The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-30 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ERNEST MAL7'RAVERS. 3 Vols.
Saunders and Otley, London, 1837.

- -
In this story, which its author, Mr. Bulwer, dedi-
cates to the German people, we suppose from a feel-
ing of gratitude for their high estimate of his abilities ;
he, as in the case of Paul Clifford—by far the best
of his works, and that in which the most invention is
shown—bounds at once upon his subject, introducing
us to his hero on the very threshold of his narrative,
and without any flourish of drums and trumpets, such
as usually heralds the first appearance of a chief perso-
nage in a modern novel. The opening scene,
descriptive of a lonely cottage on a desolate
moor, which is bounded in distance by the
red-gleaning lights of a hundred factories, is
sketched with considerable vigour, and has a truly
picturesque effect. We have often wondered that such
a scene has never been attempted before, for it abounds
in the most striking materials for description. Not
less effective are the tenants wherewith Mr. Bulwer
peoples this desolate abode. They are, first a ruffian,
inured to crime, and secondly, his young daughter,
Alice—a charming conception, executed in the
author's most careful and spirited manner. We
cannot, however, say so much for his hero, Er-
nest Maltravers, who has this besetting defect,
namely, that he wants consistency of character.
We cannot recognise anything true or life-like in this
portrait, as we can in that of Pelham, which, how-
ever we may dislike the class to which it belongs, is
yet true to nature in every lineament. Refined senti-
ment and reckless libertinism, and of such is Maltravers
made up, form a compound seldom to be met with in
the same character, out of the pages of a fashionable
novel. Having said this, we have said all that we
hare to object to in this novel, which will be sure to
be read with avidity ; for the intetest seldom flags, is
constantly varying, and the language in some places,
where the author is least ambitious, replete with
eloquence and feeling.

LOCKHART'S MEMOIRS OF SCOTT. Vol. V.
Cadell, Edinburgh, 1837.
With the exception of the first volume, this i 3 by
far the most interesting that has yet appeared. It
shows us Scott in the meridian vigour of his unrivalled
reputation, when he was all kindness and happiness,
and exercising hospitality at Abbotsford on the most
princely scale. It is also full of various and charac-
teristic anecdote, and contains some descriptions from
Mr. Lockhart's pen, which it is impossible to peruse
without the deepest interest. One allusion that he
makes to a late sad bereavement overflows with simple,
and manly tenderness. No small portion of the vo-
lume is occupied with details of George the Fourth's
visit to Edinburgh, when Walter Scott attracted pub-
lic attention to a nearly equal degree with his fat friend.
The following anecdote is irresistibly ludicrous. We
make no comment on it—for what comment can do it

justice?—
'° The King at his first levee diverted many, and delighted
Scott, by appearing in the full Highland garb—the same
brilliant Steuart Tartans, so called, in which certainly no
Steuart, except Prince Charles, had ever before presented
himself in the saloons of Holyrood. His Majesty's Celtic
toilette had been carefully watched and assisted by the gal-
lant Laird of Garth, who was not a little proud of the re-
sult of his dexterous manipulations of the Royal plaid, and
pronounced the King " a vera pretty man." And he did
look a most stately and imposing person in that beautiful
dress ; but his satisfaction therein was cruelly disturbed
when he discovered, towering and blazing among and above
the genuine Glengarries and Maeleods and MacGregors, a
figure even more portly than his own, equipped, from a
sudden impulse of loyal ardour, in an equally complete set
of the self-same conspicuous Steuart tartans :
" He caught Sir William Curtis in a kilt—
While tbrong'd the chiefs of every Highlaud clan
To hail their brother, Vich lan Alderman."
" In truth,,this portentous apparition cast an air of ridi-
cule and caricature over the whole of Sir Walter's Celtified
pageantry. A sharp little baillic from Aberdeen, who had
preciously made acquaintance with the worthy Guildhall
Baronet, and tasted the turtle soup of his voluptuous
yacht, tortured him as he sailed down the long gallery of
Holyrood, by suggesting that after all his costume was not
quite perfect. Sir William, who had been rigged out, as,
the auctioneers' advertisements say,' regardlos of expense,
exclaimed that he must be mistaken ; begged he would ex-
plain his criticism, and, as he spoke, threw a glance of ad-
miration on a skene dim, (black knife), which, like a true
warrior and hunter of deer,' he wore stuck into one oft
is
garters. Oo ay—oo ay,' quoth the Aberdonian : e
knife's a' right, mon—but fbar's your speen ?"—(where's
your spoon ?) Such was Scott's story ; but whether he
gave it' in the hope of restoring the Kings' good-humour,
so grievously shaken, it is not very necessary to inquire."

THE CI CISBE O.
Renshaw, London, 1837.
The author of the " Cicisbeo" should never have
aspired to write a tragedy. He has not one single
qualification for the task. Instead of poetry, he gives
us nothing but prose run mad ; and substitutes exag-
gerated, and too often sickly, sentiment, for the natu-
ral dictates of the human heart. Here and there he
puts forth a pretty idea, and something that distantly
resembles fancy, but a few stray flowers of this sort
will not constitute a tragedy. In a closely printed
work, containing upwards of a hundred and forty-eight
pages, it would be hard, indeed, if one' could not
pounce upon one line worth notice. We subjoin a
specitnen of what the author intended, no doubt, to
be intense passion ; but which, to our thinking,
is as
very a piece of raying bombast, as ever fell from the
pea of poor old Nat. Lee. A certain Countess Suomi
speaking. She is evidently in a violent rage, but

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knew what he was saying, even in the fiercest whirl-
wind of his jealousy :
" The self-entombing thunderbolt this hand
Would catch, and, in defiance, toss again !
. I could the boundless deep walk throtmh undrowned,
Drink lava, and explore the horrid throat
Of JEtna, enter the bowcht of the earth,
And at the nadir come to light again !"

Mercy o❑ us, what a Virago ! - It requires no slight
courage—as every one knows who has ever played the
game—to catch a cricket-ball, but here is a woman
who thinks nothing of catching a thunder-bolt ! Then
mark the modesty of her proposal to take a lounge on
foot over the ocean Why, this beats the Italia❑ adven-
turer who advertised the other day to walk from
London to Gravesend on the surface of the Thames !
We say nothing of the Countess' desire to drink a
quart or. so of red-hot " lava :" for there is no disput-
ing upon matters of taste, and we shall content our-
selves, therefore, with wondering in awe-struck silence
at her preference;, If the author of the " Cicisbeo" be
be a very young man—say, not yet emancipated from
his teens--there may he some hopes of him ; but if
not, we give him up, without reserve or stint.

SKETCHES IN L OND ON. No. I.
Orr, London, 1837.

The first Number of a new work from the pen of the
popular author of " Random Recollections of the
Houses of Lords and Commons." It is proposed to
be published in monthly parts, like the " Pickwick
Papers," at a shilling each. Judging from the speci-
men before us, which contains some graphic sketches
of London beggars and impostors, we should think it
very likely to be successful. It is illustrated with too
highly comic engravings.

DON JUAN. VoL. 11.
Murray, London, 1837.

This is the closing volume of one of Lord Byron's
best—perhaps his best—poems. It is got -up with
extreme elegance ; and is embellished with an exqui-
site engraving of the famous old " Brig of Balgownie"
near Aberdeen, which the poet has made the subject
of more than one descriptive stanza in his " Don
Juan." The engraver of this print is Finden.

WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS.
Sutherland, Edinburgh, 1837.

It gives us pleasure to see that this amusing publi-
cation has reached the thirty-eighth Part. It is writ-
tfin with a sort of rough vigour, like the prose tales of
Hogg, and is the production of Mr. J. Mackay Wil-
son—an able and honest man, lately deceased. The
work is published for the benefit of his widow and
children.

THE EARLDOM RESTORED. 2 VoLs.
Smith, London, 1837.

A pleasing story enough, not devoid of incident,
but containing few characters that are above medio-
crity. Some of the dialogues are written with feeling
and simplicity, but as a whole the story is too much
wire•drawn. It might easily have been comprised in
one volume. The author signs himself " Edward
Lakehy," which we suppose is a 910,11 de guerre.

The Sheriffs for London and Middlesex are sworn
in at Westminster this day. The ceremony on this occa-
sion in the Court of Exchequer, which vulgar error supposes
to be an unmeaning farce, is not so, but the observance of
ancient tenures. The Sheriffs have not the least connection
with the cutting of sticks or counting of bob-nails. The
tenants of a manor in Shropshire are directed to come forth

to do their suit and service ; on which the Senior Alderman
below the Chair stands forward, and chops a single stick, in
token of its having, been customary for the tenants of the
said manor to supply their lord with fuel. The owners of
a forge in the parish of St. Clement Danes, which formerly
belonged to the City, and stood in the high-road from the
Temple to Westminster, but which no longer exists, are
then called on to do their suit and service, when an officer

of the Court, in the presence of the Senior Alderman, pro-
duces six horse-shoes and sixty-one hob-nails, which he
counts over in form before the Cursitor Baron, who, on
this particular occasion, is the immediate representative of
the Sovereign. It appears from Maddox's History qf the
Exchequer that this ceremony had its origin from a zrant
made in the 19th of Henry 111. (anno 1255) to Walter
Le Brun, a farrier, of a piece of ground in the parish of

St. Clement Danes, whereon to erect a forge, he rendering

the Exchequer annually for the same a-quit-rent of six
horse-shoes, with the - nails thereunto belonging. The
rent was twice paid in the rein of Edward 1., and is still
rendered annually at the Exchequer by the citizens of
London, the said piece of ground having fallen into their
possession by a subsequent conveyance.

Yesterday afternoon, about four o'clock, a dreadful
accident, attended with the loss of two lives, and serious
injuries to several others, occurred on the premises of
Messrs. Vidler and Co., the extensive coach-manufacturers,

. _
of Milbank-row, Westminster. Within the last few days a
number of labourers have been employed in pulling down
dilapidated buildings, preparatory to new erections being
made. At the time above stated ten or twelve men were
occupied in removing a high wall, when it most unexpectedly
gave way, burying nearly the whole of them underneath.
An immediate alarm was given, when every possible assist-
ance was brought to the spot, and, after some time, several
of the unfortunate men were extricated, most of them in an
insensible state, and the whole more or less seriously in-
jured. Two men, named Michael Donovil and John Hand-
ley, were the last that were taken out of the ruins. They
were quite dead, and their persons presented an appalling
spectacle, being mutilated in a dreadful manner. Their
bodies were removed to Westminster Hospital, as were also
the survivors, where they received prompt medical aid.
Two men, named Sullivan, have experienced such severe
fractures that their recovery is quite hopeless. The cir-
cumstances that led to the calamity have not yet been as-
certained, or whether there is blame attached to the super-
intendent of the men, or to any other party. Donovil, who
was 31 years of age, has left a widow and five children.
Handley was a single man. The inquest on the two men is
appointed to take place this day (Saturday.)
The Genetal Steam Navigation Company's packet
the Countess of Lonsdale arrived at the Tower yesterday
morning at eleven o'clock. The John Bull and Caledonia
reached Hamburgh on Tuesday last.
A very outrageous attack was made upon the car-
riage of Madame Grisi, just as she was leaving Birming-
ham, on Friday afternoon. Immediately after the close of
the morning performance, her carriage drew up to the door
of her lodgings, in Paradise-street, and such was the curio-
sity of the crowd assembled in the street to obtain a sight
of this distinguished vocalist, that the vehicle was speedily
surrounded by a dense mob, some of whom were not over

delicate in their expressions, or over scrupulous as to the
manner in which they evinced their prying curiosity. The
valet behind, finding that the carriage was obstructed by

the density of the crowd, and being a foreigner, unac-
quainted with the habits of an English mob, it is supposed,
fearing for the safety of his mistress, commenced beating
the people with a stick ; and it is even said, presented a
pistol. Upon this, the crowd immediately commenced a
furious attack by stoning the carriage—and, had it not
been for the timely and vigorous assistance of the police,
who had not quitted the neighbourhood of the Town Hall,
and the rapid speed at which the postillions proceeded
down New-street,the most lamentable consequences would
in all probability have resulted from the aroused fury of the
populace.—Birmingham Paper.
The President's message was received by the packet-
ship Roscoe, Captain Joseph Delano, which sailed from New
York on the Bth of September, and arrived off Kinsale on
Monday last. Three passengers landed.
Yesterday morning a large supply of cattle, consist-
ing of oxen, sheep, and lambs, were brought to Chalk
Farm landing-place, from Boxmoor and Watford, for Smith-
field market, in large cattle carriages, by the railroad.
The animals, on being landed, appeared remarkably fresh.
The butchers calculate that all descriptions of animals will_
save a stone weight by this mode of conveyance,
About eleven o'clock on Thursday night, as of
of
the vehicles, called " back door cabs," waspas;tng along
Castle-street, Lon..-acre, the passenger, who seemed con-
siderably intoxicated, fell with great violence into the road,
cutting his face and hands severely. It was supposed that
he had been leaning against the door, which, not being pro-
perly fastened, had given way, The violence of the fall
seemed to bring the gentleman to his senses, and assistance
being procured, he was again placed in the vehicle and
and conveyed to his residence, which he stated to ha in
Dean-street, Soho. Fortunately. for him the cab was pro-
ceeding at a moderate pace, or the consequences .night have
been more serious.
We have beard inat a writ has been served on the
over the overseer of the ville of Christ Church, Canter-
! bury, for neglect of his duty in putting up. the list of ob-
jections. The penalty is 5004—Kent flerald.
The red-breast has been heard for a fortnight past,
and the sar4liews are congregating and leaving the 99rtb.