The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME. By the
Author of the" Comic History of England." Illustrated
by John Leech. No. 111.

This, the third part of the " History of Rome,"
carries us on merrily from the close of the war against
the Volscians to the death of Marcus Manlius. The
number is overilivving with fun, and is replete with
hits at the absurdities and follies of the present day :
e. g., in narrating the capture of Veii by Camillus,
our author says— •
" Tne King of Veii was offering a sacrifice in the Tem-
ple of Juno, just as the ROlllllllB had completed their
tunnel, and as the soldiers burst like a crop of early
champions through the earth, he saw his fate written in
bold Roman characters. Everything was given to the
conquerors, and it is said that the statue of Juno followed
of its own accord; but the probability is, the statue re-
mained in statu quo, for miraculous instances of going
over to Rome were not in those days numerous."
Mr. A'Beckett, however, mingles much useful in-
struction with his fun, his resume of the laws of the
twelve tables is admirable. The illustrations by
Leech are full of humcur ; nothing can be more
unctuous in every sense of the word than his vignette
to the eighth chapter entitled " Roman Bull and
Priest of the Period."

SHERIFF'S BOOK KEEPING.
The vast importance of a proper system of accounts,
in a commercial country like our 2, must be self-evi-
dent ; yet, we apprehend, the science, if we may so
term it, of book-keeping has not hitherto received
that attention which its usefulness demands, and
without a thorough knowledge of which the mer-
chant and trader must be in a continual state of un-
certainty and danger as to the exact position of their
affairs. Indeed we entertain little doubt that many
of the cases which come before the Bankrupt Court,
and treated as ;fraudulent, arise frequently from
ignorance of a proper system of keeping their ac-
counts. We believe much of the neglect with Neßich
this subject has been treated is to be attributed to the
vague and imperfect treatises which up to this time
have issued from the press, and to the want of a cer-
tain, simple, and concise system of book-keeping.
Mr. Sheriff's cheap, simple, and unpretending work
appears to us eminently calculated to supply this de-
fect, and to achieve the end he professes to have in
view, riz., the production of a treatise "designed for
the use of merchants, clerks, and schools ;" and we
can confidently recommend it to public consideration
as a book of great practical utility.

SCRIP ENOR'S SUPPLEMENT TO RAIL-
WAYS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. smith,
Elder, and Co.

It may be remembered that Mr. Scrivenor, the
late Secretary to the members of the Liverpool
Stock Exchange (to whom he dedicates the present
volume), published an excellent work on the Rail.-
ways of the United Kingdom in 1849. The compi-
lation now under consideration is strictly supple-
mental to the former, conveying intelligence from
1849 to the present year. It embodies the latest re-
ports from the directors of the several lines, and
includes the latest returns; all the information on
these and all other essential heads being collected
from official sources. A table of the " Railway Re-
venue and Expenditure for the years 1849 and 1850"
is a noticeable feature in Mr. Scrivenor's new volume,
facilitating, by the novelty and simplicity of its con-
struction, the accurate ascertainment of all the cir-
cumstances of any one given line, a valuable mass of
information being thus brought under notice at one
view. Shareholders are thus afforded the opportu-
nity of contrasting, without any complexity of cal
culation, the working expenses of their own with
those of other lines, and so detecting the existence of
any extravagance, for which the remedy is in their
own hands at the half-yearly meetings. We can
safely recommend a perusal of these 150 pages to
those holders of railway stock who wish to possess a
clear knowledge of the bona fide condition of their
property.