The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-22 00:00:00

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I. IIS TORY 01 CIVIL! ByWilliam Alex-
ander Mackinnon, F.1?.5., M.P., .2 vols. Bvo.
This is in many respects a very remarkable wkr c. at
is the first attempt that has been made it the English
language" to delineate from the west authentic sources,
and the best records of foregone days the gradual pro-
gress of civilisation, and the results on its social rela-
tions of mt nkind," and although the author has long
been an active and influential member of the great Con-
6er‘ 4;1, e par y, }'et he may fairly boast that in the com-
p( sition of this work, he has not only avoided, but abso-
lutely divested himself of all party bias and political
feeling. Mr. Mackinnon considers that civilisation and
public opinion do not co-existin equal proportion, but
that the latter depends so much on the former
that the history of one includes in some
degree that of the other. He says that
" civilisation is formed and gains strength according
to the information, moral principle (based on religious
faith), facility of communication, and amount of wealth
possessed by individuals composing a given community."
These elements he styles the " requisites of civilisation"
and he proceeds to show that " the form of any Govern-
ment and its measures becomes adapted to the interests
and wants of a people as public opinion grows and is
disseminated." He defines public opinion to be " the idea
entertained on any subject by the best informed, most
intelligent and moral persons, which opinion is
gradually understood and spread among the people
and adopted as their sentiments." For the for-
mation of public opinion he considers the middle
class as the most important, the upper not being
sufficiently numerous, and the lower not sufficiently in-
formed. Indeed, without the existence of a preponder-
ating middle class, the existence of public opinion, which
is what logicians call an essential mode of civilisation,
would be impossible. " Popular clamour" (which is de-
fined to be an " excitement, created by and exercising in-
fluence on the passions of the multitude, who usually
form rash resolves, and act without reflection, judgment,
or regard for consequences,") would usurp its place, and
popular clamour is " influential in proportion as the
lower class is numerous, ignorant, poor, and fanatical."
" Wherever," continues Mr. Mackinnon, "civilisation,
and a middle class are spread over a community, public
opinion will he all powerful, and popular clamour
impotent." He proceeds to trace the history of mankind
through various stages of society as they advance
towards civilisation, and proves that in all countries as
civilisation and public opinion advance liberty and the
welfare of the people are increased, and that, as a nation
is unacquainted with the requisites of civilisation, no
matter what institutions may be formed, its Government
must be insecure if not arbitrary; and that in proportion
as the middle class has increased, and commerce and
manufactures are the great elements of middle class
increment, so has civilisation progressed, and so has public
epinion become omnipotent He then proceeds to
consider the state of civilisation among the ancients,
and contends that it had not made any
great progress among either the Egyptians, the Greeks,
or the Romans, as among all these nations there was
an atter absence of moral principle, that great important
element in the formation of public opinion. He admits
that human genius shone with great lustre in Greece,
but he adds, " genius in a few individuals does not imply
information and prosperity in a people." The pyramids
of Egypt, the temples, and theatres of Greece and
Rome, and the cathedrals of the middle ages, have, by
many writers, been adduced as proofs of a high state of
civilisation. Mr. Mackinnon, on the contrary, contends
that they prove a low state of civilization. He considers
that these great works originated from a despotic power,
exercised over an ignorant and uncivilised population. He
remarks that "as nations advance in civilisation, and as the
wealth of communities increases, useless monuments
lessen in proportion. The reason is evident. In a
civilised and free country the energies and wealth, or
command of labour, is employed by individuals for their
own convenience, comfort, or luxury ; in former days,
where the command of the labour of a nation, or the
means for payment of that labour depended on one
man, there the population was forced to apply their
means and energies to gratify his wishes. In those days
the stupendous edifices we see were the labour of slaves,
or of a conquered people." And he arrives at
the conclusion that they " denote deficiency of
civilisation and public opinion, certainly not
an improved state of society." He then pro-
ceeds to trace the gradual rise of the middle classes
in England, and the consequent progress of civi-
lisation from the period of the Conquest up to the pre-
sent time. He afterwards traces its rise and progress in
the different states of Europe, and considers the state of
civilisation in Asia and America, concluding by showing
its influence on social life, and its evils and benefits. Mr.
Mackinnon avows himself to be a follower of Malthus ;
and although on some points we differ from him
(not having quite that reverence for the Malthusian doc-
trines which he professes), yet we consider that his book
will henceforth be a standard authority in all matters of
political philosophy. His style is clear, concise, and
flowing; he is in general sound, and never dull; and he
has, in this work on civilisation, produced " something
which the world will not willingly let die." There are
two circumstances, however, to which we think he has
scarcely given due weight—the invention of printing
and the discovery of America. The first may
be said almost to have given rise to public
opinion by enabling it to diffuse itself, in-
dependently of popular clamour ; and the second,
by affording a peaceful outlet for surplus popu-
lation, rendered wars and other violent checks less fre-
quent,- tisea-sieingaaaraer-tia-sna mlddla ohms to consort--"'
date itself and by giving an immense impetus to com-
merce, contributed largely to the creation and the
more equal diffusion of wealth, without which a middle
class could not subsist. In a second edition (and this
work is destined to go through many editions) we hope
Mr. Mackinnon will give us chapters on each of these
important subjects.

THE PLEASURES OF HOME; or, Domestic
Scenes and Affections of the Circle round the Hearth.
By Stuart Farquharson, D.C.L.
Had this poem been published fifty years since it
would have rapidly passed through at least ten editions,
and Dr. Farquharson would have been hailed as the
poet of the age. But now, alas
" We are fallen uron gloomy days,"
and in this utilitarian age the poet must " bide his time,"
—nevertheless, if he " throw his bread upon the waters
he will find it after many days." Dr. Farquharson has
done this, and he has produced a work that the world
will not willingly let die. When we say the world we
mean the quiet world of the domestic hearth ; and while
many a poet, who enjoys high contemporary fame,
having risen like the rocket, will go down like its stick,
the author of" The Pleasures of Home" will for ages yet
to come be gratefully remembered in the quiet homes of
England by those who circle round the hearth. The
poem is written in the Spenserian stanza. We cannot
better describe it than in the words of its gifted author,
" The scenes are simple, and the moral plain ;
No pompous language of the cumber'd line;
Such would deface and render doubly vain
My task of homely thoughts, a theme like mine,—
But with sweat melody and just design,
Bring to the eye and picture to the soul,
The spot where virtues dwell and brightly shine;
Where holiness and love the heart controul,—
Not lays of martial might, ar Bacchanalian bowl."
It is a series of beautifully painted interiors of the
Homes of England, and as such must commend itself
to all those who love and appreciate homes. In the
construction of his stanza, in the high moral feeling in-
culcated, in the truthfulness by its descriptions of the
sublime and beautiful as found in Nature, " The Plea-
sures of Home" reminds us not unfrequently of " The
Minstrel," but Dr. Farquharson is a truer poet than
Beattie. The poetry of Beattie was the poetry of scholar-
ship; the poetry of Farquharson is the poetry of Nature,
and we shall range " The Pleasures of Home " of
Farquharson on the same shelf in our library
with the " Task" of Cowper. But while thus
according high but deserved praise to the
poetry of Dr. Farquharson, we must protest against
his criticism. In a preface, which extends over sixty-
six pages, he has thought proper to revive and elaborate
the malicious libels of a " rancorous renegade," and to
drivel oceans of nonsense in vituperation of " the Sa-
tanic school of poetry." The sublime is as essential an
element of poetry as the beautiful; and while according
the palm of the poet to the author of " The Pleasures of
Home," we cannot refuse it to those on whom the world
has not smiled as it has on Dr. Farquharson, who, like
the preacher of old, having found " that all is vanity,"
have,

" in words that burn,"
given utterance to their thoughts, and who, unhappiest
among the unhappy, have become the laureats of de-
spair. True poets are they—greater perchance than
those who paint life like Dr. Farquharson, couleur de rose,
and wiser too, for Solomon was the first of them. If
this be " the Satanic school" of poetry, then was
" The wisest man the world e'er saw,"

the founder of that school. Let Dr. Farquharson stick to
poetry, and leave such criticism as that which he dis-
plays in his preface to " The Cottels." and such small
fry. That they should seek to revive the forgotten
slanders of the late laureate is according to the fitness
of things, but it is utterly unworthy of a man of genius
and a true poet like Dr. Farquharson.