The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-14 00:00:00

CRUIKSHANK'S OMNIBUS.

The present Number, which is the Fifth, of
this lively periodical, contains several humour-
ous plates, executed in Cruikshank's most cha-
racteristic manner,—to say nothing. of a full-
length portrait of Madlle. Rachel, in her fa-
vourite character of Mary Stuart. The prose and
verse are both excellent of their kind ; and we
may mention, in particular, a witty jeu d'esprit
entitled " A Song of Contradictions."

DUBLIN REVIEW—No. XXL
Dolman, London, 1841.
We cannot congratulate the Editor on the ea- 1
tertainment or the variety he has furnished us •
with in the present number. The articles are
few in number, and their paucity is . not atoned
for by their excellence. Among the best is an
essay on the subject of" German Prose Writers,"
in which we find a just and vigorous sketch of
the celebrated Lessing, " who," says the Re-
viewer, "boldly withstoo the prevailing common-
ness of thought and style, vigorously attacked and
discomfited the much-lauded French taste, and
spread far and wide in his numerous writings the
elements for the improvement of German litera- •
ture. He sought utterly to annihilate the imita-
tion of French errors. He looked upon the age
of Louis XIV. as weak and contemptible. The
ancients he honoured from the very bottom of
' his heart, and earnestly recommended the
study of them to his countrymen; but his
admiration was grounded on a true insight
into the nature and merits of the classic
master-pieces; while for the French perversions
and improvements, as they were denominated,
lie had the most intolerant scorn. With all his
reverence for the productions of the past, lie
was not one-sided, as he had a keen and just
appreciation of the literature of England, Spain,
and Italy, then but little known to Germany, so
dissimilar from that of Greece and Rome ; and.
laboured to introduce an acquaintance with its
best works, as an antidote to the feeble and
artificial as exhibited by that of France." We
certainly do not agree with the remarks here
made on the literature of Louis the Fourteenth's
reign. It was au artificial age as regarded man-
ners; but not so as regarded wit or eloquence,
for it was the age of Moliere and Massillon—one,
the great master of pulpit-eloquence, and the
other of humour; and each in his line, nearly
equally removed from the purely conventional
or artificial. " Southern Africa in 1840," re-
commends the emigration of Irish labourers to '
this colony, as opening out finer prospects to them
than either the Canadas, or the boasted
Australia have it in their power to afford.
" Moral and Intellectual Condition of Catholic
Germany" states that Catholic science in that
country has to struggle against numerous disad-
vantages ; but adds that, in spite of all obstacles,
it has achieved wonders. " The Liturgy of the
Anglican Church" is a heavy and tedious theo-
logical disquisition, which, so far as we can per-
ceive, has neither beginning, middle, nor end.
The one or two remaining articles are of the
usual average.

SMITH'S STANDARD LIBRARY.
Smith, London, 1841.

We have here three more Numbers of this
cheap and popular Miscellany, containing repub-
lication of" Bryant's Poems," and " Voltaire's
Charles the Twelfth," together with a transla-
tion of " Goethe's austus," made expressly, it
seems, for this edition. The Numbers are got
up in superior style, as regards print and paper.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY
CONVENTION.

A thick octavo, presenting verbatim reports of
the proceedings which took place during the
June season of the last year, by the Convention
held in London towards the total abolition of
Slavery and the Slave Trade. The infamous op-
pressions which exist in this modern " House of
Bondage"—the millions of whose victims stretch
from. France to the Brazils, from the land of
Mahomet to the limits of Patagonia—have here
their grievances presented to British sympathies,
for the purpose of British exertions being made
in their behalf, and it is hoped that power will
be found adequate to the demand.

KNIGHTS PICTORIAL EDITION OF SHAK

SPEARE.

The present part contains the play of Antony
and Cleopatra. The engravings and vignettes
are cut with a clear and accurate fineness. The
frontispiece, exhibiting Antony in the Market-
place with the " rare Egyptian" seated by his
side, groupcd with the pillars of Isis and Apis, is
choicely finished.