The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE SPORTSMAN IN IRELAND, 2 Vols.
Culburn, London, 1840,

The idea of this work seems to have been suggested
by Mr. Maxwell's " Wild Sports of the West"—a
sporting publication which, on its first appearance some
few years ago, attained at once great and merited popu-
larity, by the vigour of its descriptions, the point and
terseness of its style, and the free and easy play of its
humour. Much of this may be traced in the volumes
before us ; and both, for aught we know to the con-
trary, may be the production of the same gentleman.
At any rate it is impossible to read the one, without
the other being instantly recalled to one's mind. The
" Cosmopolite"—so the author before us designates him-
self—entertains us with a variety of minute, graphic
details of his fishing excursions in the western dis-
tricts of Ireland, especially along the line of the Kerry
coast, and among the vast lakes in the neighbourhood
of Connemara, which he emphatically describes as the
most sterile spot to be met with on the broad surface of
the globe. In these excursions he was accompanied by
an old Irish major of infantry, whom he pourtrays in
very lively colours, as telling the most incredible ro-
mances from a mere frolicsome love of exaggeration.
Same of this veteran's marvellous tales are full of racy
humour, and would have delighted the congenial spirit
of the lean P.inurge, or the adipose Falstaff. Bat
to us, the most entertaining portions of the " Cosmopo-
lite's" work, are—not the particulars of his adventures
among the• Connemara mountains, or the wild charac-
teristic legends which he tells of them, but—the cursory
reflections, which he throws off from time to time, on
the present state of Ireland, the causes of the universal
distress prevailing among the peasantry in the southern
and western districts, and the most likely means of
ameliorating their condition. Here our author shows
himself a man of good common sense, and—what is
better still—of sterling humanity. In ail his remarks
upon absenteeism, one of the great curses of the
country, we beg to offer our most cordial concurrence.

THREE YEARS IN CANADA. Two Vol..
Bentley, London, 1840.
The chief recommendation of this work is the spirit
of uniform impartiality that pervades it. Mr. Preston,
the author, who was for some time resident in Canada,
and chanced to be on the spot when the late disastrous
disturbances broke forth, furnishes us with very minute
particulars respecting them, and, so far as we are able
to farm an opinion, traces them to their proper source,
and suggests remedies for, what he calls in his preface,
" their radical cure." His first volume is the most en-
tertaining ; and in it we find some just observations on
the subject of Mackenzie's outbreak, which, observes
the author, "it is 6ffieult to identify with the people's
cause," adding that " its object could not have been
what it professed to be, the redress of grievances, or it
must have proved more popular."

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Strt,—Perhaps the following hint to those whom it
may concern may not be unacceptable to the truly libe-
ral spirit of your widely-circulated Journal :
Last Sunday it was my good fortune to pass as plea-
sant a day as ever I did in my life. It was at a com-
mercial room in the populous town of —.
At dinner we mustered sixteen intelligent and agree-
able men. After the cloth was removed, among other
topics the fate of Mr. Thorogood was brought up, and
commented on with much good sense. One sentiment,
however, from the chairman, struck me particularly,
and thich was heartily responded to by all the party :
" I have made it a rule for twenty years of my life to
go to Church of a forenoon, whether at hone or on a
journey. But hang me," added he, " if the shop ever
sees me again if this poor devil dies in gaol."
From your constant reader,
MERCATOR.

May 14, 1840.

SPOTS ON THE SUN.—The opinion suggested
by Sir William Herschell, that the spots on the sun might pos. ,
sibly diminish the temperature of the air, by preventing the
passage of heat from that part of the disc occupied by them,
has not been confirmed during the present spring; for it is
well known to those persons who are in the practice of looking
at the sun with telescopes, that there have been very many
spots observed on its disk for some time past, yet the
temperature of the air has been higher than for many years
at this period. The spots during the last two weeks have been
numerous, and some of them of considerable magnitude, Gem--
yinq a portion of space many times larger than the earth.
vying
are no less than half a dozen clusters of dark spots tra-
versing the solar disk, two or three of which are large and nu-
merous, but they cannot be seen without the assistance of a
small telescope.
he candidates for Ludlow are Mr. Larpent, the
well-known City merchant, on the Liberal side, and Mr. Bot-
field, an iron-master, on the Tory.