The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-05 00:00:00

BULWER'S LIBRARY EDITION.

Twenty-eight years have elapsed since Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton (then Mr. Lytton Bulwer)
began writing in Rome his great historical romance
of Rienzi. An extension of his Italian tour at that
period, however, (1. .e in 1833) having conducted
him as far as aples, shortly after the opening
chapters of " Rienzi" had been committed to paper,
the young novelist found it imperative upon him
to yield himself captive to another fancy then
exercising over him a superior and, indeed at the
moment, a wholly irresistible fascination: Loiter-
ing spell-bound among the subterranean ruins of
Herculaneum and its sister city, Bulwer forsook for
a while the medieval "epoch of the "Last of the
Tribunes," for the earlier and classic period of the
"Last Days of Pompeii." Irene and Nina -paled
for an interval before Nydia and lone—the latter
being revealed in the lurid glare of that most stu•
pendous and appalling irruption of a burning
mountain ever told of in this world's history.
When, however, the love of Glaucus and the lust of
Arbaces had been, both of them, duly commemo-
rated in the great prose poem, penned by our
English Boccaccio, the earlier allurements
afforded to him by the remembrance of the life
and death of Cola di Rienzi, the last of the great
Roman Tribunes, revived—and the interrupted
narrative of that resplendent and pathetic catas-
trophe was, in due course, and with the customary
speed of that swift-moving pen of genius com-
pleted. The success of " Rienzi" as an historical
romance was complete and triumphant. It
put the confirmatory seal to Bulwer's already
recorded and recognised reputation. As his previous
works had been announced upon successive title-
page as by the "Author of Eugene Aram," and as
prior to " Eugene Aram" they had been described
as the effusions of the " Author of Pelham," so
soon after the appearance of this thenceforth
famous masterpiece of historic-fiction—its suc-
cessors were for a long while designated upon
subsequent title-pages, from the same hand, as
by the " Author of Rienzi." And now after pass-
ing through numerous reprints in editions of all
kinds, here cheap, here costly, after having been
translated like so many of its companions, born from
this prolific and variously gifted genius, now after
nearly one entire generation has passed since its
original appearance—(it has already been remarked
here that eight and twenty years have sped by
since its young author began to write the opening
pages of the narrative)—" Rienzi" comes forth yet
once more in the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes of
this noblest edition of all, the exquisite Library
Edition of the Novels, Tales, and Romances of Sir
Bulwer Lytton, published by the Messrs. Black-
wood and Sons, of London and Edinburgh. Tne
work has come so long since to be appreciated, far
and wide, as a recognised classic among English
Fictions that we may here content ourselves with
making this simple announcement.

The Greatest of all the Plantagenet:. An Historical
Sketch. Bentley.
The long and eventful reign of King Edward
the First has always occupied a prominent place in
our national history. Intervening between the
uncertain and powerless tenure of the sceptre by
Henry the Third, and the brief and disastrous
reign of his son, Edward of Caernarvon ; remark-
able for his subjugation of the principality and his
fierce contests with the Scotch; comspicuous alike
for his vigorous and able internal government and
for his valour and ability in the field, it is not sur-
prising that the name of the first Edward has
always been esteemed as one of the most eminent of
our monarchs. The writer of the volume before us
subscribes himself from the outset his most enthu-
siastic and unqualified 4upporter. He considers
that scanty justice has been done to the greatness
of his personal qualities and the brilliant events of
his reign, and he ascribes this to the fact that all our
later, and better, historians have been Scotchmen,
and as such were not likely to render honour due
to one who bears on his tomb the words " Scotorum
Ilfalleus." All this bas possibly
.some truth. The
firm hand of Edward held the reins of power with
steady and consistent grasp in a tumultuous and
disorganised state of affairs. No Simon de Montfort
presumed to rear his head in his day. The finances
judiciously and fairly apportioned balanced the
expenses, and the debts and difficulties, the royal
alternations of munificence and solicitation that had
disgraced his father's days, were heard of no more.
The arms of England were held in fear, and the
arbitration of her just and puissant monarch was
continually in request. But when we are told that
almost every act in the long life of this king was
admirable, or at worst blameless ; when his oppo-
nents are denounced in tote; when the customs of the
age afford excuse for the royal acts, but none for those
of his adversaries ; when the struggle of a nation
for independence is stigmatised as treason, and
William Wallace is compared to Nana Sahib (only
indeed the comparison is held too good for him),
then indeed we hold the writer for an extravagant
partisan, who is not only wanting in the first
requisite of an historian—unbiassed impartiality—
but plain common sense, likewise. With regard to
the opening years of Edward's career there is less
ground for censure. The strife and trouble which
attended his later years met him in the threshold of
life. His father, involved in the dispute with
Simon de Montfort, was totally incapable of com-
peting with his powerful enemy either in
the council chamber or the field of battle.
His son's more vigorous head and hand extricated
him from his difficulties, and left him nominally
victor of that field to which he had been brought a
prisoner. But it was when he himself ascended the
throne that Edward's great qualities as governor
were manifested. He is styled in the pages before
us "the first English King," and the writer quotes
the graphic language of our late historian to
describe the characteristics of this era. One
feature in Edward's reign which renders it
remarkable in our days is the assembling of Par-
liaments :•—" From the very first," says our author,
" he associated the people with himself in the work
of legislation ; and accordingly now, for the first
time, do these all-important words appear on the
statute-book of England :—' These be the Acts of
King Edward, made at Westminster, at the first
Parliament general after his coronation, by his
council and by the assent of archbishops, bishops,
earls, barons, and all the commonalty of the realm
thither summoned.' " The Statute of Westminster,
which, Lord Campbell asserts deserves the name
of a code rather than an Act of Parliament, is
another evidenee of the legislative ability of him
who has been styled "The English Justinian."
His encouragement of constitutional assemblies is
especially commendable in so powerful and strong-
willed a monarch, and his enunciation of the doc-
trine, that. " What concerns all, should by all be
approved ; and that common dangers should be met
by remedies provided in common," is the expression
of the fundamental principle of our Constitution. It
is, therefore, manifestly unfair, as the writer main-
tains, to regard only the wars of later years as a
sample of Edward's reign. He complains that
most historians have done this, fixing their eyes
chiefly on the invasion of Scotland, and his contest
with the two earls, regardless of the fact that
Edward had reigned nearly a quarter of a century
before either event took place. He observes that
one might as well begin the reign of George 111.
with the French Revolution, or the life of the
Duke of Wellington with his opposition to the
Reform Bill. Of course, in all withtransactions
o_
the Welsh, the King was the impersonation
t ahe
u t
clemency and gentleness, and the massacre p
e uisf
ace
bards a total fiction. We have
for a discussion of these points, but pass on
to the author's uncomprorail
Edward's Scottish en defence of
policy. rjgudiced as he
o.
had shown himself in
manys hi other points,
and enthusiastic as wa s admiration
, „
we
must confess
for the "hammer of Scotlana,
that his treatment of this question surprised us.

His argument is that Edward, as Lord Paramount
of Scotland, bad a right to fealty and allegianee,
and that, if withheld, he had a right to exact it by
force of arms, and consequently all who opposed
him were traitors, and merited the penalty of high
treason. We have no duubt that King Francis 11.
regards Garibaldi as a very treasonable individual,
and probably the Emperor of Austria considers
Kossuth a rebellious subject ; but that is not ex-
actly the light in which they are looked upon here,
although a comparison of the " Knight of
Ellerslie" with the Italian and Hungarian patriots
might be more appropriate than a parallel with
Nana Sahib. We will allow the autnor to make

this extraordinary simile in his own words :

" Of his reception in England we may form some idea
by figuring to :ourselves how the Nana Sahib would be
received were he conducted across India into Calcutta, or
were he brought to London. Yet this comparison fails,
for the atrocities of Nana Sahib were altogether trivial
compared with those of Wallace. The Indian leader was
stained with the guilt of one massacre, the Scotch with
the guilt of many. The Nana had slain his hundreds,
Wallace his thousands,—each being the slaughterer of
helpless women and children. He was carried through
England a chained prisoner to his doom. He arrived in
London on the 22d of August, 1305, ' great numbers of
men and women,' says Stowe, ' wondering upon him.' He
was not lodged in any prison, nor was any lengthened
proceeding entered into. His chief crime,—the savage
desolation of the northern counties, was a matter of
universal notoriety ; nor did he for a moment deny it."
We have seldom met with a more unjust and par-
tial
statement than the sketch of William Wallace
given in these pages. The comparison with one
whom the writer justly calls " the butcher of
Cawn-
pore,"
is made not once, but many times. His
military efforts are transformed into the leadership
of a band of ruffians and outlaws. It is only sur-
prising how this disorderly assembly suddenly find
themselves fit to encounter, on any terms, the orga-
nised armies of England. The persistence with
which he asserts Edward's marvellous lenity and
mercy to the Scotch is only paralleled by his pic-
ture of a brave and unfortunate patriot as a " cri
minal" and a " murderer," and his attempted pallia-
tion of the refinement of cruelty which condemned
a woman to imprisonment in a cage during years,
for the offence of placing the crown on his oppo-
nent's head. This_ treatment of the Countess of
Buchan, and the cruelty of Wallace's sentence, are
quietly disposed of by this ready advocate by an
allusion to the manners of the time. But if the
rough and stern customs of the age are to be
allowed to plead any excuse for such barbarity, it
is simply absurd to stigmatise Wallace's incursions
into the northern counties as ruthless massacres.
It is with regret that we see a work, which is ably
and carefully written in most parts, and relates to
an important period of our history, depreciated by
such unreasoning prejudice. Still, the volume will
reward the reader, as it gives a clear and succinct
account of the actions and occurrences of a length-
ened and eventful reign.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The directors of this company have resolved to
recommend to the proprietors, at the general meet-
ing on the 14th inst., that the dividend for the
half-year ending the 31st of December, 1860, be at
the rate of £5 ss. per cent. per annum on the ordi-
nary capital of the company.

PROJECTED RAILWAYS IN THE CITY.
Mr. Haywood, engineer and surveyor to the
Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London, in
his report to the Improvement Committee of the
Commission upon the projects of railway companies,
applying for powers to construct works within the
city, states that he has made a general examination,
of the plans of the various railway and other com-
panies who seek powers during the ensuing session
of Parliament to enter and execute works within
the city of London. The projects are as follows :
—l, the Metropolitan Railway, extension to
Finsbury-circus ; 2, the Finsbury-circus Railway
Station, with approaches ; 3, the Eastern Counties
and Finsbury Railway; 4, the Metropolitan Rail-
way Improvements ; 5, the East London Railway ;
6, the North London (Branch to City) Railway ; 7,
the West-end and City RailwaylB, the Charing-
cross Railway, City Terminus ; 9, Os Thames Em
bankment.

With regard to the Metropolitan Railway Exten-
sion to Finsbury-circus, after leaving the proposed
new meat market at Smithfield, the line proceeds at
the northern side of Long-lane, crossing beneath
Charterhouse-street and Aldersgate -street,Redcross-
street, Whitecross-street, Milton-street, and Moor-
lane, then at the back of the property on the
northern side of Fore-street and to the west side of
Finsbury, about 120 feet north of London-wall.
The total ar,,a scheduled within the city is about
14 acres. The number of public places of all deno-
minations to be passed under, stopped up, appro-
priated, or interfered with, is 40. The railway is
proposed to be in a tunnel throughout its entire
length.
The Finsbury-circus railway station, with op.
proaches, is designed iu connexion with the Metro-
politan Railway Extension and the Eastern
Counties and Finsbury Railway. It is to provide
the station accommolation for both of those rail-
ways, and form the connecting line between them.
The property scheduled includes nearly the whole
which lies between Finsbury-pavement, South-
place, Eldon-street, and Broad-street-buildings,
New Broad-street, to within a few feet of London-
wall; that at the back of London-wall from
New Broad-street to Blomfield street, and the whole
of London-wall as far as to Finsbury-pavement, and
the northern side of Fore-street as far as to Moor-
lane; the eastern side of Moor-lane up to New
Union-street. The area scheduled is about 201
acres. The public ways interfered with are 20 iu
number. The approaches comprehend a new street
60 feet wide, from Bartholomew-lane to London-
wall, and a cross street leading out of it and
running into Moorgate-street near to Great Swan-
alley. The area scheduled is four acres and three
quarters. The public ways interfered with are 14
in number.

The Eastern Counties and Finsbury Railway is
proposed to branch out from the Eastern Counties
Railway at Arundel-street, Bethnal-green, and pro-
ceed, crossing Brick-lane, New Commercial-street,
and entering the city by crossing beneath Bishops-
gate-street; thence, crossing Primrose-street, Skin-
ner-street, Sun-street, Half-Moon-street, it joins the
Metropolitan Railway at the Circus station before
described. Improved approaches are included in
this project. The property scheduled includes
nearly the whole which lies between Broad.street-
buildings, Blomfield-street, London-wall, and the
northern portion of Broad-street. The total area
is about 111- acres. The number of public ways
interfered with is 29. The line is to be in a tunnel
throughout.
The Metropolitan Railway Improvements.—By
this Bill it is proposed to give the Metropolitan
Railway Company power to take additional lands,
to widen portions of the line, and run a loop line
to Smithfie:d Meat-market. The loop leaves the
main line in Victoria street, and proceeds at the
back of West-street, and then enters the area of the
proposed new market. It is to be in a tunnel.
The area of the property scheduled is three and a
quarter acres. The number of public ways inter-
fered with is five.

The East London Railway is a project for
making a railway from New Broad-street to the
River Thames, close to the Irongate Wharf ; it in-
cludes three branches. At New Broad-street it
joins the proposed Eastern Counties and Fins-
bury Extension Railway; it crosses Bishopsgate-
street into Idoundsditch, running down the centre
of that street and of the Minories, until at
Swan-street, where, striking off slightly to
the east, and going beneath the Black wall
Railway, across Royal Mint-street, and Little
Tower-hill, to the St. Katharine's Dock warehouses,
the whole length of one large stack of which it
traverses, it terminates about 150 feet from the
Irongate-stairs and the eastern entrance to the
Tower of London. The first branch leaves the line
at Aldgate, and passes with a curve to the goods
depot of the London and North-Western Railway
Company in Haydon-square. The second branch
leaves the main line at Haydon-square, and termi-
nates at the goods depot of the Great Northern
Railway on the south side of the Biackwall Rail-
way. The third branch leaves the line by Swan-
street, and proceeds to the warehouses belonging to
the Victoria (London) Dock Company. The whole
3
of those railways are to pass through tunri3P7lB.
area scheduled is about 10! acres,
places are interfered with. and public
The North London Railway
rail way from Liver-
to City)L is
a project for constructing
pool-street, in the city la,ondon, to the North
London Railway at Kingsland. The junction is to
be made with the North London Railway, near
Dalston-lane, then to be carried nearly parallel
with Kingsland-road; it goes over Old-street-road,
enters the city at Primrose-street, crosses Skinner-
street, Sun-street, to Broad-street-buildings, to its
terminus on the northern side of Liverpool-street:
The total area scheduled within the city is about
five acres, and the number of public ways inter-
fered with is eleven. Its entire length within the
city is to be carried on a viaduct.
The West-end and City Railway is to commence
at Regent-circus, Piccadilly, and terminate at the
proposed Smithfield Meat market. After leaving
the Circus, it proceeds by Coventry-street, Oran-
bourn-street, Long-acre, and prom, Queen-street,
keeping entirely in the line of public way. At
Great Qucen-street it crosses into Holborn, thence
continuing along the line of public way, it enters
the city at Holborn-bars ;at Leather-lane, turning
slightly northwards, it goes under Hatton-garden
and over Victoria-street to the New Meat-market.