The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-21 00:00:00

seises of taste. Though as a dry, sarcastic hu-
mourist, the Dean of St. Patrick's is without a
.rival, yet his writings seldom give genuine
pleasure; we are struck, it is true, with the
vigorous intellect they display ; hut, at the
same time, we are disgusted with the cold,
heartless, cynical spirit that pervades them. In-
stead of elevating, improving, and refining hu-
manity, Swift's constant object seems to be to
degrade it as much as possible. Spleen and in-
veterate misanthropy are the inspiration of al-
most every sentence he penned. Yet his ad-
mirers call him a moralist. If so, he is a moralist
of the lowest and most repulsive class, It is not
a little singular that the most unsocial of authors
should have had the most social of biographers,
and that that biographer should have been one
of his warmest eulogists. Extremes, it is said,
meet; and this is a case in point.

DICTIONARY OF DATES, 6•c.
By Joseph Haydn. Moron, London.

This is a book of general reference, relating to
all ages and nations, comprehending the most re-
markable occurrences, ancient and modern, such
as discoveries in arts and science, battles and re-
volutions, together with copious details relating
to the British empire. It contains upwards of
15,000 articles alphabetically arranged, the
authorities for which are quoted, and the date of
events given as correctly as can be ascertained.
It is nut only a useful book of reference, but
furnishes a great variety of interesting informa-
tion, and will be found very convenient for killing
an hour or two on a wet day. There is scarcely
any subject of which it does not give some no-
tice, such as lists of all the Sovereigns of the
European States, the history of their institu-
tions and government, an account of the prin-
cipal theatres, hospitals, churches, bridges, &c.
It is indeed a work of immense labour and re-
search, teeming with interesting matter. The
Dictionary of Dates is a history of the world, em-
bracing in a condensed form all that has agitated
or delighted society from the remotest period
to the present time. To the general reader—the
man of leisure or business—to persons connected
with art, science, or the public press, it must
prove an indispensable companion, an every-day
book of reference. In its varied pages they will
find in a moment that information which it might
otherwise cost them hours or perhaps days to
obtain. Mr. Haydn merits our best wishes for
the-success of his Dictionary, which is printed
in a beautiful and handsome style, and forms al-
together the most comprehensive book of the
kind that has fallen under our observation. We
give the following extracts as specimens :
HOHENLINDEN, BATTLE OF, between the Austrian
and French armies, the latter commanded by General
Moreau. The Imperialists were defeated with great
loss, their killed and wounded amounting to 10,000 men,
and their loss in prisoners to 10,000 more. November
3, 1800.

FORGERY.—The forging of, or giving in evidence

forged deeds, &c., made punishable by fine, by standing
in the pillory, having both ears cut off, the nostrils slit
up and seared, the forfeiture of land, and perpetual im-
prisonment, 5 Elizabeth, 1562. Forgery was first
punished by death in 1634. Since the establishment of
paper credit, a multitude of statutes have been- enacted.
Forging letters of attorney for the transfer of stock
was made a capital felony in 1772. Mr. Ward, M.P., a
man of prodigious wealth, was expelled the House of
Commons for forgery, May 16, 1726 ; and was consigned
to the pillory, March 17, the following year. The value
of forged notes which were presented at the Bank during
ten years, from Jan. 1, 1801, was nominally 101,6611.—
Bank Returns. In one year (1817) the Bank prosecuted
142 persons for forgery or the uttering of forged notes.—
Parliamentary Returns. Statutes reducing into one Act
all such forgeries as shall henceforth be punished with
death, 1 William IV. 1830. The punishment of forgery
with death ceased by statute 2 and 3 William IV.,
August, 1832, except in cases of forging or altering wills
or powers of attorney to transfer stock ; but these cases
also are no longer punishable by death, having been re-
duced to transportable offences, by Act 1 Victoria,
July 1837.
FORGERY, REMARKABLE EXECUTIONS FOR.—The un-
fortunate Daniel and Robert Perreau, brothers and wine.
merchants, were hanged at Tyburn, January 17, 1776.
The Rev. Dr. Dodd was found guilty of forging a bond,
in the name of Lord Chesterfield, for 4,2001.: the
greatest interest was made, and the highest influence was
exerted to save him, but when the case came before the
Council, the Minister of the day said to George 111., "If
your Majesty pardon Dr. Dodd, you will have murdered
the Perreaus ; ' and he was hanged accordingly, June 27,
1777. John Hatfield, a heartless impostor, who had in-
veigled " Mary of Buttermere," the celebrated beauty,
into a marriage with him, was hanged for forgery, at
Carlisle, September 3, 1803. Mr. Henry Fauntleroy,
London banker, was hanged, November 30, 1824. Jo-
seph Hunton, a quaker merchant, suffered death, De-
cember 8, 1828. The last criminal hanged for forgery
at the Old Bailey, was Thomas Maynard, Deember 31,
1829.

EPICURE'S ALMANACK.
How and Parsons. London. 1841.

Almost all classes of people, says Doctor John-
son, are fond of reading about eating and drink-
ing. This is an observation founded upon
experience. Who • forgets the numerous im-
promptu meals described by Homer with such
unction in his Iliad, and more especially
in his Odyssey; Milton's recherche ac-
count of the feast spread before our Saviour
by the Devil in the wilderness ; Cervantes's
description of Carnacho's wedding-party, at
which Sancho made such prodigious havoc among
the flesh-pots; Captain Rolando'sjollification in
the robber's cavern, which Le Sage has dwelt
on with such gusto; Amelia's snug little
supper, with the bottle of white-wine,
brought expressly to cheer the spirits
of her desponding husband, which forms one of
the most delicious, episodical tit-bits in Fielding's
novels; Walter Scott's tempting details of the
breakfast given by Louis the Eleventh to
Quentin Durward, and the dinner of game and
poultry set before Dominic Sampson by the witch,
Meg Merrilies ; and, above all, Boswell's admi-
rable account of the party at Dilly's, the book-
seller, when Wilkes—anxious to get into the
good graces of Doctor Johnson—kept incessantly
plying him with the daintiest bits at table, till
at last the sturdy moralist—high Tory as
he was—was compelled to confess, with a
growl, that, after all, " Jack was an excellent
fellow ?" These are incidents which we all re-
member, because they come home to the sym-
pathies of us all. We are all to a certain. ex-
tent epicures, the savage equally with the civil-
ised man ; and no greater pride did Cambaceres
—the prince of modern gastronomists—take in the
arrangement of his cuisine, than does the Red In-
dian in his buffalo's hump, and the Laplander in
his rein-deer tongue, and fish fried in blubber.
The late Doctor Kitchener was well aware of the
general prevalence of epicurean. tastes among us,
and appealed to them with much adroitness in
his famous " Receipt-book," which in the course
of one year went through, heaven knows how
many editions ! The work deserved its po-
pularity ; but not more so, we think, than
the little volume before ,us, which is devoted
to the same tempting theme, and treats it with a
tact and skill that convinces us that the author, Mr.
Benson Hill, is a gastronomist of superior capa-
bilities. He does not give us his receipts from
mere hearsay; he is not a servile copyist of
Ude or Rundall, or Meg Dodds; but gives
us the results of his own practical experience,
having himself made trial of the efficacy of
every individual receipt with which be favours
us. That he is original in many ,of his notions
is greatly to his credit ; and should win I►im
the respect—not to say, the reverence—of the
Court of Aldermen, where originality in gas-
tronomic matters is greatly needed., How novel,
for instance, are his ideas on the subject of
" Calfs Head ;" and how vivid his impressions
on the mode of dressing a turtle, which, he
tells us, should first be hung up, with its
head downwards, and then be promptly
and scientifically " decollated !" On the mo-
mentous question of " Stewed Ox-tails" he is.
ingenious, if not profound; and we feel that
we cannot too highly laud the acumen and saga-
city that has thrown quite a new light on the
subject of a " Brown Fricassee of Rabbits." In
his thoughts on " Pease Pudding," however,
Mr. Hill is, we conceive, somewhat too daringly
original, and would be apt to entail a serious
flatulence on any epicure who would adopt
his views of the case but not so . with his
Receipt for a " Giblet Pie," which has the rare
merit of novelty in its minor details, while, in
its main points, it keeps within the limits
of a becoming orthodoxy. Having told us how
to dress a dinner fin• every day in the year, we
wish Mr. Hill had told us also how to get it
without detriment to our exchequer, which is the
only valuable piece of intelligence wanting to
render his book perfect. The only individual
who could have furnished us with useful practi-
cal hints on this delicate point, was the illustri-
ous Dando—but he, alas! has been long since
gathered to the great and good of past ages.

LIFE OF PETRARCH. 2 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1841.

In an advertisement prefixed to the first
volume of this biographical memoir, Mr. Camp-
bell, the author, informs us that he was led to
undertake it more from accident than design.
" It was known," he says, " that Archdeacon
Coxe had bequeathed to the library of the Bri-
tish Museum a manuscript life of the poet which
he had written. Mr. Colburn caused a copy of
it to be taken ; and, intending it for publication,
requested me to be the editor. I readily agreed,
for as the Archdeacon had corviderable literary
reputation, I could not imagine that lie had left
to a work that was
great public institution any