" Thenceforward he gave his whole
energy to literary work, to occasional reviews, mainly to his
"Invasion of the Crimea." In the "Edinburgh" I think he never
wrote, cordially disliking its then editor. A fine notice in
"Blackwood" of Madame de Lafayette's life was from his pen.
Surveying the Revolutionary Terror, he points out that
Robespierre's opponents were in numbers overwhelmingly strong, but
lacked cohesion and leaders; while the Mountain, dominated by a
single will, was legally armed with power to kill, and went on
killing. The Church played into Robespierre's hands by enforcing
Patience and Resignation as the highest Christian virtues,
confusing the idea of submission to Heaven with the idea of
submission to a scoundrel. Had Hampden been a Papist he would have
paid ship-money. He wrote also in "The Owl," a brilliant little
magazine edited by his friend Laurence Oliphant; a "Society
Journal," conducted by a set of clever well-to-do young bachelors
living in London, addressed like the "Pall Mall Gazette," in
"Pendennis," "to the higher circles of society, written by
gentlemen for gentlemen.
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