The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-21 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

TIPPO O SUL TA UN. 3 VOL N.
Bentley, London, 1840.
The " Confessions of a Thug," which attracted
' considerable notice last year—it was indeed the
best romance of the season—was remarkable, not
only for the wild and striking character of its inci-
dents, which, strange as they were, had their foun-
dation in fact, but also for the perfect knowledge of
oriental scenery, usages, &c., which it displayed in
every page. Precisely the same qualifications are to be
found in the present romance, which is from the
pen of the same author, Captain Meadows Taylor,
who has resided several years in India, visited many
of its most celebrated cities and most picturesque
landscapes, and turned his opportunities of close
observation to the best account. In the narrative
before us he has undertaken to delineate the for-
tunes of the famous Tippoo Saib, the most for-
midable of the native princes, with the sole excep-
tion of his father, Hider Ali, that England ever
warred against in the East ; and the capture of
whose stronghold at Seringapatam was one of the
proudest military achievements recorded in modern
British history. The eventful career of this soldier
king is traced, even down to the moment of his defeat
and death, with great minuteness and accuracy, and
the leading features of his charactcrare pourtrayed with
such force and vieidness,though without the slightest
attempt at overcharging the portrait, that we feel
persuaded the author must have long and diligently
studied his subject. We are introduced to Tippoo
at the council-board ; at his wild elephant hunts ;
on his throne of state, when he is receiving the am-
bassadors of other Powers; at the head of his army;
and in his last desperate charge on his enemies
within the walls of Seringapatam. In each and all
of these circumstances his character is maintained
with perfect consistency, and with a spirit that never
flags. Of the subordinate personages of the story,
the most effective are Ryman Khan—one of the
Sultan's best officers and most confidential advisers
—and his protegee, Kasim Ali, a young Synd war-
rior, who, after rescuing his patron's wife, Amneena,
from drowning " in the raging waters of the
Toombuddra," afterwards falls in love with her, and
on the Khan's death, marries her, though not before
the secret of his attachment has been made known
to his patron, who of course becomes quite frantic
with jealousy, and inflicts a severe wound on
Amneena with his sword. If we have one fault to
find with the story, it is that the author too often
and too abruptly shifts the scene to England, which
injures its effect as a continuous narrative, and
breaks up the interest at the very moment when it
is most exciting. We have also a little too much of
the Hayward and Compton families in the first
volume, though the character of young Herbert
Compton is afterwards brought out with infinite
skill ; and the details of his interview with Tippoo,
when he refuses to enter into his service, are as
exciting as anything that modern fiction has to
show. Captain Taylor's descriptions all exhibit
graphic talent of a high and rare order, and have
the additional recommendation of being correct in
point of locality ;—indeed he assures us in his
preface that there is scarcely a spot mentioned in
his tale, so far as India is concerned, " of which
the reality does not exist." We shall hope cre long
to have another Eastern romance from his pen.

THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 2 VoLs.
Colburn, London, 1841.

The taste for sporting works, like that for
fashionable and naval novels, is, we suspect, fast
passing away ; nor can we wonder at it when we
consider how many prosy, common-place produc-
tions of this sort have of late issued front the press.
Tiger-hunting in India, bear-hunting in Norway
and Sweden, salmon-fishing in Ireland, deer-
stalking in Scotland ; of each and all of
these sports we have already had enough,
and more than enough, especially as the details
have had little talent to recommend them, though
we must make an exception in favour of the sport-
ing sketches of Messrs. Apperley, Lloyd, and
Scrope, which possess every quality that such
sketches ought to possess. We fear we cannot
make a fourth exception in favour of the volumes
before us, which are devoted to the subject
of field-sports in France, but are penned in
such a meagre and lifeless style as satisfies us that
the author is far more at home with his gun than
his pen. He is not, however, devoid of a certain
species of humour, and, despite the defects of his
manner, contrives to amuse us with his details of the
droll mishaps of an eccentric little French Marquis,
who would fain have been thought a sportsman, but
possessed not one requisite for the character. But
the portion of the author's volumes that will excite
the most general interest is that wherein he describes
the boar-hunts of Lower Brittany, which will give
the reader a very fair idea of the nature of this ex-
citing sport. We quote an account of a tragical
adventure that occurred during one of these boar-
hunts :

" I had b .len waiting patiently for upwards of an
hour, when a rustling at some little distance aroused
my attention. I perceived a juvenile boar about
thirty yards from me, and saluted the gentleman with
the contents of my left bar: el, and turned him over.
My aide-dc-camp Jacquot, despatched him with a kind
of hatchet, and dragged the animal to the spot where I
was stationed. In the course of an hour afterwards I
killed another boar, about three-parts grown ; and Irons
the number of shots I heard, I conjectured that my
companions in arms had met with equally good sport.
I hare now the painful task of recording a tragical ad-
venture, which will never be effaced from my memory.
A huge boar, of savage aspect, came rooting and snort-
ing up the path, at the head of which I was standing.
I took a deliberate aim at the brute and hit him in the
chest ; he staggered, and turned down a small opening
in the wood on his left. Poor Jacquot, in his anxiety
to assist in the capture, followed the boar, and fund
him at bay a short distance from the spot where he had
been wounded, and where we had lost sight of him.
I had scarcely reloaded ere 1 heard a discordant and
horrible scream from toy faithful follower. I rushed to
the spot, and found poor Jacquot on the ground, strug-
gling with his bristled antagonist ! I was horror-stricken
at the moment, but, recovering my presence of mind,
shot the savage beast instantly, having discharged both
barrels within ten yards of him. I found this poor
fellow with his thigh dreadfully lacerated, and his in-
testines protru ling from the lower region of the abdo-
men. It appeared that poor Jacquot had been fool-
hardy, or had conceived the animal to be more seri-
ously wounded than it turned out be had been. He
had the temerity to approach the brute, with the view
of despatching him with his hatchet, when the boar
sprung up, and, rushing between his legs, upset and
gored him in the horrible manner I have described."

CHAUCER'S POEMS MODERNIZED.
Whittaker, London, 1841.
The idea of modernizing Chaucer's Poems—a
task in which both Dryden and Popc signally
failed—is one that deserves every encouragement ;
for, except to the well-instructed few, the language
of this earliest of our great poets is nearly, if not
quite, unintelligible, and as dissonant as it is
puzzling. Though his name is still rife among us,
yet not one reader in a thousand ever ventures upon
a poem of Chaucer, which is much to be regretted,
for he will amply repay the task of a careful pe-
rusal, abounding, as ha does, in humour, pathos,
picturesque description, and, above all, in spirited
and circumstantial delineation of character. The
labour of reading him, too, and getting at his pre-
cise meaning, is by no means so great as is gene-
rally imagined ; and as for his verse, though at
first it may appear harsh and untuneable, yet by a
little attention to accentuation, it is soon found to
" discourse most excellent music." To those, how-
ever, who may shrink from the task of acquainting
themselves with his works, except in a modernized
version, we would recommend this little volume,
which is from the pen of various writers, among
whom we may mention Messrs. Wordsworth, Leigh
Hunt, and Robert Bell, each of whom has acquit-
ted himself with spirit and discretion in the
difficult experiment of giving somewhat of a mo-
dern air to the choice old Saxon English of
Chaucer. The volume is introduced by an Essay
on the genius of this fine poet, which, though a
little too flowery and verbose in places, contains
' much sound observation, especially on the subject
of versification, and the changes that have taken
place in it since the days of Elizabeth. Speaking
incidentally of Pope's paraphrase of the " Wife of
Bath's Prologue," the Essayist remarks that " the
licentious humour of Chaucer being divested of its
quaintness and obscurity, becomes yet more licen-
tious in proportion to the fine touches of skill with
which it is brought into the light." That the
paraphrase is more licentious than the original, is
perfectly true ; but not so that this increased licen-
tiousness exhibits "fine touches of skill." On the
contrary, it is remarkable for nothing so much as
its clumsy and revolting character. There is no
neat, ingenious insinuation ; all is coarse, direct
Prologue ex iq3uuLte t, he
and versification of the
far mare varied in

its cadences than Pope's poems usually arc. By
his remark that " folks of both sexes, in all ranks,
swore without reserve, and enjoyed it very much,"
it would seem that the Essayist imagined that
swearing was a fashionable peculiarity chiefly
characteristic of Chaucer's age. But the
fact is not so. In the days of Eliza-
beth both men and women of the highest
rank swore like troopers ; and even the Virgin
Queen herself never stuck at a good round oath
when she was in a passion. But it was in the reign
of Charles 11. that swearing was brought to its
utmost possible perfection. In those chaste and
pious tunes, high-born da,nes and Maids of
Honour rapped out a hearty curse at every second
word ; and none was more distinguished for these
pleonastic elegancies of language than that astound-
ing vixen, the Duchess of Cleveland. At present
swearing is proscribed in all select circles ; and in-
deed is seldom heard anywhere, except among
sailors, cabmen, Billingsgate fish-women, or elderly
choleric gentlemen with excessively red faces, who
wear creaking shoes and a pig-tail.

THE MOREA.
Saunders and 011(71, London, 1841.

We noticed this volume of poems some months
ago in The Sint, and need now only say that our
favourable opinion of them has been confirmed, and
that they have reached a second edition.

COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Received by the last Steamer, and dated Dec. 20, IS4O.

The newspapers you have sent me from time to time are
acceptable on account of the sensible remarks they contain
n currency, free trade, and other topics, which just now
very much interest me. I have gone through the "
Duties Report," and am much pleased with it. The
various answers, and questions also, put to the witnesses;
show in a striking light the rapid progress of just and libe-
ral principles. I had no conception the manufacturers
were so la ise as to comprehend the injurious bearings on
their interests of the restrictive system, nor that any pub-
lic men in England would think it prudent to denounce
the wickedness and folly of the Corn-laws and other
oppressive acts in such severe and contemptuous terms
as Mr. M'Gregor, Mr. J. D. Hume, &c. I hope the
proceedings of the Committee will be followed up bs
further examinations of other persons, and that copies of
the report, or the substance of it, will be multiplied to
thousands, and distributed through the nation. It is
impossible but the great mass of property-men should soon
find out the impossibility of maintaining your present po-
pulation of twenty-eight millions (by new census), and its
iner,•ase, on the plan of compelling them to buy bread and
meat at twice the cost in the neighbouring countries,
and that enormous burden in addition to a tax of
$250,000,000 for current expenses, and $30,000,000 for
poor-laws, and an unknown amount for tithes, &c. How
can your manufacturers compete with German, French,
&c., and still more with us in such manufactures as we
have the natural, and now, by favour of your bad manage-
ment, acquired abilities to prosecute ? The manufacture
of coarse cotton goods is one of these, It commenced
during the war of 1.112, made no progress till 1815, when
some few factories were established on the most approved
footing, and succeeded in making money by the aid of the
tariff of 1816. Since then we have gone extensively into
it, thc.ugh, owing to want of experience, economy, and
capital, few only have succeeded in making money. y Now,
however, a considerable portion do succeed, and we are
constantly improving.
To show the rapid progress in manufactures, I refer to
1826-27, and find we only worked up 103.483 bales of
cotton, of about 340 or 3501b5.; in 1833-4 it extended to
196,413 bales ; in 1838-9, 276,018 bales ; and in 1840,
291,279 bales, of about 4001bs. each, equal to
116,511,6001ba. of cotton. You will find, on reference
to " Burn's Glance," which I am told is good authority,
that the average consumption of the United Kingdom, of
yarn spun and consumed in the United Kingdom, does
not exceed the quantity consumed in these States. To
this most be added, for 1839, an import of cotton fabrics,
chiefly from Great Britain, of fourteen millions of dollars,
at a duty of 35 per cent. on the average, and twenty-five
other charges, making upwards of twenty-three millions.
I have once or twice called your attention to two points
connected with this country, peculiar to us, and which
should he borne in mind by your stntesmen in regulating
the commercial intercourse between the two countries,
and induce them to found it on the broadest principles of
freo trade.

1. The extraordinary wealth of this country in propor-
tion to its population ; it is, out of all comparison, greater
than any nation, England excepted.
2. The national wealth, instead of being mainly in the
hands of one.fiftla of the people, is, nine-tenths of it, in
the hands of eight-tenths of the nation, and so divided as
to give the great mass a command over not only the neces-
saries, but the comforts, and what in most countries would
be called the superfluities of life. The consequence is we
are very efficient consumers. For instance, we, a nation
of 16 or 17 millions, have been consuming about as many
cotton fabrics as you with 25 or 26 millions, the richest and
most industrious and most civilised nation in the world. Of
coffee we consume 85 to 90 millions of pounds (you, about
25 millions), which passes to consumers at about 11 to 12
cents. per lb., about one-third of what your consumers
pay. There is no duty here on that article, or on tea. Of
tea you consume a larger proportion than we do ; but we
consume 240 to 250 million pounds of sugar. Oar con-
sumption of cotton is about equal to France with 31
millions of people, and to that of 50 or 60 millions of
Russians; who only consume about 40 to 45 millions
of pounds of sugar. I go into these facts to show the
importance of having an open unrestricted trade. Your
politicians negotiate fur years to gain sonic advantage in a
treaty with Portugal or Spain, or some country of a like
condition, and what is it worth if you succeed ? What
can be gained by a nation of beggars, monks, and smug-
glers like the Portugue eor the Spaniards? Why a free
trade with the single state of New York, now containing
2,420,00 persons, is of more value than the whole trade
of the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. Again, look to
another consideration, the rapidity with which we in-
crease and the circumstances, namely, cheap lands, cheap
government, &c., which render it nearly certain—certain
as the future can be, of our continued increase in
even a greater ratio. Dr. Franklin, sixty years or
more ago, before we had an enumeration, pre-
dicted that we should increase iu a ratio of doubling
in twenty-five years. It was thought extravagant,
as beyond any instance in history. On referring to the
census of 1790, I find the population doubled in 23 or 231
years : proceeding in a steady ratio to 1830. Since 1830,
to judge of the returns made of the Is4o enumeration, the
increase is at the rate of doubling in 20 years. The in-
crease between 1820 and 1830 was 331; between 1830
and 1840 it is 40 per cent., which will carry up the num.
ber to 18 millions. If we go on at the same rate, we
shall have 25,200,000 in 1850, and 36 millions in 1860;
and if so, we shall conic up to the population of France.
Why will not your statesmen lock alicad, and act in refer-
ence, not to what we are, but to what we must be?

The Congressional returns of commerce, navigation,
&c., present many facts of an interest:qg and gratifying
nature our exports are 27 millions of dollars in excess
of imports. This Indicates large payments on our foreign
debt, and that this country has got lid of her surplus of
foreign goods, and will be in a condition to import, and
what is more important, to pay for more goods.
If you would take our grain at a duty of .55., or even
10s. a quarter, we could send you to the amount of from
2,000,000/. to 3,000,0001., and the grain-growing States,
if that was a permanent rate, would a: once extend
the cultivation, and would always., or in most seasons,
have a surplus to barter for your cottons, woollens, glass,
iron, &c.

I regret, in the examination before the Import Duties
Committee, to find how few facts were brought out as to
the extent and character of our trade with you, and as to
the resources of this country, which, under a restrictive
policy cn your side and ours, may be brought into com-
petition with yours. An iron-master is questioned as to
tour iron ore, coal, &c., but answers as if' it were uncer-
tain if we abounded in them. There are in the 26 States
about 80,000 square miles of coal and iron of the richest
character, and waiting only for an increase of capital, skill,
and experience to work them up to an extent equal to our
consumption. As to coal, we produce nineteen-twentieths
of all we consume, and of iron, perhaps three-fourths ;
but its dearness prevents the teen use made of it in
England. In Pennsylvania alone, it is cornruted they
have 10,000 miles of coal and iron, being about five times
the extent of the coal and iron of the United Kingdom.
We are now opening copper mines, and they begin to be
profitable. I wish some well-informed American had
been called, and if rightly questioned, facts to fill fifty
pages might have been procured of a very striking cha-
racter. Our navigation was 2,100,000 tons the end of
1839, and is now about 2,200,000, the returns not having
been made. It was under 1,200,000 ten years ago;
yours was in 1836, according to Porter, about 2,750,000
tons in the United Kingdom and colonies, having only in-
crested since 1826, in ten years, about 1,500,000 tons.
The " Tobacco Convention" have met and reported
that their tfforts to procure any attention in Europe to
their request for a reduction of the excessive duties on
that staple having failed of success, they deem it expe-
dient to call on Congress to enact discriminating duties
on the products of those countries. It will not be done,
but this party will join the High Duty Tariff Party in
1842 in procuring extreme duties. The matter will come
on for discussion next Congress, a body more favourable,
as in our General Harrison and his supporters, to prohi-
bitory duties, than the Van Buren party. It is, in truth,
the great mass of the nation who favour this bad system,
and therefore cannot be lessened unless we can induce
your Government to repeal the Timber and Corn-laws, and
it should be done sown, immediately to have any ellect on
the new proposed tariff.

. .
We shall probably resume specie payments in Phila-
delphia and sow, other cities on the 15th of January, but
the return to specie payments will not be universal south
of the Potomac. It is even uwertain if the United States
Bank can maintain specie payments; it depends, perhaps,
on new borrowings on your side..—Morning Chronicle.

SUNDERLAND.—It is not perhaps generally
known that there are not only more ships built on the banks
of the Wear annually than at any other port, but there is
absolutely a fourth part of the whole of the ships of the
United Kingdom built at Sunderland. The average num-
ber is, we believe, not less than 250 built on the Wear in
the course of a year.—Port of Tyne Pilot.
CARTER, THE LION KING,--This gentleman
acted on Saturday morning last, at Edinburgh, before the
Marquis of Lothian, Lord Dalhousie, the Lord Provost,
Lord and Lady \Valdcgrave (late Miss Brabant), Countess
Wemyss, Lady Charlotto Fletcher, Lady Louisa Forbes,
Lady Suttie, Lord and Lady Belhaven and Stenton, Lord
and Lady Ruthven, Lord Elcho, Sir George Warrcnder,
Sir W. Amitrutlier, Admiral Millie, 4c,