The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-22 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Bermuda • its Ihstory, Geology, Climate, Products
Agriculture, Commerce, and Government, with
• .Hints to Invalids. By Theodore L. Godet, M.P.
smith and Elder.
• We are informed in the preface of this book that
• its aim "is togive an historical account of the settle-
. went made by emigrants from England in Ber-
muda or Somer's Islands, and of the constitutionsl
establishment, internal government, and political
system maintained by Great Britain in these
Islands," Further on the author states this un-
answerable reason for his efficiency for the task in
which he is engaged. "From having resided mall
years in Bermuda, of which place I am a native,
presume to think that I am somewhat better quell'
fled to judge of the influence of climate and situation
on the disposition, temper, and intellect of the
inhabitants, than some of those writers who have
not had the same advantages.” Thoce
who wish for a good general idea el
this place, such as may be gathered from the
recorded experience of one who is at home
with his subject, cannot do better than avail them-
selves of this opportunity of information. The
climate is described as most agreeable, being
mean temperature, between that of the West Indies.
and British North America, "partaking neither 01
the extreme heat of the one nor the excessive aid,
of the other." It is stated that Bermuda woo
prove very serviceable to those who are of delicate
constitution. These islands have only been visited
with yellow fever seven times in two centuries, and
are generally considered to be very healthy. In
the chapter on the " Government" of Bermuda it is
remarked how very strong are the distinctions and
how inveterate are the prejudices of party feeling'
" It is utterly impossible for any one unacquainted-
with Bermuda to form an idea of the length to
which party spirit is carried. It enters into the
most private relations of life. A Tory and Radical
are as distinct and have as little in common be-
tween them as if they were men not only of different
countries, but of countries hostile to each other.
The most admirable proposition that united wislicle
and patriotism ever contrived, if emanating from
one party, would be received with coldness by the
other. In private society, too, the distinction ie
very strangely marked—families of different parties
do not mingle, and even tradesmen find their cus-
tom affected in a considerable degree by these poli-
tical divisions." It would be well if these colonists
would follow the example set them by those in high
places and distinguished positions at home. There
is nothing in which the good sense and fair play of
Englishmen is more exhibited than in the free in-
tercourse and friendly association that often taxes
place between those of opposite opinions, and while
they meet with frankness one day, they can as
frankly be engaged on different sides the next. The
productions of the soil and agriculture furnish
topics of interest for consideration. It is
observed that the neglect of agriculture is
attributed to want of knowledge in a scientific
point of view; and a hope is expressed that a society:
should be formed in Bermuda for the purpose 01
encouraging agriculture and horticulture. On the.
whole, it may be safely affirmed that the author a
this little work has presented us with a readable
and useful sketch of the progress of the colony, and
many may be entertained with the picture of Ber-
muda as here presented to them.

Market Harborough ; or, How 111 r. Sawyer went to
the Shires. Chapman and Hall.
Although the author of this tale does not declare
himself, few who are conversant with the sportingliterature of the last ten years will fail to recogul
the style of the clever author of " Mr. Sponge.°
Sporting Tour" in the present work. The hero is
a country gentleman who, having been recom-
mended in youth to take his name off the boards of
an Oxford college for a breach of discipline, which
although venial in the eyes of many, was unpar-
donable by the University, he having ridden 0:"
Ayrshire bull across Peckwater in broad daylight 10
hunting costume, having attired his steed in a fall
suit of academicals, renounced for ever the litera-
ture of the ancients, and retired to his country
residence and devoted all his energies to the chase,
and confined his literary researches to the perusal
of Bell's Life and the Sporting Magazine, caring
little for the pleasure of society, having shortly
after his retirement from Oxford been heartlessly'
jilted by a certain Miss Mexico, who however 10
not introduced to the reader. Mr. Sawyer, our
hero, in his thirty-eighth year, tires of his
own county, and determines to viait the
Shires, as the sporting phrase goes, or,
to be more explicit, the grass-land of
Leicestershire with its extensive pastures,
ox fences, and broad ditches, by way of a
change, from the heavy plough-land of his own
county. It is on his arrival at Market Harborough
that the tale really begins. Mr. Sawyer meets in
the railway carriage, which conveys him from Lon-
don to Harborough, a certain gentleman yclept the
Hon. Crasher, who is certainly the best character
in the book, and represents, in some measure, many
of the first flight men of the hunting field, who,
when in town, are too fatigued and weary to make
the least exertion ; but in the saddle, at the cover-
side, are men of rather another stamp. The Hon.
Crasher is one of this class in both extremes,
and the author properly says that where danger
is not feared, or the possibility of accident antici-
pated, it is often avoided. So with Crasher, he
cared nothing for his own neck nor that of his horse
—be with hounds he would, cost what it might, and
escaped dangers which would have crushed most men.
Idle and listless to the last degree, generous and
good-natured to a fault, there was yet that in the
manner of the Honourable that forbade freedom or
intrusion. Mr. Sawyer struck up a great friend-
ship with this individual, whose heart he won when
chancing to come across him going to the meet the
morning after his arrival, and having lost his way
in a fog Crasher volunteers to show him, which he
does after his own fashion, for getting off the right
track and finding a gate locked, he jumps it, and rides
straight across country to the place of meeting,
but he is followed by as bold a rider as himself, who
shows him the way over some difficult places. From
that moment they are fast friends. He introduces
him to the Sporting Parson, who invites them to
lunch, where our hero meets the rector's lovely
daughter, with whom of course he immediately
falls in love and ultimately marries, although this
episode does not take place during the narrative.
The maid is won by the neglect which her coldness
to her lover has induced him to show her, and the
matrimonial catastrophe is consummated by the
steeplechase catastrophe which breaks Mr. Sawyer's
collarbone, and causes Miss Dove to show her real
feeling. A variety of characters are introduced, all
more or less portraying the idiosyncrasy of diffEcent
classes of individuals to be met with in hunting coun-
tries. The author is a thorough sportsman, and
his descriptions of runs, leaps, &c., and the general
adventures of a hunting field, are given con amore;
and the steeplechase, which concludes the volume,
is capitally done. It is a private affair got up among
the Harborough gentlemen, and Mr. Sawyer of course
enters, much against the advice of his old groom,
Isaac, who has had some experience in steeple-
chases. Mr. Sawyer, however, acquitted himself
very well—himself, the dare-devil Crasher, and an.
unknown, forming the three at the finish.
Thus they near the "double"—the last obstacle of any
importance. It consists of two ditches, and a strong staked-
and-bound fence on a bank. No horse can fly it all in his
stride, after galloping nearly four miles. Perhaps that is
the reason why Stripes, who knows he is on a quick one as
well an fast one, shoots a little to the front, and comes at it
at such an awful pace, seducing his two adversaries, by the
force of example, into the same indiscretion. Crasher,
who never "loses his stupidity," as he calls his presence of
mind, diverges for a rail that he spies where the ditch is
narrowest, takes the chance of breaking that or being
killed, and going at it forty miles an hour, smashes it like
paper, and succeeds, as Chance rises not an inch, in cover-
ing both ditches at a fly. He lands 'almost abreast of
Luxury, who has struck back at the fence with the rapidity
and activity of a cat.
Mr. Sawyer, though remembering the place under the
tree, dare not pull his horse off enough, lest he should lose
too much ground, and Wood Pigeon, who is a little blown,
attempting to do it all at once, lands with both fore-feet in
the further ditch, chucks his rider into the field before him,
and then rolls over the plum-coloured jacket in an ex-
tremely uncomfortable form. The horse rises, looking
wild and scared; not so the rider : " He's down I" exclaim
the crowd ; but their attention is so taken up by a slashing
race home between Crasher and Stripes, in which the for-
mer is out-ridden by the latter, and beaten by half-a-length
on the post, that probably no one present but Miss Dove
knew who it was that was down. As the plum-colour still
lay motionless, poor Cissy turned very pale and sick, and.
then began to cry.
This is not a tale of romance; it is not the
author's intention, nor is it his forte;
he has some experience in the ways of
women, or, at least, has studied character, or per-
haps been thrown over himself. But his knowledge
of all sporting matters is complete, and feeling that,
it is his strongest point he makes the most of it.

THE COAL !MADE.—In the year 1860,10,720,716
tons of coals, cinders, and culm were shipped coastways,
from one port to another of the United Kingdom, an in-
crease of 612,883 tons over the year 1859 ; and 7,321,832
tons, of th© declared value of £3,316,281, were exported, an
increase of 214,833 tons over 1859, and of £46,268 in value.
In 1850 the quantity exported was only 3,351,880 tons (less
than half the export of 1860), the declared value of which
was £1,284,224. But all those figures, relating to seaborne
coal, deal with not very much more than a quarter of the
total quantity raised ; the bulk of it is brought into con-
sumption without being shipped, and manufactures and
ty was 041 y 3,6;B,BB3.ncrease of 275,207
i
porliation aro attracted to the neighbourhood of the coal-.
fields. The quantity of coals brought into the metropolis
in 1860 coastways was 3,573,377 tons (an
tons over 1850), and by inland navigation and land carriage
1,499,899 tons (an increase of 289,123), together 5,373,276
tons, Ton year,' ago the quantity