The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

The Inlelkotnal awl Moral Perelopntent of the Peesent Aye. By Samuel Warren, Q.C., F.lt.s. Edinburgh: Blackwood and Sous. Annuaire des !Max Monde.. 1452-Is )3. Lou. don : Maniere. WIIY not we see history with the hassle impartiality as we read it?" was a quest thin once asked by lioraee Walpole. But the wit of Strawberry-hill might have paused be fore assuming that we peruse the reeords of past events without 'prejudice. Do the des. ecuplants of one Of the historieal families of Franc.° and a Parisian shopkeeper mad the records of their common country since the time of Louis XV. without any bias, or one sided elass of emotion" Would an ordinary " traveller " hailing from Manchester do et en common justice to the character of the Cava liers in the days of Charles 1.. or is the real nature of King George 111. at all appreeiated by Our agitating Radicals? llut, whether per sons read history with impartiality, or the con trary, we aceept the iinestien of Iloraee Wal pole OS a testimony to the fact that. we do not see it wills impartiality. It would impos sible in any mixed company to discuss the moral features of " the age We live in " with out 'perceiving hi 1141Werfld is the part that prejudiee plays in the I'l,l.llllllnm of AVe need 1144 go beyond the two works at the head of this review to seek for illustrations of the difficulty of studying the Ammeter of our times. The ~f them. wiorlis is from the pen of Nr.Warreit. the popular authoor,distinguished. in more mental pursuits than line, by his vivid eloquenee, and the peculiar blending in his genius of the emotional and intellectual. Before the Literary total Philosophieal Society of Hull (of which he is the Recorder) Mr. Warren read uu eliiiMpniti . essay 1m the diame ter of the age, which is here enlarged for gene ral circulation. It is it very interesting retnarkable for its broad views, and its perspienottm exposition of the itevoinplishell essayist s conceptions. Resembling those tolt metttary discourses which proceeded from Lord Brougham's Ism, it differs hum them by the marked prominettee assigned to revealed reli gion, and by the sentimental utterance of the lecturer's emotions 1111 contemplating the pro gress of science. While in Mr. Warren's lee lure 'our minds are exercised On the spirit of the times, in the Annuaire ilea Deice Aloades we are introduced to a enill tttt m eXtgliplitieMl . of " the prolifie energy " with which " the .resitting principles" of the age are earric,l into practice. l'he Annuaire in a valuable publica tion. It is more readable and protium(' than our A tonna/ lieyister ; but, as may he expected, the current history of the world is regarded solely front it French point of view. Still it is 11 work that we can patrtieularly recommend to the attention (of the potetical and speculative Whatever may be the tone of former periods of history, it is evident that 110 011 C epithet will describe so " many-sided" an era as that in which we are living. In the physical tielellet`M 111111 in SOCiill growth the energy of the age is wonderful. Civilisation is proceeding with more rapid strides than at former periods, and, owing to the influence of " the exodus," colonies are peopled with amazing rapidity. The submarine telegraph, the Menai tubular bridge, a British navy propelled by SWAM, are achievements that cast into shade the exploits 4)f seieneu in tin' dart of the Smeatons and the Brindleys. Corresponding with this advanee is the ditilimion of elementary knowledge to a degree without preeedent in former periods. As to the beneficial results of this latter " de velopment " of our times, there exists amongst thinking persons much ditterenee of o lillib►ll. lennty in' questioned whether much of %do l t ar c called " useful-knowledge " books for the peo ple at large are little better than Pa b nytoss pu lications, full of crude thoughts rind flatulent platitudes, fostering personal conceit, with a show of mental independenee, and inducing habits of superficial thinking on the gravest questions. That cheap literature has (like most other great social agents) its peculiar evils must, we believe, be affirmed. The! late American moralist, Doctor (11711111illg. was ecr• tainly 11Qt an antipopular writer, anti yet he THE PRESS. pointed out. twenty years ago. many of the evils to be expected from vulgarising literature. He was, we recollect, severely censured for having done so in the Edinburylt Review. Ou the other hand, we remember Lord John Russell quoting the opinion of Cobbett—that the best education for a working man was " that which fitted him .4 for his plaee in the world, and that teaching " the dowies to ploughboys wasfidye." On this question it is very possible that the evils and time advantages of cheap literature have been exaggenited. Mr. Warren has remarked hope it may not be deemed preaumptuoini if one ven ture to express 11 fear whether the number of %raters in the present Play may out bear Us, great a toropiniiiin to readers ; and whinier, again, many of those writers dii not become pinch without adequate reflection and preparati . 10 event, no incident of any kind, of the least interest or im often's., now occurs iu any branch of literature, seietiee, 'willies, or in the ordinary course even of domestic life, hut ten thousand pens are instantly set in motion ghoul taneously tier the press, whose swarthy unseen battalions arc forthwith at work to submit these hasty lueubrations to the public. Yet it cannot be denied that the current of our periodical literature, r g alike through daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly channels, nmst appear. upon the whole, to even a captious, if a eompetent, 'Timor, highly creditable to an aceomplished age. I can Must colll4eleli tiommly express my belief, that for a long t• nu periislical of note has been entablished in this country which has not disclosed the desire of its eimiluctors to fit it, tor the pur. pose of i.. iseent recreation and information, to mailers of both sexes, and of all ages and classes. It is a tact, how ever, stated with concern and reluctance, that there is a poisonous growth of libertine literature—if the last word Is' not indeed libelled by such a liNv of it—designed for the lowest classes of society ; supplied, moreover, to an extent scarcely equal to the demand for it, and which exists to an extent unfortunately little suspected. I know not how this dreadful evil is to be encountered, except by ralOriling every possible eneourageinent, from every quarter, to the dissemination, in the cheapest practical form, of wholesome and engaging literature. If poison be cheap, let its antidote be cheaper. The absence of original poetry of the high est class in this age of mental activity is one of the most striking facts of the time. We have heard it often accounted 14 by the ex treme precipitation of intellect upon the sciences, which appears already to exceed even the in tensely limiteil aspirations of at 1)r. Lyon Play bill.. and other conjumn of this description. Amidst the startling revelations made in the world of matter it is asserted that the human mind satiates its appetite for the grand and the stupendous ; the real in the passing time looks more strange and beautiful than the ideal sung of by the Muse. For °uncles, we would not affirm the truth of that position. In Italy, France, Germany, and England, the greatest poets and philosophers ( with some ex ceptions) have been contemporaries. The age of Elizabeth had its Sluikspeare and Bacon. At biter periods Milton was soaring in poesy, while Newton was exploring the infinite ; Dry den was writing his nervous English verse, while Locke was diving into the depths of the understanding. So also is the age that has p asse d away. Byron, Scott, and Shelley were the contemporaries of Davy, Wollaston, and Watt. At the beginning of the present cen tury, indeed, there was an extraordinary fecundity of poetical genius, Wordsworth, Cole ridge, Moore, and Crabbe addressing the public, along with the three poets previously named ; and lately there has been a pause in the growth of poetry, in spite of some galvanic efforts on the part of the imitators of Shelley and Keats. But all subjects connected with the manifestation of genius are ex ceptional. The appearance of original in tellects cannot he predicted like thatof comets. Who can tell but that, after this excessive blaze of scientific luminaries that dazzle us at pre sent., a transient adumbration may not occur amongst the philosophers, similar to what ap pears to have taken place amongst the poets ? We wish that our space enabled us to extract some of the graver passages in which Mr. War ren powerfully combats the assailant of reve lation. Ms remarks on prose fiction are specially deserving of notice, coming from one who has excelled in that department of letters. But tOr these, and many other valuable pas sages. we must refer our readers to the essay itself. Its union of reverent spirit and critical power renders it well qualified to correct the flippancy of careless observers and hull-seta cated reasoners. With further revision, and by the addition of illustrative extracts, it might be enlarged into a valuable volume. SATURDAY, The Row. By the Author of " History of a Flirt." " ItEcou.r.er," said a veteran publisher of fic tion, " that novels must be written to ladies. For one gentleman that reads a novel there are at least four of the fair sex." Such were amongst the hints given by one of the tnule to a literary man looking for " practical" infer. 'nation in the art of novel-writing. The ad• vice was curious, but possibly erroneous. We have lately re►ul returns from the popular literary institutions in some of our great northern towns, and it appears that works of fiction are the 11108 t favourite books with genend readers. There may, however, be par. tial truth in the statement that the fair sex are the great consumers of novels. Though good 114.tion is as eagerly rout by men, yet it is certain that second-rate novels find readers amongst women more easily than amongst their more actively-engaged husbands mid brothers. " The Roses " is a novel " written to ladies," in which every chapter bears witness to the feminine character of the authorship. Grace ful in style, and conventional in its views of life, it has many pleasing and not many thrilling passages. It is now many years since the authoress came before the public ; and, reeol leeting the merits of her " History of a Flirt," we confess that we expected more from her present venture. The very first passage raised our expectations. " The Roses " thus be gins : An admirable authoress says, " There is no disposition of the human heart that atliirds such exquisite pleasure or pain as that we term ' delicacy.' It is the polish of the mind soiled by the least breath and infected by the slightest touch." Bow true is this, and how severe are its teachings during the process of early life ! That powerful enthusi asm which leads us to hope all things, and the strong susceptibility which induces us to fear all things, harass and disquiet the soul, till experience has seared it to the level of more common but far happier minds. Communi cat' with the world wan disperses enthusiasm, but it is fearful sufliTing :—events crowding on—incidents multi plving—pain and pleasure crossing and recrossing each other ritpidly. force the mind to stand at bay, and gaze undismayed upon changes, which cease to alarm because their frequency renders them familiar. Slowly and pain fully we discover that all is vanity and vexation of spirit : enthusiasm sinks into simple endurance, and life becomes a 111101/1 of facts. Painfully true ; but our - fair moralist does not sufficiently dwell on the theme. We admit that when life becomes " a mass of facts" its inspi►ation, so to speak, has passed away, and existence has become mechanical. But how many are there who retain . freshness of feelings to the very last, and who never seem wearied on their pilgrimage! Sentimentalisut will not preserve that genial state of the soul which is happiness of the best kind. There must be high hopes and rational aims; but let the authoress speak : Now needfid it is that every female heart should be rightly trained and fitted for its wrestling with the world's Can's. It is in vain to breast. the storms of life, armed only with the panoply of a delicate shrinking nature, which is torn into shreds at the first onset. Parental rare too often throws a veil over the pictures of gay life, lest its dark colouring should disgust the admiring inquiring gaze of the youthful neophyte ; and in too many cases the concealed panorama of futurity leads to broken hopes, broken spirits, and broken reputation. There needs a deep, a solid, f laths' for woman's peace IK•fine they rush into life with absurd and unfounded hopes, and be come wounded in useless and exhausting struggles. With this prelude we thought that we were going to be treated to a deeply-pathetic story, displaying moral character triumphant over the ills of life. " The Roses," however, must be described as commonplace, without passion and without originality. Its title suggests historical recollections, but it has nothing to do with "York" or "Lancaster." Our "roses ' arc a certain " white " and "red " one that have grown at Clifton, near Bristol, and at the foot of Snowdon ; and along with these is a certain " wild rose," otherwise Betsy Davis. Now, we dislike this nicknaming of ladies, even in a novel. In reality, nothing can now he more trite than to rebaptisc girls with the appellations of "lilies,' "violets," or "roses." We have heard it said, also, that young ladies so christened are sure to become old maids. which would be an excellent reason, even it good taste were silent, against the practice being allowed. In the days of Squire Western, and even later, the custom was Wended, but