The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-11 00:00:00

fleeting link, throwing light on what precedes and
follow!,; and so introduced as never to fatigue the
attention, while frequently some daring exploit or
well-told anecdote amuses the reader's fancy and illus-
trates the hero's character. The pleasing manner of
the author may perhaps be gathered from a quotation
made at random from the book

NELSON AT SANTA CRUZ.
" The boat was then got ufl,,at (for it had grcunded
from the falling of the tide), and Josiah Nisbet took one
' of the oars. The voice of his step-son
.giving orders
roused 1•7-lson, whose faintness was subsiding, and he
desired to be lifted up to look a little about him. The
scene of destruction, end the tempestunus sea, were su-
blimely dreadful; a painful uncertainty prevailed re-
specting the fate of his brave companions, when, on a
sudden, a general shriek from the crew of the
Fox,
which had sunk from a shot she had received_ under
water wade the Admiral forget his own weak and pain-
ful state. Many were rescued teem a watery grave by
Nelson himself; whose humane exertions on this occasion
added considerably to the agony and danger of his wound.
Ninety-seven men, including Lieut. Gibson,
were
and eighty-three were saved. 'file 3s,e
first ship which the
boat could reach happened to be the Seahorse; but no-
thing could induce the Admiral to go on board,
though he was assured that it might be at the
risk of his life if they attempted to row to
another ship. ' Then I would die,' he exclaimed, 'rather
lo
than alarm Mrs. Freemantle by her seeing in° in this stata,
and when I can give her no tidings whatever of her hus-
band.' fhey accordingly proceeded without further
delay for the Theseus; IA hen, notwithstanding the in-
creased pain and weaknees which he experienced, he
peremptorily refusei all assistance in getting on board.
' Let me alone, I have got my legs left and one aria."'
The concluding chapter of the work is worthy. of
its predecessors. It is a little gallery
of portraits.
We have there afforded us an opportunity of com-
paring the various characters of Nelson as they have
been drawn by different able pens and intimate
friends of the illustrious deceased, as well as a spirited
and masterly sketch by the author himself, from
which we quote a short passage •
" Contemplation of Nelson's career admits of no pause,
it was one of incessant activity, He had a mind ades
quato to any emergency, to every exigency; his promp-
titudein action was as remarkable
as MS- judgment was dis-
tinguished; nott ing escaped his attention. He is an crum-
ple of decided genius in hisyrofeesion, for whilst he could
enter into a consideration of even the most minute
and particular details, his grasp of intellect was such as
enabled him to embrace and embody the whole view and
entire object, and determine upon the consequences of
action. The moment a conception was engendered it
engrossed all his thoughts, and not an instant was lost
in the contemplation of the means calculated to ensure
accident.
its success; his energies were proportioned to the great-
ness of the object to be aebieved, and nothing
the possibility of temporary necessity or He
was too heroic to feel difficult an Opposition to his pro-
gresi, and nothing affecting either individual or national
honour was with him a matter of indifference."
The appendix contains a short memoir of the " un-
fortunate Lady Hamilton" and her daughter, Horatia.
The work, comprising tyro handsome volumes, which
are illustrated with copies of several interesting
autograph letters of eminent persons, &C., &c., and
embellished by some well-executed steel cuts, forms,
on the whole, a most valuable addition to the lives of
our naval heroes, arid merits the attention of all who
desire to adorn their libraries with books of genuine
and authentic information, or with histories replete
with useful and entertaining instruction.

Slll REGINALD MOHUN, BART., SOME
ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND ADVEN-
TURES. Done in Verse, by George John
Cayley. Canto First.
The old manner of the thing propitiated us. Done
in verse was as agreeable to our palate as a wine
posset. And then the old-fashioned typography!
two stanzas in a page ! the number of lines docketed
in the margin! and one of those outlandish woodcuts
at the head of the canto, representing impossible
little boys in a highly tropical state of nudity ! And
on glancing through the quaint, odd, rambling " In-
troduction," we were still more predisposed to be
satisfied, when we found that the poem was no am-
bitious flight into the heroics, but an off-hand, jocose,
comical, satirical, and sometimes even a
broadly burlesque narrative—in imitation of
that scoffing strain which Byron rendered
so popular by his " Beppo" and " Don Juan:" At
ahimselfneers fairly
those
oon
e
downtal of poesy—
poetasters who proclaim the
trialthe veryhefore outsetthe theha
r writer,o f
Criticism, placing
Are now content to reason against rhyme."
against reason in. their time,
the volumes of Tennyson, and of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, are a sufficient refutation. Those who
The '‘ceAlenbdrarthetimpionegms of Bulwer Lytton,,. not to say
decry the age as unpoetical have never read, or,
having read, have never appreciated either the "New
Timon" or the remarkable epic of " King Arthur?'
So thinks Mr. Cayley—and, thinking so, he
still further prejudiced us in his favour. We
read, and we read on—slowly—at length te-
diously—but ultimately to the end of the
sixty-fourth page, or, which is the same thing, of the
first canto. It was scarcely necessary for the author
to disclaim so very expressly (Int. VI. 48.) any
attempt on his part of fine writing—seeing that we
find scattered profusely through his stanzas such
colloquialisms, vulgarisms, or conventionalisms, as—
" which answers pretty well" (Int. VI. 43.)
" when we expected eloquence in blazes," (Int. XIV.
112)—" the cream of Nature's dairy," (Int. XVII.
132)—" they went along full slash," (XXIX. 228)
" I wish that I had lots of tin," GAIN'. 500—
" the hero tips up all his little annals,"
(LXXII. 572). Is this poetry ? Is it not
rather the most witless of all slang ? If the
reader is not brought by this time to the latter con-
viction by our foregoing specimens of Mr. Cayley's
Poem,
delicacy wies
ognilvye t
oa n
be
et hse d
surpassed
r paasienetay
bym orc
someeau ,0
ft
hwhiche gros-
ser for
passages in the effusions of William Somerville—a
poet of the last century creditably known only as the
writer of the lively and natural "Chase." We shall
quote only one stanza—quite enough we conjecture—
descriptive of the commencement of a conversation
between two grooms or gamekeepers, who are re-
turning' to Nornyth-place in a boat—
" They said Oh! what a gentleman to talk
Is that there Lacy! what a tongue he've got!
But Mr. Vivian is a pretty shot.'
And what a pace his Lordship wish to walk!
Which Mr. Tancarville, he seemed quite beat;
But he's a pleasant gentleman.—Good lawk,
Reginald
hai
Georgenvi nae gl we
em
iomor Yejh suoi ;ens üßi sr
aces
rI
ayat
y. 13,
etei uno iouss gi
th,
noe
How he do make me laugh!—dang! this 'ere seat
at
N
th
s
M
y
r
of the generation after that which has owned Barry
t "Don
nansjgh Juan,"
worthyvvnh and
let t cdr e that
Cornwall as one of its least prominent, yet one of its
most estimable, ornaments. Says the poet—
" If this be good—tbe world will find it out;
If it be bad—they will not take it in ;
Nor will it take them in."
No doubt of it—and so Mr. George John Cayley
had hatter (if he would deign to listen to our re-
commendation) hang himself in his "last line" rather
than attempt anything like a continuation.

,ENTS

QUBSTTONS FOR, LAW STUD.TH MR. _
E SECOND EDITION OFSER-
GEANT STEPHEN'S NEW
-ON
COMMEN-
TARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND.
By James Stephen, Esq., Middle Temple.
The educational preliminaries required to qualify
the aspirant to the degree of barrister-at-law are so
meagre and defective that he who contributes in any
way to facilitate the acquisition of legal knowledge
confers a benefit not only upon the legal profession
but indirectly upon society, in which the members of
this honourable profession have ever held a high and
important position. The little knowledge to be gleaned
from the law professors in our universities is of no
practical use, and the system of our legal colleges, the
inns of court, which ought to be the schools for legal
instruction and the inculcation of sound legal
science, has unfortunately more reference to
Kitchener than to Coke, and until these de-
fects shall be supplied by the establishment
of instruction in the several inns of court, under able
professors, where the sound principles and practical
knowledge of law shall be taught, as other sciences in
the several schools and colleges, we can see no better
mode by which the student can acquire legal know-
ledge
atshrtohuisghvertyheuseful mediumvolumofe seufch well-arranged
helps ~
Questions" by
Mr. James Stephen. These " Questions" have
immediate reference to one of the greatest
legal works of modern times Mr. Ser-
geant Stephen's "New Commentaries on the
Laws of England," a work which we should
not be surprised to see very soon supersede all others
—they are clear and well defined, and the mode of
reference is simple and well arranged. We cannot too
strongly recommend both the " Questions" and the
great work to which they refer to the attention of the
self-improving student, anxious to acquire sound legal
knowledge by the least difficult means.

THE LOTTERY OF MARRIAGE.—The scene of this
new novel, by Mrs. Trollope, is hid partly at Dover,
and partly in ono or two English country residences.
The interest of the work is evidently intended to depend
more on the characters than on the fable, and though
not liable to the charge of being personal, it is difficult
to believe that the sketches are purely imaginative.
Young tnarriag-able noblemen have furnished, from time
immemorial, a favourite and a fair material for the pen
of the satirical novelist, for few scenes of life are more
pregnant with folly on all sides, than those which ensue
upon the hunting down such a one, till he sinks at last
into the soft repose of matrimony. The young man who
enacts this part in " The Lottery of Marriage," is
evidently sketched after some original, who knows how
to fool his pursuers "to the top of their bent." But the
frivolity of the character is redeemed by so much that
is arnial}l,.. that no ens) conl,l be very nn7ry who !tvieied
Ibcy recognised the portrait for ii: it own. Tile oririnai3
of the three noble beauties (it there be any such), who
were let slip from one leash to pursue him, might not
perhaps bo equally well pleased.