The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-02 00:00:00

THE QUARTERLIES.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. CLXX
Among the seven articles comprising the current
number of the Quarterly, three of them are specially
interesting and valuable. One of a scientific cha-
racter, evidently and admirably written by Sir
Francis B. Head, is devoted to an explanation of the
"Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges." Another,
of a political character, is descriptive of the late Roman
Revolution, from the commencement of the present
Pontificate up to the storming of the palace of Pio
Nono by the mob; and coming down as recently as
the occupation of the Eternal City by the French
under Oudinot. Another, to us the most charming
of all, is of a psychological and physiological charac-
ter, being, in fact, a dissertation respecting the views
entertained by " Fontenelle on the Signs of Death."
The opening sentences, being allusions to Addison and
Montaigne, may be regarded as affording the texts
of the contribution :

" It was the opinion of Addison that nothing in history
was so imposing, nothing so pleasing and affecting, as the
accounts of the behaviour of eminent persons in their
dying hour. Montaigne before him had given expression
to the same sentiment. Of all the passages in the annals
of mankind, those, he said, which attracted and delighted
him most were the words and gestures of departing men.
If,' he adds, ' I were a maker of books, I would compile
a register, with comments, of various D..aths, for he who
should teach men to die would teach them to live."'
As an example of the interest which might be accu-
mulated together upon this enthralling subject, the
paper before us is eminently deserving of perusal.
It abounds with the most entertaining anecdotes. It
gives very rapidly, but very effectively and
touchingly, accounts of the death of John
Hunter, the great anatomist; of Mozart, the
great musician ; of Foote, the actor ; of the only
son of Burke, the great orator ; of Cardinal \Volsey,
of Lord Coiling woo I, of Boileau, of Louis XIV., of
Charles XII., of Sir Thomas Blount; and, besides
numerous others, of " Francois de Civile—thrice
dead, thrice buried, and, by the grace of God, thrice
restored."

_ _
" Dr. Armstrong (says the essayist) departed
delivering medical precepts ; Napoleon fiiught some
rattle o'er again, and the last words he mut-
tered were hie darmee; Lord Tenterden, who '
passed straight from the judgment-seat to his death-
bed, fancied himself still presiding at a trial, and expired
with, Gentlemen of the jury, you will now consider of
your verdict;' 1)r. Adam, the author of the Roman An-
tiquities,'
imagined himself in school, distributing praise
and censure among his pupils: But it grows dark,' he ,
said; the boys may dismiss,' and instantly died."
Of the death of John Hunter, that great man, who was
to anatomy what Newton was to astronomy, and Bacon
to philosophy, the Quarterly reviewer writes thus
earnestly and reverently. He has been speaking in
the previous sentence of the gloomy forebading which
frequently precedes death :
" John Hunter has solved the mystery, if mystery it
can to called, in a single sentence We sometimes,' he
says, ' feel within ourselves that we shall not live, for the
living powers become weak, and the nerves communicate
the intelligence to the brain.' His own case has °Rua
been quoted among the marvels of which he afforded the
rational explanation. He intimated on leaving home
that if a discussion, which awaited him at the hospital,
took an angry turn, it would prove his death. A col-
league gave him the lie; the coarse word vei Med the
prophecy, and he expired almost immediately in an ad-
joining room. There nas everything to lament in the
eircumwance, but nothing at which to wonder, except
that any insvidual could show such disrespect to• the
great genius, a single year of whose existence was worth
the united lives of his opponents. Hunter, in uttering
the prediction, had only to take counsel of his own ex-
perience without the intervention of invisible spirits.
He had long laboured under a disease of the heart, and
he felt the disorder had reached the point at which any
sharp agitation would bring on the crisis. A memorable
instance of the weakness which accompanies the great-
ness of man when an abusive appellation could extin-
guish one of the brightest lights that ever illumined
science. No discoverer has left more varied titles to
tame, andnone has given more abundant evidence that
I he would have added to the number the longer he lived,

for his mind teemed with original ideas, and fast as one

crop was cleared away another sprang up."
The following incident, beautifully told, has for us an
air of affecting sublimity :
" Burke's son, upon whom his father has conferred
something of his own celebrity, heard his parents sobbing
in another room at the prospect of an event they knew
to be inevitable. He rose from his bed, joined his illus-
trious father, and endeavoured to engage him in a cheer-
ful conversation. Burke continued silent, choked with
grief. His son again made an effort to console him.
am under no terror,' he said; ' I feel myself better and
in spirits, and yet my heart flutters, I know not why.
Pray talk to me, sir I talk of religion, talk of morality,
talk, if you will, of indifferent subjects.' Here a noise
attracted his notice, and he exclaimed, 'Does it rain?—
No ; it is the rustling of the wind through the trees.'
The whistling of the wind and the waving of the trees
brought Milton's majestic lines to his mind, and he re
pealed them with uncommon grace and effect:—
His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines;
With every plant, in sign of worship, wave!'
A second time he took up the sublime and melodious
strain, and, accompanying the action to the word, waved
his own hand in token of worship, and sunk into the
arms of his father—a corpse. Not a sensation told him
that in an instant he would stand in the presence of the
Creator to whom his body was bent in homage, and
whose praises still resounded from his lips."
Altogether the paper is admirably written, and
replete with the mention of many strange and
touching occurrences. From Sir Francis Head's
masterly paper on the Britannia and Conway Tubu-
lar Bridges we transcribe the subjoined most inte-
resting paragraph. It has reference to the floating
of one of the tubes to its appointed plabe, and is
alike honourable to each of the three great engineers
of the day, Mr. Brunel, Mr. Locke, and Mr. Ste-
phenson :--
" On arriving at Position No. 2, it became necessary
to exchange the mechanical power by which the tube
had been forced forwards, for that of the tide, which was
to carry it end foremost down the stream to its goal. As,
however, this latter power—to say nothing of a strong
breeze of wind which drove the same way—would have
propelled the lengthy mass more than twice as fast as it
had been declared prudent it should proceed, a very
strong power, by means of a small capstan, was exerted
in each set of pontoons, to compress between wooden
concentric clamps the guide -hawsers, by which con-
trivance the pace was regulated with the greatest pos-
sible precision. This most important duty was confided
to, and executed by, two volunteer assistants, Mr. Bru-
nye);ofantlide,
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most interesting it has ever been our chequered fortune
to witness, there was no part of it on which we gazed,
and have since reflected with such unmixed pleasure as
the zsal and almost over-anxiety with which Mr. Ste-
phenson's two competitors in fame, stood, during the
whole operation, intently watching him, until by either