Memoires of the last Ten Years of the Reign of George the The Poems of Caius Valerius Catullus, translated, with a Pre- face and Notes. By the Hon. George Lamb. Commentaries on the Laws of Moses. By the late Sir John David Michaelis, K. P. S.-F. R. S. Professor of Philosophy in the University of Gottingen. Translated from the German by Alexander Smith, D. D. Minister of the Chapel of Garioch, Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind. By the late 1. Essays on the Institutions, Government, and Manners of the States of Ancient Greece. By Henry David Hill, D.D., Pro- fessor of Greek in the University of St. Andrew's. 2. Substance of Lectures on the Ancient Greeks, and on the Revival of Greek Learning in Europe. By the late Andrew XVII. A Retrospect of the First Ten Years of the Protestant Mission to China (now in Connexion with the Malay, denominated the Ultra-Ganges Missions), accompanied with miscellaneous Re- marks on the Literature, History, and Mythology of China. By William Milne. Malacca, at the Anglo-Chinese Press. XVIII. Sermons on the Christian Character, with Occasional Discourses. ART. 2. Recherches Historiques sur La Bretagne d'aprés ses Monuments Anciens et Modernes. Par M. Maudet de Penhouët, Chevalier de St. Louis, &c. Orné de Gravures. Première Partie. XX.-MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE EAST. Page - 421 1. Travels along the Mediterranean and Parts adjacent, in com- 2. Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, from MDCCCXV. LIST OF BOOKS. INDEX 452 491 - 499 THE BRITISH REVIEW, AND LONDON CRITICAL JOURNAL. JUNE, 1822. ART. XI.-Memoires of the last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second, by Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, from the Original MSS. 4to. 2 vols. Murray. London, 1822. WE thought we had done with Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, the publication of whose vain and vicious correspondence we have treated in a former review, we trust, as it deserved; but as long as he is made to sin in his grave, so long must we continue to be at war with his manes. We will not say that the late Earl of Orford was the Voltaire of our own country; for it somehow seems as if for the formation of a Voltaire the British mind and character does not possess the materials:-nothing in temper and composition so indefatigably mischievous, so flippantly profane, so animated and earnest in promoting the ruin of the soul, is registered among the moral births of our country. Neither will we deny that many of our men of letters have more nearly than the author of these volumes approached the charac ter alluded to in its darker qualities. We would willingly think that Lord Orford was kept from being the author of as much mischief as Voltaire, more by his better nature than by his weaker capacity. In levity, illiberality, conceit and contempt of religion, the coxcombry of profane ridicule, the impertinence of inflated egotism, and the tricks of self-adulation, the author of the work before us stands upon the same "bad eminence" with the French philosopher; and is as proper a parallel to him as can be selected. from among our most enlightened esprits forts, or intellectuak reformers of the last century. The character of the Earl of Orford's mind, so clearly and decidedly displayed in the letters to Mr. Montague, which it cost Ls so much to get through, did not allow us to expect from his istorical pen a production of any value or vigour, much less of instruction or utility. A work, however, which was written with a view to publication after the death of the writer, at a period so far, one would think, beyond the reach or aim of ridicule or resentment, or of public or private malice, we did expect to be at least of a serious and subdued character; such as the view of the awful event which was to precede its appearance was calculated to impress on the written thoughts of a thinking being. We were mistaken. The history before us borrows no sincerity of colouring, no sobriety of thought from the grave which yawned between the author and his work. Indecent gossip, personal scandal, demoralizing and disorganizing observations and sentiments, private amours, sarcasms on bodily infirmity, and, as the editor informs us, "one such gross, indelicate, and ill-authenticated story," (see Pref. xxxii.) that it was cut out by Lord Waldegrave before the MSS. came to the editor, were deliberately prepared by this noble author, this hereditary pillar of his country, to vitiate the coming generation after his own imperishable soul should have passed to its terrible and eternal account. One of our quarterly journals, in good moral repute, and in many respects deservedly so, found something extremely pleasant in the posthumous volume of letters to Mr. Montague from the same author, to which we have already alluded, and supplied a short pithy sentence of unmodified praise of that work, (we are sorry we have forgotten it) which figured in every advertisement of the work for many months. If the eulogy in question was pronounced by a clerical contributor to the journal alluded to, we will in candour conclude that not above half the volume was read by the critic: for certainly, with two or three exceptions, no production of any distinguished writer has appeared in this latter age of literature, so framed to offend the manly and moral heart of a right-minded Briton. For the vindication of which assertion, we refer our readers to a former part of this journalp. 266, vol. xiii. We really do hope that the present work will not be safe under the umbrage of any bookseller's name, but will receive the castigation which is its due from the hand of the decorous reviewer. A proper treatment of the present publication seems to be the more important, as it is intimated by the Editor that other posthumous works are behind, of a more censurable description, with respect to the decencies of morality. After adverting, in his preface (p. 32), to the excisions of gross and offensive passages, which had been necessary out of common respect to the reader, he adds, "such liberties would be still more necessary if the remaining historical works of Lord Orford were ever to see the light." The only light proper for them to * Brit. Rev. vol. xiii. 258. see is the light of a conflagration: but if we are destined to undergo another visitation from the same quarter, we will hope that should it be under the controul of the same editor, he may grow, in the mean time, somewhat more fastidious, and permit the insertion of no such despicable trash as that which the appendices to the present volumes have preserved; too disgustingly gross for the historian of the Decline and Fall to have introduced, unless under the disguise of a Greek note. It must be admitted that the editor appears to be not a little ashamed of the character and tendencies of the work which he thus introduces to the public. "The work now submitted to the public as Memoirs of the last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second,' is printed from a manuscript of the late Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. "Among the papers found at Strawberry Hill, after the death of Lord Orford, was the following memorandum, wrapped in an envelope, on which was written, Not to be opened till after my will.' "In my library at Strawberry Hill are two wainscot chests or boxes, the larger marked with an A, the lesser with a B-I desire, that as soon as I am dead, my executor and executrix will cord up strongly and seal the larger box, marked A, and deliver it to the Honourable Hugh Conway Seymour, to be kept by him unopened and unsealed till the eldest son of Lady Waldegrave, or whichever of her sons, being Earl of Waldegrave, shall attain the age of twenty-five years, when the said chest, with whatever it contains, shall be delivered to him for his own. And I beg that the Honourable Hugh Conway Seymour, when he shall receive the said chest, will give a promise in writing, signed by him, to Lady Waldegrave, that he or his representatives, will deliver the said chest unopened and unsealed, by my executor and executrix, to the first son of Lady Waldegrave who shall attain the age of twenty-five years. The key of the said chest is in one of the cupboards of the green closet within the blue breakfast room at Strawberry Hill, and that key, I desire, may be delivered to Laura, Lady Waldegrave, to be kept by her till her son shall receive the chest. "March 21st, 1790. (Signed) "HOR. WALPOLE, Earl of Orford. "In obedience to these directions, the box described in the preeeding memorandum was corded and sealed with the seals of the Honourable Mrs. Damer and the late Lord Frederick Campbell, the executrix and executor of Lord Orford, and by them delivered to the late Lord Hugh Seymour, by whose representatives it was given up, unopened and unsealed, to the present Earl of Waldegrave, when he attained the age of twenty-five. On examining the box it was found to contain a number of manuscript volumes and other papers, among which were the Memoires now published. "Though no directions were left by Lord Orford for the publication of these Memoirs, there can be little doubt of his intention that they should one day or other be communicated to the world. Innumer |