The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-11 00:00:00

STANDARD NOVELS. No. 49.
Bentley, London. 1835.
The fictions comprised in this Volume are, the
" Tales of the Alhambra," by Washington Irving ,
the " Last of the Abencerages," translated from the
French of Chateaubriand ; and the " Involuntary Pro-
phet," by Horace Smith. The first of these Tales
was published by Murray some four or .five .years
since ; but though it had, we believe, a good average
sale, it was by no means so popular as either the
Sketch Book," or the " Bracebridge Hall" of the
same author. Yet it is every way equal to these justly
admired Works. Indeed, in one respect it is superior ;
for with quite as much polish, it has infinitely less
elaborate ornateness of style. Its descriptions, too, of
the magnificent scenery of Granada ; of the old Moorish
ruins of the Alhambra, round which so many romantic
associations are entwined ; and of the various per-
sonages
who dwelt among these imposing relics of
Moslem splendour, have the rare merit of having •
been drawn on the spot, while the vivid feelings
which they called up were yet fresh on the author's
mind. There is no writer of the clay who possesses
such a power of picturesque description as Mr. Wash-
ington Irving. Whether he sketches the shores of the
Hudson ; the long rolling plains of the Western prai-
ries ; the old Dutch cities, with their quaintly cos-
tumed inhabitants, of New York*.; or the deserted Court
of the Lions, and Hall of the Ambassadors among the
mountains of Granada ; he places the objects in full
view before the eye, by a series of graphic and particular
touches, minute as those of Crabbe, and imaginative as
those of Scott. No where is this enviable faculty, which
so many affeei yet so few succeed in, more prominent,
than in his Tales of the Alhambra—to our thinking, •
the best by far of his works. We are just fresh from
the perusal of this delightful ,production of blended
fact and fiction, and feel the skill and sensibility of our
guide, at every stoll we have taken with him, at day-
break, at sun-set, or in the mellow moonlight, through
the valley of the Darro, the garden of Lindarasa,
or among the forlorn courts, arcades, terraces, and
water-falls of the Palace of Boabdil. Mr. Irving re-
sided for upwards of three months in the very heart of
the Alhambra, taking up his abode in the suite of
rooms once fitted up for the use of Phillip the Fifth
and the beautiful Elizabeth of Parma, and enjoying
his siesta beside the fountain in the Court of the
Lions, in the true spirit of an enthusiast pilgrim. He
breathed the air of romance, in every gale that came
wafted to him from the near Sierra Nivada; he drank
of the waters of legendary lore at their fountain-head
not a step he took, but it was on enchanted ground.
On opening his chamber window to let in the fresh air
of the morning, the first object on which his eve fell
was the little mountain pass up which the Christian
warriors ascended in their last attack on Granada ;
below him was the Hall wherein the gallant Abencer-
ages met their doom ; and in the distance, on a high
cliff towering right above the town of Granada, the
spot on which Boabdil stood when, with weeping eyes
and clasped hands, he turned to take his last look at
the home he was quitting for ever. Scenes like these
must have inspired even a pawnbroker ; what wonder,
then, that they filled the imagination of a man so alive
to such impressions as Mr. Irving ? Those who have
not yet read his " Tales of the Alhambra," may rely
on it that they have a rich treat in store for them-
The various legends which he intersperses through
the work, are not mere cold, fantastic essays or the
invention ; but were all picked up and composed among
the scenes wherein they are laid. ; To read them,
is just like reading one of those tales in the Arabian
Nights, about Haroun Alraschid and his Vizir Giaffar,
which the Princess Saieherezade told nightly to
King Schariar. The remainder of the volume is
made up of two able fictions, the best of which is that
translated from Chateaubriand.

THE SISTER OF CHARITY.
Churton, London, 1835.
Mr. Farhill,' the author of this volume (which
ought to have been published anonymously) will never
make a poet until he has learned to write better lines
than—

" Hail, three-coloured standard, hail I
Brave Parisians, see advance
Your ntw prize, it flaps the gale,
Hail the signal, generous France !"
which have no more fancy or sentiment to recommend
them—and inEnitely less rythmical accuracv--tban,
that immortal quatrain, " Thirty days bath September.''
What, too, does the author—who, if he be not very
young, which we hope he is, is incurablemean bY•
saying,
" But thy triumph, modern Sparta,
In thy soil may best be shown,
For each letter of our charter
Is graven on a paving-stoner
Now we can assure Mr. Farhill, on what we deal
competent authority, that there is not a charter in axis"
tence, and never was, engraved on a paving-stone.
But perhaps the gentleman is metaphorical ; but even
so, metaphor should at least have some slight meaning
to recommend it. The remainder of the volume is,
very little superior in thought and expression to the
specimens we have just quoted..

[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.j—We are happy t.°
learn, on such good. authority as the Times of this
morning, that the bill for 35,0001., protested by this
Carbonell, has been protected by Mr. Rothschild, 11l
whose favour it was drawn, as it will, we trust, secure.
the payment of the dividends on the 30th, due the,
of January. We hope that Mr. Rothschild will like"
wise interfere for some heavy accruing engagements,
,
which, it is said, are shortly due, :and when the Ist 0'
June of next year shall arrive.
FUNERAL OF THE LATE DUKE OF BEAU'
FORT.—The interment of the remains of his Grace the lilt°,
Duke of Beaufort took place on Wednesday last. 111'
Grace's remains were interred" at Badminton. The boY
was placed-in the Grand Hall early in the morning. 11!,e,
coffin, covered with rich crimson velvet, was inlaid with gu"
ornament's ;on the breast-plate the Beaufort Arms Were
finely engraved, with the following inscription underneath
Henry Charles, sixth Duke of Beaufort, K.G., Lor(cil
Lieutenant of the counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, a"
Brecon, born 22nd December, 1766, deceased 23d Novo:
1835." The Ducal Coronet, resting on a crimson velve',
cushion, was placed on the coffin. The funeral was strictl)

private.
SADLER'S WELLS.—The Miller's Maid has beeli
brought out here, for the express purpose of introducl„q
Heslop as Giles. A few weeks back we noticed this rapid
improving actor's performance of the same part at the ri,;
vilion, when we prognosticated his future success.
shall, therefore, say no more on this oceasion than that 1,i3
efforts at this house have confirmed us in our former or
nions of his merits. He has repeated the character si%
~
times, and has each time been called before the curtain to
receive the congratulations of the audience. The Phievi,e
of Mrs. Wilkinson is beautifully interesting ; in fact, he
last scene with Giles is excellent. Peerless Poole has beef
revived with all its wonted splendour. Cobham sustained
his original part with great effect ; and the whole of tb
other characters were well sustained.
At a Tory dinner, in Leeds, some time ago, tile
oranges of the dessert were dyed blue.
ORDINATION EXTRAORDINARY.—At the
neral Ordination holden at Bishopthorpe, by his Grace
Archbishop of York, on Sunday the 6th instant, the 11°,,.:
W. Putsey, Master of the Grammar School, Pickeri'f
and Author of a Practical English Grammar, a Syston
Practical and Speculative Arithmetic, &c. &c., vvas
mitted to the sacred office of a Priest, on the nominatli°o
Pickering.;of the Rev. J. Ponsonby, Vicar of as wes
his son, the Rev. William Putsey, to the coracles
o 1
Ormesby and Eston, in this county, on the nomination a
the Rev. James Thompson, Vicar. That the father
the son should be ordained at the same time, is a dyed of
stance, it is presumed, without a parallel in the annnisbf;
history ; and should we should live to the age of Eocktv
son, it is more than probable that we should never see
like again.—York Courant.

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