The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-22 00:00:00

in acquiring eminence, no conqueror had ever more
difficulties to avoid, or more obstacles to overthrow, in
his ambitious career, than had this most patient and
persevering lady in obtaining the grand ob-
ject of her life. But, notwithstanding the
difficulties, the object is attained. Mrs. Guy
Flouncy is now one of the exclusive sat. In the very
amusing account of her doilies we are somewhat en-
lightened as to the miseries and mysteries of fashionable
life. We find that to give a ball is a matter of the
utmost difficulty; at one time Mrs. Guy Flouncy could no
more think of giving a ball than of proroguine', Parlia
ment, and we are told that there are many. who with
every apparent qualification, have been waiting and
watching jor years for an opportunity of t:iving a ball
We have said enough of the first volume; to the ad-
mirers of "Coningsby" and "Sybil" it will be most
interesting; indeed, it can hardly fail to interest and
amuse all who read it. Turn we now to the second
volume. Tapered, the son of the Duke of Bellamont,
who has mingled very reluctantly with the gaities
of fashionable life, resolves to go to Jeru-
salem ; and, opening the second volume, we
find ourselves in the East. Not only does the scene
of the story change, but the style of the author
changes also ; and with this we are not dissatisfied, for,
remembering the beautiful tale of David Alroy, with
its eloquent orientalisms and gorgeous descriptions of
Eastern manners the lavish magnificence of
which were indeed worthy of the Altlte et un.
Nulls, we know that Mr. Disraeli is as well
qualified to delineate the men and mariners, and to
expatiate upon the beautiful reminiscences of the East,
as he is to pourtray the doings and satirize the follies
of the inhabitants of what we denominate the West.
Nor are we disappointed. The descriptions of the
Holy Land are full of pathos and beauty.
There is a most eloquent and t inching description of
the scenery round Jerusalem—the street of Calvary—
the gardeti of Gethsemane—the path that leads to
Bethany. Yet beautiful descriptions of such places are
hardly needed, their very names are sufficiently sug-
gestive; as Mr. Disraeli himself observes in speaking of
the scenery of the sacred land—" a land," as he beauti-
fully terms it, " where the Creator deigned to dwell,
and over whose impending fate Omnipotence had shed
human tears." The readers of " Coingsby" must be
well aware how highly Mr. Disraeli holds in estimation
the Hebrew race. He has gallantly and resolutely
come forward to rescue the despised J-ws from

the contumely with which prejudice and bigotry
have overwhelmed them. It is certainly a some-
what arduous attempt, but one worthy of all approba-
tion. Considering the difficult nature of his object, we
can hardly he surprised at the means which he mak,s
use of, if he goes to the other extreme, and in place of a
despised and scattered race, whose badge is suffer-
ing, tells us of the " Hebrew mind," which,
according to his showing, governs the world.
In " Tancred" there is much of this ; speaking of
Jerusalem, he cannot fail to speak of the Jews. The
East—the cradle of the human race—is to him pecu-
liarly the home of the children of Israel; nay, even the
Christian religion, which was founded there, becomes
merged in the judwan. The Virgin Mary is to him a
Jewess, and he loves to speak of the Saviour of
the world as a Hebrew Prince—a Prince of the
royal house of David. Tancred, who had sought
the Holy Land only from religious motives, be-
comes unintentionally involved in political speculation.
The third volume opens with a description of the
various tribes and parties into which the inhabitants of
Judea are divided, and gives an account of the
combinations and disturbances which occasioned
the >yrian war. This is followed by a
description of the people of Ansarey, a remote and ex-
clusive tribe, to whom Tancred pays a visit. His ad-
ventures here are most romantic. The young queen
who rules the Ansarey is captivated by her European
guest, and a tale of love and jealousy ensues. Tancred,
however, escapes, and the whole ends somewhat
abruptly.
From this brief sketch it will be seen that the work
is of a very various charaeter. A manifest want of unity
i 3 apparent in the whole ; but this we readily forgive,
because. however disco-dart may be the several parts,
the brilliant sketches of London life, the impassioned
descriptions of Jerusalem, the history of the Asiatic
tribes, or the romantic episode of the Ansarey each
is either amusing, interesting, or instructive in
itself, and the effect of each is rendered more strik-
ing by its contrast with the others. But in one re-
spect we are dissati,fied with "Tancred;" we cannot
understand at what it aims. We close the third
,lume; we have been emused, we have been instructed,
interested, perhaps d lighted ; but we are at a loss—
we do not comprehend it. " Coningsby" had a definite
object, it was written to expose the state of party
and unmask the doings of political coteries. We under-
stood and we applauded the object of " " Con-
tarini Fleming" pourtrayed the history of a poet ;
" Alroy " was a beautiful picture of tLeEast ; " Hen-
rietta Temple," a love story ; iu short, each of Mr.
Doraeli's former works had some distinguishing
characteristic, but " Tancred." inasmuch as we can
comprehend it, has none With another thing, also,
we are not quite satisfied. Tancred, like all the young
Englanders, laments the great want of faith in the pre-
sent (ley; he mourns over the want of principle mani-
fested t,), his countrymen ; he desires inspiration
from above, and to attain it he seeks the
Holy Land. Now the idea in the abstract is not
without a certain degree of propriety and of beauty.
The idea of youth turning with disgust from the
narrow views and mean policy which are too much
the characteristics of our social life, and seeking
for a higher im.ailse and a holier teaching, is in
itself sublime. But why go to Jerusalem ? The
sky is over all the world—are we only to pray in Asia?
The mercy and goodness of God is manifest wherever the
sun shines; can His will only be made known at Jeru-
sakm ? We are quite unable to comprehend what Mr.
Disraeli would mean by the " New C,usade," and.
therefore, we must leave it in its mystery. We have
marked many passages for extract, but must reserve
them fur another opportunity.

SELECT WRITINGS OF ROBERT CHAN-
-131s: RS. Vols. I. and 11.

Pleasant as Mr. Chambers almost avows it to be in his
preface for an author to behold the miscellaneous pro-
ductions of his pen collected together after many years
of periodical publication, it is no less pleasant to his
admirers. The writer of these goodly volumes has long
since acquired for himself no small share of popularity,
and that not merely through the enterprise which he
has evinced in tiding his br.,ther in the dissemination of
knowledge by cheap publishing, but likewise through his
te..n earnest and industrious labours as a contributor to
modern literature. The bulk of the humorous and
familiar essays contained in the work jut issued is
already known and adpreciaftil by the million. Some of
the articles have been printed and reprinted in a hundred
different forms, and distributed to the reading com-
munity through as mary different chanflels, so that they
will attract attention less from their novelty than from
their bearing Hbout them the associations of the old
familiar faces. What is particularly observable through-
out the collection is, the admirable simplicity of the
author's style, and the sedulous exclusion of anything
pernicious, whether in manner cr matter, from his com-
po,,itions, The humour is always genial and natural;
the themes are often homely, but never vulgar; the
sarcasm is invariably good-natured; and the thoughts
are, with one exception, namely, in the eccentric chap-
ter upon " Christian Name.;," never pursued to an ex-
travagance. To those who regard Robert Chambers
as a source to them of many literary boons both agree-
able and beneficial—and of these there are thousands—
the appearance of his select writings will be a matter
of congratulation, as it will enable them to enshrine
him on their booksh±lves as one of the most welcome
and valued of their household companions. The volumes
are compact and elegant, all their appointments being
excellent—printing, paper, arrangement, and binding.
Tne collection was watit,i(i,

HUGH TA LBO .. A Tale of the Seventeenth Century.
By William J. O'Neill Daunt.
By several previous publications—more particularly
Ireland and her Agitators"—Mr. Daunt is already
famili-trly known to many of his countrymen. His
present work, though coming under the unpretending
title of a tole, we cannot but regard as the very best of
his productions that have come to our knowledge. There
is a liberality, moreover, about the object of " Hugh
Talbot" that, to us, is peculiarly palatable. It makes
it% appearance, too, at an appropriate crisis, when the
bile of the polemical disputants throughout the kingdom
is being excited into rancour by the revival of one or
two very old and very obsolete bugbear eries. As is
announced on the title page, the book is founded upon
the Irish confiscations of the seventeenth century—
namely, during the reign of James I. and the supremacy
of Steenie. At all times the contemplation of
intole-
rance is distressing; ut all times it forces upon us
the spectacle of the degradation of our species. But
when we find that intolerance, coupled with the dis-
semivation of the Biblical truths, and, in fact, sprouting
like a villanous disease out of the very stem and
branches of Christianity, we cannot but mourn doubly
for V-,e, blindness and degeneracy t f
our forefathers.
The history of the penal laws is among the ms lament.
able portions of our national records,and the skeletons
of those penal laws—those laws which Mr.
,Watson is
just now endeavouring to have obliterated from the
,tatute book—is a damning proof of the rathenticity of
the narratives relating to their operation. Those
laws—the laws, we mean, which are at present
under the consideration of Parliament—are virtually
abolished already. They are no longer enforced,
and we would stake our word for it that the
Honourable Baronet the Member for the University
of Oxford would be very loath to clamour in the House
of Commons for their enforcement. Bit, dead-letter as
they are now, they were once enforced with the utmost
rigour of the executive and many others, yet more
strigent which have been some time since, to the credit
of Parliament expunged. A barbarian code is not the
code for a civilised and enlightened race, aed, therefore,
the laws we speak of, have been abolished It is upon the
miseries entailed upon the victims of those enactments
this novelette has been penned. It is a melancholy and
distressing hut salutary and instructive picture. Hugh
Talbot is calculated to do good service in purging from
the popular mind that old leaven of bigotry and of
religious animosity which is still—though to an insig-
nificant extent—fermenting in the community. It is
likely to render all classes more charitable the one
towards the other, and to render the most obstinate and
zealous religionists indi-posed to tyrannise over their
neighbours. Dogmatism, of course, can never be got
rid of until human nature be thoroughly transformed,
but cruelty and petty despotism may be, and, indeed,
are now tolerably well overruled. That not only in
this country, but throughout the world generally, a
spirit of sympathy and brotherhood is spreading is
manifest. Through that expanding spirit Ibrahim
P4cha was induced to pay amicable visits to the courts
and people of Western Europe. Through that spirit
his children are being educated in French seminaries.
Through that spirit Dwarkanauth Tegore was prompted