The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-04 00:00:00

a

LITERATURE
W ANDERINGS IN 'I HL HIGHLANDS.
2 Vols.. Bail,', London, 1843.
It requires no ordinary degree of confidence on
the part of an author to send forth two octavo
volumes on the subject of the Scottish Highlands
—a theme the most hacknied which it is possible
tto conceive, which Scott, and Wilson, and Grant,
and Galt, and Heaven knows how many other
writers, learned and unlearned, in verse as well
as in prose, have been incessantly expatiating on
!lir the last thirty years and upwards. That Mr.
Maxwell's confidence, however, has not been ill-
founded, the result of hia labours show, for he has
put forth two very readable volumes, in which, if
he does not tell- us anything new—as how indeed
should lie?—he at least dresses up old topics in a
very ingenious, workmanlike manner. Another
recommendation that he possesses, is one which,
according to Smollett, is not often possessed by
English tourists—we mean, good humour.
Nothing ever seems to put him out of the way.
'The is drenched through and through with the
soaking mist and rain of the Highland moun-
tain`; if he is surprised at nightflilt in a desolate
spot many miles distant from the inn where he
bad calculated on the cotnlc)rts of a capital dio-
;Her) and a snug, warm fire-side—no matter what
be the petty, vexatious annoyances to which he
tflaY be subjected, he never once loses his
cheerfulness and elasticity of spirit, but, in the
true spirit of a philoBophic cosmopolite, shrugs
his shoulders, takes things easily, and thanks
Ileaven that they are no worse. This buoyancy
and sunniness of-temperament, which is evidently
natural and not assumed, colours all his descrip-
ttichsi, and impexts an animation and piquancy to
which -cannot but conciliate the reader.
,Mr. Maxwell pretends to no research or method
'n volumes; he is no traveller, in the strict
sense of the term, but wisely repudiating the
idea of making us wiser than we already are, on
the subject of the Highlands, contents himself
With giving a hasty bird's-eye view of such
s
tc
e
,ne
r
y
-RS 'happened to strike his fancy, trusting
liveliness of manner and vivid descriptive
Vers to eouaiterbalance the triteness of his
theine• I{,-is work is slight and desultory to a
sigree; bin by dint of apt anecdote, and oeca-
tlu"Y by 4 clever sketch of' sonic odd, out-of-
le-1"Y izbaracter, whom he came across in the
rurse of: his wanderings, lie has succeded in pro--
g a couple or octavo volumes, which the
(10;er. hurries through with eagerness, and lays
shi:ll.• with regret. We quote a wild story of a
11 aiwreek near Slains Castle, which Mr. has related related in an ote, on the authority of
Daniel
" In illustrating a sketch of this romantic castle,
and the rocky headland which it crowns, Daniel has
related, the following story of a shipwreck, which
for horrible effect is not to be exceeded A very
remarkable event occurred here some years ago. One
very stormy afternoon, a vessel appeared to be work-
.,B' very laboriously to keep out to sea, against a
"rigng wind, which blew dead on shore. Those
who
witnessed from thence the skilful and perse-
vering efforts made by the persons on board to accom-
tt isehs in-
terested; ; and at length, after much uncertainty, they
!!saw reason,
.about nightfal, to feel assured that she
In ?ad workedso far to windward as to be out of danger.
the night the storm continued; and after going to
rest, some of the family in the castle thought that
they.heard cries and sounds of distress. It was con-
sidered possible that these sounds might proceed from
the
_ wind during the uproar of the elements, or might
be merely imaginary, the scene of the afternoon being
calculated to excite a strong presentiment of danger.
Again these sounds seemed to pierce the troubled air,
and Were willingly ascribed to the same causes, until
the repetition of them, at intervals, produced so strong
a conviction of their being really signals of distress,
that lights were carried out to various parts of the
rocks; and every expedient for relief that humanity
could suggest was adopted, and persevered in for
hours. The sounds were not again beard; and next
morning no vestiges of wreck appeared. Inquiries
,w.ere were made along the coast, without bringing
tidings of such a calamity. It was subsequently
ascertained that a vessel had sailed from Aberdeen on
the
.day of the storm, bound for some port in the
aft e.
Was Months passed away, and the circumstance
almost forgotten; when one fine afternoon, a
party from the castle having determined on a marine
excursion, went in a boat to explore some of the
caverns on the coast; and in one of them, to their
great surprise found the hull of a vessel that had
been driven driven onshore, and sucked in. Some remains
esfr hoeh sufferers were also found ; and part of her
andg ad been carried up by the waves, and laid high
dry in the interior recesses of the shingly beach.
On some oars and on some
marks that left'npackages, were found
which sailed from°
pieces
oAf b:Tredeekenhel
doubt that this had been the vessel
Numerous on the day inti question.v.esseis
cargoes
discovered ; and in someonpglianegestopaortlserof their
rock;
were found firmly wedg- ed in cavities of the
the e' while the skeletons and bones that abounded in
s gloomy caves afforded but too lamentable a proof
it of the effect- of storms on this perilous coast. Indeed,
inust be apparent, that when a lis driven into
one of the caves, her destructionvesse must be inevitable;
those on board have no chance of escaping; nor can
those
afforded them."

„ ;IGN AND COLONIAL QUARTERLY
-"-E-• VIEW. No. V. Smith and Elder, Lomion, 1844.
We -remember reading some few years since
41.1 the Westminster Review, a novel recorn-
blnendationsto the effect that history, instead of
ang written, as it has hitherto been,.by men of
Lon', thoughtful, erudite natures, like our Gib-
"°118) Robertsons, HaHams, Turners, Thirlwalls,
r*, should be written by poets—that is to say,
Y Men whose feeling and fancy must neces-
811r4 constitute the chief features in their in-
tellectual idiosyncrasy. In the Number before
)11,4) in the course of an article entitled ” Ro-
-lance in Italy," the same recommendation is
rePeated, the Reviewer observing, "did ever
toanY Irian of supreme intellect, any poet, attempt
write of
? Did ever any eagle-eyed bard
fast a vivifying glance on the past, and lay
the
liage, misty and shadowy perhaps, but not
bessP°ving and breathing), before us? History
erudition
oitherto been merely the work of plodding'
du • or of cold political speculation, the pro-
thueccitinotitel7ot. the scholar or philosopher. Let only
undertake to write history." We say,
on ,the contrary, let the poet undertake no such
44E, but content himself, as heretofore, with
ranging' over the realms of imagination. His
atll esisdeenats t, ialolY a lawless intellect, which spurns
0 th e
restraint, and to restrict him
'vh .
comparatively narrow limits within iell the historian is confined, would
be to _-
fetterf and cramp his genius, and
st
deprive of all vitality. Besides, how could'
Plodding research, the dispassionate and well-
Illeighed ind
s—ginent—the careful balancing of con-
tficting P% id
- •%—ence—and the power of sternly sub-
jecting the nassions to the reason—which arc so
indispensable to him who as • to write history ?
aspires
The poet's fancy would be a certain stumbling-
block in his path, and is
would equally quic, ardent feelings
ucht his vi kew of the truth 'I
As to the " romance or history" on which the
Reviewer so strenuously insists, our answer is,
that we do not want its "romance," but its facts
--its naked, unvarnished facts—and these are
best gleaned by men of " plodding erudition." In
the notice of " Hayti, its Past and Present
State," occur brief sketches of some of the most
distinguished chiefs in its annals fir the last
..., half-century. Justice, however, is hardly done
. to Toussaint, who is accused of cruelty—a
... Charge which, we- firmly believe, applies with
less. truth to hiskthan to any great commander
....
„_
of his day. 1 ',pared with his merciless ene-
°tics, the Fre, 4
~ he was a prodigy of benefi-
cence and hu :14-' ity , and yet it is principally by
these men t 1 his life has been written, and
those statetnei s promulgated which have led to
those
erroneous impressions of liis character. It
1,1 full tune that the truth should be spoken of
Toussaint, and the world be told that he was
nite of. the most illustrious individuals whom
Prthe eighteenth century, fruitful of greatness,
nduced—a sagacious statesman, a skilful
nd successful soldier, a consummate man
Zof the world, a consistent, high-mine, -
sted patriot,
who tell a victim to hisd redliancedisinte on
le good faith and honour of the French. At
4fife years of age this extraordinary man was a
ltve) pursuing the humble occupation of a carter.
cownotity;ars afterwards, he was the deliverer of his
the commander of her armies, the lead-
. thg statesman in her senate—in fact, her ruling
"ereign ; and such was his moral influence, that
even General Lacroix, who hated him' is
elm'-
a Pelled to acknowledge that " the soldiers re-
d to
as a superior being, and the cultiva-
te themselves before him, as betbre
hire,"nity,
All his generals trembled before
his 4 and even Dessalines did not dare to look in.
e I.s,ce r The death of Toussaint—or rather his
:I's-Wooded murder—in a damp Swiss dungeon
isis the he was ielt to txpire of cold and hunger,
s-le greatest blot on the setiteheon of Napoh. On.
Arun) .
that of Brescia" is a review ol a tragedy of
1. dent "me'
as ul which, it seems, has created a wse-
ferment throughout Italy. The hero,
rern,,llla,ns of our readers may perhaps
faus(r-enriljiso elri' Was
an eminent religious re-
n flourished in the twelfth century,
sscafter having boldly held forth far some years
_isentt,is the corruptions of the Vatican, and the
.K.ive.ral licentious conduct of the clergy, was
to nv IT by tl e Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
Le
ban' Adrian the Fourth, wlio caused him to
ged On •
a gibbet, and afterwards flung into