The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-08 00:00:00

, MAY 8, 1849
9

MAGAZINES, ke.—(CONTINUED.)

NEW 1110JVTHL Y.
The New Monthly Magazine for May is greatly
superior to many of its predecessors. Seldom (since
the days of its great celebrity) have we met w ith a
better number. It opens with a beautiful tal,• beau-
tifully written by the author of " Azeth the Egyp-
tian," and " Anlytnone ;" but the most interesting
article in this magazine is un abstract of Pro=per
Merin 66's romantic " history of Pedr6 the Cruel."
I'he " Falkland hlands," " Legends of Breslau,"
Mr Jolly Green's account of the " Gre at Paris Ex-
curion," the " Sporting Tour," " Denmark, its
People and its Faith," " The lonian 161 es in 1849,"
" Lcrenzo da Ponte," by Dudley Costello, some ad-
mirable remarks on the " Phenomena of Sleep," &c.,
&c., fill up the remaining pages of this very ezcelltnt
number of the New Monthly.

caster Cup, 1848, and an engraving of " The
likeliest Pl:ice," humoursly described in the
letter-press by Oxonian. The Farmers' Maga-
zine gallantly enters the lists against Blackwood on
the subject of the services rendered by science to
agricuAure. The pictorial contents of the Farmers'
for May are " Cotswold Rams," and a "
A rgus Bull." The Loudon Journal and Repertory
of Modern Ave! lions contains some iery beauti
toll), designed representations of improvements in
steam engints and railway carriages, and in chrono-
meters, clock, &c. The Patent Journal is filled with
an abundance of interesting infortnati,n concerning
new inventions and improvements. Numerous as in
The list of periodicals already before the nubile, we
observe it has recently received an augmentation i,.
the Ethical Reformer, the Commonwealth, and the
Sporting Times—;he titles of which sufficiently in
dieate tneir several styles, and the merits or demerit..
of which time will probably develop. The Family
Herald, if it were wholly destitute (which it is not)
of original merit, would be invaluable as a treasury
of selections. Maxims of wit and wisdom, scattered
over the pages of a hundred periodicals, are here col-
lected. Here is a quaint but very expressive
simile, which may serve for a sample of
the whole :—" Marrying a lady for her beauty
is like eating a bird for its singing."
The Journal of Public Health deserves a longer
notice, which it shall have on another occasion. ale
Church of England Magazine, as we have repeatedly
said, furnishes an excellent course of reading for the
several Sundays of the month. Murray's Home and
Colonial Library, which we have so frequently com-
mended as it deserves, gives us this month a very
interesting account of "A Residence in Sierra Leone."
Knight's Monthly Volume, No. XLIV., completes
the admirable shilling series, with the conclusion of
" Rambles by Rivers." The Land we Lire In, Part
XXII, is peculiarly interesting. It gives a pen and
pencil delineation of "Ayrshire, and the Land 'of
Burns," and the attractions of the description are en-
hanced by quotations from the poet—more especially
when the banks of Ayr are mentioned, the spot where
he fondly bade—
" Simmer first unfauld her robes,
And there the longest tarry, •
For there I took my last farewell
0' my sweet Highland Mary."
The National Library of Select Literature contains
Part IV c f " Knight's Studies of bhakspere." The
Pictorial History of England introduces us to the
times of the great Reform struggle. This number
contains a map of South Africa. The Colonial Ma-
gazine has increased in size and improved in ability.
The Colonial Church Chronicle pursues the even
tenor of its way. Le Follet is as beautiful as ever.

FINE ARTS.

THE HALT. Painted by H. T. Ausdell and W.

P. Frith,A.R A.

A picture conjointly produced by these artists is
now on exhibition at 130, Regent-street, and will
very shortly be rendered popular by representation
in an engraving, partly in line, partly in mezzotinto,
from the practised hand of Mr. H. T. Ryall. We
have recently had the gratification of inspecting the
original painting, which evinces a very remarkable
unity of feeling on the part of Mr. Ausdell and Mr.
Frith. The incident is simple, but charming from its
very simplicity. A sportsman, after a merry day's
pleasure, has consigned his horse for a while to the
care of the ostler at a roadside tavern. The horse,
with its veins distended, its head drooping, its saddle
glossy from friction, its stirrups dusty—is drinking a
long, cool, delicious draught of water from the bucket
raised on the crook'd knee of the stableman, who,
by the way, seems to be carrying on a little incidental
flirtation with the buxom girl leaning with her arm
across the mane of the poor steed. The doge, with an
eye to the alleviation of their own thirst, have followed
their four-footed comrade, and one of them, with a
greedy eye and a vigilant expectation, is watching the
drops of water splashed over the edge of the bucket
by the bridled mouth of Dobbin. With the exception
of the figures, the ostler and the serving maid, the
picture is entirely by Ausdell, and it will certainly
not fail to enhance his reputation. Conceived in the
style of Herring and Landseer, the " Halt" is no
servile imitation. It is painted with great anatomical
correctness, and with an artistic regard to every de-
tail of the manipulation.

THE ART JOURNAL.
Appearing simultaneously with the opening of the
exhibition at the Royal Academy, the interest of the
May number of the Art Journal is always in some
measure deteriorated. We louir, and of course in
vain, for some reference to that prominent theme of
artistic criticism. Our disappointment of course
engenders a longing for the June number, which
longing is, as a matter of necessity, to the detriment
of the number just published. Howbeit the Art
Journal for May is in no respect barren of attraction.
The Vernon Gallery, or as Punch calls it, the Ver-
non Pit, affords apparently inexhaustible subjects for
the engravings of this eminent periodical. Besides a
very beautiful copy by Bentley, from Constable's
" Valley Farm," and one by Willmore, of Collins's
" Prawn Fishers " (both from the Collection in
the cellars of the National Gallery), there is a splen-
did engraving of a sketch taken from John Gibson's
noble statue of her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen.
The biography of this great sculptor is the most en-
tertaining contribution to the number, not excepting
Mrs. S. C. Hall's pilgrimage to the house of John
Kyrle at Ross, or the embellished paper on the Ons-
megang of Brussels.

DEATH OF SAMUEL MAUNDER.
We have the sorrowful task to announce the death, on
Monday, the 30th April, ef this truly excellent man, and
most meritorious writer, at his house in Gibson-equare,
Islington. It was but the other day (see Literary Ga-
zelle, No. 1,663,) that, in speaking of his portraits, then
putslished by Messrs. Longman and Co., we seized the
occasion to offer a few remarks upon the great useful-
ness of his literary career, and his worth as a friend,
whom we had known well, and esteemed much, for
many a year. Mr. Maunder was the brother-in-law of
William Pinnock, (who married his sister,) and who
was so justly celebrated for the course he opened and
pursued with such ardour in regard to books for educa-
tional purposes. Pinnock's catechisms will never be for-
gotten when educaticu is treated of ; and in their pro-
duction Maunder was the true workman, to whom the
youth of England were chit fly indebted for their in-
structim; and also for those of a historical kind, which
were no less skilfully slid admirably edited. Pinnock
had, no doubt, the honour of the original design ; but
he was of too enthusiastic and speculative a character
to settle fixedly to any one object, however large ; and
the profitable trade in his own catechisms and histories
(worth several thousand pounds a year) was insufficient
to satisfy his ambition; and he diverted his mind from
this certain fortune for other schemes, which ended in
the confusion of all, and his own ruin. Meanwhile, the
honest and painstaking-Maunder kept steadily on.
During several of the early years of the Gazelle, (whilst
Pinnock and Maunder were its publishers,) and occa-
sionally since. he has contributed his aid to its columns;
but the solid busiuess of his life was addressed to the
compilation of those most useful and invaluable volumes,
which Messrs. Longman have from time to time brought
out under the well deserved titles of " Maunder's Trea-
sury of Useful Knowledge," " Maunder's Treasury of
History," " Alauedtr's Scientific and Literary Treasury,"
" Maunder's Treasury of Natural History," " Maunder's
Biographical Treasury," " Maunder's Universal Class
, Book " &c.

The labour bestowed on these publications has always
claimed our warmest encomium. Maunder was not a
p:;rdsodnilitgoeunntidyerdtiadkie acquiteland h
not to do. Most conscientiously
a
of every one of his
tasks; and the consequence is, that for general reference
there are no Works extant (we hardly except the largest
Cyclopedias) superior to his neat portable volumes, for
every seeker of information. The avidity with which
youth and intelligent childhood consult them is the
highest testimony, and we know many houses to which
we have recommended them, that "go to Maunder" has
become the watchword and advice whenever any difficulty
occurred in study or reading, and seldom have we found
the appeal made in vain. Upon every ground, there-
fore, we venture unhesitatingly to pronounce Mr. Samuel
Maunder an eminent benefactor. to his kind, and his
name, one to be remembered with respect and gratitude
by generations yet. unborn. lie had not reaclud a
period
of life which led us to fear its so sudden termina-
tion; but he has been called away, 'and if just and good
actions, a modest sell-estimate and firm integrity, an
absolute devotedness to literaturein
tiitsteesst sense for
educating the mass cf the people—if
and pursuits " smell sweet and blossom in the dust," EO
long shall his memory be cherished throughout the
British empire.—Literary Gaztte.

DEATH OF THE LORD BISHOP OF LIMERICK.—
BIRMINGHAM, MONDAY.—At the cominencement of last
week the lion. and Right Rev. Edmond Knox, Bishop
of Limerick, arrived here on his way to Ireland, and
put up at Beech's Railway Hotel, being at the time
,uffering from inflammation of the lungs, occasioned by
cold. Finding hicuselt unable to prosecute his journey.
medical advice was procured, but without effect, and his
Lordship expired on Thursday. His remains are still at
the above hot,l, from whef.ce they will be ci nveyed by
railway to Liverpo,il, and thence to Rostrevor, for
interment in the family vault with his wife, the late Mrs.
Knox. The di ceased Prelate was the youngest son of
(lie late Vise Ut Northland, and uncle to the present
Earl of Ranfurley. He was in the seventy-seventh y ear
of his age. Several of his relatives have arrived here,
and the arrangements for the removal of his remains are
completed.