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variety than--we-harre in the present iramb ' er- ; bttt it is-ne ^ er without interesting matter even for tliosewhb are not specially interested in questions © f . insanity . . tKieprBseatniuaber contains an . article on " Oinomania ; or , the mental Pathology of Intemperance , " full of curious facts and illnstrations j and a *** Visit to the American State School for Idiots , " -which suggests the strangest reflections . A new journal has been established ,, the importance of which is so great that we regret we-cannot speak of the first-number with the favour we could
have wished . It is the Quarterly Journal of Public Health . That " National Health , is National "Wealth , " according to the motto of this journal , we profoundly believe ; and among the many questions agitating the earnest minds of our day few are of wider scope than that of National Health , and the means of securing it . But the writers in this journal have contented themselves with the excellent idea of their periodical , instead of labouring to execute- it adequately . They have apparently undertaken to write without a ¦ distinct conception of what the public wanted , and how the public want was to be . satisfied . The second number must be a vast improvement on the
first , or the undertaking -qplliatt to the ground . To complete this batch of periodicals , there is the Revue des Deux Mondes , in which the Due d'Atjmale ( under the signature of M . V . be Mars ) follows aphis paper on " Les . Zouaves , " formerly noticed by us , with , one on " Les Chasseurs a pied et les nouvelles armes a feu ; " but this paper is more interesting to French readers- than to English . A posthumous story by Emilia SpcvESTRB is also published in this number : it is a very feeble performance , which the name of its author alone suffices to lure us through . JobcnvMiu / s : " Political Economy" is reviewed ; at some length by Louis Kbtk& . ttw ^ and Ml Quatbefages , the pleasant writer of " Les Souvenirs ¦ d ' un Naturaliste , " contributes a paper—on the metamorphoses which the 4 uumal undergoes in the egg—popularly treated , but containing nothing new . On the whole it is not a good number of this very good review .
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WHITEIiOGE'S-SWEDISH EMBASSY . A Journal of " the , Swedish Embassy in the Tears 1653 and 1654 . Impartially written by the Ambassador Bulstrode WMtelocke . First published from the Original Manuscript by Dr . Charles Morton , MC . D ., F . S . A ., Librarian of the British Museum . A new edition , revised "by Henry Reeve , Esq ., F . S . AI , in Two Volumes . Longmans and Co . AjJTTLEmore than , two hundred years ago , General Cromwell , not yet Protector , meditated o » the policy of an allianee between the Protestant states ofi Europe ; At that time England was engaged in a stiff contest with the Btrtchv-whose-Trotestantism was weaker than their love of trade , and jealousy of the growing commerce of the English republic . Denmark , also , was 4 nkaicai to ^ England , and leviedher- " Sound dues , " of which we hear even in these- days , with no small rigourr But Sweden was at least friendly ,
perhaps more than friendly . The Swedish monarchy had grown great _ m that' wonderful century . Sweden had . sent forth her Protestant 1 aiadin , Gustavus , who , warring with the fierce generals of Germany , asserted at once the rights of Protestants , and proved the power of Sweden . At the end'of the Thirty Tears War , the Sweden of the dead Gustavus was a far different power from the Sweden of the now living Oscar . Nearly the whole ¦ = ofwhat now cfo ^ nstitlites the Baltic coa ^ fc-of RussiarEinlandyEsthonia , Pomerania , then belonged to the Swedish monarchy . In fact , Sweden was one of the Teat powers of Europe , until Charles the Twelfth wrecked her strength and glory on the plain of Pultawa . In 1653 Sweden was governed by one of the most notable of queens—Christina , or rather by her Maiesty and the great Chancellor Oxenstiern ; and this powerful monarchy Cromwell desired to link with the destinies of England , together with all the other Protestant states , as soon as they could be prevailed upon to join the alliance . But Cromwell thought that the perception of the Dutch and the Danes , with regard to their true interests , would be quickened , if
he first obtained the alliance of Sweden ; and to this end he prevailed on Bulstrode Whitelocke , his first Commissioner in Chancery , to undertake , in the depth of winter , a journey to the court of Christina , for the purpose of negotiating a treaty with the Swedes * . And well was it for Europe that England was so nobly ruled by the greatest Commoner she ever had in the guise of a ruler ; for by his ^ ftroanesa and strength of mind the Protestant cause , which was then the cause- of freedom 1 and progress , of light against darkness , was enabled to stand against ' the reviving energies of Home , and the work ' of Gustavus was continued by Cromwtjll . The Protestant League so far succeeded that'it at length included ' - Sweden , Denmark , the Swiss Protestant cantons , the Hanse Towns , and' ' some of the Protestant Princes of "North , Germany ; and while Cromwell was doing thus much for right and justice , he was at the same tima laying , thosd broad foundations of English commerce throughout the world , and English influence on the continent , which oven a second Charles Stuart could not destroy , and which William of Orange and John Churcha * subsequently , ' with great pain and trouble , consolidated . .. .
In these volumes Btdstrodo WTriteloekir details to us the broad course , tHo windings and turnings , and the smallest incidents of the negotiations by which * Sweden was brought into the Protestant alliance . But ho does far more . He sets forth the reason of "his going ; ho describes the voyage hy sea to Gothenburg ; the journey by land from Gothenburg to Upsal , where the Court then was ; he notes down , almoat daily , the passing occurronce»—who called on Whitelocke , and on whom Whitelocke called , with , in annoy instance ^ a , record of the conversation , that passed between them . He contrives * to give'you an insight into the-characters of those with whom becomes in conta « t ^ -th « fantastic Queon Christmn , the wise Chancellor Oxenstrorn , the abf 6 soldier Montecueuli , the subtle Spaniard Piementolle , Woolfoldt , a Dane in exile , who had fled with his wife disguised as a page , Onter Cromwell , and last , not least , Whitelocke lots you pretty deeply into
the secret places in the character of Whitelocke himself . Nor , in present unconsciously these evidences of character , does he forget the outward i niture of men and their habitations , to pay due attention to the g < things of this world , or to chronicle , as it were by instinct , the manners i customs of Swedish life two hundred years , ago . It would , perhaps , difficult to find a book that preserves so complete a _ picture of a necu and interesting period ; and which , whether so contrived or not , gives central place in every scene to the author . Bulstrode is the Boswell Whitelocke , and Whitelocke is the Johnson of JBulstrode . It is a common supposition , too readily adopted from the opinion Whitelocke himself , and no doubt very soothing to his vanity , that the s motive which dictated the embassy to Sweden , - and the choice of Whitelo for that service , was a desire to send that personage out of the country
order that Cromwell might the more easily seize the reality of supre power . But , in the first place , the alliance with Sweden was an essem element in the policy of Cromwell . In the second place , the choice Whitelocke as ambassador seems to have been honestly made on the groi that he was , as Cromwell expressed it , the " fittest man in . the nation this- service . " " We know your abilities , " continued the great Genei " having long conversed with you ; we know you have languages , and h : travelled , and understand the interest of Christendom ; and / have kno you in the Army to endure hardships , and to be healthful and strong , t of mettle , discretion , and parts most fit for this employment : you are indeed , " he added , emphatically ; " really no man is so fit for it as you ar Cromwell did not say this once , but several times ; and he urged uj
Whitelocke , with peculiar persistance , the acceptance or this post . I m ; it my earnest request , and I shall hold myself , " said he , " particula obliged to you if you will undertake it , and will stick as close to you as skuTto your flesh . " Whitelocke , it is true , would have us believe that was a lover of a quiet life , not desirous of incurring the risk of sucl service in a time when ambassadors from England were killed by i assassins of dethroned royalty , and that he was passionately and incessan implored to remain by his third wife ; he certainly did not with any 1 much readiness undertake the onerous duty required of him . But six Whitelocke , or another man , must have gone to Sweden , and since 1 admirable mode in which he conducted the affair justified the choice Cro well made of Whitelocke for the business , surely it is absurd to takeWhi locke ' s view of the matter , and assert that the Swedish embassy was o
another name for the exile of Whitelocke , and the Swedish alliance no of policy , but a mere pretext artfully contrived for amusing the so-cd envoy , and of no other importance whatsoever . TlTe supposition is unfound and the idea it expresses will not fit in with the grave and earnest polii of those times . In the third place , Whitelocke could never have inspi : Cromwell with a » y apprehension ; and the great event which happer during Whitelocke ' s sojourn in Sweden , the assumption of the Protectorr had . long been inevitable ^ and would surely have occurred even had AVh : locke remained in Bedfordshire , enjoying ' ^ the pleasant healthful coun air . " Mr . Reeve , we are sorry to see , in a foot-note , actually gives his si port to the notion that " Cromwell ' s object in making , the appointment \ obviously to send into honourable exile a man whom lie suspected a feared . " Let any one look into the career of Whitelocke , able as he w and say whether he was exactly the Brutus or the Cassius whom the mod *
Caesar would be likely to fear . But the value of Whitelocke ' s Memoir does not , fortunately , depend u ] the political information it imparts , useful as that is . Other books givt a more accurate insight into the whole question of the foreign relations England under ... Cromwell ; this book brings us face to face , not -n political questions , but with men and " women V" and its pages abound -n personal traits . At his first interview with Christina , he carefully recounts the number times which she , the Queen , put off or put on her cap , after the fashioi men , and he , the Ambassador , did the same . He describes her dress i his ownshowing himself to be a man of taste and a great respecter of
, outsides of things . But in his narrative of this interview , the vaiutj Whitelocko most naively finds its way out . " The Queen , " he says , " ^ very attentive whilst he spake , and coming up close to him , by her lo , and gestures ( as was supposed ) would have daunted him ; but those , at this solemn coxcomb , editing these papers in his later life , " who have b < conversant with the late great aflairs in England , are not so soon as oth appalled with the presence of a young lady and her servants . ' And so fell out that " the young lady , " with " the pale , but sprightly countenonc with " much of majesty in her demeanour , " and " a noble mien and c riage , " though " her person were of the smaller size ; " and the comely , gra suit set with fair
dignified ambassador , in his rich plain black " very r diamond buttons , " and " a diamond hatband answerable , " the whole , as carefully informs us , " of the value of 1000 / ., " so it fell out ,, we say , that t pair soon grew very intimate , none the less soon , certainly , because i ambassador of Cromwell was not daunted by the daughter of Gustavus . was not long before her Majesty asked the envoy how mtuiy wives Ho i : had ? "Three , " said he . " Have you hud children by all ol them " Yes , by everyone of them . " " Pardieu , " exclaimed the Queen , v > ctes incorriqible !"' • i i < TV On another occasion wo find him warmly remonstrating with not j » jesty on the profanation of the " Lord ' s Day" in her dominions . x after Christina Jinn tne in » " ^ v
..--long maue connuanc uur ...... He remonstrated in homely language , but in vain . The degree oi ii-clu . existing between them is shown by tho opening passage _ ol . * - !" » . inlc i "I shall surprise you with something X intend to communicate , »• Christinu . " " Madam , " replied the conceited ambassador , ' we tnat m boon versed in the affairs of lilngland do not use to bo supnsed at tm . course of a young lady . " But he was surprised when she told mmJ intended abdication . Later in their intercourse wo find them i v a < < » pistol shooting ; tho Queen " learning English" otW V ^ ek "; 'int ^ wish as speedily realised as hinted , for his splendid English ho ™ js i b « » J him a message In reply to an inquiry after her health , that " she was so * no other disease , but that for three whole days he had not been with uu
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gg MI LE 1 PER . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 354, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2086/page/18/
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