Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
discovery of some royalty in the descent of Nelson and Wellington , Ave have no sympathy ; and from us , at least , Mr . George Ilussell French * will not even got thanks for the trouble he has taken to prove that two of the greatest heroes of modern times claim kith and kin with Kin g Ed-Avard I . of England . The discovery , if it is one , is not likely to redound to their credit , any more than it will increase tho respect or admiration oF posteritfor their memories . We do not mean to say that the study of
y genealogy is not all very well in its way : it is even useful in an historical point of view , and may now and then draw the attention of the ignorant to a fool ; but men of the calibre of Nelson and Wellington need no ancestry to ennoble them , or pedigree to look back upon . . With the next work on our biographical list , " The Memoirs of tho Late John Abernethy , E . B . S ., "f written by his pupil and friend , Mr . George Macilwainwe have no hesitation in expressing more satisfaction . It is
, every way worthy of the subject ; and although in some parts too strictly bearing upon matters of mere professional interest , it presents an earnest , honest , and faithful account of the life and doings of the great surgeon . To the public of the present day Abernethy is perhaps better known by the anecdotes which are told of him , ancl by the quaint sayings attributed to him , than by the great changes in medicine and practice which he
introduced , or by the vast amount of human kindness which lay beneath the brusque wayward manner for Avhich he became famous . His pupils delighted in him , and his patients , particularly the poorer class , have always been loud in their praise . In the hospitals , too , and in the medical schools , he worked many important reforms ; and unceasingly applied himself as a lecturer to the diffusion of sound practical knowledge in every branch of the profession , to which he devoted the best energies of a powerful mind .
From medicine to poetry is almost as rapid a transition , as from Abernethy to the Laureates who have basked in the sunshine of royalty , at the extremely small cost of a poem , and generally a very bad one , upon any occasion of great public interest . Why these gentlemen deservedqua Laureates—the great distinction of two biographers ,- ;; is not , we think , to be easily explained , seeing that those who have been really distinguished as poets , have generally relied more upon the fame they
have won by their works , than by anything they ever Avrote in the capacity of poetic retainers of the Crown ; while the rest , having no particular merit at all , might more decently have been allowed to slumber on undisturbed by any attempt at making them famous . In a kindred field of literature we have the first portion of the "Memoires d ' un Bourgeois do Paris , " § by Dr . Veron , descriptive of the life of the author , one of the most successful of Erench editors . Several of the chapters are cuwoted to literature , science , cooking , and Paris gambling-houses , and in the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
discovery of some royalty in the descent of Nelson and Wellington , Ave have no sympathy ; and from us , at least , Mr . George Ilussell French * will not even got thanks for the trouble he has taken to prove that two of the greatest heroes of modern times claim kith and kin with Kin g Ed-Avard I . of England . The discovery , if it is one , is not likely to redound to their credit , any more than it will increase tho respect or admiration oF posteritfor their memories . We do not mean to say that the study of
y genealogy is not all very well in its way : it is even useful in an historical point of view , and may now and then draw the attention of the ignorant to a fool ; but men of the calibre of Nelson and Wellington need no ancestry to ennoble them , or pedigree to look back upon . . With the next work on our biographical list , " The Memoirs of tho Late John Abernethy , E . B . S ., "f written by his pupil and friend , Mr . George Macilwainwe have no hesitation in expressing more satisfaction . It is
, every way worthy of the subject ; and although in some parts too strictly bearing upon matters of mere professional interest , it presents an earnest , honest , and faithful account of the life and doings of the great surgeon . To the public of the present day Abernethy is perhaps better known by the anecdotes which are told of him , ancl by the quaint sayings attributed to him , than by the great changes in medicine and practice which he
introduced , or by the vast amount of human kindness which lay beneath the brusque wayward manner for Avhich he became famous . His pupils delighted in him , and his patients , particularly the poorer class , have always been loud in their praise . In the hospitals , too , and in the medical schools , he worked many important reforms ; and unceasingly applied himself as a lecturer to the diffusion of sound practical knowledge in every branch of the profession , to which he devoted the best energies of a powerful mind .
From medicine to poetry is almost as rapid a transition , as from Abernethy to the Laureates who have basked in the sunshine of royalty , at the extremely small cost of a poem , and generally a very bad one , upon any occasion of great public interest . Why these gentlemen deservedqua Laureates—the great distinction of two biographers ,- ;; is not , we think , to be easily explained , seeing that those who have been really distinguished as poets , have generally relied more upon the fame they
have won by their works , than by anything they ever Avrote in the capacity of poetic retainers of the Crown ; while the rest , having no particular merit at all , might more decently have been allowed to slumber on undisturbed by any attempt at making them famous . In a kindred field of literature we have the first portion of the "Memoires d ' un Bourgeois do Paris , " § by Dr . Veron , descriptive of the life of the author , one of the most successful of Erench editors . Several of the chapters are cuwoted to literature , science , cooking , and Paris gambling-houses , and in the