The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-11 00:00:00

ONTINUED).

COLBUI?N'S UNITED SERVICE.
The first paper in the present number, "Military*
Education in France," is
compiled from official docu-
ments furnished by the French Minister of War. It
Proposes to give a sketch of the history of each of the
military scbools in France, showing the most impor-
tant modifications in its organization, its gradual de-
velopment, the conditions of admission, and requisite
formalities to be performed, together with the studies,
th'a manner of living, the future prospects of the pu-
pils, the discipline exercised, and the modes of punish-
ment in use in the different establishments. It must
be remembered that in France a very different sys-
tem is in force both with respect to the recruiting, and
providing officers for the army, from that which pre-
vails in thie country. Every young man is subject
to be called on to give his services to his country, or
to provide a substitute, who shall be approved of and
accepted in his place. Few, however, of the wealthier
classes are ' willing to enter the ranks as private
soldiers, although a fair prospect exists for the well-
disposed and meritorious of obtaining promotion to a
higher station. In France the ridiculous custom of
acquiring military rank by purchase does not exist;
every officer must, therefe;re, either work his way up
from the ranks, or undergo 'an education suited to,
and which will properly qualify him for, the position
he is about to fill. For that purpose various schools
have been established throughout the kingdom.
That of St. Cyr is described in the present
number. "The Cruise in the West Indies, with some
aeceunt of a Slave Captain," is continued from the
September number. We left Guiseppe on board the
Culloden, with Lord Nelson's squadron; on his return
to England he is transferred to the Barfleur. After
some time his feelings are excited by hearing a Vene-
tian air, and meeting a countryman in the master of
the band on board the Vine de Paris ; some time
afterwards he succeeds in escaping from the Barfleur
by swimming ashore. He gets a place on board a
vessel trading to Guinea for slaves, it being previous
to the period when the labours of Wilberforce and
his philanthropical associates had led to the abolition
of that abominable and inhuman traffic. He is, how-
ever, pressed to serve in an English frigate, from
which he again speedily deserted, and obtained a
situation in another slaver, in which he made many
voyages, and finally became a slave captain, in which
capacity be realised a considerable fortune. The
third chapter of "Recollections of Waterloo" details
the proceedings from the evening of the triumph and
on the following days. Mr. Curling, in his con-
tinuation of the " Siege of Oldcourt House," ablyrol-
lows up the promise of his first chapter. The Round-
head troops have been marched to the attack, but are
benighted, and compelled to bivouac in the woodland
surrounding the old hall. A daring reconnoitre by
1
'one young Falconer disturbs them, and he con-
trives to lead them in pursuit of him away
from their path, so as to gain greater time for
his friends in the hall. There are many other highly
interesting narratives, to which, if time permitted,
we would gladly allude with greater particularity;
for the present, we must be contented to say, that
" Recollections of the Early Life of a Sailor," " The
Ruse de Guerre," "The Fusilier, or Bygones of a
Bearskin," " Scenes in the Life of a Foreign Medi-
cal Officer," " Shots from an Old Sixpounder,"
" Original Anecdotes of Nelson," "A Leaf or Two
from an Old,Log," and "Blackbeard's Island," are all
well worthy of perusal, and that the reader must be
fastidious, indeed, who will not derive amusement
therefrom. The remaining articles are of a different
character. From the reasoning of the writer of
" Crime and its Prevention" we dissent toto cceld,
and we must express our unqualified disapprobation
of the sanguinary measures which he recommends to
Government for adoption. He would fain re-estab-
lish the Draconic severity of the criminal code, and
corporal and capital punishments would be rigidly
enforced, the triangles and the gallows would again
he crowded with victims. After a certain number of
convictions for the secondary offences, such
as theft, robbery, breach of trust, embezzle-
ment, forgery, mutiny, desertion, arson, &c.,
he would punish with .stern, unshrinhing, unmitigable
rigour, by shooting or hanging. The writer seems
to forget the utter uselessness of the examples
afforded by the hecatombs of human victims who
were annually sacrificed in former days, and to ima-
gine that the course which was then so unavailing
would now prove more effectual. God grant that we
may never see many of our legislators actuated by a
similar spirit, or willing to contemplate with such
calmness " the extra consumption of bones and
sinews" which would at first be occasioned, and which,
in the army, might excite momentary regret r Of
course, that in the mind of so stern a philosopher
could only be on account of the expenditure of so
much material, and not for the sufferings of our erring
brethren, who, "as they would be only the wicked and
vicious, we would have no reason to regret." " Naval
Improvements in the Nineteenth Century" contains
much useful. information; the present number chiefly
relates to the new element of power that has been in-
troduced into the service—our steam armament. On
the whole, the number is an excellent one, fully
maintaining the former reputation of Colburn's
United Service Magazine.

TEE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY.
November has given us another admirable number
of this excellent periodical. The first article con-
tains an account of Mademoiselle Le Normand, the
extraordinary fortuneteller, whose wonderful powers
excited such astonishment in the French metropolis,
and who for half a century maintained the reputation
she had acquiredin her very childhood. Certainly,
if there is any foundation for the legends that have
been related of this lady, and some of which are now
presented to the readers of the Dublin University
Magazine, it is by no means surprising that she
should have
i attracted so much of the public atten-
tion. She t was who, when a prisoner in the Lux-
embourg, confirmed the prediction which had been
made respecting Josephine Beauharnois in her in-
fancy, by an Obi woman, as to her:future exalted rank,
a prediction which was afterwards so wonderfully
verified. She it was who prophesied the extraor-
dinary advancement of Napoleon, and his no less sur-
prising reverses ; and who, on being pressed on one
occasion to give a more satisfactory explanation of an
obscure answer, replied, " that it was a problem
the solution of which she should reserve until
the 31st March, 1814," a day which afterwards
proved to be so eventful to the fortunes of the Em-
peror, as witnessing the entry of the allied troops into
Paris. Strange details are given of her mode of pro-
ceeding from the papers of a lady, under the title
of the Countess N. N., and also from those of the
well-known President Von Malchus ; but perhaps the
strangest of all her oracular exploits was the
manner in which she divined the lucky num-
bers in the lottery, of which various anecdotes
are told. " Wills's Lives of Illusrious Irishmen"
is the subject of the next paper; full justice is done
to the great research, patient investigation, sound
judgment, and strict impartiality of the author, whose
work is at once a history of Ireland and a biography
of her most illustrious children, and we are promised
a continuation of the notice in a future number.
" The Watcher" is indeed a story of deep and pain-
ful interest, closely bordering on the supernatural ; it
purports to give an account of occurrences which
some fifty years since created a sensation in the
fashionable society of the Irish metropolis, and which
ended in the melancholy_death of a person, whose
real name is concealed under that of Captain Barton,
R.N., and which are enveloped in ;impenetrable mys-
tery. " Stray Leaflets from the German Oak" contains
seven new translations by I. C. M., which are marked
by the great taste and feeling, the poetic inspiration,
for which the writer has acquired so high a character,
and which render all his contributions so acceptable
to the readers of the Irish Magazine. " The Comic
Alpenstock " is continued, and there is no abatement
of the comic spirit by which the first chapter was
animated. A great deal of sound information is also
communicated that would doubtless be valuable to
the traveller, notwithstanding the strange form in
which it is put forward. " New Books of Poetry,"
is a notice of three recently published poetical works
—" Theoria," by Mr. Digby Starkie ; " Church Me-
lodies," by Viscount Massareene and Ferrard and
The
Theoria is a
Shadows of
collectionth e Pyramid,"some of
by
l
poems, two of which are given, and both of which
we would right gladly transfer to our columns if our
space permitted. The first, .` The Song of the Pen,"
possesses great vigour and originality, it depicts the
talent,h the
support
pelled
p a nfu
to
o struggles
writef
or ot
their
e imr
de men ofye
rgeniuse:d
of those dearer to them than life itself. We cannot,
however, refrain from giving a few quotations as spe-
cimens of the style and power of the writer. The
first stanza is as follows : nAndinrrfde.oaßrl really
be er agnutsi
un

a n
" Sing of the pen! sing of the pen!
Sing of the thousands of gifted men,
h ilWe
thhoe
goose-quill
wring w ith n
From the sweat of their brain,
W
Over the paper,
pain
n c ae
t
h d beggarly
driv
Beneath the taper,
Through the hours when mortals dream, and faut • •
os play!
And again—
" Sing of the pen! sing of the pen!
Sing of the pleasures of gifted men!
Ye who delight
To 101 l in listless interest lost,
Little ye reek what the theme bath cost
The tribe who write.
" Drive, drive the pen along
In something—tale or song;
No matter, so we cast
A wet page o'er the last,
And enter in our score
One mouthful earned the more.
There's silence in the house—l'm free,
Dear heart! to work for such as thee.
Hie to thy bed, beloved one—
Dark as it was, the day is done;