The Press.
London, England, 1855-05-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

contain within themselves the seeds of divi-
sion, and that union can no more result in
political bodies from the mixture of irrecon-
cileable sentiments than in chemistry from
shaking together substances which refuse to
amalgamate.
Lord Grenville had not to wait long for an
opportunity of carrying his theory into prac-
tice. Pitt's Ministry was dissolved by his
death in little more than a year and a half
after its formation; and Grenville, who had
in the interim acted with Fox, was summoned
to forma new Cabinet. In his correspondence
we trace the difficulties and distress which
the Coalition occasioned him. A fow days
before Pitt's death Grenville wrote to his bro-
ther in a desponding strain (Jan. 7, 1806)
I never had from the beginning any other object than
that of uniting the leading parties, and healing the dis-
tr►ctions of the country, being even then convinced that all
the talents and exertions of all the public men of the coun-
try were not more than sufficient to meet the dangers that
threatened us. This hope is now desperate; firstly, by
the great misconduct of Pitt, who might have realised it,
but refused to do so ; and secondly, by the violence of my
own friends, some of whom (Fox's party) never wished the
thing to succeed
If then, after a struggle that shall tear the country to
pieces, we now make it impossible for Pitt to carry on the
government, who is to succeed ? Another experiment of
shreds and pct.thes like Addington's, to be composed of
Hawkesburys and Castlereaghs ; will that mend our case ?
a joint Government of Fox's friends and ours, who the very
first day we meet in Cabinet shall probably differ on the
leading question of our whole policy—that of resistance or
submission ?

His embarrassment commenced as soon as
his Ministry was formed. In the narrative
a fair statement is given of his harassing
position :

Lord Grenville's confidence in the strong Government
he had formed received some severe shocks before he had
been long in office. His patriotism was of a totally diffe-
rent character to that assumed by some of his coadjutors,
whose reputation arising from it was their sole political
capital, and his qualifications as a statesman were not less
genuine and liberal That his disappointment
was bitter when he discovered the extent of his delusion,
there can be no question ; bat there were other causes of
unpleasantness, besides the displays of empty pretension
and miserable selfishness, that arose around him. His
forgetfulness of his own interests was extended to the
interests of persons who were nearest and dearest to him.
This appears to have given offence ; and to the accumu-
lated disagreftbleness of his position was now added the
want of cordiality with a relative, whom he regarded with
the tenderest affection.

In a most affecting letter to the Marquis, re-
plying to a charge that there was any diminu-
tion of his brotherly attachment, he said :
Let me speak to you fairly and plainly. lam conscious
of no concealment, I had nothing to conceal, I never
courted the task which was cast upon me. Nothing but
your wishes and my brother's—l repeat it, for it is abso-
lutely and positively true, and I appeal to that God who now
sees me write t is—nothing else has prevented me from
doing long since, what I shall now certainly do the very
first instant I can do it with honour, withdrawing myself
altogether from a scene and course of life which I detest,
and in which I cannot but too plainly see it will be impos-
sible for me to maintain the only thing I do value in life,
whioh is the affection of my friends and relations, and
most of all that of my brothers
I cannot conceal from myself that my continuance
where I am can do no good to anybody, and will only
destroy my own happiness without object or motive of
any sort.

Here for the present we must end our
notice of these valuable volumes. We have
only just closed one of them, and the other
contains many points deserving comment.
But from the passages we have quoted, and
the allusions made to the events embraced in
them, our readers may judge how rich they
are in genuine historical material, and how
much light they throw on some of the most
memorable political transactions in the im-
portant reign of George the Third.

The Life and Times of Salvator Rosa. By
Lady Morgan. London : Bryce.
IT appears that, like other writers of the pre-
sent time, Lady Morgan has resolved on a
republication of all her works. It is a serious
crisis in an author's career when, after en-
joying considerable popularity, a more de-
belirate verdict is asked from the select
tribunal which quashes or affirms the deci-
sions of the circulating library. With her
characteristic fearlessness Lady Morgan ve►i
tures on the trial ; and if it were merely a ques-
tion as to "her ladyship's " talent, there would
be little room for doubt, but upon the perma-
nent value of her writings there is room for

SATURDAY,

hesitation. When Irish subjects were fresh,
and the sister country not familiarised to us,
the novelists who painted the manners of
their native land obtained an exaggerated
position in the literary world. Pamphlets on
the " Catholic question," in " three vols. post
octavo," were then eagerly read, when diversi-
fied with satirical sketches of Mr. Conway
Crawley, " her ladyship's" reviewer in ord►-
nary, and travesties of viceregal glories at
Dublin, with anecdotes of living celebrities
introduced in dialogues. There was vivacity,
force, and much humour in their composition.
Though not of the purest water, the Irish
diamonds glittered in their lavish profusion,
and made a pleasant show, and they were
often set with considerable skill in the art
of rhetorical jewellery. There was not then,
whatever Lady Morgan may think, the compe-
tition that now exists in writing novels. In the
preface to this new edition of her works it is
stated of " Salvator Rosa," the first in this
series :

The style in which it was written may now, perhaps, be
deemed rococo by the censors of the modern free-amt-easy
school, who write that those who run may read. Such as
it is, it was the style with which the author won her spurs
under the command of Field-Marshal " O'Donnel" and
other heroes, native and foreign, who " championed" to
their utmost the sublime cause of right and their oountry'd
independence. If, however, with the conceit of other
veterans, she now
" Shoulders her crutch and shows how fields were won,"
she pleads that she served, though only as a subaltern, in
times of the greatest literary enterprise and mental com.
petitorship that British genius ever produced since the
Augustan ages of Elizabeth and Anne !
Notwithstanding the adroit qualification of
"only as a literary subaltern," there is too
much of the quorum pars magna fui in that
bold paragraph. Miss Edgeworth was the
only Irish competitor that " Miss Owenson "
had to encounter, for English female novelists
were scarcities forty years ago.
Very different is the task of a lady com-
batant who in our timeJ seeks to distinguish
herself against Mrs. Gore, Mrs. Jameson,
Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. S. C. Hall, Mrs. Trolloppe,
and not to speak of American ladies who can
produce an " Uncle Tom," or of the recently
lost and lamented writer of "Jane Eyre."
Greater finish and far deeper moral qualities
would now be required than were shown in
the authorship of " O'llonnel." The taste of the
times has changed, and readers now demand of
the painters of humanity faithful portraiture of
the workings of simple nature in the lowlier
•ranks of life. Over these latter springs of
action Lady Morgan never could have com-
mand. Miss Edgeworth's peasants were really
full of Irish humour, though their passionate
phases were not well depicted, as they may be
seen in the better writings of Carleton. On
the other hand, it was vain to expect the sweet
feminine pathos of Mrs. S. C. Hall, and her
graceful naturalness of style, in the peppered
condiments that were carefully prepared by
Lady Morgan. In all her productions the
ambition of a woman to write like a man was
too palpable, and it often exposed her to
damaging censure. There is a still graver
fault in the constant intrusion of Voltarian
flippancy on the most serious subjects, and she
surfeits the reader with the cant of indiffe-
rentism, while laying herself open to the
charge of infidelity. Thus, in the work before
us, let us mark the following passage, the
italics being our own
The Reformation came—the greatest even] of modern
times. It was the policy of the new religion to carry on
her system by a stern rejection of all the meretricious
means by which the old Church had effected her scheme of
usurpation. She wanted no pictures, and patronised no
artists. Equally bent upon supremacy as her gr a! prede-
cessor, the called in new aids to accomplish her ends ; she
Affected to engage reason on her side, and to found faith on
proof. But., more bent on her object than considerate of
her means, she discarded 100 little or too much; and did not
foresee that reason, usurping the territory it was called in
to defend, would eventually throw light on the retained
abuses as it had upon those rejected. In discarding the
arts and preserving the tithes, the Reformed Church at
once loosened her strongest hold on the imagination, and
armed the more calculating passions against her.
This style of sentiment, we are happy to
know, will not find many favorers in this age.
It is a bad imitation of the worst passages. in
the early numbers of the Edinburgh lievaw.
A connoisseur once sent a porcelain saucer to
China, and ordered an entire service of
exactly the same pattern. Unfortunately
there was a crack in the saucer, and the Chi-