The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-19 00:00:00

FAMILY LIBRARY.

The present number, which is the thirty-
fourth, forms the second volume of the " Lives
of the Scottish Worthies," and contains me-
moirs of King Robert Bruce, John Barbour, the
quaint old poetic historian of Wallace's achieve-
ments, and James the First. Of these memoirs,
the best and most lengthy is that of Bruce.—
The others contain little or no novelty.

LARDNER'S CABINET CY CLOPiEDIA
No. XXXIV.

This number is wholly of a practical character,
being an elaborate treatise on chemistry. The
author is Mr. Michael Donovan, a gentleman,
we believe, of much scientific eminence. The
chapter entitled " Earths and Metals," contains
many curious novel facts, which, at some more
leisure season, we may be tempted to avail our-
selves of, for the edification of our readers.

STANDARD NOVELS, Vora. XVIII. XIX.

LONDON, 1832.

The present volumes comprise the whole of
Miss Jane Porter's " Pastor's Fire Side," the
most carefully-written, the most natural, and the
most interesting, in point of incident, of all her
tales. In her Scottish Chiefs, she was indebted
more to the nature of her subject than to her
mode of treating it ; her attempts at character,
though elaborate and ambitious, were sad blun-
ders, being wholly devoid of nature, and truth of
colouring. Who, for instance, could recognize
the rough, stern, outlaw Wallace, stern even in
an age little short of barbarism, in the gentle-
manlike, accomplished, tender, and moral Adonis,
who walks a stately minuet to a sentimental tune
through five volumes of the Scottish Chiefs.—

Miss Porter, in this eloquent romance, gives us
an admirable idea of what human nature should
be ; but affords us not the slightest glimpse
whereby we may see what it is. This defect she
has in part rectified in the tale before us. Her
former high tone of romance and exaggeration is
lowered ; and in the character of her hero, Wil-

Liam de Ripperda,—above all, in her ably-drawn
portrait of the scheming Countess Altheim,
favourite of the Empress of Germany, she has
developed the real (not the factitious) passions
and motives that influence human nature. The
Pastor's Fire Side is a tale that has the mate-
rials of durability in its pages.

A KEY TO PLEASANT EXERCISES
N READING, PARSING, MENTAL ARITHMETIC,

AND MNEMONICS ;

BY JOHN SMITH. FOURTH EDITION. SIMPEIN AND

31ARSHALL.

We congratulate Mr. Smith on his very ser-
viceable little work having already reached its
fourth edition. His successful progress in lec-
turing on " Smith and Dolier's Educational
System and Inventions," has not been unobserved
by us, whether in the Metropolis, or in the
North of England ; and, we confess, we take an
interest in all his labours for the improvement of

the rising generation.
The book before us enables any teacher, or
parent, or nurse, of ordinary abilities, to attract
children to the love of learning, in very early life,
by the beauties and amusements which Mr. Smith
proves belongs to it. I❑ his own words—
" This is precisely the position in which all education
ought to be placed : instead of being shunned as something
irksome or disagreeable, it ought to be sought after with
avidity ; and until this shall be the case, education, which
is so blessed in its effects, will be but in a state of bar-
barism as to its mode."

•••.•••••.. MO' ••-• ••••
The following observation develop es one por-
tion of Mr. Smith's object most justly :
" The reading of important books is generally looktd
upon as a dull and tedious affair by young persons, who
are, nevertheless, fond of reading and repeating silly stories.
I believe the secret of this difference to be, that a great
portion of the words in which the former are written
are not understood—they present no image, they call up
no association in the mind ; while the language in which
stories arc written is more familiar, and therefore more
engaging, although, in bet, the really important compo-
sitioner equally well comprehended."
might possess a stronger interest, even for a child, if
the
ul a nngduoa gueb oteftiltlyw,
telere is as much of romantic,
and yet rational, excitement to be found in works
of the most valuable kind—in history, in bio-
graphy, in standard poetry, and in science—as
can be desired by any children, whose minds we
would keep akiove the level of idiotism; and to

cultivate in an easy manner the means and the
taste. fdlll. tiballoartaliAmsaniAliffiSMst CIO and
tiin'oblini tasV Alhiouria(ufflorl IM fa'
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