The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-28 00:00:00

E s 13( Mt LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING-, FEBRUARY 2s, 1856.

FIXED 1.31W1221

L ITERATURE.

conveyed in the easy language of conversation, and with
the unassuming tone of an equal and -a-companiorr.- -In-
deed his mind seemed to comprehend in distinct but her-
ntonions method the whole history of human thought,
from the earliest speculations of the friends of Job to tho
latest subtleties of the disciples of Kant. With rare im-
partiality of mind, and a charity of disposition still more
rare, he gave its full weight to every opinion, and made
the fairest allowance for every error. Not less copious
and instructive was his knowledge of civil and political
history ; the conduct of Queen Elizabeth to Queen Mary,
the projects of the Crusaders, the views of the leaders of
party during the French Revolution,—all found in him a
searching inquirer awl an impartial judge. On lighter
subjects he was equally at home ; epigrams, farces, • and
novels wore not lass faini!lar to him than the treatises of
Groans or the annals of Thuanus. Possessing a good
share of wit and humour, ho took his part in political war-
fare, armed no less with the -" tart reply" than with the
"eloquent harangue." I remember sitting by him when
a great lawyer, disclaiming, from the Treasury Bench,
all participation in the opinions of the Liberal party,
said, " I coif(' see nothing to tempt me in the views
of the gentlemen opposite.' 'For views read prospects,'
whispered Mackintosh to me. Thus endowed, conversation
was his favourite employment and his chief Deduction. His
style in writing was far from being clear and idiomatic ;
his manner of speaking in Parlia,nant was too' elaborate,
perhaps too didactic, and his voice harsh and hoarse; but
in society his gentle bearing and kis vigorous tone made
him powerful and pleasing, victorious and delightful."

_~

ClO.l y
this day

41131. t• 336
this dap.

THOMAS MOORE.
Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas
Moore. Edited by the Right Hon. Lord John
Russell, M.P. "Vols. I. to VI. Longman and
Company.

96 - 93
94 - 1-8

11 - 13

"Spiral adict:, amor !"
It is the motto stamped upon the- title-page of
every volume by an affectionate and faithful
friendship. And the tend sr words of Horace are
echoed here, indeed, most truthfully and appro-
priately. It i 3 a fragment of verse flung upon the
grave of a popular favourite, like a shining wreath
of immortelles. Every body almost—(for we have
not forgotten one painful little epi soda consequent
upon the issue of an earlier portion of these
" Memoirs" through the press)—thinks of him
in the same spirit—remembers him with the
one prevailing sentiment of admiration—recalls
him to mind not as Mr. Moore, but as
Tom Moore, as Anacreon Moore, as the poet of
_LAIN Rookh, as the Irish Melodist. Occa-
sionally, of course, we cannot but revert
to his other characteristics, we cannot but think of
him sometimes as the historian of Ireland, as the
humorist of the " Fudge Family," as the scholarly
adventurer within the laby riuths of religious contro-
versy, as the biographer•ofS lieridan, and Byron, and
Fitzgerald. Now and then he returns to our. recel-
leotion as the facetious Pasquin of those delightful
" sooterkins of wit," the once famous OdeS upon
" Cask, Corn, and Catholics"—or again as the-classic
fabulist of the mysteries of "The Epicurean,''—or
yet again as the sparkling fribble of the ." Two-
penny Post Bag" and the " Blue Stocking." It
is peculiarly, however, and almost exclusively as
the wit and as the songwriter that Moore lives iu
our own and in the general remembrance. We
have heard him spoken of by one of the most
gifted men of our own time, as the most brilliant
companion in the whole range of his recollection.
We all know what thefastidious Byron called him—
" the beloved of all circles; the idol of his own !" We
remember too how even the cynical Rogers exclaimed
in a letter to him (August 5, 1820), "What alucky
fellow you are ! surely you must have been born
with a rose in your lips, and a nightingale singing
on the top of your bed !" We remember still more
delightedly the glorious asseveration of Sydney.
Smith—" By the beard of the prelate of -Canter-
bury, by the cassock of the prelate of York, by the
breakfasts of Rogers, by Luttrell's love of side
dishes, I swear that I had rather hear you sing
than any other person I ever heard in my life,
male or female. For what is your singing
but beautiful poetry floating in fine music,
and guidel by exquisite feeling ?" It is as
the songster, as the ballad-writer and the ballad-
singer, as the animated talker, the couversational
wit, the humorist, the melodist, the perfect mas-
ter at once of repartee and anecdote, that Tom
Moore lives at this moment, and will long continue
to live, in the national memory. As a companion,
we think of him individually, precisely as Sr Wal-
ter wrote of him in his " Diary" (Nov. 22, 1825),
viz., as " a little man, a very little man," who
"always enjoys the mot pour rire." Conspicuous
upon his busts and portraits, are there not,
don't we all remember there are, those two
bright organs of wit shining upon his fore-
heal like little moons of merriment ? Looking at
his face at the age of forty, as it has been preserved
to us by the pencil of Phillips, cannot we recognise
iu the alert carriage of the head, in the clustering
hair, and the sparkling eyes, even in the nez re-
trousee, and in the very cook of the ear, in the
dimple on the chin, and the piquant lines about
the mouth—plain face though it is, altogether ac-
cording to Scott's judicious estimate of its general
character—cannot we recognise in it just a glimpse
of what we mightfancy Dan Oapid might have grown
to be when tetat XLa, a mixture of the quaint and
the comely, the gay and the pensive ? At nineteen
(1798) he may Lave been shy in society, as he him-
self asserted at the time (1. 71.), but that shyness
must surely have faded ..,ut very soon after the
bashful age of nineteen. For it, as ho remarked
in one of his letters to Lady Deneeal, he was
"little, like Horace," and "loved dozing in the
morning, like Montaigne," he had all Horace's zest
for human intercourse, and gave ample reason for
his mornings' doze by his midnight carouse far
into the small hours, at ball, and rout, and theatre,
and masquerade. This same gay gregarious life
he began early and terminated late ; entering upon
his long round of pleasures in the dear old Dublin
times, the times of Eanuet and his compatriots,
with—

.41 ... 4i

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1071 -112 i

2h--2i

Better still, here is the ex- Premier's delightful pic-
ture of that cleanly and politer Rabcllais, the—

92 -

55 P - tP
-- 57

EBV. SYDNEY SATIL

- -
"If it is difficult to convey any notion of the conver-
sation of Sir James Mackintosh, it is hardly possible
to describe that of Sydney Smith. There are two
kinds of colloquial wit which equally contribute
to farde, though not equally to agreeable conversa-
tion. The one is like a rocket in a dark air which shoots
at once into the sky, and is the more surprising from the
previous silence and gloom ; the other is like that kind of
firework which blazes and bursts out in every direction,
exploding at one moment, and shining brightly at an-
other, eccentric in its course, and changing its shape and
colour to many forms and wally hues. r, as a dinner is
set out -with two kinds of champagne, so these two kinds of
wit, the still and the sparkling, are to be found in good
company. -Sheridan and Talleyrand were among the best
examples of the first. Hare (as I have heard) and Sydney
Smith were brilliant instances of the second. Hare I knew
only by tradition; but with Sydney Swim I long lived
intimately. His great delight was to produce a succession
of ludicrous images : these followed each other with a
rapidity•that scarcely left time to laugh ; he liimself laugh-
ing louderdmil with more enjoyment than any one. This
electric contact of mirth came and went with the occasion ;
it cannot be repeated or reproduced. Anything would give
occasion to it. For instance, having seen in the news-
papers that Sir lEneas Mackintosh was come to town, he
drew such a ludicrous caricature of Sir ...Eaeas and Lady
Dido, for the amusement of their namesake, that Sir Janice
Mackintosh rolled ou the floor in fits of laughter, and Syd-
ney Smith, striding across him, exclaimed Ruat Justi-
tia His powers of fun wore a% the acme time united
with the strongest and most practical common sense. So
that while •he laughed away seriousness at one minute,
he destroyed in the next some rooted prejudice which had
braved for a thousand years the battle of reason, and the
breeze of ridicule. Tee letters of Peter Plymley bear the
greatest likeness to his conversation ; the description of
Mr. Isaac Hawkins Brown dancing at the court of Naples
in a volcano coat with lava buttons, and the comparison of
Mr. Caming to alargo blue bottle fly with its parasites,
most resemble the pictures he raised up in social conversa-
tion. It may be averred fur certain, that in this style
he has never been equalled, and I do not suppose he will
ever be surpassed."

132

74 - S
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82 - 31
83 • 85

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95 - 100
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1U 7 - 119

Admirable ! It is Sydney to a hair, to a t,—not
a miniature profile of the humorist so much as an
actual callotype of the man,, with every comic
wrinkle at the corners of his blithe eyes and every
subtlest dimple at the angles of his kindly month !
It is Sydney Smith as ho lives to us in his own
deliciously wise, absurd, most shrewd, and most
preposterous Peter Plyinley—ts he looks out anew,
posthumously, upon the ,world he gladdened so
often in his lifetime, through the p ages of Lady
Holland's recent biography of him—as he here
laughs, again and again, through the pleasantprattle
and agreeable gossip of Moore's " Diary," laughs
through it here anti there, not loudly or boister-
ously, but contagiously and inextinguishably !
Does he not ? Econtez I Hear him (through page
75 of vol. v.) as he runs over with "comicality and
fancy" at Rogers's bretkfast-table on the 27th of
May, 1826, keeping them all in roars of laugh-
ter ! Hear him discoursing of the stores
about dram-drinkers catching fire [before the
father of Captain Marrya "Jacob Faithful,"
and the rag-selling Krook of Mr. Dickens's "Bleak
House" had been dreamt of as " going off" by
spontaneous combustion] --hear Sydney' Smith
talking upon this theme, and (apcording to his
wont) " pursuing the idea in every possible shape !"
"The inconvenience of a man coming too near the
candle when be was speaking, ' Sir, your observa-
tion has caught fire 1 Then imagined a parson
breaking into a blaze in' the pulpit ; :the engines
called to pUt him. out ; no water to be' had,- the
man at the waterworks being an Unitarian or au
Atheist." And so forth. No wonder they "roared
with laughter !" No wonder the Leitrers of Syd-
ney left him often with their sides aching ! Fancy
hearing him talk of some one on the very same
occasion, as a man who " has no command over
his understanding—it is always getting between
his legs and tripping him up !" Fancy his saying
a day or two afterwards (May 30th), when it was
remarked of a dinner party at Agar Ellis's, how
well and good humouredly the host had mixed his
guests all up together—" That's the great use of •
a good conversational cook, who says to his com-
pany, I'll make a good pudding of you ; it's no
matter what you came i6to the bowl, you must
come out a pudding. Dear me,' says one of the
ingredients, wasn't I just now an egg?' but he
feels the batter sticking to him," &c. ! Why
Heraclitus himself must have. paned under the in-
fluence of such a conversationalist, and Democritus
have rolled himself into convulsions on the carpet ti
la Mackintosh ! It is the twofold charm of Moore's
Diary that it displays continually the most exqui-
site sense imaginable of a joke, however subtle or
however extravagant it may be, and while doing
this perpetuates for after-times the little fleeting
whims and oddities of the men-of-mark encoun-
tered by the Diarist, whims and oddities often
conveying to the observer's mind the liveliest ap-
preciation of apparently the most trivial, but in
reality the most significant, of the subject's odd
and whimsical characteristics.
(To-be continued.)

109 --111
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103 -- 105

a ar'
9i 10

6 -
91. - 93
81 - h 3
81. - 83
95 100

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71 - 73
184 - 194
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1 -
32 184

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•..
•

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4 -
. •

"Toe feast of treason and the fl iat of punch;" (i., 247)—
and ending them in the still dearer old London
nights—the Nights of BelgravianEutertaininentj ust
before the subject of these recollections retired to
die iu the pretty rural qnietude-of his little lose-
covered cottage at Sloperton. Well , the
blithe days are over now for him, there
is an end come to the merry moods of Yoriek,
" Where be your gibes now ? your gam-
bols ? your songs ? your flashes of merriment, that
were wont to set the table on a roar ?" Where ?
They are for the most part here ! They are in the
"Fudge Family" already mentioned, they are in
the Irish Melodies, they, are in the "Twopenny
Post Bag," they are in the "Cash, Corn, and
Catholics"—above all, in reference to the conversa-
tional fun and sparkle of Moore, they are here in
these pleasant volumes of his " Memoirs,
Journal, and Correspondence." Volumes edited, as
all the world knows, by his personal friend and
literary executor, Lord John Russell. Excep-
tions, we are aware, have been taken in : ertain
quarters to the manner in which Lord John has
acquitted himself of the responsibilities of his
editorship of Moore's " Memoirs." Nevertheless,
with these exceptious we cannot by any means
coincide ; regretting though we do sincerely the
oversight which led to the earnest but courtly ex-
postulation of the late lamented Lord Londonderry
in reference to allusions in one volume erroneously
made to himself when Sir Charles Stewart and to
his distinguished brother when Viscount Castle-
reagh. Lamenting, moreover, though we do,
very earnestly, the mistaken retention upon
the poet's Diary of certain pettish and petty
sneers which, thus retained, become gallingly per-
petuated into the posthumous, and provoked
from the friend thus sneered at, as it were,
from the buried coffin, a virulent and atra-
bilious and even (we must out with it) a
brutal blow and kick aimed at the crumbling bones
of the dead man—aimed at them through a malevo-
lent article—through the pages of the Quarterly.
Regarding these two blunders as unquestionably
most reprehensible, and deploring them as sources of
grievous pain, iu one instance to a gallant old sol-
dier, and in another to a sour old critic, and ulti-
mately by means of the ferocious vengeance pro-
voked from the latter to a sweet-tempered and
most gentle lady, the widow of the departed poet,
whose memory was thus heinously and cruelly out-
raged—apart from all this we cannot for the life of
us see where it is that Lord John has failed so egre-
giously in the responsible and delicate task of editor-
ship. Little else was surely wanted than an occasional
foot-note scattered here and there as sparingly as
possible by way of explanation. Memoirs—Journal
—Correspondence, otherwise speaking for them-
selves. Lord John has appreciated this perfectly
I well and has acted accordingly ; but besides the
casual notes in question he has given the reader of
these volumes a preface of twenty-seven pages to
vol. i., and a preface of fourteen pages to vol, vi.,
written in pure and idiomatic English, and in a
style sparkling and epigrammatic. Examples from
which we may here take occasion to give in refer-
ence to one or two of Thomas Moore's more re-
markable contemporaries, men whose silhouettes
have thus been delicately defined, to the very life,
in vivid black and white, with a glib and tren-
chant ease at once commanding our admiration.
It is something, we conceive, to secure as editor of
_
one's Memoirs, Diary, and Correspondence one who
has during six years of his life wielded the destinies
of this mighty empire as Prime Minister of Eng-
land, and who, after all the hackneyed labours of
a long Parljamentaay and administrative career,
has the faculty of turning sentences which, in the
nervous strength of their diction, in their brilliant
and polished animation, in their humorous fresh-
ness, and rhetorical finish, are not unworthy of the
disciple of Somers, of the political descendant of
Chatham, of the dispassionate appreciator of the
genius of Burke, of the personal friend and minis-
terial colleague of Macaulay. High praise, but
praise to our mind such as Lord John, especially in
the second preface here referred to, appears to us
to have eminently well deserved. Let us give an
instance, so that our words may not have to sus-
tain unsupported the imputation of conveying
eulogiums so entirely and, unjustifiably exagge-
rated. Here is Lord John s sketch of—

99 -
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••••' a• 4
24 -

Scottish Heroes in the Daps of Wallace and Bruce
By the Rev. Alexander Lew. 2 vols. Hurst
and Blackett.
It would be difficult to find a more interesting
page in history, than that which is here unfolded
before us. It is not from wonderful feats of arms
being performed, nor from mighty events taking
place, that the attention is awakened ; but from
the spirit that reigned pre-eminent and triumphant.
Opinions vary, and the wisest and most learned
differ as to the relative merits of the conquerors of
the earth. It is not possible that an unanimous
decision can be arrived at in analysing the motives
that urged them and the actions they achieved.
But if there is one thing which more than another
attracts universal homage,' t is the career of the
patriot, whose life is devoted to the service of his
country, and whose death is a sacrifice offered up
at her altar. Ambition has a lofty standard to
aspire to in such a cause, and the zeal and ardour
of a warrior can be aroused by no nobler inspira-
tion. Tint sublime spirit of patriotism was never
more grandly displayed than by those heroic few
who came down from their rocky fastnes•.es, their
mountain 'strongholds, "in the garb of old Gaul,
in the tire of old Rome," to confront the flower of
Europe's chivalry, and to dare perils of their own
countrymen joined to dangers of the foe. Success
ie generally the criterion of merit ; but if the in-
trinsic value of motives be analysed, the tribunal
of after ages should award a purer fame to those
who deserted not the oriflemme of Wallace in the
darkest trials than to those who afterwards exulted
under the victorious banners of Bruce. Among
those whose mission was to point the way to others
more than to achieve himself, the name of William
Wallace is distinguished. He was not favoured
to see his beloved country free, nor did he know
the full extent of his own labours, as they consisted
more in influences that are apparent when their
planter is no more. The truth of the adage, so
hard for the pride of human nature to compre-
hend, " ono sows that another may reap,
was manifested in a striking manner in the
career of Wallace. What a life of honour might
not have procured his native land, a death of igno-
miny obtained. The thought of his unburied re-
mains had a more stirring effect on his countrymen
than the marble monument where princes held the
pall could have produced. The vanity of human
wishes is seen in this retribution of tyranny and
cruelty. The act which Edward thought would
seal the doom of Scotland sounded the trumpet of
her freedom. The heroic spirit is not extinguished
with the hero's life, and of Wallace it might be
said with truth, " E'en in our ashes live their
wonted fires," for the key-note of independence
was the memory of his name. It was cherished in
the heart of his country ; it was re-echoed by her
mountains and floods, till it swelled into the song
of praise that recorded the victory cf Bannockburn.
By his cruelty the tyrant prepared the way for the
greatest defeat that his country ever sustained in
battle. The style in which this chronicle of events
is written is one eminently suitable to its purpose.
The author is treading a beaten track, but every
step is made interesting by its owe importance,
added to the simple and effective manner of its
description. As may be supposed, the principal
portion of the volumes is that dedicated to the con-
sideration of the exploits of Robert Bruce, although
cast into the shade at the outset by the brightness
of the career of Wallace, when that hero had been
rendered a martyr ; then did th?..,star of his suc-
cessor rise into the ascendant. or the indecision
of his early life Bruce paid a heavy penalty, and
suffered years of toil and hardship ; but not the
less is there reason to admire the energy, persever-

ance, and discretion that characterieed his eon-
duct. Few crowns in history have been -more
hardly won than was his, and when he at last was
enabled to rejoice as undisputed sovereign of Scot-
land rest was not for him. The cares which he
had. undergone in reaching the goal prevented him
from appreciating the success. The pains and infir-
I 'pities of a. premature old age came upon him, and he
was unwillingly compelled to relinquish entire per-
formance of his duties. However lives like those
of Wallace and Bruce are too full of incident and
adventure while they last to allow of a chance of
their reaching to the extreme limits of mortality
unimpaired and unehequered, and if Bruce had
been spared he might not have done more essential
service. The details of the years that intervened
between Falkirk and Bannockburn are equal to
the legends of romance and the fables of tradition.
The circumstances which are recalled to the me-
mory in perusing this work are striking. A more
forcible moral as to the value of perseverance can
nowhere be instanced in history than is offered in
the life of the wisest of Scotlaaa's king. It is
observed here that " the history of Robert the
Bruce is certainly of a most romantic description,
and being himself a chivalrous knight, of consi-
derable strength and matchless valour, the simplest
narrative acquires the interest and embellishment
cf romance." Foremost in interest and import-
ance these pages stand the details of the battle
of Bannockburn—a name inseparably associated
with that of Bruce, of whose life it was the glory,
and of whose labours it...was ..the crown. It is
declared that " This engagement entitled him to
take his rank among the most distinguished con-
querors of ancient times, and further on it is
truly said that " the effects of that battle are felt
at the present day ;" also that in the union
which took place between England and Scot-
lend many of the privileges secured to the
letter country were the fruits of Bannockburn,
" Ireland was a province of England ; but Scot-
land has always been blessed by that enlightened
knowledge which springs from civil and religious
liberty—that noble independence which is to be
traced back through five centuries—to the heroes
of this day." Second only to the exploits and
achievements of their chief are the wonders effected
by his friends Douglas and Randolph, and his
brother Edward. This prince was daring, rash,
and impetuous ; but though he does not appear
thus to advantage by the side of the shining wis-
dom which cast so bright a halo on the head of
It:short, viewed by himself he is a noble knight.
Sir James Douglas was distinguished for nothing.
more than the determined zeal with which he res-
cued again and again the castle of his ancestors
from foreign invasion. So numerous were his de-
vices, and so daring his deeds, that by his enemies it
was styled "the perilous Castle of Douglas." There
is something touching as well as solemn in Bruce
exhorting, at the last moment of his life, his faith-
ful awl tried companion in arms, and friend in pri-
vate, to carry his heart to the Holy Land. There
is also au attracting interest in the last passage in
the life of the good knight—" Lead ou as thou
west wont, and Douglas shall follow thee or die,"
were his last words, as his spirit passed away on
" the death-bed of fame." This work combines
the interest of biography, with the importance of
history, it joins the merit of reality, to the records
of those heroes ; who were the shining ornaments
of their country, knights who were the glory of the
chivalry of their age, patriots who are the pride of
their people for all time. In their rude laud, in
those days of ignorance, they effected achievements
that have not always. been equalled, by the
wealthiest nations in the most enlightened periods.
It nety surely be queStioned if the nineteenth cen-
tury in its progress, has made advance or retrograde
movements, in the wisdom of its warriors. After
comparing the relative advantages and actions of
the present and the past, the reader of this book
may look back with regret to the days of romance,
and wed' that some one of their mighty men of
valour had existed in these times, to vindicate his
country's cause, and lead her semis to victory, a
wish that was expressed by the poet in his lament
over disasters and want of judgment, when he ex-
claimed—

Oh ! Dougla9, for thy leading wand,
Fierce Randolph for thy speed.
for an hour of Wallace Wight,
Or weli•skilled Bruce to rule the fight."

After Dark. By Wilkie C )11ins. 2 vol 5. Smith and

Elder.

The reader will be probably surprised on opening
these volumes to meet old friends with a new face.
They do not contain, as might . naturally be sup-
posed, a new work of fiction, but consist with one
exception of stories that have previously appeared
le the pages of " Household Words," linked toge-
ther by an introductory chapter and a series
of prologues. This introduction is entitled
" Laves from Leaks Diary," and tells us the
story of a poor portrait painter, who, being
threatened with blindness, is compelled to abandon
his profession for a time. As his family are de-
pendent on his labours, be is despondent and
miserable at the prospect of forced inaction, when
the happy idea occurs to his wife, the Leah of the
diary, to collect and publish the many stories he
has heard from his sitters. By this thread the
stories are joined together. During the day the
wife is too much occupied with her household
duties to afford her husband the necessary assist-
ance in transcribing, but " After Dark" she
writes front his dictation. From this the book de-
rives its title, which is certainly a most appropriate
one, for the stories are most of them of that descrip-
tion which is most properly read, like Sir Walter
Scott's Erl King, by the light of an unsnnffed
candle. For the satisfaction of the lovers of the
marvellous we may add, that the two most hor-
rible are founded on fact, namely, " The Terribly
Strange Bed," and " The Yellow Mask." The
former of these will be readily appreciated by the
visitors to the Drary-lane pantomime, where a
wave of harlequin's magic wand brings down the
top of a four- post bed upon the unhappy clown.
In the story, however, the intention was a little
more serious. Au Englishman, who had won
largely, was persuaded to stay the night in the
gambling-house. Unable to sleep, however, he lay
watching a picture hanging opposite, of a man in
a high Spanish hat crowned with a plume of fea-
thers. Suddenly, while his mind was wandering
on the events of the night, a strange thrill shot
through him. The Spanish hat had disappeared !
What was the dusky object that shut it out from
view? The bed-top rapidly and silently descending !
The intended victim, it need not be said, speedily
made his escape through the window to the nearest
police-office. An examination proved the exist-
ence of this mysterious agent of murder, by which
imprudent winners were quietly and effectually
disposed of. The clever "Lawyer's Story" of the
Christmas before last, will hardly be recognised
under the title of "The Stolen Letter." It is
nevertheless the same, and will readily Le remem-
bered on perusal. The only original story in
the collection is called " The Lady of Glenwith
Grange," and is in no way superior to its compa-
nions. The writer thinks it necessary to inform
us that the tales are entirely of his own imagining
and constructing. The fact that some of them are
laid in foreign countries seems to have given rise
to the idea that the stories are of foreign origin.
He combats this suggestion most emphatically, as-
suring his readers that they may depend on the
genuineness of all his literary productions, and hint-
ing that such is the fertility of his imagination,
that the idea of his being reduced to the necessity
of borrowing is perfectly impossible. The stories,
however, are certainly striking and uncommon,
most of them possessing some marvellous incident
or thrilling tragedy to preserve them from the
charge of being common-place at any rate. The
writer possesses talents fur description, which he
has employed to good purpose in some of them.
As we have before remarked, they will be specially
a- tractive to all lovers of the mysterious and ter-
rible ; and, if a shade of improbability may appear
to sober-minded persons to deprive the stories of
reality, it will only deepen the interest of others by
removing the events de-scribed front the range of
ordinary experience.

BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS.