The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 23, 1858.

1042

produces a compound more stimulating than
wholesome. " Literature's gin-palaces," to use a
phrase of Landor's, are hardly the places in
which to finish an evening spent in the society
of Laplace or Herschel. This, it may be said,
is at variance with Lord Brougham's assertion
that the popular publications of the day are
invariably harmless. Well, we do not mean to
say that they do positive harm, but we are cer-
tainly indisposed to accept the verdict of unmixed
approval which he passed upon them. Of what
do these publications consist ? They contain in
each number one or two stories, complete or con-
tinuous; a little scientific information, a few
receipts, and a great variety of " answers to cor-
respondents." The principal papers with which
we are acquainted arc the London Journal, the
Family Herald, Cassell's Illustrated Family
Paper, the Guide, and Reynolds's Miscellany.*
Some are milder affairs than the others, and the
last-named is rather a full-flavoured production ;
but there is a strong likeness running through all.
and the subscribers appear to belong to the same
class in each. That the novels which appear in
them are of a melodramatic type, and, to use
Lord Brougham's expression, so "far removed
from common observation " as to present no
resemblance to real life at all ; that virtue is
uniformly rewarded by wealth, and generally by
a place in the Peerage ; and that no character
ever occurs displaying the slightest original;ty of
conception, or skilfulness in development,—are
matters of such common notoriety that it is
hardly worth while to mention them. That the
facetia, and short stories are not uncommonly
derived from American sources, are full of
American slang, and redolent of the most offen-
sive qualities of Transatlantic vulgarity, and that
the only portions of the papers which show any
signs of accurate information or goodness of style
are free plagiarisms from the Times, the Atheneum,
or some similar source,t has perhaps not been so
generally noticed. The replies to correspondents
are amusing enough, but in our opinion they do
not evince all the progress in character which
Lord Brougham seems to fancy has been made
by the class to which they relate. We have
taken pains to classify some of the topics on
which information is in most general request, and
they do not appear to us very encouraging.
About forty per cent. of the queries relate to the
subjects of love and marriage, and the tone of
mind they betray makes one fancy that the
readers of the journals in question are pretty
nearly co-extensive with the class who give occa-
sional employment to practitioners like Sergeant
Buzfuz, and obtain such heavy damages from in-
dignant jurymen with marriageable daughters of
their own. About twenty per cent. more may
be set down to inquiries regarding purely per-
sonal matters, such :is dress, etiquette, and, above
all, cosmetics. The purveyors of depilatories,
materials for home-made pomatum, and leaden
combs for modifying hair of too pronounced an
auburn, must owe to this source a great deve-
lopment of their trade. About eight or ten per
cent. relate to aspirations to the honour of ap-
pearing in the journal, which hopes arc for the
most part rudely quenched, generally on ac-
count of mistakes in spelling or want of scansion
in verses, the rejections being occasionally vindi-
cated by the verbatim extract of a verse from
the unhappy culprit's MS. The remaining per-
centage may be pretty equally divided between
answers on science and self-education, and
desultory information on law, medicine, bio-
graphy, history, and geography. The correspon-
dents usually adopt some name from the romance
in progress ; the ladies describe their hair, teeth,
eyes, and stature, and the gentlemen fall in love
with them from their own portraiture; but in-
troductions are refused, and we do not gather
that the courtship ever gets any further. Some
editors are, certainly, more discreet than others.
Mr. Cassell receives a question as to the manu-
facture of certain explosive compounds, which he
very properly declines to answer but Mr. Rey-

• We have not included the Welcome Guest in this catalogue,
because that paper seems to us to stand on au entirely different
footing. Its wit and originality, and the piquancy with which
it is maintained, would do honour to ft magazine of much
greater pretension . The answers to correspondents, bemides
being often extremely witty, are conceived in a healthy spirit,
entire'', different from the vapid encouragement of amatory
twaddle which the other papers of its class display, We fear it
is ion late for such a publication to have all the influence it
might once have exercised ; but we wish it every success, and
we hope that Its toile may iu time teud to modify that of its
rival., and their subscribers.

+ We in one case observed a long story taken verbatim from
a then recent number of the Dublin University Magazine.

nolds, in reply to a similar thirst for information,
furnishes half a column of :small type on the
subject. We earnestly pray that his pupil may
be miles away from us on the fifth of next month.
Lord Brougham, referring apparently to a recent
article in Blackwood, denied the assertion that the
stories in these publications dealt with the fortunes
of a higher class than that to which their readers
belong. On this point we consider that Black-
wood is, on the whole, in the right, and his lord-
ship in the wrong. These novels may possibly
concern themselves with the vicissitudes of humble
life, but, with few exceptions, they do so only as
a preparation for the emergence of their hero
or heroine into a higher sphere. The vice of
tufthunting pervades this section of English so-
ciety as it does others ; the stories resemble
" Pamela " rather than "Mary Barton:'
We willingly grant that all these publications
are " harmless " in a certain sense—that is, that
they contain little or nothing to inflame the pas-
sions, or tending to the subversion of political order.
But, as really good novels are among the best
books that can be read, so bad ones, by giving
false or disproportionate views of life and fos-
tering what is vulgar and commonplace in thought
and sentiment, are among the worst. If a gen-
tleman would not wish his own sons and daughters
to batten on this kind of literature, we cannot
understand his viewing with complacency the
fact of his poorer neighbours being exclusively
nurtured on it. The fact to which we have
drawn attention, that nearly three-quarters of
the correspondents' inquiries relate to matters
purely of personal vanity, is surely not a very
hopeful symptom as to the moral advancement of
the class to which they belong. It is better, no
doubt, to read something (if not absolutely per-
nicious) than to leave the mind in utter vacancy.
And we may observe every day that the people
who abjure novels are generally of a most dull
and uninteresting kind,—with whom it is impos-
sible to " get on" in any way. But novel-
reading we take to be, not the cause of conver-
sibleness, but the test of it ; not a practice by
which a dull person may be made interesting,
but a mark which, in most cases, is a sign of some
sort of geniality and expansiveness of mind. And
if this is the case,—if a fondness for fiction is the
sign of a native habit of thought and feeling in
which there is some sympathy and promise,—if
the imagination shines through and distinguishes
ever so little the vessels of finer clay,

himself. The present two volumes might alnio,t
be entitled "A History of Prussia to the Acces.
sion of Frederick the Great." At least the
biography of Friedrich Wilhelm contained in
them is quite as minute, if we consider the
tranquillity of his rein, as the biography or
Friedrich when it as completed, can he. It
is plain that the character of Friedrich Wilhelm
is so fascinating to Mr. Carlyle that he finds it
difficult to tear himself away from it. Nor can
we regret that he has described him so minutely.
Few historical characters are intrinsically more
worthy of study. But it would have been a,
well to inform the public that they were to expect
a history of two kings and not of one only.
With this not very important criticism we pro-
ceed to present our readers with one of the most
favourable specimens we can find of Mr. Carlyle'.
narrative. We must premise that the Schlubhut
mentioned is a member of the Kriegs-und
Domanen-Kammer, who, having been guilty of
peculation, was condemned by the criminal
court to imprisonment merely, in considera-
tion of his rank, but was hanged by the in-
exorable justice of Friedrich Wilhelm :

One morning early (might be before Schlubhut was
1)&40, and while only sentence of imprisonment and
restitution lay on him ), General Graf von Diiohof, Colonel
of a Musketeer Regiment, favourite old soldier,—who did
vote on the mild side in that Court-Martial on the Crown
Prince lately; but I hope has been forgiven by his Maje,tr,
being much esteemed by him these long years peat; this
Diinhof, early one morning, calls upon the King, with a
grimly lamenting air. " \Viva is wrong, Herr General ?"
" Your Majesty, my best musketeer, an excellent soldier
and of good incites, fell into a mistake lately,—had
company getting round the poor fellow ; they, be among
them, slipt into • house and stole something; trifle std
without violence ; pay is but three halfpence, your Majesty,
and the Devil tempts men ! Well the Criminal-Cullegiurn
have condemned him to be banged. an excellent soldier
and of good inches, for that one fault. Nobleman &dilute
hut was to make restitution they decreed : that was their
decree on Schlubhut, one of their own set ; and this poor
soldier, six feet three, your Majesty, is to dance on the top
of nothing for a three-halfpenny matter!" So would
Donhof represent the thing,—" Fact being," says my
Dryastiust, "it was a case of housebreaking with theft to
the value of 0,00(1 thalero, and this musketeer the ring-
leader ! " Well, but was Seblubhut sentenced to banging?
Do you keep two weights and two measures in that
Criminal-Collegium of yours then ?
Friedrich Wilhelm feels this sad contrast very much:
the more as the soldier is his own chattel withal, and
superlative inches: Friedrich Wilhelm flames into wrath,
sends off swift messengers to bring these Judges, one and
all, instantly into his presence. The Judges are still iu
their dressing-gowns, shaving, breakfasting; thej make
what haste they can. So soon as the first three or four
are reported to be in the ante room, Friedrien Wilhelm,
in extreme impatience, has them called in ; starts dis:
coursing with them upon the two weights and measures.
Apologies, subterfuges, do but provoke him further; it is
not long till he starts up, growling terribly: " !hr
Schurken" (ye scoundrels), " how could you ?" and smuts
down upon the crowns of them with the Royal Cudgel
itself. Fancy the hurry-scurry, the unforensic attitudes
and pleadings ! Royal Cudgel rains blows, right and left;
blood is drawn, crowns cracked, crowns nearly broken;
and " several Judges lost a few teeth and had their noses
battered " before they could get out. The secend relay
meeting theta in this dilapidated state, on the staircases,
dashed home again without the honour of a royal interview.
Let them learn to keep one balance and one set of weights,
in their Law-Court henceforth.—This is an actual scene,.
of date Berlin 17:31 or thereby; unusual in the annals ut
Theinis. Of which no constitutional country can hope. to
see the fellow, were the need never so pressing. 1 lush
his Majesty had been a thought more equal, when he nit'
so rhadamanthine ! Schlubhut be banged, Scblubluttbeing
only Sehlabbut's chattel ; this musketeer, his MoleslY s
own chattel, be did not hang, but set him shouldering
arms again, after some preliminary dusting.
- •

It is certainly amusing to find an inexorable
Rhadamanthus committing precisely the same
injustice, and in the very same case, for which
he applies the 1r5,a43,:070., A•ix7;cv so liberally to
the backs of his law officers. Clearer heads than
Friedrich Wilhelm's, however, have fallen into
the error of supposing that there is a certain
justice in favouring the poor.
Friedrich Wilhelm, as we have said, is an
extraordinary favourite with Mr. Carlyle. Pre-
vious writers have described him as merely a
violent madman, and their account, as far as it
goes, is probably true enough. But lie was
much more than this, and in our opinion Mr.
Carlyle, whose passion for strongly-marked cha-
racters is so unbounded and his confidence in his
own insight into character so firm that a good
percentage ought, we think, to be deducted from
most of his portraitures, has in this case not
wasted his subtlety. Friedrich Wilhelm is in-
deed an extraordinary study, and had qualities
more remarkable and much more admirable than
either his violence or his madness. A fascinating