grounds for complimenting the author of this work on dressing himself to their ambition; others, by misreprehis skill in selecting a subject likely to be at once in-senting James's character and purposes. structive and popular. But we prefer giving our readers an abstract of its contents; an undertaking more likely to find favour in their eyes, than the successful management of the most ingenious argument we could lay before them.

. These histories are partly original, and partly reprints of narratives which are already before the public, although, perhaps, not so generally known as the interest attaching to them would have led one to expect. By far the most interesting of the whole, when judged by their own intrinsic merit, are "the Conspiracy of the Spaniards against Venice in 1618," a translation from the French of the Abbé de St Real; and "the Conspiracy of John Lewis Fiesco against Genoa in 1547," translated from the original Memoir of the Cardinal de Retz. These narratives are characterized, in a high degree, by the superiority over modern histories, which the better works of the 16th and 17th centuries derived from the circumstance of their being composed by practical and experienced statesmen. Some histories of the 18th century are written in better taste, or in a freer spirit; some are more intensely eloquent, and have occasional glimpses of a deeper insight into human nature; but being, for the most part, the productions of recluse scholars, they want that intimate knowledge of political business, those comprehensive views, and complete mastery of their subject, which we find in the writings of their predecessors.

These, however, as well as "the Intrigues of Don Carlos against his father, Philip the II. of Spain," and the intensely interesting story of "the Rise and Fall of Masaniello, fisherman, of Naples,” we pass over, in order to leave ourselves more space for those conspiracies which are a portion of our own history. Indeed, the story of Don Carlos is, in some shape or another, already familiar to most readers. Of the conspiracy against Venice, Otway's Tragedy has diffused a general, though not very accurate, notion. And the story of Masaniello has been handled in Lady Morgan's romance, called "A Life of Salvator Rosa."

It was in the end of the year 1436 that the King removed with his court to Perth, to hold his Christmas. He was aware, in some degree, of Grahame's machinations. There were old prophecies in circulation, which spoke of a king's death that year. Portents had been seen in heaven and on earth. An old Highland woman had thrown herself in James's way, as he was about to cross the water of Leith, and predicted his ruin, if he proceeded on his journey. These combined circumstances seem occasionally to have weighed on the King's mind; but, nevertheless, the revels were kept up with spirit till near the end of February. On the night of the 21st or 22d of that month, Grahame, with a body of three hundred Highlanders, possessed himself of the palace, after the domestics had retired to rest. The bolt on the door of the king's chamber had previously been removed by a confederate; so the traitors found no impediment in their way. In vain Catherine Douglas thrust her arm into the place of the bolt; in vain the queen and her ladies threw themselves between their monarch and his murderers: the assassins pressed onward, and having discovered his lurking place, first Grahame, and then the two Halls, stabbed him repeatedly with their daggers. The attendants of the king were at length aroused, but too late; for the assassins escaped, favoured by the darkness of the night,

Were we disposed to cavil, we might say, that the next historiette, "The Death of James III." is deficient in unity, as containing the history of two distinct undertakings; and that, seeing the king fell in open battle, fairly The first, then, of our own conspiracies, is entitled, stricken, the latter of these scarcely corresponds to the "The Assassination of James I." We are inclined to idea we have been accustomed to attach to the word conlook upon it as the most successful of Mr Lawson's ori- spiracy. But this would be very small work. If the ginal histories. He has given a more detailed and con- death of James III. should prove less interesting than nected account of that event, than the public at large pre- that of his grandfather, we can only attribute it to the viously possessed. It is true, indeed, that the subject is languor resulting from the length of time in which the a happier one than any of the others he has selected; the events are thinly sown, and to the less striking character personages are more prominent and vigorous-the interest of the former. We almost fear that the private characis more condensed, vivid, and dramatic. James I. of ter of James III. has scarcely had justice done to it in Scotland, a man of resolute and persevering character, history. That he was timid to an unwarrantable degree with taste and imagination of a high order, received his is evident from his behaviour in his last fatal field, and education in England, where arts and civil policy had from the extremes to which he allowed himself to be inmade much greater progress than in his native country; stigated against his brothers. In other respects, histoand returned to wield a scarce regarded sceptre, over a rians have represented him as a prince of low tastes and people in a state of anarchy. He returned with wrongs degraded habits. They stigmatize his associates as a sort to avenge, and with the ardent desire of a high-minded of low mechanics; but when we call to remembrance the young man, to communicate to his countrymen the high-prejudices of the age, it is evident that this term may er civilization with which he had been imbued. His enemies, those of his own household, had held the reins of government so long, that, on the one hand, they had secured many attached adherents, and, on the other, the people's feeling of the atrocities by which they had acqui- | red power, had been chilled by the lapse of time. Their punishment, therefore, was resented by their friends; and the inconsiderate zeal with which James pushed his reforms, irritating the nation, gave the malecontents a handle for representing him as a self-willed tyrant. At the head of his enemies was Sir Robert Grahame, a man distinguished by indomitable resolution, versatility of resource, extensive acquirements, and recklessness of purpose. This man, after engaging in a variety of plots, at last renounced his allegiance to James, and retired to the Highlands. He induced, while there, several influential -noblemen to join in his schemes; some he lured by ad

have been applied slightingly to men of gentle, though not of noble birth, and distinguished (when compared with their contemporaries) in the fine arts. Habitual conversation with such men we do not incline to hold a proof of a low mind, more than habitual conversation with the chivalrous, but rather illiterate and turbulent barons. It is true, that Cochrane is reported to have borne his advancement with a bad grace; but even forgetting for a moment that this is the story of his enemies, that his bearing may have been nothing more than the generous, though imprudent defiance, with which a high mind met the contumely of the old nobility,-forgetting all this, and receiving the current tradition for correct, his misconduct proves nothing against the rest of James's associates. We are the more inclined to take a lenient view of this monarch's character, from the architectural taste displayed in the buildings raised under his auspices,

from the devoted attachment shown towards him by the burghs, notwithstanding his reserved manners,-from his continued patronage of the enterprising mariner, Wood, -and from the large body of the nobles who continued faithful to him. We incline to look upon him as originally a man of gentle and amiable dispositions, but unfortunately placed in a sphere which required greater resolution and activity than he possessed.

Having indulged in this episodical dissertation, we are precluded the possibility of entering into the story of James, for which we refer our readers to Mr Lawson's very distinct narrative. Before quitting the subject, we may remark, that the interview between Sir Andrew Wood and the young prince, after his father's death, is, to our taste, one of the most affecting passages in history. The boy's tears, showing at once the kindness of his nature, and the helplessness of his age, which had enabled the insurgents to make an instrument of him, and the honest, reckless answers of the loyal veteran, contrast as finely as their figures and times of life; and when the pair are viewed in fancy's eye as surrounded by the scowling crowd of irritated nobles, they form as striking a picture as can well be conceived.

conspiracies, be spirited on to the hopeless attempt of making some one of his heroes his model! We should be most loath to see him depart on his heaven-ward journey from the Grassmarket "with a St Johnstone's tippet about his hawse."

The remaining histories in this work are, "the Gunpowder Plot, in 1604," too well known to require recapitulation; "the Popish Plot of 1678;" and the "Ryehouse Plot"---things shadowy and unsubstantial as the age in which they were conceived, but interesting as a picture of the times.

The Quarterly Review.

No. LXXXI. July 1829. London. John Murray.

Ir is, we believe, pretty generally admitted, that if the Edinburgh Review has displayed occasionally greater genius, the Quarterly has displayed more uniform talent. The critical opinions of the latter (wherever personal feeling was not concerned) have commonly been the more correct,--those of the former more daringly original, enforced and illustrated more brilliantly. This, at least, was the notion entertained of the respective merits of these works during the incumbency of Mr Gifford. The principles of the Quarterly, under his management, seem

blished in literature or in politics. The accession of Mr Lockhart to the editorial office has infused a new spirit into the Journal. It remains as aristocratical, as rigidly classical, as ever; but these mere outward forms have been animated by a more daring and energetic mind-by a soul more alive to all the delicate beauties and harmonies of nature. We proceed, however, to the contents of the present Number.

which must rejoice his author's heart. The critic's style is full and flowing; his sentiments are amiable; his reflections are varied, and often deeply conceived, though sometimes rather weak and languid. Not the least charm, which the article has for us, is a quaintness, more of thought than expression, which breathes through the whole of it. In the main drift of the argument--the demonstration of the utility and necessity of a church esta

Hitherto Mr Lawson has been walking over plain ground. In the early periods of a nation's history, it is the mere human interest that attracts; their feuds and faced to be those of strict adherence to whatever was estations are long dead; we take no share in them. But when we come to the times of the Reformation, when the war of opinion, which is still waging, commenced, every man immediately ranks himself under the banners of his party, and believes or disbelieves, likes or dislikes, according as his sympathies or antipathies direct. It is the most perfect farce, in such a state of affairs, for any man to pretend to impartiality. "Tell me what you are, and say what you think openly and honestly; I shall know Art. I. is a review of Southey's Colloquies on the prohow to make allowance for the bias of peculiar opinions." gress and prospects of society. The reviewer has conBut when a man, whose every notion is tinged by his fined himself exclusively to the religious prospects of sofeelings, pretends to speak uninfluenced by them, he de-ciety, and he has treated this important matter in a spirit prives us unfairly of the only standard by which we can estimate his unavoidable mistakes. It is on this account that we prefer Mr Lawson's open and avowed partisanship to all mealy-mouthed pretences to independence. His peculiar views have led him, in his history of the Gowrie Conspiracy, to get up a new theory of that mysterious event. As many of the documents upon which he proceeds are not at present before us, we shall defer entering into the controversy until the third livraison of Mr Pit-blishment---we most heartily acquiesce.-Art. II. is one cairn's Criminal Trials, to which he refers us, appears. Mr Lawson's devotion to his own sect, however, rather goes beyond the pretty ample limits we have allowed. He calls the age of the Reformation in Scotland, the age of "turbulence, crime, and sedition;" forgetting that these had prevailed in the country for centuries, and only strike us more at that period, because the new light which had been introduced showed, for the first time, their deformity. He represents the Presbyterians as almost without exception turbulent or hypocritical, vulgar or ambitious; and we are not quite sure that he admits any change to have taken place in their character down to the present day. He affects, in defiance of all history, to call the Presbyterian Church of Scotland "the newly erectit so. cietie of ministers callit the Presbyterie;" when he must know, that the form of church government by Presby-ments. teries was older in Scotland, by many a good year, than the Episcopalian; that the latter has only, at two brief and distant intervals, been supported by the government, and never recognised by the nation. Will Mr Lawson affirm that the misconduct of a few wicked and designing men can stain the character of a church to which, from ambitious motives, they pretend to belong? Will he deny that the Scottish Church, though deeply imbued in its infancy with the defects of the age which gave it birth, has, like a turbid and rain-swoln brook, run itself pure? Heaven grant he may not, in his Quixotic attachment to his own eystem, and in his late extensive perusal of the history of

of those delightful articles, which, in old times, constituted the chief attraction of the Quarterly; a light, graphic account of the inhabitants of Ava---the gossiping of a gentleman and scholar.---Art. III., on the Progresses and Court of King James, is of a similar character.—Art. IV. is on Chinese Drama, Poetry, and Romance. We incline to look upon this article---with all due deference to the superior judgment of the admirers of political disquisition---as the most important in the present number. Notwithstanding the exertions made by diplomatists, merchants, and priests, for hundreds of years, the interior of the Celestial Empire still remains hermetically sealed against us. No traveller has yet given us an idea of any thing more than the mere outside of Chinese life—— none has penetrated the secret of their domestic arrange

When we speak of a Chinese, we mean those awkward and ungainly figures which we see on the lids of our tea-boxes, or on old porcelain jars. The critic in the Quarterly Review, barred, like all others, from immediate intercourse, lies in ambush to listen to their songs; and the gush of their melody, pouring in upon him, betrays to him the secret throbbings of their hearts. We assure our readers that we are not speaking in any hyperbolical strain. There is grace, delicacy, and food for thought, in Chinese poetry. If they will not take our word for it, let them read the article which has suggested these remarks.---Art. V. is a learned attempt to prove who were the original inhabitants of Scotland---a question

The Extractor; or, Universal Repertorium of Literature,
Science, and the Arts. Vol. II. March to July. 1829.
London. J. Ware.

which we think of little interest and less importance.
All that we know of the matter is, that not long after the
Norman conquest of England, the descendants of a Saxon
princess obtained the Scottish throne; that the tide of
Norman and Saxon immigrants into the country, which
had previously set in, flowed, from that era, with redoubled
force; that the original inhabitants melted away before
the new-comers, as a less civilized people always must be-
fore one further advanced; that, in a short time, all the
most desirable land in Scotland was in possession of these
Anglo-Norman intruders; and that, from that day to this,
"the history of Scotland means the history of their de-
scendants.-Art. VI. is an able review of that part of Dring and valuable.
Gooch's work on female diseases which treats of insa-
nity. There are some doctrines propounded on this in-
teresting subject which seem to us alike just and original.
-Art. VII., on the political and moral state of Portugal,
and Art. IX., on the condition of the English peasantry,
are essays of great talent, and require a more lengthened
discussion than we can afford to give them.---Art. VIII.

is a review of Sir Rufane Donkin's book on that interminable question, "The course and probable termination of the Niger?" The gallant knight's theory is shown up with great felicity of humour, and, at the same time, in a strictly gentlemanly manner.

The French Librarian, or Literary Guide; pointing out the best works of the principal writers of France, in every branch of Literature; with Criticisms, Personal Anecdotes, and Bibliographical Notices, preceded by a Sketch of the progress of French Literature. By L. T. Ventouillac. London. Treuttel, Wurtz, Treuttel, jun. & Richter. 1829.

We noticed the first volume of this work with approbation, and we see no cause to change our opinion of the second. All our numerous Reviews, Magazines, and Journals, have been laid under contribution; and, as a good judgment has dictated the selection of articles from them, (though we say it who should not say it, seeing that there is a fair proportion from our own pages,) the work ought to be as popular as it certainly is entertainWe shall be glad to see "The Extractor" continued through a long series of volumes; for it is a compliment which the present state of the periodical press of this country deserves, and it presents the reader, at a very moderate cost, with all that is most interesting from a great variety of able publications.

Retrospections; a Soldier's Story. Dublin. William
Curry. 1829.

THIS is an amiable little volume, evidently written by a religious lady, who thinks that the Roman Catholics have very little chance of salvation, and consequently publishes small books, under the agreeable guise of tales, in the hopes of converting them to the reformed faith.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

CHAPTERS ON EDUCATION.

By Derwent Conway, Author of " Solitary Walks through Many Lands," "Personal Narrative of a Journey through Norway, Sweden, and Denmark," &c.

CHAPTER I.

Works upon Education.

so approved a reputation, that if a difference in opinion should arise with respect to the expression, a good education," "-a form of words in every body's mouth,—it might be possible to refer to some authority for light upon the subject.

THIS work, so far as it goes, is upon a judicious plan, and may be consulted with advantage. The author's object has been to furnish a list of the best works written in French, in every department of Literature, subjoining to each work a testimonial in its favour, and a short account of its character, either by an English or French Ir is a remarkable fact, that although the whole world critic. Much labour must, of course, have been requisite is agreed upon the important influence which education to accomplish this task, and it was not likely that the exercises upon the happiness of mankind, there should, first edition should be altogether perfect and satisfactory notwithstanding, be no work extant, in which the subto every class of readers. Though the author has limit-ject is fully and thoroughly investigated, no treatise, of ed himself to books of merit, and has thus, of course, brought his labour into narrower bounds, it will be at once perceived that he must have omitted many which are deserving of a place, when it is stated, that in the whole volume he has made mention of only about six hundred French authors, and nine hundred works. Still this list includes a great number of standard French productions; and though we do not, in every instance, acknowledge the weight of the authorities he brings forward in their favour, we are certainly of opinion, that, all things considered, this "Literary Guide" is well executed, and that they who are forming a French library, would do well to look into it. We shall be glad to see Monsieur Ventouillac publishing a second edition, with additions; and we think the hint he has given might be very properly followed up by similar works, illustrative of the literature, both of our own country and of other Continental

nations.

A History of the Siege of Londonderry and Defence of
Enniskillen in 1688 and 1689. By the Rev. John
Graham, M. A., Rector of Tamlachtard, in the Diocese
of Derry. Second Edition. Dublin. William Curry.

1829.

THIS is a well-written work, and details an interesting episode in the History of Ireland. It possesses, however, more local than general interest, and we content ourselves with recommending it to those on this side of the Channel who may be curious in these matters. In Ireland it will have a more general circulation.

I believe there is no science, if I may be permitted to use that term, in which so little progress has been made, as in education; nor any thing, indeed, about the importance of which the world is agreed, so little understood. There are no acknowledged first principles. Every one admits the propriety of giving to a child a good educa tion, and every one acts upon this admission to the best of his ability; but to enter upon the task, is like entering upon a wide heath, across which there are many paths, but no finger-posts. Education differs in one most essential particular from most other things which influence man's happiness: The difficulty lies, not in merely practising principles which are universally admitted, but in ascertaining the principle that is to be acted upon.

That we possess no standard work upon education, is certain; and I think it may be added, not one deserving of a higher reputation than it enjoys. Treatises upon this subject have hitherto been left in the hands of the ladies; and of these we have, indeed, many; but there seems to be no good reason why this branch of philosophy,—the most profound that can be subjected to the investigation of the human faculties, because requiring the deepest knowledge of the human mind,—should be quietly resigned to the powers of that sex, which, it is generally thought,

The folly of being wiser than Nature. Female Philosophers. that men should do unto him, if he possess not the bene

the study and the recreation of the young, without benefit to the heart. I have more than once seen children excited to tears, by that earliest of the offerings made to intellect, "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin." Here was a strong excitement of the benevolent affections, through the medium of imagination; and it is impossible to tell how much of that rare virtue of kindness towards the brute creation may have been engendered through this simple relation. Acts of aggression on the part of the strong, cruelty towards the inoffensive, and the sufferings of innocence, form the burden of all those little stories which once formed a sort of infant mythology; and are not indignation against the oppressor,-compassion for the weak,--hatred of cruelty, and sympathy with the sufferer, awakened in consequence? I will venture to say, that more—far more---of the virtue of compassion is taught, by reading of a wolf betraying and devouring a lamb, than by the most admirable piece of reasoning against cruelty, or a thousand injunctions to practise gentleness and kindness.

present Tam in a less boisterous mood than he appeared to be in when sitting solus with his story-telling friend. Instead of all his faculties being immersed in one great guffaw," as in the former figure, his countenance is merely animated with a smile of such breadth as a rustic might be supposed to wear when paying court to one of whom he was fond, and with whom he was familiar. His face. is turned a little to the left, on which side the Landlady is placed, with a corresponding inclination of body; and, judging from the "smirking smile" that curls her lip, she is very well pleased with the farmer's gallantry. The Souter, as in the former group, appears to have been just delivered of one of his "queerest stories." His waggish eye rests complacently on the Landlord, who is represented to be in convulsions of laughter at his friend's wit, and quite unconscious of the flirtation which is going on between his buxom wife and his honoured guest.

In point of execution, these figures are equal to those already before the public. Tam possesses the same freedom of outline, ease of attitude, and accuracy of symme try, with a face of a more intellectual cast than the original. The Souter is as like his prototype as possible. The Landlord is a little round-bellied man, with his head thrown well back, that he may laugh the louder; and in

The moral acts of charity and compassion, which are the result of reasoning, and which originate in a sense of duty, are as efficacious, indeed, as those which immediately flow from the impulses of a feeling heart. But then there is this essential difference between them :---Reason-one hand he holds a horn half-full of ale, which he is aping is a laborious act of the mind: a sense of duty does not, in every mind, prescribe the same range of duties, but varies with every man's scale of moral obligation,is affected by the measure of every man's judgment, and by the extent of his information,—and is overborne by many accidental impulses; whereas, those acts of kindness, which seem the intuitive impulses of the mind, need no process of reasoning to urge their performance, no sense of duty to establish their propriety,-vary not with the diversities of the moral creed,-are not affected, either by the measure of a man's judgment, or by the extent of his information,—and cannot be overborne by other impulses, because no impulse is more immediate than that which urges the acts themselves.

It is one thing to convince the judgment, and another thing to touch the heart.* Even supposing a child able to comprehend the obligation to the performance of a duty, it is questionable if much be done for virtue if the conviction of the judgment and the dictate of the heart do not go hand in hand; but once let the feelings incite to acts of virtue, and the verdict of the judgment will speedily be obtained.

(To be concluded in our next.)

parently spilling, without being aware of his loss. The
Landlady is an excellent figure, though less en bon point
than most people would expect in one of her calling. The
attitude in which she is placed, however, is exceedingly
characteristic of the duties of her office. She is seated on
the front of an arm chair, not in the indolent attitude of one
who dreams of repose, but in the active position of a person
who has just sat down in the expectation of being imme-
diately called upon to ". answer the bell." Her right arm
rests on the chair elbow, and her left hand, in which she
has gathered her apron into graceful folds, rests upon her
knee. Her body leans slightly forward; and while her
face, which is turned towards Tam, is abundantly expres-
sive of the good-will she bears him, and the happiness of
her present condition, her feet are so planted as to indi-
cate her readiness, when called on, to rise and "fill ano-
ther gill." She is adorned with a profusion of curls, and
her head-dress consists of what was some sixty years since
denominated, in Ayrshire, a "round-eared mutch," strap-
ped to the head by a ribbon round the mid-piece, and sur➡
mounted by a knot of ribbons, a little to the right side.
Her neck is bare, but over her shoulders and bosom is
thrown a thin handkerchief, which disappears under the
heavier fabric of a stuff gown---we suppose it to have
been of that material---with short sleeves, frilled at the
elbow, and leaving the arms below naked.
Her apron,
as in the days of our grandmothers, is tied round her
body by a "string case," and is finished with a frill; and
the whole costume is executed with so much accuracy
and good taste, that in the opinion of many it would not
We shall
do the most tip-top mantua-maker discredit.
leave this point, however, as in duty bound, to the deter-
mination of our fair readers,-only premising, that those
who agree with us will think the gown too closely fitted
to the body, and not sufficiently ample in the skirt.

THE AYRSHIRE SCULPTOR-HIS NEW WORKS. MR THOм has now finished a complete group of figures from the Tale of Tam O'Shanter, by which the opening scene of the poem is fully and forcibly illustrated. In addition to the hero of the tale and "Souter Johnnie," it consists of other two important personages,---the landlord and landlady of the Hospitium where the jolly farmer held his carousal on the eventful night of his rencontre with the "hellish legion" of " Alloway's auld haunted kirk." The figures are all of the natural size. Those of Tam and the Souter are almost copies of the statues which were exhibited here, and which are now drawing crowds of fashionable visitors in Bond Street; but they are differently placed in regard to each other---Tam, in the group, being engaged in a close tête-à-tête with the Land-genius of the county from whence his lordship takes his lady, while the Souter's "queerest stories" are directed to the Landlord. This arrangement is in perfect keeping with the poem, and it has necessarily led the artist to re

When I speak of the qualities of the heart, I do so only in obedience to common phraseology. I believe the brain to be the seat of the emotions, as well as of the intellectual faculties; for, although there are sympathetic influences between one part of the body and another, this does not prove that the seat of the emotions is anywhere else than in the brain; the heart palpitating with emotion does no more prove that the emotion has its origin in the heart, than the hair standing on end proves that fear is seated in the hair.

The group of statues which we have thus endeavoured to describe, belongs, we understand, to the Earl of Cassillis, who promptly patronised the artist in the outset of his career. Besides a desire to encourage the native

title, perhaps the circumstance of the person whom Burns selected as the archetype of the "heroic Tam " having been a tenant on the Culzean estate, had some influence with his lordship in choosing a subject for Mr Thom's chisel. The identity of this individual has now become a question of some interest in the west; and as we were instrumental in giving currency to the tradition which imputes the honour to "Thomas Reid," we may here state, that since the publication of the article in the LITERARY JOURNAL, in which the subject