The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-01 00:00:00

EV.I4:N ING EDIT lON.

. now were new tri us. We had no idea that old
Giles Fletcb-er
was so sterling a poet as he is
here
! 1 lih
_7l„ to '
ne. " Some Recollections of James
Hogg" ..tve a curious insight into the peculiarities of
this er.c:ntric and highly-gifted man. The" Church'.
s vAtl, prosy twaddle, and seems written, not with
11)‘ 4, but with laudanum. " Dr. Farmer's Essay" is
I mercilessly cut tip by Dr. Maginn, who entertains
a very mean opinion of the learned Cambridge dig-
nitary's critical perspicacity and scholarship ; vet
i▪ s just and liberal enough—vt hich is not always the
case with those who take on themselves the office
of censors—to give reasons for the faith that is in
him. • " The Youth of Julia Howard" is an jute-
resting narrative, but there is too little dialogue in
i▪
t, which is the life—the essence—of all fiction.
What would Boz be as a story-teller without his
dialogues ? Absolutely 'oeneath contempt. The
1 ' Last Eve of St. J(11-.n" is an amusing qu;z on
the late Eglinton 'fournament. The " Spanlsh
Question'' is dis'eussed in the most perverse and
jaundiced spire of party faction. There is not an
opinion nor an argument worth a moment's con-
sideratiop , From the " Recollections of James.
11°01)g" we quote this anecdote :
• " 'H'aving removed from St. Ann-street to a sky-parlour
In 'f..cither old place called Gabricl's-road, he very uncere-
TTAniouslv addressed a note to Mr. John Wilson, assuring
that gentleman (with whom he had no previous inter-
-1
course), that he had been greatly pleased with his Isle of
Palms, rind would be glad if Mr. W. would take a chop
with l''.ni same day, as he wished to have the pleasure of
his acquaintance. Delighted with the naivete of this
Vtallet, and diverted with the joke, Mr. Wilson, punctual
to an appointment which bad been made, clambered up
tke common stair, and at the top was introduced into a
teat and cheerful apartment, where he found the poet and
his best friend, Mr. John Grieve (a well known manufae-
' turer of hats on the North bridge) ; the former receiving
his guest as if he had been a brother shepherd (Arcades
Ambo .0, with a cordiality and kin lness worthy of a great
mind. Possibly, Hogg's leading notion was to afford his
visitor (as a much younger man, hut whose " Palms" were
buds of promise) some critical hints which might be of
service to him ; for whilst quite above taking advice in
literary matters, he had an ultra Tory spirit, and expected
that others would receive it submissively from him. The
perpetual Scotch dinner of " braudered skate, and minced
collops," which may bo had in every lodging, however
humble, was as usual excellent, and the whisky punch ini-
mitable. The author of the Isle of Palms, who had never
in his lire either seen or expected to see such an original,
was highly entertained. Topics for conversation were
inexhaustible, and the time flew unperceived till eleven,
when Wilson, recollecting that he was engaged to an
ovening party at his own residence, took the Shepherd
thither along with him, who, bring in high glee, sang his
best songs, and played his best tunes on the fiddle, to the
great amusement e,, the company there assembled ; and,
as usual at Edin',urgh, day broke ere they separated."

TAIT'S MAGAZINE.
The 3.ast Number of this Magazine never reached
us art the twentieth of the month, which we trust
v''::11 convince our sturdy Radical friend Tait, that
if we neglected to notice it at the usual period, it
was from no lukewarmness on our part, for we ever
expect his periodical with eagerness, and recur to its
pages with pleasure ; differing, as we do, from many
of his opinions, both literary and political, and un-
versed as we are, and desire to continue, in the
cold, idle crotchets of--what for want of a better
term is called—Utilitarianism. The present Tait
is an excellent one, if only for its admirable digest
of that singular work, the " Reminiscences of a
Religious Maniac." This is, it appears, the pro-
duction of Mr. Perceval, younger son of the late
Prime Minister, who, after being for years an en-
thusiast of the most rigid, Calvinistic character,
became unquestionably insane ; was confined in a
mad-house ; eventually recovered possession of his
senses ; and has now published his confessions and
experiences, during the period when his mind was
most off its balance. Such a work is
not
only Cll-
riouic but valuable ; and as such, we shall take an
opportunity of procuring it, and giving our readers
a taste of its contents. We suspect that it will go
far to confirm the world, in the opinion now be-
ginning to be pretty generally entertained, that mad-
doctors are among the most heartless, ignorant, and
mischievous of the faculty. Imagine one of this
tribe, saying to Mr. Perceval, while about to quit
the asylum in a state of all but complete restora-
tion to sanity, " Good bye, Sir ; I wish I could
give you hopes of your recovery to say
the least of it, was the speech of a vulgar brute,
ignorant of the very first rudiments of his profes-
sion. " The Queen's Comfit maker" is a legen-
dary tale, told with her usual animation, by Mrs.
Gore. It this lady would but condescend to take
more pains with her fictions, and rely less on un-
aided genius to carry her handsomely through, she
would be a far more popular author than she no w
is, or is ever likely to be. But first impressions,
though the most vivid, are not always the best.
The best thoughts and feelings do not uniformly
lie on the surface. They must be due deep for,
and drawn forth with skill and labour; and
knight's Pictorial Edition of Shakspeare, has con-
vinced us more than ever of the justice of this opi-
nion. " Mary Stuart's Farewell to France" is
pleasantly translated from the French of De Be-
ranger. In the " Lockhart and Ballantyne Con-
troversy" the writer deals out some hard blows to
Mr. Lockhart ; who, he thinks, has been trium-
phantly answered in all main points, by the trus-
tees of the late Mr. Ballantyne. " The Abbe
Godard" is a curious episode in the history of the
French Revolution, told with feeling and simplicity.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND QUARTERLY
REVIEW.

There is a strong spirit of clerical partizanship
in this periodical, which we would gladly see mode-
rated, the more especially as in every other respect
it is so ably conducted as to entitle it to general
patronage. The most entertaining article in the
Number before us, is that which gives an account
of the rise and progress of periodical literature in
this country. " ;Memoirs of Literature" was, it
seems, one of the earliest Magazines ever published
in England, having been commenced, in the folio
form, in the year 1712 ; and among " the most re-
markable things to be found in this Journal," says
the Reviewer, " there is an account given of a padir
of silk stockings, spun from the webs of spiders,
and presented to the Duchess of Burgundy by M.
Bon, a member of the Royal Society of Sciences
at Montpellier, who had ascertained, not only the
superiority of spiders over silk-worms, in spinning a
finer thread, but that they afforded a water which
was a cure for the gravel and pulmonary complaints,
and equal to the Carmelite water in cases of apo-
plexy." In the course of this article the Reviewer
seizes the opportunity of sneering at Clarke's Ho-
rner, observing that " it is a work now nearly for-
gotten." Now so far is this from being the case,
that it is just in as high repute as ever it was among
scholars, if only for its Notes, which are full of
matters of useful and pertinent information. Bentley,
praised it as being the " best of all the editions,"
and " above the reach of envy ;" and—whatever
the Reviewer may insinuate to the contrary—this
illustrious scholar was not a man prone to indulge
in " hyperbolical praise." Of the rise of the " Edin--:
burgh Review" we have numerous gossiprng de-
tails, none of which, however, possess the merit of
absolute novelty ; and with reference to its great
rival the Quarterly, we are told that " with the ex-
ception of a caustic article on Sidney Smith, and
on Miss Owenson, afterwards Lady Morgan, whom
Croker has persecuted with all the hate of a rejected
lover, this Journal adopted, originally at the sug-
gestion of Scott, a gentlemanly tone." Those who
remember its savage attacks on Hazlitt, Shelley,
Hunt, and many others, will hardly coincide in this
opinion. The " Evangelical Party" is dull, pro-
lix twaddle, and the " Rule of Faith" not much
better.

THE MONTHLY CHRONICLE
Lord Normanby's Administration in Ireland,
which has recently occupied so much •
of the time
and attention of the House of Lords, is the subject
of one of the cleverest political articles which has
for some time appeared in the pages of the << Monthly
Chronicle." It must be admitted that the defence of
a Government which has been the first for a period
of seven centuries to inspire the majority of the
11 Irish people with confidence in the impartial admi-
nistration of the laws, and with an enthusiastic at-
tachment to the Sovereign, imposes no serious diffi-
culty, so far as relates to that branch of the admi-
nistration ; but there is great in:rit in steering clear
1 of those declamatory laudations which, unsupported
by facts, are employed indiscriminately by the hack
advocates of every party in power ; and this merit
the article before us possesses. The evidence taken
before the Lords' Committee is minutely examined,
and carefully sifted and analyzed ; the effect of
every successive measure upon the morality of the
country is tested by the increase or diminution of
thenecessity, no less than the sound
crime ; and
Policy' of
adapting the executive forms of a Go-
vernment to theenius of the p p
people over
presides is clearly and succinctly which it
y pointed out and
enforced. We pass over the writer's severe,

but well• merited castigation of that crazed
fanatic Lord Roden, who in this instance is
proved to have committed the Tory faction without
the previous knowledge of any of its distinguished
leaders. His Lordship's peculiar idiosyneracy
marks him out as the incorrigible dupe of his own
delusions, and of the ignorance or cunning of all
who approach him under the mask of proselytizing
orthodoxy. In the following conclusion arrived at
by the writer, after a careful examination of all
that has been published on the subject of Lord
Normanby's Government in Ireland, we are confi-
dent nineteen•twzntieths of the people of Ireland
heartily concur :—" Had Lord Normanby's Admi-
nistration been distinguished by appeals to the
gibbet and the bayonet ; had it deluged Ireland
with blood, forced the wretched and oppressed po-
pulation into rebellion, and then taken advantage
of its own criminality to wreak a sanguinary ven-
geance upon its victims ; had it substituted fraud
for justice, force for reason, and allowed a rampant
faction to continue paramount over the people ;
had it endeavoured to stifle the operation of the
law, and to rob the Catholics of the rights they
had acquired under it ; had it encouraged conspira-
cies against the British connection for the purpose
of creating a pretext for a military despotism ; had
it revived religious animosities, corrupted the tribu-
nals, and overrun the country with fire and sword ;
had Lord Normanby's Administration been digni-
fied by such exploits as these, not a murmur
of censure would have been breathed against it
in the House of Lords, and the world would never
have heard;•one word about Lord Roden's Com-
mittee of Inquiry." Well does this solve the prob-
lem of the immense influence of Mr. O'Connell and
the facility of agitating the Repeal of the Union in
Ireland ! The article on the " Practicability of
civilizing Aboriginal Populations" is curious and in-
teresting, but we fear that at the present moment it
is not likely to meet with much attention. The
" State and Prospects of Spain" is in a great mea-
snrc a recapitulation of newspaper intelligence for
the last five years, well-known to every reader who
has paid the slightest regard to the events passing in
the Peninsula. We ought, perhaps, to except the
the sentimental description of the lachrymose cm-
bracings of Generals Espartero and Maroto, which
is only calculated to make a deep impression
upon the fair frequenters of circulating libraries.
The " Church and the Army" is a clever dialogue
in blank verse, suggested by the late correspondence
between the Clergy of Thirsk and the Marquis of
Londonderry. We have been particularly struck
with the concluding lines which the author puts into
the mouth of the temporal Peer, but they cannot he
extracted from the context without injury to the
whole. The character of M.Thiers in the'' Political
studies on the Foreign Statesmen of our time," is too
wiredrawn. It is " Timon's" inimitable sketch which
appeared several months ago in The Sun and other
London Journals, spun out, and to a great extent
caricatured. The review of new books is exceedingly
limited—a circumstance which upon the whole, we
do not regret, as we question whether the casual
enumeration, with now and then a word of qua-
lified approbation of new books at the end of a
Magazine, is not more injurious than beneficial to
the fame of the authors and the early circulation of
their works.

THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZLVE.
This is one of the most varied numbers of the
Dublin University Magazine that has appeared for
several months. In addition to four Tales, of more
than the average merit which is supposed to form
the standard of Magazine excellence in such pro-
ductions, the first number of a Portrait Gallery is
superadded, adorned with an etching of the
Reverend CTsar Otwav, author of a Tour in
Connaught. This is a valuable improvement,
and may do much in the way of extending the cir-
culation of the Magazine in this country. Were
the politics of this periodical as unobjectionable
as its literary articles arc excellent, there would be
few indeed so deserving of a favourable notice.