The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE BOOK OF BEAUTY.
Longman, London, 1841.
The Book of Beauty ! There is a spell in these
words that conjures up a thousand bright visions of
loveliness—of ladies with eyes lustrous as the stars
of heaven, and whose rare charms of face and figure
might turn the wisest head that ever sate on human
shoulders. Of course it cannot be expected that we
should gravely and coldly criticise such a book. No,
we should as soon think of criticizing the perfume
of the violet, or the delicate graces of the water-
lily I Were it a " Book of Frights," indeed,
the case would be different ; but a " Book of
Beauty !"—its very title pleads trumpet-tongued in
its favour, associating itself in our imagination with
" earth's fairest flowers," the celebrated beauties of
Greece and Rome, who " still rule our spirits from
their urns." The first portrait in the volume is that
of the " Queen," aired in her nuptial dress ; it is
a graceful likeness, and worthy to stand foremost
in a collection of English beauties. Next comes
" Lady Seymour ;" and to her may be applied
Burke's famous eulogium on the ill-starred Marie
Antoinette, that " she glitters like the morning
rtar, full of life, and splendour, and joy." The
portrait of the " Marchioness of Douro" is in
profile, and is purely Grecian in its character.
The eyes, which are shaded by long, delicately
pencilled lashes, wear a soft and pensive expres-
sion ; and the contour of the mouth and chin,
which are perfect in their symmetry, would
form a fine model for Chantrey to mould a
Greek Oread or Dryad from. The " Lady
Dungarvon" reminds us of one of Lawrence's
aristocratic female portraits. The picture is a half
' length, and gives us a vivid idea of feminine grace
and gentleness. The finely moulded neck rivals
Parian nimble in its whiteness ; and the taper hand
and arm might become a fairy of the Court of Ti-
tania. The likeness of the " Hon. Mrs. Stanley"
has a laughing archness about it, whose witchery
is irresistible. Shakspeare must have have had
such a countenance in his eye when he drew his
sketch of Rosalind. " Mrs. D'lsraeli" is the por-
trait of a lady whose beauty is of an II Penseroso
character, and whose dark eye and elegantly formed
mouth express much depth and tenderness of feel-
ing. " Miss Tyndal" represents a pretty, lively
girl, apparently just entered on her teens, in the
act of caressing a noble Newfoundland dog. We
have seen a face so strikingly like this, both in
form and expression, that we can with difficulty
persuade ourselves that the portrait could have been
drawn from any other original. Such are the at-
tractive objects presented to our admiration in the
present Book of Beauty. Alas, what a sad change
will a few years make in this proud array of female
loveliness ! Pass but a brief space, and the blight
eye will become dim ; the rosy cheek will pale;
wrinkles will usurp the place of dimples; and those
villainous crows-feet, which no rouge can conceal,
will write " strange defeature" in the corners of each
faded orb. But we must not anticipate grievances,
or in noticing a Book of Beauty, croak, like Gold-
smith's gloomy moralist, on the subject of its perish-
able nature. Enough to say, with the French
cavalier of old, that if it is not immortal, it ought
to be so !

As regards the literary contents of the volume;
they are entertaining, but by no means remarkable
for any special excellence. To our thinking, the
cleverest is Lord Powerscourt's " Imaginary Letter
from the Earl of Chesterfield," in which the turn
of thought, and even the style of that greatly
overrated statesman and wit, are imitated with sin-
gular felicity. The author, however, is guilty of a
slight anachronism when he makes the Noble Eatl
say that there " is but a step between the sublime
and ridiculous," which were the very words used by
Napoleon, when talking with the Abbe Du Pradt
on his return from the fatal Russian expedition.
The Eatl of Chesterfield could never have made
so shrewd and profound a remark, had he lived to
the age of Methusalem. " Munich" is a spirited
sketch from the pen of Mr. Disraeli, who, how•
ever, is in error, when he assures us that " Louis
of Bavaria is ❑ot only a king, but a poet." We
have read some of his Majescyb rhymes, and any-
thing more unlike poetry we never yet fell asleep
over. The " Christmas Bell man" is, we humbly
conceive, a bard of just the same imaginative cali-
bre as the Bavarian Monarch. The " Irish
Hussar" is a mediocre ballad by Tyrone Power.
The " Old Irish Gentleman" is a sprightly, cha-
racteristic sketch by the accomplished editor of the
volume. Of the rest of the prose and verse we
.can
only say, that it is neither better nor worse than
what usually make its appearance in Annuals.

THE KEEPSAKE.

Longman, London, 1841.

The Keepsake is the most aristocratic of all the
Annuals, but we should grievously err if we were
to say that it is the ablest or the most attractive,
for the more plebeian " Friendship's Offering '' is
superior in point of literary merit, and at least its
equal as regards pictorial embellishments. Still
there are several creditable Plates in the Keepsake ;
and two or three which seem to have been finished
off in desperate haste, and will not, therefore, bear
a close critical inspection. The sketch of " Morn-
ing" is among the best, and represents one of those
homely sylvan scenes which Gainsborough loved to
paint, and which an English eye always ress on
with pleasure. A well-laden ferryboat is in the
act of crossing a broad stream, to which the
shore slopes down with a shelving, gradual des-
cent ; while just on the rise of the hill is
perched a small cottage, with the smoke
curling up, cork-screw fashion, from its one
chimney, indicating that the domestic duties.of the
day have just commenced. The tall elms that
grow in a lane close beside this cottage, the
luxuriant copses behind, and the straggling pales
in front, add greatly to the picturesque simplicity
of the sketch. From the fresh breeze that breaks
up the broad surface of the water into tiny waves,
and the dim, cold, grey light that is diffused over
the landscape, we gather that the day is as yet
but in its infancy. Willmore is the engraver of
this plate, and he has caught the idea which the
painter, Bentley, sought to convey with signal
ability. The " Lady Ida" is a very so-so affair.
She is creeping stealthily out at a castle-gate by
moonlight, "in course, to meet her sweet-heart,"
as Samuel Weller would phrase it ; but her attitude

_ .
is one of singular inelegance—in fact, destruction
of all sentiment, for her figure looks huddled up,
exactly as if she were suffering from a severe
stomach-ache. The " alarm" is not much better,
for the youth and the girl, who are tenderly
conversing together in the fore-ground of the
picture, ate drawn on such a gigantic scale
as to be worthy only of Brobdignag. The
same objection applies with equal force to the en-
graving entitled, " the Cousins." Of the prose
and poetry of the " Keepsake" we may dispose in a
few words. Mr. Brantley Berkeley contributes
" Verses written on leaving a Ball at Almacks,"
sing-sorb,
, sayb iii so,
means
that n theys
encum-
bered e
11111toalstsiwneg-
solti'lwoohtilcilsi
etilliteimuet
with sense. The last stanza is sheer non-
sense, and would seem to been modelled on Pope's
" Love Song, by a Man of Quality." Lord Maid-
stone's " Fragment of an Unpublished Poem," had
far better have been left unpublished, for though
the rhyme be correct, the reasoning is sadly,aniefile.
" Morning" by Mr. Simmons, shows much`descrip-
, tive vigour, but the best thing in the volume is
Lady Blessington's
Young Portrait-painter.
~Scenes in the Life of a

-
COMPI. ET lON of THE STOCKPORT VIA-
DucT.—This day at half-past twelve o'clock, the final
stone will he set of the viaduct on the Manchester and Bir-
mingham Railway, at Stockport. After the ceremony,
Messrs. Samuel and James l-lolme and Mr. Tomkinson, of
Liverpool, the contractors for the work, will treat the
parties imcrestcil in the railway and their friends with a
handsome cntertaiment. —Liverpool Albion, Dec. 21.
REFORM ASSOCIATION FESTI VAL.—Circulars
have been issued to the leading Reformers of Groat Bri-
tain, inviting their presence at the Grand Festival pro-
posed to be given in the course of next month. Numbers
of influential gentlemen have already signified their ac-
ceptance of the invitation, and next week we expect to
have it in our power to mention the names of the more
distinguished of the guests. Operations have already c"3-
menced in Mr. Marshall's New Mill, liolbeek, for the ac-
commodation of the immense company (8,000)
to assemble on the occasion.—Leeds Times. expected

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LDINBURGII AND NEWCASTLE RAILWAY.-
We learn ou the best authority, that Sir F. Smith bas at
length icported in favour of the cast line of railway to
Edilibutgh from England.—Caledonian Alocury.