The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-01 00:00:00

AIEI Ral'ULI

In " Recollections of Ancient Literature," which
is eloquently, though perhaps rather too floridly,
written, we find a sketch of Cicero as a statesman,
in which capacity the author greatly underrrates
him. That firmness and promptitude of action were
prominent characteristics, we by no means his most
readily admit ; still it must not be forgotten that it
was his energy which crushed the Catilinarian con-
spiracy, which his foresight had caused to explode
prematurely. " A Scene in Malaga" is a light,
descriptive article, in which the circumstances at-
tending a mysterious midnight robbery in the streets
of that town are detailed with much graphic skill.
" October Sonnets" are from the practised pen of
Major Calder Campbell. They are more to be
commended for grace of expression, than freshness
or liveliness of thought or feeling. " The Maid of
Honor," towards the close, shows genuine sensibi-
lity ; but the earlier portion of the narrative is too
wire-drawn. " Lord Killikelly" is the continuation
of a story which was commenced in the last Num-
ber. Some of the dialogue is clever enough ; but
we see with regret that it is to be again ,‘ conti-
nued." We dislike reading Magaiine tales in de-
tached fragments. From " Sketches of Palestine,"
by Mr. Addison, we quote an animated description
of that vast salt lake, better known by the name of
the Dead Sea, of whose hushed, stern solitudes
Walter Scott, if we remember rightly, has given us
some masterly details in his oriental romance of the
" Talisman :"
" After riding for about half an hour, we arrived et
a long rocky spit of land, that jutted out about two
hundred yards into the lake ; and, dismounting, I walked
to the end of the little promontory, over loose fragments
of stone, determining to put to the test the various re-
ports of the remarkable buoyancy of the water. Throw-
ing off my clothes, I plunged into the lake, but it was
even here so shallow that I had to run out an immense
distance, over a rough stony bottom, before I could get

the water as high as my waist. I then thrs7 rn).self into
a ewimming position, and was buoyed up in the mo:-!
manner, 'fur ' 1- I
"1110 IWy s:.‘!! gn my
floated with the greatest ease, fi tritg;itat
exertion. Although there were only aho'Cit, foci f fleet of
water; I found it almost impossible to bring my reef
dgaia to the bottom, and to regain an erect posture.
Tire liddy lias ,derfaitay all the buoyancy of a cork.
The c'es smart hi the most dreadful
wanner when I dippe'dth Mead ititcl it ; I stag almost
blinded, and my lips and nose tingled rfie'rerVy; I swam
out a considerable distance ; the water, hoife*e't; iff-
ct cased very little in depth, but from my experiments
on its buoyancy, I find, that a person is completely car-
ried off his legs, and floats (at least such was the case
with me) when the chest is entirely int-netted, The
water is amazingly bitter and pungent, and Makes the
tongue and the mouth smart. A bathe in the Dead Rea
is anything but agreeable. I found it impossible to wipe
myself dry ; my whole body was in a clammy, sticky
condition, and my hair was disgustingly tangled and
greasy. The water, however, is beautifully tran3parent,
and free from floating stiliStanttes. I saw none of the
bitumen which, it is said, rises add floats on the sur-
face. The appellation of mare murluuns and ci cornet,
" the Dead Sea," was no doubt given to this lake, be-
cause neither fish nor any other living thing whatever
subsisted in its bitterly salt and poisonous waters. Some
travellers, however, have contended that there are fish
in the lake, because they have picked up the shells of
shell-fish along the shore. These shells, if really the
shells offish, are undoubtedly the shells of fresh-water
shell-fish, washed down into the Dead Sea by the Jor-
dan. There are several species or shell-fish in the Lake
of Tiberias ; and the winter floods of the Jordan, which
spread in every direction over this part of the valley,
might easily have washed the shells down to the places
where they have been found. 'The Arabs of Rilihah,
my Arab guide, and the Albanian soldier, all averred
that. there were no fish in the lake. I cannot find that
any person has ever seen any, and the common notion
in the country is, that there is not a living thing of any ;
sort in the waters. Indeed it is manifest that so mag-
nificent a lake as this, about seventy miles in length, by
twenty in breadth, could never have remained here so
long, without the neighbouring inhabitants having been
able to find out the fish, if any existed."