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    moderns , "by their interference and general superficiality . of learning , have talked themselves into utter oblivion . All this debate , however , though carried on upon false principles , could not fail to assist in the progress of refinement , as -well as in the liberation of taste front the influence of fixed models . It began m the seventeenth century , when the revival of letters , which was nothing , in fact , but a renewed and extended acquaintance -with classical literature , had at last produced all its results . We refer principally to France , the cliief scene of this curious controversy . Under the reign of Louis XIV . a sort of revolution had become necessary . Most of the writers of that much-vaunted period had ceased to think rn literature of anything but mer « style in the narrowest sense- of the "word . The highest object that genius could aim at was , " imitation of the ancients . " It was forgotten that this imitation may be recommended to young writers , as copying the old masters may be recommended to young painters ; but that after all , in literature as in art , it is Nature we inust take as our model . Nature was quite set aside , and little was thought of but agreeable arrangements of words . Of course , even with thia false system a man of genius cannot avoid showing himself : but it is quite surprising , if we examine attentively even tire best productions of the Grand Siecle , to see how slight is the impression produced upon them by contemporary society—how full they are of reminiscences of a state of things th- ' at has passed away . A great part of that literature is " adapted " from the classics , pretty nearly by the . same process that our playwrights now adapt French pieces for the English stage . Greek and Roman sentiments and morality are oddly mixed witli modern allusions . A reaction against this state of things was necessary . It came from a quarter where the idea of progress had been conceived more by instinct than reason . M . Rigault , with the patience and the taste which have won hhtthis eminent position as a critic , has studied all the episodes of this reaction , and gives us here the results in a volume which we have read with great pleasure . Sometimes , it is true , the interest languishes ^ but this is because the same topics , only varied by varying treatment , necessarily recur at all the different stages- of the controversy . One of the best parts of the "book is the narrative of what M . Rigault calls " The English Period of the Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns , " beginning with- the residence of Saint-Evremond in England , and ending with an analysis of Swift ' s famous Battle of the Books . We suspect that the present generation of readers in France will hear for the first time of " slashing Bentley , " and the part he played in a discussion which , however puerile 5 n its apparent object , has exercised such a decisive Influence on the fortuneaof French literature . We can bear testimony to the accuracy of this portion of M . Rigault ' s narrative . Indeed , the characteristic of the whole work is care united with elegance * We recommend whoever would understand the subject it treats of to go no farther . He will here find everything that he wishes to know brought together in the best manner . One anecdote is told of two Roman nobles who' once had a serious quarrel as to the pre-eminence of Tasso ~ over Ariosto . A duel ensued , and the partisan of Ariosto received a mortal wound . Pope Benedict XIV . went to visit him on his death-bed . " ¦ Alas ! ' * said he , " is it possible that I must die in the prime of my manhood for the sake of Ariosto , whom I have never read ? Even if I had read him , I should not have understood him ; for I am too great a fool . " So saying , he gave up the ghost . The quarrel between the friends of the Ancients and the irienda of the Moderns-sometimes reminds us of this serio-comic incident . But it gave occasion for the elucidation of some of the most important principles of criticism . Grimm once said that the dispute had never produced a good book . He was mistaken then ; but he would be still more mistaken now . The book of M . Rigault is a very good book indeed .

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    NOVELETTES . For and Against ; or , Queen Margaret ' Badge . A . Domestic Chronicle of the Fifteenth Century . By Frances M . Wilbraham . 2 ' vols- ( J . W . Parker and Son . )—It seemed all but impossible that a romantic interest should be revived in the wars of the Roses . They had been pillaged by novelists and dramatists , and the principal characters of the history had been presented in every variety of development ; -but a careful student and an inventive writer has produced a story which , though its incidents belong to that time-worn period , is new in construction , colour , and spirit . Sliss Wilbraham , unlike the generality of historical ronmncists , has not been content to search through a few manuals , but has outlined and filled in her pictures with antiquarian , accuracy , avoiding ana-chronisma ^ , and concentrating upon her scene the real light of the fifteenth century . She herself aided l > y suggestions from the chroniclers , has contrived the narrative but Pastorn , Borante , Fosbroke , Lydgate , Chaucer , Drnyton , Ormerod , ' and others , have furnished the details , the form 8 and tints of the costume and £ urniture . tlie . aspect * of villages and towna , the mod « s < of speech the court ceremonies , the fashions of hospitality , chivalry , and festivals . All this jsi wrought without pedantry into the progression of the tale , which is partly , as the ' title-page signifies , of a . domestic tenor , whita partly it moves across the broad stage of history , the artistic restorationa l > eW everywhere finished with meritorious integrity , and with really admirable effect In the delineation , of her feminine characters the author has been peculiarly succeaeftiL Maraud Agaitut ia precisely a book to lie . on t aimily tables Ike Qnvles Wrong of Ail . By the Author of " Margaret ; or , Prejudice at Home . " ( Smith , Elder ,, and Co . ) -The writer of this tale ha 8 mastered the secret of thafc sort of interest which , flutters circulating-library readers J ? ho crudest wrong of all is the wrong inflicted upon the heart of a woman " And it . is dwelt upon and pamfully illustrated in the history of the heroine ' wW career alternates between lfashiounblo and unfashionable circles and wW ultimate human destiny i * regulated upon a principle which satisfies poetical ^ uatwio without diapersmg the generaUjulneas of tUo book To this 1 HM ^ t ? * fctriJ > * able ' » fi ^ eat : , legre ei the interest of The Crue ' lcst Wro > w of Ml r for the , author has a putUefc . c vein , and tLeto is a temler wootaWn the toiuj of her narration Sometimes thia becomes morbid , and' too often

    the flitting shadows fall upon incidents trite in tliemselves ' and not originally turned to the purpose of this particular story ; but . these faults do nofinterfere "with the general merit of the woik as readable and entertaining . Likes and Dislikes . Some Passages in the Life of Emil y Marsden . ( J , W . Parker and Son . )—Two-thirds of this volume are occupied witlt aii account of a family tour in Germany . There is scarcely any story , the writer ' s apparent object being to develop quietly and naturally a numb er of characters belonging to modern life , and to unravel some of the problems of passion and caprice at work in all ages and among all classes of society . Thus , although the plot is the simplest conceivable—being summed , m > in the popular phrase , Who would have thought it ?—an interest is gradually created which is sustained to the last chapter . As to the continental lyaaderings of the Marsdens and the Digbys , they supply at once the basis of a charming domestic tale and of a most intelligent narrative of travel ,. for ¦ we seldom meet with criticism so suggestive , or gossip so pleasant , in the diaries of ordinary tourists . To say the truth , the authoress paints the panoraina of Austrian travel , the imperial establishments , the chateaux of the blue-blooded race , the manners of the burgher-classes , the peasantry and innkeepers , the material forms of ' civilization in vogue , and whatever eLse an observant English visitor might be expected to notice , and this is do » & with so much correctness , and with so little efTort ,. tliat there has evidently been , no compilation in the matter . It is rarely that a volume of fiction can-be praised us informing ' as . well as amusing ; but this quality belongs to Likes and Dislikes . In the second part— " At Home "—the incidents : vre dramatized upon a . slightly , more romantic level , and the " wavering-morris" of cross-purposes becomes more exciting , until a climax arrives , very cheerful in its' influence upon the reader no less than upon Emily Marsden and the excellent people at the Oaks , '¦ with , the sweet young girls and the thoro-ughly English young men who are to make them happy . The book is fuU of grace and fascination . Boston aud its Inhabitants ; or , Sketches of Life ina Country Town . By L . E . ( Booth . )—We are afraid that Easton is a county town to be found under another name on the map of England , and that L . E . has been photographing : the old maids , gentlemen of all ages , and ball-room beauties of ¦¦ that locality . Such a group has evidently not been drawn entirely from imagination , although there is an inevitable heightening of characteristics and exaggeration , so to speak , of birth-marks and eccentricities . The portraits are judiciously variea , and the individuals are made to go tlirouo-U long exercises of babble and scandal , as if the writer intended to expose their frailties . We Lope that Huston and its Inliahilanis was written with , no vicious intention , and that we are doing no harm in directing attention to its lively pages . "

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    . PUBLICATIONS AND REPUBLIC AT IONS .-The destiny of Piedmont , as the vanguard of Italian independence , is an object of lively interest and solicitude to Englishmen . "We are daily more and more anxious to get at the realities of Italian life and character , so as to be able to form an estimate of the capabilities of the race for a free national existence in modern Europe . Mr . Gallenga , whose name is well and favourably ^ known to English literature , has intimately studied the Italian character in Piedmont , his ¦ " . country by blood , " he says , "if not by birth , " and he has " looked for it , not in the worn types of a populous town , but in the more primitive forms of a rural district . " Mr . Gallenga ., it appear * , lias , from circumstances to which we need not more particularly refer , retired from public life in Piedmont , and has returned to settle in En ^ lind his ^ . ° P * country ; still , in nourishing and stimulating English sympathies in behalf of Italy , he is doing good service to the cause that must ever be nearest to his heart . Mr . Gallenga is one of ' those Italians who h-ivo acquired a perfect mastery of our language , and he writes English in a free , lively , and generous style . We shall read his new volume , Count , ;/ J . f / b in Piedmont ^ ( Chapman and Hall ) , with great interest and attention , and we shall be ~ lad to give an early account of its pages to our reader * , many selves ° ' ' ^^ ^^ antici P ate our judgment , and road it for tliem-InandAvoimdStamlonl , by Mrs . Edmund Hornby ( 2 vols ; , Bentlev ) , is a description of life in ' 1 urkey m 1855 and 1856 , arranged in a series of easy familiar letters from the authoress to her family and friends at home , lurkey has teen a little overdone by tourists , but the dates of those loiters suggest new points of view and incidents worth recordin g Intellectual Wucation , atid its Influence vpw the Character andITinmiuoss of A If ? ' W ^ y ? o rreff ' of the authors of "Thoughts on Self-Culture " ( J . W . barker and Son ) , seems to merit , by the gravity of its pumort and eruTa r r eftrne 9 tneSS 6 ft ° netlmt P crvadea ii ; » a thoughtful and attentive 7 i £ r ' Y ' Ji ' t ! " has published a course of lectures On M ^ icuu- ami Medical ^ w ^ 0 « ( Sutherland and Knox ) , ddivered at the coinmonemnent ot the medical session , 1856-57 , before the students of the Edinburgh niedical school . ± he text of the lectures , as delivered , is in their published form considerably amplified and amended . A ^^ P ^ ry- Kook l No wonder , if it be true that cookery-books fetch the best prices m the book trade . The present treatise appears to possess the merit of being eminently simple and practical , and the portniil which represents Mrs Ann Smith , the authoress , in a moat cheerful and comfortable shape and with the kindliest and homeliest of faces , decidedly buspuaks our critical good-wtll . Mrs . Ana Smith hna served in the kitchen 1 vM terics ZSl ? ^ Sr ™ ' " J mOIIS \ , OttOes bribed on her flag may bu remuilced , Minision-house : Carroll , Lord Mayor . " The ~ ood Luly ' s expenence has an honest clnun , therefore , to our attention , and she has luul the jound sense to put the results of her culinary experience into her own p lain ! vmS " ; -i n 'T M VS- ! raith b ° S 9 ot' tho public not to conmu-c her ZJ ^ ?} u 1 CT T ! hwrot ! ei Pts , we must , as conseientiouH critics , respectfully dnnrecate such an attack upon our honesty . How can wo c-enaura Mrs . bm . th after tasting all the good things so seductively L forth in her pages ? ihe vh p ta title of her book is as follows :-Practicrd and MeoHomatl Cookery mtA a Series of . Bills ofJAtrc ; also , Directions m Curving *

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    . 4 i 4- THE LEADER . [ fe 425 , Mat 15 , J . S 58 ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 15, 1858, page 474, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2242/page/18/