a fanciful statesman, however iris-bright be the hues of that luminous spectrum. It is, after all, unpleasant that the cushions of St. Stephen should be found strewn with thorns; but we must not-we dare not-tolerate the blowing of bubbles when interests so vast are at stake.

If the Premier visit Ireland with an intention of seeing with his own eyes and hearing with his own ears the vices and virtues of a factious and turbulent people, it is to be hoped that he will be benefitted by such a trip, and if on his return we behold that he is convinced of the folly of some favourite Whig scheme which takes a medium, much in the same fashion of a "short cut" to save time and distance, we shall congratulate ourselves and him upon his change of views and the adoption of a new mode of action: we are satisfied that, in every way, all parties will be the eventual gainers. It is said that, as in gaming, those who win do so at the expense of those who lose, yet here is a case in point where all are gainers; and, in the long run, even the factious, the dishonest, and the fierce and fearless demagogue, when brought to his senses, will perceive his advantage and will end by acknowledging it.

If success be the test of ability-if obstacles are removed and difficulties are surmounted while the causes of such fearful descriptions as have visited us are no more to be witnessedwhat, then, must we think of a complete failure in all of these?

In pinning our faith upon the sleeve of a Prime Minister, be he who he may, we after all hang but upon a loose hook. One cannot, and another will not, aid us in a moment when we are in a manner perishing. We have for awhile lost sight of that self-reliance which, to a great extent, will make us independent of all such factitious and questionable aid; and when, after all, those who trusted so fondly in the calm weather through which the vessel of the Constitution was to sail, now behold the blackening sea with a fierce and ferocious howl rend the planks and scatter the cargo and threaten to swallow up our valuable freight, are we to sit down in a stupor of apathy and say, "Useless all our endeavours-we have naught_remaining, and the last star is dead in the sky?" Not so. The still small voice comes to man, even in his darkest hour, in his greatest extremity. "Arise! and faint not; look abroad, and behold the indestructible energy which animates all things. Hope and faith-those bright twin harbingers of success-are around thee and before thee." And thus we press on, for what cannot be done at one time will be accomplished at another; and we, therefore, trust that a better destiny will dawn for us than has been brought to our homes and hearths this stormy year.

It is in this spirit that we do not utter the sweeping condemnation which rests upon our lips-on the tips of our pen. Seeing how decrepid and helpless (like an old grandsire who happens never to have been highly respected) this imbecile Ministry crawls to its dissolution, we are in a mood to part from it with a feeling of pity, for we may pity those who force us to hold them in contempt; and, though a sentiment of anger at its absurd obstinacy-at its immense obtuseness-has now and then crossed us, yet we forgive it. We bid it adieu! We are willing that it should sit down in the snug chimney corner and take no more trouble in the affairs of the world: at the most, we would beg of it as a particular favour not to trouble itself about matters which concern us and others-nay, all men generally. But it so happens that, like old people who have an obstinate determination to do you all manner of services which lead to annoyance and error-playing a ruinous gameone who, in his servile generosity, expends the money belonging to other people and who may thereby be ruined-it is with this feeling that we implore them to "let well alone," and to give place to a Ministry on whose energies, talents, and straightforward method of doing work we can depend.

Our limits will not allow us to dilate further upon this topic, so fruitful in variety and so dreary to look upon. With more hopeful eyes we gaze upon the future, and trust that there we may find what we have so long vainly sought. By the blessing of God, who hath guarded our beloved land, our sovereign, and our liberties so far-wнO hath prevented the fearful propagandism of base and designing men from taking root among our Teal-hearted people-we may look towards the next session with greater joy, and behold that what has been wanting or wrong in this may be remedied in that. In conclusion, we add that Mr. Disraeli's vindication of the members of the House of Commons is noble, manly, and complete.

461

Notices of Books.

Germany, England, and Scotland; or, the Recollections of a Swiss Minister. By J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D.D. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1848.

WE do not think that the work before us will add much to the literary reputation of Doctor Merle d'Aubigné. There is a promise, both in the title and the size of the volume, which is scarcely redeemed by the contents; and, though the manner in which the doctor handles his subject is very amiable, still there is not so much of originality as we have a right to expect from the name of the author and the matter with which he deals. It is said of a celebrated wit, who has but recently passed from the stage of mortal existence, that, having made a successful literary effort, he feared to damage the reputation which he had acquired by any after-production of a feebler character. To what extent his modesty belied his talent it is not for us to say; but he was deeply read, and reasoned from an experience for which the records of authorship furnish ample materials. It would be well if more were as wise as he. This is a bookselling age, and there is a gaping maw for information which only a teeming press can satisfy. It follows that sometimes quantity, and not quality, will be the rule of production, and a division of profits be of more value in the estimate of the writer than his fame. No doubt, where this is the case, it tends in the end to a ruinous result: still the progress to the result has its fascinations, and there are some who, having made a lucky hit, will live on the produce till they become bankrupt. It is not uncommon to find men by a concentrated effort of genius writing themselves into reputation, and then, by rapidly succeeding works too hastily composed to be sound and too desultory to be valuable-losing, by slow degrees, the name which they have suddenly acquired. We warn Dr. Merle d'Aubigné of this fate. He must write less or better. Every one was pleased with his "History of the Reformation:" even those who denied him the merit of accuracy acknowledged the graphic power of his style; whilst, with a very large portion of the reading world, his work became a text-book on a subject more generally discussed than understood. Then came his "Vindication of Cromwell"-a hasty work, full of historical inaccuracies and equivocal theology

VOL. XXIV.-H H

* "Rejected Addresses."

-betraying, moreover, with an assumption of great impartiality, the strong prejudice of a partizan. And now we have the work before us-a step still lower; for, to the evidence of haste in its composition, it adds the mark of feebleness in its matter. Two or three more such steps, and Merle d'Aubigné will have outwritten the reputation which he so happily acquired. More than two-thirds of this volume is taken up with "recollections," "travelling and historical," of Scotland. The "travelling recollections" of the author are briefly dispatched : his account of the land and the people do not occupy more than can be compressed within the compass of a chapter: a few pages are taken up with kindly and eulogistic notices of the several ministers, famous for their piety and talent, with whom he came in contact; and the rest of the space allotted to this part of his subject is used as a vehicle for the exposition of his own theological views. The historical recollections are neither more nor less than an abridged history of the religious struggle of the Scottish people with their rulers, from the days of Knox down to the secession of our own times, constituting what is called the. "Free Church." An English reader will scarcely regard these recollections as a valuable addition to the literature of his land. As a summary of facts, too partially related to be represented in their true light, they will hardly serve the purposes of elementary study, much less satisfy the expectations which the nature of the subject and the name of the author naturally excited. Of the earlier periods discussed in these recollections we have already many excellent relations, which are not likely to be superseded or amended by the work before us; and, as far as mere information goes, there are some two hundred and upwards of its pages that might well have been dispensed with. The sins of Mary and the courage of Knoxthe oppressions of prelacy and the sufferings of the Cameronians are almost fire-side tales. As regards these our author adds little to our stock of knowledge; whilst many of us are not ignorant of the facts that, if Knox was bold, the rough-handed reformer was sometimes more rude than was seemly; and that if Covenanters were cruelly treated (as undoubtedly they were), they had certain wild notions of retributive justice which they sometimes put in practice. Of these facts Merle d'Aubigné says not a word. For instance, at the battle of Philiphaugh, one of the Covenanting preachers took his text from the fifteenth chapter of the first book of Samuel-" What meaneth this bleating of sheep in mine ears?"—and argued from it that the blood of the prisoners taken must be shed in order to appease the wrath of heaven. The consequence was that, of the "Ma

lignants" taken in the action, the common soldiers were put to death in cold blood; and, of the officers eight, in deference to the importunity of the clergy, were condemned to execution. Bishop Honeyman was wounded by Preacher Mitchell in his attempt to assassinate the archbishop. Sharpe was murdered by Covenanters, who, at the time they met with the prelate, were lying in ambush for one Carmichael, a Government commissioner. These and similar facts are altogether omitted in the narrative before us; and we must qualify the recollections of a man who, amiable though he may be, only remembers so much of history as will favour a particular view, and only writes so much of it as will serve to strengthen that view in the minds of others. Truth is that which is most valuable to us in an historical narrative, and the suppression of a fact of any kind is in a proportionate measure destructive of the integrity of truth. The relation of a struggle between two parties, wherein, on the one hand, a continuous iniquity is presented to the mind, with nothing to account for its exercise but its own wantonness -wherein, on the other, unresisting suffering is placed before us, with nothing to provoke its infliction but its own meekness -will ever beget a doubt in the candid reader as to the impartiality of the author. If Merle d'Aubigné will write history after the model which he has followed in his later works, he must be prepared for this doubt-he must expect that those who are at all conversant with the periods of which he treats will either suspect the accuracy of his information or the purity of his motive. The battle of Philiphaugh was in 1645; the attempt of Mitchell on Sharpe, in which Bishop Honeyman was wounded, was in 1668; the murder of the archbishop in 1679. What our author calls "the killing time" embraces a period from 1681 to 1688. Is it too much to suppose that in the struggles of these unhappy times the brutality of the dominant party owed somewhat of its wantonness to the example of cruelty which an unrelenting bigotry had shown? If the murder of Archbishop Sharpe may be excused on the ground of the wrongs which he inflicted, surely the ferocities of the "killing time" may be traced in part to a spirit of retaliation. No one can deny the crimes of the royalist party-every rightminded man must abhor the cruelties of their persecutions; but common honesty requires that all the truth should be stated on both sides. Merle d'Aubigné is too partial to be truthful. The heading of his chapters betrays the animus with which he writes. "Čurates and garrisons," "tyranny and indulgences," "the killing time," are bad imitations of a bad style: they may serve the purpose of one who desires to excite; but they are