The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-25 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY EVENING,

LITERATURE.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF BAR-
THOLD GEORGE NIEBUHR. Chapman

and Ball.

Those who rejo7ce in literature of a profound and
erudite description will welcome the appearance of
these volumes. They contain the accounts of the
achievements of the great Roman historian Niebuhr.
An important part of these pages is occupied by ex-
tracts from the letters of the above•named, previously
published in German under the direction of his sister-
in-law. About half of these letters have been trans-
lated. A most interesting addition is to be met with
in eFsays that are at the conclusion. They are by
the Chevalier Bunsen on Niebuhr as a diplomatist in
Rome; by Professor Loehell, of Bonn, on him as an
historian, and by Professor Brandis, of Bonn, on his
character. It has been found impossible, we are in-
formed at the commencement, to form so complete a
sketch of his public career as of his private life, al-
though great assistance was afforded by the distin-
guished friends before mentioned. It is the utmost
advantage to those who wish to have a summary of
the great man's labours and successes to peruse these
ably written compositions. The impression thus
them
menhwv
pehoofi a'nitlhae
conveyed to the mind by the subtle research and the
eloquent epitome is indelibly fixed in the memory,
not to be after wards erased by subsequent studies or
the succession of time, and truly it has always been
considered as the greatest honour that can distinguish
the departed, when he is surrounded by hosts of
friends to pay homage to his name and to perpetuate
his memory. "To live in hearts we leave behind is
not to die." The subjoined is extracted from the
essay by the Chevalier Bunsen :
" I cannot conclude these lines, written in England,
without expressing the pleasure I have derived from the
appreciation and high esteem with which my ever re-
vered master and fatherly friend is here regarded by
statesmen and scholars, and especially from the pure en-
thusiasm with which he has inspired the most earnest
which is apparent to every observer, is not ado-
and noble portion of the youth of this country. Ms in-
fluence,
quately represented even by the fact that a much larger
number of copies of the English translation of his history
of Rome have been sold than of the German original,
though many of the latter have also found their way to
England. Niebubr's incomparable superiority to all the
critics of modern times—the deep truth of his historical
views and political maxims—the pregnant solidity of his
earnest and dignified, if not easy style—the elevation of
his moral view of theeworld;—all this had long been an-
knowledeed in the homage paid to the Roman historian
party in Church
and State. But the pure human greatness of his noble
heart—his unspotted life—his unwavering courage amid
ill-health and disappointed or overclouded hopes—the
by the most distinguished men of every
devoted love of such a mind—the elevating and child-
like faith in the divinity of nature and truth—the union
a raised.erd ' thatthe image esteem t o personal
—hseaiensds of knowledge
of qualities and capacities of heart and intellect so rarely
humbled
mfo
abn l
great
dr goodeba beneath
n me andaat
man
presented in
dteoeamtnhde naturedi
g r a
eseo.
seenth e
attachment,t lettersn c e Inbeforeh
andi n at
it
ehu nes
genius, have fallen a
this joy a
richly scattered through
sfrourirtofwultitsloiol.oe,Wwehlel
omrraye
ful efforts of little-minded
conspired with
we
turn e
Germane
our
impiety and the apostles
the disciples of . of everything
s soifo ns , and
thepre
prey
Bravoto
their a n d
o piercingwo
m eßlanco
un-German to spy out the weak
with malicious joy and
are them with Mephistophelian
address for their own ends; but it is so ordained that
meanness and wickedness must bate nobleness and great-
ness, and s Niebuhr'chief -
failing, that of yielding in such
cases to immoderate vexation, shall not be imitated by
his friends."

PIETY. and CHARITY. By
of " Women in France,"
WfOorMiEIeNTofSCofHRISTIANITY EXEMPLAR y
Julia Kavanagh. Smith and Elder.
A work by the author
" Nathalie," and " Madeleine," could not fail to be
regarded with interest, but when upon a subject so
varied in its details, while so consistent in its object,
extending through all ages, and including all coun-
tries and races, it is doubly attractive. It is divided
into four periods: the first is the Roman empire, in
which the martyrs of the early Church hold the fore-
most place. The second, the middle ages, contains,
among many
Hungary and St. Theresa. The third is entirely de-
others, the lives of St. Elizabeth of
voted to the seventeenth century ; and the fourth, in
which the life of Elizabeth Fry is most conspicuous,
to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The
authoress observes in the preface :
" When I first conceived the idea of writing a work
on the Women of Christianity, I contemplated including
all the women remarkable for character, intellect, and
excellence, who had flourished under the fostering influ-
ence of the Christian faith. I soon perceived that this
design, if it were not too vast to 140 accomplished, would
require the labour of years. I resolved, however, to ex-
ecute at least a part of that great whole—a part com-
plete in itself, to be followed by similar works or not, as
circumstances or time might determine. It was difficult
to choose, difficalt to decide with whom to begin. How
many great and heroic women scorned to rise from the
barbaric gloom of feudal ages, or appeared mingling
with strange daring in the strife, as deadly and as fierce,
of recent generations! How many meditative spirits,
living apart from a rude world that knew them not,
heralded the dawn of civilization, gave to now forgotten
idioms their sweetest strains, and nobly asserted in their
day—not, it is true, so completely us they have been
asserted in ours—the intellect and genius of women. But,
from thee° women of action and thought, my mind
turned to other women more lowly though not less great.
For eighteen centuries I beheld them fervent in their
ethsseemntitablley
firstthe `women
place
faith, pure in their lives, patient when it was their lot
to endure, heroic when they had to act or suffer, and I
tfelt n
ttyh,
an
t tld)ese were
to
that
of
right."
The volume is illustrated by three portraits, the first
of Maria Agnesi, a Milanese lady of the eighteenth
century of remarkable talents and learning, who, after
many distinctions, gave up science and devoted
belonged ofr
i C
herself to the afflicted. The second of Rosa Govona,
a young workwoman of Sardiniafounded who
in-
stitutions which still exist for
young orphan girls, in
which they manufacture stuffs, silks, and cloth of
various descriptions. In two factories which she
established at Turin " three hundred women without
dowry earned an honest and comfortable livelihood,
and provided in youth for the wants of their old age."
The third portrait is that of Elizabeth Fry, whose
life is too well known to need description. The de-
tails of the lives of so many whose names have so
long been known and revered cannot fail to be inte-
resting, while the long array of good deeds and active
charity must be as inatructive as examples as they are
attractive as memoirs. We -
trust the authoress will
complete her work, and that this fascinating volume
may be followed by many similar.

____
These volumes a3reVd°iividedCi°nitbollrtani
BE ARTS and ALTARS. By Robert Bell.
chief are entitled " Phantoms and Realities" and
~ The Armourer of Munster." The former, 110 W re-
vised and enlarged, was originally published in
Fraser's Magazine, and the author states that,
~ strange as the circumstances related in this confes-
sion, or autobiography, m„ es, of which the
---Y appear, they are derived
from authentic and well-attested sources. Leaving
that which is open to discussion in the early part to
be dealt with according to the measure of individual
sympathies and opinions,
the sequel, it is hoped, will
be found to convey a moral of some practical value.
in seclusion, and superstition, and the neglect of a
healthy education of the faculties
from its dark beginning
to a manhood desti-
tute the course of a life
enslaved by cre-
dulity, fear, and waywardness,
fixed principles, and'
the design aims
higher purpose than that of merely
awakening a passing, excitement over a story of
passionate errors. The. second tale is descriptive of the
rising of the Anabaptists in the free city of Munster
in Germany, in 1534. The details are strictly his-
, tautte a of
veritable characters. It shows
persons introduced are
how severely the
a by the frightful
tyranny of their ruler. The remaining
tales are more
ftaoariactaicl :smsomofetboef
ptheoeppleriwncaispapilini,be
attractive from the absence of the tragic scenes which
frequently occur in the previous ones. " Love to the
Rescue" is of the time of the Restoration, and a
description of thefavourite pastime
ai nn tde rfeasstei
fascinating
t ianogd.° fmuhawkingwill
bi es
fgoiuvennd. that Tathies pslteyalseinifa easing

spiritedhas recently been
the observation, the
-
BUST Or RoSSUTH.—A very
rablo bust of thegroatest of Hungariagns
executed, by a young and very risin
Bailey, of Conduit. place, Praed-street,
.1.3 il dt, apnMacirt.anJdfomthhin:
bringot onlysing dington. It
efevaidtuerneesesnof
obthsee
sculptor, but remarkable niceness
pression of the countenance life-like, Ageneral ex-
ucl°anrlsyidearcaclUleratsek,iialin:
the bust would bo valuable, but as affordi a work of art
a correct resemblance of the patriot and ong the public
some respects, invaluable. The profile armor, it is, in
the happiest direction in which the henaPPears to us
regarded, though the generslcontour and the 4otifught to b"
e
in like manner, have each merits entitled ' ll front,
t°
commen-
dation. It affords us pleasure, therefore, to Commend
this effigy of Louis Kossuth most earnestly
notice of the general community, being enabled
to Y to the
of it in terms the most decisively eulogistic. speak
UNUSUALLY HIGH TlDE.—Yesterday afternoon
there was an unusually high tide, caused chiefly b ti
blowing very fresh during the last two days from
thele wind
ward. Most of the cellars in the lower Parts of the east-
Rotherhithe, and Backside were completely inundated,Pi
the tide rushed up so quick that considerable damage and
done to property belonging to the poor people residing ginltvhas
basements. At five o'clock the steamers had some difficultye
in passing under the bridges, especially the side arches
s
Wesuninster and Blackfriars, owing to the extrem eof
eheight
of the tide.
AVe are requested to state, that some letters which
have been mentioned or referred to d _
having
some
tae's past by
several English and foreign journals as been ad-
dressed to one of the members of the Orleans family by the
President of the French Republic, or as having been ad-
dressed to him by one of the members of the Orleans family,
are entirely apocryphal.
A notice was issued from the Treasury yesterday
of a further postponement of the day for the recei A of th
tenders for the loans of 50,0001. and 40,0001. for be-- erare
and Trinidad. Instead of on Friday, the 27th of February,
they are to be presented en Wednesday, the ad of Dlarch,