The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-01 00:00:00

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

" Europe at the Commencement of 1831,"
has less reference to the different kingdoms of
the Continent than its title would import. It is
chiefly restricted to speculations on the future
state of England, the monstrous enormity of
whose Pension List and Taxation it exposes
with infinite animation. " Anecdotes of Bra.
zil" are less anecdotical than descriptive. It is,
however, a very readable paper. " The Lonely
Man of the Ocean" is really a tale of power.
The subject, that of a .noble line of battle
ship leaving Lisbon at the time that city is
infected with plague, which pestilence is na•
turally communicated to the crew, all of whom
perish save one, is of a revolting character,
though it is treated with consummate art. The
description of the first victim, and the way in
which he is affected, reminds us forcibly of the
minuteness of Defoe, though the language is
the very opposite of that novelist, being as rich
and splendid as Defoe's is homely and fami,
liar, This singular tale once read will not be
soon forgotten, Byron's Memoirs, by Moore,"
is a review more energetic than charitable,
" The Newspaper Office" is a dramatic sketch
descriptive of the mysteries of the office.
" Machinery" is an article possessing consider-
able coiair;on sense, of the practical kind, and
deprecating (rather too ,-,vqTrply) the use of ma-
chinery. " The Desolate" is a capital 'imita-
tion of Miss Landon's manner, and possesses
1.1)i rare recommendation of good nature. It
might ahnoit b 2 mistaken for a sentimental
chanson extracted from the Improvisatrice.
" Notes of the Month" are less sparkling than
usual, but full of excellent matter. .The re-

marks on that desperate quack Saint John
Long. (as the man styles himself) are very feli-
citous :

" St. John Long has distanced the majesty of British
justice in the persons of the coroner, the bailiffs, and the
Bow-street magistrates, after all. We knew that he
would do so ; but in this we take no possible credit to our-
selves, for every one knew that he would do so. Public
opinion is, we must confess, still divided as to the place of
his retreat, some pronouncing it America, where his pur-
pose is, to set up a bank with Rowland Stephenson ;
others, New South Wales, by a natural and pleasant anti-
cipation ; and others, Paris, which of late years has su-
perseded Philadelphia, and even New York, as the general
receptacle of ' the unfortunate brave,' the asylum of those
men of genius, who have too much talent to live in Eng-
land, the favoured spot of regeneration for those brilliant
speculators whose conceptions equally outrun their credit
and their age. However, the majority are clearly for Paris ;
and the objects of the visit are said to be political, and not
personal. The friends of the Ex-Ministers, it is under-
stood, have succeeded in engaging him ; and he is about to
put in operation a very extensive system of counterirri-
tation among the canaille of the French capital. Should
his exertions be attended with success, he will, on his re-
turn, be retained by the Home-office, and despatched into
the disturbed districts to counter.irritate the erring dis-
ciples of Swing.'
" On the 'Thole, we are convinced that St. John Long
will be seriously missed at the West-end. His house was
a pleasant lounge; his chocolate was unimpeachable, what-
ever his honesty might be ; no one could ever question the
strength of his coffee, whatever might be surmised of his
science ; and the sandwiches which promenaded the rooms
regularly every half-hour, were a triumphant answer to
all the aspersions that his patients lived upon air. We
have no doubt that it was a much pleasanter place than
the bazaars, to which such hosts of old peeresses order
their carriages every day at one, with such matchless punc-
tuality, to buy sixpence-woith of ribbon, and kill three
hours. To this, St. John Long's promenade was a para-
dise. The comfortable manner in which all the comforts
of the old ladies were provided for ; the pleasantries aris-
ing from the ❑ature of the scene between the various
rubbed ; the files of young women, with their mouths
fixed to gas-pipes, and imbibing all sorts of vapours; and,
never to be forgotten in the catalogue of attractions, the
men of all ages who came to learn the art of being cured
of all calamities, that of the purse inclusive• Then, too,
St. John's own judicious generosity; the presents of in-
valuable snuff, of first-growth Champagne, of Mocha
coffee to one, and of gunpowder tea to another, spewed a
knowledge of women and human nature, that must, but
for the malice of justice, inevitably have led to fortune.
What will now become of the Countess, who led her
daughters to this palace of Hygeia as regularly as the day
came ; and with a spirit worthy of the great cause, de-
clared that, if she had twenty daughters, she would take
every one •f them every day to the same place, for the
same rubbing? What will become of the heavy hours of
him who declared St. John's gas a qualification for the
Cabinet, and that a sick Minister applying to this die-
penser of all virtue, would be on his legs in the House,
and making a victorious speech within the twenty-four
hours ? What will become of the battalion of beauties
who, at every puff of the gas-pipe, ran to their mirrors,
and received the congratulations of the surrounding dan-
dies, on the revived carnation of their cheeks? ' Othello's
occupation's o'er.' But a St. John Long, of some kind
or other, is so essential to the West-end world, that a suc-
cessor must be rapidly erected in his room."

In closing our necessarily brief notice of this
Magazine, we may remark, once for all, that in
point of style it is incomparably the best written
of all our monthly periodicals. The language
is uniformly classical—frequently energetic and
eloquent, and always attractive.