The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE MAGIC OF KINDNESS; or the Won-
drous Story of the Good Iluan. By the Brothers
Mayhew.
The brothers Mayhew have written, George
Cruikshank and Kenny Meadows have illustrated,
and Messrs. Darton have published a little volume
bearing the above appellation, which unites in itself
the charms of the fairy-tale, the truthfulness of
history, and the morality of the Gospel. These three-
fold characteristics will be recognised when we say,
_ . .

that the moral of the tale is "Lo;e one another," that
the incidents narrated are all matters of history, and
that the form of the narrative is a most attractive

fairy tale. " This book," says the preface, "is more
a matter of fact than a matter of fiction. For, strange

to sir, though professing to be a fairy tale, there is
not a magic change in it that has not had its origin
in the world without rather than in the imaginations
of the authors. Indeed, to prevent the appear--
once of romancing-z—in this, perhaps one of the
most wonderful romaeccs everwritten—chapter and
verse have been given for every wonder in it." The
writers are not far wrong in styling this volume one
of the most wonderful romances ever written. No
records of king or conqueror, not even the instan-
taneous (veni, vidi, vici) triumphs of Cmsar, or the
wonderful achievements of Napoleon, can parallel the
marvels effected by the " magic" power of kindness.
Let those who doubt the cs,ertion turn over the pages
of this volume. Let no one despise it as a fairy tale,
for there is matter in it more strange than fairy tales
can boast of. Among the great evils put an end to
by the " magic" of kindness the revolting cruelties
practised towards supposed witches are here enume-
rated. The details of the trials and tortures of these
unhappy beings during the reign of the Royal
Witch-Finder, James 1., as here referred to,
are full of a terrible interest. Among the
good deeds effected by the " magic" of kindness
here recounted is the liberation of maniacs from the
excruciating torments to which, under the name of
imprisonment, they were formerly subjected; and
their restoration, through the instrumentality of kind
treatment, to the ranks of human nature. The de-
scription of the exhibition of the incarcerated idiots
at " feeding time," like so many wild beasts, as used
to be occasionally done in good old times, is very
revolting ; and the account of the liberation of the
poor wretches follows with a beautiful effect, This
account is for the most part taken from M. Pinel's
statement regarding the emancipation of the .maniacs
at •Bicetre. It loses nothing by Mr. Mayhew's
telling ; it is full of power and pathos.
The establishment of schools and means of instruction
for the blind, and the deaf, and the dumb, by means
of which, as it is beautifully said, " the spirit of
kindness gave eyes to the fingers of the one, and voice
to the fingers of the other, making the blind to see, the
dumb to speak, and the deaf to hear ;" the erection of
hospitals for the sick poor, and among others the new
Hospital for Consumption, in speaking of which
Jenny Lind is thus gracefully commemorated:
" When the bounty of the kingdom had been
exhausted, so that the last hospital stood half raised,
and Kindness called in vain upon the people to finish
the home of their wasting children, a sweet voicedbird
from other lands poured forth her song, and as the
heavens rang with her melody, the building rose and
rose, till it grew to be the noblest of all the noble
monuments of love and kindness that graced the
city "—the emancipation of the negroes and the
peaceful triumphs of the missionary, are the
subjects of some of the most interesting portions of
this most interesting book. In addition to the
glorious lesson it teaches, this little work is both in-
teresting and valuable for the information with which
it is stored. ' In following " the good Huan" in his
expedition to the savages we become acquainted with
the manners and peculiarities of the wild Indian
tribes, and we obtain a terrible insight into their
cruel laws and inhuman customs. These terrible
atrocities are all guaranteed by the foot• note re-
ferences to " chapter and verse,' and also, happily,
the truth of such incidents as the following is as-
sured in the same manner:—

"Next an 01. l Priest stood up, and, holding out his
hands, moved rapidly the joints of his wrists and
fingers. Then he opened and shut his mouth, and
raised his leg and moved it in various directions.
And, having done this, he said • See, I have hinges all
over me I If the thought grows in my heart' that I
wish to handle anything, the hinges in my hands enable
inmemy jaws to touchss
enable
it.
m
If I
mewant to
s
s toy i
ut. t t anything,rAnd i
f Ide
, thesir e hinges
anywhere, here are hinges in My legs to enable me to
walk thither. Now, I perceive great wisdom in the
adaptation of my body to the wants of my mind ; and,
when I look into the Book of Life, I see wisdom in it
equaltheMaker thattler
of in myn'ofdryamise
heanwdhmoy therein heart tells
u
thats
commandsme
to live our brethren as ourselves.'—(Speech of a native
priest before Captain Waldegrave, at Raiatea.)
"Scarcely had the priest finished, when a body of na-
tives rushed into the temple dragging with them a chief
which they had taken in ambush.
" As they forced him forward to the altar, they cried,
See, Great Malietoa: we bring thee thine enemy at last.
Now, take thou thy vengeance on him.' ,
" The Malietoa rose, and, advancing to the captive,
said, • Thou didst take my child as thy prisoner in war,
and pressed her to become thy wife. But she would
not consent, and even thine own people said it was base
in thee to take by force the daughter of a chieftain like
myself. Upon this, thou didst size thy club, and swear-
ing that it thou didst not have her no one else should,
didst strike her on the head and shy my only child.
Now, my blood urges me to avenge the death of my girl,
but I have learnt the religion of Yeace, and I will begin
by trying:to love thee my bitterest enemy.'—(Conduct of
Malietoa, Chief of Upolu, to one of the Chieftains of
Manono.)
" Then the chief, who had come prepared for death
torture, was stricken down with the charity of his
enemy ; and, as his head fell upon his bosom, he cried,
I will unite myself to this new religion, for it is one of
wondrous mercy, and I know, by my life being spared,
that none but a great and good God could have made it:—
(Spe, ch of the Chief of Tahaa after the war at Itaiatea.)
Malietoa might serve as a model to many Christians.
With interesting historical records like these the
volume is crowded, and the whole is woven together
by a charming fairy tale, which from the very corn-
mencement enlists our sympathies. The fictitious
opening of the story is almost as strange and as sig-
nificant as the truthful passages which succeed it.
The " Good Huan" is the ill-used cripple son of
Prince Aleph's foster-mother, who had bestowed her
maternal cares upon her royal nurseling, while her
own child languished from neglect. Huan (not the
"good" Huan then) grew up with a jealous hatred
of his foster-brother gnawing at his heart.
Neglected by his mother, ill-used by his father, and
turned adrift in his helplessness, he sought refuge in
a magic cave. Here he was visited by the Spirit of
Revenge, animated by whom he became a giant, and
went forth to conquer and destroy. This portion of
the story is most beautifully told. The giant, giant
though he is, fails in accomplishing his cruel mission.
Huan is again sought by an angel visitor—this time
it is the Spirit of Kindness, who transforms
the unnatural strength of the giant into
the exceeding weakness of the dwarf, and turning his
spear into an olive branch, bids him go forth her
servant, and "by the very might of his weakness, and
the magic of its peaceful power, make more glorious
conquests than with the weapon of war." Huan
obeys, and thence follow the marvels effected by
the Magic of Kindness. The story is skilfully inter-
woven with the record of reality. Huan's sister
Anthy, beloved and deserted by Prince Aleph, and
Aleph's sister, the blind Princess Evoe, are the
heroines of the tale. Many beautiful allegories are
appropriately introduced. One of the best is the
following history of

ILEA
te th
eDAUGHTERS.there
4brillBTdlUGEodAdNeDss " Of thewere born two
children. The one was fair and golden-haired as the
Morning, the other dark and black-eyed as the daugh-
ters of the East. The fair one was weak and gentle
like the Lamb—the dark one proud-spirited and daunt-
less as the Lion. And the fair and gentle maid they
named Forgiveness, while her dark, proud sister they
called Revenge.
"When the two had grown up to womanhood, their
blind Mother called them to her side, and having blessed
them, bade them say which of her possessions she should
bestow upon them as their dower. To her eldest child,
Revenge, she gave the first choice.
" And the dark damsel asked for the- sword where-
with to protect the Injured and punish the Injurer.
Bill gentle Forgiveness, falling on her knees, besought
her Mother that she might inherit her blindness as her
portion, so that, being blind, she might be merciful to
•
erring Man.
" Then Justice, turning to her younger child, said
Thou hest chosen rightly, my gentle one ; for whereas
thy sterner sinter hath asked of me that which was given
to me by Man, thou host desired of me that which was
given to me by God.'
" Then Revenge, jealous of her sister's praise, parted
from Forgiveness for ever, and went abroad to see which
of the two wuuld win most favour among the sons of the
Earth.
" Wherever she went, high and low, noble and ignoble,
bent the knee and worshipped her. And to those who
sought:her aid she gave such strength and courage, and
spoke so winningly, and looked so like her mother, that
Men mistook leer fur Justice herself. At her bidding, na-
tion warred against nation; for she preached the capti-
vating creed of blood for blood, until men blessed the
sword, and the fairest of the land admired him the most
who wielded it the best.
" So that, when at length Forgiveness came, and strove
to teach a gentler doctrine to Mankind, they spurned
her for her blindness and her weakness; and those that
listened to htr counsels they branded as cowards, while
those that slew the most they praised as heroes.
" Dust thou know me now ?' the Spirit asked, as
HARM lit't d op his clasped hands, in adoration of her.
"' I do !' he cried, I do ! thou art the proud spirit
of Ik—.'
" Hush !' she exclaimed, before the word had passed
his lips. On Earth they call me Honour—in heaven
alone 1 am known as Revenge "
"The Magic.of Kindness" is illustrated by Cruik-
shank's very effective and Kenny Meadows' very

graceful pencil. Some of the vignettes at the end of
the chapters are beautifully appropriate; for example,
at the clove of the description of the ameliorAtion
effected in the madman's lot, we find a group of
ft:wers interweaving thcm3elves in the links of a
chain. We cannot doubt but that this work of the
brothers Mayhew will be greeted with the same
spirit by which it is inspired—the spirit of kindness.

THE CLOSING YEARS OF DEAN SWIFT'S
LIFE; his Unpublished Poems; and some Re-
marks on Stella By TV. R. Wilde, MR lA.
More than a century has elapsed since the illus-
trious subject of this memoir left his place empty
amongst the wise, the witty, and the learned of his
age ; yet the recollection of him is still fresh and
green, not only in his own loved land, but in this
country, where he spent much of his early life, and
ta as the friend and associate of its " brightest orna-
ments." His friends, as well as his enemies—and he
had a host of both—unanitnously agreed that he died
an in:ene imbecile. The acquiescence of a century
has given a sanction to their verdict, yet the able
aw hor of this interesting and remarkable essay has
had the courage to car.va.Fs and examine this time-
honoured error, and has gone far to shake, if he has
not altogether overthrown, the faikcies upon which
it was founded. "The commencement of his complaint
is thus described by Swift himself, in a letter to Mrs.
Howard in 1727 :—• About two hours before you
were born (1690) I got my giddiness by eating a
hundred golden pippins at a time, at Richmond ; and
when you were four years and a quarter old,
bating two days, having made a fine seat
about twenty miles farther in Surrey, where
I used to read, and there I got my deafness; and
these two friends have visited me, one or other, every
year since, and being old acquaintance, have now
thought fit to come together.' Overloading the
stomach in the manner described, and catching cold
by sitting on a damp, exposed seat, were very apt to
produce both these complaints, neither of which,
when established, was likely to be easily removed
from a system so nervous, and with a temper so irri-
table, and with a mind so excessively active, as that
of Swift's. From this period, Swift being then about
23 years of age, a disease which, in all its symptoms,
and by its fatal termination, plainly appears to have
been (in its commencement at least) cerebral con-
gestion, set in and exhibited itself in well-marked
periodic attacks, which year after year increased in
intensity and duration." It would seem that many
of his friends at that time were affected in the same
way—Harley, Gay, Mrs. Barber, Pope, Mrs.
Howard, Lady Germain, Arbuthnot, and others.
Writing from London in 1711, he says—"l have no
fits of giddiness, but only some little disorders to-
wards it, and I walk as much as I can—Lady Kerry
is just as I am, only a great deal
worse." In another letter he says, " Fig
for your physician and his advice, Madame Dingley
" If I grow worse I will, otherwise I will trust to
temperance and exercise. Your fall of the leaf!
What care I when the leaves fall ? lam sorry to
see them fall with all my heart; but why should I
take physic for that ?" With regard to change of
weather, he says, " I never impute any illness or
health to good or ill weather, but to want of exercise
or ill air, or something I have eaten, or hard study,
or sitting up, and so I fence against those as well as
I can." In 1727, he was in London, and his mind
was painfully occupied with the illness of Stella. In
reference to it he says—" My weakness, my age, my
friendthip will bear no more. A fresh attack of his
complaint drew from him thin prophetic sentence—
" I believe this giddiness is the disorder that will at
last get the better of me." Indeed, from his first
attack, at the early age of three-and-twenty, this pre-
sentiment always haunted him. We cannot avoid
extracting the following well-known and remarkable
instance of this :—" Dr. Young, the author of the
Night Thoughts,' relates that walking out with
Swift and some others, about a mile from Dublin,
he suddenly missed the Dean, who had stayed
behind the rest of the company. He turned back in
order to know the occasion of it and found Swift
at some distance, gazing intently at the top of a lofty
elm, whose head had been blasted ' • upon Young's ap-
proach he pointed to it, saying—l shall be like that
tree, I shall die first at the top." Byron had a simi-
lar feeling and more than once spoke of dying like
Swift, at the top first. In 1738 he writes to Alder-
man Barber, " I have for almost three years past been
only the shadow of my former self; with years of
sickness, and rage against all public proceedings, espe-
cially in this miserably oppressed country, I
have entirely lost my memory, except when
it is roused by perpetual subjects of vexation."'
In 1742, it was deemed necessary to appoint
guardians of his person and property, but on what
precise grounds does not appear. Indeed, the legal
proceedings in this lunacy case would be calculated
to throw some additional light upon the subject,
and we have no doubt the untiring industry of the
learned author will enable him to search out those
interesting records and give them to the world, to-
gether with any unpublished writings which have or
may fall into his hands. These guardians were in the
habit of taking him out occasionally for air and exer-
cise • on one of these days, when in the park,
he observed a new building which he had not seen
before, and inquired for what it was designed, to
which Dr. Kingsbury answered, " That, Mr. Dean,
is the magazine for arms and powder, for the security
of the city." "Oh!oh !" says the Dean pulling out
his pocket-book, "let me take an item of that; this
is worth remarking. My tablets, as Hamlet says,
my tablets,—memory, put down that," which pro-
duced these lines, said to be the last he ever wrote :
" Behold a proof of Irish sense;
Here Irish wit is seen!
When nothing's left that's worth defence
We build a magazine!"
These lines certainly bear not the impress of insanity.
After this his insane biographers know little that can
be relied on to the time of his death, which occurred
on Saturday, the 19th October, 1745, in the 78th
year of his age. The only one of those who saw
him during the three years previous to his death was
Mr. Deane Swift, and up to the latest moments of his
life be gives instances of his possessing his rational
faculties, such as " his endeavours to speak his mind,
but could not recollect words to express his meaning,
upon which he would shrug up his shoulders, shake
his head, and sigh heartily. Indeed this gentleman
adds, " that he never yet, as far as he could
learn, talked nonsense or said a foolish
thing." In the post mortem examination there
was found much water on the brain. The
medical part of the case we will not enter into, but
we wia confess that in examining the whole case
with anxious attention, we cannot see any symptom
of mental disease, beyond the natural decay that
might be expected in a man between 70 and 80 years
of age, who taxed his faculties to such an extent
as this great man did. It is not to be won-
dered at that a great censor like Swift should
have made enemies. The vile epithets heaped on his
memory by some recent essayists might well have
been spared ; but the lion is dead, otherwise these
carrion birds would have sought other prey. His
admirers—and they are those whose admiration is
true praise—can, however, comfort themselves with
the consolation that Swift's name will be ever dear to
his country, and that his memory will live not only
in his writings, but in his more solid works of charity
and love, when these miserable scribblers shall be
forgotten.

LECTURE ON SHIPWRECKS.-111r. Wm. Bradford,
the Superintendent of the Mariners' Friend Society,
delivered a lecture yesterday evening to the members of
the Institution for Mutual Improvement, in their Lec-
ture-room, Blackfriars-road, on the causes of ship-
wreck, and the means of its prevention. The lecturer
said the importance of the shipping interest and the
shipping population, their prosperity, morals, comfort,
and safety, were involved in the duties of Englishmen.
In the royal navy there were 30,000 men; at one time
there were 133,000. Of pilots, fishermen, watermen,
and men of kindred vocations, there were 250,000. Our
merchant vessels numbered 28,000, and 38,000,0001.
sterling was invested in British shipping. Much had
been done to benefit seamen, but little compared with
the demand; besides, seamen were a moving population,
and the work that was done to ameliorate their condi-
tion one week required to be renewed the next. On an
average ten Eng:ish merchant vessels were wrecked on
our coasts every week, and about twenty-four lives lust.
That was not all. There were several hundreds lost in
the rivers and docks, making about 2,000 lives lost
annually, and about 3,000,0001. worth of
f prooperty ;
and all that belonging to Britain alone.
18th of last August 120 fishermen perished then
on
one occasion within twenty-lour hours.wrked
Oh
the
27th of last month an emigrant ship
on an
was wrecked
iceberg; the captain and the first and secondh mates and
some others took to tphaesabeonagtearnad lefte ht
ede ship. About
250 of the crew and adnd the rest
were frost bitten. The lecturer tlpiernisd.
Lien of the audience to the causes ofireschtie wtrhecekast,tethn;
most prominent of which he assigned to drunkenness.
Thousands of lives were lost through drunkenness and
great numbers of ships. The Saint George, a vessel of
98 guns, was burnt through some of the crew getting
into the spirit room and becoming intoxicated, and 150
men were lost. The Edgar, a ship of 70 guns, was burnt
at Spithead and a great number of lives sacrificed
through an act of drunkenness. The Ajax whilst lying
in the Dardanelles was destroyed in a similar way, and
350 men perished; as was also the ill-fated vessel the
Kent East Indianian. The lecturer then entered upon
a history and description of the means employed to
prevent shipwrecks and of rescue therefrom, now in
use; and took occasion to suggest certain improve-
ments which might be made in those means, illustrating
his remarks by diagranss and models. The lecturer
was listened to throughout with the most marked at-
tention and was occasionally warmly applauded.
THE EGYPTIAN STEAM-FRIGATE SHAlKlE.—Ad-
miral Mafia Bey, commander of this fine frigate, at pre-
sent lying at 13tackwall, has issued cards of invitation to
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and a select
party of the nobility and distinguished persons, to ac-
company him down the river to-morrow (Saturday), to
partake ;of
his hospitality, and inspect the Shaikie, now
finished, and ready to return to Egypt. j

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TlMES.—After a delay sufficiently explained by the
difficulties of the task, the French President's address is
at 1, ngth before the world. It is seldom that we have
to remade upon the first of a splendid series of political
manifestoes; but unless the hopes of France are ridicu-
lous self-delusions, the address before us is the first
Message, of the first President of the French Republic,
to the first National Assembly of France; at least, in
the normal sense of these terms. Perhaps it is not fair
to record impressions which unavoidably take some co-
lour from events; but we cannot but feel that while the
President promises largely for the future, and opens
many topics of prospective consolation, he fails to
elucidate and adorn the entangled history of the past.
The mystery of French intervention is by no means
removed. Although the President descends to particu-
lars with what we may call an engaging simplicity, we
are still left either to admire the officious inutility of his
foreign mediation, or to suspect waives and
proceedings more than me et the eye. Rome
is the knot which has most embarnssed the ad-
dress. With regard to the other European States
Which I ave excited the paternal :daises of France by
foil' wing her example, the President intimates that his
Government has given them the benefit of certain kindly
admonitions, judicious counsels, jealous protests, and
other verbal communications, such as the practised
chiefs of a cause will often address to their weaker and
more excitable adherents. Ile gives us, hoeever, little
reason to conclude that France has acquired the grati-
tude of Sardinia, of Naples, of Sicily, of Denmark, or
any German State; he cannot even assure us that things
are altered for the better on the River Plate, and only
conveys a distinct idea when he announces that Russia
has recognised the Republic. With regard to Rome
more is said because more has been done. Bat we shall
be very much surprised if the history now related of that
unparalleled affair is admitted either by the Romans, or
the Austrians, or the Neapolitans, or, indeed, by any
of the parties involved. The gist of that his-
tory is that the Government of France in the
expedition to Rome exercised a direct and in-
dependent action by its own spontaneous move-
ment; and that it did so to deliver Rome from alien in-
truders and protect it from foreign intervention. That
the approaching march of Austria and Naples upon
Rome should arouse the jealousy of France is intelli-
gible enough, and consistent even with the modesty of a
Republic; but it is not so intelligible why France did
not wait for an invitation; why it studiously ignored the
new Republic of Rome; or why it held correspondence
with parties not in a condition to speak for the people.
" A train of unhappy circumstances" has disappointed
an elaborate calculation. The President confesses sur-
prise at the circumstance that while 6,000 French Re-
publicans where approaching Rome on one side, a band
of Italian refugees, or at least chiefly Italian, entered it
from the other; and that while the latter were welcomed,
the former were inhospitably repulsed. He is surprised
that the " little knot of persons who had seized the
authority for themselves," against the sentiments of the
majority, should have requited so roughly the contempt
and hostility of France. If the President's narrative
be true in its particulars, it will be better understood by
his readers than himself; and while he has related the
fable, they will moralize upon it, somewhat more cor-
rectly, after their own fashion. The President makes
large and fair promises of social restoration and improve-
ment. The projects he enumerates are such as will find
favour with all people, and such as France at least is
accustomed to receive from the bounty of her rulers.
We hardly know whether it is an Emperor who speaks,
or a Communist, or an English gentleman'at an agricul-
tural meeting. Agricultural schools, model farms, banks
of aid and assurance, the dispersion of the town popu-
lation into the villages, the deliverance of land from its
burdens, are ideas that remind one of utilitarian Eng-
land and Sir Robert Peel. The task of rectifying the
condition of thirty• six millions shut up in a country far
less wealthy and not much more extensive than ours,
without a single colony to drain off the increase except
a narrow coast snatched from the desert and the Arab,
is so formidable that we will not cast any doubt on the
particular modes of improvement suggested. We are
only beginning to be reasonable when we set about in-
quiring how this miracle may be accomplished. It will
never be done by ordinary means.