:

The New "Examen." By John PAGET, Barrister-at-law. (Edinburgh: Blackwoods.) It is proverbially more easy to deceive than to undeceive mankind, and the man who endeavours to shew that a brilliant and popular writer "is not to be trusted either to narrate facts accurately, to state evidence truly, or to amend the judgment of history with impartiality," has a task both laborious and thankless before him thankless, as acquiescence in his conclusions is a confession of error in judgment on the part of the public, and laborious, as the matter must be gone into in the most minute detail. This last consideration has deterred us from acting on our first impulse as each successive volume of Lord Macaulay's "History of England" appeared, and entering on a critical review of the work. We saw at once that it was a systematic misrepresentation of the events that it affected to describe, and that the writer well deserved the character given by Dryden to a shallow celebrity of his day,

"Praising and railing were his usual themes,

And both, to shew his judgment, in extremes : So over violent, or over civil,

That every man with him was God or devil."

We saw that he had a very convenient "rule of thumb" by which he apportioned praise or blame, and that as nothing more than a general adherence to the fortunes of William of Orange was required to earn the one, so the fairest virtues, the most heroic bravery, the brightest talents were of no avail to save their possessors from being held up to public execration if they were in any manner opposed to him. This general tone is evident enough to any one who reads the work, but at the same time it must be allowed that the pseudo-historian was a master of his craft, and that unless his web of sophistries and calumnies is carefully unravelled, grievous injury will be done to the cause of historic truth. We are glad to see that Mr. Paget has applied himself to the task, and as he has

wisely confined himself to a few selected instances, he Las kept what he has to say in moderate limits. From these examples, the public may safely judge of all the rest, and if scrupulous fair dealing, clear arrangement of facts and authorities, lucid style, and an honest love of truth, entitle a man to attention, the author of "The New Examen" will undoubtedly receive it.

Mr. Paget's book is "an inquiry into the evidence relating to certain passages in Lord Macaulay's History concerning (1.) the Duke of Marlborough, (2.) the Massacre of Glencoe, (3.) the Highlands of Scotland, (4.) Viscount Dundee, and (5.) William Penn." His mode of proceeding is to take, not one passage or so on each of these subjects, but, wisely disregarding the risk of being tedious to superficial readers, to print the whole of Lord Macaulay's statement on a given matter, and then to check it by the very authorities he has produced, when the result in every instance is, that the noble writer is convicted of falsifying evidence to a degree that it would be hard to believe, were not his own words and those that he affects to quote or to rely on placed side by side. We certainly never saw a more damaging exposure, and it is something worth notice, that much of it appeared in "Blackwood's Magazine" during the lifetime of Lord Macaulay, but he never attempted to make any reply. The charges are so direct, and urged in such unmistakeable language, that no writer who valued his character for either accuracy of fact or fairness in comment would let them remain unanswered if he had any real answer to give, whence we are driven to the conclusion that the great Whig historian, to employ the words of Johnson, "lied, and knew he lied." For details we must refer to Mr. Paget's work, particularly pp. 25 to 54, in relation to the charge of "murder" made against Marlborough; whilst another portion, pp. 148 to 193, very cleverly shews from what vague hints and random

"If Lord Macaulay's New Zealander should take to writing history after the fashion of his great progenitor, he may perhaps paint the Welsh in colours similar to and upon authorities as trustworthy as those Lord Macaulay has used and relied upon in his picture of the Scotch. If he should, his description will be something of the following kind :—

"In the days of Queen Victoria, the inhabitant of the Principality was a savage and a thief. He subsisted by plunder. The plough was unknown. He snatched from his more industrious neighbour his flocks and his herds. When the flesh he

thus obtained was exhausted, he gnawed the bones like a dog, until hunger compelled him again to visit the homesteads and larders of England. With all the vices, he had few or none of the virtues of the savage. He was ungrateful and inhospitable. That this was his character is proved by verses which still re-echo in the nurseries of Belgrave Square and along the marches of Wales :

'Taffy was a Welshman,

Taffy was a thief;
Taffy came to my house,

Stole a piece of beef.
I went to Taffy's house,

Taffy was from home;
Taffy came to my house,

Stole a marrow-bone.""

"This is every bit as authentic as Lord Macaulay's description of the Highlanders. Such history may be supplied in any quantity and at the shortest notice. All that is necessary is a volume of cotemporary lampoons, a bundle of political songs, or a memory in which such things are stored, and which may save the trouble of reference. The genius it requires is a genius for being abusive. The banks of the Thames and the Cam furnish abundance of professors, male and female, of the art of vituperation; but as Lord Macaulay, from his frequent repetition of the same terms of abuse, seems to have exhausted his derangement of epitaphs,' we would recommend him to turn to Viner's Abridgment, title Action for Words, where he will find one hundred and thirty folio pages of scolding, from which he may select any phrase that suits his purpose,

with the advantage of knowing also the nice distinctions by which the law has decided what words are and what are not actionable, which may be used with impunity against the living, and which must be reserved for the safe slander of the dead."-(pp. 191-193.)

Lives of the Bachelor Kings of England. By AGNES STRICKLAND. (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.)- We presume that this volume completes all that Miss Strickland can find to say about English and Scottish royalty, and in this hope we commend it to the admirers of her former productions. They will find in it the "strange eventful histories" of William Rufus, Edward V., and Edward VI., told with the same novelty as to facts as marked those invaluable volumes, the same minute accuracy as to dates, and the same pure style, free from magniloquence on the one hand, and from colloquial vulgarisms on the other. They will see that "the reign of William Rufus was the commencement of our national greatness," that Edward VI. was carried off to Windsor by his uncle Somerset in October, 1559, (p. 312,) some seven years after his death, and that Hastings "actually underwent a sharp dose of imprisonment in the Tower," (p. 137); perhaps they may wish to know, in connexion with the fate of the same individual, where "the green, before the church at the Tower of St. Peter's," (p. 151,) is to be found, and we regret that we cannot enlighten them. Neither can we tell them anything about a monastery called "Luz," (p. 90,) or a writer named "Spud," (p. 92,) unless indeed "Seez" and "Speed" should be intended.

Peter the Apostle never at Rome, shewn to be an Historical Fact: with a Dissertation of the Apostolical Authority of the Symbol (or Creed) of the Church. By J. H. BROWN, M.A., Rector of Middletonin-Teesdale. (Oxford and London: J. H. and J. Parker.)-Mr. Brown thoroughly examines the account of Eusebius as to St. Peter's being at Rome, compares his statements with those of his authorities, and, to his own satisfaction at least, proves

him to have been quite in error in his representation of them. Comparatively modern writers fare equally ill, and Bishop Pearson is convicted of mistake, and of following a faulty text of Irenæus; and Dr. Lardner is a wholesale misinterpreter. Bishop Bull says in his "Vindication of the Church of England," that "if Peter did not come to Rome in the reign of Claudius, he certainly never did," and this is pressed into Mr. Brown's service as a positive assertion that he never was there at all, an assumption which is rather an indifferent foundation for "historical fact." The Dissertation on the Apostolic Authority of the Creed leads to the conclusion that "the Nicene Creed is the symbol

which is the bond of union to the whole

Catholic Church"- —a statement for which the respectable authority of Bishop Bull is far more certainly to be adduced than for the other position which he is made to answer for in this little volume.

The Ferns of Derbyshire, illustrated from Nature. Edited by W. E. HOWE, with a Preface by the REV. GERARD SMITH, B.A., of Osmaston, Ashbourne. (London: Wertheim and Co. Derby: Bemrose and Sons.)-Whether the Peak country is really more favoured in the variety and beauty of its ferns than other picturesque regions of hill and dale, is a question on which opinions may allow ably differ, but there can be none as to the zeal and ability which Messrs. Howe and Smith have brought to bear on their subject. All the species recently observed in Derbyshire (twenty-two in number) are elegantly and accurately figured, and the descriptions are very models of precision. Mr. Smith furnishes some preliminary "Thoughts and Memoranda upon Ferns," from which we extract the following pleasing passage. It speaks primarily

of ferns, but it is also a fair representation of the train of thought that inevitably comes over the "gentle lover of nature," when he sees the ravages of "improved husbandry" on the one hand, and the steady march of bricks and mortar on the other :

"The inroads of improvement in agriculture, the inclosure of wilds, and the opening of all accessible places to the feet and greedy bite of the ox and sheep, have exterminated many a native plant, and have limited the number of our rarities. The lover of insects, birds, and ferns, and the lover of landscape also, must cast many a fond regret over scenes once reckoned rife with treasures of natural

history; but now modernized into arable or grazing land, and made tributary to the market and rent-day. There are antiquities of nature's wildness scarcely less deserving protection and preservation than the antiquities of masonry in ruin; and if the country scenes of our land become destitute of all that is rustic, picturesque, and worthy of scientific research-if every hedgerow that ventures to luxuriate in a rose or honeysuckle must be trimmed or levelled-if every marshy nook, rank with reed and sedge, and with their shelly and insect peoples, must be submitted to drainage, must be cleared, and be made to pay

then will the tendency of our population, now already too strong, to gather into towns, and to abandon the open parts of the country, include, in self-defence, even those who love the country best; and nature must be studied in books, and museums, or in foreign lands; and our British floras and faunas will become historical records of what England once was, before this utilitarian age began."

A man who writes thus, must have a real interest in his subject, and accordingly it is without surprise that we see a notification at the end of the book requesting "any new or doubtful species of ferns met with in Derbyshire," to be sent for examination and identification either to Mr. Smith, at Osmaston, or to his fellow-labourer, Mr. Howe, at Matlock Bath.

CIVIL, NAVAL, AND MILITARY.

July 30. The Right Hon. John Russell (commonly called Lord John Russell), and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, to have the dignity of an Earl of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by the names, styles, and titles of Viscount Amberley, of Amberley, co. Gloucester, and of Ardsalla, co. Meath, and Earl Russell, of Kingston-Russell, co. Dorset.

Henry Pering Pellew Crease, esq., to be Attorney-General for the colony of British Columbia.

Richard Rogers, esq., now British Vice-Consul at Bussorah, to be H.M.'s Vice-Consul at the same place.

Mr. Mathias Levy approved of as Consul at Belize for H.M. the King of Denmark.

Aug. 2. Mr. James Logan Dunolly approved of as Consul at Kurrachee for H.M. the King of Hanover.

Mr. Alexander Stewart approved of as Consul at Kurrachee for the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Captain Charles Dresing to be one of H.M.'s Hon. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, vice Deane, resigned.

Major Thomas Jenkins, late of the Madras Army, to be one of H.M.'s Hon. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, vice H. S. Smith, esq., resigned. Aug. 6. Vice-Admiral the Right Hon. Sir Maurice Fred. Fitzhardinge Berkeley, G.C.B., and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, to have the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by the name, style, and title of Baron Fitzhardinge, of the city and county of the city of Bristol.

John David Hay Hill, esq., now H.M.'s Consul at Maranham, to be H.M.'s Consul in the Island of Réunion.

Don José Antonio de Lavalle approved of as Vice-Consul at Cardiff for H.M. the Queen of Spain.

Aug. 9. Sir George Grey, K.C.B. (now Administrator of the Government of the Colony of New Zealand), to be Governor and Commanderin-Chief in and over the Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies.

Richard O'Dwyer, Kenneth McLea, James Shannon Clift, Edward White, and Peter Tes

sier, esqs., to be Members of the Legislative Council of the Island of Newfoundland.

Henry Johnson, esq., to be a Member of the Legislative Council of the Island of Trinidad.

John Meheux, esq., to be Sheriff for the Colony of Sierra Leone.

Aug. 16. The honour of Knighthood conferred on Roundell Palmer, esq., H.M.'s Solicitor-Gen. The Right Hon. Lord Stanley, M.P., to be a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.

Aug. 23. Henry Stanhope Freeman, esq., now British Vice-Consul at Janina, to be H.M.'s Consul at Lagos.

Mr. Patrick J. Devine approved of as Consul at Cork for the United States of America.

Mr. Henry W. Lord approved of as Consul at Manchester, and Mr. John E. Newport as Consul at Turk's Island, for the United States of America.

MEMBERS RETURNED TO SERVE IN PARLIAMENT. July 30. Borough of Andover.-Henry Beaumont Coles, esq., of Middleton-house, Longparish, co. Southampton, in the room of William Cubitt, esq. (now Lord Mayor of the city of London), who has accepted the office of Steward or Bailiff of H.M.'s Manor of Hempholme, co. York.

Aug. 1. Borough of Morpeth.-The Right Hon. Sir George Grey, bart., G.C.B., of Falloden, co. Northumberland, one of H.M.'s Principal Secretaries of State.

Borough of Tamworth.-The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, bart., of Drayton-manor, in the parish of Drayton Bassett, co. Stafford, Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Aug. 2. City of Oxford.-The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

City of London.-Western Wood, esq., citizen and fishmonger of London, in the room of the Right Hon. John Russell (commonly called Lord John Russell), who has accepted the office of Steward or Bailiff of H.M.'s Manor of Northstead, co. York. Aug. 6. County of Selkirk. Henry John Montagu Douglas Scott (commonly called Lord Henry Scott), in the room of Allan Eliott Lockhart, esq., who has accepted the office of Steward or Bailiff of H.M.'s Chiltern Hundreds.

GENT. MAG. VOL. CCXI.

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June 6. At Madras, the wife of Col. Hubert Marshall, Military Secretary to Government, a dau.

June 13. At Cawnpore, the wife of Wm. Astell Franks, esq., of H.M.'s Bengal Army, a son.

June 19. At Madras, the wife of Sir Adam Bittleston, a dau.

July 14. At Gibraltar, the wife of Capt. J. T. Campbell, Royal Fusiliers, a dau.

July 19. At Plympton, Devon, the wife of Lieut.-Col. Bewes, 73rd Regt., a dau.

At West Meon, Hants, the wife of the Rev. J. Wynne, Rector of Warnford, a son.

July 20. At St. Leonard's-on-Sea, the wife of Capt. C. Myer Daves, a son.

At Ramsgate, the wife of Count W. C. Rivarola, Capt. Royal South Middlesex Militia, and late Capt. H.M.'s 67th Regt., a son.

July 21. At Corfu, the wife of Deputy-Commissary-Gen. F. B. Archer, a dau.

July 22. The Hon. Mrs. A. Moreton, a son. At Moyglare Glebe, Maynooth, the wife of the Rev. Richard Dixie Maunsell, a dau.

July 23. At Court-lodge, Etchingham, the wife of H. C. Barton, esq., a son.

At Tickhill Castle, the wife of E. C. Bower, esq., a son.

July 24. At Forest-hill, Windsor, the wife of Major Riley, 88th Regt., a son.

At the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, the wife of Capt. G. H. Fraser, R.A., a dau.

At Boughton Malherbe, Kent, the wife of the Rev. Philip Newington, a son.

July 25. At Sudbury Rectory, Derbyshire, the wife of the Rev. Frederick Anson, a son. At St. Mary's, Beccles, the wife of the Rev. Alfred Hartley, a son.

At Privett Parsonage, Hants, the wife of the Rev. C. Summer Burder, a son.

At Yateley, the wife of Capt. Henry Nangle, 15th Regt., (of the Staff College,) a son.

At St. John's-wood, the wife of the Rev. Edw. Merriman, a dau.

July 26. At Abbot's Moss, Cheshire, the Hon. Mrs. Cholmondeley, a dau.

The wife of the Rev. Henry Charles Blagden, Incumbent of Milcombe, near Banbury, a son. In Lowndes-st., the wife of H. Lindsay Antrobus, esq., a dau.

At the Manor-house, Seaton, Devon, the wife of the Rev. William Harris, a son.

July 27. At Stillorgan, co. Dublin, the wife of Col. Edward Selby Smyth, a dau.

At Ford, Bideford, the wife of Capt. Dowell, R.N., a son.

At Hartley Rectory, the wife of the Rev. John Taylor Plummer, a dau.

At Gorleston, Suffolk, the wife of Lieut.-Col. Baddeley, a son.

At Dover, the wife of the Rev. W. T. Sankey, Incumbent of Stoney-Stratford, a dau,

July 28. At Westhampnett Vicarage, near

Chichester, the wife of the Rev. R. Sutton, a son. At Urrard, Blair Athole, the wife of Capt. Boxer Stewart, a son.

At Hastings, the wife of the Rev. Henry L. M. Walters, M.A., a dau.

At Anerley-grove, Penge, the wife of the Rev. T. S. Scott, a son.

July 29. At Surbiton, Surrey, the wife of RearAdmiral Nias, C.B., a dau.

At the British Consulate, Oporto, Mrs. LevingeSwift, wife of Her Majesty's Consul, a dau. July 30. At Blithfield, Staffordshire, the Lady Bagot, a dau.

Mrs. James Parker, Oxford, a dau.

At Walmer, Kent, the wife of Major Rickman, 6th Depot Battalion, a son.

At Aldershott, the wife of Capt. J. E. Harvey, 41st (the Welsh) Regt., a son.

July 31. At Saltmarshe, Yorkshire, the wife of Philip Saltmarshe, esq., a son.

At Buckingham, the wife of the Rev. Arthur Bourchier Wrey, a dau.

At York-town, the wife of Capt. Mainwaring, R.A., a dau.

In Green-st., Grosvenor-sq., the wife of the Rev. John D. Glennie, jun., a dau.

In Regent-square, the wife of Edmund StoryMaskelyne, esq., a son.

At Arlesey, Beds, the wife of the Rev. J. Acton Butt, a son.

At Buckland, Herefordshire, the wife of Capt. Ed. N. Heygate, R.E., a son.

Aug. 1. At Calthorpe-hall, Rugby, Mrs. Sitwell, a son.

In Elgin-road, the wife of Major-Gen. W. R. Corfield, a dau.

At the Vicarage, Wickham Market, Suffolk, the wife of the Rev. Weeden Butler, a son.

At Harwich, the wife of Lieut. J. Ward, R.N., a dau.

Aug. 2. At Stonehouse, Devon, the wife of Capt. the Hon. L. Addington, R.A., a son.

At Benhall Vicarage, Suffolk, the wife of the Rev. Horace M. Blakiston, a son.

At Madeley-wood, Shropshire, Mrs. John Anstice, a son.

At Anstey Pastures, near Leicester, the wife of the Rev. Robert Martin, a dau

In Chester-sq., the wife of Lieut.-Col. Macdonald, 93rd Highlanders, a son.

In Chester-pl., Chester-sq., the wife of Capt. W. B. Persse, Adjutant Royal Wilshire Militia,

a dau.

At Bedhampton, near Havant, Hant, the wife of the Rev. Richard White Atkins, a so

Aug. 3. At Harewood-house, Hanoverare, the Countess Harewood, a son.

At Field-house, Bishop Wearmouth, the wife of the Rev. George Iliff, a son.

In Eastbourne-terr., the wife of the Rev. Edw