The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-07 00:00:00

LITERAT URE.

HISTORY OF GREECE.- Second Edition. By

Thomas Swinburne Oar, 111 A.
After the standard composition of Mitford, and the
celebrated works recently published by Grote and
Thirlwall, it may appear rather a matter of superero-
gation, not to say of temerity and presumption, for
any one to attempt a volume of this character. It
must be premised at once, however, not merely in
extenuation, but in commendation of the labours of
Mr. Carr, that his production is an endeavour to
make up fur the deficiencies of Dr. Goldsmith's
abridgement, not to compete with the voluminous
pages of his more ambitious predecessors. As the
title-page indicates, the volume is intended " for the
use of schools and collegea." It recounts the narra-
tive of the rise and development of those famous
classic democracies whose citizens were the authors
of the first civilization, and it does so within the corn-
pa's of 600 pages, without being either too diffuse or too
abbreviated, without encumbering the memory of the
youthful student with unnecessary particulars, and,
at the same time, without omitting anything which
could tend to bring more vividly before the dawning
imagination the genius and the valour of the ancient
Grecians. Remote as is the age which com-
menced with the rise of Codrus and terminated
with the fall of Mithridates, the fact is patent to
every educated man that, in regard to the principal
incidents of that epochathere is no lack whatever of
authentic materials. From Ilerodotus, whom Cicero
happily designated the Father of History, we learn
all the most interesting details cf the ate uggles
between the Greeks and Persians, dating from the
appearance of Cyrus to that of Xerxes. And in the
nine eloquent books written, by him, "each of which
has been elegantly called after one of the Nine
Muses, we possess not merely the record of many
extraordinary occurrences, but a perfect model of
all that is lucid, oratorical, and poetically ornate in his-
torical composition. Thucydides, again, in his record
of the Peloponnesian war has supplied posterity as
well with the circumstances of that prolonged struggle
as with a noble example of the fidelity, the concise-
ness, and the vigour which are requisite in an an-
nalist. The bo!d and compact beauty of his Attic
dialect affords ample compensation for the absence of
that rhetorical splendour which characterised the
lonic dialect of his great contemporary Herodotus.
Xenophon completed the glorious triumvirate of the
Greek historians—adding a supplement to Thucydides,
under the name of the Uellenica, besides penning the
biography of the Great Cyrus, and describing the
manner in which he himself conducted the famous
Retreat of the Ten Thousand. These narratives he
accomplished, moreover, in a style, of which it can
never be forgotten that Quinctikan remarked it was
formed by the Graces. From such works and
from the fragmentary effusions of such men as Poly-
bins, as Diodorus Siculus, as Dionysius of Haiti-
carnassus, as , Appian, as Arrian, as Dion Cassius,
and as Ilerodian, all subsequent authors have derived
their authority. Their renowned volumes have been
the mines worked by modern scholars, by Heeren
and by Muller, by Ifockh and by Hermann, by
Wacksmuth and by Schomann. They have called
into existence the eminent English annalists of
Greece already mentioned—Mittord, Grote, and
Thirlwall. They have prompted other gifted minds
to delve into the buried treasures of antiquity. And
in this way Sir Edward llulwer Lytton was induced
to forsake for a time the fascinating regions
of romance, and to tell of the glories of old
Athens in a strain which causes every intelligent
reader to lament that he has left so noble an effusion
unfinished. Mr. Carr—with a caution w hich we
cannot sufficiently commend—has availed himself of
the labours of all his distingushed predecessors both
ancient and modern. He has carefully condensed
into one substantial volume the history of classic
Greece from the birth of the Pelasgi as a nation,
down to the death of Alexander and the destruction
of the vast empire conquered by the sword of the
wonderful Macedonian. The book is no superficial
gleaning from a library. It is the ripened produc-
tion of a clever and industrious scholar; and the mar-
ginal notes and references are of themselves a sufli-
cient indication that his aim has been that of affording
the soundest instruction. The whole is written in a
style remarkably pure and vigorous ; and it is not
difficult to recognize that the learned historian,
besides acquiring a perfect familiarity with the
records of ancient Greece, has obtained a laudable
mastery over the English language.

ALISON'S HISTORY OF EUROPE. Eighth
Edition. Illustrated with Portraits. Vol. 11.
This remarkable edition of the great historical
masterpiece of Archibald Alison is continued—the
second volume being embellished with three very
striking engravings of three very hideous mortals,
Mirabeau, Danton, end Marat. The two latter
appear to us to be the most characteristic, the head
of Mirabeau scarcely conveying that impression of
grandeur which has made Hugo liken him to a Titan,
and Chateaubriand depict him, in one of his sublime
figures of speech, as the impersonation of Chaos. Marat,
on the contrary, is evidently life-like. In the insolent
ugliness of his features, you recognise the ruffian
who emerged from the filth of his sub-
terranean haunts to thrust his loathsome dogmas upon
the. Legislature. Through all that squalor and de-
formity, however, it is itnpo&sible not to perceive the
intellectuality that dazzled the millions in the columns
of his famous Anti du Peuple. In the coarse and
contorted countenance of Danton, a countenance
seamed with the small-pox and illumined by the
daring of his undaunted genius, you look, and not in
vain, for those evidences of courage, of self-reliance,
of capacity, of good nature, and yet of ruthless and
inexorable resolution, which made up the incongruous
emperament of the man who, after organizing and
carrying out with a pitiless will the mas-
sacres of September, retired to his native
place with his young and beautiful bride to
smother remorse in the midst of voluptuous pleasures.
We are fain to hope that the next volume may—
though somewhat after date—contain a portrait of
the young, the loving, the eccentric, the witty, the
eloquent, the bold, the fanatical, the unhappy author
of the Vieux Cordelier, poor Camille Desmoulins.
I'Ve must not omit to mention that the second
volume is accompanied with the second part of the
re-issue of the masterly Atlas, illustrative of the
history. Every student of the wars of the Revolution
awl of the Empire will find the plates in this Atlas
inestimable treasures.

FRANK FORBSTER AND HIS FRIENDS,
By W. IL Herbert. 3 Vols.
The author of " Cromwell" and of " Field Sports in
the United States," two very dissimilar works to be
written by the same pen, has now united the sportsman
with the novelist, end produced a hook which possesses
rqual attractions for the lovers of field sports, and
for the general reader. Mr. Herbert is evidently an
enthusiastic votary of the " noble science of Wood-
craft," as he terms it. According to the revelations
of Frank Forester, it would stern that a thorough
sportsman is something of an admirable Crichton.
He can turn his hand to anything. The stern ap-
prenticeship, which an American sportsman must go
through, endues him (according to Mr. Herbert, and
very probably ho is right to a certain extent,) with
almost universal knowledge, or at least it obliges him
to make use of all his powers of observation,
and all his reasoning faculties, and consequently he is
(naturally enough) the very man fcr an emergency.
No matter what the difficulty may be, whether to
bring a murderer to justice, or to " make two lovers
happy," tne sportsman's ready ingenuity and in-
stinctive quickness of perception will overcome it
triumphantly. In proof of this peculiar talent we
may cite two instances in which Frank Forester's
sporting friend, Harry, greatly distinguished himself.
Frank and Harry, and an old huntsman, were out
shooting in the forest, when, hearing a shot fired at a
little distance from them, Harry ran on to in-
quire the cause ' • on his companions overtaking
him they found him contemplating the corp se
of a man known to them all, who had evi-
dently been killed by the shot just fired.
The bullet had pierced his brain, and was found in a
tree at a little distance • his gun, just discharged
lay by his side, it seemed evident that the unhappy
trhrhiaaevnehhadln.,
ot
us cmgohamtn ibat
utnetddn
soot
sa suicide.onyiy'Surprise
So
Harry,
thought Frank and
spectator
and
grief
wouldf
in no wise diminished his powers
of keen observation.
He bade his friends notice that the bullet had
descended in traversing the skull, the aperture at
back of the dead man's head being lower than that in
front. Had he shot himself the gun would have been
pointed upwards, and the bullet would conse-
quently have ascended. Then making Frank
stand at the corpse's feet, in the very place where the
victim had stood when receiving the shot, he bade
the old huntsman go to the tree where the bullet
had lodged, and, looking at Frank, take the direction
from whence the shot must have come. These pre-
liminaries being concluded, and it being evident that
murder had been committed, Harrys next care was
to discover and trace the footsteps of the criminal.
This was accomplished with some difficulty, the
murderer having made
e
covering his footsteps w
iutz of
branchesth I n
ad
ni adn 'lse
advoeds g; eh
uo ft'
Harry fugitive's traces. with
a acquainted with this trick also, and with
a little trouble got upon the
we have said it may be seen that
will not folovv him in his perilous pruinrskuFito;rfersotemews•andat.
but that interest is not always of sue appalling
ventures are in no way deficient ina interest,
h
character ; for example, on the other occasion to w ich
we alluded above, when one of Frank Forester's friends
found it necessary to " run away " with his promised
bride, in consequence of her brother's invincible
I oljoction 11r) Eogl+shmari, Harry
c-,l.l,iiict;!(l the elopf:lilent usual skill. We
Nvi! allnviiitincr it, tpoit the veiy (•xeitiog
description of how Harry drove the runaways in his
sledge at full speed through field and forest, with the
angry brother closeupon their heelo.:Thedenouentent is