IT may be seriously questioned in this day whether Cervantes meant to be a satirist of chivalry at all whether he did not sincerely admire the knight whom he has celebrated and his squire, and heartily deprecate the barbarous ridicule which a too prosaic age was ready to shower on men truly devoted. If the latter hypothesis be adopted, then we may suppose that the satire of the great wit was really levelled at the utilitarian ideas which were in his day beginning to disturb the world. It was the inductive philosophythe philosophy which demanded fruit, and which deprecated what it was pleased to call sentiment and jargon-that was really his butt.

It would have been of little use -rather it would have been only a farther cause of depression to an institution that was already sufficiently discredited-to have given utterance to an opinion such as is written above, as long as the hard practical ideas on which many past generations of Britons have prided themselves held a sway that was openly undisputed. But, now that Britain has a Government which can smile at prejudice and does not scruple to stand upon the ancient ways in respect of knight-errantry, and to send forth a solitary warrior to do battle against heathenesse, the case is delightfully altered. One is no longer compelled to give those thoughts no tongue which favour and glorify the Don and the sagacious Sancho, but may, under shelter of the course pursued by "the greatest statesman of this or of any age," raise one's

voice once more in praise of heroic adventure.

We must admit that the failure of General Gordon to annihilate the Mahdi and disperse his followers with a blow, or a thrust, or a breath, tells somewhat against the renaissance which only a few months since seemed to be arriving. But surely a restoration of the old beliefs which preceded the Baconian heresy is too important a movement to be suppressed, or even checked by one miscarriage. "The greatest statesman is not one to be cowed by a single unsuccessful experiment. He will rise from the earth like a Titan, and with renewed determination prosecute the war which he has begun against common-sense, practical methods, and all that kind of nonsense which has had its way too long. Who knows but that the Champions may reappear with Giant-killers and Valentines! Nay, as Cairo is said to have been the birthplace of "the Thousand and One," who will venture to say that an Aladdin or an enchanted horse is impossible? As we write, more and more charming anticipations crowd upon us and animate our quill. It was in Egypt (was it not?) that the dragon succumbed to the valour and might of St George. May not a Gladstonesent paladin again, with his single arm, do battle on that enchanted soil?

What a blessed change has taken place already in our popular ideas! It is not so long ago that any three Englishmen (being of the coarse matter-of-fact drivellers who lately walked this land) would have said

in their conceited ignorance that, if anything was wanted as a requirement of State, the right way was to put our whole power into the attempt to get it. We had plenty of money, and means, and men, and how could these be better employed than in getting us the things we had need of? They would have said this and more; and if any one had even hinted to them the idea of despatching a Quixote and Sancho to do our work, while we had endless appliances and means disposable, these boors would have burst into boisterous vulgar laughter. If it had been seriously proposed to do such a thing, they would have sworn that the proposer was only fit for bedlam; and as for trusting such a visionary with any public office -"Off with him; shut him up; not a word. Pray God he have not already made some mad hash of our substance."

But Englishmen are more courteous-and, let us say, more epic -nowadays. Their brusquerie,— ah! we may say with a celebrated physician who was shocked by being told that the heart was on the left side" It was so formerly, but we have reformed all that." They do not now pronounce Quixotism to be absurd, and deserving only of laughter. They tolerate it. They more than tolerate it; they have the grace to go into ecstasy over it, and before Rosinante and the ass are mounted they begin to discount-(but no, that expression belongs to the work-a-day world), we should rather say they begin to congratulate each other by sound of trumpet, as it were, on the coming deeds of heroism, as if success were already achieved.

It will be remembered that the good knights of old, though they were always ready to prick forth

and couch their spears, or to lay about them with their swords and maces, did nevertheless sometimes solve a small difficulty, such as reducing a fortress or subduing a province, by simply blowing a horn or knocking down a shield. And the La Mancha project of our high-minded Ministers seems to have been based upon some dissolution of enchantment by sudden anti-necromantic action. We recall to mind a maxim propounded by a worldly-disposed person in one of Lord Lytton's novels, who said "When you wants a thing, take it away by insinivation, not bluster." And this precept, as we think, exactly expresses the instructions with which Ministers despatched their adventurer. They wanted the Mahdi, with his sheiks and followers, to withdraw from the Soudan, or, at the least, not to make a row there--and they proposed to gain their object "by insinivation."

The expedition has come to nothing, as we know too well, and we only wish we had the Don back again safe and sound out of the hands of his enemies. But the bold and independent spirit that conceived this admirable device for dealing with difficulties in the field is with us still, and will not fail to attempt some farther proceedings of State by the heroic method. And we would venture to suggest, what has no doubt occurred to many a thoughtful person besides ourselves—namely, that though a notable and commendable return has been made towards ancient principles, yet it has not retreated to a remote enough eld for despatch of Egyptian work. The Quixotic dispensation, being a purely Christian and medieval one, is probably potent in Western Europe only. We have no right to presume that

it will be entirely effectual in Africa. No; if we go to Egypt, let us there comfort ourselves as

Egyptians do. They know nothing about Cervantes-probably are not so constituted as that they can be dealt with quixotically. Let us then wait until we have a disagreement with France or some European Power, and then send Gordon, who will, doubtless, with his single arm make our adversaries bite the dust. But when we would operate in Egypt, let us use means which Egyptians understand. A round sum should be taken on the war estimates for purchasing old lamps and rings. To rub these briskly would afford healthy and plentiful employment to sandwichmen, Irish landlords, and other broken-down people,-and the result could scarcely fail to be the appearance before long of one of those stupendous geniuses who announce themselves as slaves of the lamp or ring as the case may be. Spot the one and he will soon indicate the whereabouts of the other. With these allies the diplomacy of the Soudan would become surpassingly simple; and there would be this advantage, that if private reasons should lead us to forsake our agents at any time, they could take care of themselves, and we should create no odium by the desertion.

Search should likewise be made --it would repay the expense-for that carpet, the sitter on which could at a wish transport himself to any part of the world; and for the tent which was of such elastic quality that, though it could shelter a vast army at times, it could at others shrink up and lie in the hollow of the hand. With the aid of these auxiliaries, travelling and transport would be reduced to nothing, and an immense fraction of the stores and impedimenta of an army would disappear. Our

Ministers then could run over for a quarter of an hour and see whether the poltroonery or the slaughter (as the case might be) which they had ordered was being duly executed. Who knows but that at one of these visits that renowned barber might turn up who, although he claimed to be justly called silent, yet could, for length of tongue, probably match the greatest statesman of this or of any age?

We do not venture to affirm, but we put it as a point for the erudite author of the 'Juventus Mundi' to consider, whether by an intelligent search among the papyri some of the arts of Jannes and Jambres might not be discovered and reproduced. The emissaries who did Egyptian wonders in the days of the Caliphs were, after all, but Arabian importations, and may have been inferior in power to indigenous operators. Now Jannes and Jambres were "native here, and to the manner born;" and it is respectfully suggested that some of their experiments might have an effect more startling than any copying of Cervantes or any adaptation of the necromancy of Islam.

It might also gratify a certain sceptical friend of the learned author to whom we have appealed, if the lore which withstood Moses might be enlisted into the service of the British Government. The grand old men who so bravely stood up for infidelity in primeval times have doubtless left behind them something which would be appreciated at Northampton.

But we are running away, fascinated with the idea, into the details of a new birth which is as yet barely an accomplished fact. How the imaginative and romantic method of statesmanship may take effect is a question for time

to shape. It is certainly subordinate to the great truth that we are emancipated at length from the base practical school, from the tyranny of facts and figures. Once again divine imagination shall enter into and direct all the events of daily life; and the Epic muse, no longer

"Sole sitting by the shores of old Romance,"

shall once more tinge with her purple light the deeds of statesmen and control the fates of nations. The salutary change, let us remember, was begun in England, which country, if she was glorious before, is by this, her bold action, brought to the very measurable distance of only one step from the sublime.

That history is apt to reproduce itself is a common enough remark. The parallel situations will not in general run on all-fours (to use a colloquial expression); the mere fact of their occurring at different periods makes it certain that the minor features, the circumstances and the actors, will not be the same in a crisis, convulsion, or approach to a golden age, as in its antitype. Nevertheless, in most of the main points of the two or more historical presentments, it will be plain to the student that there is virtually a striking resemblance, as a man of to-day may remarkably resemble his great-grandfather's portrait, although the latter may carry a three-cornered hat, bag, and sword, and be altogether

"Dressed in a fashion now forgotten quite."

This remark has been induced by a reperusal of the account given by Macaulay of the violent and sustained attack by which his adversaries drove Sir Robert Walpole from power. If we here denote the character of that attack as portrayed in the essay to which we refer, our readers will probably find no difficulty in determining the other attack, in a later age,

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with which we propose to compare it.

It was delivered by two distinct factions which, in political opinions generally, were diametrically opposed to each other. The leaders of these factions knew well that, should they succeed in their attempts to obtain office, they would probably be divided on the first weighty question which it might be necessary for them to submit to Parliament. They were united in intense, unscrupulous hostility to Walpole's administration, but in nothing else. To the object of unseating him they devoted themselves with all their strength. And at length they succeeded, but how?

They protested that the nation was suffering-nay, sick to death, of many diseases and derangements; that these were all the consequence of misgovernment; and that the misgovernment was wholly due to the depravity, the perversity, the desperate wickedness of the Prime Minister. Their

cry was "Down with Walpole!" Their promise was, that if the guilty misdirecting Ministry could be overthrown, then all the crying evils of the State (of which the Ministry had been the authors and

abettors) would cease as by natural consequence. Not only would political evils and political discontent disappear, but vice and immorality, no longer kept alive by baneful ministerial influences, would sink at once to the weak estate which they occupy in this innocent world when it is left to itself and and not incited to evil by unprincipled statesmen. "It was," says Macaulay, "Pulteney's business, it seems, to abolish faro and masquerades, to stint the young Duke of Marlborough to a bottle of brandy day, and to prevail on Lady Vane to be content with three lovers at a time." Pulteney was the immaculate rival who was expected to, but who did not, replace Walpole in the premiership.

"The downfall of Walpole was to be the beginning of a political millennium; and every enthusiast had figured to himself that millennium according to the fashion of his own wishes," proceeds our author. Communities, no doubt, among their other affections, are liable to fits of optimism, and can sometimes be persuaded that they have at last found the elixir and the philosopher's stone, and that henceforward, under the new dispensation which their wit has devised, there will be no more failure, or care, or sin, or sorrow, but universal prosperity and enjoyment. The English nation in Walpole's day was ready for an attack of this hallucination, and it received a forecast of such a blessed state with immense favour. Wealth, talent, even royalty aided in the propagation of the delightful ideas. The fire, once lighted, spread as among the dry stalks of the forest. Reflection, caution, moderation gave way for the time to eagerness of desire for the coming good. Men did not work out belief for themselves, but took it by infection,

and infected others by their excitement.

The rage soon became general: the battle was joined; the bitter struggle was long and violent, but the attack succeeded: the minister was deposed, and a way was open for the inauguration of a golden age.

It would seem that the men who undertook to create such general satisfaction, had little or no idea of how they were to set about their work after they had attained to place. Their energy and invention had been expended in putting down their rivals by any means that offered, fair or foul. They were no sooner in power than they discovered how little capable they were of united action for any purpose whatever. Indeed there was no evidence, after they were once safe in their places, that they had any plan or notion of benefiting the country or society. Every defect of their predecessors they exhibited to the full; and they wanted the talent and experience by which their predecessors had been enabled to govern with ability in spite of their defects. Schism appeared among them even in their opening days; the shouts of victory were mingled with the shouts of internal discord. Some faction among the victors was opposed to every policy that could be suggested. Nothing, in fact, was done.

It is presumed that the nation, after the childish ardour which it had shown for its new puppets, was ashamed to confess on a sudden its disappointment. However guilty the fraudulent statesmen may have been, the people themselves were not clear in this transaction. If the former were impostors, the latter had been ready dupes. They had not stopped their ears when the charmers were beguiling them; and they had now