The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
EDINBUIll? II RE VIE W, No. CLXL
Longman, London, 1844.
The subject of " Popular Delusions "—a' prolific
theme—is amusingly treated in this Number. The
Reviewer, however, is mistaken when, in reference to
the crime of poisoning, so general in Italy during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, he states that
"in France and England this crime, though occa-
sionally practised, never became common." Unfor-
tunately in the reign of Elizabeth, and more
especially of her successor James, no mode
of assassination was more common among
our higher classes, and not a few women
are known to have lived in affluence in the metro-
polis by their skill in compounding deadly drugs, and
the handsome sums which were paid for them by
their reckless customers. In France the practice of
poisoning was of still more frequent occurrence, awl
was first introduced into that country by the Italian
druggists and perfumers, who swarmed in Paris
during the demoralising sway of Catherine de Medici,
and received no stinted share of Court patronage.
Catherine herself was a first-rate genius as a poi-
soner. She dispatched her enemies in the most
scientific manner possible, and with an adroitness that
bade defiance to discovery. One was got rid of by a
pair of perfumed gloves, sent her as &mark of delicate
attention by her royal mistress ; another, by a per-
fumed rose • and a third, by the ingenious contrivance
of a poisoned billet. In the reign of Louis XIV, this
crime reached its acme, but the severe 'Measures
adopted by Government contributed greatly to its
suppression, and still more the general horror excited
by the trial of the infamous Marchioness of Brin-
villiers, who was found guilty of having poisoned
her father and her two brothers, and of having at-
tempted also the lives of her husband and her sister,
This amiable creature was remarkably gentle in ter
manners, of a prepossessing countenance, an'; much
addicted to sentimentality. The " Late Census"
states some curious particulars relative to the increase
of population within the last ten yeas; and alluding
incidentally to one distinguishing point in Sir R.
Peel's tariff, which it appears has been in some de-
gree a failure, the Reviewer remarks :—" The Pre.-
mier allowed the importation of foreign cattle
and of American junks; but, alas! it was found,
though oxen could be fed in and shipped from
distant countries at a cheaper rate than under
the present system they can be slaughtered in
England, yet that the Bay of Biscay affords too
hazardous a transit, and the heats of summer too
insidious an hostility, to encourage the importation of
live cattle or of fresh meat ; while the salted com-
modity supplied by our transatlantic brethren occupies
a position below that to which British stomachs have as
yet generally descended." In the " Memoirs of the
Duke de la Force," we have a rapid summary of some of
the most remarkable events that took place in France
from the period of the St. Bartholomew massacre
down to within a few years of the breaking out of the
childish and ridiculous wars of the Fronde. Refer-
ring to the favourite policy of Richelieu, the Re-
viewer says that "by levelling social superiorities,
abolishing privileges, and dismantling the citadels of
the reformed party, this arbitrary Minister pre-
pared future dangers for the monarchy." This
is perfectly true, as the sequel proved, for
during the feeble and disastrous reign of Louis XVI.,
when the Crown most needed support agalnst the
rapid encroachments of the revolutionary principle,
he noblesse—who had been deprived of substantial
power for upwards of a century, and had become
the mere sycophants and hangers-on of the throne
—were found wholly unable to. render that
support, and the Monarch was left to fight
his battle with the people alone. " George
Selwyn and his Contemporaries" is a notice of Mr.
Jesse pleasant gossiping work on this subject. The
Reviewer enlivens his criticism by brief biographical
sketches of some of the most remarkable characters
who flourished during the last half of the eighteenth
century. The following is his account of the Duke of
Queensberry—an eccentric, profligate nobleman, who
died in the year 1810, at the patriarchal age of 85 :
" He was born in 1725, succeeded his father in the
earldom of-Alarch in 1731, his mother in the earldom of
Ruglen in 1748, and his cousin in the dukedom of Queens-
berry in 1778, being. then in his fifty-third year. Few
men of his day acquired greater notoriety, or were more
an object of inquiry or speculation ; yet he took little
part in political events, except so far as his own interests
were affected by them, and it would have been better for
his reputation had he taken none. When the King's
malady grew serious, in 1788, he gave in his allegiance
to Fox ; and on the recovery of his royal master, was
unceremoniously dismissed from his situation of Lord of
the Bedchamber, which he had held for twenty-eight
years, notwithstanding the known profligacy of his life.
Wraxall says he took a journey to Windsor to learn the
exact condition of the King, but he was misled by De.
Warren. The mistake mattered little. His business wits
pleasure, his passions were women and the turf ; and he
contrived to gratify both, without impairing either his
fortune or his constitution. As regards the turf, he was
thoroughly versed in all its mysteri( s, and seldom in-
dulged in any sort of gaming unconnected with it, or
relsing to matters where any undue advantage could be
taken of him. On the contrary, he was generally on
the 100k-out for opportunities of turning his own shrewd-
ness and coolness to account. A curious instance is
related in Edgworth's memoirs.
" lord March had noticed a coachmaker's journeyman running with a wheel, and on minuting him by a stop-
watch, found that he actually ran a considerable distance
faster with it than most men could run unencumbered.
A. waiter in Betty's fruit-shop was famous for speed.
Lord March adroitly introduced the topic, and maintain-
ing what appeared a paradox, easily got begs to a large
amount, that the waiter would run faster or a mile than
any one could run with the kind-wkeel of his Lord-
ship's carriage, then standing at the door. But he com-
mitted a trifling oversight. The wheel was lower than
the wheel the man was used to run with; and the biter
would have been bit, had ne.t. Sir Francis Blake Delaval
suggested an expedient. -The night before • the match,
planks were obtained from the Board of Works, and a
raised groove, for the wheel to run in, was constructed
across the course. The journeyman won, and the Jockey
Club decided in Lord March's favour. Another of his bets
came before the Court of Ring's Bench. He had laid s
wager of five hundred guineas with young Mr. Pigot, that
old Mr. Pigot (the father) would die before Sir William
Codrington. Old Mr. Pigot died the same morning be-
fore the making of the wager, but neither of the parties
was acquainted with the fact. The Court held that, the
dutiful and hopeful heir must pay. A startling exam le
p
of this style of bet is mentioned by Walpole. t'other
night at White's, found a very remarkable entry in our
very remarkable wager-book!—Lord bets Sir
twenty guineas that Nash outlives Cib!,er. How odd
that these two old creatures should live to see both their
wagerers put an end to their own lives!' Lord March's
rate of betting was never very high. The largest sum
he appears to have won or lost at any race or meeting,
during the period Over which this correspondence ex-
tends, was 4,1001., and this is mentioned as a rare oc..
currence."

CONSTANCE D' OYLEY. 3 Vols.
Bentley, London. 1844.
The incidents in this story—which, like those of
Miss Austen, is wholly of a domestic character—are
few and simple, and put together in the most inart'is
ficial manner possible. They have all, however, the fare
merit of probability, and, in consequence, the r.ea
interest is kept up throughout the narrative. T 14,6 pi:mil
pal recommendation, however, of Constance Dcpyley
consists in the skill with which the lead'4,.-
is characters
are delineated. Those, in particula-A., der's
of the heroine
Constance, and her unfortunate ve,ang
Hernshaw, are discriminated wial, great nicety; the one
friend, Isabel
exhibiting in her career the affects of a careful and
conscientious education ; 1::(1F:: other, of an artificial
and dishonest one. dialogues are uniformly
natural and appropri;:te, and, when opportunity offers,
by no means deficient in sprightliness. A little
more variety and breadth of incident would not have
been amiss ; still the story is worth reading, and
Poi:iis an excellent moral. The lighter scenes are the
most successful, with the sole exception of: that
wherein the author relates the tragic death of Isabel
Hernshaw, which is described with no ordinary vigour.

FATAL ACCIDENT TO CAPTAIN MDERMOT, ?.ATE
OF THE 11TH FOOT.--011 Tuesday an ins nest was held.
before Mr. Higgs, Deputy-Coroner for Wesiminster, at the
Unicorn, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, on view of the
body of Captain John M`Dermot, aged fifty, who died at his
late residence in Southampton-street, Strand, on Saturday
last, from the effects of injuries receiv ed under the following
circumstances :—Mr. R. Jones, surpon, S, said thon Thursday evening last he was called upon andto attend the de-
ceased, he having on that evening been brought from Ripley,
in Surrey. The deceased told him that on the Monday or
Tuesday evening previous he had been thrown from, the roof
of the Independent Portsmouth coach. He was no table to
rise, and was carried into an hotel, where he was, attended
by two medical men. I;e complained of severe p i left hip, but the medical men could not detect anyn his
ain
disl-
tion or injury to the bone. Witness attendetl him, and ooca Saturday, by his order, he was removed in
the -most easy
manner from the basement to the, upper story. He was
scarcely laid upon the bed before a change came over him,
and he died in half an hour. His death was so sudden that
witness thought he had died in consequence of a rupture of a
vessel in the chest, lYat on a post mortem examination he
found the cause of death to arise from effusion of veinous
food in the alldomen, a large internal vessel being ruptured..
This, no doubt, was caused by the fall. He told witness th.s4
the coach was overturned. James Cross, driver of the
_Chi...
chester coach (the statement of the deceased with respect to
its being the Portsmouth Independent being error:eons)
stated, that on Tuesday last he was driving the cosi}:4 up to
London, the deceased being an outside passenger. When on
arriving at Baine's-hill, near Cobham, the staplP, of the near
bar broke. The leader then ran round in &i nit. to the other
leader and caused the coach to run up a ball. It, overturned,
and the passengers were thrown of The deceased's lady was
inside the coach at the time. It was purely! an accident..
Verdict—" Accidental deaths"
METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.--The extensive
street from Long-acre to Piccadilly is making rapid progress-.
and two intervening houses having been pulled down, there
is now a clear, opening from Leicester-square to Coventry. street, the completion of the line. Other improvements aro in contemplation here, amongst which is that of building on
the freehold laud forming the square in the centre. This.as •
for some time past been in a most neglected state, the suhb-
scriptions of the inhabitants being far short of the sum -re-
quisite to keep it in proper repair; nor are these likely t 45 be►
increased when oue side will be the line of an extensive traffic-.
The large site of ground on which .the hotel stood still' 're-
mains unappropriated, and the square has long lost all'at-
tractions for business, or as the-resort of fashion, for winch it
WAS once celebrated.