LITERARY SPECTATOR.
SECUR'S RUSSIAN HISTORY.*
This is a sketch of a vast subject—such a book as would, when the title was in fashion, have been called the Spirit of the History of Russia. The two modes by which history may be abridged are—first, by means of a spirit ; which is a philosophical view of a chain of causes which have led to the condition of the people at various epochs: the other is by a picture, tableau, or precis ; in which the course of events themselves are deseriissi in consequential order, care being taken to select only the great influential events, and to exclude all details. The two great masters of the arts of abridgment were VOLTAIRE and 13ossuisor. Count SEGUE, though a man of talent and information, we do not think will add his name to theirs.
We nevertheless recommend this sketch of the History of Russia, because we do not. know Nrkere similar information is to be had in the same compass ; and the information is of that quality that, to the gene- ral realer, it would not be worth greater trouble than this book itself will cost in the perusal. The subject of the History of Russia is one, indeed. which sooner or later :lilt probably concern the, people of Europe; but the reader will find little in its dreary annals to reward his pains until the gigantic barbarian PETER took it into his head to ordain civil y.;it ion t liroughout the whole extent of his benighted domains.
•
History of Russia and of Peter the Great. By General Count Philip Seger. London, 1S2'J. Treuol(urd Wartz, The fault we have to find with COunt SEGUR is that he is never in repose : he is always straining after something deep, fine, or philoso- phical. He never narrates an event without the accompaniment of a world of mental gesticulation : he never reasons or speculates about the causes of events without losing himself in the clouds,—brilliant some- times, it is true ; oftener, however, gaudy; and generally unsubstantial. He takes eternity in one hand, and fate or destiny in another, and puts them here and there, and hocus pocuses first with one and then the other, like a conjuror with his cup and balls. And we are afraid that like the said conjuror, he is indebted for his success more to his ability in dazzling our eyes than to any deep acquaintance with the black art —the true art of historical divination. This style might be attractive in such a work as his great melodramatic romance on the Expedition to Russia ; but it suits ill with a sketch of the history of a country,— although, perhaps, least ill in that of Russia, whose dark and violent career may sometimes excuse a broad and flaming style of colouring.
We find among the heads of Chapters, not the least singular part of this history, a kind of apology for the author's manner cf writing; which our readers may take if they please—it does not satisfy us. It is also not very unlike a specimen of the jumping style of the body of the work itself.
"BOOK X. CHAP. II.
" The historian ought not to he insensible. To do justice to truth, he ought not to be cold ; nothing being more animated, more vividly coloured and less cold, than truth. Two voices, contemporaneous with Peter the Great, the one that of admiration, the other that of hatred, are raised for and against him. The accusation urged by the one. It adduces the atrocious execution of the vaiwode of Kargopol, that of Talitskoi, and several mas- sacres: the other voice replies by referring to the circumstances, to the men of that period, the dangers to which Peter has been exposed, the criminal attempts of which he has been the victim, and their influence on his consti- tution and character. It recalls to mind the great utility of this object: it adds, that all men who are colossally sculptured, are roughly hewn forms, without anything of high finish. But the cry of blood is now heard : at the name of Alexis all is silent, except the voice of Peter I. himself, who conies to accuse his own son before the grandees of the empire."
This is the most figurative summary that we ever happened to meet with.
We should scarcely be doine. the Count justice, however, if we were to leave him without giving any other example of him than this: we will quote, therefore, a part of his character of PETER.
" It was he who from north to south, and on all the points of his vast do- minions, put into the hands of his people the compass, the pen, the musket, and even the axe and the mattock. Almost at the same instant they saw him visit the sea of Archangel, conquer that of Asoph, cover Lake Ladoga all at once with a hundred vessels, surprise with his infantry, and carry, sword in hand, the Swedish fleet : wrest from it the Gulf of Finland; found there, in contempt of all the elements, a military and commercial capital; efface cataracts, clear the sandbanks from the rivers which flow into the Black Sea and the Caspian ; and lastly, design, build, and launch vessels of eighty guns on the seas of Xerxes and of Odin.
" The universal impulse which he gave to his subjects, he everywhere kept up by his unexpected appearance. In all places and at all times, each one looked for his arrival. They were sure that nothing would escape his expe. rienced eye, and that he would he certain to appreciate every thing, and to make himself obeyed, as he well knew how to execute whatever he com- manded.
" In fine, as we are told by Perry, the English engineer, who was in his service, and who was besides so phlegmatic, downright, and discontented, —this prince delighted in being perpetually and alternately a civil and marine engineer, smith, founder, gunsmith, fireworker, artilleryman, carpenter, pilot, teacher of all kinds of military exercises, and astronomer ; putting to every thin!, a practised, powerful, and indefatigable hand, by which all was brought into form, the officer, the soldier, the weapon which he bore, the sailor, the ship itself, victory too, the results of so many efforts, and even the fireworks and triumphal arches by which victory was rewarded." P.320.
Previous page
