The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-22 00:00:00

New Pamphlets.

Ilertford and its Castle : a Lecture. By Robert
Dimadale, Esq. Bvo., pp. 46. Simeon and

Groombridge.

At a conve;sazione of the Hertford Literary and
Scientific Institute, Mr Robert Dimsdale, of Essen-
don, on the 17th of last October delivered, in the
Town dell at Hertford, this very able and thought-
ful lecture upon "Hertford and its Castle." Etta.
mining its pages, now that it appears as a sub-
stantive publication, the thought occurs to us that,
if there were but a few more country gentlemen
like Mr Robert Dimsdale, what a variety of
valuable, almost, we might say, of invaluable topo-
graphical and archaeological information might be
massed together and arranged in symmetrical order
by way of illustration, in vivid and picturesque il-
lustration of our old county towns and their ancient
architectural adornments. Let but some man of
education, of taste, of reflection, of sound judg-
ment and of extensive information in the neigh-
bourhood of each of these venerable cities or
borough towns of England, follow in the track
here traced up from the present epoch to a remote
period of antiquity in regard to Hertford
and its Castle by Mr Robert Dimsdale, of
Essendon—and pamphlet lectures such as the one
now submitted to our consideration would number
up, one after another, until many goodly volumes
should have accumulated upon our bookshelves !
Volumes of the highest importance to all future
students of our national history, and not unworthy
of preservation among our
,national archives as a
repertory of profoundly interesting information,

A Letter to the Dean of Canterbury. Bvo. Pp. 35.
By Ichabod Wright, M.A. Macmillan and Co.
A well-considered and singularly persuasive
argument, in favour of blank verse being selected
as the proper medium for rendering Homer into
English, is here advanced. It is an argument of
course in direct opposition to that sustained
with so much logical acumen and scholarly
grace by Mr. Mathew Arnold, the accomplished
Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford.
The dictum of Professor Arnold being against
Blank Verse, Mr. Wright has here undertaken to
support and to enforce the directly opposite opinion.
And, as good luck would have it, barely has his
letter to the Dean of Canterbury in favour of
Blank Verse as the liomeric Medium seen the
light when the argument it is designed to further
is sustained and advanced very appreciably by the
issuing from the Press, in its completed form of
Lard Derby's remarkable version of the "Iliad "in
Blank Verse! No wonder that Mr. Wright—
already favourably known as a Translator of Dante
—eagerly follows up the recent publication of his
pamphlet with a fly-leaf Postoript directing par-
ticular attention to the fact of "Lord Derby's
beautiful version of the having made (tor
him, the pamphleteer, in the very nick of time) its
most opportune appearance I

Universal Suffrage. Bvo. pp. 32. Fourth Edition
Effingham Wilson.

Somebody has said—so the title page informs
us in inverted commas, but without hinting at
the authority, even by an initial—" The Arguments
of this Pamphlet are Unanswerable." As a pamphlet
it has, rather,oddly, a sort of double title—nay, for
that matter we might almost say a treble title.
First of all—rather grandly leading off this highly
elaborated title, we read" The Right of the People
to Universal Suffrage Clearly Demonstrated by the
late Duke of Richmond." Afterwards we find
Remarks by Henry Brookes,
9, And added—upon the title-page.... 44 With Prefatory
finally—
and to conclude—" To which is added The Suf.
frage Nationalised and Duration of Parliaments.
By a Barrister." So that the pamphleteer is, ac-
cording to Mrs Milaprop's definition of Cerberue-
--a Barrister, Henry
Brooks, Esq., and the late Duke of Richmond !
" three gentlemen in one''
Reasons enough, in truth, for the argument being
(as stated by itself) unanswerable, Whether they
really are so or not the reader may decide for him.
self according to his prejudices or his predelictions.
At any rate, as an argument at all about the Suf-
frage and the need there is for its extension, it
appears just now precisely
is welcome accordingly. at the right time, and

•••••• ••••• '1..0

The Anti-Teapot Review, ,Na. 111. Houlaton and

Wright.
The whimsical little fourpenny Qac.aterly, thus
entitled, goes on its way rejoicing. " Edited by
members of the Universities, and written only 0)
by members of 77ie Anti-Teapot Society of Europe"
(whatever that may be),
the magazine contains
within it a good deal of
humour, much earnest-
ness, plenty of talent, and no small sprinkling of
its
preposterously evidences of good scholarship. In spite of
preposterously affected title, it wins its way to the
good opinion of those who look into it as a mis-
cellaneous gathering together every quarter of
papers political, literary, and artistic.

Beeton's Christmas Annual. Bvo. PP. 96' ...........
Fifth

Season. 8. 0. Beeton.
Under the Fantastic title of " Number Seven
Beeton's Christmas Annual makes its appearance
yet once again most seasonably —gladdening all
who venture a shilling upon its purchase with
plenty of fun and frolic in the way of the very
lightest specimens
of light literature. Augustus
Mayhew's Chinese stories looted from His Celestial
Majesty's Palace at Pekin—F. C. Burnand's Sensa.
tional Pantomime for the
Theatre Royal Back
Drawing Room, Boadicea the Beautiful, or Harm
lequin Julius Cistar and the Delightful Druid—
Thomas Hood's Chronicle of the Court of King
Christmas, to say nothing of the same humourist's
contribution to The Slang Dictionary—these,
together with Nonsense Pages by W. Brunton,
Four Sensational Novels, we don't know how many
charades, enigmas, and conundrums—make up this
wonderful "Story of Somebody's Son"—in Sven
Parts (the Story, not the Son)—called, because of
those Seven Parts, Number Seven —an annual en-
titled to have had upon its title page as an ap-
propriate motto—" ,Ye are Seven," according to
the famous " refrain" of one of the most charming
of the poems of 'Wordsworth.

WHALING NEW.—Honolulu dates of Nov. 9 have
been received. Fort.7-five whalers had arrived. and 10 were
expected there. The general result of the whaling season
is sot so favourable as last ye4r, the catch having averaged
about 600 barrels per vessel. The most of the fleet cruised
in the Arctic, and report whales scarce and small. The
Ochotsk whale's mike more favourable reports, and ex-
pected arrivals from there would probably bring a general
average of about SOO barrels per vessel,—San Francisco
paper,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

[REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

ROME.
ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF THE POPE.
ROME, DEC. 21.

The Pope has issued an encycncal letter con.
demning the
.principal modern errors concerning
revealed religion, philosophy, and oivil society.
These errors are enumerated in 80 propositions and
are pointed out to the Bishops to be refuted.

In another encyclical letter the Pope grants a
Jubilee of one month to be celebrated in 1865.

SPAIN.

MADRID, DEC. 21.

The Reactionist and Moiorate journals attack
the Government on account of the nomination of
Marshal Concha as President of the Senate.
TURIN, DEC. 21.
The lndependenza asserts that General Anglo•
letto has been nominated Minister of Marine.