The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-23 00:00:00

APRIL 23, 1850,

LITERATURE.
TIIE MARTYRS OF CARTPAGE- By
Mrs. Webb-. 2 Vols.
In perusing Mrs. Webb's very beautiful : itexy of
" Julamerk," we regretted that her admirable oyali- '
fications for rendering a religious narrative attrac-
tive from its fictitious incidents, and valuable fi .ol n its
serious reflections—qualifications which she po isi3sses
in no mean degree—should have been devoted to the
commemoration of a particular sect (the Nestmis:ns),
instead of relating to Christianity as a whole. The
theme of the volumes above-mentioned is more hap-
pily chosen. It is indeed a theme which must La-I'v rays
possess an especial attraction for Christians, for i t re-
lates to the trials and triumphs of the early belie vers
and martyrs of our faith. Not only has Mrs.
Webb been felicitous in the selection of her subject,
but she has treated it with considerable s.kill,
and augmented, by her beautiful develop! ab 3n t,
its necessary fascination. Toe heroines of the
story are Vivia Perpetua and her fr is nd,
Marcella, the daughter of Numerian, a Chri al ifh
minister. By the intervention of Marcella, Vivia .ue-
comes a Christian, while her husband, Marct ta, a
young Roman officer, is absent in the service of the
Emperor. On his return an explanation necesst trily
ensues. The heathen husband, although tenderly at-
tached to Vivia, is inexorable—she must renounce :her
new faith, or she can no longer be his wife. The
young Christian is exposed to a worse torture than
that of martyrdom, but the love of heaven prey ails
over the love of earth, and after a long separa lion
Vivia is rewarded for her sufferings by her re-union
with her, now, Christian husband. Their happii less
is not of long duration ; both ultimately attest tl se it
faith with their lives, and obtain the crown of
martyrdom. This brief sketch is enough to shaw
the very interesting materials of the story. In adiii-
don to the interest attached to the history of Vivila,
the eharaeters and adventures of her brothers, eulius
and Octavius (the lover of Marcella), of her parents,
of the time-serving and vindictive father of Marcus,
and the other Christians and heathens introduced in
the narrative, are all described and developed in a
very skilful and attractive manner. Very seldom ha vo
we occasion to bestow such a cordial commended a..a
upon a new work, as we may very safely bestow up on
this most excellent and most beautiful story of the
" Martyrs of Carthage."

THE LIFE OF BARBARA HOFLAND.
Few kinds of literature are so attractive and so
useful as biography. Mirrored in the portraiture of
another, each reader may find, in some degree at
least, his own feelings and his own failings—happy if
he learn from the contemplation how to command t he
one and correct the other. Mrs. Hofland is w ell
known, and generally esteemed as a writer ; by the
readers of this book she will not only be known, but
esteemed and loved as an individual. Left a wid Dw
at an early age, almost wholly unprovided for, rind
charged with the care of an infant son, her patience,
her fortitude, and her unwearying industry are worthy
of admiration and imitation. Not only by the labours
of her pen was she enabled to maintain herself
and her child, but by the excellent principles incul-
cated in her writings she was happily the means of
doing much public good, more especially to the yon,rig
generation of her day. Her industry was thus twice
blessed, and she had the happiness of seeing her son
an able and excellent minister of the Church. S'ach
are the most interesting features of the history of
Mrs. Hofland. To those who feel an interest in "—the
proper study of mankind" we recommend this •de-
lightful biography : written in a simple but most at-
tractive manner, the many trials, the arduous exer-
tions, the hopes, fears, sufferings, and successes of an
excellent woman are here very admirably set forth.

A PHYSICIAN'S HOLIDAY; or, a Month
in Switzerland, ic., 6-c. By John Forbes, III:.D.,
F.R.S.
We are glad to find, and for many reasons, that
this work has reached a second edition, and feel dis-
posed to congratulate the public (and above all that
large proportion of the public who like and cou xite-
mance travelling) upon the prospect of its becon sing,
what we never doubted it would be one day, a geese-
ral favourite, and most deservedly so. A more •;use-
ful and entertaining guide we never chanced to see,
and can only say that we long to seek (the above-
named book under our arm as our guide and Oum-
panion) those highly interesting scenes which it so
ably describes ; not forgetful of our duty to the wei ter,
whose wise precepts we mean to treasure up with: the
more willingness as they for the most part ex ac:tly
coincide with our ideas as regards travelling, and
whose experience, practical and otherwise, we
will gladly avail ourselves of, and whose very
mishaps, few and far between, it is ti •ue,
but always candidly admitted, shall be as a warn ing
to us, and a fair warning which we shall be far ft om
treating slightly. To those who may be noun, or
hereafter intending to visit the land of the picturesque,
and who, with a short time to dispose of, are inc lined
to make the most and the best of if, we say take with
you the " Physician's Holiday," and he sure that you
will benefit yourselves in a variety of ways. You, will
find in it not merely the recommendations of a true lover
of the beauties of nature, but such liberal-minded direc-
tions as will insure you every advantage to be dess ived
from those great incentives to health—air, exe n vise,
diet—when judiciously and systematically cola ted.
There may, however, be some among our re ai lers
who do not think of visiting those scenes and by
ties so vividly portrayed by the author, and to winom
the book might appear, as a guide, valueless;--to
those we would recommend it as a well writ ten,
amusing., descriptive work, which will supply a rich
fund of amusement for many an idle hour, and in uch
valuable information on subjects of deep importanc !e—
a work, in short, which will be found incess 3a itly
to pass
" From grave to gay, from lively to severe."
It is, moreover, calculated to remove many unfoter ded
prejudices • and we deem it to be one of the grey test
claims of ;he author to general sympathy and appro-
bation, that while alive to the positive faults and
demerits of men and things, he is lenient in his j•udg-
ments and just in his appreciation of whatever is, fair
and good ; in other words, he is what edmestion
should make us all, a citizen of the world, ever ready
to look upon his fellow-men as brothers, if their con-
duct entitle them to such consideration. To revert
again to the book itself, we would gladly impart to
others the gratification we have derived :from
a perusal of its 'contents ; but here we are
confessedly at a loss, for, in a work so decidedly
consecutive as this is, how can; we select a :part,
sufficiently episodical, not to suffer from the very cir-
cumstance of its being picked out ? Start-
ing, as we like to fancy ourselves, with. the
writer, from the shores of England, and really landed
on the opposite coast, how can we help following the
well-directed course he has adopted to effect his ob-
ject, and stop, while he proceeds. We feel
with him, that our time is short, and must be
turned to good account; on, therefore, we go, and
crossing rapidly the intervening countries, Belgium,
Germany, &c., not, however, without duly appre-
ciating the beauties we view in our onward course,
we reach the Vosges Mountains, and first set foot on
Swiss ground. Much has already been seen, said, done,
to fix the attention, but we must on. We have 'aardly
started on our tour, with our knapsacks on our backs,
and nothing more in them than is strictly necessary to
men, whose wants are few, than we have the truth
of this precept impressed on our minds by a trifling
yet conclusive incident, proving—but here it is in the
author's own words :
" The day being hot, and the realms of ceremony
being far passed by (we are at Sakingen) some of our
party, after taking refreshment in the inn, very naturally
resorted to the fountain at its door, to make amends for
the absence of finger glasses within. One of our num-
ber availed himself of this luxury not only here but at a
village further on, Dogern by name, where we also
stopped, and, being a wearer of rings—which no tra-
veller should be—he laid them on the fountain brim,
and there left them ! The loss was not discovered until
we had advanced some miles on our journey beyond the
it could not
hadbe re-
place collected ofthe finery been
the
at last
which
ablution,of
the
two and
left. Consequently, although the rings ware ings were of consi-
derable value, we made no retrograde step. to recover
them, but contented ourselves
with sending dispatches
ptlhaecile s
to the innkeepers of the respective villages from the
small town of Thiengen, where we dined. But the ring.
bearing ring-loser, as might have been expected, heard
no more of his property."
Had we time we might take this as a fair text,.and
moralize ad infinitum, but we must on. Fair as the
temptation afforded us by the admirable description
of the great Rhine Falls at Schaffausen, we must re-
frain from inserting it, chiefly for this reason, such
descriptions being nearly as plentiful in the work
before us as the scenes we wend our way through.
Once entering on the path of extracts, we might
transcribe the whole, or be guilty of injustice, and the
views from the Riga, and many others which fol-
low in rapid succession, demand our immediate at-
tention ; not so exclusively, however, but that
we are right pleased to follow our guide in his devia-
tions from the tourist's path into the regions of
metaphysics, and admire his benevolent philosophy.
As an instance of which, we would advert
to his remarks on Conrad Escher, and the
dignified reward conferred on him by his
grateful fellow-citizens, page 76, &e. Again, as a
specimen of the writer's happy mode of bordering
upan the facetious without derogating from the dig-
nity of the man of taste, we would quote the follow-
ing (page 89) :
" We started on our return to Chur in one of the long
narrow chairs of the country, drawn by one horse, and
without springs, except the leather substitutqs by which
the sept is suspended. For this we paid twelve francs.
Our horse turned out to be good, and our driver better.
he
At least, in all my experience, I never met with so rso
lut3 and fearless a charioteer. The road, as we
are
vau • steepl
seen, is all down bill feom Tunis to Roche y
ut down the
dg
d0,..,n hill indeed, and full of turnings ; b
steepest pitches, and round the sharpest
banles, on We
went at full trot and full swing, as if there a never been
such an event as upsetting, or
,ISuch things as