The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

This number contains only one-half of the Doctor's
great biography, and does not therefore afford us an
opportunity of offering here an estimate of the work.
In proof however of so much as we have said, we
must give our readers a characteristic paragraph of
Dr. M'Crie, where he approaches that sad story of
the tumultuous destruction of the magnificent cathe-
drals and monasteries of Scotland—events that gave
the Scottish Reformation more the aspect of a
jacquerie than a struggle for the purification of
religion. On the subject of the tradition of the
Scottish peasantry that John Knox cried " Pu' doon
" the nests, an' the rooks will flee awa'!"— a cry that
has certainly done little for the civilisation communi-
cated by art, amongst the peasantry of Scotland—
Dr. 111`Crie says :
I will go farther, and say that I look upon the destruc-
tion of these monuments as a piece of good policy, which
contributed materially to the overthrow of the Roman
Catholic religion and the prevention of its re-establishment.
It was chiefly by the magnificence of its temples, and the
splendid apparatus of its worship, that the Popish Church
fascinated the senses and imaginations of the people. A
more successful method of attacking it, therefore, could
not be adopted than the demolition of what contributed so
much to uphold and extend its influence. There is more
wisdom than many seem to perceive in the maxim which
Knox is said to have inculcated." that the best way to keep
the rooks from returning, was to pull down their nests."
In demolishing, or rendering uninhabitable, all those
buildings which had served for the maintenance of the
ancient superstition (except what wete requisite for the
Protestant worship), the Reformers only acted upon the
principles of a prudent general, who dismantles or razes
the fortifications which he is unable to keep, and which
might afterwards be seized and employed against him by
the enemy. 1-lad they been allowed to remain in their
former splendour the popish clergy wonld not have ceased
to indulge hopes, and to make efforts to be restored to them ;
occasions would have been taken to tamper with the credu-
lous, and to inflame the minds of the superstitious ; and
the Reformers might soon have found reason to repent
their ill-judged forbearance.

This op- iniO is appropriately confirmed by a note
from Southey's " Madoc." Was nut Dr. M'Crie the
fitting biographer of Knox ?
Messrs. Blackwood have brought out this edition
in a style, as regards elegance of typography and ex-
cellence of paper, which renders the price wonderful,
and we have no doubt of the popularity of the series
amongst the class to which it is addressed.

LITERATURE.

Bentley's opening article, upon " War, Politics, and
Strategics," is concisely and carefully written. A
brief passage conveys a correct idea of the operations
of the siege :
There is a grand bombardment, in which shot and shell
are imbedded in earthen embankments as if in a flock
bed ; there are grand sorties of Russians against advanced
trenches of right and left attacks, repulsed after sangui-
nary engagements, in which the loss tells mostly against
those who can less easily repair it; there are pits blown
up only fit for rabbits, and connecting trenches that would
barely cover a weasel, held by active French chasseurs
within a stone's throw of the Russian outworks; there are
incessant rushes made by the latter upon these frail ap-
proaches ; there are descents of columns of the line and
guard to the succour ; there are desperate struggles, only
terminated at the point of the bayonet; there are grand
a►lvos of artillery to cover the retreat of the besieged, and
at last an hour's truce to bury the dead comes to relieve
the monotony of these sanguinary scenes.

Rather than carry on the siege under such circum-
stances, the writer suggests that field operations
should be immediately commenced, or that Kertch or
Kaffis should be attacked, adding despondingly that
probably "the fortifications of those places would be
" quite as formidable "as Sebastopol. Certainly, if
Russia deserves credit for anything in this war, it is
for the admirable manner in which she hss so well
inoculated us all with a wholesome dread of her bat-
teries and big guns. Of Administrative Reform the
writer takes the view that there is more fault in the
" men" at the head of affairs than in the " system'
they are called on to administer. The other contents
of the magazine comprise much light and amusing
matter ; the story of the " Kaffir Commando" in par-
ticular is exceedingly well told, and Monkshood's
sketch of Macaulay is a liberal and just estimate of
the powers of that popular essayist.
Tait has much this month to recommend it. The
first article, "The Count and the Emperor," a review
partly of the "Souvenirs Contemporains," by M.
Villemain, is acceptable at this moment. The Count
de Narbonne, whose life is here recounted, was the
fsvnurite aide-de-camp of the first Napoleon, and
fully enjoyed the confidence of the Emperor, who
deigned to impart to the count many of the most
secret reasons of his policy. Among other things
the count, it appears, was the originator of the Aus-
teen marriage, and from the account given by M.
Villemain beats out, remarks the reviewer, the ex-
pression of Louis Napoleon that the house of Austria
" brigadit Palliance d'un nouvel empire ":
- -

At a dinner e,t Iris petit comi.e with Mettnnich, the
Prince de Ligne, and the Comte de Lamarsch, NI. de Nar-
bonne, with a sort, of impetimns frankness, which his bio-
grapher piquantly applauds as a first-rats method ih diplo-
macy owing to the rarity of its employment, launched out