The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-02 00:00:00

The French Papers of Monday contain no particu

lar news.

FRENCH FUNDS.—Pants, JUNE 30.
Five per Cents., 1061. 35c. 40c.
Three per Cents., 771. 85e. SUc.
Bank Actions, 1,7901.
Rente de Naples, 1:41. 95e.
Roman Five per Cents., 96,
Rente d'Espagne, Five per Cents., 38%.
Rente d'Espagne, Three per Cents., 47%.
Royal Spanish Loan, 83%.
Rente Perpet. d'Espagne, Five per Cents., 75%.
Belgian Loan, 1831, Five per Cents , 98%.

EXCHANGE ON LONDON.
One month, paper, 25f. 32 C.; money, 25f. 30c.
Three months, paper, 23f. 22%c. ; money, 25f. 20c.
—Coors Authentique.

LITERATURE.

BURKE'S WORKS. 2 Vols. Holdeworth and Ball,
Lyndon, 1834.

We have been long anxiously expecting a republication
of the works of Burke, and at length our hopes are grati-
fied to the fullest extent. The present edition is one that
must satisfy the most fastidious taste. It possesses every
recommendation that such a book should possess, being
cheap in price, commodious in form, beautifully distinct in
type, and prefaced by an introductory memoir, which,
though somewhat slight and crude in the quality of its cri-
tical remarks, yet, from the numerous stray facts which it
has amassed, relative to his political career, will furnish the
reader with a very fair insight into the nature of Burke's
public services as a statesman. Hitherto this great man's
works have been, in some degree, shut out from the majo-
rity of readers. He has been defrauded of half his fame
by the extravagant price (six guineas and upwards !) de-
manded for his sixteen volumes. It is now high time that
this veto—for such a sum amounts virtually to a veto with
one-half the community—should be taken off ; and Burke,
like Shakspeare, bet allowed fair play at the hands of his
countrymen.
This is the more to be insisted on, because there
never lived a writer whose works are calculated to
interest a larger class of readers. Something may
be found in him to please every taste—to instruct
every order of intellect. His writings are vast
store-houses, in which are deposited a thousand various
treasures. He is not one, but Legion. He is a philoso-
pher—a statesman—an essayist—a rhetorician—and in each
and all of these departments of mind, is at the head of his
class. In an age of Titans, he is the greatest. As a master
of style, in all its varieties, he stands unrivalled. " His lan-
guage," says Hazlitt, " has all the familiarity of conversation,
and all the research of the most elaborate composition."
It unites every extreme—terseness with copiousness—the
simplicity of nature with the subtlest and most ornate em-
bellishments of art. There is nothing set, or formal, or
affected about it. Throughout, we see the strong impress
of earnestness and sincerity. Hence, though he sometimes
repeats himself, multiplying metaphor, and piling epithet
upon epithet, yet be never wearies. So long as he has
anything to say, we are always ready to attend to him.
Burke has been called a tawdry writer. Never was a greater
mistake. His diction, even when most luxuriant, is always
full of idea—always conveys direct and entire, and in the
fittest manner, the meaning it is intended to convey. His
amplifications are oftener those of thought, than of words.
Perhaps he is the greatest master of metaphor the world
ever saw. In his love of illustration he has recourse to all
sorts of analogies, not disdaining even the aid of the sham-
bles. His fancy is truly Protean. It assumes the form of
satire, of epigram, of arch irony, and broad humour ; now
it attires itself in the homely quaker drab ; now it walks
abroad, robed like some stately Caesar, in Imperial purple.
It is singular that, like the wit of Rabelais, it burned
brightest in his old age. The " Letter to the Duke of
Bedford," the last, we believe, ever penned by Burke, is a
perfect blaze of imagination. Strong personal feeling here
lends its sharpest spur to genius, and the two combined, carry
all before them. Melmoth has described this production as
the most lavish display of intellectual wealth that the world
has known since the days of Shakspeare. Few, we suspect,
will venture to impugn this dictum.
If we except Jeremy Taylor, there is no prose-writer
whose splendid passages leave such an indelible impression
on the mind as Burke's. They lay a giant's grasp on the
memory. To have only a dim recollection of them, is the
sure test of a vulgar intellect. Who forgets his comparison
of the British Constitution with the " proud Keep of
Windsor"—of the native troops of Hyder Ally preparing
for their descent into the lowlands, with " a black cloud
hanging on the heights of the Carnatic"—or of Marie An-
toinette, with " the morning star, just above the horizon,
full of light and life and joy ?" The second of these il-
lustrations, is perhaps the exactest and completest in the
whole range of literature. As was said of Goldsmith, so
with far greater propriety may be said of Burke—nullum
tetigit, quod non ornavit. He diffuses grace over
every thing he touches. The homeliest and dullest
topics discussed by him, teem with life, splendor and beauty.
His speech on Economical Reform, possesses all the enchain-
ing interest of a fairy-tale. The same may be said even of his
Addresses to the Electors of Bristol.
With the sole exception of Johnson, there was no man

who had such an effect on the mind of his age as Burke. He

was its great propelling power, though for many years his
influence was rather felt than acknowledged. His" Reflections
on the French Revolution" gave a new impulse to the mo-
narchical principle throughout Europe, and did more for it
than all the swords that were drawn at Waterloo. In this vast
reach of moral power, Burke reminds us of Brougham,
though in most other respects they differ like light and
shade. Burke's intellect is of a Shaksperian, Brougham's
of an Encyclopaedic, character. The eloquence of the one
is that of the man of the world ; of the other, that of the
poet. Brougham can rouse a senate ; Burke carries con-
viction to the heart of the secluded student. Brougham's
knowledge is of a rugged, practical, stern, and somewhat
repulsive stamp ; Burke's is calm, conciliatory, refined, and
profoundly meditative. The ruling power of the one is
imagination ; of the other, satire. Brougham's sarcasm,
indeed, is like a blister. It takes the skin off. In grace,
originality, feeling and richness of invention, Burke as far
excells Brougham as he falls short of him in all that con-
stitutes the every-day, business part of knowledge. As re-
spects that power of mental application—that Herculean
energy of purpose—that ravenous, ever-craving thirst for
knowledge, which thinks that nothing is learnt while any-
thing remains to be learnt—and that (to quote the empha-
tic language of Mr. Sharpe) " there is time enough for
repose in the grave," both stand on an equal footing.
Perhaps, however, in this instance, Brougham may claim
the superiority. His mind's eye never sleeps—its wing is
never folded—whereas Burke had his lazy fits, though they
were " few and far between." It is somewhat curious that
both have fullest displayed their stupendous mental and
physical energy on the same subject. Burke's speech on
Economical Reform, is rivalled only by Brougham's on Le-
gal Reform, and both orations had the same effect ; they
astonished the world, and—cleared the House !
It is to Burke's immortal honour, that he was as good a
man as he was a great one. His benevolence was only
equalled by his capacity. A thousand proofs are on record

of his liberality; his amenity of heart, and the utter absence
of any thing like parade, or petty jealousy in his disposition.
Being a king in intellect, without a rival, he could afford to
be generous and condescending, without derogating from
his dignity. He was the friend of Barry, made so by ad-
miration of his genius, and supported him during his resi-
dence in Italy, while he himself was compelled to study
household economy in London. He was 'also among the
first to encourage the dawning talents of Fanny Burney ;
and to rescue Crabbe from starvation.
To his wonderful conversational, powers, Johnson, Fox,
Gibbon, Parr, Lord Charlemont, and a host of others,
have borne abundant testimony. The former expressly
mentions that he was the only man of his day who always
put him on his mettle—always compelled him to talk his
best. Of the persuasive character of his publications, Sir
Egerton.Brydges, who had seen him "in the flesh," has said,
in his recent Memoirs, " I never could read a page of
Burke without fully concurring with him in almost every
word he said ; indeed I can recollect no passage in which
I differed from him." It has been generally supposed that
Burke was unpopular in St. Stephens. This is not the
case. In his meridian he was listened to with the deepest
and most willing attention, and it was only in the decline
of life, when he took a fancy to make long-winded speeches,
in favour of prerogative, that he gained the nick-name of
the " dinner-bell."

It remains to say a few words of Burke in his character
of politician. We regret that we cannot here speak so
warmly in his praise as we could wish. Burke the friend
of the American, and Burke the foe of the French revolu-
tion, appear like two different beings. In the former case,
he launched his fiercest Phillippics against prerogative ; in
the latter, he tasked his utmost powers in its favour. In
the one instance he was all for the people ; in the other, he
would forbid them even to whisper. In the year 1776 he
held up Kings to incessant ridicule ; in the year 1793, he
reverenced them as divine abstractions. The truth is,
Burke was less a man of principle than impulse. Though
his sagacity was great, his feeling always obtained the mas-
tery over his judgment. That he apostatized from merce-
nary motives, we will never for an instant believe. Such
considerations, however they may influence the majority of
mankind, were not likely to operate on a mind like Burke's,
who was the most munificent and disinterested of states-
men. If he played the part of a changeling, it was
from conviction—from the same conviction that from being
a staunch reformer, induced Pitt to become an equally
staunch anti-reformer. But granting that he was to blame,
still let it be borne in mind, that he was brought into public
life at a time when corruption and apostacy were as com-
mon, as they now are, rare, among public men. The
malign influence of Walpole and the Pelhams was still felt—
still tainted every branch of the political community, when
Burke made his first speech in the House. In those days,
apostacy was so far from being considered a crime, that it
was actually accounted a proof of sagacity. So far then
from wondering at Burke's inconsistency, we ought, rather
—considering the school in which he was reared—to
wonder that he so long preserved his integrity.

THE BRITISH FARMER'S MAGAZINE (pub-

lisped Quarterly). J. Ridgway.
This periodical differs from most others in one particular,
namely in giving with most of the articles, the name of the
person by whom it is written. This is wisely and well
done. A farmer's interest is too deeply involved in any
changes which he may be induced to make in the cultiva-
tion of his fields to expect that he will risk an experi-
ment on anonymous authority conveyed through whatsoever
channel. Neither is there the same reasons for seeking
concealment in writing about the growth of larches, or the
sowing of turnip seed, that there is in attacking_ abuses in
the government of the church or the affairs of the state.
So far we approve' very highly of this departure from the
usual form. In other respects we can say but little of this
periodical, as our knowledge of agriculture is altogether
extremely limited. We must not omit, however, that
many of the articles are from the pens of clergymen, and
all of them from those of large agriculturists in the rural
districts throughout England.

MONTHLY MAGAZINE. Cochrane and Mc Crone,

London.

We always-turn to this periodical with pleasure, in the
full conviction that we shall meet with something worth
reading, such as a light essay, a humourous poem, a
piquant tale, or a still more piquant criticism. The pre-
sent number contains specimens of all these varie-
ties. The article entitled " Presumptuous Poetry," is a
somewhat acrimonious, but, so far as we can see, impartial
notice of Mr. Heraud's late poem, " The Judgment of the
Flood." The author's frequent plagiarisms from Milton,
are laid bare with a very unsparing hand. " Ode by Sir
Egerton Brydges," is a stiff and formal production, not un-
like, in manner and matter, the irregular lyrics of Aken-
side, which we believe are now universally given up.
" Leaves from a Log" are lively, gossiping reading, though
we fear these marine sketches are overdone. " The Songs
of Rookwood" is a puff on a romance of the raw-head and
bloody-bones school, whose flash lyrics are the most dis-
gusting samples of coarse buffoonery we ever read—a vapid
and clumsy imitation of the (nearly equally tasteless) songs
in " Paul Clifford." Mr. Ainsworth degrades himself by
such trash.