The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE•

QUARTERLY REVIEW IVo. 123.
illurroy, London, 1838.
We are surprised that the editor of this Review has de-
voted so large a space in the present Number to the myriad-
times discussed question of the Ballot. That he should have
agitated it when it was fully before the public, with a view to
counteract the effect of the arguments of :ts advocates, is
natural enough ; but that he should have stirred it, when
it was for the time in abeyance—as it is just now—and when
his own innate good sense must have taught him, whatever
his political prejudices may have suggested, that the justice
of the case was against him—this is what we cannot at all re-
concile with our ideas of his tact and discretion. The article,
as might be expected, is mere sophistry throughout, and can
have no other effect than to confirm those who are already
inclining favourably towards the Ballot—the more es-
pecially as it over-does the matter, and attributes, in a most
ludicrous spirit of exaggeration, all sorts of horrors
to any innovation on the present established mode of elec-
tion. The paper on " Animal Magnetism"—an absurd
quackery which we thought had been laughed out of fashion
as long ago as Mrs. Inchbald's popular farce of that name—
evinces wholesome scepticism on the subject ; but should
have laid on the lash of ridicule with far more severity.
This peculiar branch of medical science, as we believe it is
called, which appears to proceed on the assumption that the
intellect is most awake when it is fastest asleep, and that
man can be so magnetised as to dispense with the use of eyes
and ears, and see and hear instead with the stomach and the
small of the back, reminds of that other recent discovery
" Homowopathy" by which one disease is proposed to be
cured by the infliction of another infinitely worse ; so
that if a man is labouring under a slight attack of fever, he
has the comfort of reflecting that he can be cured, by
allowing himself to be physicked and disciplined into an ag-
gravated scarlatina. 'We question whether even Dr.
Graham's earth-bath, or his more extraordinary " magic
bed," which so bewildered our grandfathers and grand-
mothers some sixty years ago, were more absurd than this
modern cant of animal magnetism, which the Quarterly
Review proceeds as gravely to demolish, as though it had
one single particle of argument or common sense to support
it ! " Travels in Arabia" is a very readable paper, con-
taining numerous brief and well selected extracts. In the
article entitled " The Texas" we find a long and ela-
borate account of the origin and progress of this pro-
jected " usurpation," as Dr. Channing frankly calls
the recent insidious attempts made by the United States
to annex the Texas to their territory. The Re-
viewer closes his observations by some vague and
doleful speculations about the probability of pure de-
mocracy turning out, sooner or later, an arrant failure in
the New World. " The Banditti of Spain"—as its very
title implies—is full of entertaining matter, interspersed
with brief biographical sketches of some of the most noto-
rious Spanish brigands. " Robbery," w•e are told, "is of
such antiquity and importance in that country, that al-
though the Spaniards are little given, like the French, to
classification, the different grades are as clearly separated
and defined as in a matter of science or of heraldry." This
speaks encouragingly for the moral character of a nation
whom the Liberal Powers of Europe think worthy of the
blessings of free institutions ! " Scenes and Shadows of
Days Departed" is a generous and discriminating criticism
on the poetical works of that veteran, Lisle Bowles,
whose " Missionary" is stated by the reviewer to be
the most sterling of all his poems. Mr. Bowles is an
elegant and melodious versifier, who ever turns an attentive
ear to " the still, sail music of humanity," but he possesses
little or nothing of that melts divinior—without which there
can be no lasting poetry which we see constantly
'stirring in the pages of Byron and Wordsworth. " Plato,
Bacon, and Bentham" makes sad havoc with some of the
moral theories of Jeremy and his disciple and executor,
Dr. Bowring. From its cutting tranchant style we should
be inclined to attribute this article to the pen of the ex-
Secretary of the Admiralty. " Secret History of the
Court of England, from the Accession of George the
Third to the Death of George the Fourth," is a very
judicious and reasonable exposure of an arrant catchpenny
publication. We quote a portion of the Reviewer's stric-
tures on this work, in order to set our readers on their
guard :

" We notice another infamous publication, but for a somewhat dif-
ferent object, and with very diff.rent feelings from those which guided
our observations on the " Diary of the Times o f George IV." In that
work a lady of rank endeavoured to transfer the disgraceful responsi.
bility of the authorship to some anonymous shadarv. In this, an anony.
mous stands rer ostentatiously imputes his wretched libe's to a lady of
rank, who has in truth no more to do with them than Queen Elizabeth.
The former work—however individually discreditable the publication
was—had yet some foundation in truth, and was at least original. This 1
is nothing but an amplified reprint of libels, equally atrocious and ab-
surd, which have long been in clandestine circulation, and for one of
which the original publisher was many years since tried and convicted,
but evaded punishment by forfeiting his bail, and flying the country.
It was very right and very public-spirited in an individual against whom
a degrading charge, however notoriously false and absurd, was distinctly
and nominally made, to bring the libeller to justice; but, in truth, we
do not believe that that publication—any more than the enlarged ver-
sion now before us—was instigated so much by individual malice as by
a reckless and shameless desire of gain acting upon lon, brutal, and ma.
lignant natures. The former publication, which is about the size usu.
ally sold for seven or eight shillings, was circulated, under the cloak, at
the modest price of 1/. Is , and the extravagance of the SUM was a decoy
to make the credulous suppose that there must be something very
piquant in so dear a volume. The present work is—on the same prin.
ciple—retailed by a woman, who in the dusk comes to the door and offers
" Lady Anne Hamilton's Journal" at the same moderate price of one
guinea per volume. The publication of the unhappy "Diary" of one
Lady-in-Waiting makes people suppose it possible that another may have
written is similar book, and a curiosity to compare two such works has
procured it some—though we believe but a few—purchasers, and it is
to put an end (as far as our influence may reach) to this traffic between
knavery and credulity, that we condescend to write this article."

ALICE; OR, TAE MYSTERIES.
3 Vols.
Saunders and Otley, London, 1838.

Mr. Bulwer, in his preface, hints pretty significantly
that this is the best work of fiction he has yet written. We
cannot coincide with him in this opinion, for we have al-
ways considered " Paul Clifford"—notwithstanding its
many faults—as his master-piece, exhibiting, as it does,
more invention, humour, and fancy, than any other novel of
the day. But though we do not estimate " Alice" so
highly as its author, still we prefer it to its immediate pre-
decessor, " Ernest Maltravers," for. this plain reason, that
that there is a sounder and healthier moral tone prevalent
throughout it, and more vi,ible distinctness of purpose.

" Maltravers" is here a man to be admired and respected,
not as we last saw him, to be laughed at as a " sublime cox-
comb." Enough of romance is still left in his character,
but it is no longer sickly and lackadaisical, and tainted
with sentimental puppyism; but is of a generous, manly
caste, such as elevates and invigorates the intellect, fitting
it for high exploits. His character is forcibly contrasted
with that of Lord Vargrave, with whom he is thrown into
frequent collision, and who is represented as a reckless,
scheming, but highly gifted, political adventurer. This
portrait is as good, in its way, as the author's lawyer
Brandon ; and we recognize its truth in every lineament.
Vargrave's sudden end is related in a truly impressive and
dramatic spirit ; but decidedly the most effective portions
of the tale are those which have reference to Evelyn
Cameron, who is one of those exquisite female creations in
which Mr. Bulwer is so successful. The work throughout
is written with great fluency and animation, and is in a
great degree free from those elaborate, set descriptions in
which young novelists are so prone to iadulge.

MEMORIALS OF CAMBRIDGE.
PART VI.
Tilt, London, 1838.
The present part of this useful topographical work,
which bids fair to rival, in the style in which it is got up,
Dr. Ingram's " Memorials of Oxford," contains two en-
gravings of Christ's College, each of which is accompanied
by illustrative lettcr-press.

INTELLECTUAL SCIIOOL-B 0 OK.
London, Dal ton, 183 S.
" The object of this book," says the compiler, Mr.
Martin, in a neatly written preface, " is the developement
of the religious sentiments, and the intellectual faculties, in
a regular and systematic manner ; and the lessons introdu-
ced are, therefore, such as exhibit the first and great prin-
ciples of morality on the one band, and the leading incon-
trovertible facts of science on the other." It is doing no.
more than justice to Mr. Martin to say, that in the present
little volume he has accomplished his design in a very skil-
ful and satisfactory manner.

On Thursday a Court of Compensation was held
in Guildhall, Westminster, to assess the sum to be paid by
the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to Messrs. Pope,
coal-merchants, for their premises, Abbey-wharf, taken for the
new houses of Parliament. The value had been assessed by
arbitrators at 4,3431., which arbitration had been set aside by
the Vice-Chancellor. The jury awarded the sum of 6,7501.