The Sun.
London, England, 1833-04-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

BYRON'S WORKS, VoL. 16, LONDON, 1833
Forms a continuation of the Noble Childe's
chef d'oeuvre " Don Juan," with the recom-
mendation, as in the preceding volumes, of ex-
planatory notes and piquant scraps of criticism,
from the pens of some of the noted authors of
the day. Numerous Various Readings are also
appended ; many of which are not a little inte-
resting, as showing the eager way in which Lord
Byron caught at a smart epithet, or pointed wit-
ticism, by way of giving finish to a stanza. The
illustrations are Cologne and the Mosque of St.
Sophia at Constantinople, executed by the Fin-
dens, with their usual skill and delicacy of touch.

EXILE OF IDRIA. LONDON, 1R33.

A poem, the scene of which is laid in one of
the quicksilver mines of Carniola. The versifica-
tion is very sweet and simple, but wants strength
and character. The introductory portion is the
most successful.

FAMILY LIBRARY. No. XXXVIL
LONDON, 1833.

We have already noticed the two former
volumes of the Lives of the Scottish Worthies,
of which the one now before us forms the third,
and shall therefore merely observe that it exhibits
no falling off, whether as respects style or
research. The most agreeable memoir in the
volume is that of James the First of Scotland,
of whose imprisonment in Windsor Castle,
Washington Irving has given us some delight-
ful fragmentary details in his Sketch Book. We
are here furnished with some specimens of his
poetry, which is truly Royal (that is to say, not
a little common-place and lackadaisical) in qua-
lity. Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler is the biogra-
pher of the Scottish Worthies.

THE BOOK OF REFORM—PORT I, BEING
REFLECTIONS, SUGGESTIONS, &c.

The writer of this work opens his preface in
the most extraordinary manner we ever wit-
nessed. He says, " About six months ago I
published a small pamphlet entitled What will
Reform do ?' in which I endeavoured to render
the nature and tendency of the Reform Bill in-
telligible to the slenderest capacity." To this
sentence is appended the following note :

" Since writing this little tract, the author has seen
reason to wish much of it unwritten ; for though tole-
rably moderate, yet here and there it tastes rather strong
of party spirit. Besides this, he has published two other
pamphlets, the one, written about two years ago, on the
subj,ct of " Colonial Slavery," in a very ranting and de-
clamatory strain : as, however, he was then only seventeen,
he hopes this may, in a measure, apologize for the boyish
and tumacious style in which it is written ; and as for the
other, he feels most heartily ashamed of it. Should, there-
fore, any of the above have fallen into the hands of any
who may read the Author's present work, he trusts that
the sentiments they contain may not be made to witness
against him, as be has recanted many of the opinions ex-
pressed in them, and, he trusts, utterly repudiated the
spirit which pervades the two latter, and begs most humbly
to apologize to the public for having ever insulted it with
such trash."

The philosopher, who has now attained the
mature age of nineteen, is diffident on the subject
of what he wrote six months back, but what he
wrote at that enormous distance of time, two
years, he has no hesitation in condemning as
trash. He was then a mere boy, but now his
brow is doubtless wrinkled by thought, his eyes
are sunken, his cheeks are pale and furrowed,
his grey locks, which still linger upon his ve-
nerable head are gradually becoming scarcer, and
are warning him of the necessity of forthwith
giving to the world his " Reflections, Sugges-
tions, and Plans on the various important Ques-
tions which are about to be decided in the New
Parliament," lest he should drop into the grave
at the advanced age of twenty, without specifi-
cally bequeathing legacies so valuable.

But, badinage aside, we regret that the au-
thor has not waited a few years, as well to ma-
ture his ideas as to polish his style a little, which
partakes more of the slip-slop school than that of a
well educated gentleman, even of nineteen, ought
to do. For instance, we have him continually
talkinp of " the smallest moiety of influ-
ence, ' and of " giving the Reform Bill its
coup de grace," meaning to render it perfect.
Other expressions are here and there used, prow

ing him as ignorant of Latin and French, as one
might expect from the slovenliness of his Eng-
lish style. A knowledge of Latin and French
is not requisite to enable a man to write ably
upon the subject of the ballot ; and the writer
would do well to abstain from using expressions,
the meaning of which he does not exactly under-
stand. It may be thought, perhaps, that we
are breaking a fly upon the wheel—that a brush
with the feathered end of our pen, is what the
book before us requires, instead of a severe
pricking from its point : it may be so ; perhaps
we are wrong ; but we think we see before
us the promise of better things—that there is
good seed in the ground, which, if not choked
up by self-conceit, may hereafter produce some-
thing that the author need not wish thrown be-
hind the fire as trash.

ANTWERP AND ITS SIEGE IN 1832.
LONDON, 1833.

The reading public have by this time almost
forgotten Antwerp and its Siege ; hence the
present volume, which is meant, we presume, to
act as a gentle stimulus to their recollections.
We have perused it with some attention and can
speak, if not to the local accuracy, at any rate to
the freshness, spirit, and variety of its details.
Two views of the citadel are affixed, and bear
the appearance of having been copied from Mr.
Burford's Panorama.

IRELAND IN THE 19ra CENTURT.
LONDON, 1833.

To any one desirous of ascertaining the exact
number of noblemen's and gentlemen's seats in
the north-west of Ireland ; in what state the hogs
are in that district ; what are the quality and
advantages of its soil, and on what days the
markets are held in some of its principal towns
—to any one desirous of acquainting himself with
these momentous matters, we recommend Mr.
Atkinson's present volume. But how, in the
name of all that is modest, came he to give it
such a sounding, ambitious title as " Ireland in
the nineteenth century ?" It is no more a de-
scription, topographical, historical, or political, of
the country of the " seven millions" than Gilpin's
Tour to the Lakes, or Cotton's Guideto the Isle
of Wight, are descriptions of England. Mr. A.
makes a hasty tour through the north-west of Ire-
land, visits a lake or two, analyses the component
parts of a bog, notes down in his tablets the
names of some three dozen private estates, with
the " messuages and tenements there and there-
unto appertaining ;" ascertains the exact number
of square acres in Lough Earne ; and having
accomplished these herculean labours, sets sail
for Liverpool, gets his not-book into proper
publishing trim, rushes with it to a Liverpool
bibliopolist, and behold—a thick octavo volume
on " Ireland in the Nineteenth Century !"
Verily, the present day is the Millennium—the
Euthanasia of book-making.

CONSTANCE. 3 VoLs. LONDON, 1833

A novel of the domestic class, pleasingly
written, without affectation, and without any
attempt at undue effect. The characters are, for
the most part, of an every-day stamp, and the
hero and heroine, patterns of the most orthodox
propriety—despite one or two little domestic
fracas, which give a zest to matrimony, and pre-
vent married folks falling asleep in each other's
presence. The best, or at least the most con-
sistently, maintained character in the tale, is Mr,
Kilderby the poet, who does some small verse on
occasions, and dies, in vol. 3, page 324, of " an
elegy which he had staid too long in a damp
churchyard to write."

A TREATISE ON THE EYE. LONDON, 1833.
The name of Curtis alone is a sufficient
guarantee for the excellence of this dissertation,
which is as full of facts as a Christmas pudding
of plums. At some more fitting opportunity
we may be tempted to give extracts from it.

BOOK OF THE NURSERY. LONDON, 1833.

Capital reading for mothers and wet-nurses,
giving a copious catalogue of infantine disor-
ders, and the best mode of getting rid of them.