Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

registered, a dense population can only be supported on a fertile soil, in a favourable climate, and by means of sufficient food.

All this exclusive regard to physics and the physical aspect of political economy will prepare the reader for that which is so melancholy a feature of Mr. Buckle's book, his denial of all the doctrines of Christianity, and indeed all revealed truths, considered as facts of revelation. To suppose that God giveth victory in battle is with him folly. To believe in original sin is the remnant of past superstition. Though the history and tradition of India, with its countless cycles of ages, and its heroes and demigods, living for thousands and even millions of years is more trustworthy and connected'? than European history, yet he is scornful at the idea of the lengthened life of the patriarchs. But not to weary our readers with this painful illustration of the credulity of scepticism,3 the bias of Mr. Buckle's mind may sufficiently be gathered from his estimate of the labours of Adam Smith. Plato and Aristotle have had no inconsiderable influence upon the progress of thought and civilization. Bacon and Descartes have added new realms to philosophy. Poetry boasts of her Dante and Shakespeare; but all the productions of their brain, all the monuments of their genius, sink into insignificance, and pale before the labours of the Scotch economist, for the "Wealth of nations' . . . is probably the most important book that has ever been written" !4

We have dwelt at large upon these points from no desire to disparage the value and importance of this volume, or to underrate the interest of that theme which Mr. Buckle has undertaken to investigate. We regret the spirit which he too frequently manifests respecting the most solemn truths of humanity, are unconvinced by much of his reasoning, and question very many of the facts on which his conclusions are based. We believe that when he has leisure and other opportunities for a calm review of the earlier portions of this volume, he will feel compelled to modify many of his statements, and to cancel many of his supposed facts. When we contemplate the almost incredible number of the authorities he has marshalled at the foot of his pages, we are struck with respect for an industry so unwearied; and if at times reminded of the sarcasm attributed to Mr. Canning, that "nothing is more fallacious than fact, except-figures," we are too much indebted for the light he has thrown on several portions of the history of human progress not to feel grateful to him for this noble contribution to the historical literature of his country. With the views expressed in the sketch of French civilization, which comprise nearly the

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

3 "Men who pride themselves upon a superiority to all prejudices, are generally found shallow in their acquirements, sceptical to demonstrated truth, and in a remarkable degree credulous, and apt to take upon trust some favourite novelty or other that intrinsically is scarcely worth a moment's consideration."-Cory, p. 47. 4 P. 194.

whole of the latter half of this introductory volume, we cordially agree. These chapters are valuable, specimens as they are at once of careful investigation and of calm and equable narrative. And if here and there amidst the graver subjects which occupy this portion of his book we are reminded of the gossiping pages of Southey in his lighter hours, we have at the same time to confess to a like exuberance of information, and to acknowledge the justness of the author's conclusions, the manliness of many of his sentiments, and the dignity of his style. From a volume which is engaged on one continuous theme, it may not be easy to select for the reader portions which convey a fair idea of Mr. Buckle's power. Our limited space forbids our making such extracts as we should desire, otherwise we should have been tempted to select the sketch of the policy, the career, and the character of Richelieu as a fair specimen of our author's powers. We must be content with referring our readers to this part of his book. His reflections on the vanity of rank and on the vexed question of the value of rewards to literary men, will however give a fair idea of his style. Speaking of the vanity of birth, the purely accidental circumstances of life, he properly discriminates between pride and vanity in these words:

[ocr errors]

They are evidently in the wrong, who reproach the nobles with their pride, as if it were a characteristic of their order. The truth is, that if pride were once established among them, their extinction would rapidly follow. To talk of the pride of hereditary rank, is a contradiction in terms. Pride depends on the consciousness of self-applause : vanity is fed by the applause of others. Pride is a reserved and lofty passion, which disdains those external distinctions that vanity eagerly grasps. The proud man has, in his own mind, the source of his own dignity; which as he well knows, can be neither increased nor diminished by any acts except those which proceed solely from himself. The vain man, listless, insatiable, and always craving after the admiration of his contemporaries, must naturally make great account of those external marks, those visible tokens, which, whether they be decorations or titles, strike directly on the senses, and thus captivate the vulgar, to whose understandings they are immediately obvious. This, therefore, being the great distinction, that pride looks within, while vanity looks without, it is clear that when a man values himself for a rank which he inherited by chance, without exertion and without merit, it is a proof, not of pride, but of vanity, and of vanity of the most despicable kind." -P. 609.

Having shown how disastrous the reign of Louis XIV. was to almost all intellectual greatness and the higher pursuits of literature, Mr. Buckle naturally proceeds to inquire into the assumed need of government encouragement and of royal patronage. The evil effects of all such encouragement and patronage he has before pointed out. He observes truly that

"In the time of Louis XIV. as in all others, the misery of the people and the degradation of the country followed the decline of the national intellect; while this last was, in its turn, the result of the protective spirit, -that mischievous spirit, which weakens whatever it touches. If in the long course and compass of history there is one thing more clear than another, it is, that whenever a government undertakes to protect intellectual pursuits, it will almost always protect them in a wrong place, and reward the wrong men. Nor is it surprising that this should be the case. What can kings and ministers know about those immense branches of knowledge to cultivate which with success is often the business of an entire life? How can they, constantly occupied with their lofty pursuits, have leisure for such inferior matters? Is it to be supposed that such acquirements will be found among statesmen who are always engaged in the most weighty concerns; sometimes writing despatches, sometimes making speeches, sometimes organising a party in the parliament, sometimes baffling an intrigue in the privy chamber? Or, if the Sovereign should graciously bestow his patronage according to his own judgment, are we to expect that mere philosophy and science should be familiar to high and mighty princes, who have their own peculiar and arduous studies, and who have to learn the mysteries of heraldry, the nature and dignities of rank, the comparative value of the different orders, decorations, and titles, the laws of precedence, the prerogatives of noble birth, the names and powers of ribands, stars, and garters, the various modes of conferring an honour or installing into an office, the adjustment of ceremonies, the subtleties of etiquette, and all those other courtly accomplishments necessary to the exalted functions which they perform ?"-Pp. 645, 646.

THE BISHOP OF CHICHESTER AND EAST GRINSTED.

1. Statement of the Rev. J. Scobell, Rector, Honorary Canon of Chichester, and Rural Dean of Lewes. To which is added a Sermon. London: Nisbet and Co.

2. The Lewes Riot, its Causes and Consequences. A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Chichester. By the Rev. J. M. NEALE, M.A. London: Masters.

We know no class of people more difficult to understand than the Bishops of England. With most other persons, when you can predicate certain circumstances of position, education, disposition, and so forth, you may be tolerably sure of forming some general notion as to what their tone and conduct are likely to be. If a man has the status of an English gentleman, you are justified in expecting that in nine cases out of ten he will act honourably: if he has made a decent use of the means provided for the education of English gentlemen, you do not expect to find him, and will not find

him expose himself on any subject: if he has a general reputation for being amiable, and benevolent, and courteous in his dealings with his fellow men, you are sure that no ordinary provocation at least will make him otherwise; and that under no circumstances whatever could such a man, while in sane mind, be brutal.

The atmosphere of dignitaryism is too elevated and rarefied to be subject to any such surface-of-the-earth rules of probabilities. You may know all the antecedents of a dignitary-say a Dean or a Bishop; you may have thought you knew him through and through; and yet to use a vulgar expression-you can never tell what he will be at next. By birth such men are usually respectable, and often of gentle blood; by education they are mostly-excepting Lord Shaftesbury's protegés-men of intellectual power; they are seldom-very seldom-bad men in the ordinary sense, whatever may be their unfitness for high ecclesiastical offices; they are often really amiable men in common life; and their position in society is such as to justify one in looking for that high tone of honour which is so characteristic of English gentlemen. Is it not provoking to one's critical faculties, after all these antecedents given, to find the very persons of whom they are predicated making such absurd mistakes as the weakest of weak men could alone be expected to fall into, showing temper on the smallest provocation, and doing things with the most unblushing face that ordinary men. of honour would scorn and abhor?

This singular difficulty has so often been thrust prominently before us, without any possibility of solution making itself evident, that we had almost given up thinking about it, when the late affair at East Grinsted occurred, reviving it in all its force, and putting it, if anything, in a stronger light than ever we saw it before. Not that we are any nearer to an explanation, but that acquaintance with the facts which we are now going to set before our readers naturally suggests most vividly the train of thought with which we have prefaced our remarks.

It appears that, on the 18th of November, in the year just past, a funeral took place in the churchyard of All Saints' Church, at Lewes. The funeral was that of a lady named Scobell, thirty years of age, and the eldest daughter of a clergyman who has been for thirty-six years Rector of that Church, and who also holds the offices of Rural Dean, and Honorary Canon of Chichester Cathedral. The funeral came from a distance-some thirty miles, we believe the lady not having resided with her father for some time past, on account of family differences at first, and latterly because, in addition to the obstacle thus formed to her so doing, she had become a member of a charitable institution at East Grinsted, to which her personal services were devoted. By special request of the lady's father, Mr. Scobell, the funeral took place after dark; by special request of the lady herself it was conducted in a manner somewhat

differing, but not much, from that in which undertakers usually 'get up' their arrangements. The difference seems to have been, that instead of a black pall with a broad white border, a white pall was used, which had the symbol of Christianity marked upon it in black. Flowers were also used; but instead of being strewed without any particular arrangement upon the coffin-lid, as is generally the case in country places where flowers are used, they were formed into a wreath, and carried before the coffin by a little girl who had been one of the objects of the deceased lady's care and charity. The funeral arrived at Lewes by train, other ladies who had been associated with Miss Scobell in the charitable institution at East Grinsted accompanying it, and also the Rev. J. M. Neale, Chaplain, and Miss Gream, Lady Superintendent, who were Miss Scobell's executors, and whom she had appointed to that office, it would seem, on account of the family differences before referred to. The usual procession was formed at the station, which is about a hundred yards from All Saints' churchyard; and Mr. Scobell, the father of the lady, with other members of her family, joined in the procession as chief mourners on its way from the one to the other. On arriving at the churchyard, it was found to be filled by a very disorderly mob-how they came to be there, nobody seems to have said, though we think some light may be thrown •presently on that part of the subject—a mob which immediately began hooting and yelling after the manner of such wild assemblies when they are cruelly disposed. The Burial Service was said in the Church and at the grave in the midst of this disorderly scene. its close the father and some of his family passed into the vault where the body was laid, but the executors were not allowed to do so, though they earnestly requested permission, and had very strong reasons indeed, as executors, for wishing to go. The immediate family of Miss Scobell then left the churchyard, while the crowd was hustling and jostling Mr. Neale and the ladies from East Grinsted, and refused to render them any protection from the violence of the excited ruffians. It was with some difficulty that the ladies and the clergyman who did protect them escaped with their lives.

At

Now, two questions will have occurred to the reader of the preceding narrative: first, how came a large mob to be filling the churchyard at the time of this funeral? Secondly, why did they act as they did towards Miss Scobell's chosen friends and companions? No answer to the first question can be gathered from either of the pamphlets at the head of this paper, nor from the newspaper reports at the time; but mobs do not collect at funerals by accident, and the reason why they were there must be known, we should think, to those who reside in the town, if not to Mr. Neale. We have reason to believe that the leading portion of the mob was composed of young men belonging to a most discreditable association called the

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »