and from the north to the south, of their empire; who, without a murmur, had suffered bears to be let loose upon them, for diversion, in the streets of the capital; whose nobles returned thanks to the prince, when, at a banquet, he beat or mutilated them for his sport. A barbarous country, where, in the numerous butcheries of pretended state criminals, the grandprinces and his courtiers themselves played the part of executioners upon the principal conspirators; a government so ill-constructed and absurd, that civil and military functions were confounded in the same hands; a national mass so mis-shapen and so unhealthy, that it was scarcely able to repulse a remnant of Tartars; and which, had it continued in the state that Peter found it in, Charles XII. would, perhaps, have conquered as easily as Siberia had been conquered by itself, and America by Europe. And yet, nobles, priests, people, every one, even to the first wife and son of the reformer, clung to these boorish manners, and to this benighted ignorance; obstinately determined to live over again the life of their fathers; perpetually re-commencing instead of making progress. The nobles, who had been discontented since the time of Ivan IV., and especially since the destruction, by Fodor, of their exclusive titles to the ranks and places held by their ancesiors, refused to obey; they abhorred the new system which Peter sought to introduce, where it was necessary to begin by obeying, where every thing required to be learned, and where rank depended on merit. The priests, superstitious from their calling, fanatical from ignorance, from interest, and from the pride inspired by their influence over a people still more ignorant than themselves; the priests, whose patriarchal throne, since the accession of the second race, had stood so close to the regal throne; they, beforehand, poured forth their maledictions upon all innovation, and especially when brought from countries where a dreaded sect was triumphant. By them, the first printing-office, which Alexis endeavoured to establish, had been burned. Thus did they repel all improvements, as abominable acts of sacrilege; and to this they were prompted either by a fanatical spirit, or by the instinct of immutability, which, in fact, is indispensable to the existence of all power that is built upon error and stition. super As to the people, the example of the two other classes, and the influence which they exercised over them, were sufficient to harden them in their barbarous manners; even independent of the force or habit, which operated powerfully on all classes, and which is generally strong in proportion to the worthlessness of the custom from which it has originated. But Peter had formed a correct estimate of the three elements on which he wished to act: he knew that the state, such as his genius conceived it, was entirely concentrated in himself. He was aware that the clergy were not likely to become a dangerous power. It is true, that, having constantly increased their numbers and their privileges since the time of Vladimir the Great, we find them, in 1700, the persons first consulted on all important affairs, exercising the right of sentencing to death without appeal, and possessing one half of the property of the empire. Yet, notwithstanding all this, traditionary feelings, interest, and weakness, had always retained them in obedience. About the year 1000.' "The causes of this constant submission to the head of the government have always been assigned; the most prominent cause has been stated to be, the obligation which the priests were under of being married,—a custom which introduced into their corporations the most heterogeneous parts; which weakened the corporate spirit, by the mixture of contrary interests with it; which linked them with civil life by rendering them as much citizens as priests; and lastly, which occasioned them to be less respected by their flocks, in consequence of their too near approach to the multitude in point of situation.'-pp. 250-253. It may be easily understood, even from this short passage, what was the state of the society of which Peter was the ruling member, and how difficult a task it must have been to introduce order, where every thing so strongly favoured the continuance of anarchy. The means which Peter employed were those which the most absolute tyranny suggested, and they were successful in introducing a reformation which a few years before would have been considered very far distant. But, necessary as it was to rule with sternness, to be in appearance, and in the absolutenesss of his command, a despot, this retrieves nothing of the obloquy which attaches to his name for the cruelty which tarnished the glory of his best and noblest actions. The remaining history of Russia, is too well known to need our alluding to any of its details, and we cannot do better than permit our author to give the observations with which he terminates the history of Peter : Historians of the nineteenth century, while we detest the violent acts of this prince, why should we be astonished at his despotism? Who was there who could then teach him, that to be truly liberal or moral is the same thing? But of what consequence is it, that he was ignorant that morality calls for the establishment of liberty, as being the best possible means of securing the general welfare? All that he did for that welfare, or, in other words, for the glory, the instruction, and the prosperity of his empire, was it not beneficial to that liberty, of which neither himself nor his people were yet worthy? Thus, without being aware of it, Peter the Great did more for liberty than all the dreams of liberalism have since fancied that he ought to have done! His people are indebted to him for their first and most difficult step towards their future emancipation. What matters, then, his abhorrence to the word, when he laboured so much for the thing? Since despotism was necessary there, how could he better employ it? If he carried matters too far, if he often deemed it just to inflict on his enemies all the evil which they wished to him, and to treat his country like a conquest in order to conquer it to civilization; in a word, if he overcame in his Russians their barbarous manners by dint of the barbarism which still remained in himself; the fault must be attributed to his education, to the age in which he lived, and to the circumstance of a degree of power being requisite here which has never been found to exist in man without being pushed to excess. It was in this hyperborean land, where a freezing temperature is adverse to social intercourse, by confining each individual within his own limits; in these humid and cold regions, where every kind of strength and superiority seems as though it ought to exert itself only to escape from them, to conquer a milder climate under a distant sky; it was here that this citizen despot, so familiar, so accessible, so enamoured of truthfull of the pride of noble actions, and endowed with admirable sagacity, with boundless zeal, and sleepless activity, devoted himself, in order to transform this barbarous and desolating nature into an enlightened and productive nature. Let thanks be paid to him, since he changed into a source of light that source of ignorance, whence the barbarism of the middle age had flowed in torrents over the face of Europe, ingulphing the civilization of ancient times. Never again will burst forth from those countries the Attilas, the Hermanrics, "the scourges of God and of mankind!" Peter the Great has called forth there the lustre of the Scheremetefs, the Apraxins, the Mentzikofs, the Tolstoys, the Schuvalofs, the Ostermanns, the Rumianzofs, and the numerous band of other names, till then unknown, but of which, since that epoch, the European aristocracy has been proud. 'In that great creation, as at the period of that of the world, we seem to behold all these men of Russian civilization included in one man! they seem as though they sprung from him, to civilize the empire with that of unity, that order, that concordant motion, which manifests one common origin! He himself discerned, trained, or guided them. For, like the major part of the greatest men, he knew how to choose those who were suitable to his purpose; like them, too, he persisted in his choice, and in his friendships; either from the tenacity which is natural to all noble hearts in their feelings as well as in their projects, or, rather, from the correctness of their first glance, their superior genius being able instantly, to recognize and to draw to them these subordinate geniuses! For what great man has ever yet been seen unsurrounded by great talents? as though, in virtue of an universal law, similar minds had a tendency to unite in the moral order of things, as atoms of the same nature have in the physical order.'-pp. 430-432. The Count de Segur's volume is compiled with ability, from the most respectable writers on the History of Russia. It is written in a pleasant and unaffected style, and contains all the information which a general reader would desire to possess respecting the foundation and progress of the great northern empire. ART. VI.-The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Philip Sidney, Knt. With a Life of the Author, and illustrative notes. By William Gray, Esq. of Magdalen College, and the Inner Temple. 12mo. pp. 329. Hurst & Co.: London. 1829. THE meeting unexpectedly with a favourite author of the oldentime-such an author as Sir Philip Sidney-the flower of English chivalry, and of English literature, in the very summer of our golden age, always awakens within us the same delightful feelings as the associations of our early childhood with the dawn of spring, when touched from their sleep by the budding of the hedge-rows,-the redolence of unseen violets,-the music of the song-thrush and the sweet nightingale, or by the vision of the woodland butterfly floating about the bushes like an animated primrose, or a feather from an angel's wing. We pause to admire the fresh green of the half-expanded leaves, as we pause over the youthful pages of Sidney's Arcadia, where every thought appears embowered in verdure and redolent of rural flowers; we pause to admire the singing of the early birds, when the voice of the turtle is heard in the land,' as we pause over the charming periods of the "Defence of Poesie," which come to us "with words set in delightful proportion-the well-enchanting skill of music-taking the ears prisoners by the loveliness of the song ;" and we love to watch, or to pursue the flight of the butterfly, as we love to wander amidst the beauties of the songs and sonnets in this pretty volume, which lead us on, from page to page, with the same bewitchment as the butterfly was wont, in our boyhood, to lead us from field to field, in eccentric, but unwearied and unweariable chace. in a These are the works of that Sidney, whom Providence, (to use the words of Camden) "seems to have sent into the world to give the present age a specimen of the ancients; and did, on a sudden recal him, and snatch him from us, as more worthy of heaven than earth: thus where virtue comes to perfection, it is gone trice, and the best things are never lasting. Rest then in peace, O, Sidney, (if I may be allowed this address) we will not celebrate your memory with tears, but admiration; whatever we loved in you, as the best of authors [Tacitus] speaks of that best governor of Britain [Agricola]-whatever we admired in you, still continues, and will continue in the memories of men, the revolutions of ages, and the annals of time. Many, as inglorious and ignoble, are buried in oblivion; but Sidney shall live, to all posterity. For, as the Grecian poet has it, 'virtue's beyond the reach of fate." Thus far the venerable Camden, and with him the whole literary world, with scarcely a dissentient voice, warmly agree in considering the life of Sir Philip Sidney, as one of the most faultless and splendid that illuminates the pages of our history. His accomplishments as a gentleman and a scholar, his taste and talents as a man of unquestionable genius, his illustrious descent from two of the most ancient and distinguished families, his death on the battle-field, in the very morning of his fame-but, above all, his spotless integrity, his high principles of honour, and his truly English spirit of independence, which would not brook to be schooled by royalty itself and even ventured to give bold but judicious counsel, to the haughty Elizabeth-all united to encircle his name with a coronal of glory, which seems to shine with a brilliancy, increasing in brightness as the hazy atmosphere of time darkens around it. Poets and philosophers, critics and historians, soldiers and statesmen, those who flutter through the court circle, prankt in all the appliances of the highest refinement, and those who, "far from the maddening crowd's ignoble strife," give Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times, all concur in looking up to Sir Philip Sidney as a model which they ought earnestly to study and to imitate, but can rarely hope to rival, and may well think it impossible to excel. From his very boyhood, Sidney never appeared as a boy, nor "other than a man,"-to use the words of his playmate and friend, Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke-" Such staidness of mind, lovely and familiar gravity, as carried grace and reverence above greater years; his talk, ever of knowledge, and his very play tending to enrich his mind, so as even his teachers found something in him to observe and learn above that which they had usually read or taught." His thirst for knowledge indeed was so universal, that he was not content with cultivating only one branch, but the whole circle of arts and sciences-his capacious and comprehensive mind, aspiring to pre-eminence in every part of knowledge attainable by human industry or genius. His friend, Lord Brooke, in the scarce and curious volume from which we have already quoted, farther corroborates the correctness of those lineaments of his character, as we have attempted to sketch them, when he tells us, that he was "a true model of worth, a man fit for conquest, plantation, reformation, or what action soever is greatest and hardest amongst men,-being withal such a lover of mankind and goodness, that whosoever had any real parts, in him found comfort, pacification, and protection, to the uttermost of his power; like Zephyrus, he giving life where he blew. The universities, abroad and at home, accounted him a general Mecænas of learning; dedicated their books to him, and communicated every invention, or improvement of knowledge, with him. Soldiers honored him, and were so honored by him, as no man thought he marched under the true banner of Mars, that had not obtained Sir Philip Sidney's approbation. Men of affairs, in most parts of Christendom, entertained correspondence with him. But what speak I of these, with whom his own ways and ends did concur? Since, to descend, his heart and capacity were so large, that there was not a cunning painter, a skilful engineer, an excellent musician, or any other artificer of extraordinary fame, that made not himself known to this famous spirit, and found him his true friend, without hire, and the common rendezvous of worth in his time. Besides the ingenuity of his nature did spread itself so freely abroad, or who lives that can say he ever did him harm; whereas, there be many living that may thankfully acknowledge he did them good. Neither was this in him a private, but a public |