The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-29 00:00:00

LITERATURE

FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING.
Smith and Elder, London, 1842.
The " Friendship's Offering " is one of the
oldest, as it is one of the best, of the glittering
fraternity of Annuals. It has outlived at least
one-half of its brethren, many of whom came
forth into the literary world with far greater
pretensions; and if it-be continued with the same
skill and spirit with which it has hitherto been
conducted, we see no reason why it should not
attain a patriarchal age, and, like Godwin's St.
Leon, " shut up the tomb over its contemporaries,"
and become the last of its race. The volume fur
the present year is more than usually interest-
ing, from the circumstance of its containing, by
way of frontispiece, a picture entitled " The
Royal. Family," in which we have full-length
portraits of the Queen, Prince Albert, and the
young Prince and Princess, beautifully engraved
by Fox, from an original painting by Stephanoff.
The likenesses of her Majesty and her illus-
trious Consort may be discovered at the very
first glace, so happily has the artist caught,
not the were lineaments, but their prevailing
expression of dignified serenity. The picture is
an exceedingly pleasing one, and the editor ex-
pressly states in his preface, that " it is the only
complete groupe existing of portraits of the
Royal Family." " Norah" is a sketch of a young
Irish peasant girl who is standing, with a milk-
pail beside her, near a gate, absorbed, apparently,
in contemplation. From the cheeaul expres-
sion of her round, ruddy countenance, it is mani-
fest that her reflections are far from unsatisfactory ;
whence we may infer—without any great viola-
tion of probability—that her wedding-day is
fixed, and that in a week or so she will be a
happy bride, and half-proprietor of a cottage, a
pig, and a potatoc field. The " Anxious Wife"
is a picture of quite a different character. A mo-
ther, whose child is resting on her lap, is seated
just outside her door, waiting with evident
uneasiness the return of her husband. She
may well be anxious, fur twilight is sad-
dening over the landscape; the distant moun-
tains wear a sombre frown on their brows; the
halfseen river flows in deep shadow through the
valley—yet still the truant returns not! NVhat
can have kept him so long from home? Has he
gone to a Chartist meeting, or an Anti-Corn-law
lecture? Has he lost his way, and been beguiled by
an ignis fatuus into a thick, muddy, chick weed-co-
vered ditch, where he may get board, lodging, and
washing, for nothing; or is he playing at cribbage
for pots of beer, in the sanded parlour of the
village ale-house? Alas! we fear that this
is the most probable solution of the mystery,
and that he will come back towards morning,
as drunk as any freeborn Britoil could
reasonably desire to be ; and justify his
wife's anxiety by calling for just one
more glass, and threatening her, in case of re-
fusal, with the discipline of the knout! "Ship-
ping at the Nore" is a truly graceful and pic-
turesque sketch, whose distances are defined
with Much nicety and correctness. The vessels
—majestic emblems of repose—are resting in per-
fect stillness on their shadows, for there is
scarcely wind enough to stir the flags that
hang drooping from their masts. " Amboise"
is a striking representation of a fine old
castle, perched upon the summit of a
lofty, precipitous hill, at whose base flows
a broad, deep stream. The back-ground,
with the bridge spanning the river, and
the distant village •on its bank, seen
by the dim light of the moon, which is half con-
cealed by heavy clouds, has a very impressive
effect. Of the literary contents of the volume
we may speak in terms of deserved praise.
There is the usual allowance of prose and verse,
of serious tales, and humourous tales, ofsonnets,
lyrics, and descriptive poems, and each is good
of its kind. Of the prose stories, the best, per-
haps, is that entitled the " Novice," which is
from the pen of Mrs. Erskine Norton.

THE VOICE OF AN OCTOGENARIAN.
Sherwood, London, 1842.

The author of the work befbre us, which is a
rambling, rhapsodical dissertation on the New
Poor-law, and is dedicated to Sir Robert Peel, is
furious in his reprobation of this law, observing
that " in its origin, its object, its execution, and
its effects, it is opposed insultingly to all God's
direct and unalterable ordainments." The mur-
der of the " Babes in the Wood," says the au-
thor, was bad enough; but it was nothing, he
adds, " to the thousands of infant murders per-
petrated and now perpetrating in Bastiles, for
want of fresh air and food, by hired ruffians,
under the sanction of the British Legislature."
He then proceeds to describe a vision which he
had in the House of Commons some few months
since, when Sir J. Graham rose to propose the
continuance of the New Poor-law fur five years.
The whole ceiling of the House, he tells us,
appeared to be hidden by " celestial beings
with lovely countenances," and in the chair sate
—not the Speaker, but "the Recording Angel!"
How such a Being could think of paying a flying
visit to St. Stephen's, we cannotpi iibly conceive;
for of all places in the world,it the one least
likely to suit an angelic nature. But perhaps the
author mistook the Speaker for a herub, just as
the Ettrick Shepherd, when in town, mistook
him for an elderly lady of his acquaintance; but
we can hardly imagine this could have been the
case, for Mr. Shaw Lefevre looks as little like an
angel as any gentleman we ever saw. The rest
of the work is penned in this strange incoherent
spirit, and is embellished with a full-length por-
trait of the author, who is represented standing
on a bleak moor at midnight, in black shorts and
silks!

GUILLEREZ'S LECTURES ILISTORIQUES,

Simphin, Marshall, and Co.
The method of these grammatical and his
torical readings is the most useful and instructive
that could have been devised for students of the
French tongue. They consist of selections from
the ablest writers and rhetoricians of France, re-
lating to scenes, topics, and persons, purely
English, by which means the tyro, while pro-
ceeding in the acquisition of the language,
makes, at the same time, mastery of much valu-
able knowledge relating to his own country. An
astute scholar, also, will observe with critical
pleasure the peculiar and often original phases
in which either an elegant or talented foreigner
views the habits and institutions under which he
lives, and agreeably divert himself by contrast-
ing them with his own national form of opinion.

NEW FRENCH GRAMMAR. By A. F. Guillerez.
Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.
. _

This Grammar professes to be framed upon
that of Noel and Chapsal, which has been long
adopted with advantage in the schools of
Belgium. Material improvements have, how-
ever, been made upon the Continental edition,
and the exigencies of the English tongue care-
fully supplied. The various parts of speech are
ably classified, and the tabular form given to
the verbs, arranges them lucidly for the learner.
Its adoption in schools should be general.

Sir James Graham returns to town from Drayton
Manor on Monday next.
ITALIAN OPERA.—Mr. Lumley has secured Grisi
and Madame Viardot Garcia for next season. Offers
have also been made to Mario, hut the difference as

to the last season is not yet settled. It is expected
that, by the advice of friends, both Lupley and him-
self will give way, so that the public *ill not be de-
prived of this celebrated tenon—Dramatic and Musical
Review.

THE SWELL Mon.—At the Newport Quarter Ses-
sions true bills were found against the two gentlemen
who picked Mr. Farnell's pocket, at the Royal Yacht
Squadron Ball, at Cowes, in August last. The young
gentleman was brought up, in custody, found guilty,
and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. The
elder (Mr. Charles Hawkins), our readers may re-
member, was liberated on bail, himself in 500/., and
four sureties in 150/. each ; they applied, through
counsel (Mr. Poulden), to put off his trial till next
Sessions, as he had not surrendered to his bail ; they
were most anxious he should do so, and would do
all in their power to place him in custody.—Ap-
plication granted.
The quantity of eggs used annually in France ex-
ceeds, says one of the journals, 7,250,000,000, of
which enormous number Paris absorbs 120,000,000.
The French Minister of the Interior, understand-
ing that the wife and daughter of the late eminent
violinist Baillot were left in very distressed circum-
stances, has granted to the former a pension of 1,200 f.
a-year.

•
EJECTMENT Or TENANTRY.--The HOD. Mr. Clive,
of Berkshire. has an estate of about 2,500/. a-year in
the county Tipperary, between Nenagh and Roscrea.
We are sorry to learn that his bailiff has gone over-
with thirty-five notices to quit, for his signature. Mr.
Clive grants no leases except to tenants holding up-
wards of fifty acres, and he has not more than two
tenants holding that quantity of land. Until we
have free trade and steady priees we can have neither
peace nor prosperity in the country.—Waterford
Chronicle.
STRANGE PRESENT TO lIER MAJESTY.--A splendid
hind-quarter of wild cattle beef arrived at the Castle
yesterday, as a present to her Majesty from Mr.
Legh, of Lyme-park, Cheshire. This extraordinary
breed of cattle is peculiar to the estate of Mr. Legh,
and is considered a great luxury from the extreme
richness and delicate flavour of the meat. The car-
cases are very small, with a large proportion of fat,
and are very similar to Christmas prize meat, without
its coarseness. The hind-quarter presented to her
Majesty weighed