The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-03 00:00:00

THE QUARTERLIES.

The Quarterly Review. No. CLXXXIX.
It has frequently been our gratifying duty to
commend, and seldom with more reason than of
late years, the ability, sometimes the remarkable,
al ways at least the respectable, ability with which
the old Tory Quarterly sustains its high literary
reputation. Whatever is said by us in commenda-
tion of our contemporary in this respect will have
possibly to some the superior advantage of being
said simply ex debit() justitice—certainly not in any
way from our being enamoured with, or infatuated
by, the general principles with which the very name
of the Quarterly has long since come to be popularly
ouus extorted
by
art porfai
justicese--a n spontaneous identified. However this may be, our praise is
apraise
eo fromonnurp senseial
bloom-
ing from our prepossession. In this way we
are fain at once to commend with all earnest-
ness the very excellent number now lying be-
fore us for cursory allusion to the contents--
contents amounting by the way to no more
than eight articles altogether, but almost each one
of which is of a kind calculated to allure the reader
to a perusal by the interest of the subject selected,
and during perusal to win his admiration. Our
opinion of the new number of the Quarterly, as a
whole, is perhaps the more amiable, seeing that the
political article for once is of a nature exactly in
accordance with our own sentiments. The argu-
ment here referred to we have already men-
tioned in our leading columns in what we con-
ceived to be merited terms of panegyric, the argu-
ment relating to " Lord Lyndhurst's Speech
on the War," a paper especially condemnatory
of the shortcomings in regard to the present
struggle with Russia, the notorious and mon-
strous shortcomings of the Aberdeenite portion
of her Majesty's Government. Apart from the
complacency inspired by the circumstance of this
brilliant political chapter, being precisely accordant
with our own oft-expressed opinions upon the
Russian war and the Coalition Government, we
cannot but think that the Quarterly affords us
ample reason for words of encomium in reference
to some at least of the nine remaining contribu-
tions. The paper descriptive, for example, of
" The House of Commons" is as pleasantly and
sparklingly written throughout as if it had been
penned by the author of the " Faggot of French
Sticks." Every Ingenuus previously unacquainted
with the subject may from its pages alone become
delightfully familiarised with the internal organisa-
tion of the English house of representatives, the
lower chamber of the Imperial Parliament. Thus
speaks the writer by the way of the oratorical
powers of the Leader of the Opposition :
"Of Mr. Disraeli's masterly, passionless, finished delivery
we have already spoken. Like the warrior to whom Norna
chants her witch-song, seldom
`Lies he still, through sloth or fear,
When point and edge are glittering near.'

An ever-ready speaker, his premeditated orations, that is
to say, those over which he has had some time—no matter
how short—to ponder, are nevertheless infinitely better
than those prompted by the exigency of the moment. He
will sometimes from this cause reply better to the earlier
part of an antagonist's argument than to its close ; and
his own peroration is seldom so effective as what, in dra-
not awithoutblow a sufficientmissea ; nota varietypiatoif
_
dra-
matic language, may be called the crisis of his speech.
treatmentti tion of the: p
Unprepared, he has a tendency to verbiage, and to a repe-
respaanird, same idea,
tude irritates ; not a sarcasm is impeded by a weakening
phrase. The arrow, stripped of all plumage except that which
aids and steadies its flight, strikes within a hair's breadth
of the archer's aim; whether it finds the joint of the har-
ness, or shivers on the shield, is occasionally matter of
opinion ; but that it often wounds deeply would seem to
be proved by the exceeding ferocity with which, out of
the house, Mr. Disraeli is assailed."
Thus of Mr. Disraeli's chief antagonist, the present
Chancellor of the Exchequer :
" Mr. Gladstone is the most polished speaker in the
House of Commons. His verbal resources are as remark.
able as his management of them ; and his manner is inva-
riably that of a gentleman. He is charged with 'subtlety'
by coarser minds, but we fancy that the English intellect,
which is not distinguished for its analytical power, treats
the subject in a somewhat jumbling fashion. Mr. Glad-
stone inclines to the Tractarian party—Tractarians are no
better than Jesuits—Jesuits are proverbially subtle—and,
therefore, when Mr. Gladstone is defining, very elaborately,
the difference between long annuities and deferred annui-
ties, he is talking Jesuitically. We believe that Mr.
Gladstone would be a more popular orator if he would be
less explicit ; but, while he exhausts the subject, he some-
times exhausts the listener. His refined and scholarly
periods, the creation of the moment, but as elegantly
balanced and as keenly pointed as if they had been written
and studied, are always marvels of fluency, and often spe-
mens of eloquence."

Of another conspicuous man of the time, the
Crichton of his age, the reviewer has previously ob-
served :

" Sir Bulwer Lytton, who early won reputation by his
speeches in Parliament, has distinguished himself since his
recent return to the House in the Conservative ranks ; and
has more than once been appointed to the post of honour,
and shown himself worthy of it. His trained intellect,
great energy, and command of language, make him for-
midable, both in attack and in defence ; and we presume
that as there are few other achievements he has not accom-
plished, that we shall one day see him holding the Castle
Dangerous of office."

(A criticism on Dean Milman's new work pre-
sents to the reader, in the subsequent paper, a
clever, and, just at this moment, a timely and
valuable argument upon what is termed "Latin
Christianity." From the brief, but thoughtful and
suggestive, article on the "Drama," the article
which comes immediately afterwards, we extract
the following genial tribute to some of the " pick"
among our many delightful, and some of them glo-
rious, actors of nowadays. The critic has been
declaiming against those who depreciate the Pre-
sent, out of an infatuated preference for the Past.
He observes :
"We have, however, said already that we distrust the
alleged superiority of the actors of former days, and of the
general decline of acting at the present moment. We be-
lieve, on the contrary, that with a better system of co-
operation a single English theatre would rival, in the re-
finement and effectiveness of its corps dramatiqtte, any
single Parisian house. We have seen no French comedians
in the same line better than our incomparable pair of
Keeleys. The St. James's theatre has hitherto imported
no performer, with the single exception of Regnier, more
variously accomplished or more consummate- in skill than
Mr. Alfred Wigan; and Mr. Charles Matthews, even in
parts more exacting than the usual repertoire of the Ly-
ceum vaudeville, has few equals—we are inclined to add
no superior. It is rarely found that actors excel alike in
the lighter humours and the more earnest passions. Gar-
rick and Henderson are perhaps almost solitary exceptions
of equal and transcendent merit in Hamlet and Benedick,
in :Macbeth and Megrim, in Richard and Abel Drugger.
John Kemble in comedy, in spite of Lamb's eulogy, was
recorded in his day among `the miseries of human life,'
and the elder Kean was absolutely intolerable in the few
attempts he made in the service of Thalia. The present
stage, however, affords an actor who combines passion with
humour in a remarkable degree, and, in the midst of the
ludicrous embarrassments of comedy, presents us with fer-
vent tragic p ithos. No one can have witnessed the per-
formances of Mr. F. Robson at the Olympic theatre, with-
out being struck with the narrowness of the bounds bo-
tween sport and earnest. His farce has a pathetic depth,
a grave earnestness, that touch, at one and the same mo-
ment, the sources of tears and laughter. He is partly Lis-
ton and partly Kean. With less than a cubit added to his
stature, Mr. Robson would be the first Shakspearian actor
of the day. It is unfortunate both for himself and the
spectators that his physical qualifications are not in better
accordance with his dramatic genius. He lacks presence
only to mate Kean in Shylock and Overreach, or Macready
in Virginius and Lear."

This is very fine—very encouraging—very de-
served. A feather iu the cap of many an old
favourite—of the Keeleys, of Alfred Wigan, of
Charles Mathews—and a whole bunch of plumes
for F. Robson, of the Olympic ! A careful and
learned criticism on " Classical Dictionaries " gives
the merited meed of praise to the masterly compi-
lations edited by Dr. William Smith. Without
militating in his remarks against the repute won
by Lempriere, the reviewer writes thus of Dr.
Smith's Classical Dictionaries :

" We are not disposed in this, or any similar case, to
risk our credit by an unqualified expression of opinion,
that these volumes have so exclusively occupied the ground
as to leave no arena whatever to future competitors. Such
pretensions to permanent popularity have probably been
advanced in their clay in favour of other works which have
long since been laid on the shelf. But with the best wishes
for the future progress of critical archaeology, we see little
reason to apprehend a similar fate for Dr. Smith's volumes.
In their present integrity, they are about as complete and
critical a digest of the whole range of subjects which they
treat, as could reasonably be expected from even the
strong phalanx of able contributors which the learned and
accomplished editor has united for his undertaking.
Room, no doubt, has been left for change or improvement' •
but the basis of the compilation appears sufficiently broad
and firm to admit of its easily incorporating the results of
future researches in the subsequent editions which will in
the progress of years be required."
The essay descriptive of " The Electric Tele-
graph" might almost have been written by Sir
Francis Head, so full and complete is it in its in-
formation. It traces this most wonderful of all
discoveries up from its earliest glimmering of a
commencement—from the discovery of the " bat-
tery " in 1800 by Volta, to that of the deflection of
the magnetic needle in 1819 by Oersted, on to
that
of t
of the multiplication of the deflecting po.wers
the needle (by means of the coiled wirF)
.by
Schweigger, on again to that detectedhe liquid.'s
power of magnetising steel or iron, (also in
1819) by Arago—down to the completion of
the whole series of marvels, somewhere 'bout
the years 1837 and 1838, by the almost simul-
taneous inventions of telegraphs worked by elec-
tricity in New York by Morse, in Munich by S.tein-
heil, but, above all, in London by our own illus-
trious Professor Wheatstone.,
ciLu.oettedthferormeatdheernceown
h
over the following paragrap de, quoted
of the first
number of the Quarterly,
evening's working of the electric telegraph (between
Euston Station and Camden Town) by Wheat-

tone :--
" Late in the evening of the 25th of that month, in a
dinily little room near the booking-office at Euston-square,
by the light of adsring dip-candl
theeinventor, with a beating
, which only illuminated
th
e turrounding kness, sat
pulse and a heart full of hope. In an equally small room
at the Camden-town station, where the wires terminated,

sat Mr. Cooke, his co-patentee, and among others two wit-
nesses well known to fame, Mr. Charles Fox and Mr. Ste-
, phens.m. These gentlemen listened to the first word spelt
by that trembling tongue of steel which will only cease to
discourse with the extinction of man himself. Mr. Cooke
in his turn touched the keys and returned the answer.
' Never dii I fel such a tumultuous sensation before,'
said the Professor, `as when all alone in the still room I
heard the needles click, and as I spelled the words I felt
all the magnitude of the invention, now proved to be prac-
tical beyond cavil or dispute.' The telegraph thencefor-
ward, as far as its mechanism was concerned, went on
without a check, and the modifications of this instrument
which is still in use have been made for the purpose of
rendering it "
more economical in its construction and work-
ing, two wires at present being employed, and in some
cases only one.

" A short time after this he insulated four miles of wire
in the vaults of King's College, on which he, performed
most of his subsequent experiments.* Thus in the silence
of that gloomy vault as early as 1836, the lightning that
was to flash with intelligence round the world—the ner-
vous system so shortly destined to spread itself through
two hemispheres, string together continents and islands,
and carry human thought under the wide-spreading seas,
was slowly being trained to the service of man by one of
the most distinguished of the many philosophers who have
contributed to the development of this branch of science.
The following note from the previous page of
the Quarterly is also particularly deserving of quo-
tation :
"It may interest our readers to reproduce the first pub-
lished notice we can find of Professor Wheatstone's Experi-
ments relating to the Electric Telegraph, and which appeared
anterior to his connection with Mr. Cooke During the
month of June last 'year (1836), in a course of lectures de-
livered at King's College, London, Professor Wheatstone re-
peated his experiments on the velocity of electricity which
were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1834,
but with an insulated circuit of copper wire, the length of
which was now increased to nearly four miles ; the thickness
of the wire was 1-16th of an inch. When machine-electri-
city was employed, en electrometer placed on any point of
the circuit diverged, and, wherever the continuity of the cir-
cuit was broken, bright sparks were visible. With a voltaic
battery, or with a magneto-electric machine, water was decom-
posed, the needle of a galvanometer was deflected, &c., in the
middle of the circuit. But, which has a more direct reference
to the subject of our esteemed correspondent's communication
from Munich, Professor Wheatstone gave a sketch of the
means by which he proposes to convert his apparatus into an
electrical telegraph, which, by the aid of a few finger stops,
will instantaneously and distinctly convey communications
between the most distant points. These experiments are,
we understand, still in progress, and the apparatus, as it is
at present constructed, is capable of conveying thirty simple
signals, which, combined in various manners, will be fully
sufficient for the purposes of telegraphic communication.' "
From the Magazine of Popular Science (Parker, Strand) for
March 1, 1837.

The whole article merits a very close examina-
tion. A paper on " Christianity in Milanesia and
New Zealand" is followed by an elegant historic
treatise on the very enthralling theme of " Queen
Elizabeth and her Favourites." Dr. Lingard, the
great historian of England, has called them
" Her Paramours." The Quarterly Reviewer
contents himself with speaking of them as
" Her Favourites." Conspicuous among them,
of course, are—Thomas Seymour, brother of the
Lord Protector Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester— Walter Raleigh, the great poet, anna-
list, courtier, and navigator—Christopher Hatton,
the dancing chancellor—and Robert Devereux, Earl
of Essex—cunt multis aliis, though not cunt cceteris
paribus ! The style of the article, though good in
the main, and sometimes eloquent in its senten-
tiously balanced sentences, is occasionally flawed
with slips of syntax, and even of etymology. At
page 238 we have it said of Essex, "He is one of
those persons who just miss of being truly great."
Previously, at page 223, we find the writer remark-
ing of the noble house of Courtenay—
" A branch of the house of Capet was content to merge
its royalty in their name and inheritance; they have filled
the throne of Constantine, and intermingled their blood
with that of Plantagenet ; and their Decline and Fall has
been, recorded by the same hand and in the same volumes as
that of the R 0112,221, Empire itself."
A sentence without grammatical symmetry, and
certainly by no means euphonious. These, how-
ever, are minor faults. And from what we have
here already said and quoted, it will have been
rendered obvious that the new number of the
Quarterly is one in all respects worthy of the repu-
tation of our distinguished contemporary.
MISCELLANEOUS MAGAZINES.

The National Miscellany opens with a paper on
" A New Street in Old London," which is the street
leading from London-Bridge to St. Paul's Cathe-
dral, which has been completed, it is stated, after
au outlay of 200,0001. The subject of " War Cap-
tives" also furnishes an interesting article, which
is likely at present to attract attention. There is,
generally, something superior to the average in the
style of this serial.—Sharpe's London Magazine has
two very pretty engravings—one of a scene in
Albania of a shepherd " leaning his boyish form
along the rock," as it is described in the accom-
panying stanzas from " Childe Harold." The other
represents Constantinople. " Harry Coverdale's
Courtship," by the agreeable writer of " Frank
Fairlegh," continues with undiminished vigour.
The " Studies of Great Authors" contains a
criticism on Ariosto. A lively summary of a news-
paper, by Alfred Cole, is amusing and satirical. Of
Course there are two or three papers on Turkey
and Russia, but there are also some subjects of
more novel interest.—Newton's London Journal
continues to form a " Repertory of Arts, Sciences,
and Manufactures, with Descriptions of New Patent
Inventions." For those engaged or interested in
scientific pursuits this must form a valuable work
of reference.—The Journal of Progress is a periodi-
cal recently commenced with very meritorious ob-
jects. It professes to be a record of moral, social,
industrial, and political economy and statistics,
dame schools, juvenile reformatories, public wor-
ship, and Sunday places of recreation. On the last
subject some very sensible remarks are made, truly
objecting to the inconsistency of those rigid moral-
ists who, because they can have fresh air and
recreation every day, do not prize them as
they should. It is never by arbitrary denial or
coercion that the lower classes will be taught
to prize the Sabbath. A somewhat ungenerous
attack upon the objects and purposes of " Hard
Times" we are sorry to see, as the rest of the jour-
nal appears to be written with sense and impar-
tiality. An opening no doubt exists for the publi-
cation, which we trust may prosper.— Home
Thoughts has been considerably enlarged, and is
now threepence. This is a decided improvement,
as before it was so very similar to the long-esta-
blished and excellent little work, The _Family
Friend. One of the most striking additions to
this miscellany is the description of character by
handwriting. All
.who desire to ascertain their
own unknown qualities have therefore now only to
write to the cheirologist of Home Thoughts, v. ho
will answer them from a single word ! A story
with the attractive title of " The Lost Heir" is
progressing in this serial.—Our Friend is another
of those cheap publications which are calculated to
counteract the evil effects of pernicious literature.
We would advise the editors of these little works to be
careful that they make them sufficiently interesting
to attract those who have been accustomed to more
exciting works. It is not of course to be wished that
they should lower their tone or their sentiments,
but in their strict avoidance of this they are likely
to fall into the opposite error, and make them
good but dull.—The English Gyclopcedia has reached
the conclusion of the second volume of natural his-
tory and geography. The two last parts are published
at the same time for the convenience of subscribers.

---liandley Cross continues with unabated sport-
ing interest.—Le Follet has now four plates instead
of three—an additional attraction to its fair readers.
The Penny Post is a useful little miscellany, chiefly
suited for the young.—The Railway Miscellany is
a light and lively melange of sketches and criti-
cisms, romance and farce. A comparison between
our chief writers is one of the most interesting
features. They are selected two by two—the in-
dividual criticism being generally more just than
the comparison.—The popular edition of Macaulay's
inimitable Essays has reached the sixth number,
and next month, for the price of seven shillings,
these magnificent displays of knowledge and elo-
quence may be obtained complete 1

Putnam's Monthly.—We have here the pleasant
variety of a transatlantic magazine. It presents us
with many subjects for entertainment. One fea-
ture is especially to be noticed, and that is the
great superiority of the poetical contributions to
those usually found in the pages of our serials.
Certainly, if America cannot boast of rivalling our
great poets, she eclipses us in the second-rate ones,
most especially since the modern mania of
mys-
ticism has seized our writers, and our readerswill
admire what they cannot understand. In America,
as yet, there is some connection in the sentences,
and some clearness in the ideas , how long
be before the mental fog extends across
the At tmlaany-
tic none can tell. The somewhat puzzling question
of "Is Man One or Many ?" is the title of the first
article, which contains an analysis of the races of
mankind, founded on a recent work entitled
" Types of Mankind." An account of some Spa-
nish peculiarities, in which, of course, a bull-fight
is included, is called " Cosas de Espana,"
entertaining rather from the liveliness of style than
any great novelty. " Herr Regenbog en's Concert"
is a sketch evidently written by one who appreciates
music. A story, with the pathetic title of " Hard
Up," succeeds in interesting the reader in the for-
tunes and misfortunes of a young theatrical author,
who, sad to say, is left at the conclusion rather
worse off than at the beginning. There are many
attractive articles, the most interesting of them be-
ing one on "Natural Diplomatists." It is shown
how strangely some characters appear to be en-
dowed with this power which developes itself
through all difficulties—while others, whose posi-
tion or ancestry would seem to entail it on them,
the
prove remarkably deficient. As a specimen of

contrasts so frequently occurring Maria Louise a
Josephine are cited.- The following extract is fron4
some verses on

"THE JEWISH CEMETERY AT NEWPORT.
" How strange it seems These Hebrews in their graves,
Close by the street of this fair sea-port town ;
Silent beside the never-silent waves,
At rest in all this moving up and down
The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleep
Wave their broad curtains in the south-wind's breath,
While underneath such leafy tents they keep
The long, mysterious Exodus of Death.
" And these sepulcural stones, so old and brown,
That pave with level flags their burial-place,
Are like the tablets of the Law, thrown down
And broken by Moses at the mountain's base.
" Closed are the portals of their Synagogue,
No Psalms of David now the silence break,
No Rabbi reads the ancient Decalogue
In the grand dialect the Prophets spake.
" They lived in narrow streets and lanes obscure,
Ghetto or Judenstruss, in mirk and mire ;
Taught in the school of patience to endure
The life of anguish and the death of fire.
' All their lives long, with the unleavened bread
And bitter herbs of exile and its fears,
The wasting famine of the heart they fed,
And slaked its thirst with marsh of their tears.
" Pride and humliation hand in hand
Walked with them through the world, where'er they
wont;
Trampled and beaten were they as the sand,
And yet unshaken as the continent.
"For in the back-grouud, figures vague and vast,
Of patriarchs and of prophets rose sublime,
And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.
"And thus for ever with reverted look,
The mystic volume of the world they read, •
Spelling it backward like a Hebrew book,
Till Life became a Legend of the Dead."

MASSACRE OF THE CREW OF THE HARRIET
-CONFESSION OF THE PIRATE CHIEF.

A letter dated Athens, July 22, supplies the following
copy of the confession made by the chief of the gang of
pirates who not long since murdered the crew of the
Harriet in the Levant. His examination took place of
board the French steam-corvette Chaptal. The pirate
deposed :

"In the course of the month of March last I left Con:
stantinople for Syra, in the Galaxid, Captain Epami•
nondas. Having arrived at Syra, the Sub-Commissary
of Police, Angerinos, as well as another Samiot, conk*
selled me to go to Athens. The next day, Strati, the
Commissary of Police, sent for me. I told him that I
had no money, and that what I wanted was to serveas
a seaman on board some merchant vessel. He said that
there was just then no work for sailors, but that if I
would return in a few days he would put me up to some.
thing good. He would send me, he said, to Chalcis,
where I should see Colonel Giorgiades, who had written
to me to come to an understanding with the police com-
missary, Strati. This letter is at Chalcis with my other
effects. •
" One day when I was at Strati's house he showed me
a letter which he had received from Stamati. The first
page of the letter was addressed to me. Stamati directed
me to conform to Strati's instructions in all points, and
that some day I should be great and my children after
me. Strati forbade me to reveal aught that he had said
to me, and then advised me to join the war in Tbessaly
and to go to Chalcis. He recommended me to go by
the coast of Cape Douro, and to seize and sink all the
French and English ships I could find, as those nations
were opposed to the enterprises of the Greeks.
Strati hired a goelette, with a crew of five men, is
which I embarked with 23 others, of whom 25 were
Samiots. The captain of this vessel came from Stylida,
in the Gulf of Zeitonni. Strati gave me 20 drachmas,
but none of the men who embarked with me received
pay : they only had provisions for two days. I was ap-
pointed chief of the expedition, and I alone knew its
object, which I did not reveal to my companions until
we had fairly left Syra, which we left three hours after
sunset in the evening. The next day we arrived at about
four or five miles from Gabrios, on the coast of Andros.
"At that place we were becalmed until midnight.
About three hours before daybreak, just as a breeze was
rising, our men saw an English schooner. I was asleep
at the time, but they called me. I ordered my eight and
twenty men to follow me towards the schooner, and we
boarded her. We had previously hailed the ship, and
found that it was English, and that the crew also were
natives. When we got on board, we made all the meu
go down into the captain's cabin, and then we demanded
all the money on board. The English produced three
pounds sterling, two watches, a telescope, two corm.
passes, and a barrel containing a small quantity
of rum. We then ordered all the crew on deck,
and there we massacred them with our knives, and
cast their bodies into the sea. I gave no order to
kill those men, nor did I kill one myself. We had
meant to sink the schooner, but we abandoned this in-
tention, fearing to be perceived by other vessels. After
the massacre we went to Chalcis, where I landed with
my 28 companions, and we paid a visit to our com•
patriot Colonel Stamati Giorgiades, but did not find him
at home. The next day we went to Bourgi, where we
found Stamati, his son, and another person. The same
day we went back to Chalcis with Stamati in a barque
which belonged to him. We stayed a month with Sta.
rnati, to whom we told our adventures, and he approved
our conduct. Of the 21 men who followed me 18 left
Chalcis to go to Stilida. Stamati advised me to become
a pirate, and to go to the Anatolian coast, there to wait
till a fitting opportunity presented itself for attacking
Samos. We left Chalcis in a perame, touched at Tsourav
Tynos, and Myconi, and thence went to Samos. Re-
penting of my conduct, I made any submission to that
governor of the island, and reported to him all the cir-
cumstances attending the massacre of the crew of the
English schooner.