The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

MOORE'S POETICAL WORKS.—Voz. V.
Longman, London, 1841.
In this volume there are two showy illustra-
tions, engraved by Heath from original designs
furnished by Maclise. The subject of one is a
group of young Greek girls dancing by moon-
light in the gorge of a lofty mountain, with the
sea at a distance ; the other represents a party
of Thracian huntresses resting at sunset after the
toils of the chase. The last, which has a truly
picturesque back-ground, is the best, for there is
a want of proportion in some of the dancing
figures in the first plate. The Preface gives a
brief sketch of the celebrated gala which took
place at Boyle Farm in the year 1827, when all
the fashionable world of London was present ;
and also—which is far more interesting—some
reminiscences of a visit which Moore paid to
Scott at Abbotsford, from which we quote the
following passages :
I I must say, that, pleased as my illustrious friend appeared
really to be, when I first sting for him at Abbotsford, it was
not till an evening or two after, at his own hospitable supper-
table, that I saw him in his true sphere of musical enjoyment.
No sooner had the quaigh taken its round, after our repast,
than his friend, Sir Adam, was called upon, with the general
acclaim of the whole table, for the song of '6 Hey tuttie
tattle," and gave it out to us with all the true national relish.
But it was during the chorus that Scott's delight at this festive
scene chiefly showed itself. At the end of every
rvoeursn d the
whole company rose from their scats, and stood
_ _
table with arms crossed, so as to grasp the hand of tht n
keep
boor down, all
bour on each side. Thus interlinked, we continued to keep
measure to the strain, by moving our armstt,e attie u p
• t, hey tuttie
f this
I confess, a zest and
chanting forth vociferously, 66 Iley tuttie
tattle." Sir Walter's enjoyment o old Jacobite chorus—
a little increased, doubtless, by seeing how I entered into the
spirit of it—gave to the whole e
charm in my eyes such as the finest musical performance could
not have bestowed on it.
Having been thus led, to allude to this visit, I am tempted
to mention a few other 'circucrriinburh, whither Sir Walter, in
grslances connected with it. From
Abbotsford I proceeded to
stay that
city
• in
a few days after, followed Ei ;
and during my short
city an incident occurred, which, though already mentioned by
Scott in his Diary, and owing its chief interest to the con-
nection of his name with it, ought not to be omitted among
memoranda. As I had expressed a desire to visit the
these
burgh theatre, which opened but the evening before my
departure, it was proposed to Sir Walter and myself, by our
friend Jarey, that we should dine with him at an early hour,
for that purpose, and both were good-naturedenou,
oglhum to
e sent
ac-
company me to the theatre. Having found, in a ‘
to me by some anonymous correspondent, a more circum
stantial account of the scene of that evening than Sir Walter
has given in his Diary, I shall here avail myself of its graphic
and ( with one exception) accurate details. After adverting
to the sensation produced by the appearance of the late
Duchess of St. Alban's in one of the boxes, the writer thus
L proceeds There was a geueral buzz and stare, for a few

ZQ~ i~ 'J
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E VENING EDITION'.

seconds : the, audience then turned their backs to the lady,
and their attention to the stage, to wait till the first piece
should be over ere they intended staring again. Just as it
terminated, another party quietly glided into a box near that
filled by the Duchess. One pleasing female was with the three
male corners. In a minute the cry ran round :—' Eh, yon's
Sir Walter, wi' Lockhart an' his wife, and wha's the wee tit
bodie wi' the pawkie een ? Wow, but it's Trtu Moore, just—
Seoit, Scott! Moore, Moore !'—with sh-uts, cheers, bravos,
and applause. But scott would not rise to appropriate these
tributes. One could see that he ureed Moore to do so ; and
he, though modestly reluctant, at last yielded, and bowed
hand on heart, with much animation. The cry for Scott was
then redoubled. He gathered himself up, and, with a be-
nevolent bend, acknowledged this deserved welcome. The
orchestra played alternately Scotch and Irish melodies."
Among the choicest of my recollections of that flying visit
to Edinburgh, are the few days I passed with Lord Jeffrey at
his agreeable retreat, Craig Crook. I had then recently
written the words and Music of a glee contained in this vo-
lume, " Ship a boy 1" which there won its first l:onours. Se
often, indeed, was I ended upon to repeat it, that the upland
echoes of Craig Crook ought long to have had its burden
by heart.

CECIL. 3 Vats:
Bentley, London, 1841.
Cecil is a novel of the Vivian Grey school,
possessing all its assumption, but combined with
more point and vigour of style than any of the
novelists of that school have yet exhibited. The
hero, who is his own biographer, pourtrays him-
self as a fashionable coxcomb of the first water
a character of no great interest, but which, never-
theless, is here rendered interesting by the re-
deeming touches of quick and kindly feeling in
which it abounds-. The Hon. Cecil Danby
is indeed, by no means so much of a cox-
comb as he represents himself to be, and
so far, therefore, his idiosyncracy is not con-
sistently maintained. Flippant he certainly
is, addicted to the frivolous dissipations of high
life, ready at the small talk of the boudoir
and the club, and vain of his personal accom-
plishments; but these are the mere superficial
points of his character, shuffled aside and re-
sumed at will; his better and more enduring
qualities—and which are evidently the most na-
tural to him—are, his strong common sense, en-
larged by habits of thought and observation, his
ready sympathy with genius, his unaffected
moral courage, and, above all, his acute
sensibility. The story of his life, which
is told throughout with unflagging spirit,
wears an aspect of reality which we do not
often meet with in fictions of this class, being
just sufficiently spiced with romance to interest
the reader, without startling his credulity. Of
course, as may be inferred from its title, the tale
abounds in sketches of fashionable life, and
reminiscences of the Carlton House coterie,
when the Prince was in the flower of his man-
hood; but these are far from being its chief ex-
cellences, for, notwithstanding their occasional
sprightliness and caustic humour, there is an
aristocratic arrogance about them that repels,
rather than conciliates the reader. The best por-
tions of the story are those wherein the author
essays the earnest and the pathetic, as in his epi-
sodes of Emily Barnet and her distracted father;
the death of Cecil's nephew; and the entire nar-
rative of Franszetta, the Bohemian dancing-girl,
in which last episode there is as much genuine
tenderness and manly vigour of description, as is
to be found in Hope's account of Euphrosyne,
and. the last moments of Anastasius. We have
spoken of our author's flippancy. Here is an
instance in point. Alluding incidentally to our
greatest living poet, -he speaks of him as "a
fellow called Wordsworth," and yet, notwith-
standing this affected contempt, he does not
hesitate to borrow from him the most
striking thought in his novel. That
our readers may not imagine we are speaking-
without warrant, we quote first our author's
tame, flat, prosaic imitation, and next the ori-
ginal passage from which it is taken without
acknowledgment. " We bring with us," says
Cecil, in one of his moralizing moods, "into this
shabby little planet, a reflection of the heavenly►
light from which our souls are emitted ; but the
longer we live, the more the earthly particles
obtain the ascendancy over its brightness, and
blot out the spark divine." Precisely, the same
idea is thus exquisitely developed by Words-
worth :

" Heaven lies about us in our infancy ;
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Around the growing boy,—
The youth who daily further from the East
Must travel, still is nature's priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended,
At length the man perceives it die away,
And fade iota the light of common day."
We would recommend the author of Cecil—.
should he again try his hand at fiction—to en-
deavour to think for himself, and not degrade
and disfigure the noble thoughts of others. As
we have already hinted, he has considerable ta-
lent, but certainly not so much as to justify him
in affecting a tone of superciliousness towards an
author so immeasurably his superior as Words-
worth.

LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE.
A well-engraved half-length portrait of the
late Lady John Russell, forms the frontispiece
to this Number, and if the portrait bear any re-
semblance to the original, she must have been
an exceedingly beautiful woman, possessing one
of those lively, intellectual countenances which
painters love to draw from. In the literary de-
partment of the Magazine, there are some enter-
taining tales in prose, anedivers small poems, of
which the less said the better.

METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE.
Mrs. Trollope, we perceive, figures promi-
nently among the contributors to this periodical,
and leads off with a tale entitled the " Blue
Belles of England," which has already reached
its seventh chapter. There is some sarcasm in
this tale, but it wants grace and elegance, which
are qualifications in which this clever writer has
alwrys shown herself remarkably deficient.
" Address to the Twenty-second Day of Jarm-
an," is a poem from the pen of Mr. George
Raymond. The stanzas possess considerable
melody of versification, and a vein of genuine
sensibility runs through them, satisfying us that
the poet's heart was in his subject. " History
of the Jews" is a theme not to be hastily taken
up after Millman, who has already said—and
said well, too—all that is necessary to be said on
the subject. It is here treated in a manner by no
means calculated to recommend it. " Lord Kil-
likelly" is much improved this month, especially
as regards its dialogues, which are spirited and
pointed. Of the few remaining articles, the
best is the "Memoirs of an Italian Exile."

ENGLISH JOURNAL.
A cheap, amusing weekly miscellany, consist-
ing partly of compilations, and partly of original
contributions. Mrs. Hall and Douglas Jerrold
are among the contribuors; the latter furnishing
a clever sketch of character, drawn manifestly
from the life, entitled the " Toll-bar Keeper.'
There is also a spirited poem, by Cyrus Redding,
the subject of which is the " Fate of Saul."

MONTHLY LAW MAGAZINE.
There are here some sensible observations on
the subject of the Earl of Cardigan's trial, where-
in, after stating that his Lordship was entitled to
his acquittal, the writer proceeds to remark :
" For our own part, we regard the acquittal as a
matter of slight importance ; the fact that 12e.
has been tried is all-important; that fact will.
w_;_jel..
serve as an admonition and a precedent .the
magistracy;into
that fact will lead to
inquiryinate ;. and.
all duels, no matter how the
that fact is the first huge strid3er
towardsfrantic custom." In
sup-
pression of a barbarous and
occurs a memoir
the
the " Spirit of the French Bdavr
Berryer,
terminate
ocatet M.
of the celebrated Royalist as
us,
is just now the
who, the biographer assure
most popular, mail itt
most eloquent, as he is the,7, we are told, " is so
France. "No other
flattered,inan so loved, so idol-
ized.feted, so cried up, .9.
like him on account of his
The Radicals like
outbreaks ; the supporters
occasional democratic
like him by turns, according
of the July dynast like
k in their quarrels among
to the part he
thus the Thiers' section admire him
themselves :
for his attacks on the Mole section; and now the
a
i raptures with hit f
Mole party are n or the on-
slaught has made on the followers liters;
it he rs of T '
nst the Doctrinaires is
a tirade agateverything to
Duro
•n , • an apostrophe to the left centregams a
laugh from M. Guizot."

THE SPORTING MAGAZINE.
The first embellishment is a beautiful engraving
from a painting by Turner, the composition of
which is correct and spirited. " Touch and
Take" is a good. " second." The literaiy. lot is
led by " Whalebone," who chronicles the meets
and the takes of " the Queen's Hounds." " A
Curling Match between the Perth and Methven
Clubs" follows. Passing some others we
escidoimne
to a veterinary paper, in which the writer,mni recommended
kreosote Dr. Elliotson, who first e
kreosote for glanders, states that:
was saved by its use. The
lriduenred horse, pears, while examining g. Imiciosanso,nist ap-
pears,
a day or two,
Tne disease manifestetd i
fearful character. But
re-
ceived on his face a portiona.‘o,sftelhfe poisonous matter.
and assumed a most
applied a change al-
after the kreosote v
took place. There are many,
most magical .
short notices in the March
ancient friend, therefore, on ex-
aminationnumber, other
be found. fully maintaining his
gill
his three younger rivals.
place among
iltaenrde.siotiumrg

Viscount and Viscountess Alford intend, at the
close of the season, to leave this country for a tour of se-
veral months on the Continent.

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