The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Quarterly Review. No. 244.

The Quarterly begins with an article on the cha-
racter of George the Third, viewing it principally
as shown in his correspondence with Lord North.
After a careful examination of the leading features
of the eventful struggle with America, which was
the point in which the good old King's charac-
teristic obstinacy was most strongly displayed, the
writer obsrrves, justly enough, that it is not fair to
judge him by the 7 esult of his policy alone. The
theory of the right to stamp out secession did not
originate with George 111., as it certainly did not
die with him. " George 111. believed that the pro-
sperity of his empire wasbound up in the maintenance
of American dominion, just as Abraham Lincoln
believed that the prosperity of his vast Republic
was bound up in the maintenance of the Union.
And each of them, Prince and Presi lent alike, was
backed up in that belief by the zeal of his country-
men." The article on Sea-fish and Fisheries is
full of interesting matter. The ever-prolific
abundance of the sea is truly amazing, and the
wonder is that so much ready-made treasure,
almost at hand, should be taken so little advan-
tage of. The industry of the Dutch is proverbial,
indeed so much so that their famous city of Amster-
dam is said to have been built on herring bones
caught on the coasts of Ireland. It is only of late
years that the Irish have been shamed into looking
to their own interests by cultivating what appeared
to them the watery wastes around their shores.
Their indolence at home was as remarkable
as their industry abroad, but now we hope a good
time is coming for the sister isle. The harvest of
the sea seems as boundless as the ocean itself ; the
more we take out the more remains, for the repro-
ductive power of fishes is wonderful. A female cod
has been found to contain 3,400,000 eggs; a flounder
1,250,000 ; a sole 1,000,000 ; a mackerel 500,000,
and a herring 36,000. The number of men em-
ployed in the fishing trade all the year round is
very considerable, both on our coasts and in the
deep sea, as far as the foggy banks of the far-famed
Newfoundland. We come next to the "Auto-
biography of a Physiologist," Karl Ernest Baer,
born in 1792, at Eastland. He is another
of those men of genius who fight their
way in spite of all difficulties, and the
record of his career is proportionately interesting.
" Westmorland" gives the title to a most readable
account of the counties on the borders, in which the
famous Countess of Pembroke appears to advantage.
Then we are treated to some specimens of the
" Poetry of the Seven Dials," in which the manu-
facture of the street ballads is explained to us•
Their number is legion, and an idea of their circula-
tion may be gathered from the fact that Mr.
Catnach, a printer of these halfpenny ballads,
realised £lO,OOO by their sale. Fortunately, though
they are often wretched doggrel, their moral tone
is on the whole not bad, and in this respect they
form a gratifying contrast to the olden street
ballads. An article on M. du Chaillu's re-
cent travels in central Africa contains many
passages of interest. African exploration
has lately attained a mournful interest from the
tragic fate of its most distinguished votary, though
no doubt the untimely end of Dr. Livingstone will
stimulate rather than check the ardour of the sur-
viving explorers. Papers on " Curious Myths of
the Middle Ages" and " New American Religions"
contain matter for a long day's profitable study ;
but the concluding article on " The Four Reform
Orators,"—Disraeli, Gladstone, Lowe, and Bright,
—" with extracts from their speeches on the great
topic of the Session," will be read with an
interest proportioned to their several merits and
the present all-engrossing question of Reform.
The following passage affords a specimen of its
critical delineations :
" Mr. Bright is a man of a different order of in-
tellect from those whom we have been considering.
Ile has not the brilliancy of Mr. Disraeli, who,
though not always happy in a set speech, yet when
called upon suddenly to concentrate his powers for
some great effort, frequently, as he lightens on his
subject,' electrifies his audience by flashes of wit,
satire, eloquence, and argument, combined with a
shill that never fails, and governed by a self-con-
trol that never falters. Nor can Mr. Bright be
compared to Mr. Glad Stone for depth and accuracy
of knowledge, comprehensiveness of thought, or
that fiery warmth which gives to the exercise of
merely intellectual processes of thought the semblance
of that marvellous insight which is the characteristic
of real genius. Mr. Bright is also wanting in the
practical business-like qualities which distinguish
Mr. Lowe's mind, and carry him at once in argu-
ment to the substantial issue in controversy, and its
most suitable solutions, and which are so dominant
over his other faculties that he seems, whilst
intently engaged in enforcing his own opinions or
demolishing those of an opponent, rather to
tolerate than encourage the wit and eloquence with
which his mind over-brims. Mr. Bright's chief
merit as an orator is sheer strength of onslaught in
attack, which occasionally resembles the rush of a
rhinoceros. He has not a many-sided' mind,
and is incapable of seeing at the same time
more than a single aspect of a question, and
that the one which makes most palpably in his own
favour. He refuses to recognise the honest exist-
ence of any opinion but his own, and overwhelms
with invective all who would stay or check him in
his career. His eloquence is wonderful, especially
his eloquence of abuse. He has the most copious
vocabulary of reproachful epithets that has ever,
since the time of Cobbett, been amassed together in
the heart of a man capacious of such things, and he
is accustomed to utter them with unbridled licence.
One ground of his deep dissatisfaction with the
House of Commons may be found in the fact that
in its present unrevolutionised condition the
language he uses out of it would not
be tolerated within its precincts. His pur-
pose is always transparent and never con-
cealed. W e believe him, therefore, in his greatest
extravagances to be sincere. When he stands on
the platform before any of those rough and rowdy
audiences who hang upon his sentences with de-
light, and encourage him at the end of every
vituperative sentenee by thunders of applause, he
is in his true element, and all his faculties find
their finest exercise ; but his drift is always much
the same, and may be reduced to this short for
mula I want you, and such as you, to be elec-
tors, that I and such as I may beMinisters to
govern the country."

LONDON 50CIETT contains, as usual, a fair amount
of amusing reading. "A Tale of the Derby" may
serve as a warning to rash speculators. " Academy
Belles" is a pleasing sketch, and some lively verses
aro appended to it. " Twenty-four Hours of the
Season by my Lady's Watch " is a very attractive
little sketch, and it brings before us in an effective
manner the toils of pleasures in the illustration of
the wearisome round led by this dashing heroine.
" Playing for High Stakes" is continued. A capital
paper is that called " Half an Hour. in a Servants'
Registry-office."
DUBLIN REVIEW. —The interesting story, "Never
for Ever," is not finished, but it nears its comple-
tion, and is mournful though attractive. " The
Tenants of Malory" proceeds in its romantic style.
" Lord Dufferin on Irish Land Tenure," and the
" Hon. Grantley Berkeley's Life and Recollections"
furnish subjects for readable articles, the latter being
entertaining. "Art and its Ministers" is a sketch that
is mournful in its reminiscences. " The Actor's
Strike" is very appropriate just now, and there are
some well-written articles on " Gipsy Language and
other Gipsy Items," " Our Ancient Dealings with
the Danes." "My Love and I" is the title of some
pleasing verses.
THE PEOPLE'S MAGAZINE.—The coloured fron-
tispiece of this number represents a shepherd boy
fast asleep beside his crook, with his faithful dog
watching him, and this alone is sufficient to
gratify the reader. However, he will get plenty of
good and pleasant reading as well. Parisian Mar-
ketwomen, How they Make Sovereigns, The Science
of a Hailstone, Home Memories of the Poets, such
are among the agreeable and entertaining subjects,
selected to beguile the people's leisure hours."
THE POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW.----Very inte-
resting and very learned are the papers to be found
in this quarterly review; interesting that is to say
to the scientific, for they are somewhat too abstruse
and too technically worded to attract the general
reader. The list of contributors includes many
eminent names, and the plates afford as usual a
valuable elucidation of the text.

NATURE AND.
ART.—The public will learn with
regret that this is the last number of this beautiful
periodical under its present form. However, its
place is to be supplied by 2he Chromolithograph, a