The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-14 00:00:00

10

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:•. LITERATURE.
ADRIAN; or, the Clouds of the Mind. By G. P. R.
.!, James and Maunsell 13. Field. Boone.
Independent of any claim that this book has tcl
public favour from the intrinsic merit of its composi-
tion, it has that of novelty. We learn from the pre-
face that the authors, while enjoying a summer tour
' in New England, were struck with the idea of writ-
ing a prose work of fiction, in emulation of Beaumont
and Fletcher. The authors state that—
" Each has contributed as nearly as possible an equal
portion with the other to the- work, and that there is not
a chapter, ' not a page in the whole work on which each
ha nil and each mind has not laboured. If, as possibly
wil/ be the case, the curiosity of some individuals may
be at mutated to inquire which portions are to be attri-
buted to the one author, which to the other, wo fear wo
Pan afford them no further indication than that which
their own knowledge of either of the men or their habits
f thought may supply. And yet we will venture to add
_ that this clue may very frequently lead the wrong, us
it is more than probable that the sentunctijrtsibdatn,
attributed
opinions of the one may, in many instances, be i
by the reader to the other."
This is an error into which one would be very
likely to fall ; for, without being previously aware
of the double auchcrship, the reader would, in all
probability, believe the work to have emanated from
one pen. Thus far great praise is due to Messrs. James
and Field, but as regards their joint production we
•• , cannot but regret that they should have been at the
• , pains which they evidently have to produce a work of
fiction inferior to one which either might have singly
• produced. Undoubtably there are passages of decided
merit and well-written descriptions to be found, but
we cannot overlook the uncalled for introduction of
" incidents and persons in no way connected with the
thread of the story, and the no less extraordinary
way in which they are disposed of. The plot is re-
. markably simple. Adrian is a young man of good
family, possessed of great abilities, but who likewise
entertains some very vague notion with regard to the
difference between man and the brute creation, and
conceives that mankind differ from another in in-
tellect and understanding according to the length of
• their pedigree and the pureness of the blood of their
ancestors ; he nevertheless falls in love with the
daughter
of a fisherman, whilst he is engaged in the
unpleasant occupation of dredging for the dead body of
a friend who has been drowned. Time wears on,
and wbile the youth is wavering between
love and pride, the father of his beloved is killed in
a piratical brawl, in which the hero of the tale is in
some way implicated, and over the dead body of the
• father Adrian makes a proposal of marriage to the
maid, to whom he has never before even hinted his
admiration. She eagerly accepts him, but discovering,
a short time after marriage, that although he tenderly
loves her, he is ashamed of the fisherman's daughter
as a wife, she writes a touching farewell and leaves
him ; but discovering, soon afterwards, that she is
' Sprung from some ancient family, she returns to her
husband to find that he has overcome his pride, and
would rather have received her back as the fisher-
man's daughter than as a princess. Such is the tale
• Of "Adrian," which, be its success what it may, at least
disproves an old proverb as far as works of fiction are
concerned, viz., that "Two heads are better than one."

CLARET AND OLIVES. By Angus B. Reach.

Bogue.
As we expected from the title, Mr. Reach gives us
an account of the countries in which grapes and olives
abound ; in fact, just a sketch of his rambles through
the south of France and the Pyrenees. In the very
commencement the author gives us the following
Pleasing intelligence :
Alt sensible readers will be gratified when I state
that I have not the remotest intention of deseribing the
atnkwology of Bordeaux or any other town whatever.
Whosoever wants to know the height of a steeple, the
length of an aisle, or the number of arches in a bridge,
roust betake themselves to Murray and his compeers. I
will trY and sketch livin, and now and then historical
l'rance—o move gossippgingly along in the byeways
rather than the highways—always more prone to give a
good legend of a grey old castle than the correct mea-
surement of the height of the towers, and always seeking
to bring up as well as I can a varying, shifting picture,
well thronged with humanity before the reader's eye."
And in this he keeps his word ; the book throughout
i 4 diversified with anecdotes and legends of every
kind, with light sketches of the country, and the
Inanners, customs and superstitions of the inhabitants
of the various districts through which he passed.
There is an amusing history of the grape and the
Vintage, and scenes in which the author was both an
eYe-witness and an actor. Of his first initiation into
the Plucking of the grapes he gives the following
amusing account :
" There are no idle spectators at a vintage; all the
World must work, and so I speedily found myself with a
lige pair of scissors in my hand cutting off the bunches
'n the midst of an uproarious troop of young men, young
voreen, and children. At first I was dainty in my selec-
tion of the grapes to be chosen, eschewing the under-
laPe and the over-ripe. A damsel beside me observed
rie- From her woolly hair and very dark but merry
Ace, I imagined her to have a touch of Guadaloupe or
a tiniqup blood. Cut away,' she said. every grape
ra
til'ea Yes, but the caterpillars." They give
tt k
• "°(IY-' Yes, but the snails 0, save the snails for
me, said a little girl, holding cut her apron full of
Painted shells. What do you want with them?' I in-
quired. Boil them and eat them,' said my juvenile
fVend• I looked askance. You can't think how nice
they are with vita gar,' said the mulatto girl. I remem-
bered'" onr own appetite for periwinkles, and said nothing,
but
added
my mite of snail flesh to the collection."
,!"he surprise of the author at the appearance of the
.!..andes
shepherd on stilts, and the Boy of Arcachon
• is well depicted—together with the superstitions and
legends of the Landes, their primitive mode of living,
and the pertinacity with which they adhere to the
wages of their forefathers. It is but lately that they
'lave been induced to milk their cows, being under
the belief that Landes cows never gave milk, nor were
they persuaded even when the cow was milked before
their eyes, saying—
" Yes that one may have a little, but Landes cows
.give no milk. "
One of the principal objects of Mr. Beach's stopping
at Agen was to visit Jasmin, the pleasant poet of Pro-
vence and Languedoc—the "Last of the Troubadours."
'Tannin's songs and rural epics are written in the patois
of the country, and that patois is the still almost un-
altered Langue Or—the tongue of the chivalric
Minstrelsy of yore. But Jasmin is a Troubadour in
another sense than availing himself of the tongue
of menestrels, he is a Troubadour in reality, for
although he
publishes his songs, and is such a favourite
with the people that he might live in affluence, yet he
:will not touch a farthing of the money ao obtained,
but distributes it in public charities, preferring to
gain his livelihood in the humble condition of a coiffeur
and barber ; nevertheless, his self-esteem is great, he
is of opinion that God only made four Frenchmen
poets,. viz., Corneille, Lafontaine, Beranger, and Jas-
rnll.
Iha man,i
After narrating the peculiarities of this extra-
ordinarythe author remarks :
might
harvcel3;ndknow when my interview with Jasmin
tire of talking,
and
vi for he seemed by no means likely to
not to be lisunf.d is talk was too good, and too curious
us
for a to with inters at; but his sister, who
bad left
rnaostnent, coming back with the intel-
ligence that there
the shop. I hastily t((lot
to a gathering of customers in
my hand like a vice, and iy leave, the poet squeezing
into all that appertains to
unctim9iately thereafter dashing
and lather with just as rnueTng irons, scissors, razors,
rapparent energy and en-
thusiasm as ho flung into his
ppetry and language. hapaodical discourse on

FRANK FORESTER'S
ING OF THE UNIT
STATES.
AND FISTi.
„Henry William Herbert. STATEs. By
In this interesting work the angler will
and complete description of all the
those which afford sport and require skill fish
in their capture) of North America. rand2iddress
who some time ago published "Field
p—lo'rbi''tsearbfeurlti,
United States," has been very particular as int the
the
correctness of this volume, and has cited some
ofo the
first piscatoral naturalists to support his opinions.
The work is embellished with upwards of forty hiBhi
nished illustrations, and concludes with some excel_
lent advice, not only as regards the capture of the
but the all-important one of cooking him. This
book,
although it may afford amusement to the casual
reader, is more particularly intended for the sports..
'llan, to whom, whether at home or abroad, we trust
it may be of service.

14 SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH BETWEEN ENGLAND AND
IRELAND.—There are now three projects in the field for this
purpose, two of them being in connexion with the Electroic,
elegraph Company, who have a choice of routes, one
and
about 61 miles between Holyhead and Kingstown, _
andther of 'A.' miles between Portpatrick on the coast of
Scotland and Donagh.adee. The latter will require
.44 miles
less of wire than any other route, and will consequently be
carried out at half the. time and cost, and be completed, it IS
' expected, before June.
DEATH BY DROWNING.—About a quarter past ten
o'clock on Monday night, a holiday visitor to Woolwich,
tcaed Josiah Cooper, of 5. Ernest-street, Whitehorse-lane,rantedtl'neY, when attempting to go on board the Essex, Noah
•••i,
oolwich railway steamer, lying alongside Hoff's Pier, tell
• Into the river Thames, and was drowned, and the body has
not been found. The deceased was a young man about
twenty-two years of age, having brown hair, and dressed in
41ack shooting coat and vest, with cord trowsers and Bin.
Cher boots.' His brot'aer was so grieved and excited when
li`he accident took place that it was with great difficulty
e could be restrained from jumping into the water, when
,101 la
would have been drowned, owing to the darkness of
• .
5""
A correspondent informs us that the Elder Brethren
if the Trinity House, under date of the 6th instant, have
produced
shallto
St
msued an order that every pilot cutter under their direction
shall have a log-book, which shall be regularly ,
an
he sub-commissioners at the outports periodically,
ate the following particulars:—The date of year, month,
114" day; the position of pi!ot cutter at noon and at mid-
Ight ; the name of vessel boarded or spoken with ; her rig ;
port belonging to; name of the master ; where from ; where
,°?und ; position of the vessel boarded or spoken with ; the
Ind, and its force; name of the pilot by whom boarded or
PIKI/4n ; ,and remarks. We consider this order both impor-
. necessary, g
pecessary, and useful in sundry respects;
igfe, it will tend to bring forward the youn and, further-
ilots to be a
41er-informed class of men than those now retiring from
UgghtsiDit tciptrititity sad filimii4 uolicTo

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