The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-02 00:00:00

91117 SUN, triNlSoNai. Nio\rDAY. 4 StriTiViiiirk 26 180,
4

to Ir. Maginn, whose pen, we see, has been ac.
tively at work. His first article, however, Which
is a notice of Dr. Farmer's well-known essay " On
the Learning of Shakspeare," presses rather too
hardly on the Master of Emanuel ; and so far as
a display of erudition is concerned, is written, in
places, very much in the tone and manner of the
essay it proscribes. 'We have an indistinct recol-
lection of Dr. Farmer's treatise. It was, if our
memory serves us rightly, stuffed full of illustrations
gleaned from an infinite variety of sources, espe-
cially old English literature ; but its knowledge
was rather quaint and curious than useful
—rather that of a pedant, than of a ripe and
accomplished scholar. Maginn's comments have
something of the same character. Not that
they are pedantic, far otherwise ; but they are
for the most part merely curious, and conduce to no
useful end—at least so far as they have yet pro-
tcie char;
pro-
ceeded. By far the best portion of the article is
of Lucian's Timon, which isa masterly
sPe..Z.imen of acute, analytical criticism. Alluding
cursorily to Pope, Maginn somewhat rashly ob-
serves, " his Dunciad is now forgotten."
Not so. Who can forget the exquisite me-
lody of its closing passage, and the stately images
with which it is thickly studded ? Who that has
once read, but must ever remember, the terse and
apt sarcasm of many of its couplets, and the won-
derful fertility of its allusions ? We grant that, as
a whole, the poem is heavy, chic.fly in consequence
of the complex machinery with which it is cum-
bered; but in detached passages its neat and cut-
ting satire must ever keep it afloat. We have many
of its condensed, emphatic couplets—such as the
racy hit at Orator Henley; the sketch of Cibber,
"the master of the seven-fold Lace;" the withering
sneer at Ralph, who is dismissed in half a line ;
the description of " Mother Osborne stupified to
stone ;" and the fine, periphrastical allusion to the
burning of Troy, " when the last blaze sent Ilion
to the skies," which, in its way, is as striking as
Dryden's incidental mention of the cock, as " the
bird that warned St. Peter of his fall ;"—these, and
a hundred similar passages in the Dunciad, we
have by heart, and many of our readers, no doubt,
have an equally tenacious recollection of them.
" A Ramble in St. James's Bazaar" it very severe,
but not too much so, on the majority of the
designs sent in for the Nelson Testimonial. The
writer gives them no quarter, and scarcely excepts
even Mr. Railton's successful drawing. " The
Devil's Diary" is an ingenious idea, but the exe-
cution is not equal to the conception. The tragic
episode of the monk Thomas°, and his victim Vic-
torine, is evidently derived from the story of the
Santon Barsisa in the Guardian, on which Lewis
founded his overrated romance of " Ambrosio".
Lucian's " Menippus" is cleverly translated by,
we suspect, Dr. Maginn, whose ripe and ready
scholarship has not yet secured him all the celebrity
he deserves. His original powers of wit and hu-
mour have eclipsed his other faculties in public
estimation, for John Bull will never admit that a
man may possess more than one excellence. " New
Educational Gems" is mere twaddle, put forth to
serve a party purpose. " Egyptian Mythology"
is learned, but dull. We take little interest in those
researches where almost all is guess-work. The
" Fetes of July" is a lively description of the
annual commemoration at Paris, of the revolution
of the Barricades in 1830. " 'What is our Real
Position ?" is a rich specimen of cool, political
effrontery. The writer attributes the comparative
inefficiency of the late Session, to Ministers, just as
if the House of Lords had not thwarted them at
every step: From the diverting article entitled
" Blue-Friar Pleasantries," we quote " the Re-
jected," a pleasant poetic trifle:—

I met her in the bower,
By roses shaded round;
And deemed in that bright hour,
My wishes would be crowned.
Said I, " This day be mine dear ;
Be mine alone, dear Kate."
Said she, " I can't be thine, dear,
You're just a day too late !"
Despairingly I rushed forth,
And sought the Lover's Leap ;
My burning tears they gushed forth,
I reached the fatal steep ! ,
When came this thought to save me,—
" Be still, poor heart, be still ;
If cruel Kate won't have ye,
Perhaps fair Fanny will !"

Fair Fanny then to meet,
I wandered on the strand ;
I threw me at her feet,
I offered her my hand.
" What! proffer me to night, Sir,
What Kate refused at noon ?
Your love, indeed, you plight, Sir,
At least a day too soon."
Thus ever I'm too late, Ma'am,
Or else a day too soon ;
'Twill never be my fate, Ma'am,
To know a honeymoon.
And will no woman make me
A happy married man ?
Will any woman take me ?
For any woman can ! •
Hark ! Hymen's hymn is singing,
The Vicar takes his fee ;
The wedding bells are ringing,
Yet ring they not for me !
I sit, and by my-self sigh,
Deserted by my hopes ;
By heaven, I'll mount the belfry,
And hang me in the ropes !
Though I'm a man of thirty,
I'm solitary yet,
And to the pianoforte
My sorrowings are set.
Each day my wo's related
In sentimental songs,
How I must die unmated,
Like half a pair of tongs !

MONTHLY CHRONICLE.

The article on " Colonies and Emigration," which,
as might be expected from its title, is wholly of a
practical character, contains many just reflections,
the results of a long and attentive consideration of
the subject. The writer observes that, extensive as
are our colonial possessions, they have as yet. con-
ferred but a limited amount of benefit on the mother-
country ; and attributes this to our having almost
entirely excluded foreigners from an intercourse with
them, from a selfish dread lest they should partici-
pate in their commerce. With reference to their
vast extent lie gives the following statements :
Mr. Martin calculates the area of the British colonial
empire at 2,119,708 square miles,--an extent equal to
twenty times that of Great Britain and Ireland ; to
nearly double that of European Russia, including Po-
land ; and to more than double that of the United
States of America, including the territories of Michigan,
Arkansas, and Florida. In this calculation, moreover,
the Polar regions of North America, generally marked
in our maps as British territory, are not included ; and
of the vast island of New Holland, only the three co-
lonies of New South Wales, South Australia, and
Swap River are considered as colonial possessions,
though there cannot be a doubt that the whole of that
leviathan of islands will, at no very remote period, be
occupied by the descendants of Englishmen. In Southern
Africa, too, the spirit of enterprise inherent in the Eu-
ropean race will eventually force the mother country
to extend her sway beyond the present limits of the
Cape colony ; and even while we are writing, the Bri-
tish Government is preparing to take formal possession
of the valuable islands of New Zealand, which, for se-
veral years past, without any interposition on the part
of the mother country, have displayed many of the most
important characteristics of a British colony. Nor must
we neglect to mention the British settlement about to
be formed at Port Essington, on the northern coast of
New Holland, which, with judicious management, may
be made to develope itself with a rapidity fully equal to
that which has marked the advancement of the flou-
rishing colony of South Australia. In the next edition
of his valuable work, Mr. Martin will have to make some
important additions to his already astounding calcula-
tions. The Russian empire, indeed, as usually marked
out upon our maps, has an extent of more than 7,000,000
of square miles, being three times that of the British
possessions ; but of this vast territory by far the larger
frontier is disqualified by the severity of its climate from
ever attaining a high degree of cultivation, while of
the very limited -extent of sea-shore there is not one
point that is not cut off for many months of every
year from all maritime communication with the rest of
the globe. The British colonies, on the other hand,
have almost an incalculable extent of sea-coast, acces-
sible at every season of the year ; several of them are
situated within the tropics, others in the most favoured
regions of the temperate zone ; and it may safely be
assumed that there is no one article of commerce
which may not be reared in one or other of our co-
lonies, to an extent sufficient to supply the demand of
all the markets in the world.

Of the new colony in South Australia the writer
speaks in most favourable terms. It is advancing,
it seems, with singular rapidity in the course of im-
provement, and its population increases so fast, that
it is calculated that when all the emigrants known
to have embarked in Et gland in 1838, shall have
arrived at Adelaide, the population of the province

Will afrioiltit to between seven and eight thousand
I souls. " Studies of Undeveloped Characters in
Shakspeare," is an ingenious notion, but at the
same time it °pent the doot to a host of fantastic
cridtchEts and speculations. There is little new to be
discovered in the characters of our national drama-
tist. All that can be said about them has been
said—and well said—a thousand times already,
and never more effectually than by Lamb and Haz-
litt. It is almost a hopeless task to go out gleaning
in the Shakspearian field, after such active labourers
as these have been at work in it. Nevertheless, we
occasionally meet with some thoughtful and acute
observations in the " Studies" before us ; and have
been pleased with the shrewdness of the guesses re-
' specting the mole in which Lady Macbeth was
educated. " Music in Germany" is a cleverish
essay on a popular theme. " State and Prospects
of Italy" gives us some interesting particulars re-
specting the last out-break in that aggrieved country.
" Proposals for a new Act of Parliament to prevent
the use of Horses" is an article whose whimsicality
—for it seems to be half-jest, half-earnest--is its
chief recommendation. " The Political and Reli-
gious Constitution of America" is a favourable re-
view of a work lately published, from which we
learn that the number of slaves in that land of
freedom, the United States, is little less than three
millions ! " Byron and Goethe" is an eloquent
essay whose spirit is thoughtful and highly laud-
able. Poor Lord Byron, whom every puny poet-
aster and Lilliputian witling raw Oinks himself
entitled to rail against, is spoken of in terms that
do credit to the writer's head and heart, We sub-
join a passage, with the generous tone of which we
have been much struck :

Never did he desert our cause ; never was he false
to human sympathies. Solitary and unfortunate from
his infancy, cruelly wounded in his first love, and still
more cruelly in his marriage ; attacked and calumniat-
ed in his acts and intentions, without inquiry or de-
fence ; annoyed by pecuniary difficulties ; forced to
quit his country—his home—his child ; friendless—we
have seen it since his death ; pursued, on the Conti-
nent, by a thousand absurd tales, and by the cold malig-
nity of a world that made even his sorrows a crime, he
preserved in the midst of inevitable re-action, his love
for his sister, his Ada, his pity for misfortune, his fide-
lity to the affections of the years of his childhood and
youth, even from his old nurse Mary Gray to Lord
Clare. He was generous of his money to those to
whom he could be useful, from his literary friends to
the wretched libeller Ashe. Impelled by the temper
of his mind, by the period in which he lived, by the
fatality even of his mission, towards a poetry whose
place has now to be filled, towards the incomplete ten-
dency we have sought to characterize, he by no means
set himself up as a standard ; he presaged the future ;
he vindicated the prescience of genius, in this definition
hitherto misunderstood, and yet the best we know of,—
" Poetry is the feeling of a former world and a future ;"
he always preferred activity fur good, to all that his art
could do. Surrounded with slaves and their oppressors,
a traveller in countries where remembrance even seemed
extinct, a witness of the progress of the Restoration,
and of the triumph of the principles of the Holy Alli-
ance, he never swerved from his courageous opposition ;
he publicly preserved his faith in the rights of the peo-
ple, in the final triumph of liberty, in the duty of de-
voting body and soul to hasten it whenever the
occasion should present itself. The passage follow-
ing, the very abstract of the law of our present efforts,
is from his pen :—" Onwards! it is now the time to
act, and what signifies self, if a single spark of that
which would be worthy of the past can be bequeathed
unquenchably to the future? It is not one man, nor
a million, but the spirit of liberty which must be spread.
The waves which dash upon the shore are, one by one,
broken, but vet the ocean conquers, nevertheless. It
overwhelms the Armada, it wears the rock, and, if the
Neptunians are to be believed, it has not only destroyed,
but made a world." At Naples, in the Romagna,
wherever he saw a spark of life stirring, he was ready
for exertion or for combat, could it but break into
fl sale. His lay was of splendid ruins, lofty thoughts,
and great actions ; he stigmatised baseness, hypocrisy,
and injustice, whencesoever they sprang. Thus lived
Byron—unceasingly flossed between present ill and
future hopes—often unequal, sometimes sceptical, but
alw ay's
evensuff when he cursed.ering,evenwhenhe seemed to laugh ; always
loving,

MONTHLY LA W MAGAZINE.
There is ever much serviceable matter in this
well-digested periodical, especially on legal topics,,,
such as the " Rights and Privileges of Attormes,
and the " Costs and Allowances to "Trustees," both
which topics are handled at some length in the pre-
sent Number; but its political diatribes are of so vio-
lent a character as to be quite ridiculous. " The
House of Commons," for instance, furnishes the
writer with a theme for the most intemperate abuse,
which he lavishes without merey,as if to make up by
his hard words for his deficiency of sound argument.
Another Ses.yion of Parliament," he tells us, " has
w
passed away, another long vacation has arrived, and
e have departed further and further from the prin-
ciples which were once held to constitute the anima-
ting spirit of the British Constitution." In-
deed ; how is this ? We know of no
great constitutional principle that has been evaded
or departed from during the past Session. 'What
popular rights have been violated ? What great
maxims of Government set at naught ??Of omis-
sions, Ministers may have been guilty ; but cer-
tainly not of cominissions. Our quarrel with them
is, not that they have been active for evil, but that
they have been passive for good. They have thrown
away chances ; but no one can accuse them of hav-
ing violated principles. But perhaps by the vague
old Tory pCrionicisiptilteutoifonl'e'gtilr.
awl.'rditearmmbeigaunos
lation ; and if so, we willingly concede that the
House of Commons has shown itself far from con-
stitutional in its proceedings. The rest of the article
is penned in the same perverse spirit as marks the
passage on which we have just animadverted.

SPORTING REV lETV.—SP ORTING
MAGAZINE.
As both these periodicals are devoted to the same
subject, we class them together. The Sporting
Review has two engravings, one of which, " Par-
tridge Shooting," presents us with a pleasing, and
even picturesque, assemblage of rural objects. The
back-ground, however, is rather too harshly marked,
and brought too near the eye. This might have
been avoided by throwing a stronger shadow in the
fore-ground. Among the literary contents is a
spirited account of a " Wolf hunt among the
Alleghany mountains." The Sporting Magazine
is quite as cleverly embellished as its rival. One
of the engravings represents " Hunting in Bogota,
South America," where two expert horsemen are
just in the act of throwing the lasso, as they dash
across a mountain brooklet. The attitudes of the
equestrians are easy and graceful. They sit their
steeds, as if, like Centaurs, they formed a portion
of them. The best—or at any rate, the most use-
ful—article in the literary department, is " How to
buy a Florse,7 which professes to be the work of an
amateur.

with various old works oftener talked of than read
by members of the legal profession. The author
of " Rattlin the Reefer," has contributed a
clever article, called the " Blind Reefer Adrift ;"
and some of the most important personages who
have figured in France and Spain, during the
last quarter of a century, are made to pass in re-
view before us, in the progress of an agreeable
account of a "Pilgrimage from Fontainbleau to Scot-
land." The " Curiosities of Legal Experience" is
likewise a clever paper, and will be read with much
interest. There are numerous other contributions,
both in prose and verse, as " The Banquet's
Mit th is o'er," by Mrs. C. Baron Wilson, " Melo-
dies for Music," by T. J. Ouseley, and " Secret
Treasures," by Mrs. Abdy, which will not fail to
find favour with a large class of readers. The no-
tices of new books are numerous, and very carefully
written.

ALEXANDER'S EAST INDIA MAGAZINE.

There is nothing, either very novel or very strik-
hie in any of the articles in this number, with the
exception of one passage, which occurs in a letter
from a Rev. missionary, named Lacy, now in In-
dia, to his brother in England, on the Repeal of the
Pilgrim Tax at the Temple of that ugliest of idols,
Juggernaut, of the horrors of whose car, the
Western World has heard so much. Mr. Lacy is
evidently a member of that school of divines who
make up, in warmth of imagination for more
than ordinary defects of judgment ; and
whom our Christian Societies always select
as preachers of the Gospel among infidels,
as if common sense was a relivious superfluity out
of England. We will not stop to inquire how far
the wisdom of such a course has been manifested
by the results throughout the whole Peninsula of
India, because we do not wish to inflict unnecessary
pain upon persons actuated by the purest motives.
But we cannot be brought to believe that any
rational Christian will expect much benefit from
the labours of a Missionary, who deliberately writes
in such a strain as the following :—" The Temple
still rears its lofty turrets to the skies, as if to defy
the God-head, and mock the prayers and ex
hortations of his servants. . . . But I have
to tell you that one step towards its doom
is taken ! I hear the shout of exultation
sound from place to place, and from land
to land ! I see Angels hovering over the doomed
embattlements, and while tears roll front their eyes
at the dark and distinctive historic retrospect of the
place, rendered ten fold more dark and distinctive
by the guilty associations of Christians, I see them
talk over, with eyes glistening with satisfaction,
that the tower has begun to fall, anticipating the
time when Immanuel's sceptre shall wave over this
fair and populous land." This rant, which is be-
low all sober criticism, is preceded by a sensible
article on the Opium Trade with China, such as
any diligent compiler might produce from the ac-
counts which have appeared in the daily news-
papers. The " Biographical Sketch of Shah
Shooja-001-Moolk is too much spun out. Were
the whole of the materials digested into one article,
instead of being diluted into—we cannot yet tell
how many, two only.having appeared, it would af-
ford much more amusement to four-fifths of that
class of readers who trouble their heads about Ma-
gazine literature. To make amends for the mode-
rate pretensions of the original articles, the Notices
for the Month are well digested, and arranged with
much perspicuity of method.