The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-23 00:00:00

TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND.

Does the Tea duty affect you? It does, and for rea-
sons quite independent of those which are placed before
your wives and daughters.
What regulates your income, or wages? Employ-
ment. If two men do what is required, is a third man
likely to get a day's work?
The Chinaman has plenty more Tea to sell, and he
wants manufactures from us. But so much Tea as he
offers can not be sold here, because it cannot be paid for
and the duty paid also.
Take more of the Chinaman's Tea and he will take
more manufactures ; and if more manufactured goods are
taken to China, will you or will you not have more em-
ployment?
Think on 'these things. An association has been
formed in Liverpool for the purpose of procuring a great
reduction of the duty on Tea. With your hearty sup-
port and your aid in diffusing knowledge on the subject
by conversation or otherwise, and by subscriptions,
however small, as an evidence of your sympathy, the
public will soon be awakened to a sense of the import-
ance of the subject, and will then express its opinion in
a way that must ensure success.

STATE OF TRADE IN SOMERSET.—At Chard some
of the manufactories in the bobbin-net trade are work-
ing day and night continually.—Sherburne Journal.
It is calculated that 260,0001. are paid weekly to
iilway labourers in England.
CALLS TO THE BAR.—INNER TEMPLE.—The
under-mentioned members of the Inner Temple having
completed their terms were called to the bar on Friday
(the 20th inst.), and sworn in before several of the
benchers:—George Hibbert Deffell, Esq., of Trinity
College, Cambridge, M.A.; Burton Archerburton, Esq.,
of Magdalen College, Cambridge, M.A. ; Edward
Francis Halsall, E•q., of University College. London ;
Augustus Fre( erick Mayo, Esq., of Oriel College, Ox-
ford, M.A.; Richard Meredvth Richards, Esq., of Mer-
ton College, Oxford, M.A.; Tom Taylor, Esq., Fellow
of Trinity College. Cambridge, M.A.; John Best, Esq.,
of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, 13. A.; James William
Fergu-on, E,q., of Caius College, Cambridge, 8.A.;
John Coucher Dent, Esq., of Magdalen College, Oxford,
8.A.; Samuel John Wilde, Esq., of King's College,
University of London ; Frederick Kingston, Esq.;
Matthew William Thompson, Esq., of Trinity College ;
Charles Cavendish Clifford, Esq., of Christ Church Col-
lege, Oxford, M.A.; Robert Anstruther Strange, Esq.,
of Christ Church College, Oxford, M.A.; Samuel Lucas
Esq., of Queen's College, Oxford, M.A.; Alexander
Kyd Curtis, Esq., M.A.; George Henry Money, Esq., of
Trinity College, Cambridge, M.A.; Stephen Cave, Esq.,
of Balliol College, Oxford, M.A.; Charles Griffith
Smith, E,q., of Clare Hall, Cambridge, M.A.; Thomas
Francis Crosse, Esq., of Exeter College, Oxford, M.A.;
and John Charles Conybeare, Esq., of Downing Col-
lege, Cambridge, M.A.

LITERATURE.
JOILL'i OF t,-LAND. 3 vols. .By Henry Curling.
Until within the last half century, the advantages
derivable from the combination of history and fiction
were to a very considerable extent unrecognised.
We might almost say that until the commencement
of that period they were unrealised. During a con-
siderable interval, indeed, novels were literally scouted
by a large proportion of the community. From an
itUe and contemptible affectation of wisdom, many
individuals were formerly disposed to treat those
productions as detestable or frivolous, or even
b.;tlt sometimes. A remarkable alteration in
this particular is now-a-days perceptible. The
novelist is admitted to the position to which he
is entitled in literature, and that position is by no
means contemptible or uniufluential. He is treated
with the distinction which his profession deserves.
Influencing society more than almost any other class
of authors; inculcating generous sentiments and
enobling principles under the most alluring guise;
depicting the superficial, and disclosing the hidden
characteristics of society with a faithful pencil; and
elevating the aspirations by acting upon the sus-
ceptibilities of his readers, he has a peculiar
claim upon our attention and consideration, and
that claim he has forced us (meaning society) to
acknowledge. We are of course alluding to the most
eminent class of novelists. Although many distin-
guished writers had conduced by their compositions'
to this extraordinary change in popular opinion, it
was reserved for Sir Walter Scott to demonstrate in
a re;, arkable manner the solid benefits which might
acrue from the sagacious intermixture of fictitious in-
cident and actual occurrences. By a succession of
inimitable works that Prince of Novelists rendered
the real dignity and merits of historical romance ap-
parent. He showed that by that beautiful species of
composition a more vivid idea of past ages and of by-
gone events was conveyed to the perception of the
million than by more sober and more voluminous
records. He showed that a clearer conception of the
characters of the departed illustrious might be formed
from those agreeable delineations than from the por-
traitures of more didactic scribes. He showed with
a singular felicity the mode in which instruc-
tion might be inextricably mingled with amuse-
ment, and how in the pages of the historical ro-
mancist the spirit of departed generations might be
revived, for the improvement as well as for the re-
creation of the living multitude. "Kenilworth" re-
stored us to the days of Leicester and Elizabeth;
the " Fortunes of Nigel" to those of James I. and
jingling Geordie; "Anne of Gierstein" to the mys-
terious proceedings of the Veremgericht; the "Talis-
man" to the deeds of cceur de Lion in Palestine;
" Waverley" to the tribulations of the young Pre-
tender and his upholders; " Quentin Durward" to
the reign of Louis XI.; "Ivanhoe," again, to the

first Richard ; and so on through the whole cata-
logue of those splendid productions. Eminently suc-
cessful, however, as the great Scotchman was in this
style of narrative, he has, in that very eminence of
success, shown the difficulty of making any such
:achievement ; he has proved to all his successors, that
if one of the most arduous undertakings in literature
is the composition of a good tragedy, one of the next
degree of difficulty is the penning of a good
historical romance. The author of the present work
has been evidently fully aware of the many perils he
would have to encounter, of the many pitfalls he
would have to overleap, of the many obstacles he would
have to annihilate, before he could hope for itsfortunate
completion. The very excellence of the entire story
is a testimony that the narrator was conscious of the
existence of the obstructions he has vanquished so
well. Mr. Curling is already known by his novel
entitled " The Soldier of Fortune." The three TO

lumes lying under consideration assure us that he
may acquire a familiar and distinguished name
amongst our novelists, if he only persevere in the
course upon which he has adventured. " John of
England" is a picturesque and beautiful revival of one
amongst the most striking and eventful periods of our
national history. As the title indicates, the
plot is situated partially in England, partially
in France, during the reign of the meanest and
vilest of our Kings, John, the brother of Richard
Coeur de Lion, and Geoffrey Plantagenet. Mr.
Curling has admirably discriminated the disposition of
this cowardly and treacherous monarch; but, aware
of the disagreeable impressions which are alone con-
veyed by a contemplation of his actions, he has ren-
dered the incidents connected with King John subor-
dinate to those of the fictitious characters introduced.
And in this we conceive consists the principal success
of the -romance. The story associated with the
heroine, Bertha Daundelyonne, is most felicitously
conceived. From the interest excited in her fortunes,
from the anxiety aroused by the perils of her capture
and imprisonment, and from the yet greater anxiety
experienced in her behalf during her withdrawal from
the power of her profligate captors, we shall not de-
tract by giving a cold epitome. There is almost
as much art visible in the construction 01
the plot as there is nature in its development.
In the beautiful and curiously accomplished
Bertha, and in her companions in the romance, the
hopes and wishes of the reader are aroused and sus-
tained throughout. The author has thoroughly en-
tered into the singular character of the age of which
King John was what Byron calls " the Thunderer of
the scene." His imagination has reverted to that
century of misrule, and with an intuitive sagacity his
hand has sketched the manners and habits and dispo-
position or the nation as it then appeared. Aided by
the monkish bookmen of that period, he has pour
trayed the people with a peculiar and charming
vividness ; from the palace to the dungeon, from the
cottage, to the battlement. We observe that Mr.
Curling has introduced, as an episode to the principle
tale, the sufferings and mysterious assassination of
Prince Arthur Plantagenet. If our memory serves
us faithfully, this mournful catastrophe has already
been introduced to modern novel readers in Mr.
G. P. R. James's " Philip Augustus." It is, however,
treated with so much of artistic skill in " John of
England," that we are persuaded the majority will be
grateful for the revival. In his description of the
murder committed upon the unfortunate prince, we
observe that Mr. Curling attributes it personally to
the base monarch himself. Whether be is justified
in so doing we think is extremely questionable. The
simple circumstances are, that Prince Arthur was
murdered in a dungeon of the Castle of Rouen, April
3, 1202. It does not appear who was his actual de-
stroyer, and the imputations upon John are attribut-
able rather to the inuendoes than to the positive
assertions of the different historians. One writes
that the Prince suddenly disappeared, but in what
manner nobody could conjecture, " Subito evanuit,
modo fere omnibus ignorato ;" another says, "feria
quinta ante Pascha propria manu interfecit ;' while a
third is more explicit in his insinuations,
" Rex suspectus," he writes, " habebatur
ab omnibus, quasi ill um mane propria occidisset 1"
William Brito, indeed, confidently maintains (Phi-
lipid. VI. 167.) that John stabbed his nephew twice
with a dagger, in a boat, and subsequently threw his
corpse into the river. But how does he attempt to
substantiate this bold assertion ? He merely states
it. We cannot but coincide with modern historians

in thinking that this assassination by John's own
hand is highly improbable, seeing that so many vil-
lains were in the world who would have snatched at
so facile a means of obtaining emolument. Mr.
Curling, however, with the allowable license of the
romancist, has given implicit credence to Brito. A
more interesting fiction has not been issued from the
press for a long period than " John of England. It
reminds one of the oriental metaphor of the reflection
of a rainbow upon plates of gold.

~..._,
Whether poetry is in a
THE BRITISH
NQ
oU.AVRITIm.6
al
naneYr
question
is a
ql
antecedent REVIEW.
to
civilisation, or simultaneous with it,
undertakes to
Review, in a very ostentatious article,
efrweeqrueedn. tlyAadcvoanntcreihdutbourt
toseltdhoem
British
hlusiQveuay
rtearnly-
d thee meoeuvsetrreastte 'i‘nttheal tl e
et ht
nea l h idgihe
eeispth
nmer
atrael
notc u l t
uu, rnep,
rlhioapnid;
tious to the grandest efforts of imagination.'
ap
trtoepnotsi position o n
fanfarronade of trumpets. Even then the words are
afitser onaly
kiinndtrodoufcemd
ortaol thfleourireeha,dero'rs
printed in the most legible italics. The writers ad-
vances with the most elaborate parade of valour to
annihilate all those who have the audacity to deny
the possibility of a great poetical genius making his
appearance in an age of civilization. He insists
that, supposing such an egregious doctrine to be
founded upon experience, epics ought to be dis-
covered in as much profusion as spontaneous fruit in
"the sombrep forests of New Zealand, and
the thirsty wildernesses of Australia." He
blunders through a multitude of grandiloquent,
sentences for the purpose of thoroughly elucidating
his meaning, and at last congratulates himself upon
having tolerably well demonstrated the justice of his
theory. His theory, indeed ! Why, the same notion
has been long ago submitted to similar arguments.
and has produced infinitely better conclusions. That
poetry of a superior order might be and has been
penned in periods of high intellectual cultiva
tion, is sufficiently manifest of itself. Expe
rience and common sense would enable on(
to recognise that fact ; and the wherefore'
has been most admirably defined by Mr. Macaulay in
the Edinburgh Review. In his florid but exquisite
critical essay upon Milton, 'that elegant thinker has
enumerated the difficulties with which the poet is
surrounded by civilization, and he has likewise ex-
plained how all those difficulties may be vAquished,
And how, being vanquished, the bard may, with the
requisite amount of genius, achieve greater things
ih.oi supposing he had flourished in a period
of national barbarism. Mr. Macaulay bat-
there acknowledged that poetry is naturall \
more spontaneous and real when society existed in iis
iprimitive condition, when the landscapes were young,
And the "vernal woods unshorn," when the shep•