The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-01 00:00:00

LONDON MAGAZINE.

A smart, lively periodical, in which there are
several piquant sketches of life ; and two or three
poetical pieces, written with feeling and simplicity.
There is, however, occasionally too much per-
sonality in this Magazine.

SPORTINO MAGAZINE-NEW SPORTING
MA GAZINE-SPORTING REVIEW.

We class these periodicals together, because they
are all of the same calibre, devoted to the same
topics, and illustrated with characteristic plates of
nearly equal ability. The Sporting Review puts
forth a very picturesque landscape sketch, entitled
" Chamois Shooting on the Jungfrau ;" and the
Sporting Magazine a spirited portrait of " Gene-
ral Gilbert on Vision."

MAGAZINE OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY.
This is a useful and cheap monthly publication
for families. The present Number contains an ar-
ticle on the distillation and use of spirits of every
sort, commencing with brandy and ending with
Scotch whiskey. Some of the details on the impo-
licy of attempting to put down spirit drinking by
high duties, and high penalties on smuggling, may
be read with benefit by those who would again have
recourse to this exploded system. In reference to the
illicit distillation of spirits in Ireland it is stated that
the reduction of the duty and more merciful laws
have produced the effect which severity failed to
accomplish. Smuggling is comparatively at an
end, and the revenue produced by a duty of
2s. 10d. the gallon, exceeds that which was
produced by a duty of ss. 6d. the gallon, in 1822,
by nearly half a million sterling. The same rea-
soning applies to Scotland. The following, how-
ever, is a still more remarkable instance :

" The immoderate consumption of gin has been con-
sidered at some periods, besides the present, destructive
of the public health and morals ; and to such an excess
had it arrived about the year 1736, as to attract the
notice of the Legislature, who in vain essayed by severe
enactments to discourage the use of it. This they at-
tempted to accomplish by exorbitant duties and exces-
sive penalties ; for not only was a heavy licence duty
exacted of the vendors, but a duty of no less than 20s.
per gallon laid on the article itself, while the penalty for
selling the smallest quantity of gin that had not paid
the duty was 100/., without mitigation. The intention
appears to have been, not only to repress the vice of
dram-drinking, but to root out the practice altogether.
The failure of the means adopted was most remarkable,
for the respectable dealers withdrew from a trade thus
proscribed by the Legislature, and the business fell into
the hands of reckless, profligate individuals, who, having
nothing to lose, set the law at deflince. No less than
12,000 persons were convicted of offences connected
with the sale of spirits during the short time the Act
remained in existence (from 1736 to 1 742) ; and in
that period, when every possible exertion was made to
suppress smuggling, the quantity of smuggled gin con-
sumed in London alone exceeded 7,000,000 of gallons
annually. Finding that the high prohibitory duties
could not restrain the excess, but, on the contrary, that
they tended to increase it, and that such scenes as those
so ably depicted by Hogarth were becoming familiar, and
subverting the public morals, the Legislature fairly gave
up the struggle, reduced the duty to such a degree as
to put an instant stop to smuggling, and thus materially
diminished the vice of drunkenness."

The Article on the " Sewing Needle," the ma-
nufacture of which requires no less than one hun-
dred and twenty successive operations, gives a very
intelligible account of the numerous processes.