MAY 7 1900 CAMBRIDGE, MASS. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. ART. I.-A FORMER EDITOR.' 1. The Quarterly Review. London: John Murray, 1843-1885. THE HE Reverend Whitwell Elwin, who died at his rectory of Booton, in Norfolk, on the first day of the year 1900, aged eighty-three, succeeded Mr. John Gibson Lockhart as editor of the Quarterly Review in 1853, and resigned his editorship in 1860. He deserves particular mention here because, had it not been for the Quarterly Review, his extensive learning and admirable talents might never have delighted any larger world than his own circle of friends. No man was ever less anxious for public applause, or more determined not to seek, or even to accept when they were offered, such preferments as were the natural sequence of the public opinion of his virtues and abilities. He was of an ancient family in Norfolk, and was born at the family seat of Thurning in that county, February 26th, 1816. He was the third son of Marsham Elwin and his wife Emma Louisa Whitwell. The family was allied to many other well known Norfolk houses, through one of which, by the marriage of Peter Elwin of Thurning with Anne, heiress of Anthony Rolfe of Tuttington, they were directly descended from Pocahontas, the Virginian princess whose heroism is commemorated in marble at Washington, and forms part of the early knowledge of all American children. Her traditional name in the family was the Princess Powatan, and her original portrait, in a highcrowned hat and with a feather fan in her hand, was in Mr. Elwin's possession. At the time of his death it hung in his dining-room. The only other picture in the room was the portrait of Lockhart, whose literary attainments, able conversation, and kind heart caused Elwin to retain a regard for him throughout life. Whitwell Elwin was admitted at Caius College, Cambridge, Vol. 191.-No. 382. X June 26th, 1834. He married-June 18th, 1838-his cousin Frances, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Fountain Elwin, and, giving up all thought of academical honours, graduated B.A. in 1839. He was ordained deacon at Wells in the same year, and priest in 1840. Soon afterwards he became chaplain of the Bath Workhouse and curate of Hardington, in Somersetshire. While there he wrote part of an essay on the 'Histoire du Chien,' by Elzéar Blaze, which had appeared that year in Paris. He sent the paper to Lockhart, who returned it with a kindly note, saying that, if it ended as well as it had begun, the article would do very well for the Quarterly Review. It appeared in the number published in September 1843, and shows a wide knowledge of literature, as well as a warm feeling for the animal world. In 1849 Elwin succeeded to the family living of Booton, and returned, for the rest of his life, to his native county. The parish contains a very small village, a few outlying cottages, and three farms. One of these surrounds Booton Hall, once the property of Christopher Layer, but sold by him to an Elwin-his brother-in-law-ten years before the Jacobite plot which is known by his name and which cost him his life in 1723. There was no rectory, and the new rector proceeded to build himself a house, which, in fitness for its use, grace of form, and permanence, was like all the rest of his work. Soon after taking up his residence in it, with his wife and four sons, he became editor of the Quarterly Review. Lockhart had asked him to take his work while he went abroad for his health. The illness ended in death, and Elwin, without seeking the vacant place, stepped into it. He continued to live at Booton, coming up to London for about ten days to bring out each number of the Review. He used to stay at the Old Hummums, in Covent Garden, and at least one of his own articles was mainly written at the last moment in the coffeeroom of that hotel. He contributed about forty articles to the Review, and his hand may be detected by those familiar with his thoughts in many others to which he added long passages. His best essays are on the literature of the eighteenth century, and those on Johnson, Goldsmith, Fielding, Sterne, and Cowper are unsurpassed in their kind. The essays on Johnson will bear comparison with those of Macaulay or of Mr. Leslie Stephen; while those on Fielding and Sterne lose nothing when placed beside Thackeray's. The conclusion of his second essay on Johnson shows how profound was his veneration for that great character : 'Whether we desire an example to stimulate us to the acquisition of knowledge under difficulties, or the retention of uprightness under temptation, there is no more memorable instance of either than is presented by the life and character of this illustrious man. And whatever be the condition of him who seeks to profit by the story, none can be so low but he is in a position as advantageous as Johnson, and none can be so high but that with all his helps he will have enough to do to emulate his model.' (Q. R., vol. 105, p. 232.) Elwin once contemplated an edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson,' and wrote many notes upon it. He was deeply read in Burke, and often quoted him in conversation and in letters. He invariably spoke of him as a man of the same order as Shakespeare and Newton. He liked to dwell upon the many proofs of his lofty character, and to point out his extraordinary industry. 6 'His innate genius,' says Elwin, in some remarks on English parliamentary orators, was undoubtedly wonderful, but he improved it to the uttermost. By reading and observation he fed his rich imagination; to books he owed his vast and varied knowledge; from his extensive acquaintance with literature he derived his inexhaustible command of words; through his habits of severe thought he was enabled to draw the inferences which have won for him the renown of being the most sagacious of politicians; and by the incessant practice of composition he learnt to embody his conclusions in a style more grandly beautiful than has ever been reached by any other Englishman with either the tongue or the pen." (Q. R., vol. 103, p. 497.) It is not too much to say of Elwin's essays on Reynolds and on Goldsmith that the contemporary members of the Literary Club would have approved of their discriminating praise, and that the author of the Vicar of Wakefield-easily dissatisfied as he was would have been pleased with the discerning analysis and commendation of his writings. The rector of Booton would have been an addition even to that famous table. He would have talked with Burke perhaps on the merits of labourers, and the best ways of making them comfortable in their homes. Goldsmith he would certainly have invited to come and write his 'Natural History' at Booton. Reynolds he would have pleased by his admiration for the picture of Lord Heathfield grasping the key of Gibraltar with an air of immovable resolution. He would have congratulated the great painter on having, in his portraits of Johnson and Burke and Goldsmith, handed on to future ages some knowledge of that part of the intellectual pleasures of the Club which books could not record, and of the delight which must have been felt in contemplating such minds in life. From Dr. Percy he would have heard perhaps how Samuel Burdy, the curate, had dared to aspire to his daughter's hand, and would probably have softened the heart of the bishop towards the biographer of Skelton, whose entertaining book he frequently commended. With Nugent he would have shared his many reminiscences of Bath. To Dr. Warren he would have expressed his admiration of Sydenham, and might have quoted with reference to him the lines of Shakespeare which he had written on the first leaf of his works: 'Such a man Might be a copy to these younger times, Which, follow'd well, would demonstrate them now He might almost have persuaded Johnson to speak less harshly of Fielding. 'There is no need,' he says, 'to take him for a text, and deduce a moral from his life. No one can have contemplated his shattered constitution, his broken fortunes, his ignoble shifts, his loss of dignity and respect, and not feel that the facts themselves preach far more powerfully than any homily which could be raised upon them. Without adducing his better propensities to palliate his worse, which, indeed, admit of no palliation, we may yet dwell with satisfaction upon his manly endurance, his brave self-reliance, his perpetual cheerfulness, his tender heart, and that instinctive benevolence which could not be surpassed by Allen himself. If one thing more than another could show the evil of the indulgences he practised, it would be to see how low they could sink a man in whom so much of goodness and of greatness had met together.' (Q. R., vol. 98, p. 139.) Reading,' says Lord Bacon, 'maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.' All these excellences were apparent in Elwin, and they made him a welcome addition to every circle. Those who had read much and those who had not read at all, men of great attainments, unlearned sportsmen, farm labourers, old soldiers, bricklayers, carpenters, young ladies, and undergraduates, all enjoyed his conversation and felt the power of his absolute truthfulness, his profound benevolence, his vast stores of knowledge, and his appreciation of all that was good in the characters and attainments of others. No learned man ever assumed the attitude of an authority less than he; few men were less inclined to accept the statements of authorities without deliberation, or more willing to give greatness and authority the fullest admiration and respect when it was clear they deserved it. When he was engaged in the discussion of an interesting subject his bright and penetrating eyes fixed the attention of the person to whom he |