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But is this true? Let any man refer to his own personal history, and ask himself whether a fair, full, and impartial statement of it can be gathered from his letters? Or compare the authentic biography of any distinguished man with his genuine letters and speeches, and how much do we find of the one, not comprised in the other? This is true even of those men who have most fully recorded their lives in their epistolary communications, and whose times have afforded them the amplest leisure to make this record: how much more is it true of such men as Cromwell, who wielded the sword and sceptre so much more easily than the pen; and whose time was engrossed with acts rather than with words.

The letters and speeches of a man in power are usually apologies for his acts, rather than impartial narrations of them; and from the necessity of the case they must be so, for the laws of human nature prevent a man from being an impartial biographer of himself. It would, therefore, seem impossible to give a full and truthful biography of any man, but especially of such a man as Cromwell, from his letters and speeches. The inevitable form of such a work must be eulogistic.

Such, accordingly, do we regard this sketch of the man of the seventeenth century. It is a most valuable work, full of important materials, important thoughts, and magnificent historic pictures; but still, at best, but a splendid apology for "the great rebel." We look in vain for that masterly analysis of character, that delicate discrimination of motive, that firm balancing of right and wrong, and that clear-sighted tracing of the original nature of the man, and the mode in which outward circumstances acted, and were acted upon, by that nature, which are manifested in the sketches of Diderot, Voltaire, and Burns.

We are not deficient in admiration of the brave old Puritan, perhaps even prone to a contrary extreme, but we cannot regard him as the faultless hero he seems to be from this representation. He was great, brave, strong-hearted, and, in the main, sincere; but he was a man of iron and clay, and hence much of his work did not endure. He was, beyond contradiction, the mightiest man that ever sat upon the English throne, and his lot was cast in evil days; but if Puritanism was what our author represents it, and we believe rightly represents it, to have been; and if Cromwell had been as free from selfishness, ambition, and despotism, as we are led from this work to suppose; we cannot think it possible that the purest and best men of that age would have been estranged from him as they were; and so much of the huge fabric of his power have perished with himself.

To us Cromwell stands midway between Bonaparte and Washington, blending as much of the good and evil of both as could unite ir FOURTH SERIES, VOL. I.-9

a single nature. Our great objection, therefore, to this work, is its want of discriminating fidelity in depicting the character of the hero,a want whose error stretches in one direction almost as far as the polished slanders of Hume and Clarendon in the other.

It is with a painful sense of historic injustice that we read this indiscriminate defence of all Cromwell's conduct and opinions. We do not remember a breath of disapprobation expressed for a single act that he ever did, or word that he ever uttered. Even the bloody campaign in Ireland, where men were slaughtered by thousands, and even women and children, in one instance, and where every humane man must declare that there was needless rigour, and desire to close the page of Oliver's history that records it, even this dreadful campaign finds an apologist in Mr. Carlyle, who denounces the condemnation of the massacres of Drogheda and Wexford, as "rose-water surgery." The defence of such atrocities better beseems the plea of the advocate than the decision of the judge.

We fear, therefore, that the effect of the work may be, to some extent, to confound historic truth and moral distinctions, and to lead to a feeling which no one has more sternly denounced than our author,—that success is the criterion of right, and that the end will justify the means, provided these means are of a bold and energetic character.

But the fact most surprising to most readers, is the appearance of the man who has been suspected of Infidelity, and even Pantheism, as the apologist, admirer, and even avowed believer in the most strait-laced Puritanism. It is with some surprise that men hear him talking of Cromwell's "conversion," his "deliverance from the jaws of eternal death," as the "grand epoch for a man; properly, the one epoch; the turning-point which guides upward, or guides downward, him and his activity forevermore;"-of the "Life Everlasting, and Death Everlasting;" of his "choosing the better part," and longing "toward the mark of the prize of the high calling;" and declaring, in view of some of the deepest spiritual exercises of Cromwell's soul,-"Brother, hadst thou never, in any form, such moments in thy history? Thou knowest them not, even by credible rumour? Well, thy earthly path was peaceabler, I suppose. But the Highest was never in thee, the Highest will never come out of thee. Thou shalt at best abide by the stuff; as cherished house-dog, guard the stuff-perhaps with enormous gold-collars and provender: but the battle, and the hero-death, and victory's fire-chariot, carrying men to the Immortals, shall never be thine. I pity thee; brag not, or I shall have to despise thee." These, and other statements equally strong,

will sound strangely to those who have only known the author of Sartor Resartus, and Past and Present.

We would fain hope that much of the spirit that breathes through this work arises from the fact, that its author is drifting back nearer to his old ancestral faith, and beginning to hear, amid the jargon of Neology, the sweet voices of early years. But it will be remembered that a prime article in his creed is an intense faith in all heroisms. Regarding Puritanism as such, he believes in it, and sympathizes with it as a great truth, but not by any means the whole truth. But still his hearty approval of it is made in terms that stand in welcome contrast to his sneering reference to evangelical religion in our days, as "looking at its own navel."

The feature about the work which we regard with the most unfeigned gratitude and satisfaction, is the triumphant vindication it affords of the heroic character of all true religion; and the withering scorn it pours upon those who are disposed to sneer at it as enthusiasm and hypocrisy. There are passages of burning invective upon the mocking scoffers, who have been accustomed to make themselves merry with all serious religion, that are scarcely excelled in our language. For this vindication, and for the powerful defence he has made of the religion of the seventeenth century, and its prominent professors, the Christian world owes Carlyle a debt of the profoundest gratitude. The influence of this work will be to show to many, that there is far more to respect, admire, and even love, in earnest religion, than they have ever been accustomed to suppose.

With these brief strictures we are compelled to dismiss this work, and to postpone to a future number our remarks on the three most peculiar of our author's works; and on his system, style, and general influence in the great world of letters. We shall then direct the attention of our readers more especially to the beautiful edition of Carlyle's works, now in course of publication by Harper and Brothers, which have been received too late for more than a passing notice in this number.

ART. IX-SHORT REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

(1.) WE have received a copy of the second edition of Dr. LATHAM's treatise on "The English Language:" (London, Taylor & Walton, 1848, 8vo., pp. 581.) The work has been thoroughly revised and greatly enlarged. It is divided into six parts, of which the first treats of "the general Ethnographical relations of the English Language," in four chapters, exhibiting severally "the Germanic affinities of the English Language, and the languages of the Gothic stock;" the "Celtic stock of languages, and their relations to the English;" the "Anglo-Norman, and the languages of the Classical Stock;" and, finally, "the position of the English language as Indo-European." Part II. exhibits the "History and Analysis of the English Language," in six chapters: 1st. The historical elements (Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, etc.) of which the language is composed; 2d. The Old Saxon; 3d. The relation of the English to the Anglo-Saxon; 4th. The dialects of the English; 5th. The Lowland Scotch; 6th. Certain undetermined and fictitious languages of Great Britain. Part III. treats of "Sounds, Letters, Pronunciation, and Spelling," in ten chapters, in which the general nature of articulate sounds, their possible combinations and actual permutations and transitions, and the modes of uttering and writing them, are sought to be set forth scientifically. Part IV. exhibits "Etymology," that is, in its grammatical sense, as dealing with the changes of form that words undergo in the English language. The subject is amply treated in thirty-nine chapters. Part V. is occupied with "Syntax,” in which the author lays out of the case much that is commonly called Syntax, and confines his attention to uses requiring explanation. This division embraces twenty-eight chapters. Part VI. treats of "Prosody," in which rhyme, measure, scansion, and the different metres used in English verse, are briefly set forth. We have thus given a pretty full statement of the contents of this elaborate work. For a criticism of it we are not now prepared. A glance at its contents shows that it brings together a variety of matter not to be found in any other book in the English language. We should not look the gift-horse in the mouth. Yet we cannot suffer even this brief notice to pass without remarking, that in spite of the learning, ability, and acuteness which characterize the work, its dogmatism is often offensive, and its affectation of point and antithesis as disagreeable as it is out of place in a scientific treatise. Finally, the book sadly needs an index; its place is not supplied by the table of contents, full as it is.

(2.) The Year-Book of Missions; containing a Comprehensive Account of Missionary Societies, British, Continental, and American. With a Particular Survey of the Stations, arranged in Geographical order. By ELIJAH HOOLE, one of the General Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society: (London, Longmans, 1847, 8vo., pp. 423.) Mr. Hoole deserves well of the churches for this excellent work. Although he claims for it no other merit

than that of "compilation and arrangement," we must accord him the additional praise (and that no small one) of recognizing a want, and knowing how to supply it. A comprehensive survey of the missionary labours of the Christian Church, made in such a way as to form merely a useful book of reference, has long been needed; but this work not only meets that demand, but is really readable, in great part. The work follows the geographical order, and, "beginning at Jerusalem," compasses the globe.

"The details of missionary operation commence in the Holy Land, 'beginning at Jerusalem; the stations of the various societies, European and American, are traced thence to the eastward, through Armenia and Persia, to the borders of the Sikh state of Lahore, in Northern India. Thence the missions of the various societies are followed to Bombay, and down the western or Malabar coast. The thread is then resumed in the north-west, and pursued over the vast contínent of India to its metropolis, Calcutta; and thence down the eastern or Coromandel coast, to Madras, Tranquebar, and Travancore, including the inland districts, and passing over to the island of Ceylon. The missions in the great countries farther east next come under review; those of Assam, Arracan, Burmah, Siam, China, and the large and populous islands of the Chinese seas. By an easy transition, Van Diemen's Land, Australia, and New-Zealand, next demand attention; and the reader is thence led northward, through the great Pacific Ocean, by way of the Friendly Islands and the Feejees, the Society Islands, and other Polynesian groups, the last of them being the Sandwich Islands, to the western coast of the northern portion of the continent of America. There the aboriginal tribes of America claim a deep interest, from those residing on the banks of the Columbia, to the subdued empires of Central America, and the wanderers on the shores of Hudson's Bay, Labrador, and Greenland; and next, the missions among the settlers in Canada, and the other colonial possessions of the British empire on the continent and islands of the northern division of the New World. The numerous missions in the West Indies are the next in order; and then those of the southern portion of the continent of America. The course thus far observed is resumed on the coast of Africa, where the missions extend from the islands and shores of the River Gambia, for more than two thousand miles of coast, running chiefly to the south and east, to the banks of the Gaboon River; fifteen hundred miles south of the Gaboon are the missions in the Damara Country and in Namacqualand; and by way of the south-east coast, they extend through many tribes of Hottentots and Kaffers to Delagoa Bay on the eastern side of the continent. Farther to the north, missions are found at Mombas, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, and Egypt, and on the shores and islands of the Mediterranean Sea. Resuming the survey at Gibraltar-Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, all are witnesses of missionary labour and zeal. The Missions to the Jews throughout Europe, though not the least in importance, are the last in order, except the missions in Greece, and the successful mission to the Armenians in the Turkish empire -an enterprise commanding admiration by its boldness and skill, and exciting thankfulness for its success, and for the evidence it has elicited that Divine goodness is extending a spirit of intelligence and toleration among the professed followers of the false prophet."-Preface, pp. iii, iv.

Prefixed to the account of the missions in each country or district, is a brief account, topographical and descriptive, of the region and its inhabitants. These statements are generally made with great tact and neatness.

There are, finally, two copious indexes, one of missionaries, and the other of mission stations, throughout the world. Such a book is invaluable, nay, almost indispensable, to every minister who wishes to keep up the missionary spirit among his people. May we hope that our Missionary Secretary will prepare an edition, with such additions as will fit it fully for home use?

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