The Press.
London, England, 1853-08-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

large, would give ample topics for profound
discussion. Even the prominent leaders in
the civil progress of the time afford many inte-
resting recollections—such as " Fletcher of
Stamm," Lord Belhaven. Candaini, and others
too numerous to mention. It was a period in
Scotland of rapid transitions and strong con-
trasts. On the side of authority, and against
it, there were culpable excesses. A blacker
deed than the massacre of Glencoe never
stained the hands of power in these islands ;
and a more strange project than Paterson's
Darien scheme bailout amused the hopes of
credulity, even in the bubble periods of later
times. In addition to the resources of the
genuine history of the events, the whole subjeet
has obtained a world-wide interest from its
being identified with the splendid literary
tritunphs of Scott, and the popularising of
Scottish traditions throughout Christendom.
On this suggestive theme, sparkling with
brilliant incidents and varied with curious
contrasts, 111.. Burton has produced two volumes
of the dullest description. Contemplating it
in what he supposes to be the "philosophical"
method, he gives us dissertation in place of
narrative, discusses where he should describe,
and, instead of revealing Scotland and the
Scotch, delights in manifesting himself in
every chapter as a disciple of Bentham and
Utility, and an idolator of Adam Smith. if
Mr. Wilson, the Secretary for the Treasury, had
as much power of tautology as the writer, he
might, after being turned loose for a twelve-
month into the Advocates' Library at Edin-
burgh, produce as utterly uninteresting a his-
tory as this ponderous production. The
author has not that knowledge of human nu•
ture, or sympathy with its mingled good and
evil, required by one who aspires to tell the story
of a gallant nation during fifty years of heroic
struggles. A formalist and a system-monger
of the utilitarian species, with
_pretensions to
graduate only amongst the Westminster re-
viewers of the older school, he must, us a mat-
ter of course, utterly fail in a theme demanding
the union of versatile intellect with generous
emotion, and an historical aptitude for con-
centrating matter in a page, and painting a
character in a sentence. With his second-hand
philosophy and tame style he cannot attain to
originality as a thinker or brilliancy as a writer.
We do not blame him for his non-exhibition
of qualities denied to him by nature, but we
do censure him for nut having studied the art
of historical composition before inflicting
upon us these tiresome volumes. A perusal
of Lucian's tract on writing history, or even
the Abbe do Mably's essay, would have greatly
benefited this two volume commentator, for
Mr. Burton cannot be called by the title of an
historian.

We will give our readers some proofs of the
truth of our remarks. These volumes contain
upwards of eleven hundred ►ages of the size
of Mr. Macaulay's History. To a skilful writer,
within such space there was ample room fin•
treating of the most interesting portions of
the annals of the time. Here is the way in
which Mr. Burton commemorates Mora Mac-
donald :

]iut he was fortunate, about the !nit of June, in acci-
dentally meeting with the young Highland lady Fkm
Macdonald, whose name beeame justly eelebnited for a
aeries of humane SVlNiell• ha which she combined the har-
dness' of a stnmg and brave man with the tenderness of a
gentle and cultivated woman.
The project in the accomplishment of which site so ma-
terially aided was to convey the wanderer to Aye, where
from the loyalty of the two main chiefs there was a less
formidable Heareh than in the archipelago of the Long
Island, infested by military parties. Attended by his fair
guide, he was received by a fusilade in attempting to land
at Waternish.

That is all the Scotch historian has to tell
of Flora Macdonald ; while in the next chapter
forgotten authors and artists of mere local no-
toriety, without any classic►tl pretensions, arc
critically discussed. The fidelity of the High
lenders to the fugitive chevalier, when a vast
price was set upon his head, and when he
could have so easily been betntyed, is thus de-
tailed by this " philosophical " historian :
The narrative of his adventures published far and wide
the characteristic fidelity of the humble people among;
whom he sojourned. It is true that the reward ofered for
him—thirty thousand ls►unds—was too large 14 their ima-
gination practically to grasp as an available fund But
fidelity t► their undertakings as followers is essentially a
htue, almost a religion, among the humble Highlanders.