The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-06 00:00:00

LITERAT U RE.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN REVIEW.
• Taylor, Lowlon, 1838.
There is a sound, well-reasoned article in this Number,
on a subject wi.i2h has already—thanl7s to the exertions of
Lord Radnor —attracted, in no inconsiderable degree, the
taiblic attention ; we mean the defects of the system of
education pursued at the University of Oxford. - 'The Re-
vieWer justly observes, "we are cons inced that every eifert
to liberalize this great national institution will be useless,
unless founded on a thorough regeneration of its. literary
character. At Oxford all indecorous boldness of thought
or innovation is brushed into the brave, and solemn still-
ness of thA moral habit, which thinks that the free exercise
of man's reasoning powers can bring him nothing hut evil,
and delights in the profound contemplation of the perfected
oisdom of the things that are." • Thee is much of this
spirit at Cambridge, which, however, is for more liberal
than its great rival, in whom the slightest deviation from
the established order of things--the slightest symptom of
nervous and original thinking on the part of any one of its
professors or graduates is looked on as a heresy not to be
tolerated for an instant. The subjoined remarks contain,
we regret to say, but too much truth : •
" Oxford is essentially defective, beyond all the Universities of Eu-
r.. 11.?, in a healthy and vigorous advance in the pursuit of truth—
sca cely a single department of knowledge is cultivated with enlight-
ened and comprehensive views. There is no progress, little or no move-
rent—intellectual life languishes, and draws out a feeble and sickly ex..
istcnce ; feeding itself rather on the past, than by a hopeful and sup..
cessful labour, working out new supplies of fresh and generous nourish,
meat for a higiler state of development. And even this past Oxford
does not possess. It is not her opinions on the state and prospects of
society, nor on the excellence or imperfecticn of our Choral Establish-
in-ad, which have rendered her thus stationary :on the contrary, this
lamentable result is but the consequence of a fatal malady which preys
upon her vitals. Oxford, instead of leading, does but tardily and ti-
midly follow the march, we will riot say of European, but even of na-
tional literature. There are, indeed, one or two honourable exceptions ;
but these are not intimately connected with her system. Strange to
say, in geology and chemistry almost alone is she on a level with the
rest of Europe. But generally her men in high places are miserably ig.
norant of what has been done in science and literature, much less are
they discoverers. Hence they have all the narrow jealousies, the con-
scientious :id trembling alarms with' which honest ignorance hara',Sei
its captives. Clinging to the past, not only in spirit (for often that were
most wise), but in form, they dread the future as big with mysterious
changes, and as sure, along with an alteration in the outward structure,
to destroy the essence of truth. Roger Bacon or Galileo were scarcely
looked upon with more superstitious dread or wonder by the ignorance
of p..st times, than a German philosopher, a German ther.,Mgian, or a
French historian by the timidity of Oxford mediocrity. We shall be
called revilers and base defamers of what is good and virtuous ; but we
ask Oxford to bring f award a philcoopher known, we will not say for
shame to all Europe, but to England. Dr. Hampden, the vilified, in-
sulted, and rejected Dr. Hampden, is the only one of her residents who
has earned a laurel for her brow in philosophy ; and for this, for his dis-
tinguished abilities and comprehensive views in moral science, a mark
has been branded on his front, to warn all incautious students against the
poison which he preaches."
In the article entitled " Tourists in the Pyrenees,' vi e
find some correct and spirited descriptive accounts of those
picturesque mountain boundaries of France and Spain,
Till within the last eight or ten years the country, imme-
diately adjoining the Pyrenean range, has been almost a
terra incognita to the majority of English tourists, who
preferred rather to fly to the more fashionable Alpine
ranges of Lausanne and Berne, or hunt for romantic adven-
tures among the brigand haunted Appennines. It was
Mr. Inglis, who about ten years since, by his admirable
volume of travels fn that mountain region, first attracted
the curiosity of his travelling countrymen to the Pyrenees ;
and now scarcely a year passes, but the towns, or rather
villages, of Barreges and St. Salvador, receive a consider-
able influx of English visitors. Mr. Murray is among the
latest of these tourists, and has published an account of his
excursion of which the article before us gives a very just
and dispassionate account. *. Education of Artizansoss
which is a paper founded on the report of the Committee
on Arts and Manufactures, takes a liberal and enlarged
view of the question, suggesting, among other means of
improving the tastes and habi',:s of the great mass of the
poorer claSses, that a cheap and exerrsive circulation of
medals among the people might be made instrumental in
creating both a love and a knowledge of art. This sug.
gestion, which it seems was started. by Mr. Wyon, ,is an
admirable one, and would scarce'y fail to be attended with
beneficial results, for as its originator observes, " the
varieties of coins diffused among the people of Greece and
Rome, with their multitudinous designs and various
characters, must have been an important element in the
creation of their taste." After all, however, there are no
coins so serviceable as those stamped with the head of
Queen Victoria. The " Hanoverian coup d'Etat" is an
article written with considerable energy ; it adopts a bold,
uncompromising tone, and enters into the question at, great
length, examining it in all.ltsimmediate and remote bearings,
" There can be no doubt,?' says the Reviewer, " that King
Ernest has not replaced one constitution by another ; for
the Constitution of 1616 was none, but actually deputed
a nation of their rights, and to a still greater extent than
was tried by Charles the Tenth in France. He only
wanted to restrain the right of election, but he never in-
tended to abrogate all the forms of constitutional govern-
ment, as has been clone by King Ernest." Yet this is the
man of whom Toryism is so proud—whom it regcrds as one
of its chief props ! " A Poor Law for Ireland" is wart:dly
in favor of the introduction of such a measure ir."co the
sister-country, provided, that its operation be litn;:,,cd to the
sole object with which it has properly to derA,
namely, to
relieve not poverty, but destisutien. The article is well-
timed, and well written. The remaining ones are of the
usu d calibre.

A NEW DERIVATIVE AND ETYMOLOGICAL
DICTIONARY.
Longman, London, 1838.
The author of this serviceable and well-digested work,
in which a great mass of information is packed up in a
small compass, is Mr. Rowbotham—a gentleman whose
German Grammar is the best book of the sort we have.
The plan of his present production is very simple and
methodical. "In order," says Mr. Rowbotham, "to
render the work as useful as possible in schools, and to
avoid any confusion that might arise in the minds of
yoang s'udents, the Latin derivatives are separated from
the Greek ; and in each part the words are arranged
acc'•rd:ng to the number of syllables, which are gene-
raly accented according to the plan adopted in the
unproved editions of " Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary."
This is an ingenious and sensible idea, and is carefully kept
in view throughout the work, which Le in every page
indications of much pains-taking. We have little doubt
that the Derivative and Etymological Dictionary will get
uto general circulation as a school-book, for it is of the
sort much wanted, being utterly devoid of anything like
confusion or complexity in its arrangement. The list of
those Latin propositions, which are most frequently used in
English compounds, will be found particularly serviceable
to those youths .who are just commencing their education.

A Correspondent calls the attention of the Society
for the Protection of Animals from Cruelty, to some of the Pim-
li?o omnibuses. The severe and incessant torture iafLctcd
upon the poor over-tasked animals (which are represented as
being fit only for dogs'-meet), is describe.] to be truly :,hocking
to the spectator, and not a li tb: disgraceful to the owner of
the worn out and miserable machiners.

SNIFTIIFIELD.—" It was market morning,. The
ground was covered nearly ankle-deep with filth and mire;
and a thick steam perpetually rising from the reeking bodies
of the cattle, and mingling with the fog, which seemed to rest
upon the chimney-tops, hung heavily above. All the pens in.
the centre of the large area, and as many temporary ones as
could be crowded into the vacant space, were filled with
sheep; and, tied up to posts by the gutter side, were long
lines of lot acts and oxen three or four deep. Countrymen,
bu'ehers, drovers, hawkers, boys, thieves, idlers, and vaga-
bonds of every low grade, were mingled together in one dense
mass : the whistling of drovers, the barking of dogs, the bel-
lowing and plunging of beasts, the bleating of sheep, and
grunting and squeaking of pigs ; the cries of hawkers, the
shouts, oaths, and quarrelling on all sides, the ringing of bells
and roar of 'voices that issued from (very public-house ; the
crowding, pushing, driving, beating, whooping, and yelling;
the hideous And discordant din that resounded from every
corner of the market ; and the unwashed, unshaven, squalid,
and dirty figurei constantly running to and fru. and bursting in
and out of time throng, r. ndered it a stunning and bewildering
scene which quite confounded the senses."--'Boz,' in Bent-
ley's Miscellany. for January.
By the laws of the islanl of Jersey, incorrigible
drunkards are deprived of their right to vote for the State, or
to receive any appointment, legislative or parochial, in the
island.— Jersey Argus.
SPORTSIIOI.—If you goes to take a look at ft hos
you inquire for the boy, and say "lead him out." When he
is well placed, you stands More with your hands stuck in your
bra eelvs rockets, a se.-ms as though you were a contem-
platin' him; then take out your lift hand from your lift pocket,
and j'st rase up the top lid of the hos as thou .h you were a
go n' to rub the inside of your thumb ag.,inst his ivories.
After that, walk all around the hos, and say very gently to the
bovs Take him in." lie will then think you are a known
feller, mid have found cut all the tricks and fancies of the ani-
mal. But be sure you don't go a bawlin' and makin' the hog
look like Mad Tom ; nor don't go a junapin* round, a spanniik,
the ribs, nor focin' onen tiromoitth, handlin' o' the legs,
and a findin' faut, for then the grQQms will be sure to see that
ou are a eQrfvo 4cßito,y Green, that krums nothin.