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

AINSWORTMS.

This magazine opens as usual with a chapter of
Mr. Ainsworth's "Crichton." This enthralling ro-
mance is drawing to a close, and the chapter in the
present number is very brief. An article on "Witches
and Witchcraft" gives occasion to some remarks upon
the editor's new romance, " The Lancashire Witches,"
a work which in its vivid colouring fully equals the
brilliant "Crichton," while in point of interest it is
hardly inferior to the engrossing narrative of Dick
Turpin, and which is in many respects superior to
any of its author's former productions. Of this ro-
mance, however, we shall speak more at length on
another occasion. One very agreeable feature in
.Ainsworth's Magazine is the number of short diversi-
fied articles which it contains. Among these is an
" Anecdote of the Cholera," which forcibly demon-
strates that while the cholera slays hundreds, fear
destroys thousands. Another of these brief articles
gives an interesting sketch of the character
of Corregio, and another affords a glimpse
of a " Sunday at Boulogne," but by far
the most amusing of these sketches is a chapter
on " Pretty Women," by a Pretty Woman.
The writer propounds the following important
query :—" How is it there are no professed beauties
now-a-days, while every past age can boast its
Helens ?" which question is answered in a most
ingenious and satisfactory manner. Among the
more pretentious articles in the January number of
Ainsworth are another chapter on " The Homesteads
of Lower Brittany ;" " The Spanish Student," by
Thomas Roscoe; " Poor Tom Bunt ;" " A Sea
Story," by W. H. G. Kingston ; and a continuatiou
of George Sand's Consuelo. " The Old Year and
the New" forms the subject of some verses by J. E.
Carpenter, the chorus of which reminds us of that
celebrated game of definitions, the Council of Four :
" The old year and the new year!
The future and the past!
The coming and the going!
The next year and the last!"

THE .11ETROPOLITA.N.
Almost one-half of the Metropolitan for this
month is devoted to " Letters from Paris in 1848."
These letters are said to have been written in the
scene of revolution during the period between April
and September. They form a running commentary
on the events of that momentous period. These letters
are necessarily interesting in consequence of the in-
teresting subjects to which they relate, but they are
sadly out of date. Not only are they liable to the
objections which attach to " thrice-told tales," but
they are occasionally rendered ridiculous and weari-
some by their repetition of rumours which have long
been declared false and of slanders now universally dis-
credited. Take the following sentence for example :
"It is well known they are both (Lamartine and
Ledra Rollin) cribljs d. dettes, and many persons
surmise that both have put their hands freely into
the public purse. I sincerely trust that this may,
not be true in Lamartine's case." To find a para-
graph like this in a work published January, 1849,
is, to say the least of it, positively ridiculous. Mrs.
Charles Tinsley's tale of the Irish rebellion, " The
Storm and the Conflict," has reached its ninth
chapter—an interesting tale, interspersed with judi-
cious reflections. A translation of the Alcestis of
Euripides, by the Rev. J. Banks, is a prominent
feature in the January Metropolitan.