The Press. — London, England, 1853-10-08 00:00:00

OrToBEn 8, 1853. Colt on Rev()lring:Chanther-breeelt Firri n •mA. London : Clowes and Sons. AmEtticANs generally are smart men, and Colonel Colt is one of the smartest lint. if he imagines that we will accept and endorse the testimonies of any third parties to the merits of his rotatory engine*, his transatbuitic experience of the responsibilities of editors has been th►own away upon him. If Colonel Crockett eoulA grin a racoon out of a tree. we are not amenable to a similar fascination. and shall not there. fore. as ►ev'iewers, undertake to pronounce an opinion until tho subject to he reviewed 114 fairly before us. We may make in Colonel Colt's eyes an ingenuous admission, hut we are conscious of what is due to ourselves and the path.. PERIODICALS FOR OCTOBER. THE present number of the llextminAter Smtains its wertitly-acquired reputation. We ealllltet be s up. posed to agree with its animus or accept its conclu sions ; but we can fairly say that it does, on behalf of the views it advocates. maintain them with consistent vigour and ability. The articles on " Religion in ltaly," "The Hook of .lob," the " l'niversal Postu late," and the "School Claims of Languages, Ancient and Modern," not only deserve anent' , but. in some respects, require an answer ; and the Quarterlies on our side of these questions are not performing their huh-dons if they do not habitually furnish an equivalent. We can fully admit the advantage possessed by the Westminster in its aggressive. atti tude, but this does not justify the apparently deliberate avoidance of such bellies by those no our side who have leisure to treat them elaborately. We should be sorry, even for the interests of literature, to See our Quarterlies relapse into the position of plethoric magazines, yet such has been their tendeney of late, in spite Of occasional articles of exceptional value. As respects the graver interests which are at stake., av oecasion Oeellll4 we may justify this inculpation, but for the present our business is solely with the Westinin'ter. Some of its articles, as, for instance, the second in the present number, on " The ' , rl g r... or its .‘11," tlisaippeeint its the eMI• elides) of an admirable eolleeillhlll,lolt thee ideal at which they aim is appropriately elevated. The article 4111 " t.ennau Mysticism in the Seventeenth Century " is interesting and informing on IL MeOlitlite su b ject. "'Tale I . l*.e„ . TeSS of ltllssia 4.011116 w; many ob.e'n'a thins which are reasonable. Ext.mpli gratill take the following : '• Let 8 IN . :0111114 . 1* take What theory he pleas•% an to the causes, the fads and 'node of Russian enemas . ' •out are studs, that even the suareasiming multitude may justly ise excited to attention, and limy call upost their rulem for a toted change of prc•eeding. 'llse growth of a great inland royalty into all empire over neighlo►uring foreigners by direct War and essuiptest is an alarming lout an intelligible phensallelans. ICill . ll it assumes te a • same old•titshiossed shape as that of the Ottoman power three 114 . 114111'1e.. all are forenamed I lill'illlllll4l hilt sac s lL Lower neh•d only 41'0111 Wi4110114 : its piiiiii4/11 Mari that of pun• hostility, and it was met by the ut••••:ti elllll - of all continental Christendom. let the dangers foau it acre esomparatively stspersicial. No Ottoman ovisloassadors resided in the cities of Christendom : mo Isthmian !runic: were formed ill the 1111A111114 . 1itN aid eabiln•l4 : 110 44444111811 il1ti•1111a11 • Iagt • % VI1111111;14 .4 1 11111' dynasties, 11o1 • N 1 1 ,4 4 Ittelllsll gold lavished ill diplomacy, or on the Christian press. Much less could the linssislomo make his e 00000 west.. by 661 of Christian allies. II a . Ilia lust trliSt his own I'lu•ist . ian soilticels ill leis armies, and hail 1111 aetive ahl, eset•pt occasionally from injured refuges's. N.l groat Christian governments With provinces *monied kingdom's to 111111 by thoir anus or theirtlipl 1111 l acy. 1 is all these points lies the formidable nature• of the I%ovt•r. tiiner Peter the I irt•at, her frontier has advataresi by many hundred tulles its the direction of I.erlin. Vienna, 1111111 but her r 11111Iger0114 1,5401 ix exerted a•' is these capitals and their provinces, 1111111111011 more distant VIII011141S. " WO Will not undertake to say the following is correct, but it is not improbable:— " larssin sucet•ssfnlly strove to procure the rutting 44 Lord Stiatt ord as aml,:u:srubn• to l'oonstrutt int Tie, lmvattr.ii his tentioerament is exactly what suits her there,—viz., ho is honestly anti-ntissiont in desires, and will um.•• be charged with collusion: y. 4 he i, ,441 ael s me that be %till always cheek that enthusiasm of the 'nooks which is tiso oily thing feared by Russia. lier mode of displaying an a mbassador is, by- making it helievosl that he is her tiieu i : her mode of securing that f.orol Stratton! should return was by affecting joy that she ball rid of him." Tiik article is prife , o4e4lly a review of a recent wink by Mr. David Ursinlnut The Church of England (puu•frrly Review has tlio advantage of a well-known and well-delined charac ter. It is devoted chiefly to the iliseinision of ques tions of divinity, its tone being so measured conciliate unity. and please those Churchmen of moderate views who are more anxious to steeKilien and defend the essential principles of their faith, than to promote any peculiar and, by comparison unimportant doctrines. There k much soli,l argu- THE PRESS. molt in the two tirst articles, and particularly, as it strikes us, in that One on the gnesti„n--•• Why th e Papacy has so t 'u t• Succeeded ?" notice of Ulrich ►on Mitten might have been made more generally attractive by metrical translations of sow Of Ili% 1)0 , 1 Verses. We demur to the extravagant praise awarded to 31r. Atherstone's tWO-Veltunti 011 the •• Fall of Nine% oh." '• Ere many years have passed, the • Fall of Nineveh ' will be tinted in every library, side by side with the • Iliad' and the • Paradise Lost.'" •• I low many compositions during the last :WOO years have 14141 placed beside the • MO.' though it still stands alone, and how often has Milton, in the judgment of small critics, been rivalled by poets who art. now mute and inglorious enough?" Another purely literary paper ably reviews Mr. Palliser's •• limiter in the I'l•wries." •• Alchemy and Gold" is curiously eompomided of the eMbris made in the middle ages to transmute metals, and of the gold diseM cries in our day.---subjeets, we must say, which have little eontiection, e\eept in the re • viewer's mind. The other artieles discuss ►arious topics of divinity with temper and intelligence. (lt•tt old friend Macktrood eschews polities this mouth. 'rho number contmcnces with n lengthy review of -I'nele Tom's Cabin," with numerous extracts front that n►►w not very nowt fiction, an►l elaborate criticism on its plot and chanwters. This is rather slow work in our railway nge, more espe cull• as the conclusion of the reviewer is nothing more than—" Ile it known a century hence. Hamlet Ilmselter St i awe, that we are aslouned of neither your self nor our reception of your book." In this number the " Widowhood of Lady Lee" is brought tat a con e lusion, and with it of course the story. We must defer our opinion of its merits mail it conics itt`fore etAlt`eteti shape. Olin( Slllllll paper ou " New Readings in Shakespeare " settles accounts with the "old corrector" or lir. Collier's folio. Only two " really valuable and original emendations" are placed to his credit against a host of blunders:— "'This, then. is 411 that we el twin after winn o wing thi s 0141 sal ' elements criticism,' rilpechible emen dations out of oceaty ihaa.moi ilia• at that figure Mr. e ea leahites them) Mumbling anemias, 311 sir Shirk \c4.l§l those tau, uud a Wry few others, hit the nail straight upon the point, instead or right open she bead." The paper is in the " slashing style" whieli one,. lonnil favour in our periodiral criticism. and Saddle in Spain" pleasantly criticises A 1 .% I.ouisa Tenison's " Ca4tile and Andalusia." Tile dil - ferettee between the habits of her Catholic Majest y , (linen Isabella, and those of our Protestant Sloe. reign, N . icti win, is neatly indicated. Isabella siptattilers money la% , though her finanees are embarrassed ; gets up at four or five oclock in the re tiring at the Sallie 114111 r in the meriting ; Ru n t is A U WHyS two or three hours behind the time fixed for her appear:titre. Certainly the wise economy, exiiet punettmlity, and admirable oriltr of our royal house hold contrast litiost favourably with " the slipshusl, lie abed practices of the Spanish Queen." In the two or three hundred lines of "'l'lw Wanderer" there are evidences of poetic power, butt it may be questioned whether there i s not more of atteetation than of originality in the s h ah) it. ll'i:A11114"4. Tll4. (Mill the best ) paper clognently delimuls Swift ftvnt the stinging censures or Thael,eray, We e,sol mend this whitiritille piece of critivistit to all who 1111' willing to know what can be said fOr as well 04 against the great dean's life. Whenever genius of the highest order is depicted, as some critics love to depict it, under a mean, brutal, moil reptilshe aspect, we are rather inclined to doubt the truth of the pie titre than admit a n presentation which, however it may flatter inetliwrity, is opposed to the essential constitution of humanity. Satan and It4.littl are dis tinct in their antilintes. The conintietion of "greatest, wisest., meatiest;' in one eliaraeter, is aa. dont, perhaps never, witnessed. Towards the rinse of this acute etiticisin it is well obsene:l "Itis a vii. tieing. till .S ti e r of 1111.ilent t of polling ob ovta 1/41111 . % iii . 41 , lit 1111.11 I.f a lowa sags'--oaf bloating awl sharing VV. 1) 41 . 14 111, ittill . l4 111'1111 /1111 , 111 16111. TI1:11 Ills Is a hid.• oidiod Gail into it is but it slut iirooftleat rivalry told pas ti• • unship in twilities maks• the jitil,rnient sonjoat. Ws• rys titYtither the reprosif Cannily! "soy to Sir Salons" Ills ear man, who; acknouletlftisl Mr. Pitt's talssists. last dl.llied (hut Ill• Its. a give 1111111. liurniss t• lll l. kV , ' ill, ' .aid I g wish ti1..11 sit our elbow of 111Cli gigant in iiitalit :ta l 0 Irtilll•r thus ~• tor fits ordinary in thus' eionliarison. Ali, who is there litui s r{ ill Ibis house, air oust of it, who, Ink in!! iiiYasitris of Isis (win willd sir that of Isis isoyvalsi, ran b. ji.tilird in torsatianseitifi that Williunt Pitt was nit a go 31. 111101 ?' llf sail oils nstiiii•to revilers of Swift, the pullers to piers.% Of lame unil ostler, is there any that ntivlit not islirisik from 'stating his (salt measure of either to the conitittrissiisit iold-tnith, the favourite of our modem essayists, might teach them n jester philosophy :—" 'rho a reputation of turn should prizisl, not fair lilt it " exemption front fault, hut the size of those virtiti.s a they are possesseil of." " ever pereeiieit " that where the mind was capacious the atroot lots. art " goosl." 4 4 7 ALIN to this spirited Vindication of Sw•itt is the oisniitig paper of F nil r —" Nlorals of Queen Eii, o l ac tic Ni tw i t nistorignil information is I•le\erl% bronght together in this paper, and skilfully disposed. to dear the ehartu•ter of ithirinita from the n.lN•r aorta east 1 1 11 it. The spirit in which the article is penned iv indiented in one of the opening porn graphs:— " While ihere tv.i.areli anal careful 411 , 114tvl ”iir nwartii Iti• 10,,k ttitli Iva* *neve,.:ula arm th. nl f a a n4,...166.1111 of •Ileh .1 thing **lmolai' or tor 1•\14111 it Ise Of the 1111 . 11 3.11.111 , 111 gt , 114.11111y hat( po.l - mni, Ntiss Ivgau.. It Its tiv goals I . than IllatTlitteil." ?sh.ny curious facts illitatratite Elit.abeth's career are lien. brought to light which lime not pros Musk been noticed. or at Iv.tht Nllh sittlitiott We are glad to see that the sttlijeet will he youtimiya. A piquant noticeof " tiosses I:authles on the ity wil s hire (•oast "--a ith some nth let , oil the cooking t•I: sea 01 1 . 0114 twoi by a elllllllllllltlull o r Ito , strange story, " Emily °Mot"- -a tale, ay should imagine, front its generally re‘oltin:: character. not likely Its please the render. or imitative the repave Lion. of this Magazine. The nal of Ale i mam. Smith is by \ I kill 'With 1:11/11 of Alexander I b iliWo .1.110 paper Stril... 4 us as kt iter The linage S4l " The hriae,:e...llll Kelt 141)ing Hllll the +h.nr l ug 1111 . 4111e1l Awl, In 1111' 1 . 111111”.. of lo+ num 11. ih4•llrutao. lior two oly brovh *tilt Awn.; iktire., a pove to ewe Isov, fair Nile loolv, These, proml, 11111. 1111 to LI. , 11/T Kitrely 11111 be ilevreeiale4 I lwettteie we " gain no " fresh analogy beta Cell 11111)Nielth NMI the ..11ht411111 " '411041 : not eien between two different parts of Ike " physical world." The mitikher other artimes of good iiierage iptalit;i, though nut calling tot' special notice. Tairte 3/ttott: int' 'teems chiefly In n'ly on 111 lion. There are three tales lorogressing in the itrem . tit iiintilwr. There in wl i nllt ti , though lolt b itiltni wills great e‘trii‘ opium . , in the " Shiry of AilleneB ll Lire. " Some 1 111 the 11111 Ty Lor refiner ttt l shilt laTillitiS in lalliatllett of that ; wv witnenn this sketch of it beautiful livititteky girl :-- " The nett etitnising, ut bi hervout nwskowil 11l i l it! will* tilwl,lost ' s 1' 1111 l 011111'111s 111111 if 11 1 ' ililtwoml fewllll unity wills Ital . 11111,1•4 %011111 11N 311 1111* 1111 . 11KUIV. 1 1 /' • tt 10/11k Ins 111t14.1*, 141/11 111 . 1144.4.111 . 11 111 1111104. I 145115 111.1.14 1111111 g 111 1114/ 1111111441 110 f I Minn. Sliehltsti in ltrmulloti 1111 l wti h nl,Mlll4llll, 1141/1 11111154 . 17. li hi Torque. IV upsittrA n !Nisi, 111141, not yt . IY l rSl l ll l viim col. Who %bitch over I l itlrstiisiT% sit s the fitir!—,tw..kitig! \Vital?ll Tiotr ? inn st rigor, hut it lull I , l' Irtivos, tititili•to I .4I k %1.1":1 like .411+•. 111111 enintiog it 111.11‘11111`. tile 'inn it little riding snitch in lira lints& wa s sus Illuminist: it 111411111%i 111/' 1/11/111111 411 a 1111 glitticsmittlike int 1111 l Tr. ' i I h, ginnl morning, Mr. Penning : I 6.31 . 6.41 14111 1111'2111 Ilia 11141' our early riuitr t , lint it rallor nit , /1111 1 11111 t 111 the day 11.1111111 . 11111C11 111"1. , bin 1 1 1 . 1 hop, pit don Illis culru4lie 4.111111114 . : " I h • iiiiisw " I hop ' s Owls. low ( w - n • for p.n. lIT II trios . the wilid Whimd him. loud 11111 11 11111111 1 11:111 . 11 till Inn runt. I i ts Ittiiiilrinl ihnlaws, K. I 111 lII' 0%4 me, a n d not it vein less! I then qua tiro, s•, you flailing! ' rossititowd ilw ;moon kilts trn an;11 1/1 1'114 , 11111 1 . 11 . 111111 1 '. %111 /4 patina rule in Ili% (lark- 151%54111 Nl4 • 141511.. 4 . Vllll'lW l ' / 1 ( the 11110111011111'41. 1/1 it 1111tH % .ines-ticn 11150. T. the imblust li% l'15111111), 11..0 U, She huauni , lll3l walks Ills' 111. .‘1111: riot I, Si fill 1 1 1 • . hlie W un. • lan other tints animal in for im•TII. re . gtilne 1ti41) .4 'moo , owl famous ut II 0111116'r, Ilissit - Ii 1110 111111'' to bit compared In Priam . than ikon in In 1114U11111111//. Nllll '. l l'l . 1110114 111%.. Nide-4*llllllV Ills' aotiull 14. die Null, is. 11.1111411 fill 1111' Wel, 41111' 111 . 1111 . 111/1' 111111 . , 11'11%111H I WhO INA 14.1111' bor%lllll ile 1111111 11.44,1ki.1iiiii . 1.1 • • • • " ' Will you try tue at u leap " • AsosurtAly, it yam drain. it : lout harts )1111 11./ 11 lut e Ist•ing leurt, sir at least tit 4.11441 " ! nn! our! I ',haul Its. lbe I' ll l sis 4 .1 ) 11/1t tired lir W 411111411.11: "..%« ylost 'shwa% *a ler ii. I 11l ill " ' Ike 'sou sum, dam, that meth.'" wars:sus "' 11 kat ! a sigpou ait is the issmiels• in it ." 1". Duly as • 1.1 s,isi• 1/%11 1111114 ileUlili% They know my %%:5.• And . 1311111 A 01st.' nip .at it.iggtoll Itehhilsg Itrar lisa•ln am the 1.411111/11.11, Midi 11 1 . 1.14 .151115.% est lath /4.•41/4 111 it, t%llll %CIO. HON 1111411.4 IE4I 11/ t6l er daily tau! an II 111Statit IMOL of OW I h u tali. al. " Del hail is till hits ' Are v.ll mad. when ales• lied planted kyr lord« isle. , tie, d«ul of 1 1 1 r Oast like use arrow hi Ilse dire e ii,sto Sit Its• I.llli, num at it , s/srae•l. viii. her lissrsr lek , a Intl mt., t air, mai alistlitall Safi") 1111 the •et I,••r 1.i111'." This style of 414..441-4)64m i. 14 es 1 , 1.0 ta for Kentucky. The other tale.% ars. es 'stall sins/ Weir nod the 111.14.1., in their way : one is from the : II I " The Shining Lathier," is lull at what is Eallcil "exeitetnent. The principal eritieal artiele 4. Dante, apil ,tiNisler,.ll 4 .4 religious poets, in illitstratn , ii 111• 1. 11 0'0 1 1.n • Catholicism, and l'rotestiuiti. in. I I