NOTICES. THE LIFE OF THE RT. HON. GEORGE CANNING. By Robert Bell. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1846.-This is a deeply interesting work; and the very brief notice we gave of it in our last number, would not do adequate justice to its merits. George Canning, as a wit, a scholar, and a statesman, has had few superiors in any land. Perhaps his peculiar traits of character were never surpassed in any man. Unfortunate in early life, the son of a poor and second My lot shall give to me a wife, I ask not rank, or riches; Not wear herself, the breeches." Mr. Canning was also a scholar. His classical attainments were various and rich. His historical knowledge was extensive and profound. That he was remarkably acquainted with the laws of his country, and of the world, is sufficiently evinced by the position he honor rate actress on the stage, with the prejudices of English ably filled at so early an age. While Canning was at Eton school, he projected the Microcosm, a literary journal sustained by himself and his class-mates, which, contrary to the ordinary fate of such juvenile works, has been printed not only once, but many times, for the amusement and edification of the world. To this work Canning contributed most extensively. His articles were written in every variety of style, and on almost every topic popular in his day. He was as fluent in poetry as in prose, and some of his Latin verses are said to have abounded with merits of the highest order. Adopting Addison as his model in prose composition, he soon acquired a suavity of manner and an ease of expression, which rendered him, even in his youth, one of the first writers of his age. At the age of twenty-three Mr. Canning entered Parliament, Sir Richard Worsley having retired expressly to give room for the young statesman. Pitt, at that time prime minister, himself a very young man, immediately availed himself of the wonderful talents of the new member; and Canning, in less than five days from his entrance into public life, stood second, only, in weight of influence, below the king. Such is the birthright of genius, in spite of youthfulness, low birth, and every other impediment, and that in the most aristocratic country in the world. We have spoken of Mr. Canning as a wit. His life is full to overflowing with illustrations of this brilliant trait. For a specimen we know not what to choose. Perhaps his lines to Mrs. Legh, written on the spur of the moment, will give an idea of him in this respect. The lady had given to her young friend a pair of hunting breeches, and expected, as a return, something very witty and brilliant from the recipient's pen. He sat immediately down and produced the following, which was addressed to her on her wedding day: "TO MRS. LEGH. While all to this aupicious day Well pleased their heartfelt homage pay, A hundred civil speeches; My muse shall strike her tuneful strings, Soon shall the tailor's subtil art With twenty thousand stitches; As these, my shooting breeches! And when, to ease the load of life, But Mr. Canning was pre-eminently a statesman. He remained in Parliament till he reached the summit of power. His administration, though brief, was brilliant, able, and even triumphant, as a whole. The brightest spot, however, in the character of Canning, is his love and kindness to his poor mother. In the height of his glory, he was in the habit of writing her one letter a week, to cheer and comfort her in the decline of life. THE KNICKERBOCKER, or New York Monthly Magazine. This work has gained the reputation of being the best of its kind in this country. We feel disposed to fall in with this opinion of its merits. The number for August contains fifteen articles, besides the Literary Notices and Editor's Table. The objection which lies against nearly all of the magazines of the age, might, perhaps, with some propriety, be made against this work. Its tone may be rather too light. The writers do not seem, in general, to have any serious end in view. Their great object is to please their readers, and this they most certainly do. But a man of sterling purpose, looking upon the evils of the age, will have a higher aim. We do not speak of seriousness in any religious way, for we know that the Knickerbocker is a literary journal; and perhaps, in our ardent desires to see literature everywhere co-operating with other agencies in the great work of human progress, we may not be prepared to do adequate justice to the lighter publications of the day. When Addison and Steele undertook to publish the Spectator, they had a definite and even a lofty end before them. They were resolved to improve not only the style of writing the English language, but also the morality and manners of their readers. The Rambler of Johnson, the Microcosm of young Canning, and even the Almanac of Schiller and Goethe, proposed a similar object. The Prince of Machiavelli, the Telemachus of Fenelon, the Don Quixotte of Cervantes, the Gulliver of Swift, and the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, though belonging to the class of works ordinarily styled works of the imagination, had, nevertheless, a distinct purpose in view. We might continue, and write down, as rapidly as pen could run, the titles of the greatest works of genius, from Petrarch to Charles Dickens, and we should find this sort of seriousness pervading the best of their classic pages. We would, therefore, judge of the fashionable publications of our times, not by any narrow standard of our own, which might be justly contemned by all concerned, but by the standard of the past, set up by the time-honored classics of the ancient and modern world. But, as we said before, we may lay too much stress on the direct process of doing good. That the Knickerbocker is the best work of its class, we are willing to repeat. With Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant as chief contributors-the one the best prose writer in the English language, and the other the prince of American poets, the Knickerbocker could hardly fail to be the leading magazine of the day, even if it did not enjoy the labors of a most able editor, and employ in its list of writers more than a hundred of the first men of the age. PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. New York: Harper & Brothers.-Number six of this work is on our table. It seems to be gaining credit as the publication of it advances. While we think that, for real use, the value of a standard history is not enhanced by pictorial embellishments of the character commonly employed, we are not disposed utterly to condemn them. The wood-cuts in these numbers, are certainly no addition to the intrinsic merits of the work. But this is a youthful age-"pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw." LITTELL'S LIVING AGE. Waite, Pierce & Co.: Boston. July and August, 1846.—This is a periodical compilation, the articles being taken from all the best publications of the day. It aims to give the cream of the literary world; and it certainly skims with a very skillful hand. The article in the July number, on the past and present condition of British poetry, is itself worth the price of a year's subscription. The paper on Sydney Smith we have laid aside for further use. We may, at some future time, show up old Sydney in another way. We have a sort of a literary grudge against him. His Peter Plimley letters, popular as they were, shall not shield the head of him who could abuse a whole nation for what it could not avoid. His Review of Methodism is too low and feeble even to be despised. EDITOR'S TABLE. WE have recently returned from a short trip into the upper country. The two days spent in Hillsborough, Ohio, are all that we now have time particularly to mention. Our visit happened during the examination and exhibition of the Ladies' Seminary in that town, under the management of Rev. Joseph M'D. Mathews. It will be totally impossible to record all the pleasant circumstances attending our brief stay. We can say, however, and that with unqualified emphasis, that our two days at Hillsborough are among the most pleasurable of our life. Every thing went off in the highest order. The Seminary, certainly, is one of the very best in the world. The exercises were exceedingly interesting, and retained for three days the largest audience we ever beheld at a similar festival. It was really a festival"a feast of reason and a flow of soul." A very large number of classes were publicly examined; and we take this opportunity to state, for the benefit of others, some of the leading features of the occasion. In the first place, we were greatly pleased with the manner of the examination. The classes were called out by the Principal to take their position, standing on an elevation at one extremity of the house, and the teacher stood a little in the rear of the middle of the room. The teacher's voice was thus distinctly heard in every part, and the replies, so enunciated as to make the teacher hear them, were equally audible to every individual in the house. This arrangement gave fine effect to every thing asked and said. The questions, furthermore, we took occasion to notice, were not sought out and framed expressly for present use. They were of that rapid, desultory, careless, yet critical character, as satisfied every spectator that there was no collusion in the case. They also exhausted every topic undertaken to be discussed. When the teacher dismissed the class, it was evident that they had not only been over, but through the work. Thoroughness seemed to be the order of the day. The arrangement of the classes, as they were brought forward from time to time, was admirable. The audience were not wearied with a monotony of subjects holding their attention from hour to hour. The various branches of science taught were so skillfully arranged, that we passed agreeably from one topic to another till all was done. Between each two classes, also, some young lady would give us a piece of music on the piano, which tended greatly to give cheer to all around. If we were going to make any selection of classes, of those most eminent for the manner in which the pupils exhibited their knowledge, we should feel disposed to say, that, perhaps, the classes in Logic and Butler's Analogy were worthy of distinction. It is not too much to say of them, that we have never seen them excelled in our life. The exercises in Calisthenics, on Wednesday morning, attracted and amused a large audience at an early hour. But we perceive our interest in the occasion is betraying us into a longer notice than our limited space can afford. We dismiss it by repeating, that the Ladies' Seminary at Hillsborough it will be very hard for any school to beat; and, as to its Principal, he is as well qualified for this work, by intellectual character, literary acquirements, sweetness of temper, and unremitting assiduity in his profession, as any gentleman we have ever seen. 2. The Wesleyan Collegiate Institute of Cincinnati passed through its examination in our absence from the city. We deeply regret that we could not be here. The occasion is universally spoken of in the highest terms of praise. The Principal, the Rev. Perlee B. Wilber, our old friend and companion many years ago at school, is a gentleman perfectly qualified for his place. He has been long and successfully engaged in the business, and has acquired a reputation for learning, and every qualification for his high position, that has extended all over the land. His school is really a college for females, which affords a course of discipline perhaps more extensive than any other seminary in the west. We will not forget to state, that his excellent lady is an old school acquaintance of ours, and that, in early life, she was celebrated for her attainments in language, both ancient and modern, and for her uncommon energy in every thing she undertook. But, being forced now to close our remarks, we will take future occasion to speak of the Institute and of our old friend, more commensurate with their deserts. 3. We have received the Catalogue of the Ohio Wesleyan University for the past year; and though it does not come exactly within our range of topics to notice schools for young men, our readers will pardon us by reason of their interest in Dr. Thomson, the former able editor of this work. He is now the President of the University, and in his work. The Indiana Asbury University, at its late commencement, conferred on him the title of Doctor in Divinity, an honor of which he has been fully worthy for these many years. In all his labors, may the blessing of divine Providence go with him! |