The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 1, December, 1850Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 1, December, 1850
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
than many of the occurrences or the revolutions of the last sixty
years, that have made the most noise."
We believe Mr. Elliot's leisure is not to be seriously interrupted by
public employments, and trust, therefore, that he will proceed, with as
much rapidity as possible, with his grand survey of the advance of
Liberty, down even to our own day--which it is not unlikely will
conclude a very important era of his subject.
* * * * *
Dr. Bowring, who is now, we believe, British Consul at Canton, was the
editor of the last and only complete edition of Jeremy Bentham's works;
he has been one of the most voluminous contributors to the Westminster
Review, and he is eminent as a linguist, though if we may judge by some
of his performances, not very justly so. He translated and edited
specimens of the poetry of several northern nations, and it has often
been charged as an illustration of his dishonesty, that he omitted a
stanza of the sublime hymn of Derzhaven, a Russian, to the Deity,
because it recognized the divinity of Christ, as it is held by
Trinitarians--the Doctor being a Unitarian. He is sharply satirized, and
treated frequently with extreme and probably quite undeserved contempt,
in the Diaries and Correspondence of the late Hugh Swinton Legaré.
* * * * *
Mr. Henry Rogers, of Birmingham, has published in London two stout
volumes of his contributions to the _Edinburgh Review_. They are not the
best things that ever appeared under the old "buff and blue," though
they are neat and very readable. Hitherto Professor Rogers has not been
known in literature, except by an edition of the works of Burke. The
reviewals or essays in this collection are divided into biographical,
critical, theological, and political. The first volume consists
principally of a series of sketches of great minds,--in the style,
half-biographical, half-critical, of which so many admirable specimens
have adorned the literature of this age. Indeed, such _demonstrations_
in mental anatomy have been a favorite study in all ages. Among Mr.
Rogers's subjects, are Pascal, Luther, Leibnitz, and Plato, and he
promises sketches of Descartes, Malabranche, Hobbes, Berkeley, and
Locke. The first article, on Thomas Fuller, may look rather dry at
first; but the interest increases, we admire the quaintness of old
Fuller, and not less the fine, accurate, and complete picture given of
his life, character, and works. In this, as in the other biographical
articles, Mr. Rogers tells his story fluently. If he has not the wit of
Sydney Smith, nor the brilliance of Macaulay, he has not the prosiness
of Alison, nor the bitterness of Gifford. He is witty with Fuller,
sarcastic with Marvell, energetic with Luther, philosophical and precise
with Leibnitz, quietly satirical with Pascal, and reflective and
intellectual with Plato. "Dead as a last year's reviewal" is no longer
among the proverbs.
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