The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-30 00:00:00

-QUARTERtY ttEVIEC."—V. N-07-I.Xlx, —For DECEMBER.
igaht
ibveryexpegitpcsitremidtendus,ttlidevecrerosariqf,tvei
.lielL:uoc:knihdtabritersins
smseada-
nagTetige—nt—as itus
and knoWing that
number. Upholding the dame principles that charecterised
it when Mr. Gifford waa
more enlarged mind- to their elucidation ;
politiea are not the predominating.features of the esen age, speaks out with a degree of liberal and off-hanpdr bold-
t
ness, that lends an impressiveness to.ell its :opinions. On
one subject indeed, the Greek COrnmittee Bubble, itas-
a very lofty tone of decided and deserved reprelien.
sion; to Which we shall presently refer, just ,obeerving,
en passant, that if ever a stook jobbing concern, conceived
and executed in the Worst vim of vulgar avarice, called
aloud' for universal detestation, thin---the unprincipled fa-
brieation of a gang of spurious patriots, the assassins of all
moral feeling--is that one. But to resume our analysis
the first article in the present. Number, entitled "Babbage
on Life Assurance Societies," though elaborate and mas-
terly in its details, and drawn up with'unusual caution, is
yet deficient in original observation. It is, besides, as dry
as a finance speech, and so replete with technicalities, that
it absolutely requires a glossary to unravel them. We
shall, therefore, to use Lord' Sefton's favorite driving
phrase—" give it the go by,', and proeeed to the second
article, which professes to be a comment ,on Sir J. Mal-
colm's Dissertation on India. Here 'we have a very (two-
rito dogma with your political enthusiasts, triumphantly
overturned, namely that India should be taken from. the
Directors, and vested unreservedly in the bends of the
British Government. In answer to this, Sir John,
backed by his commentstor, observes, that were the
East to be' consigned over to Alinisters, it must
of necessity be with them a secondary conside-
ration; Whereas, in the hands of a Company, ,it
is their sole object of attention—their one paramount
idea. He states also, that an uncontrouled liberty of the
Press ought never to co-exist with an administration ori-
ginally founded, however well and rnotieraitely sustained
since, on the triumphs of might over right. With this
opinion, we cordially coincide, convinced that such free-
dom would at once nentralize the.character of tie Govern-
inent, arid, in the existing state of public foeling, lend to
demoralize where it was meant to benefit India... Sir
John further remarks, that our Eastern poeseisione .are
inadequately represented in Parliamentan opinion which
the Quarterly-refutes by proving that the House of Com-
mons invariably numbers Directors among its Members—
to whom we may also add the Board of Controul,
the, responsible representatives of all Indian interests. The
third article is headed—" Servian Minstrelsy," and abl),
though briefly,' analyses the poetic characteristics of those
Illynan derni-savages who have now for centuries been
enslaved by the Turks. The style of these legends •is
rude and Warlike, and, what is singular, remarkably deli-
cate, when turning upon love. We say singular, because,
if we compare them with the same amorous ditties by the
Northern Scalds, or even by those amusing vagabonds the
Troubadours—the- most licentious of created beings--the
contrast will appear little short of downright marvellous.
One legend we cannot help alitiding to, from its, exceeding
simplicity.a--A certain Illyrian King has commenced the
fabrication of a palace, which, however, is nightly thrown
down by the Wild Lady of the Wood. This is awkward,
and his Majesty accordingly asks what is to propitiate the
daimon, who replies, with infinite politeness, that one of
her own sex must be enclosed within tour walls, which
are to be built up immediately around her. No sooner
said than done; a personal friend of the King's is found,
courteous enough to sacrifice his own wife, whose feelings on
sight of the prolific prisons growing up on all sides, are
expressed with Shakspearian beauty. We give the pas-
sage, as it is exquisite in its way, particularly the lines
marked. in Italics:—
" ' The wall is at my breast-0 ! leave a little window here,
A little space (dear brother), so may thine age be blest,
That when they bring my suckling I may put forth the treast:
The master, for the love of God, had pity on her cue,
And, o'er against her bosom, left a little open space,
That, when they brought her stickling, she there the,braut might
set
Wrereen she always nursed him, and give him nurture yet.
And yet once more she can't] on him, and whisper'd in his ear,
' The wall is at my face--0 ! leave a little 'Window here,
Alittle window, for the love of God that site on high,
That I may ass mine own white house until the hour I die;
A little window, brother dear, that 1 the child may see
Both when he hither cornea, and when they bear him'home from
me.,,.

" Hurwitz's Hebrew Tales," the subject of the fourth
article, has bean anticipated in many of our most popular
publications, so we will just add, that; it is worthy of pe-
rusal, though not new either in facts or theories; and then
pass on to, the " Review of Captain Head's Rough Notes
of the Pampas Country." This gentleman, be it pre-
mised, gallopped at a Newmarket pace across some thou-
sand miles in South America, scampering on one occasion
over a hundred and fifty-three miles in something less than
fourteen hours, sleeping upon his saddle as a pillow, and
immortalizing himself as the Alexander or Charles the
12th of horsemanship. Under such circumstances it is
not to be expected that his opinions of the country through
which he passed (or rather flew) could be very profound;
and accordingly our reviewer observes, that they are of
little value, vxcept in one instance, where they prove that
Chili, so fur from being the Utopia of our itommercial
schemiats, is flit, barren, and inhospitable. .The sixth
article, entitled " Autobiography," exposes, in a fine strain
of sarcasm, the egotistical twaddle of that dramatic drivel-
ler Frederick Reynolds, who, a few months since perpe-
trated the publication of two dull volumes, which 'he bap-
tized " Memoirs of Himself and his Times ;" thus mixing
up his own history with that of the century, so that pos-
terity might impure, not about the age which produced a
Buonaparts, a Byron, a Scott, a Canning, outs Brougham,
but about that which brought forth (heavens,.what a
bathos I) Frederick Reynolds, Esquire, author of tt The
Will, and Examiner—at five guineas per week—ef Playa
at Drury-Lane. The next review is an analysis of t, Dart-
moor, a descriptive Poem; by N. T. Carrington," which,
though somewhat too slavishly an imitation of Thoinson,
is yet a production of uncommon fire and eloquence. There
is one passage in it worthy of the well-known traveller
perishing in the snow," and we are proud to find our
opinion on its merits backed by the
Quarterly Aristar-
chus. A notice of the " Collective Works of the late
in
sii)nr;eS, aeuretran'oliwa (Porief;runetn—P7l
elivsst"ada.oemyl:ollot•'reratYlalsiproter!ititTtrif''io:r:l:
observations Oil English poetry, of its progress from the
times of Milten down to the
when it absolutely rain* ritymoters. Thu-is perhaps the
most original article in the whole Review, and does jug-
tire (which, wit are glad to find) to the neglected genius of
Hurdie, a modest disciple in the haulier sehool of
Crorper, Whose style is thus pietureiquely deiteribed
" Cowper's was a natural strain, proceeding front a'pley-
fut temper and a serious heart; neither he nor Iltirdis seems,
to'have felt the slightest impulse of vanity or Ambition
il was as natural fr.' them to give utterance to Meir
,feel.
lags in verse, as for the birds 'to The style, through-
out of this article IS very felicitous, as a specimen of which
we quote the following expressive ,pessage:—"Such of
our readers as recollect what the state of our literature
was five and thirty years ago, will not be surprised at see-
ing the names of Cowper,
Darwin,
and Merry, classed to-
gather, as having been then each in full sail upon the
stream of celebrity, which very soon floated two of them
by a short cut into the :deed sea." We now come to an
article heeded " The Greek Committee," ;n which the
whole mystery of thet fiendish speculation is unravelled,
and justice done:to those accomplished jobbers, of
whom,'.not content with nauseating the public with his in-
sipid maudlin rhymes,' must nee& turn patriot, as if to
complete its disgust. It is, however, to such,grOvelliag
spirits Who hove not even. the dignity of crime to redeem
them from iontempt—to these enthusiast* for liberty io
literature, and for per centage in the. Stotik.Exchan,ge ;
these modern disinterested patriots, (so exceedingly like
Cincinatus,) that Orme has been hitherto eacri4ceti;