The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-28 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1839.

PUBLICATIONS.

NEW AND SPLENDID EDITION OF GULLIVER'S
TRAVELS,
To be completed in Eight Monthly Parts.
On the Ist of January will be published, beautifully printed in
large Bvo., price 2s. 6d.,
PART IV. OF THE NEW STANDARD EDITION OF
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS:
Illustrated by upwards of Four Hundred Wood-cuts,
after designs by Grandville. With Notes and Elucidations
from Various Original and Manuscript Sources ; an Essay on
Philosophical and satirical Fictions ; a New Life of Swift.
By W. C. TAYLOR, LL.D., M.R.A.S., &0.,
Of Trinity College, Dublin.
London : Hayward and Moore, 53, Paternoster-row.

This day, price 13s. 6d., post Bvo.
LOGAN'S COMPENDIUM of the LAW
of MARRIAGE.
Also, Part 2 of the Compendium of the Laws of England,
Scotland, and Ancient Rome, for the use of Students,
By JAMES LOGAN.
Price 2s. 6d., sewed.
H. Washbourne, Salisbury-square, London ; Fraser and
Crawford, Edinburgh.

Just published, price IL 12s. boards, in Royal Quarto, Volume
the First, with the Title illuminated in the style of the An-
cient Missals, and illustrated with Twelve beautiful Engra-
vings by the celebrated German painter Octave Hauser,
Dedicated to the Queen.
/SHE HISTORY OF ST. ELIZABETH
1 OF HUNGARY, Duchess of Thuringia (1207-1231).
By the COUNT DE MONTALRMBERT, Peer of France,
translated by AMBROSE LISLE PHILLIPPS, Esq., •f
Grace Dieu Manor, Leicestershire.
N.B. Copies without the Twelve Plates by Harr, lath with
the Illuminated Title, price IL Is. boards.
London : Charles Dolman, 61, New Bond-street.

LITERATURE.

HOOD'S " UP THE RHINE."
Bally, London, 1839.

We suppose we must accept this volume as a
substitute for the Comic Annual ; and we do so
willingly, for it is a merry, entertaining work, and
forms the choicest possible reading for a social
Christmas fire-side. Gaines and gravities in prose
and verse, in the shape of tales, scenic descriptions,
and sketches of character, are so adroitly mixed up
together, as to keep up a constant variety. In one
respect, we prefer this volume to any of the author's
Comic Annuals, even his earlier ones, for it contains
more of real life—that is to say, of the bustling,
every-day world about us ; and the author shows
less solicitude to keep his reader continually upon the
broad grin. As he justly observes in his preface, the
idea of the work has been suggested by Smollett's
Humphrey Clinker, and records the personal expe-
riences of a party of English travellers—consisting
of a hypochondriacal old gentleman, who is beset
with a constant apprehension that he is doomed to
go off suddenly, without a moment's warning ; his
widowed sister ; his nephew, an active, intelligent
young man of the world ; and their maid-servant,
whose grotesque blunders, and ludicrous perversions
of language, in her epistolary correspondence with
her friends in England, will recall at once the re-
collection of the inimitable Winifred Jenkins ;
tie volume, we say, records the adventures of this
party in the course of an autumnal pleasure tour up
the. Rhine. Of course, the accounts they give of the
various places at which they make a halt, cannot pos-
sess much novelty—for the scenery and towns of the
Rhine are nearly as well known as the Highlands
of Scotland—still they -abound in shrewd and
amusing reflections, and will find an echo in many
a travelled reader's bosom. Here is a sketch of
the hypochondriac, as drawn by the lively pencil of
his nephew. He is a complete Matthew Bramble
without his spleen and testiness :

" Imagine a stout, well-built specimen of the species,
somewhat the worse for wear, but still sound in wind
and limb, and in possession of all his faculties—a little
stiff in the anatomical hinges—but still able to find a
hare, and not bad at a halloo—in short, the beau ideal
of a fine old country gentleman, for such he is. But
here comes the mystery. To all appearance a picture
of health, painted in the lull, florid style by Rubins
himself, or one of his pupils, my hale uncle is a martyr
to hypochondriasis, not the moping, melancholy sort,
anatomized by old Burton,—not the chronic kind, but
the acute. Perhaps he has some latent affections
of the heart, or obstructions of the liver, causing
sudden derangements of the circulation, and consequent
physical depressions—l am not physicia❑ enough to
determine—but I have known instances of the same
malady in other individuals, though never so intense.
As jovial a man, between his paroxysms, as you shall
find in a chimney corner ; the next moment he sees a
coffin, as the superstitious call it, fly out of the fire,
and fancies his death-watch standing on the domestic
hearth. But, as Shakspeare says, a man dies many
times before his death,' and my uncle is certainly no
exception to the common rule. On an average, he has
three or four attacks a week, so that at. the end of the
year his dying moments would, probably, amount to
a calendar month, and his last words to an octavo
volume."

This character, which is clearly drawn from the
life, is consistently maintained throughout, without
any attempt to heighten the effect by the intro-
duction of caricature. Frank Somerville, the ne-
phew, is like most young well-educated Englishmen,
clever, observant, and fond of enterprise; but, other-
wise, without either mark or likelihood. He de-
scribes graphically—or his author for him—and
with considerable humour. For instance, speaking
of the approach to the low lands in the neighbour-
hood of Rotterdam, he says, " at times nothing
could be seen but the banks, till perchance you de-
tected a steeple and a few chimneys, as if a village
had been sowed there, and was beginning to come
up." He thus describes a grievance that his hy-
pochondriacal uncle laboured under at Cologne.
Finding that that worthy gentleman did not make
his apppearance as usual at the breakfast-table, he
went up to his bed-room, to ascertain the cause of
his absence, and found him in this grotesque posi-
tion s

Imagine my worthy uncle lying broad awake, on his
back, in a true German bedstead—a sort of wooden
box or trough, so much too short for him, that his legs
extended half a yard beyond it, on either side of th•
footboard. Above him, on his chest and stomach,
from his chin to his knees, lay a huge squab or
cushion, covered with a gay-patterned chintz, and or-
namented at each corner with a fine tassel—looking
equally handsome, glossy, cold, and uncomfortable. For
fear of deranging this article, he could only turn his
eyes towards me as I entered, and when he spoke, it
was with a voice that seemed weak and broken from
exhaustion. Frank,' he said, I've passed a miserable
night.' Not a doubt of it, thought I, with a glance at
his accommodations. I hav'nt slept a wink. Did
you ever see such a thing as that ?' With a slight
ned and roll of his eyes towards the cushion. I
shook my head. if I moved, it fell off ;
and if I didn't, I got the cramp.' Here he gave a sort
of suppressed groan. Frank, I've only turned once
all night long.' I ventured to suggest that he would
have done well to kick off the incumbrance on purpose,
and the words had hardly left my lips when off flew the
variegated cushion to the floor. The action seemed to
relieve him, as if it had actually removed a weight from
his bosom ; he drew a long breath, and raised himself
up on his elbow."

In closing our notice of this amusing volume,
we may observe that it is profusely embellished
with humorous illustrations, from the pencil, no
doubt, of Mr. Hood himself.

THE BAD POLICY OF THE PRESENT
PARTIAL REPEAL OF THE USURY
LAWS. By A LiirrEß.

The writer of this little pamphlet is extremely
anxious to make out a case against the repeal of
the usury laws, but his zeal is so great that he
defeats his own object. He represents the usurers
as hoarding up money to lend it out at interest ; as
having tills full of gold, silver, and bank notes
which they can get 20 per cent. for; and as ab-
stracting several millions from the circulation, in
order to add to their own profit. His accusations
are completely contradictory. At the same time
we must admit that the repeal of the Usury-laws
has not produced all the good that was ex-
pected ; but the failure is less attributable
to the repeal than to the conjunct con-
tinuance of the monopoly of the Bank, and
the very contracted state at present both of our
credit and our bullion currency. The author con-
founds the consequences of the restrictions on the
circulation with the effects of the repeal, and the
beneficial approximation to free trade, acquires a
bad character from its continued connection with a
great monopoly. A bad system cannot be reformed
by halves, and the partial repeal of the Usury-laws
requires that no monopoly of credit currency should
be tolerated. The writer means well by the bor-
rowers ; the lenders are called miscreants. The
following is new to us, and may be to our readers :
" Even clubs are now formed all over the town, for
raising money amongst the members to lend upon ex-
orbitant terms ; and the whole kingdom forms, as it
were, only two classes, namely, the plunderers and the
victims ; whereas, if the Repeal Laws had not passed,
all, except the old, determined, systematic, and shame-
less usurers—the Ralph .Nicklebys—would have lent
their money, av, and freely to, at 51. per cent., and been
satisfied with it, or they would have circulated it in
trade or commerce."

THE MAIDEN MONARCH, 2 VoLs.
Hastings, London, 1839.

The object of this tale, which i 3 to laud the
virtues, graces, &c., of our present most Gracious
Queen, is highly laudable ; but the flattery is rather
too thickly laid on, as if with a towel. The inci-
dents, too, of the narrative are deficient in
strong, exciting interest, and there is little or no at-
tempt at portraiture of character. The style, how-
ever, is uniformly easy, and in places even remark-
able for elegance.

BEA UMONT AND FLETCHER. PART L
Moron, London, 1839.
This republication of the plays of two of our
most popular dramatists, is proposed to be coin-
P-
leted in sixteen half-crown Monthly Parts, with
an introduction by Dr. Southey, containing, of
course, a critical and biographical account of the
authors. The First Pant, which is now before us,
is embellished with half-length portraits of Beau-
mont and Fletcher, which are executed in a supe-
rior style of art, by Robinson.