tipped with iron; and as these articles must, from their shape, be an impediment to walking, I presume that the real use to which they are generally put must have given rise to the common expression in Hindoostan for any punishment inflicted, the term being "jutte mar," literally beating with the shoe. The weapon put to this purpose would be very formidable, and I have little doubt that the beauties of the harem keep their lords in high discipline by merely threatening with such an instrument.

'On the head of the Affghan female is worn a small skull-cap, keeping in place the hair in front, which is parted, laid flat, and stiffened with gum, while the rest hangs in long plaits down the back.'

We regret that our limits will not permit an extract from the very interesting narrative of his visit to the caves of Yeermallik. It has all the excitement of Romance with all the force of truth. We cordially commend the entire volume to the notice of our readers, and have little doubt of receiving their thanks for our pains; it is, to our minds, one of the most stirling books we have had since Eothen,' and unquestionably, in this season of dulness, Captain Burslem deserves our cordial good wishes, for so rich a treat as the perusal of the volume before us has afforded.

The War in India. Despatches of Viscount Hardinge, Lord Gough, Sir H. Smith, &c., with a Map and seven Plans. Second edition. Ollivier.

Comment or criticism upon the Despatches above named would be but impertinent and misplaced here. It is sufficient for us to praise the form and type of Mr. Ollivier's volume, and to appeal to the words second edition, on the title-page, in proof of its having received from the public the same approbation which we cordially bestow upon it.

Bohn's Standard Library

May fairly claim attention, whether for the character of the works already published, or for the moderate price, which places them within the reach of almost every reader's finances. The volumes already published are

1. The Miscellaneous Works and Remains of the Rev. Robert Hall, with Memoir by Dr. Gregory, an Essay on his Character by John Foster.

2 and 3. Roscoe's Life and Pontificate of Leo X., edited by his Son.

4. Schlegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History, translated from the German, with a Memoir of the Author, by J. B. Robertson, Esq.

5 and 6. Sismondi's History of the Literature of the South of Europe, translated by Roscoe.

7. Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de Medici, called The Magnifi

cent.

8. Schlegel's Lectures on Dramatic Literature, translated by Mr. Black, late Editor of the Morning Chronicle.

And we are promised the following shortly:-
Beckmann's History of Inventions and Discoveries.
Schiller's Works, Prose and Verse.

Schlegel's Miscellaneous Works.

Lanzi's History of Painting.

Lectures on Painting, by the Royal Academicians.

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE

REVIEW.

AUGUST, 1846.

Russia under the Autocrat Nicholas the First. By IVAN GOLOVINE, a Russian Subject.*

WE are indebted to Ivan Golovine for a comprehensive work on a subject which largely excites the interest and inquiry of England, but on which they have been hitherto little gratified. We have had in sufficient abundance volumes from foreign residents in the country, and from travellers who have visited it. Some of these have been written by clear-sighted and careful observers, others by mere superficial triflers, and we have had authors of every degree of intelligence between the two. Their books have been drawn forth by various motives; malice, desire of gain, love of celebrity, the kindly will to communicate, literary taste, &c., &c.; but of all the persons who have hitherto written on Russia, and her institutions, none have been in circumstances to obtain and render entire, full, and fair information on the multiplied subjects connected with her government, her jurisprudence, her institutions, manners, habits, and nationality. These matters so full of interest to Europeans of the West, have been hitherto in great measure inaccessible to them. Russia, like another celestial empire, has been screened by a veil of separation from the knowledge, not indeed of outer barbarians, but at least of outer men. This has been more the effect of circumstance, than of her own will that it should be so. Her distinctive character, her essential and complete nationality, her eastern origin, her mixture of races, her style of government, her difficult language, spoken nowhere beyond the frontiersthese and other causes, have withheld us long from making intimate acquaintance even with those subjects concerning her, which, in so far as they are open to the eye, are open to the cognizance of foreigners; then there are others from which we are avowedly shut out.

'Audi alteram partem' is a just maxim, though not so commonly acted upon as quoted: in obedience to it the editor prints this contribution as it came to his hands: he does not on this account hold himself or the Review pledged in any way to advo cate the cause of the autocrat of Russia or his acts.

VOL. III.

K

Much Russian business is transacted with closed doors. It could only be a Russian subject, a man of position, education, and intelligence, to fit him for the task, who could lay before the eye of Western Europe, a picture of the interior of his country. Such a person alone could know, and such a person, therefore, alone could report on much that passes there.

Would such an one appear? Were there existing secrets, which to reveal would be to incur the wrath of the Tzar, the forfeiture of rights, and civil death? Was that hidden land an Elysium, sometimes traduced and blackened, and painted a Tantalus, to terrify from the approach? or was it indeed as shrewdly guessed' by the celebrated French Marquis, and boldly declared by the malignant author of the Revelations,' and of other volumes of horrors by which he sets his readers' hair on end, and sells his books, the land of terror and of sighs? What was behind? Would any be found to tell?

Ivan Golovine has stepped forth to fill the gap in literature, to open to the longing eyes of the curious the sight which they desired; and with eager hand his gift has been received.

How has he discharged his task? What has he given to our expectant desire? What are his qualifications for that which he has undertaken? As we investigate into these last, the hopes which we might have entertained for fair play, for the simple truth of dispassionate statements, the honest representation of existing facts, seen with the clear vision of a healthy spirit, are greatly damped. For who is this Ivan Golovine? He proves to be a Russian subject, who on some account unexplained to us, and as he professes, suspected only, but not actually known by himself, has fallen under the displeasure of his government. At the time when his offence committed is discovered, we find him residing in France; for he had left his country, or at least its service, in consequence, as he informs us, of the minister for foreign affairs having advised him to take lessons in caligraphy!! on which occasion he conceived the purpose to write concerning his country, and perhaps, as he darkly hints, to gratify his pique by writing against her. Vol. i.

Called to present himself at home and answer for his conduct, he trifles for some time, giving promises of obedience and return, which he does not verify, and perhaps never intended to verify; he tells us that he was persuaded he should gain everything by gaining time.' (Vol. i.) Finding, however that his subterfuge does not avail, he throws himself into a posture of defiance, hurls down the gauntlet, and opens his design to wage the most furious war that could be carried on with such weapon as he might wield-the pen. Were he armed with snakes and scorpions, he could not inflict wounds which would so rankle at the core of life and feeling.

Ivan Golovine is then a subject writing against his sovereign, writing to revenge himself upon his sovereign. Whether he is a traitor rebel, or a man unjustly persecuted, we have no evidence to determine, we are ignorant of the facts of the case; he has not submitted himself to trial, having preferred rather to defy his monarch; the very charges made against him, he has not been pleased to lay before us; and we must suspend our judgment. But whether guilty or innocent, whether suffering justly for offences done, or the hapless victim of false suspicion, in either case we see in him a man hunted, and standing at bay. The testimony of such a man cannot be received as impartial. Without, therefore, attempting to decide between the Tzar and his refractory subject, an attempt which would be equally impertinent and futile, we must be prepared to receive with some degree of distrust, or at least of caution, the statements of our unfortunate author, when they are made concerning persons or subjects likely to be affected by his own irritated feelings.

There is something a priori repugnant to the common sense of society, in the fact of a subject writing against his sovereignagainst the state under whose protecting shadow he has lived; it is a kind of moral regicide from which the soul recoils. Golovine, conscious perhaps that he should raise some of that virtuous indignation, which is ever ready to crush the venemous; would deprecate and disarm it beforehand, by much soi-disant protestation of patriotism, and by putting before us in various forms, the sentiment, that he wounds to save;' for which protestation and sentiment, his readers will give him just as much or just as little credit as they may deem fit, judging his book partly on its own internal evidence, and partly by comparing with it such facts as may be obtained from other sources.

Having premised thus much by way of caution, we are bound in justice to remember that indulgence is to be extended to a man under irritation, and that while we do not receive his statements with the entire faith which we might accord to less suspicious testimony, we need not always and necessarily convict him of want of honesty or of malicious temper, if the soreness of his spirit be found in some degree affecting his vision.

We feel, and at once admit, that whatever may detract from the merits or truthfulness of parts of Golovine's work, there are other parts wherein we are indebted to him for a fund of interesting and important information respecting his country, on subjects concerning which no suspicion can justly attach to his testimony; this is given in an agreeable, methodical, and often talented manner. We owe him much for having thus done for us, as we have said, what no foreigner could have done, and what no Russian before him has attempted or willed to do.