The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-02 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Battle on the Bosphorus. By F. C. Armstrong,
author of " The Two Midshipmen," "The War-
hawk," &c. 3 vols. Newby.
This is a very interesting romance, and displays
skill in desiga and spirit in execution. The time
in which the events occurred is as far back as the
fourteenth century, and the hero is a young Corsi-
can knight, of the name of Paoli, whose bravery,
energy, and generosity are worthy of the events of
the age of chivalry, and whose adventures are of
sufficient interest both in peril and variety to com-
pete with the achievements of the knights of old.
He was singularly unfortunate, but although beset
by secret foes as well as menaced by open enemies,
he contrived to elude their vigilance, to escape from
their devices, and to overcome them by his skill
and prowess. In Venice he met with one of his
hair-breadth escapes, for he was taken to the dun-
geons of the Inquisition, and had to face the dread
tribunal. He was banished for three years, owing
to the intervention of friends, instead of a more
awful sentence. He had already engaged to join
the fleet then preparing to encounter the Genoese,
under the command of Admiral Pisani. A vivid
description is given of the battle that subsequently
took place, in which Paoli performed many feats
of valour. After this public glory, however,
many private calamities ensued. He and his
faithful squire were waylaid, and it was not till
some months had elapsed that they were able to
effect their escape from their deadly and determined
enemies. The most interesting and exciting por-
tion of the narrative is that which narrates the ex-
ploits of Paoli in Venice. He proceeded there in
order to gain news of friends, among others the
beautiful Agnes Alirand, to whom he was be-
trothed, and who, with her father, had disappeared
in the confusion then reigning at Venice. He did
not meet them, but heard tidings of them, and
finally he was reduced to the most imminent dan-
ger, and had to resort to wonderful contrivances to
escape from the place. The bravo who befriends
him is an attractive character, and his self-posses-
sion and adroitness are almost incredible. This
obstacle surmounted, and Paoli at liberty, again
trouble came in the perils of Agnes and her father,
who were taken prisoners by Campaldino, the
enemy who had before seized Paoli. It was with
great ingenuity that Paoli and his brave friends
made their way to the fortress, and disposed of the
fierce assailants of the island of Lwraja. In the
course of the narrative a variety of scenes, adveu-
tures, and personages are introduced, and much is
explained and detailed of Italian life at that epoch.
The sisters, the cousins of Agnes, are pleasingly
introduced in the first visit of Paoli to Venice,
when at the house of their father, a wealthy mer-
chant, he was received with kindness when an
exile, and introduced to his future career. Some
of the events are of a stirring nature, and of an ex-
citing interest, and are described with a force and
energy that makes them appear life-like and actual.
Giacinto Paoli is well calculated to adorn a tale of
romance, from the circumstances of his position,
the superiority of his nature, and the spirit that
actuated his career.

The Priest's Niece; or, the Heirship of Barnulph.
By the author of " Lionel Deerhurst." 3 vols
Durst and Blackett.
Though not laying claim to any degree of unusua
merit, this story may at least boast of some origi
reality. It is wild and singular, and in many re
spects strikingly improbable. The actors comprise
a long list of individuals of several generations.
The scene is laid by turns in Scotland, India, and
Ceylon. The heroine who gives the work its title
does not appear till the third volume, or at least
she is mentioned in an earlier portion of the
work, but is stolen f.com her parents and is
supposed to be drowned. Her adventures are
too complicated to explain, although we may
mention that " the Priest's Niece" is not the
niece of Frere Colpa, as supposed, but the
heiress of Barnulph. The termination of her
elaborate history is her murder at her bridal by a
fanatic Moor, who persisted that she had dedicated
her to Heaven in her infancy, and that she must
be a nun. The reader, however, is not at all sur-
prised by this tragical termination of the heroine's
story, for it is quite simple and natural compared
to the extraordinary entanglement of murders,
mistakes, secrets, plots, crimes, threats, maledic-
tions' and mysteries which he has before encoun-
tered. The names of the dramatis personce are suffi-
cient to occasion bewilderment to any ordinary un-
derstanding—Nial, Zied, Fionne, and Siward being
among the heroes, and Neno one of the heroines.
It is quite a relief to meet with Mary Aylsfort,
though she is not so attractive as Ellen Duinue,
the unknown heiress. The point of the story in
connection with the heirship of Barnulph is, that
an old Baron having been incensed by his sons
opposing him at the time of the civil war left all
his estates to the females of the family, and uttered
an anathema against any of the male heirs who
should attempt to possess them. This legacy is
productive of much misery to all concerned, and
at the conclusion of the tale the family,wtehaery,
ill-
so many misfortunes, sell
fromt
hoes
the
fated property passes away _of
Barnulph. The concluding volume of the story is
the most interesting. Although that presents some
glaring improbabilities; it is more connected in its
incidents, and is written in a less exaggerated style.
The author does not want invention, but the work
seems written hastily and without caro. In a nar-
rative of modern life we do not expect to meet
the names and incidents of bygone ages. The
writer should either give us an historical romance
in which his tragic scenes and excited speeches
would not appear out of place, or content himself
with depicting modern life as it really is and under
more usual nomenclature. Of either of these he
appears capable, though no doubt his present
effort will prove attractive to many readers. The
lovers of the marvellous and romantic will pro-
bably welcome his exciting scenes as a delightful
contrast to tamer and less startlinc, romances, and
the style will very likely appear to them full of
eloquence and feeling. But it is not the novelist's
place to gratify such tastes, but to elevate them ;
and such, we trust, will be the future object of
the present author, who will, no doubt, one day
produce something far superior to the history of
the Heirs of Barnulph.

Sporting Adventures in the New World. By Lieu-
tenant Campbell Hardy, R.A. Hurst and
Blackett.
To sportsmen, naturalists, and lovers of nature
her more romantic moods these volumes will

prove unusually attractive, positively fascinating,
indeed so varied, novel, and exciting are the ad-
ventures and scenes they describe. Hitherto the
interior of Nova Scotia has been comparatively a
sealed book. Judging by the barrenness of the
country round the capital of the colony travellers
have formed most erroneous notions respecting it,
and the tide of emigration has passed contemptu-
ously, so to speak, by it westward. Yet in no part
of America is there to be found scenery more ro-
mantic, object of sport more numerous and varied,
and proofs of fertility more incontestible than greet
the eye within forty miles of Halifax. The colony
would appear to be one of the most interesting
• and promising we have heard of, and the public are
indebted to the author for his description of it.
Mr. Hardy, it would appear, has a taste for moose
hunting, and in search of this animal penetrated
the fine forests of Acadia, forded its streams, played
havoc with its salmon (and such salmon !), trout,
partridges, wild ducks, dxc. ; confronted its bears
and wolves, and was tormented by its flies.
The objects of hiq search continued, we are sorry
to say, with one or two exceptions, to escape him.
This, however, is little to be deplored by the reader,
since a vivid description of the mode of moose
hunting is given ; and the work could hardly have
been more entertaining, and possibly might have
been less instructive, had he been more successful.
Adopting a judicious plan, the author dotted down
the particulars of each day's adventure, and the
result is a work which will be welcome in any
circle, and be regarded as a new-found treasure in.
many. Directions for tackle flies, &c., and a cata-
logue of the birds of Nova Scotia are appended for
the use of sportsmen and naturalists.

Market Gardening Round London. By James
Cuthill. Hamilton and Adams, Paternoster-row.
The Kitchen Garden. By E. S. Delamer. Rout-
ledge and Co., Farringdon-street.
These books are equally cheap and useful. The
first, by Mr. Cuthill, the celebrated strawberry
grower of Camberwell, condenses an unusual amount
of instruction, grounded on iong scientific expe-
rience, which any tyro in the digging and sowing
department may readily and practically act upon.
It has the excellence of being alike serviceable to
the commercialist who may produce for Covent-
garden, and to the amateur who prides himself on
his home-grown dish of early peas. Mr. Cuthill
fairly claims the extensive patronage he enjoys on
the score of his persevering and intellectual ad-
vancement of general horticulture. The work is a
mere pamphlet, but of considerable intrinsic value.
" The Kitchen Garden," by E. S. Delamer, is
more elaborate in its character, and gives an excel-
lent Gardening Calendar for the months. The full
descriptive treatment of herbs and fruits is inte-
resting even to those who may have no notion of
gathering their own gherkins and gooseberries, and
we can cordially recommend both these publications
as welcome additions to general household book-
shelves.

The Irish Quarterly Review. W. B. Kelly,
Dublin.

"Tennyson and his Maud " is the opening
subject of the article. The characteristic of
Maud is said to be " Maudlin semi-insanity"—
words meaning nothing worth remembering, and
a disjointed tale of love and blood, to be discovered
after close and laborious application to the text.
"John Baynim," a biography, is continued, and
the reader is presented with a record of one of the
most distressing periods of the painful career of that
thrilling writer. The Life of "Sydney Smith "
furnishes a number of extracts, and ample justice
is otherwise done to the career and character of
that patriotic, witty, and conscientious divine.
" The Poets of America," are the subject of a
second delightful paper. Those reviewed are—
Whittier, Poe, Read, and N. P. Wells. Whittier
is described as pre-eminently the American poet ;
" the poet who reflects the magnificence of his
country in the majesty of his verse, who embodies
all the iron vigour and enterprising sport of her
sons in his nervous ringing language, and all the
bold, lofty, and free aspirations of her statesmen
in the unbending and devoted love of freedom
which breathe through his works like the sighing
of the wind through a forest of his native pine
trees." " Our Soldiers at Home and Abroad "
points out the defects of our military system, and
has for its moral, " The duty of greater generosity
(of a pecuniary nature) to the soldier, who will
pay back the boon on the battle-field with his best
blood." The remaining article of general interest
is one on " Alison and his History," in which the
reviewer does battle with the historian on Irish
matters, and tells him "a bit of his mind."