The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-04 00:00:00

LITERATURE

STABLE TALK AND TABLE TALK. 2 Vols.
By Harry Hieover.
The author of these very agreeable volumes is
quite a Democritus in his way ; he cannot philosophise
without a chuckle, neither can he chuckle without
philosophising. He is always in excellent humour
both with himself and with his subject, and as plea-
santry is—thanks to a merciful dispensation !—as
contagious as the potato murrain, his readers are un-
consciously infected with the spirit of the chapters,
and resign the book at last on equally excellent •
terms with themselves, with sporting generally, with
" Stable Talk and Table Talk" in particular, and
especially with Harry Hieover himself. Besides
being of this well-tempered character, these volumes
have given us very considerable satisfaction, inas-
much as they afford a comprehensive coup d' veil
of the histories and mysteries of everything
relating to the turf, the stable, or the road—of every-
thing equine in short. Other scribes have vouchsafed
the public their table-talk—Hazlitt, for example, in
sentences worthy of his intellect, and Coleridge in
fragments of the very balderdash of metaphysics ; but
table talk, generally speaking, is such a miserable
compound of self-sufficiency, affectation, and twaddle,
that we conceive Harry Hieover has done himself in-
justice in thus designating his lucubrations. The
two volumes before us are indeed neither the diluted
skimmings of conversation, nor the produce of flip-
pancy and egotism, such as their soubriquet might
imply : on the contrary, they are composed of
various articles of a substantial character,
descriptive of sporting life, and illus-
trative of sporting knowledge. As the author
facetiously observes, upon his title-page—the book is
intended to serve as " spectacles for young sports-
men ;" and the young sportsman must be purblind,
or, in other words, a dullard, if he sees not better
into the subject-matter after a perusal of " Stable
Talk," or if its pages do not " open his eyes" to a
few facts with which he was hitherto unacquainted.
We may best afford our readers a notion of the va-
riety of the materials condensed into these two volumes
by referring to the index. Among other sections,
we have " Scenes in the Life of a Sporting Roue,"
and capital scenes they are, too—picturesque and
animated. We must particularly individualise one
character described in this portion of the work, we mean
the wight better known :as " Elbow Jaques." The
portraiture is admirable—to the life—to the hair !
We have seen " Elbow Jaques" a thousand times,
and though he has not often " borne us on his back
Horatio," we could yet muse over this clever delinea-
tion of him as Hamlet did over the cranium of Yorick.
Every one will recognise the original—it is unmis-
takeable ; not so much as the representation of an in-
dividual as of a genus. Then again we are treated
with a " Hunting Song"—not a spurious piece of
shouting and swearing, such as certain nondescript
gentlemen are in the habit of singing in back parlours
at Camberwell, with a view to impress their hearers
with the notion that they (the singers) are thorough
Nimrods. No : but a sterling, roystering, glorious
hunting song, fit for the best huntsman that ever
cleared a fence in pursuit of Slyboots. However, we
will enable our readers to judge for themselves by
transcribing a few verses—premising that they are
carolled to the air of the " Lincolnshire Poacher : '—
A HUNTING SONG.
I am a jovial Sportsman, as every man should be,
A hunting life and a country life is just the life for me :
Our horses and our hounds are such no other climes can show,
For 'tis their delight in the foremost flight with a fox afoot
to go.

We are such hardy fellows we never fear a fall,
But boldly face the fence or gate, the spreading brook or wall;
For those who crane or seek a lane we hold as shy and slow,
And will ne'er delight in the foremost flight with trumps like
us to go.

And now we greet the well-known Meet, we quickly leave
the hack,
And jump upon our hunter7who is waiting with the pack:
Then crashing through the covert both the hounds and hunts-
men go—
Oh ! it's their delight in the foremost flight to tell Pug he
must show.
Hark ! there I hear a challenge—it is old Music's note—
A chorus joins—whatjoyous sounds now on the breezes float
"Hark forward !" cries the Whip, for he has heard the
huntsman's blow;
They'll soon be right in the foremost flight to show how they
can go.

" Yois, at him!" cries the Huntsman " hold hard 1" for
there he breaks ;
And straight across the open now his country he takes :
He's fairly gone, so now we'll give a rattling " Tally-ho !"
And now we're right in the foremost flight like jolly bricks
to go.

To reach yon distant covert now in vain game Reynard tries,
Old Venom runs in to him, and he, gamely fighting, dies.
" Who-whoop 1" now cries the Huntsman, who so late cried
"Tally-ho !"
'Tis pure delight in the foremost flight in a run like this to go.

Here's to fox-hunting and fox-hunters, and may we never
trace
The man within old England's shores who would put down
the Chase!
For such a man at once I scan as British Sportsmen's foe,
Who still delight in the foremost flight like bricks and
trumps to go.

Besides what we have already particularised the
author has afforded us both amusement and instruc-
tion on a multitude of other matters appertaining to
the same pursuit. Among others—hints upon " the
effect of weight and other weighty effects as applied
to horses"—an elementary disquisition upon the
" education of horses"—a capital dissertation anent
" Sporting prints and Sporting pictures"—a curious
essay on " Aphitheatrical Horses"—memoranda re-
specting La Chasse Etrangere—a true tale entitled
" The Doctor," a few remarks on " training race-
horses"—and so many other matters that we must
beg to be held excused from even enumerating them.
Harry Hieover has here performed an inestimable
service to an amusement, the excitement, the ex-
cellence, the perils, and the healthfulness of which,
his previous writings had so well exemplified.
Though we mourn that Nimrod is no more, we can
rejoice that Harry Hieover is still alive and vigorous.

MAGAZINES—CONTINUED.
HOOD'S MAGAZINE.
Although this is a somewhat unequal number, it is
likewise in some respects an unequalled number,
since the man we all loved and honoured so much—
Thoma§ Hood—departed from among us. Another
act is added to the drama of " Ignez de Castro"—
namely, the fourth. It partakes of the beauties and
blemishes which were apparent in the preceding por-
tions. " A word with Dr. Johnson" is also conti-
nued; as bold as ever, and as elaborate. Another
serial is resumed in the shape of " Nell Gwynne,"
and with a trifling improvement. Of " Blanche
Neville " we can say but little in praise ; and
of the " Bushranger " we have spoken so fre-
quently, that for the present we are com-
pelled, from sheer exhaustion, to remain si-
lent. It is in the " culled dainties," and casual
fragments of verse that Hood is so peculiarly esti-
mable. Nevertheless the three sonnets upon " The
Accursed Lash," by J. Jones, are scarcely worthy of
his reputation and capacities. They are animated by
a generous and charitable feeling, but they do not
define that sentiment musically. Perhaps, however,
we are expecting too much in looking for melodious
numbers in deprecation of the cat-o'-nine-tails ! Mr.
William Smith O'Brien, the lineal descendant of
Brian Born, hath, in his epistle to " my dear Ray,"
spoken of the transcendental prose, or something of
that sort, of the Nation newspaper. Let him, in the
name of common sense, turn either to the Nation of
August the first, or to page 284 of this magazine, and
he will find the following specimen of that transcen-
dental prose—" Ay on the bleeding knees of her
heart shall England atone, but never to beggars !"
Altogether this number is excellently readable.

Brougham. By clothing the more abstruse portion
of human knowledge with the seductive garb of elo-
quence ; by divesting their elucidation of all unne-
cessary technicalities ; and by expounding the mcst
profound truths of science with a perspicuity which
could admit of no misapprehension from the previously
uninitiated, Arago has conferred a boon upon the
people which can never be forgotten, and the remem-
brance of which must perpetuate his name for the
gratitude and admiration of remote ages. Lord
Brougham will ever retain the most supreme position
amongst the noblest benefactors of the human race;
he commenced the true crusade of civilisation; he was
the first who ever attempted to disseminate a love of
learning among the illiterate by rendering philosophy
more alluring, and by rendering the secrets of philo-
sophy more accessible. By establishing the " Library
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," by aiding
that memorable association both as president and as a
literary contributor, from the first moment of its
formation to the close of its most humanizing
and benevolent career, Lord Brougham has
acquired for himself a glory more beautiful, more
truthful, more permanent, and more lustrous, than
any that can be achieved merely by military prowess
or legislative sagacity. Some persons are ignorant
enough, or frivolous enough, or, shall we say, heart-
less enough, to remember some of the Noble Lord's
peccadillos in Parliament, and to forget his imperish-
able deeds for the fostering of the intelligence of the
multitude : they can ridicule the sylvan sports of
Lord Brougham on his estates at Cannes, but do
not possess sufficient magnanimity ever to allude to
Lord Brougham's " Discourse upon the objects and
pleasures of Science"—the most admirable discourse
that was perhaps ever penned upon that most admi-
rable of subjects. As one of the principal followers
of Lord Brougham in this effort to make
knowledge more palateable to the mass, M. Arago
deserves the grateful recollection of his fellow men.
He has endeavoured to emulate the conduct
of his great predecesor : and in doing so he has ac-
quired an enormous popularity. May he long con-
tinue to enjoy that popularity, and may the career
which commenced in 1786 be protracted many years !
We thank the writer of the article, in the Magazine,
for the praises he has so elegantly and worthily be-
stowed. " Strauss' Leuben Jesu," is precisely the
paper we have long desired to peruse. Infidelity is
most pernicious when it is enforced by erudition, and
rendered attractive by the generosity of its accom-
panying sentiments. Such an infidelity is a poison
which may be rendered innocuous by a timely anti-
dote. Again do we encounter a long article on
"Algeria"—commend us to a broad-sheet of railway
advertisements instead ! " Signor Formica" is a de-
lightful translation from a story by Hoffman, com-
menced in the preceding number. "The Black
Prophet" proceeds, and will, when completed, form
one of the most successful performances of one of
Ireland's best novelists, William Carleton. There are
several other contributions, the ablest of which is
devoted to the consideration of the " faith, features,
farms, fisheries, politics, and people" of Scotland.