SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

CLASSICAL Aacipsoucox,

An Account of Discoveries in Lycia; being a Journal kept during a Second Excur- sion in Asia Minor, by Charles Fellows. 1840 Murray.

POLITICAL HISTORY,

Lights. Shadows, and Reflections of Whigs and Tories. By a Country Gentleman.

Fur.notr, Boone. The Trustee. By the Author of the Tragedy of •• The Provost of Bruges." 8:c. In

three volumes Colbarn.

MILITARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Memoirs of a Sergeant of the Fifth Regiment of Foot; coutainiug an Account of his Service in Hanover, South America, and the Peninsula.

lisTuant. tharmte. Sinaphin and Marshall; Elliott and Son, Ashford. A Familiar Introduction to the History of Insects; being a new and greatly im- proved edition of the Grammar of Entomology. By Edward Newman. F ZS.. &a. Van Voorst.

MR. FELLOWS'S DISCOVERIES IN LYCIA.

THE attention excited by the first discoveries of Mr. FELLOWS in Asia Minor, through his enterprise in deviating from the beaten track and plunging into unvisited regions, prompted him to undertake a second tour last year. In this excursion his journey was more limited than his former travel, commencing and ending with Smyrna. It was also circumscribed within the limits of his first route (about 36 deg. 38 min. North latitude and 27 deg. 31 DIIIL East longitude). But on this occasion he travelled with his former experience, and accompanied by a professional artist ; he had received many hints from classical scholars as to the points most worthy of attention ; and he penetrated the country instead of going round it, the ancient Lycia being the main object of his research.

The results of Mr. FELLOWS'S journey are valuable in a fourfold sense : 1. He presents the reader with sketches of a primitive people and a beautiful countryall but unknown ; 2. He has thrown much light upon the geography of Lycia which till his visit was

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altogether errqneous except the coast, that had lately been sur- veyed; 3. His work abounds with suggestions as to the origin, growth, and character of art in general, but especially of Grecian art ; 4. His book is a valuable archaeological contribution to our knowledge of ancient Lycia, in its cities, monuments, arts, and language. Of these four points the first is the least valuable ; for men, manners, and landscapes, were only incidental objects with Mr. FELLOWS. His habits and turn of mind, too, are better fitted to repeat those essential characters of things which others have presented, than to perceive and seize them for himself, surrounded as they are in actual nature by so many subordinate or accidental concomitants. The general public, however, will prefer these pas- sages of description to the more important part of the work ; be- cause that information, however valuable, possesses little of popular association. To ascertain the exact site of a disputed place, is a great point to the geographer : the common reader, who sees the result in a few figures expressing latitude and longitude, cannot enter into the discovery. When the classical scholar learns that some of the sculptures on the ancient tombs confirm HomEE's de- scription of the Lydians as they appeared at the siege of Troy, the details have for him the interest of a fact which touches cherished associations ; but to the reader who "never heard of Ajax or of Hector," they are barren, or at best superficial. The historical student, familiar with HERODOTUS, feels a certain kind of delight when he hears of the discovery of the city of Calynda ; but to the world at large the fact is unsuggestive of a single idea. And al- though, no doubt, a skilful exposition of all the points involved, illustrated by the remains themselves, or their selected fac-similes in the very spirited plates of Mr. FELLOWS, could be made inte- resting, the subject is more fitted for a popular lecturer than a writer.

Allowing for an extension of Lycia into the surrounding dis- tricts, and for an omission of the fact that the ancient Lycians were conquered by CYRUS with circumstances analogous to those which attended the Roman victory over the Numantines, the following extracts contain the quintessence of the country's claims upon attention, and the contributions of Mr. FELLOWS towards a better knowledge of it.

"In this, now almost unknown part of ancient Greece, three of the seven Wise Men in the early history of the world had their birth.* Poetry, His- tory, Fable, and Philosophy, had each their fathers in this country.t Among the Wonders of the World, it boasted its temple at Ephesus, its mausoleum in

aria, and its colossus at Rhodes. The finest work of art, the celebrated Venus, is attributed to this people. The most wealthy of kings : and the greatest of armies § arose in this region ; and their tumult remain still undis- turbed. 11 The sites of its cities are unknown to us; and even the language of a considerable portion, abounding with inscriptions, has hitherto almost escaped the observation of the philologists of Europe.

"In this small province I have discovered the remains of eleven cities not denoted in any map, and of which I believe it was not known that any traces existed. These eleven, with Xanthus and Tlos, described in my former journal, and the eleven other cities along the coast visited by former travellers, make together twenty-four of the thirty-six cities mentioned by Pliny as having left remains still seen in his age. 1 also observed, and have noticed in my journal, many other piles of ruins not included in the above numbers.

"Many of the coins which I have found, atd of which I give copies in the following pages, were before unknown to the numismatist ; and others will enable him to assign place and date to coins in sarious museums, which have

before been unexplained or erroneously attributed. • • •

" Some of the inscriptions, of which I took copies on this tour, are of great value, as supplying a key to the hitherto unknown Lycian language; and others are important as bearing upon and in some instances elucidating very curiously questions of remote history.'

The first and most striking point impressed by Mr. Fra.nows's volume, is the wealth and industry of the ancient Lycians : for the

• nudes. Bias. and Pitt aces. 1- Homer. Herodotus, &sop. and Pythagoras.

Cr-sus. § Xerxes expedition. § Of Alyaltes, at Sardis.

country in which so many cities flourished is only about sixty miles long by forty broad, and exceedingly mountainous to boot ; most of the cities, indeed, being placed upon eminences difficult of access ; whence, probably, the preservation of their remains. Another striking point, equally attributable to the character of the country, is the strong resemblance traceable between ancient and modern times. The ploughman harnesses his oxen to the same yoke and turns the furrow with the same plough as in the classical age. The style and attributes of the dancing fauns and the other figures of ancient sculpture are vivified in the dances of the people; the head-dresses of the women are the same, most probably, as in the days of HOMER; and so is the shape of their pottery ; even the sandals worn by some of the indigeni of today are such as they appear to have been nearly three thousand years ago. Here is the sketch of an evening party in the wilds, where the strangers were amused with a classic dance.

" The evening afforded as much amusement : our apartment was large, and walled for about five feet high, nearly to the eaves of the roof, with wattled or wicker-worked fencing, and this had been partially plastered with mud ; the gable-ends to the cast and west were open to the stars of a brilliant but ex- ceedingly cold night. A large fire, lighted at one end of this enclosure, was the point of attraction in the room; but its smoke, driven in all directions by the wind, was not quite agreeable to eyes unaccustomed to its pungency : our hut had no door, and our cheeiful fire was a beacon to all the peasants of this little place; and it would be,difficult to describe either by pen or pencil the singular and highly picturesque effect of the assembled groups. "There is something peculiarly elegant in the attitudes and manners of these people, be their rank high or low : by all classes the etiquette of rank is observed, for our Zoorigees, with one or two servants of the farm, formed the background of the scene, and scarcely appeared except when the blaze of the fire was replenished with fresh logs of wood. Twelve or fourteen Turks, all varying in dress, yet each rich and costly, sat around the fire, while we reclined at our table. Mania was cooking, and, as usual, had to answer the many in- quiries of the wondering peasants respecting the strangers.

"A lute or guitar, which is found in almost every hut in this country, was soon sounded ; and a youth, one of our hosts, played several airs, all extremely singular, but simple, wild, and some very harmonious. One slow melody we admired, and were told that it was a dance : the circle was enlarged, and our Cavass stood in the midst and danced in a most singular manner the dance, as he called it, of the Yourooks or shepherds; it was accompanied with much grimace, was in slow time, and furnished a good study for attitudes. Ile was succeeded by a Greek ; and I never was more struck than by the accurate re- presentation of the attitudes displayed in the fauns and bacchanal figures of the antique. Mr. Scharf had, unknown to me, sketched some of them ; the uplifted and curved arm, the bending head, the raised heel, and the displayed muscles—for all the party had bare legs and feet—exactly resembled the figures of ancient Greek sculpture. The snapping the finger in imitation of casta- nets was in admirable time to the lute accompaniment This is not a dance for exercise or sociability, as our modern Northern dances appear; it is a pas soul, slow in movement, and apparently more studied than even the perform- ance of Taglioni. And whence do these tented peasants learn it ? They have no schools for such accomplishments, no opera, nor any theatrical representa- tion; but the tradition, if it may be so called, is handed down by the boys dancing for the amusement of the people at their weddings and galas. The attention and apparent quiet gratification of the whole party also formed a feature unknown to this class of people in any other nation. The musician appeared the least interested of the party, and continued his monotonous tune with mechanical precision. Each guest, %hose sole attraction was a feeling of sociability—for there was no repast, nor did he expect it—lighted his torch of turpentine-wood, and retired to his tent or shed."

The effect of this passage is somewhat incomplete from the absence of the expressive wood-cuts which illustrate it in the volume; but the simple beauty of the forms of their buildings, and the staring evidence they furnish of the hut of the peasant being the origin of the classical temple and tomb, cannot be apprehended at all without the pictured page. The sixth chapter is one that should be thoroughly studied by the artist and man of taste, as exhibiting to the eye and the mind the rise of architecture, showing the transformation from the perishable mud and wooden hut to the enduring marble. It is true that the fact has been stated before : every encyclopmdia treatise on architecture tells how poles became columns, and how the Doric, Corinthian, and other orders sprang up : but here we have the reality before our eyes ; the huts of yesterday, exhibiting their relationship to the ruined tombs and temples of three thousand years ago—the ruins displaying their origin, not merely in the general character, but in the ornamental details of the nails, the bolts, the studs, and all the other mecha- nical means of structure or of fastening.

But it is more than a history of art ; it is a pregnant hint to the true artist. Whatever is great and enduring must be indigenous, borrowing an enrichment from abroad, but home in its structure, character, and style. All great and original artistical excellence perhaps consists in presenting the essential characteristics of na- tional forms, or, where man is concerned, of national mind. This is the case with Egyptian and Grecian art, as well as with Oriental; though the style of Eastern Asia is inferior, and the beauty and simplicity less. It is the case too with Italian painting; and with Grecian, Italian, and English literature,—the only people which can be said to have a literature of their own ; for DANTE and Boc- caccio in Italy, and CHAUCER and SHAKSPERE in England, are truly national, though deriving some of their knowledge, taste, and variety, from foreign sources. Art we have none ; and our great monuments of Gothic architecture are shared in common with many nations. It is impossible, however, to wander through the country—to look upon the picturesque hovel—to examine the better class of cottage, with its slightly ornamental gable and. chimney—to gaze upon the snug farm or imposing manor-house- and not feel that we had the germ of a national architecture, formed by the mind and necessities of the people, and admirably adapted to each class of society. But we never had an architect—a mind which, extracting from these many examples before him their pervading characteristics and essential beauty, should have formed a national style. INIGO Jozuts had perhaps the genius, but his

attention was directed to foreign models: all the rest, save WREN the mathematician, were, in the language of the shop, "surveyors and builders "—parents of abortions when aiming at novelty, and wholesale plagiarists with various degrees of taste when attempting to transplant into our Northern weather and homely regard to com- fort the classical forms adapted to a sunny and Southern clime and &joyous out-of-door-living people.

Leaving criticism and art, we return to Mr. FELLOWS, to take a few miscellaneous extracts from his pages.

EFFECT OF CIVILIZATION ON PRICES AND MORALS.

The greatest inconvenience is now felt from the want of horses in Smyrna, where the supply is now limited, although a few years ago the town abounded with them ; but the establishment of steam-vessels has superseded the more than daily lines of Tartars hence to Constantinople. Scarcely any horses arc now kept for the service of the post, the ordinary demand being very trifling. Another great pecuniary inconvenience has arisen since I was last here, but it will probably be temporary. Smyrna is now the market for the combined fleets of several nations stationed in her gulf: at Vourlah are five English ships of war, and one here; the French have six, and the Austrian three, lying in front of the town of Smyrna: these bring an additional population of many thousand consumers. Meat, poultry, eggs, game, butter, and indeed all provi- sions, are four and five times the price they were two years ago. The charges at the inns are more than doubled, as well as the hire of horses for riding about the neighbourhood, in consequence of the demand occasioned by the officers of the navy. The appearance, and I fear the morals of the " Frank town "—the designation of the quarter near the sea, which is occupied by Franks of all na- tions—are also much changed by the immense number of French sailors, who seem to be allowed to spend their days on shore: hundreds are each evening reeling into their crowded boats, and many, too much intoxicated to walk, are put on board by their less drunken mates. This irregularity has caused the total absence of our sailors from Smyrna; for a few weeks ago they resented an affront received from some French sailors, and although double their own number, so severely treated them, that it was thought better they should not come again in contact while such disorder prevailed among the sailors of that nation. The Austrian seamen appear to be under much better discipline.

PROSPECT PROM AN ANCIENT THEATRE: NYSA.

The rains are interesting; they show distinctly the form of a theatre, facing the south ; and many of the seats, with overhanging mouldings, still remain. The theatre, as well as the general situation of the city, is a striking instance of the selection by the ancient Greeks of a site for their theatres commanding extensive and beautiful views.

The prospect was here exquisite: in front, on either hand, stood the orna- mental buildings of the city, forming a vista which embraced a view of richly. wooded hills, divided by rapid streams, hastening to a valley unrivalled in luxu- riant vegetation. Through this runs the "winding Mseander," visible. for upwards of fifty miles, and making as many curves in its meandering course. The whole of the scene is bounded by the mountains of Cans, many at this time capped with snow. A stream originally ran through an arched passage under the theatre, and another building, probably a stadium, in front ; but much of this subterranean course had fallen in, rendering the broken arch and walls on either side an accumulated mass of ruins.

A GREEK CITY : ALINDA.

The situation of this highly picturesque city is perfectly Greek ; and I have seen none built up so steep a crag, formed of the boldest blocks of granite rock, which have in many places been cut into long flights of wide steps leading up to the city. One of three or four of the lines of tombs, showing the various approaches, is very characteristic, and must have had a grand and melancholy appearance—a " Via Sacra." It was a paved way, of steep ascent from the valley, extending nearly a mile up into the crag of the Acropolis, winding the whole length between tombs, of all the forms of heavy melancholy grandeur, which effect was heightened by the gray colour of the granite, out of which or rather in which they were formed; for some, the most novel to me, had a -cavity for the body cut into the mass of the rock, and a heavy cover placed over it; the weight of some of these has secured the sanctity of the dead. I sketched many of various forms, but the effect of the whole I cannot express with pencil or pen. This street of tombs retains its pavement of large oblong stones, eight or nine feet in length ; the width of the way was seventeen feet, formed by two stones. As an admirer of works of art, I am of course de- lighted to find highly ornamented and sculptured tombs, as I have done in Lycia; but as monuments for the dead, these massive tombs are more lit em- blems, and are another instance of the perfection of taste among. the early Greeks. The designs of many of our modern tombs carry the Ideas away from the dead, and are looked at often as works of art alone.

A GRECIAN TRAIT.

I have observed that here, at Kastelorizo, and other places where the Greek population is considerable, the Governor of the town always sends a guard or policeman to wait on the outside of the door of our room. I have frequently 'declined this honour as unnecessary • but the reply has always intimated that we and our property are, while in the town, under the protection of the Go- vernor, and that he cannot answer for the honesty of all the people. This has never occurred in the towns where the number of the Greeks was small.

LYMAN TURKS.

We are at the house of the Aga, and have witnessed a curious scene each evening. It is seldom that thirty men so handsome in form, feature, and dress assemble in the same room : they are probably the principal people of the place. Not a taint of European costume is yet seen here ; scarcely a man has ever left his mountain district, and every thing about 113 was novel to them. I doubt whether in any other part of the wotld such a spirit of inquiry and quickness of comprehension would be met with in a similar village groups. Our knives, inetruments, pencils, Indian rubber, and paints, were examined, and tolerably well understood by most of the party. The pencil I gave to one was soon employed in writing a sentence in the Turkish language ; which I found was the date of our arrival, and the name of the writer of the memo- randum. We then wrote something in English, which was copied in fac• simile, well and quickly executed. The remarks were natural expressions of wonder, but all showing reflection. The washing, the prayer, the dinner, and the reading aloud the firman, were each subjects for an artist. Our sketch- books were a great source of astonishment to all; some looked at them the wrong way upward, but all said "Allah, Allah!" They recognized in the sketches the mosques, camels, birds, and a frog, with the greatest expressions of To the classical archmologist the supplementary matter will perhaps have more attractions than the book itself: for it contains the results of Mr. FELLows's labours, in a collection of the in- scriptions he copied and of the ancient Lycian coins be collected ; the inscriptions translated by M. Heastass WIENER. Several private Lycian inscriptions, and a very long public one, are still more important; for they contain a complete alphabet of that lost language, upon which and upon the Lycian coins Mr. Denim. Snenra has written a very elaborate essay.

LIGHTS, SHADOWS, AND REFLECTIONS OP WHIGS AND TORIES.

WHAT this volume is may soon be told. If not an imitation of Lord 13aoonnam's Characters of Distinguished Statesmen, (which the author repudiates,) it is framed upon a similar plan; contain- ing a series of political characters who figured on the stage from 1760 till 1810; with chapters of subjects—such as "French Revo- lution," "Bank Restriction Act," "Peninsular War," "April 1607," a narrative ofthe formation of the FERCEVAL Administration—so as to carry on the history without interfering with the critical biography. From an incidental remark in the preface, the writer seems to be a Whig on his travels. His avowed object is "to ascertain if the Tories are more deserving of public confidence than the Whigs or Radicals, or if all three parties are utterly worthless." His real purpose, (delayed too long, for the book was commenced, the author tells us, in 1838, and it appears to have been huddled up in a hurry,) was to effect a diversion in favour of his party. Alas ! he mingles in the fray too late :

"Could Troy be saved by any single hand,

This gray goose weapon would have made her stand : " but, as he observes of what might have happened if PITT and Fox had "united cordially" at the outset of their career, Diis alter visum est.

Yet though all about the book is soon dismissed, the merit and character of the author are not so easily settled. Whether he is a gentleman writer or an ambitious penny-a-liner seems a moot point. Sometimes he shows the deficient logic, the empty much-ado-about-nothing solemnity of the newsman spin- ning a reflection on an accident or offence. On the other hand, he is more laconic than these word-dealers, with more reading and of a wider range than they ever give signs of; he appears to have mixed familiarly with men of station and consequence; and he speaks of persons and things, in the earlier part of the century, with the certainty of personal knowledge. Moreover, though he is superficial, flippant, and pretending enough, there is no personal pretence about him.

Readableness, and even a sort of attraction, are given to the book by the greatness of the events and their interesting nature ; the number of characters and the associations connected with them ; the anecdotes, many of them, we think, new ; as well as by the onward progress of the "Country Gentleman,"—for, whether right or wrong, sensible or silly, he deals only with leading circumstances, giving no heed to details of fact or coherence of narration. Occa- sionally there is a force and weight in his style, with a critical per- ception in his personal judgments, that would bespeak him capable of producing a better work had he written with less careless haste.

One of the best and most judiciously-done characters to be found in the book is Lord GERNVILLE ; of whom he appears to have had some living knowledge.

LORD GRENVILLE.

He had great merits and great defects : among the former was his con- sistency, among the latter was a stern haughtiness, which never forsook him. Accordingly, he was the most unpopular RUM in England, hated by the people and abhorred by the King. By both George the Third and George the Fourth he MO cordially detested ; a decided proof that he must have possessed very extraordinary merit. When George the Third became nearly blind, be said, "I shall at least have one consolation—I can no longer see Lord Grenville!" As a proof of his haughtiness, on one occasion when dining at Carlton House, the Prince, who sat next him, clapped him on the back and pressed him to fill his glass. Lord Grenville gave him a look which spoke volumes. The Prince instantly said, "Ohs, my Lord, I ask your pardon ? " The answer was, "Sir, I am your father's subject."

In one respect he was differently circumstanced from either Pitt or Fox ; the former of whom was in office during the greater part of his career, the latter in Opposition during the entire of his Parliamentary life, with the excerption of two years. Lord Grenville, on the other hand, was sixteen years in office, and twenty in Opposition. Having sat in the Cabinet with all the eminent men of his time, he acquired in consequence a knowledge of the character, talent, and attainments of his opponents and colleagues. In the House of Commons he does not appear to have taken a very active part; perhaps unwilling to en- counter men, who, whatever may be thought of them when compared with Pitt, were certainly greatly his superiors. In the House of Peers the Minister was without efficient support : it there- fore answered every purpose to raise Grenville to the Peerage, which was effected before the commencement of the war. To the House of Peers he was admirable suited : his manner stately and imposing, but without the animation of Pitt; his logic and reasoning powers inferior only to those of Fox, were enlivened neither by wit, or humour, or sarcasm. His speeches were more like the lectures of a professor than the orations of a senator, and were evidently delivered as if there was to be no appeal from the judgments he pronounced.

His character of CURRAN also appears the result of unwritten knowledge.

CURRAN'S ORATORY.

But the criterion of a speech is the effect produced on the audience to which it is addressed ; and, assuming this rule to be correct, never was there a more successful orator : he carried away juries, judges, the bar, the audience, con- vulsing them with laughter or drowning them in tears, as seemed meet to the great artist. The most extraordinary speech which he or perhaps any other advocate ever made, was in a case of a disputed will, Newburgh versus Bur- rowes. The trial occupied eight or nine days. The speech of Curran (whose duty it was to impugn the will) consumed six hours ; unfortunately there is no report of it, but the writer has heard from two eminent men who were counsel in the cause, that the display of talent of every kind was astonishing ; his pa- thetic description of a dying man anxious to make an equitable will, was strongly contrasted with his mimicry of a Galway priest who attended the testator during his last illness, and part of whose evidence ran thus—" Dennis, says I, now that you are going to die, it is time to lead a new life. Oh, it would he a mighty pretty thing to save your Boni from the great enemy." This, delivered in a strong Connaught brogue with a St. Omer's lackering, had a most ludicrous effect ; and Curran took care when he repeated it that it should lose nothing in the translation. The effect produced by this piece of comic acting on the Judge who presided (Lord Clonmell) was very amusing : he did not think it decorous to laugla mach, but having himself a great relish for humour and no inconsiderable talent for mimicry, he was placed in a painful position between the restraint he imposed on himself and his propensity to laugh : at length he fairly broke out into a convulsion of laughter, and very nearly fell off the bench.

GRATTAN'S MODE OF PREPARATION.

His mode of preparing his speeches was very peculiar. Be did not write much, but he rehearsed the greater portion of his harangues. When he hit on apassage which pleased him, he committed it to writing. It is not a little singular, that his invectives were for the most part prepared; among others, the celebrated one against Flood. He, however, did not seek an occasion for introducing these fierce assaults; but he considered the characters and conduct of the men with whom he was likely to come into collision, and arranged his weapons accordingly. These prepared diatribes he pleasantly styled his "pocket-pistols." They were, however, more for defence than attack, as he seldom fired the first shot. In the two instances of Flood and Corry, it was not he who sought the quarrel.

GRATTAN ON PERSONALITY.

The writer once heard him say, that he thought Cicero indulged too much in personalities; and said that the second Philippic could not have been spoken as it has reached us. "Personalities never avail • they cannot be tolerated in a civilized assembly. No one appeals to the pistol until he has lost his cause." After this, let the gentle reader peruse the assaults on Flood and Corry.

SPEAKER ABBOTT, LORD COLCHESTER.

On another occasion, his love of order and decorum manifested itself in a ludicrous manner. Earl Percy bad to present a report and ask for leave to lay it on the table : he appeared at the bar of the House, and was accordingly asked by the Speaker, "What have you there, Earl Percy ? " The noble lord, through inadvertence, advanced towards the table of the House; when he was startled by a shout of "Order, order !" from the Speaker : this was twice re- peated: at length a Member whispered to the dismayed nobleman, that he should not have advanced beyond the bar until he had been told by the Speaker to bring up the report; he accordingly returned, and was informed by the Speaker, with great pomp of language, that he was very disorderly ; and having relieved himself by this display, sat down, rejoicing in his own magnificence. In returning the thanks of the House to naval and military commanders he appeared to great advantage. His addresses to the Duke of Wellington, Lord Lynedocb, Lord Hill, and the other officers who achieved victories during the Peninsular war, are most felicitous. A certain degree of stateliness and a fulness of declamation are not misplaced in describing the pomp and circum • stance of war. Accordingly, the blemishes of Abbott became graces when he descanted on military subjects : he evinced, too, a very accurate judgment in those addresses; avoiding diffuseness on the one hand and obscure brevity on the other : those speeches, like Niobe's children, are all beautiful, yet differing in degree and style of beauty.

.• Fades non omnibus una N ee diverse tame's." —Ovireus.

In one respect, however, the fame of Abbott will endure—be possessed a rare impartiality, never evincing a want of firmness or temper. The impeachment of Lord Melville was carried by his casting-vote although he knew that the success of that impeachment would destroy the Aiministration. Had he been Speaker when Mr. Pitt and Mr. Tierney bad the altercation which ended in a duel, he would have quelled the dispute at once. Had he presided in the first Reformed Parliament, the indecencies and vulgarity which disgraced that as- sembly would have been chastised the very first night.

These quotations are favourable specimens of the Lights, Shadows, and Reflections; so favourable, indeed, that they scarcely appear to be by the same hand which wrote the foolish preface. And though the book tells little that may be called new, and it can by no means serve as an authority or a standard, it is still a volume that one likes to read.