The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-07 00:00:00

to be balanced in them : and if this were not done, they t
threatened either to lift the horse up into tLe hair, like a
harnessed Pegasus, or press him to the ground beyond all
chance of progression, except he had been trained at
Astle 's to approach a conquering King upon his kn,:es.
"Few shops the lines of wareli.-Aises that
rose along the road bordering the docks ; and when they
did, they were for the sale of articles c-f stern nautical
use—ropes and sail-cloth, and tough biscuits : outlandish
habits of oil-skin, optical instruments, and spirits. At
the dock-gates were stalls of humbler merchandise—
cheap braces and small mirrors,-superannuated apples
and results of unpromising confectionary. In this new
world, Christopher had not eyesight enough to gaze in
wonder on the novelties that burst upon him at every
step. But for Hickory's guidance, he would long ago
have tumbled amidst some of the piles of strange mer-
chandise that rose everywhere right in the way of the
passenger."
He is soon, however, awakened from his dream of
wonder, for, from behind a bale of merchandise,
Hockey emerges, and seizing Christopher bears him
off, in spite of the remonstrances of Hickory, to one
of those subterranean dens of iniquity which are to be
found in such abundance in Liverpool. Their ad-
ventures there furnish the subject of another chapter,
which concludes the present number, but betv‘een the
two is interpolated a third, which is devoted to a de-
scription of the sayings and doings of Sprouts and
Bessy Payne, during the day's excursion to Hampton
Court. The description in this chapter of the jolly
man and of the cross old lady, and indeed of the whole
of the van party, is most graphic.

THE COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
Part VI. By Gilbert Abbott A'Beckett.
Merrily does Mr. ATeckett laugh his way through
the reign of Edward 111. in this number, and mar-
vellous is the manner in which, in his merriest moods,
he keeps to the truth of history, and dresses Clio—
in the costume of Thalia. Take as a specimen his
description of the battle of Poictiers :
"On the 19th of September, 1356, the battle began
with a duet played by two trumpets—one on each side—
but this did not last long, for neither party desired to
listen to overtures. The French commenced the at-
tack, but they came to the point a little too soon, for
:hey actually ran upon the arrows of the English bow-
men. The Constable of France tried to inspire courage
into the troops on his side by roaring out Mountjoy !
St. Denis !' but a stalwart Briton, telling him to hold
his noise, felled him to the ground. A strong body of
reserve, who carried their reserve to downright timidity,
fled without striking a blow. They had scarcely drawn
their swords, and received the word of command to
" cut away," when they did literally cut away, and
having cut refused to come again. John of France
flourished his battle-axe with ferocious courage ; but at
last he received two tremendous blows in the face which
brought him to the ground. His son Philip, a lad of
sixteen, fought by his side, encouraging him with cries
of 'Give it 'em, father 1' which aroused the almost ex-
hausted John, and caused him to recover his legs. Every
kind of verbal insults was offered to him by the enemy,
and particularly by the Gascons, who indulged in a great
deal of their usual gasconade. Stand and surrender 1'
cried a voice, to which John replied, If I could stand I
would not surrender, but I suppose I must fall into your
hands.' With this he tottered into a circle of English
knights, by whom he was nearly torn to pieces in the
scramble that arose for the royal captive. Some
among the crowd of his victors endeavoured to induce
his Majesty to place himself under their charge, and
one or two began to talk to him in bad French, when
Sir Denis, a real Frenchman, who had been dismissed
from the service of his own country and entered that of
England, addressed the monarch politely in his native
tongue. John was in the act of offering up his glove to
this gentleman as a token of surrender, when the royal
gauntlet was torn to pieces by the surrounding knights,
who all wanted to have a finger in it. Every one was
eager to claim the French monarch, who seemed on the
point of being turn to pieces like a hare by a pack of ill-
bred hounds. `I took him,' exclaimed fifty voices at
once, when the Earl of Warwick, rushing into the
front, thundered forth in a stentorian voice, Can't you
leave the man alone and drawing John's arm within
his own, led off the conquered King to the camp of Ed-
ward. Warwick took little Philip by the hand, and
presented father and sen to the Black Prince, who re-
ceived them with much courtesy. Ile invited them both
to supper, waited on the French King at table, and
soothed his grief with probably such kind expressions
as Poor old chap I' Never mind, old fellow l' and
other words of respectful sympathy."

ALMANACK FOR THE MONTH.
We are sorry to find from the preface that this is
to be the last number of this monthly repertory of
fun. The success of the work has been great, but
Mr. A'Beckett fairly tells his readers that having
" something else to do he cannot cater for their en-
tertainment in this shape any longer." We hope,
however, that his collaborateurs will continue the
almanack, and, although unable to continue the duties
of editorship, he may perchance occasionally contri-
bute some "quips and cranks" which will "set the
table in a roar."

THE COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE.
The present number fully sustains the high charac.
ter which this magazine has already attained as a va.
luable repertory of commercial statistics.