The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-15 00:00:00

the aristocratic body. The showy, unprincipled Boling-
broke has no decisive proofs of this sort to allege in
favour of his claims to unequalled influence in the senate ;
while, as regards his statesmanship, it is impossible to
think too meanly of it. He betrayed both the parties to
whom, in succession, he attached himself ; had no sense
of national honour ; and was moved by no springs of
action but those of self-interest. His own personal ag
grandisement was all he ever looked to ; his ambition
was of so poor a character—though the Reviewer says
otherwise—that he felt deeply aggrieved by the loss of a
blue riband ; and to revenge this slight to his vanity—
we cannot call it ambition—be did not hesitate to run
the chance of plunging England into a protracted civil
war. As a writer, we agree with Mr. Macaulay
that he showed much acuteness of thought and
flowing natural eloquence, though at times his style
is by no means devoid of inflation. One of his
most brilliant passages, as respects both expression
and conception, may be found in his " Reflections on
Exile," where he enumerates the sources of pleasure
which an intellectual being may derive, even in
banishment and solitude, from the daily and nightly con-
templation of the heavens and the earth. We are sur-
prised that, in giving specimens of Bolingbroke's man-
ner, the Reviewer did not select this passage, for it is
infinitely more striking than any that he has quoted.
" Works of the Author of the Natural History of En-
thusiasm," is a clever metal- hysical essay ; in places,
however, a little vague and cloudy. In the article
headed " Present State and Conduct of Parties," there
is no want of sound, temperate reasoning. The Re-
viewer well says—" Public confidence in the Queen's
Government must increase daily. But, to insure this
result, the political friends of the party must act with
discretion and forbearance." Of the remaining articles,
the most entertaining is the notice of Mr. Cooper's late
one-sided history (as was to be expected) of the Ame-
rican navy.

THE PSYCHE. No. 111.
Smallwood, London, 1840.
A light, readable periodical, in the present Number
of which there is a curious and instructive essay on the
suppoed destruction of the Ptolemean Library at Alex-
andria, by the Saracens ; wherein the author endeavours
to show, and, we think, he makes good his case, that the
magnificent Library in question was not destroyed by
the followers of the Prophet. " Eutychius," he ob-
serves, " the Patriarch of Alexandria, a native of Egypt
and born in the nireh century, when the triumphs of the
Saracens must have been well remembered, is totally
silent on the subject of the conflagration, though he has
inserted in his annals a minute account of the siege and
capture of the city. George Elmacin, the chronicler
of the Saracens, a native of Egypt also, and who lived
at the commencement of the twe►fth century, makes not
the slightest allusion to so important and so fatal a
transaction. The geographer, Abulfeda, in his learned
treatise, is also silent on the subject, while from the fact
of his having composed a life of Mahomet, we should
conclude that he was interested in. and acquainted
with, the conquests and actions of the Arabian warriors.
Murtadi, and many less conspicuous among the Sara-
cenic writers, offer by their silence strong opposition to
the unsupported evidence of the primate of the Jaco-
bites." Among the more sprightly articles in the
Number is a graphic little sketch under the seasonable
title of " An April Fool."

AI?UNDEL. 3 Vols.
Saunders and (Vey, London, 1840.
The most spirited and readable portion of this tale
is that wherein the author introduces us to Napoleon
Bonaparte, at the period of his appointment, in 1796,
to the situation of Commander-in-Chief of the army of
Italy. The great Captain's campaigns in this demora-
lized country, which constitute his proudest title to im-
mortality—for here he was fighting on behalf of free-
dom. not against her--are sketched off with much vigour
and vivacity of manner, and in all the leading points ad-
here scrupulously to historical truth. The scene of the talc
is laid for the most part in France ; and the period is
the close of the last century, when Paris was convulsed
with factions, whom the summoning of the States-Gene-
ral in 1789 had called into active existence. At this
momentous epoch, a young Englishman named Arundel,
who has been expelled from Cambridge for being
engaged in a duel, finding his hopes of rising in life
thereby blasted, goes over to the Continent w.th the
intention of offering his services to that party in the
capital, whose political opinions he should most approve.
Having procured from some of his friends in England,
letters of introduction to the British Ambassador, he is
presented at Court, where he falls in love with a young
lady, Gertrude De Romainville, to whom he is ulti-
mately married, though not before he has gone through
a world of adventures and hardships, while serving with
Lafayette on the frontiers, and with Napoleon in the
army of Italy. The author's chief object in this story
seems to have been, to make us acquainted with the
great political characters who figured in Paris, both
before and subsequent to the death of Mirabeau ;
but we cannot compliment him on his success,
for his Lafayette, and Marat, and Robespierre have
scarcely any one feature in their idiosyncrasy to distin-
guish them the one from the other. They all want
" mark and likelihood." That the author has a sort of
sneaking partiality for Robespierre is manifest from
the care and skill with which lie keeps all his
most revolting peculiarities out of sight. Indeed,
he goes the extreme lergth of saying, in a note, that
" France owes Robespierre a vast debt of gratitude,
for in all human probability he saved her from conquest
and dismemberment." Now this is not the ease. It
was not Robespierre, but Carnot, who, in his capacity
of War Minister, saved France from dismemberment ;
and had it not been for his acknowledged efficiency in
this department, he would, like many another patriot,
have lost his life by the guillotine ; for his colleagues
disliked him, especially Robespierre, who was
only prevented, by his sense of Carnot's valuable
public services, from consigning him to the tender
merits of Fouquir Tinville and the Revolutionary Tri-
bunal. It is to Carnot, therefore, that his country's gra-
titude is chiefly due, for he it was, and not Robespierre,
who organized the fourteen revolutionary armies that
struck a panic through Europe and saved France. The
author's character of Arundel is consistently main-
tained throughout, and, indeed, it is the redeeming fea-
ture of his story.

The lady of C. G. Round, Esq., met with
a narrow escape ft Om serious accident on Saturday last. As
Mrs. R., in company with another lady, was driving along
Crotch-street, Colchester, in a four-wheel chaise, when near
the Bull Inn, the wheel of the vehicle came in contact with a
cart that was: passing, which so fr'ghtened the pony Mrs. R.
was driving, that it set off at full speed and drew the chais
upon the curb of the foot pavement opposide to the shop of Mr.
Stone, grocer, when, owing to the violence of the concussion,
both lashes were thrown out with considerable violence. Both
were very much alarmed, but we are happy to add, they escaped
without serious injury.

NAPOLEON THE FRIEND OF LIBERTY.-
No one more than the Emperor Napoleon has contributed to
accelerate the reign of liberty, by rescuing the moral influence
of the revolution, and by assuaging the fears which she in-
spired. Ilad it not been for the Consulate and the Empire,
the revolution would have been but a mighty drama that leaves
glorious recollections, but few traces. The revolution would
have been swallowed up by the counter-revolution. Napoleon,
on the contrary, planted in France and disseminated through-
c,,t Europe the most important benefits of the great crisis of
'69, and, to use his own words, he "purified the revolution,
strengthened thrones, and ennobled the nations." He purified
the revolution by separating the truths which it had made
triumphant from the passions that obscured them ; he strength-
ened thrones by making authority honoured and respected ; he
ennobled the nations by giving them a consciousness of their
own force, and by conferring on them institutions which ele-
vate man in his own eyes.—Opinions of Napoleon, by Prince
Louis.

SINGULAR FOOT RACE —On Monday, the
6th instant, Robert Bennett, who bore upon his back the heavy
weight of 85 years, undertook to run thirty yards while another
man, with the quickning blood of youth in his veins, and his
limbs unstiffened by rheumatics and all the other ailments which
old age is heir t;', ran the distance of 100. Galleywood Com-
mon was the ground selected, and there a considerable number
of persons were congregated, various bets depending on the re-
sult ; but youth prevailed, and twenty tripped over his hundred
yards, before eighty could measure out his thirty. The spirit
of the venerable pedestrian, however, was not broken, and he
has offered to back himself for 5/. against any man of his age in
the count y.—Essex Herald.

The new Easter spectacle at Covent-garden
Theatre has been read for the first time, and wonderful to
say, on the distribution of parts, none concerned expressed dis-
satisfaction at those assigned them. The piece is sail to be
founded on the story of " The Sleeping Beauty," in the pe-
rusal of which, doubtless, all who read this have heretofore ex-
perienced delight. The subject is a very pleasing one, and well
calculated to call forth all the powers of the painter, machinist,
and decorater, directed, as they ❑o doubt will be, by the fine
taste which is known to preside over this establishment. To
afford agreeable mirth, as well as show, the dramatic portion is
said to be treated burlesquely, after the manner of " Rivet
with the Tuft ;"and the present adaptation is said to be not less
abundant in gaiety and fun than its predecessor.

Monday evening the annual general meeting of
the members of the Boot and Shoemakers' Benevolent and
Provident Institution eras held at the Crown and Anchor Ta-
vern, Strand; Mr. Greeves, President, in the chair. Mr.
O'Hara, the secretary, read the report. It stated that the late
dinner, steam-boat excursion, and ball at Willis's, retunged
2371. Since the last meeting fifty-three donors and subscribers
had added their names to the list, which accession made the
total number of 573 members. The Directors had funded