The Press. — London, England, 1856-07-12 00:00:00

JULY 12, 1856, A liiBtory of the Christian Church during the Reformation. By Charles Hardwick, M.A. Cambridge : Macmillan and Co. Ma. HARDWICK has contrived to impart some degree of freshness to this rather timeworn topic. His matter is well condensed; his style is easy and natural; and the arrange ment excellent. He writes, too, from genuine and independent sources, and has perfectly distinct and well-matured views of his own. Thus, though his work is short, it partakes in no respect of the character of a compilation. It is original without aiming at novelty, and simple and terse without lacking dignity. It is a kind of writing of which at the present day we see too little. Mr. Hardwick divides the whole body of Reformers into three great schools—the Saxon, the Swiss, and the English—Luther being the head of the first, and Zuinglius of the second. He points out the countries in which each predominated, and deduces the results of the schism thus occasioned in the Protestant body with great care. His account of the origin and progress of the Jesuits is laudably impartial, the more so as Mr. Hard wick is evidently a divine who entertains very fervent convictions on theological ques tions, which he has on this occasion subordi nated to historical candour. When we speak of his convictions we do not mean that he is prominently of the Evangelical school. He is, indeed, anything but that. He belongs to that sober, old-fashioned class of clergy who were known as high churchmen some fifty years ago. His moderation is especially conspicuous in his account of the English Reformation ; and in tracing the causes as well as consequences of that event he constantly gives us reason to admire his practical and substantial turn of mind. We can safely recommend this History of the Reformation" to all those readers who wish to have a lucid and succinct narrative laid before them without any effort either to inflame their passions or to entrap their judgment. PERIODICAL ONE of the most prominent articles in the West minster Review is that on "Hereditary Influence." The author's great point is, that there is no such thing as species, and that no qualities are trans mitted from sire to son but those of the individual. This, however, at first sight would seem to be some thing very like a quibble; for it is an aggregate of individuals that constitutes tha species, and though there may be a certain variety among the individuals, if there is nevertheless—as the author has not dis provel—a certain over-ruling similarity, we do not see what step is gained by the view here put forward. The essay on " Ministerial Responsibility " is a singular mixture of right and wrong. Thus, the entire tone of criticism on M. de Montalembert's account of the Administrative Reformers is charac terised by the bitterest malignity against the aristo cratic classes; in order to justify which the writer descends to a contradiction of what we should have thought was a notorious matter of fact. Alluding to the passage in which M. de Montalembert speaks of the dangerous increase of public functionaries, he says:— " Fatal slide," indeed ; but the impulse down the treacherous incline has been given from above and not from below. It is not fair to represent the immoderate pursuit of public office and place as emerging spon taneously from the masses by reason of their improved educa tion ; and he can have observed but little the conduct of the two great political factions of the country when they have been respectively in possession of the power of the Government, who has any, the least faith in an appeal to our " statesmen" to check this growing evil. It is an evil of their own fostering; it is the method by which Whigs and Tories alike have discovered that the " Queen's Govern ment can alone be carried on." The centralisation of the patronage of an immense number of places in the hands of the Government of the day, or which is the same thing, looked at from another point of view, the ramification of the Government influence over the whole country, must necessarily be corrupting. . _ Nothing can be more untrue. It has been the mad outcry of middle-class pretenders to politics that they bad no sufficient share in the good things of Govern ment, which has led to the evil complained of. On the other hand, we think the following remarks worth consideration : they are thoroughly respectful to his Royal Highness, and merely allude to a possible, and we hope remote, difficulty:— The constitutional position of the illustrious person re ferred to is that of a Privy Councillor, and no other ; and by the practice of the Constitution, those members only of the Council who actually bear office actually advise. If THE PRESS. the advice of a person in the position of his Royal High ness should be taken in preference to that of a Minister, we are told by Lord Aberdeen that the latter has his remedy, and " his only one," to resign. Yes, that would be his personal remedy, or rather his way of extrication and escape. But what would be the remedy of the country? The New Quarterly is fairly entitled to the position it claims as the only Quarterly Review, which, avoid ing mere essays, gives a critical account of the literature of the past quarter. There has been great improvement in its writing of late. The articles on Southey, Ruskin, Moore's "Memoirs," the " Peel Papers," the Duke of Buckingham's "Court of the Regency," and Froude's " History," all show acute ness and thought, and in these and other papers we frequently meet with special knowledge brought to bear on the subjects discussed, In the slighter notices tact and discrimination are shown in the selection of extracts, which are both good in them selves and convey a fair idea of the books from which they are taken. The notices of French and German literature, though slight, are useful. The Gentleman's Magazine has just started afresh under new auspices, having been purchased, we understand, by Messrs. J. and H. Parker. We wish the long-lived progeny of good old Edward Cave as famous a career for the future as it enjoyed for the first sixty years of its existence. The London University Magazine is the youngest member at present of the Magazine family, this being only No. 3. All the numbers have up to the present time given great promise, especially one or two in the humorous vein, which have really a high order of merit. In the Orford and Cambridge, the article on " Lancashire and Mary Barton " has attracted us most. The "Study of Shakespeare" is careful and pleasing. The New Monthly presents us with its usual variety, but we do not in the pleasing whole notice any paper calling for special remark. The Man of the World. By S. W. Fullom. London : Skeet. A LIVELY and bustling tale, which will be generally acceptable to those who seek in a novel for excite ment rather than dissection of character or philoso phic discussion. The career of Danvers is one that must be followed with interest, though the cata strophe a little belies his character as " a man of the world." His victim Rosalie is a well finished portrait of a very common female type—the woman "fine "by defect and delicately weak." Amy, on the other hand, the daughter of a chartist agitator, and unconscious heiress of Danver's estates, is perse cuted by the " man of the world," who has discovered her true position. She is spirited away from place to place, till at length, worn out by fear and anxiety, she dies of consumption only just in time to save her from the murderous designs of her persecutor. There is a happy couple in the book, who after a wide undercurrent of adventure are enabled to bring their love to fruition, and are left at the end of the third volume " maintaining a liberal establishment, " and living in comfort, though not splendour." The fiction, though of somewhat coarse texture, is stimu lating, and succeeds by the rapid flow of its incidents in sustaining attention and moving wonder. Memoirs of Celebrated People who Died in 1855. " Hardwicke's Annual Biography for 1856." By Edward Walford, M.A. London : Hardwicke. A GOOD idea, and so well carried out as to reflect credit on both author and publisher. Many of the biographies are oririnal, but many are condensed from the various daily and weekly journals. It is satisfactory that the compilation should have fallen into the hands of one who is at once a first-rate scholar and a well read genealogist. Correctness of fact and literary excellence are thus both guaranteed. Among the most striking biographies are those of Lord Raglan, Lord Truro, Joseph Hume, Mr. J. Black of the Chronicle, Miss Mitford, and Currer Bell. If the work has a fault, it is that it is a little too copious, and contains too many names which can by no stretch of courtesy be considered as "celebrated,"—though, to b 3 sure, the men who by dint of hard plodding and a thick skin have won some eminence in life, are often less worth notice than humbler but more gifted individuals. The archi• tects of their own fortune are sure to make them selves conspicuous by their edifices; but the archi tects of intellectual expansion—the persons who truly create by their ideas, principles, and inven tions—these commonly labour in obscurity, their works by which the world profits failing to . perpetuate their name. The Linesman; or, Service in the Guards and the Line. By Colonel Elers Napier. Three Vols. London : Hyde. THROUGH the medium of a fictitious story—" the "hero and other personages introduced upon the ti scene are all creatures of the imagination," .Colonel 667 Napier gives in these volumes some results of his professional experience, and discusses many points connected with military efficiency and army reform. He is uncompromisingly hostile to General Routine, and advises the abolition of promotion by purchase, and in place of it advancement by competitive examination and proved merit. When the author writes from personal observation he is commonly forcible, as, for example, the account of " bringing a "man to the halberds,"—a terrible description of corporal punishment; but we think less favorably of his imaginative sketches. The narrative is varied, as it takes in a long period of time, and relates military service in various parts of the globe. The volumes are dedicated by the author to his "old " friend and comrade " Colonel Tulloch. Without disparaging the merit they possess, their author would have produced a much better book had he adhered to the principle laid down in his preface, " that no work of fiction can equal in point of interest, " one composed of incidents derived from the ordi " nary occurrences of every-day life," and given us the military experience of a Linesman free from imaginary characters, and a purely fictitious plot. The mixture seldom answers. Descriptive Geography of England. By T. Chal lener. London : Longmans. A LITTLE book, which in one hundred and fifty duode cimo pages professes to give an exhaustive account of England. Some of the information conveyed in it will perhaps excite a smile, both at its own character, and at the notion too of classing it under geography, such, for instance, as the question, "How many inferior orders of society are there?" (i.e. under the Queen), and the answer, " about fourteen "; giving the various titles to nobility as representing different orders of society, and knights, esquires, gentry, &c., also, as denoting different classes. This is calcu lated to mislead young students on a most important point. The work is in question and answer, and if meant to be learnt by heart is too full of minute facts. The outlines for children should be broad and distinct. Here several pages in succession are filled with an enumeration of every town in every county of England. The evil of such books is, that in seeking to cram the memory too early, and too full, the mind itself may be impaired. Knowledge should be apportioned to each stage of life; and it would be impossible to c mceive knowledge more utterly use less to a child than many of the details of this elementary book PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.-Jum 11. BOOKS. Adonejah. A Tale of the Jewish Dispersion. Simpkin and Marshall _ _ _ Works of the Rev. Thomas lifCrie, D.D. Blackwood» The Sterescope. Sir David Brewster, D.C.L. J. Mum) , The Seasons of the Church: What they Teach. J. and C. Mozley Medieval Preacher; and Medieval Preaching. J.& C.Mozley Four Sermons on the Great Feasts. Rivingtons Jaufry the Knight, and the Fair Brunissende. Addey .L• Co. The Huguenot Exiles; or, the Times of Louis XIV. Sampson Low and Co. Western Africa. Its History, Condition, and Prospects. Sampson Low and Co. The Sketcher. Rev. John Eagles. Blackwood' Sunshine and Shadow. Newby Co►respondence of Lieut.• Colonel the Hon. Sir George 'Cathcart. K.C.B. J. Murray A Voice from w:thin the Walls of Sebastopol. Captain Hadaserielt. J. Murray The Lost Solar System of the .Ancients Discovered. John Wilson. Longman' London University Magazine. Hall and Virtue--Mac• phail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal. Simpkin and Marshall—Great World of London. Bogue. The Anglo• Hebrews. •L. Booth—Par Eirina. Simpkin and Marshall—Minutes of Proceedings of the Bmnbay Association. Simpkin and Marshall—Lunar Motion. Groombridge and Sons—A Plea for the Separate Reforms• tory.—Treatment of Juvenile Offenders. Rivingtons—De• notional Theology of the Church of Rome. J. and C. Mozley—The Lord's Day. J. Murray—A Letter, by George Sand, on Shakespeare's "As You Like It." J. Chapman— A Sermon. Rev. J. Scott, M.A. Seeley and Jackson— Principles of Railway Construction Analysed. Effingham Wilson—Church Papers. Non. I and IL J. Masters— Illness Prevented. Groombridge— Common Blunders. Groombridge--How to Cut and Contrive Children's Clothes at a Small Cost. Barton and Co. CONSTANCY OF POPULAR GOVERNMENTS.-It is a remark of Machiavel, distinguished by his usual acuteness and depth, that although, in matters of general discussion, the people are often mistaken, yet, in matters reduced to particulars, they are most sensible and judicious; that the prince is much more apt to he ungrateful both through avarice and suspicion than the people ; that the multitude is generally both wiser and more constant than the prince ; and that those leagues and confederacies are more to be trusted which are made with free States, than those which are made with princes.— Lord Brougham's ContriNitiona to the Edinburgh