Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. * * * * * BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. BLACKWOOD'S Edinburgh MAGAZINE. VOL. LXV. JANUARY--JUNE, 1849. [Illustration: Buchanan] WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1849. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCXCIX. JANUARY, 1849. VOL. LXV. CONTENTS. THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS, 1 FRENCH CONQUERORS AND COLONISTS, 20 THE CAXTONS. PART IX., 33 THE WHITE NILE, 47 ART AND ARTISTS IN SPAIN, 63 THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED, 81 THE SWORD OF HONOUR: A TALE OF 1787, 98 MEMOIRS OF KIRKALDY OF GRANGE, 112 EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE NO. CCCXCIX. JANUARY, 1849. VOL. LXV. THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS. "No great state," says Hannibal, "can long remain quiet: if it ceases to have enemies abroad, it will find them at home--as powerful bodies resist all external attacks, but are wasted away by their own internal strength."[1] What a commentary on the words of the Carthaginian hero does the last year--THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS,--afford! What enthusiasm has it witnessed, what efforts engendered, what illusions dispelled, what misery produced! How bitterly have nations, as well as individuals, within its short bounds, learned wisdom by suffering--how many lessons has experience taught--how much agony has wickedness brought in its train. Among the foremost in all the periods of history, this memorable year will ever stand forth, a subject of undying interest to succeeding generations, a lasting beacon to mankind amidst the folly or insanity of future times. To it the young and the ardent will for ever turn, for the most singular scenes of social strife, the most thrilling incidents of private suffering: to it the aged will point as the most striking warning of the desperate effects of general delusion, the most unanswerable demonstration of the moral government of the world. [1] "Nulla magna civitas diu quiescere potest si foris hostem non habet, _domi invenit_--ut prævalida corpora ab extremis causis tuta videntur, sed suis ipsa viribas onerantur. Tantum, nimirum, ex publicis malis sentimus, quantum ad res privatas pertmet; nec in eis quicquam aerius, quam pecuniæ damnun, stimulat."--LIVY, xxx. 44.