The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-02 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Life of John Be►nim, the Irish Novelist. By
P. J. Murray. Lay, Sing William-street,
Strand.

We imagine that the name of John Banint will
be chiefly remembered as associated with " Tales of
the O'Hara Family," a work which stamped him
as a novelist of considerable power and imagina-
tion, though numerous other productions, emanat-
ing from his fertile pen, give him claim to the well-
supported distinctions of dramatic poet, reviewer,
and magazine contributor. The subject of this
Biography was born on the 3d of April, 1798, in
the city of Limerick, being the second son of
parents whose industry and respectability rendered
them worthy members of society, although their
spoons and forks might probably lack the ornament
of "hereditary crest." His father understood and
valued the advantages of education, and his mother
was a woman of good men'al capacity : so the son
fared better with regard to scholarly acquirements
than might have been expected, and early in life
ventured on the sa of literary vicissitude, encoun-
tering some Of the triumphant joys, and a large
share of the heart-breaking sorrows, usually attend-
ing such a perilous embarkation. John Banim, if
we may believe his biographer—and Mr. Murray
appears to write with truthful simplicity—was com-
paratively free from the habits of recklessness and
improvidence which, unfortunately, are linked
with the memory of many who hare "consumed
the midnight oil" in the world's service. His oereer
was tinged with the deep shadows of Salvator Rosa
rather than the glowing tints of Claude Lorraine ;
but physical suffering and pecuniary difficulty only
served to reveal in his nature a patient endurance
and a noble pride, which afford a profitable lesion
to those who peruse his history, and prove
" How hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar."
John Banim died at the early age of forty-four,
leaving a name of which Ireland may be justly
proud. We ere iuduced to give an extract from one
of Lis letters to his brother' as Must: ati re of his
analytical perev:.ion and cultivated taste :
"Dublin, December 28th, 1820.
"My dear Michael,—Porrry is a different thing
a!togetber from what I considered it to be sonic time
ago. Apod poem is not the fire flash of inspiration, it
is rather the etea-ly sober light of a large pile of solid,
inflammab.e materials, first coll-cted with choice and
patience, and then fired with a steady and sk,lful band.
Pram what you ucol:ect of my verbose effusions, yce.
will ju lgc how litt a I knew of the craft.
"You confound the poet an:l the philospher ; they
arc diffsrert beirgr.
"REd'airr TO MAK PI A PHILOSOPHER.
"To make a p':ilJsooticr, take a subdued and austere
understanding, a knoi,ledge of all the theories and hots
on all the subjects things, systems, matters, and
essences in the world; and over and under and round
about the world ; in the body of man ; in the mind, soul,
spirit, and heart of man ; in his brain, and in his mo-
tions, actions and formations—of all compounds, iimplea
and intelligences in the a!r, tky, and space above the
earth and in the watera under the earth, and in the
eternities above the air, tky, and space, or below the
waters.
" Take a consummate and intimate acquaintance with
all the histories of all the nations that have ever tisted
and do exist; of all the laeguages ever spoken by man,
in every age and nation ; accompany these mere acquire-
ments, with an understanding prepared to appreciate—
a judgme,nt capable of enumerating, arranging, compar-
ing, discriminating, combining, separating, and deducing.
To generate and mature your accompaniments, keep the
mind, for God knows how long before, exclu-dvely exer-
cised in the most rigid, practical, and matter-of-fact
habits, and this don., you have your philosopher. Now
for—

."1 RUEIPT TO MALE ♦ POET.
"Let the mini, by eaey practica and associations,
attain, first, a quick susceptibility of the beauties of
nature in her material works awl in her immaterial com-
plex operations ; in the heart and passions of man as
produced by extrinsic circumstances. Keep the fancy
and imagination always up, always ready to be fixed by
the slightest touch from a beautiful scene, a pathetic ex-
pression of feeling, an impressive situation, an heroic
character, or a romantic association. Let the individual
ha preparation feel strongly that tree=, rocks, flowers and
sky cud water are beautiful ; but you need not teach hita
why, and by what combined operations and remote con•
tingencies they are so. Let him feat the effect ; be not
anxious he should understand the cause. Thus qualified
to receive his assorted materials, next cultivate his taste
on the best poetical models ; thus he may learn how to
select, refuse and combine. After this, initiate him into
a thorough knowledge of rhetoric, that he may acquire
the simplest and shortest way of expressing his feelings.
All this done, shake hint well, and continue to shake
him, that the proper ferment and excitation may al ways
be kept np. And here is your poet.
" N.B.—lf you give him his meals regular he will be-
come indolent and dull.

" If the undyrsta.nding be exclusively cultivated, can
the imigication soar t The poet and the philosopher are
necessarily dissimilar cn..a4.ures. Perhaps a little, only
a little, of the oce mingled with the composition of the
other, taight make both of them the more perfect. In
building his structure, the philosopher must use the
square and compass, the proper order of axhitecture
must be observed throughout ; and from the quoin stone
to the pinnacle, everything must be uniform, and solid,
arid infrangible.
"With the poet originality must stand for method ;
divcryity for order.—And throughout the whole of his
fairy palace, inside and outside, the line of beauty must
play and curve with easy and unaffected grace and
vivacity."

Curiosities of Natural _History. By Francis T.
Buckland. Bentley, New Burlington-street.
Mr. Buckland has presented us with an agreesb. le
melange of subjects and anecdotes, connected with
frogs, rats, snakes, fish, and monkeys. Some of
the stories related are very wonderful.- A tame
rat—the property of an omnibus driver—and a
giftel monkey, belonging to the author, are the
most startling heroes of the recitals ; and those who
wish to be amused for an hour or two, without
being over eetupulous as to the indisputable vera-
city of the information conveyed, will be amply
gratified by dipping into this volume.