The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-29 00:00:00

a scientific journal within the past twelvemonth, an I
bruit forth the hoary fiction` as a reality ! Ventrilo-
quists, without doubt, are iiot burnt alive as they
were in the sixteenth century ..d Mr. Carter may
pummel his lions or tige,, erithout being punished
with an ignominious death for a supposed compact
with the darker powers ; yet ignorance and credulity
are still far from being entirely dispelled : and it is
with the intention of assisting in their dispersion that
Albany Poyntz has written his "World of Wonders."
There is something curious and laughable in the very
natural explanations given to many of our ancient
bugbears—as the goblin, on a closer examination,
resolves itself into a finger-post or a mile-stone.
Thus, through the spectacles of science we discover
that the showers of blood mentioned by Pliny and
Solinus were simply masses ofrain water impregnated
with red earth. As an unraveller of these enigmas,
Albany Poyntz proves a delightful companion, and
doubtless to many people his revelations will prove as
startling as the style of narration is agreeable. Not
only, for example, does he explain the visionary
existence of the Wandering Jew, and show, beyond
question, that Justinian never put out the eyes of
Belisarius, but he•very clearly testifies that the cele-
brated Pope Joan was only a chimera of the imagina-
tion of some factious enemies to the Papal creed ;
that her name is not uttered by a single contemporary
historian ; and that "not till sixty years after the
period assigned as that of her adventures, do we find
the monk Radulphus relating the scandalous chro-
nicle of her pretended pontificate." While, indeed,
we may permit ourselves to cherish the more harm-
less fables of poetry, such as the suspension of Maho-
met's coffin, or the reality of centaurs and mermaids,
it is but due to common justice and rational enlight-
enment that such fabrications as the one above re-
ferred to should be utterly laughed to scorn; and we
honour Albany Poyntz for the candour and liberality
displayed in this instance. Some, however, of his
arguments we conceive might be classed among the
number of "self-evident propositions," as an evi-
dence of which we may particularly name his chapter
upon the capacities possessed by negroes for mental
and moral improvement, the whole of which chapter
might have been summed up in the mention of Tous-
saint L'Ouverture individually, and the present con-
stitution of St. Domingo collectively, as practical proofs
that the blacks may be moulded to any degree of
civilization. On other points the writer is, on the
contrary, sometimes very incomplete ; thus, in the
instances which he adduces of what is generally re-
garded as the prophetic language used by dying
people, he makes not the slightest allusion to, pos-
sibly, the most remarkable instance on record : we
refer to the death-bed of Charles Bonaparte, father
of the Emperor, who, when raving in the delirium of
his dissolution, called out for Napoleon to come
with his " great sword," and beat off the phantom
of death at the bed-side, Napoleon being at that time
many miles away, and a mere boy. The dissertation
upon the fickleness of popularity, which may he
identified as one of the finest passages in the volume
before us, forms an excellent homily against morbid
ambition, and will amply repay even the perusal of
the worldly-wise; while it is delightful to meet with
sentiments so genial and humane as those uttered by
our author, when defending from stripes and perse-
cution an animal which he calls aptly enough, " the
war-horse of the poor "—the ass. Before, how.
ever, we take leave of this production, we fee

t imperative on us to stigmatise one pm.,
ion of the book as frivolous and narrow

minded to the last degree ; it is the section
devoted to a sickly and atrabilious attack upon the
temperament of the French as a people. We here-
.

with submit the paragraph in question to the scrutiny
of the reader, appealing to the national candour of
his disposition to reply whether the following sen-
tences are not as applicable to ourselves as to our
neighbours : _ _

The prevailing weakness of the French, collectively
and individually, is to esteem themselves the type and
model of perfection ; the standard by which the universe
ought to be regulated. An Italian author once asserted
that the face of man was not made after that of God ;
but that the face of the Creator was to be imagined after
that of man. The French consider all that resembles
them right ; all that differs from them wrong. This
prejudice entitles foreigners to laugh at them, whether
unjustly or not."
Yet, notwithstanding this little morsel of Nelsonian
bigotry towards a great nation, on the part of Albany
Poyntz, we consider his " World of Wonders" a
useful book, a good book, and an amusing book.

MEMOIRS OF THE JACOBITES. 2 Vag

By Mrs. Thomson.
Although English history has been enriched by the
most copious details descriptive of the struggles, the
calamities, the loyalty, the devotion and the un-
daunted perseverance of the adherents to the Stuart
dynasty, from the flight of James the Second, in
1681, to the Battle of Culloden, in 1746, there ha.
hitherto remained a gap in the annals of that period
The names and the various actions of the Jacobite
leaders are undoubtedly to be found scattered over a
vast number of volumes, but, until the production of
the present work, no succinct account of those cele-
brated and unfortunate men had ever been attempted.
From the mass of biographies and state memorials,
and scarcely legible manuscripts which had to be
sifted before any accurate knowledge could be ob-
tained of facts, and from the conflicting opinions which
had to be balanced before any just conclusions could
be arrived at, the labour of such an undertaking must
have been very considerable indeed; but well has
Mrs. Thomson acquitted herself of the task. Through
her pages we obtain a correct view of the perso-
nages who rendered themselves the most con-
spicuous among the partizans of James
and his family. From the subtle and haughty
Earl of Mar to the lawless freebooter, Rob Roy, each
character is analysed with care, and that in diction
which, if not in every instance well-chosen, is re-
markable for its perspicuity. If we remember
rightly, it is Tertullian who somewhere observes that
the historical past is but an index to the historical
future; whether this principle in the abstract be cor-
rect or not, there are circumstances in the records of
nations which bear to each other the most extraordi-
nary analogy, and among
those perhaps the most
singular resemblance is traceable in the downfal an d
subsequent vicissitudes
of the Stuarts and the
Bourbons. Charles L and Louis XVI. were both
annihilated by revolutions, which merged the two
States into that political chaos—anarchy ; both these
revolutions were reduced to order by soldiers of for-
tune • both the families of Oliver Cromwell and
Napoleon Bonaparte were driven from their newly-
acquired dignity by
a temporary restoration of the
old dynasties. Charles 11. was followed in immediate
succession by his brother James IL, Louis XVIII. in
direct succession also
by his brother Charles X. the
two dynasties being
then again abolished, and a
collateral branch in both cases raised to the
kingly office. Throughout these wonderful changes
on either side a faction developed itself,
which by its misfortunes, its long-sufferings,
and its constancy, challenged the sympathy of its
bitterest opponents—on the one hand the Jacobites,
on the other the emigres or refugees. Without doubt
the motives by which these two parties were impelled
varied according to the position or morality of the
individuals concerned in them, and the materials of
this political combination were, in truth, " some
pure,
lating." To disclose the motley characteristics of the
some base some noble, some mean and vacil-
former faction, to commemorate the virtuous consist-
ency, or cover with opprobrium the mere cupidity of
its principal actors—to collect together in some order
the gleanings of a well-reaped field—to demonstrate
the reality of facts that had been hitherto contro-
verted—and to discriminate between authorities with
impartiality and judgment, were duties incumbent
upon the historian of Jacobitism, and of all these
duties has Mrs. Thomsonacquitted herself in a very
able manner. The work is a necessary addition to
the many singular episodes in our English history,
and the book-shelves devoted to the memoirs of our
two volumes.
cmoomplstectee withoutlebrated ctohuesnetry moo, cannot be considered

LONDON DIRECTORY
spared no expense or labour in
THE POST-OFFICE
for
nli,
the great
the
This work has now reached the forty-seventh
annual m
piedition,lat
ion ,and,keeps progress
stihmleBic:
ar6re di
p ut
bolfi c
al1t1i:
proprietor, who has
marks, more than
changes which have taken place, not only in
our trade and commerce, but in the appearance
and extent of this vast metropolis. No other nation
could furnish materials
in for such a work, and to these
the community to which
is
stb
information,
the
compilerora partly indebted for such a mass of
useful tion, useful, not to a few classes
only, but to the whole community. There
is not one class
some of the directi▪
ons are not absolutely
necessary. A mere outli▪
ne of the most striking fea-
tures will confirm our statement. It embraces the
whole of the metropolis, including the environs, to an
extent of fifteen miles from the Post-office, and com-
prises,ormi
alobne,
a commercial directory, a trades directory, a
law directory, a Court directory, a Parliamentary
directory, a postal directory, a City directory, a con-
veyance siadnes
official di a great deal
a street directory,
deal of other copious in-
formation,
directory, and a banking directory. It ex-
ttnds to 2,074 pages, printed in a close, but clear and
bold type, and is accompanied by a beautiful, minute,
and, as far as we have had an opportunity of judging,
a correct map of all the streets of London, with the
names of each distinctly marked.
The postal
U London letters at
directory will be found of the greatest service. It
has been greatly enlarged and improved, and fur-
nishesewvheircyh w
ttntlhieenrheo auinsrd villageoafrtohset.
oin had the time at which
deliveryffice,n
t of
the United Kingdom at
the letter-box from London closes at each place—
also the distance of each from the post town
through which the London letters are trans-
mitted. We .. may state that no other este-