The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-05 00:00:00

DOUGLAS JERROLD'S.

We have two additional chapters of "St. Giles and
St. James" in this number. Master Ralph Gum's ini-
quitous plot against "the fair maid of Kent," is ren-
dered abortive by the intervention of Bright Jem, who,
having reserved her for his nephew, takes her to Capstick,
who safely delivers her into the hands of Snipeton, by
whom she is transferred to St. Giles, with directions to
accompany her to his country-house at Hampstead.
"Another minute, and to the joy and ill-concealed astonish-
ment of the pair, the girl saw in St. Giles the wanderer and
vagrant to whom she had given the shelter of a barn—and
he beheld in his new fellow-servant, Becky, the soft-
hearted maiden of the Lamb and Star."

The return of Capstick has been petitioned against on
the ground of bribery, much to the indignation of the
worthy muffin-maker. Tangle, turned off by the St.
James party, offers to split upon them; and Capstick,
Snipeton. and Tangle are left in consultation. We have
also a continuation of the " History for Young England,"
in which (the period is the reign of Henry III.) the rise
of our present Parliamentary constitution is admirably
given. The article entitled " Criminals" is most sug-
gestive.
" The most atrocious criminals were innocent little babbles
once, and they grew up to be hanged ! Of two men born on
the same day, it has happened that one has been 'launched
into eternity' by the hangman, whilst the other has been
taken to his place in the respectable family vault, and his
memory rejoices in an epitaph, blossoming with those scent•
less virtues which spring up so plentifully for dead men
when they have not to be buried at the expense of the
parish."
Such is the theme which the writer undertakes to il-
lustrate, and in so doing he goes deeply into the meta-
physics of crime, and shows why it is that the generality
of makind take such an interest in criminal literature;
it shows the criminal in his moral and social relation.
ship; the reader is made to feel the moral magnetism
of temptation—to feel, in fact, that had he bean placed in
similar circumstances, he too might have fallen, and the
crimo ceases to be the abstract thing it is in the statute
book. All who take an interest in the prevention as
contra-distinguished from the punishment of crime—all
who have at heart t im amelioration of the condition of their
fellow-creatures, should ponder over this article. There
are a variety of other articles in the present number, all
of which possess considerable merit.

HOUD'S MAGAZINE.
"Ignez de Castro "—already dramatised by Landor—
is here pursued to the completion of the third act. The
play appears to have been elaborately constructed and
carefully corrected. "A Word with Dr. Johnson " is a
clever and bold performance. The writer dares to im-
peach the celebrated " Preface" to Shakspere with in-
consistency and harshness. He is right in his estimate
of that most beautiful and sonorous composition ; it is
as audacious in its condemnation of the Great Master
us it is admirable as a piece of rhetoric. We shall
watch the continuation of this essay with much inte-
rest : the elucidation of Marc Antony's glorious oration
in Julius Cesar is sagacious throughout. "My Obi
Coat" is just such a paper as would have delighted
poor Leman Blanchard : the narrative is simple enough
and affecting. Mr. Rowcroft's everlasting " Bush-
ranger" is continued, and while it displays talent in
painting scenery, it displays also his power of spinning
an awfully long "yarn." There are sprinklings of little
odds and ends, stray thoughts, scraps of prose and
verse, facetim, and so forth, in the magazine, most of
them excellent, some of them execrable. Some " Son-
nets on Snowdon " by J. Jones are worthy of that
delightful sonneteer. From a fine-spirited article,
headed " Claim of Periodical Writers to Participate in
the Benefits of The Literary Fund," we gladly quote the
following. The observations are sensible and just ; and
the system of that association requires a most compre-
hensive reform. Periodical writers and reporters are a
more numerous class than many imagine : and for these
there is no refuge. Against them The Literary Fund is
shamefully closed. Thus speaks the writer :
" Why, when in France the whole body of, respectable
literati are acknowledged as men of letters, why should liberal
England draw lines of demarcation to the detriment of the
largest section of her writers? Writers in periodicals and
reporters, who have never published a separate volume, have,
perhaps, done more general and essential good than nine-
tenths f the select, who are recognised as coming within the
narrow definition of the Society's regulations. From the
ranks of the reporters we have had a Lord Chancellor, who,
had Fortune turned her back upon him, instead of taking
him by the hand, would, notwithstanding his great and ac-
knowledged talents, have been deemed ineligible to have re-
ceived relief from the Literary Fund, unless he could have
laid claim to the authorship of some specific book. Few per-
sons, we believe, are fully aware, when they subscribe their
guineas to this fund for the purpose of providing temporary
aid to the necessitous members of the literaryfraternity, that
many of those whose daily or weekly, or monthly, or quar-

"""
terly lucubrationl, they peruse with benefit and delight, are
hoplessly excluded, should they come:to need it, from bene-
fiting by their liberality and kindneSs."
Surely it is a grievance which clamours loudly for its
removal. The writer proceeds :--
"We have an objection, and a very strong one too, to the
particular manner in which literary persons are required to
apply to the society. Iti pritiud form has been shown to
us; we have seen the signatures attached to it, and we aver
most conscientiously, that we are shocked to observe the
humiliating manner in which the male or female applicant
must seek for relief. No mendicant could he required to do
more ; no parish pauper could he asked more minutely to
describe his whereabouts and his wants. In the first place,
by the rules and regulations of the association, a.printed
form is to be applied for; this form has then to be filled up
with every particular of the applicant's present property and
future expectations—thus exposing his circumstances too
openly to the committee. But, more than this;he is required
after he has himself tilled up the printed form, to go
round to his friends and obtain their attestation to the truth
of his report, to disclose to them that he is in distress, and
perhaps from this forced exposure of his circumstances, to do
himself permanent mischief in some quarters, for the sake of
an aid which is temporary, and never of considerable
amount.

"Another objection we have to mike is to the mode in
which inquiries are conducted with respect to the truth of
the representations of any applicant. Sometimes he is visited,
we arc informed, by the secretary, who, inquisitive over-
much, startles him with the information, that 'chef is not
given to parties who possess thirty pounds a-year. Let us
ask how any educated person is to live upon the pittance of
thirty pounds a year?
" These things are not as they should be, they outrage all
the finer feelings of humanity. Would it not be better that
the applicant should call at the office of the society at a
stated time, and be admitted to a private interview with one
or two of the older members of the Committee, who, if dissa-
tisfied with the conference, might subsequently institute such
inquiries as they conceived it to render advisable? In our
opinion it would be so, and this point we beg to urge on the
consideration of all who have au influence with, or a voice at
its board."

We trust this cruel injustice will be remedied, and a
more lib,ral and enlarged spirit thrown into The Literary
Fund.

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE REVIEW,
We are distressed to see in the Oxford and Cambridge
Review such an article as the one entitled " Russia
under Nicholas I." The vein of panegyric which runs
through it in favour of a man, whom nine-tenths of man-
kind regard as the very impersonation of tyranny—and
that tyranny the most gratuitous and callous—is some-
thing so diametrically opposed to the character of this
publication that we are both distressed and amazed at
the circumstances. The gilding of refined gold is
scarcely so extravagantly superfluous as the gilding of
the basest metal is hypocrital and useless. That is a
good fabh of the man who ordered his black slaves to
be washed, and soaped, and scrubbed, and scalded, in
the vain expect ttion of rendering their skins white.
Let the writer of this paper meditate upon that
fable ; let him behold its striking application to
himself and his labours ; and recognise the inutility
of labouring thus arduously to cleanse Nicholas
of the imputations which have been cast upon
him. " The people are seldom wrong in their
opinions, in their sentiments they are never mistaken,"
wrote Junius ; and Junius was right. Now the senti-
ment of the people towards the Emperor Nicholas is
one of the most unmitigated contempt. In their senti-
ment, Julius says, the people are never mistaken—
therefore, their sentiment towards the Czar must be
based upon absolute truth. Indeed it is discordant with
common sense that a personage, so immaculate in cha-
racter as the Oxford and Cambridge Reviewer would
prove Nicholas to be, should have aroused towards him-
self sentiments of such universal obloquy. " Where
there is smoke be sure there is fire," says the proverb,
and on the accuracy of that proverb the present Em-
peror of all the Russias stands convicted. Lord John
Manners pursues his historical ballads by one descrip-
tive of "The Death of Montrose ;" it is scarcely equal
to the preceding. There is a candid notice of Lord
Brougham's " Lives of Men of Letters and of SeEenee,"
which is, nevertheless, not quite as commendable to
that valuable work as it deserves. "Pierre D'A,u.
busson" is a contribution of high merit, and is
moreover a curiosity. The most interesting paper,
however, in the Magazine, is the one upon " The Copy-
right Question"—a question which can never fail to
excite attention until it is tliffinitely settled. We are
thankful to the Oxford and Cambridge Review for having
once more revived this " vexed question."

' SIMJIONDS'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE.
The principal feature in the August number, as it has
been during many foregoing numbers, is Mr. Leigh's
tale of Australia. It is continued here with all its usual
vivacity. "The South Australian Months," by Mr.
Allen, is a very elegant and picturesque calendar in
metre, which we would quote 'from the first line to the
last did space permit. " Reminiscenses of the Island of
Cuba" arc interesting at any moment, but particularly
so at the present time, when the sugar question has
turned curiosity in the direetion of that land of sugar-
cane and tobacco. An essay which prefaces the number,
" On the Cultiv..tion and Manufacture of Coffee," is
crammed full of information, and would especially prove
a source of entertainment to superior housewives.
llooton's " Rides, Rambles, and Sketches in Texas,"
" The Native Indians in New Brunswick," and oiler
appropriate contributions, make up a very readable
mi6cellany.

THE KNIGHT OP GIVEVIVE. No. Viii. By

Charles Lever.

As this tale proceeds it displays a progressive and
very visible improvement. The author not only be-
comes more interested in the fate and vicissitudes of the
characttrs he has conjured into exi,tence, but he im-
parts such an attractive aspect to those vicissitudes
as to arouse a similar interest among his
readers. This has always been a characteristic of
the fictions of Mr. Lover ; his stories invari-
ably improve as the plots develop° themselves. It was
the case with "Harry Lorrequer" from the scene
where he appears upon parade the morning after play-
int: Othello, having forgotten to wash the cork marks
off his face, to the moment when he is hoisted ont of the
tox of a continental theatre, and crowned with a gar,
land of laurels, in mistake for the real author of the
drama, to the unspeakable and screaming delight of the
audience. It was the case in " Charles O'Malley," from
his first interview with Mickey Free to the Battle of
Waterloo. It was the case in "Jack Hinton," from his
steeple chase on Modderidderoo to the very latest ap-
pearance of Cross Carny. It was the same, also,
with "Tom Burke," "Arthur O'Leary," and "St. Pa-
trick's Eve." It is the same with the work before
us as far as it has proceeded. The description of the
emotions of anxiety in the knight's mind is cleverly
done. Has the author been dipping into Godwin of
late? The hunt also, where " Lionel is left aground,"
with a glorious little etching by Phiz, is described with
the gm-to of a man who thoroughly enjoys his own
imaginings.