BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCXXVIII. FEBRUARY, 1843. VOL. LIII. CONTENTS. ARNOLD'S LECTURES ON HISTORY POEMS AND BALLADS OF SCHILLER.--NO. V. REYNOLDS'S DISCOURSES. PART II. THE YOUNG GREY HEAD IMAGINARY CONVERSATION. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. OLIVER CROMWELL AND SIR OLIVER CROMWELL CALEB STUKELY. PART XI. THE WORLD OF LONDON. SECOND SERIES. PART II. EYRE'S CABUL THE EVACUATION OF AFFGHANISTAN DEATH OF THOMAS HAMILTON, ESQ. * * * * * EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. * * * * * ARNOLD'S LECTURES ON HISTORY. If any doubt could exist as to the nature of the loss which the premature death of Dr Arnold has inflicted on the literature of his country, the perusal of the volume before us must be sufficient to show how great, how serious, nay, all circumstances taken together, we had almost said how irreparable, it ought to be considered. Recently placed in a situation which gave his extraordinary faculties as a teacher still wider scope than they before possessed, at an age when the vivacity and energy of a commanding intellect were matured, not chilled, by constant observation and long experience--gifted with industry to collect, with sagacity to appreciate, with skill to arrange the materials of history--master of a vivid and attractive style for their communication and display--eminent, above all, for a degree of candour and sincerity which gave additional value to all his other endowments--what but leisure did Dr Arnold require to qualify him for a place among our most illustrious authors? Under his auspices, we might not unreasonably have hoped for works that would have rivalled those of the great continental writers in depth and variety of research; in which the light of original and contemporaneous documents would be steadily flung on the still unexplored portions of our history; and that Oxford would have balanced the fame of Schlösser and Thierry and Sismondi, by the labours of a writer peculiarly, and, as this volume proves, most affectionately her own.