Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE LITERATURE OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS ,
AND OF MATTERS CONNECTED AVITH SCIENCE AND ART . " Why should not divers studies , at divers hours , delight , when the variety is alone able to refresh and repair us ?"—Ben Jonson ' s Discoveries . LITERATURE of a particular class has at least benefited by the war ,
since the immediate result of the excitement , which has spread Avith such lightning rapidity throughout the whole of Europe , has been the supply of a host of works having greater or less affinity with the engrossing object of public attention . Our library table is literally , and not figuratively , groaning beneath the weight of compact and closely-printed octavo volumes about the East and the Avar , about Russia and Nicholas , and about every conceivable subject which the united ingenuity of authors and publishers
has managed to connect in some way or other with the events of the day . As might be expected , many of these works are like enough to be delivered still-born from the press ; but there are some amongst the mass which will live , and contribute by the information they contain to the spread of civilization , which wars , in spite of the seeming contradiction , have ever , when conducted on a large scale , advanced and promoted . It is seldom that we have occasion to rank , as appertaining to the current literature of the day , the printed correspondence between Governments presented to the Houses of Parliament ; yet , in the present instance , wo should be guilty of most undeniable dereliction of duty , did we omit
from our quarterly summary a notice of the communications which have passed between the Emperor of Russia and the British Government , * and which led to , or rather foreshadowed , the events which have since followed so rapidly in their wake . We would not , however , have our readers hastily conclude that our mention of this correspondence necessarily involves a political discussion , or that it has solely for its object a criticism on the epistolary style of the statesman by whom it was chiefly conducted .
On the contrary , it contains matter of far greater moment . It belongs to the history not only of this country , but of Europe . It is an undying record of the arts by which even sovereigns condescend to mask designs which if entertained by subjects would be crimes ; and , more than all this , it is an exposure of as systematic a course of cajolery and hypocrisy as ever disgraced the Stuart dynasty in this country . So truly , indeed , do these papers belong to historythat while reading them we can hardl
, y believe they have reference to our own times , that the events and circumstances they describe are barely one year old , or that , in this practical and undiplomatic age , an individual has been found bold enough , silly enough , or wicked enough , to attempt so palpable an imposition . Singularly naive is the recital by Sir George Seymour of the mode in which his Imperial Majesty sought to influence the representative of the English Crown at St . Petersburg !! . Invitations , savouring of private and domestic hospi-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE LITERATURE OF THE LAST THREE MONTHS ,
AND OF MATTERS CONNECTED AVITH SCIENCE AND ART . " Why should not divers studies , at divers hours , delight , when the variety is alone able to refresh and repair us ?"—Ben Jonson ' s Discoveries . LITERATURE of a particular class has at least benefited by the war ,
since the immediate result of the excitement , which has spread Avith such lightning rapidity throughout the whole of Europe , has been the supply of a host of works having greater or less affinity with the engrossing object of public attention . Our library table is literally , and not figuratively , groaning beneath the weight of compact and closely-printed octavo volumes about the East and the Avar , about Russia and Nicholas , and about every conceivable subject which the united ingenuity of authors and publishers
has managed to connect in some way or other with the events of the day . As might be expected , many of these works are like enough to be delivered still-born from the press ; but there are some amongst the mass which will live , and contribute by the information they contain to the spread of civilization , which wars , in spite of the seeming contradiction , have ever , when conducted on a large scale , advanced and promoted . It is seldom that we have occasion to rank , as appertaining to the current literature of the day , the printed correspondence between Governments presented to the Houses of Parliament ; yet , in the present instance , wo should be guilty of most undeniable dereliction of duty , did we omit
from our quarterly summary a notice of the communications which have passed between the Emperor of Russia and the British Government , * and which led to , or rather foreshadowed , the events which have since followed so rapidly in their wake . We would not , however , have our readers hastily conclude that our mention of this correspondence necessarily involves a political discussion , or that it has solely for its object a criticism on the epistolary style of the statesman by whom it was chiefly conducted .
On the contrary , it contains matter of far greater moment . It belongs to the history not only of this country , but of Europe . It is an undying record of the arts by which even sovereigns condescend to mask designs which if entertained by subjects would be crimes ; and , more than all this , it is an exposure of as systematic a course of cajolery and hypocrisy as ever disgraced the Stuart dynasty in this country . So truly , indeed , do these papers belong to historythat while reading them we can hardl
, y believe they have reference to our own times , that the events and circumstances they describe are barely one year old , or that , in this practical and undiplomatic age , an individual has been found bold enough , silly enough , or wicked enough , to attempt so palpable an imposition . Singularly naive is the recital by Sir George Seymour of the mode in which his Imperial Majesty sought to influence the representative of the English Crown at St . Petersburg !! . Invitations , savouring of private and domestic hospi-