The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-30 00:00:00

ROUGH LEAVES FROM A JOURNAL KEPT

IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL,
DURING THE YEARS 1832, 1833, AND 1834.
BY Llign-COLONEL LOVISLL B4DCOCZ.
London: R. Bentley, 1835.

We really begin to grow tired of Journalized adven-
tures in Portugal during the late war. Diaries, when
accurately kept, are very useful to young travellers ; but
unless they refer to secret negoeiations, the intrigues of
a Court, or the private actions of a great statesman,
hero, or philosopher, they are very apt to be regarded
as extremely foolish productions. They commonly be-
tray a larger share of vanity than the writers are them_
selves aware of ; and being written with a view to pub-
lication, are often swelled out with accounts of ridicu-
lous trifles, for no ostensible reason save a wish to eke
out a volume.

These are harsh preliminaries to a brief notice of a
very entertaining book, written by a very intelligent
British officer, who was appointed to accompany Lord
William Russell and Colonel Hare to Portugal, in May
1832, on a mission from the British Government to
Don Pedro, and the agents of the Young Queen at
Lisbon. Nevertheless they are not altogether uncalled
for. So many volumes have already appeared on the
subject of the late war in Portugal, that the public is,
surfeited with anecdotes of Pedroite courage and Mi-
guelite cruelty. The great struggle„ stoo,--among the
respective authors appep,T.T, to have been, who should
spin out his storits'to the most interminable length.
Lieut.-Col. -i3adcock is not an exception here. His
b(,)ok, which we are willing to allow is equal in point
qi interest, accuracy, and sterling mr.r,:A any Ltiat
has yet appeared, would 11e as valuable as it now
is, were it condenc -act abridged to half its present
size. The ...Ate has really no concern in half of the
trifles - .omitted to it by way of valuable information.
it cares not a rush how many hours gallant officers
choose to ride for their own amusement in one day ;
it is indifferent to their culinary qualifications ; and it
would rather lose the account of whether or not they
wore watches, than be continually reminded of the
precise moment for winding them up or suspending
their movements. The gallant officer whose Journal
is before us is the more inexcusable in dwelling on
such puerilities, as he everywhere shews that by taking
a little more pains, he could have produced an invalu-
able work on the character and habits of the people of
Spain and Portugal. The following extract is a fair
specimen of hundreds of observant passages of the
same kind, which occur sometimes twice or thrice in a
page:
" The difference of the two countries, Spain and Portugal,
is very striking, though only a small ■pace and a river divides
them. One leaves behind in Portugal a broken mountainous
country, covered with olive trees, vineyards, groves of oranges,
lemons, and pomegranates, with houses and quintas of marble
and granite peeping outlrom amongst fine foliage, and foun-
tains in all directions of the purest water pouring from marble
spouts into vases--whereas you enter Spain through a country
burnt up, without a tree or green spot, and arrive at towns with
high Moorish walls and cupolas. The characters of the people
are also very dissimilar, though in many things their common
eastern origin displays itself. The Portuguese are naturally
a quiet, simple, good-tempered, people ; very shy but kind-
hearted and charitable ; faithful and honest in the highest de-
gree, though fond of bombast. Vanity is a prominent charac-
teristic ; they delight in intrigue ; are extremely punctilious in
all matters of etiquette and politeness ; and are attached to
their ancient usages, customs, and institutions. Under the
greatest afflictions they are patient and resigned. I should
add to this, that they are very active and industrious, for a
climate so inviting to repose.

" The Spaniards, on the other hand, with an apparent open-
ness of manners, are haughty and full of treachery and deceit ;
their generosity and hospitality resemble those of the Arab
(both equally disliking strangers) with little kindness of heart
or charity. Their roads are filled with robbers, and continual
assassinations take place in their cities and towns. The poli-
tical character of their nation causes them to be reserved and
suspicious, spying and beset with spies.
" The Spanish ladies are considered charming; but much of
their attraction proceeds from their elegant gait, dark eyes,
and Moorish customs. Their character in love, is, extreme of
passion, jealousy, and rage, which carry them to any excess.
The Portuguese ladies, though generally not so handsome, are
more pleasing. All have most brilliant eyes, and are very at-
tached, faithful, and domestic."

HILEY'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR;
4N ABRIDGJOIN? OF THS SAJIS, QUOSTIONS 4ND EXIIRCISICS.

Simphin and Marshall, London. 1835.

These little elementary books are not without merit.
On the contrary, they are serviceable educational tools,
which, in the hands of an experienced master, may, we
doubt not, conduce to raise up for learners a suffi-
ciently capacious and a tolerably solid grammati-
cal structure. This we say in sober seriousness ;
for from the rapid glance which only we have been
able to throw in the pages of these school-books, we
judge that they may challenge competition with any
of the Grammars and Exercises under whose accumu-
lating load the press now positively groans. What can
be the motive for multiplying books of this kind, when
the people who put them forth have made no discovery

in philology, but hash up the old mess over and over
again, feeding the poor school-boy with nothing but
grammatical morsels of monotony, it is not easy to con-
jecture. Almost every Grammar that appears is only
another edition of Murray's, which, although far from
being perfect, is, we believe, the only one that is actually,
or can be conveniently used in schools generally. The
truth is, we have not a good English Grammar : there
is no well digested system, no standard or code of
English Grammar. There are, in fact, no universally
recognized rules or laws for writing and speaking our
language.

Mr. Hiley is evidently a practical man. He very
properly takes almost as little public notice of Harris's
Hermes, and other works of the same speculative sort,
as if they had never been published. He does not per-
plex the pupil with wire-drawn distinctions, or tedious
analyses, or metaphysical definitions, and leaves almost
unnoticed both Lowth and Cobbett, and even the
" Diversions of Purley" divert not the schoolmaster
from the philological path he has selected for the
exercise of his professional functions, which, humble
though they be, yield in usefulness to none. On the
whole, Mr. Hiley's Grammar is a good one, and con-
tains abundant proofs of critical acumen as well as of
his scholastic attainments.

THE INSTRUCTOR: VOL. IV.
CONTAINING LESSONS ON THE CALENDAR, THE MONTHS, AND

TEE SEASONS.
London : J. W. Parker.

An excellent school-book, published under the di-
rection of the Society for Promoting Christian Know-
ledge. It is embellished with numerous engravings,
and sold for the trifling sum of two shillings.

A MANUAL OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR.
BY THE BEY. J. m. mgcuzzoem,
Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd. 1835.
This unpretending little volume has reached a
second edition. The fact speaks well for the discern-
ment of the instructors of youth. It is, in truth, a
very excellent, as well as a very cheap school-book—
well adapted to the comprehension of children. The
price, bound, is only eighteen-pence.

SCOTT'S LIFE OF NAPOLEON. Vol. Vl.
Cadell, Edinburgh. 1835.
This volume commences with the peace of Tilsit,
and carries down the history of Napoleon to the battle
of Barossa, in Spain. The text is illustrated by a va-
riety of useful notes, which have been added since the
work was first published.

A CATECHISM OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

BT GEORGE LEES, 4.M.

A CATECHISM OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.

BY THOMAS MURRAY, LL.D.
Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd. 1835.

These are eieellent little treatises ; comprising two
of a series of publications, called " Oliver and Boyd's
Catechisms of Elementary Knowledge." They are
published on the same plan as " Pinnock's Cate-
chisms," and are not inferior either in point of simpli-
city, perspecuity, subject-matter, or cheapness, to those
justly admired and extensively patronised elementary
treatises. The price is only nine-pence the number,
and each number contains the elements of a language,
a science, an art, or the history of a nation. The
" Catechism on Political Economy" is a complete ex •
position of the science.

HISTORY OF THE PRESENT CONDITION
OF THE BARBARY STATES.
BY THE REPREEND MICHAEL IUSSEL, LL. D.
Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1835.
_ _

This volume, which comprehends an excellent view
of the civil and religious institutions, religion, literature,
arts, commerce, agriculture, and natural productions of
the States contiguous to the African coast, forms the
17th number of the " Edinburgh Cabinet Library."
The interest which the author contrives to sustain,
amid difficulties which to ordinary persons would ap-
pear insurmountable, is conclusive of his great powers
as a historian. At first sight it appears nearly impos-
sible that we should take an interest :id the history of
a people whose forms of religion and government bear
on the, Wry surface of them traces of the grossest bar-
barism, and the most degrading superstition ; but the
apparent difficulty will vanish if Dr. Russell's work be
consulted. The volume is embellished with a map,
and eleven engravings of the average order of merit.

HISTORY of the BRITISH COLONIES, Vol. IV.

Cochrane, London.

1835.

7 • " confined to details respecting
our Colonial possessions in Africa alid
Montgomery Martin is the author, and has brought
his usual diligence and scrupulous accuracy to a task
which is evidently a labour of love with him. In his
accounts of Australasia, we perceive he has availed him-
self of Captain Sturt's late interesting discoveries in
that remote quarter of the globe. The volume is em-
bellished with a handsome map.

SONGS OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
2 Vols. Cochrane, London. 1835.

!7‘7177T1'1,,T..'7

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1835.

For many of the more ancient songs and ballads in
this collection, the editor is indebted to the researches
of Percy and Ritson—the former especially, whose
second and third volumes have supplied him with
abundant materials. This is perfectly justifiable, for
the present work pretends to no higher distinction than
a mere compilation ; and where can the author institute
more useful and agreeable researches than in the
"Reliques ?" No man ever relished the rough but
fine flavour of our old English song-writers more
keenly than Dr. Percy. He was not a profound
poetic antiquarian, as compared with his successors,
Ritson and Ellis ; but he had fancy and feeling, in
both which they were deficient, as he has shown in
many of his own compositions. His " Alcanzor and
Zaida," and " Gentle River"—which he professed to
have imitated from the Spanish—will last as long as
refined and graceful sensibility shall possess charms
for an English reader. The only fault we find with
the " Reliques" is the too frequent liberties that the
Bishop takes with his text. He is perpetually altering
and modernizing, always for the better, so far as suits
the ear, but not unfrequently for the worse, as respects
the spirit and character of the old songs. Neverthe-
less, his volumes are, of their kind, without a rival in
this or any language, and materially contributed to-
wards that great poetic revolution which took place in
England, about the close of the last century. On their
first publication, Johnson tried hard to crush them ;
and even the Bishop himself professed, late in life, to be
ashamed of them ; but they have stood their ground
against all opposition ; and were the sources from
which Scott and Wordsworth drew inspiration. We
recognise many of Percy's " Reliques" in this miscel-
lany ; and among others that mercurial old song,
" Jolly Good Ale," which was composed by Still,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, in the early part of the 16th
century. In those days Bishops were jovial fellows,
formidable over a flask, and lavishly addicted to glees
and catches. It was their boast, that they had " heard
the chimes at midnight." Of such a sort were old
Hall and Still, and the Right-Reverend and rosy author
of that capital drinking-song, " Mihi est propositum
in taberna mori." Still's stanzas are very properly
placed—out of a becoming respect to the Bench—at
the head of this collection ; and are followed by many
of Marlowe's, Withers', Raleigh's, and Herrick's most
admired productions. The volumes come down to the
present day, and contain some pleasing specimens of
Barry Cornwall's talents for song-writing. The best
poems, however, are decidedly those by Herrick, whose
muse was imbued with the true Anacreontic ease and
simplicity.