The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-01 00:00:00

FBA S 1.111.

The review of Mr. Taylov'a " Statesman " is the best
article in the Number, The following passage, impugning
the author's ideas of what a polit.klan should be, is highly
ere4table to the good feeli-og of the Reviewer. It is the
best eloquence—for it is the eloquence of a ..eneroua
dignation
‘. That work of demoralisation—tliat-gradual erasure of.the
divine image from the heart—that extirpation of every social
affection—the cultivation of that bloated, grasping, and un-
mixed selfishness, which are demanded, according to-the author
of ' Philip van Artevelde,' for the construction of a perfect
statesman—must be begun in the very earliest years of life,
or there is no hope of their effectual accomplishment. The
boy, as a boy, must be trained in the way lie is to go. 'At
the age of sixteen, or thereabouts, the general education of
the boy should be for the most part completed, and the specific
should begin.' Poor, devoted, little victim 1 At this early
age he is to be cut off from all such books as might exalt the
imagination, and refine the sentiments, and enlarge the capa-
cities of the heart. Already he is to be disciplined to worldly
views, and worldly thoughts, and worldly feelings. Every
thing is to be presented to his mind in a matter-of-fact and
business-like form. He is to read history ; but all such
summary histories ' as deal only in the great events
and noble actions of past ages—a class of reading which
is pregnant of infinite profit, for it engenders and sus-
tains the spirit of patriotism, the love of honour, and
the thirst of lofty enterprise; and leads us, to cherish the
memory of our ancestors with reverence, by persuading us
that there were indeed giants upon the earth in their days—
all this delightful and invaluable description of books is to be
excluded from the library of the tyro statesman. History is
for him to be stripped of all philosophy and romance. She is
not to present herself before him in the attractive form, and
with the flowing drapery of the Muse she is, but with the
bowed back and snuffy habiliments of some withered coaserva-
vator of the public records. From his earliest years he is to
be chained to the moft flat and blank realities ; and all his in-

formation respecting the glowing and animating transactions
of past times, is to be received, dead and colourless, from the
long, dull, and wearisome documents of the State Paper

Office."

The " Remembrances of a Monthly Nurse," is a tame
imitation of that able series of papers which appeared in
" Blackwood" some months since, and still appear there
occasionally, entitled " Passages from the Diary of a late
Physician." The best 'reminiscence of the " Monthly
Nurse" is her first interview with a fashionable physician,
who on the strength, of a bribe of ten guineas, introduced
her at once into titled and profitable connexion. Vire
suppose there must be some little exaggerations in this part
of the mid-wife's story. " Isaac Taylor's Physical Theory
of another Lifer is far too abstruse a subject to be dis-
cussed in the pages of a periodical. It will have few rea-
ders, we suspect, and fewer still, who can unravel the mys-
tery that lurks in many of its speculations. The " Ettrick
Shepherd's Last Tale" is a well-told ghost story, from the
pen of the late James Hogg. It is introduced by alindly
and well-written sketch of that estimable man and highly-
gifted poet. Poor Hoge. With all his unquestionable
genius, he was anything but a man of the world—hence
his uniform want of success through life. " Affecta-
tion, Male and Female," is a lively paper, by
writer who signs himself " Bombardinio." In this ar-
ticle occur the following brief and interesting sketches of
character :—" Sir Walter Scott was perfectly unaffected ;
so- was poor .Hogg; and so is Professor Wilson, though
his eccentric manner might at first make the superficial oh.
server think otherwise. He is constantly obliged to put a
sort of check upon his buoyant and elastic disposition,
which seems as if it threatened to bear him away beyond
the little conventionalities of the day. Except Napoleon,
Mahmoud, and Mehemet Ali,
.I have seen all the leading
men of my time, and have bob-a-nobbed with a good many
of them ; and feel much disposed to rate Professor Wilson
above them all. I have always thought he would have
made an incomparable Commander of cavalry, one of the
few who could see and seize the opportunity for striking;
as horsemen should strike, with the speed and strength of
lightning. The Duke of Wellington is another unaffected
man. Bernadotte, ex-corporal, and now King of Sweden,
is the vainest and most affected man living." The " Gal-
lery of Literary Characters" contains a clever portrait of
Lord Lyndhurst, accompanied by a brief memoir, written
in the most fulsome style of panegyric.