The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-01 00:00:00

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Having partially laid aside its former tone of
sarcasm and political bigotry, this periodical is
proportionately improved. The " Annus Mi-
rabilis," which heads the number, is a sprightly
satire on the events of the last year ; tinged here
and there with a spice of bitterness and irony that
reminds us not a little of Churchill in his

genteelii mood. gg The British Embassies": is
a smart invective on the extravagancies attached
to many of our leading and subordinate em-
bassies. On the whole, we are not disposed to
quarrel with the writer's notions on the subject,
though we think that for the sake of point he
has pushed them too far. " The Club Room"
is a versatile and facetious dialogue on some
two or three of the reigning follies of the day.
In parts it displays a master-hand. " A Night
on Dartmoor" is a description of a night spent
on the borders of that truly desolate region.
" Notes of the Month" ere pungent and full
of variety. These are very amusing additions
to the " Monthly," and form a pertinent digest
or chronicle of the passing and past occurrences
of the four weeks. The remarks on the late
increase in Churches are characterized by sound
strong sense, as the following extract will show :

" We have no objection to the late increase in the num-
ber of churches. But we are perfectly convinced that in
a large variety of instances they were totally unnecessary.
If we look into any of the large churches of London or of
the country, in the afternoon or evening, we find almost a
solitude. The fifty London churches do not average fifty
persons a piece. The country churches, except in the
instance of some peculiarly popular preacher, or some sin-
gularly zealous clergyman, have seldom in the evening any
beyond a few paupers and a charity school. In point of
exterior, too, the new churches are generally among the
very worst specimens of the arts. As to patronage, they
are generally turned into snug sinecures for the sons, or
nephews, or daughter.' husbands, or nieces' husbands, or
some still lower dependant, of the rector. Of course a
good deal of canvassingis employed to have them built
wherever the rector is plagued with those dependants;
and the parishes, already uverwhelmed with poor-rates
and taxes, are burthened to make a provision for the
hangers-on. This, we could pledge ourselves, has been
the secret history of the transaction in a crowd of instances ;
and all this waste, jobbery, and sinecurism, might have
been avoided by the obvious method of inducing the morn-
ing congregation to divide itself, and find the evening ser-
vice as accurately and attentively performed as the morn-
ing. Thus the overflow which excites the complaint of
want of room, and which has been so zealously laid bold
of by those whose patronage it extended, would never
have existed. The beggars and brats would not be the
sole tenants of a church capable of holding thousands ;
and though we might have no new monsters of brick and
plaster flaring and staring at us in every corner, we should
have had the old churches attended as they ought, end the
hangers on serving their country in the fitter employments
of the navy, the army, and the plough."