The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUME, LXXXIIL—
Napoleon Bonaparte: his Sayings and Doings. Vol. L
By A. Vieusseux.
From the title of this volume, the reader would
naturally have expected to discover in it something
epigrammatic and something novel, either in the in-
formation or in the manner in which things already
familiar might have been conveyed, but he would
have been egregiously deceived. Far from this form-
ing a collection of the sayings and doings of Na-
poleon Bonaparte in any way deserving of such a
distinctive denomination, the-book is simply a very
meagre, watery, frigid, matter-of-fact history of that
most wonderful of all wonderful men. As far as our
judgment will permit us to discriminate the character
in which any personage is written about, the style of
composition in biography should in some measure be
commensurate with and subservient to the particular
idiosyncracy of the individual. The statesman should
be delineated with candour and dignity ; the critic in
a terse and didactic fashion ; the poet with a glow,
and fervour, and imagery apportioned to the theme;
while, in the memoir of any extraordinary warrior,
the drums, and the guns, and the musketry, and the
bugles should to some extent be symbolised on its
pages. When, however, a great marvel, like Napoleon
—a Caesar, without the libidinous nature of Caesar—
an Alexander, without the drunkenness of Alexander
—a Washington, without the stolid intellect (entirely
devoid of imagination) of Washington—a-Cromwell,
without being a regicide or a fanatic like Cromwell—
a Mahomet, without being an impostor—a Frederick,
without sullenness—when a great man, like Napo-
leon, combines in himself the character of a lawgiver,
a captain, a statesman, a sage, an orator, and a sove-
reign—it.is but natural to look for something in the
account of such a being characteristic of some, if not
all, of those striking qualities. In this respect the
volume before us is excessively inapt. M. Vieusseux
is neither a Sallust, nor a Tacitus, nor even a
llazlitt.

LAYS OF THE SEA. By Personne.
This little volume of poems is prettily imagined—
the notion is very graceful indeed ; and will appeal
warmly to all who have any recipients of their love
upon the waters; and scarcely an English family
but can number a sailor among its members. The
look of the book is unambitious—the ideas are un-
ambitious—and the character of the metre is un-
ambitious. However, though modesty is a valuable
foundation for any lyrical composition, that modesty
may be carried too far, by rendering the thoughts
maudlin, and reducing the language to great
poverty. A little more anxiety to be excellent and
pathetic would have prevented that terrible bathos
in the second line of what is intended to be a
mournful piece:—

" I miss thee, 0, my brother
With my papers all before me!"
Personne should be a little more circumspect before
venturing upon the hazard of a poetical publication.
It is casting a rose-leaf upon troubled waters.

SELF-INSTRUCTION FOR YOUNG
GARDENERS. By J. C. Loudon.
On the anniversary of Washington's death, namely,
on December 14th, 1843, died John Claudius Loudon
—a man whose integrity of character and amiable
bearing had endeared him to a staunch cluster of
acquaintances, while the assiduity of his studies and
the sterling excellence of his writings had already
acquired for him an European reputation. As an
enlightened botanist, his opinions have long carried
with them great authority, and his very name is now
as intimately associated with that science as Herschell
with astronomy, Liebeg with chemistry, Whewell
with mathematics, or Murchisson with geology. Not
however that, like those illustrious philosophers, Lou-
don has achieved any extraordinary discoveries in the
subject to which his whole intellect was devoted—not
that, like them, he has made any grand innovations in
a long-established system ; but that, animated with a
sincere anxiety for the " diffusion of knowledge"
among a class who were hitherto excluded from
it by the abstruseness of its expositors, Loudon
elucidated the obscure, and systematised what had
previously been given in a desultory and disjointed
manner. In the present volume we have, according
to the editor's preface, John Claudius Loudon 's
Last Legacy to Gardeners"—the text being under
`his widow's supervision, the sections upon mechanics,
hydrostatics, and hydraulics being furnished by Dr.
Jamieson, those on architectural drawing, and
geometrical projection, and perspective by Mr.
besides several other interpolations from
authoritative sources. Surrounded by all
rtalsince'asories of talent and industry this work
sßctihomooubsileeldar not possibly, be more practical in its application
or more accurate in its details. For young garden-
ers, for forresters, for bailiffs, for land stewards, and for
farmers in general, it will prove a perfect vademecum—
a resource on all doubtful points—as useful for their
guidance as the shafts are to the plough. Although,
efleoewm.eprlsi,shamndehlatsn
with Mrs. Loudon, we must ever regrot the decease
of her husband, before he had still further embellished
landscapes, together
this self instructor, by appending to h disquisitions
, we can discover
no single deficiency sufficiently ;
-mportant to mar the
or abstract from the corn
symmetry,completeness of the
volume now under consideration. Its plan is ori-
ginal and ingenious, its style is comprehensive and
upon
with drawing
several
otthreeersa,
lucid, its success in all respects is entire. ' We can
cordially and honestly recommend it to all horticul-
tural and agricultural students.

JAN. 21.—SamuerJoyce, Esq., was
called to the degree of Barrister-at-law by
thisG
the Hcn. Society of Gray's Inn.
THE BISHOP OF CASHEL.—We ere authorised to
state that the letter addressed to the Waterford Chronicle,
RdAaYy'S INN,
purporting to come from the Right Rev. Dr. Daly, Bishop
of Cashel, is a forgery.—Cork .Reporter.
" I CAN'T DO IT."--Yes you can. T —try-..ry hard,
try often— and you will accomplish it. Yield to every dis-
couraging circumstance, and you will do nothing worthy of a
great mind. Try, and you mull do wonders. You will be
astonished at yourself—your advancement in whatever you
undertake. " I can't" has ruined many a man ; has been the
tomb of bright expectation and ardent hope. Let " I will
try" be your motto in whatever you undertake, and if you
press onward, you will steadily and surely accomplish your
object, and come off victorious. Try—keep trying—and you
are made for Otis world,