The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-17 00:00:00

Mr. Dawson's appearance. Unknown hitherto to the
London world by name, unknown even under that
nom de plume of " The Son of Ebor," far-famed, we
are left to presume, throughout the north coun-
try, the writer of this poetical brochure is, at any
rate known to us Londoners in one capacity as a
Writer hanging on, as it were, by the very eye-
lashes to the skirts of a certain tenth sort of a muse,
aspiring some five years back very frequently to
!oar into the empyrean of literature. His identity,
in this capacity, the writer of "The Harp" is him-
self the one to explain and to announce, and that,
moreover, with a perfectly manifest self- compla-
"lV. Not the lyrist of Warren's Blacking, we
Would premise—nor yet the one whose poet's eye
Was wont to roll in a fine phrenzy so very often of
yore while chaunting the merits of the Messrs.
Moses, in Tailordom. No : neither of these literary
celebrities disclose themselves to view, at last
in the person of Mr. Dawson. He himself tells
us With evident pride, however, who it is that, is
,
addressing us at length in his own name. The
author of this poem," he says, "being the adrer-
tisemeht clerk to the lee Mr. Robins, the eminent
auctioneer, in that capacity lie had frequent oppor-
tunities of indulging in the descriptive and the
beautiful." Now, at last, we may indeed compre-
hind the reliance Mr. Dawson has upon his
own capacity. And we can no longer
wonder to find him articulating such
lofty aspirations in regard to the success
awaiting his present poem, when be candidly
avows his cherished hope and belief in regard to
this effusion of his poetic genius, that—Tasso,
Gcethe, Shakspere, Virgil, could hardly wish fcr
more The general reader will find sufficient to
please, the poet sufficient to dream over, the painter
to illustrate his canvas with, and the sculptor to
immortalise in statuary." Modest hopes, these,
truly ! Other visionaries there are, with straws
in their hair, who, as Mr. Dawson believes himself
to be a poet, imagine themselves to be Kings
wearing golden crowns and wielding jewelled
sceptres. To innocent dreamers like these, the
dissipation of such very harmless halliucinations
were, we cannot but think, a very questionable
kindness indeed.

'radshaw's Handbook to the Tyrol. 12m0., pp. 48.

W. J. Adams.
A cipital little pocket handboA, illustrated not
Merely with a number of pretty vignettes, but with
what is of far more use to the traveller, especially to
the pedestrian, a variety of outline maps or tracings
Of routes, has just now been issued from Bradshaw's
Guide-office, 59, Fleet-street, as a Handbook to the
Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Its appearance is very
s,easonable ; its getting up is precisely what it should
its accur, cy, so far as we have tested it, seems
to be highly commendable. It is worthy of being,
" it is tolerably certain to be, many a Tyrolese
„,
ourist's constant and carefully cherished com-
Panion.

the North British. Review. No. LXXVII.
T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh.
Some few years ago several new quarterly re-
views suddenly appeared upon the field which had
so long been left in almost undisputed possession to
two or three standard favourites. Some of these
Were publications of undoubted merit, and promi-
nent among them was the North British Review,
which at once assumed a position which it has never
since failed to maintain. The character and style
of its articles rank it at once the best of its class,
and the reader of cultivated taste and literary inte-
rests can always be certain of finding more than
one article to engage his special attention. The
Lumber before us is no exception to the rule, since
While it by no means neglects the questions of the
hour, it has several essa3s of that character which
is supposed to be more especially becoming a quar-
terly review. The essay on Thomas de Quincey is
one of these. It is evidently from the pen of one
familiar with his writings, who is keenly alive to
their merits, though not insensible to their faults.
The works of this accomplished author will always '
be held in high esteem by a select. few, although they
will never be popular with the unthinking many.
So highly does his present critic esteem him that
he ranks him among the first hundred of the
world's best authors. This is an extreme verdict,
although he cites passages of marvellous power and
originality of thought to confirm it. The wild and
strange vicissitudes of De Quincey's early career
are briefly and vividly sketched. His sufferings at
the time of his sojourn in London are not altogether
comprehensible, seeing that his worldly prospects
Were by no means contemptible. Yet his wants
Were real and pressing. "He drank to the dregs
of that bitterness which it is to be homeless, friend-
lees, foodless, in that wilderness of life, wealth, and
human habitations. The gnawings of hunger, the
torments of the money-lenders, the pangs of a proud
spirit preyed on him for months of famishing days
and shiverieg nights." Those who are not familiar
With the works of this great English writer will
Possibly be directed to his pages by the glowing
tribute here paid him; and those who are will turn
to
his ° his writings with renewed interest. "In
a time," says the critic, " when we have so
much sham brilliancy and false vivacity,
deadly liveliness and forcible feebleness
,When the penny-a-liner sits iu the high places of
lit en.
turn to these books with a pleasant
use of relief. We are heartily sick of the smell
of Cockneydom; its slang and smartness; its know-
ingness and insincerity, and find it delightful to
renew acquaintance with the sty le of a writer who
Is not smart nor fast, but always an English gentle.
man, with a stately touch of the school in which
manners are a sort of surface Christianity." The
essay which follows is also biographical, though it
treats of a very different man, one of the leaders of
the world of action instead of that of thought—Henry
Et. John, Lord Bolingbroke. To the abilities of this
remarkable man the writer renders full justice,
according him, too, more than the common measure
01 moral approbation. The outline of his political
career—the history of the one great achievement
Which has immortalised his name, while it ruined
his fortunes, is well told. Of his qualities as an
orator we have this account :—" Possessing that
instinct which enables a speaker to bring himself
into sympathy with his audience, skilful in detect-
ing the weak points of an adversary's argument,
Skilful in concealing the weak points of hisown,ready,
adroit, intrepid, St. John was by his constitution a
parliamentary debater. And to these gifts he added
others scarcely less essential--a finished delivery, a
fervid eloquence, a curious felicity of expres-
sion ; above all, a capacity for prolonged and
trenchant invective. He could rebuke, and he could
ridicule, He was passionate, and he was ironical.
Ilia scorn tempered his passion, and his passion
Rave a glow to his scorn; He became a power in
St. Stephen's before he had been a year within its
Wells." After this interesting memory of a bygone
age, we are suddenly recalled to the practical neces-
sities of the present, by a paper on the "Educe
lion and Management of the Imbecile." Recent ex-
Perience has shown how very greatly the condition
of these unfortunate creatures may be ameliorated
and their powers developed by kind and judicious
treatment. The asylum at Earlswood has in many
eases the most astonishing results, as in the instance
of a pupil who left last year, and now supports
_himself in lodgings. Society is deeply concerned
rn
•any such question, and the facts which are
brought before the reader in this article demonstrate
the
necessity that exists for such institutions in most
convincing manner.
tents are Among the remaining con-
papers 'on Mormonism and Spiritualism,
which are well worthy of atte , besides others
the danyloti
on the political topics Of

The Bose, the Shamrock nd the Thistle Magazine. Caledonian Press.
This serial especially deserves attention from the fact of its being published at the Caledonian
Press
one of those establishments recently set on foot for
the encouragement of female labour. It is also
worthy of regard from the character of its contents,
which are copious'and varied, and in every Point
°Fr VieW We wish it a continuance of that popular
"7`)ur Which it has hitherto enjoyed.

1116 TVeltion's Register.
many
Lett, b has excellent papers, among
by A,e
eh.,iN an essay on the invention of printing
d@ef")ll I'rnavn, and gu rice en Fa ter'a