The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-12 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONDON, M0.7%,1/IAV EVENING, JANUARY 12, 1846.

L[TERATURE.
THE FOREIGN Q UARTERL I' REVIEW.

LXXIL

This number contains several article 3 of a first-rate
character. Indeed we have rarely seen the Fereign
Quarterly display so much ability, or furnish so many
papers of general and deep interest. There are two,
however, on the affairs of France that require par-
ticular notice—that on " Capefigue's Europe since
the Accession of Louis Philippe," and the other on
the " French Revolution," as described by Dahlmann
and Niebuhr. It is to be regretted that the writer of
the first has displayed so much nationality, in some
instances not very impartial, that he has occasionally
maligued the French, and that one of his great ob-
jects is to prove, what he calls " the cardinal fact,"
that Louis Philippe' both before and alter the revolu-
tion of July, played the part of a consummate hypo-
crite. We are not the apologists of the Ring, and
are ready to admit that after he mounted the throne
the acts of his Government materially differed from
his recorded professions, both at that period and for
some short time afterwards; but still it is only fair to
inquire whether he could safely have acted otherwise,
and whether a man, on being convinced of the danger
of carrying out certain political doctrines which he
once admitted, is to be consistent at the risk, nay,
with the certainty, of committing greater faults or
crimes. One of the principal objects of Louis Phi-
lippe was the maintenance of peace in Europe, and, to
the wonder and admiration of the world, he has, for
fifteen years, been eminently successful. Some of
these professions certainly led the French to believe
that the Kieg was favourable to democratic institu-
tions, and that his reign would exemplify all that was
implied in the epithet " Citizen Ring," but even the
accuser of this extraordinary man admits that the
French are not adapted for democratic institutions, and
that they must submit to servitude under some form or
other till they have a national religion. "The French,"
says he, " perceive no absurdity in prating from time to
time about democratic institutions as though it were
practicable to reconcile such things with the charac-
ter of a people, a moiety of whom, by their own show-
ing, live in habitual disregard of the fundamental
duties of society, With these data before him any
one may foresee what is to be the future destiny of
France. It must submit to servitude under some
form or other until it can resolve to have a national
religion ; Catholicism, if it can discover nothing
better. There is no freedom without faith." An

impartial writer would not have allowed the oppor-
tunity to escape of doing justice to Louis Philippe on
both these points, He has done more to restore a
sense of religious duty in France than ever was done
by any monarch, and what ruler, nay what private
individual, ever showed more regard to the "funda-
mental duties of society ?" If the example of a
Court has any effect in encouraging morality in
cherishing domestic affections and forming the cha-
racter of a people, Louis Philippe is surpassed by
none in that respect. It is admitted by all parties—
by even the most bitter enemies of the present dy-
nasty and of all dynasties—that his conduct in his
family is not only unexceptionable, but merits the
highest praise. Religion and morality being abso-
lutely necessary, according to this writer, for the es-
tablishment of free institutions, and without which
there can be nothing but servitude, the highest praise
should have been bestowed on the Sovereign who is
thus paving the way for good government on the
very principles recommended by the person who
heaps upon him abuse. Notwithstanding these de-
fects, however, much useful information and interest-
ing details are given respecting the state of France
since the July revolution. It may be necessary,
however, to make another remark with regard to the
party who overthrew Charles X. The writer says it
was the intimate friends of Louis Philippe, men
with whom he was in daily and nightly habits of in-
tercourse, between whom and him there were no
secrets, that did it all. " Few men," he adds,
" knew exactly that the ordinances were coming,
but most persons anticipated some foolish act
of power, by which the throne would be
endangered or lost ; and the probability is, that among
the keenest haruspices in France, his present Majesty
Louis Phillippe was the chief." This only does
honour to his sagacity, if the word can be applied
in reference to events the effects of which were pal-
pable to all :careful observers. In this country,
every newspaper conducted with ordinary ability
prophecied what took place, and repeatedly warned
the Polignac party that they were taking every pos-
sible step to complete the parallel between the Eng-
lish and French Restorations. Could a clear-headed
man, like the Duke of Orleans, fail to see things in
the same light ? and is any blame to be attached to
him that he prepared for the consequences ? The
other article alluded to, that on the French
Revolution, brief though it is, contains much, and
merits the highest praise, not only for the excellent
language in which the writer expresses his sentiments,
but for the comprehensive views he takes of the great
events and the leading men that distinguished that
remarkable event. There is nothing vague, or na-

tional, or sectarian in his remarks they are appa-
rently the candid expressions of an impartial observer,
and are entirely uninfluenced by the prevailing
opinions respecting the conduct of such men as
Robespierre, and Mirabeau, and Brissot. We only
regret that he adverts to so few of the leading cha-
racters. He does full justice to Mirabeau, and even
ventures to praise Robespierre ; and shows, in the fol-
lowing extract what alone was wanting to make the
revolution produce good fruits :
" In this universal enthusiasm of the nation was to be
found, not only the living principle of the revolution ;
but the explanation of the circumstance that few of its
leaders were great men, and that the greatest of them
accomplished but little. The multitude was, probably,
at first neither better nor worse than the mass of a popu-
lation might be expected to be found, when exposed to
the effects of ignorance and poverty. In its excitement,
,t became like an intoxicated man, more fearless and
forgetful of self, and at the same time more ferocious
and reckles- . But, the leader of an infuriated mob is
almost necessarily weak or wicked. Only a blood-
thirsty maniac, like Murat, could keep pace with the
violence of the people, without a deliberate conscious-
ness of guilt. The only field for great qualities was in
resistance ; only Mirabeau was powerful enough to stem
the current for a time, and before it had reached the
height of flood, he was removed from the conflict by
death. One indispensable requisite of greatness consists-
in a business-like instinct, which can discriminate be
Neen definite practicable objects and empty systems of
words. Great men would not have wasted time like the
Constituent Assembly, and the Girondists, in discussing
the merits of constitutions, till they had first secured the
means of enforcing obedience to them. They would
have provided a moving force, before they adjusted the
machinery. Robespierre, almost alone, relied on the
extreme revolutionary spirit as the support of his
power ; but, he also was filled with impracticable
dreams of a future reign of fraternity and benevolence,
in which his only instrument of government, the guillo-
tine, should be laid aside. His method could not be last-
ing, and he had provided no alternative to succeed it. It
is more possible, however, to attribute greatness to
Robespierre than to Roland or Brissot."
The history of Abelard and Heloise will be read
with interest by many, but we think too much has
been made of such a revolting subject. Neither of
the parties display one quality useful in society.
They both acted the part of hypocrites. The hero
was a hard-hearted, designing, and merciless villain,
and the fate of his victim, notwithstanding the pane-
gyrics heaped upon her by the writer, ought to be
held up as a warning to all virtuous women. Ac-
cording to hFt- own admission, she devoted herself to
a religious life without one quality compatible with
its duties ; she acted the part of a hypocrite from
some wayward fancies ; and, even in the most solemn
scenes of the cloister, seemed to forget every virtuous
sentiment. Pope's description of her is not a whit
overcharged, and he might well make her say:—
" Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame;
Augustßefore
trueher deed and
passion
a Fame, wealth, and honour, what are you to love?"
l sacredthes e bviews
her
remove; fame;

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, No. CLXVII,
Already, in another department of The Sun, we
have discussed the particular merits and demerits
of decidedly the most sensible, the most valuable, and
the most sagacious review in this number of the
Edinburgh, relating to " Legislation for the Working
Classes." And we have there specified the several
inaccuracies which tarnish what would otherwise
have been a very candid exposition of a very compli-
cated theme. The reviewer indeed takes a capacious
survey of the measures by which English statesmen
have endeavoured to assuage that thirst for better
things with which the populace have been so harassed
ever since the abolition of feudalism; still there is an
ostensible obliquity in his vision—the obliquity
arising rather from the medium through which he
gazes than from any inherent propensity to
misrepresent. The medium in question is evidently
a straggling, insufficient, and desultory book-reading.
It is from this blemish—this spattering about of odd
and incongruous facts—in the article particularised,
that we turn with more relish to the other topics.
A pleasant and rapid glance is taken at the gradual
insinuation of Shakspere upon French popularity in
the paper christened " Shakspere in Paris." This
insinuation of genius upon the mind and heart of a
nation has been advancing, though in sluggish and
spasmodic jerks, ever since Voltaire endeavoured to
disabuse his countrymen of the notion that our
mightiest of poets was a sort of literary monstrosity--
a barbarian jangling the harp of Apollo without any
knowledge of his art, with accidental chords of
melody, though more frequently with harsh and
rugged discords. Not, however, until 1821, was this
declaration publicly backed by the accordance of
any influential critic, when M. Guizot in that year
boldly asserted in the teeth of all his predecessors
that the glory and the geaius of Shakspere were no
longer discussed, that no one retained the hardihood
to contest the point, but that another and a greater
question hnd arisen, a question as to " whether the
dramatic system of Shakspere was not better than
that of Voltaire." Here then the latter had dug a
' pitfall for his own footsteps, and time after time that

pitfall has been deepened and enlarged on every hand ;
after Guizot by Victor Hugo, then by Count Alfred
de Vigny, then by Anthony Deschamps, then by
Leon de Wanly, then by Augustus Barbier, and
malty by the migration of a company of English
tragedians into the French capital during the winter
of 18444. -What the influence of criticism, or the
mellifluousness of translation bad failed to accomplish,
was achieved by the severe, but startling mannerisms
of 111tiereaiy and the tender and irresistible pathos of
Mies _Helen Faucit. Those among the Parisian
audiences who were euffleiently acquainted with the
language of the dramatist, received, through the
medium of their passions, and their idea-drinking
hearts, some glimmer of that brightness which falls,
as, w. ith a sunburst, upon all who can appreciate the
dform and compass of our mighty bard. To
stand with Lear upon the heath and hear, amidst the
rain, the babbling of that old, mad king—to weep
with Hamlet over the jester's skull, • and catch be-
tween whiles the mocking carol of the gravedigger,
" A pick- axe and a spade, a spade,
And 0 for a winding-sheet !"
To sigh out one's whole soul from very excess of
happiness with Jessica in the moonlight showered
down among the pine-leaves in the garden—to watch
with Richard the grey dawning of his death-day
through the tent-loops at Bosworth—to stand breath-
lessly by the Thane of Cawdor, in the silent galleries
at midnight, or on the moor amidst the tempest—to
do all this, and feel the pulses of a man dead more
than two hundred years ago beating with all the
strength and glow and energy of life in every line—
was indeed something worthy of being rendered
palpable to a great and civilised nation like our
neighbours across the Channel. Still from the tem-
perament, the habits, and the whole intellectual ens
of Frenchmen, we assert the utter impossibility of so
filling their imaginations with the copiousness and
philosophic infinitude of Shakspere as to render their
admiration either staunch in its duration, or propor-
tionate to the merits of the subject. Before these
things can possibly come to pass, the entire fabric
and animus of Gallic thought, must undergo a per-
fect transformation; and it is in this particular
that we dissent so entirely from the spirit of the re-
viewer. Speaking of the various exertions of the
translator already enumerated, he exclaims, "A few
more such generous efforts, generously hailed, and
we may be spared the humiliating spectacle of science,
letters, and art, bowing before senseless clamour."
Multiply these efforts, say we, usque ad nauseam, and
France will remain as incapable as ever of compre-
hending the daring sword-cuts and subtle allusions of
Shakspere. Among the students of foreign litera-
ture some must always, according to the impulses of
nature, entertain for him a feeling of idolatry ; but
the mob, the Boileau-loving, Racine-spirited mob can
never persuade themselves into anything like genuine
affection for the insular poet. He is essentially too
untrammelled, too vast, too universal, and too deter-
minate a thinker to arouse the sympathies or elicit
the applause of a people notorious for the daintiness
and mincing precision of their drama. Besides this
the impossibility of rendering Shakspere into French
couplets, and at the same time sustaining his creations
in their original elevation, forms another obatacle to
his popularisation in Paris : Achilles in a " taglioni"
could never excite in us sentiments of awe or admira-
tion. What is there in the following version of
Hamlet's soliloquy—however elegant, or literal, or,
ingenious the verson may be in itself—to fill our souls
with the solemn and pathetic reverie always roused
within us by the original ?

"Etre ou ne pas etre ; oui, voila la question:—
Lequel vaut naieux? S'armer de resignation
Sous les traits outrageants du sort toujours contraire;
On Bien se revolter, et, d'un coup, s'y soustraire?

Mourir,—dormir,—c'est tout," &c.
Surely this is the degeneration of grandeur into
prettiness ! It is a modern dandy beside Jupiter
Tonans ! Hence it is that we dissent from the re-
viewer's position, that by a repetition of such attempts
as the one just quoted, we shall be " spared the hu-
miliating spectacle of nations shuttering their eyes to
light, closing their ears to truth and knowledge, and
refusing to listen to the voice of melody, if transmitted
across a frontier line, or a few leagues of salt water."
Until the French are more approximated to us in
spirit, until their idiom possesses a closer affinity to
the idiom of Albion, they cannot entertain any
genuine, natural, unaffected regard for the mightiest
of our national genius—William Shakspere.
There is an enlightened and detailed bird's-eye
view of the " Political State of Prussia" in this num-
ber, the gist of which is condensed in the sentence—
"Royal authority is no longer an object of reverence;
and the laws themselves, being considered in no higher
light than as the expression of the royal will, are gra-
dually losing their salutary influence." In addition
to this there are some sagacious impressions respect-
ing the " German Catholic Church," and a sensible
commentary upon " Charles Lyell's Travels in North
America." We shall, however, content ourselves
with giving the subjoined estimates of the " Earls
Spencer and Grey:"—
"Lord Grey was a man of lofty integrity—of un-
blemished honour—the object of affectionate attachment
to his friends—of respect and admiration to all his
countrymen. He never swerved an instant from that
line of public duty which appeared to him the most
direct. Office accompanied by the desertion of a friend,
or the abandonment of a principle, was in his eyes in-
famy.* For years he confronted obloquy, and defied an
adverse Court. His perceptions were too clear to allow
him to adopt what was vague or obscure ; his heart was
too upright to allow him to sanction what was mean or
dastardly. He could not stoop to flatter a prince ; he
could not play tricks to please a rabble. ' His public
speaking reflected the character of the man. His lan
guage was admirably adapted to convey his meaning,
neither sinking too near the ground nor rising out of
sight—clear, genuine, unadulterated English. Although
no one could see Lord Grey without marking in him a
certain dignity of bearing and highbred courtesy of
manner, his ordinary life was entirely without formality
or pomp."
" Lord Spencer was eighteen years younger than
Lord Grey. His diligence was indefatigable, his sagacity
quick, his judgment seldom at fault. His views were
large and comprehensive, embracing the whole compass
of improvement in our laws, our commerce, and our
constitution. His tongue was far from eloquent ; and
although his arguments were sound and comprehensive,
he.'was so often wanting in words as to he obscure, and
unable :to convey, adequately his meaning. But the
Confidence of his friends, his party, and the country,
supplied all deficiencies, and gave to his few and simple
expressions as much influence over his audience as had
ever been obtained by the most admired eloquence of
our greatest orators. He was plain in manner and in
dress, but a short intercourse disclosed the scholar, the
gentleman, and the statesman.
" Men may differ about the wisdom of their Parlia-
mentary measures, or the ability of their civil adminis-
tration ; but the noble, exalted, stainless spirit of these
two men must always be venerated as long as public
virtue is admired, and the name of England has its
place in history."
This eulogium comes with peculiar force and appo-
siteness immediately upon the close of the year (1845)
in which both these celebrated noblemen expired—
" the one full of years, sin king gradually into the
grave ; the other in the fu 11 possession of bodily
vigour and mental activity, swept away by a sudden
inroad of disease,"—men wit h great earnestness of
purpose and great force of chr. iracter.
* How far this sentence is applicable to Lord John Russell,
with reference to Lord Palrnerst( in and the abolition of the
corn-laws, upon the occasion of h.is late resignation, we leave
it to'common sense to decide.

THE NE TV TIMON. A Romance of London. Part IL
Already, in our notice of the first portion of this
satirical poem, we have partitaularised the peculiar
merits of the writer,—his com;pleteness of metre, his
terseness of idea, his appositeness of illustration, and
his capacity for sketching character. The present
continuation of his romance however opens in a most
ungrateful and unwelcome n miner. There is an un-
pleasant egotism in the yes first line, "London, I
take thee to a poet' s heard"- —an anonymous audacity
which rather inclines the reader to gainsay the
author's pretensions to so lo fty a title : and where he
afterwards utters the vaunting ejaculation, " 11 e life
hath skill'd !" our distaste is even redoubled. But
what we more peculiarly o bject to in this second part
of the "New Timon" is a N,ery sickly and ungenerous
attack upon Alfred Tennyson. Alfred Tennyson !
the most true, the most gel mine, the most spontaneous
of the poets of the day ;--Alfred Tennyson ! the
veritable and acknowled gad representative of our
young bards. No more d(iiicate or delicious verse has
issued from the press of I Ate years than his " Sleeping
Beauty ;" no more origh ial conception than his " Lotos
Eaters." In venting his 'spleen, or possibly his jealousy,
upon a mind so sensitive and charming as Tennyson's,
the author of the "Modern Timon" has acted without
either delicacy or judgment : he has acted without
delicazy in thus arrogantly raising his pretensions to
popularity, while he endeavours to crush one of the
most subtle-minded and gentle-hearted of his contem-
poraries he has acted without judgment in selecting
as a target for his ridicule perhaps the most excellent
of Tennyson's productions, " Mariana in the Moated
Grange"—a piece which for its desolate and artless
beauty is enshrined araung our ballad literature. As
for his Creative power, what can be more new and ex-
quisite than his
Sin," or that
"Miller's Day ghter ?" As for his
attempts to propagate a hu Juan izing spirit among his
fellow-men, what can tend more strongly to that pur-
pose than his picture of t "Palace of
noble curiosity about "St Simeon
.Stalytes," in 7which
pen a sarcasm on the
he displays the dark and God-despised folly of fanati-
cism ? As to his delving-4 iv to the human heart, what
can be more truthful or Ix ,neitrant than. his lamenta-
tionm
an e oef
e‘f.'
°Lroiranidaon?: " Ro-
golden intellect of Alfred Tennyson, he should show,
what he has never yet sho w n, that one entire canto
deßsedeorii •des theto writer of this
of his composition is of e qual value with a single
stanza of Tennyson's. athors, but particularly
poets, are so seldom the 3 cipients of any pecuniary
recompense for their geni' as in this country, that a
direct remonstrance wit j the Government upon a
trifling pension to a man )ilc, e the one in question, is

ill-timed, ungenerous, and absolutely harsh. We
ourselves know Tennyson only from his books, but
for the sake of those books—few and small though
they be—we esteem him as a poet, and love him for
his soul-sympathies. He possesses capabilities for
higher flights and and loftier themes than he has
hitherto essayed—and we have only to accuse him of
hot taxing those capabilities to their real bent. As
to his deserving contumely for never having as yet
" moved thousands" by his poetry, we would simply
remark that Milton failed in arousing the attention of
the multitude in his generation; and surely, on this
account, he is not to be regarded with indifference !
No, we honour Sir Robert Peel for—that gilding for
the bay-garland—the pension of two hundred pounds
which has so stirred up the bile of our " New Timon"
satirist. But to return to this second portion of the
romance : its preliminary lines, when speaking of the
metropolis, are admirable :
" Let schoolboy Strephons bleat of flocks and fields,
Each street of thine a loftier Idyl yields ;
Fed by all life, and fann'd by every wind,
There burns the quenchless poetry—mankind !"
Both the heroines, mentioned in our previous notice,
are in Part 11. entirely deserted, whereas a new
actor appears upon the arena of the story, in the
person of Lord Arden ; and a narrative of his vicissi-
tudes forms a very agreeable episode to the poem,
being introduced in a dialogue between himself and
the Timonic Morvale. One passage uttered by the
former contains great store of earthly wisdom ; and,
as such, we extract it for the perusal of all searchers
after the true philosopher's stone—experience :
" In truth,
See how the grey world grafts its age on youth ;
See how we learn to prize the bullion vice,
Coin'd in all shapes, yet still but avarice ;
The stamp may vary—you the coin may call
;Ambition,' Power," Success,'—but gold is all.
Mine is the memoir of a selfish age—
Turn every leaf—slight difference in the page—
Through each, the same fierce struggle to secure
Earth's one great end—distinction from the Poor;
All our true wealth, like alchemists of old,
Fused in the furnace—for a grain of gold."
There is much that is picturesque and touching in
the description of Lord Arden's viewing his young
bride through the cottage lattice :

" Alone!—that worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly beard;"
And also in the old man's sudden death, which comes
directly afterwards. Indeed, the whole of this nar-
rative is drawn with a delicate and tender pencil.
Several blemishes of style, however, obtrude them-
selves here and there ; for instance where the principle
character exclaims, "Mine one dark deed," &c., an
affectatation in the pronoun, essentially rugged and
inelegant; and again, where he observes that " the
curse of stapwr settles on the universe," an expres-
sion for which the author appears to have a terrible
fondness. Besides these two specimens of careless-
ness, there is one of a meaner and yet more incor-
rigible nature, namely, the selection of a most inap-
propriate and inexpressive adjective—the lowest but
least exeusabi.e fault in poetry. By this single word
a very fair, though somewhat trite, metaphor is
ruined :

" 0! whet delight to struggle side by side
With one loved sootherl—up the steep to guide
Her faithful steps—unshrinkimg from the thorn;
And front with manly breast,-the biting winds of scorn!
And when stout will and gallant heart had won,
The hill-top opening to the steadfast sum," &c.
Here the epithet applied to the wind totally dispels
the illusion of its rushing down the acclivity in the
face of the one clambering to its summit. Altogether
this part of the "New Timon" is greatly inferior to
its predecessor, though it is interlarded with the same
caustic and epigramatic points which we have already
particularised as the chief merit of Part I.

THE AGE .OF PITT AND FOX. By the author
of " Ireland and its Rulers." Vol. 1., Bvo.

The subject of this work is of infinite importance,
not only from its historical interc;st, but because it
has intimate relation with the gret a science of Poli-
tics. For nearly five-and-twenty 3rears Pitt and Fox
battled for supremacy. Theirs was. mo common con-
test. The noblest and the best we se arrayed on one
side or on the other, for it was con sidered honourable
to serve under such mighty lea ievs. They have
passed away, .but it was fitting that some memorial
of their long struggle should exist, mid the time has
now arrived when the truth may be spoken of these
illustrious dead without any fear of ;in juring the inte-
rests or wounding the feelings of the
The goeular and clever author of " Ireland and.
its Rulers" • has undertaken to write an ac-
count of what happened in this. country from
the termination of the America a war to the
death of Charles James Fox. In other words,
to sketch the political history of GI !e at Britain and
Ireland, from 1782 to 1806. Duni its the whole of
that period the Government of this c o-antry was in the
hands of Pitt or Fox. Hence, a w or:k tracing their
career must give the history of pul olio affairs. We
may say, at once, that this design, although of great
magnitude, is neither too large nor =manageable for
the writer before us. The first -yob line of his work,
embracing a history of the coalition ministry, and of
Pitt's administration to the close of 1784, exhi-
bits great industry, much eloquei ici considerable
skill in arranging and condensing facts, and the
highest impartiality in commenting tipon them. Every
accessible source of information appears to have been
visited, and while we have greater accuracy than
Wraxall possessed, we have a pliii'osophical exa-
mination of the springs of action whic was far be-
yond him. The style is remarkably fr ee and flowing,
reminding us of Lord Brougham's b esi t manner.

The author commences with the do wnfall of Lord
North's Government, in 1782. 'rh e Rockingham
Ministry succeeded, but was persoi rally distasteful to
George the Third, inasmuch as he believed that the
party is office wished to make the sovereign a mere
cyphers-to reduce, him to the n( )mi.nal power of a
doge—possessing.. the highest app are nt station, and
the smallest actual power. That Caibinet broke up
by the death of Lord Rockingham, its nominal head.
Then ensued a struggle between F. )x and Lord Shel-
burne, which ended in the defeat of Ski elburne, and the
well-known coalition between Lol rd North and Fox
—* sacrifice, indeed, of principle: to power. The
Coalition Ministry terminated in, the discomfiture
of all 'connected with it; Fox a India Bill being
the . ostensible cause of the dismissal of the
Ministry. Then followed the Premiership of
Pitt, and the Parliamentary contest between
that able and fearless Minis ter and the great
Fox party. The course and termination of that
strife is relatedwith force and clet ar.ess, and the con-
clusion of the volume is occupied. ,with the very best
account we have ever seen of the g) eat victory which
was gained in 1782 by the Irish learliament—a vic-
tory which obtained for that L egislature the inde-
pendendence it required—a vi: :tyry which, badly
used, became as ruinous as a deem tt. Mingled with
the narrative are brief sketches, pm -sonar and charac-
teristic, of the principal Irish l ea ders of that time.
All are brought before us—Gra tt m, Flood, Charle-
mont, Fitzgibbon, and the minor s rs composing that
galaxy of ability and patriotism.
The mention of these sketches -reminds us of the
peculiar merit of this author i m pen-portraiture.
His sketches of eminent ind ividuals, scattered
through the volume, and illu .strated with anec-
dotes, seem to us the best things in it. He ex-
cels in this, and scarcely e, ter names a public
man without sketching him, a fu 11 length, in pen and
ink. Among the personages in this portrait gallery
are George the Third, the Prince of Wales, Lord
Chatham and William Pitt, 11.ord Holland and
Charles James Fox, Burke, Shei idan, Lord North,
Lord Thurlow, Dundas, Lord no,;.:kingham, Lord
Townshend, Wilkes, Horne Tool re, Canning, Flood,
Grattan, Lord Charlemont, Lord. Avonmore, the
Bishop of Derry, Lord Karnes, Adam Smith, and
many more. These personal eketohes give a great
value to the work, and their imp: arti; ility greatly en-
hance it. We shall look forward -,with pleasurable
anxiety for the other volumes.

-- COURT CIRCULAR.

Sir Robert Peel arrived at Cla rem .ont on Saturday
afternoon, and had the honour ofjqint ng the royal circle
at dinner. The Right Hon. Baronet remains on a visit
to her Majesty.
The Bishop of Oxford arrived at *Claremont on Satur-
day, on a visit to the Queen.
ennt their
ark accus-
.
Sir Robert and Lady Gardiner, and the Misses Gar-
diner, had the honour of joining th e Royal Dinner Circle
on Friday evening.
tomireedst
The Queen and Prince Albert , and the Ladies and
tierirdianygsthin ihtee
toyfnarlenFnanmnilyinwCel re
,
Gentlemen of the Court, attend ed Divine service at
Claremont, yesterday morning. Ile Bishop of Oxford
lare ta
mko
officiated.
Her Majesty and her Royal C( msort walked out yes-
terday afternoon.
The Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Jairies Graham, the Earl
of Leicester, and the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, visited
Sir Robert Peel on Saturday. The B ight Hon. Baronet
left his residence in Whitehall-gardier s, in the afternoon,
for Claremont.
His Excellency the Portuguese 'Minister transacted
business at the Foreign office, on S aturday.
The Bishop of Jamaica had s u interview with the
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, on' ;aturday, at the Colo-
nial-office.
The Earl of Aberdeen left town o n Saturday afternoon.
Sir Robert Peel has issued invitations to a full dress
Parliamentary dinner party on Wednesday, the 21st
inst., at_ his residence in Whitehall-gardens. The
Queen's_ipeech, on opening the si !salons of Parliament,
will be read by the Right Hon. Blv ronet to his numerous
guests.
Dispatches were sent off on Saturday evening from
the Colonial office for the Governer of South Australia.

At the Chapel, SL James's, yesterday, the Lessons
were read by the Rev. J. C. Haden. The sermon was
preacho by thd Rev. Dr. Irwin, Tk to anthem was " I
have . set God." Mr. Turle presided a t the organ.
Lord. and Lady Ernest Bruce, Lord Colville, and Lord
G. Paulet, were among the nobility Fs lent.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PoiirsMOUTil, TAN. 11.-
—Admiral Sir Charles Ogle,
Commander-in Chief at this port, another magni-
ficent ieitettaiurnent at the Admiralty-house on .rri....„v
evening, surpassing in splendour and hospitality even the
two former. It was brilliantly attended, all, or nearly
all, the rank of both services at the port and the elite of
the neighbouring gentry being present.
The Rodney, 92, Captain Collier, will be docked to-
morrow, to have her copper repaired, and, it is reported,
to be altered iu her gripe, keel, and stern-post, and her
midship-magazine done away with.
The Scourge steam bomb-vessel, Commander Coffin,
was undocked on Thursday, her copper having been
cleaned, and some necessary alterations made in the pipes
connected with the engines under water. The Rattler
steam (screw) sloop, Commander Smith, was imme-
diately taken into the dock vacated by the Scourge, the
contemplated alterations in her screw propeller not
having been completed when she was last docked. By
these alterations she will be enabled to ship or unship
her screw at any time without difficulty, or raise it suffi-
ciently to be clear of the water, if it should be desirable
to get the vessel under canvass. This (which, for want
of a hatchway through from the quarter-deck to the
screw, such as has recently been made, could not be done
before, without going into dock) can be accomplished at
sea in a gale with ease.
The Bittern, 16, Commander Hope, is repairing de-
fects with all dispatch in the harbour, and will be ready
for sea in a few days, excepting as regards men, of whom
she is short.
The Alhan steam troop-ship, Master-Commander
Aylen, will be ready for sea to-morrow, when she will
leave for Plymouth and Cork, taking Royal Marines
and supernumeraries.
The Curlew, 10, at this port is ordered to be strength-
ened and fitted for the trial of a 13-inch MG:tar on
board her.

An experiment will be tried next week of firing from
the Excellent gunnery-ship shot and shell at an old
steam funnel, to ascertain what effect the firing may
have on it. The funnel will be fixed on a floating stage,
and secured by chains, as in the usual way on board
steam-vessels, and placed at a regulated distance from
the ship. We believe this trial has been ordered at the
suggestion of Captain Chads. In an important trial, as
this will he, we think a new funnel might have been
granted, as it is scarcely probable an old will present
such resistance, after having been weakened by wear,
as one new from the foundry.
The Cormorant steam-sloop, Commander Gordon, was
at Callao, on the Ist of November. A private letter says
—" One of our boats capsized on the 20th of October,
and Dr. Thompson, the assistant-surgeon, and three
seamen (Benjamin Serjeant, George Emery, and John
Batten) were drowned. We had been at Callao since
the Ist of August doing nothing ; the Admiral is down
among the island with the Modeste and Salamander, at
Otaheite, and has been there for the last twelve months.
The America, 50, after leaving the Sandwich Islands,
expected to go to the Columbia River; and report also
says that the Admiral goes there in the Collingwood,
after having been the round of the islands."
The Hydra steam-sloop, Commander Young, was at
Ascension on the 25th of November, undergoing repairs,
and not expected to leave for England until February.
The Cacique steam-sloop, late y captured by the Pene-
lope, having taken in a cargo of provisions for the
squadron in the Bight of Benin, sailed from Ascension
on the 25th of November, Lieutenant H. B. Gray, of the
Hydra, having been appointed by Commodore Jones to
command her.

The Action, 26, Captain Manse], was at St. llelena
on the 21st of November.
The Frolic, 16, Commander Hamilton, was at St.
Blas, from the Sandwich Islands, on the 16th of Novem-
ber, collecting freight for England—all well.
The Amazon, 19, Captain Stopford, was at Genoa, on
the Ist inst., last from Barcelona.

...
The Persian, 16, Commander Cur} ton, was at Sacri-
ficios, on the sth ult.

The Rhadamanthus steam-troop-ship, Master Com-
mander Laen, is ordered from the Irish station to the
Mediterranean, to join the squadron under Vice-Admiral
Sir W. Parker.

The Comet steam-vessel, Lieutenant-Commander W.
Pretyman, returned on Friday from the Thames, whither
she had attended the Centaur new steam-frigate to get
her engines and machinery.
The Conway, 26, Captain Kelly, on the Cape of
Good Hope station, may be expected home in April,
according to private letters received recently.
It is reported that the 100 senior captains of the navy
have been promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, thus
embracing those of 1808 down to those of 1813, as far
as Sir Watkin Pell, inclusive. It is also stated that the
following alteration has been made in the naval uniform
—viz., Captains to wear the star, crown, and anchor;
Commanders, crown and anchor; and Lieutenants, the
anchor, on their epaulets; and all officers of wardroom
rank, to wear two epaulets.