The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

SEMI-SERIOUS OBSERVATIONS OF
AN ITALIAN EXILE.—LONDON, 1833.
Count Pecchio, already favourably known to
many of our readers by his " Letters on the
Spanish Revolution," and some very interest-
ing details of a " Tour in Greece," which he
contributed to the New Monthly Magazine,
in the •ear 1825, is the author of this volume.
The work is creditable to his powers of ob-
servation, is sprightly and serious by turns,
without the slightest tinge of sarcasm or se-
verity, and remarkably desultory in its cha-
racter. The Count's thoughts are all in
deshabille: he seldom pauses to arrange or
dress them ; but hurries on from one to the
other, from subject to subject, with the head.
long rapidity of Young Rapid in the play.
Occasionally he makes—pardonable however in
a foreigner, and still more so in a mercurial
Italian—most preposterous blunders, when,
for instance, he roundly asserts, as a predominant
trait of national character, that " Englishmen
are free from the defect of carping at new inven-
tions." Never was any assertion so utterly un-
founded. The English, beyond all other peo-
ple, whether in the new world or the old, have,
it is well known, a most inveterate horror of in-
novations, whether in politics, science, or lite-
rature, and quack, knave, adventurer, &c., are
among the mildest terms of reproach that they
pour upon the head of the luckless innovator
on the " wisdom of their ancestors." Again,
the Count pronounces, ex cathedr4, that nothing
goes down with the readers of works of fiction
(including all England we believe) but ghosts,
witches, and such like monstrosities. " Woe
be to those," he adds, " who should venture to
write a romance without some apparition fitted
to make each particular hair stand on end."
Now we can assure the Count, that here, as in
the former instance, he has wholly mistaken the
English character. Ghosts and hobgoblins have
had their day it is true, but that day is
gone for ever. They went out with the pig-
tails and the bag-wigs, and have given place to
soberer and more healthy realities. Mrs. Rat-
' cliffe and Monk Lewis were, we believe, the
Ultimi Romanorum—(we say U/timi rather than
(Mime, on the authority of the Eton Latin gram-
mar which, with a marked contempt for truth and
courtesy, assures us that the masculine gender is
more worthy than the feminine)—these two
authors, we repeat, were the last of the goblin-
manufacturers. Bating these and a few other
trivial blemishes, Count Pecchio's book is well
worth attention. He is quite as shrewd an ob-
server as the German Prince Puckler Muskau,
without an atom of his virulent personalities, or
flagrant self•conceit. He studies the English cha-
racter with the sensible determination of a man
of the world, to pass lightly over, and view in its
most favourable light, what may not exactly
happen to chime in with his own national habits
and prejudices. Hence his volume will, no
doubt, soon become a favourite among us.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO TURNER'S
ANNUAL TOUR.

These Illustrations are twenty-one in number,
and may vie with any of their predecessors in
grace and elaborate finish. We could tell at
once that they were engraved from originals by
Turner, from the variety and poetic beauty of their
sunsets. Nantes "is an engraving by Miller,the
and is full of life and spirit, with one defect,
that the mass of buildings immediately in
rear of the fore-ground, swerves sadly from the
perpendicular. "Scene on the Loire" is marked
by extreme chasteness and repose. " Rietz,
near Saunur," does great credit to Mr. Bran-
dard, the engraver, who has managed a difficult,
and, in some hands, an intractable perspective,
with considerable skill. We may also mention,
as deserving of more commendation than our
limited space allows us to give, the " View be-
tween Clairmont and Mauves,"—" Tours,"—
:t Cet
hiaaerirrminv aaolinnot diligence, e, the unpacking,
town. &c.,tla
street
l ddoilfi above
n

Two agents, charged to negotiate a loan for
Don MIGUEL, have arrived at Paris. Their stay, it is
supposed, will be but short, as they intend to proceed to
London, where they hope principally to accomplish the
object of their mission.—French Paper.
A NEW DEFINITION OF TORYISM.—At
a clergyman's door, in St. Ann's-street, Liverpool, a sus-
picious-looking female applied to one of the domestics for
charity, and was repulsed in such severe terms as caused
the master to go to the door to inquire what was goicg on.
The servant replied, that the beggar was a very bad cha-
racter—" the greatest Tory in Liverpool !" " The greatest
Tory," said the Rev. Gentleman, " what do you mean ?"
"Why, Sir," said the girl, " she is the greatest thief in
Liverpool."--Scotsman.
Dr. BusßY.—My father (says Dr. BURNEY)
was a day scholar at Westminster-school, under the cele-
brated Dr. BUSBY, while my grandfather resided at White-
hall. I remember his telling a story of the severe chas-
tisement he received from that terrible disciplinarian, Dr.
BUSBY, for playing truant after school hours, instead of
returning home. My grandfather, who had frequently
admonished him not to loiter about the street, lest he
should make improper and mischievous acquaintances,
finding no attention was paid to his injunctions, gave him
a letter addressed to the Rev. Dr. BUSBY, which he did
not fail to deliver, with ignorant cheerfulness, on his en-
trance into the school. The Doctor, when he bad perused
it, called my father to him, and in a very mild, and
seemingly good-humoured voice, sad, 46 BURNEY, can
you read writing ?" " Yes, Sir," answered my father,
with great courage and flippancy. " Then read this letter
aloud," says the Doctor; when my father, with an audi-
ble voice, began—" Sir, my son, the bearer of this
letter, having long disregarded my admonitions against
stopping to play with idle boys in his way home from
school—". Here my father's voice faltered. "Go
on," says big master ; 44 you read very well." "I am
sorry to be under the necessity of entreating you to—to—
to—to—to cor—". Here he threw down the letter, and
fell on his knees, crying out, " Indeed, Sir, I'll never do
so again ! Pray forgive me !" " Oh, you read perfectly
well," the Doctor again tells him ; pray finish the letter :"
and making him pronounce aloud the words, " correct
him"—complied with my grandfather's request in a very
liberal manner.—memoirs of Dr. Burney.