The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

The Brigantine. A Stony of the Sea. 2 vols.
Bentley.

A story of the sea is usually attractive to all.
There is generally a freshness and vivacity in the
theme, and there is always such an entire variation
in the scene as to render a nautical romance a plea-
sant change to the novel reader. In works of this
kind adventures and hair-breadth perils abound, and
they occur as a matter of course, not being dragged
in merely for a sensation, The character of the sailor,
moreover, is for the most part so frank, so genial,
so honest, and so English, as to render our hearts-
of-oak national favourites, both in real life and in
the world of literature. In some respects " The
Brigantine" possesses these general claims to our
attention. It is, but not entirely, a tale of the sea,
and its pages recount many brilliant exploits and
many perilous encounters by land and water. The
sailor hero is not, however, one after our heart. The
Brigantine, be it known, is a smuggling vessel, and
its Captain, Harry Grasper, is insatiable in his:love
of lucre. The scene of the story is partly in Bur-
mat). The hero and heroine, Aun qua and Domea
are two young Burmese lovers, converts to Chris-
tianity, and pupils of old Momien, also a native
Christian. Momien is described as a beautiful
character, singularly simple-hearted and unselfish.
Although he had never quitted his native shores he
seems to be tolerably well acquainted with the cha-
racters of the civilised world. Talking of the idolatry
of his o wn countrymen, in Burmah, he tells Captain
Grasper " there are more Shoodagons than one, and
there is as mach idolatry in the kingdoms of the
West as in all Burmah." This idea is dwelt upon
again when, describing the worshippers in the
heathen temple, the writer reminds us how often
in a Christian assembly, when the knees are bent
to a true God, the heart and the thoughts are en-
grossed by vanity, and avarice, and ambition, and.
the other strange gods of our idolatry. The
tyrannous Boa of Burmah, the high priests of
Shoodagon, Beyring, the Burmese warrior, sur-
named the Tiger-mask, and many other • native
heroes, are introduced in the main part of the
story. When we return to England with Captain
Grasper, we find in his English home so much
duplicity and domestic treachery that we are glad
to turn again to the distant land of grateful Aun-
qua and his Domea. The fate of the Brigantine,
and the ultimate fortune of its captain, we shall not
reveal; those who peruse his history will be grad.
fled at least with an original story laid in an un-
ramiliar locality, and abounding with incident and
adventure.

Philip of Konigsmarkt, and Other Poems. By
Maresco Pearce, B.A. Pp. 322. B. M.
Pickering.

Somebody has said that from the first dozen lines,
from the first half-page of any new volume of
Poems, he could tell the quality of his author. If
the rule were applied in the present instance, the
skilled critic from whose lips it fell would find
himself, or we are much mistaken, at fault, or at
least to a very great extent bsflled. The Tragedy
opening the work, and filling up the first hundred
and odd pages of it, being penned in that tesselated
style which Shakespere, the master dramatist of all, '
occasionally indulged in with such consummate suc-
cess, written now in prose, now in verse, at uncertain
and unequal intervals—opens with prose of the very
prosiest ! Later on come songs, ballads, love ditties,
and so forth, racy of the soil of Parnassus, anti
many of them justifying Mr. Pearce's name to the
title of poet. Love has much to do with the con-
tents of the volume, as a matter of course. There is .
now a poem on " Love and Death." Now the -
singer discourses melodiously on " Pure Love," and
now on the less congenial theme, we may be sure, of
" Forbidden Love." Then, again, " Old Love Let-
ters" set him musing ; his accents thereupon being
"most musical, most melancholy." Another while
" Love" stands alone—a wholesome fear of
any comparison with Coleridge's " Genevieve" not
oeing before our author's eyes. Throughout it is—
" Love, Love, nothing but love still more :
For 0 Love's bow
Shoots buck and doe,
The shaft confounds, not that it wounds,
But tickles still the sore!"
Simplest themes, ever old, but also, it should be
said, ever new, are among our writer's favourites--
ex. gr. "Tears," " Farewell," " Song in Sorrow,"
" The Artist's Child," 't The &rine by the Way-
side," are among his happiest efforts. Parting with
tom at the close of his volume, our hope is for our
Next Meeting—as Writer and Reader, or, to put it
iess prosaically, as Hearer and Songster.

Cassell's Bible Dictionary. Part I. Cassell, Petter,

and Ualpin.
One of the must splendid, as it is also one of the
most ;ambitious, of the cheap illustrated periodi-
cals of the day has here been commenced. The
work, when finished, will be a sort of scriptu-
ral encyclooe lia. Published in sixpenny monthly
parts, it is brought fairly within the reach of all—
ot cottager and artisan, no less than of the more
well to-do farmers and manufacturers. Here, in
truth, are variety and uniformity in their coin-
pletest aspect. Tue whole world of Biblical lore
is herein illustrated by pen and by pencil. By
issuing this beautiful work at such a price the pub-
ushers are conferring nothing less than a benefao-
non upon the eommanity.