The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-27 00:00:00

There is always a strong degree of interest at-
tached to a " tender correspondence," when the
parties concerned are such individuals as Lady
Wortley Montague and Alexander Pope, Dean
Swift and Vanessa, Burns and Clarinda, Lord
• Nelson and Lady Hamilton, Goethe and Bettine,
Heloise and Abelard, and others of equal celebrity.
For our own part we somewhat agree with our
great poet when he said, " Men have died from
time to time and worms have eaten them ; but
not for love ; " nevertheless we should like to have
a peep at the epistles which passed between Wiliam
Shakespeare and Ann Hathaway in their days of
courtship.
Love-letters, in the average, are mere epistolary
bon-bons— spoonsful of caligraphic treacle, form-
ing the indispensable medium for the conveyance of
matrimonial brimstone, and few of us would care to
have our bygone quires of Cupid's " Foolscap" pub-
lished, though at the time when we filled them
with the glowing, burning, ardent, apostrophes to
" beloved Alfred," or " darling Louisa," we deemed
them of more importance than a Magna Charta
scroll or a sweeping Reform Bill ; still we readily
admit that the volume we have just laid down ex-
hibits some engrossing and choice specimens of the
language of passion and affection. The lively
talent of Ninon de l'Enelos, the noble sentiments
of Heloise, the fervid eloquence of Julia de Les-
pinasse are admirable illustrations of the different
phases of feminine love; while the playful epistles
of Napoleon, the intense devotion of Klopstock, and
the tender delicacy of Goethe are striking exam-
ples of masculine feelings. Pope's letters to Lady
' Wortley Montague haver padly disappointed us :
they are couched in tlimsey sentences containing
little else than far-fetched conceits, extravagant
compliments, and " high heroic fustian," but those
of Lady Montague to her husband evince practical
good sense, truthful candour, and a noble self-sacri-
fice for the object of her love, which impresses the
reader with an elevated estimate of her head and
heart. The volume contains much which renders
it attraetive 'to all who have participated in the
weakness that compelled Marc Anthony to risk his
crown, and Sam Weller to undergo the hard labour
of writing a valentine. It is likely, therefore, to
have a few readers.

Discourses by William Anderson, L.L.D. Ber-
tram, Argyle-street, Glasgow.
We find much in these sermons to demand
notice, for they possess the elements of sound Chris-
tianity exhibited in the attractive garb of original
thought and free discussion. No startling bursts
of eloquence or imposing metaphors aro set forth—
no Spurgeonitish denunciations, redolent of terrible
words and awful threats, are poured out; but every
text is treated in a manner that must exercise a
beneficial influence on hearer or reader—conveying
consolation, enlightenment, rebuke, or encourage-
ment to duty, as may be most needed. Some home
truths are dwelt on with forcible aptitude, touch-
ing the reprehensible habits of daily life, and the
unworthy tone of thinking which mars so much of
human happiness and professed religion. We can-
not do better than offer an extract from an ad-
mirabls discourse on " Uncharitable Judgments,"
and express our honest opinion that the author is
a man who is an honour to his calling, and a true
minister of Good—
" Reflect, that to cherish a charitable frame of spirit, and
cultivate a candid frame of speech, is our greatest wisdom.,
in respect either of inward peace or outward comfort. .
" First, Inward peace. What a miserable existence a
suspicious temper occasions a man I It utterly incapaci-
tates him for friendship, through the ever-recurring reflec-
tion, quenching any rising emotion of natural genial fellow-
ship, that he is possibly deceived, and practised on by his
companions ;—that the world being so full of guile, the best
prudence is to have doubts of every man you meet; and
treat with a large measure of reserve even your most inti-
mate acquaintance—even year wife, it unfortunately, you
happen to have been bound to ono. It is a dangerous al-
liance--beware of communicativeness. With a correspond-
ing reserve, every one necessarily learns to treat him. He
defies familiarity. So he passes through life without any
enjoyment of one of its sweetest pleasures—hearty social
intercourse, and the intimate sympathies of friendship. Ab,
rather resign yourself to a foolish promiscuous confiding in
every man with whom you may fall in by the way, th.ough
you should suffer a little by it, than have your life soured
by a universal, misanthropical distrust of your sr,Jecies. It
renders you disagreeable enough to others, but the greatest
loser and sufferer is yourself.
" When such is the unsatisfactory /;:ie produced by a
merely suspicious disposition, what 'must be the misery
produced by an envious one ?—whe:a everything the sub •
ect•victim sees, or hears of, the!, is excellent in a neigh-
bour, acts as a burning corrosive
heard how strikingly on his heart. We formerly
Solomon speaks of Envy as injurious
to its object ; but, hear ',Low, how he speaks of it as injurious
to its subject ; `En is the rottenness of the bones.' (Prov.
xiv. 30.) It is a "most literally true. just as a generous
heart (as it P'aould be translated) is, according to the first
member oc. the proverb, the life of the flesh ;' so Envy, by
the nr.nner in which it produces irritation of the nerves,
fer'aishness of the blood, and dyspepsy of the stomach, will
'make a man or woman thin and emaciated, pale and shrunk
in the features, and of hard and peering eyes—most dis-
agreeable and pitiable to look at—all through the consum-
ing rottenness within.
" Secondly, Outward comfort. If candid and gentle in
the treatment of others, you will rarely fail of obtaining a
return of love; but if suspiciously or enviously censorious,
you will as rarely escape retaliation—when forth will be
dragged to light something discreditable in your early his-
tory, which you imagine is forgotten, or something in your
present habits, to which, you imagine, no one is privy, so as
to overwhelm you with confusion and humble you to the
dust. Oh that all of us would have the prudence to bridle
our saucy tongues 1 or, rather, that we would all admit grace
to purge our saucy hearts I How much discomfort we
would be saved 1"