The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-24 00:00:00

FOREIGN FUNDS.

I_,-)114._ DR i.,:::,:Bc:riDdsi: Ditto Austrian, 5 per cent — Portuguese Bonds, 5 per cent. St-21,4
Belgian, 5 per cent
Bri2ilian Bonds
Buenos Ayres, 6 per cent
Chilian, 6 per cent 45 Ditto, Metallic per cent. ...108%
Colombian, 6 per cent. — Spanish, 5 per cent —
Ditto, 1824 3,3„i Ditto, it-% 49
Danish Bonds. _ French, 5 per cent
Greek Bonds, 1P25, 5 per cent
French, 3 per cent f "
Mexican, 5 per cent.
, Exchange ................. ... —f. —c,
Ditto, 6 per cent., 1825
r.,8,i . Dutch, 2,, percent. . 5.5
Peruvian, 1825, 6 per cent

LITERATURE.

COMIC ANNUAL FOR 1836.
London, Bailey, 1835.

If not better, this Annual is quite equal to any of
its predecessors. Indeed, in one respect it is superior
—we mean, in the Illustrations, which are droll to a
degree that might split the sides of Heraclitus himself.
" It may be my own case to-morrow " represents a fat
man, whose paunch speaks eloquently of turtle feasts,
in the act of moralizing beside a coffin, which is evidently
to let unfurnished. His sentimental look, contrasted
with his jolly obesity, is irresistible.
,One is prepared
for occasional sentiment in flesh of average
weight, but to see a " tun of man " pa-
thetic, is as ridiculous as would be the sight
of a prize ox in hysterics. In the engraving—" Oh,
what a falling off was there 1" we find a. sow in the last
stage of tenuity. In fact, she is already all but in-
visible, .whence we conclude she must have been pas-
turing for months past on Highland air, in that part
of his Britannic Majesty's dominions where, as we
are assured, by Churchill, "half-starved spiders feed on
half-starved flies." The owner of the unhappy porker
looks equally disconsolate. He feels that all hopes of
a ham, or a flitch of bacon, are for ewr lost ; and
would gladly _sell his sow, could he find any one to
whom skin and bone are of value. " Country
quarters" is capital. Look at that miserable
wretch of an officer., snoring on his back in a bed
too short for him, with a hungry rat nibbling away
at his toes ; a vixen-looking hen screaming on its
perch above his head ; and a cow poking her nose in
at the window, as much as to sat, in Irish phraseology,
" come out. of that !" The Sleeping Beauty seems
as though, even in dreams, he were oppressed with a
-Sense of his situation—else wherefore that uneasy
twitch of the nose, and mouth wide open, as if
expostulating with destiny ? " Why did you
sup on pork ?" is another equally humorous illus-
tration. A tall sallow man, with 4 remarkably
well-shaped calf, not unlike Dr. Phillpotts's, whose wild
countenance bespeaks an addition to the imaginative,
is lying asleep in bed, with a huge black sow seated
quietly astride his chest, and asking him, in the
blandest of terms, while at the same time she half
crushes him by her weight, " Why did you sup on
pork ?" The expression of the brute's face is benevo-
lent and placid to a degree. She puts her question in
the most deli Cate manner possible ; and takes no other
revenge for the insult passed upon all swinehood, than
by simply resting the full weight of her hinder-quarters
on the offender's epigastrum. This is bad, but she might
have eaten him, which would have been worse. In
"Practice drives me mad," we see a young girl strumming
and squalling away at a piano, infinitely to the borror
of a nervous elderly gentleman, who is escaping with
all speed from the infliction, and whose hind-legs
alone are visible. We do not wonder at the poor
man's eagerness to bolt, for not even a speech from
the Duke of Newcastle is a greater visitation on
one's auriculars, than a young girl's prac-
tising on the piano-forts. I-laud ignari loqui-
mar. We have noticed the best of the Illus-
trations ; as for the rest, they are neither better
nor worse than usual. The literary portion of the
Annual is full of puns, and Peter-pindaric extrava-
gance, relieved with one or two serious touches; which
tell the better that they take the reader by surprise.
The ablest sketch is the first, the scene of which is
laid in Germany, and which is entitled the " Domestic
Dilemma."

THE ROMANCE OF HISTORY—INDIA
BY THE REV. NOBART CAVIYTER, B.D.
In 3 vols. Churton. 1836.

There are a number of exceedingly well told tales in
these volumes. Still we do not think this series of
Historical Romance equal to, any of those which pre-
ceded it from the pen of the same author. We quite
agree with him in the opinion that " romantic as are
many of the events which the Mahomedan annals
supply, they are nevertheless all of one tone and co 7
louring. They want the delightful blendings and
tintings of social circumstances. Their Princes were
despots, their Nobles warriors, their Governments
tyrannies, and their people slaves. The lives of their
most eminent men, who were distinguished chiefly for
their deeds in arms, present little else than a series of
battles. Their principal amusement was the chase, in
which similar perils to those presented in war were
courted for the stern glory which followed desperate
achievements." The causes of all this may be easily
discovered in the social institutions of the Orientalists,
and especially as regarded the exclusion of women
from the public eye. In this one regulation we
discover an abolition of one-half the interesting
details of historical romance. Still the story-teller has
a wide field for the ex.ercise of his genius—a field
which the " Arabian Nights' Entertainments," Hope's
splendid Novel of " Anastasius," Morier's " Hajji
Baha of Ispahan," and several other celebrated works,
all prove to be inexhaustible. Mr. Caunter's Tales
have more than average derit in several respects ; but he
wants that.florid expression, that richness of imagery,
which to us appears the great charm in all oriental
description. There is a gorgeousness about our most
imperfect notions of the East Which prevents us from
ever recognizing its feelings or habits in the stinted
garb of Western cold reality, and matter-of-fact de-
tail. The best feature in these volumes is the
fine historical summary with which every tale is con-
cluded; so that those who lack amusement are sure to
find instruction in them—a rare excellence in a modern

romance.

SHIPPING.-( THIS DAY.)

(FROM LLOYD'S.)

DEAL, DEC. 23.—Wind N. W. to W. N. W.—Arrived the
Lester, Hayward, from Newfoundland. Returned again to
the Downs, the Jordeson, Jordeson, from Demerara ; Ade-
lina, Essex, from Waterford. Arrived from the river and
sailed the Lord of the Isles, Gibson, for Terceira ; Meanwell,
Morgan, for Rio Janeiro; and Nicholais, Brand, for the
South Seas.
PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 23.—Wiud N.E. to N. W., fine.—
Sailed the James Watt, (steamer), for Santander.
PLYMOUTH, DEC. 22.—Wind N. E.—Arrived his Majesty's
schooner Starling, from the Eastward.
FALMOUTH, DEC. 22.—Wind N. E.—Arrived the Sylva-
nus, Lawson, from Pugwash, leaky.
COWES, DEC. 23.—Arrived the Felix, Cramer, from
Leghorn.
CLYDE, DEC. 21.—Arrived the James, Deniston, from De-
merara.

YARMOUTH, DEC. 23.—Arrived the Letitia, Brownly, from
Nantes.
STEOMNESS, DEC. 22.—Arrived the Enighden, Bromau,
from Carleby.

The Sarah Barry, Bissett, from London to Jamaica, was
on shore on Foreness Rock yesterday, but was expected to be
got off.
The Sarah Abigail, Baker, of Boston, arrived at Cardigan
with loss of bowsprit, &c., having been run foul of, bound to
Liverpool.

JACK KETCH.—At Kirkcudbright, on the 3d cur-
rent, died Janet Newall, aged eighty-four years. She was the
last of the family of John Newall, who held the respect-
able situation of hangman in the town of Kirkbudbright
for many years, and who never had an opportunity of ex-
ercising the important duties of his office exceping on one
solitary occasion in the year 1750. Besides Janet, the
hangman bad two other children, Elizabeth arid William.
Elizabeth, commonly called " Lizzie Newall," was ft well-
known character in Kirkcudbright. --Dumfries Courier.
THAMES HAVEN RAILWAY.--A, preliminary
meeting of the owners and occupiers of land and other
persons interested in the above undertaking was held at
the Court House, Romford, on Monday, for the purpose of
discussing its merits and receiving such explanation as might
be required from the gentlemen deputed by the Company.
The meeting highly approved of the formation of the
way.—Essex Herald.