The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE

ATHENS, ITS RISE AND FALL, 2 TroLs.
Saunders and Odell, London, ] 937.
We incline to consider this the best, as it is un-
questionably the most ambitious, of all Mr. Bulwer's
works. He has risen to the dignity of his theme, not
been oppressed, or bowed down by it. Nothing can
be More chastely eloquent than his style, which has
none of that elaborate ornateness and diffuseness so
often to be met with in his former productions ; noth-
ing more in harmony with his subject than the general
character of his speculations. When we first saw his
" Athens" announced, we anticipated, from the meta-
Physical tendency of his mind, that its leading defect
would be, a restless desire to dazzle—to astonish—to
lead the judgment astray—by a variety of subtle, in-
genious, but somewhat fantastic, theories, especially
on ethical matters ; but we have been agreeably disap-
pointed ; there is nothing of this sort in his volumes ;
but on the contrary, a uniform justness and propriety
of reflection, which show that Mr. Bulwer has regard-
ed his subject by the sober day-light of the understand-
ing, rather than by the capricious ignis 'dulls of the
imagination. The work is desultory, being partly
historical, partly critical, and partly of an abstract,
speculative nature. The historical portion, though
sketchy, betrays evidences of patient, persevering re-
search ; and in cettain passages, such for instance as
those which describe the battle of Marathon, is charac-
terized by that best sort of eloquence—truth and ear-
,.
nestness. Perhaps the practised novelist is rather too
apparent in the description of the accoutrements of the
Athenian and Persian armies ; but this is a venial
error, and one that we should no more think of mak-
ing the subject of any very serious animadversion,
when the excellence of the rest of the description is
considered, than we should think of condemning in
Coto Gibbon's stately account of the last sack of Con-
stantinople, because here and there, there may be a
Passage too stilted and theatrical ; or Livy's animated
details of the battle between the Horatii and Curiatii,
because in one or two places they may be too high-
wrought and romantic. But it is the critical portion of Mr.
Bulvver's book that we like best, for here he is most
at horne. In his comments on the two great Homeric
epics, he scouts with becoming indignation the fa-
shionable German theory that the Iliad was but a col-
lection of rhapsodies by various poets, arranged and
organised by Pisistratus and others of his day— a theory
which, if we remember rightly, was broached also by
Payne Knight, in his Prolegomena in Homerum,
Published some years since in the " Classical Jour-
Mr. Bulwer, after going at greater length than
is necessary, into the question, sums up by observing__
" So much for the alleged improbability of one author
for the Iliad. But with what face can these critics talk of
improbability, when in order to get rid of one Homer, they
ask us to believe in twenty ? Can our wildest imagination
form more monstrous hypotheses than these, viz., that se-
veral poets, all possessed of the very highest order of genius.
(never before or since surpassed), lived in the same age—
that that genius was so exactly similar in each, that we
Cannot detect in the thoughts, the imagery, the conception
and treatment of character, human and divine, as manifest
in each, the least variety in these wonderful minds—that
out of the immense store of their national legends, they all
agreed in selecting one subject—the war of Troy ; that of
that subject, they all agreed in selecting only one portion
of time—from the insut of Achilles to the redemption of
the body of Hector ; that their different mosaics so nicely
fitted one into the other, that by the mere skill of an able
editor they were joined into a whole, so symmetrical, that
the acutest ingenuity of ancient Greece could never dis-
cover the imposture ; and that all these poets, so miraculous
in their genius, no single name, save that of Homer, was re-
corded by the general people to whom they sung, or claimed
by the peculiar tribe, whose literature they ought to have
immortalized ? If every thing, :else were wanting to prove
the unity of Homer, this prodigious extravagance of as-
sumption, into which a denial of that unity has driven men
of no common learning and intellect, would he sufficient to
establish Pt."
Equally discriminating are the remarks on Hero-
(lotus, who is perhaps the most generally read, and the
oftenest returned to, of all the Greek historians. One
of the first books that a school-boy devours with avidity,
and ever after remembers with gratitude, is Beloe's
translation of Herodotus, a vivid recollection of which
makes his subsequent task of perusing the dramatic
dialogues, wild legends, and picturesque narratives of
the original, quite " a labor of love." The story of
Ithampsinitus is as interesting as anything in the
Arabian Nights, and the language in which it is told,
understood with facility, by any one who has an ordi-
nary knowledge of Greek. Mr. Bulwer, we perceive,
in criticizing the dramas of Sophocles, calls him the
" most majestic of the Greek poets." Certainly, he is
the most remarkable for uniform level dignity of thought
and style, and for care in the construction and conduct of
Ilia dramas ; but if we except one passage in the
CEdipus Coloneus, where the old mmn hears the thun-
der, and the solemn, mysterious voice that warns him
that his parting hour is\ at hand, there is no play in
Sophocles equal in majesty to the Prometheus of
ichylus, the sublimest conception ever yet worked
out by man. Mr. Bulwer announces his intention of
continuing his work on " Athens." We are glad of
this ; for it is one calculated to be generally serviceable,
and in its present form is very fragmentary and incom-
plete. It is the slight luncheon, rather than the solid
aueal.

The Earl of Tankerville gave a grand dinner on
Sunday last, in Grosvenor-square, to the French Ambassador,
the Countess Sebastiani, and a select party.
The Earl of Burlington has given the munificent
Bum of 5001. towards liquidating the expenses attending the
erection of a new church at Eastbourne. The Noble Earl
has also presented the local authorities with the piece of
ground on which it is to be erected.
The Duke of Norfolk has subscribed 101. to the
fund for erecting monuments in the capitals of England and
Scotland to the memories of Messrs. Muir, Palmer, Skirving,
Margarot, and Gerald.
The Earl and Countess of Winchilsea left Wilton-
crescent, yesterday, on a visit to their Majesties at Windsor
Castle.
The Duke of Portland contemplates a voyage to
Lisbon during the season, to visit Lord and Lady
Howard de
Walden.
The Dukes of Newcastle, Norfolk, Mont rose, and
St. Albans, the Countesses of Bridgewater and Donoughmore,
Haddington, Lord Seymour, the Bishop of Durham, Mr.
lieckford, Sir Charles and Lady Hulse, and Sir James Whit-
shed, have visited the Rockingham China Rooms, in Picea-
to view his Majesty's new dessert service of porcelain.
KENTUCKY.—The following powerful, elegant, and
classic appeal was made in a Court of Justice somewhere in
Kentucky, by one of the " learned heads" of the bar :
" Gentlemen of the jury, do you think my client, who lives
in the pleasant valley of Kentucky, where the lands is rich
and soil are fertile, would be guilty of stealing eleviny little
%lting of cottbry ? I think not, I reckon not, I calculate net.
And I guess, gentlemen of the jury, that you had better bring
lily client in not guilty, for if you convict him he and his son
John will lick the whole of you."
LEICESTER.—The demand for goods continues
much as last reported. The wool market remains in a feverish
state. The opinions of the dealers are very conflicting as to
the future prospects of the trade ; many of them are not dis-
Posed to submit to the present reduced prices, until they can
replace from the growers, which cannot be done at present.
On the 28th ult., at ten in the evening, an extraor-
dinary phenomenon took place on the shores of the Baltic, in
the province of Koeslin, in Prussia. A hill-of more than 100
ie*t in height, and covered with furze, suddenly sunk with a
noise resembling thunder. The abyss which has bena thus
°Polled must be at least 200 paces in length. Thiscircum-
.:.4
e%tance produced a movement of the ground in the neighbougr_
by which the adjoining hills were raised from 20 to 30
le
covered. h 0
cause of this phenomenon has not yet been dis-
.a As a
Young lady, about twelve years of age, the
ghter of Mr. Sayers, of Perry-street, Walworth, was
(I.?"ing Stamford-street, Blackfriars-road, yesterday morning,
a iorse, that was led by a glom, kicked her on the face, and
s"t •tely fractured her jaw, and knocked out several of her
teeth
„ THe NORTHERN MA I LS.—On the 18th of June
"?It pert of the Birmingham Railway will be sufficiently com-
Pl etedf aS to accelerate the northern mails. The Edinburgh
trail, rom London, will arrive at ten o'clock in the forenoon
ot!" of half-past one in the afternoon, as heretofore. The
tolon mail will leave Edinburgh at four in the afternoon in-
of nine in the morning, thereby enabling correspondents
'louver their letters the same day.—Leeds Intelliyencer.