The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-26 00:00:00

. _
during the dynasty of the unfortunate House of Stu::: t.
Our middle, and many of out lower classes, are better
educated now, than some of our first nobility were dur-
ing the reign of James I. The great stable
of popular violence and lawless tumult—ignorance
fast disappearing. Our future revolutions
Will be moral ones ; even the most ignorant of our
peasantry know right well that they possess a
power of controuling the acts of any Government
which must ever render an appeal to arms an unneces-
sary protection of British liberty.
Mr. Johnson has executed the task undertaken by
him with care and impartiality. The work is dedi-
cated to Lord Stanley, of whose moderation the
author professes himself a great admirer. We could
have wished his political opinions more decided than
he has thought proper to express them. The brief
notices of the lives of Sir John Eliot, Denzil Hallis,
Sir John Maynard, John Pym, Sir Dudley Digges,
&c., contemporaries with Selden, which precedes Mr.
Johnson's life of him, have been judiciously selected,
and give a new interest to the volume. The work is
embellished with a well finished likeness of Selden, by
Scriven, from a painting by Sir P. Lely, and a rough
sketch of the cottage which claims the honour of
his birth-place. The following description of the per-
sonal appearance of James I. will convey to the reader
a fair impression of Mr. Johnson's mariner :
" The King possessed none of those brilliant qualities that
dazzle a people, and make them willing to excuse an extrava-
gance that arises from the more generous emotions of our
nature. He was neither young, courteous, open-hearted, or
brave; but on the contrary old, unwilling to be seen by his
People, hypocritical, and cowardly. The man of common rea-
son knows that exterior deformity and deficiency of grace are
of very trivial consideration in forming an estimate of mankind,
but he also knows that it has great influence with the majority
of individuals, and there is no doubt but the personal appear-
ance of James did much in increasing the disgust his misrule
produced. He neither acted nor looked like a King ; he was
awkward and rickety in his movements, bulky in person, and
With a tongue too large for his mouth, he slobbered out his
Words, which were additionally mutilated by a broad Scotch
accent. Education had not improved him ; learned, but defi-
cient in useful endowments, he was a pedantic, blustering pol-
troon. He was ridiculed at home and abroad for that weak-
ness, which made him conceive that he could deceive his
People by proclamations. and foreign nations by his ambassa-
dors. The first, says Wilson, were current coins a great whiie,
till the multitude of them lessened their valuation ; and the
estimate, on the continent, of his foreign policy, is evinced by
a satirical speech in a contemnorary Spanish comedy. A
Messenger is represented as arriving in great haste with the
news that a formidable army would soon march to the relief of
the Palatinate, for the King of Denmark was about to fur-
nish it with 100,000 pickle herrings ; the Dutch with 100,000
butter boxes ; and England would send 100.000 ambassadors."

THE EMPRESS: A NOVEL.
y O. BENNETT, AUTHOR OP THE "ALBANIANS."
In 2 Vols. London: Smith, Elder, and Go. 1835.
The subject of this novel is one of the most difficult.
and at the same time one of the least interesting that a
novelist could pitch upon. To represent to the life, a
*omin in the act of sacrificing her honour, her reputa-
tion, her virtue and her religion, at the shrine of ambi-
tion—to paint her with her hands reeking with the
blood of her husband and her kindred—to pourtray her
ietimes doubly reflected in a son, whose great study is
how to be guilty of matricide without employing his
OWII dager, comes only within the province of the his-
torian ;band the writer of fiction who attempts it ought
to blame himself if he only excite horror and disgust
Where he expected to afford pleasure. Mr. Bennett
has failed in his attempt to elucidate the characters of
Agrippina and Nero ; but this will surprise no person
acquainted with the state of society in Rome at that
period. The volumes, however, are replete with pas-
aof redeeming merit, and had the author chosen a
subject
more congenial with human interests and sym-
pathies, we think he would have produced a very re-
Zectable library novel. If he be a young man and
amenable to friendly counsel, we would advise him to
check his predilection for the marvellous, the gloomy,
and the fearful, and to keep an eye to the world as it
really is, rather than ns it exists in the morbid
imagination of enthusiasts. It is much safer and
Wiser in an author to deal only with men, and the
Passions of men, than to take up his time in describing
the ugliness of monsters, under the appellations of
dwarfs and witches. Besides, the ancient Romans
are by far too stately a race to figure as the heroes of
alight less solemn than an epic poem or a tragedy.
The learned world will not bear to have its earliest
impressions disturbed ; and there are few scholars to
Ithorn the idea of a fiddling prelate would appear
rnore preposterous than the story of a Roman court-
ship in the time of Cicero. Ancient Italy belongs to
the historian—modern Rome the fairy-land of romance.
The following description of the heroine of Mr.
Ilennett's novel, is, in our opinion, a fair specimen of
the author's style. It may be as well to add, that
his descriptions of the games of the circus are classi-
cally correct, heightened with passages displaying
Rreat dramatic power :
" Agrippina, surrounded by her attendants, was the a
dig-
ration of all the Circus. The beauty of her person, the
l'ity of her countenance, the magnificence of her attire, ex-
cited universal homage ; and even those who reprobated her
anlbition, acknowledged her to be a superior being in beauty
and intellect. Upon this occasion she had paid unusual at-
te.ntion to the decoration of her person. Her jet black hair
LwfTheut the aid of foreign tresses, generally worn by the
"ercu:n ladies of this perfect) was arranged so as to represent
heln:et. and the delicious perfumes that exhaled from it,
sPread themselves around : the stola or gown was of finely
Woven gold, ornamented with a profusion of pearls ;
s ecureand the
Rirdle, which was one solid inasmi of diamonds, d in
the front by two rubies of unknown value. Her slippers, in
which persons of quality always appeared in public, were pur-
Ple, but so thickly covered with gems, that the ground-work
Was nearly imperceptible; and the splendour of her dress was
rlrnpleted by the imperial robe of tyrian dye, clasped on the
eft shoulder with gems, and richly embroidered with the most
*urious workmanship. Thus habited, she formed a powerful
contrast to the bloated sensualist beside her—for whom almost
*very diversion had lost its charm, and who now slept soundly
on his golden seat, unconscious of everything that passed."

The King was most graciously pleased to confer
the honour of knighthood, as Knight Commander of the Royal
ganoverian Guetphie Order, upon Captain William Henry
pillon, of the Royal Navy, at Wednesday's Levee, the 24th
148tant.
Sir John Taylor and family, Mr. Holland and
4arnily, T. Herbert, Esq., &c. &c. took their departure for
Antwerp in the General Steam Navigation Company's packet
'QC Attwood.
A line of steam-packet ships between London and
"e‘v York is in contemplation.
Mr. Cavendish, the Member for Derbyshire, is
'‘„bout to lead to the hymeneal altar Lady Louisa Lascelles,
Lao youngest and only unmarried daughter of the Earl of Hare-
Wood.--Sheffield Iris.
We have heard that an offer of the Solicitor-Ge-
xlerahhip will be made to Mr. Holmes.—Dublin Register.
LORD STANLEY AND THE CONSERVATIVEs.
tmeeting of the North Lancashire Conservatives-was held at
,reston on Monday. Very great surprise was expressed at
tae contents of Lord Stanley's letter to Sir Thomas Hesketh,
11nich has created a verb strong sensation among the consti-
:.,ency of this division of the county, and more particularly in
`ne neighbourhood of Preston, the stronghold of his Lord-
supporters, where he is most popular. The necessity of
g out for a more uncompromising candidat in case Lord
otaniey should continue his ,opposition to. Conservative associa-
r"s, has already been tho subject of much conversation.—
(From a Correspondent of the Liverpool Standard.)
MIDDLESEX REFORM CLUB.—On Wednesday
night a meeting of the members of the above club took place
at the Salopian Coffee- House, when a favourable report was
made of the progress of the registration. Mr. Davies, the Se-
cretary, stated that he had completed a list of the various
!lectors, preparatory to the final registration ; which report
'tive great satisfaction to the Committee, who elected Mr.
ulackburne, M.P., Dr. Fellowes, Isaac L. Goldsmith, Esq.,
and Mr. F. C. Barkley, Vice-Presidents.
At a meeting of that highly-respectable Friendly
I.)cic'tY. the St. James's Union, held at their Club-house,
"entity-fourth
St. Martin's-lane, it was resolved to hold their
!WY-fourth Anniversary Dinner and Festival at that re-
p smelt-improved rural ret;-,:at, Highbury Barn. This
tZll4li is setting a noble example cco; the irrirrovonent
of
t !E, useful institutions, Friendly F,),,ietiPs, wortby id
they pay.a. long list of useful benefit:3 .1! in fulL
hoaa fide funded capital, and pro,.i.ie
24-yed and indigent mervb,-rs, thus 00.1)kil)g 011 'it
anyar.4
alt comparatively
on parochial assistance inkier Faip, affliction,
comparatively at nearly a nominal contribution.
Harriers
is a proposal cm foot for establishing a pack
Hurlers near Abe:aeen.