The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-12 00:00:00

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LITERATURE.
FOREST and GAME TALES.: T 01. 111. By
Harriet Martineau.
As an acute and sound reasoner upon political
economy, Miss Martineau has long been familiarly
known to English readers. Her powers of argument
are fully appreciated, her cases in point are generally
admissible, her manner of regarding any mooted
question of jurisprudence is always sufficiently
new to render it attractive. Indeed, her popularity
is ascribable more to clearness of perception and appo-
siteness of development upon any abstruse principle
than to displays of rhetoric, or those many superfluous
adjuncts which tend rather to decorate than actually to
improve a volume. Ingenuity or dexterity as a logician
are qualities to which Miss Martineau car not advance
the veriest ghost of a claim ; she is wholly and entirely
deficient in the trickeries so prevalent among political
theorists. She does not skin a social wound over with
the gloss of language ; she probes it, with a firm and
unshrinking hand, to the very bottom ; she extracts
each of its poisonous or virulent qualities, bit by bit,
classifies them, one after another, with scrupulods exact-
ness, and then holds thew up in succession for public
scrutiny in so many chapters. Where the remedy is
questionable, she specifies one herself, and maintains it
by a long array of wherefores; where, however, the
course to be adopted is self-evident, she abandons it
to its own silent but moving eloquence. In the series
which have particularly originated these considerations
in our own mind, and of which the volume before us
forms the conclusion, Miss Martineau has exercised her
abilities in a more alluring, if not a more sound or sober
manner. The object of the entire work is pretty
tolerably plain from the title alone ; and so vigor-
ous is the handling of the theme, so unanswer-
able are the abuses thrrain pourtrayed, and so
utterly incapable of much longer support, is the
system stigmatised, that we are fain to regard
these " Forest Tales" as harbingers of death to the
game-laws, and as the precursors of a more rational
state of things. In this light the last effusion of the
" set" must be regarded as the ante penultimate of
the abrogation. From the two adjectives which form
the heading of this story—" Gentle and Simple"—we
may learn its most pervading characteristic. Gentle and
simple enough the tale is—it is pure, unadulterated,
limpid English. Nor is it merely thus in its style of
composition; it is English also in its general tone; it is
English—thoroughly English—in all its characters. The
authoress has selected her materials from the fountain-
head ; she has transferred to her pages the emotions
which are ever welling up in our agricultural districts.
She has with a right faithful pencil copied the features
which are visible in our countrymen, whether in the mea-
dow, in the cottage, in the stubble-field, in the high-road,
or among the crops. All the characters, however lightly
sketched, will be recognised ; they are not so much
individuals as representatives of a genes. Their proto-
types are scattered far and wide through every county,
without number. Onslow, the honest, steady-going,
plain-spoken farmer; Lisamer, the conscientious game-
keeper; Granny Stott, the industrious, peevish, and
respectable housewife; Groves, the hearty old fellow •
who is licensed to sell gdme, and vkho advised his
" poaching party to shake their fowls in the face of the
policeman they met in his rounds of an autumnal
morning, or asked him to judge of the weight of a hare
yet warn on the coldest winter night;" all these per-
sonages, and many others not specified, are no more the
creations of fancy than daguerrotypes are; down even to
little Tot herself.

One blemish in the book, which is however a neces •
sary consequence of the subject and the aim proposed,
is its accumulation of dry and heavy dialogue. Every
scene, every situation, is used simply as a peg upon
which to bang a number of fresh arguments ; yet from
this very circumstance the object is never lost sight of
for an instant. The pernicious game laws !—there it
stands ever before the reader, from the opening sentence
to the concluding syllable—the pernicious game-laws !
Luke Voile, a common day-labourer, as one may say, a
hedger and ditcher, is the hero; and in tracing his
moral destruction, from his ignorance in picking up a
neat of partridge's eggs from a bank on his way home
from work, to his transportation for catching a couple of
leverets, the mistaken policy of the present legislation
about game is admirably defined; it is a vast political
question condensed, as it were, into an anecdote ; it is a
companion to the Iliad in a nutshell. Any one who is
interested in the welfare of his fellow• creatures, and of
his fellow-countrymen, will read " Gentle and Simple ;"
it is an important exposition of an important topic ; nor
is it devoid of the merits necessary for a work of fiction.
In this respect the suicide of Lisamer, and the return of
Luke to bis cottage-home after confinement in jail, are
passages fraught with a strange and touching pathos.
Altogether this is a clever and good-spirited tale, ger-
minated not only in the mind but in the heart also of its
authoress.

THE KNIGHT OF GIVYNNE. Nos. I. and

By Charles Lever.
While his brother literateu7s, with scarcely another ex-
ception, are subsiding either into utter silence (such as Sir
Bulwer Lytton), or into casual magazine writers (such as
W. H. Maiwell), or into a mongrel existence in newspapers
(such as Dickens), or into resurrectionists of their own for-
gotten creations (such as Ainsworth)—Charles Lever, the
quondam " Harry Lorrequer" continues as fresh, and spark-
ling, and prolific as he has been heretofore. In these some-
what turbulent-minded times, when both politics and litera-
ture appear to have lapsed into the confusion whicli is ge-
nerally the forerunner of a great change, it is really pleasant
to be greeted each month by the same hilarious heart which
has lightened our own so frequently during the last four or
five years. We regard that old pink covering alone, as some-
thing worthy of our estimation : it looks the harbinger of at
least one evening's amusement ; nor is its smallest adjunct
that " Phiz"—rare, delicate, laughter-moving "Ph'z"—still
continues to be the illustrator. Although it is scarcely pos-
sible to arrive at any correct conclusion regarding the merits
of a fiction after having perused merely nine chapters, we
can safely declare that the commencement of the
" Knight of Gwynne" is equal if not superior
to the commencement of any other of Mr. Lever's
productions. Curiously enough, whether by design or for-
getfulness, the first chapter opens in a manner identical with
the opening of " Jack Hinton," namely, in a banquet-room,
immediately after the guests have retired; the only dis-
similarity being that one is situated in London, and the other
in Dublin. The characteristic in which " Harry. Lorrequer'
is unrivalled, is as an anedote teller: as he cracks a
walnut over his maderia some grotesque and extravagant
adventure is rattled off with the most fascinating smartness,
and without the faintest indication of effect. As one among
the drollest of these little episodes, the account of Dick
French's hunt on a dromedary after an " ibis" is wonder-
fully funny; especially with the assistance of Hablot
Browne's etching needle. 'We may also particularise the de-
scription of Gwynne Abbey as charmingly picturesque. The
old knight himself is beautifully conceived, and Bageua
Daly promises to be one of the most finished and original
characters Mr. Lever haS yet summoned into existence
According to our estimate, the motto of the Gwynnes•" Ne
le touch z pas!" will not apply to the present narrative o.
their descendant's career ; far otherwise—the pages are
destined to be well thumbed.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
THE NEWMARKET TRIENNIAL STAKES
Closed with 161 subscribers.

The first race for it will be run in the First October
Meeting, 1848, the horses being then two years old. The
engagement is binding with the same nominations for
the First October Meetings, 1849 and 1850, the stake
for each year being 10 soya. Produce to be declared at
the usual time.

NEWMARKET CRAVEN MEETING, 1846.
MONDAY.

Lord Chesterfield's Lady Wildair, 4 yrs, agst Lord
Orford's Prussic Acid, 3 yrs, weight for age. D.M•
200, h ft.
Mr. Clifton's Brown Bess agst Mr. O'Brien's Tribute
both 2 yrs old, 7st 71b each. 100, h ft. Y.C.
FIRST SPRING, 1844.

MONDAY.
Lord Orford's Prussic Acid, 113 st 'lb agst Lord Ghia.
gow's f, by Retrieter, out of Amelia, 7st 111 b, R.M.,
200, h ft.

HOUGHTON, 1846.
MONDAY.

Duke of Bedford's Free Gift agst Lord Eglinton's
Eryx ; Criterion Course ; 300, 200 ft.

LAST DAY.
Duke of Bedford's Paragon, Bst 71b, agst Lorl Eglin-
t Thersites, Bst ; D.M. ; 200 h ft.
SECOND OCTOBER, 1847.
MONDAY.
Lord Glasgow's c, by the Saddler, out of llarcessa,
Bst 51b, agst Lord Glasgow's f, by Retriever, out o.
Canada, 7st 81b ; D.M., 200 h ft.

(RECEIVED THIS DAY,)
lEREFORD STEEPLE CHASES.-YESTERDAY.

The Aristocratic SteepieChasit;as ;on by Captain Read'a
Mameluke, beating Lord Glamis's Satan, and the Ilurdle
race by Chance.
NEWMARKET COURSING MEETING—WEDNESDAY.
ExNING FIELD—THE OAKS.
Mr. Nash nd Moss Rose beat Mr. Buckworth's Busy Bee.
Mr. Moody's Ruth beat Mr. Bagge's Tiny.
Mr. Fyson's Fenelle beat Mr. Dobede's Delicate.
Mr. Bagge's Treasure beat Mr. King's Racbael.
Mr. Gillett's Graciosa beat Lord Stradbroke's Medley.
Lord Stradbroke's Meg beat Mr. Dobede's Dowager. Queen.
Tnic Cur.—First ties.

Farmer beat Tabby I Miles beat Belle
Figaro beat Muslin Destiny beat Regina.
THE DERBY.—First Ties.
Deerslayer beat Baksheesh, I Dunkirk beat Mac
Thaddeus of Warsaw beat Richard.
THE PCRT STAKES.
Lord Stradbroke's Mintinan beat Mr. Nash's nd Major.
Mr. Bagge's Turkey Cock agst Mr. Gillett's Guy Mannering
Guy Manner in; s drawn. . .
Mr. Tyson's Fidelity beat Mr. Dobede's Dew-drop.
Lord Stradbroke's garshal beat Mr Dobede's Duchess.

FACTORY HOURS.—The adjourned meeting of cotton-
spinners, which we announced in our number of Wednesday last,
was held at the offices o:' Meters. Jose,.h and William Heron, soli-
citors to the Association, on Saturday, acrd it was numerously at-
tended. Considerable difference of opinion
prevailed with respect to
the subject which had been under consideration on the preceding
Tuesday—viz., the reduction of the hou of factory labouru from
t welve to eleven hours, upon the passing of Robert epo
tariff; and, after some discussion, it was agreed that Lord Ashley's
Eil 1110111 d be strenuously opposed,
and tlatptalcietpczetsildienr,atit:oanft,„orf the
proposal for worliing eleven hosts should
passing cf Sir R. Peel's Ineasnres.—Jfandersler Guardian.
fame to any lict.nsed dealer, Miles'S
GAME LA wsi.-4-3,ls.ohri
dEnigtlrde'rsCaßtivile
land proposes
s the'o
enactamea d
thatm e i)ri, oof
persont h e
shall
sell
melt person be lord or lessee of a manor or reputed manor, or his
gamekeeper, as the owner or occupier of --
least (the number is not yet fixcd). Nothing, Low
affect or take away the authority of any inu.k el."' herein, is to
to sell game for consumption in his house. icierier or taivern-keeper
keep a hook, to be open for inspection ; and . censed dealers are to
game or snares, are to account for it to persons in possession of
Damage done by I,•arne is to be justice, if called on se to do.
(for the
:elf; e further
prietors; and a right of apportioned among neighbouring pro-
sions. The provisions of the
appeal is
given to the next Quarter SQS.
as regards penalties, Ece. former Act' are to be extended to this,
The Duke of Wellington
House on the 26th is expected to leave Apsley
his inst., for tl '
t a ifieldsaye, for the purpose of giving
annual banquet to the Si''
On Tuesday, Judges going the extern Circuit.
the 10th - instant, a general assembly
of the Academicians of the Royal Academy of Arts was held at their
apartments in Trafalgar square, when Thomas Webster, Patrick
li'Llowell, and John Rcgers Herbert Ess., Academicians
in
the
room
of
Sir
Herbert, q were duly elected Royal
Augustus Wall
sa2Lrlie, and Thomas Phillips, Zsg s.l deceased,
ValiccAt'
itc)°g