The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-03 00:00:00

SUN,

LITERATURE.
MAXIMS OF LA ROCHEFOLICAULD.
Newly Translated from the French. Longman,
Brown, Green,
Surprising and Longmans.
as it may appear, it has been reserved
for the present translator to produce the first English
version of La Rochefoucauld. Every previous at-
tempt of a similar kind has turned out a miserable
failure. Until the volume before us was printed, the
wittiest maxims in the world had yet to be introduced
to an English auditory. Fortunately the scholar who
has at length undertaken the task, has displayed
throughout a wholesome knowledge of the require-
ments necessary for the fulfilment of his intentions,
and not only a knowledge of them, but an actual
Possession of them into the bargain. He has been
iteral almost to the limits of slavishness, and yet, in
spite of all this, he has tranformed the original words
into a language equally idiomatic. As in the French
so in the
English--every sentence is an epigram. In
this consists the value of the achievement. What
constitutes
•
the splendour of these maxims, sen-
tences, and
moral reflections, is their intensely
and essentially epigrammatic character. Not a
truth is uttered but in the utterance it
comes to
light—a witticism ! It is as if the speaker
were like the
Princess in the oriental romance, whose
words were precious stones, and from whose lips as
she talked fell perpetually a shower of diamonds, and
pearls, and rubies, and amethysts, and sapphires, and
garhets, and emeralds. La Rochefoucauld, scrupulous
IV' his search after truth—truth, alas ! as bitter as
his wh°lesume—vvas, if possible, yet more solicitous
about the manner in which he spoke than the veracity
sitely
I the thing spoken. Hence, we repeat, his exqui-
ePigraininatic character. Depressing as most
of the maxims indubitably are, there are some never-
theless of a lofty and generous tendency : and if only
because of these we are thankful on behalf of many
hundreds
of English readers to this the latest and
best of the
translators of La Rochefoucauld. How
.noble for example is that exclamation—" It belongs
only to great men to have great faults." That
is the most touching and most rational, as well
IS tbe most magnanimous, extenuation of the
faults attributed to our Caesars and our Napo-
leons. Again, what truth lies in that sentence,
"As, We grow old we become more foolish and more
Wise." What a key, that, to the character of Polonius!
Sometimes we light upon an old friend in the form of
a saying attributed elsewhere. Thus one maxim
commendes "Nothing is impossible," a saying by
many fathered upon the modern Sesostris. How ex-
quisite again that utterance—" Youth is perpetual
intoxication; it is the fever of reason." And what
adroitness of expression there is in the opinion," Ab-
sence diminishes moderate passions and increases
great ones, as the wind extinguishes tapers and adds
fury to fire." Never was metaphor more judicious.
The unknown translator has added very considerably
to the charm, and with that also to the value of his
volume, by foot-notes revealing either plagiarisms or
kindred thoughts in other writers, ancient and modern.
It is especially interesting to contrast in this manner
the way in which nearly the same ideas are differently
expressed by the Duc De La Rochefoucauld and
other authors of distinguished reputation—ranging
from Seneca to La Bruyere, from Tacitus to Sterne,
from Theophrastus to Bulwer Lytton. Such is this
complete and admirable version of a work which
Dr. Johnson eulogized, although it was penned by a
man of fashion, a work which Rousseau calls " livre
triste et desolant," and Voltaire has commended as
having contributed largely to form the taste of the
French nation and to give it a spirit of justness and
precision.

_
THE MAGAZINES, &c.
NEW MONTHLY.
Progress is made rather amusingly in the serial story
commenced under the title of " All the World and his
Wife, or what brought everybody to London in 1851;"
so that we are obtaining information of the
" doings" during the Great Exhibition even prior to its
commencement. Much entertainment we doubt not, will be
derived by the subscribers of the New Monthly from
these facetious contributions. The adventures of M.
Adolphe Coqueliot will assuredly, at least, provoke
their laughter. His idea that the English language is
summed up in the monosyllable "Yes," and the horrid
consequences of his indulging in a plentiful use of mus-
tard with his " biff," are humorous to the extent of ex-
travagance. Is the author Mr. Jolly Green? And if
m, why suppress the old familiar, and, we may add with
"GOLD"
illYt favourite soubriquet? An elaborate article upon
is conspicuous among the miscellaneous papers,
and is enough to make the mouth water even with the
least varicious. Several remarkable works lately
Published are reviewed at some length, such, for
eltahtnPl°. Mr. Dennistoun'a delightful " Memoirs
• the bakes of Urbino" and Mr. Borrow's extravagant
„tog:I:lodge entitled' L'Avengro." We regret to see
from ttrikuslace, in the New Monthly Magazine, of papers
nished7 hand of a contributor who has already tar-
most e
long of t
most 11l- Pa,gas with articles scarcely admissible in th
he French feuelletons. Those who
revelled
bin the helter-skelter race run during
beis"frltY famous "
Chapter, Y
Soapey Sponge, in the narration of
Sporting Tour," will regret its conclusion
In the present number for pril. The spirit of the per-
toralance, protracted as the tale has been during so
months. has not flagged up to the last, so that the
twhriter is enabled to wind up his story with his old en-
anrl- Altogether, the series has proved the wittiest
leasPantest, upon matters relating to the turf.
published for t%time " Dandy Nat'a
Courtship," considerable past,
throw t., though somewhat silly in parts, and vulgar
i7ntbout is still provocative of risibility in its denoue-
• Another of the powerful papers on " Russian
mii)l°,rnacYt" already naticed as adorning the IVew
"'"i'd.Y, brings the current number of the magazine to
a very ardisfactory conclusion.

FRASER.
number for
achieved that which, until we had read his
for April, 1851, we had considered to be an im
possibility, he has produced a Budget which is even more
absurd
and more objectionable than that " precious"
_uc.Production which has procured for Sir Charles Wood
unenviable notoriety. This Budget is propounded
",t the conclusion of an elaborate paper on the various
Sir ncial projects and calculations of Lord Stanley and of
Chants
Wood, in the course of which the writer de-
nounces in indignant terms the proposition of Lord
Stanley for a five-shilling duty on corn, "as open to
several serious objections; that it would enhance the
Price of the 41b. loaf by at least a halfpenny; that it
Would impose on the consumer a tax of upwards of three
Millions; that it would cheek the progress of improve-
Ment in agriculture; that though it were to benefit the
farmer by the enhanced price of corn, it would injure him
by lessening the demand for other produce of the soil;
sod that this injury he would share/with the mannfacturer."
Ile then proposes that a 28. 6d. duty should be im-
Posed on the importation, which 2s. 6d. is as complete a
surrender of the principle of free trade, and is as ob-
noxious to all the above objections as a ss. duty could
Possibly be; but we will give this model Budget of the
Young Englanders in extenso
:-
"Proposition 1.---That in all future measures of finance,
all exemptions, whether of any constituent part of the United
Xingdorn, or of members of a class, should be carefully
avoided, and that the new taxes imposed should be so mode-
rate in amount as not to require speedy revision and re-
duction.
"IL That the window- tax should be abolished, and a new
distinct and uniform house-tax of 6d. in the pound should be
imposed.
111. That the income-tax should be modified as follows :
The Per centage under Schedules A and C to continue at 7d.
duthe pound ;the per centage under Schedule B to be re-
eed to 3d. in the pound; and the per centage under
schedules D and E to be reduced to sd. in the pound.
t IV. Thaine of the duy of 5. on the quer-
oer of' wheat, t by which the presented
utyt woulds be raised from
ZrPer cent. on a price of 50s. to 10 per cent., and the price
be 41b. loaf be increased by a duty of 2s. 6d. should
P°sed, by which the duty would become 5 per cent. on
Ititrei of 505., and the price of the 41b. loaf be raised less
an a farthin. g
u V. That a duty of 5 per cent. should be also imposed
Pon live animals, and on fresh, dried, and salted meat.
fThat the excise on soap and paper should share the
ate of the indoor tax and be forthwith abolished.
" VII. That in order to meet the deficiency in the reve-
nue which these reductions would occasion, and to provide
,0r surp
,'lus in future years, the following new taxes should
!s im ;sed, or alterati in g taxes made
Thep paper-maker
s licence toexistin be raised from 41. 4s. to 101.
The soap-maker's licence to be also raised from 41.45.
to 10/.
a. A brick-maker's licence (in consideration of the recent
remission of the excise duty on bricks), to be imposed to
4. t
..41 ile amount of 10/.
glass-maker's licence (for the same reason) to be im-
5. Everyto the same amo of 10/.
vendor of paperunt and every bookseller, every vendor
of glass and every vendor of soap (in consideration also
tha remission of the excise on these articles) to pay a
licence of the same amount as that now paid by appraisers,
game, namely,
6. tedicine vendors, and dealers in
;ihe tax upon armorial bearings to be raised to 5/. ss.
'll the case of baronets, ard to 101. los. in the case
of all titled persons above that rank; to 31. 3s. in the
(Ilse of untitled persona keeping a coach or carriage ;
to 21. 2s. in the case of persons not keeping a coach
or
Carriage, but keeping a male servant; and to 11. Is. in all
7.other cases.
A stamp of ld. to be affixed to every cheque drawn upon
8. banker.
A duty of Id. to be levied at the pit's mouth on every ton
9. Coals.
Coals.
tj" duty of ld. to be levied at all gasworks on every hun-
relatives
10. red cubic feet of gas.
411 Burns left bypersons dying intestate, and having no
great more nearly related than half-brother or sister,
ell grandson, great nephew, or first cousin, to be es-
., to the Crown.
VIII. The entire surplus revenue which shall accrue till
eat, Year 1815 inclusive, to be devoted to the remission of
kuouwt,axatien as bears most directly on the diffusion of
the Whole surplus which shall accrue from the year 1856 to
iear 1860, both inclusive, to be devoted to the reduction
tileusee National Debt."
litapees P.roPositious might, under ordinary circurn-
terah
fli.ii)se treated with that contempt which is the na-
of th_l of the lucubrations of amateur Chancellors
pot,_ ? Exchequer, did they not appear at this
'War
organ crisis in a periodical which is the
the enhosef the. Gladstone and Puseyite section of
lye rvattves; and judging from these propositions
de rrintle that i
th,e2
of t would be less unsafe to entrust the
than to
th
the empire to even Lord Stanley himself
would ose who, like the authors of this proposition,
wildesCre oar legislation upon the principles of the
pt uoctrines of
4,1c0d Socialism.
The tenth alteration
itt "uuetttr.
dproposition seven, goes much further
„-road to_
ir w • confiscation than do the propositions
.494490494ia1ts $O4 eau ealy be parelleltg by

THE

some of the most ultra-proposals of M. Proudhon.
If that scheme were carried irlto effect we might see a
peer of the realm inheriting his title, indeed, from his
great grandfather, but absolutely stripped of the pro-
perty with which to support that title, because his father
and his grandfather had died before his great grand-
father. Then again, what can be more absurd than the
attempted development and extension of the annoying,
unstatesman-like, and unjust system of licenses;
or what more suicidal than the imposition of a tax upon
coal, the only effect of which would be to check the full
development of the industrial resources of the country?
But these bungling attempts at financial legislation are
all indicative of the Socialistic tendency of their pro-
posers; they are all taxes upon capital, they are all in-
tended to act as " heavy blows and great discourage.
manta" to mercantile and industrial enterprise, and to
ruin the merchant and manufacturer, who is an object
of equal hatred to the Young Englander, who exclaims
with my Lord John Manners,—
" Let laws and learning, wealth and commerce die,
But give us still our old nobility ;"
and to the idle, labour-hating Socialist, anxious to prey
upon the industry of others, who c xclaims with M.
Proudhon—La proprictd c'est le vol. We therefore
draw the attention of the mercantile and manufacturing
community to those propositions, and leave it to them to
decide whether they think the Gladstones, the Card-
the Smythes, and the other Young Englanders, of
whom Fraser's Magazine is the avowed organ, fit and
proper persons to be trusted with legislative power. The
others papers in Fraser are of an interesting character,
and among them the " Episodes of Insect Life," and
the review of Cipriani Potter's edition of Mozart's " Piano-
forte Works," are worthy of especial commendation.

LONDON,

for their religion, but if they be still affronting the Go-
verument under which they have protection, I must and
will lock to it.--fo. 42." " This from Mr. Howe, and he
from Mr. Steward Maydston, who beard the discourse."
It would be well that those who now-a-days contend
that parties, under pretence of developing their religion,
may "affront" with impunity the Government under
which they have protection, should study well these
words of the greatest statesman which England has
ever produced. They declare the true theoryof religious
liberty, which we take to be equality for all religions
under the supremacy of the State.

THE BRITISH GAZETTEER. Part XXIV.

The present number of this truly national work fully
maintains its high character for accuracy and copiousness
of information. It is illustrated by an engraving of the
Reading station, and by a map of Liverpool, beautifully
engraved on a largo scale.

THE DRAMATIC WORKS OF SEAKSPERE,
from the Text of Johnson, Stevens, and Reed ; with
Glossarial Aotes, Life, 6-c. Vol. I. Edited by William
Hazliti, Esq. George Routledge and Co., Soho-

square.
A small-sized and cheap edition of the works of our
great dramatic poet has long been wanted, for all the
good editions that bave as yet been published have been
large volumes, with ponderous foot-notes. Mr. Hazlitt, in
this edition, has made a judicious selection from the va-
rious readings of the principal commentators of Shak•
spere, and only given foot•notes to explain those words
which have now either become obsolete or entirely
changed in their signification. The work is to be com-
pleted in four shilling volumes. The first volume con-
tains The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth bight,
The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Measure
for Measure.

THE CLASSICAL GAZETTEER ; a Dictionary
of Ancient Geography. Sacred and Profane. By Wil-
liam Bailin, Barrister, of the Middle Temple. Whit-
taker and Co., Ave Maria-lane. 1851.
This is a most carefully compiled dictionary of all the
name of the provinces, cities, towns, and nations that
are met with in the classics, giving their situation, their
modern appellation, and a short account of their history
and the remarkable circumstances connected with them.
The compiler tells us in his preface, that the materials
for the work "were not ready at hand, subsisting in
some similar form of combination, but had to be col-
lected, by laborious researches, extending over several
years, from works as various in period and language as
they were different in their plan, and, to a large extent,
contradictory in their general theories, and in their par.
titular definitions, allocations, and identifications." It
will be evident that great labour and research were ne-
cessary to produce a work of this description, but the
task could not have fallen into better hands. Accustomed
from early life to literature and literary pursuits, having
learned from his professional studies the art of weighing
evidence, Mr. Hazlitt possesses peculiar qualifications
for the proper performance of such a task, and he has
produced a work which will henceforth take its place by
the side of Lempriere as the great authority in all
matters relating to classical geography.

FINE ARTS.
THE ART JOURNAL.

No less than three splendid engravings are devoted
by the Art Journal of this month to the illustration
of the Vernon Collection. Lee's delicious woodland
scene, called " The Cover Side," is, for, one, admir-
ably copied by the graver of Cousen, Egg's capital
painting of " The Victim" from an incident in the
story of " Asmodeus," by that of Sangster, and Rip-
pingille's " Reflection," by that of Hunt. The last-
mentioned seems to us somewhat inane withal; but the
second is in the true spirit of Le Sage, and
of a delightful humour. Theodore Gericault is
the " great master" whose features, career, and
performances are here either recorded or pic-
torially depicted. Among other sketches, we
have an exquisite woodcut of his famous " Wreck of
the Medusa." Karl Girardet's picture of " The
Huguenot Service Interrupted," is also powerfully
represented. Among the drawings illustrating " The
Domestic Manners of the English," we fancy, if we
mistake not, that we recognise some engravings
familiar to us long since in " Knight's Pictorial His-
tory of England." The examples given for April of
" The German Artists" are from Jager, and some of
them in the highest degree commendable—as, for
example, " Joseph Acknowledging his Brethren."
The literary portion of the number arrests the atten-
tion as of more than usual interest, and deserving of
very general circulation.

THE PICTURE GALLEIII7. Part 11. Richcird

Bentley.

A very milieus engraving,-taken from the original
painting at Hampton Court by Honthorat, leads off the
second instalment of The Picture Gallery, with a re-
presentation of the family of George Villiers, the first
Duke of Buckingham. As in most Flemish pictures,
the baby is pourtrayed as the most venerable in coun-
tenance. Never was there such an old-fashioned little
oddity of an infant depicted in bib and tucker. Sir
William Becchey's admirable portrait of the old Earl
St. Vincent is the subject of the next plate, which is
every way wonderfully characterised. The likeness, as it
is pretended to be, that follows, is, to our thinking, little
less than a caricature, and a caricature of one of the
grandest heads mortal ever had, that of the great Ludwig
Beethoven. " Henry VIII.," as he appeared the year
before his death, namely, according to the painting pre-
served in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, is the personage
displayed in the last illustration. What is meant in the
letter-press by describing Beethoven's house as " glisten-
ing all over with a species of green sunshine?" We
should like also, to know, very much why the writer
quotes—

" 'Twas love that taught a monarch to be wise,
And Gospel light first beam'd from Boleyn's eyes,"
as an " elastic couplet"—why " elastic?"

COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKSPERE.

Part VII. Willoughby and Company.
Measure for Measure is the play given in the last in-
stalment of this admirably cheap and excellently edited
edition of Shakspere. The ❑otes are masterly in their
condensation and completeness. All that we regret in
the publication is the very glaring meanness of the em-
bellishments.

THE ARABIAN IVIGHTS' ENTERTAIN-

MENTS. Part 111.
A considerable improvement is visible in the wood-
cuts contained in the present number of this reprinted
periodical. One or two of the illustrations, indeed, are
not unworthy of Cham, partaking more of the French
than of the English style of embellishment.

ADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE.
Part X. _ _

A profusion of indifferent engravings scattered through
a capital reprint of the masterpiece of Cervantes. We
suspect the wood blocks have been already over-used,
otherwise they would do a little more credit to the ori-
ginal designs of Tony Johannot.

PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. No. XIV.

The present number of this exquisitely got up bo-
tttnical work, by Lindley and Paxton, contains beautilul
coloured plates, of the false scarlet sage, the Barbadoes
cherry, and the three-coloured vanda, besides numerous
wood engravings.

MEMOIRS OF HORACE WALI'OLE. EDITED BY
ELIOT WARBURTON, Esq.—The new work entitled " Me-
moirs of Horace Walpole and his Contemporaries," edited
by the distinguished author of " The Crescent and the
Cross," has just appeared, in two handsome octavo volumes.
" The biography of Horace Walpole (says Mr. Warburton
in his Preface) is now for the first time presented to the pub-
lie. There are few names with which we are more familiar,
and yet there are few public persons with whose private
life we are less acquainted, though there are abundant mate-
rials to render his biography as instructive as amusing. The
biography of Walpole is inseparably connected with that of
his associates and illustrious contemporaries. The import-
ance as well as the interest of his memoirs is thereby consi-
derably increased. The social life of the period must be
passed in review before we can fairly estimate the man who,
more than any other, embodied its peculiarities, its graces,
and its defects. Society created his fame, and at the same
time sapped its best resources. Walpole was like Voltaire,
l'enfunt gate du monde qu' it gata."
WESTMINSTER FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY.-AB
estate of 24 acres, at Reigate, Surrey (making about 130
allotments), has just been purchased for this society. It is
admirably adapted for building purposes, and it is expected
that each allotment will pay the member from 7 to 10 per
cent. In the borough only the society has nearly 100 mem-
bers, and in a political point of view the purchase is most
important, as so many new voters will be added to the
registrar as to counteract the great influence of Lord Somers.
It is confidently asserted that the "independent" electors
will be enabled to return a liberal after the next general
election.

eafETROPOLITAN FREE HOSPITAL.—The anniver-
festival of this truly catholic and most useful charity
took place at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, yester-
day evening, the chair being filled by Mr. Alderman Salo-
mons, in the absence, from indisposition, of Lord Dudley
Stuart, M.P. The objects of the institution are to provide
gratuitous daily medical and surgical advice, and appropriate
medicines and treatment, for poor sick persons, of all creeds
and countries ; and an important feature in the management
and one which is said to be almost peculiar to the society
—is, that, even without a governor's recommendation, the
necessitous sick have only to present themselves at the doors
of the institution at once to receive all the advantages it
affords. Mr. Alderman Salomons made a warm and ener-
getic appeal to the numerous company by whom he was sur-
rounded on behalf of the hospital, and the toast of prosperity
to it was drunk with much enthusiasm. In the course of the
evening the Secretary (Mr. Nash) announced a list of dona-
tions and subscriptions which amounted to nearly 1,5001. A
selection of songs, duets, &c., was performed by Miss Thorn-
ton, Mr. Genge, Mr. Sporle, and Mr. Buckland.

None of us stand alone in the world; none of us
can sink into an abyss of misery without dragging others
after us..—Eliza Cook's Journal.
THE LATH BOILER EXPLOSION AT STOCKPORT.—
WEDNESDAY EVENING.—The jury empanelled to inquire
into the cause of the deaths of the 20 individuals who lost
their lives on the above occasion, re-assembled at the Warren
Buckeley Arms Inn, Bridge-street, before Charles Hudson,
Esq., coroner, to resume the investigation, and also to re-
ceive the report of two professional gentlemen engaged by the
jury to examine the construction of the boiler, and to give
their opinion upon the probable cause of the explosion and
the serious destruction of human life. Considerable interest
appears to have been taken in the matter, many of the
principal manufacturers and scientific gentlemen in the town
and neighbourhood being present in the jury room. Mr.
Oldham, solicitor, of the firm of Coppock and Oldhatn, ap-
peared to watch the case on thepart of Mr. H. Marsland, the
proprietor of the mill; and Mr. R. B. B. Cobbett, barrister
at law, Manchester, attended on the part of Mr. Morris, the
maker of the boiler. Several witnesses were examined, and
ita moral wore mailloci to bo so, tlio japed wall adjaniod.