1832.] Monthly Review of Literature. 121 



up one class of men at the expense of another. A voyage to India, for the hero 

 gets into more services than one, offers a tempting opportunity for sketching 

 character, and it is done with great shrewdness and humour. The effect would 

 be vastly heightened by the introduction of a few delicate touches in place of a 

 few coarse ones, but the reader will find all very pleasant as it is. Among the 

 defects of the King's Own, it seems, is the absence of a marriage at the end of it. 

 Captain Marryat has terminated the career of Newton Forster more pleasantly, 

 by winding-up his wanderings with a wedding so that in one respect at least the 

 work has some resemblance to a novel. 



HOOD'S COMIC ANNUAL, FOR 1832. 



Mr. Hood must be happy beyond all living example, for he is not only a 

 master of the opposite arts of pun and pathos, but the world is so inconsistent 

 with itself, as to be willing to acknowledge it. He is the Garrick of literature 

 the Ham 1st and Abel Drugger of book-making. Having scarcely completed our 

 glance at his " Aram," we are called off by his "Annual" from deep feeling 

 to high fun. We must be careful in what we say of the " Comic ;" because we 

 are so grateful for a broad grin, that our eyes are frequently closed to defects in 

 proportion as our mouth is extended by drolleries. As far as we have been able 

 to see his faults this year, they are these ; a gradual "decline and fall" of hu- 

 mour in his cuts a less immediate and irresistible attack upon our fun-facul- 

 ties and a disposition (which we have had all along to complain of) to turn 

 painful incidents into very indifferent jokes. He seizes upon every thing that falls 

 in his way ; and trusts to his own unrivalled tact, to make what is mere dross 

 pass current, in particular circles, for gold. But then there is no lack of the true 

 ore in other parts ; he has some fancies in this volume first-rate and never to 

 be forgotten (as the newspapers observe when a duke dies). The Pugsley Papers 

 are at the head of them ; and the Plan for writing Blank Verse in Rhyme, the 

 Letter to an Old Sportsman, the Domestic Didactics, and the Ode to Mr. 

 Hume, are not low down on the list. A dozen journals have had the advantage 

 of us, or we could quote twice that number of pages that would make even the 

 Reform Bill Minority laugh which we should hold to be the criterion of comi- 

 cality. 



REVIEW OF MUSIC. 



1. The Overture to Fra Diavolo. 2. / don't object, Duet, sung by Miss Cawse 

 and Mr. Penson. 3. On yonder rock reclining, sung by Miss Homer. 4. The 

 Gondolier, sung by Mr. Braham. 5. Vainly, alas! shou'dst soothe the pains, 

 by Mr. Wilson. 6. Oh! hour of joy, by Miss Romer. 7. Young Agnes, beau- 

 teous flower, by Mr. Braham. 8. I'm thine, I'm thine, by Mr. Wilson. The 

 whole composed by Auber, and arranged by Rophino Lacey. Chappell. 



Of the overture we cannot say much in praise. It is little more than a me- 

 lange of the principle motivi of the opera, and although they are all very pretty 

 in their situations in the piece, they sound rather meagre when worked into an 

 overture ; not that we object to the leading subjects of operas being introduced 

 .into their overtures, on the contrary, we love Der Frieschutz and Oberon, and 

 they do most certainly contain the principal subjects of their operas ; but they 

 are so naturally interwoven and worked up, that the effect is wholly different. 

 The only part of it we relished was the latter movement in 6-8 time, and which 

 accompanies the Carabiniers in many parts of the opera. Its effect is truly 

 military. 



No. 2 is, on referring to the title-page, called " The Matrimonial Duet." 

 According to this nonmenclature, No. 5 should be called "The desponding 

 Brigadier's Song," and No. 6, " The Song of the Young Lady just going to be 

 married." But the duet, itself, makes up for the absurdity of the title-page. It 



