The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-22 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.

Christmas books and Christmas boxes are just
now the order of the day, and notwithstanding the
intellectual attractions of the former, the latter, are,
we apprehend, the greatest favourites with
the great majority. The bazaars and toy-
shops are now filled with glittering tempta-
tions, and crowded with groups of happy anxious
youngsters " home for the Holidays." Having
inspected the bazaar of Mr. Cremer, 10, Bridge--
street, Westminster, we can safely commend it to
the notice of all seekers of Christmas presents.
To give a list of the attractive articles therein
displayed would be an impossible, or at least a
difficult matter. Conspicuous among them all
are the Christmas-trees, loaded with wax-tapers
and every branch heavy with pendent toys and bon-
bons, ready for distribution among a party of juve-
niles. Bonbonieres of various forms, some remarkable
for grace and elegance ; toys of every imaginable va-
riety ; conjuring tricks for amateur wizards; houses
and furniture tit for the royal family of Lilliput ;
all the animals of the Ark and many more ; strew the
tables of Mr. Cremer's bazaar. Having enumerated
so much, and yet leaving much untold, we recom-
mend, for further particulars, the curious in such
matters to apply personally at Bridge- street.

FINE ARTs.

DRAWINGS BY EDWIN LANDSEER,R.A.

Three admirable coloured drawings by the inimitable
Landseer have just been engraved and issued from
the Messrs. Grundy's establishment. Having very
recently seen these remarkable sketches at
the Gallery in Regent street, we are able to ap-
preciate the fidelity with which they have been
copied by the hand of the engraver.
One of the drawings represents " Napoleon's Eagle"
perched on the summit of a crag in a dejected posi-
tion, with a recumbent phantom of the Emperor
visible cn the disc of the setting sun—a pen-
cilling of extraordinary power and solemn
effect, being very finely emblematic of the
setting of the great man's fortunes. The
second drawing is that of a " Huntsman," sur-
rounded by the hounds. The bristling tails of the
pack, and the rounded and symmetrical limbs of the
hunter having a most felicitous and animated appear
ance. The third and last of the series is the original
study of the great picture from the hand of this
distinguished artist variously termed the " Challenge"
and "Coming Events cast their Shadows Before. "

What is mesa retaarkable in the three sketches is the
wonderful effect produced by a few apparently random
touches th -own in by the hand of a master genius—
a power visible not only in the original drawings
themselves, but also in the three beautiful and emi-
nently successful engravings just published.

RIMMELL'S PERFUMED ALMANAC.K,

1850.

This is the second year of the appearance of this
elegantly got up, tastefully ornamented, and deli•
ciously perfumed Alnianach de Luxe, and the Alma-
neck for 1850 is even more richly decorated than was
its predecessor. In the lady's writing-desk, and on
her boudoir-tav,le, the Perfumed Almanack should
always be found. We opine that there will be great
demand for these almanacks as Christmas and New
Year's presents.

THE BANKING ALMANACK FOR 1850

This most useful publication is a complete Banking
Directory. It contains a Diary, the Calendar, the
Funds, the Note Circulation Returns, abstracts of
Parliamentary Returns, Bank of England Statistics,
an Analysis of the Acts passed last Session, and an
abstract of the new Bankruptcy Act, the
Stamp Act, with the legal decisions thereon ; a Par-
lia►nentary Directory, a Life Assurance Directory,
and a complete Banking Directory. It is, in short, a
perfect mirror of Banking and Monetary Statistics.

MR. WYNN PAYNE'S MAP OF CEYLON.
We have been favoured with a view of the original
design of au illustrated map of Ceylon, 8 feet by 5.
This gigantic map is the work of Charles Wynn
Payne, Esq , who resided on the island many years,
the whole of which he devoted to the study of the
geographical features, and the numerous and valu-
able resources of this splendid colony, which has
enabled him to produce a map more correct than any
which has been hitherto published, comprising the
altitudes and names of mountains, the true course
of the rivers, the depth of the bays, the geological
indications, the sites of the British plantations, and
the climate, latitude, longitude, and depth of water
in each Port. The map, which has obtained the pa-
tronage of the East India Company, and of several
of our notabilities connected with the East, will be
illustrated by views of the scenery of the island. Mr.
Payne is already favourably known to the public as
the author of a series of pamphlets on our eastern
empire; and from the first of them we extract the
following description of Ceylon, the capabilities of
which have been, it would seem, strangely, not to
say culpably, neglected by all the promoters of various
schemes of emigration
• C the key of the East,' situated between 6
and 10 degrees of north latitude, and between 79 and 82
degrees of east longitude, is bounded on the south by the
Indian Oectan, on the north and east by the Bay of Ben-
gal, and on the west by the Gulf of Mannar ; and is
divided into five provinces—namely, the northern, the
southern, the eastern, the western, and the central. Its
climate, tempered by the genial breathing of the trade
winds, is peculiarly benign ; and the fertility of a soil
irrigated by countless crystalline streams, render this
island one of the most enviable possessions which any
country can boast. Thickly wooded and mountainous in
the centre; the coast flat and planted with cinnamon groves
and cocoa-nut trees, it presents the sublimest and most
interesting features; and to the geologist and the Natu-
ralist it must ever be a sphere of the greatest attraction.
Countless herds of wild cattle wander through its bills,
forests, and valleys. The deer, buffalo, wild hog, and
other animals which the natives hold to have been driven
from the main land across Adams Bridge,' a name
given to the narrow
strait between the East India Com-
pany's territories and the island, are exceedingly nu-
merous, and the flocks of wild fowl of almost every
genus would win many an English sportsman, were they
willing to seek a good exchange for powder and shot in
a foreign ramble—to leave the artificial preserves of
England for the well-stocked forests of Ceylon; while to
the brethren of the angle the clear waters offer all that
they can desire. The forests of teak, satinwood, black
ebony, tulip-wood, beetle nut, and cocoa-nut trees,
which towtr in sublime altitude, are most extensive;
and the numerous plaintains. like genii of hospitality
distributed through the luxuriance of the land, afford st
once sustenance and a shelter. In a word, the resources
of the country, whether we look to its capability of sup-
porting animal
toits commercial and mineral trea-
sures, or to its inducements to the naturalist, the emi-
grant, and the sportsman, elevate it to the first rank as
a colonial possession, and
.‘ as a sphere towards which the
surplus population of Great Britain might be directed—
a course and current of humanity which it is hoped may
find its source in the philanthropy and paternal solici-
tude of the Home Government. Asa spice island it is
invaluable, and the growth of tobreco, sugar, and cotton
might become, by a little politic encouragement, of incal-
culable value."

LIE NOTTINGHAM SAVINGS' BANK.—ERRATIINI.—
In a communication which appeared in our paper on
the )3th iust., explanatory of the legal position of depo-
sitors in savings' batiks, by a of the pen the word
Nottingham was written for Northampton, by which a
r,JereLce to a thialcation in a savings' bank, a few
years ago, was made to apply to Nottingham instead of
LictrthilLaptOUl