The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the.
National Scotch Church, London. Illustrated
by his Journals and Correspondence. By Mrs.
Oliphant. 2 vols. Hurst and Blaekett.
It is almost needless to observe that this is an
interesting work, as most readers will know for
themselves that the details of so eminent a man
cannot be otherwise. The authoress has performed
her task con amore, and thus the descriptions are at
once animated and attractive. It is of essential service
in the study of such a man's career, to be enabled
to peruse his letters which are here offered for
consideration by the favour of his children.
They display considerable kindness of heart and a
deep humility of feeling that is not often found in
the sentiments of one so followed and so flattered.
Happy is it for the memory of all the famed ones
of earth if, in passing away from their greatness,
they leave their best and brightest records in the
ties of home and kindred they have faithfully
cherished. Even in the most mistaken moments of
his life, Irving seems to have been more an enthu-
siast led away by excitement than an originator of
a doctrine to lead captive adoring votaries for the
vanity of human opinions in many portions of this
work. When Irving first began that career, which
was afterwards to gain for him a worldwide renown,
his opening days were as dark as many that
have lowered over humbler and less successful bre-
thren. Some rudely left the church, all complained,
and the same church, says the narrator, " which a
few years later was disastrously crowded with
hearers, coming far and near at the name of the
great preacher, thinned out of its ordinary attend-
ance, in those early days when he was to supply
Irving's place." The reader is led on through the
various phases and successive changes till he reaches
the proud meridian of his fame. The great influence
which he exerted over his hearers is most surpris-
ing. It is here remarked that those who steadily
resorted to hear a man who kept them three hours at
a stretch plunged in the deepest questions of religion,
" must indeed have been under the sway of a fasci-
nation seldom exercised, of which few men knew
the secret." Irving's manner in private life was
most impressive. "He unconsciously assigned to
everybody he addressed a standing ground in some
degree equal to his own. The ' vision splendid'
attended him not only through his morning course,
but throughout all his career. The light around him
never faded into the light of common day." The
second volume is chiefly filled with accounts of the
several discussions and disputations that followed on
the promulgation of Irving's peculiar doctrines. Of
these it is not necessary here to speak, except to
remark that, throughout the angry and vexed course
of the most irritating of all subjects, religious con-
tention, Irving seems to have maintained a dignity
that would have become the grandest advocate of a
most glorious cause. Mistaken and misguided as
he was on many points, he certainly possessed those
qualities which are rarely met with in troublous
times. The concluding passages which record
uh_is.
visit to Glasgow, the last step in his earthlyeido r
„id or
my, are very mournful. However
u °rave been
mystified in the dark days of life migi.t.ghtly and
his belief, his faith at last burned brig
clearly. Glasgow
clearly. He was buried in the cryptt
e ad m sorrowful
Cathedral, and with him departed th
_angry strife
and bitter denunciations that bad
his life, but after him survived his fame, which was
interred
of too eminent a nature to be with his
ashes. The deeds he performed were of that class
put aside as the things that
which never can be
have been but exist no more ; he was too much
of his generation im-
pressed on the min g not to have
gained a lasting /mention in the chronicle of its
annals.

... •••••• W....*

The Church and the Churches ; or the Papacy and
the Temporal Power. B Dr. Dolli -
nger. _trans-
lated by W. B. AT,Cabe. Hurst and Blackett.
The volume before us is the work of a German
theological author of considerable
note, who has
exercised some
politicalinfluence in his own country.
For four
years h
Munich, being one represented the University of
ng one of its Faculty of Theology, in
the Bavarian
Chamber, where he was regarded as
one of the leaders of the Ultramontanes. There
appears,
however, to have been some difficulty in
rightly comprehending his views, since on being
elected a deputy to the National Parliament in
1848, he spoke and wrote in favour of civil and
religious liberty. His translator remarks that
" the same spirit and the same principles which
made him in religion the keenest of controversial
writers, and the most earnest advocate of reforms,
guided him in political life, and made him the ex-
ponent of the highest Catholic views and the
champion of ecclesiastical freedom." The modera-
tion of his tone, and the fearlessness with which he
discusses subjects not often handled by writers of
his faith, admitting the need of reforms and altera-
tions, render his work somewhat peculiar. He is
one of the school of thinkers who desire to see
unity restored in the Christian Church, and are not
without hopes of an adjustment of the differences
between Catholics and Protestants. With regard
to the temporal power of the Papacy, his views are
best expressed in his own words :—" Let no one lose
faith in the Church, if the temporal principality of
the Papacy should disappear, whether it be for a
season or i'or ever. It is not essence but accident;
not end but means ; it began lat hest it was formerly
something quite different from wit is now. It
now justly appears to us to be indispensable; and
so long as the existing order lasts in Europe it
must at all costs be maintained, or if it is violently
interrupted it must be restored. But it is possible
to conceive a political condition in Europe in which
it would be superfluous, and then it woull only be
burden." With the exception of the
a clogging

The Minton fountain is going on rapidly, and is
expected to be finished in about a fortnight, and
the demolition of the trophies progresses slowly.
Every one that is removed improves the appear-
ance of the nave. In some cases a sort of compro-
mise has been attempted, and the offender has been
decapitated in the hope that thus the public might
be satisfied. The top trophy, and one or two more,
were in this state yesterday ; but they looked, if
possible, worse than before. Nothing, in fact, less
than the complete removal of these obstructive
nuisances will make the nave a place pleasant
either to look at or to walk in. Mr. Emanuel
has added a wondrous black pearl to his collection,
which his assistant obligingly informed the ladies
weighed 100 grains, and was worth £2,ooo—two
pieces of information which seemed very much
to increase the general curiosity. In the Swiss
court we learned that the watches which had been
stolen the previous day had been recovered, and the
thief caught. He was, it appears, one of the Swiss
attendants, and was identified at his counter by
the pawnbroker with whom he had pledged the
goods. On the western platform, close to the throne,
Mr. Wagner, the great Berlin silversmith, was con-
tinually surrounded by groups admiring the beau-
ties of the plate which had been prepared by order
of the city of Berlin as wedding presents for the
Crown Prince and Princess. The shield, the pre-
sent of the Rhenish nobility, was especially admired,
the more so as the legend with which it was
covered was lucidly explained by the artist. The
plate collectively, including the shield, the vase,
and the candelabra, weighs, we were informed, four
and a half hundredweight of the finest silver.
But the lion of the day was certainly the French
court, which was crowded with visitors of the
highest distinction. First, Queen Christina of Spain
was wheeled through in a bath chair, accompanied
by the Due do Rianzares, and attended by a limited
suite. Shortly afterwards came several members
of the ex-royal family of France, including the
Queen Marie Amelie, the Duc de Nemours, the
Prince de Joinville and daughter, and the Prin-
cess Clementine of Saxe Coburg. These dis-
tinguished groups stopped a long time before the
splendid display of Cristophe, which seemed almost
sufficient to form an exhibition of itself. The
central plate-au for the banquets of the Hotel do
Ville, was pronounced to be a marvel both of
workmanship and design, and some of the Eng-
lish visitors suggested that a deputation from
the corporation of London should come and see how
much better " they manage these matters ill
France." Queen Christina appeared to be most
taken with the lovely porcelains (Bisque) of Gille,
and the French party were much attracted by the
novel combinations of bronze Dare and African
onyx. We could not perceive any French detec-
tive following th-
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positively informed by our
Lvki-aus.,,nh.o,t a
„fit
iFoirreet detective,,..ealervrBiNiv7l,xiunthin.ll h
atiottorac:,dbuin.iuit di
liolrniinlic,g:dt.
us that French police officers had followed the ex-
Royal Family, but " merely out of curiosity, the
same as the rest of the public." The rain, as ty
kept down the attendance, but nevertheless, exclu-
sive of ticket holders, upwards of 4,000 persons paid
for admission.