The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-06 00:00:00

LITERATURE

A ROMANCE OF VENICE. 3 Vox s.
Bentley, London, 1338.
The incidents of this story are put together with much
!skill, and follow each other in natural sequence. We will
just briefly mention the main features of the tale. An
Austrian Nobleman, Count Alderberg, young, handsome,
ch, and of the ro.-,)st illustrious descent,. has married, while
inri England, Mary Regnold, with whom he lives in a state
Foofnpeeyrfect rdatrinionial felicity for the exact period of the
rno-:,n, which, by' the bye, is spent among the romantic
iTecBl:s of the Tyrol. At the expiration of that period
1•40 Count begins to tire of his young wife, and to be
somewhat ashamed of having married beneath himself ;
accordingly he deserts her one day, and flies off to Vienna,
leaving a letter behind him in which he promises to provide
for her future welfare, if she will consent to keep their
marriage a profound secret. Disgusted %;ith such conduct,
the high-spirited Countess accompanied by her infant son,
follows her truant Lord to the Austrian capital, and ob-
tains an interview with the Emperor, to whom she relates
her story, though without mentioning her recreant hus-
band's name. She is requested to present herself at the
levee the next day ; but, in the meantime she has been re-
cognisedby the Count who watched her while she entered the
Palace, leaving her child in his nurse's arms at thegates; and
who succeeds by dint of threats and stratagems, in conveying
away both mother and child to a castle at some distance
from Vienna. Here both are kept in close confinement
under the superintendence of a Jew pawnbroker ; but the
Countess ultimately effects her escape, and on condition
that she will take an oath never to divulge her marriage,
is allowed by Count Alderberg to live in retirement
on a decent stipend remitted to her by himself, while
he undertakes the education of his son, whom he
introduces at Court, where he becomes a favourite,
nothwithstanding the supposed illegitimacy of his birth.
Eventually the Countess's marriage is discovered ; her
husband is compelled to acknowledge her ; and their son
marries a lady of noble birth, and as a matter of course—
for so all novels terminate—" lives very happy afterwards."
Such is a slight sketch of the main incidents in Mrs. Trol-
lope's last tale. There is no deficiency of spirit or ability
in the volumes, but the more vigorously pourtrayed cha-
racters are made so repulsive, and the amiable ones so in-
sipid, that we cannot take the interest in them that
we could desire. Mrs. Trollope is one of the sternest
and most masculine writers of the age, without the
slightest idea of gentleness or refinement of feeling.
She regards humanity with the cynical eye of a Swift, and
seems to take a pleasure and a pride in perversely deepen-
ing its darker shades. Her sketch of the Jew, Imla
Balthazar, of his malignant mother, his wife Ruth, and, in-
deed, his whole household, are pourtrayed with a caustic,
heartless severity, that would have delighted the creator of
the Yahoos. It is in sketches such as these, full of—we
cant but think—misdirected power, that Mrs. Trollope's
ge excellence lies. How terse, for instance, and ener-
.tc, yet faulty in taste, is the following address to a Jew,
'latch she puts into the mouth of a Christian woman, whom
he has wrongfully imrisoned!
:` Hear me p
thou
a scum of human kind—hated of the Father,
tr u pon of ,
the Virgin, and forgotten of the Son! Hear me,
trigtoo, 41thy cinder sifted from the ashes of the Heathens They
reyaaps are left to rest, but thou art preserved alive, to burn
t and glowin in the flames of Hell. Hear me, thou
miscreant Jew l" g
i2.l.rB..Trollope's virtuous males and females are the most
t":11md in the world. Countess Alderberg is a pretty,
Bair
_e blonde--a sort of cross between a wax-doll and a
maid ; Ferdinand, her son, is not much better ; and
as for Prince Sully, he is a bore, only to be tolerated be-
cause he he is seldom brought forward. But the whole Jew-
liz ; the dandy, picurean Count, and the half-civi-
_ ,cu Tyrolese peasant Wagner, and her daughter Peppe,
rwancet has a true spice of the devil in her—all these cha-
Yeters are replete with life, vigour and individuality.
linw strange that an Enlish authoress should
most excel in portraits such as these, and fail only when
should refinement
, and grace, and tenderness are needed ! We
by titty or
like much to see a portrait of Mrs. Trollope, painted
Pickersgoll ; for—judging from her works—we
d imaineCommanding toe a lady tolerably well stricken in
oa'erurs w; do' as figure•• stern, cast-iron visage ; and
ht° a fist like a quartern-loaf, that could floor her pub-
lic.
With a folio. much ease as Doctor Johnson floored his
FIRST

We
sr escruseLD BILLINa, M.D.
_P.RINCIPLES OFLMon
-Ed
opn .1- Cl
1.8N3 BE. .
We seldom permit ourselves to diverge from thepathohf
general literature to the survey of works connected with
Particular sciences. Our exceptions to this rule are for
the most parti o rof medical treatises, written, like
the one before 'Usfav withu a view rather to benefit the public
generally than
to
'in 'serve for the learned guidance of the pro-
fessors cf the ealing art. Dr. Billity, commences his book
pro-
with a clearand interesting account of the processes of diges-
tion
"(I
absorption—and the growth, decay, and reewal of
. the Parts of the human body. The mechanism of henst rcula-
tion of the blood follows, and is treated in a style at once
Clear, simple, and impressive. The following brief extract
"erns to us to place in a true light a question which has
been the source of much controversy among medical
writers :
" The contraction of the heart is muscular—that of the
arteries is elastic. The heart contracts and relaxes alter-
nately. The arteries keep up a constant contractile pressure
on their contents ; not, as has been commonly supposed, an
alternate contraction and relaxation, but a continued contrac-
tile effort, which is overcome by the action of the heart.
* • Their tendency to contract causes them to close,
Co as to keep always full, and to preserve a constant stream of
the blood even during the temporary relaxation of the heart
(as during fainting from loss of blood, &c.) and the arteries
yielding and adapting themselves to the pressure of the heart,
and re-contracting upon their contents, whilst the heart is re-
laxed and filling, is the cause of the equability of the stream
in the veins; nay, the stream in the arteries
jets than is supposed b is much less in
y those who judge from the mode of its
flowing from a wounded artery ; for though, when there is a
free escape from the wound, the impulse of the heart causes
An unequal stream, it must be remembered that in the tube,
!in/founded that force would have )semi expended in stretch-
ing the artery, whereas the artery, when wounded, ceases to
'1 other than as a simple tube, the elasticity not being called
wound ope " ration on account of the escape of the blood from the
r,
r.lYraptorns
Billing enters very largely into an examination of the
indicative of the various diseases to which the
human frame is internally liable, more especially those which
effect the heart. Unwilling ourselves to offer a decided
Pin i°° upon a subject of such importance to the community
generally, we prefer recommending his book to notice, to
any strong advocacy on our part of his peculiar views and
°Pinions---though individually disposed to regard them as
linwell founded. The non-professional reader will find in it a
a3B of most useful information conveyed in the plainest
"Page ; and such a reader will readily unite with us in
Pronoun cing the absence of professional technicalities in a
rnedical work no slight merit.

FINE ARTS.
_
771 E MEETING OF HER MAJESTY'S STAG
HOUNDS.
Hodgson and Graves, London, 1838.
For this splendid engraving, which is executed
inthe
very first style of art, we are indebted to Mr. Bromley.
The original picture, from which the plate
is taken, is the
Production of Mr. F. Grant—a gentleman who. combinesih,
With his knowledge of art, an intimate acqnamtance with,
and relish for, the sports of the field. His picture wasex_
hibited at:the National Gallery a year or twosince,
where
as an
it attracted general notice ; and in its present form
engraving, we feel persuaded that it will not be less attrac-
tive. It represents the meeting of the Queen's Stag Hound:
13t. Ascot Heatb, just previous to a run. The foreground Made up of a crowd of sportsmen, who are conversing
together in well-arranged groupes, attired, each man, in the
Most natty and knowing costume of the field. Some of
them are characters not a little celebrated in the annals of
fashion and the turf, and the likenesses are so accurate
that their identity cannot be questioned for an instant.
~Who, for instance, can fail to recognise the Count
u'Orsay—that most popular of modern aristocratic dan-
(lies---with his small, symmetrical, but somewhat inexpres-
SiVe, features ; his luxuriant whiskers, which are a perfect
coppice ; his polished satin neck-cloth, frock-coat lined with
White kerseymere, and leathers and boots, each of which
exhibits the ne plus ultra of perfection ? Then again we
hhaveil Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence, with his round, good-
vMoured face, that reminds us agreeably or old William the
"rth ; the Duke of Beaufort—the most accomplished
Beaufort—
coachman of his day, whose science is highly esteemed by
all the stable-keepers on the Brighton road, who look up
all his Grace as a genius of the first water ; Lord Chester-
,n,eld, the Master of the Stag Hounds, and who shows as
t.e very model of a true English sportsman together
With
I a variety of other sporting characters, whose opinions
srve great weight et Tattersall's, and are oracular at the
".ekes Club. All these personages are hit off w
Mirable spirit, and without
the slightest tincture o ith ad-
f that
111annerism in which professional artists are but too prone
: indulge. The figure of Count DOrsay, in particular,
1. . inimitable. His very attitude, as' he leans negligently,
With an air of consummate non-chalance, on his massive
tinning whip, is to the life. The engraver has played his
11:41!t quite as successfully as the painter. The bustle and
oimnation of the picture, and the dexterous arrangement
its I the numerous groupes that are interspersed throughout
ir foreground, lose nothing of their effect in the hands of
17_, • Bromley. The back-ground represents a fine pictu-
tlzer-ciii9 sylvan scene, such as abounds in the neighbourhood
i Windsor Forest. The little cottages peeping here and
...:re among the trees, and the gleaming water barely
vi ible
trot in the remote distance, hale all the freshness and
the 11 o.ft nature--as much so as if Wouvermans had been
artis.

COU

LAR

WINDSOR, WEDNESDAY.—'Phis afternoon her Majesty rodo
in the Park on horseback, attended by her Royal suite.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent took an airing in
a pony phaeton, accompanied by Lady Mary Stopford.
Lord Falkland arrived at the Castle last night.
Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians and
suite are expected to arrive at the Castle this evening.
The following personages will form the Royal dinner party :
—The King and Queen ef the Belgians, the Duchess of Kent,
Lady Portman, Lady Mary Stopford, the Lady in Waiting on
the Queen of the Belgians, Prince Schwarzenburgh, Prince
Windish Gratz, Viscount Melbourne, the Hon. the Misses Pitt
and Murray, Viscountess Forbes. M. Van do Weyer, Count
D'Atschot, Count Erdody, Viscount Torrington, Lieut.-Gen.
Goblet and Lieut.-Gen. Daviech, Aides-de-Camp to his Ma.
jesty ; M. Van Praet, the Hon. Col. Cavendish, and the Hon.
C. A. Murray. Viscount Palmerston and the Earl of Albe-
marle are also expected.

Lord Holland left Holland House, Kensington, yesterday
for Paris.

Viscount Palmerston left town yesterday afternoon for
Windsor Castle.

The Marquis of Lansdowne has arrived in Dublin from his
seat, Bowood Park, Wiltshire.
Mr. Colquhoun had an interview yesterday with Lord Pal-
merston.

Lord Glenelg transacted business yesterday at the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer's Office in Dovvning-strcet.
Lord Holland visited Lord Palmerston yesterday at the Fo-
reign Department.
The Right Hon. C. Poulett Thomson has arrived at Edin-
burgh from Glasgow.
The Viceroy from the Imaum of Muscat, and the Switzer-
land, Neapolitan, and Russian Ambassadors, transacted busi-
ness yesterday at the Foreign Department.
The American Minister and Mrs. Stevenson have been
passing a few days at Whitlington Hall, Burton, Westmore-
land, the seat of Thomas Greene, Esq., ; whence they
go to Edinburgh.
A Deputation, headed by Mr. Fowell Buxton, had an inter..
view with Lord Glenelg yesterday at the Colonial Office.
Despatches were forwarded yesterday from the India Board
for Lord Auckland.

Despatches were received yesterday at the Foreign Depart.
mcnt from the British Charge d'Affaires at Nladrid and at
Lisbon.

Despatches were forwarded yesterday from the Foreign De-
partment for the British Ministers resident at the Courts of
Switzerland, Greece, Stockholm, and Copenhagen.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS-

Mr. and Miss Sawbridge, at Marshall Thompson's Hotel,
Cavendish-square, from Kent ; Scudimore, Esq., at ditto,
from the Continent ; O'Shea, Esq., at ditto, from ditto ;
J. Ward, Esq., and Mrs. Ward, at ditto, from Waterham ;
J. Wilson and Miss Wilson, at ditto, from Leeds ; Mrs. W.
W. Brown, at ditto, from Worthing.