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    ( 191 )

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    XXVI.—NOTICES OF BOOKS. ¦ — ——^

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    , .a < 1.—Recollec B tions H. E of . Car...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    ( 191 )

    ( 191 )

    Xxvi.—Notices Of Books. ¦ — ——^

    XXVI . —NOTICES OF BOOKS . ¦ — _——^

    , .A < 1.—Recollec B Tions H. E Of . Car...

    , . a < 1 . —Recollec B tions H . E . Cardinal the Last " Four Wiseman Popes . , Hurst and of and Home Blackett in their . Times ,

    y history hereafter This book of by may Ital the y be , or rofessed considered rather historians as as memoirs a seetion of pour the of Bomish the servir great , to Church ecclesiastical "be consulted , It is

    an able and amusing p volume , composed without much regard to precision or order ,, and , if we may venture to say as much , in parts

    a little too efflorescent _. Nothing can be more agreeable than the style , except where it becomes ambitious . We have a profusion of

    anecdote , —a variety of information on many points . It tells us — pleasantl about y the about visitors the distin to the guished "Vatican author —about himself the — banditti about Napoleon —about

    eminent English , men _French who , and are supposed other cardinals to form — the and substance , finally , about of the the book four .

    The [ Recollections ' of Cardinal Wiseman are not to be canvassed and criticised strictly , like an ordinary historic record ; but are to

    be taken cum grano , as the view of a disciple or proselyte gazing throug ersWere h a rose the - volume coloured wanting medium in at this the natural features prejudice of his beloved we confess

    teach-. , that we should feel disposed to examine its merits more carefully ; but Paul at the feet of Gamaliel should only drink in the wisdom

    flowing from his tongue , and should not carp at word or manner , like one The who book is a is stranger written to as his we excellence have suggested . without any aim . at

    orderand we do not like , it the less on that account , . Whether it be that we , are of that desultory class that delight chiefly in the

    spontaneousunconfined efforts of the human mind , we do not know ; but we have , received more pleasure from these irregular tracings of the

    author ' s memory , than if he had sate down with more malicious preparationand given usin precise chronological reckoning , the sum

    , , and elaborate calculations of his judgment . We like a loving record : it tells well for the writer—it tells well

    for the person respecting whom it is written . Apart from a mere vulgar display of cleverness or scholastic acquirement ( which after

    all is of little value , except in the common market ) , what is there so trulestimable as the " Words of a Believer '"—as that history and

    expression y of belief which makes us familiar , with the good actions and thoughts , the gratitude and affections of men ?

    " It blesseth him that gives and him that takes . " . It teaches us respect and love;—sometimes it teaches us justice . And

    should it excite , as it probably may , some aspiring within us , it is

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 191, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/47/