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LETTER PHOM ITALY.
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sistency that are rare , we can cordially recommend Mr . Hollingshead ' s book .- • : ¦ ¦ '¦¦ .- »'¦ - ¦ ¦
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rFHE Universal Review ( No . 12 . ) comes out this month hi con-X siderable force . There is a really good article on Father Prout , and the old Fraserians , thoug h on the latter we could tell the reviewer much more than he Las set down . There is also pome minute criticism oh what is called " Verbal Landscape Painting , " in Mrs / Browning- and other poets , which is not altogether bad ; and there is a really careful review of Lord Maeaulay , to which we may add a clever paper oil Charles Kingsley . The number commences with an elaborate differential essay on the characters of Stephenson and Brunei , and their respective engineering undertakings , which requires to be read slowly and attentively / and will Blachtcood continues
rewsM-vl ( lie student for his pains . — "N orman Sinclair , " " The Luck of Lndysinede , " and " Fleets and Navies ;" and ably advocates "the diffusion of taste among all classes , " " a national necessity . " Good news this for Mr . Ottley , and the Society 'for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts , which we are pleased to perceive is rapidly progressing . The didactic poem on " St . Stephen ' s" improves on acquaintance . The second part describes Fox , Pitt , Burke and Wilberforce , with great poetic discrimination . There is , of course , a political article . It is on " France and Central Italy . " but is at least three weeks after time . —Fraser , more judiciously , in its political article , proceeds speculatively , and takes time by the forelock . It proposes a reform of the House of Lords , as rendered necessary by the impending reform of the Commons '
House . It opens , howeyer , with an ethical article , on " going up and " coming down " - —recorriinending 1 the latter rather than the former to those who are struggling with fort line . In fact , the writer illustrates his case by reference to Mr . jR > H . Home , the author of " Orion ; " who " shook from his feet the dust of Britain" rather than " come down . " " We do not think the reference quite fair , especially as the writer confesses hie knows nothing of the poet * or his truly fine epic . There is > also , iuiother PPPW - ^ Collier , in which the writer insists on the Old Corrector ' s alterations being fabrications , and casts divers aspersions on Mr . Colliery literary character , as it seems , most un > deservedly to us . The remainder of the number is of great merit . —The Art-Jotirnalis illustrated this nlonth with Le JTeurie ' s
Liberation of the Slaves , and Carlo MarattiVYirgin and Child . Foley ' s Statue of Caractaeiis also makes a splendid-engraving . The literary matter is exceedingly good . — -The Eclectic has a serious article on . Revivals . The . number is , pri the whole , -meritorious-. — The monthly record of Recreative Science is satisfactory , and the Fvglis / itvoman ' s Journal contains some creditable essays . —The second number of the CornMll JSfagaz ' equals its predecessor in interest and ability . The opening paper , " Nil nisi Bonum , " treats the memory of Washington Irving and Thackeray in a genial and . reverent manner . A short but truly beautiful poem , entitled " Titlionus , " is contributed by the Poet Laureate : and some Essays upon tho Life of Hogarth have been commenced . by Mr . Sala—that in the present number . is delightfully written , and promises well for the series ; characteristically enough ^ however , it contains little about Hogarth , and a great deal upon other subjects . Two good article ? , " Studies in Animal Life , " and " Invasion Panics , " also
deserve nutice . —JSfacniillaris Magazine ( No . Ill ) contains an ex * cellent article , by the Rev . F . D . Maurice , on Lord Macaulay ; and Mr . F . Lushington writes on the subject of Arctic Enterprise , with judgment and knowledge . In the political article there are some sensible remarks concerning Italy , and the interest which England must have in . the overthrow of the Papacy . Tho poetical and literary contributions to the number are sill of remarkable excellence . —The sorial with the strsinge title , One of Them ( No . III . ) , by Mr . Lever , sustains the interest of the talo with vigour ; the description of the Rector ' s dinner parity is capital . —rTho Leisure Hour hns reached its ninety-seventh monthly part—a success fairly earned by the pains bestowed upon it by its editors and contributors ; the engravingf , also , are excellent : one , in particular , a portrait of Dr . Livingbtonq , is » i most highly finished vvork . r— Ze Follct present * its usuiil engravings , coloured and plain , and explanatory letter-press , with some literary varieties calculated to amuse .
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( special . ) , I THE PAPAL NKWSl'Al'EIt lMtESS . Rome , 2 . 1 th January , 1860 . A T Rome thero is no . public life . There are no publio events to J . % . nurrato , no party politics to comment on , Events , indeed , will occur , Jind politics will exist , even in this best regulated of countries ; but as nil narration of the one and nil iniiiiifeatation of the other are equally interdictod , for press purposes , neither events nor
polities exist . To one who known tho wear nnd tour of tho London press—to whom the . vevy nnmo of n newspapor recalls late hours mid interminable reports , despatches nnd , telegrams , proofislfocts , jmrliiv-3 ii on fury debates , and polieo intelligence , lending 1 articles nnd correspondents' lettors , a very Kor'ios of Sisyphenn Infiowra without rout or end—to such an one the position of tho Roman journalist hooius a h ' uven of jk'ncfo—the mot-t delightful of nil Binecures . Tjiero nro innny inyntiTioH indeed about tho Romnn proRa Who writes or comjinFo * tho papers is n mystery ; who reads or mirc-hanes them w , nciliiiiiH , a KTuntQi' mystery j but the very fact or their existence is
the greatest mystery of all . Even the genius of Mr . Dickuns was never able to explain satisfactorily to the readers of "Nicholas Nicltleby " why Sqtjeers , who never taught anything- and never intended any thing to be taught at Dolheboys' Hall , drought it Necessary to engage an usher , to teach nothing ; and exactly in the same way it is an insoluble problem why the Papal Government , which never tells anything , and never intends anything to be told , should publish papers in order to tell nothing . The greatest minds , however , are not exempt from error , and it must be to some hidden flaw in the otherwise perfect pontifical system that the existence of newspapers in the sacred city . is . to be attributed . The marvel of his own being must be to the Roman journalist a subject of constant contemplation , mi WThc press of Rome boasts of three papers . There is the Giornale di Roma , the Diario Romano , and , last and least , tlie Yero Amico del Popolo . The three " organs of papal opinion " bear a suspicious resemblance to each other . The Diary is a feeble reproduction of the Journal , and the Peoples True Friend is a yet feebler compound of the two . In fact , the Giornale di Roma is the onlv one of the lot that has the least pretence to the name of a paper / It is indeed the official paper , the London Gazette of Rome . It consists of four pages , a little larger in size than those of the Leadek , and with about as much matter altogether as is contained in two of your pages . The type is delightfully large , and the spaces between the lines are really pleasant to look at . Next to a Roman journalist , the position cf a Roman compositor must be the pleiisantestin the newspaper world . Things are taken very easily here , and the Journal never appears till six o ' clock at night , . so that editors and printers can take their leisure arid be in bed betimes . There is no issue on Sundays and feast days , which occur about once or twice a week . This ideal journal , too , has no fixed price . The case of any one being impatient enough for news to buy a single number seems hardly to be contemplated . The yearly subscription is seven scudi , which comes to about five farthings a number ; but for a single copy the agent here has the impudence to ask half a Paul ,, or twopence halfpenny . This , however , must be regarded as a fancy price , as single copies are not an article in demand . Suppose , for tlie sake of argument ; there was aii English newspaper at Rome . Let us consider for a moment what would be its summary of ^ contents , this day on which I write . Putting aside foreign topics altogether , what might one naturally suppose would b . e = ihe Roman news ? There is the revolution in the Romagna . ;—if . private reports are- hot altogether false there is insurrection in the Marches ; there is the question of the Congress , the policy of the Papal Government , the rumoured departure of the French troops , the state of the adjoining kingdoms , the movements of the pontifical army , and the promised Papal reforms . Add to all this there is the recent mysterious murder , about which all kinds of private rumours are in circulation . Tlie little that I know , or think I know , about any of these matters—all of vital interest to Roman subjects—I know either from vague report or from the English or French papers . Suppose , however , that lam a Roman citizen , and either understand no foreign language , which is extremely probable , or else have no means of catching a glimpse of foreign papers , which is more probable still : what in this case should I learn from my sole source of information , my Qiornale di Roma , about my own city and my own . country , on this tOth of January , in the year of grace I 860 ? The first fact brought before my eager gaze on taking 1 up the paper would be that yesterday was tlie feast of St . Peter ' s chair . Solemn mass was , I learn , performed in the cathedral in tho presence of" our Lord ' s holiness , " and a Latin oration pronounced in honour of the sacred chair . After the ceremony was over , it seems that the Senator of Rome , Marquis Mattei , presented an address to the Pope , with a copy of which I am kindly favoured . The Senator in his own name and in that of his colleagues declares that "if at all times devotion to the Pontiff and loyalty to his Sovereign was the intense desire of his heart , it is more ardent to-day than ever , since ho only re-echoes the sentiment of the whole Catholic world , which with wonderful unanimity proclaims its veneration for the august Father of the faithful , and offers itself as a shield to the Sovereign of Rome . " He adds that " his mind revolts from thone fallacious maxims , which some persons try to insinuate into the feeble ) minds of the people , throwing doubts on the incontestable rights of tho Church , arid UiiVt ho lopks with contempt on such intrigues . " As , however , the Senator and his colleagues are nominees . of tl ^ e Pope , I feel sceptical as to , the value of their opinion . Tho next pnrngraph tells mo , that in ovder to testily their devotion to tho papacy , the inhabitants of Rome illuminated their houses last night in honour of the feast . Unfortunately , I happened to walk out jestcrdiiy evening , and , obsorvod that the lamps were very few and far between , while in tho only illuminated house I entered , I found tho proprietor grumbling at the expense which tho priests had insisted on hits incurring 1 . I have then ax whole column about tho proceeding's at tho " Propaganda" on tho festival of tho Epiphany . Tho Archbishop of Thebes . I rejoice to learn , " excited the pupils of tho academy to imitate tho virtues manifested in tho Magi , by an appropriate homily , drawing a striking 1 parallel between tho simplicity , tliefnith , and tho hononty of tho three kings ,, and thedisbeliofand hypourisj ' of , tlie wiel < od King HjiuoD—I , wonder if . I ljavd over heaitl of Hkk ' op nmlcr a more modern mono , and puna on to a passage wrilton in italk'H to attract my spocial attention . Tho " Propaganda" meeting 1 in , I ni ' n informed , " a noblo spectacle , which / Rome alone can ofl ' urto tho world—Unit Rome which Gbr > hns made the capital * of ll \ & inmio ) tnl Kingcloni . " This conohuk's the \ sholo of my domostia iiitelli '^ oiuio—all that I l . now , or « m to know , about the ntnto of my own oomitry .
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X 1 g The Leader arid Saturdayr Analyst . [_ Feb . 4 , I 8 GO
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Letter Phom Italy.
r LETTER PHOM ITALY .
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 118, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/18/
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