The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-01 00:00:00

MONTHLY CHRONICLE.

We like the liberal tone of thinking that pervades
this periodical. There is nothing sectarian or exclusive'
about it, whether in religion, politics, or literature.
The interests it advocates are those of the many, not
the few ; and all its subjects are discussed in a manly,
searching, and impartial manner. The " Financial Po-
licy of the Whigs" forms the theme of the first article in
the present Number, and certainly the writer makes out
a strong case in favour of Ministers, without at all debat-
ing the question in a partizan spirit. Stubborn facts he
takes as the groundwork of his arguments, and this is a
foundation that no sophistry, however ingenious, can
shake—much less overturn. He proves, by incontro-
vertible documents, that under the existing Govern-
ment the industry, wealth, capability, and resources of
the country have started forward at an accelerated
rate, and advanced with far greater rapidity than they
ever did under any Tory Government. " A Night-
Watch by the Sea," is a poem from the pen of Miss
Barrett. There is something very solemn and touching
in the sentiment, but we cannot say much for the mea-
sure, which is quaint, rugged, and not devoid of affec-
tation. We give a specimen of the author's manner.
The thought in the last couplet is a striking one :

Nods the nurse to every tone, little thinking how upon
Her charge, the death is winning ;
While the sick man, dreamingly, takes the rushing of the

For eternity beginning."
The " Oxford Tracts " speak in a style of fitting
reprobation of the tone that prevails throughout the
recent theological speculations of some of the learned
pundits of Alma Mater. In the notice of " Shelley's
Translation of the Banquet of nato," justice is done
to the taste and skill of this elegant scholar, who was
not a mere verbal pedant, great in points and commas,
but thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the surpassing
literature of Greece. " Kate Anwyl," is a pleasing
story, told feelingly and unaffectedly. " King Boat).
(firs Lament for the Loss of Grenada,' is a very com-
mon-place ballad. The subject required that it should
be terse and spirited ; instead of which it is tame and
diffuse. " Navigation by Steam," is a dull statistic
essay. 'ln the " Sketches of Spanish Generals," we
find the followint, far from flattering portrait of the pre-
sent Duke of Grenada, a haughty aristocrat of the old
regime, and one of the staunchest supporters of the
cause of intolerance and Don Carlos :
. .

" In personal appearance the Duke of Grenada is
mean ; in mental endowments he is the lowest of the low,
his intellect being only one remove from that of an idiot.
In the field of battle he is a miserable poltroon, whilst in
scenes of private massacre, where two or three arc to be
tortured by fifty, as in the instance alluded to above, he is
ferocious and savage as a tiger maddened by rage and
hunger. In religion ho is a fanatic of the most stupid
and bigoted kind, crawling in the dust at the feet of a
monk. In his personal habits, he is, of all voluptuaries,
the most grossly, and the most disgustingly sensual. Pre-
vious to the commencement of the war, and before more
active pursuits changed for a space the stagnancy of his
life, his mornings were spent in the church, his even-
ings (strange, too, for a Spaniard) in gluttony, and the
solitary indulgences of the table, and his nights in sicken-
ing debauchery. This man was residing at San Sebastia❑
about a year before the death of Ferdinand. His family
consisted of a wife and six children, five daughter-, the
eldest seventeen years old, and a son about six. During
the whole of his stay there his life was one and uniform ;
his mornings, until mid-day, were passed in the Cathedral
of Santa Maria, and his afternoons in the society of the
most abandoned women he could pick up in the streets,
under the very roof with the Duchess and her daughters.
He was on his knees to every priest that met him in the
streets and squares, whilst his domestic life was one con-
tinued outrage on decency. A mad and stupid fanatic, a
bloodthirsty coward, whose only laurels were won by
assassination and massacre, an effete and jaded sensualis•
—such was the chief councillor of Don Carlos."