The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-10 00:00:00

:RATE' RE.

PETER PARLEY' S TALES.
Tegg, L 9ndon, 1836.
Peter is a " very parti "filar" pet of ours. Since
-14 venerable spin:4er, Miss
the days of that virtuous m
Priscilla Wakefield—whos 1 " Juvenile Travellers"
were among the first volum
es we devoured, and we
humbly hope, digested—we have not met with his
i
peer. He gossips with you'g folks, just for all the
Inselves ; using the sim-
plest as if he were one of the
and most familiar terms to explain the wonders of
nature and art, and mixing u;) tits explanations with
little racy, characteristic anecdot:!.. This is not gene-
rally the case with those who unslenake to write chil-
dren's books, They are too leas nod—too cold—too
nedantic ; and take for granted that tboir young readers
are i;Tetty nearly as wise as themselves. .NTow Peter Parley
is far 190
.experienced a teacher to fall inoo any errors of
this sort. Ile begin, es in duty bound, from the begin-
ning—ab urbe co.nclitiL Here, for ins tance,. is his
pretty little volume oi; .he " sun, moon, and stars."
And how don, he explain the relative distances, dimen-
,several starry bodies ?
sions, and so forth, of ill,:
niliar manner possible,
Why, in the most naOral and .'aL
b showing y
his pinils litil
y oung l e wood-cut sketches
of a balloon at its different po'ints. ,o,c altitude, from the
time when it is distinctly visible, ..to that when it is
dwindled to the size of a pin's head. Having secured
•their attention by this simple manner of nroceeding, be
•.,:t ; step by
then goes more at length into his su b. it.
Ilexity in
step, however, so that there shall be no pert
lanatOry
the case ; and illustrating each step by
exp.
wood-cuts—which we may here remark, are et% -raved
pretty nearly es well as old Bewick (the father of
the
art) could have engraved them. We are glad to fiCi'd
hat " Peter Parley's Tales" are popular ; they deserve.
:o be so, for to an inquisitive child—say, of nine or ten
rears of age—they hive all the interest of a fairy tale.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE MO-
DERN EGYPTIANS.
C. Knight, London, 1836.
A gentleman named Lane is the author of these
volumes, and shows in every page that he is one vvho
thoroughly understands his subject. We have had
many accounts of Egypt in the olden times, but we
are not acquainted with one that gives us details of the
social condition of the modern Egyptians. Mr. Lane's
researches, therefore, supply a gap in this branch of
our literature. According to him, Egypt is pretty
nearly in the same demoralised state, under that great
would-be Reformer, Mehemet .Ali, that it has been in
for centuries. Impartial justice is a thing nearly, if
not quite, unknown. Knowledge is at the lowest ebb,
and the sanctity of the marriage bond violated almost as
a matter of course. " I have heard," says our author,
" Of men who have been in the habit of man •Ting a new
wife almost every month. A person may do though
possessed of very little property ; he may choose fron.l,among
the females of the lower orders in the streets of C.liro, a
handsome young widow or divorced woman, who will con-
sent to become his wife for a dowry of about ten shillikgs ;
and when he divorces her, he need not give her more th, An
double that sum to maintain her during the period that sh e
is forbidden to marry again. Often, if mutual attachment',
subsist between her and her master, the situation of a con-
cubine slave is more fortunate than that of a wife ; for the
latter may be cast off by her husband in a moment of anger,
by an irrevocable sentence of divorce, and reduced to a
state of poverty ; whereas a man very seldom dismisses a
female slave, without providing for her in such a manner
that if she have not been used to luxuries, she suffers little,
if at all, by the change ; this he generally does by emanci-
pating her, giving her a dowry, and marrying her to a per-
son of honest reputation, or by presenting her to a friend-
I have already mentioned that a master cannot sell a slave
who has born him a child ; and that she is entitled to her
freedom on his death. It often happens that such a slAvo
immediately after the birth of her child is emancipated."
The details of the great festivals of Cairo, and of the
forms of devotion daily practised in the Mosques, are
full of interest, and what we should less have expected,
of novelty. Mr. Lane was a long time resident in
d
Egypt ; he also assumed the Mahometan attire, an
a
made himself a perfect master of the language/
was thus enabled to get a clearer insight into the do-
mestic manners of the Egyptians than usually falls to
the lot of travellers. We are pleased to find him
bearing testimony in his preface to the correctness of
the descriptions in our favourite " Arabbn Nights."
Of these fascinating fictions he says,
"there is one
work which presents most admirable pictures
of the
manners and customs of the Arabs, and particu-
larly of those of the Egyptians ;it is the Tht.'ll-
- and one Nights ;' if the English reader
possessed a close translation of it with sufficient illus-
trative notes, I might almost have spared myself the
labour of the present undertaking." Mr. Lane should
himself set about this translation ; executed, as he no
doubt could execute it, it would be sure to have a large
sale. We should not omit to add that the present vo-
lumes are lavishly embellished with neatly finished en-
gravings.

L OD GE' S PEE RA GE.
Saunders and Otley, London, 1836.
To those who are curious in heraldic and genealo-
gical matters, this work will be a most valuable acqui-
sition, for it is unquestionably the most perfect bock
of the class ever published ; is got up in a most costly'
style ; contains the coats of arms, handsomely engraved,
of every Peer in the United Kingdom ; and, at the
close of the volume, a concise and alphebetically ar-
ranged view of the Baronetage. It is the production
of Mr. Lodge, Norroy King of Arms.

BURKE'S C--------=-01111110NERS. Part XIIL
Colburn, London, 1836.
A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Com,
moners of Great Britain and Ireland, drawn up with
great care by Mr. Burke, the author, compiler rather, ,
of the valuable work, entitled the " British Peerage.

The Duke of Leeds has left St. James's-square for
Hornby Castle, Yorkshire. Mr. Sackville Lane Fox'
widower of his Grace's only daughter, and his family, re-
sided at the Castle with the Duke and Duchess.
Lord Castlereagh and the Hon. Henry Fitzroy, have
had excellent sport during the season at their shooting
quarters, Dingwall, in the county of Ross. Lord C. has
embarked for Belfast with Lord Hillsborough, to visit his
constituents in the county of Down.
A very splendid trousseau, or suit of wedding
e
dresses, are in a forward state of preparation by one of th
most celebrated modistes at the West-end, which are a
present, of the most costly description, from the Duchess
of Beaufort to her daughter-in-law, the Lady Georgians
Somerset. The marriage is expected to take place in 11
fortnight, at Badminton Park.
The Russian General Soltykoff, recently returned to
this country, after an absence of more than two years, is
allied to a daughter of the late John Julius Angersteio,
Esq., and generally resides in this country.
Two hundred pounds, being one half a legacy left
by the late Lord Sondes, were, according to the terms of
his Lordship's will, expended in bread and coals, and dis
tributed a few days ago, by the minister of the parish,
amongst the poor in the neighbourhood of Lee's Court,
Kent, the family estates.
Lord Geo. Bentinck and Sir S. Canning, the Mem-
bers for the borough of Lynn, were present at a public
dinner, crot up last Wednesday, at the Assembly Rooms
in that place. It is said by the Sin:folk Chronicle, an organ
of their party, that more than 200 persons sat down to this
Tory entertainment. The usual amount of Tory twaddle
was spouted out upon this occasion ; but O'Connell, and
the asserted subserviency of the Melbourne Administration
to the will and pleasure of the " Agitator," afforded the
orators the widest range, and the most felicitous field for
the display of their oratorical flourishes. We perceive that
the feast was honoured by the Reverend Johnny M'Crea,
who said grace before dinner. Another incident, also, dis-
tinguished this imposing manifestation of Conservatism-7a
Mistress, or Miss Elizabeth Oxley, addressed the Chair-
man, in a note signed on behalf of the Ladies of Lyra)!
who presented a flag to the Lynn Loyal Constitutional
Association
!
representative, Mr. has
werc
to elicit the serious alarmsofhie Eaton,
rn n been
, ever, in being able to say that ht
is ioe
now out of danger,
d,
s;oic se o , ibll ouandowas:
our power to announce tut
, we trust shortly to have it in
perfect recovery.—Cambridge Cbronick,