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Leader (1850-1860), 7th July 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 654

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      EwS ^ E ^ -SES tfoMl U ™ .-. ft «>* Ch . 08 rf ^ toj . j ^ m'SaSSLSSSs ^^ SHSt ^ r = r ^^» x ^^ = ? SS ^ ZeaLander pauses to meditate—medial times maynse mto fashion SkW * ed | e Siffasionists . Meanwhile Professor K < B pen has collected W com ^ aotlf digested , considerable Btores of knowledge on the nat . onal Sfe * S Si territorial distributions of the Middle Ages ; history in its prominent lines on a geographical basis . He sketches political change through eight periods , conveniently divided by the movements of races , wLIhe divisioiof the empire on the death of Theodosius to the Ottoman conquest ; the -whole well illustrated by historical maps after Spruner . rt ^ id ^ Wo ^ r *? a t ; f > « nwftr . which would seem to be native to the Dane , is

      displayed in giving life to the usual historic skel e ton . If the accounts of manners and institutions are necessarily brief they are neither meagre nor eolottrless , and the numerous illustrations , and sometimes anecdotes , are pertinent and suggestive . As here , from many examples , speaking ol tne common origin of the Danish and English people : — The beathen Angles , Saxons , and Danes had the same religion . Their common a&fiesTyr , Wodin ( Odin ) , Thur ( Tor ) , Frea ( Freia ) , &c , stUl survive , and are daily suggested to our memory in the appellation of the days of the week common to both 3 Danes and Anglo-Saxons . The same mystic beings : gad , god ; alfar , aelte , ylte «* t os ;^» tter , -wihte , -wights ; dverger , dveorgs , dwarfs ; jotnar , jcetter , jotnas ; troll , <» rOld £ , UroHes ; hel , hell , &c , were worshipped or feared by both , nations , and occur aofc « nly in their ancient ipoetical remains ^ but also in the popular superstitions and 4 » liada *> f their still flourishing posterity . Their , gods and heroes have likewise tne aame ^ ames : Wodin , Odin ; SJsiold , . Scyld ; iHolfdan , Haelfdene ; Ubbe , Uffb , Offa ; JEfcoifiv ^ Rolf . - Again , on the Normans : —

      ^ Thf * -Normans % re still the best-mariners of France , and all their most distin-¦ gnished admirals were of Norman descent . We discern , - likewise , this Scandinavian anflmmcem the naval expressions of the French language , such as for instance : esqiaf , tam&Kes , raalinys , gapdmges , hater , sigler , sterman , and many others , all of Danish ^ origin . Arid us a specimen of the gossip by -which dry history is occasionally 5 HnstEaWd : — Thev ; manners in . Scandinavia were Btai very coarse during the fourteenth century . Albert of Mecklenburg used to call Margaret the Breechless Queen—J > ronning Biuxelos —and he senther a whetstonethree fefet in length , with the intimation to lay aside

      , , her sword and attend to sharpening her needles . This ungracious compliment the Danish'Queen answered by sending him in return-a chemise of hers , attached to a ^ ag-Btaff , for his colours , when marching his army against her . ( Nor did this epigrammatic war terminate with the defeat of Albert > at Falkoping , for Margaret - ordered her . indiscreet prisoner to her presence , and clapped a fool's cap , with a tail . nineteen yards long , onhis head , for . a mock crown , and sent him , thus exposed to the . ficoffingsof the populace , to the dreary prison-vaults of LindenholmCastle , in Skaane . JLsnong ihe many ^ historical relics still deposited in the sacristy of the splendid catuc . deal of Upsala , . the traveller will behold the enormous whetstone , the smock banner , « and the lengthy fool ' s cap of Prince Albert .

      If rhere and there we find Irish history , according to Thomas Moore and " vW « iter . Scott ' s numerous works" cited in the margin , the authorities compiled . from are . . generally orthodox and trustworthy . Not less substantial sorely would have been the title to a " Manual of Mediaeval Geography , " had the author , materially speaking , brought it within the common grasp ; for as a handbook it can only serve for popular use in Patagonia . ^ The Jong banished folio of the old world it would seem is coming into faahion in the new . Our hint might tend to the Professor ' s popularity here , at least , should he carry out his projected Historical Geography of the Modern

      World . Availing himself of the public interest now . turned towards Russia , Dr . " Latham has made an intelligent and useful contribution to popular know-Iedge ,, by-bi 8 account of the various races of that extensive waste of empire , -accompanied t > y ^ and in eome > degree founded upon , the ethnological and istftfcwtieal map published by the Imperial Geographical Society of St . Petersburg < in < 1 ' 852 . It may occur to some that Metternich ' s famous mot « right be applied further north than Italy , and the 1 ; erin Russian , if mot Russia ftae'lf , regarded as something of a geographical expression . On of in

      imperial authority we find the non-Kussian population Europe some ^ fifteen di visions of race , forty and more of tribe , and a guoss at eight and a half millions of souls . The three leading stocks , or families , which we commonly find termed as Tshudes or Fins , Tartars , and Slavonians , Dr . Latham , iior p lausible reasons of . expediency , calls Ugrian , Turk , and Sarmatian . Under the Ugrian , ho classes the population akin to the present inhabitants of Finland wheresoever they , may be found , the chief characters being £ heir language ; a race with the exceptions of the Laps of Sweden and ITorway , and the Magyars of Hungary , peculiar to Russia . The tribes are . numbered thus : 1 . . Samoyedes 4 , 4 . 95 d . Karoliuns propor . . 171 , 095 .. 2 . Yeniaeiana .... not . stated a . Quuina .... . not stated 4 J . Yukauiri do . b . Tuvostriana . . . do . 4 . Lops 2 , 289 8 . Permians : -5 . Vogifls 872 a . Siranians 70 , 96 (> *> . Ositiaks ..... not stated b . Pormians . . . . 52 , 201 7 . Fins : c . 'Votiaks 186 , 770 a . Tshud 16 , 617 d . Hesermanians . . . 4 , 645 o . Vod 5 , 148 c . 'ACsthonians .... 688 , 45 ) 6 9 . "Volga Fina : id . Uofa 2 , 074 a . Tahorornis 166 , 07 « vXnnaHana : b . Mordvins . . . . 480 , 241 . a . fAuromoieet .... 20 , 875 c . Tphuvaah ... - 429 , 952 & . i , 0 avjikot 42 , 971 ) c . Tzhor 17 , 800 ifgraions . . . 2 , 015 , 098 -The-Tuilka or Tatars , wro thus ^ nuanortvted :

      it « . „ , « . . 'KMvans L STpermia , Viatka , Kazan , 5 . g ^ Uirs 392 072 „„ ,, ajT « Kri < jt 6 . MeshtaheriaKS .... /» , » 4 i and ( SimorisK . **• . ftg nnr » " ¦ "sraJST : mm . I SSSr : : : : •* % & tSSfc «») - . 7 , 82 S T « J , : •••; . ! •»• . •« StiU followin . ' the classification of the non-Russian population , we come to lie " b ° ? d , or Sarmatian division , according to Dr . Latham s nomonclature : "rSSV .... 716 , 886 2 . Servian . 1 . J 8 J 2 Letg 872 , 107 3 . Poles 477 , Jdo S 1 rSulgari .... 77 , 102 Sarmatians . . . . 2 f l « , 013 The remaining Non-Russians are stated thus : Rumanyos ( Wallachians and Persians : Mo ^ k ,,. ) : : : S 5 SS lp % & **> : « c - ^ Greeks ....... 46 , 773 Indians 10 Armenians 37 , 676 Albanians ..... 1 , 828 Germans CDeutsehe ) . . . 373 , 000 French - <> 0 „ ( Swedes ) . • 11 , 470 ^ ws : Dioscunans : iaimuuio , 1 . Georgians .... 1 , 000 Karait . . . - ¦ ^ J 2 o 2 . Ir 6 n ( Os 6 t ) .... 1 , 650 Taigam ( gipsies ) . - . 48 , 24 , 3 . Circassians .... 175 Miscellaneous . . 2 , 201 , 188 Making a total of . . 8 , 507 , 637 Non Russians . And from the statistics of Schaffarik 35 , 000 , 000 Great Russians . 13 , 000 , 000 Little Russians . " " 2 , 700 , 000 White Russians . Making a total of . . 59 , 207 , 637 under the government of the Great God of the Muscovites . Dr . Latham ' s able and interesting work is the second contribution to " The Ethnographical Library . " It seems to us that it might have been made more generally useful had it been preceded by a general exposition ot the leading principles of the science ; for as portions of the present treatise are in some respects controversial , the tyro must read with a large faith in the science of his preceptor . m . The present number of Bohn ' s Standard Library is the third and concluding instalment of Mrs . Foster ' s excellent translation of Conde ' s history of the dominion of the Arabs in Spain , a valuable addition to the stories alreadv made by the publisher to the popular knowledge of historic literature' . " Acheta's" floral contribution , if not quite appropriate by title to the present season , and its own subject is nevertheless a seasonable and pleasant book , discoursing on birds and insects and men with kindly feeling and humanity . Logic limps a little in Dr . Lacaita ' s Preface , which is characteristic of prefaces . The selections are made by chronological arrangement , with short notices of the author ' s , give a notion of the progress of Italian literature , and , as * ' a preparatory course to the reading of the Divina Commudia of Alighieri . " Accordingly Dante is preceded by seven authors in eleven pages , and succeeded by some hundred or so in three hundred and fifty . The selection , brief but judicious , gives a fair representation of Italian literature excluding the drama , and will be a useful reading book . Patriotic earnestness at times bestrides a very queer hobby-horse . There is . no evidence to convict the " Batriot ' author of TheFallqf'l'olandot ' connexion with any of the Cockney comic schools of professional jocularity , yet Bobadil himself could not have propounded a more ingenious Btrategy than is here gravely laid down in seventy-seven prefatory pages of history on Russian aggression , embracing twenty-one rules for the regeneration of Poland and the world . In order-to put down ( can the Patriot be Sir Peter ?) the aggressive system of Russia , the sentiment of " Britannia , Gallia , Hibernia , and Scotia ' is to be concentrated into one focus of regenerating light , " . apart from any government connexion , " tt 8 a " prophylactic against any future disorders infuaed by reason > of a vast quadruple alliance in the national-supporting union of the four countries . " The sympathies and patriotism of all are to be aroused by a general agency and secretary , a preliminary meeting , provisional committee in London , circulars , from 100 , 000 to 200 ) 000 handbills " with signs of exclamation , " branch committees , &c , &c , all resulting in a " National Constitution , which is to guide the national will on to the path to victory . against llusaian aggression and despotism . " That trilling little difficulty commonly called ways and means is amply provided for in four lines and throe-quarters . Then , by two lines and a half additional , the Britannio-Gallioo-IIiborno-Scottish j : \ llianoo raise 500 * 000 troops , 300 , 000 for immediate action , the remainder , as reserve , proceed " with all their artillery and battering-fruins through Germany , putting down all opposition that may bo raised , " enter Poland , seize the fortresses , expel the Muscovite barburiuns , and hold possession till " the national patriotism of the released and grateful inhabitants will raiae a now and permanent constitution for the lasting freedom of Polaud in the Caartoryski dynasty . Rule 20 provides for " similar victories over the Austrian troops , " ufreo Hungary , and a Kossuth dynasty I And wh y not ? The author has < uo doubt that the efficient production of 27 * e J < cill of Poland would ' ^ o far to establish n beginning to the grand national demonstration and nationul constitution . " It would bo ungenerous to the managers to anticipate the curiosity of a British public . The makers of language would very ' much oblige reviewers who sit in judgment on poesy in gross by a few epithets . In default of phrase , we cannot bettor doauribe Mammon ' s Marriage than as a soporific epos . Not poppy nor mandmgora , nor all the drowsy syrups , nor modern eloquence , of Parliament itself could do their office moro surely . Nevoitholoss we . must awake long enough to muko some nice additions to knowledge of things < in . general . That calebratacl fowl of fuble , iuimortul PhouuL * ,, turns

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 654, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2098/page/18/