1831.] 



Domestic cind Foreign. 



339 



a second. But why ? Mr. Parsey de- 

 monstrates thus : " Noticing," says he, 

 " the angle of other eminent penmen to 

 differ, I was induced to endeavour to 

 demonstrate it, and after considerable 

 patience, I discovered, that if the indi- 

 vidual sits directly before the paper 

 rests half the arm, from the wrist to the 

 elbow, on the table rests on the points 

 of the third and little finger, the middle 

 finger straight, the thumb embracing 

 the pen near the nail the pen passing 

 through the middle of the first joint of 

 the fore-finger, and the wrist kept an 

 inch off the table on extending the 

 pen and drawing it to the point of ra- 

 dius, the down stroke produced an angle 

 of 54 ; the angle of the pen, before ex- 

 tended from the point of radius, 65 

 degrees this demonstrated that 54 

 degrees is the true slope of writing," &c. 

 Mr. Parsey piques himself upon his 

 use of the scraper " It is," he says, in 

 terms we do not quite comprehend, 

 " new, and while it adds a lustre to 

 miniature painting, I trust the connect- 

 ing idea on oil painting may give a re- 

 putation to British works, which the 

 talent of this country is fully too com- 

 petent to merit." We leave the matter, 

 to the craft. 



The History and Antiquities of the Doric 

 Race, by C. O. Mutter, Professor in the 

 University of Gottingen, translated by 

 Messrs. Tuffnel and Lewis ,- 2 vols., 

 tivo. Professor Miiller's History of the 

 Dorians has fallen into our hands too 

 late to enable us to communicate with 

 any accuracy the learned writer's gene- 

 ral views, or to present specifically the 

 results of his researches. They are 

 often, we are aware, unexpectedly suc- 

 cessful. We can only congratulate the 

 public on a translation which has been 

 executed by competent persons, and 

 which has had also the singular good- 

 fortune of being revised by the author 

 himself. His corrections, it is stated, 

 are of so extensive a kind as to make 

 the work rather a new edition, or even 

 a re-construction, than a mere transla- 

 tion. The history before us, is a por- 

 tion only of a more considerable work, 

 entitled, or to be entitled, the Histories 

 of Greek Tribes and Cities forming 

 the second and third volumes, but still 

 sufficiently detached from the general 

 fabric to be read as a separate perform- 

 ance of a perfectly distinct work. It 

 contains the whole history of the Dorians 

 traced as far back as the eagle glance 

 of the writer could penetrate the chaos 

 of mythology and tradition, and blun- 

 der a confusion worse confounded by 

 legions of poets, who one after another 

 have substituted their own imaginings 

 for facts, with a caprice and a wanton, 

 ness that baffle sagacity, and defy re 



ga 

 cli 



duction. The Olympus of Thessaly 

 must be, for want of further materials, 

 regarded as the aboriginal seat of the 

 Dorians of history. The chief events 

 of their early story, are their emigra- 

 tion to Crete tha't of a part of them 

 only, of course before the days of 

 Minos, who himself proves to have 

 been a Dorian ; and their irruption into 

 the Peloponnesus, in conjunction with 

 the Heraclidae, if indeed they were not 

 alike Dorians. The author seems to re- 

 rd the hereditary claim of the Hera- 

 idae to the sovereignty of Argos, or 

 perhaps of the whole of the Pelopon- 

 nesus, as all moonshine, and, of course, 

 the grand " Return," of the said Hera- 

 clidse, as " signifying nothing." Del- 

 phi was early in the hands of the Dori- 

 ans apparently they must be regarded 

 as the institutors of the oracle of Apollo, 

 through which they influenced the for- 

 tunes of Greece for ages. Our recol- 

 lection of Miiller's work is most alive 

 as to the part connected with the wor- 

 ship of Apollo, who superseded, or took 

 the lead of all other forms and objects 

 of religious reverence, wherever the. 

 Dorians spread their conquests, or ob- 

 tained a predominant influence. The 

 second volume is filled in a very inte- 

 resting and satisfactory manner, with 

 inquiries into the political and domestic 

 institutions of the Spartans, who be- 

 came finally the chiefs and representa- 

 tives of the Dorian race. The ancient 

 poets are, by most people, young and 

 old, read with as little reference to facts, 

 and realities as fairy tales. Such re- 

 searches as Miiller's are calculated to 

 throw a new interest upon them and 

 are likely to elicit more from them than 

 they were thought to contain. 



Tales of a Grandfather France. By 

 Sir W. Scott, Bart. 3 vols. We can 

 have no wish to depreciate any effort 

 that Sir Walter Scott thinks it worth 

 his while to make; but it is scarcely 

 within the allowable limits of literary 

 manoeuvre to mark a consecutive narra- 

 tive of facts a common school history, 

 with the name of " Tales of a Grand- 

 father." However, the first portion of 

 his Scotch history might be fairly cha- 

 racterized by the term ; the production 

 before us has not the slightest claim to 

 so attractive a title. It is mere trickery 

 contrived in the spirit of trade to take. 

 There is no attempt at insulation it is 

 simply a continuous series of French 

 history, with something more of detail 

 than usually enters into school epitomes 

 a succession of facts, without any sift- 

 ing of motives, or balancing of evidence. 

 The stream of the narrative flows on un- 

 interruptedly gently, smilingly, grace- 

 fully yet with an animation that never 

 ; but we cannot but regret that 

 2X2 



