The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 19, 1868.

in .g from his day's excursion or his country walk,
dc •es not want ardent spirits. Mr. SMITH brings
forward four arguments, which he holds conclusive.
Past, drunkenness is always in proportion to the
fuility for its indulgence. Second, that all re-
straints have been attended by beneficial conse-
quences. Third, that a remarkable change has
taken place in the wishes and feelings of the work-
ing men, to which it is expedient that Parliavient
should give effect ; and, fourthly, that it is unde-
sirable to keep open public-houses on a day when
every other shop is closed by law. It would not
be very difficult to take exception to every one of
these aphorisms. It may very much be doubted
whether national drunkenness is always greater
in proportion to the facilities for its indulgence.
If it were so the Maine Liquor Law would
not have been such an absolute failure, and we
should not be congratulating ourselves on the im-
proved temperance of this country. Mr. SMITH made
a great deal of the example of Liverpool, where there
is almost free trade in beer, and where the amount of
drunkenness is something frightful. But Liver-
pool is not a fair instance. Its large floating popu-
lation, its immense number of sailors just arrived
from long voyages, its selection as a place of em-
barkation by emigrants, and all the excitement
consequent on their parting from their friends—all
help to swell the rate. Social philosophers may, if
they like, go yet deeper, and trace some con-
nection between the proverbial unhealthiness
of Liverpool and its prevailing drunkenness.
The death-rate of the city is exceptionally
high, and it may be asked whether there be not
some affinity between the close courts, the crowded
alleys, the exhausting toil, the deficient sanitary ar-
rangements, the foul air, and the excessive use of
stimulants among the labouring population. There
is more in this question of drunkenness than ap-
pears on the surface. The wise and well-meaning
men who want to drive the poor man home vi et
armis from the too fascinating bar have very little
idea of the sort of home they are sending him to.
It is perhaps a small and not too airy room, two or
three flights up, looking on dismal roofs, where
dirty, noisy children are crying and fighting,
while the overworked and untidy mother is
scolding all round. Perhaps she is busy over her
wash-tub, and the place is full of the damp results,
or still more likely she is out at work, and will come
home very unfit for the cheerful conversation which
moralists and Teetotallers believe in. We must not
be too hard on those whose life is a constant
struggle, to whom the daily loaf and the weekly
rent are ever present troubles. It is deplorable,
indeed, to see shillings wasted at the public-house
while pence are wanted at home, but it is an evil
which we cannot cure by force. We must
weigh in the balance the working man's
temptations, wants, and difficulties ; we must
look at him and his home as they
really are, and then try what remedial and
elevating influences can best lift him from his de-
spondency and degradation. Much has been done
already, much more may be done ; only we must
remember, as Mr. ROEBUCK says, that it is wonder-
ul how good we can all be when we are legislating
'or others—not for ourselves.

The French EMPEROR has enough to do just now,
and the last effort he has made to restore confidence
has been to issue a pamphlet, which will be read
with interest in all directions, both on account of
the quarter from which it proceeds, and also from
the causes which have given rise to it. It seems as
if it were rather an imprudent thing in some re-
spects to advert to the history of the Napoleonic
dynasty after this fashion, because it may suggest
to some ill-natured per,on that there is a want of
security in the feeling of the authorities. Be
this as it may the pamphlet has appeared,
and of course it must be ❑oticed. The commence-
ment is very emphatically worded, for it states that
the idea entertained is to unite in one single pub-

lication " the various manifestations of the national
will which have founded the Napoleonic dynasty
under two Republics and two Empires," and the
effect which it is expected this essay Rill produce
is to give a great political lesson. In other words,
we may presume that the intention is to influence
the mind of France favourably with respect to the
forthcoming elections, but how far this may answer
the end in view it is impossible to say. It is certainly
curious to notice the parallels here drawn between
the first and second Empire, and the general popu-
larity which has attended the course of uncle and
nephew ; and inferior as the second NAPOLEON is
in some respects, to the first there is a striking
similarity in their respective policies. The titles of
the Napoleonic dynasty are, we are informed,
thirty millions of approving votes signed by the
French people. In rather exaggerated phrases this
pamphlet then declares that the two N APOLEONS
have " drawn France from abysses, and have both
been hailed three times as her saviours." It is true
that our Continental neighbours are far more in
the habit of dealing in extravagances than we are,
and sometimes treat a commonplace subject in the
must excitable style. Still we do not see what hts
happened to render it. advisable to resort to first
principles after this fashion, and it is an unwise
thing for the EMPEROR to let the world
see that the disturbances which have been
officially declared to be trifles have in reality
been of sufficient importance to call forth all
these protests and asseverations. It is perhaps a
bold game, but then to play it shows that danger
is apprehended and disaffection taken into account,
and with jealous friends at home and crafty foes
abroad, it is a mistake to acknowledge so openly
that the kingdom is not in unity, and the house
divided against itself.

No one who has ever been familiar with the
EMPEROR'S compositions can expect them
to be otherwise than clear and concise
in their statements, and powerful in their argu-
ments; so with this specimen before us, it takes ad-
vantage of the past to show the merits of the present
policy, and points hopefully to the future as a sure
illustration of the great services that the Napo-
leonic dynasty has rendered to France. There is
a direct intimation in this pamphlet that the situa-
tion demands that some effort be made to meet it
adequately ; and it is plainly said that at
a time when the Constitution, which has been
a " fundamental part between the EMPEROR
and the people, becomes the object of more or less
overt attacks, and the aim of all combined opposi-
tions, it has seemed to us advisable to bring it
again before the public eye, and to recall the cir-
cumstances under which it arose." This is to the
point, at any rate, and therefore worthy of respect,
for nothing is so unsuitable as to have one meaning
given of a thing when another is the correct version
of the affair. If we were to seek to trace the
source of the evil now existing in France, we

might go back a long way and touch upon wany
topic, but the origin of a great deal of the misc Lief
was the Government policy of some years back.
From the time when Prussia assumed so prominent
a place in the councils of Europe it might have
been seen that the French were annoyed. At
first disappointed, they became indignant, and
as time seemed to bring mystification on
France, while the fortune of war inclined
to her rival, the feeling was often expressed in

more ways than one. This, among other things, led
to the notion of reorganising the military system
of France, but the remedy in itself gave cause for
disquietude and discontent, and of late its unpopu-
larity has been notorious.
It is not likely that any elaborate defence of
the Constitution that may interest politicians to
dwell upon will convince the people that they
must risk a measure which they do not approve of ;
but then they may be led to consider the facts of
the case. The character of the Constitution, we are
told, " implies progressive amelioration, and is
capable of improvement," which has been attended
by many improvements that have taken place of
late years. It cannot be denied that the EMPEROR
has just passed through the darkest years of his
reign as yet, for with one thing and
another his policies multiplied and diffi-
culties increased. If his efforts to remedy the
evils have resulted in the introduction of a measure
that is unpopular, it is indeed a chapter of accidents
that we are perusing in following up the history
Empire ; but it cannot be said that the Army Bill
is the sole cause of the present unpopularity of the
EMPEROR. Some harsh critics may perhaps inquire
whether there bas been so much real progress made in
the cause of justice as the assertions so broadly made
in this pamphlet would justify us believing. When
it is borne in mind that only a few weeks back we
met with some most marvellous proofs of the arbi-
trary laws that restrict the liberty of the Press, it
may be asked without undue curiosity if the grand-
sounding phrases are more than words that
we so constantly meet with in this sort
of composition. Perhaps it is enough in. the pre-
sent unsettled state of things abroad to be satisfied
with results instead of inquiring too closely into

prior circumstances and first causes; and let us hope,
then, that the pamphlet, concerning which so much
ado has been made, may gain the purpose of its
author, though it succeed after a somewhat different
fashion to what was intended. The French will
act unwisely if they show discontent and disaffec-
tion to the Empire. It has faults of a serious
nature, and most of its errors are not likely to be
amended just yet, so it is of no use to say that
they are only of short duration. But where
can we find a better state of Government
for the people of France just now than
is offered to them by the distinguished man who,
for many years, has exercised a rigorous rule, and
often commanded the respect and admiration of
Europe by his bold and spirited policy? When we
think of the increase of power which Prussia has
gained, the progress in constitutional rights that
Austria has made, the new day of liberty that
has dawned upon Italy, and other events of
a significant character, we may well feel a disincli-
nation to see France again thrown into the tur-
moils of Revolution and the strife of Republicanism.
Much may be done by moderation, and the EM-
PEROR and the people may take counsel together in
order to mitigate any evil that exists, and
to put a stop to any measures that press
too heavily upon the resources and energies
of the nation. The visionary may be disap-
pointed, and the restless spirit indignant, but
the wise and patriotic will feel sure that the most
effective services that can be rendered to the coun-

try may be done quietly and with care and caution.
It is to be hoped that France may be spared the
horrors of war abroad, but the prospect of strife
and contention within is far more serious, and it
should be the earnest endeavour of all true patriots
to prevent such a catastrophe.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, WEDNESDAY, March 18.

Tie much-talked-of pamphlet came out this afternoon.
As regards quantity, it is less than was expected, and I
hear that it has %km cut down from eighty pages to its
present size—fifty.zour pages. Its re, tto is, " Vox populi,
vox Dei," and the writer, who is believed to be M. Conti,
the Emperor's Secretary, justifies the adoption of that
sentiment by recording the various occasions on which the
popular will has declared itself for the Bonaparte dynasty,
and the number of votes by which that will was ex-
pressed. In fact, we have an historical resume
of the various plebiscites, beginning with the 15th of
December, 1799, when General Bonaparte was elected First
Consul by 3,911,007 votes to 1,562 ; and coming down to
the plebiscite of November 1852, when the Prince Presi-
dent was elected Emperor by 7,824,189 votes out of
8,140,660. Six times altogether were the people appealed
to, and the result is that from 1799 to 1804, Napoleon I.
received 10,000,000 of suffrages ; from 1848 to 1852, Napo-
leon 111. received 20,000,000 ; " 30,000,000 of bulletins
signed by the French people—these," says the pam-
phlet, " are the titles of the Napoleonic dynasty."
The writer goes on to argue that the principles of the
constitution are thus settled upon a fixed basis which
cannot be altered without another appeal to the people.
At the same time they admit of " progressive ameliora-
tions." The Constitution is " perfectible." " The
Emperor openly proclaimed this on December 31, 1851,
when he said that he intended to bring the country to a
wise exercise of liberty. Let us add, that the decree of
November 24, 1860, and the letter of January 19, 1867,
have accomplished this promise." In other words, France
must not look for any farther extension of liberty. At all
events, the Emperor will appeal from the capital to the
departments before he will grant it, from the cities to the
communes—feeling pretty confident that another plebiscite
would only confirm him in the course which he has adopted.
It is thus I interpret the pamphlet. I see that Liberal
journals like the Avenir National understand it in the
same sense.

The Paris papers are taking considerable interest in
your parliamentary debates. M. Odysse Barret has a long
article in the Liberte upon Monday night's. He says that
Mr. Gladstone's speech recalls the best days of Chatham,
Pitt, Burke, Fox, and Canning, and Mr. Disraeli's reply,
far from detracting from it, only added to its brilliancy and
increased its importance. Of the Premier, M. Barrot says,
that in spite of the applause of his supporters he was killed
on the spot (rate our le carreau), for he chewed himself
inferior to the eminent post which he occupies, and
below the formidable task which circumstances impose on
him. M. Barrot is very severe upon the fact that the
word " laughter " occurs thirty-four times in the course of
Mr. Disraeli's speech, and says that jokes and epigrams
are scarcely the way in which to treat the just complaints
of a nation in mourning and in arms. The writer goes on
to say that " power will doubtless not remain long in the
hands of Mr. Disraeli. In England, with a people essen-
tially practical and serious, power cannot remain long in
the hands of a flippant mau, who thinks of amusing instead
of governing." ,
_

Some of the journals publish a very curious letter from
Bismarck, justifying his conduct to a friend. He says :
" Although I have very little spare time, I cannot refuse
to reply to an inquiry addressed to me in the name of
Jesus Christ by an honest heart." He goes on to express
regret at being the object of scandal to many Christian
souls. At the same time, it is impossible for a man in his
position not to give rise to scandals. " Thank God," he
adds, " I have upon my conscience no other sins than those
with which the world is well acquainted, and for which I
hope for pardon only through the blood shed by Jesus Christ.
So far as I am a statesman, I am not sufficiently decisive ;
I do not place myself sufficiently above conventionalisms.
In my own opinion I am rather a coward, and I do not
decide in questions which come before me with that clear-
ness which springs from confidence in God. He who
accuses me of being a politician without conscience wrongs
me ; before condemning me he should place himself in a
position to put my conscience to the proof." He then
goes on to defend himself with regard to the Virchow duel,
and declares that when he entered upon it he was past the
age when men are influenced by their passions, and that he
consecrated his life to the cause of his country after long
and painful conflicts and humble prayers to God. If he
has been absent from church for some time, it is because
he has been ill. He would like to go more of ten, but the
state of his health forbids. Having thus explained his
duelling and his non-attendance at church, he goes on to
explain his supposed connection with Lucca, the opera
singer. He declares that it was quite innocent, and that
the taking of their portraits in the same carte was merely a
pleasantry which he would not have permitted had he
known that it would have hurt his friends.

It is now expected that the Italian Ministry will be able
to carry all its financial measures, and to this expectation
is no doubt owing the recent rise of 2 per cent. in Italian
securities on the London Stock Exchange. The tax upon
grinding corn will reduce the deficit by nearly three millions
sterling, and the substitution of a tax upon property for
one upon income will give about the same amount, and it
is anticipated that these, with other fiscal changes, will
reduce the present deficit of £8,720,000 to about £2,000,000.
In order to strengthen his position it is believed that
General Menabrea will make overtures to the third party,
which at present holds a place between the Government
and the Opposition, led by Rattazzi.

There has been a new excavation at Pompeii in honour
of the visit of the American Admiral Farragut, whose
nun ements are considered of sufficient importance to
telegraph every day to all parts of the Continent. The
site of the excavation was a room in one of the largest
houses yet discovered, awl as the workmen dug up the
hard massed ashes a circle of eager faces looked on
intently. The revelations were gloomy enough, for an
entire skeleton was found in one spot, while in another,
though the form was apparent, one or two bones only
were forthcoming. Here the operations were stayed, as it
is the intention of Fiorelli to fill up the vacuum with
plaster of Paris, so as to unite such portions of the bones
as may yet remain and preserve at least the form. It was
evident enough, however, that one of the victims lay
crouched up in a corner as he died in his agonies ; while
the other :ay prostrate as though death had terminated his
sufferings immediately.

It is a great pity that Garibaldi's friends cannot put a
bridle into his mouth. Every year his statements become
wilder and fiercer. He has just written to Karl Blind, the
German refugee, from Caprera, March 10 : " To combat
Bonaparte is to combat the Evil One. In my opinion,
therefore, not only all Germany ought to withstand him,
but Italy also. Nay, the whole world ought to make com-
mon cause against him." This from the founder of the
44 Leag,ue of Peace and Liberty."

The attempt to form a Confederation of the South
German States, if it has been seriously made, has com-
pletely failed.
Events in the political world are rapidly approaching a
crisis. After full consideration the Liberal party has
resolved to challenge the policy of the Government as to
the Irish Church by a distinct resolution on the subject.
To-morrow evening notice will be given in the House of
Commons by Mr. Gladstone of a motion declaring that
the immediate disestablishment of the Irish Church is
necessary. The Liberal papers express the utmost confi-
dence as to the result, and have no hesitation in declaring
that should the resolution be carried, the Government
would have no honourable alternative but to retire from the
position which they now occupy. It is argued that for the
first time since the death of Lord Palmerston, Mr. Glad-
stone is at the head of his party. It is further held that
the Irish debate and the speech of Mr. Gladstone have
welded the Liberal party firmly together, while it is
believed to be certain a large number of the Consdrvative
hold aloof from Mr. Disraeli as Premier. The probability
that the proposed motion will be carried is therefore
thought to be very great. One thing is stated as certain :
it will have the approval of the country, and no Libera'.
who values his seat will venture to vote against it.

On the other hand, the Conservative journals earnestl
protest against any movement for embarrassing th
Government during the swiftly-passing time of the dyit:
Parliament. It is, they say, the conviction of the wise:,
and best men of all parties, and especially of the Liben,
party, that it is not desirable to have a change of Govern
ment during the present session. The Liberals are no
ready to form a Ministry that would give satis
faction to their own party, and till they am
accession to power would be a misfortune to themselves
and to the country. Further, a party contest in th,
present Parliament, elected as it was under circumstance
now totally altered, can decide nothing ; and a dissolutioi
before the work of Reform is complete and the nev
system in full operation would be a public nuisance.
Finally, a change of Government means the confusion o:
the Reform question and the total waste of a session
whereas if this Government remain in office till its work i
done, it will be fairly open to the Opposition to appeal t,
the country at the beginning of next year for a verdict of
the respective claims of the two great parties, and, i
successful, at once to carry out their own policy
Mr. Gladstone's policy is denounced as harsh and violen-
and the " patriotism of the independent Liberals " i
appealed to, with a view of checking the Opposition leader
While hoping for the best, the Conservative organs reco:_
rise the possibility of Mr. Gladstone triumphing for a tune
but with the certainty that a day of retribution
speedily overtake him. " Once let it be understood,
exclaims the Standard, " that the policy of the Liber
. leader is to abase, cripple, and rob Protestantism in tl.
interest of Romanism, and we shall be launched in
religious contest which will act the whole empire in 4,
I blaze.?._

LITERATURE.

Atherstone's Fall of Nineveh.

The Fall of Nineveh. A Poem. By Edwin Ather-
stone. A New Edition. Two Volumes. Long-
man and Company.

A generation has passed by since this noble poem
made its first appearance. Within its author's life-
time it has assumed its place in the Poetic Litera-

tore of England as one among our very few great
epic masterpieces. Forty years have now elapsed
since, in 1828, the first six books of the Poem were
published in an octavo volume. As many as one-
and-twenty years, since the entire production—ex-
tending to thirty books in all —appeared, in 1847,

in two duodecimo volumes. Those two volumes
now stand before us, side by side with the present
re-issue of the work in two yet goodlier post
octavoes, which may henceforth be regarded as
the Standard Edition of the largest, the most highly
elaborated, and in every sense the noblest product
of Mr. Atherstone's imagination. Although he
himself is content to designate the present re-issue
of his " Fall of Nineveh " its Second Edition, we
prefer—if only in remembrance of the splendid pro-
mise manifested through the precursory volume
of 1828, comprising within it the first half-dozen
books through whieji the work could even then
be judged ex pede .Herculem—we prefer, we say,
to speak of the present re-issue of the work
in its ripened completeness as simply and vaguely
—A New Edition. Whatever the actual num-
ber of the Edition—whether the Second or the Third
—the present is in any case, as we have just now
said, the Standard Edition of this great Epic
Poem—an edition in every sense worthy of
the work and of its author—of " The Fall of

Nineveh," and of Edwin Atherstone. According
to an emphatic announcement, inscribed upon the
title-page, the work, as it is here submitted to the
world, has been "diligently corrected and other-
wise improved." It extends, in these two hand-
some volumes, to as many as 634 post octavo pages
of beautifully clear letterpress, embellished at the
outset (in the shape of a frontispiece) with a highly
effective engraving from John Martin's celebrated
painting of the Destruction of Nineveh. Poem and
Picture, by the way—it is interesting to recall to
mind, now—were conceived and produced, quite
independently of each other, but simultaneously,
or rather contemporaneously, by the two friends
—John Martin and Edwin Atherstone. Working
together—as thelatter took occasion to remark as far
back as 1828—working together in their respective
arts upon the same subject, they agreed to treat it,
each according to his own views and impulses. Con-
sulting together, and disputing together, they trod,
each upon his own path. The Picture had fame in
its day, and is still borne in honourable remembrance
as one among many kindred manifestations of a
genius remarkable for two, at least, of the attributes
of sublimity—vagueness and vastness. however
deficient he may have been in other respects as a
painter of portentous audacity in his conceptions,
John Martin surpassed, as we conceive, all other
artists in his delineation of stupendous distances
and of astounding multitudes. The poet's diviner
art demanded, however, from the painter's friend
and colleague—his rival in one sense and his
some time contemporary—far loftier, grander,
and more varied qualifications. Whereas
the artist's endeavour involved merely the filling up
of a single canvass—the poet's involved the building
up of a whole epic, an epic in this instance extending,
not to twenty books as in the "Jerusalem Delivered"
of Tasso, not to four and twenty as in the "Iliad" of
Homer, but to the thirty books of " The Fall of
Nineveh," as that astonishing event has been re-
counted by the hand—almost we had said in prefer-
ence by the voice—of Atherstone. Thirty books !
An Epic Poem—in blank verse—extending to
thirty books I In this age of hurry and pre-
occupation, when men converse with each other
from opposite shores of the ocean by flashes
of lightning, when they are whirled over the
earth at the rate of a mile a minute, and accom-
plish in a single day work that would formerly have
spread over a month—the reading of an epic icy
thirty books, written in blank verse, and descriptiv,
of an event as far removed from this present lion.
and from all our ordinary sympathies (it might b.
supposed) as the Fall of Niueveh—may seem to
the generality to be a wholly wild and imprac-
ticable adventure. Frankly, however, we woui,
now say—Put this seemingly wild au,
extravagant adventure to the test ! Ope
the first of these two goodly voluines—glane
through the prelude—dip into the first book---turn.

he le,aves—scan the numbers ; and certain are wt.

that in the instance of the vast majority of
his readers the Poet, like the Ancient Alariuer.

In Coleridge's wierd ballad, will have his will !
He arrests us on the threshold. He hold,
us with his glittering eye. We must needs tarry
and hearken to the marvellous narrative herein
recounted, when once that narrative has been
commenced,—following its progress incident
after incident, eagerly, breathlessly, until its
august and appalling conclusion. If enthral-
ling interest is looked for, here, in this epic
poem of " The Fall of Nineveh," it will be found as
undeniably as in any (the most) sensational novel of
the day, told in three volumes by the most popular o:
living sensational-romance-writers! With this enor-
mous advantage on the side of Mr. Atherstone, as
compared with that ephemeral romance-writer,
the medium through which the former kindles it,
his reader's mind, the glamour of this enthralling
interest is—literature. And literature, too, at its
best and loftiest. As an effusion of the truest
poetry, both in conception and in treat-
ment, " The Fall of Nineveh" need shrink from
no comparison. Mr. Atherstone comes no mon:
into the same category with a Sir Richard

Blackmore, than Canova could have been regarded
In his art as coming into competition with a stone-
mason. The eloquence, the music, the sonorou,
flow, the elastic adaptability of the blank verse in
which this wondrous history of the "Fall of Nineveh"
and of the death of Sardanapalus, is here related by
Atherstone, afford as noble specimens of that
highest order of poetry as can be found anywhere
iu the whole range of our national literature. If,
in the manner of his verse, he must neeis yield
the palm to Milton, it .is mainly by reason of
the earthlier character of the theme here
selected by him for treatment, as compared
with that, surely, sublimest theme that epic
poet ever could have chosen, that supernal theme
which so kindled in Milton's imagination " the vi-

sion and the faculty divine," as to bear his eurap
cured fancy, his very.soul, as it were, even wuile
-ojourning here in the trammels of the flesh, into
„he heaven of heavens. Extravagant thong'
t may appear, to some, to speak of the epi,
poem of a living contemporary as comparable, if.
he majestic flow of its blank verse, to the Wald,
'erse of Milton, or to refer to the delineation of it,
attle scenes as truly and wonderfully Homeric
ueir vigour, grandeur, and variety, we hesitat
of for one iustaut to speak thus—and quit:
leliberately—of this " Fall of Nineveh," as it
Pere described in thirty books by Edwin Atherstone.
it is written throughout with an impassioned force
-,hat often rises to the height of sublimity, that
sever once swells into bombast, or becomes exag-
;erated into hyperbole. Everything is pro-
yartionately colossal throughout. When the
• stupendous palaces" and " august temples" of
iineveh are referred to by Mr. Atherstone, he
hus grandly, by a single touch, conveys to us
apon the instant a notion of their immensity
ay describing them as—
" - by the eagle alone
In full beheld."
• u a kindred spirit, again, he opens up to our view
a single line the vast perspective of the proud
ity's streets of edifices by depicting them as—
" Straight as a sunb.,am ; w day's journey long."
/nee or twice—but very rarely—he disdains not to
mploy a colloquial, occasionally even a grotesque
xpression : as where (vol. i., p. 79) he describes the
.urliug down of a war steed—
with loud squelch and jar unto the ground."
)therwise, his language is always of befitting dig-
city or grace according to the varying requirement&
his theme : now descriptive in mellifluous num-
,ers of banquet scenes radiant with sung, and
-dance, and revelry, and suffused with an

atmosphere of intoxicating and bewitching
voluptuousness—now delineative, in word-paintin gs
of wondrous passion, fury, tire, and splendour, of
the shock and glory of battle when the clashing hosts
contend like serried armies of fiends incarnate, and
their leaders like the demigods of Greek mythology.
One solitary instance, selected almost at random,
will here suffice to illustrate the astounding
power of his words when recounting
.the deeds
of might done by the heroic combatants.
Arbaces, in his war chariot, is bearing directly
down upon the Assyrian monarch, in their first en-
counter, when Sardanapalus (happily for Arbaces
with an erring aim) casts his deadly and ponderous
lance against the Mede—
"— With such fury flaw it, that, the car
Striking in front —right thro' its coat of brass,
And thro' the oaken plank, and inner plate,
Crashing it burst ; and, in the gaping rout,
Angrily gnarring, jarring, rocked to rest."
Abundant illustrations of a similar kind might be
readily adduced from other portions of this impas-
sioned narrative—ex uno disco owlet', however, the
whole thirty books being sown as thickly with
beauties of this description as a starlit night with
constellations. It should be remarked especially,
moreover, that the interest of the story is admirably
sustained throughout—incident following incident
in rapid succession and with a most natural sequence
—the effect produced being often one of au enthral-
ling character. As to the principal personages de-
scribed in what might be termed without extra-
vagance this most veracious history—for Mr.
Atherstone, in the broad outlines of his plot,
is scrupulously faithful to the few cherished records
of antiquity—they are discriminated with singular
:elicity, the consistency of each being cleverly sus-
tained from first to last. Sardanapalus himself is
especially noticeable among them all, as a mixture
of good and evil far more consistent with probabi-
hues th,4u the last of the Assyrian kings as he is
described to us iu ancient au nals. Viewed through
Atherstoue's verse, the Monster disappears, and
the Mau, the King, the Warrior, the Volup-
uuary, each becomes here distinctly, and vividly, and
always piaturesquely visible—subordinate only, all
through the poem, to the true hero of it, the royal,
ueroic, peerless, puissant King of the Medes,
Arbaces. Then, too, there are the priests : there
is the Babylonian priest Belesis, and there is the
Assyrian priest, Barak. Contrasting vividly with
these, and with other similarly austere and majestic
forms, there, moreover, are the beauteous shapes
of Azubah, the concubine, of Atossa the
Queen, and of Nehushta, the girlish daughter of
Sardanapalus. There are likewise Salamenes, the
King's brother-in-law ; Peresh, the royal leech ;
Nebaioth, the captain of the guard : together with
Almelon, the leader of the Babylonians ; Abdo-
lonimus, the King of Arabia; Rabsaris, once the
dearest friend and afterwards the deadliest foe of
Sardanapalus—Rabsaris being the father of the de-
ceived and fallen Azubah. There, too, are Ahab,
the Bactrian, and Jerimoth, and Zimri, and Senna -
cherib, and Adriel, and Abiathar, and Abijah, and a
throng of other wise and valiant warriors, too nume-
rous here to be particularised by name, Medes, and
Persians, and Arabians, and Assyrians, and Baby -
lonians, men of all countries, customs, creeds,
colours, costumes, and characters. As befits alike the
nature and the general effect of a literary enter-
prise so considerable in its dimensions, so vast in
the scale of its proportions, so densely peopled,
and so majestically, and, upon the whole,
so consistently conducted from its impressive
opening to its impassioned close the in-
terest, the eloquence, the power, the passion,
the enthusiasm of it all attain their climax (ai is but
right in art) in the very last of these thirty books,
in the noble passages which bring "the narrative
to its conclusion, passages through the luminous
beauty of which Mr. Atherstone portrays, as with a
pen of fire, the appalling destruction of the great
city of Nineveh. It rises, this ambitious descrip-
tion, by a grand crescendo, to the crowning, culmi-
nating catastrophe. From the first fall, out of the
thickening, blackening atmosphere, of the portentous
ice-bolt—a hailstone " large as a man's closed
gaud"—and which smites one of the mail-clad
sjldiers to the d st, deal upon the instant, to the
Lpparition, after the self-immolation in flames of
Sardanapalus among his cuucuoines, of tae dark
.;loud, tnat every instant waxes huger and blacker—
•• inward lightnings" gleaunug through and
,irough.

"As within it fought

Legions of fiery fiends"—
All is lad of terroc, preternatural, appailing,
yet never once straying, even by a dingle pnrase,
alto extravagance. While Nineveh is still oue
~topenclous conflagratioa—its final doom ap-
proaches!

' "A loud blare
Of thunder's trumpet told its coming on"—

the poet exclaims in his thirtieth book : just as in his
fourth book he had preluded his delineation of the
opening battle, by sounding thus the advent of the
warrior horsemen—

" The fast-boating hoofs along the ground
Made running thunder."
At the toppling down of the enormous Tower of
Ninus—
" which for thrice five hundred years,
Unharmed, had stood as though defying Time
To lay bid rebel hand on its groat state "
the poet writes—
" The century-beat
Of the Time-cycle's mighty pendulum,—
Measuring the dates of empires and of worlds,—
S wept by, and boomed its knell. Shuddering at heart,—
Like some o'erboetliug cliff, on ocean's marge,
Thousands of years by billows undermined,
And worn by eturms,—it bent its giant knees;
Bowed its great head ; and, death-struck, in a heap,
Sank down together!"
Whereupon the whirlwind, in its terrific vortex, is
described as lifting up " high in the air"—
" The burning ruins—in one monstrous wheel,"
out of which come—

"- fiery driftings, like the dust of hell."
After this, it is, that the " dire roaring" of the
whirlwind, "strongest in dying," is described as re-
sounding, as in a death shriek, whereupon—

" That dread voice
Called up the awaiting earthquake. He arose
In his deep regions ; and the plains and hills
With a sharp tremor shook; for well they knew
His terrible footstep. Gathering up his strength,
He stretched his vast, far-reaching arms, and shook
The solid earth, as winds the deep sea shake,
In long, slow-rolling waves."
Then, it is, that follows this magnificent description
—which shall be out last fragmentary extract from a
narrative that ought, for its adequate appreciation
~nd in simple justice to its author, to be read in its
entirety :--
"The enormous walls,
Like a fast-sinking ship, rocked heavily ;
Writhing, and twisting, as they knew the hand
Of death had struck them. Like a riven scroll,
From summit to touudation-stoue they gaped,
A hundred hideous fissures. Still they stood ;
The ruin of a moment, yet so firm
Iu their vast bulk, that ages long had lived
The ghastly grandeur yet,—but that again
The Earthquake shook; and lo! from north to south,--'
Like some gigantic billow, eagle-swift,
Running aslant in thunder and in foam
Along the howling beach,—the eastern wall,
Through all its length rolled inward."
No wonder that the Edinburgh Review long
since remarked upon the author of this Pomo,
" his descriptions are magnificent ;" or that the
late Earl of Carlisle, carried away by his enthu-
siasm, shrank not from pronouncing the work
as, in his opinion, " the finest epic in the
English language." Irrespective of, and wholly
apart from, all Mr. Atherstone's other poetical
writings--taking no account whatever of hi°
historical romance in three volumes of "The
Sea Kings of England," or of his scriptural romance
in three volumes of " The Handwriting on the
Wall"—having regard alone here otherwise to the
twenty-seven books of his " Israel in Egypt," to
big
" Midsummer Day's Dream," to his "Last Days 0,,
Herculaneum," and his " Abradates and Pantheil
—apart altogether from those other poetic fruit°
of his imagination, our author has secured to hOli
self, by right of this one great poem of "The Fall °f
Nineveh," a lofty and ensluring place in our Bog"
lish Walhalla.

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