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There is one season , however , whyvauthors , composers , and actors fell into these Bubjects , and it stiD tears upon the moral of the question . They do ifc Because they are pact of the society among which they live ; they , like that society , are guided in their tastes T > y the things in which they take an interest ; and they select this lower class of subjects , because they and the audience are interested in them . It is the habits of life , the turn of the amusements , the train of thoughts in society and in the authors of artworks , that produces these plays , and sends audiences to look at them .
But the appeal against charity is in many ways curious . Our great contemporary would have us ignore the existence of whole classes in this metropolis , and is indignant at the idea that " pity" may alight upon one of that class . Now , in this matter lies thevery point of the moral in all art . There is no broad distinctiontobedrawnbetweenthe vices represented by Goethe , Aipibbi , Shaks ^ eabe , CoBiTEiiiiiE , or Caldebon , and those represented by the Dumas and the opera the
poet . The distinction is not that in one case there may be imitation , and in the other repulsion . The distinction is not that we are free to pity Jocasta or Mariana , whether of Shakspeaee or of Goethe , and not free to pifcy Violetta . The most tragic works of art have represented one struggle , which has been going on ever since mankind has become conscious of conflicting propensities in itself . In all such works the subject is the eontest between the bad and the
good . The artist , in the desire to interest his audience , varies the form of that eontest ; and Shaksp : eabe himself has varied it as widely as we see in the cases of Lady Macleth , Angelo , Shyloch , Hamlet , and , indeed , in half of the chief characters of his plays . An that is " foul and hideous" is surely not concentrated in "Violetta , or in any of the persons that surround her . But some of those characters in our own Shakspeake , though they have nothing to do with the particular depravity , are more foul , more hideous . The inhuman Lady Macbeth , S 7 iylock worked
into a heartless frenzy of avarice , Iago sacrificing everything that is beautiful to his own gross and heartless scepticism , with the passion of revenge alone to spur him—these are more foul and more hideous than anything which has been represented to the audience of Her Majesty ' s . The march of all these tragedies presents to us invariably the contest between the bad and the goodthe peril to which the good is exposed by the bad agency—and , whatever may be the tragic urination , the real triumph of the good . Because in none of these cases does the
spirit of the devil gain the victory . Iago hills his wife who has thwarted him , and works out the death of Othello and JDesde-Tnona ; aud yet to the very latest , when Othello discovers the total folly and vanity of his delusion , —when Desdemona has yielded up her life to injustice and to cruelty , visiting her in the form of her beloved husband , the power of goodness remains unconquerable . The sweetness of Desdemona ' s own nature
sustains her under the infliction , preserves even her love . And in the same way the more generous feelings of Otiielto come back to him , and restore him to dignity aud selfrespect at the moment ; of his death . The class which Violetta la Traviata represents , does exist . It is called into existence by the selfishness and depravity of townmade man : its existence continues unmitigated through the selfish resolve of society to ignore it . But that class consists of some thousands of women- ^ women born to thobest qualities of their sex ; and these qualities are sometimes bo inextinguishable that they
remain throughout . If we look gravely into that tragedy , we shall find the same struggle between good and bad , with the same triumph of good . La Traviata shows us one instance . After a life of heartless depravity into which she has been led , a natural passion , a genuine affection takes her from it ; but she is cast back by the suspicions and repulsions of society . It is the old argument of the tragedy in a new shape , arising from the present vices of society . "We may question the taste of the author that selected the more trivial
shapes of vice ; we may affirm the corruption of society in which such incidents arise ; but if the representation makes us remember the existence of the class and study the causes of that existence , —above all , if the performance of PiccoiOMnri can make us pity the inextinguishable woman that still survives in the midst of depravity , like Lakdseee ' s little flower amid the ruins of carnage and conflagration in the scene of war—we certainly have got even out of La Traviata a moral that we apply with some use to society .
" We are not sorry to see our orthodox contemporaries accompanying us in the protest against some present aspects of society ; but we do exhort them not to be content with falling into hysterics at the mere sight of too familiar vices . If they will go a little further , they will perhaps help us to do more good .
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APATHY PLEAS . It is confessed on all sides that the working classes have attempted little , of late years , with the object of improving their political position . "W " e have made this the subject of serious remark , and there is a desire evinced to break the force of the reflection . Two pleas are put in , to account for the inactivity of which we have complained . "First , it is asserted that political organization is too expensive ; secondly , that whenever the working classes have combined , they have been misled
by selfish or foolish men who have not belonged to their order . The plea of expense we think untenable . There have never been wanting liberals ready to aid in promoting an organized movement on the part of the working classes ; but , even without external assistance , a very slight exercise of self-denial on their part would enable them to do all that is necessary-for the inauguration of a general scheme of action . It is by no means essential , at starting , to hold mass meetings in
large rooms , to advertise , to employ agents , print elaborate prospectuses , or to set in motion any costly machinery . The " people " might make their power and their convictions felt by other and easier means . We do not think that when the working classes have been really in earnest , they have been deterred from activity by the dread of costs . They are not a niggardly class . On the contrary , they have sometimes been remarkably profuse in their contributions to political funds .
The second objection , that the working class combinations have usually been directed by foolish or selfish men belonging to other classes , is even less satisfactory . In the first place , it is not at all necessary or desirable that the working classes should be led by working ^ men . " W " orking men form excellent auxiliaries , bufc are seldom efficient loaders . They want , in general , tho enlarged
experience and knowledge essential to the conduct of a political movement . They may be captains , but not generals . In truth , it scorns to us a fallacy to suppose that wlion tho working classes havo obtained tho suffrage they aro all at once to turn professed politicians . Thoy aro not likely to supply more experienced administrators tliau wo havo at present j but they understand their own interests , and we think they havo capacities
which £ t them to be electors . "We have never thought , or said , that they should put confidence in none but men of their own
order . That they have sometimes been misled is no reason why they should remain for ever inactive . They are not recommended to strive for the old objects by the old means ; on the contrary , they are counselled hy their best friends—friends who value candour as much as sympathy—to discountenance the stormy rhapsodists of the Chartist period , and to put their trust in moderation—which is power—in knowledge , intelligence , and political ability . They ought never to cheer
the utterance of noisy nothings , but to encourage at their meetings the men whom they would be willing to send to Parliament if they possessed the electoral franchise . "We have frequently tested our working-class friends on this subject . " " Would you choose Mr . Tkeob of Thttndee as your representative ? " " Oh , no ; but he does well enough for a public meeting !" That is a mistake . The board-shaking
shouters on platforms come before the public as representatives of the working classes , and the working classes have been damaged by the inevitable inference . " We think this touches more nearly the cause of the apathy that has existed than either of the pleas that have been set forth . Exhausted by ill-regulated and unsuccessful efforts , the working classes are only now beginning to recover faith , strength , and determination .
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A WORD TO AN ITALIAN . The Vhione appeals to the Leader to know whether , if a coup d ' etat in Spain have the same results as the coup d ' etat in France , it will not have been the most fortunate event that could have happened in that distracted country . Would the TTnione say the same of Italy ? If not , the Unione has no right to say it of Spain . Every man in England who thinks the December Usurpation is " the only government fit for France" deserves to be
degraded from the possession of his political rights , his liberty of speech and action . That is , if any error less than felony deserves to be punished by so much humiliation . The Unione may prefer Napoleonic strokes of power ; but , for our part , we prefer to see nations struggling through good and evil towards the attainment ot independence and dignity . " We would not exchange our House of Commons for a new street , our noisiest Irish members for the liveried Senators of laws ,
our much-Binning " system" for the emglo presiding mind plotting in the dark , and tho rapidity of the agent who is never so rapid as when he has to kidnap a victim lor Cayenne . We blunder , but we do not degrade ourselves ; we have defective institutions , but not the government of illegality ; we do not move through our own streets , silent , ashamed , and in the fear of the spy . No . The Unione must not expect us to announce tho virtues of a coup d ' etat . ^ . P is less the prey of misgovernment tlum Italy —yet Italy does not pray for a St . Ab . na . U 3 ) , or a slaughter of citizens o % > tho Corao .
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The L , atk Revikw at Sfitiikad . —An action hn « boon brought in the Southwark C ounty Court iiRiunni tho South-Eastern Railway Company for tho recovery oi 9 * . 3 a . paid by tho plaintiff to tho company on an umiortairing that ho and liia friends should bo convcyo" t < Spithend to boo tho lato roviow . Tho vosmil on boiud which thoy wore pnt at Portsmouth wan -very » j »™» - voniont , and tho accommodation ivas of tho worst Unit ; added to which , tho proper time waH not obHiirvod ,, a « u a largo part of tho roviow—including tho pasnag * ' « ' Lll ( _ Quoon through tho flcot— waa miancd . Judgment whh given for tho plaintiff , with costa . Th « ro wore . nvi . other actiona of a similar naturo against tl » o mil way cqmpany , in which tho judge alao gave judgment the plaintiffs , considering thut tho dofondunta worn guilty of gross negligence .
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r ggg THE IiBAD iEB . [ No . $ 3 $ , Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 9, 1856, page 758, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2153/page/14/
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