1821.1 



Quarterly Review, No. XLVIII. 



the chief of the assassins, and from 

 whom t!ie name, as applied to murder- 

 ers, is derived, is interesting. But the 

 story of Marco Polo, when stripped of 

 its colouring, is simply that the term 

 " impious," was applied by the or- 

 thodox Mussulmans, to an odious and 

 fanatic sect who began to flourish 

 about the year 1090, and dwelt in the 

 mountainous district of Kohistan,^ 

 Hassan (the hero of the tale of Abu 

 Hassan in " the thousand and one 

 nights,") was the name of the founder. 

 In the time of Marco Polo, the reigning 

 " old man " was, as he says, Aloeddin, 

 against whom and his son, an expedi- 

 tion was undertaken by the Moghuls,on 

 account of their numerous massacres 

 and other cruelties ; and it is now quite 

 certain that Hulagu Khan, the grand- 

 son of the renowned Gengis, put this 

 chief and 12,000 of his followers to 

 death. But we must not attempt to 

 enter into a discussion of the merits of 

 Marco Polo, in noticing an article in a 

 review. 



The fourth article is a dull endea- 

 vour to be witty and facetious on 

 " Frederick Aceum's absurd Treatiseon 

 Adulterations of Food and Culinary 

 Poisons." We are sorry that the re- 

 viewers should have troubled them- 

 selves about a publication which is 

 only fit to be ranked with the works of 

 the late Dr. Colquhoun, concerning, 

 and having respect to, the police of the 

 metropolis. All such things are 

 quackery, and as such should be de- 

 spised. We cannot possibly afford to 

 bestow a less flippant expression of our 

 contempt for them. 



The fifth article, which bears the 

 attractive title of " Modern Novels," 

 relates only to those of Miss Austin. 

 As she does not put her name to her 

 works, of course the reviewer is aware 

 that it is agreeable to herself that he 

 speaks of her so openly, otherwise he 

 must be sensible that it is not very 

 courteous to take such liberties with 

 unaspiring genius. We have often re- 

 gretted that in (hese cursory notices of 

 periodical criticism our limits should 

 be so circumscribed, but never more 

 tiian on the present occasion, as we 

 have long wished for an opportunity of 

 expressing our oitinion on novel-writ- 

 ing in general, as well as on that kind 

 lii it which has lately come into vogue. 

 The reviewer, in the present instance, 

 seems to have stolen some of our ideas 

 by auticipation, and therefore we re- 



331 



commend his introductory remarks 

 with unqualified approbation.* 



The sixth article is about a dispute, 

 almost of a personal nature, between 

 the reviewer and Mr. J. Valpy, the 

 printer of the New Greek Thesaurus, 

 and is not interesting to the public. 



The seventh, on " the Rise and Pro- 

 gress of Horticulture," contains a plea- 

 sant and judicious historical view of the 

 subject. It is drawn up in the veiy 

 best manner, and conducted through- 

 out with an agreeable temperance and 

 good sense that at once recommends the 

 matter and the author to the favourable 

 consideration of the reader. 



The eighth paper — really this is too 

 bad — we had fondly hoped that the 

 Greeks and their manners were done 

 with. But it seems that tlie Quarterly, 

 like the Edinburgh Review, when it 

 has got hold of a good thing, cannot 

 come to an end. We are likely to be 

 punished for our approbation of the 

 late articles relative to. the Gi-eeks — 

 upwards of forty pages are again thrust 

 upon our attention, — the subject will 

 not bear it. Major Cartwright on 

 Reform, Mr. Haydon about himself 

 and the fiffe arts, Mr. Owen on his 

 new view of society, every Edinburgh 

 advocate about the superiorities of Sir 

 Walter Scott — and the Edinburgh Re- 

 view on political economy, with the 

 Quarterly on classical literature, are 

 the greatest bores extant, except, per- 

 haps, Mr. Vansittart and the Courier 

 newspajjer, on the flourishing state of 

 the finances. The paper on the man- 

 ners of the Athenians, is doubtless from 

 the pen of the translator of Aristo- 

 phanes — the note at the bottom of the 

 first page betrays the secret. Pray is 

 the ti'anslation read ? and how long time 

 will it take any rational man, not un- 

 der narcotic influence, to read the 

 forty-two pages which we have here 

 met with in our task, like a piece of 

 sandstone in a slice of plumb-pudding. 

 There is no enduring this prodigality 

 of classical knowledge. It is sheer 

 spendthrift cleverness. It may be 

 very pleasant to the writer, but it is al- 

 most useless to every other body, and 

 to some annoying — as witness our- 

 selves. 



But if we are wearied with this 



• It was unjust in such an article not to 

 notice with respect the aniialjle produc- 

 tiousof Miss CutiLEN, in the saiue line of 

 composition. 



eternal 



