The Sun. — 1841-04-01 (London, England)

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.  We would strongly recommend the author of London Assurance—the best comedy we have had since Colman's days—to have as little to do with serious and imaginative poetry as possible: In the light, sparkling, rapier play of wit and humour he is at home, but in earnest and impassioned verse, where fancy attempts a high and bold flight, he is sadly abroad. In his poem entitled " Light," which appears in the present Miscellany, the ideas are in general so crude, the versification so rugged and uncouth, the imagery so perplexed and far-fetched, that we should have some difficulty in believing that the author meant anything but a solemn quiz, were it not, that here and there, a passage occurs which shows that he is not destitute of the imaginative faculty, though he is wholly without the power of turning it to account. In order that our readers may judge for themselves, we subjoin a passage which —though it is by no means barren of ideas—is, in point of versification, as harsh and discordant as the bray of the animal that chews the thistle : God said, let there be light, and there was light, The murky vault was split : Darkness was rent : A golden orb sprung from the smile of God, Stood, created. Width oped her mighty jaws To gape at this new wonder, for space now Had eyes to see her own immensity. The Universe awoke, and dressed in regal Purple, stood in all the silent majesty Of the interminable arch.—The infant Globe smiling Stretched forth its cheek towards its novel nurse, That sung, and soothed it with a gentle breeze. All this has been said, and well said, by Pollok, and without any of that uneasy straining after effect so evident in the above ext.act. "Guy Fawkes" is apparently. verging towards a termination, for the plot is now discovered ; the chief conspirator is in the Tower, and nothing remains, we suppose, but for Mr. Ainsworth to put him to death after the most approved melodramatic fashion. The interview between Guy Fawkes and the King is very tame and common-place, and there is nothing in the dialogue by which we can get the slightest clue to the character of the Royal pedant. " Hyson and Bohea" is a lively allegory in the good old heroic measure of Pope. " The Sailor" is a graphic nautical sketch, with the true smack of the saltwater. The passing allusion to his polygamous propensities is a striking touch of character, applying, however, to past rather than to present times, .for, thanks to Admiral Gambier and Boatswain Smith, Jack is now becoming devout; shirks Portsmouth Point; sticks like pitch to one Poll, instead of distributing his favours among half-a-dozen ; substitutes Wesley's hymns for Dibdin's songs; tea for grog; and a close crop for the old-fashioned pig-tail. Now and then a sturdy relic of the days of old makes his bow before Sir Frederick Roe at the Police-office, but, generally speaking, the sailor is wholly changed from what he was in the times of Nelson and Collingwood. " A Rencontre with the Brigands" will not realize the romantic expectations excited by the title, for, instead of a picturesque murder or two, we are put off with a mere vulgar picking of pockets. The Italian bandits seem to be sadly degenerated in their professional habits, for they contented themselves with disembarrassing the writer and his party of their purses and watches, when they might have "created a sensation" by carrying them all off to the mountains, and assassinating them at leisure. We are willing to believe, however, that the travelers did not take their disappointment very seriously to heart. " Nights at- Offiey's" are continued, and will amuse by their piquant sketches of character. " Merrie England in the Olden Time" treats lightly and pleasantly of home themes that we all love to read about. The snatches of humourous verse that are interspersed through the article add greatly to its interest and variety. " Rumfuskin, King of the North Pole," is a mock tragedy from the practised pen of Mr. Poole. It is in the bombastic style of Fielding's "Tom Thumb," and Carey's " Chrononhotonthologos," and is not much inferior to those burlesque dramas. Our readers may perhaps be amused by the following dialogue between King Rumfuskin and a hackney-coachman,who enters the royal presence to detail the particulars of a conspiracy against the royal pei 50.1 : (Enter