The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-01 00:00:00

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.

Mrs. Gore—the indefatigable, versatile Mrs. Gore,
who appears to throw off a drama and a novel with
equal facility—contributes to the present Miscellany
a play in three acts, under the title of the " King of
the Cobblers." There are-many spirited passages in
this play, but the plot is not very skilfully conducted;
and there is too much talking and too little action.
The authoress knows how to pourtray character with
effect, and is eminently happy in dialogue, but she pos-
sesses a very slender portion
.of the construction of the
constructive faculty, whether as a dramatist or a no-
velist. Albert Smith's " Fortunes of the Scattergood
Family" ,contains, this month, a diverting scene—
namely, the pic-nic party at Gravesend; where Joe
Jollit, a desperate amateur of practical-jokes, plays off
a hoax worthy of tlae inventive powers of Theodore
Hook himself. • rhe. " Murder of the Duke d'Eng-
hien" is an attempt to elucidate .:the mystery, that
hangs over this transaction ; the attempt, however, is
fznitiess, and the matter 'still remains
-As obscure as
ever. The' advocates of the :Bourbons .have raised a
terrible outcry about this act, which certainly reflects
no credit on the memory of Napoleon,_ though it is b
no means of so atrocious, a_ dye as the secret murder
of poor Toussaint; but we do not find that their ex-.
-quisite sense of justice,-honotir, and humanity, has
ever induced them to reprobate the attack which some.
of-their agents made on the First Censul's life, by
means of the infernal -machine.:_.; "..Eton Scenes
and Eton Me.n" is a series Of --.personal. -recol-
lections of his school-boy.- days7--those days
which Gibbon so - much disliked- to look
back . upon—by the author el the Puseyite novel,
" Doctor Hookwell." Among other sketches, we
have one of the late Mr. Praed, an accomplished wit
and scholar, and the rival of Macaulay at the Cam-
bridge Union, with whom, he divided the suffrages of
this once celebrated Debating Society. 1" A Ramble
through Styria," is by Mr. • Fynes Clinton... The
purely descriptive portions of this tour are the best.
An Odd Dog" is a highly dramatic story of an
earnest, tragic complexion, whose scene is laid in
Spain. The present portion of Mr. Murray's " Phy-
siology of London Lite," is devoted to a sketch of the
House - of COMMODS, and .of the manner in which
busineSs is. conducted in that spotless
.Heuse. The
description of -Hon. Members passing -through the
lobby and being way laid hy.one or more of their
constituents anxious for a snug berth for themselves
or their sons, is: true to the letter„; and not less so,
his, account of the way in which the Premier replies
to an inconvenient question put by gime Member of
the Opposition. " Though :replying,' says• our
author; " he talces care, not to 'answer unless. he. has
nothing to s iy. -- In that case he appears communi-
cative enough, and although .his _responses are occa-
sionally full . of mystification, lig style is clear and
whatever the matter of his reply 'maybe,. the manner
-never fails." We add Mr. Murray's portrait of Sir.
R. Peel:— . _ _

" By the-tone the presentation.of petitions is concluded
it may be ITalt-puit five o'clock, the hour at whieh.. the
Prime Minister usuallyenters the House. You observe that
tall man, one arm on his breast, the other concealed

under the skirts of his blue frock-coat, walking briskly
up the floor of the House, without stop or stay. Now
he bows gracefully to the Speaker, and takes his seat in
the centre of the Treasury Bench, next to the Home
Secretary. He looks round, and seems care-worn and
exhausted, as if the official duties of the day were suffi-
cient for him, without being in addition harnessed to
those of the senatorial night. He is what most women
and some men would call a handsome ma❑ ; his features
regular, his complexion doer, his hair fair ; dressed
neither ab'we nor under the go, el taste of a gentleman.
If you did not know him, you might imagine him a
wealthy merchant, a prosperous manufacturer, or banker ;
his- expression and manner approach more nearly that
of one of the highest commercial class than any other ;
that man is the Prime Minister of England.
"Yes, there he sits, the Premier, and we cannot help
having a good stare at him. Not that be is more or less
remarkable in point of physical stature than the gene-
rality of men :—he is evidently neither an Irish giant
nor Tom Thumb the Great ; nor is there anything
particularly statesmanlike in his air, manner, or expres-
sion. He is a prepossessing-looking man, with a letter-
of-recommendation-face, and there's an end on't. He
looks one of those men you would select in a stage-
coach, or on the deck of a steamer, for advances to-
wards a travelling acquaintanceship, satisfied beforehand
that you would meet with a favourable reception. But
when one contemplates the man's position,—when you
come to consider how much is in his power for good or
evil,—how much depends upon him—what a large
small human family look up to him, as to some pre-
siding genius, upon whose will depend the alternations
of public prosperity or distress—when you think of the
weighty interests intrusted to his vigilance and care,—
when you recollect that, placed as he is, war may be
proclaimed from those lips, and that arm, no longer
than another man's, can reach the Antipodes in mercy,
vengeance, or justim—when you remember that to him,
simple as he sits there, is delegated the patronage of the
Crown of Great Britain and Ireland, and that the fates
and fortunes of the aspiring intel'ect of England, in
every way in which it can be exhibited as connected
with public life, are more or less in his bands—that a
smile from that man is fortune, and his frown exclusion
from expected honours and coveted rewards—l say,
whether you regard the weight of his responsibility, the
depth of his care, or the height of his power, you cannot
behold the Chief Minister of England without some
emotion, with which you are unaffected in contemplating
any private man, of a station soever exalted.
"The Prime Minister swells beyond the circumference
of ordinary mortals. He is not a man ; he is a body
politic. We do not behold a Right Honourable Baronet;
he is before our eyes a great gubernating abstraction. In
royalty we regard the pride and pomp ; but in him we
see the circumstance of executive authority. Yet, great
as he is, high as is, above us as he is placed, he is, after
all, the creature of the Crown, the bumble servant of
the law ; the power that gave him power is yet more
powerful than he ; he is but as one of the genii, who in
his turn is obliged to obey the spirits that obey him ;
he is tenant of power only at will ; he holds all that his
magnificent position bestows upon him, and enables him
to bestow upon others, of the people of this conntry.
Recollecting that the power of a Premier is but the
power of the public will, devolved upon one man, ex-
ercised by one man for the time being, we have a
greater interest in him ; he is nearer us, and all that
concerns him is our concern."