The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-23 00:00:00

LITERAT URE.

LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND,

Vol. IV. Jolburn, London, 1842.
Of the six memoirs of Eglish Queens contained
in this volume, not less than three—those of Jane
Seymour, Katherine Howard, and Anne of Cleves,
the wives, in succession, of Henry the Eighth—
are now, we understand, presented for the first
time to the public. The life of the unfor-
tunate Katherine Howard is quite a romance,
and of a most painful character ' but as the leading
incidtnts of her chequered and eventful career are
well-known to the readers of history, we need not
here enlarge on them ' • enough to state that, notwith-
standing her youthful errors, she was far more sinned
against than sinning, and fell a victim to that sin-
gular, unchanging ill-luck which seems to have pur-
sued her from the cradle to the grave. Historians
have represented her as having been exquisitely
beautiful; and Tytler, in his clever and circumstantial
life of Henry the Eighth, speaks of her personal at-
tractions in the warmest terms of admiration ; but
Miss Strickland seems to think that she was by no
means " so remarkable for her personal charms," and
that it was chiefly to the exquisite grace of her man-
ners and deportment that her influence over the King
was owing. Catherine Howard, then in all the bloom
of youth, was executed on the same scaffold on which
her predecessor, Anne Boleyn, had suffered. "It
has been long since removed," adds the biographer,
" but its site may still be traced by the
indelible stains on the flints, which faintly
map out the dimensions of the fatal spot
where so much royal and noble blood was
spilled by the headsman's axe during the Tudor reigns
of terror.', Next in interest to the Memoir of Ka-
therine Howard, is that of Jane Seymour, the parti-
culars of whose death are exceedingly curious.
But, indeed, the volume abounds in matters of curious
information, and is neatly and tersely written.

GAZETTEER OF IRELAND. Edinburgh, 1842.
The compiler of this work, Mr. Lawson, has availed
himself diligently of all the latest information from
the most authentic sources, on the subject of Ireland
—its principal towns, cities, lakes, commerce, anti-
quities, &c. We see he frequently refers to the able
work of Mrs. Hall, and he can scarcely draw from a
better source, for no writer of the day is more con-
versant with Irish subjects than this accomplished
lady. The volume, which forms a neat, closely-
printed duodecimo, is embellished with a map, on an
unusually large -scale, of the sister country.

GRIFFIN'S WORKS. VOL. 111.
Maxwell, London, 1842. _

The present volume contains " Card-drawing," the
" Half-Sir," and " Suil Dhuv, the Coiner ;" the second
of which is perhaps the best tale that Mr. Griffin ever
penned, and that by which he is most likely to be re-
membered. The female characters in this admirable
story are delineated with great skill and delicacy;
more particularly that of Emily Bury, a masterly
sketch, drawn, we suspect, from some living original.
The Illustrations to the volume are just passable; we
cannot say more in their praise.

SKETCHES OF LIFE AND CHARACTER.
Edinburgh, 1842.
The majority of these Sketches have, we under-
stand, already appeared in print—some in Chambers's
Edinburgh Journal, and some in the London Saturday
Journal. They are light and pleasant in their tone,
and evince a knowledge of life, which, however,
rarely pierces below the surface. The cleverest of
the essays are entitled the " Respectable Rogue,"
and the " Man whom Everybody Likes," in both of
which the author (Mr. Alexander Campbell) indulges
in a racy strain of apt sarcasm.

SPROULE'S TREATISE 01V AGRICULTURE.
Curry, Dublin, 1842.

In this well-digested treatise, we find many instruc-
tive suggestions and remarks on the nature, proper-
ties and improvement of soils ; the structure, unctions,
and cultivation of plants ; and the husbandry of the
domestic annals of the farm. Though the work is
chiefly of a practical character, yet the science of agri-
culture has not been lost sight of, for, as the writer
justly remarks, "It is a scientific art, inasmuch as
the practice is right or wrong just as it coincides, or
disagrees, with the established laws of nature, which
it is the object of science to investigate."

Mr. Fernand, in euumerating the frauds perpetrated
by manufacturers, said, it was in evidence, that the decay in
the lace trade, was attributable to the frauds carried on in the
manufacture of that article. He had also received communi-
-1 cations in regard to the frauds practised in the stockinf trade.
It appeared that the stockings were at first made of the same
' width from the knee to the anele, and that they were dipped in
water, and then 'stretched in a frame to give them a
proper shape,, and the fraud was not discovered till the
were found .hanging about the atieles.—( A laugh.)
These stockings went by the name of drop-off.—lf this
be a sample of the accuracy of Mr. Ferrand's' imputation
of fraud, it comes to nothing. The twist lace trade is as free
from fraud as any manufacture, for to make it of an inferior
cotton is more expensive than to use the best material that can
be made. As to hosiery, it is certainly true that there are
stockings manufactured as he describes, though the/ are more
appropriately called cut-ups ' • the lowness of the price .is their
great recommendation. We readilly admit, that if as
many pairs of full-fashioned stockings could have
been sold, the situation of the stocking maker
' would have been mush improved ; but that is impos-
sible. All our foreign trade would have gone at a blow, and
even the drop-offs, which are regularly narrowed stockings, are
undersold in our own markets by the article from Germany.
Had nothing but full-fashioned stockings been made—were a
law now passed, prohibiting the manufacture of cut-ups and
drop-offs—the hosiery business would be almost annihilated,
and the three hosiery counties would be absolutely ruined, by
the all but universal pauperisation of the inhabitants. It is no
fraud to make drop-offs, and the workmen who make them ob-
tain more money for their week's work than those who arc em-
ployed upon full-fashioned hose. It is only by ingenious con-
trivances for lessening labour, that the hosiery trade has been
made the means of finding bread for thousands, who, without it,
must have gone to the workhouse or perished.—Nottingham
Review.
TILE NEW NOVEL, "PASSION AND PRINCIPLE."
—We are requested to state that Mr. Colburn, of Great
Marlborough-street, has this day published " Passion and Prin-
ciple," a Novel, edited by Captain Frederic Chamfer, in 3 vols.
which can now be had at all the libraries. Mr. Colburn has
also just published the following new Works of Fiction :-I.lady
lAnne Granard, or Keeping up Appearances, by L. E. L., 3. vols.
—2. Fascination, and other Tales, edited by Mrs. Gore, com-
prising Fascination, First Love, the Modern Scipio, the Silver
Ring, Retribution, Theresa, &e., 3 vols.-3. Adventures of
Sir Henry Morgan, the Buccaneer, by the Author of " Rattlin
the Reefer," &c., 3 vole.-4. The School for Wives, by the
Authoress of " Temptation," 3 vols.-5. Anne Boleyn, an
Historical Romance, by Mrs. A. T. Thomson, 3 vols.—And 6.
The Man of Fortune, by Mrs. Gore, 3 vols.
A young man, of mild :111(1 amiable diameter,
having some time ago lost his mother, to whom he was affec-
t ionat. ly attached, suffered great affliction. This was increased
by his father's shortly after contracting a new marriage, which
induced him to quit his paternal abode. He had long been a
clerk in a merchant's house, by whom he was so much
esteemed that a share in it was offered to him on condition that
his lather would become his security. This was declined, and
the refusal working upon an already afflicted mind drove him
to suicide. Two days ago he was found hanging lifeless from
a tree near Belleville. He was only 30 years of age.
MELANCIIOLY OCCURRENCE AT NAPLES.—A more
painful excitement has seldom been (treated at Naples than that
arising from the following melancholy event, particulars of
which we gather from a private letter :—The Rev. W. Jeans,
brother to Mr. Jeans, the banker, left Naples on the morning
of the 28th of March, with a gay party, for toe purpose of
spending the day at the Sybyl's Grotto, Clime. The party,
after enjoying the pleasures of the day, proposed to, return
home; but, instead of getting into the carriage in waiting for
them, they all agreed to walk on a short distance, and catch the
delightful breezes of the evening. Mr. Jeans, following the
impulse of the moment, unfortunately left the party, and
took a different direction, when suddenly he arrived at the
edge of a precipice, which he did not observe,
,being
near-sighted, and the evening having considerably advanced,
he fell headlong from the fatal rock, and was not discovered
until an hour afterwards, when the servant found him in
dreadful agony, though still able to speak. As soon as he had
been lifted in the carriage, he said " Thank God 1 my life is
spared, but my limbs are broken." He died a few minutes
atter, though his friends were not aware that life had fled until
Dr. Hookilly, the eminent surgeon of Naples, informed theta
of the divainful truth. As well as several ractures, he had
received a fatal injury of the spine. The melancholy event is
attended with peculiarly distressing circumstances, as the un-
fortunate gentleman is said to have been engaged to a young
lady, who was one of the party, and their speedy union had
been decided upon. Mr. Jeans, who frequently officiated at the
English church at Naples, was much beloved by all who knew
him. He is said to have been in his twenty-eighth year.
GARDENING DIRECTIONS FOR APRIL.—NaiI up
string against outer wall of bedroom window, with a view to a
crop of beans, and put pieces of stick in flower-pots where
sweet peas were sown two months ago, though there may be no
signs of their coming up at present. Purchase daisy roots of
men with donkey-carts, for planting in back-yard,and throw in
radish seed, with a view to an autumn crop of stringy stuff for
home-grown suppers. Dig the soil in broken breakfast-cups,
and put in mignonette; and place dead geraniums in the sun,
with the vague idea that they may possibty come to life again.
Clear the ground of all V at you have been putting into it for
the last three months, and which you will by time have dis-
covered can never come to anything; but this will be an easy
task, as the cats, those nocturnal labourers in metropolitan
gardens, will probably have gone a considerable way towards
scratching up the unprofitable verdure. Label bits or wood
with the names of various seeds, and stick them promiscuously
in the ground ; but it is not necessary to place them over the
respective seeds, for it is not likely that they will ever appear as
witnesses avainst the inscriptions on the pieces of stick alluded
to.—Punch. _ _ _

The Festival of the Panathenea, instituted in ho-
nour of Minerva, is still celebrated at Athens, and takes place
on the last day of the carnival. Early in the morning all the
inhabitants assemble on the plain round the column of Ju-
piter, each family preparing for itself a sumptuous meal,
and every culinary odour from the savoury garlic and onion
to the delicate flavour of the honey of Hymettus rise from
the grass, on which the repasts are spread for each family
and party. The rest of the day passed in the enjoyment of
music and dancing. The higher classes in general merely
make it a promenade. This year, King Otho paid the assem-
blage a visit. On his arrival, a Palicare, of one of the
lowest orders, approached his Majesty, and, with no ungrace-
ful air, presented to hint a bottle, rudely formed of leather and
wood, very much resembling a powder-flask. The King re-
ceived it most graciously, drunk of the wine it contained, and
seemed to relish its resinous flavour. His Alidesty then pa-
raded in his calesh round the whole of the animated scene, fol-
lowed by crowds of shouting children.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.--A merry "comedietta,"
of the free and easy family, was produced on Thursday, called A
Lover by Proxy. It was eminently successful, for it was acted
with spirit, and its humour was at once felt and relished by
the audience. Mr. Webster, Miss Charles, and Mrs. W.
Clifford, represented the principal characters. This airy trifle
is by Boureicault. It is light and sparkling, and will doubtless
be a popular interlude for some weeks to come.