The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-01 00:00:00

MAGAZINE 0,
BLACKWO;:)D

Thanks to the untiring industry of the poet-novelist.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, we may now always feel
tamed of listening to the accents of genius in Black-
wood. While North is lying dormant in the folds of his
shooting jacket, while Warren is forgetful of the seduc-
tions of romance, and is paying reverential homage ex-
clusively to the austere phantom of the law, while the
.Noctes are assuming to themselves month after menth
more of the semblance of antiqu;ty, v-hile the enntri
butions of Jerrold and of Barham are remembered oil'
by a select few, while Simmons neglects the chords or
his stollen lyre, and W. E. A. is scarcely ever
audible for eight weeks consecutively—it is more
than a consolation, it is an exquisite and ample
compensation to meet with the effusions of such
a mind as that which has recently celebrated
the glories of the Saxon Harold and of the Optician
Arthur. "The Caxtons" continues to be the grand
feature in Ebony. It recounts in this (the tenth) in-
stalment the removal of Pisistratus to Cambridge ; and
those who cherish the recollections of Alma Mater will
revert with joy to the revival of old and pleasant rEmi-
Illecences. Of the rest of the master-magazine we may
speak in general terms of commendation. Among other
excellences it certainly possesses that of being singularly
miscellaneous. From the first article to the last it con-
trives to be attractive, even in the very head-
ings—from the " Cossacks in the Caucasus" to
the " Carlists in Catalonia," The latter will be
herused with profound interest by every one whose
eart beats with sympathy for the nationality of
the Peninsula, no matter whether the reader be of the
party of Isabella or of Montemolin. Those who bear in
recollection the frequent and picturesque commemora-
tions of the Carlist hero Zamalacarregui, which have
appeared in the pages of Maga, will turn with a cer-
tainty of entertainment, at the very least, to the present
narrative, in the tame organ, of the adventures and
vicissitudes of the renowned leader of the Montemo-
linists—Cabrera. In a paper relating to " Modern
Biography" we have a very rational estimate of the
merits and demerits of Beattie's Life of poor Tom Camp-
bell. Delta chaunts, as Delta only could chaunt, the
" Covenanter's Night Hymn ;" and all who have lingered
Over the mention of the cruel persecution of those
sectaries among the moors and mountains of Caledonia,
in the History of England by Mr. Macaulay, will appre-
ciate to the fullest extent the earnest passion breathed
into every syllable of this
„song of secluded adoration.
" Dalmatia and Montenegro" are delineated in a clever
contribution, in which—be sure of that—we hear some-
what of the eccentric magistrate, half-bishop, half-prince
—the Vladika. In "American Thoughts on European
Revolutions," we can detect, or we are much mistaken,
the cunning hand that fired the petard among the
literary pirates of the United States by contributing an
article to Blackwood, and retaining the American copy-
right of the contribution. The " Poetry of Sacred and
Legendary Art" affords the magazine a graceful theme
fur criticism on a recent work by Mr. Jameson,
and does not, ,as might at first be con-
jectured, present an opportunity for passing an
eulogium upon William Edmonstoune Aytoun, the gifted
Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh, who has created for himself
many admirers through the poetic fragments
adorned with his initials. " Statistical Accounts
of Scotland" contain agreeable stores of information, and
stores that are not exclusively valuable to the habitants
of the " land o' cakes," but in a particular manner to
every subject, English, Irish, Scotch, or colonial, of our ;
Sovereign Lady Victoria. A severe and searching com-
ment upon our "English Universities and their Re-
forms " completes the contents of the numbor for
Pebruary—a number which is memorable as the four
hundredth of this celebrated publication.