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    are is terrible , evidence for the belief—the old German ,. looking back upon s » davs . o £ his cKildhooa , is . torrified toseehow " fast" the age , has become , one ^ ense , however ,.. there has been a decidedjmprovement ..: the ^ German io . longer , atsot . .-Jforxnerly ,, xiriaJdng hard'washjghin . the ^ rank ofinanly feuesi ; idifferant itowasjand « aties claimed prertemineaoe . in it . . To . drink we Mdatiuo ^ iwas get uxeaxy drunk . The « oll £ etiotts « of . ( antiquarians are L "of ¦ dririfcing ^ cups and "horas not > aiade to isfeana . The last Count of viz used toraake' his children-drink at night , and- if they wanted to go to yp / 'he grnnibled -at their degeneracy , and 'doubted if they-were 4 ms- own Id f en . " " 3 Ehe ! Hobenlohe deed of investiture required the claimant to drink ; the ereat feudatory goblet , as a proof that he was a German : nobleman ,

    i . ajx > ablerbodied warrior . In that principality no glasses held less ^ than f , a , bottle , . and : ihe JSomburger Uhr . anible . records the Feats of two sisters , o drank sixteen bottles . xit ; a sitting , and then walked quietly to their lie , ; three jniles distant . . We , too , had our five-bottle men ; and every der amist fhave rsufflered some of that truculent hospitality which reded sobriety :-&s an insult to ithe house , > and the man swho shirked his * le -as'fl / dubious friend , if mot ^ acontemptible -creature . '" Sow , gentlea , " said a nobleman to his guests , as the ladies left the-room , " let inderstand each other ; are we to tlrink like men ,-or like brutes ? " The > sts ,. somewhat indignant , exclaimed , " Like men , of course . " ^ ' Then , " lied he , u we . are going to get jolly drunk , for brutes never drink more n they want : "* _ ... ....

    ' tis in-the glimpses of German social . lTfe , as contrasted * with and iliusted . by-EJngUsli life , . that Airs . . Austin ' s work commands attention . JBut : historical student will also . tuirn with considerable pleasure to the ^ losnt pages in'which -she describes the gradual dissolution of the empire , 1 tfae'revival of snalionality duting-the War ofXiberation . Itrwould lead fcoo far to enternipon this topicwith « atisfactory fulness , and merely to ich it -wcnild be without interest . We commend the book , therefore , very xtily to the reader ' s attention , and suggest * to'Mr 3 . Austin the desirability her producing ^ a fuller , a more detailed work on German life , regarding present as a preliminary sketch .

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    "HISTORY OF POLITICAL LITERATURE . History qfPolitical Literature , from the Earliest Times . By Robert Blakey . Author of the " . History of the Philosophy of Mind , " &c , &c . In Two Volumes , , .. *; ¦ Bentley . . Bi-Ajsjay . has written one work in which he undertakes to tell mankind it every metaphysician from the beginning of the world has thought about aphyslcs : he now comes forward with two volumes as the commence - it 6 f-another work , to inform us what every political writer during the e period has thought about politics . There is no timidity of design about Blakey . He begins with the ark—and he will not end till he has polished the 'Times newspaper . STe remember that the History of Philosophy was generally considered . a [ -meaning , extensive , somewhat dull work ; and that more than one of acquaintances thought Mr . Blakey scarcely capable of judging Spinoza . its

    : ( present book deserves the same three adjectives as predecessor . Mr . key does not seem bigoted , however , in political opinions , and . is more ral in his estimate of political writers than of philosophers . We coniulatehimon having certainly hit . on a subject this time more likely to be ular and muah > aiore necessary to . mankind at present than his . former one . aphysiea ; at ino time will employ more than the few ; but in these days in > ope , political literature in some shape or other employs everybody . m 'the readers of Aristotle to the : readers of literary Jack Cades , it iloys all'ranks and varieties of mind . Indeed , in England , it is the one jectrwhwih « 11 classes enjoy in commoni ; for the English are more -polilm tasted 5 right that we should have a text-book , to which readers may resort in wanting . to know in a concise and condensed form what successive orations of political writers have left as their final views on political

    . ... [ row , of course , such a nv . ork , supposing a man to read all the original lovities , would keep . him at his » desk , incessantly , till he reached the as -of ( Old Parr . Mr . Blakey ' s range inoludes Greek And Roman ¦« ture , "the iFathers , the ; Schoolmen , the whole subject dfJUiw—civil and \ g \—and all -political writers in 1 all countries since the revival of letters hj as a bill of fare to appal the stoutest consumer . It must necessarily jonce'ded to "Mr . Blakey to-make errors here and there—to be scanty in department when ho : has been copious in another—and -this , too , in ition . to the , permission freely to use all kinds of preceding summaries text-books . That he shouul have embarked on the design at all , and cuted it , even creditably , is 'in itself a claim to very considerable grade , from , those of the public . who have less tune . to road than Mr . Blakey . Lowevflr—fallowing our author all this claim fully—we cannot .. say that lias -writtenji . ' superior book . Mr ., Blakey is not original—nor .

    creativepicturesque . We do not indeed expect amusement from auoh . a work ; when one remembers Guizot ' s torse lucidity , Brougham ' s abundant ) ur , the luminous practicality ot Whately , and so forth , one cannot but fess that the heaviest subjects may be treated so as to bo charmingly iablc . Now , here is . the worthy Mr . Blakoy ' s great literary want : lie nfortunately—there is no niinoing the matter— : a dull writer , tike our itary authorities in the Crimea , ho cannot bring up liis stores . There y die , ready for uae , and very welcome ; but somehow nobody can get them—bis road is so terribly impassablo , and his Pegasus in such very ill dition . Ir . ' JBlakeyiwjuitG of the old school in his mental condition , lie seldom a aifigure . < rfi « peoch , which ; has not for . generations enjoyed literary approion . But mot-only is ho of the old school in his style or manner—he is so more important pnrtkjulars . For instance , he gravely tells ubt— " Wo l <; flvat-when Romulus founded the citv of Rome , ho inquired of this folcni'nvhether they would have , a Republican or a Monarchical form of

    goverament ; and after duly - weighing , the nature of bothgystorns , they declared Tor . the , latter , and appointed . him to be their iangl" ' To what purpose did Niebuhr and Dr . Arnold write , ' ^ , we are to have such a Genesis of Roman polity ^ s this palmed off upon us ? Romulus is about as historic as King Arthur . Then again—to what good purpose are such criticisms on the Roman characters as the following introduced : — Such : Roman examples of public virtue may dazzle- and allure ihe , ignorant . and unthinking multitude ; but they can never beeome a general ; theine of . ( Sx . ulta . tion among the . really wise or good . of any country . Andit may with justice lie : remarked ,, besides , tbat . in . the JRoman character , , there was very little of that kindliness of Tinman' feeting ; that delicate sympathy for the wants and woes of otherswhich knits the heart

    , of man to man , and which exercises such a powerful , though indirect , influence Jn making the . social situation : of ; mankind comparatively comfortable and-pleasant , even where the laws , abstractedly considered , may be of of arugged-iand oppressive nature . .-Human life was considered by-a : Roman as an object entirel y destitute , of-interest . Hence we need not feel surprised that suicide should be : found so . prevalent . among this people , and that it should be : considered by them as . a proof of superior courage and valour . All the civil institutions of the country tended to strengthen-this . delusive and bloody notion . The . laws affecting children and slaves breathed the -very spirit of domestic oppression ; while , at the same time , the austere speculative system of stoicism , early imported by this nation from Greece , added greatly to the . natural ferocity and cruelty . of the . Roman . disposition .

    Women were considered . in the iRoman states as merely slaves ; not ast > eing 3 to humanise the temper , and smooth down . the natural asperities , of iife , but . exclusively created for the gratification of sensual appetite . "Tiiis * ds xnere . liaekneyed rhetoric . How does Mr . Blakey suppose any nation of men ' . ever lived without " kindliness of human feeling' ? " < Did he never read ¦ Gieero , De Amicitia ? As for-the paragraph about the Roman women , it is the absurdest of all . A Roman honoured his placens-uzor as -well as an Englishman . The ill-treatment of a woman led to * the . greatest revolutions in Uoman early history . The mother of the Gracchi held a

    somewhat different position from that of a slave . What modern lady ever received higher kindness fromlierTather than Julia did from Cicero ? The fact is , Mr .. Blakey adopts the common priestly cant , which would degrade the ancients into barbarians fo . r the sake of interested motives of its own , on which ¦ we 'decline to dwell at present . We shall only say , . « : propos of an observation on Cicero ' s Intellectual JFailuresr that we wish . Mr . Blakey would fail injthe same kind of way . Heconcludes his chapter on " Roman Literature" by saying , — Csesar and Tacitus are likewise useful and interesting authors .

    This is a very general opinion ! But a writer on political 1-rfcerature might have found space for ¦ & little more copious criticism on Tacitus , at all events , who had the soul of-a tragic poet , the Jnsight of a philosopher , as much witaiid picturesqueness as ever was possessed by mortal man ,- and . who has , in a peculiar degree , has influenced political writers at all times . Indeed , to make room for some remarks about his' relation to despotism , Mr . iBlakey might well have sacrificed a paragraph about Noah ' s form of government , and a page or two on those interesting gentlemen , the kings of ISgypt , the reign of * the-first" of-whom " is supposed to have commenced about the second century af ter the deluge . " We suppose Mr . Blakey intended to use the phUosophical rather than the personal way of treating the subject—to deal with " causes , " " tendencies , " and the like , ; rather than to attempt an embodiment of the realities of political life , in an objective foum . But he has not been liberal of the-iighest kind of speculation . We ; fear that his book will not satisfy the more . active minds of 'Europe in the present ferment of political speculation—indeed that is our-radical objection to it . . .

    It is now our business to let Mr . Blakey speak a little for himself . We beo-in wifh a passage xibout the political tendencies of a class of writers—Iit 3 o-associated Jn . the . general . mind withpolitic ^ tlie Church : — : For many centuries after . the introduction of . the Christian-system , we find scarcely any fragments of literature of a political complexion , save Avhat are furnished by the writers of theChuroh . The chief reason for this is , that the agents of this , benign and enlightened system-found a regularly-established government , in full and-active operation when they had to solicit the . attention of mankind . to their particular doctrines and ' social theories . The minds of men were already stored . with a full complement of ideas or notions on . the nature of government ; the efficiency and importance of which were displayed in the every-day exhibitions of life and manners among the mass of the

    people . There was no open or clear stage for the politics of the Bible on their early promulgation . The mind and heart had to be slowly and stealthily approached , and gradually moulded to recognise and appreciate the very first principles of the Christian code . A tardiness of progress , and an imperfect , andipartial development of these principles were the necessary consequences of this state of things . An immense mass of false pliilosophy , pagan barbarities , and savage ignorance stood in the way of political intelligence and improvement in every department of governmental policy . False theories , rooted prejudices , inflamed passions , and . a degraded moral sense , were rampant in every direction among the heterogeneous masses which encompassed the Roman civilisation : forming , in . fact , an incongruous assemblage , of elements , whioh threatened an entire destruction of flio highest hopes of the human race . One of the consequences of this was , that the political literature of the early Fathers of the irect character do not de

    Chnrch was more of an indirect than a d . They appear as - cided theoretical politicians ; -this was not their office or culling . Their social nnd religions position excluded them from taking tipon themselves a duty df this nature . But being men of high intellect and attainments—the ruling spirits of their respective ages—they could not fail to perceive , what was the general scope and important beoringa of the system of revealed truth they had to enforce on the understandings of men , andwhnt an intimate and necessary relation subsisted between the 'flpmtual * nU . temporal interests of -mankind . They dealt with the great truths of OhnrtijnTolity in L incidental and isolated manner ; while they failed not to develop * «* * ° ** V ^ evils arising from such particular-departments of social ph . lo 80 P hy « "J J «* JV ™ JenojS which might at tho time be running counter to the true " !*« " «* - and ha ^ mew of the community nt large . They were , in fact , great , but only bi by btf « fb ™«» ; . JjJJ diatinctlv ncrceived the croud principles which should regulate society m pleading mov ^ nts an ? ^ iratiofS ; btft they were not . adequate to ^ . ^^ g ^ | £ thorn ns a whole and to the moulding of them inta a perfect . and logical pyotcm . lim s ? r * £ S ? : S . sf : fSp-s rich and fbrtilo , but as yot rororrun tyHIi weeds and- brambles . The Fathers octod ,

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    J ^ yuA ^ r 13 , 1855 . ] T-HiE ! LB , A . P . gl ^ . - & %

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    Wo . onca . ilmaw . an old gentleman wlio , after the retroat of tho ladios from his ^ g-rooan , would plant a dozen of port on tho muntolpicco , and lock tho door .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 13, 1855, page 43, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2073/page/19/