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LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, <fcc.
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Scarcely has the cexata qutestio about the authorship of the " Vestiges" died away , when a sort oi minor squabble about who wrote a moderately successful novel , called " Adam Bede , " follows in Its wake . From some cause or causes unexplained , the author of this ephemeral trifle chooses to conceal his name , and affect the airs of a " Great Untnown . " Iu vain have the quidnuncs of the clubs and the gossips of all sorts of circles—sot disant literary and otherwise—discussed , and rumoured , and guessed over the matter ;—the author of this three volumed novel is as inscrutable as the sphinx , and as undiscoverable as the author of " Junius . "
¦ Quefaire ? How is the world to get on if this mighty nut be not cracked ? This appears to have been the view taken of the matter by a cei > tain Reverend Mr . Anders , who conceived the ingenious idea of tempting the snake out of his hole by piping false notes at the orifice . This gentleanan sits down straightway and indites a letter to ihe Times , in which he boldly lays the onus of authorship upon the shoulders of one Joseph Xaggins , of INuneaton . Who Liggins may be , no -one seeins to know . . He has made no sign .: and it is not unlikely that a letter directed to Joseph Liggins , Esq ., IsTuneaton , would find its way back through the post , with the words " Not Known , " endorsed thereupon . At any rate , be he of straw , or be he of flesh , Mr . Liggins has served his
purpose ; for up jumps a Mr . George Eliot , who writes to the Times , that he , and he only , is the author ; that Anders is the inditer of things that are not ; and that he is , moreover , neglectful of the courtesies usual , among gentlemen , when he attempts to pry into what Mr . Eliot would fain have kept concealed . To mystify the matter still more , it is now said that Eliot is not Eliot , but merely a horn de plume . Now , what nonsense this is ! What , right has Mr . Eliot , or Mr . Blank , alias Eliot , to assume that there is any courtesy to prevent the discovery of his identity ? Does he mean to assert that the public has not a right to learn his name if it call ; or that the writer of an anonymous book is in a position one whit better than the writer of an anonymous letter ? Is he not aware that critical law has
always regarded such concealments as a species of literary fraud , and have never failed , whenever it lay in their power , to tear away the mask which false modesty , pusillanimity , or well-grounded remorse have assumed ? Is there not a " Dictionary of Anonymous Authors ? " Do not the librarians of Jill great public libraries enter the names of would"be *' Unknowns , " whenever they can be discovered ? If so , let us hear no more of Mr . Eliot ' s interpretation of the " courtesies usual among gentlemen . " Let him tell the truth as to his name , and shame Mr . Anders .
Those who are fond of talking of the honour duo to literature , arc in high feather about the knighthood of'Stint Slide , —alias Mr . Justice Halibwton , To our apprehension , however , this questionable honour is about as literary in its origin , as was the peerage of Lord Macaulay . Sir T . C . Haliburtori is a Canadian , as well as an author ; the threatening aspect of affairs in Canada has suggested to her M * ajcstY * a advisers the necessity for doing everything possible to conciliate , the inhabitants of that country . We believe , therefore , that it is the Colonist , and not the Cloekmaker , who has been knighted ; and also that , in the literary point of view , he will always be better known as " Sam , Slick , " than Sir Thomas Chandler Haliburton , Knt . The Critic gives an account of some recent publications of interest and importance .
Alive also to the necessity of preservingas many monument ** 08 possible of the Janguuge , manners , wnjd customs of our ancestors , the University lms ju ^ t published , a series of three miracle-plays in the CJovnjoh dialect of the Celtic language , from a MS , in the Bodleian Library , of the fourteenth or Jufteenth century . Those plays are entitled res * pectlvoly , ' Tho Beginning of the World , ' « The Jtoeslon of qUr Lord Jesus Christ , ' and ' Tho RosurjjeoUpn of . our Lo * a Jesus Christ , ' They appear in < wo octavo volumes , entitled Tho Ancient Cornish
Drama , ' edited and translated by IVIr . Edwin Nbrris , Sec . E . A . S . ( Oxford : at the University Press . ) In his preface , Mr . Norris infprm us tliat f these three dramas constitute the most important relic known to exist of the Celtic dialect once spoken in Cornwall . They are of greater amount than all the other remains of the language taken together , and the only other Cornish composition left of the same antiquity , the poem of " Mount Calvary " is barely equal to one-fourth of their extent . ' Besides the translation
into English , Mr . Norris has further added a Cornish Grammar and Vocabulary , as also an Appendix , giving some account of the remains of Cornish literature ; an essay upon the Cornish language , to which he feels disposed to assign a higher antiquity than to the Welsh or Armorican ; and ' Notes on the Names of Places , &c . mentioned in the Dramas , ' contributed by Mr . E . Hobby n Pedler . The entire work is one calculated to give a spur to the study of our Celtic literature and antiquities , and extend Mr . Norris ' s well-earned reputation as a philologist .
" The long-expected geological survey of the State of Pennsylvania has at last made its appearance , in two handsome quarto volumes , entitled , * The Geology of Pennsylvania .. ; a Government Survey , with a General View of the Geology of the United States , Essays on the Coal-formation and its Fossils , and a Description of the Coal-fields of North America and Great Britain . By Henry Darwin Rogers , State Geologist , &c . ' ( "W . Blaekwood and Sons , Edinburgh . ) This highly valuable survey was begun as far back as the year 1836 , but after its to
sixth year its operations were discontinued , owing the pecuniary embarrassments of the State . They were , howeve " r , afterwards resumed , and the author has now the satisfaction of seeing- the result of his Labours in print , although , in the performance of his task , he had to meet with unusual obstacles and hardships . The work , strange to say , is printed in Scotland , the reason being that the author is now 4 Professor of Natural History in the University of Glasgow '—the first instance , we believe , of any American occupying the post of Professor in . any of our universities . " .
The i > resent week has not witnessed the issue of any very remarkable book from our home publishers . This , however , may easily be accounted for ; not only by the fact that the mind of the country is occupied in other matters , whilst the dread of war and the depression of trade exercise their usual baneful influence over all branches of the Fine Arts ; but also by the circumstance that the opening of what is called the London season is now fast approaching . A newspaper paragraph informs us that the Emperor of the French has presented Mr . Henry Bradbury with a gold snuff-box , mounted with brilliants , in acknowledgment of his labours in perfecting the nature - printing process . Farseeing politicians , who are in the secret of the history of that process , fancy that they see in this a fresh insult to Austria , more significant even than the scolding administered to Baron HUbner .
• Another paragragh , in a Liverpool paper , announces the departure for Australia of Mr . JEdward Whitty , the author of " The Governing Classes , " " Friends of Bohemia , " &c . As Mr . Whitty once gained great celebrity by his writings in The Leader , where his ^ * ' Parliamentary Sketches " excited more attention than any piece of mere journalism has done for a long time , wo may bo pardoned for recording this event as an excuse for enabling us to wish him very heartily " God speed , " and all success in' the country of his adoption .
French literature has just received a valuable accession m the form of an excellent translation of " Dr . Livingstone ' s Travels in Africa , " by Madame Leroau ( Hachette ) . M . Charles Gourand has produced an eloquent and remarkable volume , entitled u Lysis : Hietoix'o Contcmporaine " ( A . Durand ) , intended to represent the struggles of intellect against political obstacles , as strikingly exemplified by modern Italy . Metaphysical Quixotisin is wittily bantered b y M , Erokmann-Chatsain , in a volume called "L ! llustre Dootour Mattho " us ( Libraine Nouvello ) 5 and M . Aloxandro Weifl adds another to his already wellknown and , much-admired series of rustic romances—it is called " Emoraud . " M . Deltouv contributes a valuable addition to tho history of
literature in his volume entitled " Lcs Ennemjs de Racine au XVIIe , Siecle v ( Didier ) , written as his thesis for the doctoral es letlres . M . Eugene Poujade has a volume on the Christians and ° Turks ( Didier ) , and M . Francois Lenormaht one on La Question Iohienne devant L'Europe " ( Dentu ) . M , Hachette publishes a very useful " Atlas of the French " Railways , " com piled by M . A . Joanne . M . Alfred Sadous has executed
an important translation of a course of lectm-es delivered by M . Alfred Wchez , as Professor in the ' University of B / rlin , on the History of Indian Literature . Perhaps the most important literary trouvaille to be recorded is , however , a collection of some unpublished works of Piron , edited by SI . Honore Bonhoinme . *\\ e have not yet seen the little duodecimo in which they are contained , but they are spoken of as being of the greatest interest . One of the greatest attractions which
the book possesses is a correspondence between Piron and Mdlles . Quiualt and De liar . Many of the poems are said to possess a personal inte ^ - rest and meaning , upon which much light is thrown by notes of the editor . Add to these novelties from the other side of the Channel a valuable work on the . history of the foreign troops who have been in the service of France , from the pen of M . E . Feifl ' c . ¦ This will excite some interest in this country , and especially in Ireland , where many families have contributed cadets to the armies of France .
Frederic Mistral , the celebrated Provencal bard , has written another poem , called "Alireio ; " but as few ,, even among Frenchmen , understand the ancient patois of l . anguedoc ( about as few as there are Englishmen who know ¦ Welsh ) , we can scarcely expect that this fact will excite any great amount of interest in this country . The death of M . de Tocqucville , somewhat prematurely announced last week , really occurred at Cannes , on Saturday last , the 16 th instant . Alexis Charles Henri Clercl dc ToequeVille was born at Verneuil , in the Department of tho Seine and Oisein July 1805 consequently he hud completed
, , his fifty-third year . lie was the great grandson of the famous Malesherbcp , on the mothers rut ^ e , and was brought up to the law . In . 1821 ) , at the early aire of twenty-one , he became Jvge dInstruction at Versailles , and , in 1830 , Jvge Suppliant , boon after this he was sent by the ( iovernment , accompanied by M . G . deBenuwut , to report on . penal system in vogue in the United States , and oh his return he published a report thereupon . Not long after that return he published another work , tho fruit qf his American journey , under the 1
title of " La Democratic en Amen * pie C ?^ j a work which at onoc catublwliod . the reputation oi M . de Tocqueville , « nd was translated into fciigjlsb after obtaining the Montczan prize , one oi 10 highest literary distinctions which * rnnco * < - P ^ of bestowing . In 1841 , M . ¦ de Tm ^ uev . lle was elected a member of the Academic 1 ' njiiynwe . Oi his labours in tho Chamber of Dqmf . es and the Constitutional Assembly , we rfwll ^ not » l » c « k l » oie , suffice it lo say , that when lie in ^""^^ every brave and virtuous man m l '» -a « w , piotestc « against the iniquity of December , lHul , JU ; ^ TnnnuHvillG was imprisoned by the " ( . hewn pJ the 11 1
people , " but w « s shortly oftenvnrdtf nut » t uw ,. Among his more celebrated- ^^^ y . l ^ KnS not hitlierto inentioneil , 'fy ^ fiXS Regime et la llevolution" Q 8 S 6 ) 5 " Di f ^ mo l > Oi ? i tentinre nux Ktuts-Uina" ( 1 H 32 ) ; ' l ^ ouc Critique Uu lWg « o de Louis XV . ( 1 » 47 ) , w > «« £ a largo number of political pmnphleta imU too chures .
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LITERARY REMAPS . Literary Xmat * ,, comMina of Z * c '"^ JJ " , ^ on Politiwl Economy 0 / the fatoltev . JUvl' <' ^ ° £ l formerly Professor qf Political JZconomy at the W J Tndia College , IJuihybury , am {**!» £ *'< ' { Kfutory and ChUrity Commission . K () Jtod , witli , 11 igwo'j Notice , by tho Upv : Willlam WbowcH , W . w . »*« WHl <> of Trinity CWI ^ O ^ g" ^ ^^^^ t Tim Rcv . Richard Jo » c « . Hio son ° f J « J «] J ^ t Tunbridge Wolto . Peetinca to tWorf «»
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LITERARY CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK . . - — - ? - —•
Literature, Science, Art, ≪Fcc.
LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ART , < fcc .
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524 THE LEADER [ No . 474 , April 23 , 1859 ,
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Leader (1850-1860), April 23, 1859, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2291/page/12/
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