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Leader (1850-1860), 7th July 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8, * A History of JSniflani dtirnq thoUeign...

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      Mjfijeo Hi A R Ra:U>;I0a. On Tncsflny Ev...

      by another person—now . ' read off the ; whole , naming each compartment and the figures in it ; heathen read the whole backwards , and afterwards , on any compartment being named , repeated the figures in it , and on the fig'nres being given , named the compartment . This astonishing exercise of memory excited the warmest applause , and the interest was deepened by the assertion of Dr . Pick , that be did not consider that any person present would fail in performing the same feat after an examination of his plan . He stated that he had chosen figures to exhibit , because they are usually supposed to have less hold on the memory than facts or opinions , and if these could be unerringly recollected , there could be no doubt as to ^ power of remembering other things . Memory is often blamed when the fault rests elsewhere . We fail to recal ideas not because of any the ideas them

      deficiency in the power of recollecting , but because - selves have been but faintly impressed on the mind ; that which is vividly felt is easily remembered—that which excites little attention at the time is soon effaced . Hence it is that the impressions made in youth , which are more vivid than those of after-years , are strongly remembered , while those of old age can scarcely be recalled even after the lapse of a single day- The theory , therefore , of Dr . Pick is , that to render impressions permanent they must be made strong ; that the well-known power of association should be called into exercise two ideas should be combined , and by a reduplication of this process any train of thought can be reproduced as often as required . An example was given' which was at onee tested by the company , and found perfectly

      successful . It consisted of the words—memory , -history ; war , Italy ; fine arts , National Gallery ; Trafalgar Square , Nelson ; navy , ' England ; industry , cotton ; America , Atlantic cable , electric telegraph ; railway , iron , mines ; mountains , Switzerland ; snow , sledge ; horse , Rarey . These words , with the ideas belonging to them , were to be taken in alternate pairs : thus—memory , history ; historv , war ,- war , Italy , & c . The most detective memories were shown to be capable of going through the whole chain by the help of the connecting association . The next experiment was to exhibit this systerh applied to some practical purpose ; and a well-known rule of the Latin <; rammar , with respect to the gender of nouns of the third declension , was indelibly impressedon the minds of the classical students of-the college by the following chain : — - ¦ -.. - foo hill

      Mullet , fish ; river , canal ; ditch ; w © rm-dust , tpath ; , stone ; fire ( or * produced ' from fiint ) , firebrand , bellows , ashes ; flour ( from its colour ) , bread ! . ; . cucumber , stem ; , thorn , faggot , stickr lever , axle-tree : . ploughshare ( emblem of peace ) i sword ( emblem of war , an artificial weapon ) - , nail ( jqfthe Hand , anatural weapon ) ; blood ( produced by either weapon ) - , snake ,. dormouse ; hair , rope ; collar , circle , month ( as returning ^ in a-circle ); end , T ^ llIfllT r ¦ ¦ ¦ '"' . ¦ ¦'¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦'¦ ¦ ' ¦ . ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . . . " ¦ .- . ¦ . , ¦ . ' ¦ ' After a few practical observations , and remarking that the mode of applying this principle to figures was very simple , but must be deferred to another opportunity , the lecturer concluded , amidst the expressions of the most complete satisfaction on the part of those who had listened with the most intense interest to the whole discourse _

      . . .. Dr . Pick will , we believe , lecture at ' the anniversary meeting of the Historical and Genealogical Society of England , which takes —plaTe ^ air-Bridgwater-Houge , —nndeiy-tha-presideucy _ ol ; ' the garl of Eu , esmebe , in the course of the present month .

      032 The Saturday Aiiah/St And Leader, | ...

      032 The Saturday Aiiah / st and Leader , | July 7 , IS 60 >

      Mr. Massey's History.* Itihe Third Volum...

      MR . MASSEY'S HISTORY . * ITIHE third volume of Mr . Massey ' s History comprehends the A period from 1781 to 1703 , and he informs us that he has been aided in his task by some papers collected by the late Mr . Locker ¦ with a view to writing the Life of George III ., and also by the Bolton correspondence , and other private documents . The result , however , of Mr . Massey ' s investigations does not materially affect the conclusions generally formed of the principal characters and incidents of the reign of the most mischievous mpnarch of modern English history . Mr . Massey is im essentially common-place writer . He brings to his task no breadth of philosophy , no -. profundity of speculation , no keen insight into character , and no capacity for either brilliant or powerful description . Nothing lives in his pages ; and the AmericHn war , the memorable siege of Gibraltar , the

      impeachment of Warren Hustings , and the French revolution , are narrated with the frigidity of the spelling book or the monotony of an net of parliament . His labours must not , however , be underrated , for it is within the reach of diligent dulnessto compile facts and collect the bones of history , although it cunnot put them together and animate them with the breath of life . In the first chapter Mr . Massoy devotes attention , to the proceedings of the American war , and discusses the execution of Mnjor Andre * with commendable fairness . He shows what English ¦ writers are too apt to forget , that Andre * was neither morally nor legally entitled to the protection of a safe-conduct fraudulently obtained ^ audJihat . althouglL ^ andjudicious act on the part of Washington , itcertuinly could' not bo claimed by a Government which disgraced itself by an alliauce with the traitor Arnold .

      Iu his method of government George III . thoroughly deserved the titlo given to him by Beutham , as hond of the firm of Corrnptmr General and Co ., and Mt . Massey details the arts by which the disgraceful . procefR was carried on . The king had his party of friends n the Houho of Commons , who were rewarded by place , pension ,

      and patronage for their political dirty work , and were often arrayed by their master ' s orders against his own responsible advisers . Mr , Massey does not think this conduct quite correct , but he palliates it on the ground of the natural desire ot the Sovereign to emancipate himself from the control of the great Whio- families . A mere desire to obtain power is a low . motive of action , and George III . never sought it for a worthy purpose , nor was the success of his schemes in any way connected with the public interest ; on the contrary , we now suffer under many millions of taxation to pay that large portion of the national ^ debt which was incurred to gratify the obstinacy and malignity or the " good old king . " The opinion-forming power of the country was could not have been main

      at a low ebb , or the Georgian system - tained so long , and it is scarcely possible to believe that only eighty years a « -6 the Sovereign did not scruple to plot against his own ministers in a manner which could not be kept secret , and instructed Lord Temple to tell such peers as could be influenced that the kin" - would consider everybody an enemy who voted for a measure—the India Bill—which his own cabinet advisers had prepared . Such treacherous and unconstitutional conduct was very properly met by a motion which was carried in the House ot Commons , to the effect that declaring or pretending to declare any opinion of the Crown with a view to influence the votes of members was " a breach of the privileges of Parliament , and subversive of the constitution of the country . " Mr . Massey , whose conduct

      on the Committee on Tax Bills shows that he has no true sense of the functions and dignity of the House of Commons—blames both parties equally in this transaction , and affirms that a private explanation with the monarch , and a resignation if they remained dissatisfied , would have been the right course of the ministers . This is a very shallow view of the matter ; arid affords a g-ood illustration of the difficulty of grasping principles under which the hon . member for Sal ford seems to labour . The ministers were in possession of the very words Used by Lord Temple in his improper attempt to influence the rotes , and" they would have failed in their duty if they had riot called upon the House of Commons to pronounce its judgment upon such conduct . In addition to this , they should have demanded explanations from the Crown * and not have waited for their abrupt dismissal ; but lao private remonstrances could have done away with the necessity of a formal protest against so mis-¦¦

      chievous a proceeding .- ^ ,. , , '¦ Having shown so little appreciation of the Parliamentary bearings of this remarkable dispute , we are almost surprised ^ o find Mr Massey rational on the subject of Mr . Pitt ' s celebrated Reform BiJl , which proposed to recognise the rights of the landowners to rotten boroughs , and to establish a fund for indemnifying them lor any disfranchisement that took place . Upon the behaviour of George IV . as Prince Regent Mr . Massey is justly severe ; but lie praises the conduct of Pox in putting up with the imputation that he had knowingly and wilfully sought to deceive the House of Commons and the country when he made , on the authority of the Prince , the well-known declaration that no marriage with Mrs . Fitzherbert had taken place . Mr . Massey , with a curious obliquity ot moral and political judgment , tells us that " there were considerations which a statesman and a lover of his country would hold paramount even to a vindication of his honour . " ' ... _

      . _ . . . . ^ "THese ^ wm ^ eT ^ tfoTIs ^ vwe ^ with a papist operated to exclude a Prince of the Blood Royal trom the succession ; and although the Royal Marriage Act cast legal doubt as to whether the ceremony performed with Mrs . * ltzlierbert was a marriage within the meaning of the Bill of Rights , ther « was a strong probability on the other side , and it would very likely have been decided that the offending prince must be set aside , buch an incidentwould . doubt , have given rise to great agitation ; but no man in the position of Mr . Fox could be justified in making luiuselj a JJJ 4 WJ Ji ll A'JJt / IJ \*&» v * w ** v * , * . — - — ¦» -- — ' ---- - - »/ . — . - the heir in d

      virtual accomplice in the criminality of apparent , nor eludin" - the Legislature and the people as to the facts-which were necessary to determine the lawful succession of the Crown . Ao one can commena Fox and the Whigs for the way in which they played off the prince against the king , and the scurvy treatment t ^ iey subsequently met with at the hunds of the former was richly deserved . Fox ' s reconciliation with the Prince Regent passed the bounds of honourable good nature , and after he had been inado a velnclp of flagrant falsehood and was publicly disowned , not only sett-respect , but conscience and honesty demanded that ho should stand aloot

      until ample reparation had been made . In a subsequent volume we shall see more clearly how ^ mv Massey treats the conduct of the English Government to the Uuvolution ' in France . At present he appears , aa usual , unequal to see the bearings of a great , question , and to look upon the trench war as necessary to stem the tide of revolutionary feeling in this country . At any rate , ho has no sympathy with Fox , who wisely pointed out that rbform at home , and not war abroad , was the rig-ht method ot dealing with discontent . _ __ ,,.. _ , third volume

      After the account we have given of Mr . Massey ' s , our readers-will iiotoxpecttoJiiidjuucUJntoriniitio n concerning the condition and progress of the English people , or the growth ot opinion during a very stormy time , and , indeed , they anust look to quite other sources , and to a very different historian for anything ot ttie kind . The riots at Birmingham , and the burning ot Pnuatlv s house , are cursorily mentioned , and some random assertions' ventured as to tho revolutionary tendencies of the leurned doctor ana his friends , but Mr . Massoy can discover no connexion between tlie views then hold by advanced liberals and those which are now generally entertuined . Undoubtedly , there was indistinctness , oo » iunion , and exaggeration in the minds'of the English friends of the Jj yeiwii

      * A History Of Jsniflani Dtirnq Thoueign...

      * A History of JSniflani dtirnq thoUeign <> f Gcor . / v IU , By VflhhlAM Mabbky . M . 1 \ Vol . lll , J . W . i ' arker & Son .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1860, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07071860/page/8/