The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-31 00:00:00

LITERATURE

Beatrice Sforza ;or the Progress of Truth. By
William Brewer, RD. 3 vols. Hurst and

This is a story of the middle ages, and presents
us with some pictures of an exciting period. One
heroine is Princess Mary, the sister of Henry the
Eighth. The romantic episodes in the life of thie
lady are most strikingly set forth, and thus the
tale combines the truth of historical anecdote with the
interest of exciting fiction. Some of the most
notable men of the age are introduced in an effective
manner. The motto prefixed to the first chapter
aptly inaugurates the work—" Think ye see tho
very persons of our noble story as they were living."
We are taken from the English Court and the
presence of Henry the Eighth, Wolsey, and that
assemblage to be ushered into the circle of Louis
the Twelfth and a brilliant array of courtiers. This
was a momentous epoch in the stirring capital of
France, and the author has earnestly studied his
subject, and given us a most glowing account of
plots, designs, dark schemes, and subtle subterfuges.
In those days Courts were not so admirably con-
ducted as at present, and beneath the glare and
glitter, the dazzling display and the shining
exterior, lurked many an act of treachery
and many a scandalous intrigue that sullied the
fame and darkened the lustre of their history. The
sad record of the lives of Queens and Princesses
affords few such bright gleams as that afforded by
the career of Mary. As Duchess of Suffolk she had
a far better chance of happiness than us Queen of
France, and it is refreshing to find the iron rule
relaxed for once, and the tyrannous bondage escaped
from, that fettered Royal maidens to the sad doom
of being betrothed to those they had never seen, and
of whose characters they knew nothing, till the
fatal step had been taken, from which there was no
drawing back. The story turns on a beautiful
Italian girl, Beatrice Sforzb., the heiress of a proud
house, who was stolen in early childhood through
the malevolence of a relative, and after many ad-
ventures was taken to France. At a tournament in
Abbeville, Herbert, a brave young Englishman,
rescued her from her cruel taskmaster, and subse-
quently succeeded in taking charge of her until he
placed her in the care of the Duchess of Burgundy.
There is nothing in this young maiden to make a
heroine, except from her situation of peril, and her
inheritance of grandeur, of which she was so cruelly
despoiled. The attendant circumstances of the dis-
covery and restoration of Beatrice are, however,
surrounded with interest and excitement. After
the disappointment of Herbert with his first love,
the beautiful Lady Kate Piercy, it is satistactory to
find him united to one more estimable than the
haughty English maiden. Ritzow is the character
of the work—strong, dauntless, and unyielding.
He seems like the herald and forerunner of those
brave spirits who carried the Reformation. The
description of the scene where he is summoned be-
fore the dark tribunal of the Inquisition is painful
in the extreme, but yet the prevailing sentiment is
that of admiration. The sublime endurance, the
grand resolution, and the matchless courage mani-
fested by the sufferer, display the attributes that have
immortalised martyrs in all ages, and made glo-
rious the faith for which they laid down their lives,
but which died not in the cruel death of its up-
holders. There is much to attract notice in these
volumes, there are so many persons of rank and in-
fluence introduced into its pages, so much is shown
of important intrigues and the state diplomacy of
an age that universally substituted tactics for
truth, that the reader is put au courant of various
facts that do not often appear in the pages of fiction.
Three countries contribute to form the attraction
and heighten the interest of the work. We have
England, with her vacillating impetuous monarch
and her crafty divine, then in the full plenitude of
his matchless power and unrivalled influence, which
has been so admirably pourtrayed by the poet in
these lines :

"In pride of dignity see Wolsey stand, 1
Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand.
To him the church and state their powers consign,
In him the rays of regal bounty shine."
Next we pass to France, and there meet with
a brilliant company, and become initiated into deep
mysteries of rule and revelry. Ttien Italy claims
our notice with many most important sketches and
deeply moving incidents. " Beatrice Sforza" has
many claims on the regard of the novel reader, and
although there may exist in its pages too many po-
lemical arguments to suit many tastes, still there
are also numerous striking incidents and animated
scenes to satisfy the requirements of those who pre-
fer description to discussion, and the stir of the
world of action to the strife of the world of thought.

The West India, Mexican, and Pacific Mails.

SOUTHAMPTON, Friday.
The Royal Mail Company's steam-ship Tasma-
nian, Captain Sawyer, with the above mails, arrived
this evening. She brings 67 passengers and specie
of the value of 2,770,178 dots.

The Tasmanian brings dates from Vera Cruz to
Jan. 1 ; Tampico, Dec. 29; Havannah, Jan. 6 ;
Santa Martha, Jan. 1; Carthagena, 2 ; Colon, 8 ;
Jamaica, 9 ; Jacmel, 11 ; Porto Rico, 12 ; Deme-
rara, 7; Trinidad, 8; Barbadoes, 10; Grenada, 8;
St. Vincent, 9 ; St. Lucia, 10 ; Antigua, 11 ; St.
Kitts, 12; Tobago, 7; and St. Thomas, 14.
Her Majesty's ship Rinaldo was cruising off
Char:eston, and her Majesty's ship Immortalite was
at Matamoras. At St. Thomas the royal mail
steam-ships Solent and Thames were refitting, and
the Tamar (from Main), the Con way (from the Gulf),
the Trent (from the West India Islands), and the
Derwent (from Jamaica) were also at the island.
The royal mail steam-ship Wye was at Barbadoes.
At Sacrificos were her Majesty's ships Orlando and
Medea, with several French ships of war and trans-
ports. At Havannah were several French ships of
war, including La Normandie (iron clad), and the
United States steamer Wachusetts, with Admiral
Wilkes on board.

Her Majesty's ship Steady sailed on the 6th
January, on the information of a steam slaver being
somewhere on the coast.

The Pacific news is of no importance.
Exchange on London—Bank bills at 90 days,
490* dole. ; 60 days, 490 dols. ; 30 days, 4924 dols.
Private bills, at 90 days, 4821 dole. ; 60 days,
4831 doll; 30 days, 4841 dols.
DEMERARA.-Sir William Arundel], Knt., C. 8.,
Chief Justice of Demerara, died in Georgetown on
27th of December, in his 67th year. The Hon.
J. L. Smith, Attorney-general, has been provision-
ally appointed his successor.
JAMAICA.—It is generally expected that, upon the
assembling of the House the opposition will renew
its endeavour to unseat the executive committee.
An early dissolution is therefore probable after the
return of the governor, which is looked for in
March. Coffee has been arriving at market in larger
quantities. Ali that was offered has been taken up
at 555. to 565. for ordinary. Freights—A vessel
taken for Londcn with coffee at £2 12s. 6d. and
pimento at 655. ; one with wood at 425. 6d. for
Liverpool. Exchange on London—Colonial and
Jamaica Banks, 90 days, 1 per cent. pm. ; 60 days,
11 per cent. pm.; 30 days, 2 per cent. pm.

One of Mr. Millais's contributions to the Royal
Academy Exhibition is entitled the " The First
Sermon," and represents a demure and dainty damsel, some
five years oid, seated in an old-fashioned, green-baized-
lined pew of a country church. She is dressed in a brilliant
red cloak, wears a black Garibaldi hat with a bright white
wing in front; has her little hands ensconced in a rich
brown muff, her feet put before her and crossed as she
makes herself comfortable, as young ladies do, by sitting
straight upright. Her face gives, with its bright, shallow,io
yet earnest eyes, and set childish mouth, the
exp'reedsuotny tof
attention, It is clear she will not fail in her sea soing on
look, at least, as if she understood all that was g
•animal, the church mouse, looks
that peculiarly necessitous .
From a gnawn hole among the ragged edges of the baize,
llneBofof to-day Oust published).
askant at hen—At/thence/en
erLoafwan7y
LAW REFORM:3.—in reference to the meeting of
to-day (just published) observes—" Beyond the scheme for
Parliament, on Thursday nnexot,whthisep
altering the Circuits, there is
contem-
plated law reforms."
DIE STABBED OF REPUTATIONS !--The
reaction
against Mr. Kinglake's book has lready set in.
The personalities scattered throughout ,c
The Invasion of
the Crimea," brilliantly worded though
they be, are felt to
derogate from its dignity as a history.--The Reader.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

VALETTA, Jan. s.—Her Majesty's iron screw
troopship Megmra, Commander S. H. Henderson,
returned on the 23d inst., at 9p.m. from Corfu. She
did not proceed to the other islands to relieve the
detachments there. The order to that effect has
been cancelled, I believe, at the suggestion of the
Lord High Commissioner, on the ground that the
Greeks might see in such a step reason for doubting
the sincerity of our desire to give up the Protecto-
rate. The Megeera brought the following passen-
gers, for Malta; Capt. I. A. P. Adams, R.A., four
non-commissioned officers and men, and one woman ;
Mr. George Marsh, Master, R.N., lately of her Ma-
jestys ship Edgar, to join her Majesty's ship Marl-
borough, and Count Metasa, midshipman, returning
from leave; also Lieut. F. H. Blair, from her Ma-
jesty's ship Trafalgar; Mr. De Saumarez, mid-
shipman, and 22 men, siek, for Naval Hospital; two
men for Gibraltar; and Sub-Lieut. W. C. Shuck-
burg, 17 naval invalids, Assist.-Sorg. J. S. Comyn,
Capt. A. G. Douglas, Ist battalion,of the 9th regi-
ment ; Ensign A. H. Luck, Ist battalion, 9th
regiment ; 13 non-commissioned officers and men,
four women, and two children, of various regi-
ments, for England. She left Corfu on the 21st
inst., leaving at anchor there her Majesty's ship
Edgar, Capt. the Hon. F. A. Foley (flagship of
Rear-Admiral S. C. Dacres, C. 8.), and the Trafal-
gar. Her Majesty's ship Chanticleer left that place
on the day previous for Patras, and her Majesty's
ship Shannon on the morning of Wednesday, the
21st, for Missoloaghi and the Gulf of Patras. The
Megwra also brought 17 casks of olive oil and other
stores for the victualling-yard and condemned
stores from the ships. She will leave on Tuesday
next, the 27th inst., for England. The destination
of her Majesty's ship Magicienne, 16, Capt. his
Serene Highness the Prince of Leiningen, has been
changed from Italy to Corfu. She left for the latter
place yesterday. The Phoebe, 35, Capt. T. For-
tescue, arrived off the port on the 23d inst., from
Syracuse, and received fresh orders to continue
cruising till the 27th inst., when she is to return
into port. The Marlborough, 131, Capt. W. H.
Stewart, C. 8., flagship of the Commander-in-Chief,
is to go out for a short cruise en the 28th. The
Alacrity, 4, Commander J. Baird, is to leave on
Mocday or Tuesday for Beyrout, to relieve the
Wanderer, 4, Commander M. C. Seymour, and Sur-
prise, 4, Commander W. H. Whyte, which are to
return to Malta. There is a great deal of opthal-
mia prevailing just now among the troops in gar-
rison. The 23d Regiment is suffering most from it,
and the 22d (Ist battalion) and 15th Regiments
also have a great number of cases. Sir Henry
Martin, brother of Sir W. Fanshawe Martin, the
naval Commander-in-Chief, arrived here on the 23d
inst., in the Valetta, from Marseilles.
Yesterday morning a court-martial assembled on
board the Formidable, 84, flagship of Vice-Admiral
Sir W. J. Hope Johnstone. K.C.8., Commander-
in-Chief at the Nore, for the trial of Mr. Henry
Allen Palmer, first-class assistant-engineer of
her Majesty's screw steamer Mars, 81, Capt.
J. N. Strange. There were two separate
charges—that of having on the 22d inst. ab-
sented himself from his duty in the engine-room, in
the first watch, he being engineer of the watch at
that time; and that of having on the said 22d inst.
been drunk on board the said ship. The Court was
presided over by Capt. T. P. Thompson, of the
Cumberland, 74. Commander Dawkins, of the
Mars, 81, prosecuted. Mr. G. H. Knight, of the
firm of Essell, Knight, and Arnold, solicitor,
Rochester, officiated as Deputy-Judge-Advocate,
and conducted the case. The Court, after remain-
ing in deliberation some time, considered the first
charge not proved and the second charge proved.
In consideration of the prisoner's eight years' good
character, he was ordered to forfeit six months of
his seniority and to be severely reprimanded.
The screw corvette Racoon, 22, 400 horse power,
recently fitted at Chatham dockyard, and since
attached to the first-class steam reserve, has been
commissioned by Capt. the Count Victor F. Goeie-
hen (Dec, 13, 1859). As previously stated in The
Sun, sbe is intended to convey his Royal Highness
Prince Alfred, who has just passed his first exami-
nation for Lieutenant, on a lengthened cruise. The
Racoon has all:her guns and t'ic principal part of
her stores on board, so that no delay is likely to
arise in sending her to sea es soon as the whole of
her officers and crew have been appointed.
The undermentioned assist.-surgeons were yester-
day promoted to be surgeons :—Richard Evans,
Thomas Coghlan, M.D., John Caldwell, and Wil-
liam Henry Conice.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Commander W. S. de Kant--
zow to the Cygnet; Hon. William B. Phipps, naval
cadet, to the Racoon ; Edward P. Harper, midship-
shipman, to the Orpheus; John W. Ramsay, Nelson
Byng, Anthony Kingscote, and Alleyne P. Pasco,
midshipmen, to the Racoon ; John W. Carpenter,
in the Firefly, promoted to acting chief engineer;
William P. Scott, paymaster, to the Medina ; C. W.
M'Conachy, second master, to the Racoon ; William
G. Atkinson, second master, to the Fox ; Edward
A. M. Chaffers, assist-paymaster, to the Royal Ade •
laide ; Alexander V. Maccall, assist.-paymaster, to
the Edinburgh; George A. Broad and William H.
Petley, master's assistants, to the Racoon ; Charles
Hervey and E. P. Rimel, assist-clerks, to the Forte.

LONDON GAZETTE---Last Evening.
4-

WHITEHALL, JAN. 30.

The Queen has been pleased to order a Conga d'Elire, b
the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Bristol,
empowering them to elect a Bishop of the See of Gloucester
and Bristol, the same being void by the translation of the
Most Reverend Father in God Doctor William Thomson,
late Bishop thereof, to the Cathedral and Metropolitan See
of York ; and her Majesty has also been pleased to recom-
mend to the said Dean and Chapter the Rev. Charles John
Ellicott, Doctor in Divinity, now Dean of the Cathedral
Church of Exeter, to be by them elected Bishop of the said
See of Gloucester and Bristol.

The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be
passed under the Great Seal, appointing the Right Hon.
Charles Stewart, Viscount Hardinge ; Francis Charterhe,
Esq. (commonly called Lord Elcho) ; the Right Hon. Sir
Edmund Walker Head, Bart., K.C.B. ; William Stirling,
Esq. ; Henry Denby Seymour, Esq ; and Henry Reeve,
Esq. ; to be her Majesty's Commissioners to inquire into the
present position of the Royal Academy in relation to the
Fine Arts and into the circumstances and conditions under
which it occupies a portion of the National Gallery, and to
suggest such measures as may be required to render it more
useful in promoting art and in improving and developing
public taste.

FOREIGN-OFFICE, lAN. 10.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Henry
Colley Grattan, Esq,, to be her Majesty's Consul at Tem-
riffa.

JAN. 23.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Ronald
Ferguson Thomson,now Oriental Secretary to her Majesty's
Legation at the Court of Persia, to be Secretary to her
Majesty's Legation at that Court.

.
The Queen has been JA24.
graciously pleased to appoint Wil-
liam John Dickson, Esq., now a Second Secretary in her
Majesty's Diplomatic Service employed in her Majesty's
Legation at the Court of Persia, to be Oriental Secretary to
her Majesty's Legation at that Court.