The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE•

Samuel Lover's Poetical Works. One Vol., pp. 506.

Routledge and Sons.
A charming volume is this elegant collection of
pathetic and humorous poetry, now published for
the first time in a complete form, by the Messrs.
Routledge. It is more than simply acceptable.
We are grateful for it. We place it side by side
with Moore's Melodies. We treasure it up on our
bookshelves as a work reflecting the genius of the
Irish race quite as vividly, quite as picturesquely,
as even those radiant effusions of the chosen Bard of
Erin, the author of " Lzlla Rookh." The Poetical
Works of Samuel Lover in their hitherto scattered or
uncollected form have already received the timbre of
an immense, and, it might even be said, of a na-
tional popularity. The celebrity won by them need
only be illustrated by a passing enumeration of
several among them—as, for example, the Widow
Machree—Molly Bawn—Rory O'More—the Angel's
Whisper—the Low-Backed Car—the Four-Leaved
Shamrock. The wit, the fun, the frolic humour—.
the tenderness, the grace, the sweetness of these
charming ditties —who knows them not (who
knows anything at all of Irish songs), and who
(knowing them) bears them not in grateful
recollection ? And so remembering them—grate-
fully that is—we hail with delight their appearance
now in this collective form, beautifully printed,
daintily bound, abundantly embellished with illus-
trative engravings, and adorned with that most
appropriate frontispiece of all for a volume like the
present—a volume containing the lays and lyrics of
one of the world's true song-writers a faith-
fully engraved portrait of the author taken from
a photograph. Altogether, the book is so delightfully
welcome of its kind that, while giving to the writer of
it the assurance of our unaffectedly grateful admira-

tion, we are fain to convey also to the publishers
some expression of our sense of obligation to them-

selves.

Dean Swift's Tale of a Tub : and Battle of the Books
One Vol., pp. 356. Wm. Tegg.

Another of those charming little pocket-volume
reprints of our English classics with which Mr.
Tegg has already enriched our bookshelves, here
conveys to us two of Jonathan Swift's most famous
masterpieces. Happy for the world of letters and
for his own reputation as a believing Christian
would it have been, however, had Swift's " Tale of
a Tub" been conceived in a more reverent spirit.
But for its flagrant indecorum as an audacious satiro
upon themes the most holy, the Dean of St. Patrick's
would have been raised to a bishopric. As it is,
the wit, though great, redeems not the profanity of
this eccentric disquisition. The other treatise, again,
entitled the "Battle of the Books," is too fragmen-
tary ever to be regarded as more important than a
humorous trifle.

Palmer's Index go The Times. One VW., pp. 165.
J.6..inal Quarter of 1867. Samuel Palmer.
Here at last is what so many have long been
wishing for—actually accomplished, actually placed
within our reach, as a thing substantially realised !
A comprehensive and. compact" Index to The Times"
most carefully compiled and most admirably
arranged. The ingenious compiler of this Index
dedicates it in so many words to the proprietors and
editors of The l imes newspaper as " The most im-
portant and influential journal in the world," and
as one " whose moral influence directs the minds of
the people, the senators, and the Government of the
nation," proffering to them this Index as an attempt to
classify and arrange the immense mass of informa-
tion contained iu the columns of that unquestion-
ably first and greatest of all newspapers. As
the motto to this experimental or tentative issue of
his volume—Mr. Palmer has selected a sentence
from Lord Macaulay to the effect that " The only
true history of a country is to be found in its news-
papers." A far more effective motto, however, we
cannot but think, might be chosen for all the sub-
sequent volumes of the series—a motto selected
from Lord Lytton, who once remarked very finely
in the House of Commons, that if he were asked to
addace some distinct exemplar of all the forces and
resources and evidences of Modern Civilization,
he would suggest as the most appropriate, the
file of a Daily Newspaper—the noble lord may
have said yet more tersely, pointedly and empha-
tically (for we don't recall his precise words to
mind : " Hansard " would give them, of course,
exactly, if looked to)—the file of the Times news-
paper. The Index here submitted to the public
it is intended shall be continued quarterly—each
quarterly volume thus published containing, like the
present one, fully as many as 30,000 distinct refer-
ences. In it are given in extenso : " the Births,
Deaths, Marriages, Bankruptcies, Wills, Civil and
CriminalCases,Parliamentaryrroceedings,Speeches,
Loc.il and Foreign News, Naval and Military Intelli-
gence, Court Journal, Railway News, Money and
other Markets, Foreign Intelligence, &e., all being
classified in full, and the index so arranged as to do
for any file without any paging or marking." The
volume now published is a very treasury of infor-
mation, and deserves—what it will doubtless core'
mand—an immense circulation.

FIRE AT A LICENSED VICTUALLER'S.--

(This Day).

This ntorning at a few minutes before 3 o'clock A
fire of an alarming character, and well-nigh attend"
ed with fatal consequences to a whole household,
happened in the premises belonging to Mr. J.
Mortimer, licensed victualler and proprietor 01
the King and Queen Tavern, No. 34, Tbres
Colt-street, Limehouse. It appears that as
police-constable of the K division was passing along
his beat his attention was directed to an unusns,/
glare of light in the bar, which was accompanie'
by the cracking of wood and the breaking of glasS'
Feeling satisfied that the premises were on fire, ha
raised the necessary alarm. At that time 1°
Mortimer and the whole of the other intnateg
were in bed, soundly asleep. The officer,
.1)/
repeatedly knocking at the shutters and springl
his rattle, managed to make the residents awe;
that they had not a moment to lose in saving tbel.,
lives, for the bar by that time was burning full
ously, and the heated smoke was ascending in stic,
bodies as to nearly stifle the parties. They, 1110
ever, managed to reach the street in safety.
fire escapes and the engines of the Metropolto
Brigade both quickly attended, and plenty Of 'Po,
East London Company's water having been lc
cured, the firemen managed to get the flames cof
tinguished, but not until a serious amount
ea
damage was done, which is thus officially recur elf
by Capt. Shaw :—" The bar and contents severa
damaged by fire and heat, and rest of house 'to
contents by heat, smoke, &c. The origin °Lo.
fire unknown. Insured in the Phoenix Fire-co'