The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-03 00:00:00

MAGAZINES "FOR FEBRUARY•

The Cornhill.—Thanks to Charles Lever and George
Meredith, the Cornhill is now month after month, espe-
cially and doubly attractive. " Harry Richmond" and
" Lord Kilgobbin," run their course together, side by
side, without any risk of clashing, or as the
turf phrase has it, in a slang term borrowed
from the billiard-room, without any risk whatever
of cannoning. The reader's interest and attention are in
no way jostled. He shares his regard' willingly and ami-
cably enough between the two novelists—between Mere-
dith, always so quaint and whimsical, and Lever, always
so exhilarating and delightful. Satisfying our-
selves, in regard to the former, this month,
by recording the fact that the young hero of
the tale, Harry to wit, attains his majority in this
instalment, and returns to Germany—let us repeat, only
this time a trifle more emphatically, in regard to Lord
Kilgobbin, that in Lever's manner of recounting it, he is
often and often at his very best. The characters are so
admirably discriminated, the dialogues are so thoroughly
natural and vivacious, the surroundings are so racily
Irish throughout. Kilgobbin Castle is a very Castle
Rackrent. Peter Gill is a worthy companion, in his way,
to an earlier limning from ,the same master hand, mean-
ing Cross Corney, otherwise old Corney Delaney. Nina
is charming, so too is Kate Kearney, whose very name is
suggestive of the sweet Irish ditty,
" Oh have you not heard of Kate Kearney ?
She lives on the banks of Killarney."
Maurice, " the Lord," Richard, otherwise Dick, Joe
Atlee, Walpole, the attaché, his friend the Major, Tom
McKeown, the agent, and now last, not least, Miss Betty
O'Shea, with the gossoon-riding pillion behind her, are all
admirable. The story, so far as it has yet gone, is worthy
of the first of Irish novelists. The Eclipse and the
Spanish Revolution are the two contemporary events
upon which the Cornhill for February seizes the oppor

tunity of commenting.
Illacmil'an.—Not a very welcome proposition is set forth
in the opening paper in the February number of Macmil-
lan, namely—that we should have " London Fortified."
Much good the fortifications of Paris have done that capi-
tal. Among all the failures of the age they are about the
greatest, a fact that even M. Thiers himself must perforce
acknowledge. Scott Russell completes very effectively
his account of his recent expedition " Into Versailles
and Out." He proves to our mind as clearly
as that two and two make four that the
Emperor Napoleon 111., instead of being the sole
author of the war, was partially forced, partially deceived
into it. History will so demonstrate the fact, we feel
certain, in the hereafter. The number is further
remarkable, for inasmuch as it contains a vindication of
Bistnarck, a capital paper on " Ciphers and Cipher
Writing," five more chapters of " Patty," and a political
definition of "England's Place among the Nations of
Christendom."
Fraser. —Essentially a historian as the editor of Regina is,
the political situation of affairs in Europe, we may rest
assured, is not by any means overlooked by him or his con-
tributors. " England's War,"—the first article—relates
in reality to the subject of her war against internal
pauperism. But there is a paper on " The Crisis
of France," and another paper on " Prussia and
Germany :" to say nothing of one on the " Indian Mutiny,"
another on the "Eastern Question," and a historical chapter
on the " Orange Society," by an Ulster Protestant. To
our fancy, however, the most interesting contribution to
Fraser for February is the criticism on "Virgil, as trans-
lated by Dryden and Conington," in the contrasting of
which versions the palm, as a matter of course, is awarded
to the latter.
Temple Bar.— The serial stories contributed to Temple
Bar occupy this month the chief part of that popular
magazine. Mrs. Edwardes sends in three more chapters
of her new tale " Ought we to Visit Her ?" While there
are two more chapters of," The Landlord of the Sun," by
one of the most thoughtful novelists of the day, Mr. W.
Gilbert, the author of " Shirley Hall Asylum." Added to
these, " His Brother's Keeper," by Mr. Albany
Fonblanque is here, in its seventeenth chapter, brought
to a conclusion. Among all the miscellaneous papers in
the number, the one entitled " High Class Slang," is at
once the most whimsical and the most entertaining.

Tug BISHOP OF LONDON.—We are requested to
state that the Bishop of London has taken up his residence
at London House, St. James's-square.
A deputation is to wait upon Messrs. Dixon and
Muutz, the members for Birmingham, on Friday, to talk
to them about the dowry of the Princess Louise.
A bill has been introduced into the Greek Cham-
bers granting an indemnity of £lO,OOO to Mrs. Lloyd,
widow of one of the gentlemen murdered at Marathon by
brigands.
Lord Bloomfield has intimated to the Austrian
Government that England is ready to conclude a treaty
for the extradition of criminals on the basis laid down by
Parliament, excluding political offenders.
THE GHOST OF -13 AIN. --Immediately opposite that
abode of wonder, the Polytechnic, the greatest of horrors
"poor suffering humanity is heir to," dreaded alike by old
and young—the extraction of a tooth—is actually rendered
pleasant ! Credat Judas. Science, always on the alert,
joins hand-in-hand with Surgery, and, invoking the aid of
nitrous oxide gas, a grinder with " venomed sting " is
extracted, while the patient is calmly calculating his last
coup at whist ; or, if a lady, her " success of a bonnet."
" Sleep, balmy slumber," is induced by the inhalation of
the gas, which is imperceptible to the patient, and is so
perfectly harmless, even to the most debilitated, that the
practitioner, Mr. B. L. Mosely, of 312, Regent-street,
willingly placed himself under its influence, describing it
as actually pleasant (informing us that he often did so
many times daily for the edification of intended patients).
In 50 to 100 seconds insensibility to pain is induced, and
one to six teeth can be extracted in one inhalation without
the patient, on returning to consciousness, being aware of
their removal. "Truly we live in wondrous times."