The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-17 00:00:00

LITERA TURE

OLD ENGLAND. Part XXI.

This admirably conducted serial is rapidly approach-
ing its conclusion. The present part brings us down to
the reign of George IL When completed it will be the
most complete museum of national English antiquities
that has ever issued from the press. The illustrations
fully maintain their high character.

MINSTREL LOVE; a Romance. From the German

A legislator, named Hamilton, had the soubriquet of
" Single-speech" conferred upon him, because, though
of Fouque.
he sat in Parliament for many years, he delivered only
one speech, which happened to be an excellent one. Had
the Baron, who wrote " Minstrel Love," permitted him-
self to be " single-volume" Fouque, his reputation would
have stood much higher than it does, or than it ever can.
It may show sad want of taste on our part, but we look
upon " Undine" as the only readable of Fouque's many
works. The success of that encouraged him to write,
and his motto might have been—
"ln mercy spare me—for Ido my best
To make as much wage-paper as the rest."
" Undine" is a simple store, gracefully told. It pleased
Coleridge, and had the very doubtful merit of suggest-
suggest-
ing Scott's " White Lady of Avenel." None others of
Fouques fictions are calculated to please the English
reader. They are cold and stiff, with a dash of exaggera-
tion, and a sprinkling of mysticism. This ~Minstrel
Love
tis intended
ni nst
e thed e
dThe
heroot bis o
heavieste
t e personification romance
of
" Those faultless monsters whom the world ne'er saw."
He v
with. of
chivalry we ever have
of all that is
men
good and gallant, but must have been an awfully tire-
some young man. When he died, we dare say that his
friends, though they might have put on mourning for
him, rather rejoiced at having a sort of wet blanket
removed from their sociality. He must have been as
unpleasant a companion as Brummel's " damp stranger."
The translation appears well executed. The volume is
most elegantly got up, and the illustrations are extremely
pretty. But the work is essentially a failure. In
Fouque's lottery there was only a single prize, and that
was " lludine."

A PEEP INTO ARCHITECTURE, by
Chalk.—With Illustrations.
Eliza Chalk is a worthy successor to Jane Taylor,
and her peep into architecture combines instruction with
p
amusement in a manner that has not been surpassed
since the days when the Taylors of Ongar
reduced
that revolution in juvenile literature, the advantages of
which the present generation is reaping. Architecture
has been strangely and unaccountably neglected by our
popularisers of arts and sciences ; but, as miss
Chalk
justly obsery
" A knowledge of architecture can alone prove a shield to '
guard the harmonious and unique examples of antiquity from
the unrelenting modernizer, who often devotes to neglect or
destruction many a choice specimen of bygone industry and
beauty ; and as the railroad will enable many to view the varied
architectural remains which stud our country, this science will
prepare the mind to appreciate such scenes."
It is evident that our authoress thoroughly understands
the subject on which see writes, and she treats it con
amore. Her history of the origin of architecture is well
written, her description of the various species of thef
Gothic, end of the different orders of the Grecian, are