The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-06 00:00:00

PICTORIAL BIBLE. No. XXV.

This Part is embellished with a great number of neatly
executed wood-cuts, after designs from Raphael, and many
of the old masters. The text is also illustrated with copious
notes, which tend to clear up many obscure passages and
allusions in the Bible.

SOUTHEY'S POEMS, Vol.. V.
London, Longman, 1838.
The volume before us contains the whole of the p4y;in of
" Madoe"—its author's best production, if we ex'oept his
" Roderick, the last of the Goths"—and is erdbellished
with two choice engravings, both of which arid illustrative
of the mountain scenery of North Wales. In his preface
Mr. Southey pays a respectful tribute to the memory of
Miss Seward, once in high repute ai 't poet, but now, like
Hayley, Darwin, and the rest of. that squad, deservedly
forgotten.

FREEMEN AND SLAVES.
London, Saunders and, 011ey, 1838.
In this historical tragedy we 'meet occasionally both with
elegant poetry and graphic d,escription—but no character—
no pas•,ion. All the persnnages are alike wanting in indi-
viduality, and that which one Roman says, might with just
as much propriety be s.sid by another. This is a serious
blemish ; but if, al Nve suspect, Freemen and Slaves" be a
first attempt, then is hope that in his next effort, the author
will amend it, and produce something that may be highly
attractive, if not on the stage, at least in the closet.

ROYSTON GOWER; OR THE DAYS OF
KING JOHN, AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE.
BY THOMAS MILLEE.-IN 3 VOLS.
London, Colburn, 1838.

This is a very clever Romance, and did it not remind us
so frequently of Ivanhoe, would greatly increase the lite-
rary reputation of the author of " A Day in the Woods."
Mr. Miller tells us in the intro:luction, that in writing this
work he has fulfilled one of his bo)ish wishes ; for that it
was long a dream of his youth to produce a Romance, the
scene of which should be fixed in Sherwood Forest, in the
days of Robin Hood. We regret, for his own sake—see-
ing the public mind yet filled with the visions of Sherwood
Forest, and its daring outlaw, conjured up by the magic
wand of the great Wizard of the North—that Mr.
Miller did not select a scene and a hero less likely
to expose him to the double charge of plagiarism
and presumption. Several passages in these volumes are
very striking ; but the general impression made upon the
mind by a perusal of the whole is that tl c work is wanting
in originality. We are, however, in no mood to take um-
brage at trifles. Hundreds of romances, of an hundred
times less merit, have been written by persons wh• never
had such difficulties as our friend the Basket-maker to con-
tend with ; and, what is more to the purpose, these ro-
mances have all had what the best romances can only look
forward to—their season of popularity. The author of
" Royston Gower" may confidently look forward to a po-
pularity as general if not more lasting.

The POETICAL WORKS of THOMAS PRINGLE,
With a SKETCH of his LIFE,
11 Y LEITCLI RITCHIE.
London, Mason, 1838.

Although Mr. Pringle, during the latter period of his
life, was better known to the public as the able and intel-
ligent Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society than as a
poet—as the zealous fellow-labourer of Wilberforce and
Brougham than as a contributor to the elegant literature
of his country—the volume before us attests the justice of
his claim to be ranked among that amiable class of authors
who make their works subservient to the inculcation of a
pure and humanizing morality. Pringle was a truly good
and benevolent man ; and, with the exception of a few
pieces, devoted his talent for poetry to subjects bearing
upon the one great object of his life—the amelioration of
the heavy wrongs and hapless condition of the coloured
race. That be possessed abilities of the highest order can-
not be presumed for an instant ; but his talents were more
than respectable, his zeal was pure and ardent, and the
labours of his life were directed to the achievement of pur-
poses great and good in themselves, and undertaken in an
honest, manly, and Christian spirit. Though afflicted with
lameness from childhood, be was neither listless nor misan-
thropic. While a very young man he started Blackwood's.
Magazine ; but the, speculation not succeeding, he accents\
panied his family to the Cape of Good Hope, where for
some years he devoted himself to the education of youth,
and the conducting of a Journal—the first over published in
Africa, with a view to soften the horrors of slavery. Un-
Entunately for Pringle, the then Governor of the Cape was
a young Nobleman who ..cherished a hatred for men who
deemed the diffusion of knowledge among the people essen-
tial to their happiness ; and accordingly he soon fell under
the marked displeasure of his " Excellency." In a collision
of this sort the weaker is sure to go to the wall. Poor
Pringle, after being subjected to every kind of indirect per-
secution that the tools of the Governor could safely em-
ploy against him, was forced to fly to England, where, until
the day of his death, he failed to obtain any redress from
the British Cabinet. His sufferings, his sentiments, and a
proper appreciation of his abilities, recommended bins to
the Anti-Slavery Society, by whom he was appointed
secretary ; and in that Situation he continued till the Slave
BmAncipation Act in 1833—only a few ntetnas before his
death, tic hft behind him, AO 41 n,kireat meaEure unpro-

sided for, a wife and sister, whom his biographer rec oat-
mends as fit objects for the exercise of the Royal bounty—
a recommendation in the justice and humanity of which we
heartily and earnestly concur. No one who glories in the
emancipation of the slave could object to the bounty that
would provide for the physical wants of the widow of
Pringle.

We cannot speak in terms of commendation of the
manner in which the biographer of Pringle has peiturmed
his task. His reflections upon the charactors of those:
whom he is pleased to designate as " mete anthem; are fii;
wanting in truth as they are in generOsity I and to say the
least that might be said, Leitch Ritchie is not the person
best entitled to sneer at the want of principle oetasionally
exhibited by men of genius albeit himself na way allied tg
intellects of the highest order.

engroM by Finde,n, and two
A portrait of Pringle,
views in Africa, embellish this volume, We select is 'sonnet,
on the condition of the Hottentot d.ave, as furnishing a fair
poetkal. compositions :—_
specimen of the author's
" Mild, melancholy, and sedate, he stands,
anQa::r's flock upon the fields,
once, where now the \Vhitt nan builds
THieondfaiitihg:er,,
its home, and issues forth his prol:t1 Commands.
His dark eye flashes not; his listless hands
Lean on the shepherd's staff'sno more lie wields
The Lybian bow—but to tie' oppressor yields
Submissively his freedom end his lands.
Has lie no courage ? Once he bad—hut, to
Harsh servitude hath worn him to the bone.
No enterprise ? Alas ! the brand, the blow,
Have humbled him to dust—even hope is gone!
He's a base hearted hound—not worth 'his food'--
His Master cries—' he has no gratitvae "

FINE AItTS.

STUDIES FROM NATURE.
London, Tilt, 1838.

This is a republication of erAgravings taken from Inskipp's
well-known studies from Nature. The present part con-
sists of three plates, which are executed in a very careful
and pains-taking spirit. The best is the portrait--evideutly
from the life—of a. beautiful young blonde, who is dressed
in a very dark, becoming gipsey bonnet.

ELEGANT EXTRACTS,
SHOWING HOW PUNISHMENT TENDS TO IM-
PROVEMENT, AND THE DIMINUTION OF
CRIME.

Mr, O'CONNELL, at the Crown and Anchor.—" I repeat
there is foul perjury in the Tory Comu)ttees of the House of
Commons ;" and in his place in the 1-louse—" I did say every
word of that-1 believe it to be pe.fectly true." Ordered to
be reprimanded, for having uttere'd a foul and scandalous libel;
and after the reprimand, concludes an address to the
Speaker in these words—" I retract nothing ; I repeat what
I have said."
SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT THERE AND ELSEWHERE, •FTER TITS