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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd August 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 733, Untitled Article

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      merciful Master , solacing sinners to be in . a moment strangled by the warrant of a Christian king . He paused , and with his hand before his eyes , leaned against a wall ; and piercing words in terrible distinctness fell upon him— 'I am the resurrection and the life . ' He started , and a few paces from him , in St . Giles ' s churchyard , he beheld the parish priest . The holy man was reading the burial service over pauper clay ; was sanctifying ashes to ashes , dust to dust , amid the whirl of life—the struggle and the roar of money-clawing London .

      " The ceremony went on , the solemn sentences tuned with the music of eternal hopes , fitfully heard through cries of ' Chairs to mend , ' and 'Live Mackarel . ' The awful voice of Death Beemed scoffed , derided , by the reckless bully , Life . The prayer that embalmed poor human dust for the judgment , seemed as measured gibberish that could never have a meaning for those who hurried to and fro , as though immortality dwelt in their sinews . And that staid and serious-looking man , with upturned eyes and sonorous voice , clad in a robe of white , and holding an open book , —why , what was he ? Surely , he was playing some strange part in a piece of business in Which business men could have no interest . The

      ceremony is not concluded , and now comes an adventurous trader with a dromedary and a monkey on its back , the well-taught pug , with doffed feathered cap , sagaciously soliciting halfpence . And there , opposite the churchyard , the prayer of the priest coming brokenly to his ears , is a tradesman smiling at his counter , ringing the coin , and scarcely snuffing the Golgotha at his door , asking what article he shall next have the happiness to show ? And thus in London highways do Death and Life shoulder each other . And life heeds not the foul , impertinent warning ; but at the worst thinks Death , when so very near , a nuisance . It is made by familiarity a nasty , vulgar , unhealthy thing ; it is too close a neighbour to become a solemnity . "

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      PALGRAVE ' S NORMANDY AND ENGLAND . The History of Normandy and of England . By Sir Francis Palgrave , K . H . Vol . I . jr . w . Parker . It is in presence of such works as this that we feel how inadequate is the most elaborate criticism we can admit into our columns , and how restricted must be our notice . There are many heads upon which we might discourse—many topics upon which we should willingly enter into discussion with Sir Francis Palgrave ; but we cannot dismiss in a brief paragraph what has evidently cost years of careful consideration , and more than brief paragraphs we cannot afford room for .

      It is a vast undertaking which Sir Francis has before him , and he seems disposed to treat it with commensurate amplitude . Indeed , only what Thackeray , in his lectures , expressively called " men of lazy literature , " will view with equanimity the flowing copiousness of this garrulous history , adapted rather for the literature of Patriarchs than for our busy rapid time . The very prelude would form a moderate volume ; and when the story Itself begins to unrol its gigantic x-oils , the same slow movement

      continues . Sir rrancis defends this excessive length : his tediousness has a design in it . But although the principles laid down in his preface will find many adherents , we doubt whether their application in his work will meet with equal success . Sir Francis knows better what is needful to be done than how to do it . lie has studied history till he has realized a very distinct conception of what is needed ; but the artistic faculty is not often the accompaniment of the critical ; and although the diversity and amplitude of his narrative make his

      volume agreeable to read , they \ , y no means serve their purpose of fixing more permanently in the reader ' s memory a picture of the epoch and its events . We might establish this position by a variety of illustrations ; one shall content us : —The chapter on the Itomnu Language is pleasant and gossipy , but its application to the work is of the slightest . A volume of mediaeval history may not unfitly be preluded by a chapter on the ' Latin language , but not by mieh a chapter as this , which jH no more than a collection of " notes / ' and might "uve been copied from a Commonplace book without

      modification . Remove it from the volume , and y <»» do not make the volume a win ! . less intelligible . " » e opening paragraph of this chapter is one of »»<> ho sententious platitudes which Herioiwly dis-» K » re tho work . It is of the kind which modern "iHtonan s aeem prone to indulge in . There is an lr <> f impertinence about such sermonizing which « niicfl ought not to overlook . Mr . Alison , for j-xumple , m his History of Europe , has so outtvv 1 II COinm (> u mune I' / tll ( 5 immodesty of his « Z V - < ho him Mla " ° the hook lmti ; ful to «» r innii'I FraHcis has no mieh gem « of nolenm aill « y ua ihotjo that sparklo in the nagea of the

      History of Europe ; but he obviously belongs to the same school of thinkers , as witness this : — '" He who breathed into man ' s nostrils the breath of life , first opened the lips of man . Adam first spake when he was solitary . No human ear but his own could hear the sound of his human voice ; callec into action under the immediate tuition of the power from whom the facufty emanated . " We will not rub the bloom off this delicate fruit of philosophy by any brutal commentary—we present it to the reader for his inspection , merely informing him that the marginal note to this grand utterance intimates it to be nothing less than this : — " Origin of language not the subject of human philosophy . *'

      Whatever his capacity as an artist , you will not expect much from him as a philosopher after the above . We are tempted to give two specimens of bis philosophy of history , the more so because he is excessively prone to preach it . The first shall be

      on—PROVIDENCE IN HISTORY . " Mathematicians have felt aggrieved , because they often hear those who are usually called ' sensible men , ' ' educated men , ' and the like , assert that they do not doubt of ' runs of luck '; speaking in a tone which implies that the occurrences of such tides of success or adversity are occasioned by an unknown or mysterious cause . The analyst calls this a superstition ; but there is a superstition approaching to weakness , or worse , in being over-afraid of superstition . Men do not doubt the fact of 'luck , ' simply because the casual coincidences which over-rule all theories of moral or mathematical probability , are matters of daily observation .

      " The theories of probabilities may be indisputably true according to mathematical reasoning , showing that no one man can have a greater chance in the game than another ; nevertheless , experience constantly contradicts the reasoning . Perhaps we may rather say that both views of the question are true ; if so be we recollect that ' chance , ' under every form or mode of existence , is predestinated in the universal plan of Providence . Matter , Life , Soul , and Spirit , are ruled by the One Maker of all things j visible and invisible , the One Lord of infinity and i eternity . Every permutation , every succession , every series and every combination of number , weight , or measure , is preordained . " Omnipresence cannot bo absent . The

      Omni-| potent cannot be limited , nor his Omniscience bounded " Upon that earth which has been created for the habitation of man , accident is regulated with determined relations to the accountable beings who are affected by the events , fortuitous and yet designed . The gamester 13 brought to the Casino , whore the faces of the die are to . be turned uppermost , which will make or mar his fortune . Do is conducted thither to meet the predireeteel series of throws . By figures , and tables , and theorems we calculate ourselves out of those- realities ; but activity , anxiety , above all J danger , will surely bring them homo . 'Every bullet has its billet , ' says the soldier , who falls into the

      contrary extreme , yielding to the dreary apathy of a blind fatality . Yet the soldier expresses himself truly , for the man who receives the mortal wound is driven by the destroying Angel before the mouth of the cannon whose discharge is to cut him off . And this involve * the whole bearing of casualties and apparent trifles upon the mightiest affairs of collective mankind . Universal History bears witness to the truth , yet the Philosophy of History shrinks away from the conclusions which she dares not deny .

      " Nor Avith respect to those events resulting evidently from physical laws , is the need of the acknowledgment less cogent ; for we are bound to reverence these Jaws as the emanations of Almighty power obeying His will . Wlum the ki u i ' h noonday nty . s are made to fire the meridian mortar , the explosion occasioned by the unvaried rotation of the planetary sphere is effected by the workman whose adaptation of the lens guided the concentrated beams . " Apply the same reasonings to nil the operatioim of neeondary causes developed in tho ' material or transitory world , when they are rendered directl y and immediately subservient to the government of the . spiritual or eternal kingdom . Very superficial and erroneous are the t achers who worry themselves to employ their science . The outward yet marvellous knowled

      ge of the works of ( iod obtained through the senses , in discrediting or denying the dispensation that the particular events , occasioned b y the regular and orderly course of nature , docs equally fulfil the decree of special Providence . The mist or the blast may ho condensed or dispersed , guided or stayed b y tho general laws of electricity and heat of air and moisture ; and the fertility of tho field certainl y depends on the operation of the laws by which vegetation is promoted or retarded . Hut the husbandman , who acknowledges tin ; abundance as a blessing , or who receives the failing en ,,, ,, „ „ punishment , h , m been allotted to that very field for liw profit or his trial : and for him , each individual cloud luiH been wafted upon tho wing * of tho wind , with the purposed intent that it niuy drop f ulneua on

      the globe , or destroy the hopes of the harvest . No event can be disconnected from the First Cause of all events . It was one of the shallowest gibes of Frederick * the Great' that , somehow or another Providence always takes the side of the King who has the largest battalions . This dictum has not even the recommendation of historical truth—he himself falsified it . But even if it were true , it would not in any wise alter the highest truth ; for the question would still remain to be answered , Who imparts the power by which the armies are raised ?"

      Now , this appears to us extremely vicious reasoning , but we content ourselves with indicating whither it points : If every permutation , every succession , every series , every trifle be preordained , there can be no special Providence , since the whole scheme is the fulfilment , in every detail , of Providence ; and—observe this dilemma !—if the whole scheme be but the fulfilment of Providence preadjusted , preordained , then all vice and crime vanish from the world , or are the deliberate will of Providence !

      Sir Francis is , however , consistent ; he not only reads the writing of Providence in all events , but he sees Divine Warnings or Smiles in the variations of the weather—sunshine being to him the real smile of Providence upon man ' s effort : — " The cosmical phaenomena , so physically and morally important during the mediaeval era , continued and increased . The heavens throbbed with jlue and red and yellow fires ; comets and cometary beams traversed the sky—tremendous earthquakes increased the alarm . The volcanic Rhine region was particularly disturbed , but the concussions were

      not confined to this locality . Commencing with earth—thunder . The shocks prevailed seven days throughout the Gauls ; the subterraneous ' bellowings , ' as they are described , recurring periodically at certain ascertained watches and hours of night and day . To these were added keen famine and dire pestilence . Taken in the wider sense , every physical phenomenon is an historical incident , whether affecting the material condition of man or his mind—the pestilence-breathing blast not more so than the

      Aurora s innocuous beams . Feebly and faint-heartedly would Livy , the rebuker of a corrupt and apostate generation , have fulfilled his high mission , had he not constantly and faithfully borne witness to the prodigies whilome received by his forefathers , as testifying the active presence of the Deity , teaching them to nourish their strength by confessing their weakness , and to acknowledge that their power has a free gift , which the gods , the divine warnings contemned , would take away .

      ! " Science cannot dispel this lurking belief , so flippantly denominated ' superstition '—it is innate and unconquerable . If the weather be coarse during the national fete , the tricolour irj gloomy . The Parisians crowds are dispirited by the darkened heavens , and they loudly give utterance to their heaviness . That n bright gleam of sunshine should suddenly illuminate tho House of Peers , and dart down upon tho Lords Commissioners when they declared tho royal assent to the Iteform Hill , was joyfully accepted by the hardheaded

      - unimaginative ltadical as a happy foreboding . Tokens , predictions , prognostics , possess a psychological reality . All events are but the consummation of preceding causes , distinctly felt though not clearly apprehended until the accomplishment ensues . Whilst the strain is sounding , the prciistablished harmony of atmosphere , of nerve , and of soul , reveals to the most untutored listener that tho tune will end with the key-note , though he cannot explain wh y each succeeding bar leads to the concluding chord . "

      I hese examples will justify our mediocre respect for the philosophic qualities exhibited in this volume , but we must not mislead our readers into the supposition , that philosophy is the great claim of this History of England and Normandy . Unable , from the very nature of things , to present any adequate account of its contents , we have merely seized upon one point , which was not unimportant , and could easil

      y be detached . Having done so , we must pay homage to tho'labour and learning here set forth . Sir Francis has studied his vast subject with courageous ardour ; he has gone to the . sources for his knowledge ; and lie handles each topic with easy adroitness resulting from Jongfamiliarity , in all tho higher qualities of an historian we consider him Heriously deficient ; but his work will ho a contribution of decided value to all who occupy themselves with medieval history .

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      Aug . 2 , 1851 . ] &t ) e ILeabet . 733

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      JJOOKS ON OUR TAHLK . I , < xtm .-H on » hc ( J <; rmim Mine-nil Wafi-m . und «>» ili « ' « r Hatioaal Ki . i ) il «> yu . < iit , lor dm euro of cv . it . uin lUuonic 1 Mh . nih . jh . U y Ni t fiHiimud HiUro , 1 M . I > . J - vv - ' » rker . I ) r . . Sutro is a ( Jerrnan wlio Huh devoted special attention to tho n / m » » f hin country , and him delivered tho rcNiiItH of bin wtudy »» lectures at the Ilunteriaii ( School of Medicine , which arc horo republbhed in u

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1851, page 733, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1894/page/17/