The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-18 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

Yesterday morning her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Kent, attended by'Lady Charlotte Dun-
das, took a carriage airing from her residence at Frog-
more Lodge, near Windsor. Her Royal Highness
took a carriage drive on Tuesday, the weather only
has prevented the Royal Duchess taking an airing
every day.
The Governor of the Bank of England and the De•
puty Governor had an interview with the Chancellor
of the Exchequer yesterday, at his official residence
in Downing-street.
The Earl of Lincoln had an interview with Sir
James Graham yesterday.
Count de St. Aulaire, the French Ambassador, gave
a grand dinner last evening at the residence of the
Embassy in Manchester-square, to his Imperial High-
ness the Archduke Frederick of Austria and the No-
blemen and. Gentlemen of his Suite. M. Dedel, the
Netherlands' Minister; Prince Castelcicala, the Nea-
politan Minister ; the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of
Aberdeen, Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci, and a select
party were honoured with invitations to meet his
Imperial Highness.

T%lr. Wiclilkam, Chairman of the Stamps and Taxes,
had an interview yesterday with the Chancellor of the
Exchequer in Downing-street.
Dispatches from Sir Charles Bagot, Governor of
Canada, .and also from the Governors of the other
North American Colonies, were received yesterday at
the Colonial-office.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.
ARRIVALS.

The Hon. and Rev. Lord Charles Paulet, and Lady
Paulet and family, at Marshall Thompson's Hotel,
Cavendish-square, from Brighton; General Sir Jeffery
Prendergast, at ditto.

DEPARTURES.
Mrs. Carnegie and Miss Nicholson, from Marshall
Thompson's Hotel ; the Hon. Mr. buncombe, from
ditto ; Allyne, Esq., the Rev. Mr., Mrs., and .Miss
Thurlow, from ditto; Mrs. Gibbons, family, and Miss
Cotton, from ditto ; James M'Taggert, Esq., and Mrs.
M"raggert, from ditto, for Lyndhurst, llants.

LITERATURE.

JOSEPH JENKINS, or LEAVES from the LIFE
of a LITERARY MAN, by the Author of " Random
Recollections," " The Great Metropolis." 6.c., 3 vols.,
post Bvo.—Saunders and Otley.
• After a season of unusual dullness in the liter-
ary world, publishers now begin Pi give " note
of preparation," and among the earliest candi-
dates for public favour, •as a caterer to our winter
evenings' entertainment, we have here the amus-
ing author of " Random Recollections," with
three gossipping volumes, on a theme differing
from any which he has formerly essayed. Hi-
therto lie has been for the most part known to
the reading public as a lively and pleasant chro-
nicler of the habits, physical peculiarities, and
intellectual qualifications of our " Most potent,
grave, and reverend Signiors ;" and as a ram-
bling excavator and explorer of the Lights and
.Shadeaofi Metropolitan:Life; Rat on ithePresent
occasion he comes before us in the capacity of it
biographer and illustrator of a literary adven-
turer. This unquestionably is an interesting sub-
ject ,and, properly treated, ought also to be an in-
structive one. Our own notions as to how this
matter might be most profitably discussed, differ
considerably from those of our author; but not
to intrude them at present on the attention of our
readers, we cannot but allow that in the work
before us, according to his view of the subject, he
exhibits in no ordiary degree those good qualities
of shrewd observation and humorous incident, ac-
companied, we must add, with a due proportion
of garrulous prolixity, by which he acquired his
early popularity. It cannot be said that there is
much of the " romance of real life" in the history
of " Joseph Jenkins," who, notwithstanding his
own high estimate of himself, is, after all, but an
ordinary enough mortal, and his career all too
common in our every-day world. Nor is there any-
thing very extraordinary in some of the specimens
given of the stuffof which "Joseph's" literary con-
tributions were made up. There is neither plot,
nor well connected story, nor any gilded halo of
romance, to excite the sentimental sympathies of
the ordinary novel reader. In truth, it is not a
novel, in the usual acceptation of that term; the
author's intention appears to have been alto-
gether different from producing a work of that
kind. "Joseph Jenkins" is a raw youth from
the "north countrie," who leaves his home from
necessity, and the force of circumstances, to try
his fortune in that line of life, which is graphi-
cally termed " living on one's wits." His first
essay is in the character of epic poet, when, big
with the expectation of fame, and, what he values
as much, profit, lie publishes an " epic" on the
" universe," which, alas ! a dull, ungrateful
public, will neither purchase nor appreciate; we
are not favoured with any specimens of this work
of unappreciated genius, but are much inclined
to think, from other circumstances in his history,
that the decision come to was the right one.
After this adventurous flight, it is rather humili-
ating to see our hero reduced to the hard, labo-
rious, and very prosaic occupation of " a gentle-
man of the press"—a writer of all work for
newspapers and magazines. The scenes in ‘‘ Lich
Joseph is necessitated to mix, and the places he
must visit in the performance of the duties of his
new vocation, along with various lucubrations
and disquisitions on the state ofliterary criticism,
Magazine and Review writing, &c., compose in
a great measure the bulk of the volumes. These
materials appear at first sight slender and meagre
enough, yet does the author display such tact
and ingenuity in piecing the various incidents to-
gether, with such humour and drollery in the
descriptions, that we do not hesitate to say the
perusal of them will afford pleasure and amuse-
ment. The author indeed purports, and evi-
dences, a higher object than that of af-
fording mere amusement to his readers-- ;
he hopes his story may also be found to
" point a amoral." The principles and morals i
of Mr. Jenkins are certainly rather wavering
and unstable, and his subsequent chequered
career renders them lax enough, while the dis-
astrous consequences which follow, and the
-miserable shifts to which he is obliged to resort
for the purpose of " keeping up appearances,"
are palpable and evident. Still although the
moral be plain, we question whether the public
may consider the work, as, in that view, having
the best title to consideration ; however, t'ie
matter admits of easy adjustment to all classes
of readers—those who read for amusement can-
not miss the moral lesson, and vice versa. Some.
of those passages which pleased us most we had
marked for extraction, such as the laughable
affair of the " rival hatters," " contested
'elections," &c., and some curious particulars
about Burns and Dr. _Hornbook, which the
author says have never before been published,
and which certainly we do not remember once

having met with—hut our limits do not permit,
and we must refer our readers to the work itself.
We regret to perceive that the style of this
writer does not exhibit any symptom of improve-
ment—the work before us is disfigured in a con-
siderable degree by much of that negligent
" slip-shod" manner which was visible in several
of his former works. It is true there are certain

points of style which may be as rnuch peculiar
to a man. :AS the features of Lis own face; but
these are very far removed from careless habits
of composition, which, with the bestowal of a
little time and attention, miwht be entirely re-
moved. The book is beautifully printed.

IVe hear from good authority, Lord Lowther,
and other persons ofral
etl-
tered into a contract with and
property,
assignees h
of
fv e
purchase of the Italian
presentOpera-
artoflesisee,
negotiationslAtnlle)r, othnethe
h o ti s e .
Chambers for the
theejrhas con-
ductedt the purchasers,
And we sincerely hope that the new
lead to the payment of the long looked-for dividend.
This property has now been in Chancery, or the
Court of Bankruptcy, or some other Court of law or
equity, for eighteen years, and it is high time for the
creditors to get what remains. .
Tna LATE SIIIPWRECKS.—The loss of the Water-
loo convict ship in Table Bay involves, in addition to
the question of ber seaworthiness, some nautical
questions which it would be as well to examine into.
The chain cable of this ill-fated ship is said to have
' snapped inboard, which leads to the supposition, that
when the wind increased cable was not veered. On
board tho Abercrombie cable was veered to one hun-
dred and fifty' fathoms, and the top-gallant and top-
gallant masts got down on deck, and other seamanlike
preparations made to meet the approaching tempest.
The rotten state of the 'Waterloo must have been
known; which, in addition to her dreadful cargo of
convicts, might have been the cause'ofher being under
the command of some very inefficient person, as it is
not probable a seaman of a high grade in the mer-
chant service would have taken the command of so
inferior a ship with so desperate a class 'of men as
convicts. Why, Asks a writer, are our old 32 and
36-gun frigates now rotting in the Medway, not
used for such purposes, instead of hiring such disrepu-
table craft?

BRlBERY.—Sweatmeats were formerly much used
to bribe persons of quality or judges, to whom a re-
quest was to be made. This custom at last rose to
such a pitch, that Louis IX. of France issued a pro-
clamation, wherein he forebade all Judges to take more
than ten penny worth a week. Philip the Handsome,
subsequently curtailed this quantity to no more than
what one could use in one day.
The Rev. Dr. Cramer, principal of New Inn Hall,
regius professor of modern history, has resigned the
public oratorship of the University of Cambridge, and
the Vice-Chancellor has appointed Thursday next for
the election of a successor,