The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

One and Twenty. By the author of Wild
flower," " The House of Elmore," &c. 3. vols.
Hurst and Blackett.
This book cannot fail to furnish entertainment.
It relates the fortunes of several young men who
start in life about the same time, but who meet .
with very different fates on the chequered road.
The hero, Philip Farley, is rather a peculiar cha-
racter ; he is more collected and reserved than is
usual at his age, but that is in a great measure to
at'ributed to his early initiation into the sad
mysteries of existence. The scenes of want, and
penury, in which his childhood passed were never
effaced from the tablets of his mind ; the sight of
his pale father's haggard face, struggling to keep
up appearances in his wretched shop, and decaying
business, lingered in his memory, while time and
toil worked wonders, and transformed the wander-
ing boy into a monied man. The most striking
characters in the story are John Tregancy, and his
sister Rhoda, who are very peculiar in disposition
and violent in their tempers. Unfortunately for
his peace of mind Philip Farley married Rhoda.
He saw her attachment to himself, and desired the
advantages that. would accrue to himself from the
union. He intended to do his duty by his wife,
but the events of his domestic life 'moved the
fallacy of building its fabric on an unsound
foundation. Rhoda was jealous by nature,
and possessed of ungovernable passions ; she
discovered that her husband bad previously bten
attached to his cousin, Ellen Barchard, and not to
herself. Her brother J.'hn was as violent, but more
ungovernable than herself, and hating his brother-
in-law, he devised endless schemes, which had for
aim and object to subvert his plans and mar big
happiness. He deceived his sister by false stories,
which she, misled by passion and blinded by preju-
dice, implicitly believed, and the result was painful
in the,cytrpme*: Rhoda lost her reason and was re-
moved from her home; John, aoterinioed to satiate
his thirst for vengeance, continued to set fire to
the mills of Philip Farley, and thus destroyed by
one minute's ungovernable fury and reckless rage
the property whose profits promised competence
for life. In the days of prosperity Philip appeared
rather to disadvantage, the cares of his youth had
brought the caution of middle life, to extinguish
the freshness of the dawn of existence, and substi-
tute for its generous impulses, the cold calculation
of a hard and censorious world. In the days of ad-
versity it was otherwise ; he then rose to meet the
emergency with the spirit of a man of courage and
constancy. The first act of his new course was to
take what he called revenge on his enemy. This
was of the class of injuries which consists in hear
ing coals of fire on the head of the offender.
He tracked his enemy to his hiding.place•
and then, when 1 regancy exclaimed, "Bring on
your men to seize me," Philip replied that his ven-
geance was to let him escape, even the stern map
was moved by this conduct, and the two men, so
singularly situated, parted never again to meet in
this world ; but they patted in something of the
spirit which alone can enable enemies on earth to
meet hereafter, where contentions are over, and
the language of strife shall b* heard no more.
With all his mistakes, there is much to admire ir!
Philip Farley, and therefore it is satisfactory to find
at last that he is more fortunate. The passages
which refer to the brothers Esden are amusing, and
are narrated in an easy, natural manner. The love
affair between Frank Esden and Annie Tackeridge
is certainly unfortunate enough to satisfy the nice
romantic sentimentalist ; yet the conduct of Mrs.
Tackeridge makes everything in which she is con-
cerned appear ludicrous and strange. William,
Barchard, Philip's uncle, is a strong character, and
he is well delineated. The struggle for good or
evil, which disturbed his mind during the last n3O-
- crisis of his life, is very powerfully de-
scribed, and his sudden death, which occurred so
shortly afterward., is divested of its horrors by the
reflection that he died at his post like a brave man,
contending for the right. Altogether, this work
equals, if it does not in some parts excel, its prede-
cessors.

Poets and Poetry of Germany. By Madame Da;
vesies de Paules, translator of "Egmont.!'
vols. Chapman and Hall.
The subject of these volumes is rather an arehi;
tious one, and would seem, at first sight, to dement'
an author of unusual abilities, as well as one
thoroughly acquainted with the extensive literature.
of Germany, and distinguished for clearness 01
judgment and critical perception. It is not a light,
task to followthe rise and ad k, ancement of a nations.'
literature, to examine how it has been affected 11
the leading passions of the age, and animated by
its pervad;ng spirit—whether chivalry, philosophir
controversy, or intellectual development—to trace,
how it has, in its turn, reacted upon the mind 01
each generation—how the national idiosyncrssi
has stamped itself upon its very', and how' th°
language has refused to adapt itself to peculiar
forms of rhythm—the prevailing weakness or vices
that have been its drawbacks, and the special vir-
tues that have embalmed it. All this analysed is
its fullest degree would demand the powers of the
philosopher, the enthusiast, the critic, and the his-
torian. Taking the other branch of the subject,
it is scarcely less alarming. Biography is at
all times confessedly a difficult task, and the
memoir of a poet is perhaps the most diffi-
cult of all. It is not easy to separate the
author from his work, to make full allowauc°
for the impassioned and sensitive nature—without
too readily pardoning the faults and vices too often
present with it. The story of poet's life is Vie'
rally a sad one, and it is sometimes scarcely PO'
sible in pitying the results of his own rashness
or want of common prudence, to remember.who
was their cause. The ready sympathy and calel
judgment demanded for this task are not often
united in the same individual, and few of the fol-
lowers of Apollo have been faithfully pourtraye.d.
The writer of the work before us, however, denies
their pretensions to b ing a complete history of the
poets and poetry of Germany, which, indeed, they
could scarcely be when the illustrious names 01
Goethe and Schiller are wanting in their pages'
She has sought to trace the advance of German
poetry from the very earliest records, and she cool"
mences with the incantations to the deities of the
Edda and the legends of Cobolds and gnomes. Fur"
ther on we come to the celebrated lays of " Go,:
dr un" and "The Niebelungen Treasure," which •
the authoress has herself adapted to English rea'
dere. It is curious that in these eariy Ger man lays
and legends the real and practical were quite as pro-
minent as the ideal and mystical are in their later
productions. One of the most remarkable figures
in these early ages is the nun Hroswith, who
wrote several dramatic pieces for the representation
of the sisters of the convent. Among the crowd ef,
names filling these earlier times, we meet few 0'
any extended reputation till we come to
Ulrich von Hutten, the poet of the Reforms'
titan, whose romantic story and singular
vicissitudes are familiar to many. Hans Sado,'
"the cobtder bard" of Nuremb?rg, and the Band
of Master Singers, so characteristic of the nation,
fill up the dreary space when the poetic faculti
seemed dormant in the fatherland. The desolation
of the Thirty Years' War did not spare the fields of
imagination any more than the pleasant meadows
of Germany. In the next century, many well'
known names appear, among theni Klopstock,
Leasing, Wieland, Burger, and others of eminence,
who are cast into the shaae by the more vivid bra'
liancy of the fame of Schiller and Gcfithe. These
two great writers are, as we have said, omitted front
the present volumes, as the works of Lewes, Car'
lylo, and Bulvrer appear to the authoress to leave
little to be said. Should her present attempt be
received with favour, she promises to give us some
details of their careers, which late years have mad°,
public, and to complete her survey of the nations'
poetry by sketches of the modern school. She has
accomplished the task she set herself with fidelitS
and discretion. The lives of the poets she has told
with kindly feeling, tempered with a sense of right'
She paints the sorrows of Schubarth in his ten
years' imprisonment, and the remorse that darkener;
the days of Burger, but she does not extenuate
the unprincipled extravagance of the one, or ele
heartless sophisms of the other. The difficulties
that most of them had to contend with in early life
afford encouragement to the victims of fortune
but it is a singular fact that owing to the German
system they were all able to procure academical
instruction. The translations, though not alwaYo
d
first-rate, show taste and ability, and the authorc!:
has evidently bestowed much care and pains on the
whole work. We trust that her work will W.?!
with the appreciation and uneoussgernent that 17
carefulness and want of pre'ension amply deserver
and that she will, at an early opportunity, give us
the promised conclusion.

THE LATE ATTEMPTED MURDER IN Fox-CounT:'
The man Brown, who stands charged with attemptinef
to murder a person named Perry was yesterday Places
before Mr. Tyrwhitt and again remanded. Perry is 13°
yet out of danger.
METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.—The usual :Peet.
ing of the Metropolitan Board was held yesterday in the
Council Chamber—Mr. J. Thwaites in the chair. frbc°l
board this day proceeded to consider the report prepare
by Messrs. Bid. er, Hawkeley, and Bazslgette, en
',min drainage of the metropolis, presented by them I°
March last. Mr. Leslie moved resolutions very strongly
condemning the report of Messrs. Bidder, Hawlio
"
and Bazilgette, The resolutions were negatived, an
the dieew.eion was then adjourned. • •,
•