The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

TILES OF FAS lIION AND REALITY.
BY CAROLINE FREDERICA BEAUCLERK, AND HENRIETTA

MARY RIVAUCLERK.
Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 1836.
The Misses Beauclerk are a pair of very clever
young ladies, and tell their tales of Fashionable Life
with an ease and a grace worthy of their high breed-
ing. We have only to regret that they are all of too
sombre a cast to suit our taste for fictions—unless in-
deed where, like " Vathek," such fictions belong to
the highest order of purely imaginative productions.
We have also a very great objection to the constant
interlarding of English and French phrases which oc-
curs in almost every page of this work. It may be
true that the language which the Misses Beauclerk
put into the mouths of their fashionable heroes and

heroines is a transcript of what is spoken in the highest
circles. This we will take for granted on their autho-
rity. But the custom is a bad one ; and therefore we
cannot allow it to pass without censure, lest it might
descend to those who are yet free from its contamina-
tion. With a language inferior to no modern tongue
in strength, in harmony, in heart-felt tenderness, and
in variety of expression, it is worse than ridiculous to

see the attempts of every modern Miss to improve it
by the introduction of a boarding-school jargon, which
is neither French nor English. We can believe that
in the highest circles such a jargon is in very high
repute, but the reason is that three-fourtits of the
females who compose it are notoriously ignorant of the
riches of their native tongue. When, therefore, such

jargon is introduced in tales of fashionable life, let it
be with a view to ridtcule a custom which we trust will
never descend to the respectable middling classes.
This volume, which is inscribed to the Duchess of
St. Alban's by her affectionate cousins the authors, is,
we are told, the first of a series. As such we give it a
kindly welcome. With all its faults it embodies four
times the interest, and more than as many times the
talent, to be found in three fourths of the novels pub-
lished this season. We have here and there a few
scattered pieces of poetry, which we could easily dis-
pense with. The Misses Beauclerk are clever tale-
writers, but very indifferent versifiers.

TRAVELS and ADVENTURES in EASTERN
AFRICA, DESCRIPTIVE of the ZOOLAS,
their MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &c.
EY NATHANIEL ISAACS.
In 2 Vols. Edward Churton, London, 1836.

The author of these very interesting volumes has
here thrown together, in the form of a diary, the expe-
rience of seven years spent in constant communication
with the savage tribes of South-eastern Africa. In
1822, Mr. Isaacs, then only fourteen years of age, left
England for the house of his maternal Uncle, a respect-
able merchant at St. Helena. He arrived in safety ;
remained with his Uncle in the capacity of clerk and
assistant for two years : when, finding, like Crusoe,
that his love of rambling was not to be overcome, he
joined Lieutenant King on a voyage to Natal, on the
south-eastern coast of Africa, in quest of a Lieutenant
Farewell, who had years before started for that port,
and was supposed to have fallen into the hands of the
savages. The voyage was made in safety till the vessel
entered the Bay of Natal, where she was wrecked. All
on board, were, however, saved, and the shipwrecked
crew had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Farewell's
people, who had the good fortune to obtain the protec-
tion of the Zoola King, who, though otherwise a ruth-
less savage, treated them with every mark of friend-
ship. Mr. Isaacs landed in Natal in 1825, and during
his residence, penetrated some hundreds of miles into
the interior, carrying on a bartering trade with the na-
tives for ivory. He describes the country as very beau-
tiful and well-watered ; the air as mild and genial ; the
soil as rich, loamy, and productive ; and the climate as
healthy and agreeable to Europeans. The natives, par-
ticularly the Zoolas, are a fine race of people, and ca-
pable of social and moral improvement. The Eu-
ropeans shipwrecked at Natal formed a settlement in
which they were assisted by the natives, who were do-
cile, obedient, and much attached to the " Malangoes,"
or white men ; and we have every reason to conclude
that the place would have soon become the nucleus of
a flourishing and extensive colony, but for the avarice
and strife of the officers. While Mr. Isaacs remained
there Lieutenant King died, and Lieutenant Farewell
was murdered while making an excursion in the Inte-
rior. The former was a gallant, generous, noble-
minded man, whose conduct procured for him the re-
spect of his own people, and the veneration of the
natives, who looked up to him as a being superior to
all others.

A great deal of very useful information may be ga

thered from these volumes with respect to the manners,
customs, usages, laws, government, and religious cere-
monies of the south-eastern African tribes. The author,
with great modesty, admits his incompetence to detail
more than what appeared on the surface ; being, as he
states himself, but indifferently educated, and having

neither leisure nor means for further self-improvement
after arriving at years of discretion. It is greatly to be
regretted that he knew nothing of botany and geology—
the latter especially, inasmuch as the natives pointed
out to him mountains whence they formerly dug a
white ore, which he believed to be silver, but which

they were then forbidden to dig by the King, lest the
spirits would kill them. Mr. Isaacs complains much of
the indifference of the British Colonial Authorities at
the Cape, and assures his readers that nothing but en-
terprise is wanted to render Natal one of the finest
British settlements in the world.

THE NEW STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF
SCOTLAND. No. X.
Cadell, London, 1836.

The Tenth Number of this admirable work, which is
embellished with a map of Renfrewshire, contains a
topographical, historical, and botanical account of the
parishes of Renfrew, Pollock, Houston, Kilmalcolm,
Port-Glasgow, Lochwinnoch, and Inchinnin, in the
county of Renfrew ; and of the parishes of Cupar,
Callessie, Monimail, Abdie, Newburgh, Ferry Port-
on-Craig, King's Barns, King's Kettle, Leslie, New-
burn, Dysart, and Abbotshall, in the county of Fifc.
The several accounts of these parishes are by the Rev.
Messrs. Macfarlan, Logan, Monteath, Cameron,
Barr, Smith, Lockhart, Adamson, Binel, Macfarlane,
Brodie, Miller, Anderson, Nicholson, Wright, Bar-
clay, Nicol, Laurie, and Murray—all clergymen of
the Church of Scotland. The work is creditable to
their patriotism, zeal, learning, and industry.

EXCURSIONS IN SWITZERLAND.
BY J. FENIMORE COOPER, E3Q.
In 2 Vols. Bentley, London, 1836.

Excursions in Switzerland, by the distinguished
author of the " Pilot," the " Spy," the " Last of
the Mohicans," &c., cannot fail to excite brilliant
expectations in the minds of every reader who may
have an opportunity of getting hold of these charm-
ing volumes. Such expectations may be indulged
without the apprehension of a disappointment. Those
who cannot make a journey to Switzerland may here
enjoy a fine imaginative view of its sublime mountains,
its grand passes, its beautiful lakes, its enchanting cot-
tages, its charming scenery, and its honest and indepen-
dent inhabitants. We are told in the preface, that these
volumes are but a small portion or fragment of a great
work of travels, which the author originally intended to
publish, but that for reasons which he considers it un-
necessary to state, lie has thought proper to suppress
the remainder. The reasons thus alluded to are cer-