The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-23 00:00:00

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stead, an abundance of diffuse, matter of fact, and
somewhat prosy information. The first article is
a curious;,one ; being an elaborate attack upon
Mr. Butler, and some late Catholic publications
circulating with avidity in France. It is penned
in a high untomproMising Protestant spirit, by
a writer who will concede nothing and seems to
be imbued—saturated, we should rather say,—with
a most unqualified orthodox earnestness. It 'fur-
nishes, however, some very interesting details re-
specting Sister Nativite, (whose Revelations Mr.,
Butler has already made known to the publie),
and, did it possess but half as much charity as in-
formation, would be unexceptionable. The
" Sketches of Persia" is an able review of Sir
John Malcolm's book of the same name ; the
Quarterly was always remarkable for the lively
and condensed intelligence which it broUght to
its notices of Voyages and Travels, nor will the
present article belie its high character. The fol-
lowing cursory remarks appear to us eminently
suitable to, and descriptive of Persia.
To us, Persia appears infinitely the most interesting
country of Asia. No part of the national institutions are
worn out. The Toorkish king's government, (we use the
word Teorkish in distinction from Turkish,) his court, his
army, and his people, are entire ; the degree in which the
energies or weaknesses of the social organization may be dis.
played, will be determined by the character of the reigning
sovereign, and the condition of the neighbouring states;
but the means that enabled Nadir Shah to reach Delhi as a
conqueror, remain, with little diminution, to this day in
the hands of Futteh Allee Shah. Persia, in this view,
differs from Turkey; the latter empire is bound together
merely by religious feelings; there is no character to be ,
called strictly national, there is, properly speaking, no nut
tional literature--no body of local recollections still familia

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;hough lost as to foundation in the fabulous ages of anti-
quity. The Osmanlis are Mohammedans and soldiers,
and they have been conquerors, but they are not a nation.
The Persians, on the contrary, possess abundantly all the
characteristics of a separate and an ancient people. Roos-
tum is as mach the model of heroes, and Juuasheed of
monarchs, among the modern as the ancient Persians; and
most probably the lovers of national traditions and legendary
lore will be of opinion that the habitual recitations from
popular tales and poems by all classes in Persia, have given
its principal interest and value to the work before us. In
fact, the Persians may be described as lovers of literature.
We learn from these Sketches, that allusions to the works
of Sadee, the odes of Hafiz, and to the Shah-nameh of
Firdoosee, form such frequent topics of conversation in
society, that a want of acquaintance with such authors
would reflect quite as much discredit upon a Persian gen-
tleman as the ignorance of Pope or Shakespeare would upon
a person of corresponding rank in England.
The article entitled " Agriculture and Rent"
makes the nearest approach to political feeling
of any in the number. It takes up the cause of
the landowners in a lofty tone of authority ;
throwing out, every now and then, a sly hit
at political economists. The writer, however,
has fallen into the very error, for which he con-
demns his opponents. He is intolerant, even to
exclusiveness. Instead of contenting himself
with singing "Io Rens," in honour of those
who possess and cultivate even a half acre of
land, he roundly asserts, that agriculture is the
Alpha and Omega, the body and soul of national
prosperity; commerce a mere secondary and ephe-
meral consideration. It strikes us that a clever
essayist, who can steer well between the two con-
flicting parties; between the Quarterly Review on
the one hand and the Westminster on the other ;
is the very writer now wanted—at present, between
the zealous advocates of either interests, the ques-
tion, like Absyrtus, is positively dismembered and
torn to pieces. " Chinese Novels and Poetry" is
a short and sketchy abstract of Chinese literature,
the wit of which chiefly consists in its brevity.—
It adds little to our stock of knowledge on the
subject, for we all know that " for every mono-
syllabic sound in the Chinese language, there are