The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
TER LAIV OF RAIL WAYS. By L. Shelford,
Barri. ter at law. Second Edition. Butterworth.
At this
particular stage of railway investment and of
the Pal lialnenrary session, a more thoroughly useful or
valuable book than the present could not have been
Published. In the, present digest of the enactments
which relate to railways, the editor has shown more than
mere painstaking ;
he seems to have always kept in
'flew the convenience of its readers, insomuch that any
particular section of the subject may be referred to
with the greatest facility. The selection of illustrative
eases is
likewise most appropriate arid judicious. To
every one interested in railways—and to whom does this
ft in some inea,nre apply ?—the volume here produced
fret
the research and industry of Mr. Shelford, wid
Prove a most decider' boon : it will unravel to them
Whatever might previously have appeared intricate ; it
will show them the bearings of any questionable point
it will inform them when they are in need of informa-
tion. and guide them when they require guidance. This
edtti n is very considerably improved and extended, and
comprises, under their several heads, the powers, the
privileges, the responsibilities, and the duties which de-
oneve upon railway companies
.after incorporation. In
word, we would recommend all who are connected
with railways, either as shareholders or otherwise, to
Provide theniselves forthwith with this little volume.

THE NEW TIMON. A ROMANCE OF

LONDON. Part IV.
With this fourth part concludes one of the most re-
blarkahie poems of the present generation ; we speak
this emphatically, regarding the " New Timon " as re-
14aritable in a threefold degree—its conception being
dstrietly original, its language and imagery new, its ten-
eneY eminently moral. On its appearance it was in-
troduced to the lovers of poetry with the most decided
all
of passports to popularity with which any production
re'.ll merit can possibly be accompanied—it had the
Prestige of being anonymous. Many, doubtless, may
consider this a very questionable sort of advantage ;
_at• for ourselves, we must ever regard it as the satest
course a literary aspirant can adopt. For one thing, if a
Publication attracts attention by its intrinsic worth, while
title-page is without any clue to the authorship,
t2° curiosity of its readers is excited, and, in con-
clu,enee• a double interest is aroused. Without this
Preliminary secrecy the " Waverley Novels" would in
411 likelihood have been regarded as very clever and
b„,lnecessful efforts on the part of Mr. Walter Scott ;
iiii°, 131“ might possibly have exclaimed " What versa
'Y I" passages in " Marmion" and " Old Mortality"
—!ght have been compared, and those glorious fictions
tsllo' have subsided much sooner into the quiet immor-
-0-TY of bookshelves. Without this incitement to in-
gil3 Junius would never have achieved one moiety et
et,, present renown ; without it, the humourous writings
c, ,`1302" would scarcely have reached their first extraor-
ruinary circulation; without it—to come to a more recent,
!more insignificant, but nevertheless quite as appropriate
;al instance—" Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb,"
Ohl most assuredly never have extended its admirers
h IflfYond the subscribers to the circulating libraries.
adduced these examples, in corroboration of our
temost as to the peculiar benefit which redounds
pa thoroughly meritorious work, when unaccom-
anied by its author's name, we will revert, and that
• 4th no inconsiderable pleasure, to the anonymous writer
the': Romance of London." To the multitude he
maystill continue to be anonymous; to us the paternity
t
the through every couplet the peculiar bias of
• practised literateur is evident. Every description is
ulled with his peculiar idiosyncrasy; the plot, the cha
be;tiers, the situations, are traceable to his imagination
tine- Unlike his illustrious predecessor of Abbotsford,
has thrown aside the arabesqued-garment and opium
halloars of romance, to assume instead the bay-garland
Ptld the crystal goblet of poetry. Upon this his re•ap-
,r'a)rance in an unexpected character, and that, too, with
"r,esPondent freshness and vigour, we congratulate the
author of the " New Timon," and we congratulate our-
41s
LB' As a translator of the ballad-glories of Schiller,
b'o'hilad already tasted the hippocrene—in the present
and not unsuccessful effort, he drinks
L•, full and refreshing draught of that celestial
eno era(,e. Those who have not been fortunate
thatg to peruse this satirical poem may conjecture
ju such commendation is over-laudatory and mis-
tdge.d : with an earnest desire to clear ourselves from
ss: Imputation upon our character as candid critics,
Commend those individuals to the production itself—
intlt especially to this fourth and concluding part, which
every respect is so immesurably superior to its pre-
essors. Meanwhile, as some assurance that- such
Praise is fully merited, we will transcribe one descrip-
N n,a description of that very hacknied subject
lorning"—a description, however, which of its class
3 40 exact companion in the language
dawn, while yet, around the Indian, lay
at dark fantastic groups—resumed the way ;
• • • •
tel?°lcl the Fun !—how stately from the east,
DZ9l,Yorn God spresence, comes the glorious Priest I
Re ac beseems the Mighty One to whom
wen gives the charge to hallow and illume !
1)",r, as he comes—through the great temple, EARTH, •
The
the rich jubilee of grateful mirth !
f„he infant
,flowers their odour-censers swinging,
"' /trough aided glades Air's anthem-chorus ringing;
~ While, like some soul lifted aloft by love,
ttigh and alone the skylark halts above,
ligh• o'er the sparkling dews, the glittering corn,
"aYmns his frank happiness and hails the morn !"
1
,1° imagery employed in the opening of this passage is
`2_ol t daring, but the success with which it is embodied is
nit noble and most beautiful. A bolder symbol of the
great luminary was never imagined, and the manner in
Iseies
Ate. the metaphor is carried out is commensurate in all
°Peets. As some additional evidence of the " true
stirring within the secret chambers of our
i:ithor's mind, as a token that his fancy aspires to very
of !3' similes, turn we to one of those ambitious gleamings
as Tagiflailori which occasionally glitter in the pages of
ei.'!rearcer of dreams." Ile is depicting a tempestuous
aut, where
t At times the wild blast dies—and fair and far,
Z;hroligh chasms of cloud, looks down the solemn star—
s r the majestic moon ; as watchfires mark
erlae sleeping War dim-tented in the dark;
148, thrh antique chos and the stof matter,o w ughiri'd and writhing into form rm
We angels peer'd !"
k• lueredly no meagre or impoverished intellect could
eas
os.generatEd a thought at once so huge and delicate
ssiti,"4! No mere dabbler in the Helicon could write
%um_ a firm iron grasp like thisl We do not wish to
is;ze out a beauty where none exists: the quotations
hie vetheir own index. Part IV. opens with a description
4,Morvale's pilgrimage in search of " forgetfulness;"
II"' here his title to be distinguished as the New
th4l°ll is fully demonstrated. His affections stared by
a;1 criminality of Lucy's father; his soul burning with
ek°'Y thirst for vengeance (a holy thirst, we say, be-
-1148:) originating in his reverence for his sister's fame);
jhtraeart empty and pulseless with desolation, the
lisalko wanders through the fields, and the city ways,
ti through the fields again—at dawn, at mid-
so!sist' at evening, and at noon—without the
IsitZe of any crams which might console him
14" the promise of future happiness. And here
cji *nuld pause to point out more clearly than by any
4,;40' foregoing insinuations, the identity of the author-
Nl' of this " Romance of London,'' by comparing two
,sages fraught with a subtle bat unmistakable similarity
bpi thought, in language, and in illustration. To be
tit:cr Our anonymous poet, when alluding to. this incer-
listre of nitwit's, as to a futurity, says—in this final
4,1°11 of the " New Timon"—
sNor when his instinct of the life afar
Soar'd from the soil and task'd the unanswering star,
Came more than Hope—that reflex-beam of faith—
Thatß fitful moonlight on the unknown path."
:fi'verai years ago Mr. (now Sir) Edward Lytton Bul-
4. Produced (his first literary Production we believe it
1
the s 1
a little volume, entitled ‘1 Falkland" : in it occur
following eloquent ejaculations, and we would
the reader compare the two fragments in spirit and
amid:_
4%4,, would give worlds for a proof that death does net
tailes—Y• • • . I have watched over the tomb; I have
" in the agony of my heart to her who slept beneath.
of tn • I have been, as it were, entranced with the intensity
ktict Own adjuration. I have gazed upon the empty air,
411 worked upon my mind to fill it with imaginings. I have
aloud unto the winds and tasked my soul to waken
kan,, silence to reply. All was a waste—a stillness—an
assw"Y—swithout a wanderer or a voice! The dead
tht dme not when I envoked them ; and in the vigils of
23ttini„!‘t night I looked from the rank grass and mouldering
ell, to the eternal heavens, as man looks from decay to
hlienertality ! Oh that awful magnificence of repose—that
f'il'ergtll/I"P—that breathing, vet unrevealing divinity, spread
,at it, ese still worlds! To them also I poured my thoughts,
tes,m`L a whisper. I did not dare to breathe aloud the unhal-
,,isrh„4ngaish of my mind to the majesty of the unsympaJ
Las 'tars 1 In the vast order of creation—in the midst of
tltrir,`llPendous system of universal life—my doubt and in-
ltf,,,Were murmured forth—a voice crying in the
taits-„,-"esa! and returning without an eche, unanswered
It yself.
Nvli•telt Perfectly unnecessary to analyse a resemblance
• e
ust be manifest to every one : has the " New
alstArt„ author borrowed from himself or from another?
r"oi as to the source of this poem cannot assuredly be
, itr • cite. Our observations, however, should relate to
be as well as to the writer ; for that purpose
as I,llre the short space we have still remaining must
lishra ated to the former. One evening the hero over-
he e.,11, °id man "sainted and obscure!" discoursing of
talsr,ritjart doctrines to a neophyte,—tracing out its
tease
4.% its purity, its accordance with our better
tihe n(i tt 'id its solid, hopeful truth—while he demonstrates
t-ht'llgrnl?„ravity, obscurity, absurdity, and foolish
Ise" el s s-'4l of the heathen Dieties. This harangue of
t eoh-age is a masterly exposition of the creed of the
intoFd the ang-lic simplicity of which creed is con-
, ~.t.s the two admirable lines—
ressos
n less is to imagine more;
411Issvt-ti:e43: most aspire who meekly most adore !"
• .."rais,,tirle stern Infidel is embued with these divine
iTtaissa 's ; he is converted. With Christianity he
iltRI fur `Luegative serenity ; he allays his vile yearn
h.taet, r, Ird Arden's blood ;he becomes, in the sib-
-418 tses,ionless. As a proof of this total alteration in
4:torali:ettrtuent, the two enemies meet by accident, in
°llen an'it.iglitfall, upon a plank, that treinbles over a
4: ris,r ia boiling stream. Lord Arden is swept into
148trsetiouy a hurricane, and is saved from immediate
sh, t to,• 11,,bY —the Indian, but very recently his dead-
th,kht.; .subsequently, however, Lord Arden dies ; his
th: °flee snore thrown penniless upon the world
hst )4,itss, e,rael operation of the bastardy laws— but
the Pas,ht., trio wealthy alory ale -at the grass tomb o
ssihi.o
taili;, Where their love is assured for ever amidst
t,tss thv_ of that region of death ; and the story ter-
ede a
rose,
ink,„h P• above the funeral yews,
nes ;" „ her beams the funeral shades suffuse!
view 'Ana bliht the tender accents cease,
3 the,
tiesye was Love, and o ercreatren peace !"
14 task, 8 1)0P-in as a whole, it promises largely as to
iht.(llislis Poetical excsllence of its author. It has its
s• eo •
"`ta; 1,4 . (esubt, many of which we have particu-
it
1148 also beauties of no ordinary lustre,