The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-01 00:00:00

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.

Regina is Tory to the heart's core this month. She
opens with a trumpet-tongued appeal to the Conserva-
tives ; and she concludes with a sonnet, in the very
last line cf which Heaven is invoked in favour of our
Most Gracious Queen's remembrance of the Protestant
Creed I The confiding loyalty of this curious form of
invocation is exactly on a par with the feigned de-
votedness of the faction of which Regina is the elo-
quent organ. But we must do Fraser the justice to
acknowledge that no attempt is made that decency
could dispense with, to conceal the chagrin—the dis-
may—the despair of the Tories at the present moment,
owing to the unexpected accession of the reigning So-
vereign. " We do not either allege or admit," says
the writer of the opening article, " that the power of
the Crown of England has altogether vanished, or that
it appertains to the Commons alone to decide, in all
future times, both the policy of the empire and the
hands into whose custody its interests shall be com-
mitted. We can easily conceive a case in which a
Prince of mature age and experience, coming to the
Crown in the midst of the difficulties and dilemmas in
which the State is now involved, might have been able,
by effecting a new combination of the leading States-
men of all parties, to have adopted and carried into
operation a new system of policy, calming all dissensions,
and avoiding all dangers. But circumstances in the pre-
sent case offered no such opportunity. It was not to be
expected that a young lady of 18, assuming the sceptre
with a necessarily trembling hand, should be able in
a moment, to dictate a sudden change of policy, or to
re-organize all the discordant elements which had been
waging furious war for several successive years." Sigh-
ing for Cumberland so soon ? This speaks but indif-
ferently for the loyalty of the old Jacobite leaven.
The Duke of Ctimberland—Heaven save the mark :
calm all political dissensions in England ! Serve up
to the empire a well-seasoned olla-podrida made up of
the bitterest ingredients of faction ? Ridiculous. The
very idea is stark staring ronscnse. " Oliver Yorke at
Paris " admits us to the fellowship of the first living
French poet—M. de Lamartine. The author of the
Premieres Meditations Poetiques, the Ilarnzonies Poe-
tiques, and the Voyage en Orient, was never, we believe,
distinguished for his critical acumen ; and yet our friend
Oliver makes him say more good things in this way
than are to be found scattered over half Sir Egerton
Brydges' delightful old book of reminiscences. The
portraits of Froissart, Monstrelet, Philip de Comities
Brantome, La Bruycre, Montaigne, Rochefoucauld,
Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and
Thomas, though hit off by a few bold masterly strokes,
are true to the life. " Rough Sketches Afloat" are
as rough and racy as the clement upon which the
writer exercises his pencil. But we must see more of
them before pronouncing an opinion upon their merits.
The " R►emembrances of a Monthly Nurse" are con-
tinued, in much the same strain as before. We have
met with abundance of unintelligible jargon in our
time, but we never met anything to match a review, or
a treatise purporting to be one, of Mr. Carlyle's His-
tory of the French Revolution. We pity the author
who has the misfortune to fall into the hands of such
a critic. The " Philosophy of Party Politics" is one
of the best-reasoned articles in the present Number,
though the writer often sets out on false asumptione,
and consequently his deductions are not always to be
relied upon, even when they appear to carry the
strorgest conviction to the mind. The other articles
are of the usual Magazine order—alike obnoxious to

..
weii-merited coinmend.ition or censure. \Ve shall con-.•‘:
elude our notice with a brief epitome of the charactersr
of the two last Sovereigns of the House of Brunsrvickfi
extracted from amt article on the " Death of his late,
i‘hjestv." Behold the gratitude of the faction to',
assert whose ascendancy George IV. refused Grea4,'..:
Beitain a Reform Bill ! F-,
i. 4.
" Of George IV. it was our hap to speak without any feel-'
ing of respect, because, in truth, we had none. He was a mano
pre-eminently false of heart. The laureate of the Whigs pro-6'.tl
reuneed his life to he a " s.ick epicure's dream :" Moore might,
without any great violence of figure, have pronounced the ignan-
bi,,,:.,:if to be the bloated impersonation of a lie. False in''',-;
, ~,....thin,.. —false in politics, false in friendship, false in love,
fiie' ,tt ;mmise, false in art leis was the reign pre-emi-t1
triumph of falsehood. Beginning with g.l
octal:: cafeuCiited for th ?
the Miserable busitteta of the .9ucen—an inglorious concession
to the King's own petty feelings; i.ec.lings in no wise respeelii?,
;;bit', for the husband who had borne patie;:qly with the irregu4,4
laritics :if the Princess of Wales, could hardly be suspected of
any remarkably acute qualms when she continued :he Sann,o
practices, with no other difference than a change of title frorn;:'
Princess to Queen--it ended with the carrying of the Popits:7Cl
t•iuestion, Appropriate was the conclusion to such opening.,?.'
George IV. began by endeavouring to prove himself entitled.-;
to that appellation which is affixed to those whose wives are
unchaste. He failed in the legal proof ; but all his friends kl
were thoroughly convinced that he had every right to the title
he coveted: He ended by doing that which all the princes ofi*:.
his house who sat on the throne of England had denounced asS'L
false-swearing—what he had himself solemnly stigmatised by.o
the same description ; and though he had been unsuccessful, atNi
his outset, in establishing as universally as
conclusion, wereti
as he desired hie-f-1
coveted claim to be a cuckold, few, at
found unwilling to deny him the merit of being a perjurer..:
Such will be his position in history." ';',-;
* * * * * * al
" Of him who now awaits the dismal honours of a Royal
entombing, we can speak only in the words of praise. He was-k:
just, kind, and honest of nature ; he lost no friend in the course
of a long life ;he made no enemy. His talents might not have'
been of the first order ; but in business he was clear, decisive,V4
regular, and prompt. His occasional speeches were marked
by a heartiness which sometimes approached to eloquence, andikl
could often claim the praise of that truly refined taste which isp.
identical with bonotrable emotion. He was English in hist 4
habits and feelings, and, of all English interests, most deeply
attached to that which is most English. His intentions were
always good, his political course free from dissimulation ore,
guile. No mean or angry passion disturbed his bosom. No.''
trace of such feelings was to be observed in his private life ; in
la 6
his public life we have the high testimony of the Duke ofil
Wellington, who had officially, and Lord Denman, who hadt
personally, insulted him, that he " bore no malice or hatred in!;,
his heart." All his Ministers, varying as they do in politics,kl
accorded to him the praise of justice, impartiality, and a desire'
to promote the good of all. The companions of his youth
dwelt upon the remembrance of the days they had passed to-
gether ..,.,
with kind affection ; that he returned the feeling is,..
proved by a hundred handsome actions, and by such memorials
as his touching tribute to Sir Richard Keats. The young whop.
grew up around him, and the men whom he met in the jarring:',
contact of every-day life, sometimes under adverse circum—
stances, looked upon him with unaffected regard. Loved ands
esteemed in his own household circle, and by all parties and
sections in his far-spreading empire reverenced with a personal ~
esteem that seldom falls to the lot of monarchs, William IV. hi
has departed from among us full of years, to meet a tribunal '1
where the fame of earthly glory or genius will weigh nothing
in comparison with those apparently secondary virtues which r
make up the character of an honest and upright man:"

T 4lrs EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
Simpkin and Marshall.

" Long live the Queen 1" is now the exulting cry—
the
watchword—the prayer of the Radical Reformers P. 5.
They are buoyant with young hope, and their voice. -4
are lifted up in blessings and congratulations. We are;,
glad to see Tait occupy his wonted place of honour ~
in the very first rank, offering, for himself and party, ;•,',•
heart-felt homage to the new Sovereign. The peoph
will now have fair play. It will be no longer tI4 ‘:,.
Monarch and Lords in one scale, and the people iii-,.
the other. Reform and Tory principles must now bic f,
openly for the suffrages of the electors of Great Britai.P.
and Ireland ; and should the Tories triumph, tht,-.
masses will have only themselves to tax with treacherv°,•
and dishonesty. The advent of the Earl of Durham;:ri'
re-appearance in the Cabinet is at hand, provided tin ;,..
people are only true to themselves and their Sovereign 7.:
But be it well remembered that the Queen cannot say( 4
the nation from Toryism, if the nation will not assist
in saving itself. " Terry-Alt Tactics, No. II.," is ful L'
of stirring incidents, with occasional bursts of that ricl
~',
broad humour so characteristic of Ireland. It is not •
however, by any means equal to the last in terseness.
vigour, and conception.' The review of "Martineau anc
Grund's works on America " embodies, in the cornpas:
of a few pages, the pith and marrow of these vet, 'k.-...
interesting additions to our modern literature. Tai'':;{
is unrivalled in the excellence of his summaries
of new books, and on the present occasion 11::,
has surpassed himself. Even is have anticipated th(
substance of the article on " the Aspect of Publi,
A ffairs," and the remarks on the " Irish Tithe Bill,' •r,
have likewise become absolete within these few days
Not so, however, the following pungent strictures 0"
Saint Andrew Agnew's Sunday Starvation Bill :-- ~,-;*
" The friends of Sunday legislation—those who would mak' ,:.---
vnan religious by Act of Parliament, and who prefer toner
forced observance of the external ceremonies of relig 4
obedience to its internal dictates, have met with various succes, ~,
all thei
during the month. They have been defeated in
attempts to ingraft on Railway Bills a clause prohibiting Sun.
~
day travelling. Sir Andrew Agnew has, however, carried tin )
,
second reading of his Lord's Day Bill by a triumphant majo,
rity of 119 to 66. It is curious how men's notions on this -
~.
subject vary. We, in Scotland, consider any kind of public
conveyance travelling on Sunday, except the mail, an abomi •
,:
nation, but the most strait-laced among us does not object It
that ; in London, on the contrary, all other conveyances,tthecntrane, ex .
F,
ecpt the mail, are tolerated without difficult)", but
of a mail coach into that city would be viewed as a most sacri
legions act. The hypocrisy of the Bill is shown by a singly
example. The pious aristocrats are to be allowed to go to theF
ti
Church door, and there only, in their carriages, on Sundays;
but it is never reflected, that, while the coachman returns t. ..
the stables, puts up his horses, and returns to the Church, th,::
service will be over. Even if he did, by any possibility, arri%t
is time to hear part of it, he must depart, long before the con.'
~
elusion, to the stables, to get out the horses, attach them to th, ;:..
•
'...-
carriage, and get to the Church in time to take his mastei
home to his dinner before it spoils ; for we do not find that tin
aristocracy mean, in future, to dine on cold potatoes on tin.::
Sundays, to save the souls of their cooks, any more than they,'.,
are to walk to Church, to save those of their coachmen.;;;• •
What do the Saint Andrews care for the futtere welfare otf.,
cooks and coachmen! Another provision of the most absurd, -
nature, is that to prevent vessels leaving harbour on a Sunday.,
We_ know a case where this provision would have delayed tin ~•
voyage for six weeks—the wind having changed during tl:Cts.',..
night, and blown so strongly during that time, that no ve,.,75,•i1-,
could leave the harbour. To follow out the principle of ti,“'..
provisions, vessels at sea should be prevented sailing at all oi.t,
Sunday—at least if within soundings ; and, even then, ni
more sails should be put up than will merely prevent the vcsscl"iiV
losing her proper course. Notwithstanding the great majorit, i'' 4
fw the second reading, it is well understood by all parties ti;
the Bill will not pass. The Sunday frequenters of Tattersall': ,•,..
kani Crockford's thought, now that the o
divisions are_rg•published. r,
that voting for the second reading was an easy warettlirr,
a character for piety ; but they have no intention of havin, ,
their usual Sunday occupations interrupted ; and they knot
well that, while the common informers in London would make
a glorious harvest at their expense, a million of policemen, or
even Peelers, as they have them in Ireland, would not enforce!!
the Bill against the lower orders, for whose exclusive use its
provisions are intended." i.,1
~1
There are several other articles in Tait worthy tot%
outlive the current month, with wreathes of wild sweet ITI
flowers from the shadiest nooks of Parnassus. They;
,-..
Letters from the Continent are a new feature in a pc--Q
riedical which wanted not so much to render it worthy ls•
of the patronage of truth-seeking men of all parties. r'''

,:i...-
THE PICKWICK PAPERS. No. 15. f;#
We here find the unsophisticated " Pickwick" safely; -I
lodged within the walls of the Fleet, which enables
~,,,,
the author to give various sketches of the different:
occupants of that gloomy prison. These are more"
carefully finished than is usual with him. T114.*
" Chancery Suitor," in particular, who has been ruined 1
by a long series of Equity proceedings, is as true to
life as anything of the sort. in the first volume of *,
Fiekli"g's " Amelia." The- illustrations are full of
humour.