The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-08 00:00:00

THE PENNY MAGAZINE.

It is with pleasure we perceive that this old favourite
has improved, not merely in dimensions, but in its lite-
rature. The articles, for one thing, are more diversified,
and are written in a more sparkling and readable man-
ner than heretofore. Besides which, the illustrations,
though scarcely so numerous, are infinitely superior both
in design and in workmanship, The three enigmas,
drawn by William Harvey, are dainty tokens of the
pictorial character of his imagination. " Historical
Scenes" are excellently written . and the little article
headed " Robinson Crusoe," will be perused with inte-
rest by every one who retains any school-boy recollec-
tifonDs, since it appears, from that article, that the name
o
Essex. From efoe's renowned voyager is still very prevalent in
the flourishing appearance of the Penny
Magazine, we are almost tempted to imagine that the
editor has discovered for it the elixir of life: it bears the
R
aspect of a literary
osecrucian.

OLD ENGLAND'S h IVORY7IIES. Part V. In a former notice eave fully commented on the
of the multitude. By advantages of a publication
3this kind for the en-
lightenmentpresent generation the more remarkableholding
to incite a past generation, not onlyout to the
is
experience
personages of
flame of emula-
tion gleaned
i through
books with impunity to ourselves, butn
is kindled within our bosoms likelyto the
avoidance of bad and the achievement of good.ns
ur
fancies arc moreover developed by the appeals made to
them by such narratives ; and our minds are brought
into operation upon the skeletons of the mental opera-
tions of the illustrious dead—namely their lives. Those
we conceive to be the peculiar advantages of biography,
as a part of education. What instructive lessons, for
example, are there not to be collected from the per-
formances and the vicissitudes of such beings as Eliza-
beth, Shakespere, Raleigh, Camden, Bacon, and Ben
Jonson, whose d memoirs occupy the present number
of" Old Englan 's Worthies?"
THE PICTORIAL GALLERY OF ARTS.

Part XVII.

What with a profusion of clever woodcuts and a mass
of explanatory letter-press, part seventeen, makes alto-
gether a goodly show ; a moment's examination of the
pages will, however, convince any one that it has like-
wise something " that passes show." It is entirely of an
architectural character this month, and the style in
which that art is treated is a strange combination of
elaborateness and simplicity. When completed, the
book will be the choicest cullings from many other
Sources : it will be, in itself, the condensation of 11. whole
library.

OXFORD A2I77DDGE RE VIE W
The most interesting article in the present number is
on the " Present State of Greece." The author is
evidently very well informed on the subject, and is per-
'fectly aware of intrigues of M. Piscatory and of the
utter want of principle in his tool and agent, Coletti, to
whose keeping the destinies of this unhappy country are
for the present committed. An article on M. Michelet
is, as might have been predicated, a furious and most
unjust attack upon that talented writer ; even as
swindler fears and hates a policeman, so does a Jesuit
fear and hate M. Michelet ; and the extravagant eulo-
gium of Dr. Pusey, with which this article opens suf-
ficiently marks the author as, if not actually a Jesuit,
yet as something very nearly approaching to one.
From the series of papers on " German Political Poets"
we extract the following spirited version of a poem by
Freiligrath—
Contrasting the present King of Prussia with Frederic
the Great—the man of good intentions with the man of re-
solute action ; and though it seems to us by no means pro-
bable that the hero would have done the work the poet gives
him to do, the whole character of Frederic is apprehended in
Germany so differently from our notion of him, that there is
little to surprise us in this view of it.

A SCENE IN ELYSIUM.
The scene took place in paradise some little while ago,
Old Fritz jumped up and rubbed his hands at what he saw
below ;
He struck his sword-hilt angrily, and, striding up and down,
At last metßlucher and Von Stein, but did not cease to frown.

To Zeithen and to Winterfelt he beckoned to come near,
And Gneisenau approached with dam the royal words to hear;
And Keith, the doughty Scot, camlgup, Schwerin and Scharn-
horst tee,
And many a name of warrior fame from Prussia old and new.
Then with au uncelestial oath to all around he said,—
"It just has struck me I am dead—yes, sirs, entirely dead
Why am I not now back again at Potsdam and Berlin?
Would it not be a time for me—say, Scharnhorst and
Schwerin?

" How I would seize and manage it ! no more as autocrat ;
No, no, my friends, another time, another task than that;
Too bright was once the light my name shed on mv fellow-men,
For me to be in thought and will the man that I was then.

" No, all that I have done and worked by precept and example,
(The glories of thirteen, methinks, are no unworthy sample ;)
Should but the broad foundation be on which with joy to raise
The strong and high state•edifice of present better days.

" Days that will not in patience stand with treason seated by,
Dave, that no longer can endure the liar and the lie;
A time that will not live on words, however smooth they be,
A time that must breathe out at last, breathe deep, and uttaz
free.

" That German people! so deceived, and no one there to
right them!
Their rights by traitors filched away, and no one there to
fight them !
No one to claim the due, or send the debtors to Gehenna;
No one to tread with manly heel on Carlsbad and Vienna.
" I'd burst the diplomatic net that holds the fools in awe
An open German parliament, a single German law!
And everywhere the free free word as spoken and as writ,
As God is true, and I a King, I would accomplish it.

" 'Twould be a thunderbolt !—what then ?—a year or two of
storm ;
And the crooked would fall straight—confusion yield to form ;
Blow after blow should do the deed; I could because I would;-
-A king may well defy the kings, when for his people's good.

" And then, the tempest past, my land would glisten in Out
sun,

A strong and free new Germany—a Germany made one;
With one bright iris spreading earth, from shame and sorrow
freed,
A prince's and a people's league—a German league indeed.
" The People is a noble stream, and he who, wisely brave
Can cast his clear untroubled glance within the rolling wave
In jubilee is raised and borne triumphant to his goal,
But merciless the waters rush o'er every craven soul:

" 'Twould hold me up—Awould bear me on—say, Blucher,
would it not ?
AAnidn otrheenthtaon
reevsterbpe‘evoepplte's L hd blugieshtobwyeanilv
the
elbe
raavloet4d good !
. . . . The fine old warriors bowed assent, and cried, " 1 es 4
sire, you would."
The paper is Signed "R. M. M.," and we presume is
from the pen of Mr. Monckton Milnes. Lord John
Manners contributes a ballad on the fall of the Knights
of
readingpoor Mi
natghiem pt. r e
sAle
il .t
Templars, and we have a glorious paper on the " Con.
rpiglesatsyalnet vivial Entertainments of the Greeks," reminding us
strongly
of
ferthe is raole
uliechkii
together
there
number of the Oxford and Cambridge.

THE CONNOISSEUR.
Though recently commenced, this journal of the fin%
arts breathes a healthy tone ; it is independent in ite
mode of thinking, and has no conventional enthusiasm.
We will quote one passage from a criticism ou the
Royal Academy exhibition, which we think conveys a
very happily-worded definition of the style of literature
peculiar to our own generation. It is as follows :
The age we live in has gradually estranged itself from
what is called classical antiquity, in which the natural ac-
tions of mankind were disguised under the phraseologytr
of
pompous diction. It has become exigeant for _
and de.
are deaf to mere unauthenticated opinion lit
stance to enable the
literature detail is the one thing needfulin
others;Alodacern readers
mand sufficiency of well-attested
circumstances,
themselves. Theories are no,
construction of opinions for-urnstances, details, features, pe.
have all relationship with
longer accepted. Facts,
of a work that shall be popular,
the necessary attributes
k the charm of Dickens; and it is
These desideratums make the
qualities that,
in
spite of the sneers and manufactured.
these
culiarities, costumes and
literateur—
the compilation of Greek and Latin—the true
University article—aud in the very teeth of his scorn, has
already elevated him above Walter Scott, who was himself
so signal a departure from the beaten track of classical dul;
ness. Dickens's descriptive detail is always derived from
actual observation, by an organisation peculiarly fitted fo-;
detecting those delicate minutia that indicate the natural
characteristics of men and things ; while that of Scott, itt
often merely a transcript of the image raised in his mind by
the description of others, filled up—admirably filled up—by
invention or adaptation. The one, to our posterity, wilk
afford documentary evidence of the social condition of one
period. The other will, with few exceptions, and those re.
ferring to localities of confined interest, be merely clever am
entertaining productions of an uncommon mind.
These opinions we cordially believe to be just ane
accurate. As a romancer Scott is unequalled ; as r,
painter of the social life of his contemporaries, Cherie.,
Dickens is immeasurably above Scott and ever °the,
man that ever existed. Sneer as we may at his mato
nerisms—scoff as we may at his false punctuation (an'
such-like solar-spots)—that is his position as an autho;'
and will continue his position as an author centuries
after the malcontents are lappcd in oblivion. The vortral
of Madame Castellan, which forms the frontispiece,
life-like and characteristic of the songstress.

take THE THE MUSICAL HERALD. Part I
A weekly and monthly publication, very likely I
permanent stand amongst our periodicals. OD.
opinion rests on two grounds—firstly, the excellent
and cheapness of the work; and, secondly, that it hr-
no precise rival. Glees, and duets, and cavatinas,. sr
waltzes, are printed clearly, with a choice mterpolatie
of literary pieces—such as critiques, biographies, must
cal anecdotes, and so forth, Among several nth