The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-06 00:00:00

following amusing sketch of a stiff-necked Pres-
byterian Parson. It is manifestly drawn from the
life :

" I met lately, accidentally, with a young sucking
divine, that thought himself no small champion, who, as
if he had been some knight-errant, bound by oath to bid
battle to all corners, first accosted me in courteous voice ;
but the customary salute being over, I found myself as-
saulted 'Host furiously, and heavy loads of arguments fell
upon me. I, that expected no such thing, was fain to
guard myself under the trusty broad shield of ignorance,
and only now and then returned a blow by way of enquiry :
and, by this Parthian way of flying, defended myself till
passion and want of breath had made him weary, and so
we came to an accommodation ; though, had he had lungs
enough, and I no other use of my ears, the combat might
have lasted (if that may be called a combat, übi to cedes
ego vapulo lantern) as long as the wars of Troy, and the
end of all had been like that, nothing but some rubbish of
divinity as useless and incoherent as the ruins the Greeks
left behind them. This was a probationer in theology,
and I believe (to keep still to my errantry) they are bound
to show their prowess with some valiant unknown, before
they can be dubbed, and receive the dignity of the order.
I cannot imagine why else Le should set upon me, a poor
innocent Wight, who thought nothing of a combat, and de-
sired to be peaceable, and was too far from my own dung-
hill to be quarrelling ; but it is no matter, there were no
wounds made but in Priscian's head, who suffers much in
this country."

The following description of a poet, dated
also from Cleve, is a masterly specimen of quiet
easy humour. Who would expect so much arch
pleasantry from the grave champion of Tole-
ration ?
" When I left Oxford, I thought for awhile to take leave
of all University affairs, and should have least expected to
have found any thing of that nature here at Cleve of any
part of the world. But do what I can, lam still kept in
that tract. I no sooner was got here, but I was wel-
comed with a divinity disputation, which I gave you an
account of in my last; I was no sooner rid of that, but I
found myself up to the ears in poetry, and overwhelmed in
Helicon. I bad almost or rather have been soused in the
Reyne, as frozen as it was, for it could not have been
more cold and intolerable thah the poetry I met with. The
remembrance of it puts me in a chill sweat, and were it
not that I am obliged to recount all particulars, being un-
der the laws of an historian, I should find it very diffieult
to 'recall to mind this part of my story : .but having armed
myself with a good piece of bag pudding, which bears a
mighty antipathy to poetry, and having added thereto half
a dozen glasses of daring wine, I thus proceed :--My invi-
sible master, therefore, having mounted me, rode nge out
to a place, where I must needs meet a learned bald in a
threadbare coat, and a hat, that though in its younger days
it had been black, yet it was grown grey with the labour of
its master's brains, and his hard study or time had changed
the colour of that as well as his master's hair. His
breeches had the marks of antiquity upon them, were
borne, I believe, in the heroic times, and retained still the
gallantry of that age, and had an antipathy to base pelf.
Stockings I know not whether he had any, but I am sure
his two shoes had but one heel, which made his own foot
go as uneven as those of his verses. He was so poor, that
he had not so much as a rich face, nor the promise of a
carbuncle in it, so that I must needs say that his outside
was poet enough. After a little discourse, wherein be
sprinkled some bays on our British Druid Owen, out lie
drew from under his coat a folio of verses; and that you
may be sure they were excellent, I must tell you that they
were acrostics upon the name and titles of the Elector of
Brandenburg. I could not escape reading of them : when
I had done, I endeavoured to play the poet a little in com-
mending them, but in that he outdid me clearly, praised
faster than I could, preferred then► to Lucan and Virgil,
showed me where his muse flew high, squeezed out all the
verjuice of all his conceits, and there was not a secret co-
nundrum which he laid not open to me; and in that little
talk I had with him afterwards, he quoted his own verses
a dozen times, and gloried in his works. The Poem
was designed as a present to the Elector, but I being
Owen's countryman had the honour to see them before the
Elector, which he made me understand was a singular
courtesy, though I believe one hundred others had been
equally favoured. I told him the Elector must needs give
him a considerable reward ; he seemed angry at the men-
tion of it, and told me he had only a design to show his
affection and parts, and spoke as if he thought himself
fitter to give than to receive any thing from the Elector,
and that he was the greater person of the two; and in-
deed, what need had he of any gift, who had all Tagus and
Pactolus in his possession? could make himself a Tempe
when he pleased, and create as many Elysiums as he had a
mind to. I applauded his generosity and great mind,
thanked him for the favour he had done me, and at lastgot
out of his hands."

Our limits prevent us from quoting Locke's
account of the Elector's Christmas feast at
Cleve, where he says, "as for the meats,
they were all so disguised, that I should have
guessed they had rather designed a mass than a
meal, and had a mind rather to pose than feed
us. But the cook made their metamorphoses,
like Ovid's, where the change is usually into the
worse." One thing, however, we must not
omit noticing ; it is really very important, being
neither more nor less than Locke's definition of
ane plus ultra luxury. " Green beans dressed
in gravy." Hear this, Ude ! Hear this, shade
of the lamented Kitchiner, thou whose gastro-
nomic eloquence was so convincing that it could
persuade a goose to roast itself! For the true
simple munditiis, Locke's dish certainly bears the
palm away from all our modern innovations. It
is anti-pythagortean in its philosophy, and
primaeval as Chaos, in its simplicity.
We should observe, that thoughout his
Journal, Locke invariably speaks well of the Ca-
tholic priests. Alluding to his letters, Lord
King observes, " there exist several, dated
Cleve, but as they relate to events no longer
of any importance, it is unnecessary to give
their contents, however amusing the Ger-
man description of the coyness and coquetry
of a German Elector and his Minister,
on those truly national and interesting ques-
tions, soldier-selling and subsidies." We
regret that Lord King has omitted these letters.
From the specimens we have already given, we
are quite sure that our readers will be anxious to
know more of Locke's humour ; besides, the
undress of such a mind is always an interesting
subject for reflection. With the sole exception
of this blemish, Lord King's volume has given
us the greatest satisfaction. The Journal has
been selected with consummate tact, and the
narrative is kept up with observations and inci-
dents thrown in by the Noble Biographer, which
evince an extensive and intimate acquaintance
with the literature and politics of the disgraceful
times of Charles 11. Altogether the work is a
valuable addition to the staple intellect of the
country ; and were the article on " Study" alone
considered, would deserve the amplest circula-
tion. We trust, however, that Mr. Colburn
will give it to the world in a more accessible
form. At present it is beyond the reach of most
scholars.

SMART'S LOGIC. LONDON. 1829.

We thank Mr. Smart for the benefit he has
conferred on our English youth by the publica-
tion of his very instructive and ably-arranged
treatise on Logic, which is adapted not merely to
the limited faculties of young students, but to
those of a more advanced period. The plan
for Themes" forms a lucid and intelligent
portion of the work.