The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-14 00:00:00

with each other and with Madame de Lamartine.
I Finding that the poor dressmaker had herself written
verses, the bard of " Jocelyn " induces her to submit
to him some of her poetic manuscripts. In recount-
ing this circumstance the author deliberately avows to
the world that he has " given up writing poetry."
Happily, however, if his voice no longer sings to us
in versification, his hand is still industrious in pen-
ning prose stories which appeal at once to the
heart and the imagination. Aware, from what
he had already seen and heard, that Reine
Garde had abilities unmarred by imitation (which by
the way, he terms rather happily " that Mephisto-
pheles of prematurely,budding genius"), and allured,
moreover, by her possession of that "gift of gifts, the
gift of a tearful voice,'" he prolongs his argument
with the dressmaker, and out of it springs the notion
of writing a literature, or, at any rate, inaugurating
a literature for the people as above indicated. Hence
comes " Genevieve." in it the novelist has recounted,
in simple and touching strains, " the history of a ser-
vant girl," and what renders the narrative more than
ever attractive is the circumstance that Genevieve is
no other than an old favourite, that being the real
name of Martha, the good servant of the priest
Jocelyn ! Martha, or as we must now call
her, Genevieve recounts her own story to M. de
Lamartine when he is seated in the kitchen
of the old vicarage house at Valneige, one evening
shortly after the death of his inestimable friend the
Abbe D— (Jocelyn); and now, after many years
have elapsed, Lam:smile calls the touching story of
her life to mind, and tells it exquisitely from his
youthful recollections. The narrative itself, like its
subject, is of the simplest character, as homespun as
the russet garb of a peasant. The incidents are few
and, for the most part, unromantic. Yet in spite of
all the tale cannot be read without emotion, and its
interest in many parts becomes absolutely enthralling.
The childhood of poor little Genevieve, when she
attends on her bed-ridden mother, the lines bleacher;
the death of her mother, and afterwards of her
father, the glazier ; the love passages with Cyprien ;
the growth of Genevieve's sister, JoHtte ; the sp-
pearance and disaprearar ce of Septime, the quarter-
master ; the wanderings, and ultimately the arrival,
of Genevieve in toe cibie of Cyprien,—all these
things are described with a minute and vivid parti-
cularity. Afterwards, in the " Episode," we watch
the incidents, which lead at length to the discovery of
Josette's little child, Bastien, with an interest that is
only appeased when we close the book, leaving -him
under the pear-tree, still tended by his adopted
parents Jean and Luce, and watched tenderly by his
aunt, the long-suffering and amiable Genevieve.
Altogether the volume is a simple but beautiful
effusion, worthy of realising the hope of its illustrious
author, the hope of leading the way to the produc-
tion of wholesome and really popular literature.

TFIE COMIC ALMA NACKforlEsSl. By George
Cruikshank.

Rigdum Funnidos having long resigned bis magio
sceptre to the hands of the facetious Henry Mayhew,
we still find that modern Master of the Revels pre-
siding over the vagaries of our eccentric annual—
" The quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles"
of the Comic Almanack. George Cruikehank, the droll
and inexhaustible, figures, of course, as the principal
caricaturist, and H. G. Hine, the quaintest and oddest
of his disciples, contributes a swarm of those little
black Scaramouches which are the funniest emana-
tions of Impland. The piece de resistance is, as
usual, the frontispiece, from the hand of Crulkshank,
representing this year the " Probable Effects of Over-
Female Emigratio❑ ; or, Importing the Fair Sex
from the Savage Islands, in consequence of Exporting
all our own to Australia !" Although there is a fund
of the most grotesque humour in almost every line of
the etching, we turn from it after a hurried glance
with some satisfaction—seeing that it presents
to us nothing more agreeable than one mass
of ugliness. Some of the subsequent illus-
trations from the same pencil are infinitely
preferable, and, to our mind, more unques-
tionably laughable. Instance this the sketch given
in one part of the " Fellows of the Zoological So-
ciety," with two jolly old curmudgeons of Hippopo-
tami, a couple of very beau-like lions, monkeys
equipped as " miniature specimens of humanity," and
(most preposterous of all) a pelican meditating, with a
hat on its head—all drawn as Cruik,hank could
alone draw them. " Taking the Census" appears to
us a rather extravagant absurdity, the humour of
which we can nowhere perceive. One of the best
pictorial contributions is that of " The Sick British
Lion and the French Quack Monkey." It affords a
capital opportunity fora sarcasm at the expense of
M. Ledru Rollin and his very ridiculous book about
the Decadence d' Angleterre. " Modern Ballooning"
excellently well lashes that monstrous folly
begun by M. Poitevin. The aeronaut is repre-
sented as a donkey soaring up on the hack of
a horse. Two most elaborate drawings by Cruik-
shank portray, one an Alarming Sacrifice" at a
linendraper's," and another the uncomfortable results
of " Over-population." As the oddest possible spe-
cimen to be selected from the literary cotnicalities of
the " Alrnanack," we present to our readers the fol-
lowing

INVITATION TO THE ZOoLfiGICAL GARDENS.
(By n Gentleman with n S tght Impetiiinent in hi., Speech.)
I have found out a gig-gig-gift for my fuf-fuf—fair,
I have found yv here the rattle-snakes but,-bub—breed.
Won't you c-c-c-c..me, and I'll show you the Lub-bub—
L ar,
And the lions and tit-tit—tigers at fuf-fu:-fuf—feed.

I know where the c-o-c•co—enekatoo's song
Makes muul-mutn-mum—tneludy through the sweet
vale;

Where the m—monkeys gig-gig—grin ali the day long,
Or gracefully swing by the tit-tit-tit-tit—tail.

You shall pip-pip—play, dear, some did-did—delicate
joke,
With the hub-hub—bear on the tit-tit—top of his pip-
pip-pip—p de;
But observe, 'tis for-fur for—bidden to pip-pip—poke
At the bub-nub—bear with your pip-pip—pink pip-
pip- pip-pip—parabol.
You shall see the huge elephant pip-pip-pip—play;
You shall gig-gig-gaze on the stet-tit—ately racoon,
And the❑ did-did—dear together we'll stray,
To the cage ot the bub-bub—blue fuf•fut-fac'd beb-bab-
bab—toon.

You wish'd (I r-r-r—remember it well,
And I 1-1-1 lov'd you the m•m-more for the wish)
To wituees the bub-bub•bub—neautitul
•ican swallow the 1-I•live 1-1-1-little tuf-tut—fiah.
Then c•c-oome, dicklid•dearest, n-n-n-never eay " nun-
nuti-nun-tiutt—nny ;"

I'll tit-tit-treat you, my l,;ve,to a" bub-bub-bub—buss,"
'Ti* but thrup pip-pip-pip—pence a pip-pip—piece all
the Ray,
To see the hip-pip-pip—(l beg your pardon)
To see the hip•pip-pip-pip—ahem;)
The hip-pip-pp pip—pop-pop-pop-pop—(I mean)
The hip-po-po-po—(dear me, love, you know)
The hippo-pot-pot-pot—Cpon my word I'm quite
ashamed of m) self.)

The hip-pip-pop—the hip-po- pot.
To see the Hippoc—potamus.
The last line of the last verse is surely the extension
of a ludicrous conceit to the uttermost stretch of the
ri,liculous. kline's sketch of the dromedary we take
to be as clever as it is laughable. " Britannia Pawn-
ing her Trident" is also capital. Such are the prin-
cipal merits of the new issue of the Comic Almanack.

FINE Alt'l S.
THE ART JOURNAL.
An important article opens the number of the Art
Journal for November, the intelligent and enterpris-
ing editor having just adventured upon a continental
tour for purposes connected with his publication and
with next year's Industrial Exhibition : and in this
introductory paper he recounts to us very pleasantly
the first results of hij own personal observations. The
gist of the whole editorial contribution is to explain
the preparations already making in Germany for the
proposed, or we should rather say, approaching Exhi-
bition. His remarks, we doubt not, will be perused
with a very general interest, and will go far to con-
firm the majority in their well-founded confidence in
the happy issue of the whole enterprise. Prominent
among the illustrations to the periodical under notice,
are a fine copy by Sharpe, from the original painting
of Sir David Wilkie's " Peep o'Day Boy's Cabin,"
and a charming plate taken by Carter from R. Wil-
son's picture of " Hadrian's Villa," both in the Ver-
non Gallery. Added to these is a very exquisite bust
of Mademoiselle J-nny Lind, copied by Itoffe, from
the original by Durham. A woodcut iikeness of George
Harvey, and another of W. J. Muller, are
likewise given, accompanied by biographical notices
of those distinguished artists. For November, among
the 'Passages from the Poets," Goldsmith suggests
one subject, and Milton the other—one sketch repre-
senting a passage from " L'Allegro," and the other
a fragment from the " Traveller." A profusion of
other embellishments and literary contributions add
to the attractions of -the current number of the Art
Journal, which is excellent.

KNIGHT'S PICTO1?1.-IL SLIAKSPERE.
Parts I. and 11
An admirable reprint from the bulkier edition,
edited by Mr. Charles Knight, has just been com-
menced—giving to the subscribers in each separate
part a clear, complete, and beautiful copy of one or
other of the incomparable dramas of Shaks-
pere. Typographical►y in every respect the
specimens before us are exquisite—the type
being clear, and not, as is too frequently
the case, split into double columns, after the manner
imrnernori4lly employed in printing the Bible. In-
stead of this the lines go clear across the page, and
being composed in large and sharply-defined type,
the reading of the text is more than ever a luxury.
A few illustrative embellishments are given in the
supplementary notes, and with introductory remarks,
and a fanciful frontispiece to each comedy or tragedy,
the edition comes before us in an admirable manner.
Part 11. contains the whole of the Comedy of Errors.