The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

EDINBURGH REVIEW.—No. CXXIII.
A. Bloch, EdinbUrgh, 1835.
There is a clever article in this number on " The
State of Parties," which at the present feverish crisis
will attract much attention. It is a notice of Loid
Brougham's late speech on the Address, and following
up the spirit of his Lordship's remarks, the Reviewer
comments, with just severity on the gross dereliction of
all principle, that not a few of the Conservative party
have recently manifested. " Never," says he,
" In the whole history of party and of public men, were such
disgusting sights seen as have of late been displayed. The
men whose lives had been devoted to oppose Reform—the
most bitter adversaries of the Reform Bill—the most bigotted
adversaries of all Church Reform whatever—have had the
courage to avow themselves friendly to. those very measures
which, a few months before, they deemed a sufficient ground for
endeavouring to raise the country in one senseless clamour
against their predecessors, the late Ministers. To see the
very same men now taking the line of Reformers, has undoub-
tedly staggered the faith of many in the possibility of virtue in
statesmen, at least of one school. It is not, however, our pur-
pose to
,say much on the present Ministers—we mean those
who came into office upon the dismissal, now admitted to have
been wholly without a good or even plausible pretext, of the
Reform Ministry, and who, for aught we know, may be them-
selves removed, before these sheets see the light. The con-
duct, indeed, of some among them, and chiefly of some of their
supporters, is so astonishing as to defy credulity, and it has
struck a fatal blow at public confidence in public men."
The Reviewer then proceeds to instanceare the, case of
Sir Roger Griesley, who, it may be remembeied,
pleaded " inspiration," in excuse for his vote on the
Malt Tax. A jury of Bishops would no doubt hold
this plea good, for the Baronet is a staunch Conserva-
tive, and as staunch a high Churchman ; but the
majority of the public will coincide with the Reviewer,
and consider it only as an aggravation of the offence.
The cursory observations ,on the " Trimmers," or
Stanley party, whose sole rule of conduct it is to em-
harass whatever set of men may chance to be in office,
are full of significant meaning. " How few questions,"
aptly asks the Reviewer, " arc there, which have more
than two sides—an aye and a no—a right and a
wrong? In the ordinary course of affairs, therefore,
the middle men must be in the wrong, and they must
be so knowingly and wilfully."
" Coleridge's Table Talk" suggests some pertinent
hints—for they are little more—respecting the peen-
liar idiosyncracy of this celebrated writer's mind. We
agree with the critic in most of his remarks, especially
where he alludes to the vague and unsatisfactory cha-
racter of Coleridge's philosophical system.. His intel-
lect wanted harmony—compactness—method—ar-
rangement. He was full of ideas, yet he knew not
how to give them vent. One crotchet was perpetually
jostling and driving out another, in that vast granary
of strange fancies—his brain. He was born to be an
oracle in the Court of Queen Whims—the readers of
the Voyage to the Holy Bottle will understand this
allusion—but certainly not to give an impetus or mo-
mentum to the world about him. His intellect was
always walking about' in a fog, and stumbling up
against obstacles, which men of keener perceptions,
though of less capacity, would have avoided. He has
added little or nothing to the public stock of know-
ledge ; made no positive additions to, or discoveries in,
any of the abstract sciences ; but has left us, instead,
hints and fragments (especially in his " Friend,"
which abounds in splendid, but apparently purposeless
speculations) which other and more fortunate authors
will doubtless turn to profitable, account. In speaking
of Coleridge's criticisms on Shakespeare, the Reviewer
coincides with him in opinion, that jealousy is not the
leading characteristic of Othello's mind. This is one
of those remarks which critics are apt to make, when
they are ambitious of being thought to see deeper into
a millstone than other people. That extreme jealousy
is the one prominent trait in Othello's character, is
evident from the eager way, denoting " a foregone
conclusion," in which he falls into the trap set by
lago. No sooner has the latter asked the question—
" Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady,
Know of your love ?"
than the Moor is all fixed attention. That one ques-
tion decides his fate. " Sure, he is honest ?" he in-
stantly says, half to himself, in a way, however, which
implies that distrust has already taken a firm root in
his mind. If this be not jealousy, where, or in what
form, does that passion exist ? lago read Othello's
character with more subtlety than Mr. Coleridge or his
Reviewer, and has left his record of it in words that
will never die.
The notice of the " Biographical Sketches of Mi-
rabeau," gives a more favourable estimate of the dis-
position and abilities of the great leader of the French
movement party than we think either deserve. Mira-
beau was at best but a " sublime coxcomb." He had
no fixed principles of conduct—no vast grasp of mind
—no political integrity. His speeches, though full of
point, antithesis, and dexterous appeals to the pas-
sions, are mere showy clap-traps—just suited to their
time—nothing more. Fortunately for his fame (such
as it is) he died just at the outbreak of that fierce
inovement which he had himself propelled, but assur-
edly could never have cheel,:ed. Had he survived but
two years longer, he would have met with the fate of ,
Danton, who equalled him in mind, and far surpassed
him in energy.
" Spindler's Novels" is a review of Lord Albert
Conyngham's translation of this German author's po-
pular tale of the " Natural Son." The criticism is
well written, and enters a sensible protest against those
monstrous violations of all decency, and all nature,
which are so often to be met with in the extravagant
fictions of modern Germany. True imagination dis-
dains to have recourse to such accessories for effect.
Even in its wildest flights, it keeps within the pale of
nature. But Spindler, like Hoffman, is constantly
violating all propriety. His mind revels like a goule
among charnel-houses ; gloats over the details of in-
cest or murder ; and warms at the commission of par-
ricide. This is not genius, but ambitious common-
place.
The article on " Newspaper Taxes," advocates the
removal of those imposts. We are glad of it. They
are fetters on knowledge, which' manacle its move-
ments, and check all its best impulses. Viewing the
question in this light, we have ever been a warm advo-,
cate for their removal, which, whether willingly or un-
willingly on the part of Government, cannot be much
longer delayed.
" American Poetry" does justice, in a discriminat-
ing spirit, to some of the most recent and successful
productions of the Transatlantic Muse. It is much
to be regretted that in the general tone and bearing of
its poetic literature, the New World should so servilely
copy the Old. Surely it abounds, to a greater extent
than with us, in all the materials of originality ! Why
then does it content itself with following haud passi-
bus erquis, in the footsteps of Wordsworth and He-
mans ? Bryant, and Percival, and Brainard—the three
brightest stars in the American poetical hemisphere—
are constantly reminding us of these great writers. At
present, therefore, it would be premature to compli-
ment our Transatlantic brethren on the possession of
an indigenous literature. The raw material is imported
from England. It is merely manufactured, to suit the
purposes of home consumption, in America.
" Thoughts on the Aristocracy of England," is a
shrewd, thoughtful notice of a pamphlet that has just
appeared under that title, and which has-been attributed
—with what-justice we know not—to the pen of Lord
Brougham. The remaining articles, with the excep-