The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-14 00:00:00

THE << SOUL/ AND WELLINGTON

A few weeks ago we had occasion to notice the sPiri"r4
exertions of Mr. Young, proprietor of The Sun
pal-
who presented to the public a beautifully executed illeua
lion likedes3 of the Queen, accompanied with The
printed in gold. We have now to notice a double numbed
of The Sun, d.ted Sunday the sth inst., in which are tip
on
splendid medallion portraits of the Duke of Wellingt
Marshal Soult (admirable likenesses), copious hem is
of the two warriors. The newspaper and
thenl_,:.,:.
well worth preserving—indeed the portraits are treserv"iii:
handsome frames, and they are as much unlike the cate
Jpenny trumpery pictures vaunted by other newspoP-- f.
prietors, prietors, as gold is to copper.—Arorth Derbyshire Clirori"

LITERATURE.

SO UTHEY' S POEMS. Vol• X•

Longman, London, 1838.
In his preface to this volume, which is the hot'
Southey replies to some arguments which were urged 405-
the hexameter measure adopted by him in the well knns(P„s
Vision of Judgment," at the time that eccentric Poe
was published. We cannot compliment the Laureate 0°
the success which has attended his reasonings. Write wh°
he will on the subject, he will never make the he
ho
popular in our literatue, for it is a metre which, wever
;-
well it becomes the " Iliad" or the "lEneid,' (or, still mores
the " hymns of Callimachus,') is wholly opposed to
the
genius of the English language. if any poet could WI
rendered it acceptable to our ears, Mr. Southey e°11%.11.
for his lines, especially his blank verse, are remarltn"—
for melody ; but the truth is, the measure in question i 9
le,
b
sentially halting, dissonant—in one word,roctiea
The Sapphic is liable to the same objections, as th
reate found, many years since, to his cost, when c"
•
turned it into such happy ridicule in his famous Anti-Jit
bin parodies. We consider the " Vision of Judgment° sit
by far the weakest of its author's poems, and next to the'
his " Pilgrimage to Waterloo," and the laureate _Jaws 111ich
oar
he threw out with
such exceeding Anti-Gallivan fery r
towards the close of the late war. He has written, hoWece;
Getb
one magnificent poem, " Roderick, the Last of the a 55
which is by far the most spirited, the most hies•tioed'
best-sustained of all his flights. " Thalaba"nas here
there more splendid passages, and the " Curse of on
imp
touches of purer pathos and more striking descriptioa ;
they do not, like " Roderick," interest the reader as 3 Wird
The plots are involved, the incidents frequently leg
most dreary manner ; and the mythological feticies,:s•
which they are founded, are frequently of a repalefe of
ratter, and where not so, specially absurd. The dar
ace
mythology, whether Grecian or Oriental, are for ever P
be
and gone. Some few of our modern poets—chieflY dea-
smaller tribe—have within the last twenty sears
tie'
voured to revive them ; but the effort was wholly 05-
a t°
cessful—as much so indeed, as if they had atteraPte
naturalize sylphs and fairies and water-kelpies in the tit
gent's-park, or the Hampstead ponds. Despite the
tll
of his " Roderick," the poems by which Mr. Southeylis
be
best known to posterity are, we Conceive, his " nallacisd
He has a true relish for the • d
thrilling incidents of some of ourqu mysticism' din'
fuses their exact spirit into his aiolmulditteastsi'ous-an
eas::11:s:
English ballads, ari
with
oat,
vigour and simplicity which no modern writer has
Woman of
BBleernkheeleimy,;, hisar_eae"Cocrh innelius Agr&P`:,.
and '
His
his Old
Battle
its vin; to
master-pieces. The besetting defect of his more elaboroar
poems is, that he is apt to mistake splendid rhstoricali
clamation, for poetry. He fritters away feeling,'
and stately descriptions ; and loses sight of the simPlie're.
nature in his anxiety to produce effect. Those vtodo.
member his account of the mental sufferings of
rick," when he traverses Spain in the disguise of,h3
cant, will at once understand what we mean. .1"e cfstel
Monarch's state of mind is, no doubt, admirably del3i ins'
but there is too much of it. Nothing is left to the iMegrites
tion. It is not a little remarkable that Mr. SoutheY writes
prose with as much skill and talent and fluency as he vif
the
poetry. His " Life of Nelson" is the finest thing °toy
sort in the language ; and there are passages in the Piety
rous essays which he has contributed to the 0197
Review, which possess wit, satire, eloquence, dignitiYa to
fact, every species of excellence. We should 10 Or
see a collection made of his prose works. Theyd e,sre,
and will bear, republication, quite as much as his 10e.-:.

REPORTS OF LECTURES DELIVEREP,,,,ZS;
THE CHAPEL IN SOUTH PLACE, -""
BURY.—Br W. J. Fox.
London, Charles Fox.
os. XIV., XV., and XVI. of this work contain ti're°
LecNtures on the Progress and Characteristics of Cereul°"l:
„eyed!
Illustrated in the Sec vice Performed, and Sermon Pre-
17ie'
on occasion of
FofoxthheasChoerorena;iivoenno! her Majesty Queen t
tori
passages a beautiful, a concise, nanad
of the philosophy of ceremonies. There is also a ma' a,
c„,.00
. . .
criticism on the Bishop of London's Corona:jug' of
f eAvicobniri pe rf ebb': tu
ry
eegytTer°7:l
Every page and every line of this little book letrtil ge
• 59
being read. We shall select a short but comp f'z'
as a specimen of what the reader will meet with o
• vi re,.
" The third point which I mentioned, was an exaggerated esvvq,
influence of wordly station upon the best interests of mankind. _ a!
r to difilji!;:t fi
ver°
told of its being amongst the functions of royalty,
their dazzling, but fearful eminence, a salutary and purifYing 1170004 rle-
ge of society :' and the preacher says,
the whole ran we are
tell them (those who possess regal authority) that if God has ..,(1° thei
for them, as to wordly things, than for the rest of mankillur gofer',
thereby enabled, and will be expected, to do more for Ili"' I „W , I (or
Him! To do more for God'. What is there that all the rcie'more t 7,
ever existed on the face of the earth, can do for God ? What;
Dy ape
Him can be done by the monarch in the plenitude of his Pt
statesman f'
in the exercise of legislative authority, by the Warrr, in allt~~t
,-
head of conquering armies, or by priests and pontiffs arraYe"
pride of their sacredotal grandeur, than by the humblest Pea' oter-
tills the soil, or by the mere inanimate dust, the sand that is °the terri
on the sea shore ? Ther is something so presumptuous la it arit,
phraseology, that we almoest overlook the absurdity of conneelo is it
station rather than with intellectual and moral attainment. aorY,
that royalty can do, so circumscribed and limited as it is in this ee..,,a
It cannot substitute truth for falsehood, nor, permanently, falser:l;lS e‘f
truth. Its influence extends only to superficialities. it r"aYa free o
ti
it may tighten the bonds of etiquette. It may either Perinit;te 1 Apia
impose a constrained mode of intercourse ; that is, it may
tO
or hypocrisy of manners. It may give the advantage of
attract,faSiti° to
or that school of art or species of amusement; and it may
00
the love of show, and the desire of consorting with high societf, !twos'
one mode or form of worship rather than another, and give
fleesian Creed or the Apostles' Creed its preponderance, in the arheart!,
repetition of the lips when the words uttered sink not into the Law;
but scarcely more than this can it accomplish. And then cell; re
cessor of different tastes ; and the scene shifts as in a theatre.
sources of 'salutary and purifying light,' the true agents of the eouto
that penetrates 'through the entire frame of society,' are those:7o(i
God anoints with regality of mint!, whom he endows with author) yore
the souls of others; who dissipate the difficulties of science, and 00 0011
the domains of knowledge ; who build up the palace of intellect,r,
the spirit of art, and wield the golden sceptre of poetry, lay bare
foundations of politics and morals, and herald while they impel tr oleo
ward progress of humanity. Not that they ever dream, or that Al:„,e,
and Prophets ever dreamed, cf doing anything fo;To do theta'
thing for his creature man, is the highest aim the.; ProV"e t„„ine
solves; and by following out that aim, by their discoverer',
uti
,:ii,vsperetainti,silocoidui sae,
d‘awiati ea,
,te,ii,xteieg; exercise
lo ft
itel
mission
imssiigohnt ygivenfaculties
iwithpe h "'as ente.ll,:i'l':°l
it to the vanity of station, or tht, t3}
its adulators, to talk of doing anything for God."

• NOTES ON NAPLES. .•
..ossißpionhgn,reLcoo
record
London, ,
A pleasantga so
ut lri eo
of
~,i
e authork n
e,
sb assures
Bt3°Bu.‘r‘ tt
oo
(NI i
,r,a' ephrleet:;eb,te;' el; c:11:11:;
s and the lassitude of idleness."
traces of indisposition in the volume before us.
o°_°4ol
contrary, it is remarkable for its cheerful, healthy t°
;Moir col
thethe disposition, evident' throughout it, to see every till°, the
i
sunny side. The best portions of the work art:oo
author's accounts of his sclitary rambles in the illulie, 1,
vicinity of Naples, wherein he shows much eleg"o,,,tha-ci.ll°
ilarship, and a becoming reverence for antiquitV• .'.-e.jetl''
ftraosndescriptive powers, too, of no ordinary characteriis btO
his sketch of the glen of Amalfi, which is biglill.' o'
not extravagantly, coloured. We have nos Pace fb•arti•
tracts, or we might be tempted to give this escriPti"
gr ,
H/S T() RY AND GEOGRAPHY
GEOLGonRdAO:I":IIBL,OF 6j— -1
CP'
n
es
ijr
An elementary work, admirably adapted for th°PoPf°°'
11'
of. a school-book, containing a compendious lo_i!l°;rYsketchee:
cleat Greece, a brief geogorfap.hical accountkoafbliet
statesPl,,
of the character of some
aisni(ri.lile, r,goeensc;eainnabiesrtiatisekis.ms ein mmoasntyrcomfaits bestir ilutil:efit
an l Carrl,l. is the author, and has exhibited both jr
._ fir

tdhea,ttir:rycom accounts received froni
ur
ad :11 e greats
t r o y
consequence
that the Inanber of broods of rouse is very limited pail,;,
heaneCti
iserinctice of the heavy rains that fell in March and "-: I,
0. - ill
uantil ; jog
ed portionby ra
rain in
iold
theblr ;last, t
ears
ltibbl '
an esda!e, that had at least twenty broods each on then.l r recel,,,
different par year..:',
average do not exceed four this year. We have, iloo eVe :noperc,
better accounts from Derbyshire; the broods there are. ea.sorre4 to roe
and the young birds are remarkably stronpg7fitioor7st.lltisbaeytil::::tt:;;;;:
taking into consideration the it a the weather te4iur,"chic
had to encounter, together with the backwardness of the
h ind:rt d their freni Fairing.—Leeds Intellfgencet . , .