The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-12 00:00:00

LITERATVRE,

Christopher Tadpole. By Albert Smith. One
Volume, Illustrated. W. Tegg.
In the form of th;s capital reprint of the
work, as a single volume, with all the
famous old comical etchings by John Leech
—Mr. Tegg has here placed within reach of the
general public, Albert • Smith's cleverest and
funniest fiction, to wit Christopher Tadpole.
Here they all are—those ridiculous incidents
and fantastic personages—as ridiculous and as
fantastic es any of the scenes and people jumbled
together in the harlequinade of a Christmas pan-
tomime. The drollery is just as broad, as extrava-
gant, as noisy, as riotous, as that familiar to us
in the harlfqeinade ! Reading Christopher Tad-
'elle, it is precisely as though we were watching
the absurd doings of that seaperace of a clown
with the chalk-whitened and vermillion-coloured
cheeks—aided and abetted as he is by that hoary
old sinner of a pantaloon, who always comes in for
more kicks than halfpence, and for more drubbings
than small change of any kind whatsoever. it is as
if we followed their fortunes anew—now when
greasing the •doorstep of an irritable shop-
keeper—now when brandishing a red hot poker in
pursuit of some of those ridiculous people who comp
on (generally arm in arm) for the express purpose
of being thus pursued within one inch of their
lives, or otherwise generally maltreated. The
" life" is just es real—the " fun" as fast and furious
—here in Albert Smith's chapters, as there before
the winter footlights. Who that has read our poor
dead and gone Jokemaster's narrative of the Life
and Adventures of Christopher Tadpole—who that
has ever glanced at John Leech's drawings in illus•
tration of that narrative—but remembers (pretty
nearly always upon the broad grin) the sayings and
doings of the Sprouts, of the Gudges, of the black-
guard young baronet, of the good-natured and
philosophic itinerant showman, of Mrs. Gudge's
ascent of Mont Blanc, and of Mr. Gudge's laudable
eagerness, when on the shores of the Adriatic, to
discourse about " the celebrated Dodge of Venice,"
et cetera! Those who care to read Albert Smith at
his beet, can hardly do better than provide them-
selves, to that end, with this very edition of his
Christopher Tadpole, a story floating conspicuously
among the most radiant bubbles of the like kind cast
up among contemporary specimens of the lightest
of light literature.

Barbara Home. By Margaret Blount. 3 vole,

Maxwell.

The early chapters of this story induced ns to
form favourable ezpectations, which a further peru■
sal very speedily dispelled. Barbara Home is a
poor girl educated above her station by the mistaken
kindness of a charitable lady. As a first st©p in
her career of gentility, .Barbara gives up a humble
lover, who dies of grief. The scene at his death•
bed is very powerfully sketched, and testifies
the ability of the writer—an ability in this instance
thrown away upon worthless materials. The story
of Barbara possesses the worst characteristics of the
sensational school. It is utterly regardless of pro.
priety and of probability. The scene in which Bar-
bara having been deserted byher faithless" Captain,"
pays a visit to Mrs. Dame, and plotting revenge,
dresses herself with elegance and hums a tune, and
partakes of a luxurious breakfast, is about as
ludicrous and improbable as is the grand poisoning
scene at the finale which ends amid the blue lights
of the meloarama.

THE DEATH OF THE CELEBRATED TRAVELLER
AND NATURALIST JUN GHUHN, well known by his
curious and important labours in the field of botany and
ethnography, is announced. He started in life as a sur-
geon in the Prussian army. Condemned, in consequence
of a duel, to be imprisoned for '2O years, he escaped after a
few months, and became, first, a sanitary officer in the
French army in Algiers. He then entered, in the same
capacity, the Dutch service in Sonde, where he had col-
lected a vast quantity of materials for soientific works. He
died at the age of 52 years.
A letter from Archangel of the 22d June says :
" Trade is very active here, and the wind having
been favourable, a large ntanter of vessels have arrived.
A. forest of masts cover the whole port. The first ship that
reached us was a Danish schooner from Liverpool in 30
days. More than 100 foreign ships have since entered the
port. From the North D wing, above 800 small vessels have
come in, among the number bring five steamers, of which
two belong to the monastery of Solovetzky ; they convey a
large number of pilgrims to visit the old convent, which has
played so great a part in the war."
The Moniteur publishes an Imperial decree pre-
scribing the publication of the arrangement signed
on the 24th ult. between France and Italy, for regulating
the quarantine measures in the French and Italian ports in
the Mediterranean. Another decree creates for holders of
3 per cent. rente nominative titles, provided with coupons
of interest payable to bearer. Those titles will be exchanged
for inscriptions to bearer when applied for.
The Second Chamber of the Grand Duchy of
Hesse-Darmstadt, in its last sitting, discussed the question
of the reconstitution of the Zollverein on the basis of the
Franco-Prussian Treaty of Commerce, when 35 votes to 5
were given in favour of the adhesion to the treaty and of
the maintenance of the Zollverein. The following motion
was afterwards brought forward—" There is reason to re-
gret the hesitation of the Government and the injury which
has been already caused by it to the country," which was
voted by 30 to 10.
TRADE OF CARDIFF.—During the month of June
111,824 tons of coal, 15,418 tons of iron, 1,733 tons
of patent fuel, and 1,786 tons of coke were exported, against
106,996 tons of coal and 15,000 tons of iron in the previous
reenth, being an increase of nearly 5,000 tons of coal and
418 tons of iron, The slight increase is attributed princi-
pally to the reopening of the West Bute Dock for traffic.
The total number of ships engaged in the foreign trade was
348, being an increase of 65 on the previous month. The
West India islands, as usual, took the largest quantity of
coal, no less than 21,013 tons having been cleared for the
West India ports. The East Indies and Chins took 7,521
tons, Italy 13,163 tons, Spain 16,319 tons, France 12,849
tons, the English colonies 8,471 tons, Egypt and North
Africa 6,945 tons, South America 5,762 tons, and North
America 2,298 tons. A large coasting trade was also done
during the month, and the imports are gradually in-
creasing. •
VILLAGE MAY MEETINGS,—There is a crowd
outside and in the house. The band is thumping
its big drum, and rending the air with its screams of agony
in polka measure. The flags of the order are unfurled.
The treasurers carry their wands, and se ear their decora-
tions. The farm labourer who is a member of this club,
appears with his brother members in a blue and white cot-
ton band over one shoulder, tier in a bunch of red ribbon
under the other ; and the procession starts for church. In
church, the regalia, as the trumpery is designated, is placed
in a conspicuous position ; it was once put upon the com-
munion-table. Morning Prayer is read by the curate, fol-
lowed by a sermon from the rector, who always receives,
and generally accepts the invitation to dinner. Far be it
from our purpose to write one word tending to lessen good
influence among the rural poor. The sermon will be on the
duty of bearing one another's burdens, of the strong help-
ing the weak, or charity and brotherly kindness will have
been enforced, and so far well ; but we must not forget that
the clergyman's assistance upon such occasions is, in the
eyes of the members of the club, a visible sigh that their
scheme has the approval of the Church,--.Dickens' "411
ths Year Round."
LONDON PAST AND PRESENT.—A man need not
be greyheuded to remember London in the days of
hackney-coaches, oil•lamPs, and Charlies. How slow and
gloomy old London seems to the imagination, in contrast
with the activity, order, and gassy effulgence of our time.
Then you might see about once in everyfiv e
jolting minutes
over thean
old-fashioned, stuffy,and creaky hackney-coachpttecthenvery
d high
aloft, dangerouslyhea with a
sweak in the
heavysprings,and
and
swaying
motion
to look at; the said coach driven by a stones.lou4ofeev e
pen dilapi-
dated Jarvis, wearing a smashed hat and a drab great coat
with innumerable capes, and drawn by two shambling,
crook-kneed, broken-winded, spavined horses, high in the
bone and low in the flanks, and trotting stiffly, like
wooden automata badly put together. You mi •
ght see
shops, too, with low, greenish looking glass windows, not
kept too clean, exhibiting few goods for show, and having
no prices ticketed; pavements sloppy with mud in winter
and dusty in summer ; and in the evening an artificial
illumination, maintained with little, round bottomed lamps,
holding a vase for oil, and giving a sickly, yellow light, the
smoky and flickering glimmer of which once suggested
that !he Russians who escorted the Czar to this country had
been indulging in a surreptitious banquet from the contents
of the vase. Should you be lying awake at night, you might
hear a cry of " Stop thief I " or "Murder I " issuing from
the dark corner opposite your house, followed by a quick
pair of heels down the street, and the clatter of a rattle ; or
if quiet reigned, and you were wondering what time it
might be, your ears were gratified with the information from
ancient Charlie, who, as he stumped past your door, chimed
" Half-past 12 o'clock 1 "—City Press,
Persons in debt may obtain instant protection against
imprisonment or seizure of their goods, and an entire release
from all debts and liaLilities without publicity, by application
to Messrs. Marshall, solicitors of the Court of Bankruptcy.
Charges under £5 payable by easy instalments. Offices:—
(established 1830),12, Ilatton-garden. City braueh -6, Mor-
i gate-street, VT.