The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-12 00:00:00

THE EDIA BURGH REVIIIII', No. CLXXIII.
A recollection of the most brilliant days of the
Edinburgh Review is revived by the perusal of the
leading contribution in the number for the present
quarter. The beauty of the composition, the terse-
'Jess ef he illeetrative aces. the relody and
vo;ebi.ity et • he dieti .11, the cerripcs:iensise generosity
of the seutiments —all theee, and a vsri, ty of similar
characteristics, irresistibly remind us of the palmiest
days of (his renowned periodical; they call to mind the
period when Brougham disdained not to become elites
rary critic ; when Sydney Smith, like a younger Rabe-
lais, calculated the temperament of the world by his
foolometer ; when Macaulay cast the golden glory of
his eloquence upon the pages, like the gorgeous hues
of t st .ined window streaming on the pavement of a
besi/ice; Ashen Mackintosh lighted up the intricacies
of some- mysterious theme, by the gleams of his
subtle analysis. The article we allude to is a brief but
superb biographical notice of the memorable Saint
Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan
ord: r. And who, it may he inquired, is the author
of this striking composition ? We recognise him as
instantly and as confidently as though his name had
been prefixed to the contribution. The writer of the
opening paper in this number of the Edinburgh Re-
view is the Honourable George Percy Sydney
Smythe. We are aware that the article has been
attributed to the Right Hon. the Paymaster of her
Majesty's Forces, and we are satisfied that the ,
magnificent compliment implied in that mis;
take as to the paternity will be grateful
to the young and accomplished author of
"Historic Fancies." From internal evidence, hot'
ever, we are convinced that the memoir of Saint
Francis of Assisi is from the pen of Mr. Smythe, and
not of Mr. Macaulay. Notwithstanding the numerous
beauties of the composition, we detect in it more of
the immaturity of Mr. Smythe than of the mellow"
ness of Mr. Macaulay. Not that we would here
employ the expression immaturity in its vulgar se'
ceptation. The style of Mr. Smythe is by 00
means immature from the redundancy of verbi•
age, neither is it in any manner marred 11
puerile affectations, or by that tendency to over env
bellishment which Longinus has derided with so
much earnestness. It is immature rather in those
inequalities of tone, or, as we should say more strictly,
of pitch, arising from a want of full reliance upon hie
own capacities. Cicero was wont, so says the Latin
authority, to practise his voice to the pipings of Is
flageolet. Demosthenes perfected his articulation by
placing pebbles in his mouth. Mr. Smythe has not yet
succeeded so far as to be able to dispense with the pebble•
and the flageolet. To Mr. Macaulay they have 101 l
ceased to be correctives ; and it is in this wise til l
'
in mentioning their style together, we would sPel
of the immaturity of the one, and the mellowness 0
the other. A victorious athlete like Mr. Macaulsl
can allow himself to be contrasted with a strip
wrestler wrestler like Mr. Smythe, propitious as are the su.
guries, and nervous as is the ambition, of the latter'
Those who have familiarised themselves with the lice'
rary productions of the son of Lord Strangford cailOF
by possibility fail to recognise his manner I,n
the biographical notice of Saint Francis of Assis:,
It shines visibly through the transparent mask of 1$:
anonymous reviewer. The scholastic domino toil.'
hide the shape, and even render the dimensions alibi:
ous ; but to the practised eye the gad and the earrior
are detectable. Even in the first two senteneesl
" It was a noble design which died with Reber,
Southey. His History of the Monastic Ordert
would not, perhaps, have poured a large tire
bute of philosophy, divine or human, into the
ocean of knowledge ; but how graceful would belj
been the flow of that transparent narrative, ens,
now would it have reflected and enhanced the beam:,
of every rich champaign and of every towering Pe
montory along which it would have swept !" Again;
the identity is obvious when he depicts the mercbsup
"ather of Francis, Pietro Bernadone, conjurillf,oo
visions of glory for his offspring and mingling
visions with the routine of his commercial enterprls
Grouping into forms ever new and brillietio
like spangles shaken in a kaleidoscope, the ide iia
of bales and bills of lading, of sea riskstp
of supercargoes, had combined with those of losos,,
reckless Crusaders and of the supply of hostile catsc's
to form one gorgeous Eldorado. The peculiarl,6,
of Mr. Smythe, moreover, are manifest in a MOJA°
tude of other and minuter characteristics. Ie,;;,
itterations by which a sort of crescendo intensity is 10.
parted to an argument—in the vivid and alm.,
caustic colouring of the contrast of individuals, blip'
ing at once to our memory the almost gaudy lustlaed
his paper on "Grey and Spencer" in the Oxforde
Cambridge Review—occasionally even in the 11,5,ft,
unusual but favourite adjectives, the hand 0"-01
Smythe is revealed, as for instance when spealaog4s,
the authenticity of the poems attributed tO Ls
Francis, he observes that M. Delecluse considers 7119
the style " must have drifted far away froill,„ra
original structure into a form at once more
and more ornate." Gratified as we are in deteetwg
the chivalrous but not yet stalwart form
the writer of " Historic Fancies" among the 1.101,
rary phalanx of the Edinburgh Review, we are
. measurably more gratified in seeing his 7.05-iti
wielded with so much skill and ger'eh" Pe.;
in a cause hitherto abandoned as
less—namely, in the revival, as he himself
says, of " the memory of a once famous
ther of the Church, now fallen into unmerited Iseogivia
and indiscriminate opprobrium." The Pr°, fssioa
earnestness with which he undertakes the excwP i>~it
of Saint Francis and his indigent brethren, haso
something beautiful and pathetic. Impressed Vine 11
conviction of the advantages of the ReformatiotietiPar
yet, like every man of liberal and unbiassed
ment, ready to acknowledge the advantages
resulted from the religious predecessors of Luther
and Melancthon. In this spirit of honesty be ",the
tains that the founder of such !confederacy big Franciscans " must have had some of the Molt,
qualities of a legislator." "It would be dt
even now," he continues, " with all the bete
history and philosophy, to devise a P;(0
better adapted to restrain the licentiousness, tO 51%0
the manners, and to mitigate all the oppressions j the
iron age." Speaking again, in another part,,, the
third estate in the Franciscan Orders, nornevici be
"Order of Penitence," he declares that "it w°lolo,
mere prejudice or ignorance to deny that it
an important office in the general advancenircnice
civilisation and of truth." "In an age of oligavrioo)
tyranny," he persists, "they (the Mendicant xoresel
were the protectors of the weak ; in an age of igsigtl
the instructors of mankind; and in an age of Prar„rdo A
the stern vindicators of the holiness of the Sac
character and the virtues of domestic life• d
sob
assuredly is a magnificent eulogium, an
„, cor
an one as is not applicable to reaToiat
porate bodies. Biographies are always eatervicoe'
even when they relate to the characters and cote/
tildes of nonenties or criminals. For in a vet; 0;
siderable degree, a biography gives us the seelio
a mind, the phases of a temperament, the veriest bitei
A career, a starting point and a goal. But cis
graphy of an enthusiast, such as was St. Fraud e 0;
Assisi, is in a particular manner attractive 0n,.1i
grossing. To a Roman Catholic, doubtless, the
of Saint Francis, even when penned with We *OP
terpolated scorn of an Edinburgh Reviewer, itsi
always present a spectacle of sanctity, elt!ble,
to a sublime community with the invi9i ea
In the estimation of every one but a ROO,O
Catholic, the narrative of his eccentric cor.;o
throughout life must appear as little else tope
the records of a man crazed with fanaticisol":ooo
whose religious fervour was carried to an ePiviitli
gance—and whose conduct was that of a beiv.go die'
a heart animated by lofty aspirations, but a bri,!l..oie
traught with the frenzy of an ecclesiastical 1°1;60
To all, without distinction of creed, how ieet,re oat'
mast he that strange and fitful history, from ti!
set, when Francisco, the son of an adventuron!eor.
chant of Assisi, in Umbria, by name Pietro feta(
done di Mericona, was at once the bravest parti e,
in the feats of the tournay, the brightest orree 0081
the civic pageantries, and yet withal tu..hollse.
assiduous in the mart and the countiece chai
A marvellous change, however, occurring st;fferelii
ratter of Francisco, the reader is afforded a ": 005
subject for contemplation. Carried to the Yerit'ose,
of death, after escaping captivity among the viorlo;
of Perugia, Francisco is transformed from %itifelo
ling into a recluse. " Long, earnest, and inclu'rotab`„
says the reviewer, " was his gaze into the WI vibe;
abyss" on which those dismal portals opened
he became a valetudinarian the metamorpblo to;
completed. His subsequent behaviour is teceilOP
counted with a sort of admiring and Yet r odes
gusto. His robing himself in the rags of lity 030
cant; his kissing with " courageous 111101,1:04 6
ulcerated wound of a leper; his pun° for, t:j
palfrey laden with silks and embroideries
ruin ie
purpose of aiding in the rebuilding of tlin‘,;
church, near Foligno, dedicated to St. Der°lllfAssisi
interview with his opulent father in the streets o
jolty
when himself squalid and emaciated ; his re,
ringing p 9
affection for the leprous, a sentiment spriogpaes°
tially from the bewildering hint of Isaiah, rlO its;
mos earn (namely, the Messiah,) quasi leprogli_rtiol3
cussum a Deo, et humiliatum ;" his wonderful...as:oa.:
for the restoration of the church of St. vioncolo
already mentioned, and of the chapel of La r°rdllirati°o
are facts recounted in language either of be to
or astonishment. What, by the way, ,can,zioncle
meaning of Mr. Smythe in mentioning -01'bieb
as " a shrine of our Lady of Angels, of ,v.„iog
remains may yet be seen, at once halo.'" is 04
adorning the quiet meadow by which Assigliarigthbve
rounqed ?" Dees he not know that in sPe2sefere
revel ently of the Virgin he lays himself open
frequenters of Exeter-hall to a charge of Bia,r,?/'iliblirgo
and that to many suspicious eyes the else tly:t
Review may henceforth seem little e'' was,
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rtheerhaqvusartetrhley ourigoastn of the
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