BOOKS.
ICANNA'S LIFE OF CHALMERS.* THIS third -volume of the Life and Writings of Dr. Chalmers abounds in curious and entertaining matter, but scarcely equals its predecessors in variety and interest, at least to readers unac- quainted with the man and not familiar with the topics which tasked his energies. Some part of this falling-off was a necessity. The personal training, the up-hill struggles, were over : the cha- racter of Chalmers was developed, his principles formed, his fame established; there was no more of that progress which is essential to interest in biography, as to happiness in life ; luokily, there were none of those reverses in .fortune or lapses in conduct which "point a moral or adorn a tale." Some of the falling-off, however, is to be ascribed to the selection of subjects and to exu- berant treatment. The volume deals more with public events than with personal life, and is as much alistory of certain public affairs in which Dr. Chalmers took a prominent part as a biography proper. Both these features, also, are exhibited too fully ; the public accounts passing into daily news, and the extracts from the journals and letters dwelling upon commonplace circumstances or running too much into mere correspondenee,—save for the fol- lowers of the great Presbyterian preacher and leader, and those who had "seen his face."
Though this is the general character of the volume, large por- tions of it possess considerable attraction. The broad, catholic and grand yet simple character of Chalmers, is forcibly brought out, mixed with certain weaknesses, that rather detract from the critical estimate than impair the geniality ; nay, perhaps increase it, by bringing down the Calvinist orator to the common level of humanity. A manuscript volume of " Reminiscences " by John Joseph. Gurney, with the letters or journals of Chalmers himself written during some tours in England, one of which was a sort of pilgrimage to the different cathedrals, are full of interest, and interest of a biographical kind. Friend Gurney's dialogues have much characteristic matter, selected with discrimi- nation, reported with dramatic spirit, and with dramatic direc- tions the asides, &c. skilfully treated. Chalmers's own letters, written in the form of a journal to his family during his English tours, handle an infinite variety of subjects, and combine in a curious degree the attraction of travels and biography. The places he visits, the persons he meets, the incidents that occur, are not only remarkable in themselves, and have the double peculiarity of being English and looked at by an eye to whom the national part of them is strange yet not foreign ; they also bring out the characteristics of Chalmers in a high degree. His wide love of nature—his peculiar taste, fastidious, yet ready to be pleased with the homeliest things if not vulgar—his strong good sense—his quiet humour, and his love of a joke—together with sundry little weak- nesses of vanity or prejudice—give raciness to descriptions or re- marks that have much interest in themselves, especially when eminent persons are the topic. Both Coleridge and Irving are among the men of mark who are noticed; and Chalmers 'was not greatly taken with the longwindedness of either. " Thursday.—Irving and I went to Bedford Square. Mr. and Mrs. Mon- tague took us out in their carriage to Highgate, where we spent three hours with the great Coleridge. He lives with Dr. and Mrs. Gillman on the same footing that Cowper did with the Unwire. His conversation, which flowed in a mighty unremitting stream, is most astonishing, but, I must confess, to me still unintelligible. I caught occasional glimpses of what he would be at, but mainly he was very far out of all sight and all sympathy. I hold it, however, a great acquisition to have become acquainted with him. You know that Irving sits at his feet, and drinks in the inspiration of every syl- lable that falls from him. There is a secret and to me as yet unintelligible communion of spirit betwixt them on the ground of a certain German mys- ticism and trait, cendental Lake poetry, which I am not yet up to. Gordon [the Reverend Dr. Gordon of Edinburgh] says it is all unintelligible nonsense ; and I am sure a plain Fife man, as uncle 'Tamnias,' had he been alive, would have pronounced it the greatest buf he had ever heard in his life."
This passage on the same quality in Irving is from Mr. Gurney's manuscript. Chalmers speaks.
"I undertook to open Irving's new chapel in London. The congregation, in their eagerness to obtain seats, had already been assembled about three hours. Irving said he would assist me by reading. a chapter for me in the first instance. He chose the very longest chapter in the Bible, and went on with his exposition for an hour and a half. When my turn came, of what use could I be in an exhausted receiver ? On another similar occasion he kindly proffered sue the same aid, adding, I can be short.' I said, How long will it take you P' He answered, 'Only one hour and forty minutes.' Then replied I, I must decline the favour. "Clam°. My friend Mr. P. invited a party to supper. Some of his guests had three miles to walk home after the meal. But before its com- mencement, Mr. P. requested Irving, who was one of the party, to read the Bible and expound. Ile began and continued a discourse, which manifested not even a tendency towards termination until midnight. The supper was of course either burnt up or grown cold. When the clock struck twelve, Mr. P. tremblingly and gently suggested to him that it might be desirable 'to draw to a close. 'Who art thou,' be replied with prophetic energy, who detest to internipt the man of Grid in the midst of his adminiotrations ? ' Be pursued his commentary for some time longer, then closed the book, and 'waving his long arm over the head of his host, uttered an audible and deli- berate prayer that his offence might be forgiven."
In politics Chalmers ought to have been "a Whig and some- thing more" ; but Whig pranks and practices kept him in the ranks of the Conservatives. He was averse to the Reform Bill, less for what it altered (though he thought it went too far) than for the promises of human improvement its authors held out. He was disgusted by the shuffling of the Whigs in reference to church-
Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D. By his lion-in-law, the Reverend William Hanna, LL.D. Volume HI. Published by Hamil- ton and Adams, London ; and by Sutherland and Knox, Edinburgh. extension in Scotbaid ; which they encouraged till they found the Dissenting interest was strong enough to be troublesome, and then they handed the subject to Commissioners, whom they chose unfairly. His taste, too, though the reverse of exclusive, revolted from the low and vulgar. He gives this recipe for making a Tory.
" Speaking of politics, you have heard me say that a man of refinement and education won't travel through England on the tops of coaches without becoming a Tory. My Toryism has been farther confirmed this day. There was a Quakereas girl, with a still younger companion, travelling from their boarding-school home—and this was all well enough ; but there were also the feeders and woolstaplers of the West Riding, fat and unintelligent, with only pursy and vesicular projections on each aide of their chins, and a super- abundance of lard in their gills, whose manners well-nigh overact me, over- loading our coach with their enormous caresses, and squeezing themselves, as they ascended from various parts of the road, between passengers already in a state of compression, to the gives infraction of all law and justice, and the imminent danger of our nooks. The days were when I would have put dawn all this; but, whether from the love of peace, which grows with age, or perhaps froinsome remainder of the enfeebling influenza, (which, however, is getting better,) my quiescence predominated."
lie experienced further troubles at Huddersfield, and saw some Factory Bill Commissioners and an M.P. burned in effigy by a mob ; but the minister pulls up " to conclude." " Before I resume my. narrative, I may say by way of qualifying my ob- servations on Toryism, that though I hold a strong while virtuous govern- ment, and under the direction of the higher intelligence of our best-educated men, to be the best re:..e for a country, yet I feel it wrong to nourish con- tempt for any human being: 'Honour all men' is the precept of Scripture. We should not despise any of those for whom Christ died ; and the tendency so to do is one of those temptations to which refinement and knowledge are apt to expose us, and which ought to be resisted."
In 1830, Dr. Chalmers was one of the deputation from the Church of Scotland to present an address to 'William the Fourth on his accession ; and he gives an amusing account of it.
"We assembled in our hotel at one. The greatest consternation amongst tra about hats, which had been promised at twelve, but had not yet arrived. Then were four wanting ; and at length only three came, with the promise that we should get the other when we pmsed the shop. We went in three coaches, and landed at the Palace entry about half-past one. Ascended the stair ; passed through a magnificent lobby, between rows of glittering at- tendants all dressed in gold and scarlet. Ushered into a large anteroom, full of all sorts of company, walking about and collecting there for attendance on the levee ; military and naval officers in splendid uniforms—high legal gen tiemen with enormous wigs—ecclesiastics from archbishops to curates and in- ferior clergy. Our deputation made a mast respectable appearance among them, with our cocked three-cornered hats under our arms, our bands upon our breasts, and our gowns of Geneva upon our backs. Mine did not lap so close as I would have liked ; so that I was twice as thick as I should be, and it must have been palpable to every eye at the first glance that I was the greatest man there—and that though I took all care to keep my coat un- buttoned and my gown quite open : however, let not mamma be alarmed, for I made a most respectable appearance, and was treated with the utmost attention. I saw the Archbishop of York in the room, but did not get with- in speech of him. To make -up for this, however, I was introduced to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was very civil ; saw the Bishop of London, with whom I had a good cleal of talk, and am to dine on Friday ; was made up to by Admiral Sir Philip Durham ; and was further introduced, at their request, to Sir John Leach, Master of the Rolls, to Lord Chief Justice Tin- dall, to the Marquis of Bute, &c. But far the most interesting object there was Talleyrand—whom 1 could get nobody to introduce me to—splendidly attired as the French Ambassador, attended by some French military officers. I gazed with interest on the old shrivelled face of him, and thought I could see there the lines of deep reflection and lofty talent. His moral physiog- nomy, however, is a downright blank. He was by far the most important Continental personage in the room, and -drew all eyes. I was further in con- versation with Lord Melville, Mr. Spencer Percival, and Mr. Henry Drum- mond. The door to the middle apartmentwas at length opened for us ; when we entered in processional order. The Moderator first, with Des. Mack-Die:it and C,00k on each side of him ; I and Dr. Lee side by side followed ; Mr. Paul and Mr. George Sinclair, with their swords and bags, formed the next row; then Sir John Connel and Sir Henry Jardine ; and last of all, Mr. Pringle, M.P., and Dr. Stewart. We stopped in the middle room—equally crowded with the former, and alike splendid with mirrors, chandeliers, pic- tures, and gildings of-all sorts on the roof and walls—for about ten minutes, when at length the folding-doors to the grand state-room were thrown open. We all made a low bow on our first entry ; and the King. seated on the throne at the opposite end, took off his hat, putting it on again. We marched sip to the middle of the room, and made another low bow, when the King again took off his hat ; we then proceeded to the fat of the throne, and all made a third low bow, on which the King again took off his hat. After this the Moderator read his address, which was a little long ; and the King bowed repeatedly while it was reading. The Moderator then reached the address to the King upon the throne - who took it from him and gave it to Sir Robert Peel on his left hand ; wisein his turn gave the King his written reply; which he read very well. After this, the Moderator went up to the stool before the throne, leaned his left knee upon it, and kissed the King's hand. We each in our turn did the same thing ; the Moderator naming every one of us as we advanced. I went through my kneel and my kiss very comfort- ably. The King said something to each of us. His first question to me was, Do you reside constantly in Edinburgh ? ' I said, 'Yes, an't please your Majesty.' His next question was, "How long do you remain in town ? ' I said, Till Monday, an't please your Majesty.' I then descended the steps leading from the foot of the throne to the floor, and fell into my place in the deputation. After we had all been thus introduced, we began to retire in a body just as we had come, bowing all the way with our laces to the King, and so moving backwards ; when the King called out, 'Don't go away, gen- tlemen; I shall leave the throne and the Queen will succeed me.' We stopped in the middle of the floor ; when the most beautiful living sight I ever beheld burst upon our delighted gaze,—the Queen with twelve maids of honour, in a perfect spangle of gold and diamonds, entered the room. I am sorry I cannot go over in detail the particulars of their dresses ; only that their lefty plumes upon their heads, and their long sweeping trains upon the floor, had a very magnificent effect. She took her seat on the throne ; and we made the same profound obeisances as before, advancing to the foot of the steps that lead to the footstool of the throne. A short address was read to her as before ; and her reply was most beautifully given, in rather a tre- mulous voice, and just as low as that I could only hear and no more. 74 went through the same ceremonial of advancing successively and kissing hands, and then retired, with three bows ; which the Queen returned most gracefully, but with all the simplicity, I had almost said bashfulness, of a timid country girL She is really a very natural and amiable-looking person. The whole was magnificent."
Although a Presbyterian after the straitest sect, and not blind to the abuses of the Church of England, Dr. Chalmers had a great liking for "the Establishment." The cathedrals and old churches pleased his taste; "the Establishment" met his theory of endow- ments; hence, oftener than once when sectarians got him to preach, they were in the position of the king who sent for Balaam to curse Israel. Ile once went to Bristol to open an Independent chapel, built at the expense of Mr. Hare.
"On his arrival at Mr. Hare's, he found that a strong current of opinion hostile to the Established Church of England prevailed in that society into which he was thrown ; and as his opening of the chapel might possibly lay his own sentiments upon this subject open to misinterpretation, he thought it right, as it certainly was both candid and manly, to close the sermon which he delivered upon this occasion with the following declaration-
" I hold the Establishment to be not only a great Christian good, but one indispensable to the upholding of a diffused Christianity throughout the land. In spite of all the imputations and errors which its greatest enemies have laid to its door, we hold, that on the alternative of its existence or non- existence there would hang a most fearful odds to the Christianity of Eng- land. We are ready to admit that the working of the apparatus might be made greatly more efficient; but we at the same time contend, that were ft taken down, the result would be tantamount to a moral blight on the length and breadth of our land. We think it might be demonstrated, that were the ministrations of your Established Church to be done away, they would never be replaced by all the zeal, energy, and talent of private adventurers. In- stead of the frequent parish-church, that most beauteous spectacle to El truly Christian heart, because to him the richest in moral associations, it its tower peeping forth from amidst the verdure of the trees in which ft em- bosomed, there would be presented to the eye of the traveller only rare and thinly-scattered meeting-houses.'"
The time over which this volume extends is from 1823, when Dr. Chalmers went to St. Andrew's as Professor of Moral Philoso- phy, to 1835, when his private contest with Lord Melbourne and the Whig Ministry on the subject of church-extension closed. The principal intervening subjects of a public kind are some college differences at St. Andrew's, in reference to the appropriation of the funds and other matters ; the Annuity-tax of Edinburgh, after Dr. Chalmers had settled in the capital as Professor of Divinity ; and several questions in the Presbytery or the General Assembly, sometimes curious as containing the germ of the differences that subsequently produced the Secession. The chief literary under- takings were the contribution to the Bridgewater Treatises, and the work on Political Economy, in which, it may be recollected, Dr. Chalmers, among other dubious topics, broached the doctrine that all taxes fall upon land. The most important personal event was an attack of paralysis in 1834, brought on by his exertions in the dispute between the Presbytery and Town-Council on the An- nuity-tax; from which, however, he recovered without perceptible effects.
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