The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-13 00:00:00

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

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may have been its origin, a fixed article of reli-
gious faith. He gives the annexed sketch of

THE FOUNDER OF MtTRIDISM.

Moollah Mohammed was a man of an imposing ap-
pearance, tall and thin, with noble, dark and expressive
features, a lustrous black eye, though quite blind, from
long night study and watching, white hair, and a short
white beard. His mild and cheerful features, yet marked
by severe mental toil, indicated the learned Moollah, who
was also distinguished by the green turban, with its wide
blue over-garment. Never had blood stained his hands ;
his life was pure, hardly could sinful thoughts be imagined
to have entered his mind. The views which the Mosque
commanded over the broad green forests of Daghestan,
bounded on the far horizon by the blue waves of the
Caspian, early impressed on his youthful mind, had in
manhood, after he became blind, remained deeply graven
on his soul,—the outward world to him,—associated with
every thought of himself and of those attached to him.
He spent his life in religious observances, and in the
study of the holy hooks, which he expounded to his
disciples. And this pious, gentle, peaceable old man,
who appeared scarcely to be connected with the earth but
by the breath of life,—whose gentle voice was scarce
audible in perfect silence,—this man preached the uprising
of the people like one man,—preached a bloody and
relentless war, and ardent, inextinguishable hate ! His
trembling guiltless hands blessed the arms which he sent
forth to shed torrents of blood.

He treats his readers also with a lively history
of the progress of that great national movement
which owes its origin to the impulsive eloquence
of him whose portrait has been thus graphically
sketched. We must conclude our extracts from
this interesting work by the following

subject of an elaborate rather than an able
essay. The " Noctes" themselves, in their serial
issue, were wont to excite a marked sensation,
not merely in the Scottish capital, where they
were thoroughly understood and lavishly admired,
but also in lands beyond the border, in the sunny
south, and in districts far beyond our " sea-girt
isle ;" and now their republication is the signal
for a wonderment as large, an opinion as diversi-
fied as they encounterd in their birth. The con-
flicting opinions uttered respecting these won-
derful effusions are the most conclusive, as they
are certainly not the least singular testimonials of
their merits. One critic finds them loose in style,
another coarse ; a gingerly compounder of inof-
fensive literary confectionary pronounces them
decidedly vulgar, and denounces them as harsh ;
another concocter of dulcet adulation confesses he
is unable to understand the " doric" in which a
vast proportion of their beauties is enunciated ;
but all concur in attributing to them great power
in the use of the

" wit, and words, and worth,
Action and utterance, and the power of speech
To stir men's blood."

In the critique before us, we have one more to
add to the thousand and one portraits of Wilson,
the terror of charlatans, the champion and the
shield of genius. The portrait is not given with
familiar fidelity as to either the mental or the
physical man, but there is a dash of truth and
general vraisemblance in the following likeness of

[Nov-EmBER 13, 180

tion. In the present number of this serieq
Composition, she has arrived at the very eOni...oP
cated matter of "beauty ;'.' and this she 700,
in a manner entirely her own. Instead of
'no,
way to ensird.
fining her observations in any
sition, the subject she professes.to be meal
she wanders very cursorily. over the general belt
and descants with wonderful superficiality a ,
many sorts of beauty, giving exceedin9..., eve,
tinct ideas of her meaning. One object,-h°11,5 to
she has had. evidently in view, and that,_',o
show herself off as an, important and cam„:ti
censor of morals. To this end she eatersbei
singularly, upon a criticism on what. 5.00
pleased to call an " obnoxious style" in_;P.slforoil
and sculpture—the " nude style 6Y
her readers it is a continental style,idlie7rt
013 , the Polo
says, "-there is an evident desire
many British artists to render more jailla
the eye and mind of the community: .`'tlne
is done obviously for-the purpose repot, id
letter which she had the temerity. to.wrlrOte
the worse taste to publish, addressed tn.':„' ss
Mr; Patric Park, an artist of distioetlol7ol
great promise, who died suddenly,. a- In, of tYsj
two ago, at Warrington. The subj.Fa'oatioar
letter is a colossal group, designed for.* 000
tribute by the Scottish people in raera.ori
coif
hero, the great Wallace. Having. first be"
insinuated that she never SSAV the grouPAittY
she was " informed by judges of taste,osfr
subject was unfit, eithter for male or f,e.ot
servation," she proceeds, as she snr, I,‘
of gentle raillery," to lecture poor Vr7pys
mistaken notions. "You are wrong' re of.„i
" if you deem that the absolute Orbestity,ov
human form displays to advantage lobby PIP."
symmetry." Perhaps Mrs. TW 100
the " display of beauty and slal,_°,„,e ;Of:
arrayed in the graces borrowed 11sNature
Mantalini, to those bestowed by de 9
she is entitled to enjoy her prefereore'.og
duP
nap, disputandwn. Her false reas°4.l/1,,-te
surd conclusions,_ being addressed 7 the
ui
P;l9
may have a tendency to perpetut,ge
ehievous bent of judgment, and it beeo..pwsof
expose it. She tells us that "the shard till
nesss came into the world by the w'"l $ 111;t0
man." Granted; but here it was, snm.leferea Of
sense implanted in the individual iv' .ociPlieeejo
himself. It is not excited as a rifiCits
action by the appearance of other
spite
the shame of nakedness, and provides tsitvj
exhibition in himself; but no one 01109
to share in such a feeling. It is one °,..t /go
liar attributes of genuine art to stiggrP sokrol
in any degree associated with grosani_eadAt:'
Ponsonby has no £loubt read, in uu-liveri6o
authority, that " to the pure all things holit 0
She leads her readers to infer, althongsp Oily/
not say so, that she never saw the glip tt
severely censures. We have the Ova° Ate
there ; we have seen it ; and howeverm ofPlos
may be to differ in opinion from a la
tation, we do not share in her opini°ll,4",;l'
" unfit either for male or female ou" 00 bit)
It was a group of high artistic beantl,:eepit'ta
rurient, indeed, must that mind have "00
could associate with its beauties any
" the interests of morality and religi°l:l,,:ooll4,l'
The interests of both are more sei,'",forto
perilled in that teaching which leadstPiiisiioto
either sex to detect imaotiary inseio-aid?
overlook real beauties. "%ir," said is "raverli
school of morals to Dr. Johnson, " too ,tP
to see that you have admitted no inll9';oliettil
into your dictionary." Madam," 4'4' so soy
uncourtly sage and moralist, " anlY,el'hef)
.see you have been looking for then.' der "tilt
ject under discussion is one which, 00
nary circumstances, would not have be'