The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-02 00:00:00

MAGAZINES CONTINUED.

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
There is more variety in this .N umber than
usual, fbr, generally speaking, the Monthly
Magazine is not remarkable for the variety of
its contents. The first article, " Foreign Aids
to Self-Intelligence," is of a metaphysical cha-
racter, and mixes up much that is sound in
thought with much that is perplexing.• " Ge-
nius," says the writer, "cannot exist separate
from imagination; it is as necessary to the ma-
thematician as to the poet." An imaginative
mathematician, the very basis of whose study is
sober, practical matter-of-fact, is an incongruity
which we profess not to understand. " Our
London Newspapers," is a rambling, desultory
sort of essay, containing, inter alia, much small-
talk about syncretism. " Alexander Pope," is
a criticism—surely superfluous—on this great
poet. The remark that his "letters glisten with
artificial sprightliness, and some of them are a
continued tissue of metaphor and conceit," is a
just one. " Critique upon a Newly-Discovered
Epic," is a sprightly, quizzical article.

NEW .111011'TILLY MAGAZINE.
The Editor's story of " Fathers and Sons" runs
its course rejoicing ; the most spirited portion of
the present chapter is a dialogue between a silly,
heartless Baronet, and his still more heartless
son, on the subject of the latter's wordly prospects.
"Morals and Mariners of the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries," is necessarily slight and
superficial from the limits within which it is con-
tracted, but nevertheless it is a very readable
essay. The writer's inferences have been chiefly
suggested by the well known pages of Brantome
—the reckless panegyrist of that infamous
woman, Catherine de Medicis. " Brighton" is a
prose sketch of the manners and peculiarities
prevalent at this most fashionable of watering-
places, which we are informed, is famous " for
the number of its widows dressed in all 'the
panoply of their new condition, and bearing un-
consciously on their persons signs of their sense
of independence.. The women, in general, form
a decided majority of the population, a circum-
stance the more extraordinary, because the men
are few; more especially there is a dearth of the
species beau, which it is difficult to explain. It
should seem as if Brighton were tabooed by the
clubs; nay, there is rarely so much as a fresh-co-
loured curate, or a fortune-hunting Paddy, to be en-
countered in the evening associations of the place
Brighton, therefore, is the paradise of CI
dowager-dandy, of the Emeritus professor o:
flirtation, and the unmarried practitioner of
physic, a fact by no means to be disregarded by
those whom it may concern." The " Life and
Adventures of Charles Chesterfield" displays
much of Mrs. Trollope's sharpest satirical vein,
who, in the mock-sentimental Ode to the Moon,
which is read to an indulgent critic by Mrs. Sher-
bourne, quizzes in a very happy manner the
maudlin, lackadaisical sentimentality of our
Album and Annual poetesses. The " Golden
Legend of Miss Kilmansegg," by Tom Hood, is
concluded this month, and inculcates the trite
moral—enforced by Horace nearly two thousand
years ago—that gold is everything in this hard,
mercenary world of ours. The rhymes in this
legend evince much ingenuity and humour.
From " A Ball at the Tuileries" we extract a
passing description of the present King and
Queen of France :

But here comes the King, accompanied by the Queen,
the Princess Adelaide, and the Princess Clementine.
Now for a good, but respectful stare. They are roceed-
ing up, across, and around the gallery. Let us mark them
well. The band plays the " Marseillaise." This is not
the tune which the King, as an Orleans, or as a gentle-
man, loves; but it is the tune of his guests; for the "citi-
zens" are here, who made him a king t The King looks
much older of late. Still he walks well; he smiles
through his wrinkles, and looks gay in sp!te of his cares.
He seems to know all his guests ; and yet this is impos-
sible. What does he sly ? He is now speaking to General
Jacqueminot. He says_" The scene is ravishing, my
char General lam never so happy as when surrounded
by the national guards." The Queen adds in a most mild
and charming manner, " and by their families." That is
quite sufficient for General Jacqueminot ; away he pro-
ceeds to repeat the King's kind sayings, and the Queen's
benevolent post-scriptum—
and now both speeches are in
the mouths of the assembled thousands, and the band
strikes up the French air—" One is never so happy as in
the midst ef one's family."
The Queen smiles more than she speaks. She looks all
grace and graciousness ; but her smiles cannot hide her
one secret sorrow. That sorrow is the fear ef poignards
and pistols ; not for her own life, but of those directed
against her husband. Her life is one of constant unmi-
tigated-care. At home she dreads the intrusion of some
armed band; abroad she fears each sound, and sees a
traitor in each face. Yet all who approach her, love her.

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.
We may generally calculate on at least one or
two amusing articles in the Dublin Magazine, and
this month's number has not disappointed us.
The " Gallery of Illustrious Irishmen " contains
a full-length portrait of Archbishop Ussher, ac-
companied by a memoir of this eminent scholar
and divine, who may justly be pronounced the
greatest ornament that the Protestant Church of
Ireland ever had, and who, " between the age
age of fifteen and sixteen, had drawn up in Latin
a Chronicle of the Bible, as far as the book of
Kings, exact enough, both for manner and mat-
ter, to make the ground-work of his celebrated
annals—a prodigious literary achievement for so
young a student." " Raising the Wind" is a
lively story, essentially Irish in the character of
its incidents. The duel scene between the two
competitors for the fair hand of Miss Mary Bur-
ton, is a truly humorous and graphic sketch.
" German Ghosts and Ghost-seers" is excellent
fire-side reading on a long winter night. The
" Non-Intrusion Question is a prosy, formal
dissertation on a theme already worn-out. The
reminiscences of " Charles O'Malley, the Irish
Dragoon," refer to the epoch of the battle of
Talavera, which is described in a spirited, off-
hand style.

SMALLWOOD'S MAGAZINE.
This, so far as it has proceeded, bids fair to
be one of the best cheap Magazines. Its articles
are judiciously selected, and do not repel the
reader by their long-windedness. The cleverest
paper in the Number before us, is a prose tale,
entitled, " The Dentist of Frankfort," the inci-
dents in which are ingeniously handled.