The Sun.
London, England, 1819-04-16 00:00:00

RUSSI A.

The following is an extract of a letter from.the
Agent of the Russian Company in London, by
which it will be seen that the important reduc-
tion of.ltl per cent. on all goods imported and cx-
poyted troM Russia .has taken place. It will also
be observed, that the statement with respect to
rum is confirmed, and that it is allowed entry on;
•the same terms-as other spirits :

." PETFRSBURGH, FEB. 23 —An Ukase has been
issued, directing, that in the levying of ditties in
the 'different Custom-houses, for the year 1819,
the silver rouble shall be taken at three roubles
and sixty copecks bank notes, which make a re-
duction of 10 per cent. on the duties of all int=
ports and exports, excepting on those that pay ad
valorem. -

Some- persons having claimed the right to
pay duties on goods imported last year, and still in
the Cutom-house, at the new rate of 3 roubles
and 60 copecks, it has been decided that the old.
ditty should be charged on all goods which shall
have been received at any Custom-house, previous
to the receipt of the present order.
_ _

" I have further to announce, that the order
from the Department of Foreign Commerce to the
retershurgb Custom-house, dated 8(11 Feb., has
been -made public, authorising the importation ( f
rum at the same ditty as is levied on brandy and
a!r-ck, viz. 10 roubles 'per anker (silver), and
hope to he enabled to send a copy and translation
of the Ukase by an early conveyance.

"'ln the mean time it is necessary to under.
stand that the duty'on all spirits is levied oev)rd=
ing to ,t•heir strength, and the lowest•dnty is U.)
roubles per anker, and it below, and not above
what is here denominated 10 degrees.
If above 19, and not •above 15 degrees, is
considered nitre spirit, and pays 20 silver roubles
anker."_

LITERARY REVIEW.

'LITTLE HYDIIOGEN: on, THE DEVIL UPON TWO

sTicKs T' LONDON.

• We do n,,t profess to be deeply conversant in
Ci.cmitt•v:---we have never explored the sec-lets of
Dury's Locker:—we have otdy one or two derils
at on, rommaro ; and we have no wish to raise
the spi?its of which certain of our brethren are
itewhat ton fond. When these are wore de-
-1 wed than they oite.ht to he, we can sometimes

l!Se a retort ; and there is an end of ont practice

in the ,ciettre

Reviewers, however, should know someth;ng
of every thior. ;—so we must ev.n make the hest
it, and di,euss the work.before tic with all pos-
sible seien• ifieality ;—not enteting into Hu elabo-
rate examinatiou into the difference betteen
Oxygen and Ilyd,ogen ; one of which, Perlolp,
according to the old jo!:e, means plain Gin, while
the other means Gin and Wafer.
But there is another species of knowledge,
which, as we (to not elluse to communicate, we
can assume without fear of contradiction—tire
knowledge of fashionable life.—This essential
science enables its to understand the characters of
the pleasant and pithy r limn now on onr table ;
and really, LITTLE HYDROGEN" has satirized,
keenly, tt.ough mildly enough, the faults and fol-
lies of our metropolis.
The first appearance of our chymical Spirit,
and his couversation•with the Author, are well
managed. ilttittinotiners himself us heretofore
the celebrated Asmodeus, hot no lou;er either
lame or ugly. Ile now appears vigorous and beau-
tiful ; while l is follower, endued by him With
new functions, becomes light as hitncelf, and al-
most as disembodied.—The Tykrs—not the 6f-at
Tyfers—of the present day, would have been much

ituteb'ed to him, if he. had only nuroofed the

lioneec ;—for slid) is the machinery of his disclo-
sures :—bnt little IIYtnoGP.I.T is a Devil of ho-
oov.r, and re roofs them all, after having ended

tlieir exhibitiou

I'Ve will not insist, that our old friend is alt n-
gether as intelligent as when Don Cleofas had
11(.1,1 of hiq skirt :—hut Madrid and London are,
perhap4, diff..rentiy constituted ;—or, perhaps,

1-IYottoGEN describes real characters, while As-
broncos drew upon his own imagination. Be-
sides, he brings its acquainted with the per-
sonages of his several anecdotes, and their previ-
ous histories :---the requisite expansion, therefore,
in one small volume, could not accord with the
variety of so :flatly more characters in a larger
work.—Nevertheless, Flitottooft4 has one signal
advantage;—he takes his rounds by noon as ,well
as fay night ; he sees and spews what is to-
day ; a livelier speculation, than what was done
Yesterday, or what is to be done tomorrow„—
We could wish, however, that instead of unroof-
ing tire houses, which can only detect the Poets
and Quidnunes who generally compose in a gar-
ret, he lad unfrosted theist, and so exhibited their
drawing-rooms. This might have saved him the
trouble of repair, upon some fashionable mansions
at least, whose mortgagees are ready bands at a
fore closure.

'Winn HYDROGEN favours In with R short story,
be has much of his Asrondean conciseness and
piquaney.—Onr Readers will recognize their •ld
accraintance in the following extract :
" ' In that corner,' said my.guide, ' is a youth
who has corue to town from Cambridge. He has
no business here, but to visit a favourite courte-
ztn, who is sapping his rich expectances. lie is
in the act of writing to his uncle, dated Cam-
bridge, and to be delivered with a hare, by the
guard of the mail-coach ; so that old square-to.'s
will think that he is pursuing his studies, whilst
he is quaffing his Champagne and revelling with
a frail Cyprian. Ile is a new customer, and pays
ready money. See how the cribbage-faced waiter
bows homage to him. Put half a (Cozen of Cham-
pagne into the coach waiter, says he. This is
doubtless for his favourite. His will be a short
life Fiv:d a merry one '
" Next turn your eyes to a dinner party. The
sickly thing at the head of the table is of age
this day ! 'tis his treat. What expense ! what
-intemperance ! He is in bad company. Those
youths around him will take him to one of the
hells ; and this day may be the first of his ruin.
The young man on his right has squandered all
his awn fortune, and must now live on that of his
acquaintances ; the other an his left is an old
bird, a regular decoy, an agent to the Greeks.—
Poor Amphitrion ! thou art done for ! That
man asleep is Lord -- ; he does nothing but
drink all night and sleep all day. He is the prince
Of epicures.'

" • The qniet-looking elderly man in the corner
Is an author. Ile frequents all the places of ele-
gant entertainment, and studies marikind. Mind
how he smiles occasionally. Some of those blades
will shine in a satire for this. That man is to be
met with alone at all public places.'
" In the private room adjoining you see an
elderly Mewor. Mind his dress, a groom-cut
truck, many waistcoars, a 'lark brown wig, put
AI the affecta,ion of a boy, playing his
favourite look upon his fotehead, and stroking up
his gF,ssy hair. Observe bow well, and in how
studied a manner, his cravat is put on ; mark his
large coachman's hat, and his whip, although he
has no longer a horse in his stable; see his dyed
whi,kers, and the mouse-coloured eye-brow whiela
should be grey, his ivory teeth, and fascinating
smile. This is a man of quality, a has teen, re-
turned from abroad, and incog. upon the. town.
His companion is a young Telemachus of noble
birth but as unprincipled as his adviser. Listen
to the affectation of his voice, his swearing in a
womanish tone at every word, the approving
!mil cat any thing like wiekedness which fails
flout his prime minister and counsellor. See how
the thing is pinched in the middle, and, betwixt
his pouting crop, above his lady-like hips below
and the flowing skirts of his tnnique, observe
him to represent a %I-Akin;; hour-glass. They are
now actually consilltiug how to carry off an
heiress. The plan is to take her from a
Money, however, :must be borrowed. A fine har-
vest for the usurer;.'.

" In the ►►ext r:,o►ii are a profligate and two
bailiffs. The one of them is disguised as a cler-
gyn►an, the other as a livery servant, the better to

' carry on their deception, and to ponuce upon
their Fey. Their prisoner is in his 'morning
~,_!own, and has just been painting and perfuming
himself. Yon would take him for the sign of a
civic cat ; and he is as dAngerous as any cat in
Europe. At this moment he is writing a letter to
a certain Sir--, threatening to expose him if he
do nor send him a tew hundreds to pay his coach-
maker. at whose suit he is• arrested, and to enable
biro to car y o;t a little lunget!. He'll get the
money ; (or having treacheroudy possessed him-
self of the othet's secrets, he has him in his
rower.'

Who are those in the- front bedroom ?'
sAia 1 ' They are two hocks of the lust head,'
iephed my guide. The one has a hit of a title.
father too was a hock of the first head, and
Iris Matn4 took the charge of ornamenting
The thrt ml-paper, yet athletic looking youth is
heir to a title : you see lie alrecis the ruffian, with
Iris Belcher halldKClChief, and his almost white
hang-op coat.
,They are innocently unitising
themselves %vitt' throwing in a main or two, just
a little practice ; bravo ! The thin one has
thrown seven and eleven sixteen times ! What
a rare chance a man playing against him must
have.!'

" ' In the next room you 'see a money-lender
and a buck parson closeted. .'They are doing an
annuity. The former is right to keep all quiet ;
for lie will get about thirty per• cent.- by the bar-
gain. lie is an usurer's agent, gets sixty pounds
tram the borrower out of twelve hundred for
besides a present from the leader•, who
is to make hiS sixteen per cent. of him, namely,
two hundred per iumuut for the loan of twelve
hundred pounds, bes Ats a clause of half a year's
re-purchase money. Ile will never be at the ex-
pence of inswing his life, because he knows that
he will be ruined in a short time ; and, as his
fortune will just cover his annuities, and they
will come in first, he is sure of his man. To
ac-
celera his fall, the procurer will sound the horn
as to his having borrowed this sutra of money,
and bring his creditors on him, receiving a per
centage from them•'
" ' The master of the house seems to he making
out a said I;`why, it is like a bill in Chan-
cery." Yes,' replied the spirit, and Mr.
--'strtinks will be exchequered for it ; but poor
L-- will be thrown over. An Honourable
Colonel owes that bill, who proposes beina,
whitewashed ; [he was afterwards] so farewell
the debt."'
The next is still neater :

" Do 1 not perceive two young ladies sleeping
together itt an adjacent room ?' g You do,' te-
plied le petit (liable. They were up late at a
ball, and are fancying themselves in love. IVhat
a lovely youth that Officer in the Guards, cries
one with a sigh. Yes, replies the other, stretch-
ing out her arms, a perfect Adonis. Didn't you
think that he looked hard at us ? Certainly ; but
Pa was so ill dressed and so surly, that he Gig-lit-
Cited him away Irons us. Heigh-ho! Mary, let
tne sleep.' "
The story, at p. 154, is Cnr.loll4 and well told :
we have not room toctract it ; nor the painfully
strong delineAtfr.ns of our Prisons. We must
also [orego the pretty characters which HYDROGEN
draws of the t37tigs, old and new; and the gra-
tifying pourtrailUte of our good old Monarch ;
which, however, is rather more in the style of
Swwfs John Bull; than of LE SAGE'S ,4smodetts.

;Much still remains to be told ; and we trust
that the public encouragement will induce LITTLE
HYDRoGEN to continue his rambles, He will then
visit, perhaps, our Theatres, and get somewhat
better acquainted with SIIAKNPEARE than to quote
Cassio instead of Grationo ; our Public Offices ;
ourihlouses of Parliament, if not too touchy a
subject ; aye, and our Newspapers too—and he
is welcome to refresh his gas at THE ;—and,
above all things, we pray his spirited publisher
to turn him loose upon the Westminster Rump
Committee. A second volume, equally enterain-
ing, cannot fail of increasing the attraction of a
book, which whoever reads with his slippers over
the fender in foggy mornings will find himself
well amused and beguiled into some hearty and
constitutional laughs.

THEATRICAL REGISTER. -
Performed Last Nied.
THEATRE ROYAL, DIU/ RY•LA N i Oats Rover, Mr.
Russell ; Lady Amaranth, M►s. Glover. After which (3d
time); Abudah.
THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GAR HEN.—(lsth time), Evadne:
Principal Characters by Mr. Macready and Miss O'Neill.
After which (4th time), Fortung and his Sons.

TO COIVAESPONDENTS.
BRITANNICUS, Letter ji,, on ItomAN C ,TIIOLiCS, To-morrow.
Also, INSOLVENT ilEurons (concluded).

.4' For the PETITION from MeTons in the FLEET PRISON,

see the Fourth Page.

PRICE 0

THIS nAv AT T
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72i 73
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Bank Long Ann.... 194
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MAILS.
ARRIVEIr—I Dublin, 1 Waterford, I Hamburg!), I Flanders.
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HICII WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW.
Morning, 29 minutes after 7. I Evening, 54 minutes after 7.