The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-27 00:00:00

_!jit-._)'.-rprt%%

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, BEPTEMBER 27, 1858.

LITER.ATIaIt

History of I}seriek the &Pooad, calla .11-abrioi
the Groot. By TROILAS CARLYLE. With Map
and Portraits. Vols. L and 11. Chapman and

9 Mimi and elminmeed big, has be mak deist to memory,
to se Mehl, It *bit em el ours. The ass h bemire .p-
-• t that the libilemmtlen We. the event then trammeting
heel; was the thhellid Gomm sad Bump Mbar did or
refused to do, the IMO defter Mamba signilleemee elms
attach half_ to the phases of that tormassiom. Amindkily
we moths banoslorth that the momsubie plink ot Boandan.
berg Maury, what ol'll slake meloally to the momery ot a
Mar en Miamewl limmashwe et their own mead,
_siee.ott elite
irwipterry d
mama inar Zdaraks. Tlist has
tr•—• tat; alb an a a frina law.
Met M lost memmionemly, by me mom too
hesmsideemag, hat wbb overethaltslmg when the
maim ham lisr, MO Iraq Mem% to adept the Belsem-
Mks ; Monde by it over is ever-wfilitaisig mom
Imfd emote 41111 sables se there might be. Branthaborg lad
hit somehow that It amid do no other. And ever onwards
rilliMt Ow even of ear MO Ma Ind bother, if we
molmelmoi the void Rfilartaalice." Bamadaabarg
be • it this , a ea komemehie degree. imespable
beilsebefhe
lc= solemn slow, et pm-
Mahe oe me Width hoe him of
simonise to Besodemberg bow ambi hil
Cetrhilmbeit we mut ea °brim abs sontilde mho el
have. To whisk mese "mile, at that time, all then did
mot give an—what has become of Wm sines ; have they not
alipeally had th? motaties to part
" Parkin :' mossool met el* the old plimosology, good
nadir; .toad reshot l• w lideg It zoom The MIN/ in
beard at old, with • Mght slam mseedeg memleal a lt,
from theologies! pipits mot mak Maw; rad wry be
there with • lostestemenm armlet no smades, though
it Ism rather busalle.thethile mhos or Bon the thing
eihmid not have BMA amide; the thin is a greed mod
mien truth. empeenhe et a AIM law el Mom, whirl
Mamamillemsheferver vslid.;peyeaTiteinittmostirmiuntheologioalleutivourrit.otemnthialemaya:
memo el we Maths, me Met, ea • memo; ready et
wit el the Ithemil 14,119,1 c't scab ormsn
tisk Rodsoma.sre, to beer me some well. In soma. For it
I=Y
mod may be ism with eras
e m mwordPrtsr
erlidM ayolmium& or mot protestor!! The qmselon noses' every-
where : " la there et melehmme la mos, 0 mhos, or
le them waft ? Are Ythis aatlem, IMMO cir
blink NM Is maim Armed, emd to beetle hu Gods bath
versos es thrift hlasiteed, et the peril d Ul. mg mon
Men who peer th• 11, ad s.li she, to =Mr hissitoed
—who, in for all, will not ilveo/or twood ; but MT*
dim the ward amiem ft (the We balageaspabr that rare
ad begarbmt Op), throw away these. kbeed, end cm nap.
Y plea &mom with their wide sal : 'Cane on, then I
La mew abehesd is sot geed tar me; mil we will try it
out now. Let ft be to abs Erik beterms my ths• "
Omos rims fats this tibias whitethset al temper, wows it
any tor a in. ad met spin, Mn ashes Is thameotorth
' mikes* able! als ramialag 11= What Iza-
anallha ems eol will it not
Melt in thalairemspsh:ramaturs, in the eaves et ••
tei=diabieWitaese Orommedi ad his
in mist the Maxim- t= •71klaiross tor •
smith d eiginehe atom Nelms am belo I believe,
h. WNW _big illiserm ease Into &vim eat In this
meemer. lad an mem ghee INS and bel eel divine pa-
Mame= Moe I opt Is mem le meme.
Let dealer of Bratideabarg, and Ant
king of Pram* Lewd Matanlay has /*presented in a
despicable light, bat Kr. Carlyle gives • tar jester
and mare kindly estimate of his charmitsr
was enpamsive king, semoonded by cabala,
ember's ma
ils mid imam by whisimole of knive,which,
new that the pm* h over, become very terasttabis. Bat
come Ws he was • Molly hommenble man ; with a amnia
bight eel gmesresity algid, apse dottier nolimens
then abs itheishey Idol Be had what we may an• bard
IM el ; did and seared • good deal k his day and gem-
masa, not at ail la • diebenssi Bald roam la
40, be h gehe resos Me beak
MU borsht. Beedireeet that
bow Me
norm, in ens et those Moths.; jammer will Ms What
mid madam wen always making, Id the pear an till or
beh:beekteerd ; end opened him mitati, end West was
*see* le hem killed him, by that pins. d inethatiom
He we. not yet blinakey mho% he was °sly amid in
Mt the elder died ; ad balsmoin larrior, Vag • semi bed
to go with his moo dielsrlel—dimergo• not swim, eau-
splettem, them* meehmille--emet to .at the eimmesilern
se. Nay, wile Immo bat It me this very jerk, and the belt-
ruin el hie nsrvems dembied wish to be bastf-
nil, and this empabh d Wag kid or deenratod
into sleet htsme—est amt set 111•1=7:1 =l.l,
excE Illinagalalies mid
II MB begin the ms ta Mee ears
Pc/ Wow hie oho* tee math m the lid Me ot
▪ 9111111134:4oleamelm=iseelons"."' "
y'-
Mew he ears bare you armed the Psemium border,
ary
tet Westphalia, says Tama, Om mama highways,
w.irod !lolly sod • gmeral
e,Mr et issthorery sad regu-
lar* owe evidemi : mad milestom beer 41# mil whit
hems llonsolpii
sdmo tramilsr where be I; who lade
dm giber el too, sod the blowing et habitable
hem Tb• gargle sera an to be hew, diligendy oempted ;
Alleges reseambly swept ad wedmewashad—newir was a
ham set et pedal doming; whether new-balit rski, they
see all h beendmew mirk. The sadist with Walphella
h Immsdiai ant mod; but imbed that we • red seestry.
▪ aapbsdy bat • islimst Telma, who haws the sasses of
phenemens. Not them, amegd the metweelly Image
oast.t.wt. • neemoy him I/ he We alai straw to
stem ea, Mama empeslieg sheets or snip; u s kis
readily ammo with pielm, MN and ampiles, b• ass
gee mylidegleam" "Re mom le to ham the seen,
seine, ma gat*/ he ash. K
ati sip it at the
✓une mese- Mel Ms mime oat ixt lir; to no
mho' vent for it bet the deer •
_• makes cam-
may
eor that the
And!.peo et Wsogibella Gator homes
by the ehlomog." dawns Wad :—" This is the rea-
esn whi thalr lest mid Moe ere se heady prepared sad
aimed ; far the Ikeplese beakwarda, the smoke must
spiel over ell the bonne him ft ph to theobi*
maims everyfhing Math of • mom sr sable osier, net ex-
wag the blade ad fame of the Norm sem. It Prussia
Mad se Westphalia in ham, in sti eles slie is miklagly

These volumes will be eagerly welcomed and read
with delight On both sides of the German Golan.
The life of the greatest Prussian monarch by the
first living histamine of Britain is not only an appro-
priate tribute of frisadahip and respect frost the
eider Baron nation to the younger, but another do-
able* proof of the cordial and intimate relations,
both literary and political, that are springing up
between the two countries. Such a history was a de-
sideratum in our literature, the want of which was
rerwiszttly felt as we came to know and oars more about
y in general, and Prussia in partisaler.
This want Mr. Carlyle has undertaken to affk.
and the work could not well be in better hands
is well known that he has been engaged sgm tier
subject for sum years past, and the solid volumes
befogs= are the first fruits of his persevering labour.
The work is done—as what Mr. Carlyle under-
takes is do is—thoroughly and well. This
may le frm the het that these twe
eeknese, essatitersag only hell of the make week,
eeetala together rawly fourteen huadendresm
We semi ism* add that this is not the of
ZsZAriesseharberiusia Talk* weer.
ONO of theplan adopted. Mr style boat,
indeed, well illustrates the butane's marvellous
power of oandeosation, the rare alchemic art by
which he distils, as it were, the vital usence, the
tram elixir vita, from the crude materials of history.
Narratives prolix and confused are sharpened into
brief and brilliant clearness, and long-winded m-
oons of state that Macaulay would have delighted to
expand into pager of self-evident propositions are
condensed into a single sentence, or wrung into an
effective metaphor. The labour expended in se-
curing such a result must have been very great,
and Mr. Carlyle continually refers to it in
terms of pathetic acorn and humorous indig-
nation that will be familiar enough to most of
his readers. "Drysednat" is, as we know, his sew
prehensive and expressive epithet for the collesters
of historic materials in general, and the Pennine
Dryudust, it seems, " though otherwise* Mem
fellow, and not afraid of labour, excels all other Dry-
sadusta yet known" in " darkest's, dreariestsy tend
immethodic platitude." While thus summing* the
results of his predecessors' labours in the same field.
as " dismal continents of Brandenburg Band," a wee
tumbled mountains of merino stores, he not
quietly stigmatism them individually, "feeble,"
" distracted." watery," " grandiloquent,"
" inhuman," " intolerable," being the favourite epi-
thets. In these denunciations, uttered in a grinding
tone of voice, and accompanied with a grim sardonic
smile, there is evidently a strong touch of euggera-
, tion, and a certain amount of superficial injustice.
But they contain at the same time a sub-
stantial element of teeth. Nothing could well be
more opposed to Mr. Carlyle's style and method
than that of German writers in general. With an
immense parade of superficial pester, their books are
often utterly deficient in real method. What
arrangement they have is of the rudest and most
mechanical kind, and, of course, without • vital con-
nexion :between the parts, the subject, however
elaborately treated, out have no organic unity as a
whole. This absence of real method naturally
makes the pedantry of order on the mhos, the
divt-
dcn of chapters into numbered sestinas, sad sections
Into alphabetical paragraphs, all the more exasperat-
ing. Nothing, too, is more antagoublic to Mr. Car-
lyle's pointed and abrupt, picturesque and incisive
writing, than the involved, colenriese, and umbers
some aryls of them Gorman pedants. Mr. Cartylela
temper was evidently not proof against the severe
and long-continued teal of working through volume
after volume of such writing, nine quartos at one
time, five at another, three at another, and then,
perhaps, the fatal sine again. His pent-up wrath
most relieve itself at intervals in outbursts of
grotesque bat ruthless objurgation. Neverthe-
less he wishes to part with his tormentors
In peace. He has striven, he telh us, to forfive the
Prussian Dryasdust, and hopes to be forgiven is
turn. This prayer will certainly: he granted with
the utmost cheerfulness by the readers of these
volumes, whether German or English, whatever the
Prussian historians themselves may feel about the
matter. Mr. Carlyle has evoked from their dim
storehouse of musty records and forgotten docu-
ments a living pictureof the dead and buried past,
wonderfully distinct and bright, unrivalled, indeed,
for firmness of outline, brilliancy of local colour,
minute fidelity, and breadth of general effect The
ands of dukes., and confusion resting on early
European history clear away as we follow the growth
of Prussia from the time when it was v. MOM lease
bog or greasy wilderness, inhabited by seven
fighting Wends, " fanatically anti-MeiWan,
to the time when it stood successfidly at bay
against the whole of Europe, vanquishing single-
handed its imbed armies. The descriptions of scenes
and daseshis of actors in that early medicare! time
have the vividness of reality, and come upon us like
actual glimpses of the past. The mists roll away,
and we me the sands and bogs of heathen Prussia,
its greasy expanses and bosky wildernesses humming
with bees; ardent missionary monks travelling bare-
foot with staff and scrip across the waste solitudes,
sad, as they tall in martyrdom, leaving the prints of
a bloody ass on the hostile soil. We have visions
of grey old castles towering up into the blue air
above their larch-clad heights; stubborn fortresses
planted securely on piles amid quaking swamps ; of
rude hunting-lodges in the black forest; and old,
many-gabled silent towns, flanked by quiet riven
and fertile plains. The pointing of the chief
actors is equally distinct. lie:graves and
Burgafa, Bishops and Kaisers, nes from their,
quietbeds in many • quaint old chancel into the stir
and noise of active life again. We me them, stout
bright-haired youths and stoel-grey men, swift of
feat and strong of hand, straggling and fighting;
sanstime with hostile town populations,wboso they
had offended, " Byars-smiths" and the like, till the
poor towns are " harried to skin and bone" • but
more commonly engaged in " sanguinary tossengs"
with each other, wrestling for their righta and hold-
fag them when got with a firm grip "knuckles-white";
sometimes uniting together against the common foe,
storming through mountain passes against the dragon
Turk that lay " coiled round the eastern frontier of
Christendom spitting fire at an intolerable rate:"
but in whatever cause they might be engaged, doing
battle, for the most part, in a " wildly leonine
Or aquiline manor." When we come down to later
end comparatively recent times the painting, though
equally vivid, is naturally much more elaborate and
minute, more intersected, too, by political discussions
and original documents; but the interest rarely flags
from the first of the fourteen hundred pages to the
last.

Hie set aid soommor, Frederick William, has, it
would seem, been a good deal misrepresented toe.
The harsher features of his character, naturally pro-
, minent enough, have been made more prominent by
the total exclusion of those noble and gentler traits
which show him to have been not only human bat
even paternal. Mr. Carlyle finds him an " abrupt,
peremptory, young King," thoroughly German, to
the core, hating French polish and court etiquette,
rugged indeed se a wild boar, but at the same time
of clear discernment, sincere, just, valiant, and vera-
cious. That he had great abilities as an adminis-
trator is universally acknowledged, but Mr. Carlyle
finds him not only skilful in national economics, but
really " a man of genius"—genius, not of the talk-
ing or writing, but of the acting kind. He had "no
tongue learning, and his talent for stump oratory
was absolutely zero." But he was a veritable
dumb genius, a silent poet, his melodious
stanza being a rough fact reduced to order.
His tall Potsdam regiment, for example,
is simply a whim of genius, an " exagge-
rated notion to have his stanza polished to the last
punctilio of perfection." He was the great drill
sergeant of the Prussian nation, not only in a mili-
tary point of view, but in much deeper sense—a
man of stubborn broad-shouldered strength and
rugged independence, who had very different work
to do from that of " playing burst-frog to the ox at
Versailles." For the rest he was full of sensitive-
ness, though rough and shaggy of skin ; and had
"an honest bacon and greens conscience," at a time
when most kings had none at all.
The common stories about his cruel treatment of
his son Frederick are well known. These stories
are substantially true, though by no means all the
truth. Mr. Carlyle reckons his father's influence an
important element for good. "He was a harsh
master though a true and solid ooe, whose real
uriedom was worth that of all the others, as he
(Frederick] came at length to recognise." In the
little Frits's education there is a double element,
French and female on the one hand, German and
male on the other. The former was derived from his
governesses, " respectable Edict-of-Nantes Preach
ladies, with head-gear, wide hoops, a cher, correct,
but somewhat barren and meagre species, tight-
laced and high frizzled in mind and body ;" the latter
from his father and his father's intimate aseethater,
very " ragged German sons of nature, rough as hemp,
and stout of fibre as hemp, natural products of the
rigorous north." Bat the most important element of
all was his unconscious apprenticeship to such a King
as Frederick William. The remainder of the volume
is occuried with a detailed account of his schooling
under these marten, and how he prospered at his
father's count, which to him had nearly all the hard.
ships and privations of a camp.
The second volume, occupied with his stormy
youth aid sober early manhood, we mast leave an.
touched; war do we reit* this, as it will soca be is
the beads of all readers.

It will be sees from what we have said that Mr.
Carlyles plan is a comprehensive one. It embraces,
in fact, not only the life of Frederick but a history
of the kingdoms he governed. These first two
volumes might be indeed appropriately entitled
The History of Prussia from the Earliest Times to
the Middle of the Eighteenth Century." The first
volume is almost estwely occupied with the rise and
progress of Prussia as a kingdom. only a few chap-
ters towards the and. being emu to Frederick ; and
the second only Games us through the early youth
ef the hero, while his father still occupied the throne.
The narrative terminates for the present with the
death of Frederick William, when his son, not yet
" the Great." nor apparently with much prospect of
beemaing so, had jut completed his 28th year.
HMS is an extract illustrating Mr. Carlyle's
opinion en the historical meaning of the Reforms-
Thm Rehrmatite ins the mat weft at that axiom& e n-
Loyi •••willag so • ma Mg semethlig ha Not, at MI se-

The lifeor IPradiclelt will egad Mr. Cer14,12
beat works, if it deem not 'meet then all.
edema chow his ran pewees of might sad de-