The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

KNIGHTS STORE OFKIVOWLEDGE. Part V.
C. Knight, London, 1841.

Another part of this useful Miscellany has just
made its appearance, and contains an account, ac-
companied by copious extracts, of several of our
old English ballads, from the pen of Allan Cun-
ningham, who has executed his task in a more
business-like spirit than we should have expected
from one of his poetic fancy.

DIBDIN'S SONGS. Part 111.
How and Parsons, London, 1841.
This edition is intended, we see, to include the
whole of Dibdin's songs, which have the recom-
mendation of being chronologically arranged,
with historical, biographical, and critical notes,
to which is added the music of the best and most
popular of the melodies, with new piano-forte
accompaniments. The edition is carefully got up,
and is reasonable in point of price.

JEM BUNT.
How and Parsons, London, 1841.
Jem Bunt is the production of a gentleman
who signs himself " The Old Sailor," and to
whom we are indebted for many amusing stories,
chiefly of a naval character. His present nar-
rative is, we are disposed to think, his best ; for
the various personages pourtrayed in it are
drawn with great spirit and attention to truth of
effect; and there is a breadth and vivacity in the
descriptions which the author has never before
attained. The incident where a harum-scarum
Naval Captain, Montagu, is represented as or-
dering his barge on shore ; placing it on a light
frame-work of a carriage to which six horses are
attached; stationing himself at the helm in full
uniform, with his crew of rowers all dressed out
in their best; and then rattling down the streets
of Portsmouth in this fantastic fashion—this gro-
tesque incident is related in the drollest possible
manner. The illustrations, which are numerous,
are from the pencils of Robert Cruikshank, and
various other artists of more or less note. As a
whole, Jem Bunt is not unworthy of Captain
Marryat, which is saying a great deal of it.

THE FARMER'S ALMANAC FOR 1842.
The Almanac of this year has been much im-
proved as compared with that of 1841, which was
the first number of a series to be continued an-
nually. In addition to the calendar, lists of the
Memberscf the two Houses of Parliament, stamp
duties, post-office, law terms, and the usual in-
formation in publications of this sort, it contains
very useful information for the agriculturist, ar-
ranged under each month of the year, grain tables,
the different agricultural societies, with the places
of meeting, and the names of the secretaries, to-
gether with complete lists of all the fairs in the
United Kingdom. The following is an extract
from the General Monthly Notices:—
Frost and snow are the usual accompaniments of De-
cember ; but in our fickle clime they are varying in
their degrees of intensity, sometimes lasting uninter-
ruptedlyfor months ; while in other winters the farmer
complains that he has not had frost and snow sufficient
for the fertilization of his land. Many erroneous ideas
were formerly entertained of the causes of the fertilizing
properties of the snow ; it was supposed that snow con-
tained saltpetre, and poetry failed r.ot, in its assistance,
to perpetuate the fiction.
"Is not thy potent energy unseen,
Myriads of little salts ?" * * * *
* * * " While through the blue serene,
For sight too fine, the etherial nitre flies."

But modern philosophy has shown other reasons for
the good effects produced by snow upon the lands of the
farmer. Melted snow is extremely prejudicial to the
numerous animalculm of the soil ; for snow water is Ao
totally free from vital air or oxygen gas, that even fish
perish if placed in it.
In the year 987, the frost, which set in on the 22d of
this month, lasted 120 days ; and that of 1729, which
lasted nine weeks, began on the 24th. But the great
frosts which have visited England have generally com-
menced much earlier ; the greatest frost of which we
have any account, that of 759, set in on the Ist of Oc-
tober, and lasted till the 26th of February.

A family, consisting of a man, his wife, and
two children, came, some short time ago, from Havre to
Paris, to seek employment, and took up their abode in
the Rue du Paubourg St. Antoine. After a while it
was observed by their neighbours that not one of them
had been seen to leave their room for several days, and
at length some great disaster was suspected. Breaking
the door open, the whole family were found nearly ex-
piring from starvation. They related that the Lather
and mother might have gained a livelihood by carding
wool, but had no means of procuring the necessary im-
plements. This drove them to despair, and they had re-
solved to seek relief in death by starving themselves.
Their neighbours immediately supplied them with sus-
tenance, and have since subscribed to purchase what was
which huiredas been offered them. to enable them to undertake some employmezt

FATAL SCAFFOLD ACCIDENT.--
Las
btxening
las3te uar tislof
an inquest was held at St. George's Hospital, n-0 Mr.
Higgs, touching the death of John Kelly, thirty
age, who expired therein on Sunday night
the following circumstances. It appeared in evidencec
er
that on the 14th of September last Kelly, who was a
labourer in the employ of Messrs. Byers and Moore,
builders, near Kilburn-mill, Paddington, was engaged on
a scaffold erected in front of the fourth story of one of
the many splendid buildings tow in the course of erec-
tion in liurper•fields, between Paddington and Bays.
water, when by some accident his foot slipped, and he
was precipitated to the ground, a distance of nearly sixty
feet, alighting, however, upon a heap of sand, or he
must have been dashed nearly to atoms. No time was
lost in conveying him to the above hospital, where it
was discovered that the vertebrae of his back was shock-
ingly fractured, and that he had also sustained some
severe internal injuries. He lingered in great agony
until Sunday night last. Deceased was a single man,
The Jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death."
Two brothers died at a village near Reading, in
1778, one 93, and the other 83 years of age, where for
many years they lived together in one room in the
meanest manner; they were never seen out of the parish,
and died worth 100,0004