The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-07 00:00:00

seen ri

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N4'N

LITERATURE.

TEE BUCCANEER. 3 VoLs. LoNvo.v. 1832.
The authoress of the Sketches of Irish cha-
racter" will not injure her well-earned reputation
by this tale. She has essayed an ambitious
task, but proved herself equal to the effort. Her
character of Cromwell is boldly conceived, in a
frank, generous, spirit, and such as the present
age will readily appreciate. It is far nearer the
mark, we suspect, than Hume's, with whom the
truth of history was respected only when it served
the cause of Royalty. The great merit of the
Buccaneer is, that it is alive from beginning to
end. There are no lame 'takings in the story—
it bowls on like a chariot. The Protector,
however, and the little simple maiden, Barbara
Iverk, are the characters on which it must
rely for success. The latter has the rare
merit of originality, and may vie in deli-
cacy of conception and strength of feel-
ing with the Rosamond Gray of Charles
Lambe. As for the Buccaneer himself, though
in the earlier scenes one or two traits of cha-
racter—the better that they appear elicited un-
consciously on the part of the author—are de-
veloped, for instance, where, on his application
for a frigate, it is hinted to him that he must
.content himself with a revenue cutter, he re-
jects the proposition with true professional dis-
dain ;—though one or two such quiet, effective
traits as this are developed, yet we must confess
that the character, as a whole, is not greatly to
our taste. It is modelled too much on the
imitative ; bears about it too many traces of the
American Cooper. The Buccaneer's affection
for his " Firefly " (which is too much harped
on) reminds us, "as with a difference," of
Long Tom's affection for his " Ariel." Still,
notwithstanding this blemish, there are fine re
deeming points about the Buccaneer (where
feeling, not memory, is the prompter) ; nor
among the works of our modern novelists do
we know where to look for a more effective
passage than the following. The lines marked
in italics are eminently beautiful :

" ' Ay, that it is, that it is," muttered the Buccaneer :
my own, own child ! the child of one who, I bless God,
never lived to know that she wedded (for I wedded her in
holy Church, at Dominica) a wild and wicked rover.
Our love was sudden and hot, as the sun under which
we lived ; and I never left her but once from the time we
became one. I had arranged all, given up my ship and
cargo—and it was indeed a cargo of crimes—at least, I
thought so then. It was before the civil wars; or I had
again rtturned to England, or traded, no matter how. I
flew to her dwelling, with a light heart and a light step—
What there 7—My wife, she who had hung so fondly
round my neck and implored me not to leave her, was
stretched on a low bamboo bed—dead, Sir—dead !—I
might have known it before I entered, had I but remem-
bered that site knew ray step on the smooth walk, fell it
ever so lightly, and would hare met me—but for Death !
And there too sat a black she-devil, stuffing my infant's
mouth with their vile food. I believe the bag thought I
was mad, for I caught the child in my arms, held it to
my heart while I bent over my wife's body, and kissed
her cold, unreturning—for the first time, unreturning,
lips—then flung myself out of the accursed place, ran
with my burden to the shipowners, who had parted with
me most grudgingly, and was scudding before the wind in
less than twelve hours, more at war with my own specie•
than ever, and panting for something to wreak my hatred
on. At first I wished the infant dead,. for I saw her
pining away; hut at last, when she came to know me
and lift up her innocent hands to my face—l may confess
it here—many and many a night have I sat in my cabin,
looking on that sleeping child, till my eyes swam in a
more bitter brine than was ever brewed in the Atlantic.
Particular circumstances obliged me to part with her, and
I have never regretted her being with poor Lady Cecil—
only I should have liked her to pray as her mother did.' "
Nor must we omit to notice an eloquent
apostrophe to poetry—at the commencemnt of
the third volume—suggested by recollections en
passant of the great luminaries that shed
splendour on the true Augustan age of Eng-
land. In her scenic descriptions, Mrs. Hall is
particularly successful. As a mere bit of land-
scape painting, her view from Greenwich de•
serves high praise ; but with the discriminating
faculty of genius she has imparted a fine moral
interest to it, by setting old Blake's vessel afloat
on the Thames, towing up some captured
Spanish galleons, full in the sight of a knot of
exulting sailors. The description would have
been excellent without this ; with this it is per-
fect. We could mention many other excellen-
cies in which this stirring tale abounds, but our
limits warn us to a close. We must therefore take
a reluctant leave of Mrs. Hall, with an expres-
sion of congratulation that in exchanging Ireland
for England, she has not exchanged (after the
customary Irish fashion) for the worse, but
realized in her " Buccaneer," the promises that
she held forth in her " Sketches" of the sister
country.

FAMILY CLASSICAL LIBRARY,
No. XXXV7.—LoxpoN, 1832.
The present number forms the third volume
of Potter's translation of Euripides, and con-
tains, among other of the great poet's dramas,
the noble plays of the Hecuba and Iphigenia
in Tauris. The signal success of this useful
publication, is a proof that a love of classic lore
still flourishes as vigorously as ever among us.

LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPEDIA,

No. XXX VII. —LoNDON, 1832.

Sir James Mackintosh's History of England
is continued in this number, though his ma-
►►uscript breaks off at the 211th page, which brings
his history down to about the close of the reign
of Elizabeth. His last chapter, in the middle
of which he breaks off, contains a masterly
sketch of Flemish affairs, as they had influence
on English policy. We know not to whose pen
we are indebted for a continuation of the history,
but it is a practised, if not a brilliant one ; the
author says that the work will be carried on
with an entire concurrence in Sir James Mackin-
tosh's developed views and principles. We are
glad to hear this.

EAST INDIA SKETCH BOOK. 2 Vors.

LONDON, 1832.

We took up these volumes with considerable
curiosity. India is a fine field for literary, as for
every other speculation, and we expected a rich
developement of humour and fancy, in a Sketch
which had such a prolific subject for de-
scription.is
awakened,usually
have been is.
is
ap
Book
highlyß ut, as thecased wherepo
curiosityint
ed. Perhaps we expected too much, and
our disappointment is attributable to ourselves
rather than to the author. How this may be,
we know not ; but assuredly we lay down the

East India Sketch Book with far other feelings
than we took it up with. Instead of vivacity,
we have met with spleen ; instead of fancy, with
trite matters of fact. The author's mind is
jaundiced, and he writes in the Smellfungus
spirit. We take for granted that he has lost
half his liver during his sojourn in the east ; if
so, this will at once account for his contempt
for the picturesque, and his dead set at all that
savours of romance. His sketch of " Colonel
Scovell" is a rare effort of malignity, which is
neutralized, however, by its dullness. As a
sample of character, it bears on every page the
proof of personal prejudice." A Letter Home"
is written in a far better spirit, and from its easy ,
sparkling grace, and the arch naivete of its re-
marks, which are crowded one upon another in
most heterogeneous fashion, we conclude it is
the production of a lady. " Sketches and
Hints" is of the same amusing character. In a
word, we may say of the volumes that they are
readable, though they will not, we fear, fulfil
the expectations that their title excites.

COLONEL HURRAY'S SCOTTISH
SCENERY, 6-c.

We have just received the fifth and sixth parts
of this eminently national undertaking, which
deserves the encouragement of all liege Scots.
The drawings, though only in outline, are, says
the prospectus, remarkable for their strict accu-
racy, while to each landscape, or architectural
design are appended brief explanatory notices.
Thus recommended, and having, besides, the ad
vantages of size and cheapness, the work, we
think, is likely to become popular.

LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOW
LED GE.-LONDON, 1832.

The details of the antiquities and excavation
of Pompeii are continued at length, and with in-
finite minuteness of description in this volume,
which is embellished by an engraving illustrative
of the Forum of ancient Rome. The mass of
magnificent public edifices here presented at one
view to the eye is splendid and imposing in the
extreme ; and the array of pillars and triumphal
arches almost countless, like the legions of
Milton's arch-fiend. The volume contains,
besides, many engravings of interiors of houses
in Pompeii, which abound in objects of curi-
osity.

BYRON'S LIFE AND WORKS. VOL. XII.
LONDON, 1832.

The present volume consists chiefly of minor
pieces, the most part of which were written for,
and inserted in, the " Liberal." The Doge of
Venice is the only one of Lord Byron's more
finished lengthy productions, which is inserted
in it. This fine drama has the singular advan-
tage of being illustrated and criticised by such
men as Bishop Heber, Lockhart, Wilson, and
Jeffrey, fragments of whose remarks are now,
for the first time, printed as they originally ap-
peared in Blacktvood's and the Edinburgh and
Quarterly Reviews. The volume is, as usual,
gracefully embellished with two very superior en-
gravings, in the best style of the Findens.

MEMORIALS OF OXFORD-LONDON, 1832.

This work, which has only just reached its
second number, is of the Britton school, and
comprises, or rather is intended to comprise, his-
torical and descriptive accounts of the colleges
halls, churches, and other public buildings of
one of the finest, and completest in its way, of
English cities. The publication is ushered into
the world under the high auspices of Dr. In-
gram, President of Trinity, its avowed editor,
and is illustrated by several engravings by Le
Keux, from original drawings by Mackenzie.
The work, if we may judge from the specimen
before us, is one of a very superior, certainly a
very useful character.

VALPY'S SHAKSPEARE. Vol,. 11.
LONDON, 1832.

As we have already noticed, at some length,
the first number of this edition, we have left
ourselves little to say of the present, further than
it possesses the recommendation of Bovdell's
well-known illustrations, executed in a very
superior manner. The notes to the different
plays have the singular advantage of being brief
and pertinent. They are not overlaid with
matter, as is the case with most of the old an-
notations.