The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

EDINBURGH REVIEW.—No. 135.
Longman, London, 1838.
There is no mistaking the author of the article entitled
George the Fourth, and Queen Caroline," which very
properly is placed first in this Number. The occasional
happy and vigorous sarcasm ; the complicated involutions
of style ; the exquisite felicities of expression, as where al-
lusion is made to the " clipped morality" of certain politi-
cians ; and above all, the intimate and minute acquaintance
with the stirring events just briefly, but emphatically, glanced
at—these are so many irresistible proofs that the article in
question is the con aniorc production of one of the most
energetic and philosophical statesmen of this or any age.
To say nothing of its more valuable qualities, such as its
portraits of the public me❑ wbo figured at the commence-
ment of the present century, which are drawn with uncom-
mon spirit and freshness and freedom, and sometimes with
a dramatic tact that reminds us of Clarendon, this admir-
able histor:cal disquisition—for so it may be called—pos-
sesses all the enchaining interest of a Scotch novel, so va-
rious are its transitions, so glowing the narrative, and so
stirring the incidents it embraces. Years hence the his-
torian of the Regency will pillage it unsparingly, as con-
taining valuable materials nowhere else to be found in such
a condensed and satisfactory form. As, however, the main
recommendations of the article arc its contemporary por-
traits, we shall confine our extracts chiefly to these. And
first, of George the Fourth :

" George, Prime of Wales, had been educated after the manner of
all Princes whose school is the palace of their ancestors, whose teacher
is boundless prosperity, whose earliest and most cherished associate is
unrestrained self-indulgence, and who neither among their compa-
nions form the acquaintance of any equal, nor in the discipline of the
stminary, ever taste of control. His natural abilities were far above
mediocrity; he was quick, lively, gifted with a retentive memory, even
with a ready wit; endowed with an exquisite ear for music, and a just-
ness of eye that fitted him to attain refined taste in the arts ; possessed too
of a nice sense of the ludicrous, which made his relish for humour suffi-
ciently acute, and bestowed on him the powers of an accomplished mimic.
The graces of his person and his manners need net be noted, for neither
are valuable but as the adjunct of higher qualities. Notwithstanding
the lessons ofDean Jackson, and the fellowship of Tharlow and Sheridan,
the Prince was a man of ♦ery uncultivated mind ; ignorant of all but
the passages of history which most Princes read ; with some superficial
knowledge of the dead languages, which he had imperfectly learned and
scantily retained ; great facility of modern tongues; and no idea whatever
of the rudiments of any science, natural or moral. We have said nothing
of the great quality of all—the test of character—firmness, and her sister
truth. That the Prince was a man of firm mind, not even his most
unscrupulous flatterers ever could summon up the courage to pretend.
He was much the creature of impulses, and the sport of feelings natu-
rally good and kind; but had become wholly selfish through unlimited
indulgence. Those who knew him well were wont to say that his was
a woman's character, when they observed how little self-command he
had, and how easily ho gave way to paltry sentiments."

So much for George the Fourth ; now for his mother,
Queen Charlotte, a character vividly and forcibly drawn,
and containing one or two grave, satirical touches that even
Swift himself, in his Journal to Stella, has not surpassed :

" Queen Charlotte was a woman of the most ordinary size of under-
standing, of exceedingly sordid propensities, of manners and disposition
that rendered her peculiarly unamiable, of a person so plain as at once
to defy all possible suspicion of infidelity, and to enhance the virtue, by
increasing the dOculty of her husband's undeviating constancy to her
bed. - Her virtue was so much accompanied by superfluous starchness
and prudery, that it set the feelings of respect and sympathy on edge;
and, though her regularity of life was undeviating, the dullness of her
society, the stiffness of her demeanour, the narrowness of her soul, tended
to make respectable conduct as little attractive as possible, and rather to
scare away from morality than to entice the beholder. The slave of in-
ordinate avarice, she redeemed not this hateful meanness by any of
those higher qualities of prudence and practical sense which are not un.
frequently seen in its company. Her spirit was too obstinate, and
not untinctured with spite; she was unforgiving'; she was not
undesigning ; she could mingle in the intrigues of a Court, as well as
feel its malignities ; and her pride knew no bounds, combining the specu-
lative aristocracy of a petty German Court with the more practical haugh-
tiness which is peculiar to the patrician blood of this free country. Of
the Prince of Wales she had never been a friend until he became
Regent, when she became his tool and his slave. On the contrary, she
had on all occasions partaken of her husband's hatred of him."

From this gentle and bewitching specimen of female sen-
timent and loveliness, so uncommonly like Spenser's " hea-
venly Una with her milk-white lamb," we turn to her hus-
band, who appears to have been every way worthy of such
a wife :

" Of a narrow understanding which no culture had enlarged ; of an
obstinate disposition which no education perhaps could have hu-
manized ; of strong feelings in ordinary things, and a resolute attach-
ment to all his own opinions and predilections, George the Third pos-
sessed much of the firmness of purpose, which being exhibited by men of
contracted mind without any discrimination, and as pertinaciously when
they are in the wrong as when they are in the right, lends to their cha.
ractera an appearance of inflexible consistency, which:is often mistaken
for greatness of mind, and not seldom received as a substitute for ho-
nesty. In all that related to his kingly office he was the slave of as deep-
rooted a selfishness as his son. In other respects. he was a man of
amiable disposition, and few princes have been more exemplary in their
domestic habits, or in the offices of private friendship. But the instant
that his prerogative was concerned, or his bigotry interfered with, or his
will thwarted, the most unbending pride, the most bitter animosity, the
most calculating coldness of heart, the most unforgiving resentment,
took possession of his whole breast, and swayed it by turns. The habits
of friendship, the tics of blood, the dictates of conscience, the rules of
honesty were alike forgotten ; and the fury of the tyrant, with the re.
sources of a cunning which mental alienation is supposed to whet,
were ready to circumvent or destroy all who interposed an obstacle to
the fierceness of unbridled desire."

This is a genuine Whig portrait of a high Tory and
prerogative King, in which we cannot but think the shadows
are too broadly marked. The author evidently writes
under the influence of an angry feeling, arising, no doubt,
from a recollection of the long exclusion from office which
his party sustained at the time when the enlightened Fox
was at their head. His remark " the instant the King's
bigotry was interfered with or his will thwarted," &c., bears
manifest reference to the cavalier expulsion of the Whigs
from office in the year 1807. Nevertheless the likeness,
though harshly painted, is just in the main, as the memora-
ble American war attests. We proceed to the character
of Mr. Perceval :
" Mr. Perceval was a man of very quick parts, much energy of cha.
racter, dauntless courage, joined to a patient industry, practised fluency
as a speaker, great skill and readiness as a debator ; but of no informa-
tion beyond what a classical education gives the common run of Eng.
lish youths. Of views upon all subjects the most narrow, upon religious
and even political questions, the most bigoted and intolerant, his range
of mental vision was confined in proportion to his ignorance on all gene-
ral subjests. Within that sphere he saw with extreme acuteness, as the
mole is supposed to be more sharp-sighted than the eagle, for half a
quarter of an inch before it. He firmly believed, and always acted
on the belief, that beyond what he could descry, nothing whatever ex-
isted; and he mistrusted, dreaded, and even hated, all who had an
ampler visual range thanihimself. He possessed many qualities, both of
the head and heart, which strongly recommended him to the confidence
of the English people. We never scared them by refinements, nor
alarmed their fears by any sympathy with improvements out of the old
and beaten track; he had shared largely in all their favourite national
prejudices. From all sordid 'feelings he was entirely exempt—regard-
less of pecuniary interest—careless of mere fortune—aiming at power
alone—and only suffering his ambition to be restrained by its intermix.
ture with his fiery zeal for the success of his cherished principles, reli.
gious and civil."

Of his great rival, Mr. Canning, the Noble author of this
essay speaks in these just and generous terms :
" Mr. Canning was in all respects one of the most remarkable persons
who have lived in our times. Born with talents of the highest order,
these had been cultivated with an assiduity and success which placed
him in the first rank among the most accomplished scholars of his day;
and he was only inferior to others in the walks of science, from the ac-
cident of the studies which Oxford cherished in his time being pointed
almost exclusively to classical pursuits. But he was anything rather
than a mere scholar. In him were conbined, with a rich profusion, the
most lively, original fancy—a retentive and ready memory—singular
powers of lucid statement—and occasionally wit in all its varieties, now
biting and sarcastic, to overwhelm an antagonist, now pungent or giving
point to an argument, now playful for mere amusement, and bringing
relief to a tedious statement, or lending a charm to dry chains of close
reasoning. Superficial observers, dazzled by his brilliancy, and by its
sometimes being over-indulged, committed their accustomed mistake,
and supposed that he who could thus adorn his subject, was an amusing
speaker only, while he was helping on the argument at every step; often
making skilful statements perform the office of reasoning, and oftener
still seeming to be witty when he was merely exposing the weakness of
hostile position, and thus taking them by the artillery of his wit. But
in truth his powers of ordinary reasoning were of a very high order, and
could not be excelled by the most practised master of dialectics. It
was rather in the deep and full measure of impassioned declamation, its
legitimate combination with rapid argument—the highest reach of ora-
tory—that he failed; and this lie rarely attempted. This great man was
the slave of no mean or paltry passions, but a lofty ambition inspired
him ; and had he not too early become trained to official habits, he would
have avoided the distinguishing error of his life—an impression which
clung to him from the desk—that no one can usefully serve his country,
or effectually further his principles, unless he possesses the power which
place alone bestows. In private society he was singularly amiable and
attractive, though, except for a very few years of his early youth, he
rarely frequented the circles of society, confining his intercourse to an
extremely small number of warmly attached friends. In all the rela-
tions of domestic life he was blameless, and was the delight of his fa.
roily, as in them he placed his own. His temper, though naturally irri-
table and uneasy, had nothing paltry or spiteful in it; and as no one
better knew how, and when, to resent an injury, so none could more
readilyorgracefully forgive."

This is a carefully drawn character, but we demur to
that portion of it, where the writer asserts that Mr. Can-
ning failed in" impassioned declamation." Surely his
famous speech on the question of the invasion of Portugal
is as consummate a specimen of this highest order of oratory
as is to be met with in the records of the Senate! It was
a grand appeal, not merely to an English House of Com-
mons, but to all Europe, and was felt and feared as such.
The reply possessed possible, still more loftiness of sen-
timentandimpassi ifoned energy of declamation ; and
proves that, however magnificent it might be, Mr. Canning
could always rise to the level of his theme. The portrait
of Lord Eldon is true, in the strictest and most literal sense
of the term.

" Lord Eldon, to great legal experience and the most profound pro-
fessional learning, united that thorough knowledge of men which law-
yers who practice in the Courts, and especially the Courts of common
law, attain in a measure and with an accuracy hardly conceivable to
those out of the profession, who idly fancy that it is only from inter-
course with Courts and camps that a knowledge of the world can be de-
rived. He had a sagacity almost unrivalled ; a penetration of mind at
once quick and sure ; a shrewdness so great as to pierce through each
feature of his peculiarly intelligent countenance ; a subtlety so nimble,

that it materially impaired the strength of his other qualities, by lending
his ingenuity an edge sometimes too fine for use. Yet this defect, the
leading one of his intellectual character, was chiefly confined to his
professional exertions ; and the counsellor, so hesitating in an-
swering an important case, the Judge so prone to doubt that he could
hardly bring his mind to decide one, was in all that practically concerned
his party or himself, as ready to take a line, and to follow it with deter-
mination of purpose, as the least ingenious of ordinary politicians. The
timidity, too, of which he has been accused, and sometimes justly, was
more frequently the result of the subtlety and refinement which we
have mentioned. At all events, no one knew better when to cast it off,
and upon great occasions—that is, the occasions which put his interest
or his power in jeopardy—a less wavering actor, indeed one more ready-
at a moment's warning to go all lengths for the attainment of his ob-
ject, never appeared upon the political stage. When all politics seemed
smooth, and the Parliamentary sea was unruffled as the peaceful lake,
nothing was to be heard of his Lordship's deep sense of his responsible
ditties ; his willingness to quit the Great Seal—the imminent risk there
was of his not again sitting in that place—the uncertainty of all
the tenures by which official life is held ; and even the arrival of that
se ison when it became him to prepare for a yet more awful change;
and the hearer, who knew the speaker, felt here an intimate persuasion
that the most religious of mortals could not have named the great debt
of nature with more touching sincerity, or employed an expression
more calculated to convey that feeling of dread. But in foul weather
—the instant that peril approached—be the black cloud on the very
verge of the horizon, and but the size of a man's hand, all these notes
were hushed, and a front was assumed as if the Great Seal hail been
given to him for life, with the power to name his successor by any
writing under his hand, or by parole before a single witness. So again
in the Council—when there was no danger of any kind, and it signified
net a straw what was done, the day, had it been lengthened out by the
sun being made to stand still, while our Joshua slew all the men
in buckram that he conjured up, would yet have been all too short to
state and to solve his difficulties about nothing! But let there come
any real embarrassment, any substantial peril which required a bold and
vigorous act to ward it off, and no man that ever sat at a council-board
more quickly made up his mind, or more gallantly performed his part.
With all these apperent discrepancies between Lord Eldon's outward
and inward man, nothing could be more incorrect than to represent hint as
tainted with hypocrisy, in the ordinary sense of the word. He had lin_
bibed from his youth, and in the orthodox bowers which Isis waters, the
dogmas of the Tory creed in all their purity and rigour. By these dog_
mas he abided through his whole life, with a steadfastness, and even at
a sacrifice of power, which sets at defiance all attempts to question their
perfect sincerity."
After giving portraits of Queen Caroline, the Earl of
Dudley—this last is an exquisitely finished Cabinet picture
—ar.d a few other leading personages of the day, the author
proceeds to acquaint us with the origin and progress of the
Tory connection with that unfortunate Queen—informa-
tion which could only have been supplied by one who was
beside the scenes. He then furnishes us with some curious
particulars respecting . the sudden flight of the Princess
Charlotte to her mother's house in a hackney-coach, which
had the effect of bringing these vehicles into fashion, for all
the Ministers, and even the Duke of York himself, came,
one after another to remonstrate with the runaway Princess
in hackney coaches ! " There was," says the writer, al-
luding to this delicate subject—

" There was then a Westminster election in progress; and it is said
that the Princess, complaining to Mr. Brougham that he was deserting
her, and leaving her in her father's power when the people would have
stood by her, that gentleman took her to the window when the morning
had just dawned, and pointing to the park and spacious streets which
lay before her, said that he had only to show her a few hours later on
the spot.where she now stood, and all the people of this vast metropolis
would be gathered together on that plain with one common feeling in
her behalf—but that the triumph of one hour would be dearly pur.
chased by the consequences which must assuredly follow in the next
when the troops poured in and quelled all resistance. This considera-
tion, much more than any quailing of her dauntless spirit or faltering of
he: filial affection, is believed to have weighed upon her mind, and in-
duced her to return home.'

Speaking of the extraordinary, leech-like tenacity with
which the Tories clung to office during the whole proceed-
ings against the Queen, the author says, parodying Ad-
dison in a very amusing manner,
" There must surely be something peculiarly sweet in official life, and
something peculiarly horrible to statesmen in the bare possibility of po-
litical death, else why this pleasing hope, this fond desire, this longing
after longevity—or why this dread of dissolution that snakes the soul
shrink back on itself? But in one material particular, the two kinds of
life and death widely differ. The official's death-bed is not cheered by
any hopes of immortality. The world to which he now looks forward
is another, but not a better world. He knows full sure that from the
pleasing state of being to which he has been so long used, and so fondly
clings, he must instantly, o❑ the great change taking place, be plunged
into the dreary night of a placeless existence; be cast away with other
mournful ghosts on the tempest-beaten coast of Opposition; there to
wander uncertain of ever agai❑ being summoned from that inhospitable
shore, or visiting the cheerful glimpses of the courtly day."
Of the details of the Queen's prosecution ; of the fears it
excited among the Tories ; of the indignation it called
forth among the people ; of the King's conduct during the
progress of the question ; and of the rancorous spirit which
he displayed throughout the whole affair—of all these
curious and interesting matters we have such minute par-
ticulars, as could only have been furnished by one who was
himself personally mixed up with, and took a❑ important
share in, them. We have read this portion of the writer's
historiette with breathless interest ; and it has left on our
mind the painful impression, that if meanness in its most
unadulterated form; sycophancy in its utmost perfection ;
spleen and vindictiveness carried to an extent verging almost on
the supernatural ; selfishness unredeemed and unalloyed by
tile slightest mixture of principle, are to be found any where,
they are to be found within the precincts of courts, influ-
encing the decisions of Cabinet Councils. Of the author's
strictures on the Press we shall say nothing, for they are
penned in a sore, consequently in a jaundiced spirit ; and
are, besides, mere repetitions of the same complaints that
have been urged a hundred times already. On some more
leisure day we shall notice the remaining articles of the
Number ; but our present notice has grown to so un-
usual a length, that we must here bring it to a close.