The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-12 00:00:00

enment, and so perhaps be did with all his blackness, as
the coal contributes to t'::e c-as ; and never was a bit of
Wall's End half so hard, or a tenth part so black as the
heart of this despicable sovereign. He never had a
friend ; but he was surrounded by sycophants, whom,
one after the other, he atrociously sacrificed.
" Cranmer being a man of superior mind, exercised an
influence over him, and was sent for to his death-bed,
when he pressed the prelate's hand ; but whether the
pressure arose from cramp or conscience, rheumatism or
remorse, penitence, or ' pins and needles,' must be con-
sidered a question to which we will nit hazard an
answer. We regret that we have been unable to adhere
to the excellent motto, de mortals nil nisi bonzes, in this
case ; but Henry was such a decided maum in se, that
mischief was bred in the bone, and the Inl nisi bonum
becomes impossible.
" Learning certainly advanced in this reign, and
Henry himself affected authorship ; but every literary
man, from the highest flyer in the realms of fancy to the
humblst historian of last night's fire or yesterday'
police,e will be honestly ashamed of his royal fellows
craftsman."

COLBURN'S UNITED SERVICE 21IAGA-
ZINE.
We are glad to meet our old friend Colonel Fire-
brace, who this month furnishes an excellent article
on the Enlistment Bill, in which he not only de-
molishes the allegations of the opposers of that mea-
sure, but exposes their motives. That it would be
opposed by the Marquis of Londonderry, et hoe genus
omne, was of course to have been predicated from the
first—indeed, had they supported it we should have
rather doubted the efficacy of the measure—but it is
not by the " gentle dull" alone that this measure is
opposed—it is also opposed by
" The aristocracy of wealth, who have tried to make
the army a close monopoly for themselves, and, to say the
truth, have in great measure succeeded. They in their
heart of hearts cannot but see the justice of the Bill, but
they look on it with fear as the forerunner of other
measures of reform that may drive them from their long
enjoyed privileges; they see that concurrent with this
Bill, the education of the soldier is to be attended to, and
if the plan works well, it must follow in natural course,
that the instruction of the officers must march pari passe
or rather keep ahead of that of the soldier. What a
mortifying thing it would be to them, when about to pur-
chase a cornetcy for a son or nephew, to be told, that as
a preliminary step, the aspirant for glory on horseback
must prove that he can read the Articles of War, make
out a guard report, and write his name legibly, and that
previous to getting another step of promotion must
prove that he is capable 074 fulfilling the duties of his
advanced position! Yet such must be the fatal conse-
quences of giving instruction to the hitherto neglected
soldier. _ _

" Strange instance of blindness and fatuity that has
ever guided our military councils, that the education of
officers of the army should have been totally neglected
in all time, until we come to speak of the education of
the soldier, and then it is only forced into notice by the
shame attending the possible superiority of the servant
over his master in point of instruction.
" If we were to draw inferences from what the Duke
said about the old soldiers, which I have just quoted, it
would follow that the officers of the army were of small
account ; there is not the slightest hint that the courage
of the old soldiers was in any way assisted by the intel-
ligence of the officers, and most probably the instances
were rare. None knew better than his Grace that there
were but very few officers under him who knew any .
thing of their profe:sion beyond the eternal routine of a
parade, and that there was not one in his army capable
of supplying his place had anything happened to him-
self. The sublime ignorance of the essential parts of
their profession, which distinguishes the officers of our
army from all others, arises, as I have repeated a hun
dred times, from the purchase and sale or commissions.
If that venal and absurd practice is so abso utely inter-
woven with our military constitution as not to be eradi-
cated, at least it ought to be accompanied with some
test that would exclude blockheads, fools, and cv n
idiots, of which I could quote many instances, from
entering an honourable pro,ession."
Let us hope that it will be the proud boast of the
new Parliament, that it has applied that test rigor-
ously that it has thereby saved wise men from the
tyranny of blockheads, fools, and idiots, by excluding
the said blockheads from an honourable profession
which they disgrace by their ignorance and inca-
pacity. Before the country is considered safe, the
army must be thoroughly purged of ignorant and
incapable officers, and Judging from the revelations
recently made, the issuing of a commission to
inquire into the capacities and attainments of the
officers of the various regiments in her Majesty's
service would be by no means und,,sirable. We re-
commend this article by Colonel Firebrace to the
careful perusal of the authorities at the Horse
Guards, and of the Members of the new Parliament.
We know of no subject which if properly taken up
is so likely to secure fame and name for a legislator
as the subject of army reform, more particularly as
it regards the officers, and we accordingly recom-
mend it to any young member who is ambitious of
connecting his name with a great measure. The re-
maining articles of the present number are all good.

CHRISTOPHER TADPOLE. Part 11. By Aiber

Smith.

Such has been the success attending this serial,
that it is intended to extend it to sixteen numbers,
instead of completing it in twelve. We are glad of
this extension, both for our own sake and that of the
talented author ; to us it will be a source of pleasure
(for we are lothe to part with Christopher) to him it
will be a source of profit and also of pleasure, for it is
evident that he writes con amore. In this number
we have the adventure of Mrs. Hamper in Switzer-
land, and the return of Christopher to England—the
reconciliation of Bessy Payne and Sprout, who with
the jolly man goes to Vauxhall to witness the debut
of Paty as a dancer. Paty, in returning home, i 3
insulted by Sir Frederick Arden, but is rescued
from him by Christopher, who gives the Baronet a
thrashing, and is by him handed over to the custody
of the police, and marched off to the station-house,
where for the present we leave him.

THE MIRROR.
The Mirror for this month opens with the first four
chapters of a tale entitled " Paul Pevensey ; or, The
Man from Below," the below being one of the Nor-
thumberland coal-mines. The heroine, Kate Peven-
sey, is a female collier, bred and brought up in the
coal-pits—
Wayward, headstrong, full of inordinate vanity, and
more ignorant than a red Indian squaw. In spite of all
this, she possessed the fatal gift of beauty. Her form
had been cast in the lightest and most graceful mould,
and her countenance was radiant with loveliness and
native intelligence. She was teachable, though she had
never been taught, and at the moment when :she comes
before us, ready to be transformed by circumstances into
an angel or a devil."
Kate is deeply in love with a gentleman who has
" amu*ed" himself by flirting with the collier girl,
and for whose sake she has rejected the love of a col-
lier youth name i Richard. The gentleman lover,
who is about to desert her, makes an assignation with
her in a coal-pit on a Sunday. Richard observes
them, and as they emerge trom the pit, attacks and
wounds his rival, whom he leaves senseless. Kate
attends upon her lover, dresses his wounds, and
rescues him from his peril. Will he de-
sert her ? This is a question which must
remain unsolved until next month. There
is much powerful writing in these chap-
ters. The description of the thunder storm in
the opening chapter, is sublime. The author pos-
sesses the secret of exciting the interest by rivetting
the attention of the reader, in a marvellous degree,
and Paul Pevensey will do yeoman's service to " The
Mirror." The novel of the Eagle's Nest is concluded,
so that we shall henceforth only have one continu-
ation in " The Mirror," which, in this respect, sets an
example that it would be well if its contemporaries
were to follow. There are several other admirable
articles in this number of " The Mirror."

THE MAN EV THE MOON.
The trip which Albert Smith and his collabora-
teurs took in the Nassau Balloon, is admirably de-
scribed, and quaintly illustrated, and Mr. Crindles'
rapid career is continued, and is most laughter
moving. The jokes are as good as ever. Take the
following as a specimen—
" A BULL IN THE COCHIN-CHINA SHOP.—The
Pope is so pleased with the affectionate pastoral dispo-
sition manifested by M. de Foureade, in standing upon
the deck of La Gloire, and encouraging the fire upon
his diocese, until upwards of a thousand of his flock
were killed, that on reaching Rome, he will be saluted
(a la Alderman Waithnalui) as • feu Bishop of Samos.'"

T-
u ll'in abundance rnrincße of N ALaen.mbellish
As usuTaffl,EheA :l
reftar.
ment, an abundance of criticism, and
abund-
ance of artistic information. The leading article
is written in commemoration of that glorious edifice
which is still in progress on the banks of the
Thames at Westminster—a structure which will for
centuries be a memento of the enterprise and genius
of the age of Victoria,. A bold likeness of Eugene
Neureuther, with sleet ches of some of his fantastiql
but most imaginative designs, and an effective biogra-
phical notice will be examined with interest, as
will also the portraits and miniature memoirs
of Edward Mathew Ward, the painter of the cele-
brated picture of "D:. Johnson re,ading the manu-
script of the Vicar of Wakefield in the lodgings of
Oliver Goldsmith ;" and of E. H.. Baily, the sculptor
of that incomparable gem of art , which has gained a
name like Thomson's " Seast ms"—Bally's Eve at
the Fountain. Pyne's "Le tters on Landscape"
and Mrs. S. C. Hall's fairy-tal a are both continued,
the latter with, as usual, the r lost lavish illustration.
THE SONGS OF ci WILES MEDIA,
Chronologically Arranged. wit h Notes and Music of the
best and most popular of tiw i lelodies, with new Piano-
forte Accompaniments ; to which is prefixed a Memoir
of the Aut.',,,r, by Geofge floatc,-th Vol. I.
DAVIDSOA'S UiVI-VEb" SAL MELODIST.
Vol. I.

We have frequently he d occ tasion to speak in terms
of laudation of both the. ;e :cellent works, as they
have appeared in monthly F ;arts. These parts are
now collected, and the 1, Sol igs of Dibdin" and the