The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-25 00:00:00

PUBLICATIONS.

S PLENDID ANNUALS for 1840, under
the Superintendence of Mr. C. Heath.
KEEPSAKE, silk
BOOK of BEAUTY, do 21s. ; ditto 525. 6d.
PICTURESQUE ANNUAL,
Windsor Castle ..,21s. ; ditto £2 2s.
GEMS of BEAUTY. Quarto, 31s. 6d. silk.
London : Longman, Orme, and Co.

ILIIOOPER'S POST OFFICE LETTER
WEIGHTS will beJIEADY for SALE on THURS-
DAY Next. The very large demand from all parts of the coun-
try has occasioned a delay of a few days.
Postage Depot, 13, Pall-mall, East,

Now ready, in 2 vols. post Bvo., with Portrait, 245.,
THE DUCHESS of ST. ALBAN'S
MEMOIRS.
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborougb-street.
To be had of all Booksellers, and at all the Libraries.

LADY FLORA HASTINGS.
This day is published, in Bvo., price Is. 6d. sewed,
THE COURT MYSTERY UNVEILED;
Translated from the Memoirs of the Viscount * de M***,
and addressed to tho slanderers of Lady Flora Hastings.
" II n'y a rien, disait Sully, dont it soit plus difficile de se
defendre que d'une calomnie travillee de main de courtisan."
London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. ; and W. Pocock, Bath.

Just published, in 3 vols. Bvo., price U. l ls. 6d, cloth lettered,
ANEW and COMPLETE HISTORY of
ENGLAND, from the Earliest Period to the Present
Time; embracing the Researches of the most eminent Antiqua-
rians and Historians, and a variety of information from original
sources.

By THOMAS KEIGHTLEY, Esq.,
Author of " The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome,"
" The Outlines of History," &c.
Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria-lane.

In 1 vol. Bvo., with Maps by John Arrowsmith,

T•
OYAGES of the DUTCH BRIG of
WAR DOURGA, through the Southern and little-known
Parts of the Moluccan Archipelago, and along the previously un-
known Southern Coast of New Guinea, performed during the
years 1825 and 1826 by D. H. Kolff. Translated from the
Dutch,
By GEORGE WINDSOR EARL,
Author of" The Eastern Seas."
London : J. Madden and Co., 8, Leadenhall-street.

Just published, a New Edition, price 2s. 6d.,
PRACTICAL ESSAY on the DEBILI-
TI ES of the GENERATIVE SYSTEM, their Va-
rieties, Causes, Treatment, and Cure

By a MEM BER of the ROYAL COLLEGE of SURGEONS,
London, and Surgeon to a Metropolitan Infirmary.
Sold by Onw•hyn. Catherine- street, Strand ; I'. H:11, Me-
dical Bookseller, Great Windmill-street, Haymarket; Temple-
man, 348, Regent-street, London ; Barlow, Birmingham ; Ross
and Nightingale, LiverpofA ; and all Booksellers in Town and
Country.

Just published, price 4s.
MITE NATURE and TREATMENT of
SYPHILIS, GONORRHIEA,GLEET, NERVOUS,
LOCAL, and GENERAL DEBILITY considered in a
PRACTICAL 'I REA I ISE on these Diseases, wherein is
recommended speedy and effectual means of cure, the result of
thirty-five years' extensive and successful pract;ce.
By C. B. COURTENAv, M D.,
42, Great Marlborough-street.

Sold by P. Hill, Medical Bookselle-r, Great Windmill-street,
Haymarket; Onwhyn, Catherine-street, Strand; Templeman,
248, Regent-street ; and all booksellers in town or country.

CHARITABLE BEQUESTS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—On perusing your paper of the 18th instant, I
perceive the effects of the will of the late Mr. Hill, who
left the munificent bequest of nearly 90,0001. to cha-
ritable purposes.
He seems to have been mindful of the afflicted, either
by disease, or suffering from the privations of some
faculty ; also, of the young and helpless ; and not
less has he testified his zeal for the propagation of
Christianity.
Indeed the foregoing are prominent subjects, calling
for sympathy and assistance, and the testimony of such
deeds does credit to the minds of those who listen to
them, and lend the helping hand which is called for ;
but to those, only, who have laboured to investigate
the condition of the working classes in the metropolis,
and compared their means of livelihood with the large
families which, in many instances, they have to support,
together with the many difficulties they have to contend
with, can the merits of such an institution as the en-
closed papers relate to, be duly appreciated ; for I can
assure you that frequently the greiteSt distress and pri-
vations are borne by those who strive to coraceal their
misfortunes, whilst they laudably strain all their exertions
to extricate themselves and families from want, by in-
creased industry.

It has been regretted by the friends of the Friendly
Loan Society that its hitherto want of publicity has not
afforded it the opportunity of receiving that general sup-
port which its 6haracter deserves.
Feeling that philanthropy has the strongest appeal to
those who possess the confidence of the public, I with
the less hesitation venture to address you these few
lines, and solicit your co-operation in a public good.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient, humble Servant,
Nov. 20th, 1839. H. S.

[This is a most benevolent and useful Institution
and all who know the principles on which it is founded
must regret that its sphere is so limited. It was esta-
blished in 1836, since which time it has aided by tem-
porary loans nearly two thousand applicants, and of
these a very small proportion only have failed to repay
the loans. The small means of the Society have ob-
liged it for the present to limit the district of its opera-
tions to the distance of half a mile from the office This
is greatly to he regretted. Prisons, hospitals, and poor
houses have many inmates, to whom in time of need the
loan of a few pounds would have be ,n salvation. But
the Institution, though patronised by men of rank and
influence, and though the working of the principle .has
realised the most sanguine expectations, must still be
very limited in its operations, or perhaps go to pieces,
unless better supported by the public. It is a remark-
able feature in the benevolent and religious character
of the people of this country, that they should annually
subscribe vast sums to be expended among strangers,
and to a certain extent neglect to support institutions
formed for improving the moral character, and the
comfort of their distressed fellow-creatures in their own
country.—ED. Sun.]

THE TAMWORTH YEZMANRY.

Tho following letter from Mr. Robert Peel appeared
in the Morning Chronicle of Saturday :

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
Bonehi!l House, Nov. 21.
Sir,—Your paper of Monday, the 18th, contained a
paragraph copied from the Stafordshire Examiner, in
which it is stated that the yeomanry who escorted her
Majesty Queen Adelaide on her visit to Drayton Manor
"openly refused to drink their Colonel's health."
Now, Sir, as I have the honour to command the troop
which was on duty on that occasion, I take this oppor-
tunity of contradicting, in the most unqualified manner,
the above infamous statement.

I should have done this much earlier, but, being ab-
sent from Staffordshire at the time alluded to, I waited
until I had made myself acquainted with the real facts
of the case, and had ascertained if there was any foun-
dation for the stigma thus cast upon my troop.
Had the statement been confined to the pages of the
Staffordshire Examiner (a paper whose character is so
well known), I should have treated the matter with
contempt ; but when it appeared in your columns, I
considered it due to myself, and to the iaembers of the
troop, to publish what occurred en the evening in
question, which was simply as follows :
On the health of Lieutenant-Colonel the Earl of
Lichfield being proposed, it was received, as it ever has
been, with the greatest enthusiasm—with the exception
of one individual, who refused to drink the toast, al-
leging as a reason, that when the Earl of Lichfield ad-
dressed the regiment on a late occasion, he complimented
a few individuals at the expense of the remainder of the
regiment.

It is almost unnecessary for me to say that this per-
son entirely mistook our Noble Colonel's meaning, and
it will be perceived that his refusal to drink Lord
Lichfield's health arose from the above mistake, and
from no political cause whatever. This individual is
no longer a member of the troop.
In conclusion, I beg to remark that I cannot find
language strong enough to apply to the pitiful miscreant
who has endeavoured, by a false am(' anonymous state-
ment, to sow discord and disunion amongst a•body of
men so devoted to their Most Gracious Sovereign
Queen Victoria, and so much attached to their com-
manding officer as the Tawworth troop of yeomanry.
I remain, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
ROBERT PEEL.

The electors of Clerkenwell, who were in favour
of Dr. Dillon, had resolved to devote the surplus of the
motley raised to defray the expenses of the election to
the purchase of a service of plate to be presented to the
Doctor ; but before the time of its completion arrived,
r
gititi:v 'etiground whirl) cached a correspondence
wathnnu tites
Gentleman, and which ended in his ioire-
signing the evening lectureship at the parish church,
and the Committee have refused to present the plate
to the Doctor.

LITERATURE.

SIIELLEY'S POETICAL WORKS.
Moxon, London, 1839.
This is another of those cheap, one-volume
editions for which we are indebted to the taste and
enterprise of Mr. Moxon, who in the same conve-
nient form has already given us Shakspeare and
Ben Johnson, and promises us, as we perceive by
his advertisements, Beaumont and Fletcher, toge-
ther with Congreve, Wycherley, Farquhar, Van-
burgh,—in short, all the comic dramatists of that
period. That these speculations have answered,
and will continue to answer, we have not the slight-
est doubt. They are well 'edited, well printed, are
of the most commodious form, and, in point of price,
are adapted to pockets even of the most poetical
temperament. The volume before us--which is
graced with a half-length' portrait of the author,
and a sketch of that portion of the burial ground at
Rome where he lies buried—contains every poem,
finished or unfinished, that Shelley ever wrote.
" Queen Mab" the earliest of his works, but by
no means the crudest in thought or expression,
stands of course foremost in the list ; and is printed,
not as in the common editions, but as it was origi-
nally written, the expunged passages having been
all restored, at the request of the Editor, the poet's
widow. In later life Shelley, we understand, was
ashamed of " Queen Mab." He need not have
been so, so far at least as its poetry is concerned,
for it shows more power of fancy and animation of
style than the Revolt of Islam ;" and is worth at
least a dozen " R.osaliads and Helens." As regards
its ethics, these are by no means so injurious as has
been generally supposed, for the social and moral
reforms it advocates, are hinted at in so vague, ab-
struse, ultra-metaphysical a style, that it is scarcely
possible to do more than just guess at the author's
meaning. Shelley was an enthusiast, full of the
milk of human kindness, imbued with noble senti-
ments, and indefatigable in his efforts to promote,
what he conceived to be, the amelioration of his
fellow-creatures ; yet, we know not why it is, we
take little interest in the perusal of his poems,
though among them are to be found passages of
surpassing grandeur of thought, not less than of
style. He always seems to us to be constantly
endeavouring to veil his real meaning from his
readers. Instead of taking the simplest and most
appropriate form of expression, as is the case with
Wordsworth, whom he professed to reverence, he
hunts carefully about for the most abstract and
enigmatical. He mistakes mysticism for profundity,
the far-fetched for the original, in proof whereof,
we refer the reader to his " Revolt of Islam," and
the two first acts of his " Prometheus Unbound."
The most enduring monument of his genius—des-
pite the repulsive nature of the theme—is his "Cenci,"
which is more intelligible, and has more real pas-
sion in it, than all his other works put together.
Yet Shelley, was a man of high and rare imagina-
tion, and could he but have Sobered its excesses,
and expressed himself in the simple and perspicuous
language common to all great poets, instead of
adopting a sort of spangled style, full of glittering
epithets, which serve no other purpose than to
dazzle and confound, he might have become one of
the most popular poets of his age and country.

NO THINGS.
Chu, ton, London, 1839.

The author of this volume of exceedingly small
poesy, observes, in one of his staves, with a modesty
much to be commended—
The powers of genius own not my control,
A poet's garb I wear, but not a poet's soul.

We hope, for his own sake, that this is not the
case, for a " poet's garb”—which may be defined
with tolerable accuracy, as a coat out at elbows, and
no cravat—is very apt at this time of the year to
engender rheurnatisms and sore throats. In another
of poems, the author candidly tells us, that indo-
lence " rules me with an absolute control"—a fact,
which we have not the slightest inclination to doubt,
for had not such been the case, he would most un-
doubtedly have corrected such prosy, halting lines as
" When a lady doth discover
That she bath more than one lover,
She can haVb those who adore her
Trotted out' at once before her,
And comparing them, she can see
Which the most doth hit her fancy ;
She can, eyeing the live lumber,
Choose the best man of the number;
. Aid 'tis good in other things, too,
To your bow at least t'have strings two."

The expression " trotted out"•however appro-
priate it may be at Tattersal's—does not add much
to the polish and delicacy of this passage. Wu
would advise the author of these poems to bid
adieu to Parnassus as soon as possible, for he may
rely on it, with all his exertions, be will never get
beyond the lower slopes.

POEMS WRITTEN IN NEWFOUNDLAND,

Saunders and Utley, London, 1839.

The chill, comfortless, foggy Newfoundland—
which is, besides, the very unpoetic seat of the
Cod fishery—is the very last place from which we
should have expected that a volume of cheerful
poetry would have been dated. The genius loci
would, we should have supposed, have weighed down
the spirits of the authoress, and induced her, if she
rhymed at all, to indite " Odes to Quicksands"—
Sonnets to a Fog"—" Meditations on a Cod's-
head-and-shoulders," &c., instead of the sunny,
fanciful themes which she has here descanted on.
Above all, who would have looked for glowing
descriptions of flowers from a resident
among the mud banks of Newfoundland ? Yet
here we have them in their fullest luxuriance—a
proof that the powers of the fancy are less modified
and moulded by climate, than is generally supposed.
In her poem entitled the " Wishes," Miss Prescott
is quite enthusiastic in her praises of flowers ; and in
describing the hyacinth, makes the following
graceful allusion to the old classic legend of
Apollo and Hyacinthus
The hyacinth, whose purple bells
Still waving as they hang,
Seem ringing everlasting knells
For him from whom they sprang."
" Tasso" is a lengthy poem, more remarkable for
melody of versification than for tenderness or origi.
nality of thought, though the closing passages are
not without pathos. But why does Miss Prescott
speak of " Broad Tiber's ancient river ?" The
Tiber, we beg leave to inform her, was never, even
in its best days, a broad river, and is now, in its old
age, a mere insignificant stream. But this is a tri-
vial blemish ; on the whole, the volume is one that
does her great credit.

VOYAGES of tke DUTCI.I BRIG, DOUR GA

Madden, London, 1839.

From the title page of this volume, which speaks
of voyages " through the Southern and little-known
Parts of the Moluccan Archipelago, and along the
previously unknown Southern Coast of New Gui-
nea," we were prepared to expect much novel and
interesting information ; but our expectations have
not been realised, for the work is meagre to a de-
gree—in short, mere outline, and as dry as a ship-
biscuit. It is a translation from the Dutch of D. '
H. Kolff, jun., by a gentleman named Earl ; and
professes to give an account of the numerous islands
lying between the Moluccas and the northern
coasts of Australia. The voyage to these remote
regions was made in the years 1825 and 1826, by
place order
of
ff
anythe
note
Dutch Government
touched
was then in a state of insurrection against the Dutch
authorities. The following is the only passage
we can find relative to the inhabitants of this island,
worth extracting :--
" In the Southern parts of Celebes, horses of a very
a t,
was ;
Celebes,and which the first
good description are to be met with, which the natives
manage with considerable skill. A cushion stuffed with
cotton, and laid upon the animal's back, forms their
saddle, on which they sit cross-legged, and with this
simple contrivance their seat is so firm that they take
bold leaps, and scour across the country in a manner
truly surprizing. \Vhen a chief is killed, his relatives
and slaves do not care to survive, but a case
of this sort
rarely takes place, as the former usually remain on
spots free from danger. The Bughis will carry their
slain off the field of battle at every risk, and will submit
to great loss rather than fail in this object.”
The allusion in the above passage, to the rela-
tives and slaves of a great chief not caring to sur-
vive his death, will remind the reader of an enter-
taining chapter in the well-known voyages of Sin-
bad the Sailor, which has been turned to excellent

account in the humorous farce of the "Illustrious
Stranger." Of the inhabitants of the Ceram-taut
and Goram Islands, which border on New Guinea,
the author observes :

Natives worthy of belief have assured me that
if a Papua of the coast is struck by a desire to
obtain any articles brought by the foreign trader, for
which he has no productions to give in exchange, he
will not hesitate to barter one or two of his children
for them ; and if his own are not at hand, he will ask
the loan of those of his neighbour, promising to give
his own in exchange when they come to hand, this re-
quest being rarely refused! This appeared to me to
be almost incredible, but the most most trustworthy
natives bore unanimous evidence to its truth. The
mountaineers themselves sometimes sell their children
also. In other places, I have known parents sell their
children when their maintenance became too heavy a
burden for them to bear, without heeding whether they
would ever see them again. Such a total absence of
feeling certainly brings these savage people below the
level of dumb animals."

These islands, it seems, abound in fish, and
the forests in snakes, which the natives eat as a
great delicacy ! Their women catch crabs in the
following curious manner :—" They place baskets
over each foot, and walking orer the mud-banks,
they are enabled to feel the crabs when they tread
upon them, which they secure by thrusting a sharp
pointed stick into them through the basket." When
we have said that the Moluccan Archipelago
abounds in sharks ; the creeks and lagoons along
the southern coast of New Guinea, in crocodiles
and alligators ; and that a small river was discovered
on that coast, to which the name of " Dourga "
was given, we have stated nearly the whole amount
of information that is to be found in this volu me.

COMMENTARIES ON SHAKSPEARE.
2 VoLs. Colburn, London, 1839.

. _
We have here a re-publication of several in.
genious essays that have appeared from time
to time in the pages of the New Monthly
Magazine; and whose object is to inquire
what were Shakspeare's authorities for his his-
tory, and how far he has departed from them;
and also whether the Plays may be given to our
youth as properly historical." In the prosecution
of this inquiry, the author, Mr. Peregrine Courte-
nay, has spared neither time nor research, His
essays show much skilful reasoning. We need not,
however, dwell on the subject, as we have already
made them the subject of comment in our usual
Magazine notices from month to month.