The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-05 00:00:00

It 6 11119.

AINSWORTIT S.
" Guy Fawkes " has now reached its most inte-
resting point. One o! Cruiltshank's illustrations gives
a fearful glimpse of " Guy Fawkes and the other con-
spirators- clarmed whilst digging the thine." Among
the best contributions to this number is a brief sketch
by Itowseli " the Schoolmaster." The " Proposed
Exhibition of 1851 is coniddercd, and a number of
amusing fictions till up the remainder of the magazine.

THE FABMEKS'.
Two beautifully ergraved portraits of " a cart
horse," the property of Mr. Juhn Coulson, and " a
shorehorn( d bull," the property of Mr. William
Todd, which severally oblained prizes at the Norwich
Agricultural show, form the pictorial contents of the
Farmers' Magazine. In the literary department, in
addition to the customary variety of agricultural in-
telligence, we are glad to find in the Farwri Ma-
gazine, a reprint of the admirable letters on " Labour
and the Poor," which have appeared in the Morning
Chronicle, and also a beautiful poem from Eliza
Cook's Journal," The holy Nell."

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.
With the present number of the Eclectic Review
Dr. Price resigns his editorship of that journal. In
his farewell address he states that he has held that
office for thirteen years, and that he had hoped to re-
tain it till the end of his life, but his ill-health has
disappointed this hope. The new editor, in his ad-
dress, promises to follow in the steps of his pre-
decessor, and at the same time to introduce
a few beneficial alterations in the arrangement of the
Review. Of these we shall in all likelihood have
future occasion to speak. To the retiring editor we
gladly tender our cordial felicitations on the admirable
manner in which he has fulfilled his trust. The
Eclectic Review, under his direction, has maintained a
high place among our monthly periodicals—a place
eminently due not only to the ability so frequently
displayed by its contributors, but to the manly in-
dependence and genuine liberality of tone which have
continually characterised its contents. We heartily
desire for the new editor the same discrimination, the
same unflinching independence, and the same success
which have been the portion of his predecessor.

THE MIRROR.
The present is the last number of this the oldest
of the cheap periodicals, the pioneer of Chambers',
the Penny Magazine, et hoc genus omne. From the
ashes of the departed will arise, phoenix like, on the
Ist of January, a new monthly periodical to be en-
titled "The London Review."

THE SPORTING REVIEW.

The illustrations of the Sporting Review con•
sist of the "iNeasdon Harriers," Marksman, Boaster,
and Bonny-8011, and "An Ardent Admirer," &spirited
glimpse of a fox, eagerly watching some ducks dis-
porting on the margin of a stream. Among the
literary contents is an interesting article on " Pace
milts Effects," by Harry Hieover, from which we
take the following remarks :
"Persons not conversant with such matters would
very naturally suppose that nothing can be easier than
for a person to judge of the pace he is going, whether it
be on the road, across a country, or on the flat ; but the
fact is, pace is a very difficult thing to be a g.-od judge
of. We will suppose a novice to get on a race-horse in
the middle of s down, and be told to gallop him at a
certain pace to a certain object a mile and a half or two
miles a head, what has he whereby to judge of the pace
he is going at ? The celerity with which which he
seems to pass over the ground will certainly tell him
whether he is going twelve miles an hour or twenty,
but it would tell the novice little more than this ; and I
am quite certain I would put him on one horse when he
should fancy he was going at the rase of twenty miles
an hour when he was only going at that of fifteen ; I
would then change his horse, and he should feel certain
he was only going the fifteen when he was really going
the twenty. This renders a head lad, who is a good
judge of pace, so invaluable in a training stable ; the
riding-boys after him can pretty well judge the pace
they are at, by seeing how far the other horses are ex-
tended ; but the head lad has nothing but practice, the
feel of his horse, and a c.rtain sensation, I may call it,
in himself, that tells Lim accurately the pace he takes
their along. . .
" We will suppose we see a person in a gig with his
reins in one hand, and that within six inches of the
splash-board or dash. If ho has a free horse I think, I
will venture to say, his wEip is stuck behind him to
show what an out-and-out nag he has; for as to a n-hip
ever being used as au additional signal or aid to the
hand, it is a thing ho never contutnp!atee, his only idea
being that its use is to thresh a horse if be does nut go
fast enough ; but should he keep it in his dexter to be
reudy for the last named purpose he either holds it in
the position of ;a toasting fork or in that of the God-
knows-what-it's-called, that is placed on the Lord
Mayor's coach as the insignia of office. Ms scat (I
should rather say mode of sitting) is on the front edge
of the cushion in a position that leads us to suppose he
is avoiding a tenpenny nail rising through and coming in
contact with his person, his heels touching the heel
board, for which he concludes it is put there. If such a
man, unfortunately for the horse, has a good goer, my
life on it be is going fourteen miles an hour, that is as
long as he can ; and if', vice versa, he has one that can-
not manage eight, if he finds another carriage coming
along at a wager-rate pace, he begins plying the whip to
prevent his getting the go-by. This all arises from his
knowing nothing of the pace his horse is going, if at
the rate of fifteen miles an hour, he is not aware that he
is doing so ; consequently, if he has a twenty-mile stage
before him, he lets him go at the same pace that he
might do from Hyde-Park Corner to Turnham-green;
and, supposing him going that road, is greatly sur-
prised if when he comes to Longford he finds his horse
fall off in pace ; if he is a humane man he allows the
nag to finish his stage at his own pace, fearing some.
thing is amiss with him ; and on arriving at Salt Hill,
when he finds he will not feed, ho cannot account for
it. Thus do horses suffer from men who are not judges
of pace.

We will now suppose another case ; that is, of the
cart iage I have alluded to coming up to such a driver as
I have particularised ; he has, we will say, an animal
that could not get over nine miles of ground within the
hour, if he was flayed alive in the endeavour to make
him do it; seeing the other carriage at his side, he is not
judge enough to see by the action of the rival nag, or by
the invisibility of the spokes of the wheels of the rival
carriage, the pace it is going. He whips his own Dob-
bin, thinking v. little more exertion will save the igno-
miny of being left behind ; he has no idea of the enor-
mity of difference i❑ point of going there is between
nine and fifteen miles an hour. They say no one knows
what he can do till he tries ; our driver tries what his
horse can do, flogs him, he breaks into an awkward
canter, ho pulls him in, hits him again, again he can-
ters, he snatches at his horse's bit, the nag does not
know whether ho means that ho is to increaso the
pace in the canter or to trot ; so by the time the
other carriage is out of sight our driver has so con-
fused his horse that it would take a coachman a couple
of miles to get him to settle to the best trot he was
capable of. This dilemma, it will be seen, solely arose
from want of being able to judge of the pace the passing
horse was going at, and of that his own had action to
accomplish."

THE UNITED SERVICE.
The United Service Magazine opens with the
commencement of an article on a subject of very
general interest, " The Recent Arctic Expeditions."
For the benefit of those cautious persons who deride
the expedition for its seeming impracticability we
quote the following very judicious remarks:—
" Regarding therefore the problem of the North-West
Passage as a matter of science, and allowing it little
weight as a practical object of commercial navigation,
we are inclined to consider it as by no means barren of
great moral consequences, and as befitting the character
of a great maritime nation. If we were to appreciate
the value of geographical discovery generally by the
amount of physical benefit it confers upon the species,
we should find perhaps that it holds but a low place in
the scale of the arts of life. The discovery of America,
and of the modern passage to India, have added little to
the condition of the mere physical man. Men aro by
no means more virtuous, and probably in no degree hap-
pier, because they command the spices of India or the
tobacco of America. The wants of man are rather
relative than absolute; the luxuries of India would never
have been coveted, had they never been enjoyed. But
the discovery of America, and the facility of reaching
India, were events which conferred immense advantages
upon mankind. Society has gradually but steadily been
exalted in the scale of being, not because these dis-
coveries iin navigation have pampered the fastidious
appetite with costly viands, or modified and changed the
culinary propensities of man; but because his moral
nature has thereby been more fully developed, because
his energies have thereby found fresh food for employ-
ment, and his functions and capabilities more ample
means of use and exercise. The opening of a new world
awoke a fresh source of dormant energy in man, the
sphere of his existence became expanded, his moral
stature was exalted, and his mental horizon extended
beyond its ancient limits. Thus is it with this long
vexed problem of the North-West Passage, which has
perhaps done for geography and navigation what alchemy
accomplished for chemical science, or what the vain search
for the philosopher's stone and perpetual motiun effected
for medicine and mechanics. Though the problem
itself may never be entirely solved, and although nothing
that has been accomplished leads us to hope that we are
nearer attaining eur object, still it has already rewarded
its followers with important benefits. Naval energy has
received a series of impulses which will not fail in due
season to produce ample fruits; tho spirit of enterprise
has been awakened, and the love of knowledge and ad-
venture, has been disseminated; men have been taught

and romantic. "Paris and the Parisians," a criticism
on a work of that name, gives a gloomy idea of the
politics and an interesting picture of the peculiarities
of the gay city. " Soapey Sponge's Sporting Tour"
is centinmd, as is also "A Drift-Log on the Missis-
sippi." "The flabitu6.'s Note-Book" is filled with
amusing anecdotes, also concerning Paris. Mr.
Francis Ainsworth has contributed an article on
" Tyrone and Tyrconnell," which is full of interest ;
but his remarks on the religious difficulties of Ireland
in no way accord with our own opinions. The lite-
rature and theatres of the month receive their wonted
consideration. This enumeration sums up the con-
tents of the New _Monthly for December—a number,
on the whole, superior to many of its predecessors.