The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Handwriting on the Wall. A Story. By'
Edwin Atherstone, author of "The Fall of
Nineveh." Three Vols. Bentley.
This is in every respect a most remarkable work,
and one which can hardly fail to reflect credit and
renown on its author. He has before ben cele-
brated for his writings on those Eastern lands, that
are so replete with subjects of interest for the poet,
the novelist, and the historian. The cradle of the
human race has ever possessed an attraction to the
mind from its associations and attributes, when
dazzled by the display of man's medimval achieve-
ments, or of his latter-day discoveries and inven-
tions, the eye turns with gladness to gaze and rests
with reverence on the soil to which miracles were
indigenous, and where happened the greatest of
events that earth has ever witnessed, or that her
sons shall behold till time shall be no more. It
can only enhance the value of the book that its
narrative should be imbued with somewhat of the
gorgeous colouring, and invested with the glowing
imagery of* Oriental life. Although at a very re-
mote period of antiquity the events here recorded
took placa, it is certified by sacred history, and
attested by succeeding write's, that they were of
great consequence, not alone at the immediate
epoch, but to future times. It would be difficult
to find a more impressive manner of conveying to
the senses the complet ness of the destruction of
the Assyrian capital, than is here met with. We
read of its people, its soldiers, tts priest'', its king
wandering amid "its st eets of palaces, and walks of
state." We figure to ourselves the immensity of
its grandeur, enclosed by a wall whose length was
60 miles, and then reflect that the site of that city
which arose aloft in its towering splendour, is now
unknown to the traveller.

"Where Babel stood, the wolves and jackals drink,
'Mid weeping willows round Euphrates' brink."
There are many exciting passages in the course of
this recital of the events of three days, for such is
the brief period chronicled. The hero of the story
is a young Israelite who belonged to the mighty
men of valour of ancientldays, "before the sweep of
whose sword men fell in battle like corn before the
sickle of the reaper.", He passes to and from among
his people, to the camp of Cyrus without the walla.
There he was welcome, and at last he was instru-
mental in leading the forces within the stronghold.
A. great portion of the work is devoted to the cala-
mities that befel the captive Jewish race, through
the tyranny and cruelty of their oppressors. This
is described with power and pathos. No amount of
sin, and no depths of misery, can seem exaggerated,
as belonging to the time thus immortalised, "By
the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept."
The sisters Naomi and Ruth are shown to possess
qualities at once rare and estimable. The detaila
of their imprisonment in the palace of Belshazzar
are very interesting. The gentle sorrow of tie
timid Ruth, the indignant spirit of the resolute
Naomi, are vividly depicted, and it is with a
sense of relief that we learn at last of their safety.
Miriam, the sister of Michael, is peculiarly gifted,
and the glimpses of coming events that she beholds
in her prophetic visions, astonish and Pewilder her
companions, who believe the enthusiast to be under
some delusion. It is au exciting passage which
relates her expedition for the ftni'ius sword. This
matchless weapon could be wielded by none save
Michael, an I it was of importance that he
should regain it.. For this purpose Miriam set
out alone, and by the merest chance obtained her
object. She had to pass through dangers and ditli
culties that might have made the strongest and
stoutest heart quail, for they were not the open foe,
the bold attack, but the secret spy, and the trea-
cherous ambush, that were spread in wait for the
children of Jerusalem. The escape of Michael from
the dungeon of the vault is another striking sketch,
and the unflinching courage and heroic constancy
he there evinced were enough of themselves to
stamp his worth. It has been, of course, as the
author has called it, "an arduous task" ro design
and carry out a work like this ; but he has in a great
measure succeeded in the stupendous undertaking.
Theme is nothing irreverent or unbefiAing in the
pages'before us, while much skill has been displayed
in elucidating facts that, to the dwellers of another
race, in a different age, may appear strange and in-
compr,hensible. The con'rast is finely exhibited
between Cyrus and Belshazzar, the one at the head
of warriors setting out on a holy warfare, the other
the chief of companions in riots and wantonness.
There is a surprising amount of knowkdge con-
cerning the place and people manifested throughout
the narrative, which could only have teen attain id
by elabor.ibresmrch, joined to considerable'powera
of observation. The story is exceedingly intereA-
; it attracts the reader by its fascinating in-
fluence in the passages which relate to those decisive
events, that awaken the most povve:ful erno i ins of
the heart, and arouse the deepest feelings of human
nature. Those whose taste and judgment may en-
able them to appreciate such a work, will doubt'ess
regard this as a masterpiece of i s distinct class and
peculiar style.

Montaigne the Essayist. A Biography. By Bayle
St. John. 2 vol . Chapman and Hall.
This work is intended to be the fitst of a serits,
forming "a view of the formation and variations of
opinion, prejudice, character, taste, and, to a col.-
tiin extent, mann( rs in France, from the time of
Rabelais to that of Rousseau." The task which the
author has set himself is, therefore, it will he per-
ceived by no means a light one. To write tho
biography of a foreigner is no unusual occurrence ;
but show, in a series of lives, the progress and
tendency of a whole school of literature, to enter
into the tastes, capabilities, and impressions of a
nation, and to trace the effect of the age upon the
authors and the authors upon the age—this is an
undertaking which is somewhat alarming, in the
qualifications it dem- nds and the labour it necessi-
tates. Fortunately, Mr. St. John is not an author
who is likely to be overwhelmed by the m InituCe
of the task before him, or to doubt his own capa-
bilities for it; nor is ho a critic who is liable to ques-
tion the validity of his decisions. Even his long-
continued study of the doubting philosopher has
not removed the decidve confidence of his manner.
The life of Montaigne, lie considers, has been too
much studied in an antiqualian spirit, much mate-
rial has been collected, but no; compiled iii a com-
plete form. For 15 years, he tells 119 he has de-
voted every interval of leisure to this object, and lie
believes that these volumes contain an entirely new
narrative, though the fects and incidents they chro-
nicle may have been known before. Laborious re •
search, and thorough acquaintance with the subject,
are evidenced in these volumes, in which the author
not only narrates the life of Montaigne, but gives a
summary of the spirit of his writings, and en-
deavours to paint his character. This, he has not,
he tells us, entirely drawn from the essays, as he
considers that most other biographers of Montaigne
have erred in accepting his testimony implicitly
with respect to his own moral and intellectual
qualities as well as to matters of fact. "To modify
such testimony, however, requires so accurate a
knowledge of human nature that I dare not ven-
ture to hope I have been always just." But it is
more glorious to fail in discovering how many
scruples et self-love entered into every ounce of
Montaigne's statements, than to cite with unerring
accuracy the essay and the book in which he informs
us that he was an enemy to falsehoodauda hater of
calumny.'" Whether Mr. St. John is more likely
to draw a correct portrait, from his inferences at the
lapse of three centuries, than the reader is likely to
gather from Montaigne himself, is perhaps question-
able. He may claim some authority for Ins opinions
from the attention he has given to all relating to
his subject, and from the pains he has taken to
identify himself with Montaigne and his surround-
ings. The particulars of his early life aro, doubt-
less, familiar to many. His father adopt ed a very
peculiar system of education with him and was
disappointed that his progress was slow. The only
remarkable event of his early lite, as his biographer
remarks was his friendship for La Bootie. The
appearance of the author of " A Treatise on
Voluntary Servitude," upon the scene affords Mr.
St. John an opportunity not tobs lost. His admira-
tion for the sentiments of the anti-monarchical
essay, is of course, unbounded, and he gives a few
of the indignant protests against the incomprehen-
sible insanity of a whole nation submitting to one
man, "which cannot even proceed from cowardice,
as one man may frighten.ten but not a whole na-
tion ;'' forgetting that no small degree of enifu4on
would result if numbers were to be the only au'ho.
rity of government. Fancy a republic of authors
like Estienne do la Boetio and his panegyrist ! The
following passage is a fair sample :
"Eveeidternaitily. LaHßee batedie' in all thithis,wrotee frokmi s
c his
very
He does not flout, or criticise, or abuse h° Nero, true tyim —be scalpsp f g.
rasp he
him. But, when he held this villain in his grasp t
wreaked, in imagination, his rage
ao n d
the
her dng s
o fyrtaho
inaccessible amidst the pkes n
guards, and the fiery halo cast around them by popular
sup. rstition.
If his denunciations are to be regarded as against
unreasoning tyranny only, their intolerance may be
excused, but Mr. St. John forgets in his censures that
constitutional government wasthenautopian dream,
and that Francis the First was not behind his age.
This monarch receives some violent attacks. His
picture is somewhat coarsely and very unfavourably
drawn. He speaks 'of him as " a giant boy, with
all a boy's greed of praise, less than a boy's honour,
with a man's cruelty and a king's selfishness"—
and this is mild compared to soma of his diatribes.
Yet he tells us that he was " the
type of the
Frenchmen of that period, not of the best or the
worst, but of the class susceptible
of c:vdising in-
fluences," so that, according to his own showing, a
republic would only have made matters wove. ut