The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-29 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Edinburgh Review.

No. 219

The current number of the " Edinburgh" presents
us with a pleasantly varied table of contents. It
opens with a notice of Watson's " Life of Bishop
Warburton," in which it is remarked that the lives
of scholars usually present few incidents for either
biographers or readers ; but this cannot be said of
Warburton. Hisbiographer says of him :—"Though
his writings produced no permanent effect either on
literature or theology, yet the variety of the sub-
jects of which he treated, the display of intellectual
energy in his pages, the number of eminent persons
with whom he, was brought into contact, and the
scornful defiance with which he answered all that
Opposed him, render his life a career which cannot
be surveyed without interest." The'life of Warbur-
ton, says the critic, is, on the whole, a disappointing
one, and its close is profoundly saddening. His
only child, a son of much promise, died prematurely,
and thenceforth his interest in life was gone. His
powers had for some time been failing him, and his
grief put the finishing stroke. The last question
which he asked, " Is my son real3y dead, or not ?"
gives affecting evidence of the tenacity with which
he still clung to the cherished memory. An essay
on " Idiot Asylums," though unattractive in title, is
full of most interesting reading. No work of
charity or duty was longer neglected or more pain-
fully discouraging than this, and none has more
richly repaid the labour spent on it. Many isolated at-
tempts to improve the condition of the idiot were made
in this country prior to the organised and united
efforts which resulted in the erection of the noble
asylum which has produced so much good. In the
year 1850 a number of benevolent persons resolved
to institute an asylum, and hired Park-house, High-
gate, for the purpose. The first gatherings of the
inmates at the openings presented such a terrible
spectacle that, in the -words of the report, " some
who witnessed the scene retired from it in disgust
and others in despair." "It was," adds the same
a authority, " spectaCle unique in itself, and not to
be forgotten by any." In six months even a mar-
vellous change was produced by the new Mode of
treatment, and all became order, obedience, and
Cheerful occupation. Very soon the building became
too small for the applicants, and it was resolved to
establish a large national asylum. This pur-:.
pose has been happily carried out at Earlswood,
Redhill, where the most astonishing effects have
been produced. One of the most remarkable cases
was that of a boy who exhibited a striking talent for
drawing, and whose pictures excited the admiration
of no less eminent judges than Sir Edwin Landseer
and the late Prince Consort. His Royal Highness
could hardly believe that the artist whose works he
admired could ever have been an idiot. He was
told, in confirmation, that it was six months before
he could be taught to know a dog's head from his
tail ! The same boy has made a model
of a Man-of: war, and several other inge-
nious works. He can also frame and glaze his own
pictures, being one of the regular' carpenters. An-
other boy who, on entering the asylum, was so help-
less that he could not feed himself, is now an adept
at making mats with fancy borders. • One of these
matmakers lagged behind in one of the walks ; and
when asked what he was doing, he replied, " I was
thinking of a new pattern for my mat ;" an answer
which, as the writer justly observes, shows the plea-
sure which useful work gave to the poor vacant
mind. In many departments of industry the pupils
excel, only they need a superintendent. With this
condition, they become admirable tailors, shoe-
makers, and carpenters. Some reclaimed idiots who
have left the asylum earn five shillings a day as jour-
neymen carpenters. In the shoe-shop no one has
been found able to cut out the shoe or measure the
foot, but when this is done they can make them ex-
cellently. One boy at Earlswood can make 'a pair
of bodts a day, and declares he could make seven
pairs in six days if they would let him have his
tea stronger. Many quaint sayings are heard by
the visitors, and some of the inmates come up to
the old Scotch notion of the " daft," or silly
body, who was half a wit. One of them
being reproved by the clergyman for inatten-
tion in church, replied, " If you had been looking at
your own book you would not have seen me." The
farm is another great source of delight, and to be
employed upon it the height of ambitiOn. It is
noticeable that these poor creatures never fail in
care and kindness to the animals under their
charge—a striking example to more highly-gifted
beings. Now and then prizes have been gained at
neighbouring shows by the Earlswood farm and
garden produce, and great has been the joy thus
occasioned. It is observed in this article that many
persons going to the asylum fancy it is an abode of
gloom and misery, and are astonished at the univer-
sal merriment. All these wonders are wrought by
the happy system on which it is conducted, the un-
failing love and kindness with which the unhappy
beings are treated instead of the former brute force.
Judicious prowess and authority are exercised, but
in a mild and soothing manner. The greatest care
is paid to each individual case, and care for the mind
is coupled with care for the body, for it must always
be remembered in dealing with idiots that both body
and mind are affected. The alternations of indus-
trial work, play, and lessons are constant, no em-
ployment being suffered to become wearisome. This
hint, it is justly said, should be taken by the guar-
dians of healthy children as well. The- assiduous
attention paid may be guessed by the fact that one
boy, who was thought hopeless, was one day ob-
served playing with a straw by himself, and from
that trifle his instructor had hope of him. The
labour of love so zealously 'undertaken has been
abundantly rewarded, and it is to be hoped that
soon all these afflicted creatures may be brought
under its influence, since something can be done to
ameliorate the condition of the very lowest.
An essay on " Early Italian Art" is full of interest
of another kind, and the writer justly observes
in treating of the difference between the various
schools that there is an intolerance in matters Of art
as in other things, and that neither painting nor
poetry can be rightly understood unless the critic
will take the trouble to enter into the spirit in which
the artist painted and the poet wrote. " The
Tunnel through the Alps" is discussed in an able
paper, in which it' is justly ranked as one of the
foremost among the " imperial works and worthy
kings " which this engineering age has produced.
In an essay on our relations with China and Japan,

it is remarked that the worst danger with Wild;

the European Powers have been menaced of late

years in both these countries has been the anarchy
and disorganisition in them which threatens to

weaken treaties by leaving no central authority to
hold responsible for their infraction. Mr. Swin-

burne's " Atalanta in Calydon" receives well-de-
served praise ; and another critical notice is equally
commendatory of Lady Duff Gordon's delightful
" Letters from Egypt." The remaining articles
would be, of course, incomplete without a political
essay on the merits of Whiggism, but that does not
diminish the characteristic interest and ability of
the number.

STATUES BY MR. NOBLE.—A statue of the late
Sir James ll'Grigor, Bart, who was Director-
General of the Army .Medical Department from 1815 to
1851, and who died in 1858, has just been placed in front
of the new barracks at Chelsea, and will shortly be unco-
vered. It is the result of a public subscription, and has
been done full justice to by the sculptor, Mr. Noble. Tho
same artist has also nearly completed two other important
works commemorative of the naval and military services,
which will shortly see the light. First in molancholy in-
terest is the statue of Sir John Franklin,• the Arctic ex-
plorer, which has been commissioned by the Government,
with the consent of the House of Commonsi and is intended
to be placed in the garden behind the Athenaeum Club, in
a position so as to face the west side of the United Service
Club. The figure of the devoted hero, eight feet high, and
clothed in the far-lined cloak appropriate to the bitter
climate to which he succumbed, is manly in bearing ; the
likeness is said to be admirable. The material is bronze,
in which material also a small bas-relief will adorn one of
the sides of the pedestal,, representing the' burial of the
lamented explorer in his ice-bound grave. The other work
to which we refer is the memorial to Sir James outram,
destined for Westminster Abbey. It consists of a simple
bust, with u tablet beneath, representing the meeting of
Sir James Outram and Lord Clyde at Lucknow. On each
side of the principal subjects are two figures, partly_seated,
and very ably studied as to-character and, expression, of.
native chiefs, two chieftains of the Seinde and Bhile tribes,
mourning as for a departed fricl44, The whole is in
marble,--Building 2rttg*