The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. 56. -':
Chapman and Hall, London, 1842.
By an Address prefixed to this Number, :We
learn that the Foreign Quarterly Review has
lately passed into new hands, and that henceforta,
it will be conducted with increased spirit. "
cost," says the editor, " will be spared to securc::i
contributions from gentlemen who occupy
highest literary positions at home and abr02.,.1,
and to procure from them such articles as ftlitYy.'
at the same time, both suit the taste of tht
British public, and contribute to internatiatra 4
instruction." If the Review be carried on Irk
this liberal spirit—though we must confeso.vg)
have a sort of inherent distrust of literary Prt),';
spectuses—it can scarcely fail of meeting wita:,
public encouragement, but indeed it will not
doing amiss, if it do no more than maintain 06::
high and impartial character it has already ae7l-
- The present Number is a good, thou
by no means a first-rate, one. The first article
on " Egyptian Hieroglyphics," discusses on6.°,Ft
two abstrutip perplexing points with an air. (),,
learned pretension, which, however, is not altcr.
gether. unwarranted, for the Reviewer evidently-
understands as much of his subject as is eye,.;
likely to be understood. If his essay be heavy,
the fault is not in him, but in his theme, for,
the first place, it is intolerably backnied ; and:
secondly, nothing definite or conclusive can evel„
be arrived at, for almost all is guess-work as re'
garde Egyptian speculations. The notice 01.
" Barante's History of the Dukes of Burgundy;
is an agreeable subject, lightly and dexterousil.
canvassed. This celebrated Duchy cuts a coir
spicuous figure in the history of the middle ageOP•
and its Dukes were for many a long year thoro.
Kingsin the sides of the of France. Indeed'''.
during a portion of - the reign of Louis the
Eleventh, Charles the Bold was his rival ill'
power, and almost in extent of dominion, an:
scarcely concealed his intention of throwing of
the shackles of France, and erecting Burgunut
into an independent Monarchy. The Reviesire;,
should have entered more fully into this part
his subject than he has done, for it is full of in''.
terest. " Roepell's History of Poland" is to the
full as entertaining as the topic will admit o.t,
for the annals of this ill-starred country It7'
nearly as barren of instructive or amusingmattet.
as those of Russia, and only begin to posser,
value about the close of the seventeenth centurk,,:
Poles and Muscovites were alike barbarous whg''.
the rest of Europe was emerging from darkneOjt
and who can take interest in the monotonous•
cords of barbarism ? " Sweden As It Is" givei"."..
detailed account of the present state of conirnere.ox:
and manufactures in that rising kingdom, o„.°Y,'
condemns its celebrated King, Bernadotte,:
f°
incessant boastings that he is the savior 9i
Sweden, which the Reviewer observes, ".kt
excited great bitterness among almost. eveu
class." The notice of " Kohl's Sketches of-6°.
Petersburgh," furnishes. us with more curious de-
tails respecting this imposing metropolis that"! o.e.
have yet met with, notwithstanding the nutrr:
rous " Travels," " Visits," &c., to Russia, W 4,4:
which the press is constantly teeming.
houses, it seems, are rarely more than one or t'fii,C:
stories high, but they make up for want of Neigh'
by the immense space ofground which they covet;
" To form their foundation," adds the Revievie:
"requires a little fortune, owing to the swatniii...
character of the soil, into which so many Pi:
must be driven before a solid scaffolding can P:
formed, that an entire house might elsewhere by.
constructed for much less money." Nothiug
we are assured, can equal the horrors of a Rug;
sian street when the frost breaks up. Man
weeks elapse before " the six months' accumulit'.
tion of snow is able to wind its muddy coil
through the gutters into the Neva, and Whilej:
this intermediate condition, the streets are 0,1
with a sea mud, such as the liveliest imaginatiogrcl
a:Cockney would vainly attempt to picturet?
hinkSelf:" Yet, bad as the thaw is, the frosj_.al
scarcely less annoying, for clouds of snovrtOwL,
are then throWn up by the horses, forming a•lig;',
powder more disagreeable even than the titis!_64l
summer; noses, too, are in the habit of freetol2
without the knowledge of their proprietoro,
that to pall a man's nose in the street is not,
insult him, as with us, but to do him. the greA,,,tv
posSiblekitidness We co3clude with a desq?l::'
Lion of the river Neva, which, says the Rev„. lieil
a century ago was known to few but the Pe.-t;'
men of the Finnish marshes; while noWy-
fame fills the world, and its chrystal waters serY
to mirror lines of palaces among the most suLIT.;
tuous that this earth has ever seen :"
The Neva is a river of about forty English mile*A,
length, and is the channel through which the Ladog.
Lake pours its waters into the Baltic. Just before reael!ni
ing the Gulf of Finland, it divides into a. multitude,"
arms, of which the principal are, the Great and Littl:
Neva, and the Great and Little Nevka. Of these,. tfr.
P
Great Neva is the most important, being in some t`rL
more than twice as broad as the Thames at Waterloo?
bridge. It is impossible for a river to be of more in1134:5
ance to a city than the Neva is to St. Petersburgh, ..;
boundless is the affection expressed towards it by the,a
habitants, and probably felt by most of them, The
Peterdnugher maintains that no other water on the fal
of the globe is so sweet to drink ; that with none Otte
can coffee or tea be made in such perfection ; and t"i.
first thing presented to a friend on his return from a i°11;
ney is generally a glass of Neva water. The Etnre%l
Alexander is even said to have always had a quantitAii
Neva water bottled up for his use in travelling.
Neva, moreover, abounds in a variety of deliciou fish,"
serves to cleanse the capital of its impurities, and PltLe4
it in easy connection, not only with foreign countries, br••
even with some of the most remote provinces of the etli
pire. For nearly six months of every rear,_ the belov.,i,
Neva is bound in icy fetters ; for early in November
navigation closes, and it is rarely before the beginningt°,' •
the middle of April that the water has acquired Stiu.;`
cient warmth to enable it to burst its bonds. This ta,
ment is anxiously looked for ; and as soon as the citt%
masses of ice have glided down the river far enough
make it possible for a boat to pass from one side to th
other, the wished-for event is announced-by a discharrs,
of artillery from the fortress. Be it night or day, t",g
Commandant of the fortress, accompanied by the otficei,
of his staff, and arrayed in all the insignia of his rain
embarks in his gondola, and crosses over to the riitinio
palace. The Commandant is immediately admitted Who
his Sovereign's presence, to whom he announces that' ti
winter has reached its close, in token of which he rocu°l,
to his gondola, and presents his Majesty with a erYash—,„
e,
goblet filled with the sparkling water of the Neva.
heals Emperor drains off the uninebriating bumper to the hen,
of his capita], and returns the goblet to the Commanu,%.
filled with gold. Such at least was formerly the practic'
but it was found that the goblet had a marvellous te-„-:;
dency to increase its dimensions, till at last the Ear
ror's potatory powers were scarcely equal to the task if;
posed upon him, while his
.privy purse . was at the OP' .
time made sensible of the expansive quality of the C°l'l,i
mandant's goblet. A compromise was at last deer' .t
expedient. The Emperor fixed the officer's do:tota's,
200 ducats, and since then his Majesty has found it les,
difficult to comply with the periodical usage of his Water
drinking predecessors. • .

PENNY MAGAZINE. C. Knight, London, VW'
This is the first volume of a new series of a P 674
riodical which most deservedly has met with
large and constantly increasing circulation. J.7t
is embellished with numerous choice wood eq/
gravings, some of which are taken from the belTs
paintings in the Dulwich Gallery; while otligM
under the title
.of " Chaucer's Portrait. GalleW
furnish us with clever sketches of the prin.cil33.:7i
characters in the tales of this incomparable'.3"tx
thor. The literary portion of -the work, is in'
respect inferior to the pictorial, containing, t 0,,;
ther with several piquant original articles,'
tracts of fitting length from books of voyages an
travels, natural history, and science. The'Ma_l:';
zine, it appears, is brought Out under theti,
tronage of the Society for the Diffusionof Use'
Knowledge.

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CHAMBERS' LONDON JOURNAL, roL „
Chambers, London, 1842.
The chief fault we find with this MiscellanY,,i;
its name, which would lead one to suppose th',.;
it was under the direction of the Messrs. C 4414;
hers, whose "Edinburgh Journal" has PP9V,,n'ei,
such a successful speculation; whereas it
nothing to do with them, but is, in fact, a Pe ;t
fectly distinct publication. As a miscellanYles
is by no means devoid of interest, for the artic`o
are well-selected, but in the majority of instances
those which profess to be original, are the lOrsi
of the collection.

Mr. Newman of the Bridge-house, on Mancl.T,
_presented to the Lord Mayor a splendid gold 0
which is supposed to have belonged to Sir The 113,4
Gresham, and was found in the bed of the river
London-bridge. It is inscribed with a commercial 10'o,
and the initials T. G., and its weight is nearly one (led
The gold is very pure. The City Antiquarian, St!, of
that it was washed down the Thames, at the fir7ole
London. His Lordship wore the ring for the firstleit
on the day Prince Albert laid the first stone of the -17' •

Idol

Exchange.
cl 4
Monday evening, between five and six
the following serious and alarming cabriolet aceiclet- :
curred to Sir Henry Webster, residi_,,m, in Dorset-r•%:(1
Waterloo-place, Regent-street :—Sir Henry, accompanist.
by his groom, was proceeding from Pimlico jilt° his
James's Park, entering by Buckingham-gate, drivingai,
cabriolet, drawn by a high-spirited horse, when he It- a
dentallydrove thewheel over ahigh loose stone which ferceg.
the wheel with great violence against some 'high in'
The collision was so great that Sir Herlry was.,nre-allt
out of the cabriolet with great force; the gre°`-uorse•
from behind the cab, and fortunately secured the na.
Sir Henry sustained some severe injuries, but was en
bled to walk home. The shafts and cab were
in pieces.
NY'•
INCREASE OF PRESTON CASES OF .0-4-4°1'12;
—1835, 18 ; 1836, 27 ; 1837, 84 ; 1838, 103 ; !•''''"734 detP,
1840, 160 ; 1841, 144. So much for crime anu
bread.— The ostruygle.

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