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JSTo. 437, August 7, 1858.] T HE L EADEB...
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THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. The Quarterly Revi...
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MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE. • The Mediaeval A...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mumoib &Nt> Letters Of The Late Thomas S...
o-entlemanly man who ever went to Cairo or Jerusalem . It is not deficient in neatly written passages of interest to tlie general reader , and a thread of genuine piety runs through it ; but for all it concerns the class to whom it is especially commended in the preface , it certainly need never have been written .
Jsto. 437, August 7, 1858.] T He L Eadeb...
JSTo . 437 , August 7 , 1858 . ] T HE L EADEB . 7 , -9
The Quarterly Review. The Quarterly Revi...
THE QUARTERLY REVIEW . The Quarterly Revietv . Xo . 207 . John Hurray . The present number of tlic Quarterly opens -with an able essay , or rather biographical sketch , founded upon the new edition of Mr . Hepworth Dixon's Robert Blake , Admiral and General at Sea . After having been engaged as a soldier on the Parliamentary side in some of the . hardest-lighting in the great civil war , Blake was appointed , ' at the age of fifty ,, to a command at sea , according to the fashion of the age , which did not keep the two services distinct as they are at present . In his new command lie fought harder than ever , and with even
more signal success ; so much so , that under him the naval supremacy of England was established , and the name of General for ever mergedtin that of Admiral Blake . The stout old Puritan was one indeed who , if ever man did , deserved well of his country , and has earned a right , if any have , to her lasting gratitude ; "but he was not quite the character we expected to find "very favourably mentioned in the . pages of the Quarterly Review . We have , however , been agreeably disappointed . The Reviewer has given a very fair account of this
true worthy's career , and of the-party-he ¦ espoused , although we must enter a protest against our contemporary ' s sneer at ' modem-liberals and Liberalism . We cannot help believing that were he as well acquainted with them as he is with the Liberals of King Charles ' s age , he Would do them like justice . As it is , his relation to the past seems to resemble that of the spirits in the Inferno to the future : — Noi reggiam , come quei c'ha mala luce , Le cose , disse , che ne son lontano . . . . Quaado s ' appressane , o son , tutto fe vanp Nostro intelletto .
But to the Liberals of former days he has certainly done full justice , and we must not quarrel with hiin for misstatements about the present , which the reader will easily correct for himself . The second article cpnt ains a smashing criticism of a work that , a few months ngo , bid fair to attain an enormous popularity—The History of Civilization in Ent / laizd , by "William Buckle . We cannot help agreeing with the line the Reviewer has taken in exposing the often insufficient data upon which Mr . Buckle
has so ostentatiously established liis conclusions . We could wish , however , that he had a little better understood the hearing of the philosophical system of which Mr . Buckle is in many of his opinions a representative . The review , as against the individual author , is , onthewliolc , conclusive and satisfactory , hut not as against a class of opinions backed by names as eminent as those of Hume , Bcntham , Comte , and J . S . Mill , not to mention many others of scarcely less distinction .
The Hoviewer must "be strangely mistaken if he supposes that a few common-place objections and the wit of a few flippant pages can furnish a rednctio ad absurdum of the doctrine of philosophical necessity . We think . that a "very slight acquaintance with the subject would have convinced him that the arguments he so cleverly urges have no real force , and that the question of the punishment of murderers and other criminals docs not at nil turn on the degree of moral turpitude which society attaches to the individual offenders . "We are , however , not prepared to deny him the merit due to a well-written essay , though we could wish that he had shown himself as anxious to do
justice to the merits as to the faults of the work before him . Whatever men may think about the conclusiveness of Mr . Buckle ' s arguments , the style in which Hs book _ is written is so good , and his power of composition so remarkable , that the most adverse critic ought to have mentioned it with commendation . The History of CivMizution in Eitgfajid , "With all i < s faults , nnd they arc many , is yet the "Work of no common man , nnd deserves a better soubriquet than the contempt nous one of "the nook of errors , " endorsed , though not originally applied , by our friend of Hie Quarterly Review . The essay entitled "The Life of Wyclifl ' c" will we found extremely interesting , written , as it is , "With a genuine appreciation of the greatness of that
extraordinary man . The extracts given from Wyclifte ' s own writings are extremely interesting . They tell us far more about him than could be told by any mere statement of the facts of his life , or analysis of his character . We quite sympathise with the hope that Mr . Shirley , upon whose publication the review is based , will give the world some further proof of that ability and thorough historical knowledge which his friends have long known him to possess . We presume that Professor Blunt has found a favourable notice of his work upon " The Right Use of the Early Fathers / ' and of that on " Early Church
History , " rather as an old contributor to the Quarterly than as a divine of any real merit or distinction . His writings , it is on all hands admitted , are deficient in that fairness and breadth of view without winch the controversialist becomes a mere partisan , and fails alike to convince the outside world , or to earn or deserve its respect . In spite of the ready belief we lend to statements of the Professor's private virtues , we cannot help feeling that his works reflect no great credit upon their author , or upon the judgment of the party oy which they are received with any favour . i
The " light weight" of the number is a clever paper upon "Iron Bridges , " in which it is stated that the process of converting cast into malleable iron , commonly attributed to Henry Cort , was , in point of fact , invented in the year 1762 by Dr . John Roebuck , founder of the old Carron Works , and grandfather of the present member for Sheffield . This paper also gives us interesting and condensed information about the High-Level Bridge at Newcastle , the . Victoria over the St . Lawrence , and Mr . Brunei ' s last great effort at Saltash in . Devonshire . It also tells us that the first successful contriver of
an iron bridge was an Englishman , Mr . Pritchard , of Shrewsbury , and the second , no other than the notorious Tom Paine , stayiriaker , privateers-man , usher , exciseman , political economist , and revolutionary infidel , who in his later days was no mean proficient in philosophical and engineering studies . The " Condition and Future of India , " a subject of peculiar importance and difficulty , is ably discussed in the last article . It is pleasingto note the very moderate manner in "which-the relation of the Government to Christianity is treated of . When we hear the pious trust expressed by so many that
the work of conversion , although slow , is stead y in its progress , or the more confident assertions that a great door is now about to be opened , the biblical predictions to be at length fulfilled , and the fulness of the heathen world to be gathered in , we revert to the history of the past , and the small amount of hope which it really warrants . We remember , too , that the field of prophecy , however sacred , is a very open one , and receive accordingly such holy aspirations not without respect and attention , but with secret incredulity . The Quarterly Reviewer , though , he maintains , with logical constancy , that aGovernmentprofessingChristianity
at home ought not to appear ashamed of its religion in the East , is yet decidedly opposed to the opening of the great door , and thinks , we believe with justice , that any such attempt would result in our summary and utter expulsion from the country . He gives an admirable view of the land revenue system , from the times of our occupation to the present , which will be valuable aid to such as even yet arc not well up in the mysteries of Zemindaree and Ryotwaree . Here such a reader will learn how abhorrence of British rule was engendered and has been brought to fatal fruit by our disregard of the
passion for possession of the soil , which has deeper roots in Hindostan than in any other part of the world . He will sec how , under the "Perpetual Settlement Act" of Cornwallis , the cultivator was sacrificed to the desire for the time heing to create a territorial aristocracy ; and how , under Lord Dalhousic , the wanton length to which the doctrine of annexation was carried , the inequitable administration of the land revenue courts , and the flagitious foreclosure of estates for the trumpery balances of defaulting zemindars , did slowly and
surely forge tho bolt that descended on us in . 1857 . We arc , of course , not bound to coincide with the inference , natural in a Quarterly Reviewer though it be , that Lord Ellenborough was the saviour of our Indian Empire , because it cannot be disputed"tlu \ t under Lord Dalhousie it was brought to the verge of ruin . Nor arc wo disposed to concede that the happiness of the Hindoo and tho well administering of India need by any means follow the transference of tho government from the Leaden to the White Hall , because misery and mischief have obtained
under the former dynasty . JTrom a Quarterly point of view such is , however , the case j and as the mediatization of the East India Company is a fait accomplice can only hope that view may prove correct . It is satisfactory , in the midst of the outcry for vengeance , and for the indiscriminatiug massacre of the revolvers , to find our duties towards the people ^ of India , as distinct from the Sepoy , wisely and firmly insisted upon . The Quarterly expresses the wishes and . feelings of a large and influential party ,, and takes , a judicious stand on the side of justice against revenge—of a government administered , if
at all , lor the benefit of the subject races , not in the exclusive interest of the conquerors . " We have scarcely any direct interest in India , " says the Reviewer , anost truly , " except the well-being of itsy-aried population . If we cannot effect this end , it is a question of the most momentous consideration , how far we are justified , either by prudence or byright , in remaining thereat all . " The moral duties of England and ner real interests can never beopposed ; and in the present case we feel sure that it would prove a most short-sighted policy to deviate from the rule of even-handed justice for anysupposed expediency .
Medieval Architecture. • The Mediaeval A...
MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE . The Mediaeval Architecture of Chester . J .-H . and J . Parkers TBtE archaeological knowledge which now generally pervades the better educated classes of this country is acting beneficially , by inducing many " -wise and prudent men" to publish manuals of local information which must eventually prove of the greatest service to the general history of this country . What is local is often national . Moreover , it has created an enlightened spirit of conservatism to protect from
the destroying hand of ruthless ignorance or callous indifference such records and monuments of past history as are , by their inherent qualities , liable to decay . from the corroding effect of time alone ; this is a growth that cannot Tbe too strongly nurtured or too tenderly looked after . " Antiquities , " says Lord iBacon , " may be considered the planks of a wreck 'which wise and prudent men gather and preserve from the deluge of time . " What Messrs . L . W . Dillwyn and G . G . Prancis ,. together with the Revs . J . M . Treherne and H . Longueyille Jones have done for various portions of Wales , has been no less admirably carried out by Mr . J . H . Parker and the Rev . Francis Grosvenor with recrard to that most ancient and
interesting border city , Chester— -ancient , because portions of the walls aro Roman , and other remains o £ that period have and are being found from time to time ; most interesting , from its occupying a conspicuous place in the long struggle for the subjugation of Wales throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ; and furthermore , the circumstance of its having two cathedrals is unique in England and almost so in Europe . The present series of papers are reprinted from , the Gentleman * s Magazine , and owe their origin to the meeting of the Archaeological Institute at Chester , in July , 1856 .
The peculiar advantages attendant upon tliis class of publication arc , that the author can , with benefit to the general reader , compress into a small space a large quantity of general history , because he is of necessitv circumscribed to a specific point . Mr . Grosvenor has proved this : learned , without being pedantic ; brief , without being brusque ; terse , though not turgid ; broad , without ramification ; full , without being discursive— -thus , in thirteen and a half pages , he has given a succinct and clear history of the habits of the people and their ecclesiastical buildings from the sixth to the sixteenth century ; and as tho information is great and the labour of , acquirement not , we earnestly rceommeud it to the
careful perusal and attentive consideration of our readers . Mr . Parker is no less deserving of commendation , for he is imbued with the best qualifications for the elucidation of the recondite principles that constitute the architectural distinctions during the first-named and the lnst-quoted century , adding thereto a considerable literary ability ; his demonstrations arc rendered the more clear by bringing to bear a force that his learned and reverend collaborateur could not avail himself of , viz . pictorial representation ; and as justice is best when tempered with mercy , so is history more luminous wheu illustrated with pictorial Hit . Altogether this book has our aincorcat wishes for its success , not solely on account of any benefit that
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1858, page 779, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_07081858/page/19/
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