This was forty years since; and it will be remembered that, when Hallam and Sydney Smith entered literary life, it was a moot point whether it was consistent with the position of a gentleman to be paid for his articles. In a letter dated May, 1803, referring to his editorship, Jeffrey speaks of being 'articled to a trade that is not perhaps the most respectable.' The very day of the breakfast, Mr. Ticknor dined with Sydney Smith at Lansdowne House, and seeing his free good humour, and the delight with which everybody listened to him, thought there were but small traces of the aristocratic oppression of which he had so much complained in the morning.'

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Another entry relating to this breakfast runs thus:

'Speaking of the "Edinburgh Review," Mr. Smith said that it was begun by Jeffrey, Horner, and himself; that he was the first editor of it, and that they were originally unwilling to give Brougham any direct influence over it, because he was so violent and unmanageable. After he-Smith-left Edinburgh, Jeffrey became the editor; but," said Smith, "I never would be a contributor on the common business footing. When I wrote an article, I used to send it to Jeffrey, and waited till it came out; immediately after which I enclosed to him a bill, in these words, or words like them: 'Francis Jeffrey, Esq., to Rev. Sydney Smith,-To a very wise and witty article, on such a subject, so many sheets, at forty-five guineas a sheet.' And the money always came. I never worked for less."

According to Jeffrey, there was no editor till he himself was. named, i.e. till after the first three numbers; and Sydney Smith's account of enclosing bills must have been a joke :—

"To Jeffrey go, be silent and discreet;

His pay is just ten sterling pounds per sheet.'

This (as Jeffrey states) was frequently much exceeded; but Sydney Smith's mode of charging per article must have been difficult, if not impracticable, in his case, since it would often have taken several of his early articles to make a sheet. He contributed seven to the first number, one of which occupies lessthan a page. In 1819, when he was at the height of his reputation, he was driven to defend and apologise for some of his. articles instead of being able to set his own price upon them.*

Mr. Ticknor returned to Boston in the summer of 1838, and during the next ten years was almost exclusively occupied with the preparation of his History of Spanish Literature,' the first edition of which appeared towards the end of 1849. Point

Letter to Jeffrey. Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland, vol. ii. pp. 181, 182. The early history of the Edinburgh Review' is given in 'Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey,' vol. i. pp. 131-136.

ing to the presentation copy on his table, Rogers remarked to Sir Charles Lyell: I am told it has been the work of his life. How these Bostonians do work!' It was reviewed (favourably, as it well merited) in this journal by the learned and witty author of the Spanish Handbook,' and still keeps its place as the standard work upon the subject.* A fourth edition, carefully revised by him, appeared the year after his death. Congratulatory letters poured in on all sides; and Mr. Abbott Lawrence, then United States Minister, wrote to a friend: 'I was present, a few evenings since, when the Queen asked Mr. Macaulay what new book he could recommend for her reading. He replied that he would recommend Her Majesty to send for the "History of Spanish Literature," by an American, Mr. Ticknor, of Boston.'†

It was in the interests of the Free Library of Boston that, in the fulness of his fame, he undertook his third and last visit to Europe, where much of his time was consequently spent in the congenial labour of selecting books. The changes he remarked in London society were for the worse:

'London life seems to me to have become more oppressive than it ever was. The breakfasts, that used to be modest reunions of half-adozen, with a dish or two of cold meat, are now dinners in disguise, for fourteen to sixteen persons, with three or four courses of hot meats. Once we had wine. The lunches are much the same, with puddings, &c., added, and several sorts of wine; and the dinners begin at a quarter to half-past eight, and last till near eleven. Twice, spiced wines were handed round with the meats, which I never saw before, and did not find nearly so savoury as my neighbours did. Everything, in short, announced—even in the same houses-an advance of luxury, which can bode no good to any people. But the tide cannot be resisted.'

From Rome, January 25, 1851, he writes:

Society has grown more luxurious, more elaborate, and less gay. The ladies' dresses, by their size, really embarrass it somewhat, and Queen Christina, with the ceremonies attending such a personage everywhere, embarrasses it still more this year. Above all, it costs too much.

The manners of the higher clergy, and probably of all classes of

*It has been translated, with additions, into Spanish under the title of 'Historia de la Literatura Española trad. al Castellano, con Adiciones Notas Críticas.' Por P. de Gayangos y E. Vedia. 4 vols. royal 8vo. Madrid, 1851-57. Don Pascual de Gayangos, one of the most distinguished men of letters that the Spain of his generation has produced, was in constant correspondence with the author during the composition of the work, and afforded valuable aid.

† See Life of Lord Macaulay,' vol. ii. p. 301.

the

the clergy, are become more staid; perhaps their characters are improved, for I hear of fewer stories to their discredit. The first time I was invited to the Borgheses' in 1836, was on a Sunday evening, and the first thing I saw when I entered was seven Cardinals, four at one table, three at another, with their red skull-caps and pieds de perdrix, playing at cards (whist). Similar exhibitions I witnessed all the season through, there and elsewhere. But this year I have not seen a single Cardinal at a card-table.'

The higher clergy of the Established Church of England have similarly abandoned whist. The last prelate who was in the habit of playing, and played the old game well, was the learned and eminently orthodox Bishop of Exeter, Dr. Phillpotts.

Paris, the Paris of the Second Empire, was no longer, in 1851, what monarchical Paris had appeared in 1838:

'It was another atmosphere. Old times were forgotten; the old manners gone. And what is to come in their place? Paris is externally the most magnificent capital in Europe, and is becoming daily more brilliant and attractive. But where are the old salons, their grace, their charming and peculiar wit, their conversation that impressed its character upon the language itself, and made it, in many respects, what it is ?'

His Journal and Letters during his last visit to England abound, as usual, with proofs of his insight into character. He struck up a close intimacy with Sir Edmund Head, and it is to him that he is most communicative of his impressions of their common friends, which are almost uniformly just. Thus, what struck him at once in Sir George Lewis was his instinctive fairness :

'He was singularly able and willing to change his opinion when new facts came to unsettle his old one. He seemed to do it too without regret. . . . I remember I used to think he had the greatest respect for facts of any man I ever saw, and an extraordinary power of determining from internal evidence what were such.

'How striking it is that two such scholars as he (Lewis) and Gladstone should have made such capital Chancellors of the Exchequer.'

To a letter of his after his return home, describing the excellent effects of the Prince's visit to the United States in 1860, Sir E. Head replies:

'The views which you express with reference to the effect of the Prince's visit are, I believe, quite correct. I have taken measures for letting the Queen see such portions of your letter as bear directly on the benefits likely to accrue to both countries, and I hope you will not think me indiscreet in doing so.'

He

He is as plain-spoken as could be wished about his own country:

Our politics are in a state of great confusion. As the elder Adams said to me, when he was eighty-nine years old, about the politics of the State of New York for seventy years previous, "they are the Devil's incomprehensibles."'

This was in 1858, before the commencement of the civil war, which he declared at once must be fought out. In April 1863, he writes:

'Whatever awaits us in the dark future depends, I believe, neither on elections nor speeches nor wise discussions, but on fighting. I have thought so ever since the affair of Fort Sumter, and fire cannot burn it out of me.'

The death of Prescott, January 27, 1858, although neither sudden nor unexpected, was a severe shock. Two months after the event he writes to his wife's niece, Mrs. Twisleton: I do not get accustomed to the loss. Indeed, something or other seems to make it fall afresh and heavier almost every day.' At the request of the family he immediately set about the 'Life of Prescott,' the publication of which, from circumstances connected with public affairs, was delayed till 1863. He was then seventy-two, an age at which he thought it prudent to give up authorship; but his mental powers were unimpaired, and till within a few days of his death, at seventy-nine, his principal enjoyments were derived from literary conversation or from books. His favourite reading in the decline of life was biography. He died on the 26th of January, 1871. On the preceding New Year's Day he was found reading the Life of Scott' for (as he said) the fourth time; and on being asked to recommend a subject for reading, Take Boswell,' he said, then Southey's "Cowper," the Lives of Mackintosh, Scott, Southey, and so on; the memoirs are so rich.' If the same request were made to us, we should say: Take Ticknor; the memoir is so rich, the tone and spirit are so good. No matter what your peculiar taste in this style of composition: no matter what your range of acquirement: rest assured that you will rise from the careful perusal of his journals and correspondence with a lively sense of self-satisfaction--amused, instructed and (we will venture to add) improved.

ART.

ART. VI.-1. Lectures on some Recent Advances in Physical Science. By Professor P. G. Tait, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. 1876.

2. On Geological Dynamics. By Sir William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow,' 1869.

3. On Geological Time. By Sir William Thomson, LL.D., Geological Society of Glasgow. 1868.

4. Sur le Ralentissement du mouvement de Rotation de la Terre. Par M. Delaunay. Paris, 1866.

London, 1875.

H.M. Geological.

5. Climate and Time. By James Croll. Survey of Scotland. 6. Principles of Geology. By Sir Charles Lyell. 14th Edition. London, 1875.

SHORT time ago Sir William Thomson took occasion, at a meeting of the Geological Society of Glasgow, to make a somewhat startling statement. He said that the tendency of British popular geology was, at the time he spoke, in direct opposition to the principles of natural philosophy.

So strong an opinion expressed by the man who is, perhaps, foremost in this country in applied mathematics and natural science, naturally attracted great attention, and it is not too much to say that in the six years which have since elapsed a very great change has taken place in the views of those best able to form an opinion on the subject of Sir William Thomson's animadversions.

Whether or not we are correct in saying that such a change has actually taken place in educated public opinion it is the object of this paper to show; but we may at least affirm at the outset, without fear of contradiction, that a very smart conflict has been raging on the subject in the scientific world. The opposing forces are the geologists and the mathematicians. There has been hard hitting on both sides, and no quarter given. Of late the mathematicians have brought up their reserve, a contingent of natural philosophers, who have done good service. The latest intelligence from the seat of war speaks of a suspension of hostilities. The mathematicians will make no concessions, but the geologists appear likely to abate somewhat of their high demands. There is even some talk of an amalgamation of the opposing armies. In plain English, there has been a dispute as to the age of the world. Geologists. declared that the centuries of its duration could only be denoted by an array of figures so large as to paralyse the reasoning faculties and convey no definite impression to the mind. Other

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