306 



Monthly Review of' Literature, 



[MARCH, 



carefully stated the divisions of the chiefs, 

 the arrivals of Church and Cochrane, the 

 reconciliation of the chiefs through the 

 urgency of Church and Cochrane, the ap- 

 pointment of Capo d'Istria to the head of 

 the government (who by the way does not 

 appear even yet to have reached Greece) 

 of Church to the command of the army, and 

 of Cochrane to that of the navy the siege 

 of Athens, the death of Kariaskaki, the 

 failure of Church, with 3,000 men, to re- 

 lieve the Acropolis, and of his consequent 

 retreat, and the surrender of the town and 

 fortress. These letters, occupying about 130 

 pages of the volume, constitute its chief 

 value, and are better calculated than any 

 thing we have seen to furnish correct views 

 of the state of the country. Capt. Blaquiere 

 is an enthusiast in the cause ; but he knows 

 it, and the knowledge has rendered him 

 careful in keeping down the colouring of his 

 pages. Some of the letters appeared in the 

 Morning Herald. 



The rest of the volume is filled with a 

 reply to Mr. Green's Sketches a book we 

 had intended to notice this month, but 

 which we must put off for want of space 

 Mr. Green's prejudices lie all the other way, 

 and they have prompted him to speak of 

 Capt. Blaquiere with some severity, as exag- 

 gerating facts, and misleading the country 

 which has of course provoked the reply. 



It would be unfair not to add that Capt. 

 B.'s letters are frequently enlivened with 

 descriptions of the customs of the natives 

 for instance 



While at Egina, I resided in a cottage about 

 Lalf a mile from the town, occupied by a native 

 of the island. Having determined to add a small 

 wing to the building, I was not only consulted as 

 to the best point of erecting the additional room, 

 but requested to be present at the ceremony of 

 laying the first stone. Monday being fixed, for 

 Tuesday is a most unlucky day in Greece, I was 

 called at six in the morning, and after the usual 

 cup of coffee and pipe were served, the owner of 

 the cottage, and his tare-footed wife, informed 

 me, that the masons had arrived, and only waited 

 my presence to commence the work. Ojo going 

 outside the door, I found they had already pre- 

 pared an opening for the foundation, and that 

 piles of stones and mortar were ranged on each 

 side. Instead, however, of a trowel, the master 

 stood with a knife in his hand ; and we had no 

 sooner exchanged the usual compliments of the 

 morning, than one of the workmen took a cock 

 from a basket that stood near us, and handed it 

 to his superior, upon which the latter cut off its 

 head, and strewed the blood all over the founda- 

 tion. This strange proceeding was accompanied 

 by a short prayer, expressing a hope that the new 

 structure would be secure and prosper. He next 

 placed a few pieces of money at the outer extre- 

 mity of the hollow space, and forthwith com- 

 menced his work. On inquiry, I found that this 

 practice is universal throughout Greece, and that, 

 in some places, it is usual to sacrifice an ox when 

 the proposed building is on a larger scale, and 

 the projectors can afford the expense. It is use- 

 less to add, that these customs are derived from 



the highest antiquity r "< closely connected with 

 Escalapian sacrifices of other days. 



Analysis of the Character of Napoleon? 



ty Dr. Channing ; 1828 Dr. Channing is 



already well known by his eloquent and able 

 review of Milton's character and writings ; 

 and the " Character of Napoleon," recently 

 repnblished in London, is executed with 

 equal ability and effect. Sir Walter Scott's 

 Life was the occasion of its being written, 

 and the Character itself is preceded by a 

 brief estimate of the value of that perform- 

 ance. The doctor is surprised at the ra- 

 pidity with which a work of such magni- 

 tuda and such variety was thrown off, but 

 thinks it would have been all the better for 

 a little more time and thought. It betrays 

 marks of negligence and haste ; it wants 

 compression and selection ; it has too much 

 of the decorations of poetry, and the wan- 

 derings of the novel j and the remarks,, 

 though in general just enough, are yet trite 

 and superficial. It has, however what 

 was, perhaps, least to be expected the 

 merit of impartiality inaccurate probably 

 in the details, but singularly free from pro 1 - 

 judice and passion. 



After this slight, but surely not very in- 

 adequate estimate of the work, Dr. Chan- 

 ning turns to the character of Napoleon ; 

 and that character he tries as it has rarely- 

 been tried, and by a test which it is least 

 calculated to bear by the touchstone of 

 utility, and the eternal principles of mora- 

 lity. He has sternly rent away the veil that 

 shaded its deformities ; and demands was 

 he the friend of freedom of the rights of in- 

 dividuals of the best and the dearest-inte- 

 rests of men ? He Avas nothing of all this. 

 He was a great man, no doubt ; but not 

 morally great not intellectually great ; 

 he was great as a soldier in the field in 

 action ; he was great as others have been 

 great ; he aimed at the same common ob- 

 jects, and pursued them by the same coarse 

 measures ; there was no novelty in his ex~ 

 pedients. His resources were all of the 

 old cast ; and himself unfettered by com- 

 punctions of remorse, or the laws of cus- 

 tom, or of moral restraint. He did not go 

 with the spirit of his age ; he did not com- 

 prehend it ; though one of the people, he 

 did not make himself their man their or- 

 gan the executor of their vows and hopes. 

 His aims were all for himself ; his ambition 

 was essentially of a vulgar order to make 

 himself one among existing kings, and to 

 be at the head of them ; and he accordingly 

 drew round him the trappings of royalty 

 reinstituted the hierarchy, as one of the 

 wonted supports of it and linked himself, 

 by marriage, with other crowned heads. 



The very claims, which appear most to 

 entitle him to admiration, of the higher 

 kind his code of laws and his public 

 works Dr. Channing reduces, perhaps, 

 below their due level. As to his code of 

 laws " his participation has been unwar- 

 rantably and ridiculously magnified :" his 



