The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-24 00:00:00

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
(THIS DAY.)

OLD COURT.
'(Before Mr. Justice ERSKINE.)
CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER —Henry Presdee was
indicted for the manslaughter of Thomas Parkes, alias
Toy, on the 18th September last, at Hornsey. On the
day in question, the prisoner and the deceased having
quarrelled, mutually resolved to settle their dispute by
a pugilistic encounter. They accordingly proceeded to
a neighbouring field, where they fought 22 rounds.
During the 17th round the deceased staggered, and
fell back, striking his head against some hard substance.
The deceased frequently fell during the five subsequent
rounds, although no heavy blows were struck. He was
taken home in a state of insensibility, and died shortly
afterwards. The immediate cause of death was the
rupture of a blood-vessel at the back of the head, and
that rupture was supposed to have been caused by the
fall in the 17th round, and not by the blows inflicted by
the prisoner.
Mr. Justice ERSKINE stopped the case. He had
read over the depositions of all the other witnesses,
and their evidence was rather favourable than other-
wise to the prisoner. The evidence was not, in his
opinion, sufficient to warrant a conviction.
The Jury immediately returned a verdict of Not
Gailty.
Richard Smith, aged fifteen, was indicted for stealing
126 yards of flannel, value 61., from the dwelling-house
of Mr. John Taylor, of Sr. John's-street-road. The
prosecutor is a linendraper, and on the day of the
robbery he was informed that a roll of flannel had been
taken from his door. He immediately went into the
street, and, after proceeding a short distance, he per-
ceived the prisoner carrying the flannel on his shoulder.
lie gave the prisoner into custody.
Tire prisoner, in his defence, repeated the old story
of a gentleman who had given him the flannel to carry,
and then left him.

The Jury immediately found him Guilty.
Mr. Justice ERSKINE said that by the commission of
this offence he had subjected himself to the liability of
being transported for fifteen years. As, however, he
had not been convicted before, the Court would give
him a chance of retrieving his character ; and would
only sentence him to six months' imprisonment with
hard labour, the first and last week of the term to
be in solitary confinemont.

NEW COURT.
(Before Mr. Serjeant Aaaativ.)
Michael Moriarty and David lienslead were indicted
for stealing a sack of corn, the property of Michael
Duggan. Moriarty pleaded Guilty, and said that
Benstead knew nothing of the transaction. Benstead
pleaded Not Guilty.
George Bennett lives in Tower-street, Seven Dials,
oppo,ite the premises of the prosecutor. Oa the 30th
of September last, between five and six oclock in the
evening, he saw Benstead loitering about, and
watched him ; he saw Moriarty come out of
Duggan's premises, with a sack on his shoulder ;
Benstead joined him, and they walked off to-
gether. Witness immediately gave information to the
police of what he had seen. The policeman who re-
ceived the information took Moriarty into custody with

the sack in his possession ; there were two men with
him, but the prisoner Benstead was not one of them.
Did not see him with Moriarty throughout the transac-
tion. It appesred that Moriarty was occasionally in the
habit of working for the prosecutor.
The Jury found Benstead Not Guilty.
Mr. Sergeant A RABIN—I think the evidence against
him is too slight to warrant a conviction.
Moriarty was then brought up for judgment, and
was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, with hard
labour.

LITERATURE.

MOORE'S POETICAL WORKS, VOL 1.
Longman, London, 1840.
_ _ _ .

In his preface to this first complete edition of
his poems, Mr. Moore, referring to the odes of
.ilnacreon, hints pretty plainly his opinion that these
" light and beautiful lyrics are merely modern fa-
brications ;" and adds, as one of the reasons which
incline him to adopt this theory, that he does
not see how it is possible, " if Anacreon had
chiefly written in lambic dimeter verse, that Ho-
race should have wholly neglected that metre."
He observes further, " that of those fragments of
Anacreon, of whose genuineness, from internal
evidence, there can be no doubt, almost all are
written in one or other of the lighter Horatian
metres, and scarcely one in lambic dimeter verse."
This is a curious fact, but we will not allow it to
shake our faith in the genuineness of the odes at-
tributed to Anacreon. As to their being " mere
modern fabrications," this we conceive to be
as untenable an hypothesis, as that the
Iliad and the Odyssey were the works
of a dozen or more different individuals,
which was the favourite German theory some forty
or fifty years since. What modern could have
written Greek verse with that perfect ease, and
grace, and purity which we find in the Anacreontic
ivtics ? We have seen, in our time, many imita-

tions of them ; but though correct enough, so far as
mere prosody is concerned, they have all wanted that
incomparable simplicity, and airy, dancing buoyancy
of manner that constitute the magic of the origi-
nals. None but a Greek, we are convinced—and
a Greek, too, of the best days—could have penned
these matchless productions, which reflect in every
line the voluptuous spirit, the mercurial vivacity,
and strong social tendencies of the national cha-
racter. Dismissing this subject, we proceed now
to say a few words on Mr. Moore's translation of
Anacreon, which we find in the volume before us.

It is executed in a careful, pains-taking manner—
too much so, indeed, for in his anxiety to be cor-
rect, the translator has missed much of the spirit
and simple witchery of the original. In particular,
he is diffuse, when he should be pithy, and
abounds in extatic epithets—a pet habit with
Moore—when the utmost unaffectedness was
requisite. Anacreon never throws away a word ;
indeed he is quite penurious in this respect ;
whereas his translator is lavish to excess of

his verbal coin, which, though it glitters, is, ales
not all gold. Not unfrequently we find a single
phrase frittered away in a couplet ; and a sort of
elaborate vivacity, in which the heart seems to
have no share, substituted for the unstudied arch-

ness of the original. If the reader desires to have
a tolerably fair idea of Anacreon's manner, we
would recommend him to consult some of Moore's
own lively poems, in preference to his translation.
In particular, we would direct his attention to those
airy, brilliant little gems entitled " Dreams,"
" The Sale of Loves," and " The Snake," which
are terse, familiar, and exhibit much of the Teian
bard's laughing grace and case. Indeed, it is here,
we think, that Moore's genius shows to the greatest
advantage. We have no 'great faith in his more
serious effusions—his sentiment, especially, is
almost always superficial—but the sprightly sallies
of his muse are incomparable. Like Mrs. Jor-
dan's cordial smile, we feel persuaded that the
heart is their prompter. It may appear paradoxical
:o say so, but Moore is never so much in

earnest, as when he is laughing. On such occa-
sions
he abandons all the trickery of his art, and
trusts to nature to carry him handsomely through.
His political jeux-d'esprit, which appeared a few
years since in the Times, and more particularly his
" 'Twopenny Post-bag," are the most perfect things
of the sort in the language. As for his famous
" Lalla Rookh," and his still more famous " Irish
Melodies," our principal objection to them is, that
they want force—earnestness—intensity of purpose ;
and that we are unable to see the ideas for the
thick coating of varnish that is laid on them.
Their colouring has all the brilliant effect of the
rainbow, but it is just as evanescent. They abound
in prettinesses, and arc constantly throw►ng up a
sparkling shower of conceits. We allude, more
especially, to the Oriental poem—the last in
" Lalla Rookh"—entitled " The Light of the
Harem," which reminds us of nothing so much as
a dnzling discharge of Vauxhall fire-works
on a gala night. It is useless, however, to
enlarge on this theme, for the public mixt' is
fully made up on the subject of Moore's genius;
enough therefore to state, that the present edition
of his poems is intended to comprise all, or nearly
all—for some of his earlier amatory pieces
will scarcely hear republication—that lie has ever
written ; that it is got up in a truly elegant draw-
ing-room style ; is embellished with a half-length
portrait of the author—which is the most striking
likeness we have yet seen of him ; and is so cheap
in price as to be within the reach of all classes of
readers. But the greatest recommendation of the
edition is this—namely, that all the poems con-
' tamed in it have been expressly revised by Moore
himself—have received, in short, his last finishing
touches, so that no future commentator will be able
to cavil about the text. Moreover, it is introduced
by a brief biographical memoir, in which the author
relates the particulars of his earlier poetical career,
with a charming modesty that must conciliate and
make friends of all his readers.

PORTRAITS OF PUBLIC CHARACTERS,

2 Vol.s. Saunders and Otley, London, 1840.

To those who like a pleasant, gossipping book,
full of sketches of public characters of the day, in
which there is not a particle of ill-nature, this work
will afford much amusement. They must be tole-
rant readers, however, otherwise they will be al t to
be disappointed ; for the author's biographical no-
tices contain no striking or deeply-r.onsidered views
of character, but are just so many light, rambling,
superficial sketches, dashed off hastily, and rendered
acceptable by a plentiful intermixture of apt anec-
dote. Among the cleverest of the author's por-
traits, we may mention those of Clarkson, the phi-
lanthropist ; Sir Peter Laurie ; Byng, the Member
for Middlesex ; and those two unrivalled Georges,
Cruickshank and Robins.

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF TWO
VISITS 7'O NEW ZEALAND.
Nisbet, London, 1840.
The author of this work observes in his pre-
face, that he had two objects in view in wilting it—
one, to bear direct personal testimony to the success
that has hitherto attended the religious efforts of our
Missionaries in New Zealand ; and the other, to
point out the policy of our adopting a humane
system of Government towards the inhabitants of
these fine islands. These are praiseworthy objects,
and we give Mr. Marshall credit for the temperate
and skilful mariner in which he has accomplished
them. This book is a very readable one, and con-
tains one or two pleasant bits of description.

ILLUSTRATED COMMENTARY ON THE
OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Voi. I.
C. Knight, London, 1840.
As a work of reftrence, and of a most compre-
hensive order, this volume possesses strong claims
on public attention. It explains in a minute and
condensed manner, the customs and habits alluded
to in the Sacred Scriptures ; and also the history,
geography, natural history, and antiquities, of Pa-
lestine and many of the adjacent countries. It
possesses the still further recommendations of being
of a size which will range with the authorized
editions of the Sacred Text, and of being
embel-
lished with many hundred wood-cuts from the best
and most authentic sources. The majority of these
are distinguished by much neatness and
spirit of
touch, and are as ingenious specimens of wood.
engraving as the present day can furnish. We
have been particularly pleased with the spirited
sketch of the valley of Sechem, with its foreground
of plain dotted here and there with hits of rock,
and patches of copsewood, and narrowing away in
a long, winding defile to the foot of a range of
mountains, whose grey summitsmingle with the
of
skies on the distant horizon. The descriptions
1e various tribes and
the manners and customs of
ta
nations referred to in the Scriptures show an infi-
nite deal of careful research,
gleaned from the writings and must have been
of several hundreds of
uthors both of ancient and modern times. The
volume is a cheap republication, in a more commo-
dious form, of the
n
most useful and intelligent the‘v
work
,Pi
its cumbrous ,Plivcitioorsieal
only 1 eic--u
11
quarto size.
0

THE WEATHER.—We do not remember ever
to have witnessed finer autumnal weather than we have
had for the two or three last wroks. This morning was
no exception to its pleasant predecessors, but about
ue two
.ed
by a heavy shower.
o'clock we were visited by a sbsrp
bad-storm, sucu d