The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-08 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES.

Blackwood's EdTburgh Magazine.
The-writer of Caxtoniana" treats this month,
with his usual ability, first, of " The Organ of
Weight," meaning thereby the faculty possessed by
of weighing the relative
men in different degrees 4,
consequences of things immediately placed bef,,re
them ;" and secondly, of 6' The Sympathetic Tem-
perament," by which he understands " a readiness
of sympathy which comes from the impressionability
of the physical system—a vibration of the nerves
reacting on no chord of duty and awakening no
response in a generous impulse of the heart. And
as examples of this he cites the ruthless tyrant
Alexander Phet cons, who wept at tine tragedy ;
and Nero, who exclaimed when called upon to sign
a death-warrant, " Would to Heaven that I tad not
learned to write l" This part of " Salem Chapel" is
chiefly taken up with the squabble of Vincent with
his congregation. Clough's Poems are reviewed..
The fictions of M. Thiers respecting Waterloo are
exposed. The writer of " The Crisis of the Ameri,
can War" recommends an intervention of the Great
Powers. David Wingate contributes a poem, and
the paper called "The Scot in France" will be
specially interesting to those north of the Tweed.

Fraser's Magazine.
Few great men have afforded ampler scope for
controversy than Lord Bacon, and the writer of the
article called " Letters and Life of Bacon" passes in
review the works that have recently appeared re-
specting him, and endeavours to sift the true from
thefalse. In " Physipians and Surgeons of a Bygone
," we have a readable paper on some de-
funct medicalnotabilities, and the following advice of
Abernethy to the writer is worth noting —" Take
as little medicine as possible ; and if you have re-
course to any, let it be of the simplest. The more
medicine you take, the more you will re-
quire; trust, if you have no organic dis-
ease, to the V5B nzedicatrix naturce." Then
follows a biographical sketch of the French savant,
Ernest Ronan. Frances Power Cobb asks " What
shall we do with our old maids P" and endeavours
also to reply. There is a paper devoted to " The
International Exhibition," and one on the American
question. The tales of " A First Friendship," and
" Adrian " are continued, and several poetical pieces
appear.

Colburn's United Service Magazine.
An important article, styled " The Battle of
Waterloo, by M. Thiers. Observations by an Eye-
witness," is the first that strikes the attention in
this number. " Many accounts," says the writer,
" from the pens of civilians of high talent, and great
command of language, are beautiful romances, but
are not true descriptions. M. Thiers' -history of
the Battle of Waterloo comes under this category."
The paper which follows is the concluding critique
of Mr. Cobden's pamphlet on " The Three Panics,"
and the impression it leaves is that the member for
Rochdale would do well in future to confine him-
self to topics within his grasp. The continuation
of the "Reminiscences of Southern Afriea " is use-
ful, as conveying an idea of the prospects of that
colony, and the following statement 'deserves atten-
tion :—" Before we went to the Cape we had been
informed officially that any quantity of land might
be had in the colony at 2s. an acre, and as the field
officers were to have land to the value of £3OO, the
captains £2OO, and the subalterns £l5O worth of
land each, this was supposed to be 3,000 acres for a
field officer, 2,000 for a captain, and 1,500 for a sub-
altern. Even to this day, it is published in the
Cape of Good Hope Almanack, by authority, that
' the upset price of land in the colony is 2s. per
acre,' notwithstanding which the Government sur-
veyor told me himself, that not an acre would be
given by the Government under £l." "Lobscouse"
is, as usual, interesting; the writer, on this occa-
sion, being enthuijastic in praise of Tahiti and its
inhabitants. " Peu Sketches in Ceylon will also
repay perusal.

Colburn's New Monthly Magazine.
Servia is the theme of the first paper in this
number, a sketch being given of its history and
an emphatic condemnation of the Turkish rule re-
corded. That rough and ready soldier and accom-
plished writer of the time of Henry the Fourth,
Agrippa D'Aubigne, is the subject now chosen by
" Sir Nathaniel." We find, too, an account of the
discovery of the Island of Madeira, which to many,
we suspect, will be novel. In the reign of Edward
111., the fair daughter of a Bristol citizen was run
off with by an adventurer named Machin, who
commanded a privateer ; a terrible storm arose, and
the vessel was driven near an uninhabited island,
on which Machin,his bride, and a few sailors landed;
but in the night the ship, with the remainder of
the crew, was driven off by the renewal of the
storm, and stranded on the coast of Morocco. On
this island the lady, having given birth to a son,
died, and Alachin soon followed her. The sailors
then put off on a raft with the child, and were
picked up by a Spanish ship, which was soon after
taken by the Moors, and the crew made captive.
The island was then colonized by the Moors, and
ultimately fell into the hands of the Portuguese.
" The Shadow of Ashlydyat," " Granville de Vigne,"
and " Claudine," are still in progress.