Literary Notes [pp. 595-596]

LI7TERA-RY NOTEES.
scenic illusion. A group of real figures against
a background of painted figures has always
been considered an error in art; but in the
scene at Booth's this arrangement is so artis tically and skilfully managed that the effect,
usually in such cases incongruous and absurd,
is produced with entire unity and marvellous
suggestion of number and extent. This scene,
so lofty, so spacious, so animated, so full of
life and motion, so splendid in sumptuous con trast of color, is a triumph of what may be
called the scenic-historic art. So long as the
stage can reproduce historic periods with such
marvellous completeness of effect and illusion,
the lovers of spectacle have a triumphant ar gument in defence of the art. But in this
very scene, so admirably conceived and exe cuted, is one of the best situations of the un happy queen; and the lover of the drama is
mortified to find a Shakespearian scene pre sented with so much care in all its accessories,
but acted with so little knowledge. There
should be an actress on the stage capable of
giving Hermione's noble and eloquent appeal
with its due effect. It is unworthy of Shake speare, unworthy of true art, unworthy of
the management, that the setting of the scene
should have been more considered than the
intrinsic situation itself. The defect of the
acting is more apparent here than elsewhere.
All the scenes of the play are, pictorially considered, very beautiful; good taste, careful
study, large knowledge, are apparent throughout. We are only prevented from hailing its
production with admiration by the fact that
the balance of things has not been well preserved, and that-which seems almost inevitable in these revivals-the scenes, characters,
passion, and poetry of the play have been
too much subordinated to what should be
purely accessory.
The importance of manners has a
different measure with every grade of culture.
The line between what is essential to good
breeding and what is merely conventional is
drawn by different persons on a different
plane, so that what one assumes to be a mark
of culture, is by another derided as an overrefinement. But are not over-refinements
better than under-refinements? Is it not better to carry punctiliousness a little too far than
continually to be sinning against those minor
morals on which the pleasure of intercourse
so much depends? In America there is so
much general neglect of the nicer qualities
of breeding, that those who set punctilious
examples ought to be looked upon as public
benefactors. But, in order that these mentors should be studied and followed, it is
necessary to arouse in the public mind a
better appreciation of good-breeding. In the
United States, that quality of character expressed by the Yankee word clever, is always
popular. lood-natured men and women are
so heartily liked, that amiability is continually
mistaken for good-breeding. A fellow that
means well is at once assumed to have graduated in the school of manners; his cheerful
or accommodating spirit covers a multitude
of sins, and he is at once elected to the rank
of a gentleman. Such a person may be untidy in person, inelegant in speech, familiar in
discourse; he may spit upon the carpet, carry
his hands in his pockets, eat with his knife, and
be guilty of numerous offensive habits-these,
according to the ideas of the multitude, are
venial offences, if offences at all, provided the
person has a kindly disposition. But kindli ness, while a great virtue, is not sufficient for
the intercourse of society. Training is neces sary'to repress and art to express. A good natured fellow may cover one with his tobacco saliva, and this is not apt to establish good nature in the bosom of his victim. A good natured fellow may sit before you eating,
and so bury his knife to the handle every
time he carries a morsel to his mouth that,
in nervous dread, your own capacity for eating
is destroyed. An amiable fellow may so
persistently masticate his toothpick while he
is talking with you, that you would willingly
accept a little acid in his composition in ex change for this unpleasant habit. Just as in
greater morals, more mischief arises from
heedlessness than from malice, so in manners,
more annoyance springs from the carelessness
of well-meaning people than from the rude ness of boors. Absolute, intentional rudeness
is so rare that it is hardly necessary to de nounce it. Social annoyances spring almost
altogether from the ignorance or inattention
of worthy people; and hence it would seem that
the real bar to a better culture is good-nature,
which, by prompting to the excuse of bad
manners, prevents their reform.
A gentleman, well acquainted with
New York a third of a century ago, but who
now resides at a distance from the city, told
us, during a recent call at our office, that he
well remembered Louis Napoleon when he
was here, an exile, in 1837 or thereabout. " I
remember," said he, "seeing Fitz-Greene Halleck and the'nephew of his uncle' taking
Bluepoint oysters together, one cold November morning, at Florence's half-shell counter,
corner of Park Place and Broadway; and,
young and healthful as I was, I envied the
imperial exile his splendid appetite, and the
cordial manner with which he scraped acquaintance with those illustrious bivalveghereditary descendants of the'first families'
in their luscious kind. I doubt very much
whether the poor deposed emperor enjoys his
lunches or his imperial wines now as he did
then. But, if his pictures do him any justice
now, he must look a great deal better than he
did at that time. His aspect was uncomely;
his dress, not only careless, but untasteful;
his features, certainly not disfigured by expression of any kind; and his eyes, especially, as lack-lustre as a boiled fish's."
Speaking of Garibaldi, our friend said: "I
met him on different occasions, two or three
times. When he was keeping his soap-andcandle manufactory on Staten Island, and resided there, he used to spend his Sundays
with Italian friends, most of whom were
prominent musical artists in the Italian Opera, at Hastings-on-the-Hudson. A friend, living at Dobb's Ferry-an accomplished student
and enthusiastic lover of Italian literatureentertained him at dinner; and I met him
once or twice at his table. He was a finelyformed man, self-possessed, with a face of
striking intelligence, and great modesty of
manner. He was well versed in the works of
Italy's great authors, and discussed them with
my friend in excellent English —very quiet,
unconsequential, speaking from a full mind
when he did speak, and saying nothing when
he could not."
R. HENRY SUMMER MAINE, wholse
work on " Ancient Law" marked an
epoch in the history of jurisprudence, has ie cently published a collection of six lectures,
delivered last autumn, intended as an introduc tion to a larger course on the subject of
" Village Communities in the East and West."
The main subject of the work is " an expan sion of a theme distinctly enunciated in the
'Ancient Law,' but now strengthened by a
more intimate acquaintance with the village communities of India-namely, the origin of
private property. Thle historical value of the
discussion rests on an assumption that ought
to be distinctly stated, although it is one that
can hardly be denied by any one who is fa miliar with Professor Maine's former book; it
is to infer the ancient form of an existing in stitution, not only from historical records, but
from analogous examples still to be found in
the world. Such a method rests upon the
uniformity of social phenomena, and the belief
that the higher forms have grown out of the
lower, instead of supposing that the lower are
a departure from the higher. The speculations
of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and the other
partisans of the theory that society was based
originally on contract, and by the willing submission of independent units to a central authority, in order to escape the perils of anarchy,
were consistently applied by them to the origin of property. Individual and absolute
ownership was considered the original and
primitive form of. property. Professor Maine
contested that view in his'Ancient Law,' and
the present work is a more ample and developed confirmation of his own theory. He holds
that property was originally held in common,
and the stages by which it passed into individual ownership form one of the most instructive studies in legal history. The interest of
the question turns chiefly upon the ownership
of land; for, until modern times, other kinds
of property were of far less importance. In
agricultural communities, such as those of India, and the ancient Germans and Scandinavians, there is little to quarrel over except the
land. It appears, then, that we must go to the
village-communities to ascertain the ancient
ideas on the holding of property in land. On
this subject, Professor Maine quotes the results of Von Maurer's investigation into the
remnants of communistic usages in England
and the Teutonic nations, and compares them
with the facts he has been able to ascertain in
regard to the village-communities in India."
Messrs. Mills & Co., of Des Moines, Iowa,
have published in two large and handsome volumes the " Report on the Geological Survey of
the State of Iowa to the Thirteenth General
Assembly, January, 1870, containing Resu_ts
of Examinations and Observations made within the Years 1866, 1867, 1868, and 1869, by
Charles A. White, M. D." This valuable and
almost exhaustive work divides its theme into
several divisions, consisting, first, of a brief
history of geological labors previously performed in Iowa; second, descriptions of the
boundaries and area of the State, its general
topography, drainage, character of its rivers
and lakes; third, the general geology of the
State; fourth, county and regional geology, in
which the resources of various sections are
fully and minutely given; fifth, embracing an
1871.]
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