The Sun.
London, England, 1836-10-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

VANDELEUR. 3 Vols. Bentley, _London, w"'
,From the superior manner in which the female Per•
new
sonages in this tale are drawn, and the sm.-- hatt,
The
twaddling, Children-of-the-Abbey character ofhero, we conclude it is the production of a ladY•
no,
main incident turns upon the attempt of a Y"
enthusiastic sister, to restore an idiotic brother (wI:
has received a contusion of the brain by a fall f":" Ti
•
s
horse, and to whom she is devotedly attached) to h's
original state of health by means of animal magneti.ifiLe,
To this attempt she has been persuaded by "!
sophistry of a Paiisian quack, by name De l'Eser'
_ b
who hopes to establish a claim on her affections
Y
brother.
being instrumental in the recovery of her
and if not, so to entangle her in his artful meshes' as
to compel her, perforce, to marry him. And he 's
successful in his stratagems, for the poor girl, while
subjecting her brother to the magnetic process, 1:
terrifies him as to become the innocent cause of
death ; and then, fearful of being suspected of 1.19
murder, hurries from the spot with De l'Espoir, svt)°
by dint alternately of threats and blandishments ultv
mately prevails on her to give up her betrothed, MaPe
Vandeleur, and marry him. Her lover, meanwhile'
astonished at her flight, and not less so at its close
connection with the death of her brother—though he
will not for an instant permit himself to believe that
she is guilty--follows her from country to country with-
out success, until at length he finds her at St. Peters'
burgh, the broken-hearted bride of Pel'Espoir. And
here we are introduced to some artalirable sketches of the,
Imperial Court of Russia, which, from their spirit ana,
minuteness, would appear to be founded on personal
experience. We do not often meet with, in the pages
of modern fiction, better sustained characters then
those of the Empress Mother, her son the Czar Lie!"
ander, and in particular his wife, the unfortunate vie;
tim of jealousy ; which last portrait, though it be bud
in outline, is etched to the life. The Duchess of Car
tleton, the wife of the English Ambassador at St.
Petersburgh, is another sketch, pourtraved with sil2,gu.
lar ability ; nor must we omit to praise Gertrude
ve-
lyn, which none but a woman could have binned. The
hero, Major Vandeleur, as we said before, we give 1;
for though abounding, as he does, in all sorts of VU
toes, being quite a paragon of perfection, he is sadly
insipid, without one single trait of passion, calculate
to call forth our sympathies. We have an inveterate
dislike to these " faultless monsters that the world
ne'er saw," who are suited only to the meridian °f
and'
we Nevertheless, though her hero, '
we suspect, her prime favourite,,is an elaborate failnr:
yet the authoress has contrived to render her story
deeply interesting, first, by the ingenious construe"-
and unravelling of her plot, which betrays, at clef Y
stage of its progress, marks of infinite skill ; secondly'
by the variety of her female characters ; and thirdly'
by the unaffected graces of her language, which, when
vigour and emphasis are required, is never deficient'

NATIONAL LYRICS. Curry, Dublin, 1836-
This is an elegant little volume, containing all the
minor Poems of the late Mrs. Hemans, and wort'
panied by a brief, well-written Memoir of that ac,
complished lady. It is dedicated to her Mend Mrs.
Lawrence, of Wavertree Hall.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
VALPT, London, 1836.
The present volume concludes Mr. Hughes's e°llli ;
nuation of :Hume and Smollett, bringing down the
History of England to the period of Sir Robert peels
last resignation, and the re-instatement of therit
bourne Ministry in office. We have read the we
with some attention, and are pleased with the cairn 809,
impartial spirit that pervades it. Mr. Hughes is a P to
tizan neither of Whig nor Tory, but does justice
both ; his details in particular of the origin and Pro
gress of that great legislative measure,
the Ref°/o
Bill, are temperately penned, with an evident convic,
tion in favour of its necessity. The most animated re
tion of the present volume is the account of tbrs,
rupture in the Tory Cabinet, occasioned by the Obis
sion of Mr. Canning to the supreme power, once
subsequent death. His character, which on se
leisure day we may be tempted to quote, is dravro
with much skill and discrimination. The voluoleof
illustrated by two engravings, neither better 11
worse than usual.

VoL. XXI.

HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTUO
SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUIV.
GREAT CATTLE SHOW AT PERTH.
Sir,—This great national institution, which has be.en„.sol
productive of benefit to this country, in the forwaralnlbo
every agricultural improvement, and encouraging an'eligthit
tenantry a spirit of industry and enterprise, held a Inlnve
at Perth on Friday, the 7th inst., for the exhibition °I pi.
stock. Liberal premiums were awarded for the bestatry,
mals, the competition being open to the whole enu°,ot
though the exhibition was chiefly intended for the ,bendAr•
of the four counties of Perth, Kinross, Fife, and r°d; of
The number of animals exhibited amounted to uPviar
800, being more than were ever shown at any Previ.oosrost
lub!tion of the Society ; and, as a proof of the Inteoo
which is excited by these annual shows (held in vartivere
parts of- the country), we may mention, that premiums
awarded to stock brought from Peebles-shire, in theono
treme south of Scotland, and from the Isle of Lesvig'
of the northernmost of the Hebrides. But neither the ibe
terest nor the competition is limited to Scotland, as !",o/ar
seen from the fact that Mr. Handley (M.P. for Liln-inpo
shire), the eminent stock-breeder, sent a pen of yolls to
to the exhibition ; and proud were the Scotch hree"erd by
find, that in the estimation of the judges the stock blot.
themselves were in superior condition. The SocietY,..„ of
ever, do not confine their encouragement to the reaV.,,le.
stock merely ; every improvement in agricultural 11-'0-
ments, or in the mode of husbandry, being eager'''. en and
raged by them : and being supported byall the nolnlitYdis,
wealth of the laud, it being reckoned, in fact, almost aay be
credit to a landed proprietor not to belong to it, It a1.„,,,te
imagined what amount of influence they are able to br.l"vot
bear on the advancement of any given improvement;inof
fact, it is now universally admitted that the extraoruan of
advances made by the Scotch tenantry in their molt io
husbandry for the last fifty years, and the improve°. tilts'
all their agricultural implements, is almost, if 11°' t Or
gether, owing to the beneficial influence of this groat
tional institution. In the evening the friends and weber, in
of the Society, to the amount of 1 100, dined togeLtio tbv
the Riding-school of the Barracks,' the Most No"
Marquis of Breadalbane in the chair ; the MarcluLord
Tweedale Vice-chairman. They were supported voinr
Kinnaird, the Lord Provost of Perth, Lord D. G.' ALF-
burton, M.P., Hon. Fox Maule, M.P. Lord Stormoot..oipsi
S:r John S. Forbes, Mr. Handley, M.P., and the Prince.
landed proprietors in the county of Perth and net
bouring districts. Politics were carefully escloarb,, the
more by the arrangements of the managers thanbie, ive
general feeling of the company ;as a proof of. `.` atP"
may mention that Lord Stormont, of thumb-bitsngith the
riety, in that district at least, was cheered equally
.‘v sr.
excellent and justly popular Member of the coont,:bn
F. Maule. The speeches turned principally tr.' on the
jects of the Sooiety, and many excellent hints _
lora
breeding of stock and the improvement of agriculture de s
thrown out. The speech of Mr. Handley, M.F."did 0?
g e
strong impression on then eeting, abounding as it. xposv
much sound sense and practical knowledge. I.l' dote
tion of the advantages to be derived from Mr. fles Alto"
g steam-ploughethethe meeting were
listened a
to
most with
interestinggre at ionntee,r easnt a
oirott,
fail to communicate a fresh impulse to the Prt4
r
agriculture in that quarter of the country.

A large seizure of the " mistal-up:I" was '7)9arewar:
printing
ntPinogst-woiffitheoeutlatshte7eenkr:y It
-- r- d that the proPr'r-ci of
who has started one of the cheatn:aereeklies ran the ha/Aaiiinv
self to ruinous PQnalties. The penalty for each
and the sam^ t
fourteen
,r,i -,3 0 persons having them in possession. ,_r the
will
either by
vill probaahlPy4lretst'amii, andv
has thus supbajpe:tre; nott
present c.ctutr:ile:
convictof mary Cjaanl
el i oxtv,
ititini
ate under
h s sentence
rece i
voefddeath PL for
a re9Pr_fiel'
to.ureen days. This descrtion of delay is generally fol_lsue it ,
toor incarceration
commutation
in a iti int
lunatic
ttihceasPyrl
de St, Croix, Esq., has arrived in London from Jerseh '
mission in favour of the unhappy convict.