The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-02 00:00:00

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.

. . .
Miss Isabella Romer, who tells a short story—such
as is well suited to the pages of- a Magazine—with
great skill, leads off the present Number, with a brief,
terse narrative, founded on fact, and entitled, " The
Two Interviews." The hero is the French COunt de
Lally Tollendal, who, on one occasion, in his riotous
youth, insulted the family of the public executioner of
Paris, for which that worthy functionary " saddled
him with a judgment," as parson ThWaclmm would
phrase it. -He predicted, in fact, the 'Count's death on
the scaffold, and, strange to say, the. prediction was
verified some twenty or thirty years 'after date, the
executioner himself personally contributing, in his
official capacity, to consummate the prophecy ! " Mr.
Makepeace, the Duellist," is one of Jerrold's shrewd,
caustic sketches. The portrait of the dry, old spins-
ter, Miss Mac Single, who "at the early age of eigh-
teen, was despoiled of a lover who, in eight-and-forty
hours, would have ripened into a 'huSband, had he
not been blown from the tree of life by the bullet of
a gentleman from Tipperary"—ths portrait is neatly
finished off; and there is much truth of nature'in the
remark, that the ancient spinster " kept her bridal
dress as authentic evidence of her near approach to
happiness." When single gentlewomen begin to dry
up, and exhibit crows-feet under each eye, their; scep-
tical friends and acquaintances are apt to require some
such voucher to prove that they • once had a chance
of being married. "'William Blanchard" gives
some laughable specimens of. the . conversation
of this admirable comedian. He was, it seems,
a staunch' Royalist and Tory, and pitied the
poor, benighted Americans, because they "had
no king, poor wretches !" This, in' Blanchavrd's opi-
nion, accounted for all their bluster, all their vul-
garity, all their grotesque go-ahead notions ! Had
they but been blessed with a king—no matter though
that king had been carved out of a bock of wood--
then they would have -been perfection as a, nation.
Despite, however, their sturdy republicanism, Blan-
chard was well pleased with the Americans, and thus
amusingly describes some of their social peculiarities,
in his usual quaint, parenthetical fashion. He is sup-
posed to be talking to an old theatrical. friend :-
131anchard's loyalty and Toryism were sever ely tested
during his visit to America in 1834 ; and although, as
he said, he experienced very great kindness, attention,
and hospitality, the people were not sufficiently John
Bullish for him. He was greatly annoyed at their con-
tinual restlessness, especially at the dinner-table ; for he
was exceedingly partial to a cool bottle after the cloth

•

was drawn, and could not bear their custom of leavitig
the table so immediately after dining.
" There was," said he, " always, and everye here, est
abundance of everything and of every sort, soy boy-no
grudging in any way, I must say. They generally place
:;o many dishes on the table as to prevent your seeing the
cloth ; and I really believe the more you eat, the-better
I,lfey like you—(l. met with a great many jolly. kind
people, my boy, hearty as hearty could be),---but, con-
found it, there was no sitting still; Hey presto ! away
iianished the dinner, pantomime fashion, and the diners
nto tne bargain. (Very like Mr. and Mrs. Mitekiitt
inipper party ; for diey did not stand upon thk'9rdei of
their going, but did 4go at once.) They told me it, was
t he, custom of the country, (at the public tables at least).
I. told them it Was a d—d bad custom, striking .'at; the
oot of all good-fellowship and - comfort ;Haifa -iftok)-,ltad
hem.in London I would soon' Cure them,
deuced good care they should regret the iirival ;citfinr
respectable breaking,-up time. my boy. ThEre*tok a
deuced good fellow, my boy, (I eiritlidly confesjoet
Niith a pretty considerable number of such,) to whoin,,f
vas introduced : his name was --.was-e-deae; dear, dear
I can't hit upon his name just now.- No Matter ; he
was a Colonel Sornebedy—(they have a tremendous ;let
of Colonels there, my boy). Well, I dined with him one
dtby at a large hotel --(their hotels are 'very splendid)—
he gave me a capital dinner—the fish was. excellent—
(l was always partial to a bit of fish). The only faith was
there being too much of everything, except an inclination to
sit. (Their oysters are very fine, and so are their New
Town pippins : I never eat tipples myself.) Well, my
boy, I had made up my mind to a snug sit, chat, and a
bottle of port, after dinner--(their port. is not the best
wine there, and very dear)—but no ; •away went tie
cloth, and almost with it my friend the Colonel,—(plague '
take it ! what was his name ?)—in a deuced hurry, with
the last morsel in his mouth, to look after, as he said,
a particular piece of business. I wonder they don't all
toddle out of the world in_ a month from indigestion.
But perhaps the juleps they drink have a eounteractihg
effect—(their juleps, my boy are beautiful, and.. delici-
ously seductive, I must confess) —and increase the gastric
juices. , ".

" Then, again, my dear boy, they would be boring
me with the wonders of their • awful fine' city of -New
York—(l must say it is fine as far as it o•oes)and be
everlastingly asking if I did not think it magnifi-
cently grand—(l was born, my boy, in York—Old
York, as I call it)—which I allow it is to a certain
extent, and considering the comparative short time'd
its existence. But to dare to compare it with London,
=our blessed Old London—is about as reasonable as -to
compare Billy Shakspeare with that Mr. Somebody who
wrote that precious bad farce in which I had a miserable
part—(it was d—d the first night.)
"You must bear in mind, my boy, that they are most
active, enterprising people. • Goa-head ' is the cry;
and they do go a head. It has ever been a wonder to
me how they have done so much in so short a time, itt
every way, too. (I thought it wonderful the rebuilding
Covent Garden ih a few months, after it was burnt
1808 ; but they would have dune it, I really -believe,
pretty considerably quicker.) .. • .
"I was lounging one day in the front of the_theatrei
looking attentively, and rmUst say. admiringly, at some
of the tipQ,lmildings—,-(very.finemany of them .are, niy
buy)—when a young fellow came up to me,—(somebody,
I suppose, I had, been introduced -to by somebody—my
friend the Colonel, perhaps). . • ••• •
"" Well,' said he; guess you never,saw a finer city
than this New York of ours, Blanchard, eh ? ' '
Didn't I? ' said • Why, ditt• you ever ?'
said he.

" Once or twice, I should think I have my boy,' said.t
" Where ? ' •
‘" Where !' said I, Why, where the devil, do yotl
think I should see such ? ' - .

" Why, you don't.rnean Philadelphi, do you ?
" Oh ! bother to Philadelphi,' said I.
" kVell, I calculate' you mean your London, perluips
fur I know you English are mighty prejudiced.'
I do,' said I.

" 4 Well, you are all of you awful fond of Londoir.:
but is it as tine as New York ? '2---4 What do you moo
by as fine ? ' _ , . , . .::.- • :
" 4 Well, I mean:is it as big as New York, for;ond
thing ? ' ,. •
" 4 New York h' said I.; ' my dear _boy,.NeW'York-iit
fine, very fine, I allow ; but:recollect it is New Yorlo': .
But if you were to take a piece the size of it out,'of-Thii::
map of J.,olidon, it wo7tlt. never be missed,--that's- whaf-
Londo: is, my boy.' . • -
~ ~
." 4 Well, you are a strange fellow,' he sild,,unti aft .he'
."
walked—(praise be:given -!)", : -.F.,-roix, (1,,,,- :/'

Blanchard Was exceedingly polite and attentive tolis4/
males. Billy did not approve of -The New York eust6o.
of not walking with a lady arm-in-arm, as,in England.
It is being ridiculously fastidious;'-said '.he:
could not endure it all—it's barbarous. And then,
my boy, the general formality and reserve of the fe-
males is anything but pleasing to an Englishmart like
myself. It is the duty of man to: be attentive to the
dear creatures, bless:en !. and not being permitted-.to
be so, put me out of all patience; and well it taight.
I'll give you' an idea, my dear boy, as to how attention#
to the sex are received and estimated there- (I mean 'lO
America.) One evening I was going down the Broadway`
(precious broad it is), between eight and nine (it's the
longest street, they bave,fr,--a tremendous length,--three •
I Mieve),—the moon was shining very brightly-7--
(they have exceedingly fine moons there, I must .alloW,"
but how they came by 'em I can't guess),—the frog
was very severe,—(no joke their frosts, my boy,)--and
the struts were very slippery. (By-the-bye,7 there had-
been,,a, heavy fall.of snow.)- NN ell, I saw—a splendid.
figure of a female walking before me,—(l• forget wberu
I was goiug—no matter—l remember I had acted 3.bh
Thornberry the night before,)—when suddenly dowil
she. fell ; but,' as Alice, in the Caide Spectre, says, she
fell with all possible decency, and took care to hide her
legs,' at least as far as I could- see my boy. Well; I
hurried to her assistance—(l was all but down myself:)
She was very good-looking,—(many of the %%omen are
very good7loaking there, I must say, up to a certain
age, toy. boy ; bn't they don't wear as well as ours, though
I dare say they last as long,)—and on my expressing my
hope that she was not injured by her fall, she turned -
round and said to me (just as I was supporting her with
my arms round her waist), in a precious grurn tone of
voice,—(yot 'remember Mrs. Davenport in Mother 13rul
gruddery P—well, my boy, that was it,)—
"' Clear out!--Clear out ! ' -said I.
" Yes, clear old,' said she.—' it,' said I, 'you,
are all alike, men, women, and children ;• and
.you've na
KING, poor wretches "
The " Life and Songs.of Anacreon " is an ado.'
rable article, and would have been mare- acceptable'
still, had not the author, like Montaigne, been smile'
what too profuse of learned quotations. In speaking'
of Sappho, we think he lays far too little stress 011
Ovid's description of her person, for she was just the
sort of character—a reputed beauty- and a poetess--r°
to have excited the curiosity of the lover of the Priv'
mess Julia, and he would naturally have been anxiottle.l,
to glean all that was to be known respecting her.
ever Rome possessed a genuine poet, Ovid was that
one. He had infinitely more vigour and rich, -;
ness of fancy than Virgil; was much less mono'
tonons ; and possessed quite as much. melody- ,
Yersification. He could be stately, too, and digniae'
when lie pleased, -as he has shown in his masterly'
exposition of the Pythagorean system. Poetry,
short, was with him . a passion. It was born with
him. ". Et quot.l tentattun di: ere, versus ere," be
tells us, in his account of his early youth'
Such a 'man was, of all others, the most likely
be curious respecting the personal appearance '3'4..
Sappho; and when he states that she was
et fusca"—that is to say, short and swarthyr'-°'
feel every disposition to believe hiS assertion'
however opposed it may be . to: the: theoritl-(
of German, and English commentators. .
author's remarks on Anacreon are pertectly J1151'..;
He was the simplest, sweetest, and apparently ti
most unlaboured, of love poets; and has certainly :4/
been translated by Moore, whose version, elegatitr.
it is, is much too ornate, and encumbered with ght.
tering epithets. Anacreon is invatilably sparing of thee
verbal decorations. Cowley has caught something:C't
his manner in one or two of his translations; -0);
Herrick makes a still nearer approach to him. J3'
Moore has no more in , common with hilm
--except, indeed, that they hoth write dj
-
the . same seductive theme—than the poet 'f
unsophisticated nature usually has with the pe:t
art and conventional sentiment. The "Black 110;
is but an indifferent article. "Experience- Mac'`'
Easy" puts forth several amusing ironical aohoriSV„'
after the manner of Dean Swift. " A Visit t"
Greenwich Fair" is quite as good as. the inbje(t
which is not saying much for it. 4, RWO.O
Savage" drags a little this month. Mr. White,:
head should have infused a little more airine'
and off-hand vivacity of spirit into the conyersati°;;
of Sir Richard Steele. The "Philosophy of Law,
is a truly diverting article, -and is embellished Will
sundry grotesque wood-cuts: But, indeed, the Or
bellishments generally, throughout the Number,. el
of very superior interest, as regards variety of subjeC
and humour ; nor ,do we know any periodical of the
day that can compete with the Miscellany in tb''
respect.

NE IV AMA THLY MAGAZINE.
The editor has here very properly taken Mr.Waklei
to task for his absurd attack on poetry and the pae,t: •
in the house of Commons. •Of all men 'Hiring: the 1
Middlesex Coroner is about the last we should 11.95•
suspected of having even the most distant acquau'il., ,
ante with anything like imagination. That he
be able to appreciate the beauty of the lines, "Thlxt
days hath September," is possible enough ; cor aug
we know to the contrary, they may be his own cora" s
position ; but we doubt much whether his sympal:o
with, or knowledge of, the poetic, extends beyo9
this. Mr. Hood, however, assures us that the worth9s:ol
Coronet:lris written heaps of verse, but adds, by w 4-?:;
of a saving clause, " the mass had all one comllol,
characteristic—a certain wooden style, strongly re;,,
minding •us that the author represents Finsburr
square, where, as we all know, the Temple of t"e.
Muses has been turned into an upholstery Wsrei:
house !" In " Phineas Quiddy," there is an
entertaining digression respecting fool's-caps, wherein.a
useful moral is pointed in Mr. Poole's neatest
manner. " Female Arithmeticians" is an essay re: •
commended by the charm of an easy, sententiom
style. " French Cooks and Cookery" bespeaks the
favourable suffrages of the
majority of readers, eve!' by its title. We doubt not it will be exceedingli:
popular with the Court of Aldermen, who if they:
ever read anything besides their ledger, will be OF
to read this. 11. e question, however, whether

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