The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

MARCUS ANLIU S. Bentley, London, itt37.
This tragedy is the production of a gentleman named
Colombine, and is dedicated to the Princes Victoria. " The
subject," says the author, " is founded on occurrences in
the early part of the Roman history, and the period chosen
for its commencement immediately follows that in which the
Gauls, under Brennus, their chieftain, had conquered the
Romans, destroyed their city by fire, except the Capitol,
where those who survived had taken refuge, and who still
refused to surrender to the enemy." There are many passages
in this tragedy which display poetic sensibility, and no slight
acquaintance with human nature. Its characters are well
selected and sustained—we refer more especially to that of
Octavia, which, from the pains bestowed on it, would appear
to be the author's favourite—and the incidents towards the
close—that is to say, throughout the fifth act, and some
portion of the fourth—are wrought up with skill, and atten-
tion to dramatic effect. The following passage, descriptive
of ambition, is pleasingly written :
" I tell thee, girl, the world cannot contain
Two spirits such as these. Do'st mark the sun ?
It brightens at the morn, at evening fades ;
And then the planet of the night behold
In glorious majesty ; each runs its course,
Possessing its own hemisphere, alike
Distinct and clear, and so't must be tsith us,
If Marcus Manlius rise, Camillus falls,
And if Camillus rises, Manlius dies."
We subjoin one more extract, descriptive of the feelings
of a Roman girl just previous to her death, with which, from
want of space and time, we must conclude our brief notice
" No more !
Thou see'st mine honoured father, now I'm calm ;
Away 1 away ! A Roman, sir, must die
Without a thought of what he leaves behind,
Or other pang beside. His country wills it—.
Ay, be must fall, and die as nobly as
He lived. if he be wrongly judged, woe, woe
Be on the land that takes away his life 1
Farewell, my honour'd father, this embrace
Cannot be weakness now.—Farewell for ever !
Oh ! thou hast nobly, since my earliest years,
Shown me the way, and taught me how to live,
And I e'en now, can prove thy precepts fell
Deep in my heart—Ay, and become th' example,
And show thee how a Roman ought to die."

THE BRIDAL OF NATVORTH.
Siinpkin and Marshall, London, 1837.
• It is a thousand pities that the author of this poem did
not bear in mind the old maxim of Horace—that neither
gods, men, nor columns, allow of mediocre poets ; for then
he would never have commenced, much less completed,
the Bridal of Naworth. This production is, in truth, a
very so-so affair. Were it absolute, outrageous nonsense,
there might be some amusement in it ; but it is unfortu-
nately of that leaden, uniform, common-place character,
which is provocative of nothing but sleep. The spirit of
Blackmore sits perched upon the author's pen, and prompts
his every description. Nay, there is not a line but what
is steeped in laudanum. Who, for instance, can withstand
a yawn while perusing this passage ?
" The morn arose on Naworth's stately tower,
Brave knights were in the ball, bright ladies in the bower;
Deeds of high sort and gallant feats were done.
Night came, and fiercer revel was begun :
The revel loud, the wassail deep and long,
And border minstrelsy, and martial song ;
Wall roar'd to wall, from dungeon-keep to tower,
And roofs laughed loud, while shook the trampled floor;
Rival with rival pledg'd, no more abhorr'd,
And serf partook carousal with his lord.
But time disdains to stay at mortal call
Hush'd is the din of tongues, and clear'd the hall ;
The mirth has ceas'd ; the rev'llers one by one
Have ta'en them each their several way and gone."
We should advise the author of this " Bridal " to
adopt Horace's advice, and keep his next poem by him
in MSS. nine years, at the expiration of which period be
will no doubt see the propriety—and thank us for the hint
—of committing it to the flames, as the bachelor Sampson
Carrasco did with Don Quixotte's books of chivalry.
LE

TTERS FROM THE SOUTH. 2 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1837.
We noticed these letters, as they made their appearance
successively in the pages of the " New Monthly Magazine"
some two or three years since, and have little to remark in
addition to what we then said of them. They are the com-
position of a thoughtful and poetic mind, and furnish us
with by far the most interesting and picturesque sketches
of Algiers and the immediately adjacent district, that we
have yet met with. Mr. Campbell, the author, has been a "
singularly fortunate traveller. He once witnessed from a
distance the celebrated battle of Hohen-Linden ; and saw the
French soldiers on their return from the field, wiping their
bloody swords on their horses' manes ; and we find in his
" Letters from the South" that he has heard the roar of the
lieu in his own Numidian desert—and this too at a safe dis-
tance. It is not every traveller who can say as much as
this. Mr. Campbell's Letters are every way worthy the
reputation of a man who, within the memory of the present
generation, trusting to the promptings of a nature, properly
disciplined, not crushed by art, has outlived about a dozen,
schools and systems of poetry. We subjoin as a specimen
of his manner, the following description, which none but a
poet could have written :

" At the top of this hill you get to the great road that goes
towards Douera and Boufaric. From this eminence the view
is superb—the bay with its mighty blue semicircle, fringed"-
with creamy foam—the white country-houses with their orange- ,
gardens—the maraboots, interspersed with here and there ra
palm-tree—the plain below, where the vapours of the river
Arach, as it discharges itself at Cape Matifou, are seen sport-
ing in the sun, and the noble mountains towering behind the
Metidjah. All these objects, when I looked around me, fi►.led
me with but vain regrets that I had not beside me some capital
artist to note the scene.
" The French sent hither the younger Verney ; but he is long'
returned ; and I have never been able to get a sight of his Al-
gerine sketches. But England is exuberant in painters ; and
why are none of them here ? What studies would not Wilkie
find among the Arabs and Kabyles—the laughing negroras and
the merry Jew-boys of the market-place I What scope (re these
sea-shores for the grace of Callcott I and what mountain lights
and shades for the sublimity of Turner ! The altitude of those
mountains I find differently estimated. I love them too well to
quarrel about a few hundred toises as to their stature; but the
highest of them seem to me to be twice the height of Ben
Nevis. They have an aspect peculiarly bold. Stretching in
a long sweep, with visibly deep indentations and ravines—with
cliffs that are purpled, and masses of precipices that are bronzed
by the sun ; they strike the fancy—if one may compare moun-
tains to men—es soldier featured beings, that bid defiance to
invasion. And full sure, amidst those passes, the Kabyles
have often taught both the Turks and French, that Freedom.
is a mountain-nymph.
" But the ascent to this landscape is too fatiguing for a pi
destrian excursion, and at noon it is apt to be too sunny fo t a
ride. You should go out thither on horseback, when the ci jar
from the minaret is chanting to matin prayers, and when the
cannon in the harbour announces day-break—whilst the jackal
and hyena and skulking home through the dewy nopals__and
whilst the daylight is blushing in Heaven like the life-blood re-
turning to a lovely countenance."

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BIRTHS.
On the 6th hat., the wife of the Rev. R. Lewka Brown, of a 50°'
Os the 4th inst., at Wanlip (fall, the lady of Sir George Palmer'
Bart., of a daughter, still-born.
On the 6th inst., in Saville-row, the lady of Dr. Bright, of
daughter.
On the sth inst., the lady of John Scard, Esq., of Bedford-street'
Bedford-square, of a daughter.
On the 4th inst., in Albion-street, Hyde-park, the lady of Wri°'
Robinson, Esq., of a son.
On the sth inst., the lady of John Lucas, Esq., Grove-end-ro3 d,
Regent's-park, of a daughter.
On the 7th inst., in Arlington-street, Piccadilly, Mrs. Edo and
Moore, of a son.
On the sth inst., at Embleton.Vicarage, the lady of the Re' /-
Hooke, of a daughter.
On the 2d inst., in Park-lane, the lady of Wm. Villiers ',Stuart'
Esq., M.P., of a son.

RRIED.
• 0'
On the Bth inst., at St. GMA
eorge's, Hanover-square, the -Rev;
Dixon, Vicar of Ferring, Sussex, to Anne, only daught,:r tbe
late Major Austin, of Goudhurst, Kent.
On the 7th inst., at St. Mary's Church, Taunton, D. GuL'freY,
Sep'
Esq., of Abingdon, to Helen, youngest daughter of Sir B.
pings, F.R.S., late Chief Surveyor of the Navy.

1,1
re'
5.
On the 2d inst., at Kemsey DIED. ,
Worcestershire, aged 72, Sar&
lict of J. Lenthul, Esq., Priory, Burford, Oxfordshire. hO-
- the 7th inst., in Claremont-terrace, Pe,atonville, 'Mrs. v
beth Teel, late of Sutton, Chesterfield, aged 35. 6S•
On the sth inst., in Park-crescent, Ralph Carr, Esq., af2,..,e0,

ofLondon : Printed and Published by AIURDO Yol3ll—'
112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand,4 in the c
of Middlesex.—Friday, March 10,, 107.