Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

OF

Works in the Press, or preparing for Publication.

The Rev. Dr. Chalmers has in the press, a volume of Discourses on "The Ap plication of Christianity to the Commercial and ordinary Affairs of Life." 8vo. price 8s. bds. The work will be published about the beginning of November.

The best illustration of the Divorce Transactions, and Court Proceedings in the time of Henry VIII., is to be found in "Strype's Memorials of the Reformation," which very properly gives the Original Papers and Records; and contains also Memoirs of the two English Cardinals, Wolsey and Pole. An edition of this work, of 250 copies only, has been printed by Mr. Bagster.

Shortly will be published, Lithographed, in quarto, a Series of Designs for pri vate Dwellings; comprising perspective Elevations adapted to geometrical measure. ment, and plans of the several Stories, with explanatory references, by J. Hedge,

land.

Collections relative to claims at the Coronations of several Kings of England, be ginning with King Richard II., being curious and interesting Documents, derived from authentic sources. This work may be considered as a valuable appendage to Taylor's" Glory of Regality," or Thomson's " Coronations of England,'

In a few days will be published, (in 1 vol. foolscap 8vo. embellished with 4 por traits,)" Henry the VIIIth, and George the IVth;" or the case fairly stated. By Thomas Harral Containing, 1st, Strictures, Historical and Illustrative, on the English Law of Divorce, particularly as it respects Royalty; with a general view of the Modes of Prosecution, by Impeachment, Bills of Pains and Penalties, Bills of Attainder, &c. 2dly, Historical Sketch of the Trials of Henry the VIIIth's Queens Catherine of Arragon, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Howard. 3d. Narrative of the former and recent proceedings against her present Majesty, Caroline, Queen Consort of George the IVth. Lastly, Parallel between the Lives and Characters of Henry the VIIIth, and his present Majesty George the IVth.

Principles of Education, Intellectual, Moral, and Physical. By the Rev. Lant Carpenter, L.L.D. in one vol. 8vo.

The Cheltenham Mail Bag; or Letters from Gloucestershire. Edited by Peter Quince the Younger.

Mr. Aspin is preparing for publication, An Account of the Naval and Military Exploits which have distinguished the Reign of George the Third. The work will be embellished with coloured plates.

The Rev. R. N. Turner, of Denton, is engaged on a New Metrical Version of the Psalms, adapted to be sung in Churches.

Archdeacon Pott is preparing a volume of Sermons on the Fasts and Festivals of the Church of England.

Mr. E. Morgan, Surgeon, will soon publish, Practical Observations on the nature and cure of Dropsies, and Diseases of the Skin, illustrated by several cases.

Sir R. K. Porter has in the press, Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, &c. in 1817, 18, 19, 20, with engravings of Antiquities.

Mr. Edward Grainger, Jun. is preparing a concise System of Anatomy, for the use of Medical Students.

Traits and Trials, a Novel, in two volumes, will soon appear.

The Life of William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, compiled principally from Original and Scarce Documents, is preparing for publication.

Robert Monteath, Wood Surveyor, Stirling, has in the press, The Forester's Guide, in which will be contained, Observations on Cutting, Thinning, Pruning, and Training up Coppice Wood; the method of valuing and ascertaining the quantity of bark produced by coppice wood of all ages; also the method of measuring standing trees by a new invented instrument, whereby the exact dimensions of every tree, with all its branches, can be as exactly taken with the same expedition as if the tree were lying on the ground, whereby any forester, however unacquainted with valuing and measuring standing trees, may satisfy his employer with the exact measurement and value of every tree on his estate, with plans of the instrument for measuring standing trees, and the method of valuing coppice wood.

THE

EDINBURGH

MONTHLY REVIEW.

NOVEMBER, 1820.

ART. I.-The History of the Crusades for the Recovery and Possession of the Holy Land. By CHARLES MILLS. 2 vols. 8vo. Pp. 475, and 408. Longman & Co. London, 1820.

THERE is a strong tendency in human nature to look back with fondness upon the olden times. We associate with them notions of simplicity and purity, for which, it is to be lamented, that there is in fact little foundation; and we contemplate the persons who acted in them a distinguished part, with emotions not unlike to those with which we survey the mouldering monuments of ancient architecture, or trace, in the construction of castellated mansions, the ruins of which still are preserved, the domestic arrangements and the social intercourse of the days that are past. From this cause alone, the Crusades must have excited no small degree of interest; but these singular expeditions hold so conspicuous a place in the history of the middle ages, exhibit human nature in so peculiar a light, and are so intimately connected with the state of Europe in respect of knowledge and civilization, that no historian of that period could overlook them. Much interesting information with regard to them has accordingly been collected by several of our best historical writers, and the events which arose out of them have been minutely detailed by ecclesiastical historians, who viewed them in reference to religion, or to the power and authority of the church. Bongarsius, in the valuable work which he entitled "Gesta Dei per Francos," has given to the public a great variety of productions by which they are elucidated. Fabricius, with his accustomed industry, has enumerated in the sixth volume of Bibliotheca Græca, a number of authors who had devoted their researches to this subject; and Sigonius, the archbishop of Tyre, Matthew Paris, and even Maimbourg, may, with much advantage, be particularly consulted.

But, although so much has been already done, and although

VOL. IV. NO. V.

20

there be few readers who have not formed a general and tolerably accurate idea of the crusades, there was perhaps room for a work in our own language exclusively appropriated to them, and there was reason to anticipate that such a work, faithfully and judiciously executed, would be perused with considerable

interest.

Mr. Mills, to whose history of Mahommedanism we lately adverted, has undertaken and executed such a work as that to which we have now alluded. He has evidently prepared himself for it by much diligent research; he has mentioned the authorities upon which he has relied, with a minuteness equally creditable to himself, and satisfactory to the reader; and we are quite convinced that he has faithfully investigated the works which he has enumerated. It is but justice to him, however, to premise, that the subject which he has chosen has difficulties which it would have required much skill and address completely to surmount. Although there be apparently only one object to be kept in view, yet it is not easy to give to the narration that unity and that clearness which are so fascinating, and indeed so requisite in historical composition. The crusaders left Europe in different bodies, and at different periods. In their various enterprises there was much similarity; and amidst the recurring details of these enterprises, a reader is often bewildered and exhausted. This, in the present work, is much increased by a practice adopted by the author, to the cause of which we shall presently more particularly allude. Instead of uniformly introducing the numerous leaders or conspicuous personages by their names, he frequently gives to them the titles which had been conferred on them, or styles them by the cities or districts over which they ruled, and in this way he has rendered his narrative so intricate-we speak from what we ourselves experienced that it is requisite often to stop short when we are most eager to advance, and to look back through many pages before we can recognize the knight of whose brilliant career we had been reading. To this it must be added, that notwithstanding the pleasure derived from those splendid deeds of he roism which the crusaders sometimes performed, and the interest excited by the magnanimity and fortitude which, upon trying occasions, they so frequently displayed, it is almost impossible not to be disgusted by their dissensions, their libertinism, and their cruelty, all of them in themselves sufficiently detestable, but rendered still more so from being perpetrated under the purest of religions, and for the avowed purpose of advancing the cause of that beneficent Saviour, whose kingdom was not of this world, and who has invariably represented

« AnteriorContinuar »