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MB. MASSEY'S HISTORY.*
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by another person—now l ^ ead off the whole , namingeach compartment and the figures in it ; he then read the whole backwards , and af terwards , on any compartment being named , repeated the figures in it , and on the figures being given , named the compartment . This astonishing exercise of memory . excited' the warmest applause , and the interest was deepened by the assertion of Dr . Pick , that be did not consider that any person present would fail in performing the same feat after an examination of his plan . He stated that he had chosen figures to exhibit / because they are usually supposed to have less hold on the memory than facts or opinions , and if these could be unerringly recollected , there could be no doubt as to the power of remembering other tilings . Memory is often blamed when the fault rests elsewhere . We fail to recal ideas not because of any
deficiency in the power of recollecting , but because the ideas themselves have been but faintly impressed on the mind ; that which is vividly felt is easily remembered—that which excites little attention at the time is soon effaced . Hence it is that the impressions made in youth , which are more vivid than those of after-years , are strongly remembered , while those of old age can scarcely be recalled even after the lapse of a single day . The theory , therefore , of Dr . Pick is , that to render impressions permanent they must be made strong ; that the well-known power of association should be called into exercise two ideas should be combined , and by a reduplication of this process any train of thought can be reproduced as often as required . An example was the and found perfectl
given , which was at once tested by company , y successful . It consisted of the words—memory , history ; war , Italy ; fine arts , National Gallery ; Trafalgar Square , Nelson ; navy , England ; industry , cotton ; America , Atlantic cable , electric telegraph ; railway , iron , mines ; mountains , Switzerland ; snow , sledge ; horse , Rarey . These words , with the ideas belonging to them , were to be taken in alternate pairs : thus—memory , history ; history , war ; war , Italy , &c . The most defective memories were shown to be capable of going through the whole chain by the help of the connecting association . The next experiment was to exhibit this system applied to some practical purpose ; and a well-known rule of the Latin grammar , with respect to the gender of nouns of the third declension , av&s indelibly impressed on the minds of the classical students of the college" by the following chain : — , - hill
• Mullet , fish driver , -canal , ditch ; worm-dust , footpath ; , stone ; fire ( as produced from jimt ) , firebrand ; bellows , ashes ; ilour ( from Us colour ) , bread ; cucumber , stem ; -thorn , faggot , stick ; lever , axle-tree ; ploughshare ( emblem of peace ); sword ( emblem ' of-tear ^ . aii-: ar ^ ifip ialw . € qpony , - -nBilidJ ' 'the hand ,, a natural weapon ) ,-..-blood ( produced by either weapon ) ; snake , \ dormouse ; hait , rope ; collar , circle , month ( as returning in a circle ) end , After a few practical observations , and remarking that the mode of applying this principle to figures was very simple , but must be deferred to another opportunity , the lecturer concluded , amidst the expressions of the most complete satisfaction on the part of those who had listened with the most intense interest to the whole discourse . t , . .- c Dr . Pick will , we believe , -lecture at the anniversary meeting or .... ? Jia . Historical and Genealogical Society of England , which takes place at Bridgwater House , T under t 1 ir ^ e ^ ideilcr'of--the-Earl--of--JEixesmere , in the course of the present month .
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and patronage for their political dirty work , and were often arrayed by their master ' s orders against his own responsible advisers . Mr . Massey does not think this conduct quite correct but he palliates it on the , ground of the natural desire of the Sovereign to emancipate himself from the control of the great Whi" - ' families : A mere desire to obtain" power is a low motive of action , and George III . never sought it for a worthy purpose , nor was the success of his schemes in any way connected with the public interest ; on the contrary , we now suffer under many millions of taxation to pay that large portion of the national debt which was incurred to gratify the obstinacy and malignity of the " good old kino-. " The opinion-forming power of the country was at a low ebbor the Georgian system could not have been
main-, tained so long , and it is scarcely possible to believe that only eighty years ao-o the Sovereign did not scruple to plot against his own ministers in a manner which could not be kept secret , and instructed Lord Temple to tell such peers as could be influenced that the kin" - would consider everybody an enemy who voted ^ for a measure—the India Bill—which his own cabinet advisers had prepared . Such treacherous and unconstitutional conduct was very properly met by a motion which was carried in the House of Commons , to the effect that declaring or pretending to declare any opinion of the Crown with a view to influence the votes of members was " a breach of the privileges of Parliament , and subversive of the constitution of the country . " Mr . Massey , whose conduct on the Committee on Tax Bills shows that he has no true sense ot
the functions and dignity of the House of Commons—blames both parties equally in this transaction , and affirms that a private explanation with the monarch , and a . resignation if they remained dissatisfied would have been the right course of the ministers , lhis is a very shallow view of the matter , and affords a good illustration of the difficulty of grasping principles under which the lion , member for Salford seems to labour . The ministers were in possession of the very words used by Lord Temple in his improper attempt to influence the votes , and they would have failed in their duty it they had not called upon the House of Commons to pronounce itsjudgment upon such conduct . In ' -. "addition to this , they should have demanded explanations from the Crown , and not have waited for their abrupt dismissal ; but no private remonstrances could have done away with the necessity of a formal protest against so mis-¦
chievous aa > rdceeding .- '• • -. _ .. . Havin" - shown so little appreciation of the Parliamentary bearmp of this remarkable dispute , we are almost surprised ^ o finder . Massey rational on the subject of Mr . Pitt ' s celebrated Reform Bill , which proposed to recognise the rights of the landowners to rotten boroughs , and to establish a Bud for-indemnifying them for any disfranchisenient that took place . Upon the behaviour ol Greorge Tv \ as Prince Regent Mr . Massey is justly severe ; but lie praises the conduct of Fox in putting up with the imputation that he had knowingly and wilfully sought to deceive the House ot _ Commons and the country when he made , on the authority of the ^ Prince , the well-known dechivation that no marriage with Mrs . Fitzherberfc had taken place . Mr . Massey , with a curious obliquity of moral and political judgment , tells us that " there were considerations which a statesmanliud a lover of his country would hold paramount even
f . n-a _ v-i ' nHif ; ahinn of his honour . " ^_ ' . . These considerations were that , by the Bin" 5 f- ^ TghtsrTmrrrage with a papist operated to exclude a Prince of the Blood Royal from the succession ; and although the Royal Marriage Act ^ cust legal doubt as to whether the ceremony performed with Mrs . l'lteherberfc was a marriage within the meaning of the Bill of Rights , then * was a strong probability on the other side , and it would very lilcdy have been decided that the offending prince must be set aside . bjieh an incidentwould . no doubt , have given rise to great agitation ; but no in himself
man in the position of Mr . Fox could bejustihed making a virtual accomplice in the criminality of the heir apparent , nor in deluding the Legislature svnd the people as to the facts which were necessary to determine the lawful succession of the Crown , Is o one can commend Fox and the Whigs for the way in which theyplayed off the prince against the king , and the scurvy treatment tiicy subsequently met with at the hands of the former was richly deserved . Fox ' s reconciliation with the Prince Regent passed the bounds of honourable good nature , and after lie had been made a vehicle of flagrant falsehood and was publicly disowned not only self-respect but conscience and honesty demanded that he should stand aloof
until ample reparation had been made . ' In a subsequent volume we shall see more clearly how Mr . Massey treats the conduct of the English Government to the Involution in France . At presont he appears , as usual , unequal to sec the bearings of a grout question , and to look upon the * rencli war as necessary to stem the tide of revolutionary feeling in this country . At any rate , ho has no sympathy with Fox , who wisely pointed out that reform at home , and not war abroad , was the right method ot dealing with discontent . ,, , ., t 1 , „ After the nccount wo have given of Mr . Massey s third volume ,
rnHE third volume of Mr . Massey ' s History comprehends the J- period from 1781 to 1793 , and he informs us that he has been aided in his task by some papers collected by the late Mr . Locker ¦ with a view to writing the Life of George III ., and also by the Bolton correspondence , and other private documents ; The result , however , of Mr . Massey's investigations does not materially affect the conclusions generally formed of the principal characters and incidents of the reign of the most mischievous monarch of modern English history . Mr . Massey is an essentially common-place writer . tOf
He brings to his task no breadth of philosophy , no profundiy speculation , no keen insight into character , and no ^ capacity for cither brilliant or powerful description . ^ Nothing lives in his pages ; and the American war , the memorable siege of Gibraltar , the impeachment of Warren Hustings , and the French revolution , are narrated with the frigidity of the spelling book or the monotony of an act of parliament . His labours must hot , however , be underrated ^ for it is within the reach of diligent dulness to compile facts and collect the bones of history , although it cannot put them together and animate them with the breath of life .
In the first chapter Mr . Massey devotes attention to the proceedings of the American war , and discusses the execution of Mnjor Andrd with commendable fuirness . He shows what English writers are too apt to forget , that Andre * was neither morally nor legally entitled to the protection of a safe-conduct fraudulently obtainedj find tliaTaltllOUgh a pnxdon would ^ have been o grftoeful and judicious act on the part of Washington , it certainly could not "bo claimed by a Government which disgraced itself by an alliance with the traitor Arnold . In his method of government George III . thoroughly deserved the title given to him by Bentham , as head of the firm of Corruptor General nnd Co ., and Mr . Massey details the arts by which the disgraceful proems was carried on . The king had his party of friends n the House of Commons , who were rewarded by place , pension ,
ouTreaders ^ condition and progress of the English people , or the growth ot opinion during a very stormy time , and , indeed , they most look to quite other sources , and to a very different historian for anythnitf ot the kind . The riots at Birmingham , and the burning of 1 rwatly s house , are cursorily mentioned , und some random assertions sutured as to the revolutionary tendencies of the learned doctor and his friends , but Mr . Masseyuun discover no ¦ connexion betweon the views then held by advanced liberals and those which are now generally entertained . Undoubtedly , there was indbtnictness . couluHion , and exaggeration in the minds of the English friends of the J > jreuUi
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632 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Jul y 7 , I 860-
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* A JLitttoru of JSntttanl durnff tho Reign of Qcor . / e III . JJy 'Y ^ I'MAM MAaa « Y , M . P , Vol . 111 . J . W . A ' nrker & Son .
Mb. Massey's History.*
MR . MASSEY'S HISTORY *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1860, page 632, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2355/page/8/
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