because Landseer ever seems indifferent about such results ; as carleless of them as a child how it may have folded its pretty limbs in sleep .
We , to whom the stag is no unfamiliar sight , deem such imperious air to be out of character . The royal hart is always a magnificent presence , and in such hands as Landseer ' s cannot fail to be impressive . But wheji he stands at gaze , wondering , and at a loss to know what sounds disturb him , his bright widelyf-opened eye seems inquiring rather than defiant . If the breeze has borne towards him the taint of a foe , his sudden start then is marked by apprehension . If the head be flung back , it is to listen ; not in pride or with a sense of his dignity . And when in the rutting season he dashes down upon the intruder , or , looking round , challenges him to the battle , there is in his own mien more of blinding frenzy than of calm conscious power . Blackwood , besides two stories , and a continuation of " Travels in Circassia , " contains three papers of general interest . " The Scot Abroad—The
Man of Council , " is another of that well-devised scries of historical pictures , and notices the eminent Scotchmen who have played great political parts in foreign countries . " The Special Embassy in 1698 " will be very attractive just now , when ' every one 1 has laid down Macaulatt ' s fourth volume . It ia an account of the embassy of Pobtland to represent Wiluam of Okawgjg in negotiations respecting the Peace of RysWick ' . PoHtland took with him , as hia secretary ; MAtt Paiott ; our Orice favourite poet ; and it is from a manuscript diary kept by the poetic secretary that the writer in ¦ BlacJctoood draws' the ' principal details' of hia' curious paper . We have only space to mention in a line-the interesting article on " Greece iind Italy ; " in which the writer eloquently espouses the cause of the Greeks against the Turks .
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THE SUBAJLPINE KINGDOM . The . Subalpine Kingdom ; or , Experience * and Studies in £ ! avot / , Piedmont , and Genoa . , By Bayle St . John . 2 vols . Chapman and Hall . Tins is a book of pictures and opinions . As it is not our duty to criticize it , we will pass lightly over the pictures . They represent the town and countrv life of Savoy , Piedmont , and Genoa ; tho'gambling saloons of Aixles-Bains ; the public and private manners of Turin ; the forms and procedures of the new Italian Constitutional Government ; palatial , parliamentary , villa , shop , and cafe" interiors ,- —all things , indeed , that an Englishman , accustomed to travel , possessed ofthe language , habituated to political society , and provided with good introductions , might be expected to doscribe . Mr . TBaylo St . John discourses of all these matters : how he discourses , his critics must say .
We prefer to offbr a summary of his opinions , the results of his " experiences antl studies . " Adopting for the States of Sardinia , tho Italian appellation , of thq Subulpine Kingdom , he . states at once his belief that , the Picdmontesc Government has , diplomatically speaking , placed itself in a false position . Its true policy would have been , not to have discountenanced and discouraged thq Italian democracy , but to have conciliated and assisted it . This , he thinks , the ministers of Victor Emmanuel havo never done . They are resigned ,, to their constitutionalism , not proud of it . They separate themselves from tho national party of progress . While decrying Austrian tyranny . they flutter French usurpation . And this in the face of tho historical fact that France , not Austria , has been the worse bane of Italy . After tireparihg ' the reader by a sories of historical retrospects—containing maivy' { inde'dotcti'that will be now to the admirers of Gallenga—Mr . St . John commences his political exposition" by a review ' 6 f tho press in Piedmont . Tho liberal journals of Turin have done us the honour to quote our writings
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Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1856, page 640, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2148/page/16/
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