The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-18 00:00:00

LI TERA TUBE,

SCENERY and ANTIQUITIES of IRELAND.

Virtue, London, 1842.

This cleverly illustrated work has now reached
its Eighteenth Part, and exhibits not the slightest
falling off, whether in the number or quality of
its embellishments. We have here not less than
four of them, of which the most striking is the
wild, romantic sketch entitled " A Pattern in
Connemara."

CANADIAN SCENERY Virtue, London, 1842.

The present Part, which is the Twenty-ninth,
contains several interesting illustrations of the
peculiarities of Canadian scenery; and among
them is a sketch—" The First Settlement'
which represents a party of settlers just com-
mencing their log-hut in the depths of an im-
mense forest, some of whose stateliest trees are
falling under the vigorous blow of the axe. In
the foreground are seen a father and his chil-
dren standing near a gypsy sort of fire, gazing
complacently on a fine deer, which the former
has just brought down with his rifle, of course
for the day's meal. This picture realises one of
Galt's best and most truthful descriptions in
" Lawrie Todd." The letter-press portion of the
work is mere dull, inanimate common-place.

NOTES OF A TOUR IN THE MANUFAC-
T U RING DISTI?ICT S. Duncan, London, 1842.

The spirit displayed throughout these "Notes"
is a temperate, and—so far as we can form a
judgment—an impartial one. The author, Dr.
Taylor, bad no previous impressions or preju-
dices to confirm or get rid of, so viewed matters
with a cool, dispassionate eye. The result of
his observations is, on the whole, favourable to
the manufacturing system ; and of the factories,
he says, that they are certainly not evil in them-
selves, but may be so ill conducted as to produce
much evil. In the course of his work, the Doctor
bears the following testimony to the efficient ser-
vices of the Anti-Corn-law League. He is al-
luding, we should premise, to the period of the
riots, some two or three months since:—
" I am as persuaded, as I am of my own
existence, that the Anti-Corn-law League
at this moment alone preserves the public peace
in the north of England. Were its members to
suspend their operations, or dissolve their body,
declaring we have done all that we could do,
and we must now abandon our efforts in sheer
despair,' there would instantly be a break up of
the body politic, society would resolve itself into
its original elements, and no man could predict
the consequences." We suspect there is some
little heightening of colour here, for we cannot
possibly imagine, even at the critical period of
the riots, to which Dr. Taylor refers, the body
politic breaking up, like polar ice, with a crash of
thunder, and society resolving itself into "its
original elements "—that is to say, into the state
in which it exists among the Ashantees or Hot-
tentots—merely because the Anti Corn-law
League may choose to dissolve their Association !
That the dissolution of such a body would be at-
tended with injurious effects, we are quite wil-
ling to admit; but the social system is not so
easily shattered—does not so readily revert to
the patriarchal condition, when our savage an-
cestors were tattooed like New Zealanders,
wore painted hides, lived in caves, and browsed
on thistles! Society, like a cat, takes a deal of
killing, and it is not the disruption of one, or
even of a dozen, Anti-Corn-law Leagues, that
would occasion its overthrow-

JOSEPH JENKINS, or LEAVES from the LIFE
of a LITERARY MAN, by the Author of " Random
Recollections," " The Great Metropolis." 6fc., 3 vols.,
post Bvo.—Saunders and ()thy.
After a season of unusual dullness in the liter-
ary world, publishers pow begin to give " note
of preparation," and among the earliest candi-
dates for public favour, as a caterer to our winter
evenings' entertainment, we have here the amus-
ing author of " Random Recollections," with
three gossipping volumes, on a theme differing,
from any which he has formerly essayed. Hi-
therto he has been for the most part known to
the reading public as a lively and pleasant chro-
nicler of the habits, physical peculiarities, and
intellectual qualifications of our " Mitst potent,
grave, and reverend Signiors ;" and as a rain-
bling excavator and explorer of the Lights and
Shades of Metropolitan Life. But on the present
occasion he comes before us in the capacity of a
biographer and illustrator of a literary adven-
turer. This unquestionably is an interesting sub-
jeat, and, properly treated, ought also to be an in-
structive one. Our own notions as to how this
matter might be most profitably discussed, differ
considerably from those of our author; but not
to intrude them at present on the attention of our
readers, we cannot but allow that in the work
before us, according to his view of the subject, he
exhibits in no ordiary degree those good qualities
of shrewd observation and humorous incident ac-
companied,. we must add, with a due proportion
of garrulous prolixity, by which he acquired his
early popularity. It cannot be said that there is
much of the " romance of real life" in the history
of " Joseph Jenkins," who, notwithstanding his
own high estimate of himself, is, after all, but an
ordinary enough mortal, and his career all too
common in our every-day world. Nor is there any-
thing very extraordinary in some of the specimens
given of the stuffof which "Joseph's" literary con-
tributions were made up. There is neither plot,
nor well connected story, nor any gilded halo of
romance, to excite the sentimental sympathies of
the ordinary novel reader. In truth, it is not a
novel, in the usual acceptation of that term; the
author's intention appears to have been alto-
gether different from producing a work of that
kind. " Joseph Jenkins" is a raw youth from
the "north countrie," who leaves his home from
necessity, and the force of circumstances, to try
his fortune in that line of life, which is graphi-
cally termed " living on one's wits." His first
essay is in the character of epic poet, when, big
with the expectation of fame, and, what he values
as much, profit, he publishes an "epic" on the
" universe," which, alas ! a dull, ungrateful
public, will neither purchase nor appreciate; we
are not favoured with any specimens of this work
of unappreciated genius, hut are much inclined
to think, from other circumstances in his history,
that the decision come to was the right one.
After this adventurous flight, it is rather
humili-
ating to see our hero reduced to the hard, labo-
rious, and very prosaic occupation of " a gentle-
man of the press"—a writer of all work for
newspapers and magazines. The scenes in which
Joseph is necessitated to mix, and the places he
must visit in the performance of the duties of his
new vocation, along with various lucubrations
and disquisitions on the state of literary criticism,
Magazine and Review writing, &c., compose in
a great measure the bulk of the volumes. These
materials appear at first sight slender and meagre
enough, yet does the author display such tact
and ingenuity in piecing the various incidents to-
gether, with such humour and drollery in the
descriptions, that we do not hesitate to say the
perusal of them will afford pleasure and amuse-
ment. The author indeed purports, and evi-
dences, a higher object than that of af-
fording mere amusement to his readers—
he hopes his story may also be found to
" point a moral." The principles and morals
of Mr. Jenkins are certainly rather wavering
and unstable, and his subsequent chequered
career renders them lax enough, while the dis-
astrous consequences which follow, and the
miserable shifts to which he is obliged to resort
for the purpose of " keeping up appearances,"
are palpable and evident. Still although the
moral be plain, we question whether the public
may eonsider the work, as, in that view, having
the best title to consideration • however,
matter admits of easy adjustment to all classes
of readers—those who read for amusement can-
not miss the moral lesson, and vice versa. Some
of those passages which pleased us most we had
marked for extraction, such •as the laughable
affair of the -" rival hatters," " contested
elections," &c., and borne curious particulars
about Burns and Dr. Hornbook, which the
author says have never before been published,
and which certainly we do not remember one
having met with—but our limits do not permit,
and we must refer our readers to the work itself.
' We regret to perceive that the styl.e of this
writer does not exhibit any.syrpßtom of improve-
ment—the work before us is disfigured in acon-
siderable degree by much of that negligent
' " slip-shod" manner which was visible in several
• of his former works. It is true there are certain
points of style which may be as much peculiar
to a man as the features of his own face; but
• these are very far removed from careless habits
of composition, which, with the bestowal of a
little time and attention, might be entirely re-
moved. The book is beautifully printed.

BANQUET AT APSLEY Housz.—On Wednesday his
Imperial Highness the Archduke Frederick of Austria
was sumptuously entertained by the Duke of Wel-
lington. The Archduke was attended by Captain
Fitzroy, R.N., and Baron Lebzeltern and his Excel-
lency Baron Nieuman, the Austrian Minister, ac-
companied his Imperial Highness. Covers were laid
for twenty-four, and among the guests present to
meet the illustrious guest of the Noble and Gallant
Duke wore his Excellency Baron Brunow, his Ex-
cellency Count St. Aulaire, his Excellency M. Dedel,
his Exellency Mr. Everett, his Excellency Baron de
Aber his Excellency Prince Castelcicala, Earl of
•Aberdeen Lord Fitzroy' Somerset, Sir John Mac-
donald, Sir Willoughby Gordon, Mr. Addington, his
Excellency Count Pollen, &e.