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      that the Andehsonian face , expression , tones , manner , and other peculiarities , arc reproduced to the life . The scene represents a chamber provided wall all proper necromantic fittings ; and some conjuringa are gone through with considerable adroitness . Math ews , of course , performs the part of a devil-may-care , dun-haunted , scampish gentleman with plenty of ingenuity and spmts . Ho is pursued by sheriff ' s officers ; but an extinguisher ( literally ) is clapped over one of these , and his place knows him no more until the end of the piece . A hard-hearted creditor gets upon tin * stage , only , however , to ha \ e a , £ 100 note conjured from his pocket ;" and , ultimately , the " Professor" is made happy . A young lndv , with whom he has had a previous romantic acquaintanceship , turns up in the person of the hard-hearted creditor ' s daughter ; thereupon the hard-hearted creditor sottens , and love awl constancy receive their reward . The piece is Bli g ht , but it lias achieved a great success , and " Professor Matiikws " conjures to some purpose .

      " PROFESSOR MATHEWS " AT DRURY LA . NE . Covent Garden henceforth will not be alone in boasting of a " Professor : " Bruhy Lank now possesses one in tlie person of our old friend , Charles Mathews , whom , we must confess , we could never have expected to see in so grave av character . However , there he is , and there ; in all probability , he will be for some weeks to come—Professor Mathews , " the original Lyceum Wizard , " or , in other words , " the Wizard of the South-South-Wcst-by-South , " In this new character he performs every evening a Great Gun Trick , and gives an astonishing imitation of the Nortliern " Professor " now working his enchantments at CovrntGardkn—an imitation so exact .

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      THE JENNY LIND PERFORMANCE ^ Madamk Goldschmidt Lind on Monday zoning again transported the musical critics , anil delighted nil lovers of sacred harmonies , and of consunt-

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      AN HISTORICAL OLIO . A . Nete History of England ; Civil Political , and Ecclesiastical By G . S . Poulton . J ^ William Freeman . Lectures on English History and Tragic Poetry , as illustrated by Shakspeare . By Henry Reed , late Professor in the University of Pennsylvania . Trubner and Co . Introduction to the Literature of Europe , in tfie 15 th , 16 tfa , and I 7 th centuries . By Henry Hallam , L . L . D ., F . E . A . S . John Murray . The first work on our list might be called the Nonconformist ' s History of England . In the preface we are told that it is by far the most complete history of our country which has ever been com piled in one volume . But the process compression or distension has been regulated rather by the influence o any particular epoch on the Dissenting interests , than by its general importance . Thus seventy pages are deroted to the reign of Charles I ., and fifty-seven to the Commonwealth , while the four Georges are all disposed of in seventy-six pages , and sixteen are barely spared for the period which occupies the last two volumes of Macaulay . It is true that the author

      scornfully rejects the vulgar notion that the province of history is to record " battles by the sword , the brilliant achievements of arts and arms , and the follies and vices of kings . " This philosophical manner of viewing events enables him to dismiss Marlborough ' s campaigns in a single page , and double that space is deemed sufficient f or the Peninsular War , coupled with Napoleon ' s invasion of Russia . Ordinary minds may possibly be inclined to think that wars which change the political aspect of Europe , which place new dynasties at the head of nations and affect the social condition of the people , are worthy of something more than a passing notice . There are even those who regard the Norman Conquest as a matter of some moment to the English nation , and who would speak more earnestly of the Crusades than as a mere " scheme of folly . " It has seemed otherwise to Mr . Poulton , and we bow to his superior judgment . Unhappily , we cannot as easily acquiesce in his fierce denunciations of Popery , albeit we do most sinceiely protest against the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome .., Nor do we see the advantage or propriety of such an outburst as follows : —

      To call that religion Christianity seems a strange contradiction . Sow can a religion which consists in ostentatious ceremonies , large edifices , delicately embroidered robes- ^ numerous priests— -one Pope , and servile subjection to him - long _ faces , and long coats—lying vanities— -violent discussions—murders and abominations of all kinds—lives of the Saints , and no Gospel , be the same as the religion of Christianity ? How can error be the same as truth , or daakness identical with light ? The last interrogation is really unanswerable , but we much question if the Roman ^ Catholics are at all aware of "being such very abominable creatures . It is evident that a good Romanist must be a very bad man , notwithstanding the " lives of the Saints , " and we are therefore much surprised that Mr . Poulton should exult with exceeding joy at their emancipation . Or is it merely as a foreshadowing of the good things in store for Dissenters , that he welcomes this act of justice with gushing cordiality ? It may be hypercritieism qii our part , but ever and anon it seemed to us that familiar sounds smote upon our ear , as we read aloud his narrative o bygone days . But the resemblance of such passages as the following is clearly nothing more than a strange coincidence of thought and expression , very natural in historians of such similar views as Mi . Hume and Mr . Poulton : —

      Professor Reed ' s work belongs to a very different order , and must be classed with a much higher rank of literature . His lectures evince a genial but refined taste—perhaps too refined . That he was a gentleman and a scholar , is beyond all doubt ; that he can he regarded as an historian , or a philosopher we very much question . On all occasions he quotes Wordsworth , while he loses no opportunity of expressing his aversion for Hume . His criticisms are always pleasant , and not infrequently ingenious , but seldom original . As a straw may point out the direction of the wind , so two trifling prejudices may serve to indicate the Professor ' s frame of mind . He cannot endure the idea of Falstaff ' s cowardice , though he acknowledges that danger had no charms in Jack ' s eyes . He was simply •* an old soldier , with such a sensual and self-indulgent nature as would be very likely to settle down in London , to grow fat , and lazj ' , and luxurious . " ] n the same spirit of idolatry Mr . Reed cannot bear to think so meanly of Othello as to believe that he ever stooped to jealousy , because " jealousy is a little , a mean passion — something which dwells in small minds , whereas all the passions of Othello are heroic and magnanimous . "

      This sad tragedy was never meant to give an admonition so superficial as to warn against the evil of jealousy—the moral of Shakspeare ' s dramas always lies deeper , because they are works of pure imagination— the noblest faculty of the h-uman mind . There may be discovered in that tragedy the loftiest moral that poetry ever shadowed forth—the victory of faith . When Othello was tempted to cast his faith from out his heart , his whole nature was given over to misery and d-esperation and guilt—he lost the inward spiritual principle , which was the very life of bis moral being . But Desdemona clung to her faith , and it kept her heart in its perfect integrity and innocence—even through all her sorrow , and to the last moment of consciousness oa her fearful death-bed . Comparatively , she was happy ; for the chief sufferer was the faith-bewildered Othello .

      The same tendency to the ideal rather than the practical—the same disinclination to face cormnon-place facts— makes the critic spurn at Miss Halstead's generous labour to straighten the crook-backed Richard , and vindicate his character as a ruler . He is willing , indeed , to admit that Shakspeare has exaggerated his ugliness , and that Richard ' s soliloquy over his own personal defects arose from " a malignant and spiteful feeling , " whe n he contrasted himself with " the elegance of face and form of his voluptuous brother , Edward the Fourth . " He argues

      that—The general popular impression as to Bichard ' s bodily unsightliness sqems to show how intense was the hatred of his character—how- odious the recollection of his life . Tlie detestation which he had inspired aggravated the conception of his personal defects ; and he was , perhaps , thought tenfold moi-e deformed than he really was , because his body was the visible exponent of the spiritual deformity of his nature . If Richard was the comely person his modern apologists maintain then the notion of his deformity could have its origin only in the deep conviction of the inhuman wickedness of liis invisible nature ; men must-have made him crooked and hideous , because his life was ho .

      But however fanciful may be some of . his criticisms on tragic poetry , the Professor ' s appreciation of the under current of history is generally clear and correct . Like all well-educated Americans , he was evidently proud of the ancient glory of his race , and loved to speak of the heroic times when his ancestors achieved liberty at home , respect and deference abroad . He has "been fortunate , too , in an Editor to whom it has been a lahour of love to rescue from oblivion the name of a brother whom he loved and honoured . Wisely and well lias Mr . Murray judged in publishing a cheap edition of Hallam ' s "Works . It is too late in the day to liang a new wreath on this

      pillar of fame . Mr . Hallam's reputation is too firmly established to need , or accept the homage of student or critic . But the high price—speaking commercially—at which his works were originally produced , rendered them unattainable by the less wealthy members of the middle classes . This sole obstacle to their universal popularity is at length removed , and . there are but few who cannot now afford themselves the long coveted luxury of beholding , upon theit own shelves , the volumes which hitlierto they could only obtain from a public library . We trust that this edition will command the sale which its intrinsic merits richly deserve .

      HTTME . POULTON . ffenry , jealous of the progress made The King of England , surprised at by his own subjects , sent orders to recall the success of his subjects , and . not all the English , and he made prepara- choosing to yield to them all the glory tions to attack Ireland in person He of subduing a country into subjection , found the Irish so dispirited by their made preparations to attack Ireland in late misfortunes ., that , in a progress person . On his arrival , however , iuwhusb . he made through the island , he stead of opposition , he found the dishad no other occupation than , to receive pirited Irish everywhere ready to offer the homage of his new subjects : he left him homage as his subjects . Ho gave most of the Irish chieftains or princes most of the Irish chieftains possession of in possession of tLeir ancient territories ; their ancient territories , which they bestowed some lands on the English were to hold in vassalage to the Crown adventurers Earl

      ; gave Richard the of England ; bestowed some lands on commission of Seneschal of Ireland ; the English adventurers ; " created and , af ter a stay of a few months , re- » Strongfcow Seneschal of Ireland ; conturned in triumph to England . By thes . e vened a meeting of the people , at which trivial exploits , scarcely worth relating , arrangements were made that the Engexcept for the importance of the con- lish lawa should be extended to Ireland ; sequences , waa Ireland subdued , and . . . and returned to England ' annexed to the English crown . triumphing in the fact that a new coun-The same day , Richard , accompa- try was annexed to the English ' crown nied by Mareadde , leader . of his Bra- While surveying the walls to soo bunions , approached the castle in order where the assault should bo made , a to survey it ; when one Bortrand do youth , by name Bertrand do Gourdo ' n Gonrdon , an archer , took aim at him , recogn isod the King from tho ramparts ' and ierced his shoulder with

      p au arrow , and discharged an arrow , which hit Tho king , however , gave orders for tho Richard on tho left shoulder . Tho assault , took tho place , and hanged all assault wns made , the castle taken , and the garrison , oxcept Gourdon , who had all tho men in it put to death , with-the wounded him , and whom lie reserved oxcoptiou of Bertrand , who was rofor a more deliberate and a more cruel eorvod , for greater tortures , The King ' s execution . The wound was not in wound was not in itself clangorous , but iteolf dangeroua ; but tho iinskilfulneas an unskilful surgeon , in taking out the of the surgeon mado -it mortal : ho so arrow , so irritated tho shoulder , that rankled Richard ' s shoulclor in . pulling mortification ousuod . Fading his out tho arrow , that . a gangrene ensued ; death approach , Richard ordered Borand that princo was now acufiiblo that trand to bo brought boforo him , &c . Ins life was drawing towards a period . Ho sent for Gourdon , &o . &c .

      This will suffice to illustrate the manner in which Mr . Poulton undertake * to fill the " obvious vpid" in our historical literature , awd to show " how this great country Has been governed ; how she lias risen , with the blasts of war on one side , and the pestilential influences of feudal " selfishness ami withering pwoBtcraft on the other , to her present glory ; or , how she is still able to maintain her dignity and honour , notwithstanding all the spiritual wickedness in the high places , and , as the sure result , all the poverty and ignorance in the low places , in the land . " Ah I and that is only half the entire sentence .

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      20 THE LEADER , [ No . 302 , Saturday .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 5, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2122/page/20/