The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-01 00:00:00

MAGAZINE DAY,

BLACKWOOD.—There is an article on " Captain
Speke's Journal," which is, of course, one of the
most interesting features of this number. It would
be difficult, indeed, to find a theme more sugges-
tive in its style, and more attractive in its associa-
tions, than this one referred to, The peculiarities
of this subject are alluded to in the prefatory remarks, when
it is said that this river unites the past and present. "At
one end it belongs tol.lloses and Herodotus, the Sphinxes,
and the Pyramids, at the other the different notable points
are named after our Gracious Queen, the Emperor Louis
Napoleon," &c., Captain Speke has entered into the details
of his exciting adventures, and recorded his remarkable ex-
ploits with an earnestness that imparts to them a double
zest, and a descriptive power that adds to the exciting
nature of the narrative. The " undramatised simplicity"
of the work is made special mention of in this criticism. and
doubtless its readers will coincide with the accuracy of the
remark, when its pages are scanned by eager students
throughout the land. This work is not a book made up
after reflection, but a journal of events set down as they
occurred. As such it is far more valuable, and imparts to
us more of that inner life of adventure and peril than any
record of abstract criticism and occurrence, and embroidered
sketches of facts could possibly have afforded. There can
be no doubt that this journal of the discovery of the
Source of the Nile will be one of the famous books
of our day, and in its subject, and for its chronicles,
it seems one of those rare works which will equally
excite and interest other and distant generations, pre-
senting, as it does, a record of what belongs
not to our age, but to all time. " Young Butler,"
is very amusing. In this instalment it relates the
hero's adventures in town, which for rashness, inconsidera-
tion, and absurdity may rival any provincial escapade or
extravaganza on record. In farce or novelette, all comes
alike to this energetic spirit, whether he is bullying the
porters at Government offices, or frightening the respect-
able inhabitants of a suburban district from their propriety.
His money spent, he returns home, having done little in
the way of advancement for his future life. "The Mind
and the Body," by Pisistratus Caxton, is a quaint, gro-
tesque, even in parts a broadly comical dialogue : full, how-
ever, of a profound significance It appears to be a sequel,
or rather pendant, to " The Boatman." Though—in a
strain, how marvellously different I " Chronicles of Car-
lingford ;" The Perpetual Curate is very exciting
in this portion. The various dangers that sur-
rounded the unhappy Mr. Wentworth seemed to cul-
minate, and the result is most oppressive to the be-
wildered young man. The disappearance of Rosa El -
worthy, and the death of Mr. Wodehouse, continue to render
the whole place in a confusion, and Mr. Wentworth is, of
course, much mixed up in both affairs. 'I his writer gene-
rally contrives to get her heroes into some inextricable con-
fusion before the conclusion, and the Perpetual Curate is
now in that predicament. " Winchester College and
Commoners" is a very readable sketch. The article fur-
nishes a fund of entertainment, with its varied accounts
of historical reminiscence and anecdotal details.
"Letter from Poland" refers at some length to the pro-
tracted struggle that has taken all Europe by surprise for
its pertinacious spirit. It has been rather the notion lately
that
that all attempts to free Poland are unavailing, and
therefore it is better not to think about an unpleasant sub-
ject. This is, however, a strange kind of political morality,
and one that can hardly be suitable to the standard of right.
It is well at any rate to have the matter brought forward
occasionally, and in this instance it is done very effectively.
It is justly observed that the attempts made by the
great Powers have placed matters on a worse footing than
ever, since the various remonstrances afforded that stimu-
lant from without that increased the ardour of the insur-
gents at first, so that afterwards, if a more threatening
tone had been adopted towards Russia, that nation might
have yielded to their demands. " A Song of Proverbs" is
a lively strain that brings in many homely sentences in an
ingenious form, and is suitable to the present season for its
mirthfulness. A paper on " The European Crisis," that
enters into the vexed questions now looming in the distance
with a portentous aspect brings to a conclusion this number
of Naga, which inaugurates the year with very varied
contents.
FRASER.—Fraser begins the new year with a
discourse on " The Highway of Nations," which
treats on those points of international law which
have been engaging the attention of the writers,
speakers, and thinkers of England and America for
the last three years. It is followed by the con-
tinuation of the story of " Late Laurels," which
proceeds with interest. Poor little Nelly's happiness
trembles in the scale through the crafty malevolence of
Florence, but she is rescued by the firmness and courage of
her sister. Mr. Stephens's recent work on Criminal Law
receives a careful and favourable notice, and those who in-
cline to that critical argument and analysis now so much
in vogue will be attracted by the essay which follows it.
" The Poetry of the Eighteenth Century" is the subject of
an article which is mainly devoted to the consideration of
the works and genius of Pope. Of the merits and gifts of
that eminent poet the writer speaks strongly, paying him
the tribute so especially due to him of refining and correct-
ing the style of the literature of his day. "In the highest
qualities of imagination he confessedly felt that there was
little more glory to be reaped. Bat what he did see was
this—that the straggling and rather lumbering metre in
which poetry was then written might be girded up and
disciplined with advantage. This was the task he took in
hand. He gathered up the loose threads, he re-wove it, as
it were, and tightened our whole metrical system, and cast
it in such a form as remained dominant for a hundred
years, and educated a school of poets." The singular
story of " Nala and Damayanti" translated from the San-
scrit, is continued, and apparently concluded. It is a
curious production, and chiefly interesting as introducing
us to one of the standard works of that Oriental literature
of which we know so little. Japan, which, after being un-
thought of and unnoticed for years, has suddenly risen into
such conspicuous importance, is the subject of an article of
some length. The most interesting paper in the number is,
however, to be found at the last. Our old friend A. K. H. B.
reappears under the familiar heading of " Concerning
Ugly Ducks," and gives us his reflections on mis-
placed men, whom he illustrates by Hans Christian Ander-
sen's immortal story of " The Ugly Duck." It is easy to
guess what sharp insight, what kindly philosophy, what
playful sarcasm, what varied experience the essayist brings
to bear upon his subject. He finds examples of his Ugly
Ducks in John Foster, Archbishop Whately, Dr. Arnold,
and Charlotte Bronte. The essay is not among the writer's
best, but it is, notwithstanding, a pleasant conclusion to a
somewhat heavy number.
MACMILLAN.—The talented author of " Ravens-
bee " continues his new story of " The Hillyars and
the Burtons ' with marked interest. The double
thread of the narrative is a little perplexing at first
to the reader, who is uncertain as to the connection
between the dates of James Burton's story and the
love tale of George Hillyar and Gerty Neville at the antipodes.
Still this point will probably be very soon cleared up, and
meanwhile the plot is thickening, the incidents crowding
closer and closer, and all the fascinations of the author's
brilliant style combine to attract the reader. The Rev. F.
I). Maurice gives us his Christmas Thoughts on Renan's
"Vie de Jesus," in which he comments on the
marvellous inconsistency of that celebrated work,
and finds in it a parallel to an ancient allegory in which the
dead were represented as crumbling into eternal dust while
the little children raised the pathetic cry " Have we no
Father ?" to be answered in an appalling negative. The
eighth part of the "Letters from a Competition Wallah"
discourses on some of the peculiarities of the Hindoo char-
acter. "It is not too much to assert," he says, "that the
great mass of Bengalees have no notion of truth and false-
hood," yet he considers the case by no means hopeless
"Bengalees who have received an English education, and
who mix much with Englishmen, have learnt to appreciate
the English feeling about veracity." The love of gain
and the aversion to work are two other prominent points in
his portraiture. The love for
where
by cleverness and industry, and lost by carelessness and
stupidity," is another. A very able and interesting article
on the seventh and eighth volumes of Mr. Froude's History
of England will gratify the reader. " The many
are no believers," says the writer, " in the theories of Mr.
Buckle, They have a strong and wholesome belief that
mankind is not an abstraction, but signifies the men and
women who have lived or do live, and that the history of
England is the history of the men and women of Eng-
land, not of its soil, plants, and animals, and therefore
they crave for a history of the hearts and characters of those
same men and women, and not a mere history of statistics,
events, and principles. The statistics must be set forth in
the weal or woe of the human beings who were the
better or the worse for them , the events in the deeds of the
men who acted them ; the principles in the lives of those
who worked them out, fought for thorn, died for them.
The things did not do themselves, the men of old did them,
and therefore the men of to-day must see the men doing
them." The editor continues his "Recollections of Three
Cities," and the story of " A Son of the Soil" proceeds with
interest. A careful criticism does full justice to Mr. Wool-
ner's new poem, and it is followed by an article by Profes-
sor Cairnes on an American work on English neutrality.
Author and critic alike, while they agree in denunciation,
remonstrance, and argument respecting the wickedness of
England in allowing the escape of the Alabama, find it
very convenient entirely to forget the enlistment in Irish
coast towns, the arms and ammunition shipped for the
Federal government from English ports. Such reasoners