The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

JULY 15, 1854. Sittraturt. History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles. 1713-1783. By Lord Mahon. In 7 vols. Vol. VII. 1780- 1783. London: Murray. THERE are historians more brilliant and more profound than Lord Mahon ; but few exceed him in the qualities of fair dealing and agree able writing. His style is generally easy ; his remarks always impartial. The faults which beset his earlier productions, and which were exposed with friendly candour by Macaulay in the Edinburgh (political bias being for once neutralised in the essayist's mind by personal predilection), have by practice been entirely removed. In this last, as in the two preceding volumes, we seldom meet with those little moralising remarks—reminding one of the sententious aphorisms of a Greek chorus— which, while undeniably true, provoked a smile by their very obvious nature. Lord Mahon, in short, has learnt to write like a man of the world as well as a scholar ; and being able to take his own time, not. stimulated into undue haste by the necessity of early publica tion, he has produced a book which will probably continue to be read in future times, and which will certainly be read with plea sure. The present, and concluding, volume deals with the close of the American war—with Indian annals during the administration of Hastings—and with those traits of life and manners which may be described as the social history of the English people. Of these three sections, perhaps the first, or political, is the most interesting. The career of Hastings, like that of Clive, has been described by a master of language, whose gorgeous word painting and elegant declamation defy imita tion, even when we question both the justice of the matter embodied in them, and the taste which indulges in so decorated a style. In his Oriental chapters Lord Mahon had to follow Macaulay, and to tell over again, some times in very similar words, a story which the essays of the former have made familiar to every reader of English. No more difficult task could be imposed on any author; yet, on comparing the two, we know not whether the calm historical tone of Lord Mahon be not, to the cultivated and fastidious, more pleasing than the eternal rhetoric of his rival. Cer tainly the contrast of manner is complete. The Whig historian, not content with im bibing, seems to exaggerate and overcharge every prejudice of the times which he describes ; and an ignorant reader would rise from the study of his work convinced that all the honesty, patriotism, and wisdom of the nation had always been found on what is called the popular side. Lord Mahon, on the other hand, even when censuring the conduct of a political leader, allows him to plead his own cause, puts in the strongest light the arguments by which he may have been influenced, and leans in his sentence towards the side of mercy, knowing that in literature, as in law, the judge should be the prisoner's counsel. The part of this work which seems to us least interesting is that which ought to be most so—the chapter on " Life and Manners." Lord Mahon has been misled by the example of historians who undertook to write of more remote times. Most educated persons can form to themselves a tolerably good idea of what England was like in the time of their grandfathers ; and, though the anecdotes in troduced by way of illustration are well told, they are for the most part familiar. But with this and other drawbacks the history deserves to be read universally ; and we trust that its author will, if not politically employed, be in duced to continue it, at least, to the out break of the revolutionary war. At that point Sir Archibald Alison's great work commences : the intervening years should not be left with out an adequate record. My Friends and Acquaintance. By P. G. Patmore. London : Saunders and Qtley. TAE objections commonly made to the publi cation of that personal - knowledge which is obtained by familiar converse with distin- THE PRESS. guished persons—and particulary with literary characters—do not admit of a general answer. They may be just or unreasonable, according to circumstances. Each case must stand on its merits, and each reporter must be judged not only by the accuracy of his statements, but by the discretion he shows in dealing with the material at his disposal. There is no character so single as not to show some cha meleon hues: it will present different aspects in different lights, and may be represented as mean and despicable, though really great and generous, by suppressing its finer, and magni fying its smaller, traits. Ignorance may per form the work of malevolence in depreciating the nature which it is unable to comprehend, or which it has had little opportanity of ob serving ; and, on the whole, we think that the reputation of eminent men has suffered more from that limited appreciation of their quali ties which proceeds from very partial percep tions than from studied misrepresentation. It is favourable to this view that the 'best biographies, whatever shape they have as sumed, have been written by persons who were most intimate with the characters they described. First impressions may be correct in morals and conduct, but they can rarely be relied on as to character. In ordinary life conversation and manners present nearly as much uniformity as dress ; not uncommonly, indeed, the superiority of a man's intellect may be detected as Johnson said Burke's could be—in a chance meeting under a shed during a shower of rain—but no insight into character can be thus hastily gained. With the best opportunities more than common perception is required to form a just estimate of au original nature; and for this reason the re marks of a mere acquaintance should be received with great reserve. Mr. Patmore may rather have known Campbell less than more from having met him a few times at table, and been favoured with a few of his formal notes. For our own part, we object not to "revela tions " of social converse —when there is nothing in the converse itself of a strictly private character but to the revelations which are imperfect in knowledge, and may, therefore, convey a false impression, or which are so indiscreet as to magnify those little peculiarities of mind or manner which have little or no connection with character, and with which the public have legitimately no concern. If eminent men are not described by their contemporaries, by whom shall they be described ? Every recollection of them is precious, if it be essential ; but from authentic memorials must be carefully separated those carping judgments and criticisms, which, as they are merely the reflection of the writer's mind, may tell us something of him, indeed, if we cared to find it, but may only perplex us in more important respects. Mr. Patmore's book would have been much better had he given us more fact and less opinion. He was not favourably circumstanced for acquiring an intimate knowledge of those persons whom he designates as his "friends " and acquaintance." He was, it seems, a " reader " to Mr. Colburn, when that shrewd publisher was in the height of his fame, and was thus brought into contact with several writers, on whose modes of life the public will very willingly receive information. As he revised all Mr. Plumer Ward's novels, he was admitted to that gentleman's intimacy. He certainly knew Hazlitt and some of his set well, and was occasionally admitted to the society of Lady Blessington. Unluckily, he appears to be excessively vain, and to attach very undue importance to some of the communi cations he received. His volumes commence with Charles Lamb, whose humour he attempts to describe by such phrases as " enormous jokes " and " pro digious puns." The mere twaddle in which poor Lamb often indulged is received by Mr. Patmore with reverence as wit of the very highest order. All that he records of the per sonal habits of Lamb has been told (and often too) in better style before. The recollections of Campbell are meagre and prejudiced. We do not know whether the statement is to be relied on that the biographies professedly written by the poet were really the work of one of his intimates— a person " in connection with the newspaper 663 press, of coarse mind, and of almost ostenta tiously profligate personal habits" : There is a work in two volumes octavo, entitled " Life of Mrs. Siddons, by T. Campbell, Esq.," and another in the like form entitled " Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, by T. Campbell, Esq. ," both of which productions, if I am not greatly misinformed (and my authority was the party better than ouy one else but Campbell himself acquainted with the Ifacts), were entirely prepared and composed by the gentleman above alluded to—who was an extremely rapid and offhand writer, and was much employed by " popular" publishers when called upon at a pinch to supply the cravings of the literary market, on any parti cular topic of the moment, before its more legitimate resources could be brought to bear. If the party in question was to be believed, the only share the alleged author of the above-named works had in their production was that of " overlooking " the MS., " looking over " the proof sheets, and permitting his name to stand rubrio in the titlepage. The portrait of Campbell as a host is fairly drawn : Campbell was an excellent host for a small and well assorted literary dinner•party. He combined all the qualities proper for that difficult office, without a single counteracting one ; the highest intellectual position and pretensions, without the smallest disposition to make them apparent—much less to placard them ; a ready wit and a fine turn for social humour, without the slightest touch of that vulgar waggery which so often accompanies and neu tralises these, and is the bane of all the intellectual society into which it is allowed to intrude ; a graceful, easy, and well-bred manner and bearing, without any vestige of stiff ness on the one hand, or boisterousness on the other ; finally, a perpetual consciousness of his position and duties as master of the house, yet an entire apparent for getfulness of these in the pleasure he took in the presence of his friends. Much that follows this extract ought never to have been printed. Mr. Patmore dwells at length on some " dark and fearful insinuations studiously propagated" by Campbell, and hints that they were " the apple- " pips that killed poor " Byron before his time,—absurd rodomon tade, which receives no countenance from our other sources of knowledge. Campbell him- self says : I never envied Lord Byron, but, on the contrary, re. joiced in his fame ; in the first place, from a sense of justice, and, in the next place, because, as a poetical critic, he was my beneficent friend. What feeling but that of kindness could I have towards Lord Byron ? He was always affectionate towards me, both in his writings and in his personal interviews. Ah, my dear Moore, if we had him but back again, how easily could we settle these matters The criticism on Campbell is affected and contradictory; but it is not worth while ex posing absurdity which is not likely to obtain an hour's currency. In the notice of Horace Smith an anecdote is related of his early days which, if it be authentic, shows that Cumberland could be generous as well as fretful. Young Horace, then a clerk in a merchant's counting-house, had written some eulogistic verses on one of Cumberland's dramas, the extract following tells with what result : The future author of the most famous feu d'esprit of his time was sitting at his desk one morning, in the midst of a whole counting-house full of other clerks and mercantile functionaries, when a stately old gentleman of the old school entered, whose appearance and attire were of the most distinguished and pointqlevice character—at once marking him as a denizen of those circles with which the young dramatic amateur was only acquainted through the medium of his favourite Cumberland's comedies. It was Richard Cumberland himself, who, after looking round him, inquired if " Mr. Smith " was within. The counting-house boasted " two Mr. Smiths." Which of them was it that the visitor wanted ? " Mr. Smith, the poet"—was the altogether unbusiness like and indiscreet reply ; but it was sufficiently explana tory to arouse the fears and blushes of its object,—who de scended from his stool—took the visitor into an adjoining room—received with mingled wonder and delight the veteran dramatist's enthusiastic commendations of, and thanks for, his verses—and thenceforth became a con firmed votary of the Muses. At this time Horace Smith was a mere boy, with light curling locks flowing down his shoulders ; but Cumber. land, with a warmth and enthusiasm not usual with him at that advanced period of his literary career, took so strong a liking to him, that he never came into the city without visiting his young protégé, and shortly afterwards introduced him to several of the most distinguished amateur writers of a day when amateur writing was in its glory— under the illustrious auspices of Canning, Frere, Colonel Croker, Herries, Sir James Bland Burgess, &c. The chapters on Hazlitt are the most valuable in the work ; and, though far from complete as a memoir, will assist towards one when the history of this strange being shall he undertaken by a competent hand. Hazlitt in love, as portrayed by his own confessions, forms a curious piece of literary history. His letters appear exaggerated, yet he was cer tainly a creature of strong passions and sensi bility, though there is something like displa task comi calm the than taint The bibit ever. desc from the nati( the hani, polit cans by I! lean men the j T 1 leasi MOB Lon of I rem fora wha gra trod the 3 this to t autl duc brim Sir the out My TAi cati obt