The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-09 00:00:00

pent," and the conclusion at which he ultimately and
deliberately arrives is as follows :
"To ourselves the evidence appears irresistible that
a certain marine animal of enormous size does exist, and
that it differs essentially from any living animal described
in our systematic % orks."To this animal mariners have
given the very appropriate name of sea serpent, from its
inhabiting the sea, and from its supposed resemblance to
a serpent. It is fifty or sixty feet in length—perhaps
seventy feet—but we may gather from the multitude of
statements that fifty or sixty is a perfectly safe estimate;
it is long in proportion to its bulk, its neck and tail
being of much less circumference than its body; the
junction of the tail aad body is marked by a rapid dimi-
nution in size; it has a sharp-pointed snout, flat-topped
Lead, powerful teeth, very large eyes, and blow
holes, like the Cetacea, from which it spouts water;
it has two very large and powerful flappers, or paddles,
with which it makes its way when on the surface of the
water; it has a dorsal, or cervical crest fin or mane; its
skin is smooth."

A wood engraving, similar to the one which has
already appeared in the Illustrated London News,
pourtrays the aspect and dimensions of this extraor-
dinary monster of the deep. In a rapid allusion to
the hfstorical and political works lately produced by
Macaulay, Thiers, Lamartine, and Caussidiere,
under the heading, " Lessons of Revolutions," it is
justly remarked that " M. de Lamartine establishes
by his Trois illois aux Pouvoir a claim to the re-
spect of statesmen." To these contributions we have
here appended a brief but touching " Obituary."
Among the dead is mentioned very prominently the
youthful writer of the two beautiful essays to which we
have ourselves more than once referred, Charles Thomas
Fisher, who is accurately described as having " died
almost at the commencement of his career, alike to
fortune and to fame unknown.'" To the gentleness
of his nature, to the clearness of his intellect, andto the
goodness of his heart, we can ourselves have the me-
lancholy satisfaction of bearing attestation, and, in so
doing we would, if possible, enforce the subjoined
appeal of the Westminster Review, which, speaking of
the untimely death of Charles Thomas Fisher, thus
remarks upon the position of his relict :

" If in the circle we now address, there are some who
have personally known what the strife is of education
with straitened means, and have risen above it, or
who can picture that strife to themselves in their imagi-
nation, and who at this season of general festivity, would
remember' the widow in her aiiiction,' we shall rejoice
to be made the channel of a deserved sympathy."
After this comes a well-merited eulogium upon the
late lamented and gifted Charles Buller. Of whom
saith Thomas Carlyle—" Very gentle, too, though full
of fire; simple, brave, graceful. This man was true
to his friends. Be his memory dear and honourable
to us, as that of one so worthy ought. What in him
was true and valiant, endures for evermore beyond
all memory on record. His light airy brilliancy has
suddenly become solemn, fixed in the earnest stillness of
eternity." Well may the Westminster Review, which
has been so often illumed by the light cast from his
" very beautiful soul" upon its pages, utter its last adieus
in no feeble language—" Farewell, Charles Buller !
Farewell l" Among the foreign publications noticed
towards the close of the present number of the double
Quarterly is the posthumous " Memoir of Chauteau-
briand." In reviewing this book the writer adminis-
ters a galling flagellation to M. Jules Janin, whom
he suspects to have written the flashy introduction.
There are besides the usual correspondence and mis-
cellaneous criticisms.

CHEAP EDITIONS OF THE WORKS OF
DICKENS and BULWER.

Competition in literature has been productive of
nothing more beautiful than the cheap editions of
the writings of our two celebrated novelists—Charles
Dickens and Bulwer Lytton. For the enterprise
evinced in their publication we are indebted to the
eminent house of Messrs. Chapman and Hall—a
house distinguished as having first discerned the
genius of Boz, and ushered into the world of letters
that phenomenon of wit and gentleness. We wel-
come cordially a double series, which cannot fail to
elevate the tastes of the multitude, by placing within
the reach of mechanics and artizaus the master-
pieces of two illustrious intellects. To appreciate
the importance of the adventure undertaken by
Messrs. Chapman and Hall in the issuing of these
little volumes at a price so reasonable, and in a form
so compact, we should bear in mind the position in
which the authors of " Pickwick " and "Rienzi"
stand in regard to their contemporaries. We are
bold to say, that Dickens and Bulwer are to the
literary age of Victoria, what Godwin and Mac-
kenzie were to that of George HI., what Fielding
and Smollett were to that of George 1., what Ad-
dison and Swift were to that of Anne, what (in
comedy) Farquhar and Wycherley were to that of
Charles 11., and what (in pastoral and dramatic
poetry) Spenser and Shakspere were to that of Eliza-
beth. Had any one spoken thus of the writer of the
" Man of Feeling" during his lifetime, the dictum would,
undoubtedly, have been laughed to scorn by many a
dissentient. And the same kind of panegyric would
have been similarly treated if pronounced upon " St.
Leon," or upon " Amelia," or " Sir Launcelot
Greaves," or the " Italian Pilgrimage," or " Mar-
tinus Scribblerus," or the " Itferuiting Officer," or
the " Plain Dealer," or " Colin Clout," or the
"Lover's Complaint." Yet it is well sometimes if the
opinion of posterity can be anticipated. It is well if
a judicious meed of praise can be pronounced before
an author's bones are mouldering in the grave—if the
language of gratitude and admiration can be made
audible before the heart is still that that language
might tend to gladden. To do this, however, re-
quires some daring, because of the jealousies which
are always unhappily contemporaneous with success.
Without hesitation, nevertheless, we speak thus of
Dickens and Bulwer, believing the correctness of our
assertion from the fulness of our heart, and from the
unimpassioned recesses of our judgment. Formerly
works such as these under consideration would have
been so costly as to find purchasers only among the
wealthier classes. Three volumes octavo, at a
price varying from twenty-seven to thirty-
two shillings, would have confined " Martin
Clnizzlewit" or " Night and Morning" to the boudoir
of the lady or to the library shelves of the squire.
At the present rate of publication these fictions may
wile away the evenings of our labouring population,
the price of a volume being three or four shillings,
and the size not too bulky for the coat-pocket. In
this form we have " Pelham" and " Pickwick,"
" Nicholas Nickleby" and " Rienzi," the " Old
Curiosity Shop" and " Paul Clifford." The re-
mainder of the series will appear in due succession.
Thus will continue to be multiplied the fabrications
of these choice intellects—conveying each day to new
hearts the fruition arising from their creations. For
there is a bewitching truthfulness in the reflection of
Lord Byron—
" The beings of the mind are not of clay;
Essentially immortal, they create
And multiply in us a brighter ray
And more beloved existence : that which Fate
Prohibits to dull life, in this our state
Of mortal bondage, by these spirits supplied
First exiles, then replaces what we hate;
Watering the heart whose early flowers have died
And with a fresher growth replenishing the void."
Such beneficent and creative " beings of the mind"
abound in the writings of Mr. Dickens and of Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton, and for this reason, if for
none other, it is a felicitous notion that of extending
the field of their popularity. We greet the effort
with our warmest approbation, and congratulate the
workers in our crowded haunts of commerce upon the
fabrication of the keys which are thus offered them to
admit them into the realms of fairyland.

FINE ARTS.
THE ART JOURNAL.
Extraordinary as have hitherto been the merit and
the enterprise. of this remarkable publication, they
are absolutely as nothing when contrasted with those
revealed in its number for this first of January.
Without any shadow of a question the Art Journal
is the most splendid illustrated periodical, and the
cheapest, that has ever appeared. To give any ade-
quate conception of the excellence of the magazine,
it would be necessary to transfer the engravings as well
as the letter-press to our columns. We can only say
that for half-a-crown the subscribers have received
for the January of 1849, four admirable engrav-
ings and a profusion of wood-cuts—engravings
worthy of the art of Strange, and woodcuts worthy
of the art of Orrin Smith. While among the literary
contributors are numbered—Mr. R. N. Wornum,
Dr. W. Cooke Taylor, Messrs. Burnet, Fairholt,
Hunt, &c., together with Mrs. S. C. Hall—who is,
as the saying goes, a host in herself. Among other
advantages resulting to the public from the munificence
of Mr. Vernon must now be recorded this singular
improvement and extension of the Art Journal, for
the present development of enterprise in the publica-
tion, appears to have been suggested by the determi-
nation to lay before the mass of the people
engraved representations of the different pictures con-
tained in the gallery of paintings presented by that
gentleman to the British nation. As an appropriate
introduction to this important series of engravings,
we have, in the shape of a frontispiece to the January
number of the Art Journal, a copy of Pickersgill's
portrait of Robert Vernon, Esq., or, as he should long
since have been rightly termed, Sir Robert Vernon,
Bart. The plate is simply but expressively

DEDICATED
TO
THE BRITISH PEOPLE;
and we doubt not but that the British people will
prize this graphic delineation of one of their distin-
guished benefactors. We observe that a testimonial
in honour of Mr. Vernon has been set on
foot by Messrs. Paul and Dominic Colnaghi—
subscriptions being received by those
i eminent
publishers for the purpose of raising a sum, the nte-
rest of which is to be expended in the purchase of an
annual medal, to be called the Vernon Medal, and to
be awarded to meritorious students by the President
of the goyill Acglem,Y. We cordially commend this