The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-03 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES

Busines i
this day.

Tait's Edinburgh Magazine.—The first article in
this number is the tenth of the series on the Go-
vernments of Continental Europe. It is on Greece,
and commences with the following interesting pass-
age on its departed glory:—
"It is impossible in our historical and classical asso-
ciations to separate from modern Greece our ideas of its
ancient classic splendour. We cannot divest ourselves
of the epics, lyrics, and dramas of her poets, the elo-
quence of her orators, the wisdom of her philosophers,
and the bravery of her warriors. We are, as it were,
inspired by Homer. We can imagine Demosthenes
rousing into enthusiasm, courage, and patriotism all
the energies of the popular assemblies whom he ad-
dressed in the most forcible, logical, and eloquent har-
angues that were ever uttered by man. We can
also, in imagination, enter into the spirit of the
Olympic Games, in which the most athletic and dex-
terous of the Greeks contended more vigorously for
honours than they would for their lives ; and we, in
idea at least, enter upon the triumphal battle-fields and
sea-fights which impart splendour to Grecian history.
And we should indeed be ungrateful did we not acknow-
ledge the instruction which we have derived in learning,
in science, and in art from the ancient Greeks. It was
the civilisation of the Greeks which first enlightened and
gave poetry, erudition, sculpture, architecture, and
painting to the Romans. It was to the Greeks that
the Byzantine historians and writers owed their educa•
tion and their knowledge. And it was immediately
after the Eastern Empire was utterly subdued by the
Turks that Central and Western Europe derived from the
Greeks, who fled from Thrace, the benefits which revived
learning among the Latins, and which afterwards ex-
tended erudition and civilisation to the Teutonic and
Celtic nations of the west and north."
There is an entertaining article upon an unpub-
lished epic poem on the subject of the adventures
and exploits of Richard the First. A baronet of
the last century was its author, and selected seven
of his literary friends as critics. He gave each a
copy of his work, which consisted of eighteen cantos,
and requested their candid criticism. When they
were returned with the judgment of his friends,
many of whom were well-known literary charac-
ters, he had them bound, and they now present a
curious study to authors. " Norman Hamilton" is
continued, and there is a paper on " The Welling
ton Memoirs."

The Dublin Universitiy Magazine.--In the last num-
ber of this publication many articles were conclude ;
i hence there are many novelties here met with.
A very long tale, entitled "The Golden Guillotine,"
gives a dreadful account of one of the many horrors
of the French Revolution. A young man, while
on a foreign tour, found one night wandering in the
environs of Tours, a lonely spot, where an old man
was kneeling among ruins. He entered into con-
versation with him, and he related the extraordi-
nary events of his life. A young lady to whom he
was on the point of being united was concealed
with himself and a friendly archbishop, who was
to join their hands before they started to seek an
asylum in La Vendee. The hero of the tale and
his friend went out to find boats for their departure ;
on their return they found the enemy had pene-
trated to the retreat, and murdered the lady and
her aunt, and carried off the bodies. Previous to
their final separation De Martigny had presented
his betrothed with a golden guillotine, on which
were inscribed these words :—" The head falls, the
heart remains." It appears that the ruthless
destroyers threw the bodies of their victims into
the river by Nantes, from thence to be borne to the
ocean. However, the strong wind cast the bodies
on the shore. De Martigny recognised his lost
Alphonsine by the golden guillotine attached to
her in death. He buried the remains on the spot
where he then stood, and, taking the sign in his
hand, he vowed vengeance and departed. He met
the wretch who had despoiled him, and, after a
short struggle, killed him. In the article entitled
" Gweedore" a very elaborate description of the
gradual improvement of that district, the property of
Lord G. Hill, is given. It is remarked, in conclusion,
that it is impossible to gain any advantages with-
out discipline and knowledge—that the tyranny
unavoidably exercised is freedom's best and truest
friend. " A Chapter on Legends" is very interest-
ing, and suggests many good ideas to the reflective
mind. There are two chapters of the story of Sir
Jasper Carew. In Clonmacnoise, Clare, and Arran,
minute details are entered into relative to the
country in these parts. At the commencement of
this number there are a few remarks made on the
subject of the Magazine itself, which is commencing
its twenty-first year. The following passage will
explain the motives that actuate its endeavours :
"It was the habit of our worthy neighbours on the
other side of the Channel to assert that their sister lerne
was born with a certain physical defect—that, in fact,
she was dumb ; and so it was common twenty years ago
to speak of the Silent Sister.' Who ever hears of that
epithet now ? Who ever dares to use it ? It may per-
haps be too much to arrogate to the Dublin University
Magazine the entire merit of taking away our reproach
among men ; but assuredly it will be conceded that we
have done much towards removing the stigma. We
have done this directly and indirectly, by giving a voice
to our literature, an encouragement to our scholars, and
a support to many a man of genius, during that most
trying of all periods, the commencement of a professional
career. We have, in truth, created a periodical litera-
ture in Ireland, and for Ireland ; and in so doing we
have had an ample reward. We have extended our pub-
lication far and wide ; our numbers have penetrated to
the lofty range of the Himalaya Mountains, and, cross-
ing them, have entertained, and we hope instructed, in
China • we have been read in the Pacific Ocean, and
have found our way to the utmost limits of civilisation
in Australia and the interior of America ; while in Eng-
land and Scotland we enjoy a large circulation. We
admit that our principal object is to be national—na

tional, not in a narrow sense- of the term, but in that
large sense which endeavours to raise ourselves, our in-
terests, and our institutions, from the position of mere
provincialism, to that of a component part of the great-
est and most extended empire that the sun ever shone
upon. OF country has ever been the land of poetry
and of song. It is but recently that one of her sone,
the first of lyrists, has passed away from amongst men.
It is nevertheless a fact, that till within recent times the
poetic resources and the poetic mind of Irishmen were
arnedditr ted our a
around us u
as a
not brought forward as they should have been. We be-
lieve that we have aided in remedying this ; we believe
that we have done much to foster and encourage the
may yet
c
beffodoyrtsofofbmaradna
ywaho yet
child
of
not dishonour the country which produced Goldsmith
a Wolfe, a Butler, and a Moore.

Ainsworth's Magazine. —A new romance com-
mences this month by the author of " The Con-
federates." It is entitled, " Nicholas Flamel," and
the period is that of the fourteenth century. The
tales of " Isabel Milford and Change" are continued,
and a story entitled " The Two Christmas -eves" is
commenced. It is not very promising, but the ad-
mirers of the romantic and horrible may, perhaps,
be interested. An article on " Ghost Stories of
the North," gives us an account of supernatural
appearances and sounds which have haunted the
inhabitants of Egton-hall, near Morecombe Bay.
There is no poetical contribution this month.

The
New Monthly.—The New Monthly begins
the New Year bravely, for, in addition to a variety
of able and interesting articles—among others, some
beautiful lines by Nicholas Michell, " The Birth of
1853 ;" "The Later Dramas of Sheridan Knowles;"
" Memoirs of Thomas Moore ;" " A Garland of
German Poets, old and new, done into English by
John Oxenford." " New York, its Hotels, &c. ;"

Blackwood.—Although containing fewer articles
- than usual, Blackwood opens gloriously the year of
grace 1853 with this present number for January.
it would be remarkable if only for the first contri-
bution, relating to a subject rendered popular of
late by Mrs. Stowe's curiously celebrated " Uncle
Tom's Cabin," namely, that relating to " Slavery
and the Slave Power in the United States of
America." Beyond
it this, however, Maga is attrac-
tive for inasmuch asintroduces its readers to the
agreeable and instructive, though gossipping, "Let-
ter to Eusebius about Many Things." A delightful
review is given in another portion of the Magazine
of the recently published volumes of the Life and
Correspondence of "Thomas Moore," edited by her
Majesty's Foreign Secretary. Best of all, brightest
attraction of any, is the twenty-eighth and con-
cluding instalment of " My Novel; or, Varieties in
English Life"—that exquisite fiction with which
Pisistratus Caxton has been rejoicing the hearts of
his admirers for two long years and a half, we may
say, uninterruptedly. Opportunity will naturally
very soon be afforded us of referring in more direct
and detailed terms to a work which we hesitate
not to place in the very foremost rank in the.
scale of imaginative literature. Sufficient for us
here to remark now that we have completed its
perusal—a perusal from which we have derived
such pure and elevated pleasure—that we marvel
no longer at that apparently vague and almost
slovenly title by which Sir Bulwer Lytton has dis-
tinguished the narrative from amongst all his other
compositions as peculiarly and par excellence, or
rather, as he says himself, " par emphasis," His—
his Novel—the Novel which he pointedly claims as
his own, the most natural and Mellowed fruit of
his exuberant and ever-ripening intellect. As such
the world will accept it—and, we doubt not, will
in after times rank it with the chief masterpieces
of the imagination. Simultaneously with the
appearance of these concluding chapters of, "My
Novel," come forth in the Blackwood of January
the early pages of a new fiction, oddly entitled
" Lady Lee's Widowhood." Its merits we are
sanguine, from the initial specimen before us, may
admit of a very speedy development. With the
foregoing contributions, the number of the Chief-
tian of the Magazines is crowned by a " slashing
and crashing" political on the " Defeat of the
Ministry."