The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-18 00:00:00

LIIERA`i URh.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. Vol. -Black, Edinburgh, 1838.
We noticed in The Sun a few days since the last Pa
fished Part of this Encyclopaedia ; since then a whole v,„",„
lume has appeared—the one now before us—which c°'
tictailes ons several biographical, geographical, and historical fh
f great valuo. The details in the article " the SI f
Sea Islands" are especially interesting, describing, as
,tte;
do with minuteness and fidelity, the progress made in ,li
heite and elsewhere, by the Missionary Societies in hie
till now, wholly uncivilised quarter of the globe. irthe
plates appended to the volume are all executed in
big,
highest style of the art ; among them are some admir6
maps of South America.

POEMS. Br ELIZA Coor.
Wood, London, 1838.
tta
The authoress of this elegant little volume
is a .A
e.
lady named Cook, who tells us, in a short and modest P.
face, that her literary career has been but of brief duratlorn,
and that it was entered upon " without a friend to Pilhe
tiate my interest, or laud my efforts." She adds that y
" miscellaneous poems in the present volume" have shea4dr
been favourably receited by the public—and most t
servedly so, for they abound in evidences of superior Pie
lo
talent, and are pathetic, fanciful, descriptive, sprightiblo
as accords be,t with the theme. The tone of feeling
pervades them is pure and healthy throughout, wherefore
we have not the slightest doubt that the volume will be re
ceived with such favour by the public, as shall justify tb
e
4
authoress in venturing upon a second experiment. .6'
specimen of her powers, we subjoin a sort of Chris
carol, which is well fitted to the present season:—
Hail to the night when we gather once more
All the forms we love to meet ;
When we've many a guest that's dear to our breast,
And the household dog at our feet.
Who would not be in the circle of glee
When heart to heart is yearning--
When joy breathes out in the laughing shout
While the Christmas log is burning ?
'Tis one of the fairy hours of life,
When the world seems all of light ;
For the thought of woe, or the name of a foe,
Ne'er darkens the festive night.
When bursting mirth rings round the hearth,
Oh ! where is the spirit that's mourning,
While merry bells chime with the carol ryhme,
And the Christmas log is burning?
Then is the time when the grey old man
Leaps back to the days of youth;
When brows and eyes bear no disguise,
But flush and gleam with truth.
Oh I then is the time when the soul exults,
And seems right heavenward turning;
When we love and bless the hands we press,
While the Christmas log is burning.

THE HUG UEN OT, 3 Vols.
Longman, London, 1838. air
There is no novelist of the day who brings more -egr,
sites to the composition of the historical tale than torl
James. He shows himself not merely versed in the 0[0;
of whatever period he selects for the purposes of fict.lo,
but is at home also in illustrating its domestic peculiarl'er
as developed in the sayings and doings of his chief Par
sonages. His present tale, the Huguenot, exhibits his cla,
lifications as an historical novelist to the greatest advantttig.
The scene is laid in France, and the period chosen is the
beep
stirring portion of Louis the Fourteenth's reign, whe
strife between Catholic and Protestant, after havingLielebr
for some years, if not allayed, at least moderated, by t" ter
at
nignant influence of Colbert, was breaking out, after
the
The statesman's death, with nearly as much furyas e
the
The story opens with a sketch of a pastoral district in dsl
more sequestered part of France, and of the statelY..„fe,ue
fortress that everlooks it, the ancestral dwelling of a oe"„bio
not nobleman, the Count de Morseiul, in which grerer,
sketch we recognize much of Scott's picturesque Plot
We like it the better, because there is none of that attten the ,
at fine, showy writing, which formed such a drawback
interest of the author's, otherwise successful, roman7bi
Attila. A. few careless, brilliant touches, droppedtiche
,
accident, place the whole scene vividly before us.
ir
ratter of de Morseiul, who is the hero of the tale, m air
the
tamed with unflagging spirit throughout ; but we prefer,uor
portrait of his faithful valet, Jerome Riquet, whose-pof
ning, quick-wittedness, vivacity, and grotesque affectatit'e,J.
cowardice, remind us of Scott's unrivalled Cuddle I.ltede-
T.igg, perhaps the most finished portrait that that green,' oat
lineator of human character ever attempted. But the.". bet
successful portions of Mr. James's tale are those wherelb-01, brings Louis the Fourteenth before us, and represents the
after. a 1. vee at Versailles, in animated conversation la
King's closet," with his famous war-minister Leave' of
the most vindicti7e, rapacious, and unprincipled politico
his day.
fth°
About ,

_.., two o'clock yesterday morning as one °lcor
L division of the police was on duty, and,proceeding uP et
terbury-place, Kensington, he discovered a fire rag7Dlo.
t'm back part of the residence of Mr. Iliff, surgeon,Aa'those
14. He lost no time in arousing. the inmates. and
at
ori"
of the adjoining houses. The flames appeared to have ;sr
ginated in a detached building, used as a surgery, 'ld
,c,eiry
taming a great quantity of spirits, which burnt with ...,85
great fury. On the discovery of the fire information
fwoo
sent to the fire stations for assistance, when engines riso
the Southwark-bridgo and Waterloo-road stations, ted
those of the West of England Fire-office, soon reaeier,
the spot. In the course of an hour the fire was got ent, v,,,..
and confined to the surgery. The dwelling-houFe is' 't:tea
ever, damaged, and the two adjoining ones, by
pre
while of the contents during the confusion that
nhile the fire was burning.
• t 0
THE CHARTISTS.—We are glad to perceive
se
the working-classes of Scotland have had the ge°d,B„earle:o
to disclaim all sympathy with the violent language c ---.og
men as Oastler, Stephens, and O'Connor. At a ineej°l
held last week in Edinburgh, at which representativ's (roe_oo,
fifty or sixty unions were present, rt,solutions, straragl? efil
demnatory of any reference, even in speakii4, to PaY (a'
,land and
force, were unanimously adopted. The Ta iv
el/. _lr. ire the
ster, who occupied the Chair on thin ocnsion, has eat,
merit, we believe, of originating..- move Water. .1,4
this r;ameworthy -- the
both in Eno.that to
Edinburgh Radicals should I, deemed- it necessary f
aye
Scotland. We only regret
meet by torch-light. There, • is in the very circumstanceion
mectin r
; under cloud of night a species of intimidal
which will do their cause no good.—Aberdeen Herald. isys
A veIDENT.—On -.''.saturclay last, about twel
ci:elgek at noon, as Ster.lnan, the driver of Mrs. Newdico
i...
Bury waggon, was ;Jassing through Great Leighs turon,.ct
gate on his way home, be was caught between the whet''
and the post, where he was firmly fixed for a long ti w,' fed i
and the only means of releasing him from his ~Iretititho
situation was by fixing the horses on behind when oo
waggon was drawn hack. The poor man's kifeast bt',
was driven in, and he was in other respects dreadfully •io
o
Jared. Ho lies at the Castle Inn, and by the unremittlca,g
attention of Air. ilutehinsoo, the surgeor,,,is likely to OW
--4-`44e .r j4rald.

THE COMIC AL2IIANACK FOR 1839.
Tilt, London, 1838.
There is much humourous prose and verse in this Vila'
zical little volume, which is a strange jumble of facts an,
fam!ies, and is appropriately edited by 't Rigdutn Funnid°,2,
Esq."--a descendant, no doubt, of that same Rigdum w""
figures so conspicuously in Carey's mock tragedy of t‘ CV?'
nonhotonthologos." The illustrations are all by Cruiksbans,,
and never did George exhibit his powers of grotesque ea_ri
riot
cature in greater variety. He places before us as
a collection of flees as ever were made by Liston or Muni'
den in their most palmy chi s. Each Month is represent°
by some rare pictorial whimsy or other. April "is dins'
Crated by a plate entitled the" First Day of Term," in which
the Judges are shown breakfasting with the Lord Chali
cellar, and demolishing the good things on his table with a
the gusto of long-practised Aldermen. One moon-faced oij
Judge, in particular, who is busy cutting into a fine cold sirloio
_
of beet; displays an array of grinders that might do credit in
a shark, and grins from ear to ear with an evident conscious:
ness of supreme felicity. March" is exemplified as follows;
A patty of friends are dining together on " Easter Snot%
off a 'eg of lamb ; and a very young Ignoramus in the noud
science of carving is volunteering to cut up the aforesaid
leg. The consequences may be anticipated. The rash
youngster—as ambitious and as unsuccessful as Pha3tan a
capsizes the dish ; sends his knife spinning one wary °a
his fork another ; dislodges a neighbourirg decanter, and
baptizes a fat man's lap with the contents thereof ;
having thus thrown a whole party into the lowest depths of
tribulation, looks about him with an expression of wilea
sheepishness and remorse exquisitely asinine! " May" is ,;
phined by the " Concert Season." An ugly trio, consist
of' two men and a woman, are squalling together in a peu"-
concert-room, apparently much to the horror of the °rebe;
tra in attendance, who look just as if the tympanum of ea„
man's ear had sustained a compound fracture. The coon"
tenances of the warbling triumvirate are eminently Grin"'
shank-ish in their fantastic drollery. But decidedly
cleverest engraving in the volume is that wherein tt Novenl:
her " is represented by a " Joint Stock Suicide Club."
we see a small knot of Inconsolables seated round a table,
on which, by way of ornament, is placed a coffin with
skull and cross-bones on the top of it ; daggers, razors, bottle'
of gin, opium, and prussic acid are placed before each Per:
son ; and the room is embellished with two remarkably
lively prints—one representing a man hanging, and the
other, a man drowning. As for the Club, never did hue'
eyes behold such a set of woe-begone visages as they ef‘.
hibit ! The skull has the jolliest phiz of thou 8,
The various prose and poetic sketches attached to th7f,.
prints are written, many of them, with considerable vivan',,,
Indeed, we do not know when we have seen a more lath'
ing little work.