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Leader (1850-1860), 18th June 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 748

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    • LITERATURE. SCIENCE, ART, Eto
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      Untitled Article

      748 THE LEADER . [ Literary .

      Untitled Article

      - — - © - — . T ITEHAKY news this week is but scanty—the ¦ Li more engrossing subjects of war ami politics occupying ; men ' s minds to the exclusion of the muses . Fresh buttles , incipient treaties , and new cabinets tire your pnly topics at present ; and the last novel , poem , or play is left with uncut leaves , while we devour the last telegrams from the seat of vrar , or the most recent ministerial or parliamentary crisis . The hard-working and novel-writing ministry of Lord Derby has no longer the management of affairs ; while the members of the literary world , along with the rest of the population , have to hail the advent to power of a body of somewhat ponderous authors , whose soliditj r we trust may prove as valuable in transacting the business of the state as it is unattractive in their various composition s in prose and

      softness , wear out quickly , and are very expensive . The . characters are . moulded one by one ; the best workman can scarcely produce 5 , 000 of them in a day in the rough . They have afterwards to be finished and pass through several hands . M . Conibarieu , by an ingenious machine , produces 10 , 000 types at one stroke . Each letter is * hen separated by a mechanical saw , which divides them with mathematical regularity and precision . The consequence of this invention , will be—production increased cent , per cent . ; exactitude and regulari ty ^ hitherto unattainable ; the use of harder metal , which will avoid the frequent renewal of printers' materials ; reduction ( by one half ) of the outlay ; an increase of printing , and and an enormous diminution in the price of books . M . Combarieu announces , moreover , his in ten tion of producing types in steel , the durability of which will be beyond calculation .

      rerse . From the Bulletin we learn that a case will shortly occupy the attention of the Court of Chancery which will have peculiar interest for the antiquarian world and the lovers of Shakspeare . A namesake of the great poet , who liitd accumulated a large fortune , bequeathed , by will , 2 , 500 ? . for the formation of a museum in Shakspeare ' s house , at Stratford-on-Avon , and charged his landed estate with an annuity of 601 . a-year for the support of a custodian of the house and museum , whose duty it would be toshow visitors' through them , and to keep a book in which each visitor woiild be at liberty to . write any remarks he might think proper in prose or verse . The trustees , conceiving that the gift of 2 , 500 / . might be contested on the ground of uncertainty , have declined to . pay the legacy without the direction of the Court , and hence has arisen the litigation ..

      The sale is announced by Messrs . Sotheby and Wilkinson of the library of some sixteen thousand volumes of the late Rev . John Mitford , known and esteemed in every circle of book-buyers , towards the end of the present season . Mr . Mitford ' s minatures , bronzes , statuary , and his pictures will be sold in July .

      Mr . Jacob Bell died at Tunbridge Wells on Saturday last , at the age of forty-nine . Mr . Bell was President of the Pharmaceutical Society , of which he may be said to hare been the founder , and was the supporter for a lony series of years , lie was a munificent patron of British literature and art , and a liberal supporter of many literary , scientific , and charitable institutions in London , while at the same time eminently useful in the private walks of benevolence . Anything 1 relating to Montalembert must be of interest to the lovers of literature , and we therefore notice here the elegant memorials which he has presented to his advocates , of his regard for their

      services at the late famous trial . M . Berryer and M , Dufaure declined to receive any remuneration for the professional services they rendered to their distinguished client , and M . de Montalembert , appreciating the delicacy of their conduct , ordered two statues in silver to be made ; one of Demosthenes , copied on a small scale from the statue in the Museum of the Vatican ; the other of Aristides , on the inodel of that in the Museo Borbonico at Naples . The statue of Demosthenes is presented to M . Berryer ; that of Aristid . es to M . Dufaure . The former bears the following inscription ;—•• Hanc untiqui Domosthcnis efflgiem Demosthcni nostro

      Petro Antonio Berryer , quern patronum ac ultorem habuit die xxi Deccmbris , 1858 , Carolus , Comes de Montalembert . — ' Quid si ipsuni tonantem audivisses ! '" Those last words , spoken by JEschines after his banishment from Athens , were not more applicable to his great rival than to M . Berryer . The Avords engraved on the statue of Aristidee , presented to M . Dufaure , are— ' Hanc prisci Aristidis efflgiem Aristidi nostro , Julio Dufaure , virtute ct eloquentia prajcellenti , gratus obtulit ac dicavit , Curolus , Comes de Montalembert , accueatione Majestatis exsolutus ac vindicatus die xxi . Decembris , m . dccclviii . ' "

      The vacancy in the French Academy , it is supposed , will be filled by PhilarMo Chasles , the interpreter of Shnkspcare and promoter of English literature in France . Plrilarote Chfislos has been brought up \ n England , a Westminster scholar , and has a thorough knowledge of the English language . His works are greatly admired by classical students , and have done much to forward the inquiry into English poetry and literature which is at this

      moment at its very height in France . A discovery , -which , if it fulfils the expectations of its inventor , la fraught with groat consequences to the world of letters , Inns just boon mode public In France . The rnyrla-typo ot'M . Combnrlou hns boon submitted to tUo Oovornmont and accepted for inspection , which in a marvellous invention , intended to effuot un Immense revolution in the art of printing . Hitherto the characters used in printing liavo boon composed of a mixture of load and antimony j those cluiructors , by reason of thoir oxtromo

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      " Their investigations into documents and correspondence only recently become available , have amph' - demonstrated that in the extraordinary complications of his position and the conflicting elements of deep-rooted ambition , moral timidity , and religious scruples by which he was perpetually agitated , lay the clue to the ambiguity of his conduct , and his apparent falseness to the professions of his youth . " The interval between the transactions of 1821 and his accession to the throne > had l > een passed by the Prince of Carignano in retirement and disgrace . The King , Charles Felix , never thoroughly forgave his countenance of the constitutionalists at that

      period ; and Austria , penetrating the desire for national independence by which he was possessed , pursued him with : unrelenting animosity . Little known until Gualterio's revelations , the history of these manoeuvres against Charles Albert is full of interest . It was at first seriously contemplated to set aside his right of succession as the nearest male heir , in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel ( the present King ) , then an infant of fourteen months old , an arrangement of which the French Minister at Florence , the Marquis of Maisonfort , did not fail to point out the inevitable result s , —' a regency of fifteen years , and a sure road for Austria to possess herself of all Italy . '

      " Foiled in this design by the vigilance of France , who was unwilling that the . Imperial-. Government should obtain so great a preponderance , the Aulic Council next intrigued for the repeal of the Salic law , Avhich had ahvaj-s existed in Piedmont , in favour of the eldest daughter of the late King married to Francis IV ., Duke of Modena , the most despotic and the most hated of all the Italian Princes . Here again the intervention of France , and of the Emperor Alexander of liussia , to whom Charles Albert especially addressed himself , did him good service , although so late as 1830 Metternich and the Duke appear to have harassed him by their machinations . Even when he was seated on the throne , Austria scarcely attempted to disguise her jealous vigilance . It was intimated to him that

      THE VICISSITUDES OF 1 TAL . Y , SINCE THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA . By A . L .. V . Grotton . —Koutledge , Warner and Koutledjje . This is a most serviceable and timely "work . It tells a plain unvarnished tale , that throws a clear and depided light on the transactions of Italy , and its relations with Austria , France and Sardinia . It is partly grounded on lianalli ' s Istorie Italiane ; in fact , is in some sort an expanded analysis of that hnoV- Thfi fi-vftnts besides are brouoiit down to

      the present time ; at least to the moment when Victor Emmanuel published to the Sardinian parliament , that he -was " hot insensible to the cry of anguish which reaches us from so . many parts of Italy . " Let us endeavour to retrace their course , adding such reflections as may arise during the recital . The narrative begins : — " The fate of Italy , at the present moment , hangs upon that of Piedmont . " This is the . keynote of the whole . Ten years ago tilings were in a different position ; nevertheless the Congress of 1815 is the fatal standpoint , when the temporal authority was restored to the Papacy , and Austrian domination was re-established and extended ; The Pope and other sovereigns . returned with obstinacy to the traditions of their youth , and

      refused to make any concession to the spirit of the age . The intellectual expansion of the nineteenth century was disregarded , and they thought ^ to return to the contracted and narrow views of former ages . In 1820-21 occurred the revolution at Naples , and soon after were exemplified the treacheries of Ferdinand I . Almost simultaneously Piedmont rose to demand a representative government . Charles Albert , prince of Carignano , then regent , favoured the demand by his neutrality , but incurred suspicion , when ho y ielded for the time to the stern uncompromising refusal of the king Charles Felix . Piedmont for awhile bowed to we Imperial yoke . But in 1831 an insurrection broke out in the lioman States and the Duchy of Modena ; the revolted provinces , however , > vere speedily subdued by Austrian troops . Then it was that Charles Albert ascended the Sardinian

      throne , not yet cleared from suspicion , and at a time of general distrust . Mazzini likewise appeared , to complicate matters still more . Ho was then an advocate of the city of Genoa , and addressed a public letter to the new king , calling upon him to g i \ e liberty to Italy , and warning him of irreparable ruin should ho refuse or- hesitate . Masszini "wag for his boldness banished ; and , in revenge , founded the revolutionary society of the Giovine Italia , which aimed at the substitution of

      one republic for the several monarchies into which Italy was sub-divided . Our author is decidedly opposed to Maz / . ini , and roads in the records of the Giovine Italic only " a succession of desperate and foolhardy expeditions , ill combined and precipatntcl y carried out , invariably leading to tho axe , the bullet , or the dungeon *—and yet fruitless in teaching a lesson of wisdom to their originator , or in shaking tho blind confidence oi'liifl followers in their chief ' , " What follows must bo cited in cxtonso , ' •• The pages of Clbrario " and aualtoviot must bo searched for tho vindication of Churlos Albeit from the odium of those proceedings . * lifoordt tl ' una Mlnalono in Portopath < U Ite Carlo Alberto , nvr I-itileri Clbntrlo . tall ultlml ltlvolnlmontl Italian ! , dl 10 , A . CUiulUTlo ,

      no change would be tolerated in the political direction of Piedmont , neither might he recall from exile or patronise any of the constitutionalists of 1821 . A skilful agent , the Count of Bombelles , subsequently notorious as the fourth or fifth liusband , or lover , of Maria Louisa , Duchess of Parma , was sent from Vienna to watch his movements . His Minister of the Interior , L'Escurcna , exercised a ' still closer surveillance , and reported to head-quarters the minutest details of his life and correspondence . Once , when irritated at the King ' s desire to give the portfolio of finance to the advocate Gallina , of well-known anti-Austrian tendencies , he so far forgot himself as to threaten that if he persisted in his resolution , Radetzky would niarch on Turin and convpel him-to abdicate .

      " Conscious that he was in no condition to resent these indignities—that on the slightest pretext an overwhelming Austrian force would have swept down upon Piedmont , Charles Albert was content to bide his time and dissemble alike his patriotic designs and his profound resentment . It thus appears that public events have had to work themselves out of ambiguity into clearness ; and that there has necessarily been much unjust suspicion cherished against individuals whose thoughts and deeds were apparently , but only npnarcntly , at variance . Charles Albert ., it is con-Italian and

      fessed , aspired to found an monarchy , was well disposed to Catholicism . In fact , he hnd to accommodate himself to the Jesuitical network in which the whole country was enveloped . Buthc was careful to see meanwhile to his military standing , at which Austria wim not a little displeased , and in 1838 even hinted that it would be advisable for him to reduce his army to a looting more commqnsurate with tho size of hi ^ dominions . The suggestion , which was received without comment , of coursei met with no compliance . And these fulso relations still continue to sulw » t .

      We must leave it to tho recolluotiono of our readers to trace for themadves the unhappy into of Sicily , and of the Peninsula in 1846 , an well as the lamentable condition of the Pontilioul States under Urcgory XVI . Throe riodniontcso eroatud a great sensation bv thuir writing— -Uioberti , CesarolSnlbo . and Massimo d'Azuglio —which , in Mr . Urctfcon ' fl opinion , vindicates the conduct ofChnrk * Albert . Then camo tho aoei'Msiou of l'io Isono , and the marVolloua spootuclo of a reibrnuiiirPope . Need we state its issuva ? Motterin ' ch'huU doturmined-on converting tho revolution into a sedition , in ordor tho more easily to deal with it : — " And tho correspondence * found In tho government archives at Mllun , aftor tho flight oi' tho Aun-* llotwoun thu Kovoruor , Count Hwlzu , and Mtv I ' adro Vigilu , u J vault ijrtotH ,

      Literature. Science, Art, Eto

      LITERATURE . SCIENCE , ART , Eto

      Untitled Article

      ¦ LITERARY NOTES , ETC .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 18, 1859, page 748, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2299/page/16/