The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

SKETCHES AND ESSAY S.
mplernan, London, 1838.
So
ln in
thie, of Hazlitt'Te s
latest and best essays are to be found
Bell,"
volume. Among them we perceive the " Letter
which was first printed in the New Monthly Ma-
Kaz.,in
ant, is, in point of sentiment and expression, the )ost refined and elegant essay that its author ever
Penned.
his He evidently struck it off at a heat, when
intellect was in its healthiest state, and did not
rely On paradox and antithesis for producing an effect. One
of the leading defects in Hazlitt's writings is the air of elo-
quent exaggeration that pervades them. Not content with
B:Ying a good thing once, he repeats it a dozen times ;
iind When he lays hold of what he thinks is an original idea,
e never rests till he has fairly run it off its legs. Yet this is
not the result of poverty of thought—for the materials for
reflection abound in his works—but from his over-anxiety
Make his reader see the idea, in all its bearings, as
clearly as he himself saw it. Few writers of modern days
avebrought more subtle, suggestive, and richly-stored minds
tit& the field of speculation than NV idiam Hazlitt, and few have
rer turned these advantages to less account. And the reason
gtthiS• His manner is acrimonious and dogmatical. He
ve'es no quarter to prejudice ; concedes nothing to con-
ntional taste ; scorns all idea of entering into
compromise with society ; but lays about him with
hi compromise
with all the head-strong energy of Rabelais'
tar John of the Funnels. As a critic, he is not less uncere-
1111ani°us than as a metaphysician. He makes sad
alt..;°e among the popular idols, tembling them about right
fenu left, as if they deserved only to be broken up into
aginents, and thrown into the dust-hole. Thus he dis-
ari covers that Doctor Johnson was little better than a quack,
d
th it the vast mass who think him otherwise
eare r
`"ls ; that Pitt had not one solitary scintilla of
c;iquenee or statesmanship in his composition ; that
os'ing Was a mere declaimer of school-boy common-
s
act's, without either wit or fancy ; that Crabbe was
1° better than a " thorn in the side of poetry ;" and Junius
141 ere stringer together of petty, epigrammatic points.
Ile truth isAlazlitt's irritable, unaecomodating-, impetuous
rtnperament was, constantly clouding, and bearing down
" better judgment, inducing him at one time to say that
turke was the first of statesmen and of philosophers ; and, at
another that he was just the reverse—a mere showy, dex-
terous sophist ; now, that Wordsworth was the most
Profound post of titanic age ; and now,that he was nothing better
than a prosy, pual cgotist. Mr. Hazlitt has written
especially on subjects connected with the Fine Arts—
tnuch that the " world will not willingly let die," and much
inore that is already forgotten, and likely to remain so.
The majority of his metaphysical essays are the best pos-
sible illustrations of the old adage, that " naked truth is
exceedingly unlovely."

TRAVELS IN TOWN.
2 Vols. Saunders and Utley, London, 1838.
If
these " Travels" meet with but half the popularity
that the " Random Recollections" obtained, the author will
have no cause to complain. They are a sort of appendix
to one of his former works, entitled the " Great r Me-
tropo
of L is, and contain several very curious sketches
London peculiarities, which country readers will be sure to
Peru•
• se with interest. The author's account of the " Streets"
Peripatetic.
and graphic, andproves that he is an observant
re,r.lpatetic. ut perhaps his best—or at any rate hi,s,
wo,llest—chapter, is that on .‘ Tattersall's and the Turf,
teethe
abounds in amusing facts and anecdotes. We may
4ethe same of his chapter on " Religious Denominations,"
h r in, speaking of the well-known preacher Huntingdon,
0 observes
for` :
A friend of mine, who was in the habit of hearing him—
never heard him myself—has mentioned to me that he
vanilid sometimes, when about to prove any position he ad-
theced, by some passage in the Bible, call by name on the
hi Writer of the book containing it, to come and speak to
, for a few seconds. For instance, if be wished to esta-
th:l2 the doctrine that men arc justified by faith only, he,wlould
St apostrophize the Apostle Paul as if bodily presento :
wshaayt,
3,c•ltiraul,just come here for a few seconds. I want thear
the have got to say on the subject of justification. Just step into
not witness-box for a little ; I won't detain you long.
by ,•3'Pll repeatedly said in your epistles that man is justifiedi
thus alone, and not by works?' Mr. Huntingdon iavlsng
petusi Put the question, would give the answer as from
wantt
and then say, Now, Paul, you may go; I don't
.., anY more at present.'

JACK ADAMS, 3 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1838.
°Wain Bligh's well-known narrative of the Mutiny of
ildeheliounty, has furnished the subject of this tale, which
res closer to facts than the generality of fictions which
1.,i,"1! truth for their ground-work. The story commences
D.i" the birth of Jack Adams, who was one of the princi-
-4,lnutineers, and who is represented as a fine-spirited, in-
t: 'gent lad, devoted to his nautical profession, and re-
ii tea by every officer under whom he serves. At the
,17.1 of twenty-eight, being out of employment, in conse-
e.erlee of the general peace, Jack volunteers to accompany
Seital/tain Bligh in his expedition of discovery to the South
IZ-8' and on arriving at Otaheite, furnishes himself with a
Per-coloured wife, by way of a native luxury—an exara-
aodwhich is promptly followed by several other of the
crew,
-40,annit °n2 them by Mr. Christian, first -lieutenant of the
role After several weeks spent in a state of the most
B,ttilltuous indolence at Otaheite, Captain Bligh prepares to
he ;1411 ; but finding his crew evincing refractory symptoms,
11,1beterinines on making an example, and with this view;
aildi•ects Jack Adams to the sharp discipline of the " ,
liirntlleurs the vindictive hostility of Christian, by tauntinicl
itijoethe grossest and most insulting manner. By such
44 'emus violence the Captain manages to estrange the
ag:tisoos
of almost all his crew ; a conspiracy is formed
of t him ; and on the Bounty, losing sight of the shores
shin,talieite on its return to England, he is hurried into the
sharrs launch with some few others, who had refused to take
Otah to the mutiny, while the Bounty itself returns to.
beerCte• Here, constant quarrels arise among themuti-
of be; some stay on the island, while the majority,. fearful_
aNuding captured, set sail for some of the most distant and
&oared islands of the Pacific, and after much beating about,
104 arrive, and take up their settlement, at Pitcairn's
44(111:1' Having taken with them their Otaheitan wives,lr
°OlO4-eteral of their relatives, they form tolerably
the bj ; but,. as before, dissensions creep in amongtheam
ghee ack g
er.inspire against the white men ; and the .
disturb-
are ; vvai,.:h continue for years with more or less violence,
%et Wilt down without a considerable loss of life. Mean-
-464 tile mutineers' children are growing up to manhood,
Pfi
ro •
tonic tlng• by the instructions of Jack Adams, now be-
t% httriold man, they form a thriving, honest and religious.b
Veal:11;1114', in which state they are found. b.y some Englis
4ffett. Which accidentally touch at Pitcairn's Island—an
ring incident which appropriately closes the story..
Ch7-e no invention here ; in his leading details Captain
ker`lrhier has adhered most religiously to truth ; and has
let4elY drawn upon his fancy for the conception of
Ideal minor dramatic incident, or the working up of some
Otahcharacter, such as the beautiful but vindictive young
the
tiitta.ll heroine, Oberea. His sketch of the outbreak of
l°ll6 I°Y ; of the extraordinary voyage of Captain Bligh
he launch over three thousand miles of the Pacific ; of
l'ite,a'rels among the mutineers at Pitcairn's Island ; and
ora e settling down of the colony into habits of good
'`.4ei tinder the superintendence of the patriarch Adams ;
°04.• _,these interesting points in the story are detailed with
Aleligera bhle vieor and animation. The tale will be sure to
1411;el if only from the reader's conviction that, extraordi-
J as • .
C
it is, it is not a fiction but a truth. As a specimenb
tvre,3l)tain Chamfer's manner, we subjoin his contrast e-
10-11 the sailor of the old and the modern school :
,_ll°W-,lll°se days grog was the linuor of life; and tea, which. is
w4R a-rUnk, would have been voted an abomination. A sailor
44e- rough uncouth animal, mixing with his apparent
.savage
„he el'ertr,°ce a certain portion of feminine vanity, which
.is
draw
Bite k's!,_°ess of Jack Adams, the father of our hero, and then
sketch of a modern sailor of 1838.
I;troadc was one of King John's men ;—very short and very
eeze tie wore a small round straw' hat, which the slightest
t/ticla, "0 might haTe supposed, would have whisked off the
1/k,3(;' hair which formed the maintop of his head. His face
,l'eei)-(),.vered with curls ; his large bushy whiskers seemed to
`Wee'n'l the corners of his mouth ; whilst the upper part, be-
)! 10-
ht" temple and the angle of the mouth, was concealed
Ned-g ringlets, which many a modern lady might hal ch.cok-
4!°at Prom the back of his head fell a tail—a long, t ,
Nib° -undle of hair carefully parcelled together with black
tllee hawing a fl •—at the end, about as long as the ever-
i'vvti4rOt R" Is'Plaendage Yto a water-wagtail. On one cheek might
tri," seen a small hillock of rising flesh, projected
1,718 seideoiaw by the roll of
_tobacco in his mouth, and which
Rig• !II removed, excepting when he used the weed of
ttl-tkelltitin a, pipe ; it was then carefully put in his pocket,
uund warm in the mouth of his messmate. He wore a rough
Locket which came over his hips. His trousers fitted
Sere "15 person, excepting on the legs—and there they
tnesiur6eiently large' to have enclosed any other pair of legs.
utsC nga were not generally used, but when Jack took a
tliitiltartorr)nd shore he wore them, covering the end with long-
k uoes,--the foot part of which was concealed by a
14 e l.
11.441:4408lang_llage he was different from his countrymen. His
itt ury w 4 _ " What cheer, lads?" His height of ideal
4a. I a glass of grog—a jolly lass—and a Saturday night
Of
9h Ileh Stuff; rough it is true, were the seamen of England
lt to have afoiunnecioffoubratt enship's crew it would have been
who could read or write, or
wb
~Who 'lid not believe all landsmen to be unpolished bears,
dlneatitUte ofmaanners because they had never been
iLai 11 the an-or-war.
r is Present day the picture will be more polished. The
rk • Cut _
to site, an, Lion—the face visible and clean—the hat. sufficient
u glazed_ with the ship's name marked in front—a
4140 e jacket orgood
With L° cloth and proper length—of. trousers
boo_,"nn always shoes and stockings, the, former
4! 3, and the latter generally clean. In In"
94' ja toPbve la not requisite to constitute an able seaman ;
tlce° in such general use. Grog has given way W

tea; and out of a line-of-battle ship's crew, it would be diffi-
cult perhaps to find forty who could not read or write. They
are distinctly different from those men who swept the seas in
appearance--and just as much changed as the rigging of a ship
to which they belong is different from the rigging of the Re-
nown at the time of the birth of Jack Adams. Only one thing
remains the same—that is, the thoughts of seamen. Men
thought and spoke much the same in the days of Solomon as
in the present day ; and hence, with the uncouth animal pic-
tured above, we shall have the same ideas as with the more po.
lished sailor of the present time.

NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.
Longman, London, 1838.
This volume forms the hundred and ninth of Lardner's
Cabinet Cyclopmdia, and is the production of Mr. Swain-
son, a gentleman well known as one of our ablest writers
on Natural History. The volume is embellished by a clever
engraving from the pencil of Finden.

THE NEW STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF
SCOTLAND. No. XX.
Edinburgh : William Blackwood and Sons.

The present Number of this work, so highly creditable
to the already high moral and intellectual character of the
Clergy of the Church of Scotland, contains the parochial
history of parts of the Counties of Fife and Roxburgh, em-
bellished with a beautiful map of Stirlingshire. In our pre-
vious notices of it, we have several times informed such of
our readers as are not familiar with this work, that its con-
tributors are exclusively churchmen, who contributed in the
order of publication the topographical, historical, and sta-
tistical history of their respective parishes—thus, in addi-
tion to the labours of their ministry, favouring their country
with a mass of in`brmation equally curious and useful. We
heartily wish that the production of a work so invaluable to
the politician, the philosopher, and the national historian, was
not coo fined exclusively to Scotland. The Priesthood of the
Established Church of England and Ireland, are not over-
burthened with the weight of their pastoral duties, and
were they to employ their leisure in the production of a
work similar to this, they would establish many claims to
popular respect, which are now very generally canvassed.
It is impossible not to think well of the learning and in-
dustry of a clerical body procucng such a work as the
" New Statistical Account of Scotland."

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF AGRICUL

T C 7 RE.
William Blackwood and Sons.

Edinburgh.

We have here eight original articles, all on subjects of
the greatest interest to the practical agriculturist, exclusive
of the Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland
Society of Scotland. The utility of such a periodical to
farmers generally, must be very great, as the contributors
are themselves practically conversant with agricultural pur-
suits ; and though we know nothing respecting the extent
of its circulation, we are persuaded that such landlords as
may seek to increase it among their tenantry, will render
them an important service. We need scarcely apologize
for the brevity of this notice by observing, that the literary
columns of a daily newspaper are not adapted to a closer
examination of the merits of publications devoted to the
diffusion of the knowledge requisite to the profitable pur-
suit of the practical avocations of an agriculturist.