The Sun.
London, England, 1837-10-30 00:00:00

L 1 T FitA T URE.

QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. C rig.
lilurray, _London, 1 e 37.
The merits of Mt. Theodore Hook-as a hurriourist
are ditsussoil at sonic length in the Number befoie
in an article Qll the subject of the " PicLivick papers.
"As a wr:ter of fictitious narrative," says the °:
I
viewer, ." Hook's chief excellence consists in the great
variety and thorough reality of his humorous
dents ; which is sufficiently accounted for by the
eumstance of their being almost all the result of hisf
own individual observation in society. lie bin's!
has been heard to say that he has neither imaghtatin°
enough to invent a plot, nor patience enough t°
mana:c• one when found for him." This Is strietflth6
true. tic nn;hor 0;. Jar!- p,rac'' ha, -not:
is
, .
01 0 i;ood plus b
ir,•idk hinl,ll,-{1 to,,,thetlll 'lr-I''l.9te
clituit•qou, 1'i'•11:1 on ei.c4ll,n-;$
•
tural and overstrained. There are few adventures I
the " Arabian Nights" so marvellous as many °f
those which befall Mr. Hook's heroes and heroinesin°s;
who in this respect may be considered as the
romantic writer of the day. But his characters sue
.
admirably delineated ; we seem to have met them 'Al.'
the other day in company, and to have been struck
with those very peculiarities which their creator devr
lopes with such unrivalled gusto. Who having obe
read, can ever forget the unsophisticated country gen-
tleman in " Jack Brag," who supports his every re-
mark—no matter how trite or common-place it thaY
•
be—by the authority of his wife " Mrs.
The Reviewer observes that " Mr. Hook'ss names with
in in themselves a jest"—an assertion which applies w`te
far less propriety to Hook than to Peacock, wh°s-
country banking firm of " Messrs. Airbubble,
shadow and and Hopthetwig," with their Secretary
" William Walkoff," is worthy to vie in wit and:rf
positeness of name with the " Queen Whit's °,
Rabelais, and is a thousand times superior to
similar designations in the " Sayings and Doings'
Quitting Mr. Hook, the Reviewer gives a brief Pas.s-
.
in g criticism on Sidney Smith's peculiarities tts• a wit'
and quotes the following note from his
" peter PlYni‘
ley's Letters," which we too subjoin as a racy SpeCilnell
of that broad humour in which Wolcot was so

cessful
and in the
" In tho third year of his present Majestv
thirtieth of his own acre, Mr. Isaac Hawkins -Browne, then
upon his travels, danced one evening at the Court of Nal)l„,'
His dress was a volcano silk with lava buttons. Whether '—
the Neapolitan wits said) he had studied dancing under. St.;
Vitus,• or whether David dancing in a linen vest was belh
model, was not known ; but Mr. Browne danced with tof
inconceivable alacrity and vigour, that he threw the Quee!'
Naples into convulsions of laughter, which terminated 1.0 a
miscarriage, and changed the dynasty of the Neapollie
Throne."
We are next introduced to Professor 'Wilson, the
quality of whose humour is well defined, though the:s
Reviewer says nothing of—what we conceive to be Itf
leading feature—its unexpectedness. In the midst 0
some essay, or eloquent description, bestrewed overtall
with the rich lights of imagery, out comes a of
and such a joke--it has all the, effect of a flash
°r
lightning ! Those who have reed the " Noctest
the " Hints for the Holidays," will at once see than
we have warrant for our opinion. The following er

tract is amusing : ,
and
" Professor Wilson's fun is altogether peculiar to bilitt - 1
to the. full as characteristic of the physical as of the intelleettl!
constitution of the man, being the result of high animal sI.
rits, an ever-teeming fancy, and a rude, rough, frolicsome
sciousness of power. A- joke flies from him like a cork front i
heated bottle of champagne, or bounds off like a ball ffonl.,-,
cricket-bat in the hands of a player like himself, and is Pre:'
nearly as difficult to stop. He was oae day engaged in ee
meat discussion as to \the Generalship of Napoleon. and irea
Duke of Wellington—' You will allow, at all events,' urg„e
his antagonist, ' that Napoleon surprised the Duke at 1`,.8;
terloo ?" Aye,' exclaimed the Professor, ' but did'ot the
Duke astonish him?' The half-angry thoroughly-.in-eariria
manner with which this retort was given, made it irresisub
at the moment—but things of this kind are comparatively tarn°
at second-hand, and it is difficult to induce his friends or fa;
roily to reproduce them. ' What on earth'—be once broke ou•
in our hearing, after vainly appealing to the memory octif
circle,—' what on earth is the use of a man's having half-a'
dozen daughters. if they won't remember his jokes ? .`:".,-,
readers of the ' Noctes Ambrosianm,' however, will requ';';
no further illustration of his manner, and our only regreg ~;
that all reference to these is already assuming a retrospect"-
character—
. Why slumbers Gifford ? once was ask'd in vain,
Why slumbers Gifford ? let us ask again.' " ,ii
The Reviewer, as we anticipated, entertains a It
opinion of Mr. Dickens as a htimourist, and corrobo-
rates an assertion which we made some months sil
in The Sun, that his " Oliver Twist" bids fair to be al
ot
af'-
Master-piece. But though we think this, we eann-
give up—as his critic seems disposed.to do—his ro
terly sketch in the Pickwick Papers, of the elder
Weller, which bears evidence in every line of ha di
been drawn from the life. We have been mud' Cl
vetted by the subjoined passage which occurs lac:7
dentally in some remarks on Mr. Dickens' first work :
" You may hear the cad of an omnibus composedly WI;
ing the driver that he is to take up' two elephants and af,bri-ti ,
layer,' meaning two passengers at the Elephant and Ls-leo:
and the Bricklayer's Arms ; the chambermaid answers ill
landlady's enquiries about the lady who arrived list !Ott' r''
stating that she is changed from ' twenty-seven to fiTtl----11 to
the head waiter at a chop-house calls to his o
subordinatego
look sharp, because ' a boiled beef and greens' has justulaa
down stairs without paying ; and the landlord of a $",,--dies-
tea-garden shouts out, ' I'm blowed if there arn't two bra!
and-water grtting over the pale l' "
'flak of the imagination of Wordsworth ! °else,
is nothing in all Wordsworth equal to the above Pa,
g If
sage, Which is full fraught with characteristic itntYty,
—and with imagery, too, of the most daring origiDall it,
as in the picture—so marvellous apparently, 'Tette(
reaiity so natural—of the two ~ brandies-and-wa
ays
climbing over the pales of a tea-gardens ! We albcc/0..
admired Lord Castlereagh's striking image of the " errris,
dile with his hands in his breeches-pockets like a. 6 'tiler
tian ;" but how tame is it when compared with that ° " .ocr
bolt'
refilled sketch of the " boiled beef and greens who
from a chop-house without paying! 'the mould n° id ow
gave birth to this last pastoral metaphor sil°° the
f tal...
longer be considered a tnere waiter, but a poet 0 •
lt la
most exalted character, and be signalized as serneins:'
Mr. Hall's next volume of the Book uf he
" Lord John Russell's Speech at Stroud" is
a ("a To,
which will doubtless be highly acceptable to
the d
tits an
rics, by reason of its flagrant mis-staterne r ,
gti
the. rancorous virulence of its tone. As a!'
nau co-
mentative essay it has not a
dation. The notice of " Travels in Circassia f
jr.Ai
Crim-Tartary," is, from the peo ° .
we suppose, carious
t va
Barrow. It is an interesting article, and tae ii skill,
matter contained in it is put together within" c the
e of
"Prospects of the Country" is au eremia
Isubstance
most triste quality, the whole sm anu _os
of which is, that England will never become PI
the
. nti
perous till the present Ministers are remove f
, Manners
Tories installed in their stead. s;ngle recor land
~ Codes °' i and
and Etiquette" is replete with entertaining g°s3P„,' oil
furnishes us with some whimsical anecdotes 01 ' in
h 00
Brumutell and the late Duke
the lash
Cooper's England" the- Reviewer lays e rgY
rseless energy
the American novelist with all the rano r c 1V1r'
• -tice, 'l9'
of a drummer-boy ; and not without Job hooter,
Cooper has shown no mercy to the English ,e l the
Oa the VVOO ,
and can expect none in return.
Number is an excellent one. of Norfolk.

An attempt of the Earl of Westmoreland to create
voters for the county of Huntingdon, by giving fie", re.
annuities to two individuals has drawn forth the sever`;rha
p ana
pruonbisaitlinoiDenotf._thLe:eldesvilsiinegrcißtr.7ister of that CO rc
attempt was a downright fraud, and deserved expos°
rtgarnetatun-a.Le Or'
by_
,11.t.1.11 who take an interest in Of the' Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, it'srfactioll
our preceding sciteirt skilt
eccie)dr
ne: proceedings at the meeting of the Sliarhotclatleir:
it l be seen that there is everY prospect now
being vigorously commenced..— Gloucester Journal
ipner
thatused impwitlol