The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-20 00:00:00

true) regards Laroartine as the only eligib:te candidtte
for the Prebidency.

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW. No. CX.—
THE FOREIGN QUART_ERLY REVIEW.
lo.XCV.

Metaphysical subjects are those which are
touched upon with the most brilliant success
in the current number of this double Quar-
terly. The one on " Reason and Faith,"
has reference to the remarkable essays by Henry
Rogers, originally published in the Edinburgh.
"Life and Immortality," however, is the most mas-
terly of all the present contributions to the Westmin-
ster. It is conceived in an elevated spirit, and
breathes throughout the gentlest wisdom and the
most bewitching earnestness. For the sweetness and
lucidity of its philosophy we commend it in the most
earnest manner to the scrutiny cf the reading po-
pulation. " Process and Heeding" will be found a
very able paper on law reform ; and another of an his-
torical character respecting the " Mariboroughs and
the Reign of Queen Anne," will prove on examination
to be of a singularly interesting description. Besides
these, the Wtstininster contains other contributions
relating respectively to " Western Africa," to
" Newman's P:)litical Economy," to " Creassy's De-
cisive Battles," and to " Gregory of .Nezianzum."
Appended to these articles are various miscellaneous
notices, end some excellent criticisms on foreign
literature.

LITERATURE.

STERNE'S SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY.
illustrated by Tony Johannot; with a Memoir of
the Author by E. L. Blanchard. Willoughby
and Co.
A more graceful gift-book has seldom appeared
than the one in which we here find reprinted not the
least charming among the masterpieces of our na-
tional literature. Laurence Sterne has long been
treasured among our classics ; and hence any republi-
cation of his very delightful writings is at all times
peculiarly acceptable to the majority of our intelli-
gent and discerning population. Leigh Hunt, indeed,
has in some measure accounted for this popularity,
where be has said, in terms of such earnest panegyric,
that " Tristram Shandy" must be regarded as per-
haps the wittiest book in the language. Whatever
may be said of the' extraordinary merits of
that most remarkable work, it must be acknowledged,
even by its most enthusiastic admirers, that its ap-
preciation is necessarily and very materially restricted
within limits by its occasional indulgence in
beastliness. Not so with the " Sentimental
Journey," marred even;, though it is by its
more voluptuous incidents. For licentious though
certain passages in the latter work may be in their
they contain no grossness of imagine-
suggestiveness,
tion comparable to that displayed in the former, and
certainly, of the two, incomparably the greater pro-
duction. The " Sentimental Journey" is consequently
the favourite with the generality of readers :and, as
a convincing proof of its excellence as a literary com-
position, it will be found ,that the " Beauties of
Sterne" principally consist of quotations from its
pages. It is in the " Sentimental Journey " that we
discover so many of those exquisite fragments which
have been principally instrumental in extending their
author's celebrity, and in evoking from the sympa-
thies of the million a very sweet, a very beautiful,
and a very enviable reputation. There is the monk,
for example ! who can ever forget him ? He
has again " the hectic of a moment passing across
his cheek" when we think of him ; and we
listen once more to the compunctious exclamation
of the traveller, " My heart smote me the moment he
shut the door : Psha ;' said I, with an air of care-
lessness, three several times—but it would not do;
every ungracious syllable I bad uttered crowded
back into my imagination." Then there is the
remise door and the lady encountered under em-
harassing circumstances ; and the pulse of the little
glove-seller, with the account of all its equable throb-
bings. There, again, is the captive in his dungeon,
looking up at the interrupted sunlight; and the
starling pleading for liberty with such very piteous
iteration. There is the sword redeemed by the
merchant-noble, with a tear still glittering on its
rusty blade : and poor Maria of Moulines weeping
yet under the poplar by the brookside. There, too,
is the man at the post-house of Nampont lamenting
the dead ass," that had eat the same bread with him
all the way, and was unto him as a friend"—and
talking of this, possibly the most lovely passage for
pathetic simplicity in the whole of the " Sentimental
Journey," we call to mind on the instant that famous
sentence of Byron's, in which he said of Sterne, that
he "preferred whining over a dead ass to relieving a
living mother." Always bearing in recollection this
well-known aspersion, and always remembering with
it that nowhere can be discovered any facts corro-
borative of the statement, we turned, for some
allusion to the remark in the agreeable little
biography of Sterne prefixed to the present volume,
by Mr. Blanchard. At page 21, accordingly, we
detected the following very significant commentary
upon the assertion referred to :—" The mother of
Sterne died in 1732, when Sterne was not nineteen
years of age (for Sterne was born on the 24th of
November, 1713), and the affectionate regret with
which he speaks of her, and the little pension which
she received for the few months she lived after the
death of her husband, would show not only that he was
guiltless of unfilial treatment, but that she was in a
position far removed from that state of abject
distress which the reproach levelled at him
would seem to imply. We thank the biogra-
pher for this, we are grateful to him—for we
regard the above sentence as conclusive. It dissipates
a vile and execrable calumny. It proves that many
a false as well as many a true word may be spoken
in jest ; and it enables the reader of the new volume
to peruse it throughout with unalloyed satisfaction as
the effusion of one whose writings abound with ex-
quisite sentiment, but of one also, whose actions were
very frequently the results of a pure and generous
sensibility. In every other particular the memoir-of
Sterne, accompanying this exceedingly beautiful edi-
tion, reflects the highest credit upon Mr. Blanchard.
It is penned throughout in a pure and flowing style,
relating succinctly the incidents in the life of our au-
thor, and evidencing a full and perfect appreciation of
his many inimitable capacities as a writer. Mr. Blan-
chard's charming biography is happily associated with
the very tasteful and appropriate embellishments
scattered through the volume, from the pencil.of
Tony Johannot. Altogether the new issue of
Sterue's " Sentimental Journey," will prove, on ex-
amination, to be a worthy addition to any library, as
well as an elegant work for the table of a drawing-
room or a boudoir. The merits of the original text
and of the newly-compiled memoir have been ade-
quately responded to by the remarkable excellence
visible both in the illustrations and the typography.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—Considering myself a dog that is bound to
bark when ho hears anything suspicious stirring, I
give mouth to say that I have just heard from a mem-
ber of a commercial family, that mercantile men note
the arrival of Russian tallow to an extent they can
only account for by supposing the merchants in Rua-
sia to look forward to movements on the part of their
Czar in the spring, which may by possibility lead to
the interruption of the trade with this country, and
so give high prices to what they have considerately
lodged beforehand. _ _

These merchants may have been, misled by pre-
tphaeraßtiuonsssiafonrctarvyailnrgy, tohre
foerffescetndoinf
gCaolsth'sipreovrolvtewros in
England to carry back the specimens of Austrian
high art from the World's Fair to their ally. But
they may also have fancied they saw signs of an
intention on the part of the Absolutist powers to
treat France, Piedmont, and Belgium after the fashion
of Hungary, saving such as they expect to join in the
crusade, and if luck attends them extend their good
offices to Spain and Portugal, and, if particularly
tempted, perhaps even to the rectification of the Eccle-
siastical Titles Bill in Ireland.
Of course a man would be a fool who went out of
his way to guard against anything of the kind. No-
thing is ever guarded against ; and everything goes
right of itself. Nevertheless, something must be
granted to the prejudices of those who have been used
to note the weather looking Equally a-head on the
log-board, though nobody ever knows that a squall
may not blow another way till it comes.
London, Oct.l am,
19, 1851.
Sir,A yNouorsLvDeryßsEinFceorßelyß.

liopn:freei
atni
sthstweepderes oern presented
announced,o n
behalf
1 ae h
ait additiono f the
youth-
fulto t h e
s—h°eldn
inFtrhie
friends of this charity .
Fri-
day a meeting of the
transacting the ordinary busi-
nessboard room of the hospital,
forllth annual report of the gover-
nors,f distribution, gives a most
or xm c Hosr rr AwLa.
progress and prospects of the
encouraging
of the charity.
account
and munificent patronage of her Ma-
hospital. The spec
and Prince Albert jesty TillEvhicßhnihrafsA2lboeegn7ll.
princely sum
Since the issue of the report, it
Prince of (Pales.
institution
progress of the has been equally gratify-
that the
trong hopes are entertained that the continued
ing,:and s
liberality of the affluent will enable the committee to provide
a n increase of accommodation, which, owing to the influx of
patients seeking relief, is most urgently needed. The num-
ber of individuals on the books, waiting their turn of admis-
sion, exceeds 3UO, and the total cured of deformities since
the founda.iori of the hospital, in 1839, now reaches the
number of 12,000.
TUE APPROVER IN TUE UCKrIELD BURGLARIES.—
Hamilton, who was admitted as an approver in the trial of
the Ucktield burglars, and more recently against the convict
lEaacs, who made so extraordinary an escape from Lewes
gaol a few days ago, has been liberated, at the direction of
the Secretary of State. The Government will give him a
free passage to Australia if he chooses to accept it; and in
the meanwhile he is under the close notice of the police at
Brighton, where, for the time, he has taken up his quarters.
Colonel W. Reid, C.B. (Governor of Malta), and
R. Mayne, Esq., C.B. (Commissioner of Police), are pro-
moted to be Knights Commanders of the bat_
Service). Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, Bart., Captain
Hay (Commissioner of Police), H
Cole,Esq., and Dr.
Henry Cole,
Lyoa PlayfAir, are appointed cyluPgll9
g,g 91 the una prdert