The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-31 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ITALY.—THE IND IC'ATOR, Part IL—BEATI-
MONTA ND FLETCHER, Part IT'.—HALL'S
CHILI, PERU, 4.c., Part I.
Moxon, London, 1840.
We have often taken occasion to speak in terms of
praise of Mr. Moxon's republications of standard works,
and shall continue so to do, so long as they are got up
in their present cheap, convenient, and elegant form.
Here, lying on our desk, are not less than four of them,
each of which is remarkable for the neatness of its
exterior, and the beauty and distinctness of its type.
The speculation is evidently a thriving one, or the
publisher would not follow it up with sdch spirit ; and
thus encouraged, we hope he will do the same for the
other British essayists and dramatists, that he has done,
or is doing rather, for Leigh Hunt's ‘• Indicator," and
Beaumont and Fletcher's plays. Why, too, should he not
is the satuitasteful form, Burton's " Anatomy
of Melanchely"—Fuller's " Worthike—one of the
eittainteittand -most- amusing )Iraiks -eves Oenned ; and,
Grammont's " MemoirsrWhich.are replete —With the
arches[ and most characteristic court gossip of the days
of die merry-monarch.?. These are .but a few among
hundreds ofaimilar republictitilms-that,we.could suirgest
to and which would be sate to be well receiv,eo by
the reading part of the community.

DICK WH TTING TON,'Part 1.

Cunningham, London, 1840

We must see more of this work before we can venture
to give a decided opinion of it ; at present, all we can
say is, that it promises well, and brat the embellishments
are of the ,usual average in point of merit.

ELEVEN YEARS IN CEYLON-2 VoLs.
,Bentley, London, 1840.
The islana, of Ceylon is associated in the mind of the
lover of romantic literature with ninny. interesting re-
collectiois: It, was here, in the recesses of its almost
impenetrable mountain forests, that the once celebrated
Lewis laid the scene,,of,his striking tale " The Ana-
conda"; here, ,Sinbad the Sailor, made one of his
famous halts, and encountered one of his most marvel-
lous adventtiresi and hsrd,* too, one of our oldest voy-
agers—reitarkabld for his simple credulity and un-
bounded with the tiipernatOral--4nhaled those deli-
cious odonrs,"While yet/ half 'a league • from the shore,.
which made him fancy, he tells ,9s; that he was ap-
proaching .Paradise—an idea which, it may be re-t
membered, furnished Milton with one .of-his most de-
lightful similes. IlLthepresent volumes, Major Forbes,
who resided eteien years in Ceylon, has given us the
amplest details We:belie jiet met with, of this so mhat:
vaunted island bit hlas ! he encountered no gigardlq.
snakes swmaing 'NA V the top of lofty trees, Zvial:
beads touching ; no elephants upwards
of twelve feet; high, and not one single 'mountain
which had -the slightest pretensions to .vie. in elei
vation with-thd Peak pf. Tsneriffe! During the wholq
period of his stay in the island, he heard of-no snakei
or anacondas longer than seventeen feqi ; largest
elephant was scarcely, bigger than the one now exhibit-
ing in the ZdolOgical Gardens of the Iteg'efit's Park ;
and his loftiest mountain—Adam's Peak, at it is called
—attained no greater height than seven thousand feet
and odd. But if he saw no such marvels as•thisromance
writers and old voyagers have so grarthicalirdeseribed,
he met with plenty of adventuresin his rdmht,etthrough
Ceylon ; and not the least interesting were his encoun-
ters with wild elephants, which he pourtrays, with the
true gusto and freshness of an inveterate sportsman.
Here is his account of his first glimpse of one in a thick
jungle :