The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-02 00:00:00

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.

This number contains a judicious and impar-
tial review of the new tenets of the Oxford
monks. With the conclusion we entirely con-
cur. "We repeat it as our conviction," says the
writer, " that if the sect whose principles are in-
culcated in these volumes (The Life and Ponti-
ficate of Gregory VII., by John W. Bowden)
were only powerful enough to do it after its own
heart, it would soon put a complete end to all
liberty and all religion; in the place of the
former it would substitute the tyranny of feudal
Churchmen, and in the place of the latter the
illusions of a frivolous and degrading supersti-
tion." The same good sense pervades an article
on Temperance Societies. The writer is no ad-
vocate of the extravagant excess to which tea-
totalism is carried on in this country, and justly
regards it as a sin to reject the moderate use of
the good things which the Creator has provided
for man. In commenting on a book written by
a Dr. Thomson " on DigeStion" he quotes the
following paragraph :
Suppose a hundred individuals were to live on whole-
some tbod, and abstain from all alehoholic fluids ; and
suppose another hundred, cateris paribus, were to use
stimulating drink, which of the two sets should we
anticipate to be most healthy at the end of a given
period ? We do not believe that there would be two
opinions on the subject.
Dr. Thomson's incredulity is unreasonable. Most as-
suredly there would be two opinions ; and not a few
would be found holding that opinion which Dr. Thona:-.
son repudiates. We confess ourselves to be among the
number ; and earnestly do we desire that the question
should be carefully brought to the test of experiment.
Were two hundred men, living in the same place, fol-
lowing the same employment, of the same age, and in
a good state of health, to be chosen and divided into.
two companies, one-half of them taking nothing al-
coholic; and the other half a moderate quantity of pure
wine daily, we should, with much confidence, expect
the balance of health and longevity to be in favour of
the latter ; and the more numerous and carefully col-
lected the data from which the decision was obtained,
the stronger should we expect that decision t'o be in
favour of the temperate use of the fruit of the sine. In-
asmuch as God, who knows us altogether, has repre-
sented wine as a great blessing, we cannot but think
that its use is conducive to the improvement of both
body and soul!

ALEXANDER'S EAST INDIA AND COLO-

NIAL 4VAGAZINE:

A somewhat intolerant article, entitled " Re-
sponsibility for the Government of India," leads
the van of this month's papers. It assails the
Court of Directors of the East India Company,
and complains of the flagrant enormities com-
mitted under their arbitrary rule, and their al-
most total irresponsibility to the head govern-
ment of Great Britain, concluding with an opi-
nion of Lord William Bentinck's corroboration
of these views. The common assumption that
Herat as a defensive frontier is impregnable, and
the " Key of the East " is next combated, where-
in the writer, apparently a military tactician,
endeavours to show the fallacy of this position.
Sedulous search is made by Lieutenant-Colonel
Pogson to discover the lost tribes of Israel in
Nepatil, Cabool, Delhi, &c., in the persons of the
Brahmins themselves, alleging their descent
from Abraham quasi dicas a Brahmo. Many ety-
mologies are less cogent, and many an hypo-
thesis less tenable. " Moral and physical influ-
ence of Climate," goes to prove that the very at-
mosphere exercises an action on the sensations,
and that climate wonderfully influences the
mental powers, and the absolute intellect. In
confirmation of this the writer remarks :

" I have just spoken of the influence of the confined
air of the Swiss vallies on health—it is yet more re-
markable on mind. In the lowest tracts of the valley
(if it be closely shut in), one-fifth of the inhabitants
are idiots. 300 feet up, the peasant is weak in the in-
tellect, but idiotism rare—a little higher, he is a boor of
ordinary capacity-3,000 feet up, he is peculiarly and,
strikingly intelligent—keen in his eye, firm in his foot,
healthy in his aspect, and powerful in intellect. In an-
cient times there was a similar difference between the
Boetians and Athenians—the sluggish -and unimagina-
tive mind of the one being exactly what we should have
expected from their breathing the air of bogs, marshes,
and low land. while the mental glory and -restless acti-
vity of the Athenian corresponded with the splendour
and purity of the air of Athens."
i‘ The language of the Chinese" deters us by
its very title from further acquaintance, for we
should utterly despair of ever mastering its bare
Radicals,
cabilities much less their thousand inexpli-
and combinations." The Transmigra-
tion of Souls "
evinces that there is a split among
the Brahmins on
reason of this divtihsiiostliritticilneaoyf
bbeelpieifo,usslo ttaotpebdy
see with gladness the souls of
iliviendinoaoyarYidetMaho - g
roeta. ltliyieartirduiencerueics-t
tttlirllaaeit-ismigrating into theinheotadlyl'
military trip in the
, gun-shots, and skirmishes, but
tc Rough notes of a
Chris-
tian.
Murree HiPs " by some British troops is full of
isePiscisngular capture of three Banyan
eßnedl os ci etei
donkies.

THE BRITISH MAGAZINE.
The sands of Joppa had this peculiarity, that
though they were arid, they nevertheless spark_
led. The British Magazine, in the case of many
of its papers, possesses the aridity, but wants the
sparkling lustre. " Reflections on Ruins," how_
ever, retrieves it from absolute dulness, and it
even grows delightful as it bewails the decay of
ancient beauty. From the controversy ou " Law-
ful Baptism " we reverently refrain, leaving it
to our godfathers and godmothers to
adjust, wile-
ther we should be plunged into the water-pool,
ur be decently sprinked at the font. A letter
from a Country Clergyman treats on the prac-
ticability of observing daily service in our
churches, but he fears that very often he should
have only the pulpit above and the clerk below,
and nothing but his friend' the clock opposite to
him. A multitude of minor canonical matters,
such as " On Wearing Hoods"—" Lights on the
Altar," &c. &c.,
close the number.

SPORTING MAGAZINE.

This Number contains two engravings—one
representing the " Interior of a Sportsman's Tent
in India ;" and the other, " A Stricken Mallard."
The first is a very lively picture, and exhibits
two sportsmen amusing their evenings leisure by
a game of chess in a canvas tent, the walls of
which are thickly hung round with all sorts of
sporting implements. Of the literary articles, the
most generally amusing is the _second- series of
'4 'Scenes Old Sports in Foreign Lands."