Imatges de pàgina
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which there were, no doubt, already in existence when Pausanias travelled, delineations even to satiety, might in all probability induce that laborious geographer to satisfy himself with an abbreviated account of the Parthenon. It is a common circumstance with writers, to forget that it is a part of their duty to supply posterity with materials for history, and that matters of vulgar notoriety in their own age, become in the progression of time, dark and obscure. But if the scholars and assistants of Callicrates and Ectinus, to whom Mr. Payne Knight attributes these miracles of art, were the sculptors of the Parthenon, that faet, by reason of its minuteness and particularity, is not likely to have been passed unnoticed by Pausanias. The well known fact, that they were the chef d'œuvres of Phidias and bis most distinguished disciples, precisely by reason of its generality, such a writer would think it superfluous to record. We are, indeed, by no means prepared to assert, that these stupendous works were all executed by the hand of that great master. Considering their number and magnitude, it is scarcely possible that a single artist should have had a greater share in the ornamental parts of the temple, than that of designing them and superintending their execution. But with these admissions, there remains ample reason to infer that they are as much the works of Phidias, as any great mass of sculpture could be said to be the work of a single artist. It is well known, that Alcamenes, the ablest scholar of Phidias, executed the pediments of the temple of Jupiter at Elis, and that they were touched by the Promethean hand of his master. A similar presumption with regard to the works of the Parthenon, is by no means irrational.

But we have better testimony; the applause of the senses, echoed by the heart. Who is there, that has seen those exquisite forms of ideal beauty, forming as it were a mystic chain that unites the external world to the world of imagination and intellect; who is there, that can contemplate the life, the activity, the grace expanded over the matchless representation of the Panathenaid Procession, and breathing in every figure of its diversified groupes, without the highest species of intellectual gratification? Even the mutilated and imperfect figures of the Theseus and Ilyssus, destitute as they are of that personal character which delights and interests us in the Apollo or the Laocoon, and therefore less calculated to awake moral associations, than those statues, where the design of the artist is so visibly displayed;-even these models bespeak the elevation of the genius by which they were imagined, and attest the sovereignty of the hand by which they were fashioned in a language sufficiently intelligible to all who pretend to purity of taste or accuracy of judgement.

Upon the remaining parts of Mr. Wilkins's dissertation, we

unhesitatingly pronounce a less qualified panegyric. Pausanias says, that the pediment of the front or edifice represented the "birth of Minerva; and that of the back, the contest of Minerva and Neptune for Attica.' The Acropolis being entered from the West, and the East end of the temple having been from a comparatively early modern period built round with Turkish houses, it happened that travellers mistook the west for the front, and the east for the back (oo); and they applied, therefore, what Pausanias had said of the one, to the other. Having once adopted this error, they persevered in adapting to it the groupes of the several pediments; in short, torturing the birth of Minerva into the contest for Attica. Mr. Wilkins has ably exposed the glaring absurdities of Wheler and Spon, too implicitly followed by Chandler and Stuart on this subject. For ourselves, we had already received our impressions relative to this singular question, from the able work of Viconti; but the reasonings of Mr. Wilkins are learned and ingenious, and we refer the general reader or the virtuoso to his paper, which well deserves the place assigned to it in Mr. Walpole's valuable miscellany.

Art. IV. Remarks on the Present State of Ireland; with Hints for ameliorating the Condition, and promoting the Education and Moral Improvement of the Peasantry of that Country. By Robert Steven. 8vo. pp. 90. London. 1822.

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RELAND already lies under important obligations to the philanthropic Author of this forcible appeal on the subject of her present critical situation. His inquiry into the abuses of the Chartered Schools,* was the means of bringing to light the most flagrant delinquencies, while it afforded a fresh illustration of the mismanagement which, as by a fatality, has hitherto attached to the administration of all Irish affairs. At that period, the Hibernian Society, of which this gentleman is a zealous and most effective member, had but very recently been instituted. The importance of its achievements even then, however, was such as to present a most striking contrast to the inefficiency of the Chartered Society, and to awake the most pleasing anticipations as to the results of its progressive exertions.

The present publication is a report of the present moral and social condition of the Island, drawn up from personal observation during a residence of many months, which were entirely devoted to the objects of benevolence. These objects were more particularly,

to examine the schools connected with the London Hibernian Society, and others, as they came in my way; to promote an in

*See Eclectic Review, N. S. Vol. IX. p. 119.

Creased circulation of the Holy Scriptures; and to endeavour to awaken a greater interest among the resident nobility, clergy, and gentry of that country, in favour of the education of the poor. In this service, I visited nearly four fifths of the counties of Ireland, and spent the whole of the summer and autumn of 1821.'

It will, probably, awake surprise, that the general cast of the pamphlet is comparatively pleasing and encouraging. At a time that the daily papers are filled with details of outrages and insurrections in Ireland, when a vulgar and besotted party-spirit is found still reigning in its capital, and when bigotry has just been celebrating the secession of two archbishops from the Hibernian Bible Society as a glorious event in the annals of the Irish Establishment,*-it is a most agreeable relief to turn to some of the statements contained in these pages.

With regard to the political disorders of this ill-fated country, the tumult and insurrection of which we hear, though serious and justly alarming, are, as might be expected, partial and referrible to no mysterious or equivocal origin. That they mainly arise from distress, will not be denied by any person acquainted with the real state of Ireland. The state of the country is,-indeed, becoming in this respect so critical, that the Writer has felt justified in addressing himself in the strongest language to the Absentee landlords, at whose door much of the evil must be laid. The late visit of Royalty has proved far from a solid benefit. It has swelled the Customs and the Excise returns for the year; but it has done this at the expense of a year's income to some of the poorer gentry; nor will the money squandered at Dublin ever find its way to that class among whom its circulation. would diffuse prosperity.

Ilament,' says Mr. Steven, the foul stains which are cast on Ire-' land, by the barbarous murders and excesses which have been perpetrated of late, and I shall rejoice in seeing order restored to that unhappy country. But, unless there is a change of system, it is in vain to expect it. There is a crisis, beyond which suffering cannot pass without danger. That crisis, I fear, the Sister Island has reached. In a country circumstanced as Ireland is, groaning under a heavy load of grievances, whatever produces a local irritation on the minds of the poor, is in danger, even after the evil complained of is remov

See the British Critic and the Christian Remembrancer of December 1. It was attempted to make it generally believed, that the British and Foreign Bible Society had been deserted by some of its episcopal patrons. The fact is, that the seceding primates were never in any way connected with that society that the Hibernian Bible Society is not, strictly speaking, an auxiliary to the English institu tion; and that the two archbishops who have so long patronised the latter (Cashel and Tuanı), remain its firm friends.

ed, (through the wicked counsel of disloyal men,) of assuming a different form; proceeding forward, and gathering strength, until the public peace is threatened. Restore order, command respect for the laws, punish the fiend-like perpetrators of the fearful crimes which have disgraced the country:-but be not satisfied with this. Unless the condition of the peasantry be improved, Ireland cannot remain quiet.

I think it probable, that not less than one hundred and fifty millions of money have been drawn out of Ireland since the Union: never to return. How different would the circumstances of that country have been, in regard to civilization, industry, domestic comfort, moral elevation, manufactures, and commerce, with the em ployment of so considerable a capital as this! On the present system, Ireland never can advance either in agricultural improvement, in manufactures, or in commerce. Retrograde is written upon all. It is impossible, too, for the country to support the present population, under the absentee system. The landlords must return, and make common cause with their distressed tenants: return, under a full conviction of their errors, with a sincere desire of discharging a long neglected duty to their country. If they will not, let them prepare for the consequences. The wrongs they are inflicting on their afBicted country are not easily cognizable by human laws, but are within the reach of another code. God, who is the guardian of the poor, will vindicate their cause. If attachment to native country be a virtue, and the mark of an honourable mind, what shall we say of that part of the aristocracy and gentry of Ireland who have deserted the land of their forefathers, and who feel no farther interest in it, except to squeeze as high rents as possible out of the almost empty pockets of their oppressed tenants?

If they will shut their eyes on the danger which threatens, it will only accelerate the crisis. They may instruct their agents to seize the poor man's little stock, and force him from the land; this may be done at the point of the bayonet. The land and cabin will then be vacant, but where will he find one hardy enough to occupy the deserted spot? This system may be persevered in, perhaps, until half or more of the estate is without tenants. But I ask, where is all this to end?' pp. 117-119.

But all is not barren. Some of the estates even of absentees present most cheering exceptions to this gloomy picture. The conduct of the Drapers' Company of the City of London is beyond all praise. They possess estates in the county of Derry to the value of about £10,000 per annum, which, since the year 1816, they have taken more immediately under their own management. On coming into possession of the land at the expiration of a long lease, they resolved that, for a number of years, not less than one third of the rental should be expended in draining, planting, building, the encouraging of agriculture and manufactures, and general improvements. A deputation from their own court was appointed to visit the estates from time to time, that nothing might be trusted to report, but the whole

estate be brought so far as possible under their own inspection. The gratitude and attachment of the tenants, the tranquillity and prosperity of the estate, have amply justified the wise and beneficent experiment. To the deputation, the visit has uniformly been in the highest degree gratifying they have been received like princes-we should rather say, with the genuine feelings of a warm-hearted and generous people towards their benefactors. Knowing this to be the fact, (and we believe it to be by no means a solitary instance of the complete success of a similar policy,) we are fully disposed to admit the sobriety of the Writer's challenge when he exclaims:

'Let no one say, "I would return, could I consider myself safe 66 among my tenantry." Make the trial. Return with a determination to pay off, as speedily as possible, the long arrear, and be assured of your safety. Had I a large estate in that country, and time given me to mature my plans, for the personal and domestic comfort of my tenants, and for their moral elevation, I should not be afraid of sleeping without a bolt. Be but kind to them; let them be satisfied that you are their friend, and they will give you abundant proof of their attachment.

Give me a chosen band of schoolmasters, and allow me to go forward, without opposition, in the scriptural education of children and adults, and in the circulation of the Bible, and I will enter the most barbarous and disturbed district in all Ireland, without fear; confident, by the blessing of God, of raising the moral character of the people, of inducing respect to the laws of God and man, and of thereby superseding the services of legions of soldiers.

In similar language, the anonymous Author of an eloquent pamphlet which is ascribed to a Catholic barrister of very high respectability, thus appeals to the Administration.

We would say to the Government, Be not on all occasions an instrument, at the pleasure and at the caprice of a greedy and careless gentry, with which to whip and to goad the people. They will clamour and talk big, and enlarge upon the grievances and hardships of their case. The remedy is in their own hands. Let them educate the people; let them be kind and considerate landlords. They will tell you, they are not safe in their own houses; they cannot take the air but at the peril of their lives. Ask them, is his Grace the Duke of Devonshire safe when he visits his Irish estates, and goes freely among his tenantry? Are his agents every where in safety, in the house, and on the hill, and in the valley? Then let them go and do likewise. And let not the government of the country, the common protector, as it ought to be, of the poor as well as the rich, forget its dignity and its duty, lending itself upon all occasions to the passions, and the rapacity, and the indolence of an arrogant gentry. Leave. them to the consequences of their own misconduct, and they will be compelled to act right. If they find that government is no longer disposed to be a servant at their command, with whip in hand, to chastise the beggarly and vulgar kinds that dare to mutiny; they

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