The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-24 00:00:00

US :-

" Happiness consists, not in having much, but in being
content with little."
" Some people seem to consider the severity of their
censures on the errors of others as some atonement for their
own."

" Friends are the thermometei-s by which we may judge
the temperature of our fortunes."
" Forgiveness of injuries is apt to draw on the forgiver
a repetition of wrongs, as people reason thus—' if he has
forgiven so much, he can forgive more.'"
" Many people mistake audacity for courage, yet they
are dissimilar. Catiline was audacious, Caesar was
courageous."

Blessington here sacrifices correctness to anti-
thesis. Coasar was not a whit more courageous,
either in a moral or physical sense, than Catiline, as is
evident from Sallust's vivid personal sketch of the latter
—especially of his extraordinary prowess on his last
battle field. But to resume our extracts—
" The heart is often made answerable for the errors of
the imagination."

" There are no persons capable of stooping so low as
those who desire to rise in the world."
" No dust affects the eyes so much as gold dust."
We cannot undertake to answer for the truth of this
last Aphorism, for gold dust is a species of dust with
which our optics have seldom or never been et-lib:trussed.
Our garret indeed is so remarkably free from this incum-
brance, that we might wear our broom to the stump
before we should detect the presence of a single particle.
" There are no memories so short as those of the
parvenu and the ungrateful man; the first forgets himself,
and the second his friends."

" We betray a profound knowledge of the world by
withdrawing from it when misfortune assails us."
" Gratitude is a prospective, rather than a retrospective
virtue."

" I lost my spirits and my health,
But kept my friends, so did not wince,
Until one day I lost my wealth,
And never heard of friendship since."
" Common sense is the most uncommon of all senses."
By way of appendix to this amusing little volume, we
beg to note down a few Aphorisms of our own, which,
like the far superior ones of Lady Blessington, are the
result of long and diligent obseevation :
" Damon and Pythias were the two greatest friends of
antiquity. The inference thcrefore is inevitable—one
never owed the other a single farthing."
" No philosophy, not even religion herself, can reconcile
a man to the tooth-ache."

" To dance a brisk quadrille in tight pumps with an,
active corn on each toe, might weary out the patience of
even a Job."

" Because a man happens to be a Publisher, it by n°
means follows as a necessary consequence, that he should
be a prodigy of munificence and disinterestedness."
" An Alderman at a turtle feast makes the nearest SP'
proximation to what we can conceive of perfect felicity."
" A compulsory walk of upwards of ten miles, under a
scorching sun in the dog-days, is apt to beget uneasy re-
flectic ns in the breast of a fat man."
No one wears so repulsive an aspect as a dun. Vcnus
herself would look a fright, if she came in the disguise of a
creditor."

" The man who writes anything, whether in prose or
verse, except for cash, is an ass."

STATESMEN OF THE TIMES OF GEORGE
THE THIRD.
C. Knight, London, 1839.
Some of the sketches in this Second Series of "
His-
torical Characters of the Times of George the Third,''
have alrealy appeared in the Edinburgh Review, but
the majority of them—observes Lord Brougham in his
preface—are now for the first time published. Among
the new ones is the sketch of Sir Philip Francis, in sup-
port of whose claim to the authorship of Junius, his
Lordship brings forward arguments 'which, in our opk
nion, are almost decisive of the question. He himself,
however, does not seem to be convinced by, them,
for he sums them up by saying, ." but here,
perhaps, the similarity may be said to end. For
there cannot hit--prodticed -any eonsiderable pie Ce. of
compoiilion known to have proceeded from it
Philip Francis's pen,- whiclils of the kamblind with the
letters of .;units, although passages of great excellence,
full of point, instinct with severity, marked by an im-
placable spirit, and glowing with fierce animation,
have been selected for the just admiratiOn of critics,'
Now these remarks, though intended to have that
effect, are so far from weakening the impression that Sir
Phillip Francis was Junius, that they absolutely tend
to strengthen it, for they show that the one writer
possessed precisely those qualities which are most re-
markable in the other. An " implacable spirit" is the
chief characteristic feature of the letters of Junius,l
and this, it appears, Francis possessed in a high degreasH
But the manner of the two writers, it is urged,
was different. We do not lay much stress on this cir-
cumstance, because the style of Junius is throughout an
artificial one—got up expressly for the occasion, and,
elaborated with the greatest possible care. In fact, it
is a sort of feigned style, just such a one as a writer who
had a perfect command over the resources of his lai"
gtiage, would adopt fur the purposes of concealment.
Now Sir Phillip Francis, it is well-known, had this
command of language ; he had also every motive for
concealment ; his political and personal prejudices more-
over, were those of Junius ; and his official knowledge
was just of that character which is turned to account in
these famous " Letters." We repeat, therefore, that We
lay no stress on the argument that Francis was net
Junius, merely because his own acknowledged writings
were different, in point of manner ; for manner—that is to
say, peculiarity of style—is always to be acquired, pro-
vided sufficient attention be bestowed on the subject;
and more than once Junius refers to the extreme laboUr
that his " Letters" cost him. But matter, by which we
mean the staple of mind, is a very different thing.
casm, wit, bold irony, sparkling power of imagery,- end
vindictive scorn—these qualities, which are the very salt
of Junius, and still keep him fresh in our memories, are
not to be acquired by even the most Herculean diligence,
for they are strong, inherent feelings which nature atone
gives, and which no art can imitate. Taking the whole
circumstances of the case into consideration,- anu-
weighing dispassionately the arguments pro and con,
though we will not venture to assert positively that Sir
Phillip Francis was Junius, yet, we will say, that the
evidence is strongly in favour of this hypothesis, and
that many a man has been condemned in our Criminal
Courts on proof, very little, if at all, more decisive. The
character of " Madame de Stael "is delineated with great
nicety, and truth, and freedom of touch. In the course
of this masterly sketch occurs the following remark
" Those persons who are self-taught or late taught
(ss:,,,,s,s6sis) are somewhat like persons who have risen
unexpectedly to wealth, letter-proud, as these are
purse-proud, very apt to fancy both that their
own means are boundless, and that none else
possess any at all. Accordingly, besides their love
of displaying their- stores, it is commonly observed of
such men, that they both believe themselves to know
everything, and suppose others to know nothing." This ,
is a shrewd and just observation. We have ourselves.
seen such people as Lord Brougham here satirically
glances at— men who having with difficulty, and
at a somewhat later perio than ordinary, got
up a small amount of knowledge, are 50 asto-
nished and delighted with the acquisition, that they
are constantly crowing over it like cocks on a
dunghill ; and crude and imperfect as are their acquire-
ments, imagine that they are capable of executing
literary works, from which even a Gibbon or a Hallam
might shrink appalled. There is nothing so disusting
as this sort of pedantry, begotten by self-conceit on
ignorance, and the sure test of a narrow,
vulgar
Of the remaining sketches of character, the _ bess nature
t are
n
those of Napoleon and Washington, whom Lord
other.
Brougham has placed in striking contrast to each

Slondol. 1839.
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tale is evidently a man who
Wn'ot3theVa"rts—. which,
well ; but he has
vouclisaf.e.d. to few—of constructing on
knows The
interesting narrative. His incidents do not fit in well
t authorlSOLOMON
SO.LiriOlLocdrrtfh iaNsnsdmS°aEri itei.
by the bye, is
one with the other, but are loose and disjointed, and
strung together without any regard to skilful arrange-
ment. His style too is at times much too curt and
flippant to amuse generally, betraying, as it does on such
occasions, an utter want of simplicity. The author,
however, has a knack of drawing characters—as in his
sketches of Dr. Hasty
tbe g
and the erpecaoremnmtseonfdhatisiohneroof Shois-
lomon—and this is
story.

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