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LITERATUKE, SCIENCE / ART, &c.
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LITERARY CHRONICLE CMP THE WEEK . Among the gentlemen who are climbing the steep ¦ where Fame ' s " jiroud temple shines afar , "—that temple sanctified by the altar of Themis—no slight commotion has been aroused by the determination of the Benchers of the various Inns of Court to compel every candidate foF admission to the bar to undergo the perils of an examination . This is an old scheme among the big-wigs of Lincoln ' s Inn , and the prevalent mania for competitive examinations has given them an excuse for carrying it out . The pretence for doing so is , that the bar is ovei'stocked with men who have not learnt their profession 5 but how these will be cured by establishing the cramming and examination system , it would be difficult to show . One effect this compulsory examination will certainly have , will be to drive from the gates of the Inns of Court those Country gentlemen and idle men of fortune who have hitherto regarded the three years of terms at the bar as the least profitless liietliod of sauntering through that space of time , and whose experiences at the Inner Temple have done much to render them sensible men of the world , and a little to emancipate them from the thraldoni of the justice ' s clerk , to which country magistrates are generally submitted . Mention of the Inns of Court reminds us that a recent pensioner of Gray ' s Inn , a gentleman who has won his literary spurs , was called to the position of outer barrister . The gentleman we refer to is "Mr . Joseph Thackwell , the * eldest son ofX . ieutenant-GrQneral Thackwell , G . C . B ., whose book on " The Second Sikh War" was so far vourably received . Mr . Thackwell has been in the army , and served in India as aide-de-camp to Sir Joseph Thackwell . Thus lie adds another to the choice band of lawyers militant , and , like Mr . Ivenyon Parker , the present Lord Chancellor , and others , laid down the uniform of the soldier to don the . wig and gown of the Forum . Messrs . Longman , in their " Azotes on Books , " ¦ announce , that an association , has , recently been formed in London called the Alpine Club . The first token of the activity of this new society is to be a volume , entitled " Peaks and Passes of the Alps , " by members of the Alpine Club , which will be published . in May ; illustrated with rbutemaps and plates . Mr . ^ William Longman , hhnselt a very enthusiastic cragsman , and whose * alpenstock is known in most of the glaciers of Switzerland , is amongst its most energetic menv . b ^ rs ; Messrs . Longman also announce for immediate ' publication , in ad dition to the works mentioned in our last— " A Lady ' s Tour round . Monte Rosa ; wijth visits to the Italian Valleys of Anzasca , Mastalone , Camascp , Sesia , Lys , Challant , Aoata , and Gogne : in a series of excursions in the years 1850 , 1856 , 1858 . " The " Art of Pining , " by Ti , F . Simpson Esq ., is a translation of Briflat do Saverin ' s celebrated work , the "Physiologic du Gout . " They also promisQ a new volume , of travels , entitled "Pyrenees from West to East , " by C . R . Wold , Esq ., the Secretary of the Royal 1 Society ; a no"W work on popular astronomy , on - titled " Celestial Objeots for Common Telescopes , " by the Bey . T . W . Webb ; the thiitd volume of Captain Brialmont ' s " Life of the Duke of Wellington ; " nn English edition of PnUarke ' s " Life of Schiller , " translated by Lady Wallace ; a now work on the Dog , by Stonehenge , the , nom de plume of , J . H . Walsh , Esq ., tho present editor of the Field , ' a series of rudimentary and advanced books on the Indian languages , edited by Professor Monior Williams ; several excellent sohool books ; . n volume of " Letters by the late Lieut .-Colonol iSir Augustus Simon Frazer , " edited by Mjuor-<* enerarSabino ;• a now work on Horses , by Capt . Vero D . Hunt 5 two new works on Mineralogy ttnd Geology , by Mr . II . W . Brietow , F . G . S . , and a volume outvied " The Principles of , Beauty , " by the late Mary Anno Sehimmelporininck , the historian of Port Royal . Mr . W . W . Fyfo , the editor of the Dorset County Chraniofoi has in the proas a work entitled , " Agiuotilturul Science Applied ! in Praotioe . "
Messrs . Fullarton , of Edinburgh , are preparing a commemorative volume of the Burns centenary celebrations , to be edi t ed by Mr . James Ballautine . All the speeches delivered at the numerous festivals are to be imported as fully as possible . We have a few items of miscellaneous literary gossip tp record . Mr . ; Charles Dickens is in treaty with an American agent , who wishes to induce him to give a set of readings in the States . Something about a guarantee for 30 , 000 J . has been mentioned . If this is to be carried out , what is to become of the new periodical mentioned in our last , the preparations for which are really ad ^ vancing ? There is a rumour in the press world ' .. that' Mr . Ingrain has parted with the London Journal to Messrs . Bradbury and Evans . - A better piece of business management has been effected by Messrs . Black , of Edinburgh , the pubrlishers of the " Encyclopedia Britannica , " who gave Lord Macaulay a large Sum to contribute the article " Pitt , " and the result is , they are now advertising a re-issue of the . earlier volumes .
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MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF GEOIIGE XV . Memoirs of the Court of George IV . From Original Family ^ Documents . By the JDuke of Buckingham and Chandos . In 2 yols . Hurst arid Blackett . These two volumes form a sequel to the Duke of Buckingham ' s last publication;—the " Memoirs of . the Court of the Regency , " and bring the long history of thie Georges—ras illustrated , by the private correspondence of the Grenville family—down to the death of his most gracious Majesty , the fourth of that name . The period comprised is from 1820 to 1830- —a period of . great interest to us , to whom it lias already become liistorical ; for those days saw the break up of the old Tory power , and the beginning of those refbraiis which were so long and so ^ insolently resisted . The grim apparition of Jacobinism , so often invoked by the friends of ordeiyand . the supporters of the " IIoly _ Alliance , " had begun to lose its effects . Politicians of the school of Perceval , Sidiiiouth , and Vansittart were clearly on the wane ; even the authority of " Old Baggs " had lost its bloom and freshness , and young Mr . Peel must have felt Toryism to be not quite so good a game as his predecessors had found it . Out of doors a spirit of discontent had grown up , which , though xt looked as yet ¦ to no definite scheme of reform , was the evident forerunner of a great change . Cabinets wez * e uneasy and shortlived , or subject to modifications wiiich left them no trace of their original character . Poor old Lord Liverpool--the " faithful Jenkinson " of his late royal master— -was bewildered by a sea of troubles which no one dreamed of as formidable when the century was younger and " strong go * vernments " in fashion ; unruly colleagues who looked sideways , at tlio people ; hungry Whigs , who talked loudly of reforms , and intrigued with the King ' s mistress ; Queen ' s men and King ' s men , Radicals and disappointed Tories , for whom a world of places , a busliel of stars , a league of ribbonds , or ^ a whole black-hook of pensions , would not suffice j while economy and retrenchment wore loudly demandedj and " Orator Hunt , " and obstinate Mr . How , land the famous Sir Francis Burdctt , and the terrible Cobbett talked sedition ; and the Rev . Joseph Harrison told the populace that " King , pirincos , dukes , Lords , Commons , archbishops , bishops , prelates , rectors , and high constables " wore all corrupt , " and " tho time near at hand when they would be xipset , " The aotors in those scenes , and . the spectators of the world ' s doings in those turbulent times , saw these things from many points of view . To his gouty and much shaken Majesty—now an " Adonis'' of not forty , but nearly sixty—seeking shelter from business and annoyance at" The Cottage , " near Virginia Water ; to her Majesty Caroline of Brunswick Cnorgolf both black tCnd white , ' as suited tho beholders eyes ); to Grey , tho rofoi'mor , and Eldon , tho obstruotor ; to Sydney Smith , tho witty Whig , and Canning , the lively and not too dooided Tory ; to tho great Duke , ever ready to tivke tho helm in Toryism ' s evil
days ; to the philosophic Bentham , in his quiet retreat at Westminster ^ digging deep into the foundations of political j > hilosophy , the world was not always the same world , or the struggle of one aspect . ! To know the -history of those times we must try to look at them with many eyes . In the present volumes we see them from yet another point of view , which may be culled the Grenville aspect . How . did the earthquakes whi ch disturbed the political world attect the prospect of the Right Hon . the Marquis of Buckingham , and his friends and relatives . This was the question ever uppermost in the mind of the diligent , faithful Mr . W . II . Fremantle , as he cln-onicled tlie intrigues of parties in his study in May Fair for the benefit of the Marquisin the country ; and it is the letters of Mr . Freemantle , of Lord Grenville , and Mr . Thomas Grenville , with a few other correspondents of the Marquis , which , knitted together with a slender thread of comment , form the substance of these . volumes . There were petty troubles enough for the mmisters when the old King lay dead . Even the expense of the coronation was dreaded . " The King , " pays old Thomas Grenville , would .-.. not like it unless it be expensive , and Van . knows not'how to pay for it if it is . " Nevertheless , the King had his way . " He has been pretty well disposed to part with us all , " says Lord Eldon , " because we would not make additions to his revenue ; " adding , "I could not bring myself to oppress the country , at present by additional taxation for that purpose . " ' "I am glad , " he writes to the Marquis , "to hear you have good accounts from every part of the Bucks Yeomanry . Everything looks too fearful to allow me the expression of anything but the most heartfelt regret that , on a . question which in three weeks may decide upon the fate of the country , there should be a single Grenville found among those whom we . may have to fear and ( dreadful to think ) to resist ! I shall return with ' you to town , for if there is danger where my brother and you are , there will I he . " But the chief embarrassment was the determination of the Queen to come to England , and be present at the coronation . The history of that event is too well known to require illustration from the gossip in these letters . The Queen ' s popularity with the Liberals ; her " coach and ¦ si , \ , " in which she used to come up to town from Hammersmith ; her long trh . il with all its scandals ; the struggles of tho stout lady , in a large hat surmounted by a plume of feathers , to get into the A b bey at the coronation ; her declining popularity and sudden death , ore known to every one . Tho dreaded days passed away without even currying with then * the feeble Lord Liverpool ; and the King breathed again . Butthe . 'dangers had been of no imaginary kind . The Right Hon . Thomas Grenvilfc forgot for a while to gloat ovor rare volumes , " tall copies , " editfanesprincipes , ftnu stared aghast at the coining ruin : — ' Ministers were mobbed in tho streets , and greeted with groans and hisses , and formidable iwirfsilea . Lord Sidmouth never drove out without a > ' ««* <» loaded pistqls on tho seat of tho carriage . i- » c funds fell . Attempts were known to have been made , with success , to tamper with tho army , » nu the people openly called , upon the soldiers to come out and ] oi » them . One of tho regiments of gunrus , quartorcd at Charing Cross , oxhibitod such ft Uocidodly mutinous spirit that tho Pulco of A \ elluifiton was sent fur , who " at onoe ordered them oil to Portsmouth / ' Mr . Fremantle > vritos woml tnut ' there aro somo alehouses open , where tho yokuore may go antf ( h-ink and eat lor nothing , prov * uca they will drink ' Prosperity and health to tho Q « e < - - The King grows dnily moro unpopular , ami is tno only individual in the kingdom intionwWo to it-And again Mr . Grcnvillo says : — " It scorns now understood that tho whole ' j " " * will bo called out . Manehostor * . ¦ * 0 1 " . ' ** fj writes ) is bad as orcr . Scotland Js still only « f »«}{ ft'oni the military force thero , but tho tompor is saw to bo as bad as over , " , , . „ , No whit tho loss was Mr . Frcmantlo ' a nliinn « J tho wickodnoaa of tho press o * those auvs vuw
Literatuke, Science / Art, &C.
LITERATUKE , SCIENCE / ART , &c .
Untitled Article
266 THE LEADEB . fNo , 466 , Tjsbkuary 26 , 1859 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 26, 1859, page 266, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2283/page/10/
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