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Critical and miscellaneous essays (Volume 1) online
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the noblest of ail its translators — his praise was far plea-
sanler to us than ours could be to him — and shall be trea-
sured up among our most friendly remembrances of the
gifted spirits wilh whom we have held converse here below,
and who have now gone to their reward. In the Iliad,
Homer's genius was said by Longinus to resemble the
rising — in the Odyssey, the setting sun. And the image
is as true as it is magnificent ; for who can say — when
lost in gazing on the luminary — or thinking of him in the
East or in the West, in which season and which region he
is the more beautiful and sublime .' It is gratifying to us
to know that along with us thousands have studied Homer
— who, being no Greek scholars, had read before with un-
392 Wilson's miscellaneous writings.
aroused spirits. Nor have we not been cheered by the
commendations of not a few of the most illustrious in clas-
sical literature in all the land. Fair fields lie yet before
us, and we shall take many a travel yet through the god-
haunted regions of old heroic Greece. The Greek drama!
And from the high passions kindling or expiring there, we
shall find sweet relief among the shepherds of Sicily — and
with the Theocritus list to them piping among the rocks all
a summer's day.
Some of our friends seem to think that our articles on
the Greek Anthology are at an end — but it is not so; and
like a flush of flowers they will be seen brightening the
banks and braes of spring. Thanks in thousands to our
numberless contributors won by the novel beauty of those
lovely little poems. But oh ! would they but in their kind-
ness think how impossible 'tis for us to return upon our
steps, however rich the region, when so many sweetest
spots are wooing us to their untrodden dews ! Let them
precede us as guides through the yet unvisited scenery be-
fore us — if they will — or accompany us as new compa-
nions; but pleasant as are their presents, we fear we can-
not accept them, when composed of the same flowers we
ourselves have gathered, and have woven into many a
garland of no transient bloom. What has become — it has
been asked by many — of our promised papers upon Spen-
cer ? We have feared to enter haunts of Faery, and
have remained long sitting on the edge of the wood of
wonders. Erelong we shall venture in ; but have you not
been charmed with the Hindu Drama? And remember
though the world of poetry is boundless, not so our num-
bers, and that our promises must wait their accomplish-
ment in the fulness of time, which they continue to brighten
as it sails by on dusky wings. Now and then a few of
the feeble — nay, one or two of the strong — long to per-
suade themselves that sometimes our articles are — too long!
So, no doubt, thinks a wren or a tom-tit, perched between
an eagle's wings, as in high far flight he soars the sky or
sweeps the sea. But there lies the secret of our success ;
avail yourselves of it all ye who can; but never could we
have gained the ascendency it is universally acknowledged
ARIA. 393
we possess over so many strong monthly competitors, and
so swayed the mind of our country, but by such putting
forth of our own power and that of our noble coadjutors,
without whom we could not have won and worn the crown;
and by the same means by which we have ascended our
throne will we keep it — and seated firmly there, look
graciously around us upon the flourishing Republic of
Letters.
END OF VOL. I.
THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
or
T. BABINGTON MACAULAY.
A new edition, complete in three volumes.
Purchasers of the former edition in Two Volumes are
informed that an additional number of the
Third Volume have been printed
to complete their copies.
" These charmino^ volumes are made up of contributions of
Mr. Macaulay to the ' Edinburgli Review' between the years
1825 and 18:J7,* with an appendix contaiiiiiifr two beautiful
specimens of his poetical powers. The subjects of the present
essays are Milton, Machiavelli, Dryden, History and Histo-
rians, Hallam's Constitutional History, Soulhey's Colloquies
on Society, Lord Byron, the Pilorim's Progress, Johnson and
Boswell, Hampden, Lord Burij-hley, '^lirabeau and the French
Revolution, the War of the Succession in Spain, Walpole's
Letters to Sir Horace Mann, the Earl of Chatham and his
Times, and the Life, Character, and Philosophy of Lord Bacon.
"Many of these subjects, it is obvious, have wider relations:
all are treated with extraordinary sense, learning, force, wit,
and eloquence. — Indeed we could not name the recent work,
in which, within the same compass, is to be found an equal
amount of entertainment and instruction. We remember,
soon after the publication of the article upon Milton, upon
reading it in a retired part of Europe, where we had no means
of becoming acquainted with its authorship, to have remarked
that the Edinburgh Review had obtained some new contri-
butor, capable of sustaining, if not of increasing the fame of
its palmiest days." — North American Review for October.
" Here are three volumes of as valuable matter as are to
be found in the English language. Mr. Macaulay has long
been a contributor to the best English Reviews, and his papers
are remarkable for their vigour and beauty of style, their deep
erudition, and their completeness." — Neio World.
" Mr. Macaulay is without doubt the most brilliant writer at
present enlisted in English criticism; and his numerous con-
tributions to the prominent periodicals of Great Britain have
attained a popularity far greater than is usually vouchsafed
to this class of literary productions. His style is classic, re-
markably vigorous, and at times dignified." — New Yorker.
* The tiiird vyhunc contains all Mr. Macaulay's wrilings since
thnt time.
THE WORKS
OF
LORD BOLINGBROKE.
COMPLETE.
With, a LiifCf prepared expressly for this Edition*
CONTAINING
RECENT INFORMATION RELATIVE TO HIS PER-
SONAL AND POLITICAL CHARACTER,
SELECTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES.
In Four Volumes 8v'o., printed on large type and fine paper.
Lord Broughavfi's Remarks.
" Few men whose public life was so short, have filled a
greater space in the eyes of the world during his own times,
than Lord Bolingbroke, or left behind them a more brilliant
reputation. Not more than fifteen years elapsed between his
first coming into parliament and his attainder; during not
more than ten of these years was he brought before the public
in the course of its proceedings ; and yet, as a statesman and
an orator, his name ranks among the most famous in our his-
tory, independently of the brilliant literary reputation which
places him among the best classics of our Augustan Age."
THE WORKS
OF
LORD BACON.
WITH A MEMOIR AND A TRANSLATION OF HIS LATIN WRITINGS,
BY BASIL MONTAGU, ESQ.
In three vols. 8vo.
NEW WORKS IN PREPARATION.
CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
WRITINGS OF LORD JEFFREY.
COLLECTED BY HIMSELF.
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
OF
T. NOON TALFOURD.
AUTHOR OF " ION."
One volume I2mo. (Nearly ready.)
3VEXSCi:i.I.ANII]S
BY REGINALD HEBER,
LATE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA.
CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
OF
SIR W ^I Ij T E R SCOTT,
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED IN AMERICA.
Three vols. 12nio. (Now ready.)
MXSdSLZiANIES
BY J. G. LOCKHART, ESQ.
WORKS OF THE REV. SIDNEY SMITH.
3 vols. 12mo.
" Few persons, we imagine, will hesitate in assigning to Mr.
Sidney Smith a large share of the popularity whicli the Edin-
burgh Review so long enjoyed, and of the support, strength, and
consistence that it conferred on public opinion by its teachings.
The articles which are here collected, in fact the most elabo-
rate contributions to that Journal, are without doubt those which
fixed most generally the attention of the public at tlie time:
and, while they were most effectual in founding the reputation
of the Review, they carried from the starting-post the sym-
pathies and convictions of the reader. * * * * It is in the
midst of the most mirthful and exuberant outpourings of ridicule
which mark the characteristic assaults of this writer, that pas-
sages of strong feeling occur the most frequently, possessing
the greater power over the reader by the very force of the
contrast. The round and unvarnished distinctness with which
he lays down his principles, is but a natural consequence of his
earnestness of purpose. With these he never trifles, never
stands halting and hesitating between the truth that is to be
spoken and a desire to deprecate the wrath of the corrupt, or
the self-love of the foolish. No matter how great the person
offended, nor powerful the interest to be attacked, the truth
comes out witii no saving clause, no mitigating dependency, to
mollify the feeble-minded, or mislead the unsuspecting. It
would not be difficult to abstract from these volumes a code of
short sentences that would embrace in the fewest and most
striking words the whole field of public morality. It is, in-
deed, merely for the happier illustration of such truths, for the
purpose of bringing them home to the convictions of the lowest
and the least apprehensive of his readers that he puts on the
motley : like Shakspearo's clowns, he apprehends a world of
figures, and sports amid infinite variety of conceits, the better
to point the moral of his tale; making his wit a stalking horse,
from wiiich to transfix unsuspecting drivellers with tiie arrows
of his reforming philosophy. Herein consists much of the fun of
his peculiar style, which would speedily become a vapid man-
nerism, were it not perpetually salted with vivifying and sting-
ing verities, arising out of the midst of his quips and quiddities,
taking the reader off iiis guard, and telling with all the more
eficct from the very circumstance of their being unexpected.
" Never does Mr. Smith indulge in jocosity tor its own sake,
or trifle with the time and patience of his reader by a fool-
born jest to throw him off' the scent of his argument; on tiie
contrary, his joke always contains the very pitii and marrow of
liis theme, and places his syllogism in the most convincing light.
Mr. Smith's manner is eminently his own: his logic, when he
is most extravagantly droll, is ever cogent, and in his earlier
writings usually sound in its premises." — Ijondon Athencfinn,
s'.nfj
*,.-■• H lu::- ^M
sanler to us than ours could be to him — and shall be trea-
sured up among our most friendly remembrances of the
gifted spirits wilh whom we have held converse here below,
and who have now gone to their reward. In the Iliad,
Homer's genius was said by Longinus to resemble the
rising — in the Odyssey, the setting sun. And the image
is as true as it is magnificent ; for who can say — when
lost in gazing on the luminary — or thinking of him in the
East or in the West, in which season and which region he
is the more beautiful and sublime .' It is gratifying to us
to know that along with us thousands have studied Homer
— who, being no Greek scholars, had read before with un-
392 Wilson's miscellaneous writings.
aroused spirits. Nor have we not been cheered by the
commendations of not a few of the most illustrious in clas-
sical literature in all the land. Fair fields lie yet before
us, and we shall take many a travel yet through the god-
haunted regions of old heroic Greece. The Greek drama!
And from the high passions kindling or expiring there, we
shall find sweet relief among the shepherds of Sicily — and
with the Theocritus list to them piping among the rocks all
a summer's day.
Some of our friends seem to think that our articles on
the Greek Anthology are at an end — but it is not so; and
like a flush of flowers they will be seen brightening the
banks and braes of spring. Thanks in thousands to our
numberless contributors won by the novel beauty of those
lovely little poems. But oh ! would they but in their kind-
ness think how impossible 'tis for us to return upon our
steps, however rich the region, when so many sweetest
spots are wooing us to their untrodden dews ! Let them
precede us as guides through the yet unvisited scenery be-
fore us — if they will — or accompany us as new compa-
nions; but pleasant as are their presents, we fear we can-
not accept them, when composed of the same flowers we
ourselves have gathered, and have woven into many a
garland of no transient bloom. What has become — it has
been asked by many — of our promised papers upon Spen-
cer ? We have feared to enter haunts of Faery, and
have remained long sitting on the edge of the wood of
wonders. Erelong we shall venture in ; but have you not
been charmed with the Hindu Drama? And remember
though the world of poetry is boundless, not so our num-
bers, and that our promises must wait their accomplish-
ment in the fulness of time, which they continue to brighten
as it sails by on dusky wings. Now and then a few of
the feeble — nay, one or two of the strong — long to per-
suade themselves that sometimes our articles are — too long!
So, no doubt, thinks a wren or a tom-tit, perched between
an eagle's wings, as in high far flight he soars the sky or
sweeps the sea. But there lies the secret of our success ;
avail yourselves of it all ye who can; but never could we
have gained the ascendency it is universally acknowledged
ARIA. 393
we possess over so many strong monthly competitors, and
so swayed the mind of our country, but by such putting
forth of our own power and that of our noble coadjutors,
without whom we could not have won and worn the crown;
and by the same means by which we have ascended our
throne will we keep it — and seated firmly there, look
graciously around us upon the flourishing Republic of
Letters.
END OF VOL. I.
THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
or
T. BABINGTON MACAULAY.
A new edition, complete in three volumes.
Purchasers of the former edition in Two Volumes are
informed that an additional number of the
Third Volume have been printed
to complete their copies.
" These charmino^ volumes are made up of contributions of
Mr. Macaulay to the ' Edinburgli Review' between the years
1825 and 18:J7,* with an appendix contaiiiiiifr two beautiful
specimens of his poetical powers. The subjects of the present
essays are Milton, Machiavelli, Dryden, History and Histo-
rians, Hallam's Constitutional History, Soulhey's Colloquies
on Society, Lord Byron, the Pilorim's Progress, Johnson and
Boswell, Hampden, Lord Burij-hley, '^lirabeau and the French
Revolution, the War of the Succession in Spain, Walpole's
Letters to Sir Horace Mann, the Earl of Chatham and his
Times, and the Life, Character, and Philosophy of Lord Bacon.
"Many of these subjects, it is obvious, have wider relations:
all are treated with extraordinary sense, learning, force, wit,
and eloquence. — Indeed we could not name the recent work,
in which, within the same compass, is to be found an equal
amount of entertainment and instruction. We remember,
soon after the publication of the article upon Milton, upon
reading it in a retired part of Europe, where we had no means
of becoming acquainted with its authorship, to have remarked
that the Edinburgh Review had obtained some new contri-
butor, capable of sustaining, if not of increasing the fame of
its palmiest days." — North American Review for October.
" Here are three volumes of as valuable matter as are to
be found in the English language. Mr. Macaulay has long
been a contributor to the best English Reviews, and his papers
are remarkable for their vigour and beauty of style, their deep
erudition, and their completeness." — Neio World.
" Mr. Macaulay is without doubt the most brilliant writer at
present enlisted in English criticism; and his numerous con-
tributions to the prominent periodicals of Great Britain have
attained a popularity far greater than is usually vouchsafed
to this class of literary productions. His style is classic, re-
markably vigorous, and at times dignified." — New Yorker.
* The tiiird vyhunc contains all Mr. Macaulay's wrilings since
thnt time.
THE WORKS
OF
LORD BOLINGBROKE.
COMPLETE.
With, a LiifCf prepared expressly for this Edition*
CONTAINING
RECENT INFORMATION RELATIVE TO HIS PER-
SONAL AND POLITICAL CHARACTER,
SELECTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES.
In Four Volumes 8v'o., printed on large type and fine paper.
Lord Broughavfi's Remarks.
" Few men whose public life was so short, have filled a
greater space in the eyes of the world during his own times,
than Lord Bolingbroke, or left behind them a more brilliant
reputation. Not more than fifteen years elapsed between his
first coming into parliament and his attainder; during not
more than ten of these years was he brought before the public
in the course of its proceedings ; and yet, as a statesman and
an orator, his name ranks among the most famous in our his-
tory, independently of the brilliant literary reputation which
places him among the best classics of our Augustan Age."
THE WORKS
OF
LORD BACON.
WITH A MEMOIR AND A TRANSLATION OF HIS LATIN WRITINGS,
BY BASIL MONTAGU, ESQ.
In three vols. 8vo.
NEW WORKS IN PREPARATION.
CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
WRITINGS OF LORD JEFFREY.
COLLECTED BY HIMSELF.
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
OF
T. NOON TALFOURD.
AUTHOR OF " ION."
One volume I2mo. (Nearly ready.)
3VEXSCi:i.I.ANII]S
BY REGINALD HEBER,
LATE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA.
CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
OF
SIR W ^I Ij T E R SCOTT,
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED IN AMERICA.
Three vols. 12nio. (Now ready.)
MXSdSLZiANIES
BY J. G. LOCKHART, ESQ.
WORKS OF THE REV. SIDNEY SMITH.
3 vols. 12mo.
" Few persons, we imagine, will hesitate in assigning to Mr.
Sidney Smith a large share of the popularity whicli the Edin-
burgh Review so long enjoyed, and of the support, strength, and
consistence that it conferred on public opinion by its teachings.
The articles which are here collected, in fact the most elabo-
rate contributions to that Journal, are without doubt those which
fixed most generally the attention of the public at tlie time:
and, while they were most effectual in founding the reputation
of the Review, they carried from the starting-post the sym-
pathies and convictions of the reader. * * * * It is in the
midst of the most mirthful and exuberant outpourings of ridicule
which mark the characteristic assaults of this writer, that pas-
sages of strong feeling occur the most frequently, possessing
the greater power over the reader by the very force of the
contrast. The round and unvarnished distinctness with which
he lays down his principles, is but a natural consequence of his
earnestness of purpose. With these he never trifles, never
stands halting and hesitating between the truth that is to be
spoken and a desire to deprecate the wrath of the corrupt, or
the self-love of the foolish. No matter how great the person
offended, nor powerful the interest to be attacked, the truth
comes out witii no saving clause, no mitigating dependency, to
mollify the feeble-minded, or mislead the unsuspecting. It
would not be difficult to abstract from these volumes a code of
short sentences that would embrace in the fewest and most
striking words the whole field of public morality. It is, in-
deed, merely for the happier illustration of such truths, for the
purpose of bringing them home to the convictions of the lowest
and the least apprehensive of his readers that he puts on the
motley : like Shakspearo's clowns, he apprehends a world of
figures, and sports amid infinite variety of conceits, the better
to point the moral of his tale; making his wit a stalking horse,
from wiiich to transfix unsuspecting drivellers with tiie arrows
of his reforming philosophy. Herein consists much of the fun of
his peculiar style, which would speedily become a vapid man-
nerism, were it not perpetually salted with vivifying and sting-
ing verities, arising out of the midst of his quips and quiddities,
taking the reader off iiis guard, and telling with all the more
eficct from the very circumstance of their being unexpected.
" Never does Mr. Smith indulge in jocosity tor its own sake,
or trifle with the time and patience of his reader by a fool-
born jest to throw him off' the scent of his argument; on tiie
contrary, his joke always contains the very pitii and marrow of
liis theme, and places his syllogism in the most convincing light.
Mr. Smith's manner is eminently his own: his logic, when he
is most extravagantly droll, is ever cogent, and in his earlier
writings usually sound in its premises." — Ijondon Athencfinn,
s'.nfj
*,.-■• H lu::- ^M
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