THE OUT-STATION; OR, JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. BY J. WILLYAMS GRYLLS, THE BUNDLE OF RAGS. BY J. E. CARPENTER, ESQ. AND AT HOME. BY CALDER CAMPBELL.-ADVENTURES OF THE CON- NAUGHT RANGERS FROM 1808 TO 1814. BY WILLIAM GRATTAN, ESQ.- - THE ANCIENT WORLD; OR, PICTURESQUE SKETCHES OF CREATION. D. T. ANSTED, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S.-THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ZAMBA, AN AFRICAN NEGRO-KING. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. CORRECTED AND ARRANGED BY PETER NEILSON.-HOME INFLUENCE: A TALE FOR MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS.-GEOLOGICAL EXCURSIONS ROUND THE ISLE OF WIGHT, AND ALONG THE ADJACENT COAST OF DORSETSHIRE. BY GIDEON A. MANTELL, ESQ., LL.D., F.R.S.-MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES 121 to 126 :-A YEAR OF CONSOLATION. BY MRS. BUTLER (LATE FANNY KEMBLE).-MEN, WOMEN, AND BOOKS. BY LEIGH HUNT. -NOVELS OF THE MONTH.-OUTLINES OF STRUCTURAL AND PHYSIOLO- ADRIEN ROUX; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A COURIER. BY DUD- BALLAD. BY J. E. CARPENTER, ESQ. My dear Sir,-In the March number of the New Monthly Magazine appeared an article by me, entitled" Modern Portugal," in which the following paragraph occurred ;— 66 The very cavalier manner with which some of the principal men, when escaping from the rebels at Oporto, were treated by the commander of the British steamer then in the Douro, is spoken of with the severest animadversion by all parties." As I could not state what I did not believe to be the case, so am I anxious to make ample amends, should I by chance have injured the officer alluded to in public estimation. The very best vindication I can offer of the character of Captain Robb, of H.M.S. Gladiator, of whom I spoke, both as an officer and a gentleman is, that his conduct, while in the Douro has received the full approval, both of the Commander-in-Chief of H.B.M. squadron in the Ta- gus, and of the British Ambassador at Lisbon. Every naval man is aware of Captain Robb's gallantry at Navarino, and no one is more ready than I am to do full justice to his high professional qualities. I regret that I should have been led by the statements I re- ceived to write of him as I then wrote. I. JAMES THE SECOND; OR, THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. EDITED BY W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ. ILLUSTRATED BY R. W. BUSS. BOOK THE SECOND.-Chap. III. The Mandate from Louis XIV.-Chap. Chap. VII. The Queen Mother.-Chap. VIII. Storming of the Hostelry. -Chap. IX. Reception at Villa Mejor.-Chap. X. The Spanish Ban- ditti.-Chap. XI. Roadside Adventures.-Chap. XII. Entrance into VI. THE TORERO OF MADRID. VII. THE WRECK OF THE 66 ATLANTIC." BY ANNA SAVAGE. H. G. KINGSTON, ESQ. NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. THE SPIRIT OF DANTE. BY L. MARIOTTI. AUTHOR OF "ITALY, PAST AND PRESENT." I. LOFTINESS OF THE SUBJECT. A POET's life may be written in one page. Not so the history of his after-life. His mortal career, like his mortal remains, occupies but six feet of ground. His genius, like his undying soul, can be circumscribed by no limits of time and space. the The contemplation of the achievements of a supreme intellect gives rise to sensations analogous to the raptures experienced by the Alpine traveller. The presence of a great mind has upon us the same effect as the view of the loftiest prodigies of nature. In both cases we become instinct with greatness of surrounding objects. Our exaltation is commensurate with our speechless amazement. The air grows keener and lighter as the hills swell threateningly around. Our lungs dilate, our very frame and our whole being expand at every step we climb on that daring flight of heavenward stairs. The study of Dante brings us to the summit of one of the most towering alps of human intelligence. The insight we obtain of the depth of his conceptions raises us in our own estimation, inspires us with new faith in the vastness and comprehensiveness, in the illimitedness of our human faculties. By the side of him, on the thousand fathoms' pedestal reared up to him by the reverence of after ages, we become, as it were, part of him-one with him. II. ITS DIFFICULTIES. BUT the reading of Dante is an arduous task. To comprehend the spirit of the poet we must lift ourselves up to a level with him. We need climb the mighty peak to perceive its gigantic dimensions. We are to strive and toil through the weary ascent, till we leave behind the gulf of time and space that yawns between us. We must strain all our powers of abstraction till we actually live in him. To say nothing of its greatness and goodness, the Poem of Dante is the most curious of books. The register of the past, noting down every incident within the compass of man's memory-the Gothic edifice with its hundred niches, every niche a shrine or a pillory, consigning a name to endless futurity. The debating ground for all vital problems, for all futile questions, such as will equally haunt and harass the fancy of an ignorant and superstitious generation, on the first awakening of its almost childish inquisitiveness. The treasury of all learning, human or divine, May.-VOL. LXXX. NO. CCCXVII. B visible or invisible. The maze of deep-shrouded allegories, allusions, abstractions, puzzling sybilline riddles. Vast, recondite knowledge, set down in metrical hieroglyphics. Such is Dante: with such views must his spirit be searched in his time-hallowed pages. The annalist, the interpreter, the representative of the middle ages, Dante it especially identified with that most obscure, but most interesting period of human history. A rapid sketch of the leading ideas of mankind during that transitional era is the most natural introduction to the study of Dante. III: DANTE'S POLITICAL SPIRIT. THE formation of human societies began under circumstances analogous to the phenomena of primitive creation. It was night upon the earth, and "darkness was upon the face of the deep." The nations of Europe were slowly emerging from chaos. Wave after wave, the flood of northern barbarism, had settled upon the surface of ancient civilisation, and the subsiding waters had left thick layers of bare and swampy, but, as it proved, not barren, alluvial soil. The half-smothered plants of the former culture began slowly to struggle through and re-germinate, deriving fresh vigour from the fertility of the superincumbent stratum. The colossal ideas of the Roman world were reproduced on the very outset of mediæval regeneration; among these towered the proud edifice of Roman ambition-universality of dominion. Nothing more sublime or generous than this same social catholicitythis absorption of all kingdoms into one vast empire, of all human tribes into one family-this concentration of all local resources into one means of common welfare-this uniformity of law, of creed, and languagethis organisation of a state without limits, of a community without neighbours or strangers-without friends or foes! This system of civilisation by unification, to which peace, free-trade, and education, are but too late, too slowly, too imperfectly, tending in our own days, the Romans had all but established eighteen centuries ago. Truly, they had achieved it by force of arms. But the law of the strongest was then also the law of the wisest, and civilisation invariably followed close on the steps of conquest. In the middle ages, though a more difficult, it seemed yet a practicable scheme. The great Roman notion survived the final destinies of Rome. The barbaric chieftains, who had been so busy at the demolition of the empire, aspired now to its reconstruction. Their ambitious spirit caught fire from the smouldering ruins on which they had based their throne. Charlemagne and Otho of Germany had well-nigh laid the world beneath their rule. Nor was the work of civilisation now to be effected merely by right of might. Universality of dominion was now to be cemented by catholicity of faith and worship. The world was, henceforth, to acknowledge " One God, one Pope, one Emperor." Now, of this strange triumvirate one was in Heaven; but the Earth was too narrow to harbour the two others at once. Emperor and Pope, Church and State, were, ever after, pitted against each other for pre eminence. |