The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER. 3 Vols.
Newt '5 London, 1844.

This is a story of the Reformation, by the author
of a tale entitled the " Thirst for Gold," which we
remember reading a year or two since with no ordinary
interest. The same peculiarities which characterised
that entertaining fiction characterise the one before
us—namely, a skilful mode of conducting the plot,
groat variety of incident—which, however, is not
always sufficiently probable—spirit, if not absq-
lute consistency, of portraiture, and powers
of terse, vigorous description of no ordinary
merit. The "Forester's Daughter " refers to
that exciting period in _history, when the
doctrines of Luther had alarmed the Catholic Church,
and made it doubly severe in its punishments of all,
open violations of its ordinances. One of the
most effective passages in the story is the account
of the attempt at escape of a nun who has
become a secret convert to the reformed doctrines,
from her convent on the banks of the Rhine, in com-
pany with a young military man, by name Herman.
The whole incident of this escape is very dexterously
and forcibly wrought up.

CYCLOPiEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

Cumbers, Edinburgh, 1841.

In the present part, which is the twenty-sixth, of
this cheap miscellany, we find brief biographical
sketches of some of the more distinguished poets who
have flourished during the last half century; among
them are the names of Byron, Keates, Shelley,
Pollok, Clare, Hernans, and Herbert Knowles, the
notices of whom are penned in a candid and discri-
minating spirit. To the memoir of each poet the
editor has attached one or more extracts from his
works, and these, generally speaking, are well Selected.
The part is embellished with numerous engravings ;
but the majority of the portraits are sad failures, as
regards likenesses, especially those of Leigh Hunt
and the late James Smith, which bear no closer
resemblance to the originals than a Stilton cheese
bears to a grasshopper.

PILTLLII3 VON ARTE VEL OE.
Moxon, London, 1844.

We have here a republication, in one half-crown
duodecimo volume, of Mr. Taylor's drama of " Phillip
Von Artevelde," whichi was no sooner published, about
five years since, than it obtained instant popularity.
It is a noble play, full of poetic imagery, and sus-
tained, elevated thought, but adapted exclusively for
the closet, being wholly deficient in that bustling and
continuous action so necessary to ensure success on
the stage. We regret to see that the author has re-
tained in his preface all those passages which—as we
remarked at the time—bore with unjust severity on
Lord Byron, who, with all his faults of style and
sentiment, was a genuine poet, if ever man was.

LEIGH HUNTS POEMS.
Moxon, London, 1844.

In this cheap and neat edition we have the whole
of Mr. Leigh Hunt's poetical works, carefully re-
vised, as he tells us in his preface, and weeded of
many of those quaint peculiarities of phrase, which
years ago subjected him to the ridicule of the caustic
wags of Blackwood. On running our eye hastily
over " Rimini"—Mr. Hunt's most elaborate, but by
no means his most successful work—we find that the
alterations are unusually numerous; and we do not
think that he has at all improved, by his emendations,
his opening description, which was deservedly ad-
mired at the time, of an Italian spring morning.

THE MILITARY ANNUAL FOR 1844. Colburn.
This work is intended to supply a deficiency in
our " annual" literature, which furnishes no work re-
cording the gallant deeds of the English army, both
in present and past times, though the materials for
such a book are both rich and abundant. This is the
first volume of what we presume is to be a series; it
has been compiled from an immense mass of autho-
rities of all kinds and descriptions, and brings toge-
ther a great number of filets, which would otherwise
have to be sought in the voluminous contents of Par-
liamentary reports, returns, general orders, dis-
patches, and even the columns of newspapers. The
" Soldier's Almanac," which commences the volume,
is a valuable table of reference for the chronology of
military events, and it is followed by a paper on
" Arms and Armies," which is to be continued till
the subject has been treated historically from the
earliest ages till the present time. This first part
gives an account of the wars and weapons of the
Jews and Romars, and a sketch of the struggle that
was terminated by the destruction of Jerusalem and
the Temple, and with them of the nationality of the
Jewish people. The rest of the work is a compila-
tion from the sources we have named. The work is
embellished with fine steel engravings of the Duke of
Wellington and the late Lord Hill.

IRELAND. •
THE STATE TRIALS.

Dvnuri, APRIL 24.—1 n accerdance with the notice served
yesterday afternoon on the traversers and their agents, the
motion for a new trial, delayed from Monday last, on the ap-
plication of the Attorney-General, will come on to-morrow
morning at the sitting of the Court of Queen's Bench. The
affidavits filed by the Crown, on which to ground their re-
sistance to that motion, are those of the clerks of the peace,
Messrs. Archer and Dickinson, George Magrath, their chief
clerk, William Kemmis, Crown solicitor, and also the affi-
davit of a person named Magrane, a clerk in the office of the
clerks of the peace. There is another affidavit, but upon an
immaterial point, from Mr. Hodges, the Government re-
porter. The notice of the Crown apprises the traversers that
"the notes of the Learned Judges will be used in opposing the
motion." The Crown will serve another notice this after-
noon, to the effect that the affidavit. of Magrane, filed this
day, will also be relied upon.
Mr. Whiteside, Q.C., will open to-morrow morning, on
the part of Mr. O'Connell, and, it is understood, will occupy
the entire day. The Monitor of this evening states that, it
is arranged that Mr. Hatchell, Q.C., will follow, on behalf
of Mr. Ray; then Mr. Moore for the Rev. Mr. Tierney; Mr.
M'Donagh, Q.C., for Mr. Barrett; Mr. Fitzgibbon, Q.C., for
Mr. John Gray ; Mr. Calagan for Mr. Duffy ; Sir Coleman
O'Loghlen lb!: Mr. J. O'Connell ; and Mr. Close for Mr. Steel.
The charge made by the traversers, of fraudulent sup-
pression of Jurors, mostly Roman Catholics, has not been at
all answered by the affidavits tiled for the Crown.

On the first day of the State trials the traversers put in a
challenge to the array. The Attorney-General demurred, and
thereby, in point of law, admitted the truth of the challenge,
which charged the fraud ; but, by such demur, he avoided the
trial, in open Court, of the truth or falsehood of the charge by
triers selected by the Judges. Mr. Shaw, the Recorder, who
mcde the jury list, had been subpoenaed by the traversers, and
was sitting under the bench in Court. Mr. Magrath, the chief
clerk of the clerks of the peace, was also in attendance, with all
the necessary documents. Thus the Attorney-General then
avoided a trial, when all the witnesses could-have been exa-
mined and cross-examined in , open Couit. If the charge of
fraudulent suppression were false, the Crown would then
have bad the verdict of the triers appointed UNi the Judges,
and the traversers would have' been shut out from renewing
the same charge upon motion for a new trial. But now the
Crown comes forward to oppose that motion, with the affi-
davits of some of the persons in the office of the clerks cf the
peace, who merely exculpate themselves, and attribute the
omission of jurors to accident, without being able to stale
anything positive on the subject.
. teach of the traversers is prepared to be heard by counsel
in support of the motion for a new trial. It is said that the
Crown will apply to the Court to limit them to two counsel,
and upon this point an argument may arise, when Mr. White-
side shall have concluded his address.

PROJECTED ALLIANCES.—The contemplated alli-
ance between Mr. Charles Beauclerk, son of the Rev. Lord
Frederick Beauclerk, and the accomplished daughter of a
gentleman of large fortune in the county of Sussex, is ex-
pected to be solemnised early in the ensuing inonth. A
marriage is said to be on the Lapis between the daughter of
an Hon. Baronet representing a division of one of the eastern
counties, and a ntleman holding an appointment, we be-
lieve, at Court. Lord Newport's marriage with Miss Forester
is expected to be solemnised on Tuesday next.
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE KING 'OH
NAPLES.—We have received the following from a c°
pondent at Naples, dated the 15th inst. :—" At thec. same- I
time that the King received the congratulations of the Cou
ts7au
and the corps diploinatique on the birth of the
t Princessiate on 3faria
Immaculata Clementina, he was also con
in, on *yal Guard, ,
his
'red im
escape from assassination, under the follown.g Ircumstances:
—A few days since a sergeant of
the Ro
Barbieri, got an udience of the pretext of asking_
°dicer', and
brother Isvastltioe
his mustachio, and put on
sergeant himself, whooilnuu •
grace
csee severely ehl 's brother,
p h punished.
s
L with his usual kindness, told the
who hiacd in,srueltteeelndleidis
andplain
say that lie hoped some leniency
to•
cl
go to
The K
Barbieriman retired, seemingly with relnc-
sooner` re-entered the waiting-room than
tance ; but had- ri
fficoer on guard to allow him to return, as he
might be show
he begged the on.he oloe
wished to reveal to the King a conspiracy that existed to
assassinate The officer
partlyertlto hid by
blyte a handkerchiefpereeivtlie
handle of a pistol, 11
in the fellow's hat, and on seeing it the fellow tried to escape,
but was pursued and taken. The pistol was loaded, primed,
and even cocked; and a second was found in his pocket, with
.a phial containing poison. • On the sergeant undergoing an
examination, he made a long story about the King receiving
a petition from him four years ago to promote him to the
grade of officer, to enable him to marry a girl, whose parents
would not consent to the union unless he were an officer, and
that if the King refused him now he hitended to shoot him-
self in the King's presence! His Majesty appears, under all
circumstances, to have had a narrow escape. '--Galignani.
AQUATICS AT OSTEND.—Yesterday _being the day
appointed, for the match between one London waterman
against five Flemish ones, to row .from Ostend to Bruges, a
party of gentlemen embarked at half-past five o'clock the
morning in No. 10, Waterman's steam-beat, to proceed to
Ostend to witness the contest. This steamer is a new and
very fast boat, and it was wagered that she would make the
passage under canvass and steam within ten hours, and also
beat the well-known fast boat the Princess Alice, on her
voyage from Ostend •to Dover. The match bet Ween the
boatmen was madeby FOlllO English and Flemish gentlemen
. far 100/. aside, and has created great interest. Robert
Newell, of Battle-bridge stairs, has been selected to row on
the side of the English in a wager bout, against four Flemish
men in ii big, with a coxswain. George Coombs, of Mill-
hank, was also at Ostend to take Newell's place in the event
of illness or unforseen misfortune. Great interest is felt it
Woolwich and Greenwich to hear how a little river boat like
the Wifterman will carry herself over the bosom of the
" deep, deep, sea." It is expected she will brinF the first
- information .Of the reealt of the watch. Tae Ltpdow 1s
backed it odds.