The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-06 00:00:00

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LITERATURE.
PRE NORTH BRITISH RE VIEW. No. VIII.
Biography, when written with taste and judgment,
and by a person acquainted not only with the principal
events in the life of a celebrated character, but with the
arts and sciences in which be excelled, is perhaps one of
the most interesting productions of literature. It is also
-of-great use, as it points out the steps by which men of
original an-
eminence, and also their faults and imperfections, which
may serve as a warning to others, and form beacons for
the guidance of future generations. It has the advan-
tage, too, of being of a most expansive nature, as it
may embrace not only the peculiar qualities and excel-
lencies of the hero of the story, but the principal events
with which he was connected, the circumstances of the
time in which he lived, and brief traits too of the more
remarkable characters with whom he had intercourse.
Such works, therefore, are read with eagerness; many of
them possess deep interest—deeper even than the ficti-
tious characters drawn by the most imaginative and cor-
rect novelist. No work of fiction, for instance, can be
compared with the Memoirs of Sully, which are only a
comprehensive biography of Henry the Fourth of France.
Rousseau's Confessions, too, which, it is admitted gene.
rally, describe his habits and deeds with great Milli and
accuracy, are infinitely more interesting than Tom
Jones or Humphrey Clinker ; and though Robinson
Crusoe may apps ar an exception, it is not so in reality,
for many of the circumstances related in that captivat-
ing production are believed to have been founded on real
events. We have been led to theee'remarks by a very
able and beautiful life, which appears in this Re-
view, of one of the many distinguished persons who
sprung up in France during the first Revolution,
namely, the Baron Fourier. The writer has drawn
many of the materials from a memoir of that eminent
mathematician read by M. Arago, before the French In-
stitute ; but he has gi eatly improved on the original, and
interwoven fresh details into the biography, both respect-
ing his habits and discoveries, which show that it must
have been rather a work of love than of labour, and that
from sympathy in the same pursuits, and perhaps also
in his misfortunes or disappointments, he was one of
the fittest men of the day to do justice to his character.
The life of Fourier was of a most varied character.
lie was educated for the Church, and officiated for some
time as a priest iu a provincial town ; he afterwards be-
came Professor of Mathematics in the Military College
of Auxerre l was elected a member of the Convention ;
accompanied Bonaparte in his Egyptian expedition ; per-
formed the editorial duties of arranging and combning
the separate treatises of the great work on Egypt ;
was appointed prefect of one of the departments under
Napoleon ; fell into disgrace on the return of the Bour-
bons ; came to Paris, and was on the point of being re-
duced to the necessity of earning his bread by private
teaching. The country, however, ries saved from that
disgrace, for the courtiers of Louis XVIIL were sensible
of his merits. Laplace and Cuvier exerted themselves in
his behalf, and he obtained a competence for the rest of
his life. A curious circumstance is related respecting
the preface which he drew up for the work on Egypt,
and there can be no doubt of its truth, for it is quite in
keeping with Bonaparte's character, and is supported by
the best authority. The proof sheets were sent to the
Emperor for his inspection, and when returned to Fou-
rier they were found covered with marginal notes,
and the additions which these rendered necessary
amounted to nearly a third of the preface.
All the proper names were expunged except
those of three generals-in-chief—Bonaparte, Kleber,
and Desaix, and in almost every page were dis-
played those miserable feelings of jealousy which
robbed Kellerman of the honours and glory due to him
for his services at Marengo, and which would have done
the same injustice to Desaix, had he survived the bat-
tle. Bonaparte even hesitated for some time before he
would allow the word " illustrious," applied to Kleber,
to remain in the text. Independent, however, of the
events connected with the life of Fourier, there are many
allusions to other subjects of a gratifying character, and
some just remarks on the state of edueation in this
country. This Review is generally understood to be
conducted by writers connected with the Free Church of
Scotland, who, in some respects are not very charitable
to other sects. Here, however, we find many generous
exceptions, and we quote with pleasure one remark,
complimentary to Sir Robert Peel and honourable to the
writer. It relates to the Irish Colleges Bill, and such
liberal sentiments expressed by a member of the Free
Church, a Church so remarkable for its regard to re-
ligious and godly education, may well make men like
Sir Robert Inglis and Mr. O'Connell blush for their
sectarian bigotry:—
" \IV here are our National Universities -regulated by Par-
liamentary statute—strong in the unity of their doctrine and
their discipline—conferring their literary honours upon the
men that merit them—inviting to their chairs of office the
genius and learning of the age, and seeking no other test but
that of fearing God, and honouring the King? Alas! where
are they to be found? Not surely in the two noble institu-
tions which stand in hoary antiquity and unreformed gran-
deur on the Cans and the Isis—mighty in intellectual power
and glorious memories—yet rejoicing in ancient and exclu-
sive privilege, and politely shutting their portals against
every class but their own :—Not in the Colleges of the me-
tropolis, chartered by the State, yet depending on the casual
bounty of private munificence :—Not in the University of
Dublin, admitting to its offices and its rich Fellowships but
a mall portion of the nation : Certainly not in the Universi-
ties of Scotland—overborne in the metropolis by the incubus
of municipal control;—degraded in the provinces by internal
abuse, and ecclesiastical domination ; and impoverished
everywhere by sell-plunder, or national parsimony. We do
recognise them, however, if not in the maturity of their
fruit, at least in the freshness of their germ, in the Irish
Colleges, those light-towers of knowledge which a wise Go-
vernment has erected in a dark land; and which, we trust,
will be the harbingers of a grand intellectual reform, con-
ferring the noblest of all political rights—the franchise of a
liberal and religious education upon every subject of the

British empire."
The following curious anachronism occurs in the
brief remarks of the writer oil Arago's observations
contrasting the ancient professors of France with their
successors under the convention. " We trust our readers
will excuse us for quoting a few lines, in which more
than ten years ago we recommended the general policy
pursued by the present bovernment, and which we
trust they will carry out to its full and legitimaate ex-
tent." This is the eighth number of the Review, conse-
quently it has been in existence fur two years in place of
ten. We believe the extract however may be found in
some of Sir David Brewster's writings. The life of an-
other great man is reviewed under the head of " Letters
and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell," by Thomas Carlyle.
Full justice is done to his character, though the Presby-
terian party in England owed their downfal entirely to his
policy and prejudices. "It matters little to his country-
men," says the writer, " whether his memory be honoured
by monumental marble, or even that the poet's promise,
that 'his ashes in a peaceful urn shall rest,' should have re-
mained unfulfilled. The record of his fame is engraven in
our history, and all our subsequent glory does it involuntary
homage. The annals of legitimate monarchy show few who
so well deserved to be remembered; and beside the imbecile
James, the perfidy of the first, and the profligacy of the second
Charles, he shines like the orb of day among the lesser fires."
The analysis of Carlyle's works and style, with which
the article is prefaced, though severe in some respects,
is far too favourable. He may be an original and
vigorous thinker ; he may think with unfettered free-
dom, and delineate his thoughts with boldness ; but his
language is not to be endured. The style is neither
German nor English ; it belongs to no idiom, and is
regulated by no rules sanctioned either by good taste or
propriety, or the ordinary and established custom of the

age:—
a Quem penes arbitrium est et jus et norms loquendi:"
it is a jargon, or as the reviewer says, " a frantic con-
gregation of words" occasionally, which often conceals
the meaning, which is abominated by every admirer of
pure English, and ought to be shunned by every young
student. We have not space for remarks on the other
articles in the number, but in general they are excellent,
and fully maintain the character which this new peri-
odical has justly acquired. Among the more interesting
are " Dispatches and Letters of Lord Nelson,"
" Scottish Criminal Law," and " Antiquity of the
Gospels."

COURT CIRCULAR.
The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
yinesatecradraryiagaeftaenrdoofz aetacoterntedmibnyuteas
ppaarsttythorfeethoe'
Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, left Claremont
elm4thk
Light Dragoons, for town. Their Royal Highnesses
Prince Alfred and the Princess Alice were in another
carriage and four, accompanied by the Dowager Lady
Lyttelton. The Equerries in waiting, Colonel Arbuthnot
and Colonel Wylde, were in a chariot and four ; and
the Marchioness of Douro, the Earl of Morton, and Mr,
G. E. Anson, followed is another carriage and four.
The royal party arrived at Buckingham Palace at
twenty-five minutes past five o'clock, escorted by a party
of the 4th Light Dragoons. Her Majesty and her Royal.
Consort were received in the Grand Hall by the Hon.
Misses Paget and Kerr, the,Vice Chamberlain, Lord
George Lennox, Colonel Bowles, Sir Frederic Stevin,
and Sir George Anson.
The Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess
Royal, and the Princess Alice, were taken their accus-
tomed early airings yesterday in Claremont Park.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert honoured the Hay-
market Theatre with their presence yesterday evening.
The royal suite included the Marchioness of Douro, the
Earl of Morton, Colonel Arbuthnot, and Colonel Wylde.
Mr. Colquhoun bad an interview with Lord Aberdeen '
yesterday, at the Foreign-office. Baron de Bitumen,
Swedish Charge d'Affaires, transacted business at the
Foreign-office yesterday.

DEPRECIATION OF THEATRICAL PROPERTY.—Yeater-
day Mr. George Robins attended at the Auction Mart, for the
purpose of disposing by auction of two 5001. renter's shares in
Covent-garden and Drury-lane Theatres, and of twenty-two
1001. subscription shares connected with the latter establish
meat, meta, on which occasion a great number of
Pr°Ptelfe Theatre
present. The first let was a rent charge or3n..
had large interests in the respective royal
f 5001 , the income
Royal, Covent-garden. which originally cri,. 105. This was
of which had been reduced from
254
ct:n tract. Lot 2 was a
stated to have been sold by privategord, Drury:lane. The
5001. renter's share in the The
itts.re, the share expiring in fifty
annual income from it was 1651.
2 einem. The auctioneer re.
years. This was sold for a
id similar share for 300 guineas.
marked, that be hadriso gentleiTes
were
ption shares in ditto, paid up and en.-
'th no personal admission. They were
Ltiotlte3d,tfiovea ipootosnurtire admission. Lots 4 and 5 were tell
Mr. Burgess for five guineas and a half. Ihe last.
bought by
f five similar shares, but of which there
lot consisted ° was rep
.ficee. These were knocked down to Mr. Burgess for
oat'
three gull'
' am and a half. The subscription shares were sold
by direction of the executors of the late Lord Kinnaird.
100/. shares, bot Iri
NnWCIIITLE- ON-TYNE, WEDNESDAY.—Iti oscrop, the
man accused of having caused the extensive fire at Messrs.
nothing having transpired to show more than gross
Hawthorne's manufactory, in this town, was discharged this
morning,
neglect on his part.
IRISH Lew APPOINTMENTS.—Mr. Abraham Brewster
was this day sworn in as Solicitor-General. The office of ad-
vising counsel is still vacant, and it is rumoured that it is tis
be conferred upon Mr. Smyly, who had been counsel to the.
1 late Attorney-General.—Dublin Evening Post of Tuesday.