The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FACTS AND FIGURES 71,W0-if ITALY. By

Don Jeremy Savonarola.
Everybody knows that Don Jeremy Savonarola
means Father Prout, and that Prout means Mahony ;
and, knowing this, "everybody (as the old saying, is)
who can be considered
fromelng
and Figures from Italy," being
has read Facts
a Italy,"sor t politicalhy
e hrl
a ese-
quel to the " Picturess
D Flnarteh, eranPtrioanuturhiasan
of icnkleasnssin
peouurdeditn
finort, andhs eclecticuchafd
facetiousness in the correspondencer published by him
contemporary, that the
a
in the columns of a daily
letters which from another writer
iniht
of gossip might
foundav-e
worthy
. Ahu n.
merely, ephemeral budgets ar
of a distinct appearance on their completion
dred years hence posterity will turn to these merry
pages of Father Prout with a zest such as that with
which we ourselves pore over the small-talk of good
Mr. Evelyn, Secretary to the Admiralty during the
days of the lerry Monarch. We will not undertake
to assert that the gossip of Mr. Mahony is in like
manner to be looked upon as gospel. Indeed, it was
scarcely possible that chapters written on the first
whisper of some novel and startling intelligence from
the Eternal City should not occasionally be marred
by inaccuracies or misrepresentations. In a
clever criticism upon the Peruvian works of
Prescott and Tshudi, the Quarterly Review has just
observed that South America is fortunate in her
historian, and that Mr. W. H. Prescott is fortunate
in being the historian of South America. With the
necessary alterations of name and place, we might
say the same of Father Prout and the Italy of Now-
a- days ; for modern Italy has been fortunate in her
vivacious and sagacious observer, and Father Prout
is peculiarly fortunate in being able to comment upoa
such events and movements as have latterly transpired
in that noble peninsula. Of the materiel of " Facts
and Figures," and particularly of the style of their
composition, it would be needless to say anything;
the materiel has been noised abroad and welcomed
with enthusiasm by all the lovers of liberality on the
habitable globe, and the style of the composition has
become familiar to the readers of the j ournals—being the
manner peculiar to the prose writings of this Rabellais
of feuilletonists—a style racy of Milesia, sweet in the
honey sucked from bookdom, and abounding with
graceful turns of rhetoric and felicitous snatches
of rhythm. Father Prout always writes with
a gusto, but he has penned the present
chapters with a relish beyond all description, for his
whole heart has been in what he has written, and his
whole nature has been aroused with exultation by,
the circumstances that have illustrated the new Pon-
tificate. The account of Don Jeremy himself, which
is prefixed to the volume, is, however, a laboured
piece of pleasantry, which forms an indifferent intro-
duction to a very attractive work. That work is
divided into two parts : Part the First being " The
Fag-end of an Old Reign," and Part the Second
being "The Bright Dawn of Better Days." The
brief interregnum between the Pontificates of Gre-
gory and Pius is described in " A few intercalary
blank leaves between the Old Regimen and the
New," purported to be filled up by the Booksellers
Hack in Ordinary. Of those two most memorable
epochs for Italy—the stagnant and effete one of
Gregorio XVI. and the effulgent and vigorous one of
Pio IX.—how much is there of a suggestive cha-
racter that might be hinted by a commentator ! The
depressive Blooms of the Past—the propitious beam-
ings of the Future! The remembered sorrows, and the
anticipated joys ! The prolonged opprobrium of the
one and the sudden glory of the other ! Father
Prout has here commented upon the reminiscent an-
guish and prospective happiness of the Italians in a
spirit of congenial liberality. And, while he depre-
cated the absolute policy of the late Pope, he had
gentleness and generosity enough to dismiss him with a
panegyric, where he wrote, on the 24th of May, 1846,
" When he (Gregory XVI.) dies, you may fairly
reproduce the words of your Lord Bacon concerning
his namesake and predecessor,—' Gregory XIII. ful-
filled the age of eighty-three years, an absolute good
man, sound in mind and in body, temperate, full of
good works, and an almsgiver.'—(Nocum Oryanum,
chapter on Life and Death)." On the Ist of the
June following the Benedictine monk, Don Mauro
Capellari, Gregory XVI. expired, and immediately
afterwards Count John Mastai Ferretti was raised to
the pontifical chair by the name of Pope Pius IX.
That event, so glorious for Italian independence, an
event, indeed, which has already resulted in the
emancipation of the Italian peninsula, and in the en-
viable celebrity of Pope Pius, has found a passionate
applauder in Father Prout. He it was who first
pronounced that noblest of all panegyrics upon the
reforming Pontiff,—" Fuit honzo missus a Deo, cui
nomen erat Johannes," (see p. 299.) His
voice was among the first 'that proclaimed to
England the glorious and most memorable crusade
of liberality which was commenced by Pius in the
City on the Seven Hills. For this alone the volume
would be an acceptable addition to the libraries, even
were it not rendered attractive by the caustic satire,
the agreeable drollery, the spontaneous wit, and
perpetual and imperturbable good humour of its
accomplished author. Of the drollery of " Facts and
Figures," a drollery rendered pungent by a dash of
sarcasm, we need say nothing when we refer to the
mention, at p. 78, of Prince Metternich as " the old
Mephistophiles of Vienna." As to the wit, here is
a single sentence :—" The state of Modena is to Italy
what a gradual ossification of the heart would be to
the human system," (see p. 20.). The book is ele-
gantly bound in the Ferretti colours, white and
orange, and cannot impair the literary reputation of
Mr. ahony, alias Prout, alias Savonarola.

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.

THE DIVER HYDE'S APPARATUS—
HEINKE'S PATENTS.
The principal novelty in the present series of ex-
hibitions here is Hyde's new submarine conversing
apparatus, the object of which is chiefly to enable a
diver to communicate more frequently and more
freely with those who above water assist his sub-
marine operations, and have his safety and relief
under their control than he can do by the contrivances
heretofore in use. The construction and the applica-
tion of Mr. Hyde's invention were last evening very
lucidly explained by Mr. Cripps in the course of his
lecture and illustrations upon submarine operations
with the diver and diving-bell. So far as the object
in view is concerned, it may be said, generally, that
it is effected by the apparatus. Persons above
the water converse freely and easily through
a tube with the person who is submerged, even to a
, great depth. Yet the question must suggest itself, is
I not this attained with greater risk and complication
than the object itself is worth ?. Is there not an ob-
vious danger to the diver from the liability of this
additional air-tube (for such it is) to rupture, to his
tvhearyt
apsr
allob ablethe
rdestruction
tl's 0
flsa its unbo further
mt
arineoopbvi
eraotusor:
mu n i c alot!.yo nm
means
sh
of ''
tahbao "above,"
aair.c,
dialquite
a t
fiulyse supplieduse, it is not desirable to add to the difficul-
ties
his
equipments manage,nw when
m contrivance the
e fact
i t .
complicatedis
.s et
ehmats he
toteh
bahe
tpsbiaryetesiswsefoanaithiolloirs hazardous and toilsome employment, by
giving him another set of apparatus to attend to and
findsgttenough
hast: that
hhlati
In
this
the situation in tvl-,ici-,
work calls for the constant and
helmet-diver
free as 'possible tant steady concentration
of a clear and r v 1
experiment,ee";roulrlte mind,
auxiliary and
distractions. should
Theas
proves very ho',vever, is an interesting addition to the
illustrations of the subject in this institution, and
attractive. The helmet and diving dress
to whiel the conversing tubes, &c., are attached, are
those, of Mr. E. Heinke's latest patent improve-
mynts, and although the improved contrivances
'are as simple as they are ingenious, they
an• the are of the very highest importance to the safety
and comfort of the diver, and to the facliilaitbyleo
tof hbise
ipt t, h
b that t thesefrom
arehe ter operations. Those who have seen the diving helmet
accidents and
bknowroke
broken,
na to
not
to isnl
only
rfo.rvoimd e db e
iwith
sugbl
Jae
tes
t to
o
and
dit
pressurem at certain cbeertan supposeddehs
collisions which may occur to the
the debris of an exploded operator amongst
wreck,
or rock. In fact, about or sand bank,
at Whitstable, one of the
the helmet and dress glasses was broken, and
man was drawn u ' becoming filled with water, the
p m an exhausted
state ; nor was
he pronounced out of danger for several months. Mr.
Heinke has fitted patent slides to the helmet, b'j which in the event of
of the glass
ture is giving
closed instantly, way, the ape-I--
and the only inconvenieiace
incurred is the
want of light. This
would not be
very great of course if
The addition of new ' only one glass gave -way.
caon.necting screws to Var.; hose,
with patent safety ea
another improvement of
great value for ensuring'' is
safety, and a regular and
uninterrupted
communication of air. Aut should
i
there be any interruption of the communication, by
accident to the hose
or othern se, Mr. Heinke has
provided another very beautiful contrivance to avert
the danger at the moment. In the upper part
of the dress there is a, reserve of air suffi-
cient to support life Tor twenty minutes or
more, and the moment the supply from above
is suspended, a doubler-.acting valve is brought
into play, and passes the air reserved into the head-
piece. By the working of the same valve the diver's
comfort and health are provided for, as it will not
allow the air to be coll ected within the helmet, so as
to produce heat and oppression of the head and chest.
In the course of the evening Dr. Bachhoffner de-
livered an interesting and instructive lecture upon
the properties and the mode of formation of the
principal gases. His illustrations were, as usual, of
the most satisfactory kind, and very brilliant.
They
were much applaud*, 1. The new series of dissolving-
views are very att., active, and the new • music wit,. 1-.
-
which they are ace iompanied, reflects r tg ea creedt oa
the skill and taste. of Dr. •ais 1r
, the able direr ,tor of
music to the insti kat jou.