ART. XIII. WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

The Title-page, Contents and Index to Vol. XXX. will be

given with the February Number.

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR FEBRUARY 1829.

Art. I. 1. The Constitutional History of England, from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. By Henry Hallam. Two Volumes. 4to. pp. 1444. Price 4l. London, 1827.

2. An Essay on the History of the English Government and Constitution, from the Reign of Henry VII. to the present Time. By Lord John Russell. Second Edition. 8vo. London.

WE

owe an apology to Lord John Russell. So long an interval ought not to have clapsed from the publication of a volume on such a subject, and from such a pen, without its receiving our serious notice. Yet, we perhaps owe it to ourselves to state, that this apparent neglect has arisen in some measure from a feeling of regret, that a theme so comprehensive and momentous, should have been despatched, by so competent a writer, in so brief a space. We are aware, indeed, of the vulgar horror with respect to a great book', and have often seen, that the author who would affect the sentiments of mankind immediately and powerfully, must in most cases present his appeal in a form sufficiently condensed and striking to be generally attractive. Still, the most that may be well expected from such compositions, when relating to a great subject, is, that they should rouse attention, and elicit inquiry. Naked rules of policy can afford but a partial guidance to mankind. Their utility must greatly depend on their being associated with such historical illustrations as may afford a more certain disclosure of their worth, and also of the best modes of applying them; and in order to this, space is necessary. The distinguished Author adverted to has not, however, so far copied the example of Montesquieu, as to present his countrymen with a series of isolated maxims in the place of a history. On the contrary, his historical learning has enabled him to make that selection of

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facts, which exhibits most successfully the spirit of that conflict between the governing and the governed, which we find extending from the accession of the Tudors to the fall of the Stuarts, and which has conferred so much interest on the modern history of this Island, in the esteem both of the native and the foreigner. The vigour, the truth, and the generous feeling which characterize his Lordship's conclusions, are, indeed, such as must be often grateful to the most matured student of this great argu'ment; and must, we think, awaken in many others, who are by far too supine respecting it, a patriotic wish to become more familiar with its heights and depths. The "Essay" retains the form of a narrative, from the time of Henry VII. to the revolution of 1688. The story is then considerably interrupted by detached chapters on various constitutional questions; and these are generally connected with the existing order of things. Mr. Hallam's volumes are distinguished by that patient research, that calm attention to evidence, and that philosophical spirit, which his character as a writer had led us to anticipate. No man of the present generation has made so valuable an addition to English history. That honour might have been won by Dr. Lingard, had his freedom from prejudice at all equalled his industry or the skill which he has generally displayed in the choosing and disposing of his materials. The errors into which the marvellous obliquity of his feelings has led him, are frequently exposed by Mr. Hallam. Yet, it must be confessed, that the portions of his work which relate to our constitutional history, are truth almost unalloyed, when compared with those of Hume. On all points, however, where the credit of the Romanists is concerned, his statements are scarcely more worthy of confidence than those of Dodd's Church History, or of that veracious personage, Father Parsons. We do not make this assertion unadvisedly, but as the consequence of having frequently felt indignant at the tricks which we have found that gentleman attempting to play upon us. The point also in which Mr. Hallam excels, is precisely that in which Dr. Lingard is most deficient. In the History of England, the object of the writer in collecting the great body of his facts, is simply to relate them in the history of the constitution, all such matters are treated as valuable, only according to the value of the principles which they serve to illustrate. An exception must of course be made here, with respect to events having any thing of a religious bearing. In every such case, it becomes evident, that Dr. Lingard can meddle, quite as adroitly as his neighbours, with that philosophy of history which, as occasion serves, he can discard as the philosophy of Romance.' Apart also from the circumstance of reducing history to mere narrative, and which, as it requires but a subordinate portion of labour in

the writer, imposes little on the reader, Dr. Lingard's talent as an author, is certainly much more of a popular kind than that of Mr. Hallam. His influence, indeed, will be less,-chiefly because his integrity is less; the modern practice of appending authorities to historical works, though much abused, forbidding the apprehension that any man will be allowed to falsify history with the impunity of the ancients.

In Mr. Hallam's volumes, too, there are instances in which the whole truth is not told, and some things against which we strongly object; but such is, nevertheless, their general excellence and worth, that we should be much pleased to see them obtain a wider circulation than we can venture to anticipate. His statements are generally clear, and his style sometimes rises into a grave and manly eloquence which is peculiarly impressive. Even in his carelessness, there is a dignity; and his master spirit may be as readily perceived in the half-gossip of his notes, as in the more formal communications of his text. But his habits of thinking are deliberate, and so far beyond the usual reach of authors, as to place him in frequent connexion with the obscure and the recondite; and these qualities of his mind will be thought, we fear, to be too faithfully reflected in his style. The imagination and the passions are parties who do not come and go at a bidding; but it is certain, that their abeyance is not more important during a search after truth, than is their presence when endeavouring to urge its claims, so as to secure them attention from the mass of mankind. With the majority every where, reason has been the feeblest faculty; a secret with which they who have addressed the popular mind with most success, have been most familiar. We could wish, therefore, that Mr. Hallam had applied himself to give a little more rapidity and vividness to a story which is in itself the most powerfully dramatic in the history of nations. For this, he has ability enough, and to spare ; and nothing was wanting, but that those humane sympathies which are so honourable to his character, and which give so much charm to his writings, should have induced a little more condescension to popular weakness. If, from the want of this, his work is not unfrequently slighted as a heavy book, and in quarters where better things might have been expected, we shall be the first to rejoice.

The authority of Hume is now very nearly obsolete. Yet, he has been more read on English history, than any other, or, perhaps, than every other writer. And whence is this?

It cannot be ascribed to his learning; for that, considering the work which he undertook, was materially defective. With respect also to the many questions of freedom and religion, the two points on which it was most important to avail himself of the feelings of his readers, his disqualifications were total