The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-05 00:00:00

MORN I

G EMT'

Prove the best means of obtaining the return of man
to the House of Commons who would consider it their
first duty to Lpea, the Bread•tax, and other obnoxious
iropests, which are now pressing so unduly on the in-
dustrious classes.
hope that you will continue to press f'orward your
',61,111 OD this subject with the same zeal and talent.
I remain, your constant reader,
Londe°, Jan. 1841. N. A. 3.

LITERATURE.

MERCEDES OF CASTILE, 3 Vols.

Bentley, London, 1840.
The adventures and voyages of Columbus have
long been the favourite theme of historians, but
Until now, when Mr. Cooper has devoted to this
attractive subject by far the greater portion of his
Mercedes of Castile, we know not that it has ever
been attempted by any English novelist. We are
surprised at this, for never was there a theme more
ahounding in picturesque effects, and startling
vicissitudes, or which presented better opportuni-
ties for the development of character. We need
sky nothing of its descriptive recommendations, for
the mere mention of the romantic voyage across the
Atlantic, with the ever-shifting natural phenomena
exhibited during tile voyage ; and more particularly
of the first landing, and encounter with the natives
at Cat Island—the mere mention, we repeat, of
the things suggests infinitely more to the fancy of
the novelist, provided at least that he have a due
conception of his art, than we can possibly say. Mr.
Cooper has not done amiss in this portion of his
I°lnance ; he has detailed the particulars of the
great Genoese navigator's memorable voyage with
Uncommon spirit and minuteness, and we follow
him across the broad Atlantic with all the eagerness
and curiosity he could desire to rouse in the breast
of a reader. But here our praise must stop—or
rather we must qualify it " pretty considerably," as
Jonathan would say. The greater part of the first
volume is tedious and wire-drawn ; and the ac-
count of Isauella of Castile, previous to her mar-
riage with the wily and calculating Ferdinand,
might have been omitted • with advantage, for it
has little or nothing to do with the story, and
seems: to have been introduced as an after-
thought, with no other view than to fill up space.
We must also protest against the intolerably prolix
dialogues between Donna Mercedes of Castile and
her betrothed Don Luis de Bobadilla, which are
still more episodical, and are not redeemed by any
flashes of eloquence or passion. The interest o•,
the Story may be said to begin and end with Co-
lumbus's voyage of discovery ; all before this is
tame and apparently laboured ; and what follows
"with the single exception of the adventures of the
young Indian Princess, Ozema, who is brought
home to Spain by Columbus, and whose portrait is
Sweetly coloured—serves only to encumber and act
IS a drag-chain on the narrative. The leading
events of " Mercedes of Castile" may be disposed
of in a sentence or two. Mercedes is a young and
aeco.nplished Spanish lady of rank, who is attached
t° 1)011 Luis de Bobadilla, a gay, young cavalier,
of equally noble extraction. Being something of an
enthusiast, however, the lady will not hear of Luis's
suit until he has proved himself worthy of her, by
accompanying Columbus on his great expedition of
discovery ; he does so, and on his return is rewarded
With the hand of Mercedes, infinitely to the sur-
prise and regret of the poor Indian girl, Ozema, who
thinks it a very hard case that he cannot marry her
too, and dies of the grief occasioned by this unex-
pected disappointment. Throughout his story, Mr.
_
onper----so far at least as Queen Isabella is con-
cerned—appears to have taken the historian Pres-
cott as his guide, who has bestowed on this Royal
utly various virtues which have escaped the research
of most preceding writers. In his portrait, which
IS an elaborate whole length, of Columbus, the no-
velist has been perfectly consistent with truth ; this,
indeed, is the only
well-sustained character of im-
portance in the story, for the rest of the dramatis
personae, always excepting Isabella, are little better
than
ac generalities—dim outlines—like those vague
s
h ioNS which we see pass and repass across a
magic lantern.

KNIGHTAGE OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND.
Churton, London.
This will be found a very useful companion to
the << Peerage and Baronetage." It is beautifully
Printed, and contains a number of elegant cuts,
Illustrative . of the different orders, harmers, crosses,
Sec .1
carried by theknights, together with a short
biographical account of each. The following is a
specimen :
14 ("AY, VICE-ADMIRAL SIR ROBERT WALLER,
was Lieutenant of the Impregnable in Howe's
"1311; captured when commanding the Thorn sloop,
after a Well contested engagement, in which he was
IWounded, by the Courier, French corvette of superior
Itze to served in the West Indies, and in the expedi-
Copenhagen. This gallant officer is stated to
hoe been more than a hundred times in action. He is
second son of the late Cooke Otway, Esq., of Castle
°twaY. county Tipperary, was born in 1772, and
married in Isol, Clementina, daughter and co-heir of
Admiral Holloway, by whom he has several children.
ilrins.—Arg. a pile sa. a chev.countercharged.

THE BOOK OF MOTTOES.
This is a complete dictionary of mottoes borne,
Dot only by Nobles and Baronets, but also by
Public companies, cities, and individuals in the
_middle and lower ranks of life. They are trans-
lated into English, with occasional notes and illus-
trations, and arranged in alphabetical order. When
the compiler publishes a second edition he would
render the book doubly valuable by giving an al-
phabetical list of the names also, so that the motto
of any family might be found out at once. Thus,
Wellington, << Virtutis fortuna comes"—Napier,
" Ready, aye ready."

~. S"~

r~~r:

EXPLOSION OF G UNPowDER.---On Tuesday
!zeroing last, an explosion of gunpowder, attended with
serious and fatal consequences, took place at the house of
a rnan named Moult, residing at Spotland Bridge, near
Rochdale. Moult who is a coal-miner and sinker, hat
received a barrel of gunpowder, containing upwards
of thirty pounds, which was placed in an upper room
in the house; and his son, who had been in the habit
of taking out email quantities, went into the room for
that Purpose at six o'clock on Tuesday morning with
a lighted candle, when a spark fell upon the gun-
blownr,whch immediately exploded, and the roof was
from the houre. The unfortunate cause of
the accident was found in the garden, a distance
of eight yards from the house, alive, but dreadfully
mangled. Two of his fingers were blown off, and he hcd
received the most serious injuries in the lower part of
the abdomen. The unfortunate youth lingered in the
most excruciating agonies until eight o'clock of the
lame day, when death put a period to his sufferings.
In the house where the explosion took place, there
were about fourteen persons, all of whom escaped with-
out injury. But if the barrel of gunpowder had been
Placed on the ground floor of the house, instead of in
the garret, the consequences would have been most
lamentable. In addition to the injury done to Moult's
house several looms in an adjoining house were en-
tirely destroyed. The dwelling of the collier was the
bark part of a double house, the front of which was
four, and the back three stories high. The roofs of both
back and front house were completely blown off; the party
wall which divided the garrets of the front tenement
from the back, was blown into the ft ont, amidst three
looms which stood in that chamber. The warps were
eonsumed by the flames, and the looms broken by the
bricks ; the windows of this room were all driven out by
the force of the powder. The collier's house was a heap
of ruins, the whole front, as far as the lower story, had
been blown into the garden. In the second chamber there
were three beds full of inmates, but the floor above was
driven down over the beds, and completely protected them
from the falling slates and timbers of the roof.
PETER PRIGGINS—EDITED BY THEODORE
""la, Itsg.—We are requested to state that the new
novel entitled " Peter Priggins, the College Scout,"
edited by Theodore Htoke, Esq., in 3 vols., post Svcs.,
with numerous illustrations by Phi; is published this day,
by Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough-street, and may
now be had at all the Libraries. Mr. Colburn has also
just published the following new works of fiction.-1. Mr.
Roby's Popular Traditions of England, 3
Naval 'Surg, by
the Author of Cavendish, 3 vols. 3. Sir Thomaseon Dick
Lauder's Legendary Tales of the Highlands, 3 vols., with
numerous illustrations by Phiz. 4. Love and War ; or
the Romance of Military Life, by Capt. Quillinan, 3 vols.
5. Oliver Cromwell, edited by Horace Smith, Esq., 3
vols. 6. The History of a Flirt, second edition, 3 vols.
7, The Secretary of Macchiavelli, or the Siege of Flo-
rence, by Daniel Macarthy, Esq., 3 vols. 8. The Cash-
Mere Shawl, by Capt. White, 3 vols. 9- Sandron
Cash-
ore the D..yis of Queen Anne, by the Hon. Grantley
Berkeley, 3 vols. 10. The Banker Lord, 3 vols. 11.
The Widow Married, a sequel to Widow Barnaby, by
Bats Trollope, 3 vols, with 21 illustrations, by R. W.
oR. A. 12. The Chelsea Pensioners, by the author
of The
Subaltern, complete for 55., with portrait of the
auor ece., forming the New Volume of Colburn's Stand-
ard
BRUSSELS, JAN. 2.—Yesterday being New
.IrelLr's bay, their Majesties the King and Queen received
"ece'llyely the Ministers, the D plomatic Body, the Great
public Bodies, the Civil and Military Authorities, and the
Persons presented at Court. The reception began at noon,
and continued till four o'clock. The Dutch Government
received in the year 1840 for toll on ships arriving at
Antwerp and leaving that port by the Scheldt, the sum of
4771491 a9llllll.