The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-04 00:00:00

SIMAIIONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE.

Instead of being deteriorated by any preposterous
fragments of verse, we find the February Number of
Simmonds's Colonial peculiarly characterised by the
excellence of its prose articles. The editor has looked
up his contributors through a clearer speculum than
in the preceding number. The magazine no longer
contains anything in direct violation of all the prin-
ciples of good taste in literature. " Life in the
Jungle," and the " Sketch of an Australian Convict,"
are amongst the most meritorious papers ; and the
Colonial Intelligence is grouped together with the
usual amount of care and discrimination.

7HE SPORTING REVIEW.
With a couple of clever engravings, the " Otter,"
and " Who's up for the Rescue ?" the Sporting Re-
riew has its average number of sprightly and amusing
articles. The old band of contributors, including
Craven, Scribble, Harry Hieover, Cecil, Castor, and
Oxonian, remains undiminished, and that is a gua-
rantee that the magazine is in no measure deficient
in talent, or drollery, or sound and useful informa•
tion upon sporting matters.
TIC

B -MAN IN 7 MOON. Edited by Alber,

Smith and Angus B. Reach.
This, the second number of "The Man in the
Moon," is a glorious sixpennyworth of fun. As a
sample, take
" ANOTHER WRETCHED RIDDLE.
" Why is a surgeon, since the mther discovery, like a
swindler ?
"Because he cuts off without payike (pain).
" N.B. We are convinced that our readers won't stand
many more of these."
The illustrations, too, are excellent. " The Foreign
Gentleman in London ; or, the English Adventures of
M. Vanillo," engraved by the celebrated " Cham" of
the " Charivari," is worth more than is charged for
the whole number

KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUME. No. CLX.
BRITISH WORTHIES. Vol. X.
We have so repeatedly noticed this periodical on
its original publication as " Old England's Worthies,"
that nothing remains for us to observe saving that the
reprint is clear, and of a more convenient size, than
in the former appeara►;ce of the biographies.

•
THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.
The proportion of articles for February is—three
upon religious subjects, and five otherwise. Each of
those articles has an importance and an excellence of
its own, but, to our thinking, the most important and
the most excellent of them all is the last, devoted to
a consideration of the "Characteristics of Crime." It
is suggested by the volumes lately written by Alex.
ander Dumas and Aurelius Ritter Von Fenerbach.
Despite the repulsiveness of the theme, the reviewer
has penned his observations with so much grace, and
has illustrated his criticism by so many felicitous and
sagacious ideas, that it possesses a considerable
degree of fascination. "Lunacy Relieved by Musi-
cal Exercises" is clever and curious. We are glad
to find the reviewer dissenting from that rash decla-
ration of Thomas Moore's, that " music is not an in-
tellectual thing." " Wild Sports of the highlands,"
and " The Minstrelsy of the English Border," are
agreeable and entertaining chapters upon poetry and
field exercises. " The Fawn of Sertorious," the
" Preadamite Earth," and the " Correspondence of
John, fourth Duke of Bedford," are admirable criti-
cal articles.

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON ALMANACK.
Among the numerous specimens of cheap but l lavish
illustration, this beautiful almanack is not the least
striking. Besides a variety of minor embellishments—
astronomical, ornithological, and botanical—there are
twelve engravings of the peculiar sports of England,
Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Persia, Africa,
India, South America, North America, Norway, and
Switzerland, namely, of hunting the stag, the otter, the
fox, the wolf, *the wild boar, the wilvl ass, the lion, the
tiger, the wild horse, the buffalo, the bear, and the
chamois. The animation of these woodcuts is really ad-
mirable, and the graver and the pencil have been equally
well handled in their production. Ia addition to what
we have already mentioned, there are twelve historical
;ketches of various merit, some of them being worthy of
the high advancement of the art of engraving. Whether
we examine it as a meteorological, or an astronomical, or
an agricultural, or a mercantile almanack, we find each de-
partment elaborately drawn up, and with a large supply
of miscellaneous information, the publication presents a
very useful and interesting appearance.

VITAL CHRISTIANITY. By Alexander Vinci.
This is a republication in an English version of a book
already known most favourably to the ethical scholars of
every European country. The translator is Robert
Turnbull of Boston and we must acknowledge that he
has rendered his author into our mother tongue at once
faithfully and elegantly. To those who are unacquainted
with the volume under notice, it may sound like an as.
u ran e that its tendency is exclusive and sectarian when
we say, that Dr. Vinet is the profussor of theology at
Lausanne in Switzerland. The religious animosities
which have embroiled the inhabitants of the Confedera-
don, would seem at first to justify that
_suspicion. But
emphatically such is not the case. The book is ad-
dressed to no particular class of religionists, it does not
inculcate doctrines peculiar to this creed or to that creed,