The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-02 00:00:00

FREAKS OF ASTLEY'S ELEPHANT.

LITERATURE.

THE MUMMY. LONDON, 1828.

This is a strange compound of ignorance,
dullness, and absurdity. The story, which is
laid in the year ofluturity, 2126, is as follows :
Au old Baronet, Sir Ambrose Montagu, has
" a shy enthusiastic son," Edric, who, in his
early manhood, becomes disgusted with mankind,
because " their repeated bursts of laughter
grated harshly in the ears of the youthful
Diogenes." This disgust ends in a fit of soli-
tude, whose uninterrupted leisure enables him to
perfeCt himself in the abstruse points of science,
as well as to cultivate a naturally romantic turn
of mind, till at last—having previously satisfied

his mind with respect to the possibility of the
thing—he resolves to leave home, set sail for
Egypt, explore the Pyramids, and, by some gal-

vanic frocess, resuscitate the Mummy of King
Cheops. No sooner said than done ; his tra-
velling trups are packed up ; his tutor, Dr.
Entwerfen, a good-natured old pedant, se-
lected as a companion, and off go the two expe-
rimentalists at the rate of twenty miles an
hour, in a remarkably commodious air-balloon.
In due time they reach Egypt—which at this
period is a civilized tract of country not unlike
Middlesex—request an introduction to the
Pyramids—explore them—find out the tomb of
King Cheops, apply the galvanic apparatus to his
Mummy, and are forthwith knocked dOwn. On.
getting up again, they find—much to their as-
tonishment and discomfiture—that his Majesty
has walked off with their balloon ; to make mat-
ters worse, they themselves are taken up on sus-
picion of having feloniously, and with malice
aforethought, robbed the Pyramids, and are
brought before a black magistrate, who sends
them at once to jail. And here the author

leaves them, to pursue the flight of his Mummy,
who, as it seems, on quitting his sepulchre, sees
outside the gate a something which he mistakes
for an indian-rubber bottle on a large scale ; while
closely examining it, he somehow contrives to
touch a spring on which the balloon (for it was
nothing more nor less than this) expands, mounts
aloft into the air, and carries the Mummy away
with it ; who, after a " pleasant aerial excursion,"
as Mr. Green would say, of some hours, arrives
safely in London, and drops down head fore-
most against the fourth arch of Blackfriars
Bridge, close alongside Claudia, Queen of Eng-
land, at the very moment when, by a " singular
coincidence," to quote a newspaper phrase, her
Majesty had tumbled off her horse in a fit.
Once arrived in town, (we wonder what inn he
put up at !) the Mummy makes the most of his
time, joins in Court intrigues, deposes one
Queen, enthrones another, and finally, after
having indulged himself in various amusing pas-
times of a like nature, persuades Roderick, King
of Ireland, to cross over with a large army into
England, .through a tunnel previously scooped
out from sea to sea, ravage the country, and
restore the legitimate Queen to her domi-
nions. This object accomplished, the Mummy
takes his departure from town,—whether by
steam, post, or the mail, deponent saith
not—and on reaching Egypt, makes at once
for the Pyramids, where he lays himself down a
second time in his sepulchre, takes off his clothes,
and dies. This, together with an underplot
descriptive of the innocent loves of an unso-
phisticated English Queen, and an equally un-
sophisticated Irish King; a horrible old Schedoni
sort of monk, one Father Morris; his paramour,
an equally accomplished article ; a balloon or
two ; as also a " bed, bolster, and pillows snugly
packed in a walking-stick," make up the entire
narrative of the Mummy. As its plot is exqui-
sitely nonsensical, so also is its style of remark
and allusion. The following are among its bril-
liant discoveries in the way of observation
" It is not in the nature of the human mind to
be contented." " Things at a distance appear
much more beautiful than they do when we be-

hold them." "We must always either hope
or fear." " We always fancy what we have not
infinitely superior to any thing we have."—" The
impulses and feelings of human creatures must
for the most part be alike in all ages."—" Habits
vary, but nature endures."—When we assure the
reader that these specimens of incidental reflec-
tion are gleaned from two pages only of a work
in three thick volumes, he will not fail to admire

the prolific quality of that mind which could
comprise so much valuable, not to say original,
observation within so small a compass. Speak-
ing soon afterwards of a love scene that takes
place between his hero and heroine, our gifted
novelist says, " not Cicero himself could give the
least idea of any thing of the kind." Mercy on
us !—Cicero the author of " De Ofliciis" and
"De Senectute" describe a love scene ! Why
the bare idea is as ridiculous as the circumstance
of the Mummy (see vol. 2.) swearing by " Saint
Wellington ;" a species of adjuration which his
Grace—whose claims to superior sanctity are
undoubted—will, nevertheless, be astonished to
find incorporated with the vernacular dialect of
execration.

Last night, at the above theatre, the Elephant, after
conveying Blue Beard over the mountains, accompanied by
Suck a procession as it might be expected a gentleman of
Blue Beards consequence would have, and behaving him-
self with the greatest propriety, was introduced into the
circle, to go through what the bills neatly express, " his
various sagacious and surprising tricks," and truly surpris-
ing they were. Having- much delighted the pit with his
wonderful sagacity, and created. much diversion, he took
it into his head to have a little himself : so accordingly,
with as much agility as an elephant has credit for posses-
sing, he• sprung his fore legs over the railing of the pit,
which was quits enough for the audience, who did not wait
for his hinder ones--it was the devil take the hindmost ; off
they scampered, and such a rich scene of confusion ensued,
it being a erowded"benefit night, as few will forget who
witnessed it without partaking of its inconvenience. It
appears that his magnificent matter, as a mark of his ap-
proval of the very decorous and proper manner in which
he had conductedArimself in the perilous pass of the
mountains, had ordered for his refreshment a few gallons of
porter, which Chunie providentially carefully preserved. in his
trunk, and when sufficiently elated, he:
most
alichkenraolwlyieddige--
tributed it among the spectatora, who ungratefully took to
their heels, instead of humbly making their
ments. Without the slightest. regard to politeness ladies'
frills, caps, and bonnets, gentlemen's lily and sombre
beavers, alike shared the heavy deluge.s Thehoetatoftelriee
theatre was so intense, that fans and meiiing.bties were
in great request ; hut they teemed to have lost their wonted
watoeuy
power—all seemed languishing and fainting ; some kind
imagined that it was particularly noticed
bpeople ehtn standing by
i aridmaenayy
were
wet,wh
revivedo, perhaps,by hi
s fuldllyha re_
efreshing shower of heavy
bNeeevneri,ruplee.brzadps,towtalsieiri
its
friendspo tencyfo em
more
orreacokvnaol
acknowledged,
the air.
edged,or
the generosity of an elephant snore apyretiattoedb.e
foremost,
Aregmraonstd
rush was made for the door, each striving
would
throw imagining the
henimble monsteritreadingo ntli
their heels, a
heeshi' with
squeez.;ng, iio
throw into shade the best days of Bartholomew Fair. At
length the great director, having ligened to the reasoning
of his attendants, was prevailed upon to retire to repose,
and comfort and mirth again resumed their sway, all
laughing at what a few minutes before they cousiderel
any thing but n juke,

We "have bestolied more space upon this

hideous trash than we should otherwise have
done, because it is
.the .representative of a cer-
tain class of romances • which, much to the dis-
credit of the public, is just now unusually po-
pular,—we mean those tales which mix up fact,
with fancy, imagination with reality, in one
strange inconsistent hodge-podge; tales, such as
Frankenstein"—(the best of its class)—" The
Vampire"—" The Last Man"--and some two
•
dozen others, wherein all is collusion, verbiage,
and want of keeping ; wherein the legends of the
East are transferred into a London drawing-
room, where futurity is anticipated, and the
fantastic reveries of a physician taken as the grave
foundation of a work of fancy. How different
from all this is the true legitimate imagination.
There is a harmony and strictness of. keeping
even in its wildest excesses ; a vein of judg-
ment pervading it : a cement of good sense that
binds all parts of the mental fabric together in
one sound accordant whole. - Look, for instance,
at that wildest of creations the " Tempest." All
dim is in due harmony and proportion. The

' Enchanted. Island" is vaguely, but with sufli- of the addressed favouring the company with a very
cient individuality described, to make us know it striking imitation of the mewing of a cat.)
Precisely der of the night, and Mr. Ronayne advanced to the
The cries,of " down, down !" were now the or-
again our dreams ; its characters are
such as would inhabit it : it has its Arid and front of the pit; but Mr. Niurphyfonl,dedThheis
conse-
quence ,
and intimated, by his motions (perhaps by his
words, but we heard them not), that he would not
y eldt
oh postney n
e,
thatoufdr Mr.
oratoryook to tota talk
ky
Murphy,t maMr. French, and
Mr. R
was,a o
gether.
[All three speaking at one time.]
Mr. FRINCII : I beg the Meeting—
Mr. MURPHY : Sir, allow me—
Mr. RONAYNE : Mr. Chairman, I gay—
Mr, Murphy then put his arms a-kimbo, and faced
Mr. Ronayne. Mr. Ronayne did the same, and
faced Mr. Murphy.
Mr. MURPHY : Gentlemen—{o h
Mr. MURPHY :
Mr. MURPHY : Gentlemen [0 119
About two-thirds of the Meeting then amused
themselves by shouting, " Turn him out !"
Mr. MURPHY : I should like to kn0w—[0......h
Mi. MURPHY : I should like to know—[o h
• Mr. Alumna : I should-like to know—[o h
A stout man, with red whiskers : I say you have
destroyed all the harmony (?) of the meeting.
Mr. RONAYNE : If Mr. Murphy would allow me
to speak, I should beseech the meeting to hear him
out.

its Caliban, who " lives among its fens ;" its
Miranda, wlio has never yet beheld a stranger ;
its wizard, "the philosophic Prospero ;" its wild
melancholy sounds, the voices of another world ;
" be not afeard, this isle is full of noises"—
every thing, in fact, which is requisite to build
up an enduring work of fancy. Had the author
of the " Mummy" undertaken to describe such
an island, he.would have fixed it in the Thames,
near Brentford,Butts: a coal-heaver would have
been one of his heroes,' and .Veshnoo or Bramali
another." This;-perhaps, maycall imagina-
tion ; but in good truth it is-nothing more nor
less than indigestion, acting on a fanciful and
atrabilious constitution. When imagination is
undirected by the judgment, it is idiotism ; and,
as this seems to be the inspiration of not a few
among our modern romances, we have here
thought it our duty to. enter our. protest seriously
against it.

Mr. MURPHY : I am in possession of the chair
(loud cries of " No, no !") Do you call this your
liberty, %hen even your very Secretary is dealing
out his " No," though he is but a beardless b-oy after
all?

The CHAIRMAN rose with great indignation to
repel this attack upon the Secretary's non-existent
beard, but the Babel of tongues was higher than
ever.

Mr. MURPHY—I have now been standing here
upwards of half an hOur, without being allowed to
say a word.—(Astonishing groans, and signs of dis.
approbation.)
Mr. OTLYNN (as we understood) said some-
thing, which nobody could hear. It served, however,
to make the picture very complete. On one side of
the table was Mr. Murphy speaking ; .on the other
was Mr. Ronayne . speaking; and iq the twiddle was
Mr. Freuch speaking, while Mr. O'Flynn, and an
Irish Gentleman with a shock head, 'stood a little en
arriere also speaking. What any of them said, how-
ever, it is utterly impossible to guess at; but to
judge by their actions it was something highly int,
portant, for all their arms, first right and then left,
sawed the air with astonishing velocity ; and he in-
deed must have been a Quixote beyond Cervantes's
most buoyant imagination who would have ventured
to come within half a dozen yards of five such wind-
mills.

By a most dangerous elevation of voice, one of the
crowd contrived to be heard, while he uttered,
" How much are you paid, Murphy, by the Catholic
Association ?"
Mr. MURPHY—That question was put to 'me be-
fore, by the Chairman ; but I disdained to answer
it, when coming from him.
The CHAIRMAN—I never asked any such question.
Mr. MURPHY —I say you did say so.
The CHAIRMAN—I never said it.
Mr. MURPHY—You did.
The CHAIRMAN—I didn't.
Mr. MURPHY—Yeti did.
The CHAIRMAN—On my oath I never said it.
Mr. MURPHY—SO these are the friends of liberty.
The CIIAIRMAN—I will not permit suck a false-
hood. (To the Meeting)—Now did I say it ?
Reitelated vociferatious of " No!"
Some one communicated with Mr. FauNett, and
he then said :—Gentlemen, the owners of this Insti-
tution call our conduct a public disgrace, and think
we had better adjourn.
Mr. MURPHY--I have no objection to adjourn.
The CHAIRMAN—If you go on, I shall order
you out.
Mr. MURPHY (with all his eyes open) : Order !
Order me out ! Oh, what a mad bull [shouts of all
sorts] !

Thi universal di-play of oratory having lasted
about a quarter of an hour,
.Mr. French and his
friends discovered, what we had found out long
before, that the wisest thing he could do was to
abdicate; the consequence of which was, that there
was no longer any Chair for Mr. Murphy to be in
possession of, whereforehe and the Meetingadjourned.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALL'S, SEPT. 1.

The betting to-day was rather brisk, and certainly va-
ried. 3to 1 was first betted against Velocipede-2f to
succeeded, and he settled at 11 to 4. The Colonel is firm
above Ilessy, and a keen hand has backed him pretty hea-
vily. The mare seems fibbing, though looked after by a
strong party. Jour des Noces (or " Joddy Nose," as the
unsophisticated call him) stood well at 7 to 1 for some
time, but at the close 8f to 1 was laid by an mild one, but
no others would be more than 7A to 1. They closed as
follows :

DONCASTER ST. LEGER.
11 to 4 apt Mr. Armitage's Velocipede
9 to 2 aget Mr. Petre's Colonel (offered)
51 to 1 agst Colonel King's Bessy Bedlam (taken)
6 to 1 agst Lord Milton's Ballad Singer
15 to 2 agst Mr. Theakston's Jour des Nocee
28 to 1 agst Major Yarburgh's Belinda
30 to I agst Mr. Crompton's Coulon
35 to 1 apt Mr. Marson's Murphy
40 to 1 aget Mr. Ridsdale's Master Burke
50 to 1 apt Mr. Gascoigne's Louisa colt
50 to 1 agst Mr. Petre's Emmeline
1000 to 20 apt Mr. Metcalfe's Economist
1000 to 15 apt Sir T. Mestyn's Ultimatum
1000 to 15 apt Mr. Thornhill's Merchant
2000 to 15 apt Mr. 11. Benson's Alcaston.
1500 to 1200 on The Colonel apt Bessy (taken)
500 to 400 on Ballad Singer agst Jour de Nocee (taken)
In the evening most of the betting men started for
Warwick, where a great meeting takes place this week.