Literary and Critical Proemium. 



544 



principles to his necessities, and join, to 

 the admiralion of his genius, the total dis- 

 approval of the courtly character of his 

 sentiments. 



The History of Mexico, recently pre- 

 sented to the public by Mr. Mill, will 

 prove no unacceptable acquisition te the 

 libraries of those who interest themselves 

 . in Spanish affairs. The dedication, to the 

 chairman of the Anglo-Mexican Mining 

 Association, which the author introduces as 

 a prefix to the subject matter of his work, 

 concludes with an observation which de- 

 clares the spirit and feeling under the 

 influence of which lie undertook his self- 

 imposed task. "To the man of science," 

 says he, " it belongs not to be a calculator 

 of commercial gain; but I am much mis- 

 taken if the measure of individual advan- 

 tage in this undertaking be not fully com- 

 mensurate (as it ought to be) with the 

 other great objects to be accomplished by 

 it." The great objects to which Mr. Mill 

 alludes are uniformly kept in view. He is 

 the friend of ingenuity, science, and ad- 

 venture, but no adviser of rash or hasty 

 enterprize. To the majority of the flatter- 

 ing accounts of the profits of mining he 

 yields very limited belief; and asserts, in 

 pretty direct terms, that to engage in 

 working the mines of Mexico, is to put 

 your property to a most dangerous hazard. 

 While saying this, he however admits, that 

 a foriunale few of those who risk their 

 money, makeijreat pecuniary profits; but 

 adds the expression of his concern, that 

 their success should tempt others, to the 

 niter ruin of themselves and families. All 

 this is very well, and does credit to the 

 heart of Mr. Mill, as a feeling and sympa- 

 thizing man ; but does by no means apo- 

 logize for the paucity of that which he ex- 

 pressly professes to give, — Spanish history. 

 While far from saying that it does not, on 

 that subject, possess much of what is valu- 

 able, we cannot but avow our wish that a 

 siill fuller account had been given; that a 

 nearer approach had been made to the 

 rich and ample variety of particulars to be 

 found in the opulent stores of Humboldt's 

 Essay on the same topic. It is true, that 

 the author has amassed materials that can- 

 not but be thankfully received by his 

 leaders ; but those who have perused the 

 writer we have just named, will not be 

 pleased at finding themselves carried back- 

 ward, rather than forward, by a later 

 publication. Still, however, Mr. M.'s 

 work will find readers, who know too little 

 on the subject to form any comparative 

 judgment ; and, to snch, his work will 

 prove agreeable and useful. 



The political condition of the European 

 continent has been of a description to ex- 

 cite the attention, and exercise the'talents, 

 of a large proportion of the writers of 

 every country in which the press is suffi- 

 cieutly free to admit the public expression 



[July 1, 



of their sentiments. Among these we 

 have to name an authoress, who, under the 

 signature of " A Lady of Rank," has 

 published two octavo volumes, entitled, 

 Venice under the Yoke of Trance, and of 

 Austria. The work includes memoirs of 

 the courts, governments, and people, of 

 Italy, and presents a tolerably faithful 

 picture of the present state of thatcountry. 

 If we add, that the lady includes, in the 

 plan of her publication, some curious and 

 interesting anecdotes of the family of 

 Napoleon, our readers will acknowledge 

 that such a feature is no small augmenta- 

 tion of the value of the undertaking. We 

 are introduced to the main subject of the 

 work through the medium of a preface, in 

 the form of a dialogue, between the fair 

 authoress and a friend. From this we 

 collect, that the design of her work is to 

 present its readers with a fair unexag- 

 gerated statement of the country whose 

 condition she proposes to describe : 

 " Nothing to extenuate, nor to set down 

 aught in malice,'' to repeat her own quo- 

 tation from our immortal bard. The facts, 

 she informs us, have either come within 

 her own knowledge, or been communi- 

 cated to her by persons of the highest re- 

 spectability and consequence ; and the 

 anecdotes, we are assured, are " not less 

 true than curious.'' In a work, the first 

 volume of which contains twenty-nine 

 chapters, and the second fifteen, there is, 

 of course, a great variety of matter, and 

 many under-subjects which, though they 

 are not introduced by any absolute neces- 

 sity, have more or less of connection 

 with the principal business of the publica- 

 tion. This business is, to exhibit the poli- 

 tical state of Venice ; and the grand object 

 of that exhibition, to attribute to Napoleon 

 all the evils it has suffered, and thereby to 

 darken his character. His determination 

 to destroy the Venetian republic is more 

 than insinuated : the new form of govern- 

 ment established under his auspices is de- 

 nominated a mnck government; the con- 

 tributions he there levied are dwelt upon 

 with a pleasure proportioned to the as- 

 serted enormity of the measure ; and every 

 act that distorted representation can turn 

 against him, is seized with avidity. Nu- 

 merous other points are touched upon, and 

 the conduct of the Austrian government is 

 not wholly spared ; but the sufferings of 

 Venice, not from Francis, but Napoleon, 

 not under the Germans, but the French, 

 yoke, is the grand object of the lady's 

 animadversion. The colour of her politics 

 tinges the style of her language, and be- 

 trays her anti-liberal principles. We how- 

 ever, disposed, as far as literary merit is 

 concerned, to view her labours with a 

 more candid eye than she has been 

 pleased to survey the character and con- 

 duct of the French emperor, arc willing to 

 admit, that she possesses a large portion of 



the 



