The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-01 00:00:00

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.

The preseat chapters of Oliver Twist are the best
we have yet had from Boz. There is more careful
finish about them, more lucid painting, more mat-
ter worthy to be remembered. The fawning, crafty,
remorseless old Jew, with the deep meanings
hid under his smooth smile and honied expres-
sion, is drawn consummate ability. In this

porttait Boz shows that he can pierce beyond
the stirfaCei and tz,rtreli and drag into light the most
ftiit lied Mystelies of the lino-:n heart. The scene
where the jetc elikoVets that Oliver, whom he had
111'6.p:41'0d asleep, has been li7tniiug to his whispered
suii!c,cliii~s, fa teal as that famoug ;scene between
Jeanie Deans and the rotiliefl in Scott's " Heart of
Mid Lothian." " The Butterfly tii3hof. is a pica-
N!1 (if intiriu.lrian gossip from the pen of Delta.
''What Toni P,iriLi lie did not kilow what
to with himself" conveys a useful iiiqt.7l, ihich if no:
oftt_li the case with Magazine tales. Tom is d
Imin with abundant leisure on his hawk ; he is, con-
sequc-ntly, apt to stiffer from ennui; by way of divert-
' ink; which! he hastens—as a inittcr of course' to fee!
in love. Beginning in joke he ends in earnest; mar-
ries a poor but amiable girl ; and having thus a some-
thing on which to fix his affections, and an example
to copy from, never again knows what it is to fall
ennui. Ilow many Toni Binkses are there in the
world who have been indebted to a si:nilar remedy for
the cure of a similar malady ! The description of
Tom when labouring under the severe visitation of
having nothing to do, previously of course to his in-
troduction to his " sweet-heart," is so skilfully
finished off, that we feel our readers will thank us for

extracting it :-
4. What heroic resolves he then made I What a noble con-
tempt for this world he then exhibited as he resolutely eyed
the pistol, curiously scanned its silver mounting, saw that the
powder was in the pan, looked anxiously around to see that
none intruded, or should deprive him of the honour of falling
by his own hand : still he hesitated ; he lifted the deadly wea-
pon with one hand, and with the other a volume of Shak-
speare, which opened at the play of Handel, and by the hasty
glance which he threw on it, he perceived that ' the Eternal
had set his canon 'gainst gelf.!lattgliter,' and Binks was per-
plexed. It became now a matter not So much of life and
death as of simple calculation ; on one side there was a pistol
for, and on the other a canon 'gainst self-slaughter. In this
state of indecision, thus sorely beset with adverse arguments,
what did Binks do? Why, he acted somewhat like a sensible
man ; he yielded to the heavier weight of metal—the great-
gun
Shakspeare carried it; and he consented to live, drew the
charge, lest he should return to it (for he knew his man), and
made up his mind that Shakspeare was a sensible fellow.
Have you ever felt as if your very heart-strings were tugged
at by wild horses, when the infernal host of blues, marshalled
by the devil himself, have taken the field against your peace,
and that you don't know what to do with yourself?.
' Throw but a stone, the giant dies.'
Very good; but a pebble of such potency is not always at
hand, particularly in a drawing-room. Do something, no
matter what : go into the open air ; there's your window in-
vitingly open, and, provided it is not too far from the ground,
'tis but a step in advance to the shock that may rouse you.
Turn financier—chancellor of your own exchequer; there's,
your tailor's bill lying on the table, wooing you to analyze its
soft items; give it a first reading, and pass it. What a relief,
on such occasions, is the presence of any living creature
your sleek tabby—no—that fellow doesn't know what to do with
himself neither. Your playful little Italian greyhound, whose
playfulness is the very poetry of motion. And Binks found
no relief in these gentle appliances. There he lies, flung upon
his ottoman, and dallying with its downy cushions, with his
foot of almost feminine symmetry coquetting with his morocco
slipper, jerking it off and on according to the intensity of the
fit. Ponto stands before him. Noble dog, Ponto I He, too,
has his turn at the slipper, and seizes it in his huge mouth, and
gambols round the room with it, and now crouches with it be-
fore his master, and earnestly looks at him, and those two
eyes of his suggest a double barrelled gun, and this puts a pis-
tol into his head, and there it was at hand, lying on the table,
just ready for a charge."
the " Foster Child" contains more than one pas-
sage of sweet and, unaffected pathos. The writer
seems to have had Sterne in his eye. A " Lyric for
Lovers" is a clever allegorical little poem, very much in
the manner of Moore's " Statuary" in the National
Melodies. The versification is lively and elegant. " Re-
mains of Hajji Baba" are not so good as they have
been. " Shakspeare Papers" by Dr. Maginn, is an
analysis of the character of Romeo. It is ingenious,
but not equal to his Jaques. The writer has not been
sufficiently warmed by his subject ; he treats it too
coldly—too much in the mere spirit of a commentator.
The concluding reflections are the best, for they are
characterized by that best of eloquence—truth. We
shall be anxious to see what the Doctor makes of
Hamlet, who has puzzled so many sage authorities.
We are sure he will beat Hazlitt here, for he will be
less fantastic, consequently more intelligible. A " Ma-
rine's Courtship" is told in an easy, good-humoured
manner ; and the " Leech of Folkstone" is one of
Ingoldsby's most grotesque and humorous bits of
diablerie.