The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-01 00:00:00

LIBRARY OF FICTISN

A very amusing work, coutslining a tale from the
pen of Mr. Douglas klroid, the author of that clever
series of papers in Blackwood, entitled " Job Pippins."

CHRISTIAN REFORMER.
Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper.
We arc sorry that our confined space prevents us
from noticing, in the way that they deserve, the con-
tents of this month's " Christian Reformer." There
are, however, two or three articles to which we must
direct the attention of our readers—those of them in
particular who regard the aspect of the religious world
as an object of interesting contemplation. These are
the papers respectively entitled, " An accomplished
Turk's Explanation and Defence of Mahomedanism,
as at present existing ;" " Reformed French Church
under the Bishopric of L'Abbe Chatel ;" and " May
Meetings." We scarcely need add, that there are
other papers that will well repay perusal, and that the
department of religious intelligence, both foreign and
domestic, is as copious as usual.
CG T

:he .agazine of Domestic Economy," published
by Orr and Co., is a monthly periodical, which all
good housewives will find it their interest to patronise.
We have submitted it to the judgment of persons well
qualified to pronounce upon its merits, and, according
to their report, it ought to find its way into every
family.

LITERA:TUAE.

„BRITISH AND FOREIGN REVIEW. No. VI.

Ridgway, London, 1836.
The article in this Number which will excite the
most attention is one headed " Mr. Bulwer and the
Lady Novelists," in which the author of " Pelham" is
attacked with a degree of acrimony only to be ac-
counted fur on the presumption that he has given some
personal offence to the Reviewer. We reszo this
display of vindictiveness, for it wiU tae 44\st assuredly
the mean i '44n-iagiikg Ow popularity cif a journal to
which we wish well, inasmuch as it is one of the ablesti
of the day. -To criticise " Pelham" now:4-dayi
superfluous a task as it would be to criticise " Caleb

versatility of powers displayed in this animated work

of fiction ; while as regards character—that essential
requisite in which " Eugene Aram" is so deficient—
where in the pages of our living novelists, shall we
find two equal, in vigor of conception and brilliancy of
execution, to Augustus Tomlinson and Sir William
Brandon ? The former is to the full as original as
Jonathan Wilde ; and far more interesting, for there
is much more of humanity about it. As for " Ri-
enzi" and " Pompeii," though we entertain no very
profou►►d admiration of these hastily penned works,
still they are far above the ordinary level of such pro-
ductions, and not to be sneered into oblivion, even by
the "British and Foreign Review." The " Trade
and Consular Establishment of the Levant" is
a statistic article, abounding in arithmetical calcu-
lations. By commercial and practical men it will
be read with avidity ; for to their tastes it chiefly ap-
peals. It has, besides, this additional recommendation

—namely, that it is written at a seasonable period,
when—owing to the intrigues of Russia—public at-
tention is directed to the East. " Persia" gives a full,
and apparently impartial, account of the domestic sys-
tem of policy, pursued by the . Shah, under whose op-
pressive-. despotism the financial resources of the coun-
tryare.yearlY declining. weogret. to learii' this. for
PeisieS-Wcakness Russia's strength. The "'Britilsli
Association at Bristol," is an admirable Paper, well
reasoned, well timed, written in a just spirit, and with
a perfect knowledge of the subje,,A. But perhaps the
best, certainly the most clakrate, article in the Num-
ber, is that on " The State and Tendency of Property
in France," to wh.eb, at some more leisure day, we
may revert ;but, at present, both space and time forbid.

O UTHEY'S LIFE OF CO WPER.—Voi... VIII.
Baldwin, London, 1836,
Contains the majority of Cowper's Minor Pocms—
by no means the most carefully-finished of his produc-
tions—and two engravings, one of " Cottages at
Olney," and the other " Olney from the Poplar Field,"
in which the poet is represented musing beside a green
ditch, with his night-cap on. Both these engravings
are well executed.

A SERMON.
The Evils which may arise to the Constitution of Great
Britain,
.from the Influence of a Too-Powerful Nobility,
Considered in a Sermon, Preached before the University
of Cambridge, on Friday, May 29, 1789.

Rawdon, Stamford : Longman and Co., London.
We do not know who the author of this Sermon is ;
but whoever he may be, he deserves well of the com-
munity for the publication of a discourse not less dis-
tinguished for the unadorned simplicity of its languaze,
than for the liberal spirit which it breathes, and the
soundness of the principles which it inculcates. The
author avails himself of the anniversary of what
is called the Restoration, to point out the evils
which spring from vicious or imperfect forms of
Government. One of the greatest of those evils he
justly considers the influence of a too powerful nobility
to be, and he briefly traces this pernicious influence as
it affects the Crown, the liberties of the people, the
improvement of learning, and the growth of religion.
The following extract expresses sentiments in which we
fully concur :

It
requires no great depth of intellect to discern the evils
which arise from Aristocracy. Every State subject to
this debasing form of government which either past his-
tory, or the present time exhibits, shows us clearly its
internal necessary evils, and its inefficacy to carry on the
honest interests of an 'industrious people. To exemplify this
would be rather a species of declamation than argument ; the
facts would tire our curiosity, and only serve to increase than
conviction already fully established. Whether we take the
Arehons of Athens, the decemvirs or Senate of Rome, the
Council of State of Venice, the equestrian Order of Holland
separately, the Nobles of Poland, those of Denmark for-
merly, the lately extirpated Senate of Sweden, the Lords
of Scotland, or the ancient Barons of our own kingdom, they
all present us with the same melancholy view : that of de-
ir,ssing the common subject, and of perplexing the executive
power, only to satisfy family quarrels or private ambition.
The history of Europe in particular, to about the time of our
Henry the Seventh, or when the provinces of Burgundy
and Brittany were annexed to the Crown of France, is
little else than the squabbles of a set of petty tyrants, in
order to tease their Prince or oppress their ♦assals ;
what was called liberty in those days had nothing to do
with the safety and protection of the individual : it was only a
liberty to each Baron to fight his own quarrels, or to subjugate
his neighbours and dependants.
It is a certain fact that no country ever supported its pub-
lic character, for any length of time, or grew up to permanent
influence, under the conduct of an Aristocracy.

MODERNCAMBIST ;
Forming a Manual of Foreign Exchanges, in the Direct, In-
direct, and Cross Operations of Bills of Exchange and
Bullion ; jc. BP Wrir,rim TATE.
Effingham Wilson, London, 1836.
This deservedly popular and eminently useful stan-
dard work has now reached a third edition. In the new
edition we perceive several essential corrections and im-.
portant additions, called for by a change in the mone-
tary regulations of the countries to which they relate,
The abolition, for instance, of the paper money of Por-
tugal, demanded that attention to the efiect of the mea-
sure on the rakes of exchange anti the valuations of
" The Cambist " has so seasonably and
ably, given to the Governmental operation. The open-
ing also of the China trade, and the new coinage ordered
by the East India Company for circulation in that part
of the world, have afforded Mr. Tate an opportunity
of supplying information on these subjects, the impor-
tance of which will at once be recognised by the com-
mercial world. In the details throughout the work great
care, and not a little of labour and talent, are percep-
tible. Mr. Tate's " Cambist " has long been consi-
dered as high authority on the subjects of which he
treats ; and the present places it among the most ex-
tensively useful treatises extant. No commercial man
can safely and successfully conduct his business with-
out " The Cambist," and the price at which it is sold
puts its purchase within the reach of every one.

Mary Bent, a woman of 60 years of age, drowned
herself on Thursday night, under the following circum-
stances :—She was a native of Ireland, and well known at
Exeter as a fortune-teller. Having fallen greatly in ar-
rears for rent, her landlord took advantage of her absence
from home on Monday morning, and put a padlock on hp',
door, and on Thursday sold her furniture, Driven from
her only shelter, and in a state of the .nost utter destitu-
tion, she lay in the streets the four ~fights previous to the
suicide. On Thursday mornin; the poor wretch, in the
most agonizing accents, ask .a for a cup of coffee, after tak-
ing which she wande:ed about the country until night,
when she threw b:erself into a mill-pond. At the inquest
on Friday a verdict of " Found Drowned" was returned.
Winter has made an early commencement with us.
The temperature yesterday, from comparative warmth,
suddenly became intensely cold, and this morning (Friday)
we had a slight fall of snow.—Worcester Herald.
NATURAL CURIOSITY.—An extraordinary variety
of the RAT species has lately appeared in the north of
Scotland. Its head is long and its nose pointed, its
tongue very smooth, but its teeth venomous. It is diffi-
cult to describe its colour, as, like the chameleon, :it
possesses the
singular quality of changing its hue. The
last colour which' its coat assumed was orange. Some
years ago it was a beautiful mixture of buy' and blue,
though even then it was pos.s'Able for an acute observer
to discover the ?ran
,gf? oaring beneath the surface ;
but the most 40.1,6,41‘ar appendage to this animal is a
very ergo (4 tigib which he has recently acquired, com-
posed almost entirely of HORNE. It has been found
on dissection of some animals of the same species, that
the skull is extremely thick.—Caledonian Aferculy.—j
[Sir George Sinclair is meant].
There were on; Thursday.six or .seven large cotton
rßills in Oldham and the immediate, vicicity at. a stand, oc-1
casioned principally' by the demand of the card-loom
workers, for an advance of one shilling- each per week,

Williams," or " St. Leon." It has passed the ordeal
of criticism, and taken its station in the front rank of
modern fictions. We have no prejudice in favour of
Mr. Bulwer ; but since his claims to popularity are
impugned—since now, after a lapse of seven or eight
years, and repeated republications, it is discovered that
his novels are little better than common-place—justice
compels us to state, that of their kind, they arc first-
rate, and that modern times have produced no satire
equal, if interpreted in a right spirit, to " Paul Clifford."
We have always been struck with the invention and