The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

BENTLEYS MODERN LITERATURE.—The;
Letters of Horace Walpole, 6 Vols. 7'he Letters of
Lord Chesterfield, 4 Vols.
On the first appearance of this serial publication we
took occasion to remark upon the numerous excel-
lences by which it was characterised, and upon the
advantages it afforded those who were desirous of
tleibsrtatrhiees.thenthe publication,sufficient
and htaos
showelapsed
making substantial and valuable additions to their
merits Since ofwheto-
ther the promises of the prospectus have
been capable
of fulfilment. According to the arrangements of the
publisher, the various copyright works comprised in
his plan have continued periodically their course of
publication without any intermission, and without any
abatement in the style of their " getting-up." Twice
every month a separate Part has been issued ; once
every month a Volume, massively bound and ele-
gantly emblazoned, has appeared, so that twenty-four
parts or twelve volumes are forwarded to subscribers
in the year. While the paper is richly glazed, and of
a very durable texture, the type is large and clear,
the printing distinct: the arrangement of the contents
complete in all respects, and the embellishments nu-
merous and appropriate. So many advantages,
coupled with such remarkable moderation in price,
cannot fail to redound to the credit, and to ensure the
compensation of the entrepreneur. It would savour
more of affectation than of judgment to volunteer
any critical remarks upon the epistolary works
here republished by Mr. Bentley, the celebrity
of the letters of Horace Walpole and the Earl
of Chesterfield being equivalent to the extra-
ordinary abilities they display. Of Horace Wal-
pole, Bari of Orford, as a correspondent, it is impos-
sible to speak too highly. His " incomparable let-
ters" are beyond all panegyric. It is upon those
apparently ephemeral, but really immortal, composi
tions that his fame rests, more particularly than upon
any of his more laboured productions, although
we have an eminent authority for rating his
other literary pieces at more than their ordinary va-
lue. We remember that Lord Byron, in the preface
to his splendid tragedy of " Marino Faliero, ' thus
vindicates Horace Walpole from the contempt with
which he is too generally regarded :—" He is the
father," says Byron, "of the first romance and last
tragedy in our language, and surely worthy of a
higher place than any living writer, be he who he may!"
We are not prepared to go so far as Lord Byron has
gone in this momentary ebullition of spleen or enthu-
siasm; but bating the conduct of Horace Walpole to
the wonderful poet, the author of " .Ella," and his
frivolities at Strawberry Hill, and his ridiculous
jumbling together of oligarchism and democratism,
we regard Horace Walpole as entitled to our esteem
as an author, and to our gratitude as the writer of
his delightful and matchless Letters. The epistles,
again, of Phillip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of
Chesterfield, though redolent with pedantry,
and ludicrous from their aristocratic primness,
are always pleasant, always sparkling, and al-
ways instructive. The present beautiful edition
is illustrated with editorial notes by Lord Mahon.
Both series, namely both the Walpole correspondence
and the Chesterfield correspondence are rendered
peculiarly attractive and interesting from the cir -
cumstance of their being accompanied by numerous
letters now first published from the original manu-
scripts. In the present deteriorated state of the
bulk of periodicals, " Modern Literature " is a
welcome and deserving innovation.

HISTORY of EUROPE front 1789 to 1815. VoZ I.
By Archibald Alison. Seventh Edition.
Any criticism upon this splendid and elaborate
historical composition would be superfluous. The
great work of Archibald Alison, has, both from the
European importance of its subject and from the
eloquence of the narrator, assumed a position in our
national literature as elevated as it is permanent. An
analysis of its character and an examination into its
merits were consequently unnecessary. So much
has already been written upon the dramatic and
elegant style of Alison, as well as upon his endeavour
to maintain throughout his pages a scrupulous im-
partiality, so familiarized is the general public with
his magnificent production, and so fully are the abilities
of our historian appreciated that we shall content our-
selves with simply commenting upon the peculiarities
which exclusively characterise the present edition,
In its publication the utmost care has been taken to
preserve every portion of the original, untuutilatee
and unabreviated, so that in the compass of a most
portable volume are comprised the entire contents of
an octavo, or even of a quarto. The classification,
the arrangement of the chapters, the footnotes, and
the marginal references are singular for their com-
pactness; and this supervision has even extended to
the enumeration of the authorities quoted in the nar-
rative. A merely superficial glance at this catalogue
will be sufficient to show the enormous research and
labour required in the composition—a research ex-
tending over many hundred volumes, and necesitatiog
a perusal of documents in German, French, English,
Italian, Spanish, Latin, and Russian. Even in ex-
ternal appearance the work is remarkable for the
attention paid to its general character, the binding
being at once chaste and substantial. As a frontis-
piece there is a beautiful engraving from the admir-
able bust of the author, produced in the studio of
Patrick Park. A better edition, suited to the public
at large, could not possibly have been issued. It is
observed by Mr. Alison in the interesting preface
affixed to the commencement, that " a subject
so splendid in itself, so full of political
and military instruction, replete with such great and
heroic actions, adorned by so many virtues and
darkened by so many crimes, never yet fell to the lot
of an historian." No one will dissent from this esti-
mate, no one will deny that " the annals of modern
Europe will be sought in vain for a parallel to that
brief period of anxious effort and chequered achieve-
ment ;" and no one will hesitate to aver that in
earnestness, in enthusiasm, in perspicacity, and in
judgment, Mr. Alison has shown himself competent
to grapple with that vast multitude of astonishing
events, or that his earnestness is not usually modu-
lated by his impartiality, his enthusiasm tempered by
his justice, his perspicacity varied by his illustration,
and his judgment unswerving upon the most delicate
and complicated questions.

KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUME. No. CXIII.
Bacon; his Writings and his Philosophy. Vol. 111.
On this excellent abstract of Lord Bacon's philoso-
phical and miscellaneous writings, arranged by Mr. G.
Craik, we have already spoken at some length. Now
that the production is completed in the present vo-
lume, it would be a matter of supererogation to insist
upon advantages which are so generally acknow-
ledged. In the miniature compilation of Mr. Craik,
the very kernel of the wisdom of " the wisest of man-
kind" is contained. While, however, the elaboration
of the great originals of the immortal Verulam is
evaded, there is no sacrilegious mutilation of his
thought and dogmas—even the quaintnesses of his
manner are preserved, and we are rejoiced at this, for
those quaintnesses form the most characteristic gar-
ment of the Baconian philosophy.

THE CABINET HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
Vol XXII
As an abridgement of the chapters entitled, " Civil
and Military History," in the Pictorial History of
England, accompanied with a continuation up to the
present time, by the author, Charles McFarlane, this
pocket edition of our national records is singularly
complete and sensible. It has now proceeded to a
sufficient extent to enable us, in a great measure, to
estimate the value of the work as a whole, and it is

impossible to deny that it is deserving of particular
commendation. While the main narrative possesses
all the staidness of Goldsmith, its minor episodes are
sketched with a brilliant and effective pencil. As an
example, we may quote the description of the closing
scene of the Reign of Terror. The master murderers
are caught in their lair, at the Hotel de Ville. Ro-
bespierre has broken his jaw-bone with a pistol-shot
in attempting suicide. Coffinhal has hurled Henriot
from a window into an open sewer. Lebas has killed
himself with a bullet. Saint Just had armed himself
with a dagger, and Couthon has crawled under a
table, when they are surprised by Leonard Bourdon
and his associates.
" When Leonard Bourdon burst into the room, fol-
lowed by some gendarmes (himself, according to some
accounts, including his own, being disguised as a com-
mon gendarme), Robespierre was sitting bleeding on a
chair, with a knife in his hand ; Couthon was lying
under the table as though he were dead ; the municipal
officers were throwing off their scarfs, and apparently
preparing for flight. One or two pistols were tired by
the gendarmes. and then all the conspirators quietly
submitted to be taken and bound. Henriot, badly
wounded, disfigured, and covered with filth, was .
dis-
coveredßobespieirrn
othewtabsulapisloacefowuhnedre alive,he had
thoughfallen
-chamber and
:viAosug
limbs
broken ewne andre nao
wskull
crowding fractured.
into Somethe ofcn
u armednthueii
running over every part of the vast
the building,table, and pro-
out Couthon by the heels from under
upon he opened his eyes
posed throwing his carcase into
gare ththeeSmeintoe ;unbduet
understand
d-
twhoaut
wounded
dw was
rneo tpyuett dead, nor
bra n soon
rdmuch r
stretchers,
eto dying.hers , rarnhae,
shouting " Victory ! Victory I" Leonard Bourdon con-
ducted them to the Tuileries. By this time it was
between three and four o'clock in the morning. At lour
o'clock in the afternoon, after suffering insults, out-
rages, and tortures, which proved that those who
triumphed were as ferocious as those who fell, Robes-
pierre, his brother Augustin, Saint Just, Couthon, Hen-
riot, and sixteen others, were carted at the Conciergerie
us,edh
taocidpusbeen
areii
dby a
said to
to be carried through the busiest streets of Paris to the
Place de la Revolution. The carttsla:nh,
Ni l
'yea dever housetops
they)a r
cpunsfollowed
countless multitude, and the windfibo
h a vces
tbi
ne been
aand morn 1
a u g hit crowdedg.
befo re. j g
bets, were mixed with dire curses, shrieks, and anathe-
mas. During a halt, a band of women, formerly his own
Tricoteuses, or Furies of the Guillotine, executed an in-
fernal dance round his cart, with clapping, of hands and
other demonsti ations. of joy. On arriving in the Place
de la Divolution they laid him down ou the ground at
the foot of the scaffold, for he was to be executed 14"
-of