459. Mode of Exercise.-1. An Analysis of the leading points or facts which the writer wishes to exhibit. 2. Reproduction of the Example from recollection. 3. A Comparison between the two, in which all deviations are noticed. 460. REMINISCENCES OF NIEBUHR BY DR. Arnold. 1. In person Niebuhr is short, not above five feet six, or seven, I should think, at the outside; his face is thin, and his features rather pointed, his eyes remarkably lively and benevolent. His manner is frank, sensible, and kind, and what Bunsen calls the Teutonic character of benevolence, is very predominant about him, yet with nothing of what Jeffrey called, on the other hand, the beer-drinking heaviness of a mere Saxon. He received me very kindly, and we talked in English, which he speaks very well, on a great number of subjects. I was struck with his minute knowledge of the text and MSS. of Thucydides, and with his earnest hope, several times repeated, that we might never do away with the system of classical education in England. I told him of -'s nonsense about Guernsey and Jersey, at which he was very much entertained, but said that it did not surprise him. He said that he was now much more inclined to change old institutions, than he had been formerly-but "possibly," said he, "I may see reason in two or three years to go back more to my old views." Yet he anticipated no evil consequence to the peace of Europe, even from a Republic in France, for he thought that all classes of people had derived benefit from Experience. 2. Niebuhr spoke with great admiration of our former great men, Pitt and Fox, &c., and thought that we were degenerated; and he mentioned as a very absurd thing a speech of who visited him at Bonn, that if those men were now to come to life, they would be thought nothing of with our present lights in political economy. Niebuhr asked me with much interest about my plans of religious instruction at Rugby, and said that in their Protestant schools the business began daily with the reading and expounding a chapter in the New Testament. He spoke of the Catholics in Prussia as being very hypocritical, that is, having no belief beyond outward profession. Bunsen, he said, was going to publish a collection of German hymns for the Church service. Their literature is very rich in hymns in point of quantity, no fewer than 36,000, and out of these, Bunsen is going to collect the best. Niebuhr's tone on these matters quite satisfied me, and made me feel sure that all was right. He spoke with great admiration of Wordsworth's poetry. He often protested that he was no revolutionist, but he said, though he would have given a portion of his fortune that Charles X. should have governed constitutionally, and so remained on the throne, 66 Yet," said he, "after what took place, I would myself have joined the people in Paris, that is to say, I would have given them my advice and direction, for I do not know that I should have done much good with a musket."-Niebuhr spoke of Mr. Pitt, that to his positive knowledge, from unpublished State Papers, which he had seen, Pitt had remonstrated most warmly against the Coalition at Pilnitz, and had been unwillingly drawn into the war to gratify George III. 3. My account of Niebuhr's conversation has been sadly broken, and I am afraid I cannot recollect all that I wish to recollect. He said that he once owed his life to Louis Bonaparte, who interceded with Napoleon, when he was going to have Niebuhr shot; and promised Niebuhr that, if he could not persuade his brother, he would get him twenty-four hours' notice, and furnish him with the means of escaping to England. After this Niebuhr met Louis at Rome, and he said that he did not know how to address him; but he thought that the service which he had received from him might well excuse him for addressing him as "Sire." He asked me into the drawing-room to drink tea, and introduced me to his wife. Niebuhr's children were also in the room; four girls and a boy, with a young lady, who I believe was their governess. They struck me as very nice mannered children, and it was very delightful to see Niebuhr's affectionate manner to them and to his wife. While we were at tea, there came in a young man with intelligence that the Duke of Orleans had been proclaimed king, and Niebuhr's joy at the news was quite enthusiastic. He had said before, that in the present state of society, a Republic was not to his taste, and that he earnestly hoped that there would be no attempt to revive it in France. 4. He went home with me to my inn, and when I told him what pleasure it would give me to see any of his friends in England, he said that there was a friend of his, a nobleman, who was thinking of sending his son to be educated in England. The father and mother, he said, were pious and excellent people, and devoted to the improvement of their tenantry in every respect, and they wished their son to be brought up in the same views. Niebuhr said that if this young man came to England, he should be very happy to avail himself of my offer. And he expressed his hope that you and I might be at Bonn again, some day together, and that he might receive us under his own roof. He expressed repeatedly his great affection for England, saying that his father had accustomed him from a boy to read the English newspapers, in order that he might early learn the opinions and feelings of Englishmen. On the whole, I was most delighted with my visit, and thought it altogether a great contrast to the fever and excitement of The moral superiority of the German character in this instance was very striking; at the same time I owe it to the French to say, that now that I have learnt the whole story of the late revolution, I am quite satisfied of the justice of their cause, and delighted with the heroic and admirable manner in which they have conducted themselves. How different from even the be ginning of the first revolution, and how satisfactory to find that in this instance the lesson of experience seems not to have been thrown away. LESSON 171. 461. The following is an Extract from a Review of the life of Southey, in which is exhibited a leading defect in that distinguished and worthy man's mental constitution. 462. Mode of Exercise.-1. An Analysis of the leading points or facts which the writer wishes to exhibit. 2. Reproduction of the Example from recollection. 3. A Comparison between the two, in which all deviations are noticed. 463. EXTRACT FROM A REVIEW OF THE LIFE OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. 1. The remarks that apply to his Poems may be extended to Southey's Prose. His shortest productions are his best. The Life of Nelson will be cherished by his countrymen long after his interminable histories have been forgotten by the world. Charming as his prose style unquestionably is clear, masculine, and to the point,-it is often thrown away on subjects of little or no interest to the public; and like his verse, becomes diffuse from the vastness of the writer's knowledge, and his abiding inability or unwillingness to keep back his acquisitions, and to exhibit the results of his great learning rather than the learning itself. We have a notable instance of this infirmity in the most entertaining and characteristic all his works. The Doctor, full of quiet, delicious humour, most agreeable in style and manner, and overflowing with quaint learning of every kind, too frequently stops on his journey to dip into one of the many common-place books which his industry contrived to fill, and with which his friends since his decease have astonished the public. How often the good Doctor's quotations are without any interest whatever, and how often their actual merit has nothing to do with the matter in hand, we need not inform those who are acquainted with this grotesque production. Had the Doctor given himself time to think, he would certainly have kept much of his erudition out of sight, and not been a whit the less welcome for presenting his cheerful mind and happy countenance, without his clogs and incumbrances. 2. It is impossible to deny that the grave and fatal fault of Southey's character was want of reflection. It is painful to note the countless evidences of this failing. Never has there been so clear a proof given of the worthlessness of inordinate labour unaccompanied by the constant exercise of superintending judgment. Southey gave so much time to the minds of other men, that he seems never to have had a moment to look into his own. Nothing thoroughly distinct and perspicuous can be ascertained of either his political or religious convictions, and solely because neither the one set of views or the other was based upon well matured principles, or resulted from a severe, though absolutely essential process of thought. Southey retreated from hard mental discipline. His likes and his dislikes depended upon no fixed rules, but partook of the nature of his own mixed temperament. He is not, it is true, all things to all men, but all men and all things before finding acceptance with him must adapt themselves to his prejudices and prepossessions. Hence at different times of his life we find him a freethinker, a unitarian, an orthodox believer, and a heterodox churchman; a socialist, a republican, a determined opponent of Roman Catholic claims, a stickler for the rights of conscience, a party-man, a Tory, and a merciless castigator of the powers that were. 3. Is it not extraordinary, that possessing an astounding memory from his childhood, and no ordinary powers of per |