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exist only for the nobility , the merchants , and the functionaries , that is to say , for about a million of people . It may also be allowed that the tradespeople of the towns and some peasants , an aggregate of about one million , consume manufactured goods of an inferior description , the raw material of which is . imported from abroad . It follows , that in reality Europe trades not with Russia , but with twb millions of Russians , amongst the sixty-two millions which form her population . This shows also t he lamentably extravagant proportions which luxury has attained in Russia , because all its imports , which amount to so considerable a value , are distributed amongst only two millions of individuals .
Two more short extracts will afford a vivid picture of the condition of the people * and enable idolaters of despots to see the value of a succession of barbarous rulers wasting upon aggressive wars capital that would have sufficed to raise the permanent condition of millions of their people . It should be remembered , in reading the first paragraph , that no small portion of the slaughtering of beasts in Russia is for the sake of the tallow , and that the meat is thrown away : — The rearing of cattle in England takes place on a scale which is , indeed , widely different from that in Russia ; one slaughters there annually ten times as many beasts as in Russia ; and nevertheless England imports from Russia hides and tallow to a large amount , so great is in that country the consumption of those products , or , more correctly speaking , to so great extent
does the English people possess the means of support , and even of comfort ! There exists still , it is true , some misery in Ireland , but there is a probability that this misery will cease with the introduction of drainage , projected by the formation of various companies . As to the tallow , it will find in the interior of the country a still readier sale than the corn . When the peasants will be able to substitute the candle for those nasty chips of wood that injure the sight , interrupt work , occasion numerous conflagrations , and which they use for want of . better , for lighting their cabins , in all the northern , and central parts of Russia , we shall scarcely have enough of tallow to supply our home consumption . The same may be said of the . hides required for the boots that ate to replace those shoes made of the bark of trees , now in use in a good half .. of Russia . SVe cannot but believe , at least we should be very sorry not to believe , that these things will one day become necessaries . ' :
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PHILIP THE SECOND . History of the Reign of Philip II ., King of Spain . By William H . Frescott . Vol . III . Routledge , Warnes , and Routledge . We are here presented with the third volume of Mr . Prescott ' s invaluable history of the celebrated monarch , King Philip II . It exhibits to us , in limine , the picture of the great struggle between the Morisco apostate and the Spanish Catholic . It is a stirring , animated scene , full of contrasts natural and moral . Mr . Prescott is just the writer
to bring the subject out in all its terror and all its beauty . What a personal interest , too , belongs to the history of John of Austria , the natural son of the Emperor Charles V ., whose first entrance into public life is at an auto de- fa ! Such was the first lesson of his education . To that , as well as to his subsequent studies , no doubt lie " gave due attention . " Those studies were mainly connected with the art of war . Perfect in chivalrous accomplishments , ho sighed for somo field on which he could display them , " The knowledge of his real parcn-3 k a »¦ - ¦* ' m
* ^ ****** * . * ^* ' tago filled his soul with a generous ambition , and he longed by somo heroic achievement to vindicate his claim to ' his illustrious descent . " _ His premature effort to take part in the famous siege of Malta in 1504 , made him as popular in the country us attractive to the court . t His royal brother soon found employment for him , in tho nominal command of a licet fitted out against tho Barbary corsairs , His lieutenant , and the man really responsible for tho expedition , was Antonio do Zuftigny Requcsens . Soe , too , how the moral attributes of the business were regarded : —
On tho 8 rd of Juno , Don John sailed out of port , at the head of as bravo an armament as ever floated on tho waters of tho Moditorrnnonn , Tho l ? rinco ' s own vessel was a stately galley gorgeously fluted up , and decorated 'With a profusion of paintings , the subjeots of which , drawn chiefly from ancient history , and mythology , wore of didactic Import , Intondod to convoy some UBoful lesson to tho young commander , Tho moral of each picture wa 8 expressed by somo pithy maxjm inscribed beneath u in Latin . Thus , to whatovor quarter Don « o « n turned his eyes , they wqro sure to fall on some homily for his instruction j so that his galley might be compared to a volume richly filled with illustrations ,
that serve to impress the contents on the reader ' s memory . . We next meet this favoured son of fortune in Granada ; and with all this moral training , we find him an inflexible warrior . We pity the poor Moriscoes , who could expect , from such a hero , " such justice only as comes from the hand of an enemy . " The renoval of the Moriscoes , as the result ' of Iris operations , is depicted with power and pathos by the historian . The moral , too , is properly enforced .
The oppressors suffered not only from the reaction but from the immediate results of the oppression . Such were the natural consequences " of that system of religious intolerance which had converted into enemies those who , under a beneficent rule , would have been true and loyal subjects , and who by their industry and skill would have added incalculably to the resources of the country . " So much for the peculiar moral education of Prince John , who possessed , however , some noble qualities and a magnanimous disposition .
But these virtues , under a system of bigotry , only add to the mischief to which they are made ancillary . Another name , nearly as great as his own , starts up also on the Morisco side—that of Aben-Aboo—and fills up many a page of romantic adventure . It was the battle of Paladin and Panim , and is re p lete with all the pomp and circumstance of warlike heroism . The central figure of each opposing body is a truly grand object ; The monstrous -irregularity that characterised the whole of the proceedings only renders them more strange , startling , and interesting . Siege , assault , and massacre in turn brought on the stage all the horrors of war .
And what if the filial triumph appeared to rest with the Paladin ^— even this was a delusion ; for , in the words of the Castilian proverb , quoted by our author , "If Africa had cause to weep , Spain had little reason to rejoice . " The fame of las exploits , and his successful cruelties , atrocious as they were , against the Morisco "' apostates and infidels , as they were regarded , pointed out Don John to Rome as the champion of Christendom , and tfie baton of Generalissimo of the formidable league which the Pope was then organising against the Ottoman Empire was entrusted to his hands ..
With this war against the Turks ; and the domestic affairs of Spain , the remainder of the volume is occupied . The stout-hearted Pius V . was then Pontiff , and Philip II . was his faithful ally . The preparations were on a colossal scale and consecrated with gorgeous ceremonials , pious masses , and other religious rites . On the 10 th of September , 1571 , a magnificent armament , unrivalled by any which had yet ridden on the Mediterranean since the days of imperial Home , stood out to sea . The Papal l ^ nncio , dressed in his pontificals , took a prominent station on the Mole , and as each vessel passed successively before him , he bestowed on it
his apostolic benediction . Then , without postponing a moment longer his return , ho left Messina and hastened back to Rome to announce the joyful tidings to his master . The Battle of Lepanto is described with great spirit . The result proved that the Turks were no longer invincible at sea . Noverthelcss , the Porte was enabled to enter into a separate treaty with Venice on the 7 th of March , 1573 , by which the republic agreed to nay a largo annual sum to the Sultan , and to cede the island of Cyprus , the original cause of tho war . So fruitless , in general , aro bloody victories . In estimating tho state of Spain at this time , Mr .
Prescott rightly takos into consideration tho tastes , habits , and prejudices of the Spaniards , and portrays the character of her monaroh with tho skill of a master . Ho demonstrates that , though » odentary , ho was not indolent . He was intellectually active , but ho was too fond of doing everything himself . This caused delay in business which sometimes made tho royal docision arrive loo lato for tho purpose intondod . There were indications , however , that tho important sixtoenth century had commenced , and that a great chango was coming on tho worldTho roicn of mind had oegunthough
, , yot encountered witli persecution and opposition . The fourth queen of tho gloomy monarch , Anno of Austria , shea an air of gaiety ovor tho manners of tho Court . She was fond , of diversions . Among them wo find mention made of autos sacramontales , a series of religious dramas resembling tliQ ancient Mystorios and Moralities of our own country—a significant foot for both . It only ronwins to add that tins volume "fully sustains tho character of tho author for caro , accuracy , and ologanoo .
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WINTER EVENINGS . Winter Evenings . By Leitch Ritchie .- Two Vols , Hurst and Blackett . Pleasant volumes these , by the author of Schinder hamies and The Magician . The novelist and the essayist both merit praise . The . initial paper describes a Christmas party , the members of which are supposed to contribute .. the ' . different papers in the forni of conversations at subsequent meetings . Conformable to this idea , the articles are composed in a familiar style , and seldom rise above a certain level . Grandiloquence there is none , and they are all the better on that account . The subjects are
for the most part- interesting , and of all kinds , from the philosophical to the narrative , from the scientific fact to the instructive fable , constituting altogether a miscellany of very agreeable reading . We recognise , however , nothing either profound or subtle ; what might be expected , however , we find , a characteristic shrewdness , and a quiet natural humour In the second volume , there is one essay that deserves to be distinguished as of great literary service . It proposes to remove , and does effectually remove , from Milton the opprobrium of having been flogged or rusticated at Cambridge . The charge Was originally brought by Aubrey , who
stated it in the coarsest manner . Milton , he dared to write , was " vomited , after an inordinate and riotous youth , out of the university . " To this infamous accusation Milton . replied indignantly , thanking his accuser for the " commodious lie , " since it had given him " an apt occasion to acknowledge publicl y * with all grateful mind , the more than ordinary favour and respect which 'I . found , above any of my equals , at the hands of those courteous and learned men , the fellows of my college , wherein I spent some years ; who , at my parting , after I had taken two degrees , as the manner is , signified many ways how much better it would content them that * ! should stay ; as by many letters full of kindliess and lovincri-esnect , both before that time and
long after , I was assured of their singular good affection towards me . " In another place , he says , that his father sent him to college , where he studied for seven years with the approbation of the good , and without any stain upon his character , till he took the degree of Master of Arts . . These denials are positive , and . might have settled the question , but that Milton had writteu a Latin . elegy , addressed to his friend Diodati , in which he seems to confess to a fault , in the following lines . The criminatory words arc printed in italics : — , Me tenet nrbs reflua . quam Thamesis alluit unda , Meque nee invitum patria dulcis habet . Jam nee arundiferum m'ihi cura revisere camum ,
Nee dudum vettti me lans angit amor . Si sit hoc exil ' mm patrios adiisse penatea , Et vacuum curis otia grata sequi , Non ego vej profugi nomen sortemve recuso , Ltutus et exilii conditione fruor . ¦ . Dr . Johnson , among others , p ut such an interpretation on these phrases iu italics that , in his life of Milton , he wrote i ^— "I am ashamed to relate what I fear is true , that Milton was one of the last students in cither university that suffered the public indignity of corporal correction . " how
The mistaken view of these lines shows little , after all , the Latin tongue has really been understood among us , even by scholars ; and Milton ' s fame has suffered exclusively from this gcnoral ignorance . The occasion of the elegy , in the first place , was never considered . The poem was written in London during a vacation , in tho poet ' s cigtccnth year , and addressed to Diodati , his schoolfellow and friend , who had addressed from Cheshire an epistle to Milton , i" which ho condoled with him on his absonco from it during tho vacation , and poetically spoko of this temporary separation as a state of oxilo . Milton objects to this view . t / tris not
referring , by the phrase dudxm < : ctiti to his cheerless apartments in Christ s College , Cambridge , as supposed , but ( a / tin / ionic , his fathers fireside , which during torm-Umo had , by tho ajsoiplino of his collogo , boon lately forbidden him . This is the plain and literal moaning of thopassago . Tho usual and niischiovous ouo is a figurative _ interpretation which the pool , could , not have intended , nnd which it requires muoh straining to make out . " Milton , " says Dr . Maoluro , to whom Mr . Ritchie is indobtotl ' far his remarks , " was too gpod a Latinjst over to employ tho word lar for a purpose so unsuitable" " When road in this light , " oontinucs tho Dootor , " the passage assumes oonsistejioy with itself , with other portions of Milton ' s writings ,
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ffo . 464 v February 12 , 1859 . J y ^ THE LMDEB , 2 Q 5
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1859, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2281/page/13/
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