The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-02 00:00:00

THE MA 0,4 7; I NES.

Blackwood's iTlagazine.

There are some good articles met with in
Maga. One of the most noticeable is that
ou " Motley's Dutch Republic.." It is said that
"we all kindle as we read of the greatest battle
for the rights of conscience and the human intel-
lect that ever was delivered on the face of the
earth. The summary of the remarkable events,
and the epitome of the momentous struggles met
with in these pages, is sure to prove interesting and
instructive. History presents few more heroic
struggles than that so ably described and eloquently
extolled by Mr. Motley. It is truly stated here as
a curious fact, noticed by M. Guizot in his transla-
tion of this work, that the best histories of Spain
have been written by Americans. He thus writes :
"These historians of both European and Transat-
lantic Spain are themselves neither Spaniards nor
Catholics. They belong to another race, they
profess another religion, they speak another lan-
guge. Washington, Irving, Prescott, Motley,
Ticknor, are the children of Protestant England.
It is this race which now bears sway in that
hemisphere discovered and conquered, some
four centuries ago, by Catholic Spain." After
passing in rapid review the principal events of the
book, the writer concludes by giving a most ex-
citing extract of the stirring scenes that occurred
during the siege of Leyden, which fair city, as the
historian aptly affirms, was destined to pass
through a fiery ordeal. It was impossible to throw
provisions into the town except by bringing the fleet
which was 20 miles distant, to the walls of the city.
After 15 miles had been accomplished the fleet
was delayed by adverse winds, and the trials of the
beleaguered city and its agonised denizens almost
pass belief. " The pestilence walked at noonday
through the city, and the doomed inhabitants fell
like grass beneath its scythe." From being sub-
lime in despair the fearful trial at last staggered
the faith of some, and the following account of the
last great difficulty that can assail the general, the
mutiny among his own forces, is most forcibly given
by Mr. Motley :

A part of the more faint-hearted "even assailed the
heroic Adrian ven der Werf with threats and reproaches as
he passed through the streets. A crowd had gathered
around him as he reached a triangular place in the centre
of the town, into which many of the principal streets
emptied themselves. There stood the burgomaster—a tall,
haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, and a tranquil
but a commanding eye. He waved his broad-leaved felt
hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language which has
been almost literally preserved—" What would ye, my
friends ? Why do ye murmur that we do not break our
vows and surrender the city to the Spaniards ?-.a fate more
horrible than the agony she now endures. I tell you
I have made an oath to hold the city, and may God give me
strength to keep my oath ! I can die but once, whether by
your hand, the enemy's, or by the hand of God. My own
fate is indifferent to me, not so that of the city intrusted to
my care. I know that we shall starve if not soon relieved ;
but starvation is preferable to the dishonoured death which
is the only alternative. Your menaces move me not ; my
life is at your disposal ; here is my sword, plunge it into
my breast, and divide my flesh among you. Take my body
to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender so long as
I remain alive."

After a few words descriptive of the happy en-
trance of the fleet into the city, and the wild ex-
citement of the multitude, as bread from every ship
was thrown among the crowd who lined the quays,
till by a sudden impulse thousands repaired to the
churches to bend in gratitude before the King of
kings, and raise the thanksgiving hymn,
it is thus said in conclusion, " Surely, no
people ever won its freedom through
greater efforts, suffering, and sacrifices, than the
United Provinces of the Netherlands." " Another
Pleasant French Book" is the subject of an attrac-
tive article. It is'entitled, " Essais de Morale de
Critique," by M. Ernest Renan, and the accounts
here rendered of its contents fully justify the
favourable criticism that is passed on its pages. At
the same time it is judiciously remarked that the
tendency of M. Renan's nature is to melancholy ; he
is, it is stated, a pessimist, and therefore regards
many of the triumphs of the age in rather a morbid
manner. Again he takes it for granted, like many
other foreigners, that our superiority in industrial
skill has been at the expense of better things. This
fallacious assertion is indignantly repudiated in this
essay. "It has long been a stereotyped paragraph
in French literature that the English care only to
be ' comfortable. Is it the fact ? Are we insen-
sible to great ideas and to great passions ? Do we
prefer comfort to freedom ? and do we neglect re-
ligion, morality, and philosophy for our mess of
pottage ? If we are not an artistic race, are we,
therefore, materialists ?" Further on it is appro-
priately declared, in satirical allusion to so many
of those continental Utopias that end in despotism,
that " if the English do not interest themselves in
certain great ideas, it is because the English by
temperament, no less than by education, see reason
to question the value and the truth of these ideas,
not because industrial activity has made them for-
get the nobler aims of life." In vindication of our
alleged prosaic and unromantic style, the writer
exclaims —" Is there a richer, nobler literature
than ours ? Are our men of science unworthy of a
place beside their continental rivals ? Are our
poets inferior to those of France and Germany ?"
Due praise is awarded to M. Renan for his impar-
tial opinions on many subjects, thus proving him-
self not one of those bigoted individuals who con-
sider France the centre and light of the universe.
The critic takes leave of his study by recommending
the book to all lovers of science and delicate litera-
ture, as the manifestation of a thoughtful, elevated
mind. " The Luck of Lady'smede" is cantinued in
some very striking chapters. The scene of the
mock trial of the old abbot is a very effective
sketch of the old style of conducting judicial
affairs. Some very wise suggestions are made in
" The National Gallery—its Purpose and Manage.
ment," which it will profit many to peruse. The
principal idea is that a national collection of pic-
tures " should embrace works extending through
all times, representing all schools and countries"
that that " among the solemn teachings and warnings of
the great departed the artist may rise superior to
the fleeting fashions of the hour." Political readers
will be pleased with the graphic account of " The
Fight on the Peiho," which forms one of the papers;
and, with the third part of Fleets and Navies—Eng-
land—in which latter article the important ques-
tion of self-defence is, of course, discussed in an
appropriate manner.

Fraser's Magazine.
A lengthened and elaborate paper on " The Na-
tional Defences" is the first paper that meets the
reader in Fraser. It is evidently the result of a
careful consideration of the question, and though
we cannot agree with all the suggestions, we
acknowledge the courage and labour requisite for
the undertaking. The project of fortifying London
is scarcely feasible and very undesirable; besides
the completion of so vast a scheme would necessarily
take so long, even supposing it to be tolerated by
the people, that such a project must be perfectly
useless to us for many years, when we may hope the
crisis will have passed over. A memorial paper on
the virtues and talents of the late lamented Mr.
Stephenson, is full of interest. It records the chief
events in the career of a man of whom England has
just reason to be proud, and speaks, as all speak, in
the highest terms of cordial admiration of the emi-
nent engineer. N curious romance translated from
Grossi, has more novelty than attraction, although
in verse. Mr. Whyte Melville continues his story
of Holmby House, leaving his fair heroines in sad
perplexity, for the hero who engrosses both their
affections is seized by the Roundheads, and in dan-
ger of terminating his career in a very summary
manner,. " Shirley" contributes a criticism on Dr.
Tulloch's able lectures on the leaders of the Refor-
mation, interspersing the more serious portion with
some pleasant discursive remarks. The accom-
plished geologist C. It Weld furnishes a highly
interesting and valuable paper on Earthquakes.
These marvellous and terror dealing agents are
now like the other forces of nature being analysed
and classified, though as yet little positive informa-
tion is gained. The science of seismology, as it is
termed from the Greek word for earthquake, is
one not easily prosecuted, but the careful and
voluminous report, recently compiled at the orders
of the Committee of the British Association, has de-
scribed phenomena, which when examined in the ag-
gregate may greatly advance our knowledge on this
point. This report which has been the result of
much time and labour, "contains records of nearly
seven thousand earthquakes, observed over every
known part of the globe, both on land and ocean,
from 285 years B.C. to A.D. 1850." Some of the re-
sults obtained are extemely curious. Thus it ap-
pears that, divided by chronological periods, the
end of the third century first gives evidence of
the numerical increase of earthquakes, which
seem from thence to be steadily on the increase up
to 1850. It is true this is in some measure ac-
counted for by the advance of knowledge, observa-
tion, and human enterprise, and travel. It is
believed, according to Mr. Weld, that the expansion
of results.which we find in the last 300 years "just
keeps pace with that of contemporaneous human
progress ; for the increase in the number of re-
corded earthquakes always coincides with the
epochs of increased impulse and energy in
human enterprise." Earthquakes, it would
seem, do not appear, so far as the originating
impulse is concerned, to be connected with the
superficial character of the greatest know n
depth of geological formations. Earthquake enemy
seems to be dispensed over the globe in irregul it
bands, though there are few parts of the earth':
surface not affected by them. One remarkable fact
is mentioned—that earthquakes are more prevalent
and violent in winter than in summer. The fol-
lowing observations show the extent to which the