The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-15 00:00:00

FRIPA Y EVENING, SEPTEMBER 15, 1848.

three months, of six months, of I know not how
long—l would say to you, citizens, that which I
have said within the last few days to another Go-
vernment : You may draw my consent to your de-
mands from my bosom only with the balls which
shall have pierced it !" Behold how I have ad-
journed the National Assembly in the face of those
who have demanded its postponement! Is this, then,
I ask of you, to be numbered amongst my criminal
concessions?

It is true, without doubt, that a little further on
we delayed the convocation of the National Assembly
for five days. You shall learn why. It was in order
to enable the National Guard to elect some of their
officers prior to the great day of inauguration, for
that civic army was not then perfectly organized, and
we were anxious, and we felt ourselves bound to be
anxious, so to arrange the preparations that the
National Guard should appear to advantage for the
purpose of surrounding the National Assembly with
the respect, with the authority, and with the invio•
lability of Paris in arms ! Was this treason, or was
it solicitude for the National Assembly ? The 15th
of May has given the response ! What would have
become of us on the 15th of May if the National
Guard had been absent?

LITERATURE.

ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HAN

OVER. 2 Vols. By Thomas Wright.
andlthcb i;eas v
illustrating
ne
compositions
. 1.
ist r
ataiti g
.etyl
emvaoerodnfpdoi
sitreaihi
tdinnouei
Almost every description of historical writing has
coounnetrytimheadteomuanlaottehder.
the Illouftmieer
fidnf cireurofoTsaerunii asigl
oec
nfdiwst uEo sronnk:
England.
al naoodnuf
(ri
aT.
more
\h,
pictorial
:vonoi
various
rogsi
alhoel
Knight
Sovereigns
character,
eva Henryad,rnraaeperi
ugtreabnr:s,
from William the Conqueror downwards. A'Beckett
had penned a comic description of the same events in
a work as eccentric as any written since the days of
Rabellais and Cervantes. Maccabe had laboriously
translated the chronicles of our ancient bookmen.
But it was reserved for Mr. Wright to conceive and
accomplish an undertaking which contrasts in a
brilliant manner with those of his predecessors. The
notion of the work before us is as eccentric as it is
decidedly felicitous ; it is nothing less than the vivid
portraiture of the occurrences which have marked
the progress of the British empire since the rise of
the dynasty of the House of Brunswick on the de-
mise of Queen Anne—by a multitude of grotesque
wood-cuts copied from the caricatures of the last and the
present century. The successor of our author will
have only to follow his suggestions as to the accumu-
lation of subsequent caricatures for the purpose of re-
presenting the reigns of George IV., William IV.,
and of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria; and
the inimitable cartoons of H. B. will of themselves
afford a fruitful field for his investigations. Up to the
commencement of the felicitous labours of the elder
Doyle, or rather up to the appearance of the incom-
parable Cruikshank, Mr. Wright proceeds, but no
further. So that a glorious field is still left for the
sequel of his history embellished by caricatures.
Although the close of his ingenious undertaking, pre-
cisely at that period when the political caricaturists
were becoming more than ever numerous, prolific.,
and imaginative, must have required an infinite effort
of self-denial, we cannot but feel that the de-
termination of our comical historian was, to
say the least of it, judicious. Had he adventured
further he would have endangered his fame, as a
poacher on the domains of artists still living,
and would thereby have militated in a great measure
from the agreeable and innoffensive character of his
volumes. According to' their present arrangement
they may be very nearly described as without
blemish, if we except the indulgence of the limner
in a few licentious, not to say indecent, excerpts from
the original drawings of Gillray and Rowlandson.
As a frontispiece to the first volume we have, as we
think, rather appropriately, a capital engraving of
William Pitt, the great Earl of Chatham. We say
appropriately, inasmuch as the sarcasm of the artists
of the eighteenth century attained the height of their
drollery during the period of his memorable adminis-
tration. To the second volume is prefixed, an en
graved portrait of one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, of our English caricaturists—James Gillray.
Mr. Wright, in the enthusiasm of his esteem for
the abilities of this eminent satirist of the
last age of statesmen, calls Gillray, the
greatest of cur caricaturists. To our thinking,
however, such a dogmatic decision appears to be
somewhat rash and precipitate after the prolonged
and unexampled career of the celebrated IL B.
Doyle has been called, we are well aware, rather a
portrait-taker than a caricaturist; but such an opinion
is little less than actually preposterous when some ot
his wild and witty tableaux are borne in recollection.
To Gillray, nevertheless, and to Rowlandson, we
must acknowledge ourselves indebted for some of the
oddest conceits in the way of pictorial travestie that
have ever been delineated. And our gratitude te
them is the more lively after the laughter provoked
from us by the examination of the entertaining
chapters of Mr. Wright's " History of the House ot
Hanover." Were we to attempt to enumerate one
quarter of the wood-engravings lavished upon these
two volumes by the faithful implements employed 1,2.
P. W. Fairholt, we should exhaust the mus-
cular energy of our hand, the attention 01
our compositors, and the patience of our readers.
Those who are curious as to their diversity will be
best enabled to satisfy their inquisitiveness by referring
at once to the books themselves ; and such a proceed
ing is undoubtedly the most advisable, seeing that
it is beyond our powers of description to convey an.y
adequate notion.of any one figure or any one face in
any one of these ridiculously facetious caricatures.
Drollest Pf all amongst them, to our mind,
are m-
disputably those relating to the fluctuations of fashion
in regard to the different costumes in vogue t dif-
ferent epochs. Take for example the "cuts" upon
perukes, the quarrel at the whist table, the novel
opera-glass, the dandizette, the parasols,
.the lady
evading the vigilance of a bailiff, the invisibles, and
a swarm of similar exaggerations. Of course there
are no laCk of caricatures towards the close of the
reign of the third George, upon the career
of that wonderful adventurer, who, from being
the son of a Corsican barrister, became the
ruler of an empire greater than that of Charle-
magne, more populous than that of Caesar, and snore
consolidated than the precocious conquests of the
Macedonian Alexander. Out of all these hits at
Napoleon, there is only one of them to our taste,
as
in any respect humorous, whether in conception or
execution. We mean the little, careless, off-hand
sketch by George Cruikshank of 13oney being
"snuffed out." The effect of it is inexpressibl)
laughable. Beside it the portraiture of "Jean Bull
again," of " Gulliver and the King of Brobdignag,
and even the elaborate picture of "The Hand-writing;
on the Wall" sink into insignificance. Good again,
inimitably,
ohn delightfully,Bull baskpg sunshine.
ridiculouslyi clever, is the
limning of John
Equally humorous are the following
Heidegger in
a Rage—Ahithophel in the Dumps—the Successful
Candidate the Brandy Drinker— and John Bull
turned Fiddler. Those who are not sufficientl3
studious in their habits to undertake the perusal of a
more sober composition may obtain an agreeable
knowledge of the history of England under the House
of Hanover by poring over the researches of Messrs.
Wright and Fairholt. We warrant them a good
digestive chuckle, a chuckle as genial and prolonged
as any chuckle ever chuckled by the immortal Mr.
Toots. Sometimes, indeed, it is scarcely possible to
scan the narrative without indulging in an explosion
of laughter. The two volumes are filled to overflow-
ing with the fruits of an entertaining and felicitous
erudition.

THE STANDARD NOVELS.
The very Important news of foreign or domestic
politics which from day to day, for several months,
has filled our columns, has compelled us to postpone
any notice of this truly national work of its class.
The public are indebted to Mr. Bentley, one of the
most enterprising publishers of our time, for this
work, which, for talent and variety, is unquestionably
unrivallediii
any by any previous
theevrious
volumescollection whichof• wo .
works of
fiction
Bentley has recently added to it give even a new
attraction to this collection. Among them we would
particularly mention the popular romance of the
Danish poet, Andersen, " The Improvisatore' " the
lamented L. E. L.'s " Romance and Reality," Grat-
tan's picturesque romance, " Agnes de Mansfeldt," and
Miss Costello's "Catherine de Medecis." In this great
collection (which every family ought to have, for it is
singularly free from objectionable stories) we have
the matchless humourous sea stories of Marryatt,
the powerful romances of Bulwer Lytton, the
Cooper, james,
Theodore masterly
productions, Gleig, Miss Austen,
Eodfglw'eonrtihmore
Victor Hugo, Mrs. Gore, Galt, Godwin, Mrs. Brun-
ton, Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. Inchbald, Maxwell, Miss
Lee, Washington Irving, Banim, Mrs. Hall, Peacock,
Hook,lisfi
" Marriage," " Inheritance," "'Destiny" (Sir Walter
Scott's favourites), Mr. Hopes " Anastasius," Alo-
rier's " Oriental Stories," &c., and many others too
numerous to mention. Mr. Bentley'! has here place(',
a body of elegant entertainment before the reader a'
a price generally. accessible, for which he heartil',
deserves our heartiest thanks. We are not surprised
at the wonderful success of this great literary under-
taking (which stands almost alone for extent, even in
these times) ; for this class of literature, from the
talent and genius exercised upon it, has now taken a
high position amongst us for good or for evil, which
claims and has obtained from us a very extensive
popularity. Where shall we find shrewder lessons of
worldly wisdom than are to be culled from every
page of the fictions of Hook and Galt? where more
valuably practical morals than may bo..drawn from

the searching tales of Godwin ? where a profounder
insight into the sources of passion than is
to be found in the " Anastasius" of Hope ?
Read in a right spirit, the well- written work of fic-
tion contributes quite as much to the instruction as
to the entertainment of the reader; and so long as
man takes interest in a record of the joys and sor-
rows and vicissitudes of his fellow man, and the spirit
of adventure and curiosity lingers in his nature, so
long will the romance and the novel continue to find
favour in his sight. The young, the old, the sailor,
the soldier, and the lawyer, have found a welcome
solace in such works as are included in this vast store-
house, to relieve arduous duties. How many a weary
day of a lingering voyage have the Standard Novels
beguiled of its ennui ! Of the Standard Novels it
may be said, they have found their way to every corner
of the civilized world—been the constant and agree-
able companions of many a weary traveller by ,rail-
road or steam-boat. I❑ short, wherever entertain-
ment is sought for, here surely it may be found in
every variety—naval yarns, military stories, gorgeous
oriental romances, fashionable novels, high romances,
&c., which in their intense absorbing interest hurry
the reader away i❑ breathless suspense, while lessons
of wisdom and knowledge of life are conveyed under
the charming guise of fiction from the pens of all the
greatest writers of our times to all classes of readers.

REFUGE FOR THE DESTITUTE.
An extraordinary general court of the governors of
this excellent charity was held at the London Tavern,
yesterday, at half-past two o'clock, to consider the pro-
priety of purchasing an estate at Dalston, for the pur-
poses of the institution. The property in question is
situated at Dalston, and its cost, including its enfran-
chisement, will be 3,2001., which, with the con-
struction of the necessary buildings and works,
will amount to 6,0001. more, 9,0001. altogether.
The present establishment in the Hackney-road, it ap-
pears, is situated in an unhealthy neighbourhood, and it
is deemed very desirable to remove it to Dalston. E. J.
Forster, Esq., occupit d the chair.
Mr. GURNEY HOARE moved that the corporation be
empowered to purchase the property, after a proper
valuation by the surveyor, at a price not exceeding
3,000/. If they did so they ;would become possessed of
eligible freehold instead of expensive and ineligible lease-
hold property. There could not be two opinions upon
the matter.
The Rev. Mr. KELLY seconded the motion. The
building in the Hackney-road was most inconvenient,
and was altogether unsuited for the purposes of the
charity. For instance, the mansion on the estate which
would be available for the purposes of the charity, was
in good repair, and the repairs alone in the Refuge at
Hackney cust 400/. a year. Last year they cost 5001.,
equal to the interest of 10,000/, and which sum would
allow the construction cf the works, leaving 1,0001.
margin. The property (which belonged to Mr. Olding,
the banker) was leasehold, whereas that in the Hack-
ney-road cost them 3001. a year.
In reply to several questions,
The CHAIRMAN replied that the premises in the
Hackney-road would be let; there was no legal difficulty
in the way, and washing, which was carried on to some
extent in the institution, could be better performed in
the country. The institution would not be too far from
London.
After a desultory conversation, in the course of which
the surveyor stated that the property was well worth
3,0001., the motion was agreed to, and the meeting
separated.

AMERICAN NEWS.

LIVERPOOL, SEPT. 14.

The British and North American royal mail steam-
ship Cambria arrived at this port this morning, being
overdue. Her detention was enirely owing to head
winds for nine days. She brings 73 passengers,
4,0001. specie. The outward steamer Britannia had
reached Boston on the 26th ult., and the Niagara put
into Halifax on the Ist. inst.

The news brought by the Cambria is not of much
importance. The revolt of Paredes in Mexico had
been effectually quelled, although he had been per-
mitted to escape. Ilerrera was conducting a firm
and steady administration.
By advices from Jamaica, dated the 13th of August,
rid city of Mexico, we have intelligence of a revolt of
the blacks in that island, on the 2d ult. No details,
however, have reached us.
The Presidential question seems to be the prin-
cipal topic in the United States at present, beating
even the Irish sympathisers by a long chalk. Van
Buren accepts the free soil nomination. Mr. Cal-

houn has come out, in the name of his party, in
favour of Cass and Butler. As the chances at pre-
sent stand, it is difficult to foresee which party

may win.

Immense meetings of the sympathisers with the
Irish insurgents were still being held, but the un-
faithfulness of the news propagated by the Tribune
had told most effectually against the agitation. A
very little money was forthcoming, the opinion being
that 0 Brien and his party were cowards.
In Canada the Irish movement, for the time, had
been counteracted, no meetings being tolerated by
Government. Still a strong feeling is manifested on
behalf of the insurgents in the lower province.
The Montreal papers state that Lord Elgin will
not, as was rumoured, retire from the Government of
Canada. The Countess had returned to the Govern-
ment House in improved health. Lord Elgin was
adopting means to suppress any manifestations of re-
bellion that might show themselves.
The following contains the latest details of the com-
mercial news. Money is easy, and exchange en Eng-
land 109 to 1094.