The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-05 00:00:00

to this interesting and instructive sketch of real
life. Morley is improving, while Guthrie is stand-
ing still, or at any rate quite behind her sister.
Doubts and difficulties are still before the doctor's
daughter ; but we may hope to find them all past
and dissipated before the finale arrives. Lady
Harriet is a very natural sketch, and her genuine
kindliness of heart is displayed in spite of her
conventional education and her absurd surround..
ings. " Armadale" is as mystic as ever, and the
detestable Miss Gwilt concocts some new and
elaborate scheme, which will doubtless be more fully
divulged in a future number. How any one with
the gift of common sense could be taken in by such
a character seems strange, but 'it is true that unac-
countable influences do prevail, and thus cause dis-
asters to individuals and injury to the interests of
society. " Recollections of the Life of Joseph
Heywood and some of his Thoughts about Music"
is the title of a lively and well-written sketch, that
affords us a glimpse of the days that are o'er.
" The Family of Temple" is an interesting article,
that nowadays, especially, will insure attention and
regard. It is said, in conclusion, that no intention
exists to write the biography of the third Viscount
Palmerston, lately gene from among us. "To us,
for all immediate purposes, he is neither a Whig nor
a Tory, but a Temple, ' the last fruit of an old tree,'
as Mr. Landor called his latest book, the final pro-
duct of a race of English gentry. We have
sketched the persons and fortunes of his house, to
show that the kind of strength and sagacity, liveli-
ness of mind, and felicity of temperament, which
made his success, were really the sources of the
successes of his ancestry, and that if he was empha-
tically English, it was by dint of being in his own
person a bit of English history." " The Old Show-
man" is a curious sketch of old Richardson. The
days of showmen are over, but it is well to snatch
the doings of this remarkable personage from the
shadows of time. " Ronda Fair" is an interesting
description of some travelling adventures, that are
told in an entertaining style, and afford the reader
a good idea of the curious customs of the people
thus vividly and vivaciously put before him.
THE ENGLISHMAN'S MAGAZINE.—The story of
" The Old Pagoda Tree" is brought to a conclusion,
-and the scene in the Temple Cave is vividly de-
scribed. We have another tale in verse from the
-Moorish, but the general character of `the magazine
is solid. There is an article on Swedenborgianism
and another on the "Exploration of the Holy
Land," " Waifs from the Dialogues of Plato " are
continued, as also " Physical Studies," and there
are several other papers of more or less ability.
THE SHILLING MAGAZINE. The story of
"Phemie Keller," told graphically and eloquently
by an author who has already won some laurels, is
the first and most prominent feature in the Shilling
Magazine. The other novel which is running on,
though clever, is not altogether pleasing, and the
story of the " Wild Flower of Ravensworth " seems
likely to be as melancholy as that of Phemie her-
self. The " Political Situation of Vienna " is dis-
cussed at length by Bonamy Price, who believes it
to be embarrassing, arduous, and obscure, but not
hopeless in its aspects. Three clever illustrations
to " Enoch Arden " are sketched from the forth-
coming volume of the Laureate's poems, while the
ghost lover will be fully gratified in the account of
" The Spectral Rout," which combines a human
with a supernatural interest. The present state of
German literature forms the subject of an Interest-
ing essay. It is remarked in the course of it that
the Germans have taught the English themselves a
lesson in the study of Shakspere. Miss Power
tells us a graceful love story in verse, and there is
an amusingaccount of a night spent in the Coliseum,
which is not without its moral, and reminds one of
the Englishman's adventure in Washington Irving's
" Sketch-book."
THE ARGOSY. A Magazine for the Fireside and
the Journey. No. I.—Another little craft has been
launched among the numerous competitors who sail
in the regatta of serial literature ; and, judging
from its first appearance, always a trying occasion,
it stands a good chance of carrying off a share of
the prizes. It has plenty of rivals certainly—six-
penny, shilling, and three-and-sixpenny—grave,
gay, lively, and severe; fashionable, metaphysical,
scientific, and romantic • some principally compiled
from the resources of France and America, others
indisputably original in the manner and matter of
their contents; some clever and interesting; others,
dare we say, tedious and stupid ; some very danger-
ous rivals, others in reality no rivals at all ; but we
are candidly of opinion that the Argosy, whose
name is the most pretentious part about it, is as
likely as any of them to obtain that " fair wind of
popular favour " which is so diligently sought in its
prospectus. It starts with the advantage of a very
efficient crew, commanded, it would seem, by an
equally able officer. Charles Reade, Alexander
Smith, Frances Cobbe, George Macdonald, Jean
Inglelow, and Isa Craig have already won the
honours of their profession in more or less degree,
and are certainly not likely to lose them by their
performances on hoard the Argosy %Vo have first
the introductory chapters of a story by Charles
Reade, entitled " Griffith Gaunt." It is written
with his usual graphic power, and promises one of
those entangled webs of domestic history which he
so well knows how to weave. " The Round of Life
in Bokhara," so pleasant to its inhabitants that they
believe it to be the most agreeable city in the world,
is pleasantly sketched by Arminius Vambery,
although he is not quite of the Bokhara way of
thinking. Matthew Browne comes boldly to the
charge against comfortable materialism with " An
.Apology for the Nerves." There is such a preju-
dice against the nerves, he says, that even the
muscles are preferred to them. A nervous Chris-
tian would be far more comprehensible than a mus-
cular Christian. The fat man again is only laughed
at, while the nervous man is disliked. " But is it
Fat," he asks indignantly, " that has been the
chief benefactor of the human race ? Was it a fat
man that invented printing? Was it a fat man that
discovered the circulation of the blood ? Was
George Stephenson fat ? Julius Caesar, though for
his own selfish ends he preferred fat men about
his person, was he fat himself ?" And so he goes
on, indignantly pointing out that fat Falstaff was
not a respectable character, and that Hamlet, who
was fat, was a very undecided young man, and that
the only fat financier known is Mr. Hudson, the
railway king. " The nation would not trust its
income with a fat man ; it knows better. It is
with nervous men that we trust our money, and it
is from nervous men that we expect all that makes
money worth having." The old fable of " Eyes
and no Eyes" might rather be, argues he, " nerves
and no nerves," for the nervous man sees more in
what goes on around him than any other does."
" The Infiorata of Genzano" describes to us one
of those graceful and beautiful customs which
flourish better among the uneducated peasantry
of the land of beauty and art than among the
most refined and cultivated classes of any less
favoured country. " The Natural History of
Scotchmen" 'demurs to the popular belief that
there is only one type of character north of the
Tweed—though, to say the truth, the varieties
which the writer enumerates are not very attrac-
tive. " A Journey Re-journeyed " is a pleasant
paper, half sketch, half story, giving a young tra-
veller's first impressions of the Alps. "An Essay
on an Old Subject," by Alexander Smith, will
make many a reader smile and sigh, for it treats
of " growing old," that transition from youth to
middle age, not pleasant when contemplated in
losses.
bliss ad-
vantagesthe
an d
compensation t hough really
forbringingits ita
ev lublaeu F
,66eTnnhteribueniteasnas
thoughtful poem, "On Board the Argosy," in
of B a ICI ytabg me givesu ck y ; us" aann account
Isa- C roe fi
which she tells us that
" Our thoughts are ships that go,
Blown by a breath, and with their fit words freighted,
All up and down the world,"
and carries the simile out in due poetic fashion.
There are also some graceful verses by Jean
Ingelow on " The Wanderings of the Sand Mar-
tins," and several other pleasant items of contents.
THE VICTORIA MAGAZINE.---The Victoria has a
more attractive title-page than usual. It opens with
a memoir of Cornelia Goethe, the sister of the poet,
who died early, and was much beloved by him. A
paper on artificial flower-makers, founded on the
revelations of the Children's Employment Commis-
sion, is very well worth reading, and it shows how
the most graceful and lightest of trades may grow
fatal in overwork. " The Civil and Political Status
of the Female Sex" is continued, and still treats of
the woman's position among the early Germans.
The second part of the essay on Mr. Ruskin's recent
volume is given, and the three romances which are
flowing in from month to month proceed smoothly
enough.

LE FOLLET.—Bright and graceful as ever, the
fair dames in Le Follet smile down from its graceful
pages, and amid all the changes of season and cos-
tume look unchangeably charming. The letterpress
is pretty and attractive enough, devoted, as usual,
to love and romance in various guise.
GOOD WORDS.—This well-written serial closes
the year in its usual fashion, and gives us the last
chapters of Mr. Kingsley's " Hereward," and Alex-
ander Smith's novel of " Alfred Hagart's House-
hold ;" also the conclusion of its editor's Eastward
Journeys, and of Mr. Kaye's Indian Heroes. Sir
John Herschel gives us the third and final part of
his essay on Light,- and there are other subjects
pleasantly and profitably treated.
THE SUNDAY MAGAZINE.—Edited by Thomas
Guthrie, D.D.—This is a very nicely-printed and
well-intentioned miscellany, very suitable for dis-
tribution among the working classes. It is of a more
directly religious character than " Good Words,"
and does not quite reach the latter's happy superio-
rity to all sectarian feeling. But there is plenty in