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Why is it that teachers of Elocution usually have either a brogue or a stutter , and that essayists on Style usually display a remarkable deficiency of those very qualities they would have others acquire ? Longinus , ' indeed , " himself the great sublime he drew ; " but his successors are , for the most part , dull dogs . In the new number of the North British some juvenile Lohginus discourses on " Modern Style . "/ How competent he is to appreciate Literature will be estimated by every reader who meets this sentence on the very first page : " Now we have no Drama but the ^ French—no Poetxy hut a Laureat's—no Humour but the shilling -wit of Egyptian Hall ; " arid how delicate a sense of style guides our critic ' s pen maybe estimated from this sample , both of bis writing and his thinking : —¦
But the style must differ in proportion to the subject , and -when this requires it , there are beauties which must be brought in . Venus must not he slovenly and unkempt . These adornments , like the blemishes -which , we have pointed out , are some derived from gemius , some from education . The former must not be striven after , but their" absence in a writer of celebrity is Justly censured . Such are power , warmth , enthusiasm , and lofty flights . Yet the excess of these virtues constitutes some of the vices mentioned- Mr . Gr . P . R . James is a signal instance of too much power ( whether natural or not , we leave the reader to decide )—^ becoming bombastic , unnatural , and even ridiculous ; and Mr . Dickens , whose forte lies in character , not in description , has often gone to the most absurd , lengths in his attempts to divest a necessary picturing of its tedium . Again , all these beauties must be used sparingly , and in the right time and quantity . If you cry wolf too often , your neighbours become deaf .
Tlie opening- article of the Review is more worthy of it than this ambitious article on " Stvle ; " it is on the " Employment of Women , " and continues the excellent series of papers on the ¦ Woman question which the Heview has of late years produced . It mainly treats of employment for tlie lower classes , but glances also at- the higher . On . the folly of rearing girls , solely with a view to marriage , the writer well says : — This is the great cardinal error of our system . High and low , it is all the same . Instead of educating every girl as though ! she were born to be an independent , selfsupporting rneuaber of society , we educate her to become a mere dependent , a
hangeron , or as the law delicately phrases it , a chattel . In some respects , indeecL we err more barbarously than those nations among whom a plurality of wives is permitted , and who regard women purely as so much live stock ; for among such people women are , at all even ts , provided with shelter , with food , and clothing—they are ' cared for' as cattle are . There is a completeness in such a system . But among ourselves , We treat women as cattle , without providing for them as cattle . " We take the -worst part of barbarism and the worst part of civilization , and work them into a hetero-« eneoTis whole . We bring up our women to be dependent , and then leave them without any cm * to depend on . There is no one—there is nothing for them to lean upon ; and they fall to the ground .
. Now , what every woman , no less than every man , should have to depend upon , is an ability , after some fashion or other , to turn labotir into money . She mayor may not be compelled to exercise it , but everyone ought to possess it . If she belong to the richer classes , she may have to exercise it ; if to the pooi'er , she assuredly will . In the same spirit , and in tones of earnest , direct , almost lioman eloquence ^ Miss Bab . ba . ba Leigh Smith takes up this question in an article published in the Waverley Journal ( Eeb . 7 th ) , and reprinted as & threepenny pampliLct by Bosworth aud Hakhison , of ltcgcnt-street , under the title of " Women and
Work . " This very remarkable pamphlet states in a few pregnant decisive passages the rational arguments which demand a place for women among the workers in modern , society ; showing how such an extension of woman ' s sphere of activity would not only ameliorate her condition , physical and moral , but also ameliorate society . The style is distinguished by its nervous concision , directness , and propositional clearness ; in this absence of all hesitating wordiness there is power , which is felt all tlie more because a ground-tone of deep feeling , like a line moving bass , runs through every paragraph . This is the style in which women should advocate the cause of women .
In this same Waverley Journal ( which , by tlie way , is in its third volume , although we never heard of its existence before ) , there is an interesting letter by Miss Bkssik Kavnbb . Paiikks , on" . French Algiers , " and one still more interesting , by tlic same wriier , on a school kept by a French lady in Algiers for the instruction of Mohaniedau girls in sonic of those European accomplishments—such , as French , Arithmetic , Sewing , &c , which , to the little Moresque beauties , must be an education equivalent to a social revolution . "Every Moresque thus educated , " says Miss Pakkep , " carries into her home the seeds of a better state of moral thought mid feeling , genns of a kindlier sentiment towards the conquering race , and a prospect that her own little daughters will have to contend with fewer social prejudices in working out a good and useful career . " We have had the " Schoolmaster abroad" for some years , " with results , " as Cahta'Lis would say ; there is still greater hopes for society now that the Schoolmistress is also abroad . For , although Iho poet sings truly , As the husband is the -wifo is , them nrt mated with a clown ,
And the grossness of liis nature- shull have weight to drag thce down , the converse is still more deplorably true , and the husband is either held aloof from sympathy altogether , or else daily finds all that is fine within him " growing coarse to sympathize with clay . "
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Ihosc readers who felt their interest for " Hats" awakened by the entertaining article in the last QMarlcrly , should read the paper on ' Histrionic Kats , " in the National Magazine , which describes the performance of a comedy by a
troop of these rodent comedians , admirably drilled by tbeir Swedish manager . We trust that the ingenious Swede will bring his troop to London , that we may add our " inextinguishable laughter" to the applause of all who witness these interesting beasts . Let us , in passing , also call attention to an . article on Thackekay , in the Revtce des Deux Mondes ( for January ) , by M . H . Taine , a young writer of more than ordinary promise . It is essentially critical and appreciative , not a mere pouring out of common-places .
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THE INDIAN NAPIER . The Life and Opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier , G . C . B . By Lieut . - General Sir W . JTapier , K . C . B . Vols . I . and II . Murray All the letters , all the journals , of Sir Charles Napier are interesting . A , certain interest is possessed , also , by Sir William Napier ' s narrative ; but Sir Charles speaking for himself is immeasurably more impressive than Sir William speaking for Sir Charles . Yet to be impressive has been the one object of tlie biographer , and the effort has gone far to spoil bis book . He writes in an invariable strain of pomp , is always florid in his eulogy , violent in his criticism . He appears , indeed , to suffer from a monomamacal persuasion that to be a Napier is to ton the world , and that , as Sir Charles ' s
prowess were heroic , the words of Sir William are oracular . We have read these volumes , therefore , with a feeling of regret that the " Life" was not composed by a less partial pen , the more so , because -the partialitv is indiscreetly displayed , and , inconsequence , fatiguing . It is only to the spirit and to the manner of the work , however , that any objection can be raised . Sir William Napier is a ready writer , knows how to arrange his materials , is always vigorous , and occasionally brilliant . He has not the art of literary modulation ; his style is monotonously rotund , heraldic , defiant ; but , with not a few defects , this book of biography and " opinions" is a remarkable publication , which most persons will read to the end with unabated curiosity . Sir William ' s conspicuous fault , as we have said , consists in his affectation of pomp . The two volumes are divided , as a History of the World nu" -ht be , into sixteen " epochs , " and the epochs into " periods . " The first
volume begins , " This shall be the story of a man who never tarnished his reputation by a shameful deed ; " but the stentorian biographer , if he loves large words , hates long paragraphs , and strikes at once into tlie substance of his narration .. The course of Sir Charles Napier's life ; from his birth at Whitehall in 1792 , to his administration of Sindh in 1843 , presents a series of prominent episodes , Irish , Peninsular , Italian , Ionian , Greek , Australian , English , And Indian . It is not too much to say that he distinguished himself under every circumstance , and in every capacity , and that when past his sixtieth year , his genius seemed brightening with the lapse of time ; nor is it unjust to add , that he was not always generously or gratefully used l > y the
government he served . Sir William Napier , of course , applies his most imperative emphasis to accusations against men and factions ; and in spite of his acrimony , he appears to be right , though there may have been reasons , not stated by this biographer , why a Napier should never remain long on friendly terms with any administration . Sir Charles , like the rest of his family , was vain , impetuous , eager to command , as ' fearless in correspondence as in battle , an excellent general , but a ver y indiscreet letterwriter . It must not be supposed , however , that his epistolary style resembled the historical style of his biographer ; the one is curt , simple , easy ; the other is ostentatious and swelling—the refinement of bombast , the burlesque of epic .
Sir Charles Napier was eldest son of the Honourable George Napier the pupil of Hume—and Sarah Lennox , daughter of the Duke of Richmond—the lady who , at eighteen , declined to marry George HI ., and who afterwards would have been happy to accept his hand—instead of which he sent her an apology . Charles , rendered sickly in his childhood by " the misconduct of a barbarous nurse , " was stunted in liis growth , but evinced , as certain trilling anecdotes are intended to show , precocious signs of "enius . At twelve years of age he obtained a commission in the Duke of Wellington s regiment ; was transferred to the command of Xord Moira , and , after a brief interval of life in camp , was sent to an Irish seminary . There he organized the pupils into a volunteer corps , and was educated to the art of arms until 1795 > , when he became aide-de-camp to the general in command
of the Limerick district ; next he was on tlie staiFin London , and saw much of Fox , playing cricket , frightened by a snail . We then find Napier in the Peninsula—at Vimiera , at . Lisbon , on the line of retreat from Corunna , in an enemy ' s prison . In his twenty-eighth year began his long series of disputes with the tiritish administration . Says Sir William , liis claim to promotion Avas met by shuffling , cold evasions ; it was his right , and of course was denied him . " In the following year he received the desperate wound in tlie jaw which ufleeted him through life . Without quoting a few passages it would be impossible to indicate the sprightly style of the letters . " That two spiritual fountains constantly played within Chsirles Napier ' s heart is evident , " says Sir William ; " the one sparkling to tho light of glory , the other flowing full towards the tranquillity of private life . There was a third fountain , however , frothing with abundant gossip and levity . This is to his mother : —
" You arc the most provoking woman alive r you tell me you have boon ill in a copper-plate hand , and of your being better in a scrawl like mud where a hundred chickens had been walking . Ah to JUidy JLJcllamont , you have chopped her and the Bible together , ho that I four for her character ; she cauinot well be separated from SoIoiikjii- ' h concubines by tho best decipherer of telegraphic despatches : you nee the impropriety of your carelessness . Holomon puts me in mind , through Methuselah , of old people . Colonel Ferguson baa an aunt ( diva at Kiclunond . fcjho known Wellington , and . she did know Eugene and Marlborough I She is niece of tlie celebrated Lord Stair , and widow of a General Bland , who wrote on military discipline , and was adjutant-gmeral to tho British army at Dcttingen in 1743 , "
And this is his profession of politics : —• " Whigs have all the Tory faults and their own bolides . A Tory is a bold open bandit , who avows his trade and takes all chances , doing at times handsome and generoua things . The Whig i « a sneaking pickpocket , pretending to elegance und
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- February 14 , 1857 . ] THE LEA D ER , 161
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not makelaws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . «
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1857, page 161, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2180/page/17/
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