earnest soul? The City of Destruction, | rary sketches are unequalled, garnished as the Slough of Despond, the Delectable they are with select scandal, and surrounded Mountains, the Valley of the Shadow of with all the accompaniments of dramatic Death, Beulah, and the Black River, are still extant, unchangeable realities, as long as man continues to be tried and to triumph. But it is less in this typical aspect than as an interesting tale that Macaulay seems to admire it. Were we to look at it in this light alone, we should vastly prefer "Turpin's Ride to York," or " Tam O'Shanter's Progress to Alloway Kirk." But as an unconscious mythic history of man's moral and spiritual advance, its immortality is secure, though its merits are as yet in this point little appreciated. Bunyan, indeed, knew not what he did; but then he spake inspired; his deep heart prompted him to say that to which all deep hearts in all ages should respond; and we may confidently predict that never shall that road be shut up or deserted. As soon stop the current or change the course of the black and bridgeless river. art. Hastings' trial is a picture to which that of Lord Erskine, highly wrought though it be, is vague and forced, and which, in its thick and crude magnificence, reminds you of the descriptions of Tacitus, or (singular connexion!) of the paintings of Hogarth. As in Hogarth, the variety of figures and circumstances is prodigious, and each and all bear upon the main object, to which they point like fingers; so from every face, figure, aspect, and attitude, in the crowded hall of Westminster, light rushes on the brow of Hastings, who seems a fallen god in the centre of the god-like radiance. Even Fox's "sword" becomes significant, and seems to thirst for the pro-consul's destruction. But Macaulay, though equal to descriptions of men in all difficult and even sublime postures, never describes scenery well. His landscapes are too artificial and elaborate. When, for example, he paints We might have dwelt, partly in praise Paradise in Byron or Pandemonium in and partly in blame, on some of his other Dryden, it is all by parts and parcels, and articles-might, for instance, have combat- you see him pausing and rubbing his brows ed his slump and summary condemnation, between each lovely or each terrible item. in "Dryden," of Ossian's poems-poems The scene reluctantly comes or rather is which, striking, as they did, all Europe to pulled into view, in slow and painful series. the soul, must have had some merit, and It does not rush over his eye, and require which, laid for years to the burning heart of to be detained in its giddy passage. Hence Napoleon, must have had some correspond- his picture of India in Hastings is an ading fire. That, said Coleridge, of Thom- mirable picture of an Indian village, but son's Seasons," lying on the cottage not of India, the country. You have the hyenas--but where are the eternal bloom, the immemorial temples, the vast bloodspangled mists of superstition, idolatry, and caste, which brood over the sweltering land--the Scotlands of jungle, lighted up by the eyes of tigers as with infernal stars window-sill, is true fame; but was there" old oaks"-the graceful maiden with the no true fame in the fact that Napoleon, pitcher on her head-the courier shaking as he bridged the Alps, and made at his bunch of iron rings to scare away the Lodi impossibility itself the slave of his genius, had these poems in his travelling carriage? Could the chosen companion of such a soul, in such moments, be altogether false and worthless? Ossian's Poems we regard as a ruder "Robbers"a real though clouded voice of poetry, rising in a low age, prophesying and preparing the way for the miracles which followed; and we doubt if Macaulay himself has ever equalled some of the nobler flights of Macpherson. We may search his writings long ere we find anything so sublime, though we may find many passages equally ambitious, as the Address to the Sun. He closes his collected articles with his Warren Hastings, as with a grand finale. This we read with the more interest, as we fancy it a chapter extracted from his forthcoming history. As such it justifies our criticism by anticipation. Its personal and lite the Ganges, the lazy deity of the land, creeping down reluctantly to the sea-the heat, encompassing the country like a sullen sleepy hell the swift steps of tropical Death, heard amid the sulphury silencethe ancient monumental look, proclaiming that all things here continue as they were from the foundation of the world, or seen in the hazy distance as the girdle of the land-the highest peaks of earth soaring up toward the sun-Sirius, the throne of God? Macaulay too much separates the material from the moral aspects of the scene, instead of blending them together as exponents of the one great fact, India. "Pursue the triumph and partake the gale." But we must stop. Ere closing, how-ishments of society could not weaken. ever, we are tempted to add, as preachers Society did not-in spite of our authordo, a solid inference or two from our pre- spoil him by its favor, though it infuriated vious remarks. First, we think we can in- him by its resentment. But he has been dicate the field on which Mr. Macaulay is the favored and petted child of good forlikely yet to gain his truest and permanent tune. There has been no 66 crook," till of fame. It is in writing the Literary History late, either in his political or literary of his country. Such a work is still a de- "lot." If he has not altogether inherited sideratum; and no living writer is so well he has approached the verge of the curse, qualified by his learning and peculiar gifts "Wo to you, when all men shall speak by his powers and prejudices-by his well of you." No storms have unbared strength and his weakness, to supply it. In his mind to its depths. It has been his this he is far more assured of success than uniformly to― in any political or philosophical history. With what confidence and delight would the public follow his guidance, from the times of Chaucer to those of Cowper, when our literature ceased to be entirely natural, and even a stage or two further! Of such ย progress" we proclaim him worthy to be the Great-heart! Secondly, we infer from a retrospect of his whole career, the evils of a too easy and a too early success. It is by an early Achillean baptism alone that men can secure Achillean invulnerability, or confirm Achillean strength. This was the redeeming point in Byron's history. Though a lord, he had to undergo a stern training, which indurated and strengthened him to a pitch, which all the after bland Better all this for his own peace than for his power, or for the permanent effect of his writings. Let us congratulate him, finally, on his temporary defeat. A few more such victories as he had formerly gained, and he had been undone. A few more such defeats; and if he be, as we believe, essentially a man, he may yet, in the "strength of the lonely," in the consciousness and terrible self-satisfaction of those who deem themselves injuriously assailed, perform such deeds of derring-do as shall abash his adversaries and astonish even himself. From the British Quarterly Review. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HOBBES OF MALMESBURY. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesbury. Now first Collected and Edited by SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, Bart. 11 vols. Longman and Co. Thoma Hobbes, Malmesburiensis, Opera Philosophica, qua Latine scripsit omnia. unum corpus nunc primum collecta, studio et labore GULIELMI MOLESWORTH. 5 tom. Apud Longman et Soc. [An article of singular candor and ability, which does better, justice to the fame of the celebrated philosopher than he has usually received at the hands of the critics. The subjects incidentally discussed with such vigor and erudition, as well as the facts it groups together, entitle the essay to the reader's attention.-ED.] AMONG the pleasures of an author, who has sufficient vanity to think that his works will live, and yet never become common, we have no doubt that the anticipation of a complete edition, printed in elegant type, and enriched with copious notes, is one that affords peculiar gratification. In past days, when there were fewer readers, and the press was slower in its operations, a sort of foreknowledge of the advancement of society must have given great vividness to the dream of posthumous renown. Nevertheless, when the author is no more, and his visions are realized, there is, in some cases, good reason for the inquiry, why they were not allowed to remain a shadow? Why he has been reanimated and brought again under the notice of the public? Is he introduced to us afresh, merely on the score of individual taste, or is there a large sympathy ready to welcome him, owing to the profound interest which he has inspired on | editor and his friend regard the publication the great questions of human existence of this edition not only as an act of justice Is he a writer who was over-rated or ill-ap- to the memory of Hobbes, but also to his " preciated while living, and from whose fame" Views;" which, having been culpably posterity is, in the one case, to make the neglected by his countrymen, are now, under necessary deduction; in the other, to award the patronage of two members of a British him ample vindication? And further, House of Commons, submitted to us for among those who own his power and do re-consideration. This is, we confess, homage to his genius, is the main bond somewhat ominous; but, at the same time, which unites them to him, that full cordi- we are willing to ascribe it to a philosophiality of head and heart which makes them cal temper, and to their stern sense of one with his principles; or, amidst the literary equity. A wide range of reading confession of his intellectual pre-eminence, in moral and political science befits the ledoes he revolt the better feelings of his gislative function, and no reverence" that readers, and lead them to look upon his is due to Hobbes, is likely to diminish any doctrines with considerable detestation? If man's respect for the English constitution. he wrote on topics of permanent interest, And when we take into account the relation did he, or did he not, take those broad which the original publication of his works views of mankind, which, rising above the bore to the progress of speculative philosochanges of an age, are, new in substance phy, and the clearness, energy, and systewhenever quoted, and are applicable to all matic perfection with which his views were generations? explained, instead of consigning the hoary sceptic to oblivion, or being satisfied for him to exist in fragments, we prefer that he should be viewed as a whole; and have, es far as his genius is concerned, a mouument worthy of himself, erected in every With regard to the censures so freely sanctuary of learning throughout the thrown on Sir W. Molesworth, for becoming civilized world. the editor of Hobbes, we may be allowed We are by no means insensible to the to express our regret that the tone of several danger which threatens minds of a peculiar of them is anything but Protestant; cast, if they take part in this work; or, if evincing little confidence in the best of they pay homage exclusively at the shrine causes, and much more fit for an assembly of one author, whose assaults on all truth engaged in the formation of an Index and piety they unhappily mistake for asExpurgatorius, than for men having com-saults on superstition, and, regarding the prehensive views of literature, liberty, and obloquy he has met with as a part of his truth. fame, are prepared to bestow on him a phi These are some of the questions which we have asked, while musing over the goodly volumes before us; and the most of them will necessarily receive an answer in the course of the present article. The motives which prompted the honor-losophic deification. But this is an evil inable baronet to engage in this work, are cident to the votaries of fiction and poetry, partly detailed in the dedication to George as well as to the worshippers of other diGrote, Esq., M. P. for the City of London. "I am indebted," says he, "to you for my first acquaintance with the speculations of one of the greatest and most original thinkers in the English language. It gives me great satisfaction to gratify a wish you have frequently expressed, that some person, who had time and due reverence for that illustrious man, would undertake to edit his works, and bring his views again before his countrymen, who have so long and so unjustly neglected him." We cannot suppose that either Mr. Grote or Sir W. Molesworth admires the political principles of the Leviathan, and we should be sorry to think that its moral principles were more to their taste. We are, indeed, informed that both the vinities. It is impossible to prevent prejudice and one-sidedness in the formation of opinions; and if, while the temple of Truth is visible, and its spacious courts stand open, we find one and another turning aside to lies, no effectual remedy for this evil can be found in shutting up every sanctuary but the true. It would be genuine Hobbism to do so. It would be taking upon ourselves the precise office which it confers on Leviathan, though wherever possessed it must be useless, as false keys would easily be obtained to unlock the recesses of those impure gods, who, until public sentiment be cleansed, will ever find a Pantheon to receive them, and priests to burn incense on their altars. Believing, therefore, that nothing is more matters of learning afloat upon the buoyant element of wit. With such qualifications we need not wonder that he was equally acceptable to the earl and to his son. When the latter, therefore, went abroad to enlarge his acquaintance with the world, his tutor went with him as the companion of his travels. They visited France and Italy; and, though Hobbes was only twenty-three years of age, we are told that he returned from this continental tour with a store of solid wisdom for the future. pernicious than the suppression of thought, to have spared no pains to convert his emwe have not the least sympathy with those ployer into a patron. Equally distinguished who would commit all sceptical works to the by prudence, industry, and liveliness of flames. It is an article of our faith, that humor, he was an illustration of both the truth and goodness are immortal; that they advantages and the charms of knowledge. are the end of the universe, and that all Instead of shrinking from manly exercises, evil and evil agents are their unconscious he went hunting with his pupil, and showed ministers. him how to reconcile the pleasures of the We look at the latter, therefore, without study and the chase. Some men of consialarm for the ultimate interests of man, derable powers are intolerably dull, and and are prepared to register their history some who are not so, allow the idea of and deeds. These are all that remain to us office to quench their vivacity. The young of other scenes and other days that have student of Magdalen knew his vocation, for ever vanished from the theatre of time. and took good care to stir up the rare gift In so doing, we have, in the present in that was in him, of keeping-in the modestance, no lack of information; and, avail-rate degree that was requisite-the weighty ing ourselves of it, we shall lay before our readers some connected account of the life and works of the author of the Leviathan. Malmesbury in Wiltshire-once the residence of hermits and scholars and celebrated for its castle and monastery, where Aldhelm wrote Latin verse, and William, the historian, was educated-became, April 5th, 1588, the birth-place of Thomas Hobbes. A report, then widely circulated, that the Spanish fleet had sailed from the Tagus, and was fast approaching our shores, threw his mother into such a state of alarm, that he was born out of due time-a circumstance that makes his long life-more than nine-tenths of a century-matter of admiration. His father was a clergyman of humble attainments, of whom he says very little, though there is reason to believe that he was no inattentive observer of the precocity of his child. Thomas began Greek when he was six years of age, and was shortly after sent to the grammar-school of his native town. Here he distinguished himself by his classical attainments; was the favorite pupil of his master; and, in these his school-boy days, gave evidence of his extraordinary progress, by translating the Medea of Euripides into Latin iambics. Being fortunate enough to have an uncle, a wealthy glover and alderman of Malmesbury, who was inclined to aid his prospects, by giving him a collegiate education, he entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, at the early age of fourteen; and having passed through the usual course of philosophy, and taken his bachelor's degree, was, on the recommendation of the principal of his college, engaged by the Earl of Devonshire as private tutor to his son. He was then only in his twentieth year, and the young nobleman nearly as old. Thus, however, does ability command place. Hobbes appears One can hardly imagine circumstances more favorable for the highest culture of the mind than those in which he was now placed. Retained in the Cavendish family, he celebrates the liberality with which his patron allowed him both leisure and books, for the purpose of amplifying his attainments. His classics had, in fact, fallen into neglect, and needed revision. The logic and philosophy that were then current, he threw aside, and devoted his attention to the poets and historians of Greece and Rome, not forgetting the annals of modern times. The fruits of these twelve or fifteen years of his life were subsequently given to the world. When a mind is richly furnished with the materials of thought and discussion, there is no element more quickening than that in which other minds, of equal force and comprehension, lay under contribution the treasures that are thus in hand. The intercourse of Hobbes with the men of his day, most distinguished for genius and speculation, began early, and ceased only with his life. We find him during this period, at Gorhambury, in the friendship of Lord Bacon, who was nearly thirty years older, taking part in his researches, and noted for the ease with which he seized and registered those profound responses which having an important bearing on the internature gave to the queries of her sage. Ac-ests of society. The general sense is given cording to his own statement, which Aw- with great care, in a style which, though brey reports, he translated two or three of cramped, is marked by vigorous simplicity; his lordship's essays into Latin. and, notwithstanding occasional omissions With Lord Herbert and Ben Jonson he and coarseness, the version still retains its was also on terms of intimacy, and enter-value. In the present edition, notes are tained so much respect for the judgment of added from Dr. Arnold and Bishop Thirlthe poet, that he submitted to him the wall. translation of Thucydides prior to its publication. This introduces us, properly speaking, to the literary history of our author. In order to remove the melancholy which the death of his patron had occasioned, Hobbes accepted an invitation from Sir Gervase Clifton, to accompany his son to On the 3d March, 1625, the Earl of De- the continent. He remained at Paris about vonshire died, and his son, the pupil of eighteen months, and in 1631 was sent for Hobbes, who then came to the earldom, by the Countess of Devonshire-a woman enjoyed it only till June, 1628. This event whose talents and character were alike adaffected him deeply, and, in recording it, mirable-to undertake the education of he dwells upon the friendship and gene- the young earl, who was then only about rosity of the earl, with feelings of sincere thirteen years of age. A more decided gratitude. proof of her confidence she could not well Twenty years had then run their course give, nor pay a higher tribute to the faithful since he first entered the Cavendish family, services which our author had rendered to and, during this time, in addition to a Latin her lord. Hobbes was his tutor for the poem on the Wonders of the Peak-Mira-space of seven years. He had, it seems, bilia Pecci-he had made his version of ready powers of acquisition, and repaid the the noble Greek historian, to which we have care bestowed on him by his attainments in referred. It was intended to scare English- every department of learning. Nearly half men from working out their freedom. of the above time was spent in France and Dean Smith, who is said to have been Italy; and it was altogether an important "replete with knowledge, and himself a liv-period as to the influences which gave a ing library," in his translation of the same final and positive form to the various phiauthor, questions whether Hobbes had a losophical and theological doctrines which political end in view. The latter, however, subsequently became the theme of so much states distinctly, that this was the case, and speculation. instead of the notion originating with Bayle, There had, however, been some preparait was his own declaration. Bancroft and tion for the present drift of his meditations. the Puritans, in James's time, were surely More than forty years of his life had elapsed wide enough asunder to characterize a poli- ere he gave any thorough attention to matical system, and thinking that the stream thematics. Had he done so at an early age, of popular sentiment might run in the wrong we can scarcely doubt of his signal success. channel, he sent forth Thucydides "in order As it was, mere chance threw Euclid in his to lay open to his fellow-countrymen the way. Struck with the forty-seventh propofollies of the Athenian democracy ;" and, sition of the first book, he no sooner read as he says elsewhere, to warn them against the enunciation, than he pronounced it imgiving heed to demagogues-that is, in fact, possible. He, however, went through it, to the advocates of freedom. With him, and, for once in his life, revoked his deci every Pym was a Cleon,-a firebrand of se- sion. Eventually, his mathematical condition. troversies became the bitterest and most Indeed, the perusal of this celebrated disreputable portion of his history. Such historian gave Hobbes a disgust to popular is the nature of the angry passions, that forms of government, though there were everything they touch becomes heated, and, unquestionably other reasons for his mo- in their progress, we see even lines and narchical principles. This translation, therefore, was his first political manifestoa medium of inferences and suggestions * Is democratia ostendit mihi quam sit inepta curves catch fire. The whole matter is one of ludicrous contrast to those who know the frequency with which, in his attacks on the Dogmatici-the theologians and moralists -he lauds mathematics as admitting of no dispute. Delighted, therefore, with the |