The Press.
London, England, 1858-04-17 00:00:00

THE PRE S S, APRIL 17, 1858.

regarded in these circumstances of emotional exaltation.
The excited warrior, in the thick of battle, feels neither the
sabre's cut nor the cannon's stroke. Again, the tactile
sensibility may be most acutely awakened in the absense
of all emotional excitement; internal spasm, neuralgia,
and certain cases of local hysteria, show this phenomenon.
Nay, the emotional sensibility, when greatly exalted, may
very often be lowered by auperinducing bodily pain—in.
tensifying tactile or common sensation. In that extraor-
dinary epidemic of the middle ages, the Dancing Mania,
so admirably described by Becker, the paroxysms (under-
stood to bare been the reaction ensuing upon some
morbid emotion) were most efibctually interrupted or sub-
dued by blows and kicks ; the operation of these, it may
be presumed, having been to bring about sensational, and
thereby to weaken emotional, sensibility. The patients,
at the height of their excitement, seem to have had the
external senses literally sealed. " While dancing," says
Hecker, " they neither saw nor heard, being insensible to
external impressions through the senses."

He places this faculty in the "optic thalami"
and the " corpora striate," and the remainder
of his chapter on this portion of the mind is
occupied with medical instances tending to
establish this conclusion.

As the white matter of the brain is generally
admitted to be the seat of sense and emotion,
so the organic region of intelligence is com-
monly placed in the grey matter, between
which and the former lies the connecting link
of the two. Dr. Noble's view of the subject
is contained in the following passage. In cor-
respondence with the universally-acknow-
ledged distinction between thought and feel-
ing, intellect and sensibility—

Anatomical and physiological facts suggest a seat of
thought distinct ftom that of feeling; the separate regions
baring between them a white central mass.

What thin partitions sense from thought divide.

White matter, then, intervenes between the vesicular
neurine forming the sensory and emotive ganglia, and that
which forms the convoluted surface of the cerebrum ; and
impressions received in the former may be regarded as
extending their influence along the fibres of the central
mass, until the grey summit is attained, when changes are
induced in that region which minister to the intelligence.
Intuition of some existence—a perception—thus arises,
and sensational ideas are in this way primarily obtained.
If we reflect upon the processes that go on within the mind,
we shall see that Leither a sensation nor an emotion
neeessarily involves an idea, and that an essential diffe-
rence exists between such passive subjective states and an
intellectual appreciation of their objective significance.
How often, for example, do we find that, notwithstanding
the full consciousness of a sensation, the idea suggested
by it does not arise until some seconds or even minutes
have elapsed ? The utterance of certain words, as sounds,
is heard ; their signification does not, at the moment,
strike the hearer; and yet in &short time, without any ex-
ternal cause, and without any effort of attention, the mean-
ing will some times break upon the intelligence.
This theory is chiefly derived from Dr. Car-
penter, but Dr. Noble confirms it by some in-
teresting facts, not previously stated. The
grey matter of the brain may be attacked by
disease without fatal results, and portions of
it may be abstracted without affecting seriously
the bodily functions ; but if the white matter
underneath these grey convolutions be dis-
turbed, fatal consequences, such as paralysis,
apoplexy, and death, speedily ensue. In the
widely-different symptoms attendant upon the
misuse of our thinking and emotional powers
respectively, the author discovers a corrobora-
tion of the foregoing view :

This relative liability to ulterior physical mischief con-
sequent upon damage done to the hemispherical and sen-
sory ganglia respectively, very much corresponds with the
comparative deterioration resulting from excessive thought
and overwrought feeling. Studious habits, however con-
tinuous, in themselves operate with but little prejudice to
the system ; when the health of severe students gives way,
the fact is almost always directly traceable to irregularity
of meals, inadequate sleep, neglect of out-door exercise,
aed deprivation of suitable recreation ; let these be duly
attended to, and scarcely any amount of pure thinking will
act injuriously upon the system, or diminish the prospects
of longevity. The ease, however, is very different when,
from any cense, feeling is greatly perturbed, when the
emotional sensibility is habitually excited ; then, more or
less, the health constantly suffers ; organic changes, not
unfrequently malignant, are induced; and sometimes life
is prematurely and abruptly extinguished. See the per-
petually occurring effects of grief, anxiety, and corroding
care--the wan countenance, the sickly and dingy com-
plexion, the wasted flesh. Look even at the results of too
much joyous excitement—the sleepless nights, the nervous
excitability, the fever flush. We have none of these
phenesiena exhibited by the merely studious man ; by
him at least who is exempt from striving, competitive
anxiety, from ambitions struggles, and other influences that
deteriorate feeling. You will rather notice a fionrishing
state of both mental and bodily health. Longevity, too,
notoriously attaches to philosophers and men of science, if
they only take ordinary care of themselves, and do not
engage too vehemently in the battle of life, which corn-
Premises the sensibility.
Dr. Noble's argument seems to be resolvable
into the two syllogisms,—lntellectual work

does not injure the health; injury to the grey
matter of the brain does not affect the health ;
therefore there is a connection between the
grey matter and the intellect : and, Over-
emotion does affect the health ; so does an
injury to the white matter; therefore there is
a connection between the white matter and
the emotions. Many other interesting pas-
sages might be quoted, but the above, which
seems sound as far as it goes, and is at all
events a step towards a valid induction, is as
good a specimen of Dr. Noble's manner and
argument as could be quoted. The book will
probably prove interesting both to the ama-
teur and the physician; though we cannot
help thinking that, until it becomes possible
to observe the functions of the brain at work
in the way that Dr. Beaumont observed diges-
tion through the orifice in St. Martin's stomach,
physiological psychology is destined to no
more than a very slow progress.

The Commerce of India. By B. A. Irving, M.A.

London: Smith and Elder.
THE contents of this volume, to which the Le
Bas Prize was adjudged at Cambridge in the
year 1852, are, we think, rather superior to the
average of this kind of compositions. Whether
or no this circumstance be attributable to
later revision, we cannot tell. Certain en-
tirely new chapters have been added, but, if
the work has not been in great part rewritten,
it is as creditable to the writer's good sense
as to his power of massing together facts.
Having awarded this general praise to Mr.
Irving's performance, we shall feel less com-
punction in criticising faults of detail, some of
which are due to mistaken political zeal, which
is pardonable in a young man, and others to
the immaturity of that particular mental
power by which we estimate the comparative
value of facts. Sometimes, accordingly, his
language is too grand for his topic, and at
others he bestows but a passing glance at
eveute which deserve careful examination.
Mr. Irving's earlier chapters aro compiled
with discrimination and industry ; nor do we
see any reason to question the justice of hie
conclusions. He points out five different
routes by which the products of India were
conveyed to the different quarters of Eurone, and
using this division as the thread of his essay,
proceeds to give a short sketch of the different
commercial nations of antiquity and the middle
ages by whom these laws were respectively
adopted. The roads were as follows :

First, by the way of the Persian Gulf, to cities on the
Tigris and Euphrates ; thence by means of caravans to
cities along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean;
whence the Tyrians in olden times, and the Venetians
and Genoese in the middle ages, transported it to every
corner of Europe.
Secondly, by the Red Sea to cities in Arabia, and in
after times to Alexandria in Egypt, and thence, by the
same means as in the first route, it found its way to Euro-
pean emporia.
Thirdly, by the Cape of Good Hope, a route which,
though longer than either of the preceding. is, owing to
the passage being entirely by sea, both so much less expen-
sive and so much more certainAas to have almost entirely
superseded the old routes.
Lastly, direct overland communication by means of
caravans from city to city ; to the south, through I3eloo-
chistan and Persia, to the cities of Syria ; centrally,
through the Balk and Kliiva, along the shores of the Cas-
pian, to the towns on the Euxine ; and lastly, to the north,
through Chins, across the deserts of Tartary, by way of
Kiskta and Maimatschin, to 'Moscow and the cities of
Central Europe.
Such have been the several directions in which the rich
commodities of the East have been conveyed to the West.
To what particular entrepots they were brought, and what
effects they prodneed upon the fortunes and character of
the nations through which they passed, we now proceed to
investigate.

We thus get a very clear idea of those com-
mercial channels from which the merchant
princes of Tyro and Venice derived their
splendour. But the discovery of the Cape
route by the Portuguese in 1488 put an end to
the monopoly which the Venetians had so long
enjoyed as the carriers of Europe, and gave
first to Portugal, then to Holland, and finally
to our own country, the command of the In-
dian trade. Venice might, perhaps, have been
able to dispute with her new rivals the supre-
macy of the Eastern seas, had not the wars
following the League of Cambray exhausted
her resources, And disenabled her from com-
peting with the powerful armaments of Por-
tugal which swept tho 'adieu Ocean. The

following sketch of the old Venetian trade is
worth quotation :
The merchandise of Tndia, especially from
( Malabar) and Cambeth (Cambay ), was first co=
Hormus ( Ormuz), a port on the Persian Gulf, and was
thence transported to Basaora, on the Euphrates, all whisk
places belonged to the Tartars. From Basaora it
up the Tigris to Belden (Bagdad), and thence by
navigation to Antioch and Licia, where it was
for Europe on board the vessels of Venice and Genoa.
That of late, however, the merchants of the southern part
of Arabia had recovered their old commerce. The trade
came to Ahaden (Aden), thence to Chum (ancient Copt's),
on the Nile, and thence to Alexandria. This, observe, was
the old route of the time of the Ptolemies. Our authority in.
forms us, however, that some articles of small size, but great
value, were still brought by the old course. He mentions
with indignation the wealth which the Sultan of Egypt by
this means indirectly drained from Christendom. On an
immense number of articles, a long list of which he gives,
a duty of not leas than one third of their value was charged
at Alexandria.

~t

•

The Portuguese enjoyed a monopoly of the
India trade for about a hundred years (1500
A.D.-1600 A.D.), at the end of which time they
began to recede before the Dutch, who after a
reignof about a century and a half were in turn
dispossessed by the English. The difference
between the Dutch and Portuguese trade was
this—that the latter was exclusively a royal
monopoly, carried on by the king's ships, the
king's servants, and the king's money ; whereas
the former, like ourselves, intrusted the
India trade to a company. The conEtitution
of the Dutch East India Company was as
follows :
The Company being formed out of several smaller eve%
whose members were naturally desirous of retaining under
their own management as mach of the tied. as was
possible, possessed a very peculiar constitution. Its go•
vernment was intrusted to Diu different chambers, whose
influence was proportioned to the amount of their sib~
scriptions and the importance of the cities which they
represented. The total capital was between six and sevea
million florins, and was tinder the management of ailttp
five directors. Of these, twenty.five were allotted to kat&
sterdam end the neighbouring towns; to Middleburg tam
assigned twelve ; whilst Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn, mail
Enkhuysen, were each represented by seven. This syskiiis,
notwithstanding its complicated character, for many=
worked well: and it was not until misfortunes in
produced discontent at home, that its disadvantages beam*
apparent.
In his account of the rise and progress of the
English East India Company, Mr. Irving does
not differ materially from the standard autho-
rities. In his narrative of the Company's
relations with James and Charles I. we nodes

1

a little foolish declamation about the vices of
the Stuarts and the virtues of Oliver Crom-
well. When Charles purchased their stores of
pepper from the Indian merchants at a high
price, he had fair prospects of being able to
pay fot• it. Had he done so, the Company
would have made a large profit. They were
not compelled to sell it. In the then position
of the King's affairs such an act of coercion was
impossible. The affair was an ordinary com-
mercial speculation, in which a risk was en• •
countered for the chance of a large return.
The adventure turned out unfortunate, but
the King was no more chargeable with ill '
faith than the merchant captain
vessel founders in a gale and ailiteiesirt:
cargo to the bottom. Again, when Chu
granted a trading licence to Sir Willis.
Courten, in alleged violation of the OW&
pany's charter, he was only doing exactly lAA
William 111. did afterwards, and acting, as,
cording to Mr. Mill, if not with literal legality.,
at least in perfect accordance with the public
opinion of the time. Of the " Massacre cf
Amboyna" (1623), when some fifteen or sixteen
Englishmen were put to death by the Dutch,
Mr. Irving says :
The reader will expect to hear that the perpetrators of
this horrid massacre met with condign punishment from
their own countrymen, if not Immediately, yet, at any rate,
when it was positively and indignantly demanded by the
insulted majesty of this realm. Let him know, however,
that a Stuart filled the throne. That although the
principal perpetrators of this crime were once actually cur
prisoners in Portsmouth, the Secretary of State connived
at, if he did not absolutely aid in their escape, and after •
more than a quarter of a century, it was reserved fee the
energetic Cromwell to insist upon, and to obtain, the
punishment of the surviving authors of this outrage on
humanity.
Mr. Irving has no right whatever to speak of this
affair as a " horrid massacre " unless he can
pssve it. Mr. Mill tells us that it was the result
of a legal trial. The English had consented to
be subject to the Dutch laws. They were tried
for a conspiracy to seize Amboyna. And
though the evidtnpe way have been defective

. .
..
• ''
• • • •--- • - ••.`ed-0e„,.-,....,,1ikt,,,,,,,7
; •,...,,
•
THE PRESS, APRIL 17, 1858
• 69
retarded in these circumstances of emotional exaltation, does not injure the health; injury to the grey following sketch of the old Venetian trade is
The excited warrior, in the thick of battle, feels neither the matter of the brain does not affect the health • worth quotation : ) •
sabre's cut nor the cannon's stroke. Again, the tactile '
therefore there is a connection between the
sensibility may be most acutely awakened in the absense The merchandise of India, especially from
/
of all emotional excitement; internal spasm, neuralgia, grey matter and the intellect : and, Over- (Malabar) and Cambeth (Cambay), was first co=
and certain cases of local hysteria, show this phenomenon. emotion does affect the health ; so does an ]corona (Ormuz), a port on the Persian Gulf, and was
Nay, the emotional sensibility, when greatly exalted, may injury to the white matter; therefore there is thence transported to Hamra, on the Euphrates, all whieb
very often be lowered by auperinducing bodily p places ed to the Tartars. From Bassora it
a counection between the white matter and
tensifying tactile or common sensation. In that extraor- up the Tighe to Baldac (Bagdad), and thence by
divary epidemic of the middle ages, the Dancing Mania, the emotions. Many other interesting pas- navigation to Antioch and Lima, where it was
so admirably described by Becker, the paroxysms (under-
sages might be quoted, but the above, which for Europe on board the vessels of Venice and Genoa.
stood to have been the reaction ensuing upon some seeing sound as far as it goes, and is at all That of late, however, the merchants of the southern part
morbid emotion) were most effrctually interrupted or sub- events a step towards a valid induction, is as of Arabia had recovered their old commerce. The trade
deed by blows and kicks ; the operation of these, it may good a specimen of Dr. Noble's manner andulet,esonfdtthheetthnciamteestooomf Atehleea:paitcdneldeserimao.ifesinT
ohallitisrs, oiazbiLbrveoriutt,greywissnai
cametoNAhaden (Aden), thence to Chum (ancient Copt's), ,r
be presumed, having been to bring about sensational, and on the
argument as could be quoted. The book will the old rot
thereby to weaken emotional, sensibility. The patients,
at
the height of their excitement, seem to have had the probably prove interesting both to the ama- forme us, however,
external senses literally sealed. " While dancing," says ten: and the physician ; though we cannot value, were still brought by the old course. He mentions
Hecker, " they neither saw nor heard, being insensible to help thinking that, until it becomes possible with indignation the wealth which the Sultan of Egypt by
this means indirectly drained from Christendom. On an
external impressions through the senses." to observe the functions of the brain at work
•
He places this faculty in the "optic thalami" in the way that Dr. Beaumont observed diges- immense number of articles, a long list of which he gime,
a duty of not less than one third of their value was oturyed
and the " corpora striate," and the remainder tion through the orifice in St. Martin's stomach, at Alexandria.
of his chapter on this portion of the mind is physiological psychology is destined to no The Portuguese enjoyed a monopoly of the
occupied with medical instances tending to more than a very slow progress. India trade for about a hundred years (1500
establish this conclusion. A.D.-1600 A.D.), at the end of which time they
As the white matter of the brain is generally began to recede before the Dutch, who after a
admitted to be the seat of sense and emotion, The Commerce of India. By B. A. Irving, M.A. reignof about a century and a half were in turn
so the organic region of intelligence is com- London: Smith and Elder. dispossessed by the English. The difference
mealy placed in the grey matter, between between the Dutch and Portuguese trade was
Bits Prize was adjudged at Cambridge in the this—that the latter was exclusively a royal
of the two. Dr. Noble's view of the subject monopoly, carried on by the, king's ships, the
year 1852, are, we think, rather superior to the
is contained in the following passage. In cor- king's servants, and the king s money ; whereas
average of this kind of compositions. Whether
respondence with the universally-acknow- the former, like ourselves, intrusted the
or no this circumstance be attributable to
ledged distinction between thought and feel- India trade to a company. The conttitution
later revision, we cannot tell. Certain en-
ing, intellect and sensibility— of the Dutch East India Company was as
tirely new chapters have been added, but, if
Anatomical and physiological facts suggest a seat of the work has not been in great part rewritten, follows :
thought distinct from that of feeling; the separate regions it is as creditable to the writer's good sense The Company being formed out of several smaller *twee
baring between them a white central mass. whose members were naturally desirous et retain' under
retaining
What thin partitions sense from thought divide.
as to his power of massing together facts. their own management as much of the node as was
Having awarded this general praise to Mr. possible, possessed a very peculiar eonstitntion. Its goe
White matter, then, intervenes between the vesicular Irving's performance, we shall feel less coin- vernment was intrusted to six different chambers, whom
neurine forming the sensory and emotive ganglia, and that
nunetion in criticising faults of detail, some of influence was proportioned to the amount of their sub.
which forms the convoluted surface of the cerebrum ; and • .
impressions received in the former may be regarded as which are due to mistaken political zeal, which seriptions and the importance of the cities which they
represented. The total capital was between six and seven
extending their influence along the fibres of the central is pardonable in a young man, and others to million florins, and was under the management of silt).
mass, until the grey summit is attained, when changes are the immaturity of that particular mental five directors. Of these, twenty.fiye were allotted to km&
induced in that region which minister to the intelligence. power by which we estimate the comparative aterdam and the neighbouring towns; to Middleburg WI
Intuition of some existence—a perception—thus arises, value of facts. Sometimes, accordingly, his assigned twelve; whilst Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn MA
and sensational ideas are in this way primarily obtained. Enkbuysen, were each represented by seven. This side.,
If we reflect upon the processes that go on within the mind, language is too grand for his topic, and at
notwithstanding its complicated character, for many =
we shall see that neither a sensation nor an emotion others he bestows but a passing glance at worked well: and it was not until misfortunes in
neressarily Involves an idea, and that an essential diffe- events which deserve careful examination. produced discontent at home, that its disadvantages beam*
rence exists between such passive subjective states and an Mr. Irving's earlier chapters aro compiled apparent.
intellectual appreciation of their objective significance. with discrimination and industry ; nor do we In his account of the rise and progress of the
How often, for example, do we find that, notwithstanding
the full consciousness of a sensation, the idea suggested see any reason to question the justice of hie English East India Company, Mr. Irving does
by it does not arise until some seconds or even minutes conclusions. He points out five different not differ materially from the standard autho-
have elapsed ? The utterance of certain words, as sounds, routes by which the products of India were rities. In his narrative of the Company's
is heard; their signification does not, at the moment, conveyed to the different quarters of Eurone, and relations with James and Charles I. we nodes A
strike the hearer; and yet in &short time, without any ex- using this division as the thread of his essay,
ternal cause, and without any effort of attention, the mean- a little foolish declamation about the vices of
ing will some times break upon the intelligence.
proceeds to give a short sketch of the different the Stuarts and the virtues of Oliver Crom-
This theory is chiefly derived from Dr. Car-
commercial nations of antiquity and the middle well. When Charles purchased their stores of
pester, but Dr. Noble confirms it by some in-
ages by whom these laws were respectively pepper from the Indian merchants at a high
teresting facts, not previously stated. The
adopted. The roads were as follows : price, he had fair prospects of being able to
grey matter of the brain may be attacked by '
Ti
cities
by the way of the Persian Gulf, s
to cities on the pay for it. Had he done so, the Company
•
disease without fatal results, and portions of gris
along tulip(' hrates
eastern' sho thence b y mean
of the Medite of caravans torranean ; would have made a large profit. They were
resit may be, abstracted without affecting seriously whence the Tyrians in olden times, and the Venetians not compelled to sell it. In the then position
the bodily functions ; but if the white matter and Genoese in the middle ages, transported it to every of the King's affairs such an act of coercion was
underneath these grey convolutions be die- corner of Europe. impossible. The affair was an ordinary com-
turbed, fatal consequences, such as paralysis' Secondly, by the Red Sea to cities in Arabia, and in mercial speculation, in which a risk was one
after times to Alexandria in Egypt, and thence, by the
apoplexy, and death, speedily ensue. In the countered for the chance of a large return. -..,
widely-different symptoms attendant upon the peon emporia.
same means as in the first route, it found its way to Euro- The adventure turned out unfortunate, but
$
misuse of our thinking and emotional powers Thirdly, by the Cape of Good Hope, a route which, the King was no more chargeable with ill
respectively, the author discovers a eorrobora- though longer than either of the preceding. is, owing to faith than the merchant captain
the passage being entirely by sea, both so much less expen- vessel founders in a gale and conies= of the foregoing view :
sive and so much more certain,ias to have almost entirely
This relative liability to ulterior physical mischief con- superseded the old routes. cargo to the bottom. Again, when Charlie
sequent upon damage done to the hemispherical and sen- Lastly, direct overland communication by means of granted a trading licence to Sir Willis.
sory ganglia respectively, very much corresponds with the caravans from city to city ;to the south, through 13elon- Courten, in alleged violation of the OW*
comparative deterioration resulting from excessive thought chistan and Persia, to the cities of Syria ; centrally, pany's charter, he was only doing exactly lOW
andt overwrought feeling. Studious habits, however con- through the Balk and Kliiva, along the shores of the Cate William 111. did afterwards, and acting,
mous, in themselves operate with but little prejudice to pian, to the towns on the Euxine ; and lastly, to the north.. cor
the ading to Mr. Mill, if not with literal legality,
system ; when the health of severe students' gives way, through China, across the deserts of Tartary, by way of • .
the fact is almost always directly traceable to irregularity Klaus and Maimatschin,'
to 'Moscow and the cities of at least in perfect accordance with the public
of meals, inadequate sleep, neglect of out-door exercise, Central Europe. opinion of the time. Of the " Massacre cf
and deprivation of suitable recreation ; let these be duly Such have been the several directions in which the rich Amboyna" (1623), when some fifteen Or sixteen .-
attended to, and scarcely any amount of pure thinking will commodities of the East have been conveyed to the West. Englishmen were put to death by the Dutch.
set injuriously upon the system, or diminish the prospects To what particular entrepots they were brought, and what Mr. Irving says :
of longevity. The case, however, is very different when, effects they prodneed npon the fortunes and character of
from any cause, feeling is greatly perturbed, when the the nations through which they passed, we now proceed to The reader will expect to bear that the perpetrators of
emotional sensibility is habitually excited ; then, more or investigate. this horrid massacre met with condign punishment from
less, the health constantly suffers ; organic changes, not
We thus get a very clear idea of those corn- their own countrymen, if not immediately, yet, at any rate,
infrequently malignant, are induced; and sometimes life when it was positively and indignantly demanded by the
is Prematurely and abruptly extinguished. See the per. mercial channels from which the merchant insulted majesty of this realm. Let him know, however,
petually occurring effects of grief, anxiety, and corroding princes of Tyro and Venice derived their that a Stuart filled the throne. That although the
care—the wan countenance, the sickly and dingy coin- splendour. But the discovery of the Cape principal perpetrators of this crime were once actually our
plexion, the wasted flesh. Look even at the results of too route by the Portuguese in 1488 put an end to
much joyous excitement—the sleepless nights, the nervous at if he did not absolutely aid in their escape, and after •
prisoners in Portsmouth, the Secretary
. of State connived
the monopoly which the Venetians had so long excitability, the fever flush. We have none of these more than a quarter of a centurv, it was reserved for the
carriers of Europe, and gave
phenomena exhibited by the merely studious man ;by enjoyed as the energetic Cromwell to insist upon, anti to obtain, the
him at least who is exempt from striving, competitive first to Portugal, then to Holland, and finally punirlimeut of the surviving authors of this outrage on
anxiety, from ambitions struggles, and other influences that to our own country, the command of the In- humanity,
deteriorate feeling. You will rather notice a flourishing dian trade. Veniee might, perhaps, have been Mr. Irving has no right whateverto speak of this
state of both mental and bodily health. Longevity, too,
notoriousl y
attaches to hiloso her. and men of science if able to dispute with her new rivals the supra- affair as a " horrid massacre " unless he can
,
they only take ordinary c p
of themselves, and do not maey of the Eastern seas, had not the wars peeve it. Mr. Mill tells us that it was the result
engage toe vehemently in the battle of life, which coin- following the League of Cambray exhausted of a legal trial. The English had consented to
promises the sensibility. her resources, end disenabled her from corn- be subject to the Dutch laws. They were tried
Dr. Noble's argument seems to be resolvable peting with the powerful armaments of Par- for a conspiracy to seize Amboyna. And
into the two s)llogisms,—lntellectual work tugal which swept the Indian Ocean. The though the evidence may have been defective
•

and the punishment unnecessarily severe, it
cannot with any justice be entitled a massacre.
Under these circumstances it was totally im-
possible for the King to have detained the
Dutch without involving a declaration of war:
an obstacle to his own views, the force of
which Mr. Irving will perhaps acknowledge
when he has paid a little more attention to
the study of polities. And after all, what was
the amount of compensation obtained by "the
energetic Cromwell "? As Mr. Irving has
omitted to state it, we may as well inform
him—" 3,6151. to be paid to the heirs or ex-
ecutors of the sufferers."

Of the India Bills of Fox and Pitt Mr.
Irving says but little. They relate less to the
commercial than to the political position of
the Company, and five or six years ago might
naturally have been passed over with little
comment. But we should have expea4ed
some remarks on the actual state of Indian

commerce at the present day, the absence of
which sufficiently proclaims that the author is
rather a college amateur than a practical au-
thority on the subject. To supply this vacuum
readers will do well to consult the fourth
chapter of the valuable little work recently
published by Colonel Briggs, called " India
and Europe Compared." Perhaps we may add
that Mr. Irving would do well to consult it
himself. He would then correct in another
edition such careless statements as the follow-
ing :

Hence, whenever she has come into competition with
Western nations, even in those manufactureawhich are

. .
peculiarly her own, she has been supplanted. India is the
native country of the cotton plant, yet of the 600,000,0001b5.
imported into this country she furnishes not more than
430,000,00011 m., and this of the most inferior quality.

Now, it appears from the authority we have
quoted that in 1850 the amount of cotton sent
home was 110,690,357 lbs.; and that it has
trebled in amount since 1834, when the im-
port only amounted to 38,268,402 lbs.
Mr. Irving devotes a few pages to a sketch
of the parts taken at different times by the
French, Danes, Swedes, and Prussiaas iu the
India trade. But, as none of their companies
survive now, we need not dotain our readers
on the subject. Mr. Irving has given us a
useful and interesting book. He writes like a
scholar, if not like a merchant; and perhaps
it is scarcely any detraction from his merits to
say that he has a somewhat extravagant scnse
of the dignity of his subject. He is never
weary of repeating the old complaint that his-
torians confine their attention too much to
kings and courtiers, wars and intrigues, and
neglect the progress of commerce and the arts
of peace. Old as the complaint is, it is totally
unfounded. The reason that history deals
with war and government, rather than with
commerce, is, that commerce can take care of
itself. The development of trado may safely
be left to the selfieh instincts of mankind, but
the preservation of good government demands
both from rulers and subjects the exercise of
great virtues—self-denial, patience, and fore.
sight. The results of political virtue are re-
mote, and but for the care of the historian
would frequently be missed. On the other
hand, the results of political misconduct are
frequently dazzling for the moment, and we
must apply the test of experience, as recorded
in history, to determine their true character.
But the laws of commerce are simple, and even
when violated it is not because they are
misunderstood. They are the same in all
ages, and are changed neither by religion, by
race, nor by climate. But their operation is
affected deeply by forms of government, and
thus even from the mercantile point of view
government becomes of primary importance in
history. Had Mr. Irving given as much time
to reflection as to research, he would not have
been betrayed into the repetition of this
fallacy.

Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters, and of the
Progress of Painting in Italy. By Mrs. Jameson.
New Edition. London : Murray.
is the second edition of a charming work which
_ received wide appreciation, and yet it is not quite
as well known as it deserves to be. A quantity of
Ltter, with carefully-drawn illustrations, is pilled
thin the moderate compass of a pocket volume.
ere is much fine criticism scattered through its
and the !summaries of the fins of the rufous

painters are executed with taste and judgment. It
is not a mere collection of rapid sketches, but a
series of well-weighed decisions upon the Italian
artists. Summaries are apt to be dry, but Mrs.
Jameson in her characterisation knows how to pre-

serve both colour and design. As an elementary
handbook of Italian art this volume has great value,
and it is one of the best books that could be given to
oue in the early stages of esthetic culture. Although
encomiastic in her tone, Mrs. Jameson is not extra-
vagant in her estimate of the marvellous genius of
Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raphael.
She does not succeed so well in producing a por-
traiture of Titian's mind, but nearly every sketch
shows thorough familiarity with her subject. Writing
of Giorgione, Mrs. Jameson observes :
This painter was another great inventor; one of those
who stamped his own individuality on his art. He was
essentially a poet, and a subjective poet, who fused his own
being with all he performed and created :—if Raphael be
the Shakespeare, then Giorgione may be styled the Byron,
of painting.

Giorgione appears to have been endowed by nature with an
intense love of beauty and • sense of harmonj which per.
vaded his whole being. He was famous as a player and
composer on the lute, to which he sung his own verses.
In his works two characteristics prevail, sentiment and
oolour ; both tinged by the peculiar temperament of the
man : the sentiment is noble, but melancholy, and the colour
decided, intense, and glowing. His execution had a
freedom, a careless mastery of hand, or, to borrow the
- Italian word, a spreszalurs, unknown

before his time.

With similar ease Mrs. Jameson discusses the chief

characteristics of the various painters of whom she
has treated. Some of the drawings in this volume
are executed with much boldness and simple force of
style. Giotto's portrait of Dante, and " The Angel
and the Youth," from the Campo Santo, by Andrea
Orcagna, are rendered with great vigour of touch and
an absence of cloudiness. Raphael's group from the
Heliodorus is extremely spirited, and of such a glo-
rious original it is extremely difficult to give by a
small drawing a correct idea of its force and energy.
" The Death of Ananias," from the cartoon by Ra-
phael, is another capital illustration. On the other
hand, Giorgione's " Fete Champetre," and similar
subjects, are not so successfully rendered ; but the
great mass of the illustrations are executed with
much force and spirit, and impart great value to this
most attractive work. It is well suited for a present
to the young, and is both readable for its biogra-
phical notices and instructive for its deeply informed
comments. It is likely to pass through many
editions.

PUBLICATIONS RECE
BOOKS.

Cathedra Petri. A Political History of the Great Latin
Patriarchate. Thomas Greenwood. Stewart.
Martin/ and the Moderns. Andrew Amos.

Bell and Duddy.
A Biographical Sketch of Sir H. Havelock, K.C.B. The Rev.
Wm. Brock. Nisbett and Co.
The Struggles of a Young Artist. Being a Memoir of David
C. Gibson. By a Brother Artist. Ditto.
The Life of Percy Byuhe Shelley. T. Jefferson Hogg. Two
Vols. Moxon.
Yarns Yana. Kinnaban Cornwallis. Ward and Lock.
Buchanasia Christian Researches in India. Edited by the
Rev. M. H. Fox, B.A. Rantledge.
The Countess de Bonneval : her Life and Letters. Lady
Georgians Fullerton. Two Vols. Hurst and Blackett.
Elementary History of the Progresso' the Art of War. Lieut..
Colonel J. J. Graham. Bentley.
History of the War in Afghanistan. John William Kaye.
In Three Vols. Vol. S. Ditto.
The Seaside and Aquarium. Jobn Harper. Nimmo.
Sir Guy D'Esterre. Selina Banbury. Two Vols.

Correspondence Relating to the Establishment of an
Oriental College in London. Williams and Norgate—Our
Banking Liability. By John Young Caw, F.R.S.L. E.
Wilson—Letter to the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart.,
M.P., on the Endowed Schools ( Ireland) Commission. By
Archibald J. Stephens. Eyre and Spottiswoode—Tales
from "Blaclncood." Blackwood—Wealth Without Money.
Thacker and Co.—Correspondence Relating to the Establish-
ment of on Oriental College in London. Williams and Nor-
gate—The Debtor's Guide. H. F. Richardson—Flagrant
Injustice. Chapman and Hall—Reasons for Supporting the
Construction of Two Intercept:my Tunnel Sewers. Stanford.
—Settlement and Trade with Central Asia. Ridgway—The
Quarterly Journal of Dental Science. Walton and Moberly.
A Voice from England. By an Englishman out of Office.
Chapman and Hall—What is the Position of Foreigners
under our Law ? Stevens—Eternal Union ; or, Grace Rela-
tionship. Wileockson—A Royal Marriage. Collingridge—
Further Letters on Currency. Ridgway.

TILE LEEDS MUSICAL FESTIVAL ARRANGEMENTS
are now complete. The festival will be held in Sep-
tember next ; and we have great pleasure in learning
that the nomination of the conductor has been most
judiciously wade by the unsolicited and unanimous
appointment of Dr. Sterndals Bennett, the Cambridge
Professor of Music,

littsir.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

- - ---
Tug opening night of the Opera has this year been
deprived of that sensation of novelty which formerly
made it an event of much importance. Despite the
thickly-glazed paper upon which the Director an.
nonnces his season to the subscribers particularly,
there was not on Tuesday night last that freshness
which used to belong to the occasion. In fact, like
a dissolving view, when no one seems to be able to
appreciate where one picture ends or the other be.
gins—so with Operatic performances at Her Majesty's
Theatre. Extra nights have melted into " subscrip.
tion"; and though there. are changes of scene, yet
a continuous representation-winter or " Season " is
the effect left upon the mind. Whether this is
judicious management, the exchequer in the Hay-
market alone can tell.

On Tuesday, however, the subscription•season
commenced. The Haymarket having got the lead
of Covent-garden, trusting to its hand being strong,
has led trumps; and played out bne of the happiest
turn-up cards that could fall to the hand of a dealer
in Operatic entertainment.
_ __

The Direction of Her Majesty's Theatre seem to
think a flourish of trumpets indispensable in herald-
ing the persons who are to do the leading business!
Accordingly, the thickly-glazed managerial paper
is profusely decorated with such notes as " con-
tinued confidence," " auspicious occasion," " his-
torical distinction," "munificent encouragement,"

" discriminating taste," and the like. This is
flourishing with a vengeance ; and if we might be
permitted to express the opinion, we should say that
such confectionary sugaring disguises rather than
discloses the quality of the cake of which the guests
are to partake. Not being able to ruminate such
richness of expression, it slightly disagreed with us ;
and with a somewhat vitiated palate we came to Mr.
Lumley's announcement of Mlle. Titiens; as
follows :

It is seldom that nature lavishes on one person all the
varied gdta which are needed to form a great Soprano. A
voice whose register entitles it to claim this rank is of the
rarest order. The melodious quality and power, which are
not less essential than an extended register, are scarcely
more common. Musical knowledge, executive finish, and
perfect intonation are indispensable ; and to these the
prima (Iona& should add dramatic force and adaptability,
and a large measure of personal grace. Even these rare
endowments will not suffice unless they are illumined by
the fire of genius. How nearly the high ideal is approached
by Mlle. Titiens, and how much more nearly it.may here.
after be reached, &c. &c. &c.

After reading the above we made up our minds for
a disappointment, and considered this as exaggerated
eulogy. Whether Mlle. Titiens fulfils all these
requirements the season will show ; but that she
possesses many of the talents thus spoken of there
cannot be a doubt. On Tuesday night she achieved
a most decided success ; and her talents received a
very warm and enthusiastic recognition. By which
we mean to convey what is commonly denoted by
paragraphs of adjectives and superlatives. The new
Prima Donna is tall, with an excellent stage figure,
and commanding manner. The face is an improved
edition of Viardot ; which was remarked by many
persons in the house on Tuesday. It is therefore
not handsome, but intellectual, and capable of great
expression—in which art the upper features have
been well trained to produce effect, but the lower are
frequently strained into exaggerations which become
almost contortions. However, it must be allowed
that Mlle. Titiens, while she can lay small claims
to beauty, does possess very great recommendations
far the stage, in a full and well-knit figure, com-
manding carriage, and power of facial expres-
sion. These are great possessions for an actress,
and give her particular advantages at the present
period, when so many public singers want figure
and dramatic art, combining to heighten their vocal
excellence.
Tuesday being her first appearance, we have
thought it proper to give this description of the
person of the latest arrival. In her art, Mr. Lumley
has found a singer who is certain to maintain the
ground which she has already won.
The Huguenots is an opera which challenges. all
the powers of an artiste, and which is so indelibly
stamped in the mind of the present generation with
traditions of Grisi that none but a person confident
in herself would have ventured a debut in London in
the character of Valentine. Wrong as we often be-
lieve it to be to draw comparisons between artistes,
we found it impossible to help watching for points,
recalling Grisi, and wondering how they would on
this occasion be rendered. We shall not, however,
indulge this feeling upon paper ; and therefore let
us say that, in rendering the part of Valentine, both
for register of voice, execution, and dramauc fire
Mlle. Titiens deserves the admiration she created
In quality, we could not help feeling at times that
the voice had been strained, sad that the demand!

or peace. via as tne complaint is, it is totally Wm. Brock. Nisbett and Co. a most decided success ; and her talents received a
unfounded. The reason that history deals The Struggles of a Yuung Artist. Being a Memoir of David very warm and enthusiastic recognition. By which
with war and government, rather than with C. Gibson. By a Brother Artist. Ditto. we mean to convey what is commonly denoted by
The L(fe of Percy Bysshe Shelley. T. Jefferson Hogg. Tworahs of adjectives and superlatives. The new
i commerce, is, that commerce can takepg p
of Vols. Moxon.
itself. The development of trade may safely Yana Farm Kinnaban Cornwallis. Ward and Lock. Prima Donna is tall, with an excellent stage figure,
and commanding manner. The face is an improved
be left to the selfil.h instincts of mankind, but Buthanan's Christian Researches in India. Edited by the ,
the preservation of good government demands Rev. M. H. Fox, B.A. R.,,,fied.e. edition of Viar• dot ; which was remarked by many
untess de onneval h Life and L : leer etters. Lady
both from rulers and subjects the exercise of The Coßpersons in the house on Tuesday. It is therefore
great virtues—self-denial, patience, and fore-
G 'Hurt
Fullerton. Two Vol.. Vols. Hut and Blackett not handsome, but intellectual, and capable of great
Elementary History of the Progress of the Art of War. Lieut.. expression—in which art the upper features have
sight. The results of political virtue are re- Colonel J.J. Gramm. Bentley. been well trained to produce effect, but the lower are
• mote, and but for the care of the historian History of the War in Afghanistan. John William Kaye. frequently strained into exaggerations which become
i would frequently be missed. On the other In Three Vols. Vol. 3. Ditto. almost contortions. However, it must be allowed
hand, the results of political misconduct are The Seaside and Aquarium. John Harper. Nimule• that Mlle. Titiens, while she can lay small claims
frequently dazzling for the moment, and we Sir Guy D'Esterre. Selina Banbury. Two Vole,
uued to beauty, does possess very great recommendations
must apply the test of experience, as recorded PAMPHLETs. ge. for the stage, in a full and well-knit figure, com-
' in history, to determine their true character. mending carriage, and power of facial express
But the laws of commerce are simple, and even Correspondence Relating to the Establishment of an
Oriental College in London. Williams and Norgste—Our lion. These are great possessions for an actress,
when violated it is not because the
and give her particular advantages at the present
y are Banking Liability. By John Young Caw, F.R.S.L E.
atisunderstood. They are the same in all Wilson—Letter to the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart., when so manytheir period, public singersh want figure
dramatic art, combining to bell; ten
ages, and are changed neither by religion, by M.P., on the Endowed Schools ( Ireland) Commission. By
Archibald dJ. Stephens: Eyre and v Spottirroode—Tales excellence.
race, nor by climate. But their operation is
B ackwood—l eatth Without Money.
affected deeply by forms of government, and fl‘ Thacker andeo. Blackwood" I
orrespondence Relating to the Establish- thoughtTue4iaiyt properbeing tohergirfierstthiaeppdeesaraneripctei,ouweofhtahvee
thus even from the mercantile point of view neent of an Oriental College in London. Williams and Nor- person of the latest arrival. In her art, Mr. Lumley
government becomes of primary importance in gate—The Debtor's Guide. H. F. Richardson—Flagrant has found a singer who is certain to maintain the
history. Had Mr. Irving given as much time Injustice. Chapman and Hall—Reasons for Supporting the ground which she has already won.
to reflection as to research, he would not have Construction of Tutu Intercipt:mg Tunnel Sewers. Stanford. The Huguenots is an opera which challenges all
been betrayed into the repetition of this
—Settlement and Trade with Central Asia. Ridgway—The
Quarterly Journal of Dental Science. Walton and Moberly.on with
fallacy.
Memoirs of the Early Italian Painters, and of the I
Progress of Painting in Italy. By Mrs. Jameson.
New Edition. London : Murray. A Voice from England. By an Englishman out of Office.
uCnhadeprmso n and
sHall—. . . What
_is the P ?sit ion of Foreigners
siouhipur La
wri.
I,S2l.4;evena--Eternal Union; or, Grace. liela-
Further Letters on Curn—renAcyß°.lfaißiMdgwaarnalley. . C°llulgridge—
stamped in the mind of the present generation the powers of an artiste, and which is so indelibly
traditions of Grisi that none but a person confident
in b lf would have ventured a debut in London in
the character of Valentine. Wrong as we often be-
lieve it to be to draw comparisons between artibtes,
we found it impossible to help
watching for points,
recalling Grisi, and wondering how they would on
Tins is the second edition of a charming work which THE LEEDS MUSICAL FESTIVAL ARILLNOEMENTS this occasion ins rendered. We shall not, however,
bas received wide appreciation, and yet it is not quite are now complete. The festival will be held in Sep- indulge this feeling upon paper; and therefore let
as well known as it deserves to be. A quantity of tember next ; and we have great pleasure in learning us say that, in rendering the part of Valentine, both
matter, with carefully-drawn illustrations, is pilled that the nomination of the conductor has been most for register of voice, execution, and dramatic fire.,
.. , within the moderate compass of a pocket volume. judiciously wade by the unsolicited and unanimous Mlle. Titiens deserves the admiration she created.t
There is much fine criticism natured through its appointment of Dr. Sterndale Bennett, the Cambridge In quality, we could not help feeling at times that
pages, and the summaries qf the lino of the various Professor of Music. this voice had been strained, slid that the degnanu.
_
VI