The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-26 00:00:00

THE QUARTERLIES.

The Quarterly Review. No. CCI.
The new number of The Quarterly has already
reached a second edition. We arc not surpti ed
at it. It is altogether a mist remarkable number.
Full of interest, full of novelty, replete with evi-
dences of refired and elegant scholarship, and
abounding with information. There are eight se-
parate contributi,.n., making up the contents of the
present ins'aiment. The first of thee eight articles
being a very elaborate and, as it proves when once
fairly adventured upon, a singularly readable sur-
vey of the topographical IThours of Messrs. Baker,
Bridge, Fuller, S oneberg, Hudson, Whellan,
and Hartshorne, in illustration of the "History
and Antiquities of Northamptonshire " Next we
have—very pleasant reading for Mr. Harry Brad-
bury—a genial paper upon "Ferns and their por-
traits—Nature Print ng," in which the reviewer
not less eagerlythan the reviewed evinces a readiness
to.m.

"Hie to haunts right seldom seen,
Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green,
Where the morning dew lies longest,
Where the Lady Fern grows strongest:"
according to Sir Walter's exquisite sylvan 'descrip-
tion. Later on, guided and companioned by ano-
ther critic in the Quarterly, we wander off, in a
pleasant Waltonian essay, in quest of that Emperor
of Fish " The Salmon." Another reviewer de-
scantivg upon "The Rat" merrily reminds us at.
the outset of his treatise upon it, how—
" Boswell relates that the wits, who assembled at the house
of Sir Joshua Reynolds to hear Grainger's poem on the ' Sugar
cane' read in manuscript, burst into laughter when, after
much pompous blank.verse, a new paragraph commenced with
the invocation—
" Now, Huse, let's sing of rats.' "

_Adding—
" But if a mean topic for the bard, they aro an interesting
subject to the naturalist, an anxious one to the agriculturist,
and of some importance to everybody."
Previously, however, to these two eccentric, but
instructive and entertaining, papers anent " The
Rat" and " The Salmon"—we are indebted to a '"
gifted and 'scholarly- critic in the Quarterly for a
masterly disquisition upon " Homer and h's Suc-
cessors in Epic Poetry." A disquisition in which
—setting aside not only the great mass of Epic
Poets (Secondary and Subordinate), but with them
even Milton with his " Paradise Lost," and Dante
with his "Diving Comnaedia"—the Reviewer con-
trasts, and weighs in the balance, and analyses, with
the subtlest tokens of taste and judgment, Homer's
" Iliad " and " Odyssea," Virgil's " Eneid," and.
Tasso's " Gerusalemme Liberata." Before enter-
ing, however, upon this more detailed examination
of the great masterpieces of Homer, Virgil, and
Tasso, the Quarterly Review observes incident ally of
Danta as compared with Milton, that while he is
in the Purgatorio and Paradiso more heavenly than
Milton, he is throughout the t Divina Comrnedia'
" truly and profoundly human." Subsequently, in
illustration, or rather verification, of the remark
that " the immense power of Virgil as a poet had
been demonstrated before he wrote the ‘lEn.eid,'"
the writer observes, very admirably, "He
had shown their full splendour in the Geor-
gics ; though the nOoe or (so to speak) the heart,
even of that great work was touched with paralysis
by his Epicurean and self-centring philosophy."
It is added, however, a little later on—as regret-
fully as truthfully—that about the only Touch of
Nature in the whole of that grand epic of the
Aneid is the simile (viii., 407) of the mother la-
bowing with her maidens at night
" Castum ut servare cubilo
Conjugis, et possit parvos educere untos."
As a magnificent specimen of Hornet's descriptive
powers, we have, excerpted, his picture of the first
great mental cinvulsion of Achilles :
We oaro 1171XEi(om axon yivur, iv (34 of irop
cr7-40Eacriv Xacriotat atavatxa pEpitiptZev,
it bye opciayavov pvcreretAsvoe rap& impoil
ro'c µiv rivacrrllcruev, o a"Arpanv ivapttot,
?ji x6Xov iralicretev, ipqrziffeti re Ovit6v.
While, as a crowning tribute of homage to the ge-
nius of Tasso, the whole of this really masterly cri-
Vcism upon Epic Poetry closes with these earnest
remarks of the reviewer :—That while—
" It must be confessed a great and sharp descent from the
stature of Homer as a creative poet to that of Tasso—yet hi
too is a classic of Italy, and a classic of the world ; and if for
a moment we feel it a disparagement to his country that she
suffers in this one comparison, let her soothe her ruffled re-
collection by the consciousness that though Tasso has not
rivalled Homer, at least no other poet of a modern time and
couut2y has rivalled him; none has erected, upon similar
foundations to his, a fabric so lofty and so durable, so full of
beauty and of grace ; so well entitled, if not to vie with the
very greatest achievement of the ages that went before Lim.
at least to challenge or to win the admiration of those that
have succeeded. To lose the match against Homer is far
more than to win it from another competitor. Few indeed
are the sons of genius, and elect among the elect, who can
be brought into comparison with that sire and king of verso;
and Tasso we are persuaded would bear us no grudge for thus
far, in his words, limiting his honours :
" e cio fia sommo onore ;
Questi gia con Gernando in gars venue."
The tone of the very admirable biographic criti•
*ism upon " Sir Charles Napier"—upon th 4
Sir Charles Napier upon the great Sir
Charles Napier, the Conqueror of Scinde,
and the Hero of Meannee and Hyderabad, may at
once be conjectured from the subjoined preamble
to it—
This,' says Sir William Napier,' shall be the story of
a man who never tarnished his reputation by a shameful
deed—of one who subdued distant nations by his valour,
and then governed them so wisely that English rule was
reverenced and loved where before it had been feared and
execrated.' This we may add is the story of a man who
united in his person qualities as fascinating as were ever
combined in a hero—of a man who joined to the chivalry'
of a soldier the sensitiveness of a woman--whose soul
seemed by turns to be flaming with fire and melting with
tenderness—whose life presents a singular combination of
romantic adventures with domestic virtues—of memorable)
deeds with the unfailing commentary of sagacious reflec-
tions and touching sentiments."
And rightly is the Life of Charles Napier penned
in this spirit of love and admiration—whether writ-
ten "at large" by the pen of his heroic and gifted
brother Sir William,* or " in little" by the hardly
less congenial critic in the Quarterly! For—to
speak of Charles Napier, as he ought to be spoken ofe
as he has been hitherto so seldom spoken of, in the
words of Truth, is literally to speak of him in the
language of Panegyric ! From the preceding arti-
cle—a biographic criticism, or as it might perhaps,
be more correctly designated the posthumous
apology of " Lord Raglan " we extract the
following interesting memento of the tranquil
manner of the demise of a gentle and gallant;
soldier. Premising that the reviewer has just im-
mediately before this observed that Lord Raglan-
had only taken to his bed on the 26th of June,
1855
" The evening after he was thought to have improved, and.
by no means to have gone back on the morning of the 28th,
but about four o'clock in the afternoon it became evident to
everybody that he was rapidly sinking. His nephew, Lord.
Burghersh, whom he loved for the bunny disposition Congo.
(dal to his own, which he retained in the midst of danger and,
trial, informed him he was growing worse. With that reso-
lute mind which had attended him through life, and which.
succumbed to nothing, he affirmed that he was better. As
he seemed, however, not to wish to talk he was left undis-
turbed till about eight o'clock, when General Airey, to rouse
him, told him that his nephew was in the room. He woke
up and said, ' Francis, come to the other side,' Francis, give
me your hand,' and then repeated several times Francis, lift
me up.' They were the last words be spoke. He expired
twenty minutes afterwards in such perfect quietness that the
bystanders could hardly tell he was gone,—dying with the
same simplicity with which he had lived. Providence who had
visited him with so many afflictions to fit him for this happy
hour, spared him the sorrow of apprehending his danger
and the bitterness of the pang which would have come over
him when he thought of the relatives and friends far away in
his native land. His entire life may be said to have been a
preparation for death. To the eye of the observer his char-
acter seemed without a single flaw, and many a time have his
friends been beard to say that, if ever a perfect being existed
in the world, Lord Raglan was the man.' That he was chosen
solely for his qualities in his early youth as a bosom friend of
Sir Arthur Wellesley, and that he retained this pre-eminence.
without a moment's interruption, to the death of the Duke—
a space of mere than forty years—would be evidence of itself
that he was possessed of extraordinary worth."
The eighth and concluding article relates to
"Our Political Prospects—Domestic, Foreign,
and Financ:al."

* It may be permitted to us here briefly to remark that
our comments upon the latest historic masterpiece of
Lieut.-General Sir William Napier, Vols. L and 11. of
his glorious brother's biography—" The Life and Opinions
of General Sir Charles James Napier, G.c.B” 4 yob,.
12 mo. Murray:
. London—are only postponed until such
time as a pause in the heavy debates of Parliament may
afford us Aliterally) space in our columns for their publi-
cation.--lED. SUN.]

Last Mr. S. .
theCowell, l
who
three oa rs
b
four
ee
months,
"starring
reap-
peared
t ng
in th
for one night at his old favourite place of amuse•
meet, the Canterbury Hall.
epnroigvhintces M
So enthusiastic was his
reception that the audience were reluctant to part com•
pang, even after Mr. Cowell bad sung four of his famous
comic songs without the slightest intermission. The re-
appearance of this favourite comic singer was entirely
unexpected, as Mr. Cowell, having to pass through Lon-
don on his way to Scotland, determined to spend an
evening with his old friends. He gave his services
gretu tou•ly ; thus showing the respect and good feeling
Existing between him and Mr. C. Morton, the worthy
proprietor of this establishment.
FATAL FIRE.—On Saturday morning, about 11 o'clock,
a fire broke out in a portion of a mill at Kirkheaton,
near Huddersfield, known as Levi's mill, and the pro'
pert), of Mr. Sbeard, of Huddersfield. While a man of
weak intellect named William Smith was willowing
cotton and wool together, in the teazer, or willow room,
the friction of the machinery ignited the cotton. Smith
drew the burning cotton out of the machine and three:
it upon a mass of wool and cotton lying by, which was
thus ignited. The flames spread wish great rapidity,
and, before they could be extinguished, damage to the
extent of about 2,0001. was done. The charred and
burnt body of Smith was afterwards found, crouched
behind some oil casks. An inquest was held upon the
remains of the unfortunate man, and a verdict of "Acct.
dental death " was returned.