The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

.RIENZL 3 Vols.
Saunders and Ofley. London. 1835.
The Revolution effected by Rienzi, in the fourteenth
tury, is a more splendid and §tartling episode than
any recorded in the Italian annals, fertile as those
annals are, in such wonderful events. Apparently
there was no busy ;rote of preparation ; the change
was the work of a tlav—an hour ; and the chief actor
in it started up i it full, grand proportions, like the fairy
Palace of AlaclAin,
course was t 1 which sprung up in a night. His
'fat of a meteor ; scarcely had he dazzled
the eyes oLP• Europe by his splendor than he was gone,
leaving 4,:f".e political hemisphere darker than ever. By
far the finest part of Gibbon's history—thou: 7,h Mr.
er, we perceive, differs from us—is that which
deft cribes, in a strain of eloquence worthy of the occa-
61' on, the sudden rise and as sudden fall of Rienzi. He
'gives him his due, to the fullest extent to which a
conscientious historian can go—we say conscientious,
for notwithstanding all the attacks that have been made
°Pea Gibbon for, what is called, his religious heresy, it
must ever be borne in mind, that he wrote, not as
4 Protestant Clergyman, with a Living in his
''eye, but as an historian. As such, it was his duty to
'ecord, and comment upon facts—careless whom his
facts and his comments might offend ; and as such, he
has acted, throughout the noblest historical work ever
Penned by mortal hand. With Rienzi, it is clear,
from his own interesting memoir of himself, prefixed
loLord Teignmouth's edition of his posthumous works,
Ire must hare had many sympathies in common.
The inspiration that has given immortality to both,
-was the same -in both cases. The sight of the
ruins of old Rome, and the associations connected
with it, impelled Gibbon to become an historian,
and the same impressive objects urged forward
Rienzi in his course of republicanism. What ob-
ject, then, could the historian of Rome have possibly
had in slurring over the deeds, and underrating the
Character of the regenerator, though but for a
moment, of the old Roman republic ? But Mr.
Bulwer's objections to this portion of Gibbon's
history are more in words than deeds, for on a
diligent perusal of his tale, we find that his
Rienzi differs very little from Gibbon's. True,
it is less in outline, and the individuality of the cha-
zacter is more strongly marked; but the main features—
the enthusiasm—the sincerity—the sternness—and the
vanity—are still the same ; in fact, whatever Mr. Bulwer
flay himself imagine to the contrary, he has filled up
his Rienzi from the vivid etching furnished to him by
Gibbon. He may have consulted minor Italian his-
torians for the more trivial characteristic points of
rudividuality ; nevertheless, in the aggregate of quali-
ties that make up the man, the Rienzi of the novelist is
one and the same with the Rienzi of the historian.
When we say that we have risen from the perusal of
this tale with a higher opinion than we have ever yet
entenained—high as that opinion ever has been—of
4r. Bulwer's talents, we say no more than we feel--=
a° more than is his due. The subject has filled up
every nook and corner of his imagination ; and exalted
as it. is, he has shown himself capable of grappling with
it. It is not the mere novelist that we recognise in his
Pages ; but the man of research—of sagacity—of intel-
lect, cultivated to the highest degree; who, while he
Possesses the rare power of amusing his readers, pos-
sesses that still rarer one, of making their amusement
4anfinister to their instruction. He sees fair play both
ttetween patrician and plebeian, and "nothing extenuates,
4or sets down aught in malice." His knowledge, too,
the domestic character of the times of which he
treats, is corset ; though we doubt whether he is
strictly accurate, in making the Provencal freebooter,
Walter de Montreal, a man of such high political in-
fluence at Rome. If our memory do not deceive us
ewe allude to an indistinct recollection of Perceval's
history, an elaborate work, which deserves obe better
known than it is—the Patrician families oft Rome had
4 great jealousy of anything like foreign intervention
in their domestic squabbles with each other ; and made
a Point of keeping down all those military ad-
venturers, to whom they were indebted for temporary
assistance. But to return more immediately to our
theme. The characters in Rienzi, especially the
females, are discriminated with admirable skill. Irene
and Nina have scarce one sympathy in common ;
very love is of a different character ; yet we re-
"gnize the humanity of both, as we recognize that of
4 Miranda and a Beatrice. Were we to offer any ob-
!ection to the tale—which we are loth to do, consider-
411g how we have been delighted with its perusal—it
Would be, that, in the earlier portions, the can-
/'ass is too much crowded with characters. Scarcely
:34re we introduced to one than we are instantly
Ilurried away from it and presented with ano-
ther, to the great embarrassment of the main plot,
Which halts unnecessarily the while. In the two last
°°lurnes, however, all progresses as it should do. The
triumph of Reinzi—his pride—his Magnificence—his
al/thition—and even his vanity ;—these peculiar cha-
racteristics are brought out with consummate dramatic
ability, for they are not merely described in the form
of narrative, but we see them in action, and are made
to anticipate their results. The sketch of the plague
M Florence is a trite subject, invested with as much
freshness as it was susceptible of ; 'while, as regards
the style of the tale—though elaborate, as Mr. Bul-
Wer's style is apt to be—the art throughout is concealed
'with more tact than in any fiction he has yet attempted,
pith the single exception of Pelham. Altogether, the
Production is a first-rate one, and has within
11 all the materials of durability. In portions it
aspires to the dignity of history ; and though we could
have spared some of the love scenes, as marring
the
unity, and interfering with the stern, republican
the
of the subject, yet, as these are sacrifices to
t taste of the day, we forbear from saying a word
`° their prejudice. We quote a few extracts, wherein
elevated thoughts are clothed in befitting language,
and which will serve to show, that much as Mr. Bul-
Wer has already done, he has not yet done all, nor
"en half, of what his lofty and refined intellect is
capable.

j-.

to the Royalty of Mind. Yes, that same Power which, a
rew years ago, crowned Petrarch. in the Capitol, when it
witnessed, after the silence of twelve centuries, the glories
of a TRlUMPH—which heaped upon a man of obscure birth,
and 'unknown in arms, the same honours given of old to
emperors and the vanquishers of kings—which united in
one act of homage even the rival houses of Colonna and
Orsini—which made the haughtiest patricians emulous to
bear the train, to touch but the purple robe, of the son of
the Florentine Plebeian—which still draws the eyes of
Europe to the lowly cottage of Vaucluse—which gives, to
the humble student the all-acknowledged licence to admo--
nish tyrants, and approach, with haughty prayers, even the
Father of the Church ; yes, that same Power, which,
working silently throughout Italy, murmurs under the solid
base of the Venetian oligarchy, which, beyond the Alps,
has woke into visible and sudden life in Spain, in Germany,
in Flanders, and which, even in that barbarous Isle, con-
quered by the Norman sword, ruled by the bravest-of living
kings, has roused a spirit Norman cannot break—kings to
rule over must rule by--yes, that same Power is everywhere
abroad ; it speaks, it\conquers in the voice even of him who
is before you ; it unites in his cause all on whom but one
glimmering of light bas burst, all in whom one generous
desire can be awakened ! Know'', Lord Vicar, that there is
not a man in Rome, save our oppressors themselves—not a
min who has learnt one syllable of our ancient tongue—
whose heart and sword are not with me. The peaceful
cultivators of letters—the proud nobles of the second or-
der—the rising race, wiser than their slothful sires ; above
all, my Lord, the humbler ministers of religion, priests and
monks, whom luxury hath not blinded, pomp hath not
deafened, to the monstrous outrage to Christianity daily
and nightly perpetrated in the Christian Capital ; these—
all these—are linked with merchant and the artizan in
one indissoluble bond, waiting but the signal, to fall or to
conquer, to live free, or to die immortally, with Rienzi and
their country !' "

LIFE OF WASHINGTON. Vol. 2.
Tegy and Son, Cheapside, London. 1835.

The present volume, which forms the fifty-fourth of
the Family Library, contains the last part of Mr.
Cyrus Edmond's Memoirs of General Washington,
commencing with the period of the arrival of the French
officers in America, and concluding with the retirement
into private life, and death of the great Liberator.
The biography, as we observed in our notice of the pre-
ceding volume, is an able one, though but in sketch,
and greatly to the credit of Mr. Edmonds, is charac-
terised throughout by strict impartiality. It is embel-
lished with a full-length portrait of General Washing-
ton, and a fac•simile, with all its verbal alterations, of
the famous declaration of independence, which is sup-
posed to have been the joint production of Dr. Franklin
and President Jefferson.

LAND AND SEA TALES. 2 Vols.
E. Wilson, London. 1835.

The author of these tales is already favourably
known to the lovers of light fiction by his " Tough
Yarns," a 'collection of amusing stories which he pub-
lished some months since, under the designation of the
" Old Sailor ;" and the present work will not detract
from, but rather enhance, his popularity. It consists
of about half a dozen Tales, some of a cheerful, some
of an earnest and impassioned character, but all be-
tokening very considerable talent—which we the more
readily acknowledge, because it is free
_from any thing
like assumption. The best tale in the collection is
that entitled the " Warlock," which is strikingly dra-
matic and fertile in incident ; full of bustle, and, to-
wards the close, of deep tragic pathos. We know not
that even Cooper himself in the best of his romances,
The Pilot," has exceeded the " Old Sailor," in his
vivid description of the chace of a schooner after a
pirate ; or in his well conceived, and consistently sup-
ported character of Ben Transom, a boatswain of the
old school, rough as a Polar bear, yet with a heart
overflowing with kindness. Nature speaks, and makes
herself felt, throughout this manly, unaffected sketch,
and it is not without regret that we take leave of honest
Ben, when anchored in a snug port for life in Green-
wich Hospital. We must bargain, however, for a
" yarn" or two from the quaint old tar in the author's
next publication. Next to the " Warlock" in inte-
rest, and superior to it in lavish power of description,
is the tale illustrative of the state of the negroes in
New Guiana, which none could have penned but
one intimate with the peculiarities of this oppressed
race, and the glowing, luxuriant clime in which so
many thousands of them, for age after age, toiled—
withered—and died heart-broken. Two more agreeable
and unassuming volumes than " Land and Sea Tales"
have not appeared this season.

THE MARKETS-(THIS DAY.)
CORN EXCHANGE.
There are very short arrivals of all kinds of Grain this week, not
any having been reported since Wednesday. The trade for every
article continues dull, and the few buyers that were on market pur-
chased cautiously, as a large Supply is expected. Flour dull.
ARRIVALS. .
Barley.
830 qrs.

Wheat.
E. glish
r.sh
Fbreign

SMITHFIEL
The supply to this day's mark(
brisk, at the following

PRICES PER STONE OF BLI

Oats.
740 qrs. 1,090 sacks
3;280

D MARKET.
et was great, and the trade was

4 TO SINK TUE OFFA LS.

s. d. to . d s d. to s.d.
Inferior Beasts
Second quality ditto 3 0 3 6 Second quality ditto 3 0 3 6
Prime large Oxen 4 0 4 4 Coarso-weolled ditto ..., 3 8 4 2
Prime Scats, &c.
Large coarse Calves 3 4 4 4 Large Hogs
['rime small ditto 4 8 5 0 Small Porkers 4 0 4 4
Sukling Calves each —l2 0 28 01 Quarter old Pigs each; 10 U 14 0

Beasts,
960

SUPPLY, AS PER CL:
Sheep.
4,100

.ERK'S STATEMENT.
Calves, Pigs.
320 I 3•;0

NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL MARKETS.
At per stone, by the Carcass,
s d. tos d -

s d. to s d.
22 2 4
2 C. 210

Beef, inferior. 2 " 0 4 Mutton, inferior
- middling .,.. 0 6 n 8 middling
-- prime large „. 2lO 3 4 - prime
- prime snmi '3 8 310 Pork, large
Veal

30 3 8
. 2 1,) 3 0
42 4 6

SHIPPING.-(THIS DAY.)

(FROM LLOYD'S.)
DEAL, DEC. 17.—Wind N. W.—Arrived the Malcolm,
Pond, from Waterford ; Brother's Friend, Wayth, from
Newry ; Dispatch, Saunders, from Newcastle to Little-
hampton ; Alpha, Hill, from Santander ; Zephyr, Spiers, from
Exeter; Courier, Davidson, from Cape of Good Hope; Al-
binia, —, from Demerara ; Barbadoes, Planter, Austin,
Santander, Minerva, and Keiller, from Bahia. Arrived from
the river and sailed, the Oscar, Hinderwall, for Madeira ;
Edward Pathroe, Edmonds, for Bristol; Brothers, Lewis, for
Swansea; Sir R. Barclay, Aitken, for Havre; Charles
Cater, Christall, for Cape Coast ; Michael, Brooks, for To-
bago ; and Tancred, Crosby, for Barbadoes ; also sailed, the
Henry Farmer, for Sydney, with the rest of the outward
bound.

SCILLY, DEC. 14.—Arrived off port, the St. George,
David, from Rio Janeiro ; Jordeson, Jordeson, from Deme-
rara ; Baltic Merchant, Cross, from St. John's, New Bruns-
wick ; and Albion, Pater, from Youghal—pumps choked,
cargo discharging.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 16.—Arrived off port, the Mary, Ste-
phenson, from Nassau ; Cintra, —, from Lisbon ; and
Oporto, —, from Oporto.
INDUBLIN, DEC. 15.—Arrived the Coquette, Hinds, from
St. Lucia ; and Nelson Wood, Robinson, from St. John's, N. B.
PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 17.—Wind N. N. W.—Arrived from
London, the Juliana, Dacre, for Madras and Calcutta.
FALMOUTH, DEC. 16.—Wind E.N.E. to E., moderate
breezes.—Arrived his Majesty's ship Pantaloon, —, from
Lisbon—sailed 6th inst. ; and Herald, Alderson, from Quebec.
Sailed his Majesty's brig Delight, —, for Lisbon, with
mails. Letters for Madeira may now be forwarded by way
of Lisbon.

`l' Yes,' said Rienzi, breaking suddenly from his reverie,
ii)'es, the day is at hand when Rome shall rise again from
1:14 ashes ; Justice shall dethrone Oppression ; men shall
411 t safe in their ancient Forum. We will rouse from his
b~otten tomb the indomitable soul of Cato ! There shall
ill a people once more in Rome ! And I—l shall be the
,thstrument of that triumph—the restorer of my race—mine
41 r .411 be the first voice to swell the battle-cry of freedom—
loo the first hand to rear her banner—yes, from the height
o in
own soul as from a mountain, I see alreay risng the
euerties and the grandeur of the New Rome,d and on the
h4ner-stone of the mighty fabric posterity shall read my

4' My Lord,' answered Rienzi, gravely, it is the misfor-
tune
of siznors of your rank never to know the people, or
the accurate signs of the time. As those who pass over
the heights of mountains see the clouds sweep below, veiling
the plains and valleys from their gaze, while they, only a
oitiee above the level, survey the movements and the homes
theven so from your lofty eminence ye behold but
Station I see the preparations of the shepherds to shelter
rlnselves and herds from the storm which those clouds
tetnken. Despair not, my Lord ; endurance goes but to a
traits
limit—to that limit it is already stretched—Rome
t 0
rise
but the occasion (it will come soon, but not suddenly)
l'ise simultaneously ao•ainst her oppressors."
* •

The Ethiopian, bound to Newfoundland, has put back to
Lisbon, with damage.
The Neerlends Indicn, Veering, and Margaret Catharine,
Mulder, bound to Batavia, have put back to the Texel—the
former leaky, the latter with damage.

To THE SUBSCRIBERS TO " PELHAM" AND
" THE DISOWNED" IN SHILLING NUMBERS.—In conse-
quence of an insidious attempt to mislead the subscribers
to these Publications, (which commence the cheap re-issue
of " Colburn's Novelists,") as to the next Work to be
introduced into the-Series, the proprietor begs to acquaint
them, that, in order to impart every possible variety to the
above Collection, and to meet the wishes of a great number
of applicants, he has determined, before introducing any
other of Mr. Bulsver's celebrated Works, of which he pos-
sesses the copyright, to give Captain Marryat's " Frank
Mildmai," the first portion of which, with a portrait of the
author, will appear on Saturday, Jan. 2, forming the 13th
Number of "Colburn's Novelists." This Work will be com-
prised in five Weekly Shilling Numbers, handsomely illus-
trated ; or the volume may be had, elegantly bound, for Six
Shillings, of all respectable Booksellrs throughout the
kingdom. London : Published for Henry Colburn by R.
Bentley. Agents for Scotland, Messrs. Bell and Bradfute,
Edinburgh ; for Ireland, John Cumming, Dublin.

" ' Observe, that, throughout the whole world, a great
solution has begun. The barbaric darkness of centuries
been broken ; the KNOWLEDGE which made men as
demigods in the past time has been called from her urn ; a
rOup
v.. er, subtler than brute force, and mightier armed
Ne
n, is at work ; we have begun once more tothan do homage

~ ~ T

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1835.