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INDEX TO THE ECLECTIC MAGAZINE.-VOL. XVI.

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British Quarterly Review,
North British Review,
Memoir of a Song.-Fraser's Magazine,

The Narrow Way, 321. Old Music and Pictures,
202 369. Sonnets, 458. The Mother's Dream, 459.
Sonnets addressed to My Mother, 468. Death-Bed
of Jacob Boehman, 469. Liberty, 487. Cove-
289 nanter's Night-Hymn, 494. My own Place, 494.
The "Friedhof," or Court of Peace, 576.

356

405

500

522

420

MISCELLANIES.-Compression in Oratory, 34.
Drudgery of Literature, 54. Affection for Offspring
in Brutes, 87. Dickens in Africa, 87. Canning's
Estimate of Chalmers, 113. Origin of John Gil-
pin, 118. A Miserly Marquess, 113. Authorship
of Tom Cringle's Log, 125. Safety of Railway
Travelling, 125. Trajan's Forum, 201. Hon. and
Rev. Baptist W. Noel, 237. Coffee-Houses in the
17th Century, 250. Death of Ibrahim Pasha, 266.
Notices of New Books, 287. Sale of Haydon's
Works, 341. Produce of the Printing Press, 398.
Harder, 419. Paul Jones, 499.

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LITERARY CHARACTER OF LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 1.-Essays and Sketches of Life and Character, by a Gentleman who has left his Lodgings. Nom de guerre,-Joseph Skillet. Pp. 248. May 24th, 1820. 2.-The Life of Lord William Russell, with some Account of the Times in which he lived. Third edition. 2 vols. 1820.

3.--Essays on the History of the English Government and Constitution, from the reign of Henry VII. to the present time. 8vo. 1821.

4.-Don Carlos-or Persecution. A Tragedy in Five Acts. Fourth edition.

1822.

5.-Memoirs of Europe, from the Peace of Utrecht; with Introduction. 2 vols., 4to. 1824. Fourth edition. 1826.

6.-The Establishment of the Turks in Europe. An Historical Essay; with Preface. London: John Murray. Pp. 128. 12mo. 12mo. 1828.

7.-The Causes of the French Revolution. Pp. 274. 8vo. 1832. 8.-Correspondence of John, Fourth Duke of Bedford; with Introduction. 3 vols. 1842, 1843, 1846.

RECENT events in Europe would appear to confirm the observation of the Swedish Chancellor, Von Oxenstiern, to his son: "Nescis mi fili quantilla prudentia homines regantur." An observation in which Doctor Johnson seems to have concurred, when he said to Boswell, "It is wonderful, Sir, with how little real superiority of mind men can make an eminent figure in public life."

The signal incompetency of so many statesmen enjoying, in the several countries they but lately governed, the most brilliant repu

VOL. XVI. NO. L

tation for sagacity, experience, and diplomatic skill, to grapple with the difficulties of a revolutionary crisis, cannot but lead us to the conclusion that their high reputation was undeserved. "Omnium consensu capaces Imperii nisi imperassent." In this country, although we have not been altogether unaffected by the revolutionary action in continental states, the prime minister, whom the events of February found in office, is still at his post; still guides the vessel of state amidst the shoals of Chartism and the breakers of

NOTE.-For explanation of Plate, see page 18.

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Repeal. But whether the stability of British | the chief avenues to distinction; and the rule be owing to the solid common-sense acquirements of the lawyer and the divine character of the people, to the excellence of tempt both to production in the graver walks the constitution, or to the superior address of literature; and though to the lawyer the and wisdom of our statesmen, or to the com- essay be fraught with peril, and endanger his bined effect of all three elements, admits of professional reputation, it is sometimes venconsiderable question. It will not be however tured with success, and the hardy venturer denied, that the statesmen of Great Britain not unfrequently achieves the coveted woolhave, with rare exceptions, in all ages, been sack. The mitre, too, "in the good old men of high moral character, politically, as times," was not unfrequently the reward of well as in private life; rarely deficient in classic taste and literary merit, while now classical attainments; frequently brilliant and it seems to fall on studied dullness and obripe scholars, and often well versed in con- scurity, or crowns the flippant and iconoclasstitutional and international law, as indeed tic zeal of professorial rashness. It may be might be expected from the studies usually questioned whether the "belles lettres" have pursued by young men of our Universities, not, upon the whole, impeded rather than aiming at legislatorial honor and advancement. accelerated the progress of the lawyer to the Yet we are not aware that any instance can woolsack, and the divine to lawn sleeves; be found of a "Literary Premier"-of a but it is quite certain that literary attainments prime minister of Great Britain who can lay in this country, so far from being even cæteris claim to that title-unless the character be paribus, an advantage, are prejudicial to the conceded to the authors of smart epigrams, candidate for political power. Instead of political pamphlets, and "vers de société". paving the way, they render the path more the "nuga canora" of an idle hour. It is rugged, if not ipso facto inaccessible. They not to be expected, that in office, while occu- place their possessor under a species of pying that exalted and responsible station, "taboo"-an anomaly difficult to explain. the pursuits of literature could be largely if at all indulged, nor is it probable that out of office they would be seriously resumed, while the taste and capacity for public life remained. It would argue but an imperfect acquaintance with human nature to look for the abandonment of the fascinations of political activity, the agitation of stirring interests of state, the charms of the senate, for the more peaceful and less exciting exercises of the intellect in the paths of literature and science. And though a Grenville and a Wellesley may, in their retirement, have indulged in the amenities of scholastic lore, their tuneful labors may be appropriately likened to the fabled lays of the dying swanthe last emanations of minds severed for ever from the abstractions of the political arena; and as filling up the brief void between time and eternity by the harmless indulgence of an elegant taste, rather than as the serious productions of a literary life. That there have been British statesmen, whose grasp of soul partook of universality; that there still is one, of whom it must be admitted, even by his enemies, that his versatility of genius defies all limit; the names of "Bacon" and of "Brougham" attest. But though both statesmen, they were not prime ministers. Their rise to political eminence was through a channel widely distinct in its nature, and wholly different in its termination. The bar and the church have ever been, doubtless,

In other countries, even in these times,— times fraught with stirring incidents, big with events remarkable for change, demanding men of especial aptitude to guide the national councils from knowledge based on the soundest foundation of practical experience, and not upon closet learning and theoretic wisdom,-men like Guizot, Thiers, Lamartine, have been raised to the highest political eminence. But for his literary fame, Guizot might have drudged his life away, a "chef de bureau." Nor would Thiers have worked his way to the first place in the councils of his sovereign, and for a time have swayed the destinies of France, but for the literary abilities which distinguished his career as an historian and political essayist, or rather journalist, a branch of literature more successfully though not more ably cultivated in France than in this country. It would be leading us out of our way to comment upon the remarkable contrast between the two countries in this respect. We cannot help, however, contrasting the career of a popular

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Rédacteur" in France, and the favorite editor of an English journal. The one is féted and caressed in all societies, reaches to the pinnacle of political greatness, even to be Prime Minister, or President of a Republic,while the other remains to the end of the chapter pulling the strings and moving the wires which direct, control, and fire the passions of the whole nation, which pull down

and set up ministers, make and unmake cabinets,- -an unseen and often unknown private individual.

Again, if we direct our eyes to Germany, where the prejudices of rank and aristocracy are, or perhaps we should say till lately were, pre-eminently strong, we can cite a numerous list of names illustrative of the triumph of literary and scientific learning. In Saxony a Lindenau, in Prussia a Humboldt, both prime ministers of their respective sovereigns, raised by literary and scientific reputation; to say nothing of the Savignys, the Bunsens, the Niebuhrs, who have held portfolios, or been invested with the highest diplomatic functions. While the despotic states of Russia and Austria confine the rewards of literary and scientific excellence to a professorship, a bit of ribbon at the buttonhole, or a diamond snuff-box, France, Prussia, and Saxony make ministers of their poets and historians, ambassadors and envoys of their scholars and their "savans."

In England we may search in vain for such examples. Successful commanders, naval and military, recruit the peerage, it is true, and a red ribbon and a baronetcy now and then is doled out to a Banks, a Herschel, or a Bulwer; but where is the solitary instance of a man who, since ministerial responsibility was more than nominal, since premiers were something more than the mere blind instruments of the sovereign will, and tools of faction, has grasped the helm and piloted the vessel of state, whose intellectual claims alone, irrespective of birth, fortune, or aristocratical connections, have raised him to that position?

Of thirty premiers since the Hanoverian dynasty, three at most have leaped the bar of aristocratic prejudice; and they not on a literary Pegasus, not from their achievements in literature or in science, but by the force of party zeal, the intrigue and warmth of political hostility. How feelingly does Canning allude to this rigid system of political exclusiveness!

"I know (he says) there is a political creed which assigns to a certain combination of great families a right to dictate to the sovereign, and to influence the people; and this doctrine of hereditary aptitude for administration is, singularly enough, most prevalent among those who find nothing more laughable than the principle of legitimacy in the crown. To this theory I have never subscribed. If to depend directly upon the people as their representative in Parliament; if, as a servant of the crown, to lean on no other support than that of public confidence-if that is to be an adventurer, I plead guilty to the charge; and I

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Canning, though not a literary man, certainly distinguished himself by his poetic taste. His Oxford prize poem, the "Iter adMeccam," was reckoned one of the most elegant specimens of classic taste. No one can forget his "Needy Knife-Grinder," his " Friend to Humanity," the most exquisite morsels of literary trifling; nor his powers of satire, so frequently exercised on behalf of his friend. and patron, Pitt, in the "New Morality."

Who

To what taunts again was Addington exposed on account of his low birth! forgets the sneers of Sheridan, in his paraphrase of Martial, "I do not love thee, Dr. Fell," in allusion to the lucky accident which first brought him, the Doctor's Son, into notice! And who can doubt that Peel's double first, at Oxford, would have been as little cared for as a senior wranglership at Cambridge, which leads to the high reward. of an obscure college living, but for the forty thousand a year which backed the honorable

baronet's claims to ministerial rank!

We are not going to make a disquisition on the peculiar fitness of literary and scientific men for high office, or to urge academic fame as the test of superior aptitude

for statesmen.

But we could not help noticing the fact, that while in France, Prussia, Saxony, and other Continental States, literary and scientific men have been purposely selected to fill the highest offices in the State, in England high birth has ever been and still is considered the first criterion of ministerial

fitness ;-the indispensable and often sole quality of a Premier.

Whether Lord John Russell be entitled to the character of a "literary man" or not, can have but little influenced his chances of official success. Third son of a Duke of Bedford, the prestige of high family, which in his case none can gainsay, joined to an assiduous attendance upon parliamentary duties, would alone in time, with moderate capacity and ordinary acquirements, lead to the highest official station. Nevertheless it is not without interest to ascertain Lord John's rank in the Republic of Letters, to measure his excellence as a literary man,- -a title he may or may not be worthy of, but one which, if we may judge from the quantity he has written, he no doubt speculated on obtaining. For though some of his productions were evidently designed as a vehicle for conveying to the public the noble lord's po

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