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J^yu^Ry 18, 1855.] TM iE la M A DM jfc. ...
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"HISTORY OF POLITICAL LITERATURE. The Hi...
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Social Aspects Of German Life. Germany- ...
there is terrible , evidence for the belief—the old German ,. looking back upon rire . days 61 his cKiMhooa , is horrified to see" how "fast" the age . has become . Iir onetsense , however ,.. there has been a dficideiimprovement : therGerman isanoJonger , asot . ^» rmerly , driaking hard ^ washighin . the . rattk ^ f xoanly vuHueai idifferBnt itowaa jand « ties clamaed pre * eimneaoe ua . it . To drinfc momfiidatmoiivrasi to get ; s « jery dcunk . The ^ oUfietioas ^ f . ( antiquarians are Ml"of ¦ dririfcin ° - * cups-and-horas not > aiade to ssfeana . The last Count of Gortz used toraake his children- idrink at night , and- if they wanted to go to sleep . 'he grnnibled -at their degeneracy , and 'doubted if they-were to own chflSfen . The ' Hobenlohe deed of investiture required the claimant to drink out fche great feudatory goblet , as a proof that he was a German nobleman , ami an . ablerbodied warrior . In that principality no ^ g lasses held less _ than half a , bottle , ^ njd the Homburger Uhmnivle . records the feats of two sisters , who drank sixteen . bottles ., at : a sitting , and then walked quietly to their home , ithreejniles distant . We , too , had our five-bottle men ; and every reader airast fhave -suffered some of that truculent hospitality which re'rarded sobriety , a , s -an insult -to ithe house , , and the man swlio shirked his bottle « s « t dubious friend , if mot ^ contemptible -creature . - " Now , gentlemen , " said a nobleman to his guests , as the ladies left tfee-TOom , * ' let us -understand each other ; are we to tlrink like men ,-or like brutes ? _ The quests ,, somewhat indignant , exclaimed , - " T . ikemen , of course . " " Then , replied he , ** ' we . are going to get jolly drunk , for brutes never drink more than they wanti . * * ... Jtt is in-the gumpses of German social . lTfe , as KJontrasted-with and lllustiwted by EngBsh life , . that Airs . . Austin ' s work commands attention . JBut " the ; histarieal student will also , tua ? n with considerable pleasure to the eloquent ' » a « res invwhich she describes thegradual dissolution of the empire , and tfaeTevival- 'of snafeionality duting-the War ofXiberation . Itrssrould lead us-toofar to enter upon this topiewith « atisfactory fulness , and merely to touch it-would be without interest . We commend the book , therefore , very heartily to the reader ' s attention , and suggest-to ' Mr 3 . Austin the desirability of her producing-a fuller , a more detailed work on German life , regarding the present as a preliminary sketch .
Social Aspects Of German Life. Germany- ...
* * Wo . oncQ . dtnow . an old gentleman ' who , after tho retroat of tho ladios from his diai ^ g-room , would jjlant a dojscnof port on tho mantolpicco , and lock tho door .
J^Yu^Ry 18, 1855.] Tm Ie La M A Dm Jfc. ...
J ^ yu ^ Ry 18 , 1855 . ] TM iE la M A DM jfc . 43
"History Of Political Literature. The Hi...
"HISTORY OF POLITICAL LITERATURE . The History of Political Literature , from the Earliest Times . By Robert Blakey . Author of the " History of the Philosophy of Mind , " & c , & c . In Two Volumes . * Bentley . SlB . BjoAKEy has written one work in which lie undertakes to tell mankind what every metaphysician from the beginning of the world has thought about metaphysics : he now comes forward with two volumes as the commence-^ njnt 6 f-another work , to iriforin us what every political writer during the same period has thought about politics . There is no timidity of design about-Mr . Blakey . He begins with the ark—and he will not end till he has polished oiF the 'Times newspaper . . . . " We remember that the History of Philosophy was generally considered . a weil-meanihg , extensive , somewhat dull work ; and that more than one of our acquaintances thought Mr . Blakey scarcely capable of judging Spinoza . The , present book deserves the same three adjectives as its predecessor . Mr . Blakey does not seem bigoted , however , in political opinions , and , is more liberal in his estimate of political writers than of philosophers . We congratulate himon having certainly hiton a subject this time more likely to be popular and much . more necessary to . mankind at present than his . forxner one . Mataphysiea at , no time will employ more than the few ; but in these daysin Etwope , political literature in some shape or other employs everybody . From'the readers of Aristotle to the : readers of literary Jack Cades , it employs all ranks and varieties of mind . Indeed , in England , it is the one stlftectrwhWh all -classes enjoy in common ; for the English are ; more -pohticHlm taste than-th ^ It is right that we should have a text-book , to which readers may resort when waniingto know in a concise and condensed form what successive gejieratioas of political writers have left as their final views on political affairs . . . . . ... jfew , of course , such a work , supposing a man to read all the original authorities , would keep him . at his , desk , incessantly , till he reached the yeaws of ( Old . Parr . Mr . Blakey ' s range inoludes Greek And Roman iHarAtare , -the iFathers , the : Schoolmen , the whole subject af JLnw—civil and feudal—and all political writers in > all countries since the revival of letters ! Here is a bill of fare to appal the stoutest consumer . It must 'necessarily be conceded to " Mr . Blakey to-make errors here and there—to be scanty in one department when ho : has been copious in another—and -this , too , in addition , to the ( permission freely to use all kinds of preceding summaries and . text-books . That he should have embarked on the design at all , and executed it , even creditably , is ' in itself a claim to very considerable gratitude , fiiom , those of the public . who have leas tune . to road than Mr . Bhikey . However—tallowing our author all -this claim fully—we cannot .. say tliat heihas owrittenja . ' superior book . Mr . jBlakey is not original—nor . creativenor picturesque . We do not indeed expect amusement from auahn work ; but when one remembers Guizot ' s terse lucidity , Brougham ' s abundant vigour , the luminous practicality ot Whately , and so forth , one cannot but confess that the heaviest subjects may be treated so as to bo charmingly readable . Now , here is . the worthy Mr . Blakoy ' s great litprary want : ho is unfortunately—there is no niinoing the matter— : a dull writer . Like our military authorities in the Crimea , ho cannot bring up liis stores . There they die , ready for , uae , and very welcome ; but somehow nobody can get at * them—Jbis-. raad is so terribly impassablo , and his Pegasus in such very ill condition . _ ¦ Mr . ' Blakey'is * juito of tho old school in his mental condition . He seldom uses aifigure :. < rfi * peeoh , which ; has not for . generations enjoyed literary approbtttiibn . jftotmot-only is ho of the old school in his style or manner—he is so in "more important particulars . For instance , he gravely tells ubt— " Wo firift'iihttt-when Romulus founded the city of Rome , ho inquired of this fol-Iwenr ( whether they would have , a Republican or a Monarchical form of
government ; and after duly-weighingrthe nature of bothgystorns , they declared Xor .. ihe , latter , and appointed him to be . their iang" 7 ' To what purpose did Niebuhr and Dr . Arnold write , ' ^ . we ar e to have such a Genesis of lloman . polity ^ s this palmed off upon us ? . Romulus is about as historic as King Arthur . Then again—^ to what good purpose are such criticisms on % he Roman characters as the following introduced : — Sach Roman , examples . of public virtue may dazzle and allure the , ignorant -and un .- , thinking multitude . ; but they can neverbeeome , a general- theine of . ei . ulta . tion among " the . really wise or gopdof . any country . Andit may with justice he : remarked ,, besides , that . in . the Roman character , , there was very little of that kindliness of hii ' m ^ n fe elring ; that delicate sympathy for the wants and woes of others , which knits the heart of man to man , and which exercises such a powerful , though indirect ,, influence Jn making the . social situation : of ; mankind comparatively comfortable and pleasant , even where the laws , abstractedly considered , may be of of a ruggeiand oppressive nature . .-Human life was considered by -a . Boman as an object entirel y destitute , of-interest . ' . Hence we need not feel surprised that suicide should be : found so . prevalent among this people , and that it should be : considered by them as . a proof of superior courage and valour . All the civil institutions of the country tended to strengthen-this . delusive and bloody notion . Tie-laws affecting children and slaves breathed the -very spirit of domestic oppression ; while , at the same time , the austere speculative system of . stoicism , early imported by this nation from Greece , added greatly to the . natural ferocity and cruelty . of the . Roman . disposition . Women were considered .. in the iRoman states as merely slaves ; not ast > eing 3 to humanise-the temper , and smooth-down . the natural asperities , of , life , but . exclusively created for the gratification of sensual appetite . This" is merechaekneyed rhetoric . How does Mr . Blakey suppose any -nation of men ever lived without " kindliness of human feeling' ? " Bid he never read ¦ Gieero , De Amicitid ? As for the paragraph about the Roman women , it is the absurdest of all . A Roman honoured his placensuxor as -well as an Englishman . The ill-treatment of a woman led to-the . greatest revolutions in " Roman early history . The mother of the Gracchi held a somewhat different position from that of a slave . What modern lady ever received higher kindness fromlherTather than Julia did from Cicero ? The iactis , Mr .. Blakey adopts the common priestly cant , which would degrade the ancients into barbarians for the sake of interested motives of its own , on which > vre'decline to dwell at present . We shall onl y say , a ^ ropos Of an observation on Cicero ' s Intellectual ^ Failures , that we wish Mr . Blakey would failing the same kind of way . Hecondudes his chapter on " Roman Literature" by saying , — Csesar and Tacitus are likewise useful and interesting authors . This is a very general opinion ! But a writer on poHtical literature might have found space for little more copious criticism on Tacitus , at all events , who had the floul of a tragic poet , the insight of a'p hilosopher , as much wit and picturesqueness as ever was possessed by mortal man ,- and who has , in a peculiar degree , has influenced political writers at all tunes . Indeed , to make room for some remarks about his' relation to despotism , Mr . iBlakey might well have sacrificed a paragraph about Noah ' s form of government , and a pa ^ e or two on those interesting gentlemen , the kings of Egypt , the reign of the-first" df-whont "is supposed to have commenced about the second century af ter the deluge . " _ ' _ We suppose Mr . Blakey intended to use the phdosophiCal rather than the personal way of treating the subject—to deal with " causes , " " tendencies , " and the like , rather than to attempt an embodiment of the realities of political life , in an object ive forma . But he has not been liberal of theJiighest kind of speculation . We : fear that his book will not satisfy the more , active minds of 'Europe in the present ferment of political speculation—indeed that is ourradical objection . to it . . It is now our business to let Mr . Blakey speak a little for hrmself . We beo-in wifh a passage about the 'political tendencies of a class of writersm 3 o-associated inJhe . general mind , w ^ _ .. .. the Church : — . . . For many centuries after . the introduction of , tho Christian-system , we find scarcely any fragments of literature of a political complexion , save Avhat are furnished by the writers of the . Churoh . The chief reason for this is , that the agents of this . benign and enlightened system-found a regularly-established govenunent , in f ull and . active operation when they liad to solicit the . attention of mankind , to their particular doctrines and ' social theories . The minds of men were already stored . with a full complement of ideas or notions on . the nature of government ; the efficiency and importance of which were displayed in the every-day exhibitions of life and manners among the mass of the people There was no open or clear stagofor the politics of the Bible on their early i > romulffation . The mind and heart had to be slowly and stealthily approached , and gradually moulded to recognise and appreciate the very first principles of the Christum code . A tardiness of progress , and an imperfect , and . partial development of those principles were the necessary consequences of this state of things . An immense massrof ialso'philosophy , pagan barbarities , and savage ignorance stood m the ^ way of political intelligence > and improvement in every department of governmental policy . 1 < alae theories , rooted prejudices , inflamed passions , and . a degraded moral sense , wero rampant in every direction among the heterogeneous masses which encompassed tho Roman civilisation : forming , in . fact , an incongruous assemblage , of elements , which threatened an entire destruction of flic highest hopes of tho human race . One of the consequences of this was , that the political literature of the early Fathers of tho Church was more of an indirect than a direct character . They do not * pp » r « decided theoretical politicians ; this was not their office or calling . Their _ eocml and religions position excluded them from taking upon themselves a -duty-df tins nature . Hut being men of high intellect ami attaimncnte-the ruling spirits ot theirjwipectiva ages-thfy could not fail to perceive , what was the . generate » P «»» d > m Pp ^ V f ^ & i ? jsi-== s £ araK ~? 3 S ^ movements and aspirations ; but tnoy wore nouiuuj f ,. , „ ., , iO ( rical . avstem The wo not tlion , In fact , in »^ ' ™™ - ^ Z . tanenM ofTOTolatlon . Tho ^ ll mm ^ sssrss'i . ^ ss ^ iSi- * « - •» - *«?• ™ ° »— » " »"•
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 13, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13011855/page/19/
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