The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

This is an excellent Number. The articles are, for
the most part, light and airy in their character, and
there is just sufficient diversity to prevent their beco-
ming wearisome. The " Gurney Papers" still pur-
sue their merry course ; but though there are excellent
comic bits in the present chapters, they flag in places
sadly. " Lunacy in France" contains some curious
details, and one affecting anecdote of a mother whose
favourite son is-compelled to be domesticated in a mad-
house. He is educated for a Priest, but his feelings
struggle against his " lonely, companioniess lot," and
he becomes, in consequence, a raging lunatic. This
anecdote is related simply, but with considerable energy.
The Phantom Ship" we incline to rank among
Captain Marryat's most successful fictions—so far, at
least, as it has yet proceeded. The mixture of the
wild with the familiar—of romance with reality—pro-
duces a very vivid effect. We subjoin an extract :

" One morning, in the month of October, there was a tap-
ping with the knuckles at the cottage-door. As this pre-
caution implied a stranger, Amine obeyed the summons.
" I would speak with Master Philip Vanderdecken,' said
the stranger, in a half whispering sort of voice.
" The party who thus addressed Amine was a little meagre
personage, dressed in the garb of the Dutch seamen of the
time, with a cap made of badger-skin hanging over his brow.
His features were sharp and diminutive, his face of a deadly
white, lips 'pale, and his hair of a mixture between red and
white. He had very little show of beard—indeed, it was
almost difficult to say what his age might be. He might have
been a sickly youth early sinking into decrepitude, or an old
man, hale in constitution, yet carrying no flesh. But the
mcst important feature, and that which immediately riveted
the attention of Amine, was the eye of this peculiar personage
—for he had but one ; the right eyelid was closed, and the
ball within had evidently wasted away ; but his left eye was,
for the size of his face and head, of unusual dimensions, very
protuberant, clear and watery, and most unpleasant to look
upon, being relieved by no fringe of eyelash either above or
below it. So remarkable was the feature, that when you
looked at the man, you saw his eye and looked at nothing else.
It was not a man with one eye, but one eye with a man at-
tached to it—the body was but the tower of the lighthouse,
of no further value, and commanding no further attention,
than as the structure which holds up the beacon to the ven-
topus mariner ; and yet, upon further examination, you would
have perceived that the man, although small, was neatly made,
with hands very different in texture and colour from those of
the common seamen—that his other features, although sharp,
were regular, and that there- was an air of superiority even in
the obsequious manner of the little personage, and au inde-
scribable something about his whole appearance which almost
impressed you with awe. Amine's dark eyes were for a
moment fixed upon the visiter, and she felt a chill at her heart
for which she could not account, as she requested that he
would walk in.

Philip was greatly surprised at th.?. appearance of the
stranger, who, as soon as he entered the room, without say-
ing a word, sat down on the sofa by Philip in the place
which Amine had just left. There was something to Philip
ominous in this person taking Amine's seat ; all that had
passed rushed into his recollection, and be felt that there
was a summons fibui his short existence of enjoyment and re-
pose to a life of future danger, activity, and suffering. What
peculiarly struck Philip was, that when the little man sat be-
side him a sensation of sudden cold ran through his whole
frame. The colour fled from Philip's cheek, but he spoke
not. For a minute or two there was a silence. The one-
eyed visiter looked round him, and from the beaufets he ri-
veted his eye upon the form of Amine, who stood before him ;
at last the silence was broken by a sort of giggle on the
part of the stranger, which ended in
" Philip Vanderdecken—he I he! —Philip Vanderdecken,
you don't know me ?'
" ' I do not,' replied Philip, in a half angry tone.
" The voice of the little man was-must-peculiar—it was a
sort of subdued scream, the notes of which sounded in your
car long after he had ceased to speak."
This anonymous visitor is, of course, the Devil
incognito, who, we suspect, will cut a conspicuous
figure in the " Phantom Ship." His personal de-
scription is vividly painted. The " Lover's Lament"
is a pleasing Poem. One or two of the ideas are
deeply pathetic, and the whole is sweetly versified.
In the " Day on the reilgherry Hills" we find an
account—which reminds us of some of the graphic
descriptions of old Daniel—of a tiger-hunt and bear-
hunt among the more sequestered mountains and fo-
rests of India. Had Nimrod been an oriental sports-
man, he would have detailed his sporting adventures
precisely in the free and easy manner of the author
before us. We do not imagine that we can give
higher praise than this ; for, in his own peculiar line,
Nimrod is the first writer of his day. " Flirtation"
is livelily written, and some of the sentiments as just
as they are poignant. " Scenes in a Country House"
are full of light, easy dialogue. In " The Memoir
of Miss Landon," justice is done to one of the most
accomplished poetesses of the day. The style of this
Memoir—very different from Magazine Memoirs in
general—is graceful and eloquent. It is eulogistic,
but not too much so, and gently deprecates Miss
Landon's constant parade of gloom and despair in her
Poems. It is never too late," says the writer jthtiy
and tersely, it is never too late to despond, and