The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-05 00:00:00

BELLE ASSEMBLEE.

A monthly periodical devoted to love tales, in
prose and verse, and sketches of ladies' fashions.
Of the sort of thing it is a fair enough specimen.

LITERATURE.

FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING.
Smith and Elder, London, 1840.
The Annual season is now about to set in—as
Canning once observed of a cold English summer—
" with its usual severity." These glittering ephe-
mera, however—the mere butterflies of literature,
could not make their appearance at a more fitting pe-
riod, for the month of gloom and fog and melan-
choly is close at hand ; and the Annuals, with their
gay -exterior, their picturesque embellishments, and
their pleasant tales, in prose and verse, are Just the
sort of companions likely to enable us to pass away an
hour or so agreeably, by our fireside. It is for this
reason—as we have more than once observed—that
we make a point of treating them gently. Indeed,
criticism is wholly out of place in noticing them,
for they are intended only to afford amusement
for an idle half hour or so to those who are
willing to be entertained with the veriest trifles ;
and then to be thrown aside and forgotten.
The Annual before us—" Friendship's Offering,"
a most conciliatory title, by-the-bye--is the
first of its class we have yet seen, and hitherto has
been one of the best. So far as we can judge,
from a hasty perusal of its contents, there appears
to be no falling off in its literary character ; while,
as regards its illustrations, they are even better than
they were last year. " View in the Campagna
near Rome" is a picturesque sylvan sketch, which
exhibits some clever effects of light and shade—to
say nothing of a mountain back-ground defined
with remarkable distinctness and boldness. The
tiny vessel skimming across the lake, and the two
male figures who are standing near a temple in the
foreground, serve to break the still-life of the scene,
and impart to it just that sort of animation which
is wanting to complete the effect. The " Bey's
Daughter" represents an Oriental landscape, over
which the artist has contrived to throw the hot,
sultry glare of noon-tide. The figures seated
in a state of repose by the river's brink
are grouped together with much elegance. " Con-
stantinople" brings before us, at a glance, many
of the most striking architectural beauties of this
Queen of Cities. The engraving is a highly
finished one, even down to the minutest points,
and does credit to the skill and patience of the
artist, Goddan. " Mary, Queen of Scots," shows
us this celebrated Princess halting in her retreat after
the disastrous batticofLangside. The plate isspirited,
hut the fugitives, foremost among whom stands
the Queen, are huddled together too confusedly in the
foreground. " The Happy Valley" is a truly
poetic conception, and realizes Johnson's well-
known description ill liasselas. Great breadth of
effect is given to the deep shadows in this picture.
The poetry of this Annual is neither better nor
worse than usual ; but the prose tales which are
numerous, are most of them excellent ; and among
the best, is an oriental legend entitled " The King,
the Fisherman, and the Fisherman's Daughter,"
which possesses much of the wild, romantic in-
terest of the Arabian Nights.

ACUTE lIYDROCEPHALUS, or WATER
IN THE HEAD, AN INFLAMMATORY
DISEASE, and CURABLE EQUALLY
and the SAME MEANS with other DIST'
of INFLAMMATION, by DA „ ...d.A SE S
niTapytluoor,f2,7td p:
au;
ni
.13 D A ris, 1
Le of the disease described
Itlft. Dw.c;u6.ldc.
-4d in us to deliver any
opinion as to the nat..•
by Dr. Davis
beL London,
ct lis meth dof .1 ) 0 cure. It may,
however, ' '''
# t) advaiitageous to the public to spread