The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

•
DIE EDINBURGH (No. 254).--" Kaye's History
of the Sepoy War" introduces us to a subject that
has always in it something worthy of notice. We
fully concur in the opinion here expressed that the
mutiny of 1857-8 was not owing to the faults of
civil government, and that its causes might be
traced to the ferocity and insubordination of the
pampered soldiery, who were trusted too much, and
not the insurrection of an oppressed people. Here
is the point 'at issue between the author and the
critic, and considerable ability is displayed in the
compilation of the mistaken theories met with in
this volume, which, distinguished as it is for great
clearness, is likely to mislead the judgment of the
uninitiated. The conclusion come to is that it is
" far less hazardous to trust the population than to
lean on the broken reed of a native soldiery." Sir
John Lawrence has directly expressed similar
opinions, and we commend this excellent article to
the notice of all who are interested in the mainte-
nance of our Indian Empire, and who would become
better acquainted with its requirements. The case
is well put in this passage :—" What we deprecate
is a course of conduct which at once feeds the mili-
tary spirit in a proportion of the population
needlessly large, and compels us to drain the
labour market of England, of the young men whom
its industries can very ill spare, in order to keep in
check a large native force which India 'would be
better without." " Varieties of History and Art"
affords us a pleasing insight into a French work,
with the untranslatable title of " Causeries d'un
Curieux." A most unfavourable opinion is ex-
pressed of Photography by this " Curieux." He
says that it is the " antipodes of art, it is the slave
of an instrument, and has all the defects of one ; if
photography was dear no one would Submit to it,
for it makes uglier than nature ; it has been popu-
larised by cheapness." For light and amusing inci-
dent, as well as for on dits and reminiscences of
History and Art, this paper will be found most
acceptable, and, while it will entertain the general
reader, it also presents a feast for the studious and
well-read. "International Coinage" is au admir-
able article, which eminently merits the attention of
the commercial circles, and we wish there was a
better chance of its suggestions being favourably
received by the influential in the monetary world.
After stating that a comprehensive change must b e
a lasting one to justify the inconvenience it would
inevitably occasion a t first, it is said that whenever the
British Government is sufficiently enlightened, and
also sufficiently supported, to attempt these changes
referred to, "we trust that a modifiJation of our
coinage would not only bring us into closer relations
with the monetary systems of the Continent, but
would also establish our own coinage and enumera-
tion on the basis of the decimal system." There is
great force in these arguments, as also in those that
follow further on respecting the advantages that
must follow upon the means of exchange being
rendered more simple and universal, and thus
changing in conformity with the progressive signs
of the age. It will be fortunate for the people of
this country, and a great advantage to those of other
nations, when the truths here set forth are univer-
sally recognised. As it is unanswerably put here,
" Whatever the difficulties may be, it is not impos-
sible for the common interest of mankind to sur-
mount them, and no common interest is more
obvious than that of establishing a similarity or
identity between these different representations of
value, which may be described as the very language
of trade ; for, to use the words of Landgrave Philip
of Hesse at the beginning of the 16th century

"Had all mon but a simple creed,
Faithful to God and just in deed,
One weight, oho m6asure, coin, and gold,
9.l%vere better for all an hundredfold."

Napoleon's " Julius Cre3ar" engages attention in an
elaborate paper. It is said that a great merit of this
work is the " gracJulness and simple dignity with
which our author, so highly placed, has descended
into the arena of ordinary literature." However,
the greatest pleasure has been to go over again the
" enchanted classical ground" which the work occu-
pies, and in the best company, that of the original
authorities to whom the references allude. Hence
it is a relief, after gazing on " the last con-
vulsions of Republican France through the violet
medium. of Napoleon the Third, or the demo-
cratic rose-colour of Arnold, to return to our
ancient guides," who, whatever their own pre-
judices, represent the scenes to us free from
what could not have " the tendency to work
'up pictures for the eyes of another generation,
brought up in theories derived from the extended
experience of a world twenty centuries older."
" Felix Holt, the Radical," will attract the atten-
tion of the class of novel readers which now-a-days
indeed is legion, and perhaps the first sentence met
with may be considered almost a sufficient criticism
in itself, so expressive and appropriate is its word-
ing. " Felix Holt" has some of the defects of ordi-
nary novels, but ordinary novels have none of the
merits of Felix Holt. Another good definition of the
superiority of this author's description is found in
this passage—" Less original thinkers identify their
ruined characters by some trite saying, but
George Eliot always denotes the intellectual or
moral differences of the dullest or most common-
place of mankind by some little idiosyncracy of
language or of thought." " Strauss, Ronan, and
Ecce Homo," brings before our notice a carefully-
written article on a subject that most especially
calls for care and caution in its treatment. Great
praise is accorded to the work " Ecce Homo," by
which the author has, it is said, produced great
effect, kindling faith afresh in many a wavering
soul, and addressing himself to as great a subject
as one can employ—" man's noblest energies, the
preservation or renewal of the faith of God." It is

no matter of surprise that strictures are passed upon
these authors whose names first appear in this title,
and it is truly said that they dogmatise. " Strongly
as both of them would repudiate the charge, we are
sorry to be obliged to fix upon M. Renan as well
as upon Herr Strauss this odious imputation of
degeneration ; for while the very point is, whether
Jesus was a superhuman personage or not, both of
these writers lay it down as the first postulate in their
argument that no superhuman hypothesis is admis-
sible, their argument therefore becomes neither more

nor less than a vicious circle ; the Gospels are un-

trustworthy, because they record miracles, and no

miracles are credible because the books that record

them are untrustworthy." " Froude's Reign of
Elizabeth" is a very interesting notice of Mr.

Froude's brilliant work. It seems that a too lenient

judgment is passed by the historian upon some of
the questionable acts of this great Queen, and we

certainly do not require such " weak and unreason-
ing tenderness " nor " generosity" either in her

conduct, but prefer to accept the definitions here
met with of " hypocrisy and hardness of heart."
Apart from these matters of difference, there is

always abundance to adaiire in Mr. Froude's writ-

ings, and these volumes, it is emphatically observed,
" will afford an intellectual treat to every class of

readers ; the curtain has dropped upon a stirring
act, and we await with deep interest its rising upon
another." " Antique Gems" is an attractive name

at any rate, and conjures up dazzling visions before
the mind of the reader, who may be wearied with
wandering through the mazes of politics, or bewll-
- by the conflicting clahns of literary disputants.
There is much to interest in the description here met

with, and many may derive profit and pleasure from
the study of this sketch of olden marvels. Few

subjects are more interesting in their way than
those connected with the arts of ancient days, more

especially in Greece and Rome. " The Military
Growth of Prussia" i 3 an admirable article, to which
we shall refer at a future period.

he Dublin Review. Nos. XIII. and XIV. Burns,
Lambert, and Co., 17, Portman-street.

A considerable portion of these two numbers of
the Dublin is occupied in the.discussion of theologi-
cal and controversial topics. These, though very
suitable to the pages of a review of standard cha-
racter, do not come within the range of newspaper
criticism. If we turn to the literary articles we
find, in the thirteenth number, an able review of
the Imperial history of Julius Csar. The critic
does not agree with the illustrious narrator in his
estimate of the great Roman, although he adihits
him to have been far superior to bis contemporaries

in many points, such as in his clemency, a virtue
almost unknown among the ancients. Another in-
teresting question very fully treated is that of the
preponderance of heathen studies in classical educa-
tion. The Editor of the Review does not commit
himself to either side of the discussion, but allows
free inquiry into the merits and demerits of the
question. The vexed question of the Jamaica re-
bellion and its suppression is resuscitated in a
lengthy article, which we can hardly think fair to
Mr. Eyre. We need hardly recapitulate the argu-
ments, which are those we have all heard so often;
neither need we add that the danger and violence of
the actual outbreak at Morant Bay, and the peri-
lous position of the handful of white residents in the
colony, are altogether ignored, since this is invari-
ably the case with the assailants. " Origen at
Caesarea" is an essay which will at once attract the
reader of classical tastes and studies. In conclud-
ing a highly interesting paper the writer oberves
"He died at Tyrd in 253 or 234. The cities where
he taught are now mere names. Alexandria is a
modern Turkish town, Caesarea is a heap of broken
columns and ruined piers, Athens is the capital of
a pitiful nation of mongrel Hellenes, Bostia and
Petra are tombs in the deserts of Arabia." Bat
.
the record of his works still lives, and the writer.
draws a lesson from it. "In another region of the
world," he says, " and in cities with names that
are different, yet with histories as grand as be-
longed to the cities of the East, unbelief seems
to be bringing back a condition of mind
to encounter which the Catholic writer will have to
put himself into the circumstances of those ancient
giants who met and overthrew scientific Paganism
in the second and third centuries. Faith, and what
is faith, and why men must believe, occupied
Clement and Origen. The same questions are oc-
cupying the thoughts of our own day; and many a
hint may be gathered, and many a suggestive argu-
ment started, to those who will take the Alexan-
drian stand-point, and look at faith as it is looked
at in the polemical works of the great Alexandrian
school."

The Westminster Review. No. LX. Triibner

and Co.

The current number of the Westminster contains
many interesting articles. 64 The English and their
Origin" is a paper for the ethnological, since it
examines closely into all the records of our race.
The writer inclines to the Teutonic side of the con-
troversy respecting our English affinities, being
influenced, perhaps, somewhat by the well-known
intellectual tendencies of the Westminster in his
desire to prove his countrymen akin to the great
German freethinkers. His essay is well worth
reading by all who are interested in the study of
race, which is, certainly, a department of philosophy
in which there is more than we as yet know, or
perhaps dream of. " The Abbe Lamennais on
Dante" is a criticism which pays a cordial tribute to
the labours of the accomplished commentator.
The last lines of his pen were devoted to the
illustration of the great trilogy .of Dante, and we
read his magnificent introduction with mixed feel-
ings of regret and satisfaction—of satisfaction that
he lived to do so much, of regret that he was not
permitted to finish the work which he had so nearly
carried to perfection." But although his commen-
tary remains unfinished, it everywhere bears the
marks of a master's hand, and undoubtedly forms
one of the most eloquent, just, and profound crit
cisms ever written upon the " Divina Commedie'
Our North American colonies, curiously enough+
form the subject of two distinct articles,
not referring, however, to the same pro-
vinces. The first is on " The Canadian
Confederation and the Reciprocity Treaty," an.d,
gives a full and interesting account of the rapid
development of the colonial trade and commerce.
The writer, however, is scarcely fair in representing
the feeling and language current in this country

towards the Canadians. Individuals may have
misrepresented the public sentiment, but whenever
the interests of Canada or her sister colonies are
really at stake the ready sympathy and goodwill of
the mother country is invariably manifested With
promptitude and unanimity. On a recent occasion
the declaration of a Minister of the Crown that if
Canada were imperilled she would be supported, II
necJz,sary, by the whole power of the Empire, via?
received with general satisfaction and approval.
The other article is on " Our North Pacific Colo-
nies," and refers, we need hardly say, to Van'
couver's Island and British Columbia. 'Thanks t°
the gold discoveries, the3e provinces have of 15t°
years attracted a good share of attention even front
their flourishing neighbours, and we have no doubt
they have a great career before them. t, The Deg

—his Intelligence" is a readable paper, foundel
Mr. Jesse's work on the animal. Of late it has
been the fashion to-decry man's most faithful com-
panion, and to exaggerate the terrors of hydro-
phobia to an extraordinary extent. This essay ill%
perhaps serve to recall some readers to a better
appreciation of what the dog really is, and to
duce them to put a little less ready faith in those
marvellous " penny-a-lining" reports which startle
old ladies in dull seasons. A well-written paper
the Forest of Fontainebleau is the last in t"-
number.

TEMPLE BAR MAGAziNE.—During the course °I
the New Year (1867), now fast approaching, this
popular monthly, which has already in mall re-
spects greatly improved• since it passed into tue
hands of Mr. Bentley, the Queen's Publisher ill
Ordinary, will be rendered still more attractive 1)i
means of two or three very noticeable new features no"'
active and immediate preparation. Two fresh serial stories;
among other contributions,will be introduced to the readers (),.
Temple Bar, one of them by Mrs. Edwards, the authoress
of "Archie Lovell," the other byMr. Le Farm, the stith°;.
among other popular works, of " Uncle Silas"---31r.0
Edwards' story to be begun in January, Mr. Le Fanu'S
February. By a vexatious oversight the other day, ill r-t
gard to the notice which appeared in these columns l'l)°:ie
the current number of Temple Bar for December-0'"7„0
balance account, should have been "How the balarj.;,
came out;' Old Cecilia, "Ad Ceciliam ;" and The 1."
Allies, " The Two Alices."