The Express.
London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Hiaory of tA• Constitwera Assembly. By Atm:ions
DR LAYARTINE. London : Piper, Stevenson, and

tiptoe..
Foe a Frenchman no more fitting theme can be
found then the first French Revolution: and to a
Frenchman of the present time the subject is one of
peculiar importance. From the iron despotism
under which the great heart of France languishes
tad dies, it must be grateful to turn away to that
time when the people, maddened by ages of wrong,
me up and swept away every trace that could re-
mind them of the accursed past. The story is now
an old one, but it is one of which the world can
sever tire, and its fruit we are reaping, and shall
reap, for centuries to come. It is true that reactioa
came, as it always does, after extreme effort; that
bright hopes were disappointed; that in time deeds
of blood were done, at which all Europe shuddered;
and that now there is less freedom of thought and
action in France than there was when the Bastille
was thrown down—when the chivalrous Lafayette
became the guardian of an ancient monarchy—when
in the Constituent Assembly Mirabeau, in words of
fire, proclaimed the rights of man; yet full well
can we understand and appreciate the motives that
impelled Lamartine to undertake his present task.
There are times when the man of action gives him-
self up to @peen:sties, and when the man who cares
least about the past becomes historical. We know
why Tulin penned so warm a eulogiron on the
virtues of our German ancestors ; why Rabelais con-
cealed in grotesque fiction an earnest aim; why Ad-
dison's Cute, one of the dullest dramas ever acted.
drew down thunders of applause; or Rousseau be-
came immortal b 7 his pictures of the noble savage,
as he ran wild in him native woods ; nor can we
doubt that Laznartine, as he writes of the First Re-
velator' a, sad tke Comaterest Assembly, and the
fines dems,thinks dams not quite so remote, and
aims to revive a spirit tot long extinct. We cannot
say that he adds vary mush to the information we
already pewees, nor is his philosophy very profound;
bat there is • great charm in his picturesque and
flowing narrative, and his sympathies are holiest
and true. Lamartine thus sums up
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The reasoning is sound, but every now and
then we meet with reflections that are not so.
For instance, speaking of the death of Mirabeau,
Lamartine writes, "A dissipated youth, as he him-
self said, had disinherited him from a ripe old age."
Well, that was a fair reason why Mirabeau should
die prematurely ; bat Lamartine must say fine
things. Accordingly he tells us " eloquence is a
force which wears out the man who produces it;"
" great orators rarely see long days ;" " speaking
devours them, as in the ease of Chatham end Mira-
bean." Now, in the sober light of fact, it really
appears that great orators live as long u ordinary
rase. Oar Lyndhurets and Broughams, who we in
mor hearts believe made much better speeches than
Chatham—who, if Tom Moore be right, was a bit
of a humbug after all—have attained an age which
most men would admit borders on elderly. O'Con-
nell was not a stripling when he died. But a few
lines farther on, we have another theory for the
death of Mirabeau A revolutiosary generation
is old or mown down before it arrives at man's
estate. No one had personified the revolution more
than Mirabeau; no one would feel more the internal
combustion of it. This man was caleined by the
Are of the age." It is said of a certain domestic
animal that it has nine lives; according to Lamar-
tine, Mirabeau must have had almost as many.
Seeserit ;an Astrowanifia Briossiet. By C.
lAZZI SKY TR. London: veil RAMPTIII.
" The world is too much with us," Wordsworth
writes. For a wonder, the man of science agrees
with the poet. What he wants is a clearer atmo-
sphere, where our cloud and dust and fog exist
not ; where are
I catatellatians taming, mellow reacts sod happy

Nearly 130 years ago Sir haw Newton painted out
the driadvantages of employing telescopes in inch
as atmosphere se the English ; and in May, 18543,
the Lords of the Admiralty, under the advice of the
Astronomer Royal,were pleased to select Mr. Smyth
to proceed to the Peak of Teneriffe, to ascertain how
firstroecenical observations can be improved by
eliminating the lower third part of the atmosphere.
Mr. Robert Stephenson kindly lent his yacht
Titania for the purpose of conveying Mr. Smyth to
hie destination ; and the July and August of that
year were spent by Mr. Smyth at a height of from
11,000 to 10,000 feet in the pursuit of his minion. The
remelt is the very interesting volume before as, the
attraction of which is by no means confined to
scientific readers. Hie voyage out—his hospitable
reception at Santa Crtis—the manners and customs
of the people—the chamber of their tradrs—are fidly
described. Mr. Smyth', illubratiens, beinxiscierso-
graph., are, of course, literal, and ow* to
the embellishments of the artist, and hie
have the some genuine character. The are
half Spanish—the living wie not bad. . yth
writes :—" On September 20, in • luxurious tem-
persture of 74 deg., at • table decorated with heaps
of glorious figs, richly ripe mulberries, bowls of fra-
grant honey. cup. of chocolate whipped up into froth
displaying all the colours of the rainbow,irc. we break-
fasted in Orotava." And the island.oughito be in a
prosperous condition, for since the vines perished the
cochineal plant has been successfully cultivated, and
" an acre of the driest ground planted with cactus
was found, we were told, to yield three kintaL, that
is 3001b5., of cochineal ; under favourable circus-
etanora, 11001bs., worth 751. to the grower." The
personal narrative of life on the Peak is very novel
and exciting. Mr. Smyth landed at Santa Cruz,
with the description of which, by Humboldt, heft&
conaiderable fault, as completely out of date.
then sail on to Orotava with the instrument:lZ
camp equipages, and where they comma red their
tremendous climb ,--a large party—Mr. Smyth and
hie wife, some picked seamen from theTitania,and
tendants found on an island, with more than twenty
hones and maim. Many a vision of gorgeous beauty
unfolded beneath them. lambi--whoa led by the
fairy, where
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