The North British Review. 3 



the author of the " Excursion." It is the ablest contribution to 

 the apparatus criticus of the poet since Henry Taylor's cele- 

 brated article, the publication of which, thirty years ago, in 

 the Quarterly Bcviciv, marks the point at which the hostility 

 of Jeffrey and his school was silenced for ever. 



Prom THE SCOTSMAN, June 2, 1864. 



No. LXXX. — AVith topics fresh and interesting, and able 

 writers, obviously left, as such writers ought to be left, to the 

 freedom of their own thoughts and styles, this is an admii'able 

 number of the North British, and would be an admirable number 

 of any of the Quarterlies of older fame and once of richer re- 

 sources. Especially, it is pleasant to perceive that there is no 

 chance of the North British dying of dignity — a malady which 

 has brought one, at least, of its brethren into a somnolent, if not 

 a moribund, condition. It is not content and proud to dwell 

 either in decencies or in dulnesses for ever ; and when it can 

 set forth good sense or sound learning with humour or wit, or 

 even " fun," it is neither ashamed nor afraid to make sport for 

 its readers. Something like a combined effort has been made 

 of late years to convince the " reading public" that dulness is 

 an equivalent of wisdom, and that, as Quarterlies are the 

 natural, if not sole repositories of wisdom, they fulfil the pur- 

 pose of their being in filling themselves with dulness. It was 

 not so in the earlier and better days of Quarterlyism, when 

 Sydney Smith joked wisely and Lockhart jeered too well ; and 

 a little retrogression in this matter would be better than the 

 sort of progress we have been lately making. 



A very good instance of how not only buoyant but royster- 

 ing humour can be united with solid facts and wise instruction, 

 is supplied by the article called " A Fortnight in Faroe." The 

 writer has new and strange things to tell, and he tells them 

 well — fine scenes to paint, and he paints them with a vigorous 

 brush ; but he is in violent animal spirits all the while, enjoy- 

 ing his work immensely, and giving you a chance of enjoying 

 it too, a chance all the more likely to be accepted that he ob- 

 viously does not care whether you take it or leave it. 



