The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

he
ACT for the REGULATION of MUNICIPAL
CORPORATIONS in ENGLAND and WALES.
With an Introduction and .Notes.

BF CHARLES COOPER, BARRISTER AT LAW.

London : Saunders and Denning, 1835.
This is, by an hundred times, the best edition of the
Reform Act yet published. - The Intrgduc-
II", Notes, and Index are very important, as they
111a37 be said to leave nothing to be decided by the mere
discretion of readers, unlearned in the technicalities of
legal pbraseolorv-:—the class principally affected by
the Provisions of the Municipal Reform Bill. It is a
of which every burgess in England and Wales
"gilt to posssss a copy.

OCEANIC SCETCHES.
Br THOMAS NIGHTINGALB, ESQ.

WITH A BOTANICAL APPENDIX.
Rr DR. HOOKER, OF t7LASOOTV.
London : Cochrane and Co., 1835.
The Author of these Sketches, during a visit made to
the Coasts of Chile and Pcru, and subsequently to seve-
-41 'of the Islands of the South and Pacific Ocean in
181,4. threw together such observations as occurred to
1 141. as novel in the history of these Islands and their
'nhabitants. The result-of his labours--if such they
143be-ealled—are now before us, embellished with
87eral rather pretty, and exceedingly pictureique en-
}kgralrings. He complains much of the licentiousness of
natives, of whose obscene sports he details several
I:,gusting particulars. The Volume is inscribed to
8 Grace the Duke of Somerset. AVe recommend it
4_l
the attention of Missionary Societies.

aIINISCENCES OF AN OLD TRAVELLER.
Anderson. Edinburgh. 1835.
There are many sagacious hints, the result of long,
Practical experience, scattered. through this volume ;
whose merits, however, as it has already reached a
:colid edition, we feel it unnecessary to enlarge.
the author, a gentleman named Browne, has been a
raveller for many years through a considerable portion
Europe, residing at some of its principal cities for
weeks
eeks together, and in the work before us details the
re &tilts of his experience. His account of the society
°f the little German town of Weimar, memorable as
caring been for so long a period the residence of
c
°ethe, is full of spirit and minuteness ; and he tells
that he felt the natural pride of a Scotchman, in
ding that Sir Walter Scott was nearly as much an
ieet of admiration at Weimar, as he is in England.
k_e recommend the volume as a very useful and intel-
?ht one, particularly as it furnishes us with the pride
~;'d mode of living in many of the larger towns of the
‘-eutinent.

PENCILLINGS BY THE WAY.
Three Vols. illacrone : London. 1835.
The great defect of this work—though at the same
time it is not that which will make it the less popular—
is its personalities. Mr. Willis, the author, an Arne-
-an by birth, and attached to a foreign legation,
4Nogises for some of these in his preface, on the
that they were written in haste for a New York
I•e"thly periodical ; and that therefore he thought it
41Possible that they could ever be read or even heard
in England. This apology is scarcely an available
(41e, for it merely amomits to this—that the author
Made his revelations respecting living people; with
110111 he chanced to come into contact in the course
of. his residence in England, not because he felt he
'•4s justified in so doing, but because he was impressed
l'ith a notion that he could not possibly be-detected.
the good taste of the thing had no Weight With him—
it was the chance of exposure only that he considered.
can scarcely imagine a poorer plea than this,
tme more unworthy Mr.,Willis's talents and stand-
1n iu soeiety He should-have remembered that im-
Propriety is impropriety, whether found out or not; and
at any rate have forborne hazarding an apology which
°illy leaves the matter worse than .it was before. He
has made those disclosures respecting the living, which
should have been made with considerable qualification,
d they. even respected the dead. For instance, he
tv.'"es us certain conversations and opinions of Piofessor
lison and Thomas Moore, which any one may per-
e;i've on reading them, were meant to be strictly confi-
qeotial. Not that either of these eminent men are
Inade to -say any thing in the slightest degree
unworthy of them ; but their allusions having re-
ference to individuals whom they have met, and may
meet again ; and being thrown off too with all the
lharditun-
ed frankness of confidential intercourse, it is evi-
eht that they-should have been respected as such.
\-lir. Willis ought to have hail more respect for
giAlself, than to enter into private society with the
;I.:he book in his hand, Ihd the ink-horn at his button-
hole. lie should have reserved the author for the
I)rhper season. If we except these indiscretions, there
as nothing,. in " Pencillings in the Way" to which we
oan raise, the slightest objection. They are sketchy
and amusing ; occasionally eloquent and graphic in
their
descriptions, and shrewd in their observations ;
Pe4feetly unambitious throughout, and bearing in
every page evidence of having been written currente
"damn. The author's genius is of a very restless,
ithpatient character ; he rarely halts to reflect or work
1113 a description ; but flits airily -from subject to sub-
ject, with all the speed and buoyancy of a swallow.
i
One page we find him in Florence ; the next, he
44 -Off to Naples : scarcely has he had time to look about
4lith in Paris, when lorl he is half-way to London,
astonished at the gentility of a Dover coachman, and
Puzzled to know what has become of all the English
1)11140r, of whose wants he has heard and read so much I
This
slight, deSultory mode of treating his subject,
N:111 render his volumes attractive to all lovers of super-
?teial• reading, especially as they have not• the slightest
taint of spleen about them, but arc penned in a spirit
the most uniform good humour. --Mr. Willis
thinks London the most magnificent metropolis,
41id Regent-street the finest street, in the world.
The site of Edinburgh equally astonishes him, and
It is not without some 'hesitation that he accords the

Preference to Naples and Constantinople. Of his
wit to Gordon Castle, he furnishes us with some
'very interesting and impressive particulars ; speaks of
the highland chiefs and the Highland metropolis, In-
,eroess, with enthusiasm ; and thinks, as he should
()
of Rob Roy and Baillie Jamie, as he passes
ir°ugh the Alpine country of the " Gregarach." Of
tourse, while at Naples, the author made a point of
c'olding Vesuvius ; his description of which is
musing, though not remarkable for novelty. We
rive a portion of his details of the ascent
" A strong lad could barely throw a stone from one side
dethe other of the new crater. It was about forty feet
14e0), perhaps more, and one crust of sulphur lined the
'‘)le. It was half the time obscured in smoke, which
lii°llred in volumes from the broad cracks with which it was
ide(' in every direction ; and occasionally an eddy of
'wind - . .
. was caught in the vast holy], and for a minute its
been
yellow surface was perfectly clear. There had not
which an eruption for four or five months, and the abyss
cl,,ich is for years together a pit of fire and boiling lava has
seams, time to harden over ; and were it not for the smoking
:arils, one would scarce suspect the existence of the tre-
mendous volcano slumbering beneath.
" After we had been on the summit a few minutes, an
-"grish clergyman of my acquaintance, to our surprise,
merged from the. smoke. He had been to the bottom for
"l?eeiraens of sulphur for his cabinet., Contrary to the ad-
v,leetnf the guide, I profited by his experience, and, disap-
ii,ring in the flying clouds, reached the lowest depth of
crater with some difficulties of foot-hold and breath.
-"le cracks which. I crossed twice, were so brittle as to
break like the upper i.!e of a twice frozen pond beneath my
feet, and the stench of the exhaling gases was nauseating
b P°11(.1 all the sulphurcted hydrogen I have ever known.
The sensation was painfully suffocating from the moment I