The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-31 00:00:00

LITERA TITRE.

FOR OT.
Ackermann, London, illOg.
The Annual season is about to set in—as Can-
ning once observed of an English summer—`E with
its usual severity." he Forget-Me-Not, the first
of the fraternity, is now lying before us, and many
others are announced as being just on the eve of
publication. In our notices of these showy little
works, which are a sort of literary confectionary, or
rather Tunbridge-ware, we shall no more think of
pressing hardly on them, or subjecting then to a
searching critical process, than we should thinw of
breaking " a butterfly upon a wheel," for they are

not meant to be analyzed, but to be admired ; and
whaa they have been sufficiently handled and fondled
in the boudoir or the drawing-room, to be thrown
aside and forgotten. We must confess—notwith-
standing their general flimsiness of character—to a
sort of streaking partiality for Annuals. They come
upon us as pleasant mementos of Christmas—that
season of jollity and good-humour; and are far too
considerate to tax our thought, or worry our reason-
ing faculties. Half-an-hour's attention is the utmost
they presume to exact from us ; and as they deal in
no crotchets or theories, and display no repulsive
acerbities of temper, we really think they have a fair
claim on our good opinion. The Forget-Me-Not,
which now lies glittering on our desk in all the bril-
liancy of gold and purple leather, is a very credit-
able sample of these attractive little Ephemera. It
is a pleasing, modest-spoken Annual, containing
many contributions in verse and prose, over which
one may lounge away an idle hour agree-
ably enough. " Old Betty's Nook"—a tale
in prose, by the " Old Sailor' —is an article of this
sort. It is just of the fitting length, and its va-
rious incidents are ingeniously dovetailed, one into
the other. The leading idea of the narrative is the
same as that of " Guy Mannering," and relates to
the abduction of an English Baronet's son, while
yet a boy, by some smuggler whom his father had
offended by his harshness as a magistrate. Ulti-
mately, he is found anti restored ; all parties are
made happy ; and, as a matter of course, the story
concludes with a marriage, a bonfire, and a
sheep roasted whole ! " A Tale of the Tower" is
a passable copy of verses from the pen of Douglas
Jerrold, whose genius, when lie perpetrates rhymes,
always seems to us to move stiffly, as if in fetters.
" Adeline" is a sketch, written in a sad and earn-
est spirit, of the difficulties that beset the path of
those accomplished ladies whom untoward circum-
stances compel to gain their livelihood as govern-
esses. "To the Bust of My Son Charles" is a
poem by " Delta." It is full of pathos and un-
affected simplicity ; indeed we feel disposed to rank
it among the most successful of its author's pro-
ductions. The Plates are eleven in number ; and
we speak highly in their praise, when we say that
they are in no respect inferior to their predecessors.
The most conspicuous one is a full-length portrait
of Queen Victoria in her Coronation robes, the at-
titude of which is graceful, and even majestic, but
the countenance wears far too stern—or at any rate,
too serious—an expression. " Ascent of the Spi-
rit" represents a very substantial young woman
going up to Heaven, in a ball-dress, under the es-
cort of two fat seraphs with gauze wings growing
out of their shoulders. The conception of this
picture is puerile and conceited, but as a work of
art, it is engraved with much skill.

THE ORACLE OF RURAL LIFE.
Bailey, London, 1839.

A sort of Sporting A linanack for the year 1840,
embellished with fourteen characteristic illustrations,
and several minor wood engravings from designs fur-
nished by the Messrs. Barraud. The nature of the
object which the publishers have in view, we are
told in the preface, is to supply in a form at once
attractive and easy for reference, a great variety of
information, nowhere else to be had in a collective
form, on subjects connected with the sports and oc-
cupations of the country ; and this object, it is but
just to say, they have accomplished in a most effi-
cient manner.

KOCH'S REVOLUTIONS OF EUROPE.
Whittaker, London, 1839.

This is the first number of a Miscellany—which
it seems, is to be " issued occasionally"—under the
title of " Popular Library of Modern Authors," at
a very cheap price, and in the most convenient form,
namely, that of medium octavo. We like the idea,
and trust it may be successful, especially as we are
assured that " the series now offered will equal in
mechanical execution and cheapness any yet pub-
lished, and will have the additional advantage of
containing the productions of some of the most ap-
proved modern writers of History, lijographv, and
Fiction. The Number before us comprises "Koch's
Revolutions of Europe," a standard work of re-
ference which has been for some years in high re-
pute on the Continent, and is now, we believe, for
the first time translated. The labour and research
necessary to accomplish this undertaking must have
been immenso ; indeed, we are informed that it oc-
cupied thirty years of the author's life, which is
not to be wondered at when, on looking into the
volume, we find that it is a record of the principal
events and vicissitudes of more than fourteen hun-
dred busy years. The portion of the work we like
least is M. Koch's brief account of the great French
revolutionary outbreak, in which he betrays too
much of a partial spirit, confounding the Girondists
with the Jacobins, as if both parties were equally
guilty of sanguinary excesses. He attributes the
Revolution, too, we perceive, to the writings of the
French Encyclopxdists ; this was certainly one of
the causes, but by no means " the principal one ;"
the great propelling cause was the disarrangement
of the finances under the Administrations of 'For-
got, Maurepas, Calonne, and the other statesmen of
that imperfectly educated school.