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

LITERATURE.

The Handwriting on the Wall. A Story. By
Ed win Atherstone, author of " The Fall of
Nineveh." Three Vols. Bentley.
This is in every respect a most remarkable work,
and ono which can hardly fail to reflect credit and
renown on its author. He has before been 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 medieval 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 place, it is certified by sacred history, and
attested by succeeding writers, 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 completeness of the destruction of
the Assyrian capital, than is here met with. We
read of its people, its soldiers, its priests, its king
wandering amid "its streets of palaces, and walks of
state." We figure to ourselves the immensity of
its grandeur, enclosed by a wall whose length was
GO 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 raund 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 ancientidays "before the sweep of
whose sword men fell in battle like corn before the
sickle of the reaper."i-He passes to and from among
his people, to the camp of Cyrus without the walls.
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 details
of their imprisonment in the palace of Belshazzar
are very interesting. The gentle sorrow of the
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 comine, events that she beholds
in her prophetic visions, astonish and bewilder her
companions, who believe the enthusiast to be under
some delusion. It is an exciting passage which
relates her expedition for the famous sword. This
matchless weapon could be wielded by none save
Michael, and 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 diffi
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 iu wait for the
children of Jerusalem. The escape of Michael horn
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" to design
and carry out a work like this; but he has in a great
I measure succeeded in the stupendous undertaking.
' There is nothing irreverent or unbefitting 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-
comprehensible. The contrast is finely exhibited
between Cyrus and Belshazzar, the one at the head
of warriors setting out on a holy warfare, the of
the chief of companions in riots and wantonness.
There is a surprising amount of knowledge con-
cerning the place and people manifested throughout
the narrative, which could only have been attained
by elaborate research, joined to considerable powers
of observation. The story is exceedingly interest-
ing ; it attracts the reader by its fascinating in-
fluence in the passages which relate to those decisive
events, that awaken the most powerful emotions 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 doubtless
regard this as a masterpiece of its distinct class and
peculiar style.

Montaigne the Essayist. A. Biography. By Bayle
St. John. 2 v 01.,. Chapman and Hall.
This work‘ is intended to be the first of a series,
forming " a view of the formation and variations of
opinion, prejudice, character, taste, and, to a cer-
tain extent, manners in France, from the time of
Rabelais to that of Rousseau." The task which the
author has set himself is, therefore, it will bo per-
ceived by no means a light one. To write the
biography of a foreigner is no unusual occurrence ;
but to 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 demands and the labour it necessi-
tates. Fortunately, Mr. St. John is not an author
who is likely to be overwhelmed by the magnitude
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 decisive confidence of his manner.
The life of Montaigne, he considers, has been too
much studied in an antiquarian spirit, much mate-
rial has been collected, but not compiled in a com-
plete form. For 15 years, he tells us he has de-
voted every interval of leisure to:this object, and he
believes that these volumes contain an entirely new
narrative, though the facts 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 of self-love entered into every ounce of
Montaigne 's statements, than to cite with unerring
accuracy the essayand the book in which he informs
us that he was ' an enemy to falsehoodanda 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 someauthority for his opinions
from the attention he has given to all relating to
his subject, and from the pains he bas taken to
identify himself with Montaigne and his surround-
ings. The particulars of his early life are, doubt-
less, familiar to many. His father adopted 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 Boetie. The
appearance of the author of " A Treatise on
Voluntary Servitude," upon the scene affords Mr.
St. John an opportunity not to be lost. His admira-
tion for the sentiments of the anti-monarchical
essay, is of course, unbounded, and ho 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 confusion
would result if numbers were to be the only milli°.
rity of government. Fancy a republic of authorsi
like Estienne do la Boetie and his panegyrist . The
following passage is a fair sample ;
tthris, wrote from his
ue type of kings.
very en
" E idternaitil! Lanße oheatitee,d
his rasp he
him. But when he held this villaanthien
inNearlol,
living tyrants,
He does not flout, or criticise, or abuse him.—be scalps
halberds of their
inaccessible amidst the pikes and
them
wreaked,
guards, and the fiery halo cast around by popular
in imagination, his rage ou
superstition."
If his denunciations aro to be regarded as against
unreasoning tyranny only, their intolerance may be
excused, but Mr. St. John forgets in his censures that
constitutional government wasthena utopian dream,
and that Francis the First was not behind his
This monarch receives some violent attacks. His
• titre is somewhat coarsely and very unfavourably
drawn. - y
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 seine of his diatribes.
Yet he tells us that he was " the typo of the
Frenchmen of that period, not of the best or the
worst, but of the class susceptible of civilising in-
-;luences," so that, according to his own showing, a
rapalic Would only ha ,yo Da,ml9 matters worse. tit