The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-13 00:00:00

Francis Hastings Doyle, and Mr. Manes, both
of which were noticed in detail in The ,z-:a at
the period of their publication. The Reviewer
is, we think, unnecessarily severe in his strieitures
on the Baronet's verses, chiefly because he '1)-o-
-fc3scs to be an imitator and uizciple of Words-
worth, whose genius is here treated with very
little reverence, and the errors of his school
thus pointed out—" The blunder of the school
of -Wordsworth is this, that when the soul
is scarcely moved at ail—at least when it has no.
power to move any other soul; when it is dozing
through some dull dream, or describing some
litVe fat urchin, some new-born cock, kitten, or
puppy, it affects the dialect of the skies, and
humbles the fiery expression of noble thoughts
to the meanest uses of the poultry-yard or ken-
nel." There is great exaggeration in these re-
marks, though certainly it must be confessed
that not a few of Wordsworth's " Lyrical Bal-
lads " give some foundation for them. • The
" Horse Guards" is a review of the proceedings
of the Commander-in-Chief as respects the Earl
of Cardigan and his numerous disputes with his
brother officers. The article is shrewdly and dis•
passionately written, and the conclusion to which
the Reviewer comes is, " that the outrages which
have been committed on public feeling in all these
transactions demand a high satisfaction, which
the people—the just, and thinking, and reason-
ing people—will require, and which the Crown,
if well adVised, will not refuse." The " Wants
of Ireland" is penned in a cheerful, sanguine
spirit, and States with confidence that many cir-
cumstances have recently occurred which open
up the most cheering prospects of the future
destinies of the sister country. Of the articles
headed " Life of Pope Pius the Seventh," • " Ar-
bitrary Power, Popery, and Protestantism," and
"on Romanism in Ireland," we must content
ourselves with the remark that they possess little
interest for the general reader.

BELGIUM. 2 Voze.
Bentley, London, 1841.

One of the chief objects which Mr. Emerson
Tenuent proposed to himself in writing these
volumes—as he has stated in his dedication to
Lord Stanley—was to show the injury that has
occurred to Belgium from the repeal of its
union with Holland, and thereby to convince
Ireland of the peril in which she would place her
best and dearest interests, were she to be infa-
tuated enough to follow the same example, as
regards her connexion with Great Britain. As
this is a political, rather than a literary question,
we shall not discuss it in this place, but content
ourselves with remarking upon matters more ac-
ceptable to the general reader. As a traveller,
Mr. Tennent evinces much laudable curiosity,
and though his road lies through countries with
which few Englishmen are unacquainted, yet he
frequently contrives to entertain us by describ-
inc, things—as in the instance of some of his
sketches of Ghent and Bruges—which have es-
caped the researches of other travellers. There
are many pages in his work, however, which are
dull and tiresome in no common degree—
especially where he speaks of the agriculture and
manufactures of B elgium, which have already been
described so often that the subject retains not
the slightest vestiges of novelty or interest. Of
Bruges be tells us that " it is unlike any place
that one has been accustomed to before, and is
certainly the most perfect specimen of a town of
the middle ages on this side the Rhine. Its
houses have not been rebuilt in modern times,
and with their ample fronts, vast arched en-
trances, and sculptured ornaments, and fantastic
gables, are all in keeping with our s'ately im-
pressions of its feudal counts, and affluent but
turbulent burghers. The squares maintain the
same character of dignity and gravity, oversha-
dowed with old ancestral trees, and flanked by
their municipal halls and towers, the monuments
of a time when Bruges was the Tyre of Western
Europe, and her counts and citizens combined
the enterprise and wealth of the merchants with
the fiery bearing of the soldier." Our author's
notices of Ghent—hackneyed as is the theme—
are amusing enough; but he is far too lengthy
in his descriptions-of Brussels; and in his second
volume becomes positively prosy in his accounts
of joint-stock speculations in Belgium.