The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-17 00:00:00

MUSIC.

" SEE THE:II ON THEIR WINDING WAY."—
Valentine. ‘1 THERE'S NOT A LOOK, A WORD
OF THINE."—Stevenson. "THE WILLOW, THE
13ACCHUS OF TREES."—Hime.
Hime and Co.
The music of the second of these popular and justly
admired ballads, originally composed by the late Sir
John Stevenson, has been re-arranged by Mr. Hime,
whose great professional abilities are a sufficient gua-
rantee for the correctness of the execution. We have
pleasure in announcing the re-publication of Airs,
which often, ere now, have found favour in our ears.

LITERATURE.

THE PARRICIDE.

Pr THE LUTI7OI{ 014 "Anssr,nnrus." , %
In 2 Vols.
London, Hookham, 1833.

There is no disputing the great power of this,:
Romance. From the first page to the last the
presence of this attribute of genius is constantly visible.
But we•wish that the talented author had consulted
nature more in his wild delineation of passions which,
from their very excess, are more apt to startle than
please. The hero has hardly a feeling in common
with his kind ; the circumstances in which,he is placed
are such as could not occur to one person in a million
and against the commission of his crimes it is quite
superfluous to warn society. The Author seems to
have selected Godwin and Maturin as his models;
and in extravagance he certainly exceeds both. In
the " Parricide," every reader of discernment must
perceive the ideal. worshipper of " St. Leon," " Caleb
Williams," and " Melmoth the Wanderer." The
most powerful passage in this tragic tale, and, taken
all in all, the most natural, is the Parricide's struggle
Ivith the wolf in the cavern ; but its length prevents
us from extracting it. The following, though not so
striking, conveys a very fair idea of the more impas-
sioned portions of the work, which indicates throughout
the presence of a powerful imagination :
" The wind was loudly, and plaintively whistling within,
and without ; and, though the rain was beating heavily
against the casements, the cold was intense. Consequently,
an enormous fire was collected in the large hearth of the
spacious chimney.' Some of the logs of which it was com-
posed were singularly large ; and their flames having ex-
pired, and all their gaseous qualities being entirely con-
sumed, they now presented one glowing surface of red hot
matter, which shed through the chamber an imperfect and
mysterious
" I lister ed to the wind ; I strove to direct my attention
to the ran,. ; I made every effort to divert my mind into
another 'channel. Turning towards the fire, I contemplated
the raiiiant pile, and particularly distinguished one large
mass of ignited timber. I watched intently the numerous
flu'Auations of form, and hue, the ever varying succession
tif flickering, lambent shades, which its glowing surface hi-
cessantly exhibited ; and, recalling to my recollection the
story of Althaaa, and Meleager, at length contrived to per-
suade myself that the life of some unfortunate being was
dependent upon its preservatiop. This phantasy I che-
rished, until it obtained such possession of my naturally
superstitious imagination, that I was half meditating an in-
tention to crawl from my bed, for the purpose of attempt-
ing to extinguish the fatal. brand ; when it, experienced a
change that instantanr,ouslv arrested my attention, and
transfixed me on my rJouch. The various vacillating shades,
which had hitherto `',coated shapelessly, and uncertainly, like
fiery clouds over ;,ts glowing and varying surface, suddenly
concentrated themselves into a marked and definite form.
And now, be Iny story implicitly believed, or discredited
contemptuntsly, but, then, by all that is sacred, with these
eyes,
I saw distinctly, unequivocally, the figure of a man
plainly
depicted, in miniature, upon the burning log I Nei-
ther 'could I doubt whom this image was intended to repre-
sena, ;it was the exact counterpart of my father! The
d'..ess, the attitude, the action, the motion—all combined
`to render a non-perception of the similarity impossible.
" While I was gazing in mingled astonishment and dis-
may upon this extraordinary spectacle, another actor ap-
peared upon the fiery stage. It was myself ; so evident
was the resemblance, none who had even once seen me,
could have failed to have observed it. This figure advanced
from the side towards which my father's back was turned.
Slowly and stealthily he crept towards hinf-; and in his
band he bore an axe of Oriental form, the very image of
that which had so, often attracted my gloomy admiration.
Nearer and nearer, my crafty effigy approached to that of my
sire ; at last he arrived within arm's length of his person ;
and then, my trembling anticipations were quickly realised.
The fatal axe was swung high in the air—down cattle the
murderous blow full on the undefended skull of the victim,
and the fiery shadow of my slaughtered father fell prostrate
on the glowing soil.

" I turned to the fire, and direct* my attention to the
glowing timber, again observed the same sudden fixation of its
restless and fluctuating. shades. In another instant the sem-
blance of a large wheel laid horizontally on a mimic scaffold,
appeared in the centre of the burning mass. Then a figure,
which I could not fail to perceive was intended for the re-
presentation of myself, entered from one of the sides, fol-
lowed by another, who bore upon his shoulder, that, which
his subsequent use of it denotedto be a heavy and murderous
bar of iron. The effigy, which reluctantly, and painfully,
I felt was the type of myself, and my fate, walked slowly
and totteringly. Its back was bowed ; its head almost
rested upon its chest ; its arms hung laxly before it ; the
hands were tightly interlaced ; and the whole attitude ex-
pressed the extremity of dejection. When it reached the
scaffold, in spite of its resistance, the other figure fiercely
and violentl.y threw it upon the wheel ; and then bound it
forcibly to this fatal altar of hellish cruelty. Still the re-
luctant captive struggled piteously and vehemently to free
itself ; when the ponderous bar was raised, and down—
crash—it fell full upon the shattered arm of the shrinking
and miserable craven. Eight times the dire weapon de-
scended, until each of the limbs of the tortured wretch
Was broken in two places, one fracture being above, and the
other below, the joint. With a loathsome distinctness, I
saw the start, and the fearful, convulsive writhe which
every murderous blow extracted from the blenching, and
sorry representative of my accursed destiny ; and could
almost fancy that I beard the groans and shrieks of its mor-
tal agony. At last, in the very moment that my sympa-
thetic torment was growing unendurable, the executioner
raising again his ponderous mace, and directing it to the
chest, dealt the coup-de-grace to his expiring victim. The
smashed trunk briefly and slightly quivered, and then, life
was extinct."

WHY IS POPERY PROGRESSING?
BY DAVID THOM,
•Minister of Bold-street Chanel, Liverpool.
Simphin, Marshall, and Co., London.

The author of this pamphlet professes himself an
" Alarmist." He thinks it impossible to account for
the great number of chapels erected by the Catholics
in England, and the increase which has taken place in
the Catholic body during the last twenty or thirty
years, without admitting that Popery is advancing
among us with " gigantic building strides." The of
chapels, we humbly conceive, is no clearer proof of the
increase of- Popery-in England, than the building of
churches is of the increase of Protestantism in Ire-
land. In this latter country the Orange Association
people boast that eight' hundred churches have been
erected within the last thirty-fire years. To these
churches they point as evidence of the rapid increase
of Protestantism. Look, they exclaim, at the "gigan-
ic strides" With which Protestantism is advancing in
Ireland ; and yet statistical information proves that the
proportion of Protestants to Catholics is annually un-
dergoing a rapid diminution.
How many converts to Catholicism can Mr. Thom
enumerate among his acquaintances, or within his own
knowledge ? Conversion is, we think, a much surer
test of the growth of a sect than the building of cha-
pels. Let, then, Catholicikn in England be subjected
to this test. Let each parochial minister make out a
return of the number of .converts from the Protestant
to the Catholic, and from the Catholic to the Protes-
tant faith, within his parish, and the question is de-
cided at once. Until this is done we cannot give our
assent to the proposition implied in the question—
" Why is Popery progressing ?"
The author of this discourse, however, assuming it
as an incontrovertible fact that Popery is widely and
rapidly extending itself, feels it duty to " sound the
trumpet in Zion," in order to awaken Protestants from
their slumbers, and call their attention to the causes
of the evil. These causes he sets forth with, consider-
able ingenuity and great-earnestness, and, though we
differ from him in many of the opinions which he ad-
vances, we ddlethink that some of the reasons which he
assigns for the supposed growth of Popery in these
latter times deserve the serious consideration of Pro-
testants of every denomination.

FINE ARTS,

RICIIARD TILE .THIRTO AND THE EARL -OF

1 JJMOND.
HdySon and Graves. Landoh;

An engraving by Gillei, treifii the well-known pic-
ture painted -for* D'Airl of Durhani, by Cooper. As
a work or art, it -is one of the best—certainly the
Most spirited, that this clever artist ever produced.
The scene is Bosworth Field, and the two chief per-
sonages introduced are Richmond and Richard the
Third, who are represented as battling for the English
crown, with all the ferocity and desperation that mu-
tnJ ambition can lend them. "In subjeCts of
this sort,
,Mr. Cooper is quite at home. He pour-
trays a battle con amore—with all the vividness, and
love of particulars, of Sir Walter Scott. There is
nothing in the last Canto of " Marmion," finer or
more graphic, • than the ferocious conflict, hand to
hand, in the picture before us, of the Earl of Rich-
mond and King Dick. The Satanic expression of the
latter's countenance, when he finds that the day is
going against him, and that nothing can restore his
fortunes but the death of his stalwart enemy, is not
surpassed in power by any of the various triumphs of
modern art. The tyrant drunk, as it were, with in-
tense excitement, and the sight of his troops drop-
pi
ng in masses about him, makes one last des-
perate charge against the chief of the opposing
army, and confronting him with sword thrown far
backward for the purpose of giving a more vigorous
impetus to the dCath-blow he meditates, looks as
though his very curse would have more power to kill,
than even his faulchion. The grouping in this striking
picture is equally successful, nor must we omit to
notice the admirable drawing of Richard's famous
" White Surrey," which is as scrupulously correct in
point of anatomy, as if it had been the work of
Landseer. If skill and talent, and pains-taking, even
in the minutest and most unimportant parts of it, can
make an engravingpopular, then this must be eminently
so, for we have not met with its superior for many a
long day.