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Thb Quarterly is always agreeable reading , generally give one striking article to furnish diners-out with a topic ; the last number contains much facile reading , but no one remarkable paper . Bacon ' s Essays as annotated by Whatsly is touched in an anecdotic manner . Here is a passage on the suppression of the indications of poverty : —
A gentleman in narrow circumstances quoted the common saying , " Poverty is no crime , " and was answered , " Yes , but it is -worse . " Many prove that they are seriously of this opinion by the dishonest arts -which they practise to get money . Others look down upon the indigent as though the things external to a man , and not the man himself ,-were the proper objects of regard . All such people earn the stem rebuke of Gray that their poverty is in their mind . Archbishop Whately , however , dwells upon the just distinction that though poverty is not disgraceful , the exhibition of it is felt to be indecent . " A man of sense is not ashamed of confessing it ; but he keeps the marks of it out of sight . " He mentions that a person , who disputed the assertion , olserved in refutation of it , " Why this coat that 1 now have on I have Tiad turned because I could not well afford a new one , and I care not who knows it . " His instance , as the Archbishop acutely remarks , proved the joint he was controverting , or he would have worn the coat without turning . " He might have had it scoured , if needful ; hut though clean , it would still have looked threadbare ; and he did not like
will , even when differing most widely from him , declare that the title is hi without any sarcasm . M . Remdsat's estimate of Coxebidbe will offend the admirers of that singularly overrated man who fancied himself a Pfo tonist on the slenderest acquaintance with Plato , and who persuaded many that he was an original thinker by audacious plagiarisms from German phUosophers . That Coleridge exercised a very powerful influence on his age , by influencing many remarkable minds , is unquestionable ; but to those who were never within the sphere of his personal fascination , and who can not , in imagination , place themselves in that intellectual condition when German thought first began to stir in . English minds , it will ever remain a surprising example of personal ^ V / 5 , for which no published documents give any reasonable grounds .
to make this display of poverty . " If his principle had been correct he would have been content in weather , -when he did not require it for warmth , to walk the streets , or call upon his friends , without any coat at all , and might have alleged the same reason , that he could not well afford to wear one every day . Ignorance of this difference between shame of poverty itself , and shame of being compelled to expose it in ways which are a violation of the established proprieties of life , has given rise to many erroneous judgments . Among the companions of Beynolds , when lie was studying his art at Borne , was a fellow-pupil of the name of Astley . They made an excursion , with some others , on a sultry day , and all except Astley took off their coats . After several taunts he was persuaded to do the same , and displayed on . the back of his waistcoat a foaming-waterfall . Distress had compelled him to patch his clothes with one of his own landscapes . His reluctance to exhibit his expedient is imputed by one biographer to " a proud heart . " It was more likely to be due to a sense of decorum . And lere is another on professions of disinterestedness : —
La Rochefoucauld has said that self-interest speaks all sorts of languages and personates all kinds of parts , even that of disinterestedness . There is none which the greedy petitioners for place personate so often . The transparent and disgusting hypocrisy of desiring preferment purely for the good of the country and from a sense of public duty , is stated by Lord Brougham to be incessant . Once , on his remarking to Lord Melbourne that nobody could tell till he came into office how base men were , the latter humorously replied , " On the contrary , I never before had such an opinion of human virtue , for I now find that self-denial is the sole motive in seeking advancement , and personal gain the only thing that is never dreamt of . " This might have been extended by reference to those modest authors who assure us in their speeches and prefaces that "" Truth is their only object" - — pence , position , reputation , of course , never entering into their motives . Dr . Ca-upenteb is so enamoured of this formula that in a new edition of one
of his books " the Author refers with satisfaction to the following passage in the preface to his former edition : Truth is his only object , &c , &c . " M . Chevr ^ ol told the Academie Franchise that his chemical investigations had been prompted from first to last by but one motive—Truth . Of course the assembled savan 3 received this statement with entire confidence . For the sake of variety we should be glad to bear some man avow his real objects besides Truth . . Another amusing paper in the Quarterly is one on " French Algeria , " which picturesquely describes the present appearance and the past history of that colony . Those who meditate a visit to Algiers , either for curiosity , health , or the desire ¦ " to kill one lion which has eaten a man , " should read this paper . " New biographies of Montaigne" is a pleasant , biographical Bketch of the old Gascon moralist : and " Ancient Rome" an elaborate
topographical essay . A capital subject , *' The Physiognomy of the Human Perm , " hns been spoiled by the meagre and heavy treatment of the reviewer , whose paper has , however , the one unintentional merit of thoroughly ¦ warning the intelligent reader against Cakus ' s works on that subject . Those who have read the article on " Botanical Geography" in the last Edinburgh , will be interested in the far abler and more entertaining treatment of the same topic in La Revtte des DeuxMondes , by M . Chabxes Mast-ins , the translator of Goethe ' s works on Botany and Zoology . He says that without any exaggeration one may reckon the number of species already described in books , or existing in collections , at 120 , 000 ; and if we reckon the number of species which probably exist on the entire surface of the globe , we must agree withM . de Candoli-hs in estimating it at from 400 , 000 to 500 , 000 . A pleasant exercise for the botanical memory !
M . Remusat continues his exposition of the state of Religious Controversy in England with an estimate of Comcridgr and Abnom > . He con-^ v McKthe opinion current in France that only political liberty is permitted in England , and refers to the labours of Mr . Homtoake , especially to his public discussions , as evidence that the utmost freedom of opinion is possible even on religious matters . He says : "M . Holyoake est un gentleman qui a eat donne * la triste tache non seulcment de signaler les nbus et les fautes de toutea les egliaes , maia encore d ' etablir sinon que Dieu n ' existe pas , aumoins qu iL c « t impossible et inutile de savoir s'il existe . " We know not whether thoword " gentleman" is meant as a sarcasm pointing to the " triste tache ;" but af perfect integrity , and undeviating courtesy accompanying unflinching nrmness , are the attributqs of a gentleman , all who know Mr . Homoakb
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SEA ANEMONES . A Manual of the Sea Anemones commonly found oil the English Coast . ' By the Rev George Tugwell . YanVoorst A whiter in Blackwood the other day spoke of " the Rev . George Tu « well so well and so honorably known to the Anemones of Ilfracombe , " and this little volume assures us that the Anemones may be proud of their acquaintance , the more so as he will certainly increase the thronging crowds of their admirers by this Manual , the illustrations to which are triumphs of colourprinting , and almost equal in beauty the delicate creatures they pourtray The diagrams and woodcuts with which books on Natural History endeavoui
to convey images of these lovely marine animals are better than nothingbut that is all we can say for them . No one would recognize an Actinia JBellis , or a Gem , or a Snipe feather , or a Frog , or an Aurora , from a woodcut . He might gather a rude rudimentary approximative notion of what an Anemone was , as disting ; uished from a SertularU , or a Tubularia ; but without colour no illustration could guide him to more specific knowledge . In this Mauual we have large and admirably drawn figures of the animals in their natural aspects , as they expand under overhanging boulders and bloom in dark crevices , not as they appear in spirits of wine . Nponehaving seen these illustrations will be at a loss to identify the animals when he comes upon them on the coast .
But what is _ an Anemone ? The first chapter of this Manual is devoted to an explanation . Books of reference , Mr . Tugwell finds , are not quite so explanatory as initial ignorance could wish :- — "A sea-anemone , " I find it said , "is a radiate animal—an actiniform polyp . Body single , fleshy , conoid , fixed by its base . Locomotive . Mouth in centre of upper disc , surrounded by one or more series of conical , tubular , retractile tentacula . " There—what do you think of that ? Supposing you had never seen a sea-anemone , do you believe you could go down instantly to tlie rocks , and bring back a specimen or two without any difficulty ? Certainly iu > i . Accordingly he takes us a pleasant circuit of the animal kingdom , for which most readers will be grateful ; and at the end of the promenade the reader finds that he has got a tolerable idea of -what the animal ' tis , andthe pictures will tell him what it is like . The question then presents itself , Where is the Anemone to be found ? and the second chapter is devoted to it . How charmingly Mr . Tugwell writes of his favourites and their chase may be gathered from these extracts : —
Let us go down to the rock together . It is a glorious afternoon in the early summer time . A cool sea-wind is blowing from the westward ; and the vertical sunblaze is quenched from time to time by solitary masses of soft white cloud majestically rolling in from Lundy , or dimmed by those delicately-barred and fringed troops of cirri which are sailing in the upper current of air from tlie far-offline of the "Welsh Mountains . Yesterday a heavy ground-sea was surging in from the Atlantic , but now a scarcely perceptible rise and fall of the waveless tide is swirling among the distant peaks of rock , and playing with the sea-weed tangles , as a strong man with the glistening tresses of the wife of his heart . The tides arc at their " spring , " with a fall of two-and-thirty feet , and another hour will bring us to the flood—what more , tlien , can a naturalist desire ? Let us go . Suppose we leave the Promenade and the Tunnels to our friends—especially him of the " practical" mind—and climb yonder range of hills , where seven Tom , like seven fair jewels in a . king ' s crown , sun-emblazoned , beautiful , girdle this pleasant valley , and hush the din of tlie shore-breakers on stormy winter nights . Across the fern-hidden , wandering , many-voiced " Wilder . Past the hazles and the hawthorns ,
and the meadow-grass , where the corn-crake shrills in the land , day and night , his dry and carking ditty . Under the furze copse , where the lieavy-scented glorie 9 of itl golden blossoms are gleaming , where the crisp p-urple heather and the climbing scarlet tangles of the dodder and the fresh green volutes of the young fern-leaves , yield a home and a happy " pleasaunce" to the insects , and the birds , and the countless , restless troops of the rabbits , who , among the well-known mazes , hold perpetual holiday . Another step , and we stand on the verge of a precipice , and look down upon the grey rocks , a hundred feet beneath us , and faintly hear the quiet breathings of the sunlit sea . We will follow this ? heep-track , which winds round the edge of the cliff—a dangerous path enough on winter evenings when a heavy galo is blowing from the westward , nhd the long Atlantic rollers are breaking in foam-clouds on the shore . But there is no hazard on this quiet afternoon , so onwards , rapidly and fearlessly ; and now we descend the triangular slope of Torr Point , carpeted with the slippery , shining grass of th « sea-thrift , and fringed with the white campion blossoms aud the fl « It foliage of tlie samphire . They come upon u large and shallow pool : —
It is vory beautiful , perfectly clear and transparent , mirroring every cloud-shadow , and reflecting the glare of the sun , so that at first we can sec little but its wind-ruffled surface . The dense , pink-hued coralline-tufts line its margin , then the delicntelylobed , waving foliage of the green luver , « nd beyond tJio dark crisp thickets of th » Carrageen moss , whoso every branch hurls back a changeful , many-tinted rainbow oj light . Here at tlio verge of the pool we llnd a noble prey , " the waxen-arrow Anthcn , " Anthea cereus , or , as he is impolitely surnamed in these purts , " Legs : " h « body is of an olive-green hue , and thenco depend a forest of long , waving , snake-lik » green tentacles , with bright purple tips . Next to him is another variety , slatecoloured throughout , and some day wo may he fortunate enough to meot with a specimen which shall be white as the fallen snow . This Anthea is generally found in shallow , aunny pools , and quite close to the water ' s edge , so that ho too ia fond of »» T though not as much bo as his neighbour , tho " common" anemone .
Still lower , here under tb « shadow of an overhanging rock , is a sheltered comer , and a bed of fine ahinglo just covered with wator , and a sight which you will not forgot for many a day . What a magnificent " bloom I" it i $ too largo for a " » " <>*
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and contrives to — ¦ ^ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Critics are not the legislators , bub the judges and police of literature They do not mltelaw-3-tb . ey- interpret ana try to enforce them . — Efanburghltevzew .
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1024 THE LEADER . psfo . 344 , Saturday
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 25, 1856, page 1024, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2164/page/16/
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