The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-05 00:00:00

NE TV MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

The " New Monthly" reacfiedu;a7s;llaTate hour,
that we were unable to give it a place among our usual
notices on Magazine day. There are many pleasant
papers in it, and on the whole, it may be pronounced
a fair average Number. The Editor resumes his. ar-
ticle on " Public Buildings," which he introduces with
an amusing paragraph respecting the curiosity of foreign
Princes when they pay a visit to London, and imagine
that they can explore all its wonders in the brief course
of a day. In this rambling article, Mr. Hook ventures
to praise the architecture of that extraordinary pile,
the Pimlico Palace—which he does, we presume, by
way of a joke, and certainly it is the broadest joke in
his paper. " The Widow Married" keeps up with un-
abated spirit. Mrs. Barnaby's daughter, Patty, comes
out in fine style, and bids fair in time to rival even her
extraordinary mother. The engravings, illustrative of
the present chapters, are executed with more skill than
usual. The " Phantom Ship" is here brought to a
conclusion ; but as we have already spoken of the work
in its collected form, we need say nothing further on
the present occasion, than that, as an effort of fancy, it
is the most successful that Captain Marryatt has yet
attempted. " The Guest that Won't Go" is a lively
and pointed essay. The other articles are each enter-
taining in its way. We have no space for extracts, or
we would give a passage or two from the humorous
" Personal Narrative of Tristam Dumps."

HISTORY OF NAPOLEON—PART I.
As a specimen of the manner in which this work is
got up, and which arrogates to itself the proud title of
" Napoleon for the People !" we quote a few lines from
the Editor's Introduction, which will show the sort of
qnalifications he brings to his task :—When the sword
of Alexander," says he, " overthrew the throne of Cy-
rus, and subjugated the East, as far as the Indus, he
did but extend the civilisation of Athens, that rose under
the name and by the arms of the disciple of the Stagy-
rite. The refinement of the age of Pericles, the ac-
quirements of Attica, the philosophy of the Academy
and the Lyceum, followed in the train of his victories !"
The gross anachronisms and historical ignorance dis-
played in this passage are truly astonishing. It actually
contains as many blunders as lines. In the first place,
Alexander had no more to do with " the throne of
Cyrus " than Napoleon had with the throne of King
Pepin ; the writer mistakes Cyrus for Darius. Secondly,
Athens did not rise " under the name and by the arms"
of Alexander. It had reached its highest point of
greatness long before, and was on the wane, even in the
infancy of his father. Thirdly, So far was the " refine-
ment of the age of Pericles" from following " in the
train of Alexander's victories," that ages had elapsed
between the death of the great Athenian Statesman,
and the birth of Phillip's son. Just as well might the
Editor talk of the refinements of the Augustan age in
England following in the train of the Duke of Welling-
ton's victories. We should scarcely have thought it
worth our while to point out these glaring blunders, any
one of which a fourth-form boy at Eton could correct; had
not the work been expressly meant to circulate among
the poorer classes of the community, who might be apt
—not having, perhaps, the means of obtaining sounder
information—to swallow all the Editor's dogmas as so
many gospel truths. But gross ignorance is not the
only defect of this catch-penny publication. The spirit
that pervades the whole introduction, short as it is, is
radically bad, and not only bad, but mischievous. We
are told, for instance, that Napoleon was "the man of
the people," " the personification of the spirit of equa-
lity"—he who hated the very name of the people, crushed
the Freedom of the Press, decimated France by his
wars, and ruled her with a rod of iron ! We cannot too
strongly protest against the impropriety of disseminat-
ing false notions like these among the working classes of
the community. Far better that they should read
nothing at all, than read such works as the present,
which cannot fail to confound their ideas of right and
wrong, truth and falsehood, freedom and despotism.

UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.
There are several very entertaining papers in this
Number ; and among them, some particulars of Sir Sid-
ney Smith's earlier career, previous to that masterly
defence of Acre against the fine army of Napoleon,
which has rendered his name so deservedly celebrated.
The account of the" Expedition of the Quorra," derives
its chief interest, from the circumstance of the late la-
mented African traveller Lander, figuring conspicu-
ously in the narrative. This article is, we see, "to be
continued," and we shall watch its progress with atten-
tion.

THE CHURCHMAN, AND THE EPISCOPAL