The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE

THE MONTHLY CHROiYICLE. Longman, Li
don. 1538.

This Magazine, which is intended to be equally devoted
to science, politics, and literature, is under the joint super-
intendence of Messrs. Bulwer and Lardner, the former of
whom contributes the literary and political, and the latter
the scientific articles. The first number is now lying be-
fore us. It contains many excellent papers, but the effect
as a whole is monotonous, from the circumstance of
there not being a sufficient variety of mind engaged on
it. Mr. Bulwer has undoubtedly much versatility of
talent : he has fancy, smartness, sometimes humour, elo-
quence, copious stores of information, and great readiness
in turning them to the best account ; but had he these
qualifications in a tenfold greater degree than he has, still
he would find it impossible, by his own unassisted energies,
to keep up the spirit of a Magazine. He may succeed in
doing so for two or three months ; but certainly
for no longer period. Variety of style, as well as
of thought, is the very life of a monthly periodical,
which is meant to reflect, not the genius of one man
—however great that genius may be—but of Legion.
It is this that lends their chief attractions to Blackwood,
Bentley, and the New Monthly Magazines. We could not
endure for six months a work of this nature, made up ex-
clusively of Boz, or Hook, or Christopher North, notwith-
standing the acknowledged excellencies of these popular
writers. Partridges arc well enough for a whet now and
then, but toujoura perdrir is a grievance, as Dogberry
would phrase it, " most tolerable, and not to be en-
dured." Judging from internal evidence, we should
say that all, or nearly all, the literary and political
articles, in the Number before 11F, are from the
pen of Mr. Bulwer. The first, entitled " The Posi-
tion and Prospects of the Government," is an ingeni-
ously-reasoned essay, tending to show the necessity that
exists for all Reformers supporting the present Administra-
tion. The author seems to think that it is thus only that
the Ballot has any chance of being carried. The article is
penned in a smart, epigrammatic style, that frequently re-
mindsus ofMr. Fonblanque, though it lacks his caustic vigour,
but is too courtly and deferential in its tone towards Ministers.
The "Reign of Victoria the First"—which is also, we suspect,
from the pen of Mr. Bulwer—is a succinct and luminous
digest of the leading public events of the last few years
In this article we find a portrait of Lord Melbourne•
which we extract, for it is written with manifest care, and'
in a spirit of commendable impartiality :

" Brought up from his youth in the intimacy and the principles of
Charles Fox, giving promiseof no ordinary ability in the commencement of
his career,--Lord Melbourne came into office late in life when compared
with the majority of politicians equal to himself in talents and social pesi-

;ion. To this he owed a certain freedom of thought and largeness of un.

denitanding, rarely to be found amongst men whose early years have been
passed amidst the minutia' of official labour. To this, too, he owed that
leisure which had gifted a reflective and enquiring mind with very various
and even profound acquirements. A graceful and:erudite scholar, with a
natural tendency to meditate and reason on the materials which his
industry had collected, of cool and wary judgment, and endowed with
a keen insight into the motives and characters of men, he possessed
many of the qualities which, if his ambition had been directed to-
wards a less turbulent career, might have distinguished him as a
philosopher and historian. But his disposition did not lead him
to exaggerate the advantages of his own acquirements ; nor in.
deed had his administration been marked by that favour towards
men of letters which has usually characterised the government of
statesmen attached to literary pursuits. Perhaps no Minister was
ever more free from all attachment to speculative theories and scholastic
dogmas. Shaping his politics, not itierely according to abstract principles,
but with close reference to the interests, the habits, the power, and the
intelligence of the peculiar people over whose affairs he was summoned
to preside, he seemed the very minister adapted to a time when the safet♦
of the state depended upon a cool and sagacious examination.
of the changes and humours of public opinion. Nor was this
all; singularly free from that vanity which wounds the vanity
of others, mingling in his manner a frank good.humour with
a natural and apt assumption of seriousness and dignity, he
was just the person to modify opposing views, and reconcile
jarring pretensions, without touching upon any of those sensitive chords,
the vibration of which alarms the pride of men, and awakens their re-
sistance. Beloved in private life for his manly candour and unaffected
good nature, respected for his talents and unblemished honour, he car-
ried into the House of Lords a personal prepossession in favour of his
eloquence, which was usually successful from its simplicity, its vigour,
its pointed and unexpected turns of phrase, and the ample, various, and
well-digested knowledge which it naturally displayed.
We regret to find in this article, as well as in the preced-
ing one, a spirit of perverse dislike evidenced towards Lord
Brougham.

Whenever the name of this illustrious states-

man is mentioned, it is always accompanied by some sly,
_ _ _

quiet taunt. His Lordship, however, .is not to be thus

sneered down. He has withstood in his time the assaults,
open and covert, of for more potent enemies than

he is likely to meet with among .the writers of the
present day. " Zicci"—this, we apprehend, is another
of Mr. Bulwer's productions—is a Neapolitan tale which

opens in a very promising manner. Our attention is ar-
rested on the very threshold of the narrative. We have a

dim idea that the Devil will turn out to be the hero—and

that he will prove to be some such Satanic personage as
Maturin's Melmoth, whom that wayward, but imaginative
novelist made an Irishman of—by way of compliment to
the country of his birth. " Art in Fiction" is a clever cri-

tical dissertation, but rather too straight-laced in its notions

Of the Scientific Papers, as we are ignorant, unfortunately,
of most matters of science, we shall merely say, that they
are from the pen of Dr. Lardner, and we take for granted,
therefore, that they are well worth the attention of the
initiated.

SEPARATE SYSTEM-PENITEN-

TIARY.

The Morning Chronicle of this day, in a lengthy and elabo-
rate article, satisfactorily refutes, and on authority, the charges
alluded to in the Times of Saturday, respecting the cruelties
to which certain prisoners were said to have been subjected,
under the separate system of prison discipline in the Peniten-
tiary at Millbank. The charges were originally made bay cer-
tain Middlesex magistrates, at their sessions meeting on,Thurs-
day last. "The three children," says our Contemporary,
" whose cases have been brought forward are Matilda Sey-
mour, Ann Crane, Harriet Simpson.
" Matilda Seymour was convicted at Stafford:Sessions, and
sentenced to seven years' transportation. Ann Crane was
convicted at Maidstone Sessions, and sentenced to seven years'
transportation. Harriet Simpson was convicted at Abingdon
Sessions, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
" From the returns made to the Secretary of State from the
Courts of Quarter Session, recommending the removal of these
children, and from other documents, it appears that these
children were each of them inure than ten years of age at the
time when they were received into that institution.

" They were all removed to the Penitentiary by order of the
Secretary of State in consequence of strong applications made
to him by the Magistrates in Quarter Sessions assembled ;
and in two cases these applications state " that the prosecution
of these children was undertaken merely with the intention of
removing them from the control of their parents ; and with
the view of their being taken into the Penitentiary the Courts
passed their sentences upon them.
" They are the children of most abandoned parents. The
mother of one, Matilda Seymour (the father being dead),
had for two years taken her about the country hawking, and
was convicted, with her child, as the receiver of the stolen
property. The father of another, Ann Crane, whose mother
has been dead five years, has been already two or three times
convicted. The father of the third, Harriet Simpson, is a
drunken, dissolute character, who regularly spends his Sab-
baths in the beer-shops,
" These three children, when they were admitted into the
Penitentiary, could neither read nor work ; they were grossly
ignorant, and were dirty and slovenly in their habits. They
were placed in a ward under the care of a most kind and judi-
cious woman. And what have been the results?' They,
who could not read, can now read well. They, who could
hardly hold a needle, can now work beautifully. One, Matilda
Seymour, has, for some weeks past, on an average, made four
shirts a week ; and the other two have executed in the
neatest manner possible some work of a superior kind, sent by
a lady to the Penitentiary, with directions to the matron to
have it finished in the best manner possible. They, who were
dirty and slovenly, are now tidy and orderly, and the little
apartments in which they are confined are patterns of cleanli-
ness and order."

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1835.

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen will hold a Privy Council this afternoon at the
New Palace.
Her Majesty and her august Mother attended Divine Ser.
vice yesterday morning, at the New Palace. The Dean o,
Hereford officiated.
The Duke of Cambridge visited her Majesty yesterday.
Viscount Melbourne had an audience of the Queen.
Her Majesty had a dinner party on Saturday. Amongst
the company were Count Pozzo di Borgo, the Russian Am-
bassador, the French Ambassador, and the Countess Sebas-
tiani, Ibrahim Sarim Effendi, the Ottoman Ambassador,
Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne, Viscount Palmer-
ston, Lord and Lady Ashley, Sir Robert and Lady Peel,
Lady Fanny Cowper, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
the Secretary to the Turkish Ambassador.
The Band of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards were
in attendance at the Palace during the evening.
The Duke of Sussex visited her Majesty on Saturday.
The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George of Cam-
bridge attended Divine Service yesterday morning, in Gros-
venor Chapel, South Audley-street.
Captain Pring, Commander of her Majesty's ship Incon-
stant, arrived yesterday morning at the Colonial-office, from
Halifax, with dispatches front Sir Colin Cardpbell, Governor
of Nova Scotia, and also from the Earl of Gosford. In the
afternoon dispatches were also brought to the Colonial-office,
from Sir Francis Head, in Upper Canada, dated the 25th ult.
A Cabinet Council was held at the Foreign-office, on Satur-
day afternoon. It was attended by Viscount Melbourne, the
Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord John
Russell, Viscount Palmerston, Lord Glenelg, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Earl of Minto, Sir John Hobhouse, and
Lord Holland.
The Council sat two years.
The Earl of Stradbroke, Dr. Birkheck, Colonel Davies,
Mr. Dudley Perceval, and Lieutenant-Colonel Thwaites, had
interviews with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Saturday,
in Downing-street.
A numerous deputation, including Mr. Hume, M. F., Mr.
Wakley, M. P., Mr. Fielden, M.P., Mr. Vigors, M.P., Mr.
Brotherton, M. P., and Mr. Johnson, M. P., had an interview
with Lord John Russell on Saturday, at the Honse-office.
• The Hanoverian Minister transacted business on Saturday at
the Foreign-office.
The Attorney-General and Lady Stratheden had a dinner
party on Saturday, at their residence in New-street, Spring-
gardens. Among the company were Lord and Lady John
Russell, Viscount Melbourne, Lord and Lady James Stuart,
the Speaker and Mrs. Abereromby, the Right Hon. T. Ers-
kine, and the Hon. Mrs. Erskine, Mr. Ellice, Sir George
Grey, Mr. Horsman, and Mr. Gibson Craig.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat on Satur-
day, when the Appeal from British Guiana, " Executors of
Urquhart against Dent—Wilkinson against Simson, attorney
of Dent," was resumed, and concluded. Mr. Knight and
Mr. Burge (Queen's Counsel), were heard for the respec-
tive parties.
The Court then rose.