The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-08 00:00:00

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.

The Eclectic Review, as usual, does justice to its
title by the diversified nature of its contents. The
articles in the .lay number turn our attention alter-
nately to Prussia and the Libyan Desert, to Art-
Chemistry, and the " Duke of Argyle's Ecclesiasti-
cal History, to " Sutton's Pcems," and " Quetelet's
Theory of Probabilities," to the Rev. James Shore,
and to Revolutionized Italy, and finally to the Dis-
senters, their grievances and their policy. In one of
these articles—the review of " Sutton's Poems," we
find the following ju,t definition of the poet's mis
sion :—" Their demands'. in nothing more a division
of employment than in the work of promoting the
progress of humanity. There are thousands wl-.0 can
mingle in the daily political contest, or who can pro-
secute the more tender cause of visiting the
widow and the fatherless in their affliction.'
But the true poet is a more rare personage.
It is his high and sacred duty to retire into the closet
of reflection and inspiration, and thence send forth
the strains that kindle in a thousand hearts the more
practical efforts of human life. It is his sacred com-
mission to work in the good work of enlightening the
darkness, and redressing the wrongs, and soothing
the sufferings of his fellows, by the hands of millions
that start at the trumpet-voice of his call, and labour
in the warmth he has diffused."

MISCEL L ANL 0 US.
The principal article in the Metropolitan concerns
Sir Robert Walpole, his life and administration, in
which " honour due" is given to the twenty-years'
Minister. In some verses to —, we find a—per-
haps aceidental—plagiarlsm of Tennyson :
Music's wico to thine,
Is as water unto wine."

The Sporting Review is adorned with a por.
trait of chanticleer, the winner of the Don.

[PRICE SD.

caster Cup,_ 1848, and an engraving of ",The
likeliest _ Place," humoursly described in the
letter-press by Oxonian. The Farmers' Maga-
zine gallantly enters the lists against Blackwood on
the subject of the services rendered by science to,
agriculture. The pictorial contents of the Farmers
for May are " Cotswold Rams," and a " rolled
Argus Bull." The London Journal and Repertory
of Modern Ave, tions contains some very beauti-
fully designed representations of improvements in
steam• engines and railway carriages, and in chrono-
meters, clocks, &c. The Patent Journal is filled with
an abundance of interesting ineormation concerning
new inventions and improvements. Numerous as is
the list of pet iodicals already before the public, we
observe it has recently received an augmentation ir)
the Ethical Reformer, the Commonwealth, and the
Sporting Times—the titles of which sufficiently in
dit.ate their several styles, and the merits or demerits
of which time will
.probably develop.. The Family
Herald, if it were wholly destitute (which it is not)
of original merit, would be invaluable as a treasure
of selections. Maxims of wit and wisdom, scattered
over the pages of a hundred periodicals, are here col-
lected. Here is a quaint but very expressive
simile, which may serve for a sample of
the whole :—" Marrying a lady for her beauty
is like eating a bird for its singing."
The Journal of Public Health deserves a longer
notice, which it shall have on another occasion. ['he
Church of England Magazine, as we have repeatedly
said, furnishes an excellent course of reading for the
several Sundays of the month. Murray's Rome and
Colonial Library, which we have so frequently coin-
mended as it deserves, gives us-- month' a---very
interesting account of"A Residence in Sierra Leone.
Knight's Monthly Volume, No. XLIV., completes
the admirable shilling series, with the conclusion of
" Rambles by Rivers." The Land we Live In, Part
XXII, is peculiarly interesting. It gives a pen and
pencil delineation of "Ayrshire, and the Land of
Burns," and the attractions of the description are en-
hanced by quotations from the poet—more especially
when the banks of Ayr are mentioned, the spot where
he fondly bade •
" Simmer first unfauld her robes,
And there the longest tarry,
For there I took my last farewell
0' my sweet Highland Mary."
The National" Library of Select Literature contains
Part IV of " Knight's Studies of bbakspere." The
Pictorial History of England introduces us to the
times of the great Reform struggle. This number
contains a map of South Africa. The Colonial Ma-
gazine has increased in size and improved in ability.
The Colonial Church Chronicle pursues the even
tenor of its way. Le Follet is as beautiful as ever.

FINE ARTS.

THE HALT. Painted by IL T. Ausdell and W.

P. Frith,-A.R A.
A picture conjointly produced by these artists is
now on exhibition at 130, Regent-street, and will
very shortly be rendered popular by representation
in an engraving, partly in line, partly in mezzotint°,
from the practised hand of Mr. 11. T. Ryall. We
have recently had the gratification of inspecting the
eriginal painting, which evinces a very remarkable
unity of feeling on the part of Mr. Ausdell and Mr.
Frith. The incident is simple, but charming from its
very simplicity. A sportsman, after a merry day's
pleasure, has consigned his horse for a while to the
care of the ostler at a roadside tavern. The horse,
with its veins distended, its head drooping, its saddle
glossy from friction, its stirrups dusty—is drinking a
long, cool, delicious draught of water from the bucket
raised on the crook'd knee of the stableman, who,
by the way, seems to be carrying on a little incidental
flirtation with the buxom girl leaning with her arm
across the mane of the poor steed. The dogs, with an
eye to the alleviation of their own thirst, have followed
their four-footed comrade, and one of them, with a
greedy eye and a vigilant expectation, is watching the
drops of water splashed over the edge of the bucket
by the bridled mouth of Dobbin. With the exception
of the figures, the ostler and the serving maid, the
picture is entirely by Ausdell, and it will certainly
nut fail to enhance his reputation. Conceived i❑ the
style of Herring and Landseer, the " Halt" is no
servile imitation. It is painted with great anatomical
correctness, and with an artistic regard to every de-
tail of the manipulation.