The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-01 00:00:00

ROYAL EXCHANGE.

The public will be delighted to learn, on the authority
of Mr. R. L. Jones, that the Gresham trust intend to re-
build the Royal Exchange out of their own private funds.
This is good news, if true, but we have great doubts on the
subject. It was certainly generally believed from statements
made in Parliament and in the Common Council,that the Gre-
sham funds had been so administered that the residue was to-
tally inadequate for the purpose, and that if the Exchange
was not rebuilt by a public subscription, or a grant from Parlia-
ment, or a tax on coals, or by some other means than those
destined by the founder, it could not be rebuilt at all. We
shall rejoice, however, to find ourselves mistaken, for two
reasons—the honour of the Company who had been wrong-
fully accused of dilapidating the property, and the good
of the poor of the Metropolis, who were threatened with
the continuation of a most unjust tax, for the benefit of
the wealthiest merchants in the world.

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1838.

MAGAZINE DAY.

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.

There are two remarkably clever criticisms in the pre-
sent Number of Maga—one on Kenyon's Poems," which
we noticed a few days since in The Sun ; and the other on
Mr. Tupper's " Geraldine," which professes to be a " con-
tinuation" of Coleridge's weird fragment of " Christabelle."
The critic is singularly severe on this miscalled " continua-
tion," the arrant failure of which he exposes in the most
agreeably savage manner possible—and no wonder, for
assuredly Mr. Tupper is not the man qualified to work
out Coleridge's imaginative idea, the difference between
" Christabelle" and " Geraldine" being exactly the differ-
ienee between the true and the false Florimel. " Affairs
in the East" is a diatribe of a most lugubrous tendency. The
writer is filled with all sorts of hysterical fancies. First he
td
wrongiinag sideinesheofhtehaersHthiemßaluayssaisa;nnderxutm,
thbaetatNinigehotolasarismasboonuttltioe
borrow the Ogre's seven-leagued boots, and make a hop, step,
anidr a l
rsbdeurspatch a nu
ghto Constantinoplessian
hfleet to the:
" British shores," for the purpose, of course, of setting
fire to Sheerness ; battering down all the bathing-machines
thirdly, u mp
that f r
he em i s S aboutt Pe t
e to
at Gravesend ; taking forcible possession of Alderman
Harmer's house and grounds at Erith, and perhaps giving the
worthy Alderman himself the knout, or banishing him to
Siberia ; and, worst of all, of pillaging London, and lay-
ing it in ashes! This last fancy frightens the writer all but
into fits, and he exclaims in an agony, "
indo-
mitable moment the
enemy's fleet is seen approaching the British shores,
valour will not give discipline to a man of war's
crew. Patriotism will not, in the decisive hour, supply
the want of preparation and organization." Now we entreat
the as riter, as he values his health and digestion, to lay aside
all these nervous imaginings. He need fear nothing,
were even the Russian fleet within an hour's sail of Love-
. grove's whitebait hotel, at Blackwall ; for have we not
the Court of Alderman, with the Lord Mayor, armed with
the city mace, at their head, to defend us—to say nothing
of the City Light Horse, and the Lumber Troop ? What
stand could Russian troops make against warriors like
these? Or what chance would a Russian line-of-battle
ship have against the terrific cannonading of the City
state-barge? We have treated " Afflirs in the East" in
a spirit of ridicule, because, though we deny not the
ability with which some parts of it are written, it is, as a
whole, unworthy of serious refutation, being evidently put
forth with no other view than to terrifythe more long-eared of
the Tories. " Poems, by John Kenyon," is a favourable
and acute criticism, but why does the Reviewer go out of
his way to sneer at the caricatures of IL B. ? He calls
them " timid drolleries." Now they are by no means
" timid," but merely more refined and graceful in their
character than any similar works of art we have yet had.
Alluding incidentally to Junius, the Reviewer observes
that " his letters avant imagery?' Surely this is not the
case. So far as our recollection serves us, they have ima-
gery--of a rhetorical order at least—in abundance. " Le-
gendary Lore" is a tale told with grace, and in a truly
poetic spirit. " Extracts without comment, from our Two
Vases," contains severa! poems of a superior character.
Among the best are " Mountain Memories," by Mr.
Simmons ; and the " Tragedy of the Lac de Gauba," by
Mr. Milnes. We cannot, however, praise the translation
in Latin Sapphics, of Campbell's " Holienlinden." It is
neither a correct nor a spirited version of the original.
torinstance, in rendering the line " who rush to glory or
the grave," the translator uses the word " decus," which
t ilverywell
can hardly express "glory"—least of all, military glory ; and
ri\i tamen a r
ot aifsn
furor,tprosaic.the
e c i
combat
ine
ba The substitutes " media in pericla," for the " grave," which, be-
sides ieebeensstline n
i
pass
e whole,be in
is vague,
" forai g t
s on,
fortest !"e which
deepens,
ye
brave!" The " Murdering Banker," is a passable tale,
and no more ; and " War in disguise," another of those
eccentric articles, which are meant to act as an alarm-bell
to the Conservative party.