The Sun. — 1849-05-07 (London, England)

FRANK FORBSTER AND HIS FRIENDS. By TV. IL Herbert. 3 Vols. The author of " Cromwell" and of " Field Sports in the United States," two very dissimilar works to be written by the same pen, has now united the sportsman with the novelist, and produced a book which possesses equal attractions for the lovers of field sports, and for the general reader. Mr. Herbert is evidently an enthusiastic votary of the " noble science of Woodcraft," as he terms it. According to the revelations of Frank Forester, it would seem that a thorough sportsman is something of an admirable Crichton. He can turn his hand to anything. The stern apprenticeship, which an American sportsman must go through, endues him (according to Mr. Herbert, and very probably he is right to a certain extent,) with almost universal knowledge, or at least it obliges him to make use of all his powers of observation, and all his reasoning faculties, and consequently he is (naturally enough) the very man for an emergency. bNroi nmg aat tme ru rwhatder e r tthoe justice,difficulty oor to tm ay "makebe, twhethertwo loversto happy," tne sportsman's ready ingenuity and in stinctive quickness of perception igonn overcomess•alt v e it triumphantly. In proof of this peculiar t may cite two instances in which Frank Forester'snle sporting friend, Harry, greatly distinguished himself. Frank and Harry, and an old huntsman, were out shooting in the forest when, hearing a shot fired at a little distance u fromse; them, em his, Houmarpryaniurnasn oonverttoakiug inquiretheya knownfound himto contemplating the corpse bofim a n m evidently 1 bullet et been had pkiielrlecded his brain, the shot just fired. thbern all, who had evirain, and was found in a tree at a little distance his lay by his side, it seemed ordinarygun,thatthehadhuntsman,committed suicide. spectator would Surprise and grief keen have thought; but not so Harry. tbe observation.b bullet in no wise diminished his powers ofthan thtae He bade his friends notice that descended in traversing the skull, the aperture back of the dead man's head being lower front. Had he shot himself the gun would havet abtein been pointed upwards, and the bullet would consequently have ascended. Then making Fran stand at the corpse's feet, in the very place where the victim had stood when receiving the shot, he bade the old huntsman go to the tree where the bullet had lodged, and, looking at Frank, take the direction from whence the shot must have come. These preliminaries being concluded, and it being evient twos murder had been committed, Harry's next d care was to discover and trace the footsteps of the criminal. This was accomplished with some difficulty, the murderer having made use of the Inand leaves dian's dodge but of covering his footsteps with branches Harry was acquainted with this trick also, and with a little trouble got upon the fugitive's traces. We will not follow him in his perilous'pursuit ; from what we have said it may be seen that Frank Forester's ad• ventures are in no way deficient in interest, but that interest is not always of such an appalling character ; for example, on the other occasion to which we alluded above, when one of Frank Forester's friends found it necessary to " run away " with his promise;,d bride, in consequence of her brother's invincible objection to her wedding an Englishman, Harry conducted the elopement with his usual skill. We will not, by abbreviating it, spoil the very excitiny description of how Harry drove the runaways in his sledge at full speed through field and forest, with the angry brother close upon their heel s.. The denouementis