The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FINDEN'S TABLEAUX.
'Arch and Armstrong, London, 1840.
" The kindred arts of Design and of Poetry,"
says Miss Mitford, the editor of this Annual, in her
preface, " have been so frequently employed upon
the graceful and gorgeous grouper of the days of
chivalry, that it has been resolved in the present
volume to try whether the simple representation of
English country life, such scenes as we see con-
stantly before our eyes, and which come home to
every bosom, might not prove as attractive- as the
illusions of romance. The experiment has been
made to the best of our power ; the result must
remain with the public." Miss Mitford need be
under little apprehension for the result of her ex-
periment, so far as her own exertions are concerned,
for her prose sketches of English sylvan life are as
racy and heartfelt as any that she has ever penned ;
in proof of which we may mention her tale entitled
" Hop Gathering," with its arch allusion to " the
strange vagabomlising, gipsy sort of cart which
was passing over the Loddon-bridge, and looked
as if it had never paid any duty." Her fellow con-
tributors, also, George Darley—who, strange to tell,
unites the mathematician with the poet—and Miss
Harrison, have acquitted themselves successfully;
but here our praise must stop, for the illustrations,
with one or two exceptions, are certainly not what
we could have wished them to be. " The Return
from the Fair," though the design is a good one,
is but indifferently executed ; indeed, there is a
manifest violation in it of the laws of perspective,
for the shades in the distance, where the Fair is
going on, are quite as boldly and distinctly marked
as those in the foreground. The " Love Token "
is the best plate in the volume. The figure of the
pretty young village girl who is receiving a senti-
mental souvenir from the hands of her rustic sweet-
heart, is very gracefully defined. She looks as
plump as a partridge, and as buoyant and sprightly
as a fawn. The remaining plates exhibit no re-
markable excellence, whether of design or execution.

MR. ELLAR TETE HARLEQUIN'S BENEFIT.--Having
called public attention, and the members of his own pro-
fession, to the pecuniary distress of the veteran Harlequin
Eller, our suggestion has been followed with promptness,
and we hope ultimately to find that it has been crowned
with success. It has been arranged that he takes a benefit at the Victoria Theatre to-morrow. Mr. T. P. Cooke
was the first to come forward to serve his old friend Eller.
Mr. Yates, of the Adelphi, has permitted Mr. Wieland and
Mr. Atkinson to play for that night, and for the former he
has also allowed the use of one of the most popular of
the Asielphi pieces. Mr. • Morgao, the celebrated Irish
singer, also renders his assistance. S Ine of the most
admired pantomimis:s and ballet•performers have volun-
teered their services, and it would appear that the diffi-
culty of procuring the assistance of attractive names was
nothing, but that considerable embarrassment was occa-
sioned by the necessity of declining the many kind offers
which were made for the occasion, in consequence of which
Mr. Ellar has been enabled to blend together a combina-
tion of talent, and furnish a loin, which for selection and
versatility of amusements is seldom to be met with at any
description of theatre, and such a bill as, independent of
every other consideration, ought to draw a crowd. The
lessee of the theatre has granted the use of the house on
terms the most liberal and disinterested. Messrs. Dale
and Harding, stage and acting managers, have spared no
pains or trouble in their respective departments.—Morning
Advertiser.
A few days ago a fine cock pheasant, which had
perched itself on the roof of the house of Mr. Fowler, a
pastry-cook at Eton, was shot at and brought down by a
man named Bradshaw, who was by chance passing along
the street with a loaded gun at the time.