BIOGRAPHY. ALTHOUGH history and biography times owe their chief charm to the both relate to the affairs of men, and simplicity of the subject, in which one are employed in the narrative of state or contest stands prominently human events, they are governed by forward, and the others are thrown opposite principles, and require, for into a shade which only renders the their successful prosecution, different more striking the light thrown on one powers and habits of thought. The particular subject, or the efforts of main object of history is the tracing individual greatness. Herodotus has out the growth of nations, the great earned his deathless fame by the narevents which lead to their rise or fall, rative he has given of the great war the causes operating on the social between Persia and Greece, on which body, which at one period conduct to the destinies of mankind depended; power and greatness, at another induce Thucydides by his profound exposi weakness and decay. Biography is tion of the strife of aristocracy and concerned with individual life. Its democracy in the contest between aim is to trace the annals, not of Lacedæmon and Athens. The long nations, but of persons; to portray, narrative of Livy has survived the not the working of general causes on floods of Time almost entirely from the progress of empires, but the in- the charming episodes descriptive of fluence of particular characters on character or manners which he has their most interesting episodes. The introduced, and the dramatic power former requires habits of general with which he has narrated the exthought, and the power of tracing one ploits of individual men; and what common principle through a great has given Tacitus immortality, is variety of complicated details; the neither any luminous views on the latter, close attention to individual progress of mankind, nor any just incidents, and a minute examination appreciation of the causes of greatness of the secret springs of human con- in particular states, but the depth to duct. The first is closely allied to which he has fathomed the real springs the generalisations of the philosopher; of action in particular men, and the the latter requires the powers of the terrible truth with which he has undramatist. The two branches of com- veiled that most appalling of all specposition, however, are nearly allied, tacles-a naked human heart. and frequently run into each other. History generally finds its most interesting episodes, often its most important subjects, in the narrative of individual greatness; biography is imperfect unless, in addition to tracing the achievements of the individuals it records, it explains their influence upon the society among whom they arose. What we call the histories of antiquity were, for the most part, only biographies, and they owe their principal interest to that circumstance. The Cyropædia of Xenophon is a philosophical romance, clothed with the eloquence of an orator; the fragments which remain of Sallust, the rhetorical narrative of Quintus Curtius, are the avowed biographies of individual men. Even the regular histories of classical The great difficulty of history, as it must be written in modern times, arises from the multitude and complication of the events which have to be recorded. So intimately connected have the States of Europe been since the rise of modern civilisation, that he who writes the annals of one must write the history of all. The progress, internal and external, of all its powers must be brought forward abreast; and such is their number and importance, that not only is the historian oppressed with the variety and complication of his materials, but he finds it next to impossible to produce interest in the reader amidst such a sea of details; and often fails, from the impossibility of attaining that essential requisite in the rousing of human sympathy — Lives of the Queens of England. By AGNES STRICKLAND. Vol. I. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London. unity of emotion. Add to this the infinity of subjects a historian even of an individual state must now embrace, and which almost overwhelm the exploits of particular men by their multitude and complication. Strategy, statistics, trade, navigation, commerce, agriculture, taxation, finance, currency, paper credit, poor laws, agriculture, socialism, chartism, form a few of the topics, any one of which would require volumes for its elucidation, yet none of which can be omitted without exposing the historian to the imputation, from some one or other, of having overlooked the most important part of his subject. So great is this difficulty, so extensive the embarrassment it produces, that it may safely be pronounced to be insurmountable by any effort, how great soever, unless the endeavours of the historian are aided by unity of interest in the subject, or overpowering greatness of influence in the characters with whom he has to deal. But it is, perhaps, only in the wars of the Crusades, of the Succession in Spain, and of the French Revolution, that such unity of interest is to be looked for, or such surpassing grandeur of character is to be found, from the achievements of a Richard Coeur-de-Lion, a Marlborough, or a Napoleon. From this great difficulty, biography is entirely free, and thence the superior interest with which, when properly treated, works of that description are attended. We are so constituted that we must concentrate our interest; dispersion is fatal to its existence. Every novelist and romance-writer knows this; there must always be a hero and a heroine; but two or three heroes and heroines would prove fatal to the interest. Ariosto tried to divide the interest of the reader among the adventures of a dozen knights errant; but even his genius proved unequal to the task, and he was obliged to concentrate the whole around the fabulous siege of Paris to restore the broken unity of his power. The great and signal advantage of biography is, that, from its very nature, it possesses that personal interest and individual character which the epic poet and novelist feel to be essential to the moving of the human heart, but which the his torian so often finds himself unable to attain, without omitting some important parts of his subject, or giving undue prominence to the characters of individual men. For this reason it is, that the most popular works which ever have been written have been biographies of illustrious men. No one would think of comparing the intellect of Plutarch to that of Tacitus, his eloquence to that of Cicero's, yet he has made perhaps a greater impression on the imagination of subsequent ages than either of these illustrious men. If we examine the images of the mighty of former days which are engraven on our minds, we shall find that it is not so much the pictured pages of Livy or Quintus Curtius, as the "Lives of Plutarch," which have given them immortality. We complain of his gossip, we lament his superstition, we smile at his credulity, but we devour his pages; and, after the lapse of seventeen hundred years, they remain one of the most generally popular works in existence, It is the same in modern times. No one would think of comparing Boswell, in point of intellect to Johnson; in point of eloquence to Burke; in point of genius to Gibbon; yet he has produced a work superior in general interest to any of these illustrious men, and which is daily read by thousands, to whom the "Reflections on the French Revolution," the moral essays of the Rambler," and the "History of the Decline and Fall," will for ever remain unknown. To render biography, however, thus generally attractive, it is indispensable that its basis should be that first element in the narration of human action - TRUTH. Without this, it wants the great superiority of the narrative of real event over fictitious creations, how interesting soever they may be-that of recording what has actually occurred in real life. How important an element this is in awakening the sympathies of the human heart, may be seen even in children who, when particularly fascinated by any story they are told, invariably end by asking, "But is it all true?" The value of truth, or rather of what is "vraisemblable," is felt even in imaginary conceptions, which it is well known are never so attractive, or interest so powerfully, as when they most closely resemble the events and characters of actual existence. The real is, and ever must be, the only sure foundation of the ideal. Novels are most delightful when they approach nearest to what we behold around us in real life, while yet containing a sufficient blending of romance and sentiment, of heroism and magnanimity, to satisfy the higher aspirations of our being. Biography is most charming when it depicts with fidelity those characters, and records with truth those events, which approach nearest to that imaginary perfection to which every generous mind aspires, but to which none ever has attained, or ever will. It has been said with truth, that the events which are suitable for epic poetry are such as are "probable but yet elevating." We are so constituted by our bonds to earth, that our chief interest must ever be derived from the virtues or the vices, the joys or sorrows, of beings like ourselves; but we are so filled with more ennobling thoughts and aspirations, by our destiny in Heaven, that we can be satisfied only by what points to a higher state of existence, and feel the greatest enjoyment by being elevated, either by the conceptions of fancy or the records of reality, to a nearer view of its perfection. If novels depict merely imaginary existences, they may charm for a season, like the knights of Ariosto, or the heroes of Metastasio; but they are too much in the clouds permanently to interest sublunary mortals. If they record merely the adventures of low, or the vulgarity of middle life, they may amuse for a season, like the characters of Smollett; but they will sink ere long, from the want of that indispensable lifeboat in the sea of time, an elevating tendency. It is characters like those of the Iliad, of Shakspeare, of Scott, and Schiller, which combine the wellknown and oft-observed characteristics of human nature with the oftimagined but seldom seen traits of heroism and magnanimity which border on the realms of the ideal that for ever fascinate the imagination, and dwell in the heart of man. The reason is, they contain enough of reality to tell us it is of humanity that the story is told, and enough of the ideal to make us proud of our connection with it. The great and chief charm of biography is to be found in this, that it unites, from its very nature and object, those two indispensable requisites to durable popularity in works of fiction, and combines them with the value and the solid information of truthful narrative. It possesses the value of history, without its tediumthe interest of romance, without its unsubstantiality. It culls the flowers from the records of time, and casts into the shade all the accompanying weeds and briars. If a judicious and discriminating selection of characters were made-if those persons were selected for the narrative who have been most illustrious by their virtues, their genius, or their magnanimity, or, as a contrast, by their vices, and who have made the greatest and most durable impression on human affairs, a work might be produced exceeding any one of history in its utility, any of romance in its popularity. David Hume strongly advised Robertson, eighty years ago, instead of writing the Life of Charles the Fifth, to write a series of biographies, on the plan of Plutarch, for modern times; and it is, perhaps, to be regretted that the advice was not followed. Yet were the abilities of the Scotch Principal, great as they were, not such as peculiarly fitted him for the task. His mind was too philosophical and discursive to give it its chief interest. He wanted the dramatic turn, the ardent soul, the graphic power, the magnanimous disposition, which was essential to its successful accomplishment. A work in three thousand pages, or six volumes, recording the lives of fifty of the greatest and most illustrious men in Europe, from the days of Alfred to those of Napoleon, executed in the right spirit, and by a man of adequate genius, would be the most popular and elevating book that ever appeared in Modern Europe. Many such have been attempted, but never with any success, because they were not set about by the proper minds. To do justice to such an undertaking would require a combina tion of opposite qualities rarely to be met with in real life. As biography deals with individual characters, and is relieved from the extended and perplexing subjects which overwhelm the general historian, it admits, in return, of an expansion into many topics which, although often in the highest degree amusing, and sometimes not a little interesting, would yet be felt to be misplaced in the annals of the great changes of nations or of the world. As the delineation of character is its avowed object, and the events of individual life its branch of historical composition so suitable for woman as biography; and Miss Strickland has shown us that there is none which female genius can cultivate with greater success. The general bent of the female mind, impressed upon it for the wisest purposes by its Creator, is to be influenced in its opinions, and swayed in its conduct, by individual men, rather than general ideas. When Milton said of our first parents "Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed; principal subject, it not only admits of He foreshadowed man as the approbut requires a thousand incidents and priate historian of the general march descriptions, which are essential to a of human events-woman, as the right understanding of those charac- best delineator of individual characters, and form, as it were, the still ter, the most fascinating writer of life of the picture in which their fea- biography. The most gifted of her tures are to be pourtrayed. Such de- sex is a proof of this; for, if a few scriptions are not unsuitable to gene- men have exceeded Madame de Stael ral history. Mr. Macaulay has shown in the broad view she takes of human in his History that his observations on affairs, none have equalled her in the that head in the Edinburgh Review delineation of the deepest feelings were founded on a just appreciation and most lasting passions of the of the object and limits of his art. human heart. As it is the nature But they must be sparingly intro- of woman's disposition to form an duced, or they will become tedious idol, (and it is for that very reaand unprofitable: if any one doubts son that she proves so attractive this, let him try to read Von Hammer's to that of man,) so, when she comes History of the Ottoman Empire, one- to composition, we rejoice to see her half of which is taken up with de- form idols of her heroes, provided scriptions of dresses, receptions, and only that the limits of truth are processions. But in biography we observed in their delineation, and that readily give admission to-nay, we her enthusiasm is evinced in depicting positively require-such details. If the real, not in colouring the imagithey are not the jewels of history, they nary. are the setting which adds to their lustre. They fill up our conception of past events; they enable us to elothe the characters in which we are interested in the actual habiliments in which they were arrayed; they bring before our eyes the dwellings, the habits, the mode of life, the travelling, the occupations of distant ages, and often give more life and reality to the creatures of our imaginations than could have been attained by the most laboured general descriptions, or the most emphatic assertions of the author. For this reason, as well as on account of the known influence of individual character, rather than abstract principle, on the fair sex, there is no Ás graphic and scenic details are so valuable in biography, and give such life and animation to the picture which it exhibits, so we willingly accept from a female biographer, whether of her own or others' life, details which we could not tolerate in the other sex. When the Duchess of Abrantes, writing after the fall of Charles X., recounts in her charming memoirs the enchanting Schall de Cachemire, which excited her envy on the shoulders of Josephine-or tells us that at a certain ball in Paris, in 1797, she wore her blue satin dress and pearl ornaments, and at another, her pink silk and diamonds, we perhaps smile at the simplicity which made her recount such things of herself; but still we gratefully Biography. [Jan. accept them as characteristic of the have chiefly won theirs by attending to costume or manners of the time. But it. we would never tolerate a male biographer of Murat, who should tell us that at a certain ball at Naples he wore his scarlet trousers and black furred jacket, and on his coronation looked irresistible in his blue and silver uniform and splendid spare jacket-not even though we know that in Russia he often returned to his lines with his sabre dripping wet with the blood of the Cossacks whom he had challenged and slain in single combat, and although the experience of all ages has confirmed the truth of Philopomen's observation, that "to soldiers and women, dress is a matter of no small consequence." Though details of this description, however, are valuable and admissible in biography, and come with peculiar propriety and grace from a female hand, it must be observed, on the other hand, that there is a limit, and a very obvious one, to the introduction of them, and that, if not inserted with caution, they may essentially injure the popularity or utility of a work. In particular, it is seldom safe to carry to any considerable length in the text the introduction of quotations from old histories or chronicles of the period, which often are filled with them to the exclusion of all other subjects. We know that such original documents have a great charm in the eyes of antiquarians or antiquarian biographers, the more especially if they have brought them to light themselves; but such persons learned in ancient lore constitute but a small fraction of the human race. The great body of readers, at least nineteen out of twenty, care nothing at all for such original authorities, but wish to see their import condensed into a flowing easy narrative in the author's own words. For this reason it is generally safest to give such original documents or quotations in notes or an appendix, and to confine quotations in the text to characteristic expressions, or original words spoken on very important occasions. Barante and Sismondi in France, Tytler in Scotland, and Lingard in England, have essentially injured the general popularity of their great and learned works, by not attending to this rule. The two Thierrys extended sale of Miss Strickland's The great popularity and widely Queens of England, almost equalling, we believe, that of any living author in this country, and much exceeding that of any prior writer, whether of her own or the other sex, in the same period in biography, is a proof both of the intrinsic excellence of that work, and the thirst which exists in the public mind for works of that description. We have long been of opinion that the narrative of human events might be rendered as popular in the outset, and far more and durably interesting in the end, than any works why this has so seldom taken place, of fiction; and that the only reason was because historical works were in general constructed on wrong principles. The great success which has recently attended historical composition in this country, especially in the case of Mr. Macaulay's History and Miss Strickland's Lives, is a proof that this view of the subject is well founded. And of the two, biography, when supported by learning, and handled by genius such as both these learned writers possess, is much more likely to be generally popular than extended history, because it partakes more of the character of Romance, and possesses in a higher degree that unity of interest which is the most essential element in all arts which aim at pleasing or fascinating mankind. re fortunate in the characters it pre- |