The Sun.
London, England, 1823-08-18 00:00:00

The trst ten pages of this article are exceedingly laboured
and dull. The whole burden of the revieWeris song, and the
object of every remark which these ten pages contain, is simply
this, that it is a most. proper thing to write and to read reviews;
.and that "this age is the most enlightened,' the most chi.'
`heed, and the most learned age that the world has evef
yet seen, because in it Reviews arc sought and encouraged.
whilst all other sorts of learning are neglected or overlooked.
We are not going at. present to battle on this point with the re-
viewer; but we must say we think many of hid observatiims
are ridiculous, and many of his deductions parichixical and
untrue. But however this may be, we look upon it as one of
the (host faint " Signs of the Times," that the Edinburgh
Rale*, that high and honoured and established name, should
now„. in its oTtl age, be Obliged te argue for its utility, and seek,
in laboured liteubrations, for a prop to its reputation, and an
extension of its sale.. What a sad change is this from that
fiery and fosrless spirit of, independence which glowed in the
yottthful days of the ,Edinburgh .Revisit And how must it
pain the shaded bf those liivenile heroes, if they can learn that
their places have been so miserably supplied, and that their
successors are glad to flatter the public; like hungry; Mendi-
cants, instead of gUiding their taste, and dictating td them
with pert and overhearing superiority.
-llaving laded through the. mass of introductory matter, we
at last aretie it lieges where the names Of our contempbraries
shi•he in large ant, ornamental capital's. Here we are fiest irk-
troduced to the It. Jantes'i Chronicle, aild we learn the very
eipluable and satisfactory intelligence, that the Reviewer, " un.
thiX to be the oldest existing paper in London."—,
Raving relieved himself of this important fact, he proceeds tti
the lifor'rtng Chronicle, which lie says, " is, or was at least, at
the head or the new school."—This is a very significant and
candid parenthesis. Whatever may have been the merit of the
11, Tontine Chronicle, there is no •41tbt that now its day .
corn.
and its
fory are gone by ; and,accordifigly, we find that all the co-
endations whith are here lavished %Mon.:this favotirite oracle
Whiggery,f . are bestowed on the ilfornimg Chrorack, not as
it is noW corrducted, Lift in it was conducted some half dozen
years tiAti:
NVe.,:lere always inclined to regard Mr. nifty with feelings,
of respfet. However much we might differ front him on poll-
tical sUbjects, we ,thought he had a vein of talent and *Wild
sense.4'llich redefined many aberrations on his weak side. We
have den entweltdisappointed and Undeceived by the account
here 'given or OM by the Reviewer. We also told that he; as
ouick tact ; that
*amity, and had a shining counterain4i i" (most important
latetn.wari'a: ‘°4fpl°rtnidleciaitegaLtinr.,pkillauns*ibleletig;', that 4,‘ shook hands
facts. truly !) that he wail " eter.t fond of the 'society of
lords' be !lute of a coxcomb ''and we do not think he,
*B3
a 'bit the sv°?3° f" it" ris comes well from the Edi„.
5,004 Reriet.r. 4, Pares cum-paribui." It is natural and be-
ceinffig to sympathize with all who share in our own feelings
or pecallOties. But the Reviewer should not have ventured
to support either his own or 11,1 r. Perry's coxcomb feelings, by
apropositiOt:Which is directly,
contrar to all fact a obaerva.
`, man," say thelt esierter, " who does riot think well
of himself, generally thinks ill of others." We have often heard
the reverse of.this aphorism, but it was reserved for this Re.
'
viewer to have, the boldness to promitlgate::
ytui
this new and late-
resting fact in the history pf the. htfitian mind. Ileeemfters we
suppose, when we see tinrstrling- ininstanceof..Pett"ess
conceit, and vanity in any learned reviewer,_eviewer,, wemust set it
down,' not as the world ignorantly
as a proof that he
thinki well of hinitc!f, b, that lie thinks well of others !
cannot proceed, With the ridicule which the Reviewer
pours,out on the cliOacter of Perry ,-whilst he actually professes •
to reidente and to praise him. flow he once wrote"`
thalamic" and next day Mid(' an'" awkward correction of it
into Hew a certain consciousness of merit, with
a littkoVerweening:pretension, sometimes interfered with the
conduct of the paper." How, " the editor of the ..tiforning
Chrinticle wrote up his own paper, and hia an ambition to have
it thought.that every good thing in it, unleas it came front a
lord, or an acknowledged wit, was kis own." We have don°
with these nauseous, au otationa' But we. potent emit to ob.
serve, how ingenuous it is for Whigs thuirte ridicule the foibles,
and point ouf the failings of a mart, whom. when In life, they
slavishly worshipped, and ,courted arid feared.
The praise Oldie Time., is really trembnilods. We are thank.
ful we have not the Edinburg Review for our eulogists, if such
ure their panegyrics. " The Times is not to our taste--
either in matter or manner, It is elaborate, but heavy—full,„'
. bin not readable. It takes up. no falling cause ; fights no up.
hill battle.' It is ever strong oh the stronger side. It is valiant,
swaggering, insolent," &c. &c.!
laving thus exhausted, its we imagine, his.epiPiets of abuse
in praising his friends, we turned With some curiosity tO'see what
he would InVent.when he came to attack his antagonists: We con.'
fess, however, he has acquitted himself well. He has here corn.'
pletely outhereded Herod. We shall only give two paragraphs;
one professes to characterize the I:ditor of the key Timeo, the
other the Editor of The Courier. We,gnestion whether even'
The geotinsan ever published such arrant nonsense as in con.
tained In the first; or condescended or such vulgar language as
is in the second. The Editor of the New Tina: is maid to be
" fascinated with the abstract' image of 'loyalty lie had swal-
lowed love-powders f'roni despotism ; he is drunk with the spi.
sit of servility ; 'mad with the hatred pf liberty' ; flagrant, ob•
scene, in the exposure of the shameful parts of ilia pauses and
his devotion to power amounts to a prostration of all his focal.
ties." And of the Editor of The Courier, it is said, "This
lacquey to the Treasury puts,one in mind of those imlindent
valets at the doors of great lionses-41eek, l'aitrY, empty, and
Vulgar—.who give short answers, and laugh into the faces of
those who come with complaints and grievances to their mas-
ters ; .think their emproyers great men,., and themselVes clever
fitlloia—eat, drink; ,sleep,,
acid let the world slide, !" It is
needless to observe that this abuse of the enemy, howe„,
r
ful or vile it may be, is far less wounding and less effective
tiuM the damning praises of the friend.
This article conclutics.with some sober and serious reflections
oli " the illiberality of the press. Ihe ►Review'
Amplains of the illiberality of the presni Oh, marvellous con.
eiatency ! So may the tiger moralize on the cruelty of shedding
blood, when his fangs are yet red with the spun thathis ,
glutted
him. Who are they, we would ask, that have most Completely
converted' critical journal into one continual and Virulent
tirade upon politics? %%rho are they that have I atislied their lite-
rary praises, and launched their literary damnation, not on
works of genius or of dullness', but on authors whit have been
rendered obnoxious, or endeared by their opinions
alone? Who are, they..the boldly commenced, unit; pcsoos:or,.
ingltcontinued, an unrrvalied career of abuse of our constitu-
tionr and slanderous attacks on publiecharacteri? Of whom
but of the Edinburgh Review can we apply their own words,
that " theyhave hall the temptation, tkr hardihood, Or the cow-
, tardice to make literature.the mere tool and creature Of party
'spirit ; and in the sacredness of the cause in Which if niAs sail
~.barked, to disregard entirely the profligacy of the means."
4.)f whom but of the ./Whitturigi 'Revica' can it be said.. that
the public take in a displacing
.pub r 'cation, because i*
amusing and clever; that is, fun .of incredible assertions which
make them stare, anti of opprobrious epithets ,applied to high
characters, which, by their smartness and .incengruity, operate
'as a lively stimulus' to their ordinarY state of ennid,i) Who