The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

WiTHERS ON THE ACACIA. Longman.
~
umerons scientific botanists, whose names are
prominent as authorities, have of late years made it
subject of regret. that the English Oak, whose solidity,
-.oarability, and strength, have rendered it permanently
acl;Pted in the building of our navies, should, from
various assignable causes, stand the likelihood of grow-
so far scant and degenerated, in the island, as to
text to unavailable for the purposes which it is at
Present employed for. Speculation and forethought
,Ll'c'e) therefore, been at work to discover among the
ace of forest trees, some particular tribe or member,
r°ch, from its approved good nature and qualities,
Ida be capable of supplying its place. Many mem-
'l's of the arborescent kingdom have been proposed,
and their respective properties and qualifications di-
'ated on by their selectors and advocates, with dif-
ferent degrees of plausibility. But the first horti-
culturist who, treading in the footsteps of Cobbett,
s brought forward the Acacia tree, or Robinia
Pseudo Acacia, earnestly with this view, and in this
country,,
appears to be Mr. Withers, who, convinced
of
importance of the subject, and its needful con-
lideration, adduces, in his above excellent work, every
'Obtainable proof and fact corroborative of the worth
'mod advantageous ualities of this species.
.4._Preliminarily its hould be remarked that a decided
etinetion must L.e drawn between the two varieties
Acacia now existent in this country. The true
Acacia (Acacia vera) is a genus which comprises a
number of trees, natives exclusively of tropical cli-
rilates• But the Acacia (the Robinia Pseudo Acacia)
he
under Mr. Withers' consideration—is, on
e cther hand, a hardy tree of North America, and
ought not to be confounded with the former, as, if
they bear any relationship to each other, it is remote
ltd unconnected. Of its name "Robinia," and its
',...'".:coduction into Europe, it may be premised, that it
i" John Robin one of the professors of the Jardin
es Plantes, and 'from whom so many botanical trea-
sures were subsequently derived, who brought it in in
i
O 1 during the reign of Henry IV. Linnvaus
i.`-'6
ter‘vards justly decided that the benefit ought to be
-1174memorated by bestowing on the tree the name of
e botanist.
fo Hitherto the Acacia has been used in England only
.1424 purposes of ornamental planting. The sym-
i„‘lT of its form and the elegance of its foliage have
1,""e it an especial favourite in embellishing our
Lvils, avenues, and shrubberies. In the summer
on its clusters of bloom, not unlike the orange
Ijower, fill the air with a similar perfume, and in St.
Iningo, are even made to distil a sweet and
Palatable liquor. Evelyn used delightedly to sit in
Lile shade of the Acacia, meditative of his " Sylvia :"
Palace-yard, heads have reposed beneath it in the old
ree-yard, Westminster, and groups of love and
st.'llY formerly were held under it in the park of
Out its utility, it should appear, surpasses its
Av,?:.,sur.y, while its profit rises beyond its beauty ; and,
bed Allv. Withers, we proceed to show its importance
bet value as a sterEng timber tree. The Americans,
va,,t.er aware of its uses than ourselves, use it for a
hill of purposes—for hop-poles, vine-props, hoops,
tivs Work, and many sorts of machinery. Especially
tor'Y Prefer it for the stern-posts and knees of vessels,
8.1. which, in our British dockyards, only the finest
he"vth of the Oak is used. In France it has long
.411 found profitable to the forester in its use, as fire-
iiir(!d, and making charcoal, and its grained wood, for
iture, puts it in request among turners and
/11,aer7ers. is ro-
The tardiness of the Oak in growth p
1.,„:21, while that of the Acacia is astonishing in its
sof:,T,ItY ; and it is a tree, which, on account of the
Lo'"EtY of its grain and texture, the natia es of
j„ll4ana style, par excellence, the hard-wood tree.
this light, and other collateral views, it is in-
foittable for ship-building. From a growth of from
urteen to twenty years, it acquired sufficient bulk to
be
is
pent into beams and girders : at this age the wood
_rally as compact and hard as the Oak, and the older
the wood the more solid will be the planks. Its re-
productive powers also in the plantations are such, and
so ,
Pparently indestructible is the vitality of its roots,
"at while a thousand plants have been thought to be
"adicated from a tract of ground one year, during the
''j le.oeeding tens thousand others have sprung up. It
other
also upon those inferior sandy soils, where
I-19.r forest-trees barely exist.
Glancing, therefore, only cursorily over the few
able supported statements above, Mr. Withers' laud-
tale enthusiasm for the planting of this tree generally
to England, is far from unwarrantable. Cobbett, a
flan of the strongest sense and judgment, accounted its
value such, that he himself imported some thousands
of seeds from America., having the benefit and even
safety of his country
: at heart. At Boston it is
almost wholly used in
ship-building, and various
other towns in America employ it undeviatingly for
naval purposes. It has only to come more actively
1
' 0 use, to be widely, if not universally adopted.
With one conclusive evidence in favour of its great
iil,7e-Pgth we shall close, viz., that by experi-
-41,2s made at her Majesty's Dockyard, Woolwich,
~,,""e ,comparative strength of this and other woods,
lkais °and that while very fine English Oak gave
larta,,,,' 7 a number expressing its strength, and the
the ea,°- other specimens of, Oak 1,535, Acacia by
other:PerCYlient gave 1,867. This fact, collated with
that adda,led, will, we hope, win for Mr. Withers
of i7leationLamong horticulturists and the guardians
4 °"1. Ilary which the importance of the subject
ernands.

• THE SALAMANDRINE.
the Lime and Parsons, London, 1842.
idea of this poem, if not altogether original, at
I.iefslate deserves praise for the elegance and fanciful -
%e
and the skilful and feeling manner in which it is
il,""ed out. Mr. Charles Mackay is the author, and
)44;"fe " Salamandrine" he has certainly produced his
tai effective poem. His heroine, as may be stir.-
ia t'• from the title, is a fire-spirit, whose destiny it
° be cursed with a soul, which, after a succession
ca. ht perishes together with her body, unless she
'lee, a mortal lover, in whom she can inspire a
tIri;11 Pure, and lasting attachment. The Salaman-
s%reL, after, we may suppose, a long and ineffectual
hearer is fortunate enough to meet with a " sweet-
Sir in the person of a chivalrous young knight,
da, -Gilbert, who "keeps company" with her for some
coi,:t in the woods, and pledges vows of undying
broeuc'4:; but on quitting her, and her combustible
he -7, orphyr, in order to return home for a season,
14%11 forgets his vows, and makes love to a re-
the a°l3* handsome young gentlewoman, rejoicing in
Spit pastoral appellative of Rosaline, who accepts his
kar,;and promises to become Lady Gilbert. On the
tai, 'age eve, however, the deserted Amethysta, the
tielandrine, makes her appearance before the nup-
tee,PartY, and by the force of her spells, compels the
knight to follow her, a long and weary way,
stPgil woods and across moors, until he finds him-
t` the the presence of her indignant brother, Porphyr,
lha curses him with sudden old age and infirmity, so
to none of his friends or relations shall ever be able
qiitecognise him. In this wretched condition Sir
o artl4 is ministered to by an old woman whom he en-
,stor-v'ers in the woods, and to whom he reveals his
3 ustr at the same time acknowledging that he was
to, AS served for having made so ungrateful a return
rerrtrilethysta's affection, and expressing the deepest
thi3urse for his conduct. Scarcely has he uttered
tet„ Penitent declaration, than his youth and strength
and the old woman undergoes a similar
1113-"Lug change, when he instantly recognizes in her
take former love, the Salamandrine ; and the poem
1110),,s,leave of them in a state of the most extatic con-
'4l felicity. Nothing can be more graceful than
fat- zll-I,,anner in which. Mr. Mackay has versified this
1vi,k1,1411 legend, or more apposite than the imagery
trtilt Whic he has surrounded it. He exhibits the
earnestness and sensibility of the poet, and will
_
than
more readers and admirers of his " Salamaneirine"
Judging from his modest and somewhat despond-
° Preface, he seems to calculate on.
4 a..
tVERAL ARMORY of ENGLAND, SCOT-
-1:), and IRELAND. Churton, London, 1842.
tile 0? iS a very careful, pains-taking compilation, and
4,441', the completest 'of the sort with which we are
al4;oa'uted. It gives the armorial bearings, &c„ of
Both:t every respectable family in the empire, to-
vaelor with a dictionary, minute and copious, of the
10t4,11,s technical terms used in heraldry. The vo-
Itocie,:: Prefaced by a brief, ingenious essay on this
that ‘ science, in which the writer justly observes
.„ Heraldry, cherished since its nativity, has
ItilraeSsi.ued in every age, in every country, and under
been every form of government. In England it has
Ntili7re than fondly fostered; throughout the other
as part-1" of Europe, armorial bearings were esteemed
etklt and parcel of the trappings of nobility ; here,
aPpend uf arms has always been the indispensable
4uired aYe of a entleman, and, be it inherited or ac;
it is equally an object of pride and display.'
4144(6‘..."urk forms a thick volume, imperial octavo, is
44%1,7* got up, and, considering the immense
Pohn of cq. matterce it contains, is remarkably cheap, in
pri.

STAIINSTPR REVIEW. No. LXXITT.
In Hooper, London, 1842.
/lit ;controversial disquisition, entitled the " Thirttyt-
e t ~
lezes which heads the present Number, he
:egrv:e.atblivsepriner:td'eavours to revive the discussion respect 7
Oxford Tracts. He writes in a free and
of inquiry, but his subject is against him,
nop 7, is °ne that has long since lost all claims to
lnterand it is scarcely possible to revive the
tariaest that once attached to it. The Oxford Trac-
tonl-thlis mllay be still making proselytes, but the sober,
olare--P-sense portion of the community having de-
i*e,t; against them, their sayings and doings have
Porta—,e) "Inparatively speaking, of little public im-
Poetj,epe• The paper on the "Roman Empire and its
expres,.l.Urnishes the Reviewer with an opportunity of
~om'lng his opinions of the poets who flournish.ed. in
tr , ' subsequentl to the Augustan age. is in-
remarks on the want of nationality among

the subjects of the Empire, are ingenious, but they are
too strenuo,,, insisted upon, and pushed to too great
a Lngth. "'There was no Roman people," he ob-
serves, "no public to address. The Empire retained
its unity, but it was heterogeneous ; it was the abode
of many nations, but no people." This is too broadly
put. The remark should have been more qualified.
The Romans in the days of the Ccesars, were certainly
not what they were in the days of the Republic ; still
they gloried in the name of " citizen ;" it was their
prime boast that they formed part and parcel of the
great nation; and so long as a spark of this patriotic
feeling lingered among them, it could scarcely be
said that they were "no people." Alluding inci-
dentally to Seneca, the Reviewer repudiate; the
notion that his tragedies are so indifferent as they are
generally said to be, but he does not prove his
hypothesis, nor indeed can any critic—except for the
mere purpose of paradox—deny that they are cold,
bombastic, devoid of action and passion, and con-
stantly running into extravagance. The "Medea" is
the best ; but even this is sorry stuff, when compared
with the noble drama
.of Euripedes on the same
subject. Speaking of Seneca's CEdipus, the Reviewer
says—" We will quote one passage which has always
appeared to us conceived in the intense spirit of our
old dramatists. It is at the close of the CEdipus,
when the unhappy King is left with the corpse of his
mother on the ground, and his eyes torn out with his
own frantic hands ; after addressing Apollo, and
accusing him of his misfortunes, he determines to
leave Thebes, the scene of his incest and misery ; he
feels his way forward for a pace or two, when he
arrests his steps, for fear of stumbling against his
mother. Siste, ne •in matrem incides !' This is
very grand and pathetic, and in the highest dramatic
spirit.'' The passage is impressive certainly, and
would seem to have suggested a similar one in Galt's
clever novel of the " Entail," where a young boy, on
entering church with a relation, suddenly pulls his
companion back, as he is about to tread unconsciously
on the stone that covers the ashes of his grandfather,
observing, " It's grandpapa ; dinna tramp on him !"
Of Persius, the Reviewer says with truth, " his lan-
guage is obscure and corrupt, and his rythm perfectly
ludicrous ; his verses are the gaspings of a premature
and asthmatic muse." Persius is indeed the most
obscure in his meaning, and dissonant in his verse, of
all the Roman Satirists ; his very Latinity differs
from that of every other versifyer, and it is worth no
one's while to undergo the labour consequent on an
attemt to fathom his meaning. " Frederick the
Great' is a spirited article, wherein a faithful portrait
is drawn of this illustrious soldier, and would-be phi-
losopher. " Mines and Collieries" discusses a subject
in which the public lately haVe taken the deepest in-
terest. The Reviewer, of course, adopts the humane
—which is also the rational—side of the question, and
warmly commends Lord Ashley for his generous in-
terference on behalf of the poor, unbefriended chil-
dren condemned to wear away their, lives as slaves in
mines and collieries. Altogether the Number is one
of average merit.