through repeated descriptions and portraits, may be said to have become familiar to the reading world, can hardly be expected to make discoveries; nor do we find any in Mr. Wilde's volumes. But an accurate observer, who brings good sense and useful acquirements to the labours of this species of inquiry, is always sure to present things in a new light, to enlarge with advantage upon matters hitherto treated scantily or superficially, to separate the true from the false, and to confirm and render permanent many impressions that were previously vague or evanescent. This is exactly the character and tendency of Mr. Wilde's publication, which is written throughout in a style remarkable for freedom, perspicuity, and picturesque grace. He accompanied a friend to the Levant in search of health. They voyaged together in his friend's yacht, which enabled them to call where they pleased, to linger in particular places just as it suited their inclination, to choose their own tides and winds, and to extract as much pleasure and utility from the expedition as might be reasonably expected from the ample convenience of their circumstances. The benefits of this commodious and easy way of touring through the waters of the blue Mediterranean, and over the sandy wastes and sunny plains of Egypt and Palestine, are visible in the fulness and maturity of our author's notes. The work bears none of the usual traces of hurry and sight-seeing: the hasty opinion, the crude sketch, the tone of flippant wonder, the scramble, tumult, and prejudice that deform the majority of modern travels. All the subjects embraced are treated with care and patience, commensurate to their relative importance; and although the form of the journal is preserved, it is evident that the author never advances assertions upon any topics of moment until he has satisfied himself generally of their correctness. The account he gives of the varied scenery, costume, and habits of the countries through which he passed, is vivid, fresh, and characteristic. The most striking parts of the whole, and which may be referred to also as the most valuable, are - his occasional observations on climate, supplying some of the unavoidable desiderata of Sir James Clark's able work; his remarks on the present condition and prospects of Egypt and Palestine, a subject which rises in European interest every day; his account of Algiers, acquiring increased attraction from the recent events of its colonization by the French; and his incidental gatherings in natural history. We ought not to dismiss this work without adding, that it is printed in Dublin, and equals in typographical elegance and beauty of embellishment the most costly productions of the English press; a circumstance upon which Ireland may justly be congratulated as indicative of advancing prosperity in the noblest and most humanizing art. A grand and cheap edition of the dramatic works of Massinger and Ford* has been added, by Mr. Moxon, to the many delightful reprints for which the intellectual circles of England are already so largely indebted to his taste and his enterprise. In this single volume, of portly dimensions, and small but clear type, we have the entire collection of the labours of two great poets who were singularly neglected in their own time, and who have only of late years been rescued from comparative oblivion, and elevated to their proper place amongst the worthies of our Shakspearean stage. Massinger is little known to the multitude, and Ford still less, and both are well worthy of being thus placed within every body's reach. Mr. Hartley Coleridge furnishes an introcluction which is chiefly remarkable for a quaint and gossiping spirit, and for bringing together, without method or aim, a 4 The Dramatic Works of Massinger and Ford. With an Introduction. By HARTLEY COLERIDGE. London: Edward Moxon. 1840. variety of curious discursive points, in the history of plays, players, and poets. This kind of rambling dissertation will, no doubt, amuse some readers, and put them into an unsettled and perhaps exploring mood; but it is deficient in the elements of appreciating and comprehensive criticism. The writer exhibits an acquaintance, more or less, with the works of almost all the dramatists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, except the very two to whom he specially draws attention. He leaves the genius of Massinger and Ford to make way by the force of innate power, and hardly assists us to a single commentary upon the traits by which they are to be especially distinguished from and amongst their contemporaries. Probably we have no right to look for criticism in such preludes, and ought to be grateful, as we are, for the pleasant fireside lively rattle with which Mr. Coleridge has furnished us; but as there was so little to be said about the lives of these poets, and as that little had already been said by Mr. Gifford, it would not have been amiss to have thrown in something, at least, about their works, which are so pre-eminently suggestive. In the course of his variegated and entertaining prologue, Mr. Coleridge makes many witty and apposite hits; and sometimes, in a sort of wilfulness, squandering the riches of memory and imagination, commits himself prodigally to a heresy of taste, or an erroneous assertion. Thus he declares that the "Noctes" in Blackwood's Magazine, "barring an occasional irregularity of plot, are perfect specimens of comedy;" and he wonders that the assassination of Marlowe has never been dramatized. Now, we believe this is the first time the strange, cloudy, and extravagant dialogues of Christopher North, and his ambrosial squad, have ever been suspected of containing the elements of comedy; and Mr. Coleridge ought to have known that the melancholy fate of Marlowe has been profoundly and poetically dramatized by Mr. Horne. Of Webster, he seems to entertain a feeling almost amounting to contempt. Ford, he tells us, "assisted Webster in A late Murther of the Sonne upon the Mother,' a play not extant, and perhaps no great loss. Such as have an appetite that way, and no dread of the nightmare, may 'sup full of horrors' on the remaining dramas of Webster." We must be excused for observing, that we think this play a very great loss; for the subject was peculiarly adapted to the tragic genius of Webster, with which Mr. Coleridge appears to be wholly unacquainted. One can hardly, after this, be surprised at his admiration of the "Noctes." His preposterous verdict upon the author of "The Duchess of Malfy" is every way worthy of a critic who sympathises with the wholesale sins of such outrageous productions. Mr. J. E. Taylor has published a small volume, in which he proposes to consider the character of Michael Angelo as a philosophic poet. The design is praiseworthy, but it is better meant than executed. The character of Michael Angelo is almost inexhaustible, and always interesting. That his labours should be assailed by detractors is the inevitable penalty of their unrivalled excellence. The man who built the cupola of St. Peter's, sculptured the Moses, painted the Last Judgment, and wrote the Sonnets, whatever may be said of him, was a genius of the most elevated order. Perhaps the intensity of his energies and the wildness of his conceptions are not to be imitated, and therefore he is a bad model for inferior minds; but he remains an everlasting wonder and monument of the might of intellect. We regard, therefore, every reverential inquiry into his works as an acceptable offering; and Mr. Taylor's essay, if it serve no higher purpose than that of showing how deeply Michael Angelo was admired by his contempo5 Michael Angelo, considered as a Philosophic Poet. With Translations. By JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR. London: Saunders & Otley. 1840. raries and successors, will not be without its use. Mr. Taylor is evidently a reader rather than a thinker, and his book is consequently overloaded with quotations, relevant and irrelevant, exhibiting an extent of research very commendable and agreeable, when united with original powers; but unfortunately he gives us little "of his own except the thread that binds " his excerpta. This is somewhat provoking on a subject where we look for new views, instead of the citation of old ones; but there is considerable enthusiasm in the volume, which will go some way to make amends, and faithful translations of several of the sonnets, which will recommend the book to all persons of taste. The title of "Camp and Quarters " 6 fairly expresses the contents of two lively, light-hearted, ephemeral volumes of military reminiscences, by Major Patterson of the Queen's Own. The scenes are principally laid in Ireland, England, and Portugal, and are exactly of the same pattern to which our literary officers have rendered the public so familiar during the last twenty years. Major Patterson has seen a good deal of picturesque service, and delineates it with appropriate gusto. He writes in high spirits, tells an anecdote capitally, and garnishes his narrative with an abundance of remarkable characters and humorous adventures. A medley of this kind has at least the recommendation of being full of variety; and readers who are curious to know how soldiers pass their time in war and peace-skirmishing and lovemaking- dancing and fighting-drinking, singing, and marauding, will be amply gratified by a perusal of this publication. There is a State Protestant Church in Prussia, distinguished by the name of the Reformed Church. There is also a church-a community of Protestants, whose ancestors embraced the Augsburg Confession, which is still maintained by their descendants; and this church is called the Lutheran Church. It appears that the King of Prussia has been very anxious to blend these two churches into one fold — the established church being, of course, desirous to absorb into its own bosom all the Christians within reach. Finding, however, that he could not prevail over the consciences of the simple Lutherans by fair means, he attacked them with troops of horse; and the consequence has been that, rather than abandon the religion of their forefathers, they resolved to abandon their native country. Some hundreds of them have emigrated to the remote parts of America, where, unmolested by the tyranny of an establishment, they may worship God in their own way. The history of this miniature persecution as awful in all the attributes of cruelty as any of the acts of the Inquisition is detailed in a little work compiled from German publications. The existence of such a despotism within the heart of a reformed church is revolting; and its exposure, however humiliating to the virtuous pride of English Protestantism, which ought to be identical with religious freedom, may be received as a wholesome warning and admonition. -- 6 Camp and Quarters, or Scenes and Impressions of Military Life. Interspersed with Anecdotes of various well-known Characters who flourished in the War. By Major PATTERSON. 2 vols. London: Saunders & Otley. 1840. 7 Persecution of the Lutheran Church in Prussia, from 1831 to the present Time. Chiefly translated by J. D. LÖWENBERG. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. 1840. THE MONTHLY CHRONICLE. ROYAL LITURGIES.-CHURCH AND STATE IN PRUSSIA. Meine Suspendirung, Einkerkerung, und Auswanderung; Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Kirchenkampfs in Preussen. Von OTTO FRIEDRICH WEHRHAN.My Suspension, Imprisonment, and Emigration; a Contribution to the History of the Church-Struggle in Prussia. By Otto Frederick Wehrhan, late Pastor of the Lutheran Church at Liegnitz in Silesia. Leipzig, 1839. WE have had much talk lately of the PATERNAL Government of Prussia. "PATER PATRIA" has indeed stood on the pedestal of many a monument to despotism, with as much significance as "SERVUS SERVORUM" introduced the fulminating bulls of a Gregory or a Boniface; but this new Prussian paternity is, we are assured, quite a different affair - romantic, poetical, transcendental; almost coming up to Cowper's idea, "A father whose authority in show When most severe, and mustering all its force, -The very beau-idéal of Toryism, at least according to the most recent doctrine of the "Quarterly Review;" for, "in one word, men are and will be CHILDREN, and as children they must be dealt with.” * If any man, therefore, will understand what Toryism is, let him not look to Britain (an old purple cloak, all patched over with linen and cotton rags), but to Prussia, where every thing is of a piece - an organic crystallisation of the paternal principle, distilled from the cold clear intellect of Frederick the Great a very strong heart and centre of despotism, pumping perpetually with one will and purpose, spreading through the whole body, inspiring the hairs of the head and the nails of the fingers with a homogeneous vitality. And let him not be surprised if here and there "paternal" should not mean "kind:" it may be strict, severe, unyielding, - nay, according to the Roman law (from which the Frederician Code was mainly taken), a father has the power of life and death over his children; and, at all events, when the boy behaves obstreperously - for example, takes religious whims into his head, and claims to have a private conscience for himself - then the father is entitled to interfere with the lash and the black-hole, shutting of doors, curse, disinheritance, and other paternal appliances of that sort. We have read not a few sensible articles in the public prints on Prussian education, Prussian militia, Prussian agrarian laws, Prussian municipal corporations, and many other excellences. With regard to all these points more or less, we are willing to say, with Herr Von Raumer (whom we had here a few years ago lionising), that his Majesty of Prussia has proved himself "the greatest reformer in Europe;" and we say, also, no wonder, and small thanks to despotism, for it was the battle of Jena and the battle of Leipzig, the spirit of the French revolution and the spirit of the German people, that compelled these reforms. Not even in Prussia is Toryism perfectly consistent. Let the crust of the material earth be as hard as it will, the fire within must have vent somewhere. Even in Iceland there is a volcano and hot-springs. It is our intention on the present occasion to take a peep into a corner of the Prussian paternity system, somewhat out of the way of common English speculation, but happily at the present moment possessed of a peculiar interest. We mean the connection between church and state, and the practice of religious toleration. We shall find here a strange mixture of contradictory principles; on the one hand a systematic and pervading assertion of the jus circa sacra, and even jus in sacris, without which an absolute monarchy cannot conveniently exist; and on the other hand, a broad glaring practical proof that no monarchy, however absolute, can, under certain circumstances, carry into effect the mad Gladstonian, old Cameronian, new Puseyite theory of a religious State-Personality, and a State-Conscience. The Prussian government has long been famous for toleration; and no doubt "the Old Fritz" (as they call Frederick the Great), being "Jack Indifference" in the matter of religion, was tolerant enough, without making heavy draughts on the virtue of self-denial. But as Frederick had no toleration for political pamphlets, and protested against free discussion on matters of government* (being himself a politician), so his successors, to whom religion might not be equally a matter of indifference, had the right, by the principle of absolute monarchy, to be as intolerant of religious freedom as Frederick was of political, or at all events to repress and keep back the spirit of church inquiry by every means in their power. We find, accordingly, that no sooner had the stout old sceptic gone to solve his doubts in the region of the dark unknown, than the new prince, Frederick William II., under the direction of priests and Pompadours (like Charles II., very pious and very dissolute), began to take measures to suppress the freedom of religious discussion in Prussia, and prevent the dangerous principle of toleration from spreading any further than it had already done. Frederick died in 1786; and in 1788, of date the 9th July, the following royal edict was added to the Frederician Code (we translate from the last edition of the Allgemeines Landrecht, Mannkopff, Berlin, 1838): 66 We, Frederick William, by the grace of God, King of Prussia, &c., decree and ordain "PRIMO. That the three principal confessions of the Christian religion, to wit, the Reformed (i. e. Calvinistic), Lutheran, and Roman Catholic, shall remain and be maintained and protected in their respective constitutions, according to the laws and edicts of our royal ancestors thereanent. "SECUNDO. That that religious toleration of other sects, which has ever been characteristic of Prussia, shall be maintained as heretofore inviolate, and no force shall be put upon any man's conscience, so long as he remains a quiet citizen, fulfilling his duties to the state, and so long also as every sectarian keeps his own opinions to himself, and carefully abstains from endeavouring to propagate the same, bring over other people to his opinion, or shake their belief in their own creed. For, as every man has to take care of his own soul only, we think it is proper to allow him the most perfect freedom of action in this matter; and while we are of opinion that it is the duty of a Christian governor to provide for the instruction of the people in the Christian religion true and unadulterated, by preachers and teachers, and afford to every one the opportunity of informing himself thoroughly on so important a matter, it is not within our province to force any individual to make use of the means so graciously provided. This remains with his own conscience. * This is well known. See "Lessing's Letter to Nicolai," No. xlviii. Werke, vol. xxvii. |
