The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-25 00:00:00

LIT

RE

QUARTERLIES.
The British Quarterly Review. No. XXXVI.—
A charming variety characterises the contents
of the new number of this intelligent and estimable
organ of the Nonconformists. Besides which, it
may be observed at once that the contributions
here collected together are, speaking at least of the
majority, as clever as they are diversified. The
writers engaged upon the British Quarterly appear,
in fact, for the most part, not only solicitous, but
capable, of sustaining its reputation. A minute
narrative of the extraordinary " Revolution in
China" leads off the number for November, the
writer betraying, of course, as might have been ex-
pected, how largely he has been indebted for infor-
mation to the joint labours of MM. Ivan and Gal-
lery. Nevertheless it must be remarked that he
has concentrated upon the subject of his essay a
number of other lights not hitherto brought to-
gether with a view to the popular enlightenment.
He has extracted several particulars of no less in-
terest than importance from the disquisitions of
the Rev. W. H. Rule upon the "Religious Aspect
of the Civil War in the Celestial Empire," from
Dr. Allan's treatise on the " Trade in Opium," and
from Mr. Thorns' curious argument entitled " The
Emperor of China versus the Queen of England."
A scholarly and discriminative criticism follows
upon the writings of "Ludwig Tieck," a criticism
in which the reviewer considers the merits succes-
sively of Tieck's first novel (1795) William, Lovell,
of (1796) Abdallah, of (1797) Peter Lebrecht, and
his Marchen, of the poetical version of Blue Beard
and Puss in Boots, of (1798) the Wanderings of
Franz Sternbald, of the translation of Don Quixote,
of the drama of Genoveva, of (1812) the tales en-
titled Phantasus, of the World Topsy Turvy, of
the poem of Prince Zerbino in search of Good-
Taste, of the satire called The Dwarf, and of those
other most original and varied effusions which have
given Ludwig Tieck an European fame among the
foremost of the German writers of imagination.
The criticism of the British Quarterly reviewer upon
the writings of Tieck opens with a notice of his first
novel, Wilhelm Lovell, and closes with one of his last
novels, Vittoria Accorombona. Subsequently, we
hale a paper on a wonderfully different theme—this
being au article on the " English Fens," with an
account of their origin and improvements. There
are two contributions in the British Quarterly for
November, having some sort of reference to events
DOW occurring in the neighbourhood of the Black.
Sea—one headed the " Russian War in the Cau-
casus," and the other entitled " Russian Progress
—Who is to Blame ?" A recent controversy at King's
College will render a large class of readers curious
as to the review of Maurice's Essays, a review sug-
gestively superscribed as a treatise on " The New
Theology." A delightful historico-biographical
chapter, called " Portrait Painting in History,"
has been suggested to another writer in the British
Quarterly by the recent volumes of Mr. Bruce. It
will more than repay perusal by its store of singu-
larly interesting information. For ourselves, we
can assert candidly that it has tantalised us by its
brevity, and has rendered us eager for some future
continuation. Through it we see stalking past us,
in stately procession, a long line of illustrious per-
sonages—substantial forms, and not merely and
vaguely phantasmal : Julius Caesar, tall, slender,
well-made ; with a long, pale face ; mouth, large ;
eyes, dark and sparkling ; his chin, and lips, and
cheeks carefully shaved ; his head baldish ; his voice
shrill ; his general aspect handsome ; his gesturesfre-
quent and graceful ! Charlemagne, large and strong
in body; great, though not gigantic in stature (a little
more than six feet, according to English measure-
ment) ; with a largish nose, glittering eyes, a
cheerful visage, and hair beautifully white (canitie
pulchra, according to Egirshart) ; with a firm step,
a voice clear but slender, and a form admirably
well proportioned, saving in two respects—his neck
being rather short and thick, and his belly some-
what protuberant ! Here is a glimpse of John
Milton, for example, given in the British Quarterly
as from the pen of " the novelist" Richardson :

"An aged clergyman of Dorsetshire found John Mil-
ton (in his house in Artillery Walk) in a small chamber
hung with rusty green, sitting in an elbow chair, and
dressed neatly in black; pale, but not cadaverous; his
hands and fingers gouty, and with chalk-stones. He used
to sit in a gray coarse cloth coat at the door of his house
in Bunfield-hill, in warm weather, to enjoy the fresh air ;
and so, as well as in his room, received the visits of

people, of distinguished parts, as well as quality."...
Speaking of the value of what is here aptly termed
" Portrait Painting in History " the critic ob-
serves—

"We will ask whether it is possible that the course
of the Hungarian war could be rightly conceived by any
one who should imagine Kossuth without the glorious
ruff of bluish gossamer which surrounds his chin, ready
to float away like smoke at the touch of the razor."
Later on he writes—
" Even Boswell's pictures of Johnson gain in accuracy
when we know that he pronounced the letter u as they
do in some parts of the north of England, saying, as he
squeezed the lemon into the bowl, Who's for poonchr
Nor can any one imagine Sir Walter Scott properly
who does not know that he spoke with a burr, like that
of the Northumbrians."

The entire contribution is well 7deserving the
reader's observation. Added to the articles already
particularised, there are two others not yet specified,
one on " Ruskin's Sea Stories," and the other re-
lating to " Steward on Methodism," together with
the usual " Epilogue on Books," through whfch the --
critics in the British Quarterly keep pace with the 1
current literature.

The North British Review. No. XXXIX.—
Elsewhere, namely, in our leading columns, we
have referred in terms of eminently merited eulo-
gium to the ingenious and elaborate paper on the
" Religious and Political Relations of Russia "--
than which no essay could be more happily timed
or more conclusively argued. It will compensate
those who are tempted to its perusal by giving to
their judgments the very pith and marrow of that
momentous question, in the settlement of which 2
Christendom is becoming gradually embroiled.
Besides this conspicuous,argument—facile princeps
among the contributions—the North British con-
tains eight other articles, almost any one of which
20
will be found sufficiently attractive to command 20
observation. A criticism on Maria Norris's " Life 5
and Times of Madame do Stael " brings before us,
one after another, such men as Gibbon and Necker, 2(
as Benjamin Constant the Epicurean, and Talley- "
rand the Intriguer. An account of the present
situation of " Protestantism in Italy" introduces
again to our attention a departed patriot, no less
illustrious than Vincent Gioberti—whose death, by
the way, is thus recorded by the North British
reviewer—

"The philosopher was found dead in his chamber in
the Rue de Panne, in Paris, on the morning of the 26th
October, 1852. He had died of apoplexy, and when
found he was lying on the floor, holding his spectacles
with one hand, and clutching his dressing-gown with the
other. On the bed from which he had fallen lay open
the Promessi Sposi,' and Thomas-a-Kempis."
An entertaining notice of some eight or nine
" American Novels," including the Tales of Poe
and the Romances of Longfellow—enables another
critic to condemn the vulgarity of Mrs. Beecher
Stowe, while praising her benevolence, reprobating
a like vice and eulogising a kindred virtue in
Elizabeth Wetherell, while pronouncing an earnest
panegyric on the thoughtful and picturesque nar-
ratives of Nathaniel Hawthorn. We are surprised
to observe that the North British Review considers
as the masterpiece of the last-mentioned writer, not
" The Scarlet Letter," but the " Blithedale Ro-
mance," the latest, and, according to this reviewer,
the best of his more pretentious works of imagina-
tion. In addition to the papers already noticed,
our contemporary contains, in the excellent number
just published, an article on " Wycliffe," another
on the " Royal Society," another on the " Lan-
guage and Literature of Modern Greece," another
on " Nelly Armstrong," with especial reference to
domestic service, and a remarkable account of Ed-
ward Price and Company's enormous establishments
at Vauxhall, at Battersea, and (soon to be also) at
Liverpool, an account oddly, but not extravagantly
(as the reader may find on perusal), entitled
" Candle-making and Christianity."

The Law Review. No. XXXVIL—A sixth
chapter is given in the present number of the Law
Review of the learned and valuable " History of
Jurisprudence." Another. article, moreover, is
„25
100
particularly entitled to notice, we mean that relat- 45
ing to " Lord Brougham on Law Amendment." At
the close of a brief comment on the notable " Smyth
Vie," we find the subjoined observations, which we
could not but regard as worthy of quotation :

" The remark is now very current, that as we have
been reforming the law, so should we now reform the
lawyers also. The discipline exercised on some Circuits
is exceedingly wholesome in this respect ; but unfor-
tunately it is confined chiefly to matters of professional
etiquette. The Benchors of the Inns of Court have no
power without exceeding their proper authority. The
Judges ought to exercise a stricter supervision ; but few 100
of the professional man's misdeeds come before them. 50
If there were a Minister of Justice, it is certain that he
would be able to assist more effectually in purifying all
branches of the profession, provided he were armed with
due authority ; authority to be exercised in concert with
the Judges and the Heads of the Inns."
It would be well if this matter were to engage
the serious attention of Lord Brougham ; a crown
would thereby be put to the labours of that most
illustrious of all the reformers of our system of
jurisprudence.

Large insurances continue to be made for shipment of 25
gold to Russia. Probably, a further stun of 200,000/. St.
will be sent 'by the raext steamer,