The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-27 00:00:00

FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW No. XXlh•
A. Richter. London. 1835.

There is much variety of amusement in this num-
ber, which exhibits, in every article, more than ordi-
nary pains-taking----the consequence, we presume, of
the rivalry which Mr. Cochrane has lately introduced
by his " Foreign Quarterly Review." As there is
" ample room and verge enough" for both periodicals,
we hope both will flourish, which they ca❑ scarcely fail
to do, if they persevere in their present system of dili-
gence and energy. The ablest Paper in the number be-
fore us, is that on " Italian Romantic Poetry," in

which the Reviewer furnishes us w:th same intelligent re-

marks on the misapprehended spirit of the chivalrous .
ages and their institutions. Both figure conspicuously
romance, but neither will stand the stern test of
The best we can say of the chivalrous sys•
;em is, that it was a splendid barbarism, attractive cer-
tainly to the eye of imagination,• but abhorrent to the
judgment. " We never," says the reviewer, " can mark
out a century, or part of a century, in which the sun of
chivalry shone bright and unclouded. In our search
ofter those happy times, we are like the heroes in
Eastern and nursery tales, who, in quest of some won-
derful tiling, are sent on—on—on—by every person of
whom they make inquiry. The blissful region still
recedes as we pursue it ; every one tells us it is further
off." The article on " Kosciusko," which includes a
somewhat copious memoir of the unrivalled Polish pa-
triot, is admirable, if not as a composition, at least
from the liberal spirit that pervades it. The original
bias of Kosciusko's mind, was, it seems, in favour of
the calm pursuits of literature. His disposition was
eminently gentle and pacific, but love--disappointed
love, the most wonder-working of conjurors, by one
stroke of the wand, transformed the shy, abstracted scho-
lar, into the bustling, intrepid soldier—a metamor-
phosis, under the circumstances, more striking than any
recorded by Ovid. We know of few characters in an-
cient or modern history so lofty and unsullied as that
of Kosciusko. In uncompromising Spartan inte-
grity, Washington was perhaps his equal, but he
fell far short of him in those various intellectual graces
which enrich and humanize our nature. It is much to
the credit of the Emperor Paul—ind,;:ed it is almost
the only beneficent act this half-witted despot ever per-
formed--that he voluntarily liberated Kosciusko from
the vile Russian dungeon to which he had been con-
signed by Catherine, and even offered him employment
in his armies, which, a course, the high-minded Pole
declined. " Meyer's Voyage round the World's
chiefly deserves praise for the entertaining nature of
its extracts. Those respecting the slave system, which.
is to this day carried on in the Brazils, from an
lity on the part of the Government to contend against
it, are full of painful interest. "Meyer's report," says
the Reviewer, "of a visit to the warehouse of a 'Slave
dealer at Rio Janeiro, where the greater part of the un
fortunate victims were children, branded with red
hot irons, generally on the noblest parts of the
human body, fully corroborates all the preceding ac-
counts of that atrocious system, and of its demo-
ralizing effects on minds which are in other rESPeCtS
not destitute of feelings of humanity." In the article
entitled the " Designs of Russia against Turkey," the
Reviewer insists on the internal weakness and disor-
ganization of the Northern Colossus, and that it needs.
only a prompt and spirited demonstration on the I)
of England, to make him resign at once all thought
s
of an attack on, or dismemberment of the Sultan s
dominions. Of the remaining articles, the best is tha
one which is devoted to the exposition of the prinel.
. pies of Grecian Architecture.
T7^ _ au

reason.

SCOTT'S PROSE WORKS. VoL.
Cadell, .7:l'clinburgh. 1835.
The present is tte fifth volume of Scott's " Life of
Napoleon." lt, commences with his assumption °I,
the Imperial, dignity, and terminates with the battle 0i
Friedlanr!, The volume is handsomely got up---is
embellished with two engravings from designs by
Tlirner, and a map, illustrative of Napoleon's Germs"
tampaigns.