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minds make this distinction , and it . is one which Englishmen should thoroughly understand now that they are decidedly called upon to deal with " the Roman question . " To all propositions of reform , there is one answer by the scarlet authorities in Rome . Make no alterations , the system will last our time : " have no children . " M . About puts this reply m many shapes . Here is the root of Italian misgovernnient—the celibacy of the clergy . The order lives for the future-r-but the individuals only for the present . They take care of themselves . " After them , the deluge ! " Here is vested interest in the worst shape of petty selfishness ; and it descends from the clerisy to the laity . The nearer Rome the worse the evil . The activity and
prosperity of the subjects of the Pope appeared to M . About to be "in exact proportion to the square of the distance which separated them from Rome : in other words , that the shade of the monuments of the Eternal City was noxious to the cultivation of the country . Rabelais says the shade of monasteries is 'fruitful ; ' but he speaks in another sense . " Exquisite satire this . M . About submitted his doubts to a venerable ecclesiastic , who hastened to undeceive him . " The country is not uncultivated , he said ; or if it be so , the fault is with the subject of the Pope . This people is indolent by nature , although 21 , 415 monks are always preaching activity and industry to them ! " Such is the sar * casm iii-which M . About is so strong . Would not Pio Nono skin him for it , in return ?
M . About vindicates the character of the people from . the accusations of their adversary . On the other side of the Apennines , everywhere agriculture is making progress . The middle class of the cities is unjustly depreciated , but it becomes rich notwithstanding ; particularly the mercante di campagna , who shares the largest portion , of contempt . The cultivation of estates by means of the fanner is , in the eyes of a Roman prince , an attack upon the rights of property . His " passion for incessant work is a disturbance of the delightful Roman tranquillity . The fortunes acquired by personal exertion , energy , and activity , are a reproach by inference to that stagnant wealth which is the foundation of the state and the admiration of the
Government . " Such is the result of popular submission to priestly domination . But there is an oasis in the desert . The Appenines which form a barrier between the middle class and the Pope , bring the latter nearer to Europe and liberty . M . About never failed , after conversing with one of the middle class in the Legations , to inscribe in his tablets , " There is an Italian nation ! It is with great humour that our author depicts the ^ noble and foreign element in Italian life , and particularly the characters of Pio Nono arid his
Secretary Antonelli , His description of the last he begins with the phrase— - "He was born in a den of thieves . " Tie means Sinninp—the scene of pillage and rapine ; and shows his growth and exit in and from the early influences implied in the locale . Antonelli is a cardinal deacon , not priest ; and uses his privileges , in both kinds , with abundant license , lie fears death , and is an arrant coward ; but he " has made his fortune at the expense of the nation , the Pope , and the Church . " Hero we close . Lot this book be translated into
Italian , ami distributed throughout Italy . Not even Napoleon III . will then be able to save the Papacy from its well-merited destruction .
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OLD FACES IN NEW MASKS . <—By Robert Blakey Pllt rj , W . Kent nnd Co . This is a very clever book . Much of it pnts us in mind of the erudite badinage' of Erasmus . The topics are in themselves curious in the extreme . First we liavc a charming paper on fishwives , —especially oracular on the mysteries of Billingsgate , penetrating the core of it , and " plucking out the heart" of its moral . Take it in a sentence . " This is one of the many instances where the solid and the useful must take precedence before the showy and the elegant . " Another singular
article respects " Eels , " which when carefully road will bo richly enjoyed . It is an epicurean dish . Amon rf the more serious matter is the exposure of Dr . Paleyfor having plagiarised his " Natural Thoologv , " from Bernard Niemvcntyt , n . Dutch philosopher ;—there is also an essay on " Hermit Literature " full of scholastic interest . Wit nnd learning arc the characteristics of this meritorious miscellany , which has besides , in its mode of treatment , die assurance of immediate ' popularity . It is an excellent volume , full of variety , ingenuity , shrewd reasoning , iaot , fancy and logic .
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SERIALS . Eclectic . —There is a clever article on M . About's book , "La Question Romaine . " AJleaderonHoman Catholicism in Great Britain and Ireland denounces the system of endowing Popish colleges ; and a paper of " Gossip about Edinburgh" is interesting . " Town and Forest" is continued ; and two papers on " Degeneration , " and the " New Ministry , " conclude the number . . Natio >' , vt , Magazine . —This month ' s part contains an entertaining variety of articles , and a continuation of Mr Epbert Brougli ' s tale of " Miles Cassidy . Among the engravings are Mr . Maten ' s . " Tintoretto and his Daughter , " Muller ' s " Improvisator ?' Topham ' s " Homewards , " and Goodall ' s " Matures Mirror . " . the
Assurance Magazine , and Jotjrxai . of Institute of Actuaries . —No . XXXVI . contains an important paper by Professor De Morgan , on the " Law of Mortality ; " and another by Mr . Samuel Brown , on the "Mortality amongst American Assured Lives . " These , and the other papers ; are highly valuable in relation to their subjects . Weekly Magazine . — Part V . is of fair average merit but the articles are too numerous for
specifi-. . Le Foli-et maintains its character for fashion , and includes four engravings , three coloured . Ladies' Treasury—has an engraving of Mignard s painting of his daughter , and some entertaining miscellaneous papers . . Exgmsii-v-oman ' Journal has also a pleasing variety of articles . . Kingston ' s Magazine Fon Bots contynues _ Mr-Beaver ' s tale of " Dick Onslow and the Red Skins , and contains some instructive matter . Dublin University Magazine adds another to the series of entertaining papers under the title of " the Season Ticket ; " and Lever ' s tale of " Gerald Fitzgerald" is continued . O ther able articles , though more didaticare yet amusing .
, Titan has a paper on " Douglas Jerrold and the Punch School , " and the usual varieties , including five new chapters of " Getting On . " ¦ Journal , o ' j ? Psychological Medicine . —^ Dr . Winslow , as usual , presents us with a capital number , embracing a paper on Sir William Hamilton , whose metaphysics nQ \ r command general attention . There is also an article on " Dante , as a psychological study . " . ... Journal of Mental Scienck , —Dr . Bucknul has compiled a decidedly good number . Loud B-moN ' s Works . — l art VI . ( Murray ' s edition . )—This number contains the " llobrow
Melo-< lies , " " Domestic Pieces j" " Morgante Mnggiore , " Prophecy of Dante , " " Vision of Judgment , " "Age of Bronze , " and smaller pieces . It has an illustration of Mnzeppa , after Westall * nnd is altogether an amazing shilling ' s worth . ThrViboinians . No . XXI . ( By W . M . Thackeray . ) —The autlior seems unwilling to leave his favourite characters , and slowly winds to the ^ 'TlKii ' Indeed , there is so little plot , that tho oharaoionjm entirely in the hands of the autlior , who might continue tfioip existence for half a contiiry , or put an end to it at onco . Ho is , indoo : l , beginning to clear Sffl . fi drains poL ^; and by ^ VJ «» V « jd sudden moans , in some cases . There can only bo anothor number or two to como .
. . ROUTLEIXIK ' S SUAKESPKARB . ( Edltod by H . siflwiinnT Part XL . —This number contains tho m £ cSmnenUtod plavof « H « ritof . » Both editor ard musratorhavo been very caroml , and on the whole sViGrGsflftillr Tlioro are beauty and fancy in Mr . G lbort ' a illustration , and if there is conventionality , l " is that of tho studio , and not of that of tho stage . BoswBW / fl Lijws ov Johnson . — Oroker ' s edition . Part VI . (< r , Murray . )—This number is principally occuniod with tho journey to the Hebrides ana tho Welsh tour ; tho latter , a special introduction by Mr Orolcor . Tho never nagging-interest of this toooK makes oncrij-read it with tUo greatest pleasure .
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his alternations ef verse and prose , in his immortal drama , has lavishly illustrated their differences . Of course -we have Coleridge ' s note on the " wonderfulness of prose" quoted ; and a variety of figures for its frame work and setting ; with-whatever amount of common-place besides may be conceivable . At length , we land on the argument itself . We pass over the ancient romances , such as the Arcadia and the
" Mort d * Arthur , " the " , " " Utopia ; " and come to John Bunyan and his " Pilgrim ' s Progress" and his " Holy War , " which Mr . * Masson characterises as " the last English works of prose fiction in which , for many a day , we find high poetic ideality . " Their place -was supplied , in the opinion of the wits of the time , by Mrs . Aphra Behn ' s novels . It was , however , not until the epoch of Swift and Defoe that English literature could boast of romantic works that
deserve remembrance . The novelists of the eighteenth century furnish the argument of a long lecture . The century , itself is denounced as bereft of high qualities of heroism , poetry , and faith , and distinguished chiefly by a critical and mocking spirit in literature , a superficial ' and wide-ranging levity in speculation , and a perseverance reaching to greatness only in certain tracks of . and of physical science;—a century , , in fine , wherein British thought and action were polarised into two faetions—Whig and Tory . . It was essentially a prosaic afye- ^ -unexampIed in that respect . With the Thomsonand two
exception of Pope and , one or others of the poetic list ^ prose had then the evident advantage , even in the finer and subtler exercises of mind ; and Addis on and Johnson were in prose superior to themselves in verse . Richardson and Fielding -. carried On , in opposite directions , the interest of prose-fiction . Smollett was a great accession to the cause , and Sterne brought" to bear upon it a genius altogether unique , rife with humour and sentiment . Coming to our oirn times , Mr . Masson devotes an entire lecture to Scott and his Influence . To the British novelists since Scott a long and elaborate oration
is also assigned . It is calculated by Mr . Masson that the average rate of publication , in regard to romance , is that of about two novels a week . Of this hundred novels a year only a small per centage survive the month . As a class , however , the form of composition grows into value , and is used now-a-days as the vehicle of speculative , religious , and political doctrine . The tendency to this is fervidly and enthusiastically depicted by Mr . Masson , and the characteristics of the age are painted with a richness of-style and colour indicative of great power over thought and language . This book will augment its author ' s reputation . .
BRITISH NOVELISTS nnd their Styles t being n CrlticnJ Hkttcli of tho History of 1 ' rosp Fiction . By DuvlU Blnsso ' i ) , M . A . —Cambridge , Mncmlllim mul Co . T « k nuthor' has here expanded his lectures into a volume , and a very pleasant scries of sketches they certainly make , in a stylo between the historic and tho familiar . The rliotoricul manner adopted has decided advantages . It admits of florid embellishment and warmth of statement , that at least enlists tho reader's fancy nnd sympathies . Thus Mr .
Masson treats of the novel as the nrosc-opio , and never doubts but that his assumption is perfectly allowable , though to conciliate tho moro popular apprehension ho will concede tho term " narrative poetry" as a vulgar substitute for " epic " Nor does ho fail to distinguish between tho diflerent conditions of verso and prose . Verso has an inherent fitness for what is highly ideal or poetic intellectually ; proso deals rather with tho actual , the common , nnd the ephemeral , Prose , too , has agroater freedom in the element of the humourous , tho dootrinal and tho expository . SUakspero , in
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with considerable acumen , if not always wxtl accuracy . Mr . Westerton has , for instance , mistaken the leading principle , that " the ideal in ar consists not in imitation , but the exaltation o nature , and 1 must resemble , not so much , what wt have seen as what we can imagine . " He thmkj it better that we should leave nature as we found it ; in tliat case , however , the ideal were impossible . Nature herself permits not the non-infcerference principle . No man so dull but that his tne _ _ . j ^ l ^_—i _ - — w * Ia . 1
imagination partakes in his perception ; anu question is really one only of degree . The professed idealist simply cultivates the faculty , without which iio art would exist ; and there can be no doubt of the propriety of cany ing . it to its destined perfection ; or that the work in which it so appears is one the legitimacy of which is o-naranteed bv the laws of the mind .
EMILY 2 ) IOllT 0 N , u Talo : with Sketches from 1 , 1 Aj nnd Critical K 8 Btty » . By Clmrlea "Wofltorton . Charles Woatcrton , l ' ubllshor . Mr . Wkstbut ' on is willing to show how books should bo written us well ns published , and in tins little volumo makes a fair enough demonstration of talent , Tho loading talo is simple and dbvious , but pathetic in troatment in sentiment . Among the oritionl essays is one on Sir B . I / ytton and ina Prinoiplos of Art in Fiction , " which is argued
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No . 435 . J ^ y 9 , 1859 . 1 THE lEAPEH 82 ? ———¦^— - ——*——*«^ h—!¦ i » g ^ ^ mt ^ mm ^ m ^ m ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - . — . ... ¦ ~~
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Leader (1850-1860), July 9, 1859, page 823, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2302/page/19/
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