_The Edinburgh Review, No. CXXIV, for July 1835. American Edition,
Vol. II, No. 2. New York: Theodore Foster._
Article I in this number is a _critique_ upon "The History of the
Revolution in England in 1688. Comprising a View of the Reign of James
the Second, from his Accession to the Enterprise of the Prince of
Orange. By the late Right Honorable Sir James Mackintosh; and
completed to the Settlement of the Crown, by the Editor. To which is
prefixed, a Notice of the Life, Writings, and Speeches of Sir James
Mackintosh. 4to. London, 1834." The Reviewer commences by instituting
a comparison between the work of Sir James, and Fox's History of James
the Second. Both books are on the same subject--both were posthumously
published, and neither had received the last corrections. The authors,
likewise, belonged to the same political party, and had the same
opinions concerning the merits and defects of the English
Constitution, and concerning most of the prominent characters and
events in English history. The palm is awarded to the work of
Mackintosh. "Indeed"--says the critic--"the superiority of Mr. Fox to
Sir James as an orator, is hardly more clear than the superiority of
Sir James to Mr. Fox as an historian. Mr. Fox with a pen in his hand,
and Sir James on his legs in the House of Commons were, we think, each
out of his proper element. We could never read a page of Mr. Fox's
writings--we could never listen for a quarter of an hour to the
speaking of Sir James--without feeling that there was a constant
effort, a tug up-hill. Mr. Fox wrote debates. Sir James Mackintosh
spoke essays." The style of the fragment is highly complimented, and
justly. Every body must agree with the Reviewer, that a History of
England written throughout, in the manner of the History of the
Revolution, would be the most fascinating book in the language. The
printer and editor of the work are severely censured, but the censure
is, in some respects, misapplied. Such errors as making the pension of
60,000 livres, which Lord Sunderland received from France, equivalent
to 2,500 pounds sterling only, when, at the time Sunderland was in
power, the livre was worth more than eighteen pence, are surely
attributable to no one but the author--although the editor may come in
for a small portion of the blame for not correcting an oversight so
palpable. On the other hand the misprinting the name of Thomas Burnet
repeatedly throughout the book, both in the text and Index, is a
blunder for which the editor is alone responsible. The name is
invariably spelt Bennet. Thomas Burnet, Master of the Charter House,
and author of the _Theoria Sacra_, is a personage of whom, or of whose
works, the gentleman who undertook to edit the Fragment of Sir James
Mackintosh has evidently never heard. The Memoir prefixed to the
History, and its Continuation to the settlement of the Crown, both by
the Editor of the Fragment, are unsparingly, but indeed most
righteously, condemned. The Memoir is childish and imbecile, and the
Continuation full of gross inaccuracies, and altogether unworthy of
being appended to any thing from the pen of Mackintosh.
Article II is a very clever Review of the "Acharnenses of
Aristophanes, with Notes Critical and Explanatory, adapted to the Use
of Schools and Universities. {48} By T. Mitchell, A.M. 8vo. London,
1835." Mr. Mitchell made his first appearance as a translator and
commentator in 1820, and his second in 1822, upon both which occasions
he was favorably noticed in the Edinburgh. High praise is bestowed in
the present instance upon the _Acharnenses_. The _Wasps_ will follow,
and thus it appears the chronological order of the Comedies will not
be preserved. The old fault is to be found with this Review, viz: It
is more of a dissertation on the subject matter of the book in
question than an analysis of its merits or defects. By far the greater
part of the Article is occupied in a discussion of the character of
the Athenians.
Article III is headed "a Voyage of Discovery to Africa and Arabia,
performed in his Majesty's Ships Leven and Barracouta, from 1822 to
1826, under the command of Capt. F. W. W. Owen, R. N. By Capt. Thomas
Boteler, R. N. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1835." Captain Owen sailed in
January 1822 in the Leven Frigate, accompanied by the Barracouta, a
ten-gun brig, with instructions to survey the entire Eastern coast of
Africa, the Western coast of Madagascar--the islets and shoals
interjacent--together with the Western coast of the Continent from the
Zaire to Benin, and from the Rio Grande to the Gambia. All this was
accomplished in five years. The narrative of Boteler, who was
lieutenant of the Leven, is nothing more than a revised edition of
that originally prepared by Capt. Owen, and which was a failure in a
literary sense. The Review, as usual, says very little concerning the
manner in which Captain Boteler has performed his task.
Article IV. "Deontology; or the Science of Morality: in which the
Harmony and Coincidence of Duty and Self-interest, Virtue and
Felicity, Prudence and Benevolence, are explained and exemplified.
From the MSS. of Jeremy Bentham. Arranged and edited by John Bowring,
2 vols. octavo, London, 1834." "This book," says the Reviewer, "simply
contains Mr. Bentham's thrice told tale upon Utility. It furnishes us
with no fresh illustrations, no better system than we had already
found in his 'Principles of Morals and Legislation.'" We heartily
agree with the critic that there was no necessity for the publication
of these posthumous volumes. They add nothing to the work just
mentioned, and are, in many points, inferior. But the Notice concludes
in the following words. "Is it to be wondered at, that the most
learned, accurate, and philosophical nation in Europe--the
Germans--treat with contempt ignorance and insolence like this? They
admit the merits of Mr. Bentham as a jurisconsult, in his analysis and
classification of the _material_ interests of life; but their
metaphysicians and moralists agree, we believe without an exception,
in considering his speculative philosophy as undeserving even the pomp
and ceremony of an argument." We have only to add, that, in our
opinion of the metaphysics of Mr. Bentham, we are, by no means,
Germans to the very letter.
Article V. is an excellently well toned, and perfectly satisfactory
Review of the "Journal by Frances Anne Butler, 2 vols. 8vo. London,
1835." It defends this lady from the charge of intentionally
depreciating America; cites a long list of instances in which she has
spoken in terms of the greatest cordiality of our people,
individually, and as a nation; shows in what manner she has repeatedly
let slip opportunities of saying, and saying too with perfect justice,
things little likely to flatter our vanity; defends her from the
ridiculous accusation of vulgarity (there is positively not an iota of
vulgarity in the composition of Fanny Kemble) and very justly gives us
a rap over the knuckles for our overweening vanity, self-sufficiency,
and testiness of temper. The whole article is excellent, and the
conclusion is particularly to our mind. "There is no chance of her
return to a profession that she so cordially detested. Under these
circumstances the only compensation Mr. Butler can make to us he must
make. He is bound to see that she goes on with her faithful and
amusing journal, and that she finishes, at her leisure, some of the
sundry stories, plays, and novels, on which, it seems, she had already
set to work amid the interruptions of the stage."
The sixth article is a review of "The Works of George Dalgarno, of
Aberdeen. 4to. Reprinted at Edinburgh: 1834." This work is merely a
reprint of the old Treatises of Dalgarno, the publication not
extending beyond the sphere of the Maitland Club--a society instituted
at Glasgow in imitation of the Edinburgh Ballantyne Club. The first
treatise of Dalgarno is entitled "Ars Signorum, Vulgo Character
Universalis, et Lingua Philosophica. Londini 1661." The second is
"Didascalocophus, or the Deaf and Dumb Man's Tutor: to which is added
a Discourse of the Nature and Number of Double Consonants: both which
Tracts being the first (for what the author knows) that have been
published upon either of the subjects. Printed at the Theater in
Oxford, 1680." The memory of Dalgarno had nearly perished when Dugald
Stewart called public attention to his writings, on account of his
having anticipated, on grounds purely speculative, and _a priori_,
what has now been proved _a posteriori_ by Horne Tooke and others,
viz: that all grammatical inflections are reducible to the noun alone.
Article VII is headed "Narrative of a Second Voyage in search of a
North-West Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions during
the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833. By Sir John Ross, C. B.,
K. S. A., K. C. S., &c. &c., Captain in the Royal Navy. Including the
Reports of Commander, now Captain, James Clark Ross, R. N., F. R. S.,
F. L. S., &c. and the Discovery of the Northern Magnetic Pole. 4to.
London: 1835." The Reviewer professes himself unable to regard the
observations made by Commander Ross in relation to the Magnetic Pole
in the light of a discovery. "It was certainly a great satisfaction to
stand upon a rock where the dip was 89° 59', and where the polarity of
nicely suspended needles was insensible; but it may be questioned
whether or not the place of the Magnetic Pole can be best determined
by observations made at a distance or near the spot; and we are not
satisfied that the position assigned by Commander Ross is more
accurate than that given by the curves of Professor Barlow, the
calculations of Hansteen, and the observations of Captain Parry." The
fact is that the Magnetic Pole is _moveable_, and, place it where we
will, we shall not find it in the same place to-morrow. Notice is
taken also by the critic that neither Captain nor Commander Ross has
made the slightest reference to the fact that the Magnetic {49} Pole
is not coincident with the _Pole of maximum cold_. From observations
made by Scoresby in East Greenland, and by Sir Charles Giesecke and
the Danish Governors in West Greenland, and confirmed by all the
meteorological observations made by Captains Parry and Franklin, Sir
David Brewster has deduced the fact that the Pole of the Equator is
not the Pole of maximum cold: and as the matter is well established,
it is singular, to say no more, that it has been alluded to by neither
the Commander nor the Captain.
Article VIII is 1. A "History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great
Britain, with a Notice of its Early History in the East, and in all
quarters of the Globe; a Description of the Great Mechanical
Inventions which have caused its unexampled extension in Great
Britain: and a View of the Present State of the Manufacture, and the
condition of the Classes engaged in its several departments. By Edward
Baines, Jr. Esq. 8vo. London: 1835."
2. "The Philosophy of Manufactures: or an Exposition of the
Scientific, Moral, and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of
Great Britain. By Andrew Ure, M.D. 8vo. London: 1835." Mr. Baines'
work is spoken of in high terms, as discovering much laborious
research, and being both interesting and valuable. With the exception
of Smith's _Memoirs of Wool_, published in 1747, it is said to be the
only work giving a clear and copious account of the rise, progress,
and actual condition of any of the great branches of industry carried
on in the kingdom. Dr. Ure's work is censured for inaccuracy of
detail. Its title is evidently a misnomer.
Article IX is "A Poet's Portfolio; or Minor Poems. In Three Books. By
James Montgomery, 12mo. London, 1835."
The first production of Mr. Montgomery, 'The Wanderer of Switzerland,'
was noticed about twenty-eight years ago in the Edinburgh, and much
fault found with it for inflation of style, and affectation. The
present volume has induced the Journal to alter its tone entirely, and
the _Minor Poems_ are (perhaps a little too highly) lauded. "There
is," says the critic, "something in all his poetry which makes fiction
the most impressive teacher of truth and wisdom; and by which, while
the intellect is gratified, and the imagination roused, the heart, if
it retains any sensibility to tender or elevating emotions, cannot
fail to be made better." The Reviewer, as usual, does not stick to his
text, but comments, in detail, upon _all_ the published poems of
Montgomery.
The tenth and concluding paper is a Review of "The Second Report of
his Majesty's Commissioners on Ecclesiastical Revenue and Patronage:
Ireland. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed: 1834"--and
"First Report of the Commissioners of Public Instruction: Ireland.
Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of his Majesty:
1835."
This article is written with great ability; but why call that a Review
which is purely a dissertation on the state of the Irish Church? It
concludes with a correspondence between the Editor of the Edinburgh,
and Mr. Alan Stevenson, respecting evidence given, by the latter,
before the Parliamentary Committee on Light Houses. The Journal, in
No. CXXIII, accused Mr. S. of deceiving the Committee by erroneous
testimony; and, upon Mr. S. demanding an explanation, the Review not
only refuses to retract its assertions, but declares that, had it
known certain facts at the time of inditing the offensive article, it
would have expressed itself with double severity.