The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

not a critique of the history but of the historian, and
his idiosyncracy is laid bare in a masterly style. " As
"was said of the second Pitt, ' he never grew, he
"was cast;'" and so what Mr. Macaulay was when
he eft Cambridge, that he is still. He has learned
nothing from contemporary events. He spoke just
as well upon India in 1833 as in 1852—just as well
before he went to India as afterwards. "It is cha.
" racteristic of such a man," says the reviewer,
" that he should think literature more instructive
" than life." The following sketch of "the Cavalier
nature" is excellent:— _ _

A Cavalier seEms always young. The buoyant life
arises before us rich in hope, strung in vigour, irregular in
action ; men young and ardent, framed in the " prodi•
gality of nature," open to every enjoyment, alive to every
passion, eager, impulsive ; brave without discipline, noble
with nit principle, prizing luxury, despising danger, capable
of high sentiment, but in each of whom the

Addiction was to courses vain ;
His companions unlettered, rude, and shallow,
His hours tilled up with riots, banquets, sports,
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.
We see these men setting forth or assembling to defend
their king and church; and we see it without surprise: a
rich daring loves danger; a deep excitability likes excite-
ment. If we look around us, we may see what is analo-
gous. It has been said that the battle of the Alma was
won by the " uneducated gentry ;" the " uneducated
gentry" would be Cavaliers now. The p litical sentiment
is part of the character. The essence of Toryism is en-
joyment. Talk of the ways of spreading a wholesome
Conservatism throughout this country : give painful let
tures, distribute weary tracts (and perhaps this is as well—
you may be able to give an argumentative answer to a few
objections, you may diffuse a distinct notion of the dignified
dulness of politics) ; but as far as communicating an•l es-
tablishing your creed are concerned— try a little pleasure.
The way to keep up old customs is, to enjoy old customs ;
the way to be satisfied with the present state of things is,
to enjoy that state of things. Over the " Cavalier" mind
this world passes with a thrill of delight ; there is an exul-
tation in a daily event, zest in the regular thing," joy at
an old feast. Sir Walter Scott is a curious instance of
this. Every incident, habit, practice of old Scotland was
connected and inseparably associated in his mind with
strong genial enjoyment. To propose to touch one of
those institutions, to abolish one of those practices, was to
touch a personal pleasure—a point on which his mind re-
posed, a thing of memory and hope. S 3 long as this world
is this world, will a buoyant life be the proper source of an
animated Conservatism. The " church-and king" enthu
siasm has even a deeper connection with this peculiar
character. Carlyle has said, in his vivid way, " Two or
three young gentlemen have said, ' Go to, I will make a
religion '" This is the exact opposite of what the irre-
gular enjoying man can think or conceive. What is he
with his untrained mind and his changeful heart and his
ruleless practice, to create a creed ? Is the gushing life to
be asked to construct a cistern ? is the varying heart
to be its own master, the evil practice its own guide ?
Sooner will a ship invent its own rudder, devise its own
pilot, than the buoyant eager soul will find out the doe
trine which is to restrain it. The very intellect is a type
of the confusion of the soul. It has little arguments on a
thousand subjects, hearsay sayings, original flashes small
and bright, struck front the heedless mind by the strong
impact of the world. And it has nothing else. It has no
systematic knowledge; it has a haired of regular attention.
What can an understanding of this sort do with refined
questioning or subtle investigation ? It is obliged in a
sense by its very nature to take what comes; it is over-
shadowed in a manner by the religion to which it is born ;
its conscience tells it that it owes obedience to something;
it craves to worship something; that something, in both
cases, it takes from the past. " Thou bast not chosen me,
but I have chosen thee," might his faith say to a believer
of this kind. A certain bigotry is altogether natural to
him. His creed seems to him a primitive fact, as certain
and evident as the stars.—The political faith (for it is a
faith) of these persons is of a kind analogous. The virtue
of loyalty assumes in them a passionate aspect, and over-
flows, as it were, all the intellect which should be devoted
to the topic. This virtue, this need of our nature, arises,
as politics' philosophers tell us, from the consctous neces-
sity which man is under of obeying an external moral rule.
We feel that we are by nature and by the constitution of
all things under an obligation to conform to a certain
standard, and we seek to find or to establish in this outer
sphere an authority which shall enforce it, shall aid us in
compelling others and likewise in mastering ourselves
When a man thoroughly possessed with this principle
comes in contact with the institution of civil government
as it now exists and as it has always existed, he finds what
he wants—he discovers an authority ; and he feels bound
to submit to it.

All this Mr. IVlacaulsy, according to the reviewer, is
as much unable to understand as he is the deep,
earnest, and enthusiastic faith of the Puritan :

The history of the English Revolution is the very history
for a person of this character. It is eminently an unim-
passioned movement. It requires no appreciation of the
Cavalier or of the zealot; no sympathy with the romance
of this work' ; no inclination to pass beyond, and absorb
the mind's energies in another. It had neither the rough
enthusiasm of barbarism nor the delicate grace of high
civilisation; the men who conducted it had neither the
deep spirit of Cromwell's Puritans nor the chivalric loyalty
of the enjoying English gentleman. They were hard-
headed sensible men, W:I0 knew that politics were a kind
of business, that the essence of business is compromise, of
practicality concession. They drove no theory to excess;
for they had no theory. Their passions did not hurry

them away ; for their temperament was
reason calculating and still. Locke is a
character of his era. There is nothing
historian such as we have described r gild
hend, or could not sympathise with
prehend.
We have read this article with the
and we hope it may be widely
article upon " The English Stage
and most true, but presents us with
gestions for remedying its present
Austrian Peace " is written in a
and contains what is in our opinion
neous view of the position of Austria.
The Oxford and Cambridge -
only four articles. The first, u,
shapeless masa of nonsense.
admirers would do well to remem
never render their idol pupuiar
offensive peculiarities. A writer
scend to put before us in plain Engi
definite, practical, and immediate
drawn from those cloudy and st
which the philosopher loves to
might perhaps do him good service.
sent reviewer is wholly unequal to
is too much of a babe to stom
strong meat, and throws it. up
gested lump, merely exhausting
gusting his readers. The essay upon
wild fantasy, written, we should this
with very little knowledge of the sr'
of the world—the really hardworking
of this generation—look back upon
education. This sickly discontent
thusiasm, bred of idleness and inexi.
detestable. The article on Ruskin,
callBd "Frank's Sealed Letter,"
merit, but the whole number must
great falling off from the previous
It is refreshing even to turn
read a leaf from " My African NI
V. Bridgeman, It is a simple in,
rivalled interest, and really, on the
to have happened. "Respectable
mund Yates, possesses a similar
with the additional advantacte that
contained in it come to us recomm'
vious utterance of Bulwer and '
Times," by William P. Hale, is
that quiet drollness and copious
which the writer is deservedly celebrated.
The Martins of Cro' Martin contt
of old Martin, and the refusal of Merl
accept any terms about the post-obits.
the accepted suitor of Mary.

The Military and Naval Interpreter
Bryon, formerly an Officer in
Service. London: Francis.
THE title of the above work suffici'
its utility, and thr, opportunities wl.
enjoyed of becoming thoroughly acq
subject are a fair guarantee that it is
It contains the Russian, Tartar.
Arabic alphabets, with the prow
vocabulary of the English, French,
Tartar, Circassian, Arabic, and P,
It contains also a detailed accoun'
graphy ; the distances between the
villages ; the public roads and footpaths,
various lines of communication; and
of the rivers, lakes, and streams
Peninsula. It is for Oriental scholars
upon the fidelity with which Mr. Bi
his comparative tables of languages.
is praiseworthy, and we are sure
with common accuracy, it will prove
addition to the officer's bookshelf. "
the war, we must expect that our .
these countries will be for the future
creased, and we are glad to see the
towards facilitating our familiarity
long unexplored by Western travellers.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVE.
BOOKS.
Travels in Persia, Georgia, and Koordistan.
Modern Painters. Vol. IV. John Ruskin.
Smith,
Thoepar Recollections.
Richard Cromwell and the Restoration of
A Cyclopedia of Geography.
Literary Addresses delivered at various Popular Institutions.
tto
Di

Jack Tier. Parlour Library. Hodgson
John Halifax, Gentleman. Hurst and Blackett
&adman and Abiscil. An Allegory. J. W. Parker and Son
The Primitive Doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, J. 13.
Mozles, B.D. Murray
The Lion Hunter of South Africa. Gordon Cumming.
. ;4.1 ...--4,:4 1 111 Ditto
Ditto
Dug-Breaking. Colonel \V. N. Hutchinson.
Gienntorven, or Nedky lisotory. H. T. Aitilissy.
Hops sal Cep

_~ . mil_:

111111011111111.1111 JIM
SATURDAY)
Lt was calm, and their
e is the type of the best.
nothing lu him which a
ied could fail to compre.
with when he did cow-
the greatest pleasure,
ely circulated. The
,age " is very sensible
with no original sug-
asent defects. " The
a disagreeable tone,
nion an entirely erro.
.ustria.
e Magazine contains
upon Carlyle, is a
. That gentleman's
nember that they will
war by copying his
,er who should conde-
English what are the
Late conclusions to he
stormy effusions in
o vent his opinions
ervice. But the pre-
-Ito such a task. He
omach Mr. Carlyle's
p again in an undi-
rig himself and dis.
sy upon Oxford is a
1 think, by some one
a spirit in which men
'orking, practical men
upon their university
tent and affected en.
inexperience, is most
Luskin, and the story
are not without
ust be pronounced a
:us ones.
.rn to the Train, and
Notebook," by John
incident, but of un-
he whole, not unlikely
able People," by Ed-
tilar sort of merit,
hat the observations
mmended by the pre-
Thackeray. " Old
is distinguished for
ous information for
:elebrated.
contains the death
f Merl, the usurer, to
ist-obits. Scanlan is
preter. By Thomas
:n the Russian Civil
sufficiently proclaims
which the writer has
y acquainted with his
tt it is well executed.
artar, Turkish, and
ronunciation, and a
ich, Turkish, Russian,
1 Persian languages.
unt of Crimean geo-
the towns, forts, and
footpaths, with the
; and some account
earns of the Tauric
cholars to pronounce
Bryon has compiled
ages. But the attempt
ire that, if executed
wove a most welcome
If. Independently of
our intercourse with
future, very much in-
the first step taken
lrity with regions so
tvellers.
lED.—Aran. 10.
Telistan.
Hurst and Blackett
Ruskin.
Smith, Elder, and Co.
Trabner and Co.
Is of the Stuarts.
Bentley
Griffin and Co.
ma Popular Institutions.
Ditto
Hodgson
til.nkett

APRIL 19, 1856.

The Life of the Rev. John Beaumont, M.D.
Hamilton and Adams

St. Paul and Modern Thought. Macmillan and Co.
Tic Dou/oureux. H. Bailliere
The Education of the Maws. Oakey
Robert Owen's Millennial Gazette.
Apparitions. Newton Crosland. E• Wilson.
Gabriel. Bessie Rayner Parkes. J. Chapman
Review of the New Rules for Promotion in the Indian Army.
Lampeto Theology Exemplified in Extracts. Bell and Daldy
National Education. Hamilton
Memorandum on Suggestive Improvements in the Patent
Laws of 18.5.2 and 1853. Lord Stanley. Boone
Remarks on the Law of Partnership and Limited Liability.
E. Wilson
Norgate

IA Conquete de La Chine.
PF.RIODICALS.

The Quarterly Review.
Oxford Estrays.
Putinam's Monthly.

Murray
J. W. Parker and Son
Sampson and Low